F1 Minute

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Today is the 18th November 2008, and you’re listening to F1 Minute.

Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets at testing in Barcelona today, in his Red Bull. Yesterday’s leader Takuma Sato was close behind in second, with the other two Toro Rosso entrants Bourdais and Buemi settling in third and fourth. Gary Paffett in the McLaren was best of the rest with normal McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa in the Force India car. He ended the day last.

After seeing the potential 2009 BMW yesterday, tester Christian Klien has admitted that it’s not a nice looking car: “To me, for the moment, it’s the worst Formula One car I have ever seen. It just doesn’t fit together.” Kubica agreed that it looks a lot better from inside the cockpit.

Finally today, Bernie Ecclestone has resurfaced his idea of changing the current points system to a medal tally, to encourage drivers to fight for gold instead of settling for silver. He says that the FIA and teams are all for the idea.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

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This is F1 Minute and it’s the 10th November 2008.

Force India have confirmed what we all suspected, that they are partnering with McLaren next year. The deal will see the 2009 Force India feature a Mercedes HighPerformanceEngine and a McLaren gearbox and hydraulic system. The agreement lasts for five years, and has given Vijay Mallya a lot of hope for the future. He says: “Of course in 2009 it’s virtually a brand new car and a brand new design. At least from my perspective, winning races I think I can certainly aspire for maybe in 2010, but for 2009 I would be happy if we are regularly in the points. ” For McLaren, Martin Whitmarsh has said the deal makes the two teams very close, and they will discuss all aspects of racing together, however they won’t be making driver decisions on Force India’s behalf.

Also this weekend, the FOTA have agreed that cutting the cost of customer engines is a way to appease the FIA, and have set the price at £4 million.

That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

Nick Craw, President of the Automobile Competition Committee for the US, has been elected as the new FIA Deputy President for Sport. At its annual meeting in Paris today, the FIA General Assembly, the supreme executive body of the FIA, voted unanimously for Craw’s election.

Craw has been involved in motor sport for over 30 years. As a driver, he raced touring cars as well as single-seat formula cars and was twice IMSA National Champion. Following a two-year stint as Director of the US Peace Corps in the early 1970s, he joined the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), the largest amateur motor sports club in the US.

Craw, who has an MBA from Harvard Business School, was President and CEO of SCCA for 17 years and was pivotal in organising Formula One races and sanctioning motor racing events throughout the US.

Through his role at the SCCA, Craw became a board member of ACCUS, which serves as the interface between the national racing bodies in the US and the FIA. He left the SCCA in 2001 to become Executive Director of US Sailing, the national governing body for sailing. But he always retained his strong links with motor sport and was elected as ACCUS President in 2005.

As well as serving as FIA Deputy President for Sport, Craw will continue to sit on the management committee for the FIA Motor Sport Safety Development Fund.

The FIA General Assembly, which consists of the presidents of each of the FIA’s member clubs and national organisations, also elected the following to fill vacated positions.

Vice President of the FIA for Sport

Mohammed Ben Sulayem ATCUAE (United Arab Emirates)

Member of World Motor Sport Council

Enrico Gelpi ACI (Italy)

Vice President of the FIA for Mobility and the Automobile

Jorge Rosales ACA (Argentina)

Member of World Council for Mobility and the Automobile

Karen Bryden AASA (South Africa)
Tim Shearman CAA (Canada)
Rudolph Zumbühl TCS (Switzerland)
Augusto Lagman AAP (Phillipines)

FIA Honorary Deputy President

Marco Piccinini ACM (Monaco)

President of the FIA Academy

Rosario Alessi ACI (Italy)

The FIA General Assembly unanimously approved the appointment of Carlos Barbosa, President of ACP (Portugal), as the FIA Representative to the European Commission for the interests of motor sport.

The World Motor Sport Council met in Paris on 5 November 2008. The following decisions were taken:

From 2009, engine life will be extended from two to three races.

During the 2008 season a review took place of the stewarding arrangements in F1. The current panel of stewards consists of two international stewards and one national steward, all of whom must be eligible for the FIA’s super licence. For 2009, the following updates will be made:

• Any national steward participating who is officiating for the first time will be required to ‘observe’ a minimum of one Grand Prix prior to their event.
• At five Grands Prix in 2009, a number of trainee Stewards, nominated by their ASN and selected by the FIA, will be invited to attend.
• Before each Grand Prix, a short CV of each steward will be posted on the FIA website.
• With the benefit of a new replay system available to the stewards, all incidents will be investigated and appropriate action taken during the race, unless it is essential to seek further evidence afterwards.
• Following the race, a short written explanation of steward’s decisions will be published on the FIA website. This will supplement the formal steward’s decision which largely defines the breach of the rules
• Where appropriate, additional film evidence that the public may not have seen but which was reviewed by the stewards, will be made available on both the FIA and FOM websites.

Note: No former driver is excluded from seeking their ASN national stewarding licence and then, as with all of the existing stewards, if they gain the necessary level of experience in stewarding events at a national, regional and international level the FIA can consider them for a steward’s super licence.

Calendar

Note: The races in Australia and Malaysia will start at 1700 local time, in Singapore at 2000 local time, and in Japan at 1500 local time.

