Strategy Group Tag

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Force India and Sauber have withdrawn their anti-competitive complaints with the European Union. The first course of action from the two Formula 1 teams dated back to 2015, with grievances that alleged over unequal distribution of revenue, as well as the structure of the Strategy Group. Both teams have been encouraged by meetings with Liberty Media, which led to the dropped issue. The joint release can be seen below. — We have decided to withdraw the complaint we lodged with the European Commission in 2015 onRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor The letter worked! Just hours after all 11 teams unanimously signed a letter demanding the old qualifying system of 2006-2015 be reinstated, it has been reinstated! Miraculously Bernie Ecclestone, Jean Todt and the FIA went down without a fight this time and agreed to terms the teams, drivers and fans have been calling for since qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix on March 19th. Once rubber stamped by the Strategy Group, the F1 Commission and lastly the World Motorsport Council, the return to the tried and true qualifyingRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The new qualifying format that Formula One implemented for the start of the 2016 season has been scrapped after teams and the FIA met following a horrendous qualifying session on Saturday for the Australian Grand Prix. The live-elimination system has been ditched in favor of the previous format that will be used for the next round in Bahrain. The rule change will still need to be approved by the Strategy Group and F1 Commission before it can be sent to the World Motor Sport Council, asRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor After a series of fraught meetings in Geneva for the Strategy Group and the F1 Commission, officials have announced that the teams have reached an agreement on some of the changes for 2017, while a full consensus has been delayed to a new April 30th deadline in order for the finer details of the plan to be ironed out. After basic decisions about the future of the sport regarding an engine cost cap for 2018, and a baffling odd change to the qualifying system, F1 bosses haveRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor With the Strategy Group and the F1 Commission both meeting today in a series of last ditch efforts to draft new rules for 2017, 2018 and beyond; a series of announcements are set to stream out of Geneva over the following days that will have massive implications for the sport. The first of these broke today with changes to the now, well established qualifying format. What replaces the tried and true system is a gimmicky scheme that surely has Bernie Ecclestone rubbing his hands with glee. QualifyingRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor Last Friday representatives from all 11 Formula One teams met with Charlie Whiting at Heathrow to finalize the 2017 rule book. It was a spectacular failure and since then the countdown to come to an agreement has begun ticking. A second meeting held this week at Pirelli HQ in Milan saw Pirelli’s chairman Marco Provera and motorsport director Paul Hembery meet with FIA President Jean Todt, Bernie Ecclestone, multiple team bosses and a group of drivers including Sebastian Vettel, Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas.Read More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor Formula One’s four engine manufacturer’s: Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and Honda, have finally agreed to a season cost cap for their customer teams after months of speculation, argument and strife. The soon to be announced deal comes on the heels of two days of meeting in Geneva for the Strategy Group and the F1 Commission. The plan proposed by the engine manufacturer’s calls for a cost cap of €12,000,000 per season for each of their customer teams. It is a significant reduction compared to current costs which haveRead More

In wake of Wednesday’s Strategy Group meeting at Biggin Hill, McLaren-Honda have been granted an additional power unit without penalty for the remainder of the 2015 Formula One season. To help level the playing field, the FIA said an extra power unit is allowed for any new manufacturer entering the sport. Although McLaren is a longtime team in F1, the rules will apply for Honda, who entered the sport in 2015 as the Woking-based team’s power unit supplier. The FIA said the following in a recent statement: “Following the AustrianRead More

Ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, the vast majority of Formula One teams have come out against increasing tire dimensions to 18 inches. Current tire supplier Pirelli and Michelin who have recently expressed interest in F1 are both in favor of such a measure. The marketing behind their decision is simple, as road car tires have grown in diameter, having a more road relevant size will help tie in their motorsport activities with their consumer products. In putting marketing and profit measures ahead of sport, the tire manufacturers andRead More

In a rare sign of unanimous agreement, Formula One has wisely rejected the Strategy Group’s and Bernie Ecclestone’s plan of returning refuelling to the sport in 2017. Refuelling was one of the ways in which the Strategy Group planned to make F1 cars five seconds per lap faster, it was the worst of such strategies. Team Principals met with Charlie Whiting ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix and presented a unified front and concrete evidence that refuelling will not ‘improve the show.’ Aside from the obvious cost increases andRead More