Welcome to Sunday’s edition of the RaceFans round-up.
Comment of the day
Formula One Management has begrudgingly opened its doors to Cadillac, at a price, but Roger argues teams shouldn’t have to pay their way in:
I will always maintain the view that the grid should be capped at 13 teams/26 cars and if there are fewer than that then any team should be granted an entry so long as they have the facilities to design/build/maintain and run two cars with drivers ready and willing to drive them. If you want to have a 107% rule then fine.
We shouldn’t have this ridiculous anti competition nonsense where the barrier to entry to so high that it’s basically impossible to get an entry and where only the big manufacturer’s are given any serious consideration.
Heck i’d even say go back to the days of granting more than 13 teams season entries but keeping the 26 car grid cap meaning that you have teams having to qualify with some going home should they not make the top 26 in qualifying. No guaranteed entries, Just the fastest 26 after qualifying.
@Roger-Ayles
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Jere (@jerejj)
19th January 2025, 6:19
107% rule has been in place since 2011 when it return from a long hiatus.
MichaelN
19th January 2025, 13:16
Pre-qualifying is not really feasible in this era where even basic engine operation takes a dedicated team of manufacturer-provided engineers. The economics just don’t make sense.
But it’s very true that F1’s rules say it has room for 26 cars. Everything less than that should be considered an incomplete grid, and great allowances ought to be made to fill those vacancies.
Unfortunately, especially since Liberty was threatened into changing the pay-out structure by Sauber and Force India making overt moves to complain to the EU, the teams have made getting free money a part of their business strategy. Just look at the third-rate sponsors that many of the slower teams have. And how few they bother to sign a contract with. They know they’ll just get a big cut of the $1.2 billion (2023 numbers) payout despite being a complete non-factor in the championship. This has predictably made them very anxious about seeing more teams.
None of this would matter if Jean Todt hadn’t given so much power to FOM in the current Concorde Agreement, by which FOM has a deciding voice in the entry of new teams (something that is not a part of the actual F1 rules, which gives all of that power to the FIA). The Concorde Agreement ends with this coming season, so it’ll be interesting to see how that influences, or is influenced by, the FIA presidential election.
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
19th January 2025, 15:38
They say they want to make Friday’s more meaningful then having more than 26 entries and then using the Friday practice sessions as a form of pre-qualifying to decide what 26 cars make it through to qualifying proper would be more interesting than the sprint format in that it would add that bit of extra relevance to the practice sessions.
I do agree with the principle that if the grid limit is 26 cars and we have fewer than that then potential new entries should be allowed in to fill the grid with less stringent entry requirements as what we have ended up with & I’d even go as far as allowing single car entries again.
I of course get that they don’t want a situation like what was seen in the 80s/early 90s where we had some truly hopeless entries (Andrea Moda been the obvious example) but I hate how it’s become as locked down as it has and really would like to see it opened up so we can return to full 26 car grids.
El Pollo Loco
19th January 2025, 22:35
It’d be great for F1 and fans, but have F1 has gotten too expensive and complex for teams to join the grid without a guaranteed place on the grid.
Keefy
19th January 2025, 22:44
I agree entirely with COTD. Absolutely spot on!