British Grand Prix: Is Formula One turning into the America’s Cup?

Just a quick post.  I’m just watching the coverage of the British Grand Prix, and thinking about the fallout between the FIA and the main Formula One teams.  I’m starting to realise that this may begin to mirror what has happened in the America’s cup.  When teams become more powerful than the event organisers, you have a power struggle which can impact on the entire sport.

With teams controlling so much power over the governing body, you just need a difference in opinion to spark a break down in communications.  Just like the America’s cup, teams should not be able to hold the sport to ransom when things go against them.  However, for this to happen, the governing body HAS to listen to what the teams want, and it is here that I feel the issue is.

I don’t claim to have the answer to this, and if I did I’m sure I’d be a rich man.  However, I do know that the teams and governing bodies seem to forget that the people who matter the most to them are not the sponsors, manufacturers, FIA or team owners, but the people who tune in every weekend to watch the racing.  What they are doing is damaging the sport will driving away fans, and it is this consideration that they should be making.  Instead of arguing amongst themselves, they need to step back and think “the fans want this, so lets do it”.  Both Formula One and the America’s Cup need to stop arguing amongst themselves, and think about the fans.

America’s Cup shenanigans

Is anyone else sick and tired of waiting for Alinghi and BMW Oracle to sort things out in the courts?  They’ve been arguing over the rules for far too long.  I know it goes a lot deeper than this, but I’m starting to think the America’s cup has been flawed since the start.  Basically (very basically), the winning team has the rights to change the rules so long as they have a few sailing clubs to back up their decision.  Alinghi invented a club to allow them to push a set of ridiculous rules through that are unsportsmanlike and completely unfair for the other competitors, and court cases ensued.

I don’t want to discuss why all of this has happened, I quite frankly I don’t really care.  All I know is that it’s about time that Alinghi took a step back and stopped trying to ensure their victory before racing even begins, and start to wonder what state the competition will be like if they do indeed ever get to sail in it again.  If they manage to win the next cup, it’s going to feel so cheap that I imagine not many people would give them credit for the victory.  Is that .worth the time, effort and money? I don’t think so, and I hope they realise this sometime soon.

Oh, and yes, I used the word “shenanigans”.  I’m starting a campaign to bring it back.  I’ve had little success so far…