Here’s a round-up of F1 news and other interesting links I’ve found today.
If you’ve spotted a hot news story, interesting new website or just something funny from the world of F1, please share your links in the comments below.
Bernie Ecclestone fears inquiry may force Renault out
“I think it will p*** off Renault for a start. Them leaving the sport is a danger, obviously. I mean, I hope that it isn’t like that, but it’s the sort of thing that might happen. What I know, I can’t say, to be honest with you. All I know is that Flavio is insisting that he knows nothing about it."
Probe Could Mean The End Of Renault
"Some of us had wondered why Nelson Piquet Sr. had attended every race this year, when we barely saw him at all in 2008. The cynical suggestion was that the elder Piquet was there to remind Briatore that it would not be wise to sack his boy, that perhaps he had some ‘information.’ If Flav in effect called the Piquet family’s bluff by replacing Nelson, he may well have cause to regret it." (Thanks to Gerard for the tip)
Bulgaria Formula 1 in Bulgaria – Waiting for The Dream to Come True
"The President of the Bulgarian Motorcycle Federation (BMF), Bogdan Nikolov, said so. In his words, the F1 chief, Bernie Ecclestone, had to decide about the Bulgarian F1 future during the last racing weekend at the Belgium Spa. However, nothing has been announced yet."
Mallya denies Fisichella Ferrari talk
"Force India still has outstanding debts with Ferrari as a hangover from its customer engine deal, and it is not clear what influence these will have on any negotiations between the two teams regarding Fisichella."
These are links I’ve bookmarked using Delicious. You can see my Delicious profile here.
Bigbadderboom
1st September 2009, 9:02
Not good for Renault, the thing is everybody knows it is well within the morality and capability of Flavio to do this, at the moment it’s possible more than probable, but it’s been about for a long time as a rumour. It would be a shame to see Renault go, and it just goes to show that F1 is a risk for manufacturers who may end up damaging their brand more than enhancing it.
mp4-19b
1st September 2009, 9:37
Would McLaren have gone unpunished( for crimes they didn’t commit in the first place) if they had threatened to pull out?
Bigbadderboom
1st September 2009, 10:17
McLaren would struggle to exist without F1, they are a team that actually make the F1 model work as oppossed to manufacturers who just pour money at a team to raise the profile of their products. To be fair to Max, this was always one of his points, that F1 doesn’t want to be held to ransom by these huge factories. Now I need a strong coffee and a lie down as I have credited Max with something positive……..why do i feel dirty :)
SaloolaS
1st September 2009, 12:31
Yep. Honda didn’t leave f1, because they didn’t have money for it – they left, because they didn’t make enough profit with selling cars, so it wasn’t good for them. Williams on the other hand said that they will stay in F1 as long as they have money – they exist for racing. And that’s the reason why they are in my top 3 teams.
mfDB
2nd September 2009, 14:27
Yes, I agree, Ferrari, McLaren, Williams (i know Ferrari sell lots of cars, but still, they exist because of and for F1)
dwp
5th September 2009, 1:30
I think Ferrai gets some FIAT money. Could be wrong but I bet others know.
ajokay
1st September 2009, 10:23
So BMW are leaving, now possibly Renault and Toyota too.
Good.
Back to the days when the commercial car makers just built super fast engines for proper F1 teams, staying out of the car design and team management altogether. As it should be. Racers in it for racing, not the monies.
TommyB
1st September 2009, 15:39
They should have got rid of those 3 teams and got 3 new ones. Now we’re going to be back to a 20 car grid again. FIA are STUPID
Bartholomew
1st September 2009, 10:27
These are all wishful thoughts from Lou. If it was up to him, Massa should be proclaimed as 2008 WDC. The mechanics forgot about the hose because they were unfairly distracted by the Piquet crash.
PJA
1st September 2009, 10:41
Renault’s long term F1 future has been in doubt for a few years now.
