P1racenews AI automatic summary:
F1 has come a long way in the past two decades, but a suggestion from the FIA president Max Mosley 20 years ago could have changed the face of the championship.
On 15 February 2006, the then head of motorsport’s world governing body, Max Mosley, proposed an audacious idea of implementing a promotion and relegation system between Formula 1 and GP2.
Mosley argued that the existing closed nature of the sport was unsustainable due to the vast budget gap between GP2 outfits and Formula 1 teams, making entry for new competitors challenging.
His vision aimed to have a feeder formula like F3000/GP2 as a pathway to Formula 1, with successful GP2 teams moving up and struggling F1 teams possibly facing relegation.
However, the idea faced immediate criticism for its impracticality, especially regarding the financial burden of running a Formula 1 team compared to a GP2 team.
The lack of support within the paddock and opposition from established constructors, comfortable with the existing system, led to the proposal quietly fading away without formal debate.
In retrospect, Mosley’s proposal serves as a reminder of a bygone Formula 1 era, as the sport has since tackled some of the inequalities he highlighted through different means such as budget caps and a structured ladder to F1.
