Now Renault & Red Bull Threaten to Quit F1 - Crisis Talks in London Tomorrow

Following the recent announcements from Toyota and Ferrari, Renault and Red Bull Racing have also now threatened to pull out of Formula 1 if radical changes are not made to the proposed 2010 budget cap.

In an effort to resolve the dispute, Formula 1 teams are due to meet Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone at a London hotel on Friday.

FIA boss Mosley, has attempted to railroad through a "voluntary" budget cap of £40m for the 2010 season. Teams opting for the budget cap would be allowed greater technical freedom than those operating outside the arrangement.

Whilst it is clearly imperative that the untenable levels of spending in Formula 1 are reigned in, at the same time it is absolutely non sensical to have cars from different teams operating under different technical regulations.

Teams wishing to enter the 2010 season have until the 29th May to submit their applicationsd.

With barely two weeks to go to this deadline the teams and the FIA are playing a high stakes poker game - as usual with scant regard to ordinary F1 fans.

Clearly with half the grid threatening to pull out of the 2010 season some form of compromise solution will have to be hammered out over the next few weeks and months.

Ferrari threaten to quit F1 in 2010

Following the recent announcement of Max Mosley's proposed 2010 Formula 1 budget cap, Ferrari have today threatened to quit the sport if it is not rescinded.

This is clearly an idle threat.

The plain fact is, Ferrari needs Formula 1 and Formula 1 needs Ferrari.

Love them or hate them, Ferrari is an essential element of any Formula 1 season.

Ferrari may, as has been mooted in the past, try to set up or join a rival manufacturers championship. However, in the current financial climate do they really think this could be achiveable bearing in mind the costs involved in setting up a new championship from scratch?

On a practical note, Ecclestone has exclusive deals with all the circuits currently used for Formula 1 grand prix races so finding suitable venues (apart from tracks owned by Ferrari) would be difficult.

Do they think the public would really be interested in watching a race series with a handfull of different cars on the grid?

Mosley and Co would be cutting off their noses to spite their faces too if Ferrari were to pull out after more than half a century. Television audiences would plummet and ergo advertising revenues.

As is usual in Formula 1 nowadays the last people to be considered by either the F1 teams or the sport's governing body are the fans who ultimately pay their inflated wages!

Greedy Ecclestone's Malaysian GP Fiasco

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone's decision to delay the start time of the Malaysian Grand Prix, despite advice from the locals, was yet another example of how he runs the sport - like a private fiefdom with no regard to the fans and purely to further line his already bulging pockets.

The usual start time for the race was delayed allegedely to enable viewers in Europe to watch the Grand Prix whilst eating their breakfast on the Sunday morning rather than having to get up at an unearthly hour.

The true reason was so that Mr Ecclestone could sell more attractive television advertising slots and feed his greed once more.

As predicted by the locals, the race was rain affected and could not be completed due to failing light making it unsafe to continue.

I don't imagine Mr Ecclestone will consider reimbursing the Malaysian fans who had saved up their hard earned cash to see a full Grand Prix or those who spent thousands of pounds travelling from Europe or North America.

BBC 1 F1 Commentary Team - Could it be any worse ??

The long anticipated 2009 Formula 1 season kicked off in Australia last weekend.

I, no doubt in the company of many thousands of like minded petrol heads across the UK, dragged myself out of my lovely warm cosy bed at the crack of dawn on the Sunday morning to "enjoy" the BBC's new coverage of the sport.

A coverage without irritating ad breaks after every five laps, I thought, and, even more importantly,.... a coverage without that reedy voiced twat James Allen who had not, (thank God), been invited to cross over the channels from ITV.

Could this possibly be as a result of Sniff Petrol's long running "Stop the Cock" campaign? We will probably never know for sure.

What a dissapointment. It was dull, dull, dull.

To my horror it would appear that the BBC have decided to employ their own replacement for the Cock - one Jonathan Legard.

Who's he? I hear you ask. Yes, the same question has crossed my mind too!

As the transmission went on, I felt my hand wandering towards the screen as if it wanted to reach towards his neck to end his incessant torrent of drivel.

Perhaps Sniff Petrol will have to start a new campaign?

Why oh why couldn't the BBC have enticed Murray Walker out of retirement or given the job to a decent commentator like Ben Edwards?

In their infinate wisdom, the BBC have employed another wooden plank - Jake Humphrey.

He appears to be as enthusiastic about Formula 1 as I am about ballet dancing!

Add to that a drippy pit lane reporter - Lee McKenzie (the poor cow looked like a rabbit in the headlights when interviewing Lewis Hamilton) and the biggest whinger in Formula 1, David Coulthard.

The only small ray of sunshine, apart from the Beeb's one sensible decision - to keep Martin Brundle on board, was when Eddie Jordan had a dig at that smarmy self publicist Richard Branson.

Eddie asked, Why had Branson suddenly decided to sponsor a Formula 1 team now?

Branson started to spout some tosh about not wanting to see a wonderful British team go down the pan (Honda??? - British???) blah blah.

Eddie countered with - What about all the letters the BRITISH team Jordan had sent to Virgin over the years asking for sponsorship?

An embarassed Branson quickly changed the subject......

You can read the L2F Australian GP report here

Welcome to the Lights 2 Flag Blog

A very warm welcome to the Lights 2 Flag blog.

This blog is written by a forty something motor sports fan who was brought up within earshot of the world famous Brands Hatch motor circuit in Kent, UK.

Over the coming months I hope you will enjoy reading my personal thoughts and observations on the unfolding 2009 motor racing season from Formula 1 to all the tin top action.

You are welcome to leave your comments and feedback at any time!