F1 links: No new RB4 diffuser until Monaco

Adrian Newey: "We won't have a double-diffuser before Monaco."

Injured Schumacher Skips Superbike Race

"Michael Schumacher is unable to drive a racing car or bike at present as he is still recovering from his crash at Spain's Cartagena circuit in February."

Interested to see how the weather turns out

Nick Heidfeld on Bahrain: "I enjoy racing here. The modern facilities and the layout of the track itself are very much to my liking. I think the section from the fifth to the last but one corner has been particularly well designed. You have to make something of a compromise here on the aerodynamic front. On the one hand, all the slow corners demand high levels of downforce, but on the other, the track is very wide and offers plenty of opportunities for overtaking. So for that reason, you also need good top speed. Because of the slow corners, traction and brake balance also play a significant role."

What on earth is Formula 1 doing in China?

"F1 seems to believe that going to China is a good thing. It certainly works for Bernie Ecclestone and his chums in suits with CVC name tags. They are making a killing out of the Chinese. Thus it was no real surprise that during the Chinese GP weekend Bernie let it be known that he has signed a new deal for the race to stay at the venue. This was big news in Shanghai and Bernie was mobbed by the local press (see my blog for more details). He did not say how long for but just before the Australian GP he told me it was for seven more years. This will no doubt work wonders for the Formula One Management bank account as China is rumoured to be paying as much as $50m a year."

McLaren Electronic Systems receives Queen’s award for enterprise

McLaren Grou, has won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation for designing the standard engine control unit used in F1 since last year.

Toyota F1 to shed up to 150 jobs

"Toyota has revealed that it is to make as many as 150 redundancies within its Formula 1 team between now and the end of the year, as the global credit crunch continues to be felt in full force at the heart of the world's most glamorous and expensive sport."

The future of FOTA – and why it is important

"Flavio is now suggesting that Brawn should not be paid the TV monies earned by Honda for last year. This has sent the media hounds up another blind alley, a very skanky piece of meat. This means that they are not focussing on Renault's failures. It is a classic diversionary tactic: create a flash-bang somewhere else and let people rush to that." I'm so tired of this flawed kind of reasoning – the same idea that just when the FIA announced its 'most wins' rule in March it somehow 'distracted' people from the equally questionable budget cap proposal. It's not a "classic diversionary tactic", it's a whinge.

Q & A with Timo Glock

"I definitely have a much better feeling with the slick tyres. Last year one of the main points I had to work on was understanding the grooved tyres because they behave very differently to slicks and I didn't have so much experience of them. For me it has been no problem to move back; I have driven nearly my whole career on slicks so it makes life easier this season. Of course, with the different compounds for each race, it is still a big challenge to get the best out of the tyres but I feel at home on slicks."

McLaren aims to exploit its racing skills

Norbert Haug tells it like it is: “We lost already six points in Australia by our own faults and also in Malaysia we should have scored more than one point. In China we achieved for the first time what was achievable, but fifth and sixth places cannot be the target for the team starting with numbers 1 and 2 on their cars." (Thanks Mahesh!)

Haug: Senna wanted F1 promise

Norbert Haug on Bruno Senna: "We discussed it and he wanted to have a firm commitment to get into F1. I spoke to Ross [Brawn] and Martin [Whitmarsh] and we said 'yes, we can develop options, but we cannot guarantee it 100 per cent. The background is we tried it but if you want to jump into it you need to be hot, you need to dream day and night of it and maybe he did not dream day and night of it. But it is fair enough, that is okay."

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10 comments on “F1 links: No new RB4 diffuser until Monaco”

Patrickl
22nd April 2009, 0:32

Adrian Newey rulez! Such a cool guy and so much heart for the sport. Amazing. Great car.

With regards to the China GP. Isn’t it so that tourists come to watch the race there? I think for Malaysia they calculated that they made a lot of money on the race even though it had cost them hundreds of millions to build the track.

Just 50.000 tourists spending 1000 dollars each means 50 million being pumped back into the economy. Then add 480 a head for the tickets and the figures don’t look so bleak anymore.

Apart from that an F1 race is probably good publicity and it will inspire even more people to go to China.

It’s not just politics, I think China listened very well to the success that Malaysia claimed to have with their race. I’d bet that the economics of the whole deal add up just fine.

Gman
22nd April 2009, 2:27
Patrick,
In regards to making money on Grand Prix races, indeed some of the local officials in China and/or Malaysia may claim that they made millions of dollars because of the GP being in town. However, what that most often referrs to is the money that is spent in hotels, shops, etc. Perhaps this is true, but it may be worth noting that the guest most desired by these industries is not the tourist/fan type such as myself, but the people from teams and sponsors with the high-end expense accounts….
In terms of the actual Grand Prix itself, I don’t think there has been a single one in the last few years where the venue/promoter has made even a slight profit on the event. When you get a race that sells so few tickets as China dose, combined with the fact that Bernie milks them for everything he can, then you are probably looking at an annual loss in the tens of millions of dollars for whomever is paying the bills. Don’t forget that Bernie also takes all the money from many of the sources of revenue a circuit could normally use to pay the bills- trackside adverts, VIP suites, and the like.
All in all, Bernie uses a very unfair business model- unfair to everyone except himself and CVC Group, that is. There’s nothing more that I want than an F1 race back here in the U.S, but I am also happy that Tony George and Normand Legault diden’t give in to Bernie’s demands. Some people in some places feel that they absolutley need F1 as a tourism and glamour attraction, while in other places the organisers/venues stand up and say “Give us our fair end of the deal.”
Jay Menon
22nd April 2009, 3:32
We had this same argument when the former Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohammed decided to built the track in Sepang. I wasn’t complaining, because F1 was coming to town. Basically, for a country like Malaysia, the investment was worthwhile as F1 acts as an advertisement.
As Mr. Mahathir put it, he was merely advertising Malaysia. According to him, if cost of advertising the country worldwide, would be significantly more than hosting F1….I think he had a point. About 15 years ago, Malaysia was known as the country in between Singapore and Thailand…now, people actually know that Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia.
I dont know if the same can be said about China. What are they trying to advertise? Everybody knows China, they know that Shanghai and Beijing are the business capitals of the world’s most populous nation, so what are they trying to sell? A high tech, highly efficient image perhaps?
patrickl
22nd April 2009, 15:22
Gman,
AFAIK the main promoter behind the China GP is the government. Makes sense that they will invest in the common good of the city Bejing. If tourists spend more money in Bejing than the government has paid for the race then I’d say it’s a wise investment.
Add to that, the ticket prices, sponsoring and PR for China and Bejing.