In the round-up: A revised calendar for next year could see the Turkish Grand Prix dropped.
Links
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
2012 calendar set for major overhaul (Autosport)
“It is understood that he plans for the 2012 season to now start in Australia, with Bahrain shifting to a November date where it will be fitted in as a back-to-back with Abu Dhabi.”
“If I had been a metre and a half further alongside [Lewis Hamilton], it would have been much harder for him to stay ahead but if you are on the outside and not quite ahead, you deserve to get run out of road. It was fair play. What was different about the next lap, when Fernando came out ahead of Lewis, was that Lewis had that extra half a car’s length on him on the outside, so Fernando could not do to him what Lewis had done to me.”
Di Resta and Heidfeld disagree (ESPN)
Paul di Resta: “The thing in Canada never cost him anything. And then he ran into the back of me and took me out of the race in Germany. He’s not apologised, he’s not spoken to me, and that disappoints me because it was pretty blatant. I lost more out of it than he did. He was the one that committed the crime.”
Bernie Ecclestone: I paid only 14m to Gerhard Gribkowksy (Daily Telegraph)
“Ecclestone initially denied any knowledge of the payments. However, he has now admitted to paying Gribkowsky $23m after being ‘shaken down’ by the German.”
What do you think about the idea of a Qualifying tyre? A tyre giving maximum grip, three laps. Means zero driver error? Like the old days?
Via the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app
Perez to treat Austin like home race (Reuters)
“I think it is going to be full of Mexicans. It’s going to be a very nice Grand Prix for me. It’s almost my home race.”
Citroen disappointed with Raikkonen (Yahoo)
Kimi Raikkonen: “We haven’t really given a thought to what’s going to happen next year… if we’re going to do anything at all.”
Adrian Sutil Q&A (Force India)
“[Germany] was a great result, and of course you have to make the right decisions in the race, and do the right strategy, so it’s not that easy. But in the end we really did everything perfectly last weekend. Everyone in the team deserved that result.”
The 1936 Hungarian Grand Prix (Viva F1)
“This year marks twenty-five years since Formula One first went behind the iron curtain for the Hungarian Grand Prix. However, you have to go back another fifty years for the first race of that name.”
Follow F1 news as it breaks using the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app.
Comment of the day
Hawkii offers some praise for the FIA. Yes, you read that right:
That’s an incredible use of the available technology. Nice to see an organisation that just implements this stuff for the advantage of everyone, unlike football where they’re still arguing about setting deadlines for when they might possibly discuss using just goalline technology.
You can knock F1 for many things, but they get so, so, so much right.
Hawkii
From the forum
Enigma asks what do you want to see in the season review DVD?
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Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to George Tunnicliffe, Kevin and Mandev!
On this day in F1
Happy birthday to Fernando Alonso who is 30 today!
On this day in 1951 Alberto Ascari won the German Grand Prix for Ferrari on the Nurburgring Nordschleife.
Juan Manuel Fangio was second for Alfa Romeo ahead of fellow Argentinean Jose Froilin Gonzalez.
Nixon
29th July 2011, 0:04
YES! First comment. :D
James
29th July 2011, 0:05
Who cares…?
Stephen Jones (@aus_steve)
29th July 2011, 5:28
ahh F1Fanatics.. we can debate about anything!
Alonso Fan
29th July 2011, 11:55
@ Nixon: Nice comment! :)
jake
29th July 2011, 0:06
how very insightful…
Hamish
29th July 2011, 0:08
Your reward – realisation that you lead a sad sad life.
jake
29th July 2011, 0:12
something tells me he won’t be doing this again…
Sush Meerkat
29th July 2011, 1:47
I’m very disappointed with you lot
Stop being such negative nannies, instead of chiding him why not congratulate him that he likes this site enough that he wants to be the “first”, yet nudge him in the right direction and help him out, instead of assassinating the poor boy.
here comes the good conduct train, first stop, ME!
Nixon glad you got the first comment but could you elaborate further on today’s F1 news?
See, its not that difficult.
Hamish
29th July 2011, 2:02
Nah
Nixon
29th July 2011, 17:40
Actually thats not true i have been enjoying my time in the U.S when this odd bet occured between my friends.
matt90 (@matt90)
29th July 2011, 0:20
I don’t believe it’s a comment unless you actually comment on something. (disclaimer- I am commenting on your non-comment, hence this is a comment)
Mike
29th July 2011, 0:36
Congrats on the first comment Matt.
