Bernie Not Offering Silverstone A “Cut Price” Deal On BGP

Bernie Ecclestone has denied rumour that he will offer Silverstone a “cut-price” deal to hold the 2010 British Grand Prix now that Donington’s dreams of hosting the race look in tatters.

Donington have failed to get the funding necessary to continue re-development of the circuit, and are now left with no money, a half finished track and no racing for the forthcoming season with MotoGP relocating for 2010 to Silverstone.

A contract has been offered to the Northamptonshire based circuit, the home F1 for some years, and Ecclestone has told the BRDC that it should accept the proposals rather than fight for a cheaper deal.

“Silverstone have a contract in front of them,” he said. “We’ve no commercial arrangement in place for a British Grand Prix for next year. That is why the race has an asterisk beside it on the 2010 calendar.

“If they can’t make it work then don’t do it. If that happens, there won’t be a British Grand Prix. Simple as that.

“No-one is forcing them to take it. This is business. We have offered them a deal.

“I want a British Grand Prix, of course, but we are not going to do special rates for Britain.”

Renault Handed 2 Year Suspended Ban Sentence

The Renault Formula One Team were handed a 2 year suspended Formula One ban today after the World Motorsport Council met to discuss the alleged “Deliberate crash” by Nelson Piquet at the 2008 Singaporean Grand Prix.

Due to the severity of the situation, Renault are very lucky to recieve a suspended sentence, most likely because two of Renault’s top eecutives Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds, 2 people Piquet alleges told him to crash, stepped down from their positions.

An FIA Statement read: “Renault had accepted, at the earliest practicable opportunity, that it committed the offences with which it was charged and cooperated fully with the FIA’s investigation. It had confirmed that Mr. Briatore and Mr. Symonds were involved in the conspiracy and ensured that they left the team; It apologised unreservedly to the FIA and to the sport for the harm caused by its actions;

“It committed to paying the costs incurred by the FIA in its investigation; and Renault (the parent company, as opposed to Renault F1) committed to making a significant contribution to FIA safety-related projects.”

The FIA explained their decision after the court left this afternoon.

“Renault F1’s breaches not only compromised the integrity of the sport but also endangered the lives of spectators, officials, other competitors and Nelson Piquet Jr. himself. The World Motor Sport Council considers that offences of this severity merit permanent disqualification from the FIA Formula One World Championship.

“However, having regard to the points in mitigation mentioned above and in particular the steps taken by Renault F1 to identify and address the failings within its team and condemn the actions of the individuals involved, the WMSC has decided to suspend Renault F1’s disqualification until the end of the 2011 season. The World Motor Sport Council will only activate this disqualification if Renault F1 is found guilty of a comparable breach during that time.”

Fernando Alonso was present but not accused of any crime.  It is unknown whether Flavio Briatore will persue blackmail charges against Nelson Piquet Snr.

Italian GP 2009: Barrichello Takes Strategic Win Of Quality Race

Rubens Barrichello took the chequered flag, and another win for himself and the Brawn GP team in today’s Italian Grand Prix after  a fantastic strategic effort from Ross Brawn.

The single stop strategy employed by the white cars of Brawn led to Jenson Button joining Rubens on the podium in 2nd, with Kimi Raikkonen being gifted 3rd place on the last lap.

Race Review

Lewis Hamilton didn’t get a great start, unlike Kimi Raikkonen and the Finn was forced onto the grass going down to the first chicane.  He managed to make a pass on Adrian Sutil, while the rest of the field fed around without bother – Timo Glock the only driver having to use the escape road.

Then into the second chicane, the first major incident – Robert Kubica tipped Mark Webber’s Red Bull round into the gravel and the Australian was forced to retire after just a handful of corners.  The incident led to front wing damage to Kubica’s BMW, and the Pole was forced into the pits some laps later as the FIA were concerned about its’ safety at 220mph.

