11/24/24
November 04, 2009
And Another One Down...: Toyota have pulled out of Formula One with immediate effect. This comes on the heels of the news that Bridgestone will leave the sport after the 2010 season. BMW announced earlier this year they were leaving. Last year we lost Honda. This year we lost BMW and Toyota. With Brawn and Red Bull doing so well this year, will 2010 be a continuation of The Rebirth of the Privateer?
posted by Drood to auto racing at 03:20 PM - 9 comments
And the FIA will sue... it sort of worked in MotoGP to keep Hayate (ne Kawasaki) around for a year.
posted by dusted at 05:57 PM on November 04, 2009
I don't think Toyota will enjoy being muscled. Same with Renault.
We'll see. I'll be glad to see the back of all the manufacturers. The privateers are there for the sport. Manufacturers are just there to whore their wares as long as it suits them.
posted by Drood at 08:11 PM on November 04, 2009
If they don't sign more teams and alienate the manu's, it may soon be Red Bull, Brawn, and Force India racing alone.
I do have to sort of disagree with Drood on one point though. The manu's aren't there just to whore their wares, they're there to win so they can whore their wares, but aren't at least 2 of the privateers there for the same thing?
posted by stalnakerz at 11:20 PM on November 04, 2009
The privateers are for sure in the case of Red Bull, but that's just sponsorship. Yeah, they own the team, but they're not there to sell cars.
The worlds finances have taken a down turn so the first thing the manufacturers say is "Bugger this, I'm off". Honda, BMW, Toyota, and Renault (potentially).
Yes, they're there to win, but they're ONLY there to promote their brand.
Force India, Ferrari, Red Bull, STR, Brawn, Williams, plus the 3 newbies next year. There's 18 cars. Not a manufacturer in sight. (Ferrari don't count as they'll always be there. McLaren are contentious as they are seriously linked with Mercedes, but then they might be fucking off to Brawn anyway.) If the Artist formerly known as BMW is allowed in, that's 20 cars. All privateers pretty much.
Good riddance to the manufacturers. They're the reason the spending went so out of control. Fucking Toyota were spending half a BILLION a season at one point. Despicable.
The more interesting story is Bridgestone. After signing up as the exclusive tyre supplier, they're leaving. Who will replace them? Michelin won't as they were pissed off and felt they were being punished for the Indy debacle.
I am intrigued to see what happens if no tyre company steps up to the plate.
And as I'm here may I just say Abu Dhabi can FUCK OFF! Shitty Tilke circuit, and like all this creations it's designed to ruin racing. The venue is utterly soulless and corporate, peopled by people there to be seen rather than there for the racing.
Abu Dhabi represents EVERYTHING wrong with F1. Whoring the sport to the rich so we can have our processions in a place with no heart and soul, around tracks that make the average parking lot look exciting, in an atmosphere of excess where the teams have no interest in being.
posted by Drood at 12:27 AM on November 05, 2009
Agreed about Abu Dhabi, the emirate bought themselves a race just to say they had something some larger countries didn't. Unfortunately, if Mosley stays at the helm and can't get enough cars to fill the grid, we'll see more of these type tracks so he can at least try to pull a better profit while he's killing the sport.
On the tires, I'm not only surprised at the move, but intrigued as well. Bridgestone put a lot of time and money into developing "the right tire for the right track" and I'm not sure another company could come in and get good results without some good development time and with Bridgestone have an exclusive contract, I'd guess that the other players disbanded their F1 development projects. If that's the case, we'll either see some spectacular crashes, some interesting new records or some boring races the first year or two after they've pulled out, probably a good mix of the 3.
posted by stalnakerz at 02:25 AM on November 05, 2009
the emirate bought themselves a race just to say they had something some larger countries Dubai didn't.
Fixed it for ya.
Interesting, too, is the proxy rivalry being played out in the battle for global sports sponsorship between Emirates and Etihad.
posted by owlhouse at 03:07 AM on November 05, 2009
Interesting that this happens after Toyota returned to profitability. I can only guess that the losses over the last year or two unsettled them... but then why sign the Concorde Agreement?
posted by dusted at 09:33 AM on November 05, 2009
And the FIA will sue...
Yeah, I can see that will work well. Attract other teams and everything.
Good riddance to the manufacturers.
All F1 racers are manufacturers to some degree or another. I see you make an exception for Ferrari (quelle surprise!). Do you hate people using Ford engines, too?
The more interesting story is Bridgestone. After signing up as the exclusive tyre supplier, they're leaving. Who will replace them? Michelin won't as they were pissed off and felt they were being punished for the Indy debacle.
Indeed. It's quite a surprising move to me, given how hard they must have worked to get the exclusive deal.
posted by rodgerd at 04:51 PM on November 05, 2009
And in breaking news after I posted, Renault are in emergency talks in regards to pulling out of F1 with immediate effect.
This in itself is funny as they promised the FIA they'd stay for next season if they went easy on them during the cheating hearings.
Renault may have played Mosley like a cheap violin. Wonderful!