Arrrows Racing R.I.P.

mike65

No surprise I guess with nearly half the last season missed
but Arrows dispite paying the "entry fee" to next seasons F1
circus have been refused permision to race by the FIA. The compnay is in negotiations with a German finance house but it looks like its all over for now at least.

So it'll be (at best) 20 cars on the grid and I would'nt mind betting
it could be a couple less. It looks like Jordan will end Eddie Irvines career for cost reasons as they look to plug thier fiscal gap. Hard times for F1. Just a few years ago Eleclestone looked to float the whole thing on the stock market and make everyone fabulously richer. That seems a long time ago.

Mike.

chernobyl

Theres no such thing as hard times for F1 as they are all fabulously rich already.
Personally i cant wait for the new season to begin but im also in tears with the loss of my Digital coverage.
Arrows..long time coming but that is the team Ford should have originally raced not Stewart.

tHE vAGGABOND

yea when simple things cost 40 million and **** like that, its not like they are down to their last pair of socks

F1 is boring, and with fewer teams, and a few more on dodgy ground (like Jordan for example) it will end up as 4 or 5 teams racing for 3rd place and below behind Ferrari - thats great fun init

chernobyl

Vagga, i think most ppl like you are just products of Bernie Eccelstones TV generation.

You may be a casual viewer and will watch the odd race, but for the last 5 years i can assure you that you have been seing the dull side of the coin.

Unfortunately TV coverage was divided in two and simply this meant: good = PPV and bad = Free.
It also did not help when Bernie decided that some local cowboy team in Italy or Hungary would produce the coveage for their own races.

Back in the "good ol days"..up to 95, F1 coverage was straight and simple, everyone had the same and it was al produced by a central body: FOCA, and everyone saw great racing.

Just because of a few silly rule changes did not mean the death of racing in F1, it does live but unfortunately not on the TV's of all viewers.

I have enjoyed spectacular races between even two "stand in" drivers...the racing is there and next year the coverage will match it and for free.

tHE vAGGABOND

chernobyl - I used to be a big fan to be honest. I watched many races on a Sunday etc. IMHO F1 was at its peak, in my memory of watching anyway when Senna and Prost were at each others throats. But even at their worst, when williams and McLaren were winning everything in the late 80's it was never this boring. At least there was a handful of drivers who could win things.

Its not down to the standard to TV, or any of that stuff..

Its like Scotish football now, boring as there is no competition..

jonno

With Arrows going bust an' all Enrique Bernoldi has entered the fray for a seat at Jordan. That would be nice. Anyone remember him holding Coulthard in Monaco two years ago. Classic.

Irvine isn't out of it yet though. EJ has a big decision to make:

1) Take Irvine with his experience of teh Cosworth engine and pay for it too,

2) Take Massa, the new rising, promising star on the grid, or

3) Take Bernoldi with that lovely juicy Red Bull sponsership.

Mmmmmmmmm decisions, decisions.

I say take Irvine or Bernoldi?

chernobyl

I cant speak about F1 in the 80's to a geat extent as i only started watching in 91 but what i can say is the difference between now and then is that progressively the emphasis on the quality of the driver has been removed and then with TC and LC it has become a joke.

F1 had become too centered on the Technology and it would prove a bitch to remove it.
[90's speak]Teams like Ferrari but mostly Williams pride themselves on race teams centered on engineering..Willaims won many WC/DC's but did they ever have the best driver whilst doing it?
Again with Mclaren in 98/99, Mika is/was a great racer (and performed the best over taking move i have ever seen in Spa) but Schumacher was the best then and is the best ever but he still lost.

..but the tables have turned now, the best engineering teamin the pit lane has the best driver too..prepare yourself for more of the same next year..but this qualifying system will add drama..no doubt!


You wanna see a great over take?

check it here

Most ballsey move ever..imo!

Schumacher and Mika going 200mph up the kemmel straight in Spa and its like a move straight from TopGun.

Kalina

Pity about Arrows, I was hoping to see a new team on the grid in the next 2-3 years rather than losing one.

chernobyl

There will be new teams, there has to be.
The current climate in advertising means its very hard for a team to find the key backers for this sport and with tobacco laws getting so tight the magor sponser of F1 is being booted out.

Over the next 3 years the technology in F1 is also going to be scaled back to a big extent, so where does that leave teams backed by big tech companies?

The costs will have to be cut back big time..i mean just to compete in your first year you must give the FIA a £60m bond which you get back...but still.