Would you still watch a Ferrari-less Formula One?

THE pinnacle of motorsports is in real danger of losing one of its crown jewels, as Ferrari had their appeal against FIA’s proposed optional £40m budget cap thrown out by a French court in Paris yesterday. (Read BBC story here)

FIA president Max Mosley had argued for the optional cap to be in place to stem the spiralling costs of the sport that is also deterring potential new teams from joining the ranks of Ferrari and McLaren.

Teams that adhere to the budget cap would have more technical freedom to modify their cars, which could in turn prove decisive on the tracks.

Ferrari, along with Renault, Red Bull and Toyota, have threatened to quit F1 if the budget cap comes through, but the new rule could attract the likes of “Wirth Research, Lola, USF1, Epsilon Euskadi, RML, Formtech, Campos and iSport”, according to a statement by the Italian team.

The thing is – would you rather watch a Formula One race without Ferrari – one of the sport’s traditional powerhouses – or prefer a possibly more unpredictable race season, with ‘poorer’ teams be able to match up to the likes of McLaren and Ferrari due to the technical freedom that comes with the budget cap?

Can Danica Patrick help boost the troubled Formula One?

USF1, Formula One’s newest team, is looking at the possibility of recruiting Indycar driver Danica Patrick for the 2010 season, according to various reports.

The competition has been badly hit by the global financial meltdown, which has resulted in Honda pulling out of F1, new rules that are designed to cut costs among the teams, as well as the recent news of ING not renewing its sponsorship of the Renault team at the end of this season.

Formula One has injected some excitement back to its fans in recent years with some novel experiments, including last year’s inaugural night race here in Singapore.

With people all around the world tightening their purse-strings in anticipation for more bad times ahead, the series would need something more to entice fans to fork out money to watch the races, where tickets have traditionally been costly.

And a classic battle between the sexes may just generate enough buzz to save the sport from going further south.

After all, Patrick is not just a pretty face (she famously posed in a swimsuit for the cover of Sports Illustrated, as well as men’s magazine FHM). The 26-year-old became the first woman to win an Indy car race last year in Japan, three years after turning professional.