18,000 Revolutions Per Minute - another story of Grand Prix racing (redux)

Aren't you one of those Politibrits?

Sort of.

So, is this about politics?

Nope.

So what is it about then?

Read the title.

Didn't you do something similar?

Yes.

So it's a reboot?

Yes. Hopefully I'll have some more ideas. I'm not planning on writing much prose, just finishing off some unfinished ideas.

Oh OK.

We'll see how it goes.

Let us (re)begin our story now ...
 
Prologue: 5th of November, 2017

Fourth. Again. His team-mate won. Not that he cared. The Prancing Horse winning the Constructors' Championship for the seventeenth time. Some silverware at the end of the season for the first time in his career since some Formula 3 in front of no-one eight years ago. But that year was memorable for another reason. Why he was racing here. Who the twenty nine men in other cars were. Where else they raced. Motorsport is motorsport. It's politics. But for two hours every other Sunday, it's not. It's sport.
 
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Interesting...

Is this going to be about some racer who's trying to make name in the sport? Consider me subscribed!
 
25th of July, 2009

BBC One. Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying
Jonathan Legard: Ted's got some news from the Ferrari garage. Ted?
Ted Kravitz: Thank you Jonathan ... yes, Felipe Massa's car isn't starting. It appears there's some kind of electrical fault. I've got no idea exactly what they're doing but I can see two laptops plugged in to the car and Felipe's out of it with his helmet off.

guardian.co.uk ticker
Hungarian GP Grid: Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Webber. More soon …

Twitter.com/tedkravitz
2151: Hearing that there’s no progress in Concorde Agreement talks – finished for the night.
2200: FOTA will have a press conference on Wednesday in London. Presumably some kind of announcement.

26th of July, 2009

bbc.co.uk – Hamilton wins Hungarian GP as F1 moves towards split
Lewis Hamilton held off a late surge from Sebastian Vettel to take the first win in Formula One for a car equipped with KERS in a race overshadowed by the collapse of negotiations between the Formula One Teams Association, which represents eight out of the ten formula one teams, the FIA and Formula One Management over a new commercial agreement to underpin the sport. The teams are demanding a greater proportion of the sport’s revenue. There was no shortage of drama on the opening lap when Fernando Alonso, who started second on the grid, span at the fourth corner trying to overtake Hamilton. Kimi Raikkonen and Mark Webber fought a tight battle throughout the race with the Finn taking the final podium spot by three tenths of a second. World Championship leader Jenson Button, however, could only muster fifth.
Result: 1st Hamilton (McLaren), 2nd Vettel (Red Bull) 3rd Raikkonen (Ferrari) 4th Webber (Red Bull) 5th Button (Brawn) 6th Kovalainen (McLaren) 7th Alonso (Renault) 8th Rosberg (Williams)
 
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Oooooh, a Formula One TL. Nice.

Consider me subscribed, and let me know if ya want any assistance. :)
 
Oooooh, a Formula One TL. Nice.

Consider me subscribed, and let me know if ya want any assistance. :)

Will do. I seem to remember you posted on the original. As I said, this isn't an exercise in literature (if you want one of them, read Agent Lavender), just an exercise in expelling ideas. I'll drop you a line if there are any ideas I'd like to bounce.
 
Will do. I seem to remember you posted on the original.

I probably did. I'm working on an ASB racing TL myself.

As I said, this isn't an exercise in literature (if you want one of them, read Agent Lavender), just an exercise in expelling ideas. I'll drop you a line if there are any ideas I'd like to bounce.

Works for me. The fact that your OP says 30 cars in F1 is a good thing IMO, no concerns about enough cars on the grid there. :cool:
 
Prologue: 5th of November, 2017

Fourth. Again. His team-mate won. Not that he cared. The Prancing Horse winning the Constructors' Championship for the seventeenth time. Some silverware at the end of the season for the first time in his career since some Formula 3 in front of no-one eight years ago. But that year was memorable for another reason. Why he was racing here. Who the twenty nine men in other cars were. Where else they raced. Motorsport is motorsport. It's politics. But for two hours every other Sunday, it's not. It's sport.

Maybe it might be Jules Bianchi or Bottas because they were in Formula 3 in 2009 in OTL
 
Note: for the avoidance of doubt, pseudonymous social media accounts are fictional characters not based on any particular ill-informed muppet.

29th of July, 2009
FOTA Press Conference, The Science Museum, London, 11am
Martin Whitmarsh: Thank you for coming everybody. On behalf of the teams I have a brief statement to make and then we will take a few questions.
The Grand Prix Teams Association has attempted to negotiate a viable Concorde Agreement to ensure that the elite of motorsport can continue in a way that suits everyone – the manufacturers who build the cars, the circuits, and most importantly of all, the fans. The sport – our sport – cannot continue without control of its own destiny. For that reason, we have made the decision that the best way for our sport to advance is if we plow ahead ourselves. For that reason, the Grand Prix Teams Association has made the decision that its members will not attempt to enter the FIA Formula One World Championship and will, seeking FIA sanctioning, instead compete in a new Grand Prix World Tour that will be organized and promoted by the Grand Prix Teams Association next season. Further, we have invited two additional elite organizations, Prodrive and Epsilon Euskadi to compete next season. The door is also open to any of the teams we are currently competing against who are not members of the GPTA to join us.
The 2016 GPTA World Tour will begin at an existing venue that we will announce later. We are in negotiations with a number of other venues that we will confirm, and aim to run a full championship.
I think I have time to answer a few questions.

