Marussia: No concern over ‘provisional’ entry

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Marussia expect to be on the F1 grid in 2014 despite their entry being listed as “subject to confirmation” by the FIA last week.

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Marussia play down entry list concern (Reuters)

Sporting director Graeme Lowdon: “We’re just finalising administrative details with the FIA and we have absolutely no concerns at all that the entry won’t be confirmed.”

Whitmarsh: F1 must not talk itself down (Autosport)

“People always talk about a golden era – but I think the last few years have actually been fantastic in terms of the racing and the overtaking that was created with KERS and DRS.”

F1 supremo Ecclestone leads tributes as McLaren star Button’s father found dead after suspected heart attack, aged 70 (Daily Mail)

“As with most people, I suspect, I was surprised to see that we lost John Button. He is someone that I have known for over 40 years and is one of those people that you always expect to see at a Formula One race. I will certainly miss him.”

Gary Anderson to leave BBC’s Formula 1 team (The F1 Broadcasting Blog)

“Today’s news leaves a gaping hole in BBC’s coverage.”

Video – 2014’s technical rule changes explained (F1)

“This video guides us through the key 2014 changes, including narrower front wings, lower noses, larger sidepods, single exhaust exits and more.”

David Coulthard talks about 2014’s new Formula One Circuit (Infiniti via YouTube)

John Button: Remembering a great man (James Allen on F1)

“He wanted to know about F1; how it works, who were the good and bad guys, what were the teams looking for, how the TV and media worked and so on. We spent over two hours talking. I’m sure it was part of a methodical programme of listening and learning to F1 insiders and gaining as much knowledge as possible.”

Memories of John (The Buxton Blog)

“The wily bugger?? he hadn’t meant Brawn at all. That amazing car? The one that was going to surprise so many people? It wasn’t a Brawn. It was the McLaren.”

Tweets

A large number of Tweets in tribute to John Button were posted during the course of yesterday of which a selection appear below.

Comment of the day

Charlie Whiting may be happy with DRS and Martin Whitmarsh may be pleased with how it’s changed the races but for others it’s the reason they don’t go to them any more:

All part of why me, my family and friends didn’t go to Montreal last year for the first time since 1990.

I attended in 2011 and 2012 and sat at out usual spot at the hairpin, Saw far too many examples of cars backing out of overtakes into the hairpin thanks to the DRS zone.

Worst part about the Montreal DRS zone is that not only does is make the passing far too easy but its also placed where there are no grandstands so what’s now classed as passing isn’t even done where any fans can see it apart from on the television screens.

Not going to Montreal this year either and won’t be going back there until DRS is banned.
PeterG

From the forum

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Nick and Koolkieren!

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

Benetton launched the B194 – the car which ultimately took Michael Schumacher to his first world championship title – on this day 20 years ago. They also confirmed the identity of his team mate for the coming season: JJ Lehto.

This was widely anticipated but the additional announcement of Jos Verstappen as test driver came as something of a surprise. Verstappen, aged 21 at the time, had won the German Formula Three championship the year before as well as the F3 Masters at Zandvoort.

Image © Marussia

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55 comments on “Marussia: No concern over ‘provisional’ entry”

  1. Worst part about the Montreal DRS zone is that not only does is make the passing far too easy but its also placed where there are no grandstands so what’s now classed as passing isn’t even done where any fans can see it apart from on the television screens.

    The worst part about the Montreal DRS zone is that it’s placed at one of the few spots in the whole calendar that’s always produced overtaking…

  2. I sincerely hope to see Marussia on the grid in Melbourne. I enjoyed watching their battles with Caterham on track, and Caterham need SOMEONE to fight with.

    Also very sad to hear about John Button. He seemed like such a character and was always smiling, and we’ll surely miss those pink shirts!
    That photo that Webber put on Twitter choked me up, RIP John!

    1. I wouldn’t worry about Marussia, instead the sentiments should be directed towards Lotus.

      1. Oh would I’ll be laughing very hard when Maldonado finds out his seat turn out to be a bad ‘bargain’ ;-)

    2. This surely must have been said before, but has anyone suggested a %age tax on what teams spend which gets distributed to the lower teams? Both discouraging big teams spending, and helping the financial health of the sport?

      1. Also discouraging smaller teams to spend, and how do you keep track of the finances without facing the same problem as budget caps anyway?

        1. Not really as the ‘tax’ wouldn’t have to be linear, and those that spent less would receive more from the big spends to compensate. Anyway, was just a passing thought.

