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Previously on The Judge 13:
#F1 Forensics: Putting the pieces together, Part 1 #Justice4Jules
#F1 Voice of the Fans: Hippo’s View From The Waterhole, Time To Stop The #ForzaJules Hype
The Top-20 #F1 Constructors who Failed to win a Championship – 6th: Hesketh
#TJ13 #F1 Courtroom Podcast: Craig – “The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Heard”
OTD Lite: 1978 – Gunnar Nilsson – An inspirational hero
Caterham cars swift visit to Leafield
Mercedes aiming to move further ahead in 2015
Prost believes Mercedes dynamic changes since Spa
FIA culpable over Bianchi crash
OTD Lite: 1978 – Gunnar Nilsson – An inspirational hero
Gunnar Nilsson is not a name many of the current generation of Formula One fans would know but in the mid 70’s he established himself as one of the rising stars in F1. Having watched fellow Swede Ronnie Peterson, he decided he wanted to be a racing driver and after an initial few seasons in lower formulae learning the trade, he won the 1975 British F3 title.
In 1976 he became a Formula One driver for Team Lotus and scored a podium in only his third event. He and his team-mate Mario Andretti developed the Lotus 77 during the season and by 1977 they embarked on the season with the early ground effect Lotus 78.
At Zolder that year, he took his only F1 victory, passing Niki Lauda’s Ferrari en route. Following a podium finish in the British Grand Prix, he mysteriously began struggling in qualifying and retiring from every race. In December following tests for headaches and back pains, he was diagnosed with lymph node cancer and began intensive radiotherapy. He passed away on this day in 1978.
In his last months he rejected medication to set up the Gunnar Nilsson Foundation that to this day raises funds for scientists; and the mortality rate of the testicular cancer that claimed Nilson has dropped from 90% to 5%. In 1981, Princess Anne opened the Gunnar Nilsson Suite at Charing Cross Hospital where he had received his treatment.
The Jackal
Caterham cars swift visit to Leafield
The Caterham F1 cars which were shipped directly from Russia to Colin Kolles’ base in Germany, returned Friday night to Leafield for a lick of paint and a swift service before they depart again – probably before the weekend is out.
Interestingly, it appears the staff have been informed their employment contracts will remain with/return to Caterham Sports Ltd, following the insistence by management that on the 10th October they would be transferred from Caterham Sports Ltd to 1MRT – a foreign listed company.
TJ13 commented should this initial transfer of employment to a foreign listed company take place, should 1MRT go into administration or be wound up, the UK protective measures for employees of bankrupt companies may not apply to the staff. There is a winding up petition to be heard for Caterham Sports Ltd on 11th November 2014.
We are aware the management of Caterham have been following TJ13’s coverage of the behind the scene manoeuvres the Caterham owners have been enacting. due to comments made in the paddock in Russia by a senior manager within the team.
It is probable that if this latest story is true, the Caterham owners may have just realised that the staff’s best interests are best served under the protection of the UK laws on the Administration of companies (Chapter 11 similar). Hence why they would seek to reverse their original decision to force the employees to transfer to 1MRT.
Caterham assured their staff the removal of equipments and assets from the Leafield base just prior to the Japanese GP by The Sheriff’s Office high Court Enforcement Officers would be resolved shortly. This has proven to be untrue.
TJ13 has repeatedly asserted the new owner(s) appear to be disinterested in the long term survival of the Caterham team and unless a big seven figure sum is placed in funds with the team within the next 2 weeks, the company will be taken from the owners and administered by Insolvency Practitioners.
Dell Computers are thought to be considering enforcing the recovery of the multi-million dollar computer systems, via action in the USA. So when the Caterham F1 team arrives for the grand prix in Austin, they may be in for a surprise.
Mercedes aiming to move further ahead in 2015
Sources from Italy are reporting rumours on the 2015 power unit from Mercedes. One of the significant updates which is being considered is a new direct injection system that Andy Cowell’s team at Brixworth is working on in conjunction with Bosch. The new system will be able to inject fuel into the combustion chamber at 500 bar pressure – which is the maximum amount allowed by the regulations.
This year Mercedes have been running their system at just over 250 bar. Not only will this increase the horsepower by around 40bhp, but other benefits include reduced consumption. Williams, Force India and Lotus, as well as the works team will all benefit from being able to start races with significantly less fuel onboard. At least that is the assumption.
