I have a considerably different view on this F1 subject
Originally car and motorcycle racing was more social class driven because it's always been expensive. It was then picked up by vehicle manufacturers for the sole purposes of engineering development (1930s ish)
For that long term engineering development programme all motorists should be grateful, todays motor vehicle is a pure work of art compared to its ancesters
Time moves on......since the late 80s little real engineering progress has been achieved with the internal combustion engine due mainly to Research and Development departments being financially strapped in this area of engineering, couple this with a looming oil crisis, money towards other forms of transport has been steadily increasing.
Looking at the business of F1 in general, their season-on-season budgets have been expanding way in excess of their incomes, couple this with what we now know will be a long term recession and business confidence in F1 drops like a stone.
All we are seeing now is a natural re-configuration of the business of F1 as a whole. My personal view is that it's long overdue and like any other business, it must adjust to market conditions. As for what we're reading at the moment, just hype and yaboo-sucks infighting. The biggest and strongest financially will win.