Symonds full time with Marussia 2013, Luca on testing, aero, and everything else

by

Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb. WE REACHED 500 email followers yesterday only in thejudge13’s 15th week and just over 400 by twitter.

(This page will be updated through the day – as F1 news breaks – new stories will be posted just above the ‘on this day in F1’ which is at the bottom)

thejudge13 archive: For readers new to thejudge13 while news is a little thin in the winter I’m posting links to articles you may have missed. This show’s the dark side of some F1 personnel. “Mallya lives in opulence whilst Kingfisher staff starve and commit suicide“.

Pat Symonds and Marussia: We’ve been looking at Caterham and Marussia in a little more detail recently. Caterham have lost their sporting director, whilst Marussia appear to be consolidating their team nicely.

Add the Williams KERS system to the 2013 Marussia car and Caterham should be worried. I’ve been expecting an announcement about Pat Symonds for a week or so now, but still nothing on their website.

However, Timo Glock in an interview to German Autoweek last night confirmed that Pat will be joining the team full time for 2013.

Read more

Montezemolo: Ecclestone is finished this time, Ferrari change working arrangements, Another radical Ferrari for 2013? Greece serious about a GP, LdM Hamilton too old for Ferrari, Suzi Perry gets BBC F1 anchor role

by

Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb. WE REACHED 500 email followers yesterday only in thejudge13’s 15th week and just over 400 by twitter.

(This page will be updated through the day – as F1 news breaks – new stories will be posted just above the ‘on this day in F1’ which is at the bottom)

thejudge13 archive: For readers new to thejudge13 while news is a little thin in the winter I’m posting links to articles you may have missed. For those of you interested in how new circuits come online in F1, read “S. Korea, Ecclestone and the Emporer’s new clothes”

 Ferrari and split project teams: A couple of stories knocking about from Maranello. Firstly Stefano appears to have kept his job. He behaved pretty strangely following the chequered flag in Brazil. As far as I’m aware, he gave no English interviews and people there since told me there was a marked departure from the usual bon homme and easy access he gives the paddock media.

Onto a dreaded topic that will surely go down in Ferrari F1 folk-lore – the wind tunnel et al. Stefano informs us that “for a few months now, we have been working on a programme of reorganization along with the introduction of new methodologies, especially concerning the wind tunnel. As you know, we are rebuilding the Maranello facility which will be closed until August. Until then, we will use the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne”.

Read more

Thejudge13 end of year questionnaire

by

I know everyone asks you to do questionnaires, but please complete this as I value highly your opinion and part of this project is to find what F1 fans want most from social media and demonstrate it to the rest of F1 – in the hope they will give you a better fan experience. The … Read more

Billionaire Team bosses create unique problems, Quotes from 2012, Thailand 2015 (zzzz), Valencia surprised by Barcelona, AUTOSPORT journalism sinks to new lows, FIA stewarding

by

Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb. WE REACHED 500 email followers yesterday only in thejudge13’s 14th week and just under 400 by twitter.

thejudge13 archive: For readers new to thejudge13 (even though we’ve only been going 15 weeks) while news is a little thin in the winter I’m posting links to articles you may have missed. Today’s is “A Motorsport Social Revolution“.

Nielsen leaves Caterham: This for most of you is not news now, but as Christmas approaches I’m not always able to jump on every breaking news story and discuss it immediately. What I find interesting is that due to a few chats I’ve had recently with Caterham people, I’ve gained the distinct impression that the team feels it is lacking leadership and feeling a little disjointed.

If you check my daily posts over the last week or so I’ve suggested regularly that Marussia appear a stronger until going forward and that I could easily see them beating Caterham next year when they get the very clever Williams KERS system up and running.

For those of you who are not aware of Nielsen, here’s a quick potted history of his F1 experience. He joined F1 in 1986 with Lotus and worked his way up to become Quartermaster for the team. He joined Tyrrel as part of the management team and was with them until they shut up shop in 1998.

Read more

Barcelona shafts Valencia, Ecclestone Ferrari vengeance, Bahrain loses GP2 race, Glock Safe? Alesi retires or dies, Rosberg and the ‘bulls’, Webber saves Vettel, Total Petroleum calm down, Why FIA changed 2014 rules, Pirelli aim to shake it up again, Haug gives reasons

by

Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb. WE REACHED 500 email followers yesterday only in thejudge13’s 14th week and just under 400 by twitter.

thejudge13 archive: There have been a number of questions about Nikki Lauda, his time at Jaguar, why Mercedes recruited him…I did a couple of articles around the time of the announcement so if you’ve joined the site since then, here they are. “Lauda: Ross Brawn’s new boss” I wrote this about 2am on October 2nd after reading an online article on a German newspaper site – that was going out the following day. The story hadn’t been picked up even on titter to my recollection.

This was a part 2 follow up – written when I was more alert (the next day) and had time to reflect on the  implications. “How Lauda got the top job in Mercedes F1” – my conclusions are now quite interesting post Haug’s departure.

Barcelona shafts Valencia: The circuit de Catalunya has over the past 2 years been making consistent noises about how much money it is losing which resulted in an initial agreement with Valencia, also under big financial pressure, to alternate the Spanish GP between them – al la Hockenheim and Nurburgring.