Of course this all sounds doom and gloom for the other teams but there are some ponderables which for the eternal optimists is worth hanging on to. The FIA allows a system whereby a manufacturer has 48 tokens for development for the following season – this fundamental change for the German manufacturer accounts for 60% – leaving 16 tokens to use on their design elsewhere.
The other consideration is that Ferrari has been running 500 bar pressure all year with a system developed with Magnetti Marelli and although reliable hasn’t reduced their consumption significantly. Renault have decided to stick at 250 bar as they feel that a 15,000rpm limit is unachievable with current regulatory constraints. Most engines, in fact, run at 10,500rpm as any more would release horsepower quicker but would prove detrimental to consumption.
Of course, with everybody hoping for closer competition, we have to hope the Italian and French engineers have solutions that will close the gap between them – otherwise ‘The Three Amigos’ will take credit once more.
Prost believes Mercedes dynamic changes since Spa
Four time World Champion Alain Prost is in a privileged position of having experienced intra-team battles twice in his career. In 1984-85 with Niki Lauda and 1988-89 with Ayrton Senna. The second proving arguably the most acrimonious fight in Formula One history.
But whatever the rights and wrongs of those particular stories it has offered Prost a unique insight. Thinking back to his rivals at Mclaren, Prost recollected, “Ron was very strong, but he has always shown a small preference, I had the advantage at one stage – but you do not realise exactly when you have it – when I was with Niki. But then when I was with Ayrton we had a thing and he Dennis always showed a little thing for Ayrton. Not the team but Dennis himself.”
As a Renault ambassador he travels with the Formula One circus and he remarked that the Mercedes team dynamic has changed significantly since Rosberg was forced to apologise for the collision in Belgium.
“I don’t know what is happening after Spa, but it looks a little strange. I don’t know if you can say preference, but something has change a little bit. You can feel it, you don’t see it. And if you don’t know if it’s true, but when you’re inside a team – when you start to feel something you have lost.”
It would be churlish to suggest that Prost and his old team-mate and friend, Lauda, have spoken about the intra-team battle between the Silver Arrows drivers but TJ13 has been reporting that all is not as it seems on the ‘Good Ship Mercedes’ for some time…
FIA culpable over Bianchi crash
TJ13 has been surprised at the lack of comment in the English speaking media, on what was in a effect a mini fiasco of an FIA briefing in Sochi following the tragic events the week before at the Japanese GP [Analysis coming on Podcast then article].
In the meantime, the Italian F1 journalists have been scathing of Charlie Whiting’s handling of the Bianchi incident and the aftermath. Accusations of nepotism abound and derisory suggestions that the FIA is a laughing stock as Whiting ‘the accused’, is also offered the roles of prosecutor, Judge and Jury.
Formula Passion does exactly what it says on the tin. There are passionate articles and the use of rhetoric such as “blood stirring the shark infested waters”. Oh to be Italian.
Yet when distilled, the critiques are well reasoned and fair comment.
Yet in English, we have little comment yet from our esteemed F1 journalists, James Allen yesterday made an oblique vicarious reference, questioning the manner in which Charlie Whiting had handled this, but it was the broadest of brush comments with no detail.
Thank the Lord for Four-time Formula One world champion Alain Prost, who has come out and said he is “furious” and “outraged” by the accident that seriously injured his compatriot.
Prost is adamant that the FIA and Charlie Whiting are culpable stating, “I was furious. I was really shocked by the accident. You have the procedure, but the weather conditions were getting worse and worse with more and more water, so visibility was very bad.
So you cannot have the same decision according to the procedure if the weather was good or bad. That is why I say I am not convinced. In this condition, especially with all the experience they have in terms of safety, they should have zero risk.”
Though a little tough to follow at times, the thrust of Prost’s position is that the worsening conditions meant either the race should have been red flagged and/or at least a Safety Car should have been sent out immediately there was an incident. These were the emergency measures which would have been used in Sochi had any car stopped on track.
Prost goes further and again does not pull his punches. “It is cars and tracks [that have been developed] and there was only one thing left: it was this f**king truck on the track.”
This writer is aware that Alain believes that the finance is available and that no circuit requires an ‘on circuit tractor in operation’ and that cranes external to the barriers should be installed at all F1 tracks. This view is not exactly beyond comprehension outrageous in a sport where the revenues are $1.5bn a year, and the teams collectively spend a similar amount to go racing.
