Lewis keeps Mercedes in F1

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Now the dust is settling following the Hamilton announcement, there are a number of threads to tidy up, but we’ll start with some housekeeping.

Firstly, forgive me for some of the Tabloid headlines which are presently being used and are designed to attract attention, but we are a new blog and it is a good way of grabbing readers who have not heard of us. I will get to the headline of this article shortly.

Also, there has been a certain amount of cynicism over whether we do in fact have access to ‘inside’ information at times, but this is not actually that important except from the fact it is helpful when trying to work out what will be the next talking point.

More fundamental to the articles being written is that we’re trying to address the issues and the questions the headline writers and mainstream F1 travelling media circus miss by chasing the breaking news.

This will hopefully mean that we will call things before the headline writers do. Feathers in the cap so far, Jake Humphrey leaving the BBC a week before it was announced. Further, today a number of high profile media commentators who travel with the F1 circus have now begun looking at why Lewis has actually left McLaren.

One example is Martin Brundle who said on the F1 show on Sky TV that if McLaren had really wanted to keep Lewis they could have done quite a lot more. Without using the word “pushed” he acknowledged McLaren had been feeling the need to move on from Lewis as much as Lewis did from McLaren. Others you will have seen have been saying similar things in reflection a day after the big announcement.

So that’s 2 strong predictions in the first 2 weeks of the blog – not too bad – but a weekly statistic that will be impossible to live up to I suspect.

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Lewis had no choice. He was pushed.

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The inevitable has happened! Nope, not Eddie Jordan being right again as he was 3 years ago when he called Schumacher’s return  – the inevitable is the angle of the stories which abound about Lewis Hamilton in the mainstream media.

“Hamilton is taking a big risk” (David Croft, Sky website).

Joe Saward, much respected long standing F1 writer says in his blog, “it will be a leap of great faith [Lewis has] in the German-owned operation, but may be a decision that the British youngster will one day regret”.

Martin Brundle tweets, “Statistics +gut feeling say Lewis has taken a big gamble”.

I could go on. These stories are the natural evolution from the stories written following the leak that Hamilton was in negotiations with Mercedes. The general themes of those articles back then were …that it was illogical to leave McLaren for Mercedes…surely Lewis would stay with a proven race winning team rather than take a risk…it’s all just negotiating rumours…it’s not about money.

Again, I could go on. Yet as I wrote last week (again getting lots of stick) I heard that Lewis was being pushed by McLaren. Of course no one was saying telling Lewis to “do one”, but the writing was on the wall in giant red letters 10m high.

Let’s also forget the “I heard” something (as I suggested in the last article) and look only into the scattered tea leaves.

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Schumacher’s Legacy: Legend? or just a cheat like Armstrong?

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After no news yesterday, it appears one of the big stories of today has been penned by a photographer. Some say all publicity is good publicity and Darren Heath, F1 Photographer – and now part time mud slinging journo biographer – certainly gets a tick for making waves. Darren writes off the career of Michael Schumacher who many consider F1’s greatest driver in a few paragraphs as just a cheat.

Let me say first up – everyone is entitled to their opinion and for that Darren Heath cannot be criticised. What we can critique is a writer’s presentation of the facts, deductive reasoning and I for one feel that a writer should be very careful about which analogies they use for comparative purposes.

The link is at the bottom to Darren’s article and one more matter for the record, I was no Schumacher fan during his career proper. Further, the absolute dominance of the Ferrari years meant my previous F1 obsession during was at times reduced to a passing interest, so I have no vested interest in defending the 7 times world champion.

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Nicole kisses Chris, Thai GP announced, Mercedes not yet seen Concorde? Ecclestone offers cash to settle bribe claims, Mr. E Wants Australia at night

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Well,  2 weeks since the launch of the blog – over 3000 hits and some very complimentary comments. I’ve quickly learned in social media though, you need a thick skin as some comments are not just au contraire but pretty abusive. Hey Ho.

Its not been too bad so far. We called the Jake leaving the BBC the week before it was announced and suggested in the “Shrinking Calendar” piece there may be trouble yet for New Jersey (You can see the date published on each article)

Well today was the day that wasn’t. We’ve had an FIA executive meeting with no news, a Mercedes car company board meeting with no news and the much awaited Eddie Jordan prediction was also – no news.

So here’s some links to a few things that have occurred.

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Petrov to lose his seat, Mercedes appoint Lauda, 2013 NY Grand Prix in trouble, Pictures from Russia 2014

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Please click on the link to the right and follow the blog by email. I will notify you only when new material is published. Alternatively follow me on twitter (again click to the right) – and a retweet for each new publication would be appreciated.

I did suggest in my article before the Singapore Grand Prix that there may be trouble ahead for the F1 2013 calendar. After a blaze of publicity on Saturday it appears the shrinking calendar may yet be true. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/sep/25/grand-prix-america-contract-torn-up?newsfeed=true

Petrov after losing his seat at Renault Lotus last year found a reprive late in the testing programme of 2012 when he replaced Jarno Truli at Caterham. It seems like his backers have run out of roubles and his manager is running out of patience.  http://en.rian.ru/sports/20120925/176212683.html . Enter Jaime Alguersauri?

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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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