It was said to be one of the reasons behind Alonso joining McLaren.
It was also rumoured that Renault would quit if they were punished heavily for having McLaren information a few years back.
And they have been on peoples list of teams likely to quit since the global recession began and because of the team not challenging at the front.
S Hughes
1st September 2009, 11:00
What I find astounding about Ecclestone’s comments is that he doesn’t seem to mention Alonso in all of this. Surely if it was true, Alonso would have been in on it so why isn’t his future in serious doubt if it were found to be true? The double standards in F1 are making me a bit sick. I am still perplexed about how a cheating Kimi running wide in Spa attracted no penalty. I would love Lewis to do that next year and see what the consequences are.
dsob
1st September 2009, 12:21
I’m sure Bernie would love it if this all just faded away. If an FiA investigation determines there was a conspiracy in Singapore, Bernie’s revenues are going to drop seriously, I’d think. And I’d not look for F1 races in Singapore again, as Singapore most probably wouldn’t have F1 back. Cheating is considered a horribly base and evil thing in most(if not all) Asian cultures.
And, as I said in the Forum, if Alonso were to be implicated in a conspiracy to fix the race, he’d never drive in F1 again either. He and Piquet Jr would be together on the unemployment line.
Not that Bernie cares about P Jr, mind you, but the loss of Alonso would be a huge spear in the side of Formula 1.
That’s our Bernard Charles Ecclestone, God bless him.
S Hughes
1st September 2009, 11:06
And isn’t Bernie worried about finding out if cheating did occur in Singapore? Would he rather it was swept under the carpet? It shows the mindset of the guy that he would rather not investigate evidence of serious race-fixing than keep it quiet to not upset the apple-cart. So immoral and no way to run a sport!
John H
1st September 2009, 13:29
so true
CJD
1st September 2009, 11:23
And all because his p***** off mechanic told young Piquet that the best thing he could do for the team was wait for Fernando to go by and build a barricade across the track. Clearly he can’t take a joke.
Alex Bkk
1st September 2009, 12:55
Ecclestone also described the Italian as “well and truly upset”, and added that Nelson Piquet Jr, the driver whom Ecclestone clearly believes sparked the sport’s latest cheating scandal by informing the FIA of the explosive allegations, could be finished as a Formula One driver.
McPhil
1st September 2009, 13:18
Remember Japan last year Hamilton slightly out-braked himself, and the Ferrari’s ran wide? Remember who got penalised? Isn’t this the same thing? Why didn’t anyone get penalised? Oh yes, because it happens in every race!
John H
1st September 2009, 13:27
Just a thought, but I wonder if Renault hired Piquet for 2009 because of this sensitive information (when most of us were calling for him to be dropped)?
DGR-F1
1st September 2009, 13:38
Can we really believe that Flavio knows nothing about it? What does he do on the Pit Wall then? I would take his statements with a pinch of salt, especially as quoted by Bernie. They are in cahoots over all sorts of things, so for Flavio not to know what his team was doing, and for Bernie not to know what Flavio knows, is a little bit strange…
manatcna
1st September 2009, 22:37
I think the FIA will conclude that Renault/Piquet did nothing wrong.
No penalty.
No Renault leaving F1.
I used to love this sport.
Paul
2nd September 2009, 1:19
It’s all Alonso’s fault.
The Limit
2nd September 2009, 4:02
To be honest, I don’t think Flavio Briatore will cry one tear if Renault pulled the plug on their operation. Briatore survived before Renault, and will survive after Renault. Apart from Ferrari ofcourse, the majority of this sports original teams fifty nine years ago were private enterprises. People who, as Frank Williams described himself, ‘are born to race, exist to race’.
They didn’t care about marketing, about selling the next model of automobile, but by stuffing the opposition on a Sunday afternoon.