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You’re listening to F1 Minute and it’s the 28th October 2008.

Finally, we are getting word from teams about how they feel the standard engine will affect them. Toyota president John Howett said that manufacturers would be bound to leave if the standard engine came in to the regulations. He said: “If it is forced through, then it is not a decision we will take here, it will be taken by the board in Japan, but they want a degree of differentiation between teams.” Ferrari also issued a warning saying: “The use of same engines would deprive F1 of its competition and technological development. The board reserves the right to consider, together with our partners, our presence in this discipline.”

Despite two of the major teams in F1 admitting they might leave, the FIA remains steadfast on the ruling. The governing body issued a statement saying it wasn’t up to them to give in and change it, but for teams to either agree or come up with a suitable alternative.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

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This is F1 Minute and it’s the 27th October 2008.

The FIA announced today that they’ve had a couple of interested parties in the standard engine tender, and therefore they’ll be going ahead with the plan to introduce them from 2010 to 2012. We also learned that regardless of whether a team chooses to build the engine or buy it, the entire grid’s engine power should only vary by 1%. Interestingly, Autosport.com is reporting that a source within the FOTA has said that none of their member teams will be applying for the engine tender. Someone outside the sport, then?

Elsewhere, Honda have said they will be testing like mad over the winter in an attempt to move further up the grid. Team Principal Ross Brawn said: “”We’ve kept our testing mileage and our tyres for the winter testing, which is another thing that is reflected this season. I believe we have more tyres left for winter testing than any other team, which is something we consciously did because of our approach.”

That’s all for today, I’ll be back with another F1 Minute tomorrow.

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Welcome to F1 Minute for the 17th October 2008.

Lewis Hamilton got his weekend off to a good start by leading both Free Practice 1 and 2 at the Shanghai International Circuit. There were very few incidents of note, although Bourdais did get stuck in the gravel at Turn 1 during the second session, and Piquet imitated Hamilton’s gravel trap pit entrance incident, although managed to make it out safely.

Aside from that, the McLaren’s and Ferrari’s look as though they will be dominating the weekend, although Alonso did score the second fastest time in Free Practice 2, with Piquet just behind him.

Elsewhere today, the FIA have opened the tender process for a standard engine in F1 for the 2010 season and beyond. The statement from the governing body said the chosen third party would supply either a ready manufactured engine or the standard designs for teams to build their own. This doesn’t appear to be a popular decision already, but Bernie Ecclestone says he doesn’t think the manufacturers will stage a mass walkout because they’re simply trying to reduce costs.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow for another F1 Minute.

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Today is the 8th October 2008, welcome to F1 Minute.

This weekend in Japan, Bridgestone are painting the stripes on their tyres green. The FIA has a promotion called “Make Cars Green”, and in support Bridgestone will be painting every groove on the harder tyre a bright green colour. The announcement of coloured tyres, came with a joint statement from Honda, Williams and BMW, all supporting the idea of Formula 1 becoming greener. I can honestly say the green does not look great, but it’s all in a good cause.

Along with environmental issues, Max Mosley has also issued a stark warning that if Formula 1 doesn’t drastically cut costs it will face serious difficulties in the future. Today it was announced that the FOTA will meet with the FIA president immediately after the Chinese Grand Prix to discuss the matter. The FIA statement read: “At this meeting the FIA will discuss and share with the teams the strategic decisions which are now urgently required, having regard to current world-wide economic problems.”

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

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It’s the 7th October 2008, and you’re listening to F1 Minute.

The shock news of the day is that the FIA have confirmed the calendar for 2009, and have dropped the Canadian Grand Prix. Teams have got back the summer break that they were looking for, but we will no longer be heading to North American shores.  Both the Belgian and Italian races have been shuffled by a week as well. Back to the Canadian GP, though, and organisers say that they weren’t informed of this decision ahead of time. They released a short statement that said they had only learnt of it through the media, and would therefore not be commenting until they’d spoken to the FIA and FOM. Needless to say they’re not happy.

Elsewhere today, Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali has confirmed that they will be going back to the old lollipop pit system at this week’s Japanese Grand Prix. After many, many pit lane incidents in the last few races, Domenicali says: “We need to stay calm so we’ve decided to go back to the old system.”

That’s it for today, please join me tomorrow for another F1 Minute.

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This is F1 Minute and it’s the 25th September 2008.

It’s a simple countdown until Singapore now, as the drivers have spent today preparing for the race on the new circuit. Most will have walked the track at some point, and there have been a couple of concerns.

Bourdais has already expressed his opinion that the chicane at Turn 10 is not a particularly good corner, and the high bumps on the kerbs may cause a problem. Alonso, having walked the track today, agrees, and goes so far as to say that the bumps could end a driver’s race. “It is not the best solution that they could find. We worry that if you miss the chicane or miss the line then you have to go over the kerbs - and then perhaps you damage the chassis or damage the bottom.” The FIA are aware of the situation and apparently race director Charlie Whiting has already inspected the corner.

Elsewhere today, Massa has said that if he won this year’s championship by the points margin taken from Lewis Hamilton in Belgium, essentially winning off track, he still believes he is a worthy champion, having fought a hard season.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.