Pedro de la Rosa in Force India car, signs of things to come ?

The winter testing has started and after months of speculations we finally got some live presenation of what the 2009 Formula 1 cars may look like. It does not look that good , and according to Christian Klien these are the worst looking F1 cars, ever …

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F1Wolf

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Champagne and medals from 2009 ?

It looks like we may be in for more than just different cars next season. Few weeks ago Bernie Ecclestone floated an idea to scrap the championship points and give the top 3 drivers medals instead. The one with most golds would take the title. This would be rather radical change. Perhaps because of the radical nature of this idea I thought there is no way this could go ahead anytime soon.

To my surprise (if Bernie and the news reports can be trusted) it seems this idea found quickly the support among the teams and may be implemented for 2009 season already. The system would be simple. Gold, silver and brozne for top three, nothing for the rest. The other positions would however determine the championship rankings.

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F1Wolf

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Canadian GP organizers ended talks with Bernie Ecclestone

As it is often case in Formula 1 the money and greed prevailed, the sport and fans are the loosers. Following the news coming out of Montreal on Sunday the chances that the Canadian GP may reappear on 2009 F1 calendar when its final version is released in December are now close to zero. Finding themselves far away from meeting demands from Bernie Ecclestone the organizers of the Canadian GP ended the talks aimed at keeping the Formula 1 race in Montreal.

Québec province’s Minister of Economic Development, Raymond Bachand:

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F1Wolf

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The racism and improper behaviour of fans in Formula 1 is back in the news. Bernie Ecclestone believes that the events earlier this year during Barcelona test were more joke than racist abuse. Jaime Martin, F1 editor of Spanish newspaper Marca accepts they may have been racist “but if Lewis was bald, the insults would have related to his baldness.” Ecclestone also considers the booing aimed at Hamilton in Brazil last weekend or back in Valencia during European GP as normal expressions of allegiance by home fans:

“In Spain people supported Fernando Alonso and in Brazil they supported Felipe Massa. People are entitled to support who they want to support. When was (Hamilton) insulted? Do you remember the Ferrari guys that wore the red wigs? People are expressing themselves.”

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F1Wolf

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The World Motor Sport Council met in Paris yesterday and came up with three significant decisions.

1) The 2009 Calendar

I made a post on the latest version of the calendar yesterday (click here). FIA hasn’t commented much on the new calendar. They simply took advantage of the French GP dropping out, moved China to April, kept the summer break and shortened the season by 2 weeks. No mention at all about the Canadian GP. Now I am not sure if this is a good sign or not. The talks between Montreal officials and Bernie Ecclestone took place about 2 weeks ago, there was some sort deadline for some decisions to be made set for the Friday before Brazilian GP. We haven’t heard anything from Canada neither we had from Bernie. All we get is the 3rd version of 2009 calendar. So does it mean this version is finally the final one and we can forget about any North American Formula One race next year or are the talks still going on behind the scenes making further changes to calendar possible ? I would like to start making some plans for Formula 1 travels for next year and knowing which final calendar is really final would be very helpful …

2) Three race engines

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F1Wolf

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Formula One without Ferrari ?

It has been Mosley’s way of dealing with things for quite a while. Come out with some ridiculous ideas, force them on the teams only to settle on some “compromise” that he planned from the very beginning. But I am not sure what he actually intends to achieve now with his “standard engine” idea.

I do understand the need to cut down the cost of running the F1 teams. The current state of global markets does show clearly what the excesses and living beyond means can result in. F1 lost several independent teams in the recent years. They either went bust or were taken over by manufacturers. Those takeovers look like a good thing and well may be. But the side effect is the amount of money being spent in F1 these days. The excesses that the remaining independents simply can’t afford or do not want to match. So, here comes the need to stop the wasteful spending no matter if there is or is not any financial crisis.

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F1Wolf

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Will F1 return to Quebec ?

