Racing to stand still. The waning attractions of Formula One.

To counter the lack of teams, a suggestion has been made that some/all teams might run three cars in future. While this would achieve the aim of filling up the grid, it would surely make races even less competitive. At the moment, there are 10 teams. Team orders are now openly given in several teams, and if the other teams are really playing to win, it’s only a matter of time before they get on board (like it or not, team orders help teams win points). This will happen regardless of how many cars a team runs. Let’s do a simple calculation. If every team issued 'team orders' with a clearly designated number one driver who the second driver was supposed to assist, you would still have ten drivers competing for points & podiums. If we ended up with say seven teams of three, and team orders were deployed, we would be down to seven drivers with championship ambitions. I accept that this calculation is simplistic and limited, but in my view the logic is still valid.

Not only is Ecclestone in danger of losing more of his teams, he is also finding it difficult to agree track deals. The owners of Silverstone failed to come up with the required £9M a year for three years, so as things stand, Formula One in 2005 will not include a British Grand Prix. The British Grand Prix is the oldest on the calendar, and has featured every year since the first world championship back in 1950, although it has not always been held at Silverstone.

The Austrian Grand Prix has also been dropped, and added to the list recently have been Bahrain and China. It is probably no coincidence that countries recently added to the Formula One calendar are either extremely rich (Bahrain & USA) or are trying desperately to promote themselves as tourist destinations despite a somewhat “mixed” image abroad (China).

There is, at least, an abundance of talented drivers available. Apart from the Schumacher family and the other established drivers like Trulli, Fisichella, Barrichello etc., there is no shortage of young talent. The Australian Mark Webber drives for the outgoing Jaguar team and has significantly out pointed his teammate Christian Klien seven points to three. If the Jaguar team goes to the wall, Webber deserves to survive. Driving for Renault, the young Spaniard Fernando Alonso has so far (1st October) acquired 50 points putting him fourth in the Drivers’ Championship. Ahead of him are obviously the Ferrari duo, and another young talent, Jenson Button. Button started the 2004 season without a podium finish to his name, but now he has made it to the champagne splashing on nine occasions. He must surely be one to watch for the future. Once tipped as the man to take Schumacher’s crown, Juan Pablo Montoya has been disappointing this season. This may be because he is joining McLaren in 2005, and perhaps feels less than highly motivated. Nonetheless for the money he gets, and his undoubted talent, he should be performing better.

It is hard to know what will happen to Formula One in the future. It is largely inaccessible to the masses. Anyone can kick a football but driving a car at speed around a racetrack is a little bit more expensive. On the other hand, there are only twenty events on the Formula One calendar, and it rarely visits a country more than once a year. If it were a regular occurrence, the novelty and carnival appeal would disappear, and it would be just another sports event. As it is, Formula One does not have or even need massive popular support. It just requires lots of sponsorship, and that the few supporters it has turn out in numbers for that special time of year when the show comes to their country. For this reason, it has a reasonable chance of survival.