Ferrari threatens to quit F1 for the *Nth time

[kals]

In other news, it's emerged that bears defalcate in woods and the Pope is in fact Catholic

Ferrari has become the latest manufacturer to question Liberty Media's plans for Formula 1 by warning it is prepared to walk away from grand prix racing after 2020.

Mercedes and Renault expressed concern on Wednesday that engine proposals for 2021 would start a needless arms race that could damage F1, but Ferrari has gone a step further and said it could quit completely if it was not happy.

In a conference call with analysts on Thursday to discuss Ferrari's latest financial results, president Sergio Marchionne said he was unimpressed with certain directions that Liberty had proposed, including the future engine rules.

"Liberty has got a couple of good intentions in all of this, one of which is to reduce the cost of execution for the team, which I think is good," said Marchionne.

"[But] there are a couple of things we don't necessarily agree with.

"One is the fact that somehow powertrain uniqueness is not going to be one of the drivers of distinctiveness of the participants' line-up.

"I would not countenance this going forward.

"The fact that we now appear to be at odds in terms of the strategic development of this thing, and we see the sport in 2021 taking on a different air, is going to force some decisions on the part of Ferrari.

"I understand that Liberty may have taken these into account in coming up with their views, but I think it needs to be absolutely clear that unless we find a set of circumstances, the results of which are beneficial to the maintenance of the brand, and the marketplace, and to the strengthening of the unique position for Ferrari, Ferrari will not play."

Under bilateral agreements, Ferrari is currently committed to F1 until the end of 2020 but anything beyond that has not been agreed.

Teams and manufacturers met with F1 chiefs and the FIA earlier this week to discuss engine proposals for 2021, and another crunch meeting is due to take place next Tuesday when the Strategy Group gathers.

At that meeting, Liberty is expected to unveil more details about wider plans for F1 including a potential budget cap, a new governance structure and an overhaul of the sporting and commercial system.

Marchionne added: "I don't want to prejudge any of this. We're walking into this meeting next Tuesday with the best of intentions, we'll see where it takes us."

Ferrari has previously made quit threats, but this is the first time in the Marchionne era that such a declaration has been made.

Marchionne suggested that walking away from F1 would be a good thing for Ferrari's shareholders.

"It would be totally beneficial to the P&L [profits and losses]," he said.

"We would be celebrating here until the cows come home.

"What I do know is that it [F1] has been part of our DNA since the day we were born.

"It's not as though we can define ourselves differently.

"But if we change the sandbox to the point where it becomes an unrecognisable sandbox, I don't want to play any more."

Marchionne added he would feel "like a million bucks" about being the chief who took Ferrari out of F1.

"I'd be working on an alternative strategy to try and replace it," he said. "A more rational one, too".

[Everso Biggyballies]

Yawn! Why do I get a feeling of deja-vu?

[myownalias]

For heaven's sake... sometimes I wish that Ferrari would just f**k off, I'm sick of Maranello holding the sport hostage, just because they are the oldest F1 team. I would love for Liberty Media to simply say, "there's the door, don't let it hit you on the way out".

[MonteCristo]

For the love of God, give in to all of their demands! They're Ferrari! Children, etc!

[erwin greven]

Bye Ferrari!!! Bye Mercedes!! Bye Renault!!

[John]

Hey Ferrari...

[PTRACER]

Ferrari won't ever leave. They were paid $192 million just to be in F1 last year.

[myownalias]

Ferrari won't ever leave. They were paid $192 million just to be in F1 last year.

If Liberty actually manages to instigate a fairer money sharing system and Ferrari no longer get preferential treatment, Ferrari might paint themselves into a corner and actually be forced out to avoid the shame of tucking tail and returning to the grid.

[John]

Ferrari won't ever leave. They were paid $192 million just to be in F1 last year.

If Liberty actually manages to instigate a fairer money sharing system and Ferrari no longer get preferential treatment, Ferrari might paint themselves into a corner and actually be forced out to avoid the shame of tucking tail and returning to the grid.

It would be interesting if Liberty wouldn't allow Ferrari to hold the sport hostage any more.

