GPMA Responds To Bernie And Alpha Prema
Written by George Katinger · November 28, 2005
Well that certainly didn’t take long, did it? The GPMA has pinned Bernie’s butt to the wall with a deadline for compromise, or the GPMA will continue to move forward.
wheels24.co.za: GPMA issue final deadline
More Bluff or serious initiative? I am now back on the fence. With my lengthy analysis after the announcement of the purchase of the F1 commercial rights by CVC I was convinced the GPMA had been sold out by some of the principal players. The latest statement would seem to fly in the face of that.
If the GPMA know that key teams have been coopted in the new deal, how or why would they nail Bernie to an end of year deadline under the threat of beginning track negotiations? It doesn’t make sense, but then again what in F1 makes any sense at all?
The plot thickens!
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George get off the fence, you’ll get splinters in your butt!
Yeah I thought we might have jumped the gun a bit (in assuming a deal was done) talk about high stakes poker, V8’s at 20 paces. Common sense would say that a negotiated settlement would be the sensible course.
However, CVC & Bernie could be of the opinion that the GPMA are not entitled to the share of the pie that they believe they are entitled to. We could be back to the old “I own the theatre & the stage, you lot are just the actors, if you don’t like it, start your own show”.
Unity amongst the GPMA is the key factor here, having wooed Ferrari/Fiat away from the pack, snagged the Red Bull teams & landed the Russian, I would not put it past Bernie to try a little divide & conquer. For my money Toyota is the weakest link, they do not share the same F1 history as Honda & are notoriously conservative, it is conceivable that they would side with what is perceived as the official series. A Tokyo board room could relate to competing along side of Ferrari & going to all the traditional F1 venues, eg Monaco. Remember Indy this year, knowing that they would almost certainly not be competing, they still went through the farce of putting Trulli on pole & doing a press release “Toyota’s 1 st Indy Pole”.
Frank Williams is also the most vulnerable to being courted by Bernie, forget about history, when you’re up against the manufactures with a Cossie you will do what you need to survive. Notwithstanding, Toyota are supposedly putting a lump in the back of a Williams next year & a Toyota block is already bolted to the Midland.
The one thing that we don’t know is how much money, read profit, the GPMA believe can be generated in running their own series, if they believe that the can recover some, if not all of their team running costs, there by making their F1 efforts self funding, they will go it alone. Personally I would think that a cabal of Euro/Sinno automotive concerns running a series would have the longevity of the Klu Klux Klan at a Reggae concert.
Isn’t refreshing to know Greed is & always will be the driving force in the pinnacle of motor sport.
It would still be a two team series. Ferrari, who supplies engines to Red Bull; and Toyota, who supplies Midland. Maybe part of the CVC strategy is to give free Cosworths to anyone signing up! Ferrari and Toyota certainly can’t supply an entire series.
Can they?
I’m leaning towards the house off cards theory, if Toyota (or any GPMA member) were to jump ship, the others will follow. I honestly think it will only take one. What we will never know is what the expected RoI on a new series.
Keeping with our Xmas season Area 51 theories; what if CVC & Bernie shafted Max & replaced him with something more palatable. BTW, considering Max’s family history, do you think BMW & Mercedes have trouble keeping a straight face when dealing with him?…………… Don’t mention the war my Herr, Renault are listening.
Max just got re-elected for another four years. No excluding him from the trough now.
Relative to ROI, I think CVC see a huge growth potential, especially in conjunction with MotoGP, which is why I thought they would throw more coin at the teams.
Unless CVC see themselves in a totaly unassailable position, I don’t see how they can ignore the rebels and NOT buy them off.
See grandprix.com for the latest “60%” solution and other factors.
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns15974.html
Quote from your link;
“Some say that personal ambitions are getting in the way of logical decision-making.”
And the winner of the 2005 award for stating the obvious, goes to….
“Some say that personal ambitions are getting in the way of logical decision-making.”
My vote would go to Herr Doktor Mario Thiessen, head of newly formed BMW Sauber racing.