In the round-up: Romain Grosjean says he will try to avoid a repeat of the collisions that dogged his 2012 campaign.
Links
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
“I was very sorry for the drivers that were involved. But I am not stupid – I know the risks and I will try not to make the same mistakes again and learn from that.”
Grosjean rallies Lotus with email thanks (Autosport)
“Romain Grosjean has issued a personal message of thanks to his Lotus team for having faith in him, as he predicts a regular challenge at the front of the grid for 2013.”
Max power! Chilton becomes fourth Brit on grid after landing Marussia contract for 2013 (Daily Mail)
“He has previously stated that the estimated 9.5m funding he has secured to realise his Formula One dream does not come from the family coffers.”
“Circuit of the Americas officials, aided by a Austin City Council vote Thursday, will seek what could be as much as $5 million from the Texas Event Trust Fund for four motor sports events next year. Separately, circuit organisers will likely seek a payment from the state for the November 2013 Formula One race.”
Have BBC lost the rights to screen practice live? (The F1 Broadcasting Blog)
“Sky have amended the Sky Media document, removing the ‘exclusive’ element, confirming it was human error. So the answer to the title is ‘No, BBC have not lost the rights to screen practice live’.”
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! (Sauber)
“He’s the fastest man in the world, capable of orbiting the earth in a single day. What’s his secret? Triple DRS, a flexible front wing, double COANDA? We wanted to get to the bottom of it and put him through some rigorous testing, not least in the wind tunnel.”
Tweets
Force India will launch their 2013 #F1 car on February 1st.
— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) December 18, 2012
It's hard to put into words how I am feeling but I know I am full of energy and ready give it my all next year in my first F1 season! #f1
— M A X Chilton (@maxchilton) December 18, 2012
Total has just announced the renewal of its partnership with Romain #Grosjean ! #F1
— Total F1 (@F1TotalOfficial) December 18, 2012
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
Max Chilton’s deal to drive for Marussia has reopened the “pay driver” debate:
Far too many people still throw the term “pay driver” around like it is a dirty word, stigmatising drivers in the process by assuming that the driver in question is more of a Jean-Denis Delatraz or a Paul Belmondo than a Sebastian Vettel or a Lewis Hamilton.
The simple fact of the matter is that F1 has changed, the world has changed and most importantly the economic climate has changed. Today being able to bring a budget to a F1 team is just as important as being able to lap quickly, so drivers who do shouldn’t ridiculed for it.
@GeeMac
From the forum
- Video: Michael Schumacher motorbike riding with other top riders
- Rio Haryanto will drive for Addax in GP2 next year and another driver will be confirmed today
Happy birthday!
No F1 Fanatic birthdays today.
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On this day in F1
Onofre Marimon was born on this day in 1923. He joined fellow Argentinian Juan Manuel Fangio in racing in F1.
He finished on the podium at Spa for Maserati in 1953 and repeated the feat at Silverstone the following year. But he was killed during practice for the next race at the Nurburgring Nordschleife.
Image © Lotus F1 Team/LAT
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
19th December 2012, 0:05
is Force India the first one to announce their launch date? if not, when are the others gonna do it?
Carlitox (@carlitox)
19th December 2012, 0:08
At the moment they are the firsts to confirm a date. However Sauber passed the crash tests already, so expect them early also.
Bosley (@)
19th December 2012, 0:09
Just beat me too it haha.
Bosley (@)
19th December 2012, 0:09
So far it’s only them that have announced a date, mind you, Sauber say their chassis has passed it’s crash tests so i can only assume they’ll be next.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
19th December 2012, 0:12
@fer-no65 There was a quote from Peter Sauber a couple of weeks ago saying their car will debut on February 5th.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
19th December 2012, 0:27
Cool, thanks all !
Atticus (@atticus-2)
19th December 2012, 0:35
Woot, can’t wait! Either for February 1st or 5th.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
19th December 2012, 0:10
I’m surprised this isn’t Autosport’s lead story. It’s a) not news-worthy and b) related to Lotus, so naturally they’ve made a headline out of it … but they haven’t bumped it up to the lead story. Are they finally getting over their need to promote the team at every opportunity?
Enigma (@enigma)
19th December 2012, 7:46
It’s about Romain, not Kimi.
verstappen (@verstappen)
19th December 2012, 8:36
Just as with ‘Kimi ordening t-shirts’ this ‘personal’ email has Lotus/Enstone marketing written all over it.
Hope they will become Honeywell-Enstone next year.
Mike (@mike)
19th December 2012, 10:24
@prisoner-monkeys
Maybe Lotus fans would like to read things like that about the team.
If you don’t want to read about it, don’t click the link.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
19th December 2012, 10:45
There’s covering Lotus, and then there’s covering Lotus. Ever since the company started sponsoring the Autosport International Show this year, the site has consistently made headline news out of articles that don’t get reported elsewhere as news, much less as headlines. Lotus is cleaarly sponsoring the magazine in exchange for more coverage.
manuchap
19th December 2012, 11:15
Edd Straw tweeted before on any news related to Kimi received big hits in terms of viewing rate……………
Well, hardly surprising. Without bringing any sponsors onboard, Kimi ‘s fame is more than enough to attract Unilever, Microsoft, Coca- Cola and Honeywell.
