www.Thepitwall.com

Much has been made of the F1 / FOTA split, how they have very different aims, and they are apparently unsolveable.

However there is a simple solution which keeps both parties happy.

I got this idea from F1's idea of having the two tier championship, with teams competing under two sets of rules for the same championship.

This however is clearly unworkable. It would be grossly unfair, as cars would not be competing on a level playing field.

So, my proposal is as follows.

Turn the championship into a league system, Formula 1a and Formula 1b.

F1a would be the top flight division, teams would compete under the rules proposed by FOTA, larger budgets are allowed, and they get a larger share of the F1 revenues.

F1b would be the second division, teams competing would be budget capped, in order to encourage new entries, and favor privateers, ingenuity, over the large manufacturers.

This sounds pretty much what we're going to end up with if the two organizations don't end their fighting.

However, here is the clever part. At the end of each season the top 3 teams from the lower league would get promoted, and the bottom 3 teams from the upper league will get demoted.

This is a proven concept, its used in many other sports, and has worked for decades.

There are some challenges to over come, of course, for example how to fit the extra races in the calendar. However this is actually quite straight forward.

The current F1 circus consists of (for example looking at this weekend's timetable at Silverstone): Formula BMW, GP2, Porsche SuperCup, and then Formula 1, followed by a historic sports car challenge.

To fit a second Formula 1 race in would be trivial. It could either be done by dropping one of the support races, or preferably by making better use of the time available.

For example again at Silverstone, from 11:20 until 13:00 there are no races, just waiting around, which would be a prime time to slot in a race.

During this time, there will be "build up coverage" for the main race, so TV companies can fit it in their schedules

This would give a much improved experience to the spectators, it would enable the new teams to compete, in top tier motorsport, under the F1 flag, and it would also allow to continuation of participation by the major teams who have made F1 what it is today.

Yes there will be some problems - for example the inevitable redundancies when a team gets relegated, however as there will be teams being promoted at the same time, there will always be new, exciting opportunities.

I think the idea has some traction though.

What do you think?