Quote:
Originally Posted by Coach Ep
You would also lose one those manufacturers, seriously damaging your own championship that is largely founded on those same manufacturers needs and demands...
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I don't buy it. With the hundreds of millions these factories have invested, there is no way they could sell their own accountants on pulling out of the series based on losing one race---else they might all have fled after losing their first race.
Being scared of losing manufacturers is silly. Audi, Porsche, and Toyota aren't in WEC because the FIA begged---the factories begged FIA to set up a world championship. (And yes, I know they begged Toyota after Peugeot pulled out, but Toyota was already in by then, just not signed on for the full world championship schedule by then---the factory had already decided on a minimum two-year involvement.)
If the FIA screwed over one manufacturer repeatedly and exclusively (say, giving diesels a huge break against a gasoline-powered competitor) then sure, that factory would cut its losses after a couple seasons ... but we saw how FIA adjusted its regs to accommodate gas engines once a factory said it wanted to sign up with a petrol engine.
No way a factory writes of hundreds of millions of dollars and years of development over one race. No way.