Turkey was a bit, kinda, inevitable wasn’t it?
matt90 (@matt90)
29th July 2011, 2:02
Yeah, it was unfortunately. Fairly good circuit, but I’m not surprised it’s going. I’m not even particularly annoyed at Ecclestone. After all, it didn’t have any decent attendance. Still a shame though.
Lin1876 (@lin1876)
29th July 2011, 0:26
Wow. You laugh, your friends laugh and I die a little inside…
sato113 (@sato113)
29th July 2011, 2:29
lol. I do actually like these comments hehe ;)
BasCB (@bascb)
29th July 2011, 6:50
Well, congratulations. First one over the line (or under the line as it is here) counts!
Doance (@doance)
29th July 2011, 9:57
Omg I’m so jealous! I wish I was as cool as you.
Nixon
29th July 2011, 17:41
Its ok you’ll get someday, i hope.
Nixon
29th July 2011, 17:42
sorry “get it”
Hairpin
29th July 2011, 19:46
Pity you have nothing to say
James
29th July 2011, 0:05
Message to Kimi: Make two or three apperances in the Red Bull motorhome before the season is out. That alone will cement a drive in F1 next year.
nate
29th July 2011, 17:55
it’s kinda ironic that red bull is sponsoring kimi
well, they re so much against him during his debut, they sold stakes in sauber and went on to sponsor arrows too
Hamish
29th July 2011, 0:05
Keith, may want to look at the link for the Raikkonen story.
maxthecat
29th July 2011, 0:21
Bernie — “What’s a great track that gives us good racing and the drivers love? ermmm ah Turkey, right i’ll drop that one then”
The man needs to move aside now, let someone else take F1 forward.
KeeleyObsessed (@keeleyobsessed)
29th July 2011, 0:51
Haha, lovely idea, just with 2 drawbacks..
1) Bernie has done far too much for F1 for him to get moved over something as petty as a race being dropped, Turkey’s contract ran out, and they don’t seem particularly happy about signing a new one..
2) Who would take over anyway? Murdoch? Not likely… As if broadcasting the team’s radio messages was bad enough, Murdoch would start hacking the phonelines! Bernie won’t be leaving F1 for a while yet…
bananarama
29th July 2011, 1:01
Why force a race upon a country that seems not to accept it? Weak public response, weak attendance and so on. A big factor is bad marketing but its not like cvc cares about reasons. F1 is an investment, if the interest isn’t good enough it has to be improved or they will find a better one elsewhere and we get some Murdoch/Fiat/whatnot and nobody can want that.
I kind of like the track, races were fine but thats pretty much all I have to say about it. I know some tracks I’d ditch before Turkey but they all pay too well sadly.
BasCB (@bascb)
29th July 2011, 7:20
If you are complaining about Bernie for Turkey, this will get you started for sure:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9550930.stm
Yes, its a done deal, good luck looking for sky sports streams then. Or back to 5Live!
bosyber
29th July 2011, 7:36
Guess 5live with the RTL 7 (including the part-screen ads) for me next year. One less reason to want the BBC in my tv package.
Baron
31st July 2011, 12:19
I suppose the fact that Mr Ecclestone actually owns the circuit is irrelevant to you Mr Max?
F1Yankee
29th July 2011, 0:22
“I think it is going to be full of Mexicans.”
yeah, that sounds like texas.
David-A (@david-a)
29th July 2011, 2:46
Well, the second Sauber driver has a home race then!
BasCB (@bascb)
29th July 2011, 6:57
Yes, he has stated he will treat it as one and hopes it will be packed with mexicans.
Lin1876 (@lin1876)
29th July 2011, 0:27
I like the idea of quali tyres, or at least soft tyres which are only really good in qualifying and don’t really last in the race.
Hamish
29th July 2011, 0:47
Why don’t they go one step further – qualifying engine.
Out lap, 3 laps, in lap. Thats 100 laps over the season. Two engines per season allocation and if/when you have an angine failure you are obviously penalised.
Cacarella (@cacarella)
29th July 2011, 2:12
I like the Idea too but I tweeted back to him that they’d have to revise the %107 qualifying rule as a lot of the tail enders may not make the cut.
