Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and wife Susie, head of the F1 Academy, are the subjects of an FIA investigation over an alleged conflict of interest.
The FIA acted on reported concerns raised by rival team bosses about whether the pair have been sharing information confidential to Formula One Management (FOM).
Ben Sulayem's meddling is so clumsy. FIA needs to consider whether poking the bear is smart. The threat of a breakaway series seems a lot more realistic these days.
A breakaway series would be nice, though it would be a huge undertaking. I haven't had faith in FIA stewardship for a long time now. At the end of the day, someone is going to have to try and...
A breakaway series would be nice, though it would be a huge undertaking. I haven't had faith in FIA stewardship for a long time now.
At the end of the day, someone is going to have to try and salvage the sanctity and purity of the sport in the face of bottomless bank accounts, and that seems almost impossible.
Assuming FOM does try to split off, would they really be able to pull off what the FIA does in terms of regulating, refereeing, and whatever else they do? Idk. That's a big ask. I did see on...
Assuming FOM does try to split off, would they really be able to pull off what the FIA does in terms of regulating, refereeing, and whatever else they do? Idk. That's a big ask.
I did see on reddit (which means take with a grain of salt), that the reason the FOM (via Liberty Media) is even a thing is because the EU/EC forced the FIA to split the commercial side from the regulatory side. That it'd be too monopolistic otherwise. And that seems to hold up, at least according to that article I quickly found.
If so, then how would FOM/Liberty be able to create an alternative "FIA?" I guess they could create it, but they may not be able to control it.
In addition, would "F1-but-not-really-F1" be able to stand on its own? A big part of F1 is the history. Could an alternative series that couldn't be named F1 really take on the mantle of F1? I guess a similar situation in some ways would be PGA vs LIV Golf.
Idk. It's definitely an interesting power struggle. I don't think I've picked a "side" here. The only thing that so far I don't like is FOM and the teams against the 11th team by Andretti, which the FIA (or at least MBS) is for. But otherwise, seems like FOM is running F1 fine.
https://www.reuters.com/sports/motor-sports/fia-probe-wolffs-nothing-do-with-red-bull-says-horner-2023-12-06/#:~:text=LONDON%2C%20Dec%206%20(Reuters),all%2Dfemale%20F1%20Academy%20series.
Ben Sulayem's meddling is so clumsy. FIA needs to consider whether poking the bear is smart. The threat of a breakaway series seems a lot more realistic these days.
A breakaway series would be nice, though it would be a huge undertaking. I haven't had faith in FIA stewardship for a long time now.
At the end of the day, someone is going to have to try and salvage the sanctity and purity of the sport in the face of bottomless bank accounts, and that seems almost impossible.
Assuming FOM does try to split off, would they really be able to pull off what the FIA does in terms of regulating, refereeing, and whatever else they do? Idk. That's a big ask.
I did see on reddit (which means take with a grain of salt), that the reason the FOM (via Liberty Media) is even a thing is because the EU/EC forced the FIA to split the commercial side from the regulatory side. That it'd be too monopolistic otherwise. And that seems to hold up, at least according to that article I quickly found.
If so, then how would FOM/Liberty be able to create an alternative "FIA?" I guess they could create it, but they may not be able to control it.
In addition, would "F1-but-not-really-F1" be able to stand on its own? A big part of F1 is the history. Could an alternative series that couldn't be named F1 really take on the mantle of F1? I guess a similar situation in some ways would be PGA vs LIV Golf.
Idk. It's definitely an interesting power struggle. I don't think I've picked a "side" here. The only thing that so far I don't like is FOM and the teams against the 11th team by Andretti, which the FIA (or at least MBS) is for. But otherwise, seems like FOM is running F1 fine.