  3. Nooooo!!!! Why are they getting rid of Anderson!!!! BBC you idiots!!!!

    I love the way he approaches things and explains them.

    None of the Sky gubbins and 3D interactive models. A pen, a bit of paper and a knowledgeable guy explaining it, nice and simple…..

    1. I’am however pleased that he will no longer be a part of the coverage. Never liked him or his work. Similarly pleased as when Legard left, not to the same extent of course, because of his limited role, but for me it is one of the most important roles. The technology and all the clever detail is a big appeal, it is what makes F1, F1, in my opinion.

      Seemed like a nice guy, wish him well.

      1. I do think that he came across as a bit drafted in at the last minute when he first appeared, but he did grow into the role. But, if BBC don’t replace him with someone who is just as knowledgeable (or worse do not replace him at all) then surely that is a big loss.
        I appreciated the fact that he was a former engineer, it was not all about looks, glitzy presentation and distracting gimmicks.
        Now, maybe his live commentary let him down, but unless BBC replaces him with someone who has good technical/inside knowledge, then I think it will be more of loss than a gain.
        Perhaps the BBC has decided that with so many changes, they need a technical presenter who can more clearly communicate the changes “to the masses”. If so, and the person has the pedigree, then I am sure it will be great…..we will see! If it means a “dumbed down” approach, then I think his move will be for the worse.

  4. I’m quite surprised to hear Gary Anderson is leaving the BBC. He has been a breath of fresh air for their coverage and on the website. I’m pretty gutted about this news.

    Of course, it was deeply saddening news about John Button. He will be sorely missed in the paddock.

    1. Yes, it makes no sense why they would get rid of Gary specially in this season!!! So who are they going to replace him with? a good looking 20-30 year old TV presenter? It wouldn’t surprise me to be honest.

      I just hope he ends up in Sky or somewhere else at least he should keep writing, after all, retired F1 designers willing to talk about their trade are very hard to come by.

      1. man, but Sky team already feels overcrowded.

      2. Glad you mentioned Gary Anderson’s writing – his pieces about setup & tactics on each track, and reflections after each Grand Prix, were always worth reading.

        Won’t be quite such a loss if BBC manage to get Allan McNish – otherwise I dread to think who they’ll come up with. That Tom Really Interesting Clarkson guy is hopeless, I think – and I guess I’ll watch only during the race, if at all, and avoid any of the lame build-up and post-race stuff. A shame, as the minutes before a race must be among the best moments of anticipation in any sport.

  5. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    14th January 2014, 1:22

    F1 sounds sad lately. It’s sad news about John, but also, directly related to F1, Marussia denying the danger (and we know how much info F1 PR denies) makes me wonder if they will actually be in Australia. Those budget caps will be useless whenever FIA keeps just leaking the money they get from advertisement and TV rights. Teams need more than what these “FIA drops”.

    1. Honestly, right now there is more reason to believe Lotus and possibly Caterham will collapse before Marussia does. For all we know, Marussia are currently listed as TBC on the entry list because they wanted to finalise the deal with Chilton before paying their entry fee. So even though everything is finalised and they can make the first test, they just need to go through the red tape to make it official.

    2. Well that tweet from the Renault engineer shows how tight the margins are right now, even a small problem from any of the suppliers can make a team miss an entire test.

  6. but I think the last few years have actually been fantastic in terms of the racing and the overtaking that was created with KERS and DRS.

    What overtaking has DRS created?

    Its generated a ton of easy highway passes but havn’t seen it produce much exciting wheel to wheel late braking overtakes.

    DRS has done zero to make the racing or overtaking any more exciting, Its made the racing worse as overtakes have now degenerated into a bunch of utterly unexciting, dis-interesting & boringly easy highway drive by’s.

    All the praise for DRS from within F1 just shows how utterly out of touch it is with its fan-base. Afterall F1’s tv viewership has declined sharply worldwide since DRS was introduced which just proves most f1 fans hate the silly gimmick.

    i am one of those who have left f1 in terms of regular viewership thanks to the DRS & tyres. 2013 was the 1st year since we got all races shown on tv in the uk that i didn’t watch every race & the 1st year since we got all races live that i didn’t watch all the live broadcasts. DRS & the high-deg tyres have pretty much completely killed my 40 year love affair with f1 & I know many others who are the same.

