In the round-up: Melbourne, which has held the Australian Grand Prix since 1996, will continue to hold the race for the next eight years after extending its contract.
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Melbourne secures Formula One Grand Prix until 2023, holding off Sydney's bid (ABC)
"A cheeky Victorian premier has teased his New South Wales counterpart after Melbourne fought off Sydney to secure the Formula One Grand Prix until 2023."
Maldonado: Latest calamities not my fault (Motorsport)
"It's nothing to do from my side. I've been limited by other incidents, people coming to me."
Bottas: We can’t afford to have ‘weak’ tracks (Crash)
"We should have been better prepared for Spa, maybe by making a Spa aero package like many other teams did."
McLaren wouldn't block Magnussen exit (Autosport)
"If we cannot then personally I would never stop him from racing somewhere else, of course."
Manor Formula One hires Rothschild after bid approaches (The Telegraph)
"Manor’s accounts for the year ending 31 December 2014 reveal that the team is now facing a cash shortfall and is “wholly reliant” on funding from Mr Fitzpatrick."
"When I see them at the bottom of the screens, with Manor, I just feel bad."
Kimi Raikkonen: Age hasn't made me slower (ESPN)
"I don't see any difference in how I'm driving now and five years ago. Things have changed in the sport itself more than in me."
Tweets and pictures
@f1fanaticlive Button is right F1 shall be like Aeronautics who always learn from big accidents to create a safe aircrafts !
— E:Scalabroni (@ScalabroniE) September 12, 2015
Look forward to represent Brasil in Race Of Champions at London’s Olympic Stadium 20-21 Nov. @RaceOfChampions #ROCLondon
— Felipe Massa (@MassaFelipe19) September 12, 2015
Now in England and starting a simulator day here @WilliamsRacing 👍 #F1 #Pushing
— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) September 12, 2015
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
This may be the nadir for McLaren and Honda. Is it all going to end in tears?
I think the McLaren management should just keep mum on anything to do with their relationship with Honda. There were high hopes pinned on the Spa update of the engine and as usual Honda ended up showing little or no progress. While I do not think McLaren will publicly bash Honda in a Horner-esque manner, I think they will be cutting off ties pretty soon if they do not get back among the top three teams on the grid.
My prediction is that by Spa next year, McLaren would will that they are done with Honda
@Todfod
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On this day in F1
Happy birthday to former F1 driver Kamui Kobayashi, now racing in Japanese Super Formula, who is 29 today.
dragoll (@dragoll)
13th September 2015, 0:49
My wife wants to move to Brisbane from Melbourne, I told her this morning, we can’t move until at least April 2023.
Stig Semper Fi (@stigsemperfi)
13th September 2015, 1:03
Ha! I kinda wish Mount Panorama would meet the criteria for a Grade 1 license so it may one day host the race.
Glenn (@glennb)
13th September 2015, 7:36
Bathurst requires drivers to have a 3rd testicle though. It certainly would be interesting. One problem would be final ratios. A current F1 car would run out of breath half way down the straight. The rev limiter would cop a caning especially with DRS. Just like the McLaren did when JB and Loundes did a promotional day there some years back. The track, being a street circuit, also has a hump in the middle of the road for rain water to run off. I wouldnt mind seeing a F1 car at Phillip island though.
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
13th September 2015, 11:50
@stingsemeprf1 Be careful what you wish for (if that wish comes true it’ll basically make Bathurst a shadow of the track it is now).
MattyPF1 (@mattypf1)
13th September 2015, 1:06
@dragoll But mate, aside from the F1, BRISBANE all the way mate!!! Although I hear Melbourne is an absolutely amazing city to live in. Wouldn’t mind visting one day
mickey18 (@mickey18)
13th September 2015, 2:06
Nah guys, Melbourne = Best.
Very happy with this news, Daniel Andrews continues to impress me.
Don’t leave @dragoll !
VMaxMuffin (@vmaxmuffin)
13th September 2015, 3:39
Obligatary Adelaide represent!
Although I actually “live” in Melbourne 8 months of the year for uni now though… makes the GP much easier! Plus Melbourne is a better city anyway.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
13th September 2015, 0:57
I don’t see Hamilton stating anywhere that he expects McLaren to remain rubbish in 2016. Although to be fair, unless Honda find a miracle across the winter break, I would not be surprised.