[kals]

Some journos are pulling no punches against Ferrari's latest 'threat'

BUXTON: The team that cried wolf
Friday, 10 November 2017

Ah, the politics of Formula 1. Did you miss it?

Formula 1's new owners have had a relatively smooth run of things over their first year holding the keys to the candy store, but the past week has highlighted old divisions which remain at the heart of this sport's most complex of soap operas. The tipping point, as widely expected, has come in the form of the proposals for a new engine formula from 2020 or 2021. They had been mooted for some time and should have come as little surprise, but with first Mercedes, then Renault and lastly Ferrari stating their objection to the new path, the wheels have been set in motion for a stand-off – and Liberty's first major political test.

If one thing is clear, it is that there are very few, if any, within this paddock who wish to see the engine regulations remain unchanged. The hybrid era has brought little to the on-track excitement of the sport, and Liberty's prime focus is on improving the spectacle and what we know as "the show." Aligned with this is a fervent desire to bring down costs and to open up the capability for new engine manufacturers to enter the sport. Honda's abject failure to get on top of the formula shows how flawed the current situation is, and acts as a tremendous warning shot across the bows of anyone who might wish to enter the sport and be competitive.

Liberty's suggested route for future technical regulations is thus to maintain much of the current rules, but remove the much maligned MGU-H and introduce certain spec parts. While not the wholesale change some were expecting, the proposals have been met with positivity from prospective entrants. The current guard are less effusive, and have decried the plans as being expensive.
But while there is no doubt that the new designs will require an initial injection of budget and expense, in the long term the affordability in the suggestion pays out. It will open the field. Which, of course, runs counter to the competitive desires of the manufacturers already present in the sport.

So as the manufacturers dig in their heels, mainly out of the politically-motivated intention to delay and delay until the lead time becomes unworkable so the status quo remains, the majority of teams who rely on securing engine supply appear to universally approve of the changes.
We thus have an impasse between the factory teams and the independents.
We've been here before, of course. Back in the early 1980s the FISA FOCA war was waged between what were known as the garagistes (independent teams) and the grandees (factory outfits.) Back then it was about control of the sport and the garagistes, led by Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone, won out. The difference this time, however, is that there is no battle for control. This isn't one side aligning with the FIA versus another siding with Liberty. Liberty and the FIA are aligned.

What this boils down to is influence and money. The major manufacturers, who have for so long now held a position of political power that by constitutional right they never had any legitimate claim on, are intent on holding onto an authority given to them via a broken political system which had been bent and buckled by money.

Of critical importance in this fight is the fact that Ferrari, the biggest name in world motorsport, has played its only real trump card and threatened to withdraw from Formula 1 should they deem the sport's new direction to be in contradiction to their own desires.
Ferrari have issued this threat countless times before. They did so under Enzo, they did so under di Montezemolo and they are doing so again under Marchionne. It is their biggest and only real play. But is it real, or are they simply grandstanding?

It is key to understand that, for Ferrari, this is about far more than just engine regulations. Liberty has, since its very first days in charge of this sport, made it abundantly clear that the era of Ferrari's special status and resultant payouts are over. For decades now, Ferrari has stood at the roulette wheel and played the highest stakes game. But such is their privileged position that they've never had to put a dime on the table. They've never had to actually gamble, instead simply taking from the house with every spin of the wheel. But the casino has new owners. And Ferrari's line of credit is done. If they want to carry on playing, they're going to have to start paying.

Ferrari talks a big game. But would it actually make good on its threats? After all, where else would it go and race? Formula E, perhaps. But victory in the electric championship is not going to add to or embolden the lustre of the brand. A full-on assault on WEC, then, with a proper LMP1 program? Well the problem with that suggestion is the budget. The top LMP1 teams operate on finances not that far removed from the top Formula 1 teams. But Ferrari has received such a tremendous payout from its participation in Formula 1 that it can run in the self-proclaimed pinnacle of global motorsport for the princely sum of nothing. It will not spend the hundreds of millions of dollars required to go and race LMP1. Even Ferrari can't afford to do that.

