In the film “The Arrival” a language expert established communication with some exotic visitors from outer space. Well, something similar is happening in F1, but the chosen dialect and accent worries some.
FIA and the organizers of the fastest and most expensive event on the planet have prepared their geostrategy with a view to the future. In the calculator they get that without Audi and Porsche it’s fine, but infinitely better with them inside the corral, and for various reasons.
At the end of the first decade, the flight of brands became almost one of those wildebeest migrations that are seen on TVE’s La 2 in the afternoons. The crocodile of the crisis caused by the real estate bubble devoured people like Toyota, BMW, and Honda. Renault joined the disbandment by selling the tackle to Genii Capital, which set up Lotus, but they remained as motorists.
The first restless is the rider of the prancing horse
The federatives reacted, they opened their hands to the arrival of three new formations… however the smiles did not last long. The idea was to avoid the presence of manufacturers, and make way for racing teams whose core business was to participate in the sport and not depend on selling cars. Went wrong. None of those three projects fulfilled five years; only Caterham ran a fifth season, but he marooned it to file for bankruptcy before New Year’s Eve.
The power of Mercedes
The grid shrank and the direct consequence, less visible, but evident, was give wide sleeve to Mercedes, allow them things that nobody else, in exchange for their shining presence, and that they mount their propellers in 40% of the grid. Today, four out of every ten registered cars have a chrome star tattooed on their epidermis. This leads many to affirm, and not without reason, that Toto Wolff, the firm’s visible face in the category, has too much power as a mere participant.
Having chained eight consecutive titles, and having a certain degree of decision-making power based on the three client teams plus their own, seems in the eyes of many, excessive. If to this we add that rumor that suggests that the star’s brothers received privileged information prior to the arrival of the current hybrid engines, or that of those very illegal tests in Montmeló with FIA looking the other way, it is obvious that they played with an advantage.
The diatribe comes when the second largest car manufacturer in the world market —Volkswagen— is about to land in the paddock, and many are already sniffing out a new version of the same thing. There is a defining detail and it is that not one but two twin brothers arrives, Porsche and Audi. The mating ritual has been long, and in it there are traces that the new engine regulations have been created with several ingredients, and one has been to satisfy the requests of the new candidates. The new half-hybrid propellants between what is going to push synthetic gasoline and the energy regenerator, fit within the foreseeable industrial policy of the automobile group and there is anger.
The first restless is the rider of the prancing horse, although logical, it should not. In the current six-cylinder hybrid architecture, its political weight in the category decided that number, because in principle there were going to be four; they are half a dozen pistons just because they hit four voices releasing that from “eye, I have the right to veto”.
For some time now, and for whatever reason, Mercedes seems to want to gradually move away from the category; their rumored departure as a team dissipated, but the company, the brand, no longer has the weight it once had. In fact, they only own a third of the team that bears his name and for a time there was even talk of a name change towards the partner Ineos. If we add to this that they no longer lead the tables, their casting vote is a trifle away from losing their footing in favor of a new rising sun, and that star king could well be… the German Twins.
Porsche and Audi
Porsche would enter motorizing Red Bull and Audi would take over Sauber -current Alfa Romeo-. At the moment it would be, predictably, 20% of the grid (if they do not agree with anyone else, that everything can be). If we weigh the contribution of the political quota that the always sensitive chapter of the engines contributes, from the outset and in the worst case, this would give it twice the political weight that Renault, the same as Honda today, and the same than Ferrari when it loses Alfa Romeo. There is talk that Mercedes wants to liquidate its agreement with at least one of its clients, Williams is suspected. This would lower their influence, which could well travel to the Porschaudites.
The first reflection that this could happen is going to happen right in its place of origin: Germany. the deutschegepe it held its last test in 2019, and immediately afterwards it disappeared from the calendar after years of problems, alternations and crises of various kinds; in fact it disappeared in 2007, 2015 and 2017. But if Mercedes and its sweeping dominance was not able to return a historic race to its home country, when it joins the new ones, it is possible that they will end up leveraging it and the Germans will once again see racing in their backyard.
Let no one be surprised if the subject is stirred up again in this sense, so that in the end it happens or not, the matter is something to talk about, either at Hockenheim or at the Nurburgring. It should not be forgotten that this mating ritual is not two-way, but should be considered at least as a trio. To FIA and Volkswagen we must add Liberty Media, which does not set engine rules, although they do negotiate with the circuits. The yankees are growing the business like never before, have fought a pandemic with dignity and efficiency, and are earning more money than ever. It is clear that they are extremely efficient managers, and one of their subjects is to make the lions of their circus happy.
If it lands back in Germany, and we are talking about 2026 onwards, other tracks will have to disappear from the picture. The fear of change, especially for purists, is respectable, but few things on the face of the Earth more alive, mutating and variable than Formula 1. Aerodynamic configurations arrive, engines with different skins, Halos, races with double distribution of points, strange destinations, driving stars that disappear and not much happens; life goes on, everything advances, and even grows. So it can be said that in the long term the decisions have never been bad but unpopular… temporarily.
And for popular, the saying: ‘a king dead, king put’; however, in F1 nobody wants another long-distance monarchy no matter how meritocratic it may be, but rather a republic with equal parliamentary representation. From this it is desired that the first concessions that have been made to those who arrive with the idea of favoring their access, be the last.
In the film that gives this chip its name, actress Amy Adams plays a language expert who reveals the key to communication with aliens (WARNING, SPOILERS). The key is that with the language of the space squid in the movie, the future was guessed. If you take into account that the director of the film was the Canadian Denis Villeneuve, you already have the complete joke. On the German asphalt they could well put a graffiti where to read “Salut, Audi und Porsche, but don’t overdo it”.