Austrian Grand Prix gets government go-ahead

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Legislators give the thumbs-up to F1’s return to Austria this year.

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Formula One Grand Prix of Austria (finally) gets approvals for 2014 race (Autoweek)

“Under a newly introduced by-law, the permission (including provision for up to 225,000 spectators over the three days) cannot be appealed by any local residents opposing the race.”

Hamilton deserves respect – Mercedes (Autosport)

Toto Wolff: “He is authentic. And sometimes authenticity bites you. But he also learns.”

Ecclestone’s hopes in F1 bribery trial boosted (The Telegraph)

“In a recent interview with the BBC’s Newsnight programme, Mr Gribkowsky’s lawyer, Daniel Amelung, lent weight to Mr Ecclestone’s defence by repeating the allegation that he is ‘the deciding man behind Bambino’.”

Barrett-Jackson Lot #5080 – 1998 Ferrari F300 (Barrett-Jackson)

“It is a rare occasion when such an important piece of racing history, a truly pivotal chapter in Ferrari’s dominance in the F1 sport, is offered for sale at auction.”

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Comment of the day

Does Moto GP provide an example for how customers cars could work in Formula One? @Journeyer has doubts:

There are currently only two competitive manufacturers in Moto GP (Honda and Yamaha) – three at a stretch (if you include Ducati). And realistically, the bikes they sell to privateers are rarely as competitive as the actual works bikes.

It’s also resulted in some threadbare grids – so much so that they’ve had to introduce this whole CRT/non-MSMA rules set as a workaround.

From the forum

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Sparckus, Martin Rasmussen, Dion and Sparckus!

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

Pablo Birger was born on this day in 1924. The Argentinian driver made two grand prix starts, both in his home event in the fifties.

The first of these was the tragic 1953 race in Buenos Aires at which several spectators were killed. At the wheel of a two-year-old Gordini, Birger became the second driver to retire from the race when his differential failed.

He raced again in the 1955 grand prix but was eliminated in a multi-car crash on the second lap. Birger died in 1966 in a road car crash, aged 42.

Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

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Keith Collantine
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50 comments on “Austrian Grand Prix gets government go-ahead”

  1. Great news, I can’t wait for the 2014 Austrian Grand Prix, I always loved that circuit.

    1. I was considering going to Austria this year, the GP is scheduled for my 20-22 of June and my birthday is on June 21st, but I was afraid the season will be a mess so I made a last minue call and booked a flight to Rio de Janeiro for the World Cup :(

      1. I was also considering. Went to a ticket site to look around(best tribune, prices). Everything is SOLD OUT…

  2. He added that, under a newly introduced by-law, the permission (including provision for up to 225,000 spectators over the three days) cannot be appealed by any local residents opposing the race.

    I have very little sympathy with people who would oppose. If you move to within the vicinity of a facility which in recent memory hosted an annual international sporting event which attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators, you can’t be all that surprised when the event returns and so does the noise for a few days a year.

    1. Good point well made.

      There will be other events in the year I would imagine to help make the track profitable however the point still stands, those living nearby should understand the consequences of it.

      We have lots of issues in the UK against noise rules for tracks and airports with lots of complaints made each time an application is lodged.

      1. I have more sympathy with airports, due to the constance of it. Race tracks I always find harder to understand. It reminds me of the guy who moved to a small village and then made a noise complaint when the church bells were wrung early one morning- a practice several hundred years old.

        1. Hah, that’s freaking hilarious. “Church bells? Not in my back yard! I moved here for peacefulness!” I actually live next to a church, and sometimes I notice they are ringing the bells at 10:30 am for morning services, probably Sundays. It’s not that loud, and it’s nice to know the place is actually being used (it’s probably empty most of the time). We barely have any community left now here, and ignorant guys like that are a symptom of it.

          On airports – this is a similar situation. I notice planes about the same amount (as I’m under the flight path for Liverpool airport, about ten miles out Atlantic side), but again it’s nice to have a reminder that the world is bigger than your immediate vicinity (something that guy needs to understand, most likely). And anyone who uses a plane to fly around the world, can’t then turn around and complain about plane noise really.

