Francois Cevert

#F1 History: 1971 Tyrrell 003 – Secret Hidden in a Woodshed

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“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”

#F1 Daily News and Comment: Wednesday 25th February 2015

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This page will be updated throughout the day. Please if you are on Twitter press the tweet button below. If you re-write and tweet individual story headlines don’t forget to include #F1. You may not realise how hugely important this is and has helped grow our community significantly Previously on TheJudge13: #TJ13 #F1 Courtroom Podcast: … Read more

The Top-20 #F1 GP Drivers who did NOT win a championship…

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Brought to you by TheJudge13 chronicler: BlackJack’sBriefs  A few conclusions…            “In space, nobody can hear you scream – when surf-boarding nobody can see you cry…” First I have to express my gratitude to ‘TJ13’ for agreeing to publish this series, and encouraging me to write it, and then offer a Big Thank You to those … Read more

The Top-20 #F1 GP Drivers who did NOT win a championship…

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Brought to you by TheJudge13 chronicler: BlackJack’sBriefs
 Such a list is not easy to compile, and it is even harder to be objective. The way I reduced 830 F1 drivers to 20 is detailed in Part I. I wanted twenty top drivers (top No.2’s who might have been a team leader.) who had proved their … Read more

The Bar Exam: 02 May 2013

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Welcome to this week’s edition of thejudge13 Bar Exam. Last week saw the first time that I did not receive a correct answer. Hopefully, this week we will resume business as usual with a few correct answers. Last week’s question: Can you name the circuit in the image and the year in which it was … Read more

Amazing Austin: Sowing and Reaping

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F1’s history in the USA

Austin is the 10th American city to host F1 since the first U.S. Grand Prix in Sebring, Florida, in 1959. Watkins Glen, New York, hosted a Grand Prix from 1961-80 and other F1 races have been held in Long Beach, Las Vegas, Detroit, Dallas, Phoenix and other cities on street courses.

Yet while these venues have thrown up some amazing pieces of F1 history, for one reason or another they have not really been optimum for holding an F1 weekend for one reason or another. Watkins Glen was probably the closest to what F1 needed as its US home, but despite improvements the circuit became unable to safely handle the increasingly faster cars of the late 70s.

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US Grand Prix 2002, Indianapolis: A Ferrari Fix

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In the run up to the return to the US for F1 racing, I’m looking for good stories that maybe veteran F1 fans want to relive and new ones can read for the first time. Most people with any vague knowledge of F1 racing in the US will know of the tyre debacle at Indianapolis in 2005 where only 6 teams ran.

Yesterday, thejudge13 published a review and some video footage from Dallas 1984, another farcical event where the track disintegrated before the drivers eys. So much so the Pole Position fastest time was set on Friday some 2.5 seconds quicker than anything possible on the Saturday – and there was no rain. (LINK)

Controversy has not been far from the US Grand Prix it seems in recent years. This race at 2002, I remember watching live and listening to the incredulous voice of the commentator who wailed in disbelief at the finish as it unfolded before his eyes. The article is from Grandprix.com but is abridged due a great level of detail some may find dull. The link to the full article is at the end for those wanting the 10th’s of seconds etc…  suffice to say the race was a fairly dull Ferrari domination (as was much of 1999-2004).

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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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