Vijay Mallya

Lauda gives Brawn vote of confidence, Barichello wants back in F1, Lauda lectures Webber, Major sandstorm Abu Dhabi, F. India reject pay drivers

by

Torro Rosso unchanged driver paring for 2013: It’s a busy day for news – my fingers can’t keep up. Anyway sacking both their drivers last year and then amusingly producing a fairly woeful car, it was inevitable that the Italian Red Bull team would announce no change in their driver line up for 2013. There’s not reallt a lot to say about this, other than what I’ve said already. If I can think of something to say I’ll add it later or if anyone else has ideas please feel free to comment. End of announcement!

FIA Press Conference Shedule: Abu Dhabi

DATE TIME GUEST
Thursday, Nov 01 1500 hrs Jenson Button (McLaren)
Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)
Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
Vitaly Petrov (Caterham)
Charles Pic (Marussia)
Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)———————————
Friday, Nov 02 1900 hrs Ross Brawn (Mercedes)
Antonio Cuquerella (HRT)
Pat Fry (Ferrari)
Andrew Green (Force India)
Remi Taffin (Renault Sport F1)

Wow, Pat Fry – there isn’t a chance in hell the row over upgrades with Alonso and the near miss F1 2012 twittergate #3 won’t be mentioned. Force India appear to be turning up a week late, but Andrew Green predictably not be able to confirm anything about Nico’s replacement as the list of candidates is still growing. Petrov, Pic and Ricciardo will be the naughty boys on the back row. Hopefully someone will ask Ross about his relationship with ‘Lord Lauda’. Poor Antonio will be quizzed as to whether the cars have been to Kwik Fit for some new brakes. Kamui will need tissues as its likely to be his last appearance at such an event and most people won’t even know who Remi Taffin is (something to do with V6 2014 engines).

Read more

Hulkenberg refuses contract extension, Webber walks out of FIA conference, Sutil to return to Force India, Ecclestone refutes he’s being replaced,

by

Indian GP attendance down 1/3rd: The drivers gave a thumbs-up to the 5.14 kilometre track enjoying the challenge of the layout and the teams and media hailed the clean paddock and the facilities sported a completed look that was not the case last year. However, no one could avoid the dip in the numbers of fans, the most important constituent of any sport, as 65,000 of them turned up for Sunday’s race down from last year’s 95,000.

Mr. E is of course not worried, “First races are always high and the second year goes down. If the third year isn’t going up, then it’s something to worry about”, he jocularly observed “We have a [another] competitor here. What’s the name of that game? Cricket?”, suggesting F1 has a way to go to make an impression on the Indian sporting psyche.

Indian motor sports federation chief Vicky Chandhok reiterated the same three-year cycle and predicted a bigger turnout in 2013. “Formula One is like this only. This is the trend everywhere. From third race onwards, you’d see some kind of stability. Overall, it has been a huge improvement from last year”.

Read more

Indian GP Review: Newey to Ferrari? Less races for Europe? Bernie’s birthday bash, Alonso’s dig at Vettel

by

The news stories together with post race thoughts following the interviews. First some news…

Less races for Europe: Whilst Bernie is usually newsworthy and highly entertaining, he is either actually becoming senile – or I am just sick and tired of his monotonous monologue on a certain subject. The race calendar and new circuits. We were told in an interview on SKY that Europe will be losing another 3 races on Friday, and then on Sunday according to Mr. E France and the Paul Ricard is close a 7 year deal.

Then after Nurburgring telling us they have a contract for an extended race deal, Ecclestone  contradicts this, “Yes, there are negotiations with Hockenheim about the race in 2013,” (Wirtschaftswoch).

I’m getting really bored with the silly track in/out game.

Bernie’s birthday bash: There was an unassuming gathering for champagne at breakfast on race day. Most team principals were there but only 2 drivers popped in – Grosjean and Hamilton.