And besides, Ferrari is a publically listed company. Marchionne can make as much noise as he wants. But at the end of the day the decision is not his to make. It falls to the board, and they will never vote to remove the biggest feather in the company's hat.
Which leaves Ferrari's threats feeling somewhat hollow. Ferrari is the team who cried wolf. Sympathy and any belief that they will follow through with their intimidation has long ago expired.

As we've already concluded, the difference between this fight and the FISA FOCA war of 30 years ago, is that in this battle only one side is going to win. And Ferrari is on the wrong side of history. Liberty cannot and will not lose.

If the sport is to prosper and grow then it is for the independents that the future regulations must be written. Budget caps, fair distribution of wealth, a platform that permits everyone to be competitive; these are the foundations upon which the sport will be based. As the FIA and Liberty seem to be making clear, there is a plan, there is a blueprint and if you want to be a part of it then jump on board and come along for the ride. If not, then so long and thanks for all the fish.

The same will be true for all the sport's contracts. Be it racing circuits that want to get out of the deals they did with Ecclestone and pay less, or broadcasters who cannot live with the drive towards the opening of digital content, Liberty is positioning itself with its feet firmly cemented in place. For any sign of weakness now will have knock-on effects at all levels.

It's why I doubt Silverstone will get a new or better deal. Any renegotiation will lead to every circuit attempting to break contract and do a new deal. It's why certain broadcast contracts will end. It's why Ferrari might be pushed all the way to having to make good on their threats. Because their bluff will be called.

Formula 1 has evolved at glacial speeds over recent decades. The shake-up that is coming is long past due, and the speed with which the changes will be brought will be a shock to many. But change is essential for this sport to prosper and compete in a real world, which itself is going through a seismic shift in the fundamental concept of how we receive and enjoy almost every aspect of our lives.

Liberty is in the process of getting its affairs in order. They have the keys to the candy store and they've done an inventory. In so doing they've discovered that some of the stock is out of date, the deals with some of the suppliers don't make much business sense, there's damp in a few of the walls, and some kids have been getting their candy for free.

After a year running this sport, Liberty has employed all the right people to research, report and formulate a direction for Formula 1 that will allow it to prosper both sportingly and financially. Their message now seems clear.

Things aren't going to be like they were. Things are going to change. We run this sport, not you. We will make the rules, not you.
Get on board, or go. The choice is yours.

How Ferrari has always abused its power

"Commendatore, have you got a minute?"

"I have all the time in the world, since I am-a retiring from racing!" Even 60 years ago, when Peter Ustinov recorded 'The Grand Prix of Gibraltar', this was a cliche of the sport. Whenever something didn't sit well with Enzo Ferrari, his invariable response was to threaten to quit.

Now, in 2017, the current Ferrari chairman, Sergio Marchionne, is making similar noises, and whereas no-one ever took Enzo's pronouncements seriously, this might be a different matter. Autocracy is common to both men, but while - as ever - I find inconceivable Ferrari's disappearance from Formula 1, Marchionne approaches the sport from a very different place.

It was Enzo Ferrari, let's remember, who contemptuously christened F1 teams who 'bought in' engines, like McLaren and Lotus, 'garagistes', and undeniably there has always been something about his company that sets it apart. If most enthusiasts support a driver, in the case of Ferrari there are across the world countless folk whose primary allegiance is to a team.

Like them, I grew up captivated. For a start, paint a racing car red, and for me you are halfway there, but there was also the blend of sights and sounds, black-on-yellow Prancing Horse shields, exposed gear lever gates, 'PROVA MO' stencil marks, and - of course - the scream of 12 cylinders.

Most of those trademarks have been long since swept away, of course, but still the fundamental mystique of Ferrari abides. If in the paddock it has never been the most popular of teams, overwhelmingly it remains the most powerful.

Enzo picked up on that very quickly - indeed at the very first world championship race, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1950, the programme contained a note of regret: 'Closest rival to the Alfa Romeo team, the Ferraris were expected to challenge, but unfortunately these entries have been cancelled'.

Why? Well, because back in the days when teams negotiated individually with race organisers, it had not been possible to reach agreement on 'starting money' - and that established a pattern that would endure for two decades and more.

