Bernie Ecclestone

Despite the Formula 1 teams still stranded in China following the grounding of airlines amid the threat of volcanic ash after the recent Icelandic volcano eruption, Bernie Ecclestone has said that the Spanish Grand Prix will go ahead.

The Barcelona race due to take place on May 9, was faced with postponement or cancelled due to the disruptions, however, in the worse case scenario it could mean that the teams may have to fly directly to the Spanish circuit.

The chief executive of the Formula One Management (FOM), said to the Times newspaper;

“The main concern is getting the engines back because they have to be worked on.  I am sure everything will be alright. There is no question of cancelling the Spanish Grand Prix. Of course it is causing everybody problems, but we will find a way to get everyone home.”

The US F1 team have continually struggled to perform at any level and before the end of 2009 were already talking about missing the opening races.

Instead of stepping in then the FIA have allowed the team to continue going nowhere until their withdrawal. In the meantime Stefan GP have long been campaigning to replace the ill stricken US team and have even received the backing of Bernie Ecclestone.

They have a car that is ready to race and we are led to believe drivers and sponsors in place, but the FIA have rejected the opportunity to fill the race grid for 2010 claiming that it is too late to accept a new entry.

Personally I feel that the FIA have let down the F1 supporters by not giving the place to what appears a well funded team who are ready to race having acquired the race cars from Toyota, following their withdrawal from the series.

Furthermore it appears that another of the teams Hispania F1, the re named Campos outfit are so far behind schedule that although they will make up the numbers at the opening race in Bahrain they have had hardly any chance to test the car and will almost certainly be playing catch up with the pack for the whole season.

In a statement issued by the FIA it said that US F1 had indicated that it would not be in a position to participate in the 2010 F1 Championship, adding; “Having considered the various options, the FIA confirms that it is not possible for a replacement team to be entered for the Championship at this late stage.”

The full entry list for F1 2010 is:

1 Jenson Button (GB) McLaren-Mercedes

2 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes

3 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes

4 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes

5 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault

6 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault

7 Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari

8 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari

9 Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Williams-Cosworth

10 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams-Cosworth

11 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault

12 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault

14 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes

15 Vitantonio Luzzi (Ita) Force India-Mercedes

16 Sébastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari

17 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso-Ferrari

18 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus-Cosworth

19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth

20 TBA HRT-Cosworth

21 Bruno Senna (Brz) HRT-Cosworth

22 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber-Ferrari

23 Kamui Kobayashi (JPN) BMW Sauber-Ferrari

25 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin-Cosworth

26 Lucas di Grassi (Brz) Virgin-Cosworth

Nelson Piquet Jr.

Nelson Piquet is adamant that he was instructed to crash his Renault Formula One car at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix, in order to help his team-mate Fernando Alonso’s race strategy.

Piquet allegedly claims that he agreed to the crash at a pre-race meeting between himself, Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds, as he believed it was within his interests to do so.

Today a copy of the statement sent to the FIA back in July , said to be from Nelson Piquet Jr. appeared on a website.  The statement claims that Briatore even told the Brazilian driver, which corner to crash on to cause the safety car deployment.

The hearing for the case is set to take place on September 21st in Paris, with Bernie Ecclestone already warning that if found guilty, there would be serious consequences for both Piquet and the Renault team.

FIA

It appears that a deal has today been reached amid the crisis surrounding the break-away threat of the Formula One Championship series.

Max Mosley told a news conference today;

“The basic news is that there will be no split.  There will be one championship in 2010 which is I think something we all hoped.

We’ve reached an agreement on a number of items.  In particular we’ve reached agreement on reduction of costs.  We’ve had significant help from the teams.  The objective is to get back to early 1990s levels within two years.

Now the manufacturers, that’s to say FOTA, have committed commercially until 2012… as far as the FIA is concerned the commitment is indefinite.”

The World Motor Sport Council meeting took place this morning in Paris with Mosley confirming that he will be stepping down from his post of President in October when his mandate ends.  Mosley said;

“I will now be able to look at Formula One knowing it’s peaceful and stable and be able to stop, as was always my intention, in October of this year so I won’t present myself for re-election now that we’ve got peace.”