Read more

Ecclestone intervenes in Ferrari naval flag row, CVC appoint headhunters to find Ecclestone’s replacement, Mallya relieved at Forbes downgrade, German GP 2013 close to agreement

by

Ferrari won’t be drawn into their own controversy: Dominicali was asked at the team press conference about the political storm Ferrari have created by stating they will run the Italian military naval flag on their cars this weekend, he responded “”If you look behind in the past we have done a lot of initiatives, but there is nothing I want to get into specifically because this is not the place we should do it”. He was then asked whether the team would review their position he retorted, “”Honestly I don’t think it is a matter of this press conference to discuss this subject. If you have any questions, we have a press office.” Dominicali added, “”There is not any political intents or discussion – that is what is written.”

Indian news agencies quoted Syed Akbaruddin, an official spokesperson in the ministry of external affairs, as saying: “Using sporting events to promote cause which are not of a sporting nature is not in keeping with the spirit of sports.”

14:16 GMT The padrino has now entered the fray. We have a statement from Ferrari company president Luca di Montezemolo reported by news agency ANSA saying, “We only want to make a small contribution, with great respect for the Indian authorities, so that a solution might be found through dialogue.”

Read more

Caterham: Is Gascoyne leaving? NY 2013 – No, maybe.., Lauda unveils Mercedes new ‘concept’ for 2013, DRS zone altered for BIC, Ecclestone gets $400m bill

by

Daily News

Indian GP, Race Strategy: For a full track characteristics overview and Indian GP race strategy report, no one does it better than James Allen on his F1 News site (http://connect.jamesallenonf1.com). Includes: form guide, weather forecast, likely tyre perfomance, pit stop strategy, chance of safety car, start performance table and pit stop table plus comment from one of F1’s most experienced specialist observers.

DRS zone strategy: The FIA have made changes to the Buddh International Circuit DRS zones. As well as having the original zone that runs along the maximum distance of the start-finish straight, there is a second DRS zone that runs from Turn 3 to Turn 4 and this has been extended by 80 metres.

It appears the FIA are getting to grips with DRS zone lengths. The tracks where the racing is less exciting is where they have taken gambles on going long on the zone lengths. The extended zones this year have been predominantly after tight hairpins/very slow corners. (Canada, Valencia, Korea, India), so it could be the first zone in Abu Dhabi is also extended. If this is the case then Austin is also likely to have a fairly extensive zone on the long straight.

Read more

Schumacher says he may leave Switzerland, Vijay ducks Indian GP press conference, Hungarian GP in negotiations, Honda no chance for 2014

by

Indian GP, Race Strategy: For a full track characteristics overview and Indian GP race strategy report, no one does it better than James Allen on his F1 News site (http://connect.jamesallenonf1.com). Includes: form guide, weather forecast, likely tyre perfomance, pit stop strategy, chance of safety car, start performance table and pit stop table plus comment from one of F1’s most experienced specialist observers.

Press Conference Lists for Indian GP: Friday lineup looks more exciting than Thursday. Kimi the only top driver – and to say he’s concise would be an understatement. Vijay Mallya is conspicuous by his absence as fears over mass Kingfisher staff demonstrations have grown. (Force India: How the tower of cards will collapse)

DATE TIME GUEST
Thursday, October 25 1500 hrs Nico Hulkenberg (Force India)
Narain Karthikeyan (HRT)
Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham)
Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)
Bruno Senna (Williams)
Jean–Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)
Friday, October 26 1600 hrs Cyril Abiteboul (Caterham)
Eric Boullier (Lotus)
Stefano Domenicali (Ferrari)
Christian Horner (Red Bull)
Monisha Kaltenborn (Sauber)
Martin Whitmarsh (McLaren)
Saturday, October 27 Post Qualifying * Three fastest Drivers from Qualifying
Sunday, October 28 Post Race * First three finishing Drivers

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

A Race with over 300 cars, Lotus developing 3 cars at once, Mallya’s license suspended, more F1 News….

