Damon Hill has weighed in on the Formula 1 breakaway series by declaring that the sooner the big manufacturers leave the sport the better, claiming they are ruining the sport with their greed and politicking to attain what they want.
Hill wrote in a Tweet:
Hill's comments come in the wake of Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne threatening to pull his team from the sport if they disagree with the direction F1 will take beyond 2020.
Marchionne is clearly prepping for a battle against Liberty Media over the direction being plotted for the future of the sport goes, he has support from Mercedes F1 chief Toto Wolff who keeps warning against provoking the Italian team's big boss.
Talk of a breakaway series has inevitably become a hot topic in the F1 paddock, which probably prompted the comments from the 1996 F1 World Champion.
Hill has since elaborated on his provocative Tweets, “Ferrari and Mercedes are acting in concert to try and create conditions under which they would stay in the sport.”
“Well, if you would have accused them of working together in the past they would have denied it, but now they are paired up nicely to try and get conditions under which they would continue to stay at the front of the pack.”
“Now, my argument is that it's a sport that should be trying to create at least the opportunity for all of the competitors to have a reasonable chance of competing. That's always been a difficult problem for our sport because it rewards the dominant disproportionately.”
“Look, I just think it's a negotiation tactic. Would they be prepared to compete in a championship where they wouldn't have such favourable conditions? Where they had conditions that were more equal?”
“If they're not prepared to do that, maybe they shouldn't be here.”
“They could blow every team out of the water. The industrial manufacturer complex idea I was using it because they gave far more resources than any Formula 1 team could possibly imagine unless they are another manufacturer. So if you're going to bring such enormous resources, someone has to set the rules.”
“Someone has to at least say 'okay we can't let that go on, we have to bring into play some sort of boundary'. That's the FIA's job, and they don't have the power to do it because it was relinquished.”
“Ultimately I'm coming from this position: Drivers have careers too, and this is the pinnacle of our sport. That's what we continue to say and that's what drivers set their goals at. Globally, it's presenting itself as the Everest.”
“So you can't lock out 99 percent of the competition. You have to find a way to open it up. And I know it's an impossible task because there are only a few people who could ever be competitive. But at least there needs to be an attempt to broaden the base of the pyramid a little bit,” added Hill
Asked in a related Tweet why he did not complain when he won his Formula 1 world champion title with Renault, Hill replied:
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