What do we think of Liberty's 1st in charge?

[Nitrodaze]

It was a very pointed question made by Bernie Ecclestone during the season when he said he had not seen what Liberty has done so far. While fan access has been improved with post race interviews been conducted in front of the main grandstand with the podium cars and driver in clear and easy view of the fans. Their engine blueprint for 2020 has left the manufacturers abit cold. With Ferrari threatening to quit the sport if they are not happy. It was said the teams are been awarded less money than they received in the Ecclestone era.

It would seem that underneath the fanfare of the F1 roadshow, there is a brewing discontent. The stage is not much different than it was under the Ecclestone wheeling and dealing. Redbull is as usual trying to find a way to get closer to Mercedes and Ferrari by insisting on engine parity. No doubt they have Mclaren in their corner. The engine Manufacturers have closed ranks to protect their investments in the Hybrid engine. The smaller teams just simply want more money or just make it cheaper to compete. Outside to this theater of F1 politics are potential new joiners such as engine manufacturers looking to fill the voids at Redbull and Mclaren. These lot are worried they would not be able to benefit from a continued hybrid engine platform which Honda has clearly shown is not as easy as it seems.

One thing is clear, Liberty has a good working relationship with the FIA in seems. And they have the buy in of the teams into their promise to make the sport more appealing to a wider audience. But losing Malaysia with Silverstone seeking to bow out earlier from their contact, could have been seen as a dent in their Armour. But some how in the face of it, they have managed to increase the number of races in 2018 to 21 races with Paul Ricard etc rejoining the calendar.

We cannot expect the promise of change to occur in one year, hence on the balance we could say that Liberty have kept the ship steady but have choppy waters ahead.

But there is one question that l like to ask, what would be the impact to the formula if Ferrari decides to pull out of it? I have heard mostly older generation F1 pundits and fans say it would be debilitating to the stature of the fomula, but younger generation pundits and fans alike do not think Ferrari has the impact it use to have in modern day F1.

I personally think, it probably would not be very appealing to Mercedes and possibly Renault if Ferrari is not in the formula. They each need a yardstick to measure their achievement against. And Ferrari as the most successful and one of the oldest team on the grid is such a yardstick. Chances are, these manufacturers may reduce their commitment to the formula in the absence of Ferrari on the grid. The manufacturer teams may withdraw but continue to supply engines. This is where the stature of the formula would suffer as it becomes a battle of customer teams. A scenario that would make Redbull the king of the paddock with Mclaren their closest rival initially.

[Nitrodaze]

Quoting Zak Brown, we are set for off track fireworks in 2018. If the races turn out to be boring, at least we would be handsomely entertained by the Liberty head to head with the teams.

So the honeymoon period is over, one year into the the job and the gloves seem to be already off even before the year was over with Ferrari threatening to quit F1. I bet Bernie shall be seating at the edge of his seat all season to see how things unfold. If Liberty misfires on its plans to make the formula cheaper for teams to compete, we may see a split away series from 2021 with Ferrari spearheading an exodus. You can very much expect all the manufacturers to be heading for this series, leaving behind the whiners about engine and costs with Liberty and a hollow F1.

The Constructors Championship component of the F1 roadshow has always been about which team can build the must advanced race car. In so doing pushing the envelop of technology in a way that would benefit road cars of the future. The competition for the glory of winning this prestigious accolade is not something that could be achieved on the cheap. As each team need to attract the best minds in the business and provide the best resources to facilitate achieving the hard fought prestige of winning the Constructors Championship. It should not be easy or a figment of luck to achieve this prestigous accolade. It should be earned from hard work and brilliant ingenuity and Ferrari, Mercedes and the other constructor champions recognize this. Hence if a split occurs in 2021, l know where my heart would be invested; it would be without a doubt with Ferrari.

[Nitrodaze]

So Liberty scraps the grid girls. Obviously they did not consult with the hundreds of girls that do this work to take their thoughts on the matter into consideration. One has to say Liberty has kicked of the 2018 season with controversy which on closer investigation seem taken under pressure rather than insightful deliberation. The grid girls come out of the controversy as a victim of being female and pay dearly with loss of employment but the real kicker is that, liberty has protrayed them as an element of F1 that did not really matter on account of being female. Which is counter intuitive to the notion of promoting dignity for women. They simply failed to respect the opinions of the women who are at the center of the controversy and has the most to lose by the outcome of the decision.
In summary, ignore the women in the decision concerning women, bravo, l applaud.

Now, using kids as grid person conjures up mixed emotions. While on the surface it would appear a great opportunity for the kids to experience a F1 event and be in close proximity to their idols, the optics of this live would be mixed at best. Adolescence thrown into the razzmatazz of race day, cars being pushed into their spots, engineers, celebrities, camera men and presenters milling through the grid, kind of leaves me with doubt if this is the right approach. It is potentially a hazardous environment and no place for kids. But we would have to see how this works out. I wonder how each hosting nation would respond to this.