For the last billion years, motor sports, and more specifically Formula 1, has been dominated quite solidly by Scuderia Ferrari and its hallowed driver, Michael Schumacher. Last weekend marked the end of Michael Schumacher’s career and the end of Scuderia Ferrari.

That’s not to say that Ferrari won’t be returning to racing next year. Quite the opposite, actually. Felipe Massa will return to Ferrari next year along with a new teammate, Kimi Raikkonen. Both racers have achieved great respect and success of the GP circuit. Ferrari, despite coming in second in the constructor’s championship this year, will be powering more vehicles for next year. Unfortunately for Scuderia Ferrari, much of the technical team that helped Michael Schumacher win dozens of races and six championships is splitting up.

With so many changes, on might ask: will Formula 1 ever be the same? To answer this is to realize which changes will be made. First, no Schumacher in 2007. Fernando Alonso may be the best driver next year, and for all we know, he may eventually become the best of all time, but he is unlikely to have the same pull or marketing appeal to the sport that Schumacher brought.

Second Renault and Ferrari are both suffering from major team changes at the end of this year. Renault stands to lose everything with the change of its champion drive. Ferrari is likely to be diluted by having to produce more engines for more teams, assembling a new management team, and leaving Massa to take over for a top driver.

Third and most importantly, the money that pours into Formula 1 will be changing. New EU rules outlaw the Marlboro type of advertising. These new rules have prompted an exodus from F1 by tobacco companies including British American Tobacco (producer of Lucky Strike cigarettes), once a title partner with the Honda team will exit. Marlboro has promised to stay on with Ferrari, but will be severely limited in advertising for the 2007 season onward. This regulation means that some teams will have a very difficult time finding major sponsors for next year. Formula 1 after all, is not cheap to run. On the upside, Speed TV in the U.S. has succeeded in paying a lot of money to the Formula 1 Administration to broadcast races next year, so no team is likely to be starving.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 29th, 2006 at 12:01 am and is filed under Ferrari, Formula 1, Renault. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. This post was read by 497 people until now. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.