Formula One racing is a bit like evolution governed by an appeals committee: Winning races has long been relied on engineering innovations that give a race car that extra microsecond advantage, while the teams left in the dust cry foul and demand that the sport’s governing body, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile , rule those innovations out. FIA supremo Max Mosley had hoped to tamp down what he calls the sport’s “financial arms race” by imposing a $66 billion annual spending cap on teams, but instead he appears to have provoked a walkout that could see some of the sport’s major names, such as Ferrari and McLaren, create a rival championship with fewer restrictions — and take the sport’s lucrative TV audience with them.
