DECEMBER 14, 2006

Mosley talks of promotion and relegation once more

FIA President Max Mosley is talking about promotion and relegation again, hoping to create a structure in which the top GP2 team could move into Formula 1 and the weaker F1 teams could drop out of the sport. This is quite possible from a sporting regulation point of view but is rather more difficult in reality as the financial leap from one series to the other would be, on the one hand, collosal for the GP2 teams and, on the other, disastrous for the F1 team.

The only sensible way that could be achieved would be with financial assistance to the team being promoted and a "parachute" payment to keep an F1 team alive. The big question is therefore where the money would come from and as F1 does not have a central fund for such matters, it is hard to see that happening - and it is certainly not a priority for the F1 teams as they are more keen on creating a central marketing fund to move the team forward.

The up-side of the idea is that those with money might in the future be willing to buy a top GP2 if they have the cash to get into F1 but cannot find a team to buy.