Heikki Kovalainen had a terrible start, losing out to Barrichello and then Liuzzi and Alonso, despite claiming pre-race that he could win the GP and indeed his KERS system.

Hamilton then started to pull well away from Kimi Raikkonen, who to all intents and purposes held up Adrian Sutil as the Ferrari looked to struggle.

These 3 drivers at the top on 2 stop strategies made a big gap over the two Brawn’s behind them, and then Tonio Liuzzi held 7th well with Fernando Alonso hustling the Renault behind him, trying to squeeze every last bit of performance from the R29.

Hamilton pushed incredibly hard, the McLaren right on the ragged edge many times.  He pitted early, and Raikkonen & Sutil pulled ahead.  Hamilton was released into favourable traffic ahead of Liuzzi and Alonso.

With Raikkonen and Sutil then pitting, the now lighter Brawn’s pulled well away with Rubens Barrichello holding a good dap lead over championship rival and team mate Button.

Robert Kubica ended up retiring, with some kind of oil leak – although Martin Brundle claimed on BBC television that they were saving the engine as they were nearing their allocation limit.

Tonio Liuzzi too had a scare when he was driving through towards the Roggia chicane when at around 200mph the clutch appeared to break completely and the Force India driver ended his day in the sliproad of that chicane.  Disappointing after a fairly good weekend.

Giancarlo Fisichella looked largely average making his Ferrari debut, losing out on positions to various drivers, which in the end meant he finished the race in 9th place just behind Sebastian Vettel.  A shame for Fisichella not to score points on his debut.

After the final stops, Hamilton came out in 3rd behind the two Brawns and immediately started chasing.  Hamilton said after the race every lap was like “a qualifying one”.  Raikkonen and Sutil had a pitstop race, but both made mistakes! Raikkonen nearly stalled leaving his box, and Sutil tried to run down half his pitcrew.  Raikkonen came out in front and despite massive pressure would hold Adrian off until the end of the race.

The final piece of action really came from Lewis Hamilton, who, chasing down those Brawn’s managed to lose the car on the exit of the first Lesmo, spinning and smashing into an unforgiving tyre/concrete mixed barrier.  He ripped lots of bodywork off the car and left it strewn across the track. The ensuing double waved yellows and safety car board [in vein!] Raikkonen cruised passed and into 3rd place.

Classified Results

Pos	Driver	Team	Time
1	R. Barrichello	Brawn Mercedes	1.16.21.706
2	J. Button	Brawn Mercedes	+2.866
3	K. Raikkonen	Ferrari	+30.664
4	A. Sutil	Force India Mercedes	+31.131
5	F. Alonso	Renault	+59.182
6	H. Kovalainen	McLaren Mercedes	+1.00.693
7	N. Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	+1.22.412
8	S. Vettel	Red Bull Renault	+1.25.472
9	G. Fisichella	Ferrari	+1.26.856
10	K. Nakajima	Williams Toyota	+2.00.000
11	T. Glock	Toyota	+2.43.925
12	L. Hamilton*	McLaren Mercedes	+1 lap
13	S. Buemi	Toro Rosso Ferrari	+1 lap
14	J. Trulli	Toyota	+1 lap
15	R. Grosjean	Renault	+1 lap
16	N. Rosberg	Williams Toyota	+2 laps

*: Lewis Hamilton crashed on the final lap but was still classified by order of being 1 lap ahead of other runners classified lower.

Fastest Lap: A. Sutil (Force India) – 1.24.739

Retirements

Driver	Team	Lap	Reason
L. Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes	55	Crash
V. Liuzzi	Force India Mercedes	23	Clutch
J. Alguersuari	Toro Rosso Ferrari	20	Unknown
R. Kubica	BMW Sauber	16	Oil Leak
M. Webber	Red Bull Renault	1	Crash

Renault Could Be In Serious Trouble Over Race Fixing Allegations

The Renault Formula One Team could face massive charges, and even permanent suspension from Formula One if they are found guilty of fixing the result of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

This news has emerged after the Belgian Grand Prix, where an un-named source alleged to be Nelson Piquet, told officials that he was forced to crash his Renault in the race to allow Fernando Alonso to take the lead behind the safety car after his final pitstop thus taking him to easy race victory.