He never tweeted back :( *Saddy face*
BasCB (@bascb)
29th July 2011, 6:58
Quality bloke!
Calum
29th July 2011, 0:35
Credit and respect to Mark Webber, he is the most ruthless at cutting off overtaking drivers as close to the legal line as possible.
So I think it’s great he isn’t hypocritical about Hamilton’s maneuver and is mutually respectful to the overtake – Mark would have done the exact same thing, and to come out with this comment shows this! :D
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
29th July 2011, 0:50
Maybe the second most ruthless – just been shocked again at what Schumacher running Barrichello against the pit wall in last year’s Hungarian GP (on a BBC Red Button, if you have one to hand). But I guess that was way beyond the legal line.
Calum
29th July 2011, 1:04
Just saw it on red button a second ago! 5 laps to go :P
UKfanatic (@)
29th July 2011, 0:36
Turkey out? good news in my opinion never really liked the races there.
bernification
29th July 2011, 0:39
How about ‘Turkey remains, F1 drop Ecclestone’
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
29th July 2011, 0:39
That’s a lot more than 25 years :P!!
Hamish
29th July 2011, 0:48
How about you try reading more than the first line.
No27Forever
29th July 2011, 18:35
There’s always one who thinks he’s cleverer than he really is
Calum
29th July 2011, 0:49
Has anyone else in the UK pressed the BBC red button to watch classic Hungarian F1 races? ;) 2010 is on right now!
Might have to add Hungaroring to my list of must visit tracks for F1 to visit in the future, it’s a nice location and apparently the valley side spectator zones are great for viewing the track.
Silverstone, Suzuka, Singapore, Spa and Interlagos, CotA and Monza remain priorities though – and Leman for the 24H too!!!
bernification
29th July 2011, 0:55
Yep, was on over night last night- same races. With the undoubted library that must be available, 2010 Hungary is by no means a classic….
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
29th July 2011, 0:57
I’m disappointed Turkey is going. It’s a fantastic circuit.
Smash cut to wild insinuations that this is proof Raikkonen will race for Red Bull in 2012.
sam
29th July 2011, 1:00
2019 F1 Calendar announced: Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain.
Gman
29th July 2011, 17:55
That sounds about right!
Just kidding ;)
Matty
29th July 2011, 1:00
Alonso looks bit older than 30.
BasCB (@bascb)
29th July 2011, 7:05
Realy? Guess its mostly hairstyle and keeping fit!
Anyway, I wish Alonso a very successfull F1 weekend to give himself and the Fans a nice and fit present by putting it on Pole tomorrow!
And a very Happy birthday today, not just to Fernando, but certainly to George Tunnicliffe, Kevin and Mandev as well.
James
29th July 2011, 1:01
Unbelievable – was at Istanbul this year and it was fantastic. An amazing city offering something for everyone – brilliant facilities they’ve only just brought up to scratch and a unique challenge for the drivers who clearly love it.
I understand the locals can’t afford the tickets on the whole – and they’ll never get the kind of money they could see in the Far East but at some point a decision needs to be made for the good of the sport.
Abu Dhabi and Bahrain back to back. Does that excite anyone!? I think of Turkey and watching the cars being pushed to the limit of adhesion through T8 and I want to cry LOL. And T8 is by no means all it has to offer.
I guess if they’re capable of dropping Spa I shouldn’t be surprised but I’m sure anyone’s who’s been will agree, Turkey offers something special and it’s absolutely criminal it’s not on the schedule IMO.
Gutting.
xxiinophobia (@xxiinophobia)
29th July 2011, 5:27
Possible bright side: Championship gets clinched at the third-to-last race = no reason to have to pay attention to Abu Dhabi or Bahrain. =]
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
29th July 2011, 7:06
If you read the article, it makes it pretty clear that Bernie is looking to put Austin and Sao Paulo back-to-back as the season finales. So if the championship is decided in the third- or fourth-last race, that means it will have been decided in Bahrain or Abu Dhabi.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
29th July 2011, 1:03
Mark on his column:
Be CAREFUL, man!! CA-RE-FUL! :P
BasCB (@bascb)
29th July 2011, 7:26
Especially with so many people falling in this years TdF already!
bosyber
29th July 2011, 7:46
I wish him a lot of success, and hope he manages to stay whole :-p
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
29th July 2011, 1:27
It just felt right starting the season in Melbourne again this year – if that’s back again, great! Hopefully Austin will be a fitting replacement for Turkey, but with better atmosphere and bigger crowds, which shouldn’t be difficult.