I remember how after Malaysia, when McLaren had gained about 1.5-2.0 seconds (relative to the leaders) from Australia, and Honda were claiming that they were only running at 70% (apparently). I thought that they would be fighting among at least Williams by now. How naive I was.
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
13th September 2015, 3:07
@kingshark Depends on if they can fix the turbo compressor, like Ferrari after 2014, which has to be done in the off-season as they don’t have enough tokens to do it in 2015. McLaren seem to be making Ferrari’s mistakes one year later, e.g. pull-rod suspension.
Pedro Côrte-Real (@pedrocr)
13th September 2015, 11:28
Ferrari still does pull-rod, they’ve changed the geometry though. Here’s a great video that explains it in detail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQzMrbDtndE
John H (@john-h)
13th September 2015, 7:06
@kingshark
(It’s amongst all the Mirror adverts!)
I actually predicted McLaren would win a race this year… so much for that.
DaveD (@daved)
13th September 2015, 1:21
That’s great for Melbourne, but please tell me you’ve got the Monza situation fixed!!!
DavidS (@davids)
13th September 2015, 1:28
The thing about Albert Park is that for the most part, the event is fairly well contained within the park. The Sydney bid looks like they wanted to hold it in the CBD and incorporate the Harbour Bridge. That would cause absolute chaos. That plan sounds completely unfeasible.
Chances are, a Tilkedrome will be built well out of the city, and people will have to take a long train journey to get there. There’ll be none of the atmosphere that Melbourne has.
AmbroseRPM (@ambroserpm)
13th September 2015, 3:35
It is as just an idea that Mike Baird floated. He gets an ‘A’ for ambition but when they tried to work out how to do it I think they realised there would be mass chaos.
VMaxMuffin (@vmaxmuffin)
13th September 2015, 3:40
Yeah, I doubt that would actually happen. My best bet would be Eastern Creek getting an upgrade to F1 standards. Can’t see the money being spent on making a whole new circuit.
mfreire
13th September 2015, 20:58
I think Eastern Creek could certainly upgrade to F1 standards; the track was extended only a few years ago to 2.8 mi (4.5 km) so I think it could work. Personally, I would like to see the Australian F1 GP on a rotation between Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney (Eastern Creek) and an extended Barbagallo Raceway in Perth. It’s a bit like Italy: it doesn’t really matter which one of the 5 major cities in southern and eastern Australia the Australian GP is held in, (all of the aformentioned cities and Brisbane) and a few other places (Gold Coast, Surfer’s Paradise and Bathurst being 3 others), an Australian GP will always be great.
Stig Semper Fi (@stigsemperfi)
13th September 2015, 4:36
A Sydney street circuit would’ve been awful. A Formula E race, perhaps, but not Formula 1.
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
13th September 2015, 5:41
@stigsemperfi What about Formula E at Adelaide? :)
Selbbin (@selbbin)
14th September 2015, 0:33
The bridge idea was just a gimmick. You can’t build a track at either end, especially not the North side where I live, and there is no spare room for sufficient stands or facilities. It would have gone to either Eastern Creek with a dramatic upgrade or the Homebush Olympic site currently used for the V8 street circuit. Still, it would have been nice not to have to dish out every year for hotels and airfare.
John H (@john-h)
13th September 2015, 7:09
Isn’t it just to maximise the amount of money for FOM? I always wonder whether Bernie slips another city a tenner to propose a make-believe race somewhere else.
Rome GP anyone?
mfreire
13th September 2015, 21:02
The Rome GP was nearly put on even as far back as 1985; the most recent attempt in 2010 was so obviously not going to happen. I personally don’t think it matters where a GP in Italy is held- whether its the Italian, San Marino or Rome GP’s- a GP in Italy is always going to be great. I wouldn’t care if the Italian GP was held at Monza (as special as that venue is), Imola, Mugello, Vallelunga (near Rome), or even Enna-Pergusa in Sicily- it would be an amazing event anywhere.
Jack (@jackisthestig)
13th September 2015, 1:41
Hmmm, Pastor has a point. If he didn’t have to share the track with all those pesky other drivers I reckon he would have finished at least half the races he has crashed out of this year.
Fast
13th September 2015, 5:41
+1
mfreire
13th September 2015, 21:05
He also has a point that he is the most important person around, and that he is so perfect, that he incapable of doing anything wrong. They also say that he doesn’t even need to eat food- he just photosynthizes. Anything that he is involved, in, it is never his fault. In all seriousness- he is such an egomaniac, it is almost pathetic.