          Planes can be made quieter though, and for those with terminal noise pollution problems (thinking Heathrow/West London area), this could be possible, with innovations like the “feathers” on the wings, similar to birds, that would cut noise by at least a quarter. It just needs to be legislated for, as the plane companies won’t do this themselves and add an extra cost to their business.

      2. @georgetuk The “other” events are there from 2011 already. The thing is that those other events are limited to 40k spectators/day by law. That’s what the organizers had to achieve permission for. Once a year for the GP the limit is 80k spectators/day, so twice the normal amount. Rest of the events will stay at 40k. So for 3 days/year the cry babies should “suffer” a bit no problem, or else take a holiday somewhere else

    2. Well there are people there who were living here BEFORE the arrival of the austrian GP I guess…

      1. The first race at Österreichring (since A1-Ring and Red Bull Ring) was in 1970. The ones who were there before the race have had plenty of time to move away if it’s such a problem.

  3. That picture really displays Spielberg’s elevation changes. I’m really looking forward to this race, and to driving it on F1 2014, of course!

  4. WOW! talk about extensive testing and unbelievable reliability, who would have thought that MSC in 1998 drove the F300 38 times around the world, as mentioned by Barret Jackson, definitely not a “low miles for age” vehicle.

    1. Well, thinking about it: 38 times around the world, I assume that means equator which is roughly 40000km. That gives us about 1.5mio km. If they were testing at Fiorano, they were probably going at about one minute per lap back then, the track being about 3km long thats about 180km/h. That gives us approximately 8500hours of nonstop testing. An ordinary year has 8760hours, so, I kind of doubt it.
      If by around he means at the latitude of the Ferrari factory that would be cos(44°)*2*pi*6378km roughly 30000km and say they were using Monza at around 240km/h thats 4750 hours. That is still pretty much, but it could maybe, possibly be doable .. or not. One really can’t trust those used car dealers ….

      1. So about 15,000 sets of Pirelli’s.

    2. I think they mean, driven 38 different times at various locations around the world.

      I hope that’s what they mean, anyway.

      1. That’s obviously what they meant. They are NOT saying that it was driven for a distance equal to 38 times the circumference of the Earth.

    3. It later says this:

      …Accompanied by its Classiche certificate and Ferrari documents showing the car was driven by Michael Schumacher 38 times

      So as Neil says they just mean that it was driven all over the world, and on 38 occasions.

  5. Also, as of today, McLaren official name is not “Vodafone McLaren Mercedes”, but simply “McLaren Mercedes” instead.. Their website also lost some of the red in the layout, that was replaced mainly by black..

    I’m curious to know if that is some indication of the rest of the year, or will they change it again when they launch the car

    1. Who knows. Given the team’s tendency to make a balls of things, I’m inclined to believe that the sponsorship deal they announced last year isn’t going so well.

    2. I have no idea what is going on with McLaren and their sponsorship for 2014. but I read (a rumor) that they might be back on the grid in their traditional orange livery. That would be very cool.

      1. @schooner – It has been reported that they could launch and possibly test with an orange livery, but it is expected that they will have a proper livery for the start of the season.

        However, this seems to be based on the assumption that their new sponsor was going to be Telmex, Claro or one of the brands owned by Carlos Slim, and that the deal was voided when Sergio Perez left the team – none of which has been confirmed.

      2. @schooner, @hairs. They could wear a black and chrome livery. But, as a 20-year-long fan, that would be awful. They also could update their current livery. Let’s wait and see.

        Here’s the full list of their sponsors to date.
        Technology Partners: Mobil 1, SAP, Pirelli.
        Corporate Partners: Johnny Walker, Santander, TAG Heuer, Hugo Boss, Claro video, AkzoNobel, Hilton Honors, Aon, SunLites, CNI, Gilette.
        And 15 others “Official Suppliers”, such as Kenwood and Sparco.

    3. so vodafone is out completelly? didnt hear they were getting a new title-sponsor…

      1. They probably won’t, not this year at least.

      2. Vodafone quit near the beginning of last year. McLaren claimed at the time they had already signed a new sponsor which would be announced towards the end of the season (in Austin, I think). December came and went, no sponsor announcement. Now they are supposedly waiting for the new sponsor to tell them when to do it.