Twitter, 11:30am
@WilliamsF1Team: We look forward to competing in the real World Championship next season.
@ForceIndiaF1: Just to confirm, we will be competing in the FIA Formula One World Championhsip next season.
@JamesAllenonF1: Extraordinary scenes. FOTA burn bridges. Split on. Already talk of venues.

TelevisionMole.co.uk forums webchat
IdontknowwhatI’mtalkingabout: So, what F1’s splitting like darts then? Who’s going to be showing it?
Barry_123: Yeah, sounds like they’re adding two new teams – who the hell are these Epsilon Eweskiddy people anyway?
Mr_Motor: Le Mans team, I think. Tried to get in earlier this year, failed.

A corridor, Horseferry Road, London
Isn't something with a little more ... horsepower available?
 
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Oh wow, this is promising. The problem with the split is that with two championships there need to be about twice the amount of drivers - so while one championship (the FOTA one probably) sees Fernando Alonso beat Lewis Hamilton for the title, the other (the FIA one?) sees Nico Hülkenberg beat Kazuki Nakajima. Also, with most of the engine manufacturers going to the FOTA championship, when Toyota, BMW and Renault dropping out as constructors the FOTA championship will lose a lot of its strength. Interested to see where this goes.
 
Oh wow, this is promising. The problem with the split is that with two championships there need to be about twice the amount of drivers - so while one championship (the FOTA one probably) sees Fernando Alonso beat Lewis Hamilton for the title, the other (the FIA one?) sees Nico Hülkenberg beat Kazuki Nakajima. Also, with most of the engine manufacturers going to the FOTA championship, when Toyota, BMW and Renault dropping out as constructors the FOTA championship will lose a lot of its strength. Interested to see where this goes.

Just a note: none of those teams have pulled out (yet?).
 
Interesting. VERY interesting....

One big hiccup is gonna be Ferrari's relationship with the FIA and Ecclestone. (I assume he is the source of this problem like just about every other problem in Formula One?)

The 2010 field (I'm assuming this is 2010, F1 was in no danger of problems in 2013) aside from Ferrari included Red Bull, Mercedes, Lotus, McLaren, Renault, Sauber, Williams, Force India, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Caterham, HRT and Virgin. You already mentioned Williams, and with Whitmarsh being the announcer of the move it makes McLaren part of the GPTA. HRT, Lotus and Virgin were new to the sport and so don't really matter all that much, but where do the others fall? Sauber and Force India are GPTA locks. Red Bull and Scuderia Toro Rosso probably would also side with the GPTA. Mercedes and Renault are wild cards, particularly the former - Mercedes management is more likely to side with the FIA, but the minority investor in the team and Ross Brawn himself are more likely to side with the GPTA. Toyota and BMW were on the way out, and Toyota MIGHT be able to be kept if you can get their management to try to use F1 as a national pride deal after the Tohuku Earthquake, but that's pushing it and endurance racing works better for Toyota's environmental image. BMW's gone, and they aren't likely to come back after their 2009 season was as poor as it was, and the fact that BMW had been in F1 for a decade and had but a handful of wins to show for a $2 Billion+ effort. (This is why BMW prefers now to race touring and GT cars.)

And if F1 breaks into two series, you need a lot more cars on the grid from some place. Where do you get these? USF1 is out of the question (it's gone by now). Prodrive and Epsilon Euskandi siding with the GPTA means they are on that side, too. Of GP2 teams, DAMS, Carlin and ART are probably capable of F1 entries if the possibility was there. Sports car aces Ray Mallock Limited wanted in as well (they could probably make it), as did Italian touring car racers N.Technology (these guys, probably not), but both bailed out during the FIA-FOTA crisis. In 2010 Indycar teams are out of the question aside from maybe Team Penske (and that one is a stretch), and of the sports car world I can only see Rebellion Racing, Onroak Automotive and Strakka Racing finding F1 as a possibility (and the latter is gonna need help, but they are Dome Cars were working on Le Mans Prototype chassis at the time, so that might work). It's hard to find good teams to fill up a grid on either side.
 
Part of the challenge is sorting out the composites. As for the manufacturers, they might have something tasty coming up. Or not. At this point Litespeed/Lotus/Tony Fernandes aren't in F1, they were added months after the PoD. Campos, Virgin-Manor and USF1 are the teams in the pipeline. Will they appear? Who knows ...
 
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