The inconsistency of Race Control’s decisions during the Japanese GP 2014, is next up for Prost.
“It was safe in the beginning when it started with the safety car, because it was a difficult decision to stop the race after three or four laps and start again. That is why I was shocked, because you take the right decision at one stage.”
It is unconfirmed, but highly likely, Charlie Whiting was under pressure to get the race under way on time and complete the minimum of two laps.
We do known discussions took place between the promoter and the FIA with a view to bringing the race forward, however, the promoter Honda insisted the race start time should not be moved.
Former President of the FIA is crystal clear on who is responsible for all aspects of safety. Mosely told SKY, “The FIA. Everything to do with safety is the FIA – even right down to cancelling the race because of the weather and postponing it to the following day. You would be very reluctant to do that but if there was any safety question you would do everything that was necessary.”
The FIA chose to release information into the public domain in Sochi, and it is about time the English speaking F1 journalists, led some kind of public debate. At present they are abdicating this responsibility and social media social media along with the Italians are taking the lead.
Despite not one admission of there being improper management of the regulations or the race, the FIA are clearly in part culpable for the events we saw in Suzuka this year.
Regarding Caterham, Fernandes had given up on the team. It is unusual to see a team change hands in the middle of a season. This to me means the team was ready to fold up.
I might not like Kolles style of management, but by keeping some of the team alive he still provides employment and more importantly, an entry into an exclusive club.
Fernandes tried to run his team like a big operation without a strong foundation. I suppose he has Gascoyne to thank for his white elephant.
Prost
Well Prost chose to have a word with Rosberg before Monaco and strange things started happening. I suggest he does the same again and find out from Rosberg if things have changed.
…Its just the lie after lie after lie – to the staff – in the media.
If these people return under the guise of Forza Rossa, their credibility is shot already
Bit off track but I nearly choked on my dinner last night, idly watching the sports news and munching when a clip on QPR and some woeful yet hilarious play came up.
Wait up, that’s tosser Tony’s team isn’t it? Sure enough there he was looking thoroughly murderous at antics on field then storming out. Such a shame to see. Not……..
92nd minute QPR score – its 2-2
94th minute. QPR score again – in their own goal QPR 2:3 Liverpool
Game over 😉
I bet you must have been loving that judge? I was experiencing every single emotions possible during that game.
….. It was like watching the final laps in Brazil 2008 – where I was off my seat, desperate and cheering the young Hamilton on
FACT!
Lol…… It was some game
I hope Caulker can recover as well as Berahino did after a similar gaffe last season.. ironic how he was kept from going forwards..
Looks like Tony will need to recover too, first, losing how many tens of millions on Caterham F1, next, another relegation for QPR looking imminent..
But, at least in football, they pay well for you competing with the big boys! Just gotta get Taarabt to lose three stone now, and they might have a slim chance of staying up!
@f1esty, hope Tony reads Joe’s daily as according to a comment posted today the Chinese are looking to get aboard the round ball game. Two major money drains gone in one season……..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/29658585 This is disturbing. We know of the utter contempt Caterham have for its [former] employees. It would appear they’re not that fussed about the wellbeing of their current ones either. FIA, you need to be interested. Someone could get hurt.
Scrutineering in absentia
I wonder why they are now considering backtracking re. which legal entity should “hold” the employment agreement. Did they suddenly decide to be kind(er) to the staff? (Ahem), did they use a different law firm and got a different recommendation? Did they finally realize that some of these employees were actually valuable? Sad.
MOD [The writer said in effect – Lewis and Nico are both very good racers – I like them a lot]
The British etasblishment has a history of this behaviour. Look at their disdain of Mansell despite his success.
Unless you speak with plummy tones, you shouldn’t be there. Complete and utter b*****ks.
Il Leone was an excellent driver by anyone’s standards. Fast and with big balls.
It’s not only the tone Carlo………
But, but, but rosberg can speak 5 languages…. that alone means that nico has got to be beating a guy with tattoos in a formula that is right up his street as we were told by our knowledgeable pundits before the season began. Therefore merc have got to bes sabotaging nico as lewis seems to be thrashing him…. 😀
…. BTW You don’t have to be the smartest to be the fastest….
Not sure what relevance all this has to anything else going on here at present – if it’s intended to stir up a Hamfosi rampage and a response – it will all be MODERATED.