Bernie Ecclestone said after the meeting;

“I’m obviously very, very happy that common sense has prevailed which I’ve always believed it would because the alternative was not good at all.

I’m also, I must say, very, very, very happy that the teams have come to their senses to stop spending large amounts of money.”

The FIA statement stated that;

“There will be no alternative series or championship and the rules for 2010 onwards will be the 2009 regulations as well as further regulations agreed prior to 29 April 2009.

As part of this agreement, the teams will, within two years, reduce the costs of competing in the championship to the level of the early 1990s.  The manufacturer teams have agreed to assist new entries for 2010 by providing technical assistance.

The manufacturer teams have further agreed to the permanent and continuing role of the FIA as the sport’s governing body.  They have also committed to the commercial agreement to renegotiate and extend the contract before the end of that period.

All teams will adhere to an upgraded version of the governance provisions of the 1998 Concorde Agreement.”

The official entry list for the 2010 Formula One Championship has now been released which includes the three new teams that have signed to race year, they are the Campos Meta Team, Manor Grand Prix and Team US F1.

Up In The Air With Ferrari

This week the Ferrari F1 team went to court in Paris for an injunction to stop the controversial optional £40 million budget cap which is to be introduced in 2010.

Ferrari, Toyota, Renault and the two Red Bull teams have all threatened to walk if the regulations for the 2010 cost cutting budget is not rewritten.

Although all teams are expected to compete under the same regulations, the teams operating under the budget cap scheme would be given greater technical freedom than the unrestricted budget teams.  Three teams have today said that they would welcome the cost cutting scheme for 2010 onwards, they are Williams, Force India and BMW.

With new teams already taking an interest in competing in the 2010 championship, e.g. Lola and USF1, the Ferrari team believe that the newcomers would reduce F1 to the level of a junior series.

Bernie Ecclestone has stated his concern over the situation and would be surprised if many of the teams submitted their entries before the May 29 deadline for next seasons championship.  He doubts there is an easy solution to the crisis and he is worried.

Kimi Raikkonen has already told reporters his feelings on the Ferrari teams future;

“I’m pretty sure we are going to disappear from Formula One.   They will find something for me to do since they still have a contract with me.  They are racing in many other categories.”

Fernando Alonso, who has been rumoured to be going to the Ferrari team in 2010/2011, has said;

“If everything is not settled, Formula One is finished and the sport will turn into GP2 with a little more pace, but there won’t be any interest in it as an event.  I don’t want to drive for a small team.

If the seven teams go, Formula One disappears.  With unknown drivers, it’s over.  You’ll lose the ten best drivers in the world.”

I for one would relish the introduction of new teams, the sport has become boring with the majority of the races being dominated by three or four teams.  This season it has certainly become a little more interesting with the Brawn GP team being one of the front runners but even that is now becoming dull.

We want to see racing as it was before, with all drivers on a level playing field, and with the best driver winning the race rather than the car with the most money spent on it.

I don’t always agree with Ecclestone, but I do feel that this time he may have got it right, let’s hope he doesn’t back down to Ferrari’s threats and that we get the drama and thrills of watching the Formula One championship returning to it’s roots.

FIA’s Max Mosley said after the meeting that there would be no compromise on the controversial regulation, adding that he doubted that Ferrari would quit F1.

“The idea that they are indispensable is nonsense,” said  Mosley. “It’s a little bit like poor Senna. He was the most important driver in 1994 but when he very sadly got killed Formula One went on. Lotus were very important once, so were Brabham.”

He went on to say that the teams had ‘gone off to reconsider’. Ferrari immediatley hit back at the FIA by seeking a legal injunction in France, to stop the ruling taking effect for the 2010 season.

The weather itself has little effect on the support for F1 in China and it is easy to point a finger at the global financial crisis as being the main culprit in keeping fans away from the track. But despite the excellent track and facilities built at a cost of $350million on swampland outside the city specifically to host Formula One, the paying public have avoided the event like the plague.

Stories of shipping busloads of spectators in for free to fill the main stands, have been verified by the embarrassed organisers in the past and you have to suspect that nothing has changed at this years race. Chinese media have estimated that total losses over the seven year contract that expires next year, will amount to around $750million.