The decision by WMSC and FIA to omit the Canadian GP from 2009 Formula 1 calendar (without any explanation) caught me by suprise yesterday. Actually surprise is not strong enough word. I was truly shocked. I may be a bit biased here thanks to my visit to the Canadian GP this year. But the reason I decided to travel half way around the world to see that race was the fact that it simply has been one of the best races on the calendar for years. Now it looks like I may have witnessed the last one. Well, I am shocked but reading what others have to say be it on this site or on F1Wolf Club or anywhere else on the web it looks like I am not the only one whom FIA managed to shock.

What ads to the mystery of this sudden decision is the fact that even the organizers of the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal had no idea their race is in any sort of danger. The race was included in the provisional 2009 F1 calendar and unlike last year here was no “to be confirmed” tag attached to it. The official Candaian GP website at this moment bears no signs of any doubt about 2009 race. They are thanking fans for making 2008 race a success and even have a section devoted to 2009 ticket sales. The stunned organizers issued a press release yesterday:

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F1Wolf

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Karun Chandhok GP2 Monza 2008

Earlier this year, at the height of the Mosleygate came a surprising piece of news from FIA - plans to revive the Formula 2 series. Thanks to the timing of the announcement it was almost immediately considered to be just another shot fired in the Bernie vs. Max war. Thanks to the planned low budget (£195,000 per car) it was also almost immediately branded as impossible. Things have however moved ahead. Jonathan Palmer’s MotorSport Vision has been selected to run the series and the plans for 2009 season were announced last weekend including the 2009 FIA Formula Two Championship calendar (see the bottom of this post).

Many people are a bit confused with this Formula 2 thing especially when there already exists rather successful Formula 1 feeder series - GP2. So what are the differences between current GP2 series and the planned Formula 2 championship ?

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F1Wolf

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According to ESPN Star website FOM has agreed a new 5 year deal with ESPN Star Sports for F1 television broadcasts in Asia. The new deal gives ESPN Start Sports exclusive rights in 24 Asian markets. The deal includes internet, radio and mobile phone broadcasts and television coverage. I do hope that somewhere in the contract is a demand from FOM specificaly banning Steve Slater from commenting. But I am afraid that is only wishful thinking and all of us watching Formula 1 in Asia will have to put up with this self-confessed ‘petrol-head’ for five more years.

What caught my eye however is that besides TV the deal includes internet, radio and mobile phone broadcasts. Does that mean that there is a chance we may get on ESPN Star website ITV like online feed ?

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F1Wolf

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Mexican GP 1991

FIA vicepresident Jose Abed hopes Mexico will host a Formula One race from 2010. He says Bernie Ecclestone has been authorized to expand the calendar to 20 races and as a result there will be room for Mexico.

“The changes will be made by 2010 and, if it happens, we’ll need to work hard to have a proper track; still, we must wait for Bernie Ecclestone decision to include Mexico in Formula One since there are already 18 venues, and two more will accepted.”

Mexico may be “ready” but it looks like Mr. Abed has forgotten something.The 2009 Formula 1 calendar already has 19 races with Abu Dhabi being the newest F1 venue. And then, in 2010, South Korea and India are expected to host races and that means that instead of having 2 slots on the calendar to spare, FIA is already now short of one. If the room for Mexico becomes available it will not come from expanding the calendar. Some existing races will have to make that room (see more on that in this post)…

Mexico hosted F1 races between 1963-1970 and then again between 1986-1992. This very Jose Abed with his brother Julian were behind that 1986 return of F1 to Mexico. Four cities - Mexico City, Puebla, Cancun and Tijuana - are said to be interested in having the race should F1 decide to return to Mexico again.

Melbourne (Australian GP), Hungaroring (Hungarian GP) recently renewed their contracts with Ecclestone, Donnington (British GP) has been confirmed as new venue for British GP from 2010.

Photo: Williams/LAT

F1Wolf

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