I hope TJ13 readers are beginning to see through this kind of baiting and just ignore the commentators responsible.
Easy judge, I think the lad (or lass) is just letting some steam off. We have all done this at a post or two post-Spa after months and months of listening about Nico’s superiority and that there was no conspiracy against Lewis and that it was all his doing…and suddenly we start talking about preference for Lewis within Merc and conspiracies against Nico. I think you can understand that.
…. I’m afraid – ad hominem attacks and baiting for the hell of it will not be tolerated so this kind of moderation will continue until everyone learns how to behave better.
It’s been chaos around here and it has to stop.
Agreed……. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thank you Judge!
We have had at least 10 months of bloodlust and I for 1 am glad of this stance.
I debate subjects with a view of expanding my knowledge and try to understand the logic others have applied to the same issues as I know I’m not always right.
I’m all for dropping the gavel on personal abuse, but I think the world would be better served by banning *responses* to obvious baiting.
Under this regime the baiter would be left swinging in the breeze with their comment bare of response. When anglers repeatedly get no bites on bait they pull anchor and stooge along to a different spot or they go home.
Those attempting to respond to the aforementioned bait would be chastened by the sting of the gavel on their bonce, hopefully triggering a lesson in self-restraint and a priceless learning experience (err… “Don’t feed the trolls”, to coin a phrase).
And so the world lives happily ever after …
P.S. Lastly, I’d like to opine that the generalised derisive, snide and derogatory tone of a lot (most?) of the actual DN&C articles at this here site sits rather uncomfortably along side this anti-baiting TJ13 thing.
I’m not looking for Polly-Anna, FOM-approved F1 fairy stories, but the way some articles go on (and on (and on…)) about various team management personalities and assorted drivers leaves a lot to be desired. Some would even cry “bait” at a lot of DN&C content.
Mauling Plato to within an inch of his life: Baiting is in the eye of the beholder.
If you can just clarify one small point please Judge.
As to your comment you don’t have to be the smartest to be the fastest…….is this why John (quoted by Samaritan) wasn’t?
Don’t have to be the smartest to be the fastest… does this mean I would stand a chance in F1? Boom! Yo Dr Marko! Sign me up! 👍
@DQ….
Not sure he would after you just chucked a £143m in the bin….. 🙂 😉
@thejudge13 they have always known its baiting but still choose to press send.
Some people live for that s#!t…..
What was that article you wrote judge? – ‘Twitter moralisers just don’t get it’ with the ever increasing strangling of freedom of speech thrown in there. Now I understand trolling is not what we want on here but saying samaritan’s comment is bait and comments like that will be modded is ridiculous. It’s simply a counter to those that kept towing the party line in saying that nico the more ‘cerebral’ – whatever the f*ck that means – driver was meant to beat a very fast dumb kid in this new ‘thinking’ formula we have. We were fed that BS for weeks leading up to the start of the season.
Why were his cerebral abilities never shoved down our throats when he was up against a seven time world champ – only when lewis became his team mate have we heard that.
So, taking all that into account I think it’d be awfully nice if you let us hamfosi have our moment will you? 🙂
…. I suspect it was the week in week out Lauda/Hamfosi triumphalism prior to Monaco (4 straight race wins for Lewis) which irritated some folk – causing a backlash – circular argument – has to be broken.
When Lewis wins the next race – you’ll have more ‘moments’ and opportunities.;)
“When Lewis wins the next race – you’ll have more ‘moments’ and opportunities.;)”…..
Interesting last statement….. 😉
https://stillisurprise.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/image40.jpg
Want a hand?
ridiculous, for month on end the anti hamilton brigade was allowed to aggressively bait and troll to no end and now all of a sudden relatively harmless pro hamilton posts get moderated. i’m all for returning this blog to the civilized and informed debate that characterized it before monaco 2014, but the double standard is not a good look.
http://jupitercity.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/glass_of_water_350.jpg
Glass is the wrong size
Hah! Yeah you may be correct there Matt. It’s a very large pill I suppose…
Spot on. Just look at the hounding the England national team gets from all angles. It’s no wonder they don’t perform knowing the hammering they’re going to get when it all inevitability goes wrong.
Good on Lewis for not letting them get to him. He’s changed my opinion of him this season. Besides Monaco his off track behaviour seems to have really matured.
Is this the same Prost who blamed NIck Heidfeld for putting his car through a series of back flip, double tuck somersault that would’ve landed him a perfect score had car gymnastics been an Olympic sport. Go figure.
