barcelona GP

Ferrari announce… no launch date, Helmut Marko: Alonso too political, Nurburgring still not confirmed, Banks close to seizing Mallya’s assets, F1 car evolution

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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. I may be changing the way I publish articles, so that instead of updating the main daily post, 3-4 articles a day go out. If you don’t want to be bothered by an email each time you can ‘manage your subscription’ from within any of the emails you receive and set the frequency you desire to say ‘1 max per day’.

I have now put 2 RSS feeds at the bottom of the right hand bar for those of you who know how to use them for updates.

2013 F1 calendar: Our favourite subject. At risk of getting reader DwilD started again, I’m afraid there is more to report. Having said that, I don’t remember a season in recent times where the number of issues on the calendar are yet subject to uncertainty.

Yesterday tj13 reported potential unrest in Bahrain. The week before Christmas we had the bizarre scenario of Barcelona claiming they knew nothing of the widely publicised bi-annual sharing arrangement with Valencia (LINK) and Valencia’s surprised response (LINK).

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New Jersey out, Turkey in?, Schumacher to receive ‘Legend of Sport’ award, and other F1 News and comment

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Great to see contributors coming up with news I’ve not yet found. Thanks to madmax for this one (23:36 18/10/12).  By the way madmax, you gave us this about 7 hours before the mainstream media reported it. Probably something to do with my permanent state of insomnia too.

New Jersey: Unlike most new circuits who run the approval gauntlet with Mr. E, it appears New Jersey have declined to participate in the 2013 calendar. “The race, scheduled for June 16, 2013, will be pushed back a year in order for track organizers to finish the permitting process needed to complete the 3.2-mile road course along the Hudson River in Weehawken and West New York, N.J. Among other things, track officials are waiting approval from Corps of Engineers to take control of property along the Hudson River where grandstands will be erected” (Speed).

11:40 (19/12) Interesting that Mr. E isn’t saying the usual stuff about no money, in fighting or contractual matters being the problem. They just ran out of time to get everything organised” (Reuters). Interesting how in the developing world the legalities of Health and Safety and a whole host of other bureaucratic red tape don’t affect a new venue as much as in Western Society.

The judge13 did suggest in “A shrinking calendar for 2013” (link – published Sept 15) that, “unless some real sweetheart deals are done, and that 2013 will could well have fewer races than 2012”. Ecclestone’s problem is he can’t be seen to letting his grasp slip on the calendar; particularly as he has negotiated with the teams that they will participate in up to 23 races each season. On this basis to keep the momentum it must be highly likely Turkey, a track owned by Ecclestone and co., will make a return to the calendar. This is one of the better Tilke venues and has always provided a race that’s no procession.

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Ecclestone to load a mountain of debt on F1.

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It’s not possible to in a single article convey the mess that is F1 and its financial arrangements, and I’m not feeling inclined to write a book. Yet there are severe storm clouds on the horizon for F1 and it appears the governing body and the teams are oblivious to this.

The Korean Times reports the organisers’ of the F1 race are facing again huge losses. It is claimed they have avoided the contractual 10% escalation in fee from last year but still have a total budget of $67.5m to find.

The national government picks up about $5m and the rest is shouldered by the South Jeolla provincial government. Of course there is the ticket receipts, but the event has not been a raging success with mass crowds attending. The losses the provincial government has had to fund are 2010 $65m and in 2011 $54m. With a contract to 2016, local commentators are not sure they will be able to fulfill this commitment.

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