Flavio Briatore, still smarting from the ICA decision, has unleashed a tirade on Brawn GP and a personal attack on Rubens and Jenson. Now I understand Flavio and I also get it that he is upset but he is a FOTA member and must remain calm lest he scuttle the FOTA unity and succumb to Max and Bernie’s desires.
“After the death of Senna the principle was to not give certain (ground) effects to the cars, but now suddenly it’s all legal,” the Italian told La Gazzetta dello Sport in China. “The drivers in our teams have been and are world champions, while the championship is now fought between a driver who was almost retired and another one who is a good guy but a paracarro (Italian saying for being as slow as a milepost at the side of a road),” Briatore told Gazzetta dello Sport. “I don’t know where credibility has ended up with all this. To make up the gap we have to those teams is impossible.”
While rival teams now set about working on their own double-decker diffusers, Briatore is convinced that the three teams who already have the concepts well honed will pull out enough of a title advantage in the next few races to secure the crown.
“In three or four grands prix, the title will be already decided, and I can’t see what interest TV and spectators can have in seeing a race when Button has 60 points, [Kazuki] Nakajima 50, and someone else 80: it’s better to listen to a race like that on the radio, and watch anything but that.
“Just when there’s talk of setting a budget cap to 30 million, we’ve spent 15m for KERS and 10m more for the diffusers. We’re left with five to travel and to pay the employees.”
Now Flavio brings up the same argument that Dr. Mario mentioned; if Max was looking for a low-cost or cost-cutting scenario in F1…he just blew it with the diffuser issue. The teams have spent millions on KERS and now will spend untold fortunes on the diffuser. Where is the savings? The FIA always talks of lower costs but every decision is antithetical of that mission.
Flavio feels that there is very little hope in catching the Brawn GP cars and that the title is all but summed for the the master tactician and his drivers. That may be true but anything can happen in F1 and Renault have a history, see 2008 season, of making hay when they need to given the right upgrade tot he car. I submit that if Flavio feels the diffuser is that critical then when they fit their car with one, it should be back to racing. But if Flavio knows there are other major concerns with his car that a double-decker diffuser won’t fix, well then i can understand his complaints. Shut it Flavio! You have the best driver on the grid and a damn good technical guy in pat…just get a damn diffuser and go give them hell mate!