I sometimes wish those past ‘legends’ would keep quiet. Over the past few years I have lost a bit of respect for Sir Jackie, Prost and Lauda.
I think they say controversial stuff just so people make a fuss about what they have to say, keeping them in people thoughts for longer, even if we are just thinking they are suffering from dementia (JYS especially)
Hey, Prost, Lauda and Stewart have all earned their opinions.
Nice to see the Hulk confirmed at Force India for next season
Well, it is nice that he’s staying in F1, but it’s a pity his talent will be spent at a middle-field team for another year.
I was thinking the same thing and he could possibly be in a mid-field team for his entire career.
He’s got a case of Nick Heidfield syndrome by the look of it, could probably place Alesi in there too, although Alesi chose Ferrari over Williams back in 91, just when the Scuderia were falling and Williams rising.. career defining move.
Hulkenberg signing for Force India yet again might be that career defining moment which shackles him to the F1 midfield for the rest of his days, although there were hardly any seats further up available to him.
Hopefully Ferrari pick him up for 2016, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Kimi might enact his option year, if 2015 starts going well, or he just wants another pay-off.
So, Marciello is the Ferrari junior next in line, but he needs 3-4 years at Sauber/Marussia for Ferrari to even pick him. Hulk could be a stopgap, or even oust Vettel (!) by the time the juniors are ready:
Marciello – GP2 (8th; 5th minus bad luck – my top 5: Vandoorne, Palmer, Nasr, Evans, Marciello)
Fuoco – FIA F3 (5th.. favourite for 2015 title, with Ocon, Verstappen, Blomqvist and Auer moving on)
Stroll – Italian F4 (equal winner this year with ex-Ferrari junior Maisano, next step F3 or Eurocup FR2.0)
Marciello could move up after Vettel/Hulk friction, with one of them moving on, or when Ferrari need a reliable number 2, after Kimi’s replacement has a go first.
He also won 5 Euro F3 races in a row at 17, with Max V doing 6 at 16, and Hamilton both 5 and 6 each at 20. Lewis was obviously “F1 level” ready from 20, using current day metrics, like Vettel/Alonso.
Ideally, Evans/Marciello should have a GP2 title battle next year, with both being the same age Hamilton dominated F3 at in 2005, before moving on up to F1 at a fresh 21. But, Jules being sidelined only one year before a probable Ferrari move might change that plan.
There’s even the Forza Rossa possibility, and Stroll Sr looking to buy a team.. the future does look rosy for those 3, despite Ferrari criticising Marciello over his GP2 driving on twitter. But they’ve never shelled out millions on a junior in one year until now, so that’s probably why they got a trigger finger going…
Caterham’s GP2 team has been sold to the GP3 team Status. Consequently, Caterham Racing wil compete as Status in next year’s GP2 series.
Interesting news.. that gives them a ladder up from GP3. If Stanaway and Yelloly can graduate up then that is a plus.. Stanaway is a talent that deserves a chance. Pair him up with someone with big sponsors in the other seat..
He was practically unbeatable by iRacing’s 30,000 membership when recovering from his FR3.5 back injury in 2012, winning the Pro series to graduate to the 2013 driver’s world championship.. he was basically in the same position online as he is in real life (a big junior talent, knocking right on the door of the top tier)..
Interestingly, Jann Mardenborough (a GT Academy winner, like one of the regular US iRacing DWC drivers was) has also been in GP3 this year, and Vandoorne has shown he’s the best driver overall in GP2, another who showed his top level talents online in open ‘F1’ competition.
Any news on Fred?
Silly season carries on in unstoppable form.
(i) Porsche would want to enter a 3rd car in WEC. So you could have Webber, Hulk (yes, him!) and Button/Alonso
(ii) Fred might still replace Lewis for 2015
(iii) Fred may take sabbatical and then join Merc
Thing is. Are Honda and Alonso still negotiating? Or is Fred negotiating with Merc to get a drive in 2016 in place of Lewis or Nico? But then, you have to think of Bottas. Surely in Wolff’s book, Bottas would be next in line, not Alonso. Unless of course Fred can offer somethign to Merc that Bottas can’t. Not sure what that would be though.
Alonso could offer that little something extra in a title battle, if needed, but if Mercedes are still clearly ahead by 2016, then Bottas offers the performance at a fraction of the price (and a nice management fee ‘kickback’ for Mr. Wolff).
