So it seems that Bernie Ecclestone wants to see just eight teams compete in the F1, running three cars each. The reason behind this is that he believes “If you don’t have the finances, just quit.” But my argument is that this will turn F1 into a like-for-like race instead of having underdogs and wild cards like we do now. If Bernie wants to sort out the finances of the F1 circuit then maybe he should consider other options...
I think that we would all agree that underneath the hype of the F1 drivers and their status, the real importance lies in the Constructor’s Championship and who has managed to build the winning car. So, when we hear rumours that customer cars may be re-introduced to the F1 scene to help teams that are struggling to finance the manufacture of their own cars, how do we feel? On one hand I would just love to see one of the smaller teams get their hands on a de-badged Ferrari and see what they can do with it. That would prove where the driving talent lies! On the other hand I am not sure how fair it would be to let two or three of the top manufacturers dominate the podium due to the inflated amount of cars they have on the track – and this is bound to happen due to the manufacturing prowess of the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari. On a personal level, I get a buzz from seeing a smaller team get close to beating a larger team during a race. It doesn’t happen often but it certainly livens up the viewing when it does! Would we miss out on viewing these battles if there were more of the same manufactured cars on the track, ultimately forcing the smaller teams into back-marker oblivion? If I put my sensible helmet on for a minute, I can see that introducing customer cars may be a way of helping the financially unstable teams continue to compete in F1, and with two teams going into administration in the last month, we really should consider this as a viable option. Would I rather see this happen than see teams unable to compete because repayments, maintenance and manufacturing are just too expensive? I’m on the fence, karters. I’m intrigued to hear your thoughts. Join the conversation on Twitter with @karting