A1 Grand Prix on the offensive

TEAMCAR - The new A1 Grand Prix Series has always made much of the fact that it has no intention to trying to rival Formula 1. It is thus rather odd that the series has just announced plans to upgrade the performance of its cars in 2008 to "a level comparable with Formula 1".

"We are the World Cup of Motorsport," says Tony Texeira, the deputy chairman of A1 Grand Prix. "Formula 1 is Formula 1.

We obviously will always say that we are complimentary to that and they are complimentary to us. We don't want to be quicker than F1 or anything else."

The very fact that A1 is moving in this direction underlines the fact that the two championships are on a path towards conflict over TV coverage, sponsors, drivers and fans.

The intended upgrade of A1 will see Lola making a bigger and more aerodynamically-efficient chassis, while Zytek will look at upgrading the current ZA1348, a 90-degree all-aluminium 3.4-litre V8 that produces around 520hp, but can be be boosted by another 30hp with a boost button in the cockpit, by around 200hp. This will give the cars around 750hp.

The biggest weakness of F1 is that it demands huge sums in fees and virtual all promotional rights from racing circuits. Many F1 tracks survive only because the governments help them. If a sufficient number of important venues decide that A1 Grand Prix make more financial sense (and that depends largely on crowd numbers) F1 may be faced with either having to drop its prices or face losing some of its famous traditional venues.
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