How I long for the days of Tyrell, Brabham, Hesketh, and McLaren before they sold their souls to the devil. These huge corporations have brought their billions to F1, but have also damaged it. They believe that the rules of the boardroom apply on the racetrack but they don’t. They are not racing people, they don’t make proper decisions as their brains are not geared up like those of racing people who ‘know’ the business.
What Ross Brawn has achieved this year proves my point. Here’s a man who only in recent years entered the Honda team, a team in complete turmoil and loosing as much money off the track as oil on it.
No sooner had the Japanese based bean counters packed their bags and flown the coup, Brawn had purchased the team and rebranded it as his own. On a fraction of the budget once used by Honda, his organisation has smashed teams like Ferrari, McLaren, Toyota, BMW Sauber etc etc.
All on a pauper’s wallet! No wonder BMW Sauber have left, and Toyota and Renault want to leave. How embarrassing! Here’s a man whose spent a few million, and in his first season could very well win the championship. BMW Sauber in three years have one a single race, and in seven years Toyota are still waiting to win one!
No, Briatore Racing is certainly a possibility. He has the dough, the knowledge, and the minerals to do it. And I hope so, this sport needs to be rebuilt from the roots up.
Bigbadderboom
2nd September 2009, 10:50
The facts are not quite as romantic as you like to paint them.
The Brawn car was developed with Honda money and Honda resources, next year will be the year to judge Ross “the privateer” Brawn, he is an excellent principle, and I hope he succeeds, but time will tell. And it was done with slightly more than a few million, in fact costs on development and production on this years vehicle was in excess of 250 million euro!
As for racing being different to all other businesses, and that only racing peopl understand it, that is just niave. Frank Williams employs PR experts, Marketing companies, solicitors, all to help him exploit Williams commercial interests. An F1 car needs to cost a lot, so it remains the pinnacle of m/sport. So teams need a lot of money.
However I agree with you in princaple, a team should be self substaining, and manufacturers should not be able to pour endless sums of money into the sport. It would be wise to say that a team must use non-manufacturing sponsorship to survive. All teams should be made to prove they are financially viable.
As for Flavio GP, it’s been banded around for a while, but if rumours are true, he has already been questioned by FIA solicitors last year and now faces a bigger investigation. Flavio may end up banned from F1.
McPhil
2nd September 2009, 6:32
I think you are forgetting one important point. Honda spent more than half of the previous season developing that car, making it into what it is today (and gaining an unfair advantage IMO), while Ferrari and McLaren were fighting for a Championship…
The Limit
3rd September 2009, 2:48
That is true, but you are also forgetting an important point. Honda spent huge sums of money before the development of the 2009 car and still failed to compete
‘seriously’ for the championship. Jenson Button did have one good season with Honda, in 2004, and won his first race two years later, but just look at the money they spent.
Toyota are even worse when you consider that they have been in Formula One since 2002. They are still without a single victory, have yet to get to the sharp end of a championship, and have spent billions of dollars. Don’t get me wrong, 250 million euros is a huge chunk of dough, but if it wins Brawn Gp both titles, its money well spent. Far better a situation to be in than Toyota, who have nothing to show for all their money.
The fact is, that Honda walked away when the team had a great car in the pipeline. Only they know the real reasons for that decision, yet Ross Brawn and his team have made it work.
The title is never won solely in the design room and factory. It is won on the circuit, and in the pits. Its an alround team effort.
As for a unfair advantage, I don’t buy into that argument. Yes McLaren and Ferrari handicapped themselves by spending millions on their cars in the run up to Brazil 2008, but that was their decision. Honda were not the only team not fighting for the title in 2008. Renault, BMW Sauber, Toyota, and their 2009 cars have not exactly set the world alight. That is not romantic fantasy, but pure fact my friends.
Ant
3rd September 2009, 16:44
Trouble seems to follow Alonso around doesn’t it? Either he is in the wrong place at the wrong time again, or you’ve got to start asking how involved he is in these claims. Or does his involvement get brushed over again just as in the McLaren fiasco in 2007.