21-Oct-08: FOTA Issue Statement Following Mosley Meeting
This is F1 Minute for the 21st October 2008.
Max Mosley and the FOTA have met today in Geneva, with Luca di Montezemolo and John Howett representing the organisation. After the meeting, a joint statement was issued saying that significant cost savings had been agreed upon for the next two seasons, with 2010 and beyond still to be decided. No real details were released, but we do know that engine life will go up from two races to three from next year, manufacturers now have to supply customer engines at an agreed price, and there will probably soon be an agreement that bringing a standard KERS unit into the sport is a good idea.
There is plenty still up for discussion, including customer cars, and testing limits, but the current standard engines proposal is notably missing from the FOTA statement. Before the meeting, Mosley said he would be pushing the standard engine as he would prefer F1 to concentrate on technology that will benefit all areas of the motorsport industry.
That wraps up the news for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
19-Oct-08: Hamilton Takes Dominant Victory in China
Welcome to F1 Minute, today is the 19th October 2008.
Hamilton has taken victory in Shanghai after a pretty much perfect weekend. He led the race from start to finish, and crossed the line almost 15 seconds ahead of nearest rival Felipe Massa. The Ferrari drivers performed a less than elegant swap in the closing laps of the race, as Raikkonen had led his team mate but couldn’t catch up to Hamilton’s storming McLaren. This now takes us into Brazil with Massa 7 points behind Hamilton.
There were only three retirees, Trulli had a first corner collision with Bourdais, and says this isn’t the first time it’s happened. Sutil’s race was over when his gearbox failed, and he pulled serenely off track, and Kovalainen suffered a puncture and then some kind of pneumatic problem that saw him return to his garage early.
Also today, the FOTA met to discuss their response to Mosley’s cost-cutting plans, and have hopefully come up with their own proposals. They will be presented to Max in a meeting on Tuesday.
That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
08-Oct-08: Bridgestone to Paint Grooves Green in Japan
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.
31-Aug-08: Ecclestone Finally Pledges Support to Mosley
Welcome to F1 Minute for the 31st August 2008.
You may remember back when the Max Mosley scandal first broke that Bernie Ecclestone was one of the first to call for the FIA President’s resignation.
Now it seems like Bernie is going back on his earlier opinion. Talking to the BBC, Ecclestone has said he no longer thinks that Max will cost the sport in terms of financial backing and popularity. He said: “I thought and was told it would, but people have come to the conclusion that whatever happened with Max was Max and it has nothing to do with anything else. I don’t think they care any more, people forget all these things. At the time it was a shock, if it had happened to other people it probably wouldn’t have been a shock.”
Notably, Bernie says his requests for Mosley to step down were only because pressure was being put on him to do so, and at the time he wished Mosley had left the organisation. Now he’s sure there’s no need for any resignation. Let me know what you think at F1Minute.com
That’s it for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
08-Aug-08: Gascoyne and Coulthard Discuss Their Future Ideals
You’re listening to F1 Minute for the 8th August 2008.
Two interesting takes on the future of F1 today, from Mike Gascoyne of Force India, and David Coulthard.
First up, Gascoyne has been talking about ways to make the sport cheaper as per Max Mosley’s instructions, and to help the independent teams stay in business. Here are his main ideas: “I think we need regulations like reducing testing, we shouldn’t be testing during the season, plus longer-life engines. That will reduce costs, and I don’t think anyone can argue that shouldn’t be the way we go.”
In his ITV-F1 column, Coulthard has said he thinks refuelling should be banned in races as it has made strategies predictable and the racing dull. Running a full race fuel load has been tried in the past, and Coulthard thinks that the unpredictable nature of the tyres under such a system would bring a spark of life back into Formula 1. Let me know what you think about both suggestions at F1Minute.com.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
30-Jul-08: Mosley Talks Presidency, Costs, and Setup Issues
Welcome to F1 Minute for the 30th July 2008.
More Max Mosley news today, he has been talking a lot. Firstly, he has reiterated the fact that he’s not going to be attempting another term as FIA president. When his run is over in October 2009, that’s it. Until then, Mosley says he will be concentrating on making F1 cheaper for teams, and greener for the environment. He also wants the Concorde Agreement sorted before the end of this year.
