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Old 06-09-2010, 06:21 PM   #4
Arkadiyas

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Oct 2005
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692
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"F1 is like soccer. It needs heroes and it needs big teams." Max used to compare F1 with a game of chess, so Luca comparing with soccer is slightly different! Yes, F1 needs heroes but not everyone's hero is a champion or a top team. The sport needs smaller teams just as it needs the big teams.
"You cannot equalise everything. We need to avoid having too many small teams because it means too many compromises." F1 is a meritocracy where the ability and talent to do things better than everyone else is rewarded with points, race wins and championships. Whether you are a small or a big team you have the same opportunity to fight for points, wins and championships.

Luca appears to be arguing for the status quo where the big teams stay big, and there is little or no opportunity for new teams to come into the sport and rise to the top, if they are capable of doing that.

What compromises is Luca talking about? Does he mean the enforced reduction in budgets that allowed the likes of Virgin, Lotus and HRT to appear on the grid? If so, I think he has a point that the whole process that led up to new teams entering F1 this year was poorly handled, particularly as those new teams had the impression that budget restrictions would apply to every team, not just them. The goalposts moved and as a result how can Luca, or anyone, expect new teams to be as competitive as the big teams when they're running on comparatively tiny amounts of money.

I think it's generally recognised that the whole idea of new budget capped teams was a ploy by Max to be used against FOTA. Now Max has gone the sport is left with the consequences. What Max failed to acknowlege was that economic conditions determine budgets, and the FIA should not have become involved in dictating what teams can and cannot spend. However, the new teams are here now and perhaps Luca is simply arguing that this kind of entry process to F1 cannot be allowed to happen again.
"Giving this car to a good young driver or Valentino Rossi would be better than a team being four seconds behind." Luca does seem very keen on getting Rossi onto the grid in a Ferrari but I don't see how F1 would benefit from three Ferraris, McLarens and Red Bulls dominating the grid as opposed to two. F1 needs variety.

I can see the merits of teams being allowed to sell their cars to another team which would then run them separately from the 'works' team, but existing teams running a third car does not appeal to me. Again Luca appears to be arguing for the status quo, except a reinforced status quo where the big teams have more of a chance to dominate.
"Do we need to race at two in the afternoon when everyone is at the sea? Could we have two races per meeting? Do races need to last so long? F1 is not an endurance race. We need races to be short and tough." No Luca, F1 is not an endurance race, it is already different to the GT Championship. I have no desire to see F1 races reduced to sprint events.

As for the timing of the races Luca, as you're so keen on football I assume you oppose 3pm kick offs because everyone is shopping or at the sea What are you suggesting; that races start when people are sat down having breakfast, or dinner? And what about the time differences around the world? Is everyone at the sea when F1 is on tv? Bernie's idea of having floodlit races so that Europeans could watch at a 'convenient' time is equally daft.
"F1 is the only sport in the world where there is no training." The testing ban is rather excessive, but Ferrari have always wanted to be able to continue using Fiorano as and when they please, which is understandable.
I’m very impressed with Le Mans but we can’t do both [F1] because of money and know-how and it’s only one race. Instead if we can put together an endurance series, either 12 or 24 hours, with other car makers and race around the world, that would be good," Is this a diluted repeat of Enzo's occasionally used threat to withdraw from F1 if things aren't done in a way that Ferrari approve of?
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