by

Mallya: The judge13 has been following more closely than elsewhere the events unfolding that affect the Indian owner of Force India. Having sold a chunk of the Kingfisher empire this week, paid overdue airport dues and had the warrant for arrest withdrawn, Mallya has now had his airline license withdrawn. The suspension signalled the regulator’s lack of patience with Kingfisher after months of cancelled flights and staff walkouts, and marked a rare tough stance by the government against a high-profile corporate (Reuters)

The move had been widely expected after Kingfisher failed to respond properly to queries from the regulator regarding its ability to provide a “safe, efficient and reliable service”. The airline has never made a profit since its inception in 2004, and a well know airline commentator suggests it could take $1bn to turn Kingfisher Airlines around. (Force India: How the card tower will collapse)

Max Mosely: A very plausible and knowledgeable guest on the Sky F1 show admitted the expose of his by the News of the World of ‘spankgate’ weakened his hand in pushing through cost reforms.  In 2003 Mosely, then head of the FIA, cancelled the use of special qualifying cars and engines in a move to level the playing field for the competing F1 teams. He instigated a ‘parc ferme’ following qualifying that meant the teams could not change engines and other components designed to provide ultra 1 lap speed but not be capable of lasting the full race distance.

In 2008-9 Mosely was trying force the teams to agree to a cost cap on expenditure, and Ferrari in particular were refusing to comply, there were threats of a breakaway series and Moseley admits he should have faced them down as he did in 2003. The reason he gave for avoiding all out confrontation was that Williams and Ferrari in particular had supported Mosely during the highly embarrassing matter of ‘spankgate’ and he felt he owed them for this loyalty. So Max agreed not to stand for re-election and the fudged Resource Restriction Agreement was accepted, something Mosely now admits is not working.

Read more

Mallya charges dropped, but problems just beginning, Sir Jack Stewart talks sexy (Ugh), F1 opportunity for Porsche, F1 News and Links…

by

Mallya: Boss of stricken Kingfisher Airlines – has bounced cheque charges dropped (business today), and has paid off his arrears on the airport fees – presumably because he has raised some cash from selling a chunk of United Spirits to Diageo  (Mallya forced to sell). Before the champagne (Crystal we think) is cracked this may just be the beginning of Vijay’s problems, because everyone else who is owed money should have realised the way to get paid is to issue legal proceedings. Indian tax authorities who have not received the deducted tax deducted Kingfisher Airlines from their employees are beginning action – it may be some employees are technically liable themselves even thought the Mallya company has taken the money from them. (Economic Times). The Indian courts may find themselves very busy soon particularly if the author of “Is Vijay Mallya India’s worst businessman” is correct. (firstpost.com)

Mercedes: After being heavily criticised by Helmut Marco for recruiting 3 former team technical directors to head up sub-divisions of Mercedes F1 (link), it appears Ross Brawn has decided that he has enough his search for “art directors” and is looking for some “Indians” – less expensive candidates. Here is a link if you are an undergraduate and interested in taking a 1 year placement with the team. (Merc Grad Recruit). To be fair, an amazing opportunity.

Read more

Mallya forced to relinquish Control, Ecclestone U-turn, Tooned Cancelled, Sky F1 reporting gets even worse

by

London GP: Ecclestone says the race is off that was never on. London – city or Olympic Park http://www.cityam.com/sport/central-london-grand-prix-says-ecclestone. I love how he then goes to great lengths to explain why it would be cost efficient and a great idea though. Maybe this undying enthusiasm for pointless ideas and lost causes is how Mokpo not Seoul ended up with the Korean GP (South Korea, Ecclestone and The Emporer’s New Clothes)

Tooned: is cancelled due to Lewis leaving the team – so for the rest of this year at least. Would love to see it return with Jenson and Perez next year. Perez character could be based on being a relative of my childhood favourite cartoon, Speedy Gonzales, a very very fast mexican mouse. For those of you who’ve never had the pleasure…(YouTube). If you enjoyed that and want a free box set worth of them…(YouTube). More importantly Tooned is a way of attracting kids interest in F1 and was a good idea. I think they should just do a best mates breakup story about Lewis and Jenson anyway. My best mate aged 22 didn’t speak to me for a year – its life.

Read more