According to press reports the FIA President Max Mosley plans to present teams with a nine point plan to shake up the sport, when he arrives in Suzuka tomorrow (Saturday). While some of the rumoured ideas would seem to make sense, others are nothing short of revolutionary, prompting a wide range of responses around the paddock.  The changes include:

1. Drivers would be under contract to FIA who would rotate them among the teams during the season.

2. Qualifying would be run over two days, Friday and Saturday, in two 30 minute sessions, which means that drivers would inevitably come out at the start of the session, rather than halfway through it, which tends to be the case at the moment.

3. Tyre companies would be allowed to produce tyres tailor-made for each team they supply, but only one dry spec tyre would be used for the whole weekend.

4. Once a driver has scored 20 points he would be subject to carrying one kilo of ballast for every further point scored.

5. Testing would be limited to 12 days per car, all of them at non GP hosting tracks.

6. Only 2 major changes to a car’s aerodynamics would be allowed during the course of the season, with only one change allowed halfway through the calendar.

7. Engines used in a race would then have to be used for the Friday and Saturday of the following grand prix.  There is also talk of extending this to make one engine last for four races as from 2004 and eight races from 2005.

8. Gearbox ratios would have to be fixed for the weekend.

9. Teams would have to use FIA-standardised electronics and brakes.

Undoubtedly some of these suggested changes are meant to simply create the debate necessary to bring about firm revisions to the Sporting Regulations which could be altered at the next World Council meeting on October 28.  While some teams are demanding change and others are defending the current model of Formula One, no one can deny that there have been reduced television audiences this year, little on-track spectacle through the domination achieved by Ferrari and a reduction in the number of competitors following the closure of Prost Grand Prix and the financial problems incurred by Arrows. Whether these developments are related, and thus pose a problem for the sport, seems to be the point of contention.

One statistic worth noting is that the last time a team dominated Formula One, when McLaren won the Championship back in 1988 with 15 wins from 16 races, there were 18 teams.  Of those 13 have disappeared from the sport, one has been sold outright to a manufacturer (Benetton/Renault) and another has changed hands several times - Minardi.  Thus only Ferrari, McLaren and Williams remain.