PS. Alonso/Hulk/Webber in a Porsche at Le Mans – that would be mega.
I’m not sure Alonso in 2016 will be offering even that much ‘extra’ compared with the young Bottas in his 4th year.
In my opinion, Alonso had his peak in 2012. From now on, it’ll be a slow but steady decline and by 2016 his decline and Bottas’ ascendancy might just cross over.
Have to say that I agree with that.. Bottas and Ricciardo, 25, are set to peak in the next few years. Grosjean and Hulkenberg were also peaking in 2013.
Alonso’s speed peak must have been 2005-6, taking on Raikkonen and Schumacher, while his overall peak was probably those golden periods between 2008-14, sometimes lugging a terrible car.
Age will surely catch up with him in the next few years, even if he has spent 10 years at the top now, which is approaching Prost, Senna, Schumacher territory..
when do you suppose Maldonado might peak…………? 🙂
Undoubtedly 2012/2013.. downhill from here I dare say…. 😛 Hulk 27, Romain 28, Pastor 29.. time is running out to move to a top team.
FT reporting that Caterham Sports is in administration.
http://www.ft.com/fastft/223342
The Euro lottery in UK is estimated at £143million, US$230million, 180millionEUR, this Tuesday.
If you won that money, would you attempt to buy a tail end team, like Caterham or Marussia, even Sauber maybe? Or would you invest some each year in a team such as Lotus? Would this be money wasted or an investment?
Or perhaps you would just use the money to follow the F1 circus round the world buying top level tickets for each race.
How about ‘investing’ this money to some of the poorer areas in the world and those in real need?
PS That’s not to belittle your question Mike, just wanted to throw that out there against Bernie’s cronies and going racing to places where human rights are regularly violated.
I agree with your sentiments, but where would one start? That money is a drop in the ocean for helping the poor of the world. Maybe one could choose an area, or a particular problem and use the money for that, but its very difficult to know what is best.
Why wonder where to start? Why wonder what is best? Helping people shouldn’t be subject to those kinds of judgements. Just pick something and volunteer / donate / whatever.
I would have to go with your final option, would be too much stress investing in any of those teams.
F1 is a way to lose money not to gain it
I would definitely try and buy in to Lotus! If you can still make money on the rest of your capital, then it could be a good entry point, despite the amount of money lost in recent years..
No chance… I may as well chuck it in a bin and light it!
Remember, Vijay started life in F1 as a Billionaire.. he is now an ex Billionaire. That sort of says it all (ok ok.. it was because of planes but..)
“James Allen yesterday made an oblique vicarious reference, questioning the manner in which Charlie Whiting had handled this, but it was the broadest of brush comments”
MOD [The commentator meant to say – James is an excellent F1 writer and insightful analysts – and all round jolly good chap]
I find James Allen to be one of the good guys…
I do wish we had his commentary alongside David Coulthard on BBC, but he’s probably best served on the Radio 5/Aussie feed, where he doesn’t have to endure random abuse.. I’ve never understood it.. is his analysis too technical or something?
We definitely love him down under. He’s our adopted insider of all things F1. Has a deal with TEN, our free to air channel that does F1.
….He’s been a friend to TJ13 too – allowing us to post many links to our articles on his site
What an insightful comment…. Fu*king hell…..
I think he’s done a U-Turn 😉
Haha… classic.
Re Grosjean
Interesting article @espnf1. He is basically saying that he didn’t see the Vettel move coming and so no Macca seat for him unless ALO takes a year off. The amusing part (to me at least) is his repeated statement that “Lotus is not bad.” He probably should go thru one more “PR training” course and stop bad mouthing the team he is most likely stuck with…just sayin’
http://en.espnf1.com/lotusf1/motorsport/story/180461.html
The FIA has revealed it’s Accident Panel, Ross Brawn is on it along with Domenicali etc-
http://www.fia.com/news/fia-accident-panel
A lot of well known names with virtually no experience in accident investigation. Looks more like an FIA PR exercise.
I think when a major accident occurs in F1 it should be investigated by a fully independent panel of experts outside of the sport and the FIA where possible. Otherwise it’s just a PR exercise to say “Look F1 is safe”. There is always a nagging fear at the back of my mind when those recovery trucks are out on track, no matter what the weather is like.
