Dominicali: Early winners take all, Stewart: Mercedes could leave F1, Red Bull RB9 on time

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Mercedes gone in 5 minutes: Jackie Stewart has been talking to ‘Metro’ on a number of matters. He expresses concern for Lewis suggesting, “McLaren is part of the F1 furniture, but manufacturers come and go”. Jackie believes if things do not go well the Dailmer Benz board could follow the suit of Toyota, Honda and BMW and make “a board decision that takes 5 minutes”.

Interestingly, Stewart gives the greatest playboy title to Sir Stirling Moss ahead of James Hunt. “Stirling was a great playboy but was so professional that the sport did not suffer” – inferring it did from Hunt’s antic’s. I’m not sure Sir Jack and I have the same definition of playboy.

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Mercedes caution Lewis ambitions, Lauda needs a new sponsor, Niki Lauda compliments Marko, F1 USA broadcaster NBC criticised, Marko criticises Webber, RB9 may not make Jerez, COTA helped by fiscal cliff, Dennis: we could have retained Hamitlon

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Where exactly are Mercedes up to? According to Schumacher, money was “a factor” in Mercedes’ F1 team’s failure to succeed during his three year comeback to F1. It is clear to the world that the ‘Silver Arrows’ team spends about 100m euro’s less than Red Bull each year and at least the same less than Ferrari.

Schumacher tells Auto Motor und Sport: “It’s a factor. Over the years Red Bull built an infrastructure and has a budget giving them the possibility to respond to anything in the best possible way. This is nothing less than what we had at Ferrari”.

Mercedes, have never been higher than fourth in the constructors’ championship since the Brawn buyout in 2010 and their Chairman has strongly denied they will now pump in more funding for 2013 and beyond. Of course Lewis Hamilton has signed for the team and claims he wants to help turn them into a title winning outfit.

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Ecclestone worried over charges, Ferrari confident they will not be as bad, The 2013 WDC odds, Force India: Driver decisions not imminent, Lauda quits Air Berlin

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The opposite game: Did you ever play this as a child? I had a brother around my age so we used to do this to irritate our parents. You had to say the opposite of what you really meant. So, mother cooks up a spot of lunch and “I don’t like this lamb chop” would be pronounced whilst greedily scoffing the last remnant of fat from the bone.

Over the years, if you believe the opposite of what comes out of Mr. E’s mouth, you’ll get it right more than not. Bernie tells the Italian publication the Corriere della Serra that he’s not worried about the impending court case in Germany over the fraudulent sale of the commercial rights to F1.

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Alberto Ascari (1918-55)

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It was May 22, 1955, and the European and Monaco Grand Prix was reaching its climax. You can almost see Alberto Ascari straining every sinew of his body and of his Lancia D50, to catch race-leader Stirling Moss’s Mercedes Benz W196. It as the 77th lap and he was catching Moss at an astonishing rate of nearly 3 seconds per circuit. A quick calculation showed it would be a one lap duel with the cars adjacent on the track.

1954 had been an immensely frustrating year for Ascari – WDC of ’52 and ’53. He had walked out on Ferrari at the end of 1953 and on 1 January 1954 had signed for the ambitious Lancia company, who had designed and built an innovative new Grand Prix car, the first in their history. Progress however was slow, and the car’s debut was delayed again and again. Meanwhile consternation reigned in Northern Italy when Mercedes Benz announced that revolutionary new streamlined “Silver Arrows” were to be ready to race in the French GP in July.

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F1 Engine sounds, Force India to have Ferrari engines, Italian top 10 F1 drivers list, Bianchi to Force India, Mansell second hand car dealer

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Engine sounds: A couple of days ago I mentioned the engine sound changes we will hear in 2014. I found this last night. Listen to the sounds of F1 engines in 1967. (LINK) Sorry I can’t embed this video as the embed code they’ve given is wrong.

Italian rationality: For those of you who have been reading thejudge13 for some time, you will know my views on Ferrari – for those of you who don’t – Firstly, I LOVE Italy and Italian culture. I would live there if I could. However, as I often say – Ferrari would rather bask in the glory of being Ferrari than change their beliefs even if it would make them better.

There is an element of this in the Italian psyche I see in my friends of many years. Irrationality is accepted as a rational way of thinking and being and so to Autosprint – One of Italy’s finest Auto magazines. Today they publish a list of the best F1 drivers of all time.

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Brabham return to F1?, 2014 engines will sound fine: Whiting

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Brabham return to F1: The famous Brabham name could once again make a return to F1. Triple World Champion and Australian Jack Brabham now 86, founded his eponymous team in 1960 and it later raced under Bernie Ecclestone’s stewardship. In 2009, a German automotive supply company, Formtech, claimed it now controls the Brabham team name and filed an official entry for the 2010 Formula 1 season.

But the Brabham family hit back, launching legal action to “protect the family name”. Jack Brabham’s son David, a sports car racing specialist who contested 30 Grands Prix in the 1990’s, said: “Right now this is a very sensitive issue. But, yes, there is the possibility to bring the team back [to F1],” he told Brazil’s Totalrace.

The Brabham team won two constructors’ and 4 drivers’ titles in the 1960’s and 1980’s, last racing with Damon Hill at the wheel in 1992. David Brabham continued: “For now, we have a predicament behind the scenes, involving the rights of the name. It’s 98 percent resolved, and when it is 100 percent we’ll see what we can do.”

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Ecclestone on the brink, Ricciardo: I need to be more like Grosjean,

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Ecclestone tipping point: If you type ‘Ecclestone’ into the search bar you’ll see all the articles thejudge13 has been producing following the Ecclestone story. I have maintained all along something has changed this time, a tipping point has arrived and Ecclestone is losing his grip on F1.

He admits in the Sunday Telegraph today that should he be charged by the German prosecutors, CVC will want to replace him. CVC have been incredibly loyal to Bernie, mostly due to his manipulation of the Bayern Bank into selling the F1 rights to CVC instead of Bluewaters.

We now know this meant CVC promised to retain Mr. E as the CEO of FOM, and Bluewaters made it clear they would offer no such guarantee. Hence the 44m euro bribe to the German bank’s CEO to ensure the sale went the way of CVC.

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Grosjean attitude win at all costs, Petrov confident of Caterham drive, Mercedes and Ferrari pass crash tests, Ferrari wind tunnel progreses, Kimi approves of 2013 DRS rules, Kimi says drivers do not make teams better, Maldonado most penalties in 2012

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Grosjean attitude win at all costs: Romain Grosjean thinks he is ready to take a more mature approach to Formula One. He did of course have an abortive start to his career at the scandal ridden Renault in 2009, the young Frenchman gained a second chance with Lotus in 2012.

He clearly proved himself to be a very quick driver with 3 podiums by the middle of 2012, but as we know became the focus for media vilification following the dramatic events at the start of the Belgian GP – for which he received a race ban for Monza.

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Vettel top European honour, Mallya short of cash, F1 teams collaborate? Sochi on track (haha), Petrov in box seat, Maldonado marries, Top 15 overtakes of 2012

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Not a lot happeneing today, but we’ll soldier on.

Vettel Honours: In a poll amongst 26 of the European News agencies, Sebastian Vettel has been voted European Sportsperson of the year. Here’s the top 10.

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Merry Christmas One and All

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I wish all thejudge13 readers a happy holiday season with friends, family and loved ones – and a prosperous New Year – and thank you for your good wishes over the past few days. I most appreciate you all for your support, kind comments and interaction over the first 15 weeks of our joint project. … Read more