This deal has been agreed with Ecclestone clearly as Valencia’s extended contract signed in 2009 meant they would remain on the calendar until 2014. So either they are paying out $30m a year in hosting fee’s and not having a race – or the Spanish GP sharing with Barcelona has been agreed with FOM.

Read more

Jordan criticises Lauda, Vettel art sells for 16,000, Some Schumacher memories, Lauda checking staff holidays, FI launch 2013 on 1st Feb, FIA nervous over Bahrain, Berger to replace Haug? Indecisive Caterham

by

Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb. WE REACHED 500 email followers yesterday only in thejudge13’s 14th week and just under 400 by twitter.

thejudge13 archive: I started a consultation document to agree the parameters of what we should use as our interpretive grid to establish, “Greatest F1 Drivers”. We’ve had many new readers since then so, here it is again and next week I’ll publish part 2 (LINK). Read my starter for 10 and then the comments already made and add your ideas, this article will be co-written by thejudge13 readers. A collaborative work that carries therefore great breadth of source and as such has more persuasive force. You’ve heard how the camel came into being? A committee attempting to design a horse. So I will have final editorial privileges 🙂

Jordan says Lauda can’t have it both ways: Since 1996, Nikki Lauda has been an F1 pundit for German speaking TV station RTL. Jordan questions how he can operate objectively as a journalist whilst working as chairman of Mercedes AMG F1.

Lauda claims he is a ‘grown man’ and knows how to discharge his responsibilities for both employers. He claims that he received praise for a schizophrenic performance he gave in Brazil, where as RTL journalist he allegedly interviewed himself simultaneously as Chairmen of Mercedes F1.

Read more

Marussia – miss media opportunity, Grosjean wins ROC and a seat at Lotus, Mercedes knives appear, Sutil legal matters? Horner would’ve dirched Massa, Lewis been to Mercedes, Ex-F1 doctor rants on twitter, Williams and Gillan seperate

by

Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb.

thejudge13 archive: Here’s an article I wrote after trawling the southern US media prior to the inaugural Austin GP. To this date, I have not heard this reported anywhere else, yet you would think the sale of nearly 10% of F1 for $900m to the pensioners of North America might be of Interest to someone (LINK).

Marrusia – missed media opportunity: If you look on Marussiaf1team.com today, you’ll see a Christmas wish from Timo and John says, “”We are very proud of what we achieved in 2012 and we take away so many highlights, all of which point towards a development path we can have great confidence in. Thank you for sharing some fantastic experiences with us. Wishing you the very best of Christmases.”

No announcement of Timo’s partner for 2013, yet over the weekend, there have been some rumours emanating from Russian reporters. Joe Saward has some interesting insights on the Marussia car company today, “Marussia is a funny company. It took over a controlling interest in the Virgin F1 team around a year ago, but since then there has been virtually no word about the progress of the Marussia road cars”.

Read more

Bernie closer to being replaced, Haug will not be replaced

by

Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb.

thejudge13 archive: here’s an interesting article in the light of the following news. This was written back in September (LINK)

More from Munich: Süddeutsche Zeitung is a Munich based publication that appears to be quite close to the prosecution service that is consistently linked with imminant indictments against Ecclestone for fraudulent activities over the sale of F1’s commercial rights to CVC.

In a rather long winded article which rehashes much of what is now common knowledge, the one thing worthy of note is that SZ asserts that the indictment against Ecclestone is being prepared. Until now, we have been uncertain as to whether the Munich prosecutors will or not issue proceedings.

Read more

Buemi testing for Ferrari, Norbert to take to the stage, Lauda sole link between Daimler and AMG F1, Hulkenberg splits from manager, Berger clashes with Ecclestone over Austrian GP, Stewart thinks Mercedes should’ve kept Schumacher, Valsecchi to Lotus

by

Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb.

thejudge13 archive: Here’s an interesting article I wrote the week after I returned from Monza, particularly in light of recent comments from Mr. Big. By the way that week thejudge13 had 242 reads  (LINK)

Ferrari  peek at Red Bull secrets: Blick, a swiss publication are running a story suggesting Buemi could be on his way to Ferrari. To be honest the article is a rambling useless piece of ‘imagine if’ writing suggesting all kinds of possible driver options for 2013/2014.

Yet, the nugget of the story is that after 22,000km in the Red Bull simulator, Ferrari are seriously considering signing Buemi as a test driver with bait that 2014 may be a chance for him when Massa is again out of contract. I’m sure Ferrari could and would try this – but would Buemi believe the ‘carrot’ was more than a mirage?

Read more

Fernando – “Impossible to repeat my performance ever again”, Haug leaves Mercedes, Bianchi to Force India, Force India Ferrari engines 2014, Perez thinks he can be F1 champion, Support Kamui donations dramatically slow, Marko – Ferrari never get Vettel

by

Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb.

Alonso on all things F1: Yesterday Fernando was in the spanish city of Santander and here are the highlights of an interview he gave as reported in as.com.

“It will be impossible to start 2013 worse than this year, but Red Bull will still be favorites to start well. At the end of the year they found six or eight tenths on us and we must recover that in only two months. But the starting point will be better than last year, which is not difficult. There is always room for improvement, there are always things you can evolve. With the experience and technological capability that we have today, there are many factors that can be improved. But the driver is also important.”

This is true, and despite being Ferrari the team will be closer at the start of testing in Jerez in under 2 months time. My translating skills are not the best so I’ll paraphrase the next bit.

Read more