Will the FIA learn from its own failings?

Posted on 25/06/2010

The US F1 headquarters before it all went south © US F1

Like Goliath's timid brother emerging from hiding behind the bike shed to kick an unconscious David, the FIA has finally got tough on US F1.

The FIA fined it – given US F1 is bust all that means is the FIA conveniently won’t hand back its registration fee – and banned it from future events, which was about as likely as HRT winning the European Grand Prix this weekend.

While much of the blame for the US F1 farce must lie with its own bosses, what the FIA ought to admit is that it failed to even come close to carrying out anything resembling sufficient controls and checks until the situation was terminal. Why was it that raucous alarm bells emanating from US F1’s Charlotte headquarters were being reported by the media long before anyone in a position to investigate lifted a finger.

The hope is that behind this sham of being seen to be doing something, privately the FIA has learnt from its own inadequacies.

F1 has nothing to fear from Indy 500

Posted on 02/06/2010

'The general impression after an hour or so was of confusion, albeit highlighted by some remarkable crashes' © AP

Once the dust had settled on the Turkish Grand Prix last Sunday I went home, sat down with a cold beer and watched the Indianapolis 500, introduced with unabashed hype by the slick ABC presenter as “the greatest race in the capital of world motorsports”.

I have to confess this is the first time I have watched the Indy500 throughout. I must also confess that once the initial excitement had worn off, I found it all a bit repetitive. With cars going round a relatively small oval, before long it was hard to see who was where in the field, the consistently-changing camera angles and commercial breaks did not help, and the broadcasters regularly cut to pre-recorded interviews with drivers while reducing the live event to a small background screen. The general impression after an hour or so was of confusion, albeit highlighted by some remarkable crashes.

Clearly, the fans love it and it’s an American institution. But I was left wondering if it’s a bit like the Boat Race is to the British. A must-see event but not because of the content so much as the tradition and for the rest of the year the sport quietly chugs along away from mainstream consciousness.

As a biased F1 fan I ended the day confident that once the FIA gets it act together and finds a place for the USA in its calendar (the jury remains out on Austin) then it’s IndyCar that has a lot more to fear from F1 than the other way round.