    4. What happened with Vodafone?? I visited the website and it looks awful with the black color, but just wondering, ¿Is this going to change the livery of their car for next season?

      1. Whether they like it or not, they’re going to have to change their livery this year (and it was about time if you ask me), now the question is what colour scheme will they use?

        There’s no reason at all to keep either red or chrome in the car anymore, so they can choose any colour they want, for 2015 maybe they’ll be more restricted so this year’s livery will be a one off I think, can’t wait to see it.

        1. @mantresx They might return to their classic orange scheme, that would be fantastic.

    5. Despite their great history, Mclaren are in a world of hurt. They may have produced one of the quickest cars the season before last, but the team and management are and were a shambles. Last years showing is going to attract sponsors and this years drivers line up isn’t exactly screaming $$$$ either. Let’s just hope they come up with a good looking livery that interests people again.

  6. Seat fitting or caskett fitting? That picture of Esteban is creepy.

    1. Yeah picture is a little wierd

    2. More interesting is that he is wearing glasses. Anyone know how bad his eyesight is? Is he wearing contacts while driving?

      1. Michael Brown (@)
        7th January 2014, 12:57

        There shouldn’t be any problem with wearing contacts while racing. Sebastien Bourdais also wears glasses outside of the car.

  7. I like the Red Bull Ring, I always have. Yeah it is a simple design and no it can’t hold a candle to the old Österreichring, but it will be such a welcome change from the increasingly generic layouts we have on the calendar these days.

  8. So Merc feel the Merc driver should get more respect. Classic.

  9. Wasn’t the A1-Ring/Red-Bull ring seriously rebuilt after the last F1 GP there (i mean the layout)? So all the memories of great track might get reevaluated after this years race.

    1. Nope, the layout is exactly the same as it was before.

    2. The old layout was used until 1987 only. This was followed by a 9-year break during which they completely changed the track layout. The current track layout has been used for the Austrian GPs already between 1997 and 2003. So it depends on the time from when your memories are from.

      However, pit buildings, grand stands, media centre, etc are all new.

      @Sherlock

      1. @mike-dee – thanks, i guess i confused track itself with all the rest of buildings that are infact new.

    3. They planned to rebuild the track as well as the pit buildings etc that @mike-dee correctly points out were refurbished, but they never did because Dietrich Mateschitz decided against it. The proposed new layout would have looked like this and would have used some of the old Österreichring:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A1_Red_Bull_Ring.svg

  10. In 2015, there will be 22 or 23 races but New Jersey may drop out again, I read that Bernie considered a permanent race track in New Jersey which dates back a few years ago that he considered it which recently came out on F1 websites.

    1. Why build another permanent track? I thought that the proposed street circuit was fine, for me the last sector looked like Canada, which can be an opportunity of good racing. Still, if they want to build a track, it needs to be in another part of US, because New Jersey is not as open in space as Austin.

  11. Looking forward to seeing Austrian GP back on the calendar.
    Hopefully the Red Bulls will not win the first 7 races of this season. Otherwise, we would see pretty long faces at the “Red Bull Ring.”

    “How is it going, mate?”
    “Red Bull, Red Bull, everywhere.”

  12. Apparently Sergey Sirotkin is moving to FR3.5 for next season. If so this is great news, he’s only been racing single-seaters since 2010 and needs all the experience he can get.

    1. Another year, where he should move up from best rookie to title contender. Given some FP1 tests or a YDT for Sauber later this year, then he’ll be ready in everyone’s eyes (his backers and Sauber) who matter to contend for a seat in 2015 (depending on the sponsor situation. Sutil, Gutierrez or Sirotkin.. and the most monied 2 likely to win out).

  13. Boy, that’s a creepy picture of Gutierrez!

  14. Not sure it was posted already @keithcollantine, but German Sport Bild now has news that Schumacher is not in a critical state anymore (from his Manager)

  15. I’m going to the Austrian Grand Prix on my Honey Moon this year! :)

    1. @f1bobby Double congrats!

    2. Great to look forward to that @f1bobby (and “bobette” :-) ) I hope you have a really great time together starting in Spielberg and then for the rest of your lives!

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