The ingrained failure motorsport must fix to avoid post-pandemic 'turf wars'

The coronavirus crisis is highlighting the best and worst of humanity.

From the key workers saving and maintaining lives, to the politicians rising or failing to address the challenges, and the tiniest selfless or selfish individual actions. The great facades of normality are gone and many people are reassessing many areas of their lives.

As we've discussed before, the same is true of motorsport. So, it was interesting to read the words of FIA deputy president Graham Stoker on the topic of how the major series will need "very careful management" to get the shows that are currently so missed going again, while avoiding harmful spats.

"It will be an enormously competitive and potentially very crowded environment, and in one way that's what we've got to hope for," Stoker said in an interview with the FIA's AUTO magazine.

"We want to see the return of the enormously vibrant and diverse motorsport environment we are used to. However, it will need very careful management. When we look at things such as the International Sporting Code and international sporting calendar, the approach has to be flexible.

"It's crucial that we prioritise the staging of events. What would be counter-productive would be to get involved in turf wars. Let's not get involved in disputes about who has got which slot and what prior agreements might specify. That approach will not work."

Stoker is completely correct, but what he wants is something that motorsport has often done badly in the modern era.

In the last decade, Formula 1 races clashed with the Le Mans 24 Hours twice - in 2011, the year before the re-born World Endurance Championship joined the FIA's regulatory stable, and 2016 (above). The latter clash is the most noteworthy here because it followed an agreement with the F1 squads that there should be a four-week gap between races that August. As a result, the inaugural Baku grand prix was rescheduled to the same weekend as the WEC's blue-riband race.

But it also followed then Force India racer Nico Hulkenberg's Le Mans win with Porsche in 2015, and WEC boss Gerard Neveu called the clash "a clear attack on us and on this race - [Bernie] Ecclestone never does anything nonchalantly".

Two clashes in nine years is actually pretty good going given Le Mans is the only WEC race that generates similar levels of interest to a grand prix. But the issue was thrown into stark relief when Fernando Alonso signed up to compete in the WEC's 2018/19 superseason with Toyota.

The 2018 Fuji WEC race was moved twice - first to avoid a clash with the IMSA Sportscar Championship's Petit Le Mans event, as many drivers would ideally be competing in both, but was then switched back to remove a clash with the US GP, where Alonso would be driving for McLaren.

People arguing for the 2020 seasons to be abandoned are being too simplistic

The fury of those affected was understandable, but then Alonso brought significant new interest to WEC events - so whatever happened there would be potential harm done.

There are also examples elsewhere in motorsport that more clearly highlight an existing problem of calendar clashes in series already vying for visibility. Last year, the 2019/20 Formula E calendar announcement revealed three clashes with WEC races. One unassigned FE race was eventually dropped and the Spa WEC round was moved, but the Sanya/Sebring clash remained until the coronavirus pandemic cancelled everything anyway.

The situation had exasperated fans and observers, and even cost Envision Virgin Racing driver Sam Bird his full-time job (Bird has since been re-signed to compete in the 2020 Le Mans) with the Ferrari AF Corsa factory GTE squad. Even in 'normal' circumstances it shouldn't have been allowed to happen.

Calendar creation is not the only area where championships are fighting for visibility. FE has been able to attract major sponsors and manufacturers that F1 would've eagerly snapped up - and those backers are apparently spending amounts in-line with what only F1 could usually command because FE has a strong and resonating message to tell when it comes to electrification.

But even a surely all-round positive situation of F1 launching its plan to become carbon neutral by 2030 had Autosport's sources at FE greatly interested in hearing how it was being perceived - that was the electric championship's 'turf', but somewhat understandable given the business competition mentioned above. But previous self-interest stances aren't going to cut it in the post-pandemic motorsport world. There's too much at stake.

People arguing for the 2020 seasons to be abandoned are being too simplistic. Taking F1 alone here, it would devastate a complex eco-system of suppliers and developers, as well as circuits and promoters, and yes, even media companies.

Previously unthinkable progress is happening - such as F1 teams agreeing to lower the 2021 cost cap (although they are now split on taking it down further from $150m) and keep the 2020 machines in service for another year, even though this will mean some squads, such as Ferrari, have to compete with cars they feel are behind their rivals.

But getting complete calendars - and in FE's case the start of a new one before the end of 2020 - crammed into a much shorter timeframe is going to be incredibly challenging, as Stoker says.

It would be great to get co-operation from all the key stakeholders. Support, messages of encouragement and inspiration from series to series would be helpful - a recognition that motorsport has the power to provide something for everyone.

But possibly the most important party here will be the FIA itself.

During the initial fallout from the FE/WEC calendar farrago last year, FIA president Jean Todt said at Le Mans that he had "other things to do in my agenda [than] to look carefully [at] the calendar".

He continued: "I realised when the [FE] calendar was proposed that effectively there are some clashes between some events. I made a made a calendar commission, where people were due to sit together and to work [together]. If you have a commission [and] people don't meet, I'm sorry about that".

Todt later said: "I simply feel a bit unsatisfied that this calendar commission did not meet to try to address the problem before. But it's never [too] late to try."

Tribalism was a problem before COVID-19 and risks harming the recovery - so now is the time for eradication of this needless problem

At the time, it felt like an odd thing for Todt to be admitting, but none of that matters now. What does matter is making sure all of motorsport works together to minimise the pain of the pandemic and reform to make sure future unforeseen disasters don't create the same risks.

In the case of cramming events into the remaining weeks of 2020 - assuming this is possible in the various best-case scenarios - if F1 is able to find a safe and socially acceptable formula for holding an event in the pre-vaccine COVID-19 world, then it might be sensible to try get other FIA championships to hold events in the same way. This could be extended to the same circuits, assuming they meet the FIA's safety criteria, for successive visits from the global championships. Of course there will be issues regarding monopolies, but these extraordinary times are already featuring extraordinary measures.

There are already indications that FE may have to leave its 'traditional' city-centre settings in the aftermath of the pandemic, but as we have assessed here, plenty of existing purpose built tracks have alternative layouts - which would satisfy the FIA's (actually quite tedious) desire to avoid F1/FE laptime comparisons.

The has already been good progress from the governing body when it comes to adapting to make sure motorsport survives this crisis, such as the move to accept majority decisions on F1 rules for 2021 given the exceptional circumstances. But it may need to go further. As the regulator of the major global series, it has them all under one roof, so to speak, so now is the time to ensure co-operation and at the same time make sure it lasts.

Todt recently told Autosport that F1 needs a "new deal" after the pandemic and he's absolutely right. But the same can be said of all motorsport. Tribalism was a problem before COVID-19 and risks harming the recovery - so now is the time for eradication of this needless problem.

Motorsport is a wonderful industry, but it's a niche that would be better served by greater co-operation.