While Renault feverently deny any such allegations, when you look again at the race you have to say the evidence is pointing the finger at the French manufacturer.

Bernie Ecclestone tells more in an exclusive interview with a British newspaper;

“The FIA has launched a thorough investigation into the allegations about Nelson.  I do not know if they are true or not.

“But if they are true then I would have thought Nelson was in just as much trouble. If I tell you to go and rob a bank and you get caught you can’t say, ‘Well Bernie told me to.’

“It all seems very strange to me and I do not know the truth.”

“If the investigation finds out that that is what happened then I think there is going to be a lot of trouble,” he said. “You hear of these things happening with jockeys and in football and it has led to all sorts of trouble, hasn’t it?

“If it is true then it is a very serious situation. But it could just be a rumour and Nelson is just annoyed that he has been fired.

“But it is not good for the sport. People seem to be spending money betting on F1, which is good, but they will not want to do that if they think something is wrong with the result.”

There have been many incidents of fixing recently with the blood-gate scandal rocking British Rugby, and Kieran Fallon the top horse racing jockey who returns to the sport very soon after being suspended from riding after throwing multiple races.

Surfers Paradise For FOTA’s 17 Round Calendar?

As the rumours continue to hot up over FOTA’s breakaway series from F1, one which looks ever increasingly likely Surfer’s Paradise was one of the tracks banded around as a possible venue for a GP.

The track in Queensland, Australia is an exciting street track which could be known as the Pacific GP as Adelaide was mentioned as the possible Australian Grand Prix event location.

Surfer’s, a place which considered taking the F1 race from Melbourne late last year as it’s future dwindled has previously hosted CART and ChampCar events and this year hosts a round of the A1GP Championship by Ferrari.

The owner of the track seemed welcome to the idea, especially if they charged less than Bernie Ecclestone wants for F1.

“We couldn’t do this sort of bid on our own but if Queensland Events backed us we would be very interested,” said Ron Clarke.

“There is the chance this breakaway group might not charge as much as the original series organisers,” acknowledged Clarke.

Other circuits mentioned for the FOTA Racing Series included Jerez, Buenos Aires, Imola, Mugello and Silverstone.

F1 Is Over As FOTA Pull Out

Good evening everyone who is reading, or follows my blog.  Today is one of the most pivotal days in Formula One’s history.  As we enter the British Grand Prix weekend, it was annonuced very early this morning that the remaining FOTA member teams will be leaving Formula One and starting their own racing series.

The announcement follows months of political deliberation, open letters, arguments, scuffles, driver questions, theories, rumours and a good helping of bad publicity for the sport which has been thrown into disrepute repeatedly since 2007 with Spy-Gate, Max Mosley’s dealings in a sex dungeon and now the end of the motorsport as we know it.

FOTA members; Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, Brawn GP, Red Bull Racing, Panasonic Toyota F1 Team, BMW Sauber, Scuderia Toro Rosso and ING Renault have all said they will leave F1 after no agreement between FOTA and the FIA has been reached over rule changes.

If you follow F1, this has been coming for a long time.  Too many rule changes, too many restrictions and Max Mosley took it one step too far this time and has led to the downfall of the sport.

“The teams cannot continue to compromise on the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 World Championship,” said a statement issued by FOTA after the meeting.

“These teams therefore have no alternative other than to commence the preparation for a new Championship which reflects the values of its participants and partners. This series will have transparent governance, one set of regulations, encourage more entrants and listen to the wishes of the fans, including offering lower prices for spectators worldwide, partners and other important stakeholders.

