F1 progress.

[cosworth151]

I agree about the dangers of the big manufacturers taking over the sport. They are in it for their own reasons and will leave whenever it suits them. Ford is a good example of that. The private constructors have to look after the best interests of the sport because that is the heart of their business.

[Monty]

We shouldn't forget that it was the manufacturers that started the sport. Without Auto Union, Maserati, Ferrari, et al, perhaps we wouldn't have F1. I think the main problem is just that F1 is now a business, not a sport. Berni decides where the races will be, what the tracks will look like, etc. based on where the biggest revenues will be earnt. I was treated to a Corporate F1 day. It was all champagne and canopes. I was one of only a handful that watched the racing yet I knew loads of real enthusiasts had failed to get tickets.

[johnbull]

Agreed. F1 is business - big business these days. But is it any better for it.

Personally I say it isn't. Everything is synthetic, even the circuits and the racing itself. I mean we even accept the fact that at the end of the hour of qualifying the fastest driver isn't on pole. Why?

And Flav wants to make it even more synthetic by starting the winner of race 1 from 8th in race 2 - ala WTC and GP2.

Give me honest, pure unadulterated F1 any day. Mansell and Piquet banging wheels on the run up to Druids. Villeneuve and Arnoux. Mansell and Senna.

What is happening!