Couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Formula 1 racing here in Singapore. The race was a big commercial success and recently I saw in the papers that they have already started to recruit new staff for next year’s race.

Generally, Formula 1 racing is seen as a good indicator for new technology in the automotive world. Think about electronic controlled gear shifting devices and variable valve timing systems. So what is the story F1 racing is going to tell us these days about future automotive technology?

In my eyes a big structural shift is under way. The big racing teams seem to have lost their appetite for racing.

After Honda Motor Co and BMW AG, now Toyota and Bridgestone (a global tire manufacturer) have announced to withdraw from the circus.

Looking for an answer you might be interested in what Makoto Shiomi, a Bridgestone spokesman said recently in Tokyo: “In the coming year, the [automotive] industry will be drastically changed. We have to focus more on the development of more innovative technologies”

Doing Formula 1 racing is an expensive venture. It cost probably a hundreds of millions of dollars a year. And with the global auto show down it’s getting even harder to get this money from your CFO. On the other hand, companies like Toyota, Honda or Bridgestone are the heavyweights in their classes and should be allowed to pursue one or two hobbies.

So what drives them really to leave racing and put the money elsewhere? I believe that they have simply started to put their money where their mouth is, and this is electro-mobility. ICE cars will slowly be phased out.

Perhaps the change from combustion engines to electrical drive-trains will be similar to what we have seen during the 60s and 70s in the watch industry. In the 60s and 70s mechanical watches were simply replaced by cheap and easy-using quartz devices. Hundreds of thousands of jobs got lost, especially in Switzerland, Germany and France. Mechanical clockwork only survived in luxury chronometers. So is this what will happen in the car industry as well?

Will your child tell you one day, that the internal combustion engine was one of the most gorgeous masterpieces in 20th century’s mechanical world?