JUNE 7, 2009

Stories of boycotts

The Formula 1 is getting very excited this morning about the suggestion that the FOTA teams might not race this afternoon. This does not seem very credible at the moment. It is hard to imagine that Brawn and Red Bull Racing, both of which are caught in the middle of the FIA-FOTA fight, are going to give up the opportunity to collect more points.

The Formula 1 is getting very excited this morning about the suggestion that the FOTA teams might not race this afternoon. This does not seem very credible at the moment. It is hard to imagine that Brawn and Red Bull Racing, both of which are caught in the middle of the FIA-FOTA fight, are going to give up the opportunity to collect more points. If only the manufacturer teams stop the protest would not be that impressive. The race can do without Ferrari, Renault, Toyota and BMW Sauber. And McLaren-Mercedes is currently too far back to really worry much.

If they do pull out it will be a rather less damaging protest than the United States GP in 2005 as there are no spectators to worry about in Turkey...

It is more likely that if there is going to be any action it will come after the list is published, rather than in the days before the announcements are made. That would be viewed as an aggressive action and the one thing that FOTA has consistently shied away from is any such action. Doing something now makes no sense at all.

We believe that the race will go ahead without a protest this afternoon.