Time was when non-championship F1 races proliferated, many of them run in this country, and for fans the presence of Ferrari made all the difference, raising them to the level of 'proper races'. Enzo, not unaware of this, sometimes got his way, sometimes didn't: as a kid I was frequently heartbroken to hear the Ferraris announced as non-starters.

Occasionally, the Old Man would also play hardball at a grand prix, and it was not until Bernie Ecclestone formed FOCA in the early 1970s, and began dealing with organisers on all the teams' behalf, that the participation of Ferrari was guaranteed.

Periodically, though, there were threats and flamboyant gestures. Towards the end of 1964, for example, Ferrari was at war with the ACI (Italy's sporting authority), so when John Surtees clinched the world championship in Mexico, his car was not red, but white and blue, the colours of its entrant, the North American Racing Team.

Pick another out of the air... in 1986-7, to encourage the FIA to reconsider its decision to ban F1 engines of more than eight cylinders, Ferrari threatened to defect to the then-booming CART series - and even built a car for it.

Surprise, Enzo got his way, as he usually did, even though his threats to quit were invariably regarded as hot air: if ever there were a man for whom racing was life, after all, it was he. Until Fiat got seriously involved in 1970, money - as the drivers could attest - was always tight in Maranello, and the Old Man's road cars were important to him only as a means of paying for his racing.

On the strength of Marchionne's remarks last week, you might believe that for him the opposite is true. Leaving Formula 1, he said, would be great for Ferrari's shareholders: "It would be totally beneficial to the P&L [profits and losses]."

This was in response to Liberty Media's announcement of its plans for Formula 1, Marchionne expressing support for some of its aims, not for others, notably that of reducing the complexity of the current hybrid power unit.

While Italian-born Marchionne has spent most of his life in Canada, some effort is required to unravel his tortured English. "We don't agree," he said, "with the fact that somehow powertrain uniqueness is not going to be one of the drivers of distinctiveness of the participants' line-up.

"The fact that we now appear to be at odds in terms of the strategic development of this thing, and we see the sport in 2021 taking on a different air, is going to force some decisions on the part of Ferrari. Unless we find a set of circumstances, the results of which are beneficial to the maintenance of the brand, and the marketplace, and to the strengthening of the unique position for Ferrari, Ferrari will not play."

'The unique position for Ferrari...' That emphatically it already has, receiving a massive annual bonus from Formula One Management simply for being Ferrari, and - in light of what it has brought to the sport for 70 years - you can make a case for that. Far less comprehensible - and acceptable - to me is that Ferrari also has the right of veto, sanctioned by the FIA, over any technical regulations for which it does not care. Is there another sport on earth in which one participant has the right to determine its rules? No, thought not.

I write this the day before a meeting of the Formula 1 Strategy Group, at which Liberty will reveal more of its plans. Marchionne, who will be present, says he is not prejudging anything: "We're walking in with the best of intentions, and we'll see where it takes us."

It would not concern him in the least, he said last week, to be remembered as the Ferrari boss who took the team out of F1. Fans are one thing, after all, shareholders quite another.

[erwin greven]

Goodbye Ferrari!! Go Go GO!!! That is the only answer Liberty should give Ferrari!

[MonteCristo]

And because it's a different month, another threat:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13359 ... -with-fire

Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne has warned people who think he is "bluffing" about potentially pulling his team out of Formula 1 that they are "playing with fire".

[Everso Biggyballies]

He is talking of setting up a breakaway series..... lol. Maybe we havent got rid of Bernie yet after all.
Mind you unlikely that the FIA will sanction any breakaway series, although I guess there are ways around that?
Of course any breakaway series needs the teams to follow suit..... and it needs more than Ferrari, Alfa and Maserati.
Marchionne is pissing in the wind, or playing fart in a colander.

Oh for those trying to follow the Autosport link who have run out of the limited free articles per month A'Sport offer these days, read it unhindered on the Aus Eurosport site.... they have all Autosport (not the Plus ones) articles on no limit reading.

https://au.eurosport.com/formula-1/ferr ... tory.shtml

Also this one on the same source.

Ferrari could lead others out of F1, warns Marchionne

[caneparo]

Marchionne woke up late. His political power in f1 is limited and now he fears another season without the chamipnship win he tries to inflate his chest