IMHO, the biggest factor in this (with respect to BE) is this quote from Saward...
Quote:
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The other key question is how many big corporations are going to invest heavily in a business run by someone who is knocking 90, who won’t have a succession plan…
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Putting that aside, I like the idea of competition and ultimately the threat of an alternate series. Frankly a large problem with F1 is that BE has so many players tied up contractually, it has prevented competition, which ultimately has prevented new ideas. Saward also makes the point that BE now has to battle the fortress he built.
I expect the current players are very much in a wait and see with respect to Liberty. I think the only potential chance of this working is is Liberty tries to break the special deal with Ferrari (which I personally think is a good thing), then Ferrari may threaten to move elsewhere. And I can't see Ferrari jumping into an alternative series unless they received special consideration which IMHO would be a bad way to recruit other entrants. Nothing like a recruiting poster that say... "Join us and be a second class citizen!" (which frankly is the current F1 recruiting poster
But at least it seems to be an established place to be vs. the uncertainty of an upstart series.)
Richard