Here’s a quote regarding the cost issue: “At the moment, if you’re an independent team like Toro Rosso or Force India, you can’t run at a profit – you depend on a billionaire to subsidise you. And there just aren’t enough billionaires around to subsidise.”
Mosley also discusses the problems that the new KERS technology has been facing, and says that fears about the new technology are being overstated. He said the electric shock received by a BMW mechanic was “surprising”.
Finally, Mosley mentioned that he believes his News of the World scandal emerged because he was setup by someone trying to force him to resign.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
29-Jul-08: F1 Teams Come Together to Work on Concorde Agreement
It’s the 29th July 2008, and this is F1 Minute.
Representatives of each of the F1 teams, plus Bernie Ecclestone and a colleague from CVC got together in Italy today to discuss the future of the sport. The meeting took place at the Ferrari headquarters in Maranello, and a spokesperson for Ferrari called it “extremely productive.” The most notable outcome for now, is that the teams are going to set up a new group called the Formula One Teams Association to try and sort out the Concorde Agreement with the FIA and FOM. Let’s hope they can achieve something.
The teams agreed on this new group unanimously, which should please Flavio Briatore as he has been reported as saying that things in F1 really need to change. His list of complaints include the fact that they need to have a majority rule, they need a single Director of Operations to represent all the teams, and he would like to see Max Mosley concentrating on his job instead of his personal life. Wouldn’t we all?
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
25-Jul-08: Kovalainen Heads Up Final Day in Jerez
Welcome to F1 Minute, it ’s the 25th July 2008.
Heikki Kovalainen put McLaren on top in Jerez for the final day, leading Bourdais in the Toro Rosso, and David Coulthard in the Red Bull. McLaren were running brand new nose wings, similar to Honda, although more elegant, but notably, Kovalainen’s fastest time was set without them. There were three red flags during the day, one from Heidfeld, and two from Kobayashi in the Toyota. He started the day by running into the gravel, and ended it by stopping out on track.
Elsewhere, Max Mosley has launched a new lawsuit against the News of the World. After successfully winning his case for invasion of privacy, he is now suing them for libel, after saying he was lying about the Nazi element of what went on. He is also suing German newspaper Bild. Quite a few top names have come out and said that whilst Mosley has successfully won his court case, he should now step down. They include Jackie Stewart, Eddie Jordan, Paul Stoddart and Stirling Moss.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
24-Jul-08: Webber Leads Jerez Test and Talks KERS
It’s the 24th July, and this is F1 Minute.
Well, the result is in, and Max Mosley has won his court case against the News of the World. The High Court decided that Mosley’s privacy was invaded, and he deserved a £60,000 settlement in damages. Mosley has said he is delighted with the result and the money will go to the FIA Foundation.
Now, in real F1 news, Webber topped the timesheets in Jerez today, ahead of Piquet for Renault and Raikkonen in the Ferrari. Piquet did manage to bring out a red flag after hitting the wall, and de la Rosa, Glock and Barrichello also saw red flags. Glock was returning to action today after his accident and thankfully didn’t crash, but simply stopped out on track.
Also, we don’t appear to have had any KERS related incidents today, but fears about the safety of it continue. Webber has said that he doesn’t want to look into the technology too much as it makes him nervous, and the drivers are happy to let the engineers sort it out. From his position within the GPDA, he said they won’t be getting involved just yet.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.
08-Jul-08: Hamilton Leads Day One at Hockenheim
This is F1 Minute for the 8th July 2008. Please excuse my voice, I picked up some lovely germs from Silverstone.
Testing got underway in Hockenheim today, in preparation for the German Grand Prix. Rain caused plenty of chaos throughout with showers on and off. McLaren were running a brand new addition to their car in the shape of the shark fin engine cover used by many of the other teams. It seemed to help them, with Hamilton posting the fastest time of the day. Raikkonen was second and Rosberg third. Wurz was behind the only red flag, when his Honda spun off in the wet.
Elsewhere, David Coulthard has said that he’d like to see Vettel take his place at Red Bull when he retires at the end of the season. Over on F1.com, he said: “For me Sebastian Vettel has everything that a future winner in Formula 1 needs. Also his maturity and approach shows me that he is the best man for the job.”
Finally, Super Aguri are putting their assets up for sale at an online auction later this month, and the Mosley court case continues with several of the women involved backing up the presidents claims that there was no Nazi element to proceedings.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.