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One difficulty that F1 may have with a breakaway FOTA initiated series is that the split will be UK (F1) versus non-UK (FOTA).
F1 will likely have Williams, McLaren, Force India plus the UK based applicants.
FOTA series would start with Ferrari, Toyota, BMW, Torro Rosso and Renault & Red Bull teams which though UK based are not UK owned. Within a couple of years, they are likely to be joined by the likes of Penske, Newman Haas, Andretti Green from US (due to slow death of Indycars) and some of the better mainland European outfits e.g. DAMs, ART, Dallara, Zakspeed etc. I also think that this situation would make Mercedes re-think and look to allign with a FOTA team rather than a F1 team.
If this happens, the FOTA series will be many times more attractive to international support, sponsorship, drivers etc. than the F1 series which would wither away.
Even if the split does not cause this, I think many of the non-UK teams will withdraw over the next 2-3 years and in time someone somewhere will set up a new internationally focused series, enticing some of these teams back into the sport. Time may be bad now, but the recession wont last forever. Big business will want to be involved in international motorsport in the future.
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