Jean Todt

Alonso unwisely refutes La Stampa, Kimi unhappy? Todt taunts Brawn, Pirelli want 8 compounds, Webber reprimanded by FIA

by

Alonso refutes La Stampa story: Fernando Alonso has dismissed as “not true” reports in the Italian press of a post-qualifying row with Ferrari Formula One team members in India last weekend. thejudge13 reported yesterday that the Turin paper, La Stampa newspaper claimed the Spaniard took exception to media comments by Ferrari’s British technical director Pat Fry, and threatened to publish a ‘tweet’ about a lack of aerodynamic progress since May this year. (LINK)

Alonso hit back on twitter, “The problem is when it is not true,” and added in Spanish “It’s not fair to your readers,” ending the exchange with “Forza Ferrari.”

The difficulty for many modern F1 watchers and in this case Fernando himself is they do not understand Ferrari and its history. If something over the years is published in La Stampa, it has been historically seen as sanctioned if not leaked by Ferrari because the Agnellis family who own the publication are very much part of the same family as Ferrari.

Read more

Ferrari in breach of FIA statute 1

by

FIA Statute 1 and  a previous breach

Statute 1 of the FIA constitution states that the federation will refrain from “manifesting racial, political or religious discrimination in the course of its activities and from taking any action in this respect”. This does not apply just to the executive, but to all participants of the federation.

The last time that statute was enforced was in 2006 when the promoters of the Turkish GP decided at the last minute to put forward Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat to award a prize on the podium at the end of the Turkish Grand Prix. Mehmet’s official title was displayed on the TV as “the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”. This breakaway area of the island of Cyprus is not recognised by the International Community and the Cypriote government filed a complaint with the FIA.

Read more

BIC promoters only expecting half a crowd, Kingfisher employees to disrupt F1, Discord not Concorde in Paris, 1st Lap of COTA more F1 News

by

FIA meeting today: Press release 18:05 GMT – “During a constructive meeting, Jean Todt, the FIA President, in co-operation with Bernie Ecclestone, the Commercial Rights Holder, has presented to all F1 Team Principals the new structure of governance, including the new conditions of entry for the Concorde Agreement, starting in 2013. All the participants in the meeting were encouraged to seek clarification which resulted in a fruitful and helpful debate on how the new structure would operate in 2013 and beyond. A further important step has been achieved today to secure the future of the F1 World Championship which should lead to a final settlement to be reached between the FIA, the Commercial Rights Holder and the Teams in the coming weeks. (FIA.com)

On the agenda. The FIA is insisting on only 6 teams, Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes, Williams and Lotus to be part of the F1 Commision going forward. There were clarifications requested by the teams on the definition of customer cars and particularly the provision of 2014 engines. Renault has refused to increase the number of customers it supplies engines and with Cosworth up for sale this leaves Marrusia and HRT possibly without engines. Renault are objecting to the lack of competitiveness of these teams car designs, saying it is bad for their brand. A solution mooted is for them to buy a customer car from a larger team and then have an engine supplied.

Read more