N0b0dy100
13th September 2015, 2:05
Kimi was racing in WRC five years ago, I hope his driving style is different these days! Seriously though, perhaps he’s right about the sport changing more than him. I always had a feeling he was better adapted to mid-2000s cars better than the current generation.
knoxploration
13th September 2015, 2:35
Hah! Technically, five years ago he wasn’t racing. He’d crashed the day before and retired from Rally Japan after mishearing a pacenote. ;-)
Neil (@neilosjames)
13th September 2015, 2:42
Maldonado… Australia wasn’t his fault, Malaysia wasn’t, China… er, part braking issue, part him. Bahrain I can’t really remember if he hit anyone. Spain I don’t think was his fault, Monaco he retired with a mechanical failure, clean in Canada, Austria… British was a standard first-corner shunt, not his fault either. Hungary was his fault. As was Spa. And Monza wasn’t his fault.
So unless my memory is failing me, of the eight (!) races in which he has been involved in collisions or crashes that either significantly hampered his race or put him out, he could only really be blamed twice. Or at two races. Which isn’t too bad, really.
I think his reputation means he gets a lot more criticism than he deserves, but part of me wonders why he always seems to attract trouble. Is it the way he places the car, does he take odd lines, or go into positions others would avoid…?
Kingshark (@kingshark)
13th September 2015, 3:37
@neilosjames
I think that is part of it, along with the fact that he often has a habit of expecting others to always back out, instead of taking evasive action himself.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
13th September 2015, 3:13
Nice advertising Massa, classy. Love Melbourne, great news. How is ESPN always getting the hold of Kimi?
AmbroseRPM (@ambroserpm)
13th September 2015, 3:37
I’m a little disappointed as a Sydneysider but I was in Melbourne this year and they put on a stunning event. Well done to them. Daniel Andrews has actually done something half way decent for once!
OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 41 wins!!! For Jules (@)
13th September 2015, 4:52
How is Massa in a “Race of Champions”? Or, am I living in a parallel universe where he clinched it in 2008?
garf (@garf)
13th September 2015, 6:57
Massa has a total of 4 championships from his pre-F1 career: Formula Chevrolet Brasil (1999), Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup (2000), Formula Renault 2000 Italy (2000) and Euro Formula 3000 (2001).
Mashiat (@mashiat)
13th September 2015, 5:29
I’m pretty sure Kimi would find that he wasn’t driving in F1 five years ago.
Fast
13th September 2015, 5:39
re: COTD – McLaren will be done with Honda. Williams will then pick-up the engine supply for cheap and swap the Mercs back to Macca. Williams will then promptly win a couple of titles with Honda. Then they will lose the supply as McLaren pay more to have them back. At which point Williams will take on the Renault. Who at that point will have tired of running their own F1 team and scale back to an engine supplier. In epilogue, RedBull will the finally get their Mercedes engine supply. :-)
ColdFly F1 (@)
13th September 2015, 11:15
That’s great for Melbourne.
But as an Australian tax payer I’ll say it again. The pure stupidity of Australian States to bid against each other to get the big sporting events. The only result is that they (and thus we) have to pay more for those events.
If only they could work together. But that will never happen as they love to keep the status quo. Can’t wait for the day we finally abolish the useless states/territories.
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
13th September 2015, 11:56
@coldfly At least you’ve got states in your country battling against each other for “big” sporting events – there’s this unitary republic I live in just a wee bit up north that struggles to do such a thing – as a unitary state (OK we do host big sporting events from time to time….but F1? Anything that gets the world on the edge of its sofa? Nope)!
Calum (@calum)
13th September 2015, 20:47
Great news that Melbourne keeps the F1 for another few years. One of the better tracks.
SauberS1 (@saubers1)
13th September 2015, 23:08
I’m glad to this!
Pink Peril
14th September 2015, 0:11
One happy Melburnian here :) Although tbh, I’d go wherever the race was.
Jon (@johns23)
14th September 2015, 1:19
Great news for Melbourne! Only problem is they keep blocking off the corners, year after year for corporate tents and leave general admin holders with no view left apart from the back straight. it gets worse every year. Love that its staying in Melbourne the sporting capital, but ill be watching it on my TV