“The major drivers, stars, brands, sponsors, promoters and companies historically associated with the highest level of motorsport will all feature in this new series.”

Max Mosley has done what he always does and says “They can’t do that” and will be launching a legal case against FOTA, which will probably get nowhere.  It’s a knee-jerk reaction which may cause minor ruptions but Mosley seems to be missing the bigger picture.  And with Bernie Ecclestone saying Max needs to sort it out, the head man of the FIA looks set to be the bad guy in this, which in all truth’s is deserved as his meddling has got us into this mess.

“The FIA’s lawyers have now examined the FOTA threat to begin a breakaway series,” said the FIA in a statement.

“The actions of FOTA as a whole, and Ferrari in particular, amount to serious violations of law including wilful interference with contractual relations, direct breaches of Ferrari’s legal obligations and a grave violation of competition law.

“The FIA will be issuing legal proceedings without delay.

“Preparations for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship continue but publication of the final 2010 entry list will be put on hold while the FIA asserts its legal rights.”

It has left F1 with a roadshow for 2010 and only 5 teams.  Williams and Force India who brokeaway from FOTA are now stuck in F1, along with Manor, US F1 Team and Campos who all were accepted entries into the sport for next season.  The teams which failed including Lola and N.Technology have all swiftly withdrawn any such entries in the wake of the FOTA break-away and one can imagine they will be applying for the new series if such applications are formally allowed.

“With much regret, taking into consideration the highly questionable process conducted by the FIA, which is affected by many irregularities, and the uncertainties regarding the 2010 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the MSC board decided last night to withdraw its application, as Team N.Technology, under the new regulations allowing entry of ‘capped budget’ teams,” said the statement.

“MSC believes that through its wrong actions and objectionable management methods, the FIA severely hurt MSC’s efforts to become a new team and undermined the Formula 1 sport, taken as a whole.”

So what next for FOTA and indeed for this blog.  Well, I am probably going to loosely cover the F1 event of this weekend the British GP [in time] and again some coverage until the end of the season.  But if FOTA launch a rival series, F1Fanatics WILL, i repeat WILL be following the teams and supporting the new series.  A post will be brought up soon with how FOTA could go about launching the new series.  Keep your eyes peeled, and remember support FOTA’s actions.

Donington On Track and Has 17 Year Contract

Donington Park boss Simon Gillet was almost iron fist in his conversation with Autosport this week as he discussed the future of the British Grand Prix and Donington Park’s development into a Formula One ready venue.

Gillet hit out at the British Motorsport Establishment’s criticism of Donington, and also their future as the host of F1.

In direct relation to the claims by media that they would not host the event in 2010, Gillet claimed that was never an option – despite Ecclestone saying they could take one year’s grace.

“Sitting here today, I can’t see any reason for doing that,” said Gillett. “What Bernie Ecclestone has done is given us a safety net. Part of the problem with our financing has been that everyone is out there saying it doesn’t matter if Donington doesn’t make it because Silverstone will pick it up.

“So that’s a distraction for our financiers – they read in the press that Silverstone will get it back so ask why they should go with us. But what Mr Ecclestone did was very carefully say that if Donington is there in 2010, he’ll wait because it’s not going back to Silverstone.

“In doing that, he has made 2010 even more viable because now finance houses understand that it is our contract. To give us one-year breathing space is an absolute show of commitment.”

Gillet confirmed that Donington has an epic 17 year contract, if F1 keeps going that long of course !

“The great thing about the credit crunch is that building is cheaper! So we’re now looking at about £30 million. We’re confident with what we have – and that’s with a 10-year contract.

“Now, with a 17-year contract, we should double that as well. It’s a very solid way of financing. It’s just that we caught the market at the wrong time.

“But now we’re talking to a lot of different funds and individuals about them backing this scheme because people now realise that this current situation is not going to last forever.

“We have a 17-year contract, and everyone knows that we will be out of this within that period.”