    1. They might be exciting, but drivers will naturally avoid those “wheel-to-wheel late-braking overtakes” if and when they can, even without DRS. The closer together two cars are, and the later a driver leaves a passing attempt, the more that there is that can go wrong. And if something goes wrong, it will cost a driver a lot of time if it doesn’t end their race altogether.

      1. Sure, without DRS they would still avoid risk as much as possible, but DRS just gives them the opportunity to never take on a risky maneuver and merely wait for the ridiculously easy pass from DRS. Without DRS they might actually have to work for it once in a while. Thought that’s what they were there for.

        The more there is that can go wrong, and the more costly it is when something does go wrong with wheel to wheel racing, to me, defines what the pinnacle of racing should be. I thought this was to be the pinnacle of racing, not an exercise in how to make F1 a series that does not require the best drivers on track with the biggest amount of nerve making the risky pass attempts to the thrill of the audience.

        I could crank down the voltage on my slot car track, keep the magnet in the car, heck even put a guide pin on the back as well, then just wrap an elastic around the trigger and go have a sandwich while it laps on it’s own…or I could not do that and enjoy racing the darn thing instead.

    2. Dizzy: I agree. Since 2008 (when I first started watching), I’ve done whatever I could to ensure I got to watch F1 races, and if I couldn’t watch it live, I’d find it and watch it afterwards, and avoid news/media like the plague so the result would still be a surprise.

      In the 2013 season, it was the first season since I started watching where I made the decision to just catch the highlights or just read about the GP afterwards.

      I’ve been watching some old seasons (just finished 1997 and saw Villeneuve’s title; now watching 1998 and seeing how Hakkinen won his WDCs) and to be honest, while overtaking is less frequent, it is truly overtaking when it happens, not inevitable DRS-assisted highway passes.

      Yes, there is more overtaking with DRS, but it’s less meaningful. Honestly, I would go back to the races where drivers really had to try to overtake. As I always say, simplify the aero so cars can stick to each other on high speed corners, slap on some bigger slicks and let the drivers duke it out properly.

  7. M4X CHILTON.
    Erm… why do most drivers have to pick numbers that are less than 30. Only 3 drivers from the confirmed list of 20 have chosen numbers that are higher than 30 (Hamilton 44; Bottas 77; Sutil 99). If given the choice, my first three choices would be 99, 76, 45, three of which are higher than all bar 2. Anyone else agree with me in this matter?

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      14th January 2014, 2:53

      @mashiat I would choose 5 (I use the 5 a lot in mails, I had a “thepepper5” one, and not because of Vettel, just coincidence). I wanted to have a mail “thefifthpepper” for th RHCP band, but the mail told me that one was already taken.
      My unlucky number is 14 (just coincidence about Alonso :) ) just to tell you that on 14th days of the month, I got trapped in a restroom, another 14th i fell into the street and cut my new pants, my bag got stuck into a bus on another 14th, etc.

      1. Don’t leave your house today please

      2. My birthday is on the 14th so its sort of a significant number to me. Not enough to be in my top 3 list though!

    2. @mashiat – I believe Chilton used #4 during his karting days.

      A lot of the drivers have been picking numbers with a personal significance. By coincidence, a lot of those numbers are under 30.

      And there’s still the Caterham drivers – whoever they are – who are yet to pick their numbers.

    3. I don’t see what there is to agree or disagree with. The drivers picked numbers that meant something personally – perhaps from earlier series or karting, which, if you think about it, is statistically more likely to be a lower number (race numbers generally being allocated to the number of participants in a race between 1 and whatever number).

    4. L4ME, Max, really really lame

  8. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    14th January 2014, 4:58

    Re: Whitmarsh

    “While Vettel’s dominance proved a turn-off for many fans, and prompted teams to adopt the heavily-criticised double points rule for 2014.”

    So it was just a knee-jerk reaction. -_-

    “This is a great sport. People always talk about a golden era – but I think the last few years have actually been fantastic in terms of the racing and the overtaking that was created with KERS and DRS.”

    I think 2011 and 2012 produced some great racing.

    2013 was on the other hand, was for the majority of the season, rubbish. And it was 100% because of the tyres. Not DRS.

    I don’t really support DRS, because it can make overtaking too easy, but I think KERS is a good thing for the sport, as it’s a tactical instrument that drivers can use when ever they want, and it’s up to them as to how best to use it.

    But again, tyres ruined 2013 far more than anything else.

    Hopefully 2014 will not revolve so much around them.