And his Abu Dhabi win really brought so much joy to the fans with his ontrack, radio transmission activities.
This guy is Full Package.
Deepak (@ideepak)
19th December 2012, 0:11
Haha! Notice how Grosjean said “try not to”. He will try. LOL!
Grosjean is very fast but I doubt he will change, he makes those mistakes for being too ambitious and the wrong times. He is so blinded by moving ahead that he does not seem to stop and think – his driving style is an extension of his personality and attitude, and he cannot turn those off once you sit in the car.
It will be interesting to see whether he really will change.
Neusalz (@dpod)
19th December 2012, 0:20
Sponsorship from Aon, possibly?
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
19th December 2012, 1:27
Perhaps, but you could also make the case that Aon is too close to the family fortune to meet that definition.
Atticus (@atticus-2)
19th December 2012, 0:34
Am I the only one who thinks Grosjean’s contract extension might have had something to do with the Total partnership and its millions?
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
19th December 2012, 4:40
It might have done, but the team is getting sponsorship from Coca-Cola, and they’re believed to be getting title sponsorship from Honeywell. And I’m assuming they would keep their sponsorship from Unilever as well. In that case, they don’t really need the money from Total. It would certainly help, but I’d say they’re in a position whereby the money a driver brings is only a secondary consideration in picking their drivers.
At the same time, there are two other French drivers – Jean-Eric Vergne and Charles Pic – in Formula 1, and Jules Bianchi has been mentioned as a candidate to replace Nico Hulkenberg at Force India. If Lotus didn’t renew Grosjean’s contract, then total could always go elsewhere. Caterham springs to mind, since they have a French driver, use French engines, and if the team were to convince Total that they will break into the top ten and score some points sooner rather than later, then both they and Total would likely get plenty of coverage.
Anele (@)
19th December 2012, 9:04
@atticus-2 I think nowadays talent and money go hand in hand. same reason Lewis, seb and others have had a main sponsor since childhhood. Though I still feel the economic climate and the cost of formula one do affect the decisions some teams make…formula one is business at the end of the day
Atticus (@atticus-2)
19th December 2012, 9:16
Well, I agree that sponsors are increasingly aware of the qualities of the driver they sponsor. They do not just looking for ‘someone’, like a Diniz, or something, they look for the most talented driver available. National support remained strong though – of course a Venezulean fuel company will sponsor the most talented driver available, as long as he or she is Venezulean.
And yes, Grosjean inevitably has some good qualities despite his striking deficiency at handling first lap packs, good enough to gain attention from sponsors.
What is striking for me in fact, is if there is a connection between the two decisions – Grosjean’s stay and Total’s stay, mentioned in a round-up Twitter. It would be surprising because it is not an as well known partnership as e. g. the PDVSA-Maldonado. On the other hand, as Prisoner Monkeys pointed out, Lotus actually does not appear to have financial issues. So we cannot be sure they chose Grosjean to retain Total millions. Chances they did not.
Anele (@)
19th December 2012, 9:22
agreed. nice sensible comment but thy did drop of a bit at the end of the year besides their victory. hopefully they can keep up with the development race next year
Bernification (@bernification)
19th December 2012, 16:03
I don’t think Total is the reason he is staying- it’s more likely Boullier having a say.
Vested interests methinks. Well he managed to swing that one past the board.
As pointed out earlier- all we have heard from Grosjean career long is how he has learned from his GP2/2009/begining of season/ban and will now not crash. Not at all. Definately.
It does amaze me how certain elements of the press and many, many contributors on various sites nit pick what a certain driver does and then stick up for someone who is proved again and again that he is not up to the job.
Well, well done to Boullier. He has got his 20%.
Anele (@)
19th December 2012, 16:48
as a sports agent myself we get a bad reputation. some of us believe in helping people will with talent its more than getting 20%. sm
Hairs (@hairs)
19th December 2012, 0:38
Why would the team need a rallying from Grosjean? Surely it’ll be the guys building spare parts who are going.to need a pick me up on hearing this news.
Is this a new record for an f1 driver? When he was announced in 09 he promised not to repeat his gp2 crashes. When announced for 2012 he promised to learn from 09. Now he’s promising the same thing about this year. Seems to be an awful lot of promising, and not a lot of learning… Or, he’s got an even bigger hole to learn his way out of than we can see, which would be a concern as I for one can see a huge hole.