But it is not just the spectators that have gone missing, Chinese businesses have been reluctant to commit to Formula One and this years race actually took place without a title sponsor after the state run oil company Sinopec refused to renew it’s deal with the organisers.

Shanghai’s deputy sports minister has said that a decision on whether to take a further five year renewal option on the contract will be made before the end of 2009. In the meantime Bernie Ecclestone is typically bullish over the situation, saying that he was sure that the race will still be on the calendar for 2011, “As long as there is China, we will be here. Asia is growing while lots of parts of the world are dying. That is the difference.”

Ron Dennis

Ron Dennis today handed over the remaining responsibilities with the McLaren Formula One team to Martin Whitmarsh so he can concentrate solely on the McLaren Automotive company.

The 61-year-old announced in January that he would be stepping down from his role as team boss after beginning his career in Formula One at the age of 18.

A press conference was held this morning at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking with Dennis announcing the major reconstruction within the McLaren group.

Dennis said,

“I passed the role of Team Principal of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes to Martin Whitmarsh on January 16th, the day of the launch of our new Formula 1 car. That day I was asked many times whether I would attend the 2009 Australian Grand Prix. My answer was “yes”. I duly attended it – albeit not as the person in charge of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. It was, I admit, a strange feeling.

“The next race, the Malaysian Grand Prix, I watched on TV in the UK – an activity I found surprisingly easy. I’d expected to be more emotional about it, after an unbroken run of attending so many grands prix for so many years.

“I admit I’m not always easy to get on with. I admit I’ve always fought hard for McLaren in Formula 1. I doubt if Max Mosley or Bernie Ecclestone will be displeased by my decision. But no-one asked me to do it. It was my decision.

“Equally, I was the architect of today’s restructure of the McLaren Group. Again, no-one asked me to do it. It was my decision.

“I feel enormously enthused about the prospects for the McLaren Group and for McLaren Automotive, and have no qualms about leaving Martin to report to the board regarding matters connected with Formula 1.”

For more than two-years McLaren have been working on a programme to develop a range of McLaren sports cars, the first of which is to be launched in 2011.  One of the McLaren companies within the group, the McLaren Automotive, will later this year become an independent group with Ron Dennis as it’s Executive Chairman.

Formula One's FIA

After announcements that the new point system, where the winner of the most races would be the champion and not the highest point earner, the FIA have now had to back-track as it was deemed by the F1 teams to contravene the Sporting Regulations and International Sporting Code due to the unilateral and late decision.

On Friday, the FIA released a statement which read,

“On 17 March, the FIA World Motor Sport Council unanimously rejected FOTA’s proposed amendment to the points system for the Formula One Drivers Championship.  The ‘winner takes all’ proposal made by the commercial rights holder (who had been told that the teams were in favour) was then approved.

If, for any rason, the Formula One teams do not agree with the new system, it’s implementation will be deferred until 2010.”

Allegedly, Max Mosley believed that all the teams were in support of the new scoring system and was reported to have said.

“Bernie (Ecclestone) told me that he talked to all the teams and everybody was happy.”

He added,

“I was led to believe they all agreed.  The World council was under the impression that they had all agreed.”

The system may have been sidelined for the 2009 season but Ecclestone is confident that the concept will be in place for 2010, with Ecclestone stating,

“It will be supported by the FIA and it will be in the regulations, so when the people enter the (2010) championship, that’s what the regulation will be.”

Eccelstone confirmed his disappointment for the delay in the changes and said,

“To make any changes when the entries have closed, you have to get a unanimous agreement between all the people that have entered, and it would appear that some of the teams didn’t like the idea.”

An agreement between the organisers and Bernie Ecclestone has been reached whereby the Malaysian Grand Prix will take place at 17.00hrs local time.  Sepang International Circuit chairman Mokhzani Mahathir believes that in the current economic climate, the cost of lighting the circuit would be ‘prohibitive’, the organisers are already having to offer special packages and activities to attract spectators. The late afternoon start should attract more local spectators to the track as the daytime temperature starts to cool.

Malaysia signed a contract with F1 in 2008 in which it agreed to be prepared to stage night racing, but with the economic problems being faced globally, the decision not to hold a night race in 2009 has been made for all the right reasons.