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2 Feb 2001, 03:20 (Ref:61850) | #1 | ||
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Renault, BMW, Ferrari (aka Fiat), Jaguar (aka Ford) and Benz (aka Chrysler or Ford) have joined to buy a partnership of Bernie's SLEC and Bernie is preparing to hand over control to the European (??) big five. Having put their money into SLEC, it would be realistic to assume that these 5 (maybe only 4) companies have signalled their intention that they are here for the long haul. These 5 companies affect/control 6 teams (include Prost) and Honda affects 2, and Toyota will join next year, it would appear that nine of the teams will somehow be factory or semi factory, although with Prost, this remains to be seen to what extent and how great the benefit will be. Basically that only leaves Sauber, Arrows and Minardi out in the cold. How these three teams can survive such odds remain to be seen. I predict that Renault and/or Ford will supply one other team, and if the last team can also get some works power, then F1 will escalate into a total works competition. As it is, it will be works dominated with three minnows swimming around at the back of the field. Is this good for the sport? Well, if these guys can combine to produce any protests or complaints against the structure of rules, I cannot see where thre FIA could resist. They could simply say "we don't like your rules, so we will go the route of CART and form another championship." This time, I suspect that rather than be the team to go against any revolution, Ferrari will lead the charge. That's what I think. What do you think?
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2 Feb 2001, 08:50 (Ref:61866) | #2 | ||
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All I can say is that I hope it doesn't happen. I quite like Bernie, even he is a weirdo!
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2 Feb 2001, 09:39 (Ref:61880) | #3 | ||
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Most important development in F1
Sorry DNQ, but this has happeneed. It is in this mornings news here as well s in autorace.com. Whether we like it or not, F1 is going to be 100% professional in the corporate sense. I mean the buying out of a share of Bernie's cake. How they use this power is something else that we don't know yet.
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