But Bahrain and Abu Dhabi back-to-back’s no way to decide a championship, it’s got to be Suzuka or Interlagos!
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
29th July 2011, 2:20
Um, it’s not:
Of couse, there’s always the possibility that the championship will be decided in Bahrain or Abu Dhabi if one driver amasses enough of a points lead by then …
BasCB (@bascb)
29th July 2011, 7:27
I would hope they let Austin have the season finale in 2012 and then put the young driver session on that track as well.
That would be a great one to grab attention in the US and it would also enable some teams to give some of the good drivers from there an F1 test.
flowerdew (@flowerdew)
29th July 2011, 1:31
Happy to hear this, since I view him as almost my home driver!
Younger Hamii
29th July 2011, 2:21
YEAH ITS ALONSO’s BIRTHDAY,LETS PARTY YEAH!!!!
sato113 (@sato113)
29th July 2011, 2:30
I think Di resta needs to keep quiet and get on with his rookie season. no more complaining about the Hulk taking his seat on fridays or racing incidents with F1 veterans…
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
29th July 2011, 3:05
But Heidfeld was at fault for the incident in Germany. He was given a drive-through penalty moments before his clash with Buemi.
BasCB (@bascb)
29th July 2011, 7:28
To me it read a bit like Heidfeld still being upset that DiResta did not apologize after canada and not wanting to say sorry first.
bosyber
29th July 2011, 7:50
To me Heidfeld just looks like he is under-performing just a bit, knows it, and is grumpy due to it
But yes, also being annoyed about Canada still. Though while he didn’t feel any need to talk about his Germany incident with di Resta, he was pretty loud about buemi. A bit too trulli-esque in my opinion.
Shrieker (@shrieker)
29th July 2011, 2:38
Yes the locals can’t afford the tickets (as a local i can testify) but in 2011 the ticket sales in Turkey (and the profit) has gone up contrary to the falling trend of prior years. Cut the ticket prices a little bit more and with more advertising there’ll be more people at the track and more (yep^^) profit. But it still won’t be enough, since there are some new comers to the calendar whom will be paying A LOT more to Bernie and honestly that’s what he’s after. Right up until now Turkey have been paying 13.5 million US$ for the grand prix, but iirc Bernie wanted to raise the price up to 26 mil (almost double !), got offered somewhere between 20-23 mil in return but what i get from all this is he isn’t willing to cut the price, not even by a penny.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
29th July 2011, 3:12
That’s standard for all circuit contracts. After the initial seven-year hitch, the price gets doubled for the first race of the new contract. However, this cost is reduced in subsequent years; the circuit organisers will pay the same amount as they did on the first contract, it’s just the way that money is paid that differs. It’s a system designed to stop governments from getting a free boost of publicity from a Grand Prix, and then giving up on it when they’ve got the extra PR points.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
30th July 2011, 11:13
Only it means we will be seeing the loss of Turkey for precisely that reason.
Gridlock
29th July 2011, 2:45
A qualifying tyre sounds interesting, but I’d be worried that it would incentivise eg Mercedes at Hockenheim or Force India in India to run an aggressively optimised car in qualifying that works the quali tyres very very well at te cost of race pace.
Far better would be to have no requirement to run both compounds, no top 10 lock-in of tyre choice and in fact a choice of up to 8 or 10 grades of compound that balance longevity and grip.
Make the tyres an integrated part of a car’s design, not the tyre rules.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
29th July 2011, 3:09
If qualifying tyres came back, the fixed tyre choice rule would be dropped because the qualifying tyres would be used by all teams in all qualifying periods.
Pirelli have also made some other suggestions for the future, including a wider range of tyre compounds so that they can bring one prime and two options to Grands Prix, with the catch being that drivers much use one prime and only one option in the race.
BasCB (@bascb)
29th July 2011, 7:31
But that would be lovely, if someone went for all out qualifying speed and then managed to keep it up front in the race for a while while the cars faster in race trim gang up on them!
