That’s all it is until the Formula One circus hits the asphalt again, starting off in Melbourne, Australia (for those of you that don’t know) on 6th March. I think that most of you know that I am a big F1 fan, so this is a big event for me. I am really hopeful that this coming season will be more competitive than last season. At the moment, Ferrari is behind in the speed stakes, based on testing results, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they were sandbagging, I really hope not. The McLaren’s are looking fast, as are Renault and Williams, BAR are suffering from reliability issues at the moment, so I hope they can iron out their issues before Melbourne, as they are also very fast in pre-season testing. Another thing I am keen to find out is if the new Red Bull Racing team, and of course, David Couthard can be anywhere near the front of the grid this season, I really hope they will be challenging for points finishes straight away, but I wont be holding my breath on that.
Right, onto the serious business, money, and Ferrari. At the moment, Ferrari get a much higher percentage of monies from Formula One Management (FOM) than the other teams. Which the other teams are not happy about, and the rumblings of teams making a mass exodus to the GPWC is still continuing, with McLaren being the first to threaten to leave F1 in favour of the GPWC if the money situation isn’t levelled out by the end of the current Concorde agreement with FOM and the FIA. Other engine suppliers have expressed interest in the GPWC, notably Honda and Toyota, joining Mercedes, Renault and BMW, which could leave Ferrari the only team in F1 after 2007 as they have already signed a big money deal with Bernie Ecclestone to stay in F1 until 2012. I think that it’s only fair that all teams in the championship should be given the same amount of money, to create a more level playing field. I have long said that Ferrari and Michael Schumacher has too much power in Formula One, and get away with a hell of a lot more than other teams on the grid. This really needs to change, or Max Mosely and Bernie Ecclestone could find that F1 will amount to nothing after 2007, and it would serve them right for screwing other teams over!
And that concludes my first F1 rant of 2005!