Joey Zyla (@)
19th December 2012, 1:31
Grosjean doesn’t deserve this kind of criticism. I understand why there are many who believe otherwise, and I accept that. Romain’s still reasonably young, and when he learns from his mistakes and can race more cleanly, he’ll be a title contender every year. He’s fast, inconsistent, perhaps, but fast. Most drivers have some flaws at 26, but Romain has more positive attributes than most of those other drivers. He seems like a really nice guy, and when he does end someone else’s race, it’s not because he’s trying to do harm, he’s simply a young, inexperienced driver that is occasionally prone to making mistakes. And when he does get through the first lap, he almost always races cleanly. I like drivers who are willing to take a risk or two more than everyone else, now and then, and if he can do that effectively and cleanly, he’ll be a really successful driver one day.
codesurge (@codesurge)
19th December 2012, 17:23
I appreciate his honesty about his rather rough end to the season – a breath of fresh air when compared to the typical self-centric F1 driver “it wasn’t my fault/I can do no wrong/everything will be perfect” spiel.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
19th December 2012, 1:38
Vettel, Hamilton too, used to make mistakes in their early years, now that time has passed (even when forom time to time they do make misakes, they are human just in case you have forgotten it) and they bring samples of talent everytime. It’s too soon to compare Grosjean with a champion, but he wasn’t flatted out by Raikkonen, and we’re talking about a driver who came back to clinch 3rd in the world championship by consistency. So having been matched with Raikkonen from time to time is a good thing to foresee a bright future isn’t it?
Kimi4WDC
19th December 2012, 2:29
It’s hard, they all so ego centric and so young. I think age is the only cure :) Of course there are diamonds in between :) But that is matter of taste, so it’s going to be different for each of us!
manuchap
19th December 2012, 11:11
match kimi?? haha, in first half qualifying maybe when kimi didnt get the steering setup he wanted. In 2nd half, when kimi adapted, he genuinely destroy Romain by pure pace. Even before that, Kimi already humiliate him in bahrain, hockenheim, hungary by supreme race pace alone….
Their raw speed is incomparable….as Kimi’s engineer said, he had to changed his driving style to adapt to these new stuff again, hasnt really drive in the natural way he wanted to be. Next season would be interesting =)
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
19th December 2012, 14:27
Remember Kimi came from 2 sabatical years plus the fact the team was lost with the power steering at the beginning of the year
Brace (@brace)
19th December 2012, 2:14
http://www.gpupdate.net/en/series/1/formula-1/
“No specific targets”
Ahahaha, I can’t help myself. I almost fell of the chair laughing. :)
I bet they didn’t put that headline accidentally. :)
Just let him start from the pole, so that there are no targets to chose from to begin with. :)
Mike (@mike)
19th December 2012, 10:28
Haha! Nice spotting :D
Kimi4WDC
19th December 2012, 2:26
Gratz to Max, but he definitely need to start working on his fitness if he wants to show his potential in F1. I think with more commitment to his physic he could have done better last year and as a result he might have had chance to drive a better car this season.
GeeMac (@geemac)
19th December 2012, 5:27
Always nice to see you’ve gotten a COTD…thanks!
david d.m.
19th December 2012, 6:34
Love the picture of Santa in the Sauber wind tunnel, it will make for some nice postcards :)
MNM101 (@mnm101)
19th December 2012, 6:49
since when does Santa wear a dress ?
xjr15jaaag (@xjr15jaaag)
19th December 2012, 7:21
Is Max Chilton the younger brother of Tom Chilton?
Imagine the games of top trumps.
Sibling rivalry has never been so tough
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
19th December 2012, 7:58
@xjr15jaaag Yes
Bendanarama (@bendana)
19th December 2012, 9:03
For anyone who thinks the Sauber Christmas card is good, prepare to face PURE TERROR:
http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-photos/9253/ferrari-christmas-party-2012/215142/#/215142
dirgegirl (@dirgegirl)
19th December 2012, 12:43
Love it!
Anele (@)
19th December 2012, 9:10
I’m so happy he kept his seat. I feel he developed a bad reputation and wasn’t always to blame for the incidents that he was involved in. His talent is undeniable though…wish him all the best
Yoshisune (@yobo01)
19th December 2012, 10:50
I thought I put my birthday on the list. Maybe I forgot to do it.
Anyway, today is my birthday. I wanted to share it with the best F1 website I know!
BBQ2
19th December 2012, 13:02
Congrats Yobo. You must have been a nice Christmas gift for your parents some 25yrs back? Enjoy the day!
Bernification (@bernification)
19th December 2012, 16:06
Happy birthday Yobo, have a great year.
BasCB (@bascb)
20th December 2012, 18:01
Hey, @jobo01, I hope you have a great birthday non the less. Enjoy it!
BasCB (@bascb)
20th December 2012, 18:01
fail there – happy birthday @yobo01
Bernification (@bernification)
19th December 2012, 16:14
I don’t see what the problem with Chiltern being a pay driver.
It’s how Kimi, Massa and many others have got into the sport. Even if drivers don’t back the seat up with personal money, many have to bring money from personal backers with them.
I don’t like the system personaly, but it has allways existed and to pretend otherwise is just silly.
Please, just don’t be another Ralph bloody Firman. He was useless.
Aficion
19th December 2012, 19:03
This ‘Comment of the Day’ is just the sort of thing that infuriates me. Yes, the teams, drivers AND F1 should be ridiculed for allowing this state of affairs. I’m not sure why we should just give up and accept something that is detrimental to the integrity of the sport. Why is it so hard to be ethical? I’d rather see a poorer F1 where we are assured we have a field of the best pure drivers. Saying that ‘it’s just the way it is, we have to accept it’ is either really lazy, or unapologetically sleazy.