    1. I don’t think it was just the tyres this season, they certainly played a part (Spain, Britain, others) but some races were quite literally overkill by DRS. Take Spa for example, not overly hard on tyres, always produces great racing. However this year there were no real brilliant pieces of racing, all the overtaking was done under DRS and the only dramatic thing happening was Di Resta getting Maldonadoed.

      1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
        14th January 2014, 8:55

        But I think that if we have more durable tyres, then DRS won’t necessarily be quite so effective, because drivers will be able to accelerate out of corners with more vigor and brake later and deeper to try and defend, and in general have longer,and tougher battles with opponents.

        Also, it will allow drivers to fight back. With last seasons tyres, once a move was done, the person being overtaken typically fell backwards and lost more and more time, rather than fighting back, because they either A) didn’t want to use up their grip by racing, or B) didn’t have any grip in the first place with which to race.

        1. @tophercheese21 Agreed on 2013, but I would also say 2012 was too much of a tire lottery too. The tires way too cliffy. Loved the fact that there were so many multiple winners in the first half…didn’t love the fact that it was because the pinnacle of racing was using tires inferior to those that much more inferior series than ‘the pinnacle’ use. I would so much more prefer that multiple winners come from the racing being close, which would come from good stable mechanical grip from the tires and much less dependency on downforce.

          But anyway…for now the tires shouldn’t be the story of F1 in 2014, downforce is reduced, by accounts so far the drivers will have a more difficult task of driving the cars which is absolutely fine by me for the pinnacle of racing, so I’m taking a fresh approach for now that the product should be better on the track. It’s just really unfortunate that with so many changes DRS will degrade the product still, and of all years to bring in double points for the last race, this was not the one. Hopefully it is not a sign that F1 itself thinks that all the expensive technical changes will not actually shake things up. I would have waited through 2014 before even suggesting the double points thing, and with any luck they’ll come to their senses and get rid of it before the season starts.

      2. the only dramatic thing happening was Di Resta getting Maldonadoed

        Love it.

  9. That car looks so tiny.

  10. “You are going to get so bored talking about how ugly these cars are…”

    Oh. Dear. God. How hard can it be to get the world’s best engineers into a room and get them to agree a set of technical regulations, aimed at improving the look of the cars, which actually improves the look of the cars?

    The fix for the current generation would have been so simple, just narrow the front wing and widen and lower the rear wing to make them look like they were actually supposed to be on the same car. They seem to think that lowering the nose of the cars would instantly them look better, well it doesn’t. Modern F1 cars have high noses and some of them look brilliant, particularly the STR8, FW33 the TF109.

    1. How hard can it be to get the world’s best engineers into a room and get them to agree a set of technical regulations, aimed at improving the look of the cars, which actually improves the look of the cars?

      The engineers don’t have that much influence on the regulations, though. Besides, if the team bosses can’t agree on rules for the benefit of the sport (unless the FIA and FOM step in), designers and engineers are also very likely to push for whatever gives their team an advantage.

      The move to lower the noses is mainly a safety one, in line with the stepped noses of 2012. The lower the nose, the less likely you are to harm a driver in a Spa 2012-like crash. I’m sure the FIA was convinced the 2012 regulations would lead to cars like the McLaren MP4/27, but they left room in the regulations for stepped noses. It’s probably going to be the same this year, with the FIA thinking it’ll lead to something like this but because of the word of the regulations, teams will go with efficiency over aesthetics.

      1. teams will go with efficiency over aesthetics.

        And so they should.

        They are not trying to design a pretty car, they are trying to design a fast car! If they can manage to make a car look good without compromising the performance, then great. If not… It’s function over form all they way, as it should be.

      2. Doesn’t a really low nose just provide a nice ramp leading straight to the drivers head?

    2. How hard can it be to get the world’s best engineers into a room and get them to design a car that would look great given the current regulations?

      And after every GP we could have an online vote for the best-looking car and the team who wins will get double points from that race :)

      1. @phildick ssh, Ecclestone might hear you!

  11. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
    14th January 2014, 7:40

    Really nice touch there, Mark. Great photo and so perfect for the occasion…

    1. Indeed, leave it to Mark Webber to produce the single most relevant contribution to the wave of tributes.
      No @ mentioning Jenson, no platitudes, no repeating what others have said. Just a simple ‘For you, mate’.

      RIP John Button.

