F1 faces up to a smoke-free future
By Don Riddell, CNN World Sport
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Schumacher is chasing his seventh F1 title.
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- If last year was anything to go by, we should be on the eve of one of the most exciting Formula One seasons in a very long time.
OK, Michael Schumacher and Ferrari won again, but only by the skin of their teeth, and there are several factors that should make things even closer this time around.
Not only that, but the sport is expanding. Two exciting new circuits in Bahrain and China should be enough to keep F1 fresh.
But Bernie Ecclestone, the man who controls the sport, is warning of tough times ahead. The reason is tobacco. Or more precisely, the lack of it.
For as long as sport and advertising have been intimate bedfellows, tobacco sponsorship has propped up this most glamorous of sports.
But by 2006, all F1 teams have agreed to drop cigarette sponsorship, and a European Union ban comes into effect a year earlier.
Currently, half of the sport's 10 teams rely on income from tobacco, and Ecclestone estimates that the top team Ferrari bank around $150 million a year from Marlboro.
Competitive edge
Without that windfall Ferrari's competitive edge could be seriously blunted and Ecclestone reckons that some of the Italian team's executives may quit rather than start losing.
So maybe we should enjoy this 2004 season while the excitement lasts!
The talk ahead of the season's opening race in Melbourne on Sunday is that this year could be Schumacher's last. Many F1 insiders say they've seen no evidence to support this.
But the most telling indicator could be that Rubens Barichello, Schumacher's Ferrari teammate, has signed a new three-year deal.
Having played second fiddle for so long, would the ambitious Brazilian really sign up for more of the same until October 2007?
If it is to be Schumacher's last dance, will he end it with another title? For the record books, victory again this season would be his seventh in total, and his fifth in a row. But his rivals are getting closer.
Red Baron
McLaren's Kimi Raikonen and Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya pushed the Red Baron all the way in 2003, and brother Ralf and teammate Barrichello witnessed enough vulnerability to give them all hope this time around.
Last year the sport's governing body, the FIA, changed the rules in an attempt to rein Ferrari in. It almost worked; just 11 points separated the top three drivers, compared with a 94-point spread in 2002.
More changes regarding engines, gearboxes and launch control should close the field down again. But as F1 looks to re-invent itself financially, sponsors will be easier to attract without Ferrari's dominance.
There are enough new young drivers to suggest the sport has a bright future in the cockpit.
But they need to start asserting themselves for the benefit of all. The sooner Schumacher's days are over, the easier it will be to attract new money.
Whatever happens, it should be a fascinating season.
