German Indictments imminent for Ecclestone

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Today Suddeutsche.de reports the following.

The German Bank – Bayern LB – that once held the commercial rights to F1 and paid Bernie Ecclestone 41million Euro’s in commission to find a buyer – is looking to recover its money.

We now know this money actually just circulated on to Gerhard Gribkowsky, a board member of Bayern LB, who was apparently tasked by Ecclestone to ensure the bank sell to Mr. Ecclestone’s client – CVC. On conclusion of this deal Gibkowsky received an alleged $44m from for his troubles from Mr. Ecclestone but he is now serving nearly 9 years in a German jail for his part in the collusion. His conviction is for participating in bribery.

Bayern LB have applied to see the records of the Munich prosecutors who won the Gibkowsky conviction saying, “We are preparing everything to make possible damage claims.” The prosecutors are apparently more than inclined to offer these files up, however, it appears lawyers for Mr. Ecclestone have sought an injunction with the Munich District Court to prevent this.

This may not be the only troubles on the horizon for Mr. Ecclestone, as representatives of Ruth Kirch, widow of the late media tycoon Leo Kirch, also wish to lodge a half a billion dollar lawsuit against Mr. Ecclestone. Kirch used to be the main shareholder of the F1 commercial rights before entering into loan arrangements with Bayern LB offering the rights as collateral.

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Singapore GP review: Safety Car ruins the race! A boring race for Kimi

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“The Safety Car is now redundant in F1” – a review of the race.

The day after a race can be a something of an anti climax. We have eagerly anticipated the race weekend, and then in a couple of hours or even less it’s all over. The drivers and key players all have their say immediately and both official and social media declare their summary opinion in a matter of hours. There may be the odd contentious issue that drags on to the next day, but of course the day after an F1 race is always a Monday  – back to work for most.

Yet today it seems worse than usual and I’m left wondering why. As I reflect on the Singapore 2012 race it leaves me with a palpable feeling of disappointment. Such a fabulous setting, a championship well poised and with the chasing drivers qualifying better than the title leader.

Kimi, never one to mince his words said, “It was boring race. You can be quite a bit faster and you cannot get past so it’s not very exciting for us or the people watching.”

I don’t think hearing Lotus issue a version of the now infamous Ferrari dictum, “Romain – Kimi is faster than you” adds to the excitement, but to say the race was boring from a spectator’s perspective is probably a little harsh.

Massa and Senna’s battle and subsequent collision was pretty spectacular and after me criticising F1 TV last week for missing too much exciting action, it was inevitable they would catch some on board live footage that had us jumping out of our seats in amazement.

Schmacher gave us another spectacular example of why insurance companies general lay the blame for crashes firmly on the driver at the rear of the shunt, and for a moment it looked as though Verne was striding over to remonstrate with the F1 veteran. All ended well with a man hug and an apology – well admission of a mistake – from Schumacher.

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2013 Mercedes: To race or not to race?

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I am going to be otherwise engaged after today until after the weekend, but there are a few stories knocking around today, so we’ll have a brief look at a few of them.

Mercedes pulling out of F1?

Today a number of German publications have been carrying the “Mercedes pulling out of F1” story, in particular Auto motor und sport. Mercedes have consistently refused to sign the new Concorde agreement with Ecclestone’s FOM to commit to the sport until 2020.

It appears that earlier this year, Mercedes were not happy with the proposed slice of money they’ve been offered which has prevented them from entering into the Concorde agreement. Since then there have been rumours that the main board of the German car manufacturer wish to distance themselves from association with Bernie Ecclestone following his alleged involvement in the bribery scandal that has seen a German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky sent to jail for nearly 9 years.

Then Mercedes announce today they will not decide on Schumacher’s future until October. This is significant because the he deadline for teams to register their 2013 entry is now 30th September 2012 and there is speculation Mercedes will not meet the deadline.

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Ferrari in for Lewis Hamilton

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Ok. This may seem a bit out there, but I’ve heard a couple of whispers tonight that Ferrari and Lewis are having a conversation.

This of course goes against how we believe Ferrari operates. They predominantly [not always] have had a number 1 and number 2 driver and clearly Lewis would never accept being a number 2 to Fernando. So would Ferrari change their historic approach and have (at the start of the season at least) 2 equal drivers?

On the con side of the debate, McLaren and Lewis are still making noises about staying together, but they are starting to sound like a couple whose relationship has run stale and are about to break up. Really, it’s not that hard to agree terms that have publicly been on the table for many weeks – and we were led to believe by Lewis this would all be dealt with and put to bed during the Summer break.

So the fact that McLaren and Lewis have not yet done the deal adds credence to the view that they are too far apart in negotiations to get over the line. I’ve pointed out in earlier articles how aggressive McLaren and Ron Dennis have been in staking out the ground that Lewis is going to have to take a pay cut. It’s feels like it’s become too personal.

