Ecclestone: teams could cope with 22-race calendar
F1 Fanatic round-up
In the round-up: Bernie Ecclestone says the teams would be able to cope with an even longer calendar than last year’s 20 rounds:
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Ecclestone wants three extra Formula One races to create a bigger season from 2014 (City AM)
“Having races in the right place is what matters. The teams could probably deal with 22 races.”
Boullier: Lotus more secure than rivals (Autosport)
“Ferrari, McLaren, Lotus or Williams, we’re all teams, our core business is Formula 1. So we should be here for a long, long time.”
McLaren play down Honda link (Sky)
Martin Whitmarsh: “There’s a lot of speculation and I’ve heard Porsche, Hyundai, Honda, all those sorts of names. I hope for Formula One that these manufacturers come back – we need them in the sport. At the moment we’ve got Renault, Mercedes, Ferrari; we need more engine suppliers.”
Renault to return to Le Mans (Racecar Engineering)
“The engine supply deal is likely to lead to a full works LMP1 effort in the future possibly using the Renault RS34 Formula 1 power unit. Which complies with the 2014 LMP technical regulations.”
Vijay Mallya exits Forbes rich list as fortune dips (The Times of India)
“Mallya is missing from the list for 2013, which was released last night by the business magazine Forbes that is known for its rankings of rich and powerful from across the world.”
First lady of Formula 1 takes control of the track (CNN)
“[Monisha] Kaltenborn has fought for recognition in a sport where another team boss – whom she is too polite to name – once mistook her for Peter Sauber’s interpreter. ‘It was an elderly gentleman who has a different kind of thinking,’ she said. ‘He soon realised and was highly embarrassed.’”
F1′s five rookies for 2013: What you need to know (NBC)
An article on F1′s five new rookies for 2013 I wrote for NBC’s MotorSportsTalk blog yesterday. Read more on each of them here:
- Esteban Gutierrez biography
- Valtteri Bottas biography
- Giedo van der Garde biography
- Max Chilton biography
- Jules Bianchi biography
Tweets
Got drug tested early hours this morning. All of a sudden pissing in your own home becomes difficult with someone staring over your shoulder
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) March 5, 2013
Pff early morning , they just came to do Doping Test .. Me despertaron muy temprano para el Doping Test!! Buen día
— Sergio Perez (@SChecoPerez) March 5, 2013
06:42h. Control antidoping.
— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) March 5, 2013
Epic day today for interviews and scanning/photography of overalls, helmets, trophies, press cuttings, photos etc for a new book I’m doing
— Martin Brundle(@MBrundleF1) March 5, 2013
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
@Lin1876 on Which team has the best driver line-up for 2013:
No one stands out as being much better than the rest, but I would say Red Bull have the best proven line-up. Vettel will be relentlessly quick, and if Webber has a good season they could be untouchable, so that’s my vote. Ferrari probably have the single best driver, and also have a second driver who could go either way.
McLaren, Lotus, Mercedes and Sauber will almost certainly be unbalanced, with one driver picking up more points than the other. All could be in the hunt if their cars are good enough. Bottas looks good, better than Maldonado, but he’s a rookie. The rest don’t stand out.
@Lin1876
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On this day in F1
Jackie Stewart won the last Tasman series race of 1966 having already scooped that year’s championship in his first attempt.
Stewart’s BRM was followed home by team mate Graham Hill and Jack Brabham, in his own car, in the final race at Longford.
Image © Red Bull/Getty
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 6th March 2013, 9:01
It will be interesting to see how the Australian Grand Prix saga develops, because Victorian Premier Ted Ballieu has just resigned.
Abnash (@abnash) said on 6th March 2013, 9:15
Victorian Premier, Ted Baillieu has resigned, he was a supporter of the Melbourne Grand Prix.
New premier, Denis Napthine was previously major events minister is the new premier.
It is not clear if he is for or against the Grand Prix :S
Abnash (@abnash) said on 6th March 2013, 9:19
Damn, beat me to it
BBQ2 said on 6th March 2013, 9:31
All shall be well! Just do not panic ….. Politicians come and go.
Matthijs (@matthijs) said on 6th March 2013, 9:57
The best way the teams can cope with more than 20 races is to hold more than one race in a race weekend, like practically all the other racing series do.
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91) said on 6th March 2013, 11:57
It works with bikes, touring cars and feeder series because they are 2 much shorter races. I for one am very much halving the length of a Grand Prix as it is in its current state, races should be around 1 and a half hours minimum in modern F1.
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91) said on 6th March 2013, 11:58
*against
Max Jacobson (@vettel1) said on 7th March 2013, 23:25
I don’t think shorter races would be to the benefit of F1 in all honesty @debaser91 : the current length allows for enduring duels and fantastic recovery drives (such as Vettel’s in Abu Dhabi or Alonso’s in Valencia), and those would be disrupted if there were shorter races. I think the current set up strikes a good balance, and contrary to what Bernie says 20 races is fine!
William (@william) said on 6th March 2013, 10:44
According to some sources they say that Melbourne would stage a nightly Grand Prix http://www.gptoday.com/full_story/view/443914/F1_figures_call_for_Melbourne_night_race/
In other news about Thailand they will host the first ever GP in 2015. It looks as though CT, Mexico will be staging races unless the organisers agree with Bernie
BasCB (@bascb) said on 6th March 2013, 11:19
AMuS report they have the DRS zones for all tracks on the calendar for 2013