Austin GP

HRT Engineers worried about safety, Villenueve: ‘Vettel’s a child’, COTA wins Global award, Partially sighted driver wins Indy 500, Rosberg on Schumacher, Alonso/Vettel title permutations, RB to join elite club, US GP record: F1’s smallest winning margin

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HRT price tag 40m euros: Thesan Capital (who we think are Banco Popular in disguise – see news yesterday) have most reasonably come clean today and suggested they would be happy to receive back their original investment of 40m euro’s. I bet they would, these are the last desperate scrabbling to realise some cash back on what was a ridiculous venture destined to fail.

If someone pays Thesan 40m euro then there is still 10’s of millions more for the new owners to find to get the team back on its feet again after paying off the debt. Of course there is the prize money from coming last this year, and whilst prize money in F1 is a closely guarded secret, I believe 12th is worth only about 7.5m euro ($10m). The likelihood is HRT will just cease to exist.

The reason I say this, is because there has been for 3 years agreement among the teams for a 13th team to race. This has never happened due to the inability of anyone to get the required funding for an F1 start up. Buying HRT is worse than starting a new team as there will be debts, unpaid wages, a factory in Madrid that would be better located in the UK – why pay anything for them? The prize money is insignificant compared to the rest of the costs.

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Austinites view F1 like a folk festival, McLaren fundamental to Formula E 2014, Who is the F1 driver chain smoker? Teams sharing garages, 204 less pit stops in 2012, HRT sale forced by bank bailout request

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Bank bailout forces HRT sale: Meanwhile, the team travels to Austin with the minimum staff to compete and avoid a financial penalty from FOM for being absent (as.com). We may well see the cars qualify, start the race and retire the cars after one lap.

thejudge13 has previously reported that HRT are using parts way beyond their sanctioned life and has a debt to repay before December 2nd or face dissolution. Thesan Capital, we believe, is a front for the Banco Popular who applied yesterday for a bailout of 2.5bn Euro’s. The terms of the bailout are that all non-profitable assets of the bank must be identified and disposed of – including HRT.

As to the story that Colin Kolles is interested in buying the team, this is fantasy by Thesan Capital. He was ‘exited’ last December when the debt from Banco Popular was assigned to Thesan Capital who on taking control issued a statement explaining Colin’s departure, “This is due to the new direction that the team has taken and the decision of the new management to move the team headquarters to Spain,” it read. (Yallf1.com)

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Austin will favour Red Bull, Mercedes should’ve kept Schumy not Nico, FOM wants USA GP2, McLaren supply to Force India ends, Huge Brawl, How Maldonado finds an extra 1s per lap,

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Note from the editor: Sorry folks, had a couple of days off – anyway we’re back. I notice quite a lot of you must have thejudge13 saved in your internet browser as a favourite and use this as the way of coming to the site. Over the Winter there may not be an article every day, so if you sign up for the email service (side bar on right at the top), you’ll get an email when thejudge13 has published an article/news AND only then. Anyway some news catchup. . .

Mallya sells, implications for Force India: Shares in United Spirits soared this morning 14 per cent to hit its new 52-week high after Uk-based firm Diageo Plc said that it will acquire 53.4 per cent stake in United Spirits for around $2bn. Vijay, will remain as chairman, however the real power is transferred to Diageo representatives who will take on the roles of CFO and CEO (Economic Times).

This sounds like good news, yet industry experts reckon it will cost no less than $1bn to get Kingfisher airlines back in the sky’s and Vijay has until 30th November to satisfy the Indian Aviation Authorities that the Kingfisher Airlines new business plan is sound – and clear the debts.

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Austin hotels going all out with F1 themes – American Style

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F1 cocktails

During Austin Grand Prix weekend, Formula One fans might find themselves sipping a Hairpin or Turn 1 cocktail at the W Hotel, snacking on an edible F1 flag atop checkerboard shortbread cookies at the Four Seasons or spending their off hours racing remote-controlled cars at Travaasa Experiential Resort.

Central Texas hotels and resorts are determined to make sure that during the weekend of Nov. 16, there’s plenty of vroom in their rooms.

At Four Seasons, this starts with the room amenity for Formula One guests. Instead of the typical fruit and cheese plate, the guest will get a plate covered in a printout of the map course. Atop that will be house-made energy bars whose wrapper will declare them “Racing Fuel,” an edible sugar paper and fondant F1 flag, checkerboard shortbread cookies and Red Bull gelee bites.

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Quinghua in? Fernandes to step down? Austin Sherrifs unconcerned, Marko slates Webber, FIA needs $40m more, France GP – AGAIN!!! Turkey more likely in 2013, Wolff speaks about Senna,

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Marko critical of Webber: Our favourite German newspaper Bilde.de tells us today that Dr. Helmut Marko has pointed the finger at Mark Webber, after the Australian’s messy race in Abu Dhabi. at thejudge13 we think Webber was lucky not to be penalised for his move on Maldonado and his clash with Massa. After the race Webber himself admitted he should have stayed clear of the dueling Perez, DiResta and Grosjean and by not doing so ended his own race when he was too close to avoid the inevitable crash when it occurred.

Marco, not known for mincing his words says, “You can’t have more errors than that in one race. That was not a good day for him.” As if that’s not enough, Marco wants to make his opinion crystal clear telling us, “The start was no good, and the accidents were not good. It’s too bad, because it affects us in the constructors’ championship.” This is a slightly dramatic conclusion from Helmut as Red Bull will inevitably collect the 5 points they require to win the constructor’s title for the 3rd successive year.

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HRT run out of cash, Lewis and wedding bells, Ferrari’s Padrino wants answers now, Austin traffic problems, Greek parliament vote on GP venue, Petrov gets shirty, Kimi’s radio t-shirt, Vettel predicted podium

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HRT can’t afford 2013 entrance fee: German motor publication speedweek.de is reporting today that HRT do not have the 500,000 euro’s to pay for the entrance fee for 2013. F1 and Mr. E does not need their money however this represents a bigger concern over whether they have funds at all for 2013. The mechanical failures they have been having I am told is due to parts being run way beyond their intended life due to lack of funds for new ones. Looks grim!

Kimi pit radio: If you want to listen again, here’s the link to the Iceman’s irritation with Lotus team radio man, Simon. (LINK) You can have a shirt too, with Kimi’s memorable radio transmission as a statement for life in general (pic). I think the other one was better for flashing at the boss when getting your head pecked. “Yes yes yes yes I’m already doing it!!!”.

Vettel predicted podium: Horner told BBC TV late last night that he’d visited Sebastian in the morning prior to the race. He was playing a drum kit and causally waved at his boss saying – “See you on the podium later”. Christian to be fair said he thought 8th was the best they could get – and with less attrition it may have been the case.

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