Teixeira: F1 has A1GP envy A1GP chairman Tony Teixeira has accused both Formula 1 and his counterpart in the top flight, Bernie Ecclestone, of copying ideas from him and of wanting to be like the World Cup of Motorsport - quipping that instead the Formula One Management chief executive should simply ‘buy him out’.
Since its launch four years ago, Teixeira has made A1GP into one of the world’s leading single-seater series, competing around the globe - and particularly in the southern hemisphere - during the traditional off-season and attracting big-name drivers of the calibre of Nelsinho Piquet, Adrian Sutil, Sebastien Buemi, Adam Carroll, Karun Chandhok, Olly Jarvis, Narain Karthikeyan, Jos Verstappen, Marco Andretti, Robert Doornbos, Bruno Junqueira, Scott Speed, Graham Rahal, Timo Scheider and Nico Hulkenberg amongst many others.
“Any business that makes money within three years is illegal,” Teixeira said in an interview. “If I have an unprofitable race [coming up], I’m not going racing. Of course I won’t take the ticket money and then not hold the event, but if it is clear in advance there is no demand, that event is gone. If anyone doesn’t like it I say to them: ‘Pay my bills!’
Formula 1 may be seen by the rest of the world as the crown of motor-sport — but the feisty Teixeira derides it as being like professional wrestling, lacking in credibility.
He predicts that the huge amounts spent on F1 racing will be increasingly difficult to reconcile with the thousands of jobs being lost in the motor industry.
Teixeira says he can see Toyota, Renault and BMW all withdrawing from F1 in the near future.
And he has some advice for F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone : “Instead of copying all the ideas from A1GP — just buy me out!”
After all, he concludes: “Everything we are is what Formula 1 is trying to be ...”
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