      1. I’m missing something, what is the photo of. Jenson and Mark right? How is this a tribute to his dad?

        1. He’s basically saying “i’m with you, mate”, and doing what he would be doing if he were with him.

      2. I respect Mark Webber’s heartfelt contribution but, as with the messages following Michael Schumacher’s accident, can we not turn this into some sick competition as to who can produce the best Twitter tribute? Those in F1 who posted messages probably knew John Button personally and their messages (many of which were written in the originator’s second language) surely don’t deserve to be denigrated as ‘platitudes’.

        1. I was generalising.

    2. I just didn’t understand why in the world he posted a screenshot of his iPhone instead of the photo itself

  12. I think that Gary Anderson could work with Ted Kravitz on Sky. Whilst Gary was great from a technical perspective I don’t think he was a good character to have as a pundit on live TV which the BBC used him for too much. The best parts were his pre-recorded technical analyses. I think Kravitz is a much better man on screen but doesn’t have the same depth of knowledge as Anderson. I think the combination could work really well and I hope that Sky jump at the opportunity. The BBC are really going to end up with the dregs, I expect their coverage to revert to the standard before ITV raised the bar in 1997.

    Regarding the entry fees, Lotus’ financial situation actually makes the fee situation look a bit silly. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the final nail in the coffin for Lotus was that they had achieved too much success on a low budget and couldn’t afford the entry fee (compounding the situation they got themselves into with Raikkonen’s points-related earnings). Given that the teams are paid rights money based on success and then charged by the FIA based on success, wouldn’t it be better to have FOM pay the FIA entry fees for all teams which completed the preceding season and deduct this from the total distributed pot to give the teams a bit more certainty and security (and also help keep cars on the grid).

    1. @jerseyf1 the problem with having both Anderson and Kravitz on the same job means you get executives asking ‘why are two people doing one guy’s job?’.

      This isn’t Mercedes, after all.

  13. Gotta say I agree with Whitmarsh. It really makes me furious to see the people within the sport so unwilling to try and promote its positives and instead whinge endlessly about things like ugly cars, not enough overtakes, and blah blah blah. How can I, as a committed lifelong fan, possibly hope to convince others that F1 is worth watching when even the people participating seem to be falling over themselves to tell us how bad it is? And this is on top of the incredibly short sighted backstabbing which the teams have engaged in over things like commercial agreements in the past few years, putting their own selfish interests above the long term viability of the sport itself. We see lots of people on here bemoaning the FIA and the CRH for what they’re doing to the sport, and yet the teams are just as bad as anyone else. Sometimes it really does seem like literally nobody involved in F1 cares about its long term success, and is simply focused on their own selfish short term ambitions. It’s very depressing.

    It’s why, actually, I’m genuinely quite a big fan of Marussia. They seem to be one of the few teams who genuinely just want to go racing for the sheer joy of it.

  14. Great.

    So now I have a choice between watching the BBC with the token woman presenter, the mad irishman who tries a bit too hard to be controversial and DC, who;s alright I suppose.

    Or I can watch Sky, Those dulcet tones of Simon Lazenby, who clearly takes a trip to the bathroom with a rolled up tenner between takes, Damon Hill who has the personality of a traffic cone and let’s hope they keep Jonny Herbert, he’s alright.

    Yeah, think I’ll stream a german channel or something on race days in 2014

    1. …BBC with the token woman presenter

      Surely if either team fits this description it’s SkyF1. Suzi Perry comes across as a genuine motorsport fan where Natalie Pinkham feels like Beverley Turner all over again. Just awful.

    2. It’s hard to take your arguements Chris.
      I stream Skysports since my channel doesn’t have a budget to send a person to races adn they use SSF1 audio with FIA video. They have no pre or post race showand half the race goes down in adverts. Basically, Star sports is a bucket load of crap.

      Natalie doesn’t know anything, agreed, but atleast they have people like Johnny, Martin Brundle and Allan McNish (2012) giving them some sort of depth. But during races both the commentators are unable to diffrentiate between team mates however far apart on the track they may be.

      I don’t like DC. He is still affilated with RB which makes him praise Vettel, sometimes a bit too much.
      Atleast Sky Sports give good gridwalks with Brundle.

  15. Man, why is everybody moaning about how bad f1 is? I love it and enjoy watching all the races. even the boring ones are still enjoyable to me compared to other crap on t.v

  16. I hope teams do drop out before the Albert Park GP gets underway, also I want to see the era of the 1980s F1 where there weren’t many drivers left standing at the end of the race. When Albert Park gets underway I have a feeling that the fans of one of the support categories (V8s) that we will have to pay to watch it and FTA will get shafted by the recent TV deal

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