With the current tyres they would be able to pass, its not like that would give us a Trulli train.
Matt S
29th July 2011, 3:12
Around what date will the United States GP be around?
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
29th July 2011, 3:41
November. Possibly early December. I’m guessing Abu Dhabi and Bahrain will be the last weekend of October and the first weekend of November, then a two-week break before Austin is in the penultimate week of November and Interlagos the final week. Or possible the first week of December.
We’ll know more soon. The teams have to agree to it and then the FIA has to ratify it.
taktak
29th July 2011, 4:13
yes~
turkey is a boring track but should not be the 1 to be dropped 1st.
For me, the most boring 1 is china. The next are abu dahabi and malaysia
James
29th July 2011, 7:50
You sure you were facing the right way when it was on the telly?
ScuderiaVincero (@scuderiavincero)
29th July 2011, 4:50
On Turkey: Ffffffffuuuuuuuu D’:
Eggry (@eggry)
29th July 2011, 6:00
Happy birthday Fernando!! Victory will be great present!
Steven
29th July 2011, 6:30
Turkey dropped. Oh what a shame. So nobody will be able to experience awful traffic jams, and it’s soul-less atmosphere any more. Yes it has a nice pits building, and one very good corner. But that’s about it.
Girts
29th July 2011, 6:54
Happy birthday Fernando!
I’m happy to see Australian GP as 2012 season opener. In my opinion, there is a great atmosphere that one can feel even when watching the race on TV. It’s the perfect place to start a new season.
Atticus (@atticus-2)
29th July 2011, 7:08
Istanbul Park was the best ‘new’ track (which were intoduced after 1999). Thank you, Bernie for not making more effort.
JCost (@jcost)
29th July 2011, 7:22
Drop Bahrain Please!
Drop Valencia Please!
Palle (@palle)
30th July 2011, 1:06
+1
BasCB (@bascb)
29th July 2011, 7:33
That article on how Bernie gives additional information about the Gribowsky payments sounds a bit dodgy.
I get the feeling he is dropping more and more information, sometimes conflicting one at that. Never a good sign in a criminal investigation.
bosyber (@bosyber)
29th July 2011, 8:03
Yes, it does seem a bit like that. But at least the story doesn’t keep changing, just amended “facts”- the reasoning for Bambino getting the 25m is nicely thought out, clearly some thinking went into that. I doubt it will be easy to prove much.
patrickl
29th July 2011, 9:54
Hamilton made that pass on Alonso stick because Alonso was slow on his first lap (and he looked like he was napping or busy pressing buttons or something).
Webber and Hamilton were just as close to the car they were following going into the first corner (ie righ ton their gearbox)
daykind
29th July 2011, 14:38
Happy birthday Fernando!!!
Fixy (@)
29th July 2011, 15:19
Good to hear (well, not really), I thought it was a loading problem due to my slow connection. Luckily for me I know the tags and can still use them!
PJA
29th July 2011, 15:58
Turkey is one of the best new circuits, it’s a shame that it is the one to be dropped when there are plenty of other circuits which should go before it.
Unfortunately the race doesn’t have high attendance and if the promoters can’t make it work financially then you can’t expect them to renew the contract.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
29th July 2011, 21:39
I’m not sure what benefits a qualifying tyre would bring. Everyone already aims to set their qualifying time on whatever is the softer compound on a given weekend. It would also make a mockery of the top 10 drivers using their qualification tyres.
Gutted if Turkey’s gone, it’s my favourite circuit!
Palle (@palle)
30th July 2011, 1:11
Hawkii is right in the way that most other sports is performed in good old Armish traditions – any technology which could give the athletes or the administrators an advantage is forbidden more or less. Only motorsports teaches young people that You gain the upper hand by designing cleaver and being innovative within the rules.
Nik
30th July 2011, 8:04
Can’t we just have all 20 races at Valencia?
CapeFear (@capefear)
30th July 2011, 11:22
The reason Turkey has poor attendance is cause CVC and FOM don’t get their finger out and promote the track, that would cost money even though the gains outweigh the cost. They’re too busy rinsing track owners of cash.
Bernie doesn’t need to go the Teams and the drivers do, they need to create their own series kill F1 and Bernie can have his F1 with teams with budgets like HRT to lead the way.