We’ve got a cracking guest article coming up on the site later. In the meantime here’s today’s round-up:
Links
Jacques Villeneuve aiming to set up own Formula 1 team (BBC)
“Villeneuve may join forces with disgraced former Renault team boss Flavio Briatore, who has been out of F1 since being found guilty last September of trying to fix the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.”
Villeneuve to run Braun’s No. 32 in Brickyard 400 (NASCAR)
“He will join Juan [Pablo] Montoya as the only two drivers in history to compete in all three of the historic speedway’s premier motorsports events: the Indianapolis 500, the U.S. Grand Prix and the Brickyard 400.”
I was shown an early version of this while I was at the Spanish Grand Prix with Virgin sponsor FXPro. It’s a promotional game which uses real-time currency to determine how your car performs on the track, and it’s voiced by BBC Radio 5’s David Croft.
Ferrari ‘not asked’ to let Kubica pass (Autosport)
Ferrari contradict Charlie Whiting’s explanation of events of Silverstone. Even so, the fact remains Alonso should have let Kubica back past immediately, as he had clearly gone off the road during the overtake and would be forced to yield the position.
Comment of the day
Shortly after Hamish wrote this we learned Sakon Yamamoto was replacing Karun Chandhok at HRT next weekend:
Roger Federer became No.1 on skill, not money. Tiger Woods became No.1 on skill, not money, and then got his mack on. Money didn’t contribute to Usain Bolt smashing the 100m world record. I do understand and acknowledge that big money does exchange hands in sport, but this is for, wait for it, those that are the naturally gifted and superior players – not for some guy who is backed by Lada cars for example.
I can see how some people question calling F1 a sport when theres is no sense of natural progression in regards to human merit.
You can talk about childrens lessons etc etc, but please think bigger picture. I’m more talking the corporate presence.
Have we ever heard a story in football where a well respected player gets dropped from the team for a match due to Sakon Yamamoto, the erratic striker, bringing $5million to the club?
Hamish
From the forum
What other racing series do you watch?
Happy birthday!
No F1 Fanatic birthdays today. If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.
On this day in F1
One year ago today I had just arrived in Cornwall for a holiday when my ‘phone rang. To my amazement, it was Ari Vatanen… Ari Vatanen: Exclusive interview on Mosley, budget caps and the F1 calendar
James
17th July 2010, 0:08
In response to Hamish’s comment, no, we havent – but in lgiht of England’s recent World Cup performance, perhaps that isnt a bad thing. Although I’m anti-Yamamoto and pro team stablility, perhaps having a player that really wants to be there makes all the difference.
I guess that is why I’m giving Yamamoto just a couple more races to prove himself. I’m still yet to be convinced.
mfDB
18th July 2010, 2:55
True, plus Federer’s racket, Bolt’s shoes, and Tiger’s clubs cost a grand total of about $3000. No need for money from them. A team like HRT is 100% dependent on money…no money = no racing, so I wouldn’t get too upset about it. Plus, like James said, it seems like Yamamoto has already outperformed both of them (because he ‘wants to be there’)….
BasCB
18th July 2010, 11:02
Well that might be true for Federer’s racket and Bolt’s shoes, but Tigers clubs would cost more in the range of $50.000.
The big spending before you get succesfull and have sponsors who ask you to use their products in those sports is actually the training, the support team (trainer, therapist, …) and travelling around the world.
Recently I heard a Dutch guy, who actually raised bonds to put up 200.000 EUR to start doing a year of pro golf. That was after he had found sponsors for the material and a grant to live from from the governing body.
Sure it’s not millions as in F1, but a big amount of money non the less.
But sure, HRT needs money, so the tap into the funds offered for a drive. We have had pay drivers being way of the pace getting season long drives. Yamamoto is not far off from the other 2 guys, it’s just a shame the team is in this situation for both the team and the drivers.
Mike
19th July 2010, 0:59
That much for golf?
Maybe it’s a pessimist in me but, why ruin a good walk?
Scribe (@scribe)
17th July 2010, 0:43
Most interesting thing about the Whiting/Ferrari article are the last two sections
13:45:31 The stewards investigate the Alonso/Kubica incident. The monitors then display ‘car number 8 under investigation’, 14m26s after the pass.
13:46:26 Just 55 seconds later the stewards decide that Alonso should have a drive-through penalty.