Bernie – Team’s Can’t Set Up Their Own Series

Bernie Ecclestone believes that the manufacturer groups threatening to walk away from Formula One over dispute with the FIA, would have no luck trying to found their own series.

Bernie cites issues with sponsorship, events, governance, fans (and lack of) amongst other things, including contracts he holds with them saying they will be in F1 until 2012.

Ecclestone also believes in an era of cost cutting that boards of the major motor manufacturers like Toyota and BMW would be uneasy at funding a brand new racing series.

“If they do try to set up their own series – and I don’t think they will be able to – there are big problems ahead for them,” Ecclestone told the Daily Express.

“Apart from my contracts with teams, if somebody went to any of our contracted people, companies, television contractors, we would view it very seriously.

“That would be inducement to breach contracts and I don’t do that myself, so I won’t stand back and let it happen. Any action could run to hundreds of millions of pounds, who knows how much?”

“I’m not sure that the boards of teams such as Toyota and BMW, who are already looking to cut costs in F1, would sympathise and bankroll their teams going off to a series which would not be the FIA F1 championship,”

Bernie Suggests Two Tier Tech Rules Will Go…

Bernie Ecclestone has taken the step of suggesting that the two tier technical regulations, the main problem manufacturers have with the budget caps will be abolished and one set of rules printed.

The idea was that those under the cap would have greater technical freedom.  Toyota’s John Howett believed teams in the cap could gain 3-5 seconds per lap on those out of it.

Manufacturers and big spenders were not impressed with this idea, and Bernie has finally agreed.

“I think the most important thing that upset everybody is the two-tier technical system, and I think it’s been agreed that we shouldn’t have that, we should just have one set of regulations,” he said.

“I think everybody is more or less happy with the budget cap, it’s just a case of how much. I don’t know if that means it will be higher or lower, it’s a case of sorting that out.”

It does beg the question though.  If there aren’t 2 levels of technical regulation, why would you opt into the cap? There appears to be no other advantage?!  Maybe its just Bernie rebuilding the bridges Max Mosley keeps burning.

Bernard - Trying to patch things up...

No Agreement Reached Between FIA and Teams In Pointless Meeting

The FIA and Formula One Teams made no agreement in today’s emergency meeting held at Heathrow in London.

The manufacturers in F1 want a block on the budget cap rule which is coming in next season, Max Mosley thinks they’re stupid so all the manufacturers have threatened to pull out.

“It was quite a friendly meeting, but in the end all that happened was that the teams have gone off to see if they can come up with something better than the cost cap,” Max Mosley told reporters after the Heathrow meeting.

“We explained we cannot put back the entry date, as this has all been published, and we cannot disadvantage the potential new teams who will come in. But we are prepared to listen to whatever they have to say.

“In the meantime, the regulations are as published. We have explained that we want everyone to race under the same regulations. We have explained that we would like all of the teams to come in under the cost cap and that is what they have gone off to consider.

“We have said that we cannot see why anyone wouldn’t want to operate under the cost cap, and it would mean a gradual relaxation of the technical regulations – which all the engineers would want. We said in the end the choice was between intellectual freedom and financial constraint, or intellectual constraint and financial freedom – which is what they have had up until now.

“We have pointed out, and it is something the engineers have said, that current F1 consists of endless refinement at enormous expense and we want to move away from that and have invention and creativity, but we can only do that if we restrict the cost – because if we have unrestricted cost nobody would be able to afford it.

“I think some of the teams agree with that idea, and some don’t, and they have gone away to discuss it.”

Meanwhile, it was discovered during the meeting that Ferrari have taken the new rules to a French court claiming that it is a breach of the technical regulation veto they have.

“During the meeting it became apparent that Ferrari has made an application to the French courts, and I don’t know the details, but it is to apply for an injunction to stop us doing what we want to do.  So that is where the situation rests as far as Ferrari is concerned.”