06-Feb-08: Force India Team Speaks Ahead of Launch
It’s the 6th February 2008. Welcome to F1 Minute.
The new Force India car doesn’t launch until tomorrow, but several members of the team have been talking to the press in Mumbai. Giancarlo Fisichella says he is pushing for several points finishes this year, and then expects the team to be competing for podiums in 2009. Technical boss Mike Gascoyne supports this theory, although he thinks it will take a few years. He says the team have the budget to get to the top now, although they are not just throwing money around and hoping it works. Adrian Sutil has his feet firmly on the ground though, saying that he hopes for change but people should not expect too much from this first year.
With the future of the Australian Grand Prix in question at the moment, Bernie Ecclestone has brought up the old Silverstone debate as well. The track has had it’s revamp approved but Ecclestone says there are still hurdles to overcome and if the facilities were not up to scratch, he would not be sentimental about kicking it off the calendar. There is also suggestion that the revamp approval is reliant on a guaranteed future for the track, whilst the future depends on the revamp.
That’s all for today, please join me tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
sebastian on Wed, 6th Feb 2008 19:24
What Bernie means is that he wants more money
Christine on Wed, 6th Feb 2008 19:25
Of course. But there comes a point when he’s not going to get it.
lou on Wed, 6th Feb 2008 20:09
It’s such a shame that Formula 1 (bernie) is so obsessed with getting more money, it should be more about the racing!
sebastian on Wed, 6th Feb 2008 20:38
Christine,
Do you think that Melbourne and Silverstone will refuse Bernie’s demands if it comes down to?
The reason I’m saying this is that look what happen at Indianapolis.
The contract broke off and a lot of fans lost because of it.
I agree that maybe Indi was not the right track in the US for F1, but I live in the states and it kind of sucks knowing I will be not going to the race this year.
Imagine the people in Australia and the UK where there are a lot of F1 fans.
And Lou, you’re right.
Bernie is really screwing the F1 and it’s fans for money.
Christine on Wed, 6th Feb 2008 21:00
Absolutely. Like I said above, there comes a point where negotiation is no longer possible. A circuit like Silverstone will do everything it can to keep the Grand Prix, but they don’t have help from the government and they get a lot of complaints about ticket prices. There’s only so much money available.
Bernie blames the facilities, and they’re trying to fix them up, but I don’t think it will make any difference. The facilities are just an excuse for Bernie to whip away the race and hand it to a country willing to pay more.
lou on Wed, 6th Feb 2008 21:20
Surely it’s really not wise to not have a British GP with the fact that its Lewis’s home GP and he has soooo many fans, surely more fans = more people going to more races(sepecialy the British GP) = more money. But i suppose if Bernie does not want a GP in Britain and would prefer one somewhere else as he will be able to get more money, who can stop him. As fans we can’t do anything, he obviously does not think about the fans and the sport, just the money.