When it got refered to the stewards, they decided in less than a minute that Alonso was wrong and something had to be done, I suppose that makes Whiting as useless as Ferrari if it’s true he didn’t tell Alo to give the place straight back. Why is it we all know he done wrong, the stewards almost instanly, by there standards knew it too yet, Ferrari AND race controll thought it was up in the air. Ah well, baffling as it might be that question is never getting answered.
Thought Hammish’s original comment was naive when it went up, great timming from HRT though. Still I take the point that teams requiring money in abudance from atheltes is unique to F1. But still, in almost all sports it’s money that gets you in, whether thats sponsership from a club or talent scout, or you own makes little differance. Money gets you in, then how far you go depends on skill.
Bernard
17th July 2010, 12:53
“1m55s after the pass Whiting tells Ferrari that the stewards think Alonso could give the position back.”
That says it all really. It’s all only opinion until made official by a stewards ruling.
Besides I’m at a loss as to why Alonso didn’t give the position back immediately, he gained an advantage by missing the apex.
Patrickl
18th July 2010, 13:36
It was referred to the stewards long before that message came up on screen. As is clear from Whitings reply at 13:33.
It’s just that they were probably thinking about letting Alonso give the place back or let them take the penalty after the race (after hearing the drivers)
Then when Kubica’s car failed it was all pretty quickly decided that they had to give the standard penalty for the offense.
DGR-F1
19th July 2010, 13:18
So as Race Control, Charlie doesn’t really ‘control’, only give opinions? This shows that he is getting in the way of the actual decisions by offering an opinion which the teams can ignore.
I hope we will see the next major incidents going straight to the Stewards, and Charlie can just play with the Safety Car…. :-)
sato113
17th July 2010, 0:43
guys lets not beat up on Yamamoto. can anyone name which personal sponsors he’s brought to the team? has he ever been given a competitive car? no. for all I know, he could be a hidden talent. so lets not assume things til we know.
Scribe (@scribe)
17th July 2010, 0:50
He’s not though, he started 14 previous Grand Prix, and was anoymous an clearly not that great then.
An he was rubbish in GP208, despite driving for ART, who won a few races that year, so he was awful in the one competative drive I know about. He really is crap I’m afraid, certainly not the match of either Chandok or Senna, or even Klien.
Incidentally, if this is an irony trap, fair play.
sato113
17th July 2010, 1:05
no irony intended! lol. i think Klien is probably faster actually. give YAM a full season with full pre season testing then i’d be able to judge him.
Ned Flanders (@ned-flanders)
17th July 2010, 0:52
Er… well that’s nice of you to stick up for him Sato- but he has had two F1 drives already so I don’t think we’re judging him too soon. And from what we’ve seen so far, there can be little doubt that Yamamoto has all the talent of a sack of tatey’s.
(OK so that’s a bit harsh, but you get the idea, he ain’t F1 standard)
sato113
17th July 2010, 1:07
he may not be up to scratch but i think all drivers need time to mature. he was thrown around a bit at spyker.
just look at grosjean. he wasn’t given a ‘full’ season with all the added opportunities and we all slated him for his poor driving in 2009. but now people know that he’d be pretty good.
Patrickl
18th July 2010, 13:37
Yamamoto held up with Chandhok pretty well during the race though. Especially after the safety car.
Ned Flanders (@ned-flanders)
17th July 2010, 0:47
I really don’t see why Hispania dropping Chandok is such a big deal. Clearly they desperately need money, and if Yamamoto has it then it’s a no brainer to take him on. There’s no room for sentiment in F1. If the survival of the team depends on replacing Chandok with someone with even deeper pockets, then so be it.
Besides, look at it this way. No matter which driver they employ, Hispania are still going to be bringing up the rear for the foreseeable future. So whether they run Chandok or Yamamoto is almost irrelevant- they’re going to come last either way.
Scribe (@scribe)
17th July 2010, 0:54
No room for sentiment if you own a team, certainly not. As a fan though sentimentality is a big part o’ the game.
Also, Chandok has to be a decent asset, he may not be so very fast although he’s comparing alright to Senna, he’s certainly popular, an he’s Bernie backed.
Tom L. (@tom-l)
18th July 2010, 1:48
Pre-season, a lot of people had dismissed Chandhok because, let’s be honest, he hadn’t set the world alight in GP2. However, he’s earned people’s respect over time. When has Yamamoto even had the opportunity to do that? He’s been drafted into struggling teams, mid-season, on three different occasions now – how do you expect him to do anything more than trail round at the back?