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How teams will approach Singapore, Schumy’s first car a Ford Escort, Flavio to become apprentice ‘boss’, 1966 Singapore footage

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Here are the daily links that I think are worth reading or watching. I know often I want to read a story again and can’t remember the link, so hopefully – if I can master the software – this will provide not only the stories of interest for the day, but an archive of links for future reference. Some of it is just humourous and a bit of fun.

Analysis of how the teams will approach the Singapore GP. http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/09/how-the-f1-teams-will-approach-the-singapore-grand-prix/

Nico adamant Lewis not getting his seat. http://www.crash.net/f1/news/184113/1/rosberg_not_going_anywhere.html

Did you know there was a 1966 Singapore GP? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sVdEcGLgTk

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BBC search begins for F1 anchor

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So the search begins for who will replace the BBC F1 anchor Jake Humphrey. As I wrote last week and has been announced today, Jake is leaving the BBC for BT Vision who have a contract to air 38 live premier league football games from 2013. Jake has been BT’s target to fulfil the anchor role for some time, add to that his first passion is football and now he and his wife are expecting their first child.

The problem for the BBC is that many of the die hard F1 TV personnel want to work for Sky, as the BBC only have 50% the races live. This was evident when Ted Kravitz, Natalie Pinkham, Anthony Davidson and Martin Brundle left the Beeb for Sky at the end of last year. Brundle explained his decision, “Recorded and delayed sports television doesn’t give me the adrenalin fix I crave.”

Some have suggested Anthony Davidson may consider such a mainstream front man media opportunity because he and Georgie do not attend all the races with Sky – their ‘skypad’ analysis they deliver is broadcast only from the UK for a number of the flyaway races. Davidson has impressed this year with a relaxed style in front of the camera, a very personable character and knowledgeable; but he’s a remote possibility as he still racing and works for Mercedes – maybe still harbouring F1 driving ambitions.

In fact, it’s difficult to see any of the 2012 Sky defectors returning to the BBC for the very reason it’s more like a part time F1 TV job. If it’s hard for the BBC to poach from another channel, they’ll have to recruit internally – so who could it be?

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Lewis being pushed?

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The “where will Lewis drive in 2013?” debate has been raging since Eddie Jordan launched the “Mercedes to sign Lewis” story like a grenade between Spa and Monza.

The response of fans and F1 writers has intrigues me. Many are focusing on the pragmatic attitude that no better options to win are open to Lewis so he should stay put. Joe Saward for example saying only Ferrari (27), McLaren (32) and Red Bull (30) have consistently won races since Lewis joined F1; the next best was Brawn (8) who became Mercedes F1 AMG.

From a logical point of view this is incontrovertible. Yet in F1 politics logic doesn’t always prevail. I believe Lewis is being pushed and I’ll explain why.

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F1: Breeding ground for road car technology? No chance.

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Jean Todt has staked his FIA premiership firmly on this platform. Formula E(lectric) has been announced, one presumes to be associated with F1 and promote economic and efficient cars. I’m sorry, but this will be like watching Tomorrows World of old and pays lip service to the concept of making racing more relevant to 21st century car manufacture.

Luca de Montezelomo is quite obtuse about these matters. Ferrari are genuinely interested in cost cutting, for the simple reason that most of the money spent in F1 design now in the area of aerodynamics; something that is not relevant to the road cars Ferrari produce.

 “We want an F1 with less cost,” Montezemolo said. “Tell me why we have to spend a huge amount of cost to spend 24 hours in the windtunnel to do a small wing flap that for the public [the interest] is zero, for the television is zero, and for me as a road-car manufacturer it is less than zero because we will never use this for the road car?”. Absolutely true.

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Why F1 TV missing so much race action

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I have found myself increasingly irritated by the FOM TV coverage this year. Too many times the director is following a sterile situation and is missing developing chases and a significant number of overtakes whilst following mundane action.

If you’ve been watching F1 like me for 30 years, you will remember the TV coverage of the 70’s and 80’s being not of a particularly high standard. Partly this was due to the technology and its cost. Another factor was, unlike most mainstream sports that compete in a relatively small an defined space eg a football pitch, an F1 race takes place over several square miles. Add to this cars travelling at speeds in excess of 300km per hour and you have a tricky event to capture on film.

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A shrinking race calendar for 2013?

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I wrote this last week (15/9/2012) , but am re-publishing today after provisional calendar revealed and other news)

I was contemplating on the way back from Spa Francorchamps, when the 2013 race calendar would be published. Then something I heard in Monza made me even more curious…but we’ll return to that later.

In 2011, the draft calendar for this year was published June 3rd. It included Istanbul as part of a 21 race schedule. This race was dropped in the final version confirmed in September leaving the 20 races we have now.

However, this year, we’ve not yet heard a whisper regarding a 2013 schedule and the FIA is due to meet next at the end of September. So it’s unlikely they’ll be any news before then.

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