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THE soul-searching following Honda's decision to quit Formula One may open a whole new world of opportunity for the sport and make it even more exciting, according to Bahrain International Circuit boss, Martin Whitaker.
The thrills and spills of pure entertainment may take preference to technical developments as money becomes too tight to mention.
Whitaker said: "Honda's decision to withdraw from Formula One is not entirely unexpected and lends weight to the call of the FIA and its president Max Mosley for drastic and swingeing cost reductions in the sport.
"His recent comments about individual item costs such as gearboxes and wheel nuts will, I hope, resonate through the sport at a time when it is crucial that we all recognise that the sport is about 'entertainment'.
"Yes, Formula One has rightly led the automotive world in technological developments and the like but when all is said and done the fan, or the television spectator, sits down on a Sunday afternoon to be entertained.
"This has never changed and whether we marvel at the skills of Ronaldo on the football pitch or the ability of Hamilton on the track, the basic ingredients for our love of all forms of sport are the excitement and entertainment value that it delivers.
"Formula One has been 'entertaining' fans and spectators the world over for many years. The difference in the modern era, for a sport that has in truth always been fluid and evolving, is that today the big motor manufacturers control a much, much larger stake than they did in years gone by.
"The days of the privateer teams such as Tyrrell, Hesketh, Lotus, Williams, Sauber, Jordan, Benetton (even the McLarens and Ferraris of a former era) and many others, allowed a certain tolerance to economic or regulation change.
"The racing was no less exciting - some would say, more so - but there was always a sense of security from global impacts (fuel and economic) that allowed the show to go on.
"The domination of the sport by manufacturers was always going to have its concerns and we are seeing those today.
"The show will go on but the emphasis will be different and I think there are many of us, spectators, fans and promoters alike, who will welcome the fact that a wake-up call such as this will shift the attention back to value for money and entertainment.
"You only have to look back a month at BIC to witness the enthusiasm and attraction of the V8 Supercars with big grids, great racing and appealing openness to appreciate how good motor racing can be on much smaller budgets.
"We may not see them on the Grand Prix grid in the immediate future but lower costs should, in time, attract more teams to Formula One and this is what we all want to see from a contest that is the pinnacle of motor sport."
Bahrain is backing Formula One to drive ahead to a successful future despite this shaky end to the year.
Ron Dennis, boss of Formula One racing team McLaren - in which Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding, a company wholly owned by the kingdom, holds a 30 per cent stake - expects his team's revenue to fall by over a third, _more than BD55 million (£100 million), as the economic downturn bites.
"Our budgets come from the advertising budgets of the companies that support us, and inevitably advertising budgets get slashed or, at least, are significantly trimmed in times of economic strife," he said. "We know we have to reduce our costs to cater for the inevitable downturn in income that is coming in 2010 and 2011.
"We make no secret of the fact that we will try to do whatever it takes to be the best. It's an intensely competitive world but if the economics don't work then we will change them."
Dennis, who was speaking before Honda had announced its withdrawal, said his team's turnover would fall by 37 per cent. "We predict that our turnover will drop from £280 million a year to as low as £175 million a year," he said. Dennis holds a 15 per cent stake in the McLaren Group and Daimler holds 40 per cent. This weekend, Honda was attempting to find a buyer for its team. But analysts doubted the Japanese car maker would find a new owner for a sport that ate up more than BD77 million of its parent company's money last year.
However, Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding, says it is playing the long game and fully supports McLaren, which holds one of the most marketable assets in world sport, namely world champion driver, Lewis Hamilton.
Talal Al Zain, CEO of Mumtalakat, told GulfWeekly: "Definitely, we have to be realistic. Every company will obviously be impacted because of the current financial downturn and Ron is correct in his statement. When companies notice that their revenues have dropped, the first thing they cut is the advertising budget.
"However, with Mumtalakat's investments - McLaren being one of them - we always look at the long term and we have no concerns."
