F1 fans are strange animals and I’m not claimimg we’re representing them all, anyway, it got me the paddock pass at Jerez so I intend to continue. It’s a great life, to quote Bono.

Looking forward to more posts about the forum, I’m dying with curiosity.

nice design and good content.

I can take credit for the latter but not the former. Excellent work by mono-lab.

I’m hearing you can buy your entrance to the forum, costs around €1500 + you get one entrance for free, is that correct?

I think it’s around that. Press accreditation is a bit cheaper (ie free) provided you have an outlet. A letter from a decent enough one should do the trick.

By the way, I’m hearing you can buy your entrance to the forum, costs around €1500 + you get one entrance for free, is that correct? Would love to hang around next year if we manage to put together a budget.

I’d obviously like to ask a few question to all the speakers.

That charcteristic applies to almost every aspect of the management of the sport. We have seen them recruit manufacturers and then claim the moral highground when it was obvious the manufacturers were going to leave. Most sensible commenters on the sport predicted the departure of the manufacturers at the time they were being recruited. Nigel Roebuck wrote column after column saying manufacturers would disappear as soon as the economy dipped and if they owned the majority of the teams they could seriously affect the sport.

We had the insane franchise system which was supposed to lock the manufacturers in as if the franchise was some kind of financial derivative with an inherent value. In the end they turned out to be junk bonds and we are now back to 26 cars without the need for each to represent a premium brand.

We had the re-invention of the laws of physics in 1998 when it was decided that more overtaking would happen of mechanical grip was reduced and the emphasis was on aerodynamic grip. Now that has been turned on its head but for the very same reason. Clearly the FIA has no concept of logic when it can espouse two opposite courses of action and expect to reach the same end regardless which course is taken.

As one of Max’s knockers I see no reason to give him plaudits for spotting something years after everyone else especially when he caused the problem in the first place.

Mosley has his knockers (although I’m sure they’ve all been paid for) but it’s clear that his single-minded attack on costs – and his determination to allow new teams in – was the correct course of action, even though it made for some rancour.

But wasn’t it Mosley who courted the manufacturers into F1 and let costs spiral out of control until it was too late?

I feel like he was shutting the door after the horse had bolted here, but I am glad F1 is going back to the independent team with the manufacturer engine, because that’s the way it always has been. At least now the teams that are in F1 are there for proper reasons – to race and not to sell cars!