@cavf1 & others.
I am guessing that you haven’t looked at the background and experience of some of the people on the accident panel. For example, Peter Wright a qualified engineer, was a director of Euro NCap. Antonio Rigozzi is a well regarded independent lawyer and Professor, in the field of sports law. His international reputation means that there won’t be anything fishy going on.
Joe Saward has a new blog post up about this, and states that the whole thing is just a PR exercise. But from what I can tell, he’s not saying there should be a genuine investigation, he’s saying there’s no need for +any+ kind of review at all.
http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/fia-names-accident-panel/
I posted the following comment which is still “awaiting moderation”…
“Agree this is a PR excersise. It is clearly aimed at coming up with (already obvious) recommendations for the future without criticizing anyone important over what happened and most importantly, protecting the F1 brand from any outside criticism. Do these people really not understand why its hard to do a good job of the former without addressing the latter? Of course not, this is all about fending off any suggestion that commercial interests were allowed to trump safety concerns at Suzuka.
Why is no one among the F1 press asking for an independent investigation? There are so many obvious questions about how the race was handled. Not just questions based on hindsight, but questions that were being asked even before the race began! F1 has been in damage limitation mode ever since the race ended, and the accredited F1 press seem to be playing along obediently as usual.”
“Why is no one among the F1 press asking for an independent investigation?”
Because they’ll quickly find that if they do, no one in the FIA will talk to them. And if they persevere in asking for an independent investigation they likely run the risk of losing their FIA accreditation.
…Not if you live in Italy – Press have been merciless in their comments on the FIA
just the english speaking press
Hi there Judge,
Just reading the rather flattering comment regarding you from Joe Saward in the comments sections to his own Caterham story on his blog:
‘He does not know his arse from his elbow’
Had to laugh very hard, I’m sorry. But what a way to treat your colleagues…
Oh well…. I guess he got there in the end.
Didn’t we say last week the company would go into administration on the 20th October…. Oh what date is it?
😀
It seems he is the epitome of the site journalists in the F1 world. The arrogance of the bloke is staggering! He doesn’t like this site much haha. Guess he’s worried
I replied to the same story with the following, which is still in moderation:
“So Joe, based on the latest information do you still stand by this article?
/why-andre-lotterer-is-driving-for-caterham/
(i won’t give him the satisfaction of a link)
Seem’s that maybe money was more of a factor that you had let on.
I think the number propagated was 300,000 Euro for Lotterer to drive that weekend…”
His whole argument in the first article was that Lotterer was there to help develop and improve the car for caterham. I shut him down hard with a comment that he deleted, I am sure this one won’t make it through either.
It’s OK, I know he lurks around here. I have noticed certain words and phrases in his writing that are very similar to articles and comments here on tj13. Sometimes I feel like points in his articles are written specifically to counter the Judge, though not directly referenced.
HI JOE
…….. Maybe we should give him a shout out every day – as he sips his Starbucks and nibbles on a pastry reading TJ13….
He may be wishing he had a great group of people around him – all part of something they’re doing together.
Get’s lonely in those mighty high pulpits… better down and dirty with the sinners 😉
I have always found Joe’s overt displeasure at the TJ13 project fascinating… Often his responses are quite damning when the subject of TJ13 is mentioned… Over time, I’ve come to understand that It really just points to a childlike mind somehow perceiving a threat… I can’t for the life of me figure it out, but the deluded mind is a complex beast… One thing is for sure, he’s definitely threatened by TJ13, OR what TJ13 represents, where all his anger about that representation is projected to TJ13 itself. And what does TJ13 really represent? Well, doing a better job in bringing F1 to the fans, and the fans to F1, but in a different and unique way using a modern take. Empowering them. Giving them a voice. All tenets Joe loathes. Poor ol’ Joe. The future is now, mate.
We have a little story which is No. 1 in the DN&P post tomorrow for those who play in both yards 😉
[mod] I’m going to make this gem visible for an hour, just so that people have an idea what kind of ‘intellectual heavyweight’ we’re dealing with here. After that, it goes down the toilet, where it belongs
— original text —
So not enough backbone to allow my post to remain and illustrate what a narrow minded low brow lazy old fashion hack you really are?
enjoy the butthurt as your gf salivates over Um Bongo as he lifts the title, you dozy judge freisler wannabe stupid twat
It’s been longer than an hour …
Haha….. Time and space vacuum…