Mouse_Nightshirt (@mouse_nightshirt)
17th July 2010, 1:21
I don’t understand Ferrari’s “not told” position:
They were told the stewards think “Alonso could give the position back”. Doesn’t that scream “give it back or else?”
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
17th July 2010, 3:00
If Valencia had never happened, Ferrari wouldn’t be arguing their case. They’re just trying to make the stewards look inconsistent and incompetent for political points.
gabal
17th July 2010, 10:07
I agree, their arguments are moot and this chronology of radio transmissions only proves they had chance to avoid drive-through penalty.
BasCB (@bascb)
17th July 2010, 13:46
I think Whiting telling the team his and the stewards opinion is pretty clearly a strong advice.
To me it seems Ferrari are just playing fool here. They knew right away they should have let Kubica back past.
This comment
shows their attedude. They are trying to get away from the penalty. Who cares they did not do what they had to do in time, their miss if they now have to lose 2 positions.
Patrickl
18th July 2010, 13:39
Besides, Whiting said he told them 3 times. I’m betting that in that first instance “26 secs after the pass, Whiting asks to be given time to watch the TV footage”, Whiting already said something about that Alonso should give the place back.
Ferrari were simply stalling or they actually thought that the stewards would suddenly allow cutting corners while overtaking. Not sure which one is worse …
Hare (@hare)
17th July 2010, 1:31
So yeah, played that FXPro game… got the 2nd fastest time ever. It’s quite good as you can race, without having to actually do anything. I set up 2 browser windows, and ran concurrent games.. :P
I won 100 merchandise points, which means nothing to me. I’d rather a pair of trainers or something. Some bread. But you know. :)
BasCB (@bascb)
17th July 2010, 14:46
It took me a while before i understood how it worked. I had the 101th time in monaco, should have gone for another market strategy.
A funny gimmick to get people to warm up to exchange rate trading.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
17th July 2010, 3:01
Jacques Villeneuve coming back to F1 not sure whether he will bring anything good to the sport last time he came & did nothing.
I think HRT is going from bad to worst, OK they need money but replacing a good driver is not worthed. I weant to see what performance can Sakon make on his comeback.
BasCB (@bascb)
17th July 2010, 14:49
From what Adam Cooper writes today (http://adamcooperf1.com/2010/07/17/durango-confirms-villeneuve-partnership/) it seems the Durango bid actually gained some validity and interest by joining up with Villeneuve.
That starts to get a interesting proposal.
Oliver
17th July 2010, 6:58
Ferrari ‘not asked’ to let Kubica pass (Autosport)….
F1 is not chess.
And I believe Whiting, can only give an opinion, which he did.
leon
17th July 2010, 8:06
Alonso and Ferrari were bang to rights. Alonso gained a position by leaving the track at a corner. You aren’t allowed to do that. The fact that later events (Kubica’s retirement) meant that Alonso’s move became void doesn’t alter the picture in the slightest. Alonso
should have automatically given the place back to Kubica immediately, on the same lap. He did not. Alonso knows that perfectly well. So does Ferrari.
But, being a tough experienced F1 team, Ferrari look for even the slightest exploitable chink in the F1 armoury, and they know damn well that the stewards ( who are not ‘professionals’ in the sense that they don’t do the job regularly ) are the weak point. Naturally they will try to exploit any percieved weakness.
Magnificent Geoffrey (@magnificent-geoffrey)
17th July 2010, 8:09
When I’m on holiday and the phone rings, it’s my boss.
When Keith’s on holiday, and his phone rings, it’s Ari Vatanen.
That’s how I know I’m currently failing at life.
hawkfist
17th July 2010, 10:22
I say the same thing I said on the other thread. The LA Galaxy brought in Beckham for the exposure it would bring more than his declining talent. It does happen in football.
Hamish
17th July 2010, 11:06
I disagree. Beckham was/is genuine talent. The fact that he was still in contention to represent England at the World Cup before he got injured supports that theory. If you are good enough to play for England I think its fair to say you’re talented.
Yes he was bought there for exposure, but he was of a calibre that did put him the upper echelon for the LA Galaxy team.
BasCB (@bascb)
17th July 2010, 20:03
I noticed you got the ad-bar on top of the page working again Keith.