Fresh on the heels of Caterham Sports, Ltd.’s dive into administration four days ago, Marussia has declared bankruptcy, putting the cherry on top of a cake nobody wants to take a bite out of. FRP Advisory has taken over the administration duties and has said that employees will be paid until the end of the month, but that further payments will be based upon whether the company gets a new investor. Marussia, named for the Russian auto manufacturer that existed from 2007-14, has been a less-than-stellar performer financially, with Forbes claiming that since 2010, Marussia had lost over $228.6 million dollars. Currently Marussia has been given the same waiver to miss the American and Brazillian Grand Prix that Caterham has.
As if the financial issues weren’t bad enough, Marussia is still dealing with the effects of Jules Bianchi’s crash at Suzuka earlier this month during the Japanese Grand Prix. Driving on a soaked track due to the incoming Typhoon Phanfone, Bianchi lost control of his car and slammed into a mobile crane that was removing Adrian Stuli’s Sauber race car. The impact was so hard that the crane was lifted off of the ground. Bianchi has suffered a diffuse axonal brain injury (common in extreme deceleration events) among other head injuries and remains, per the most updated reports, in the intensive care unit at Mie University in Yokkaichi, Japan.
More proof that F1 sucks. If you aren’t Ferrari, Mercedes, or Red Bull, you are not going to win and will spend yourself out of existence.
Soon they’ll all have the same engines, bodies etc, Li’L Bernie will still be a multi billionaire and the races will cost a small fortune to attend. If you listen closely you can hear the swirling sound.
I will have to out myself as a tree-hugging naturalist by saying this, but I believe the direction of F1 is now in a state of evolution. This current trend will cause more teams to fold up shop until there isn’t enough room for competition, and either the administration will reconfigure F1, or loss of popular support due to such dramatic loss of participation will cause the sport to change out of necessity for survival. The latter sounds considerably more plausible.
Either way, I’m curious where this goes.
First off . Been a fan since 1965 . Been privileged to view it from the inside on a few occasions .. and up till about five years ago was an avid defender of the sport .
So I’ll say in response .. F1 is not in ‘ evolution ‘ ‘ transition ‘ etc . What it has become is an overly complicated mess that even the major teams [ witness Ferrari Red Bull and McLaren this year ] cannot figure out . As well as heading rapidly towards the Professional Wrestling Scripted Outcomes spectacle versus Sport that NASCAR has been for the last ten years
As far as ‘ green ‘ is concerned . Any attempt of F1 to portray any aspect of what it does as ‘ Green ‘ is abject and utter pretense at its finest . With very few folks along the way falling for it
So as the ‘ Sport ‘ disappears … the Script becomes the norm … and complicated rules designed intentionally to serve a very few continue on in the quest of pretense and marketing … F1 is in the process of self implosion … not ‘ transition … and definitely NOT evolution
End result ? As with all major motorsports today unfortunately . We’re witnessing F1’s eventual demise as it happens
And yet another one .. that anyone with a modicum of business sense could of seen coming from a mile [ or a 100 ] away .. Bites the Dust !
Next up ? All bets are .. in order of failing ;
#1 Force India
#2 Lotus [ hopefully not taking Lotus Automotive down with them ]
#3 Sauber
On the ” Will Never See the Light of a Competitive Day ” category ?
Haas F1
Why ? That one’s fairly simple . Take rules that are constantly and drastically fluctuating – A gallon of ‘ Head in the Sand ‘ mentality coming from Bernie and the FIA … Add in a healthy dose of self serving greed from the FIA and Bernie – Toss in a massive amount of delusion on the part of individuals and smaller manufactures clueless about the realities of F1 – A rapidly diminishing audience .. both live and on TV – sprinkle a generous amount of a World Economy on the Brink … thereby diminishing sponsorship massively [ when a team like McLaren is incapable of attracting a primary sponsor you know things are bad ] .. and finally serve over the reality that racing as a whole worldwide regardless of the series is on a serious decline … and …
Well … you get the picture rather quickly
Assuming you’re paying attention that is
PS ; Bryan and the BS staff … I is not … never has been … nor will ever be a freaking godawful Spambot .. So would you get the goram system to quit assuming that I might already !!!!!!