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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The FIA announced the winner of the Formula Two chassis and engine supplier tender - MotorSport Vision (MSV):

MotorSport Vision (MSV) has won the tender to supply chassis and engines for the new FIA Formula Two Championship, following a fax vote of the FIA World Motor Sport Council. As part of the winning tender it has been agreed that MSV will be the promoter of the Championship as well as the operating entity for all of the cars.
MSV has commissioned WilliamsF1 to design the car, which will incorporate a turbocharged 1.8 litre Audi engine and be built to Formula One-level safety standards. The first prototype car is on schedule for its testing debut in November 2008, with the Championship due to start in May 2009 and comprising 16 races over eight events. Performance levels will be between Formula Three and Formula One and the cost per competing driver will be less than €250,000.

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F1Wolf

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I am not sure if another scandal is what F1 needs right now but rumours are the F1 drivers are planning some kind of strike during British GP. The reason - the sharp hike in the superlicense fees.

The web is full of this now so there is no need to repeat the whole story here. What I wonder is if these rumours are true (big if here) why now ? Why would the F1 drivers wait for half a year after Max Mosley increased their superlicense fees before doing something about it ? The timing of bringing out another Mosley related issue seems to be just a bit too convenient and I am not sure if the drivers actually have something to do with it …

F1Wolf

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Bernie Ecclestone is definitelly not happy Max Mosley still heads the FIA. They may be old friends (if there is such thing as friends in F1) but where money talks bullshit walks. And so Bernie has opened his mouth. I was not paying much attention to details of his interview with The Times. Frankly I got tired of the whole Mosley thingy. But when F1Wolf reader nieuwe sent me the article by email I could not resist and read the whole thing.

Here are few quotes, some already widely discussed all over the F1 blogs, some not that much:

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F1Wolf

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Max Mosley has won the vote of confidence at the FIA General Assembly meeting in Paris. Surprise or should have been expected ?

Statement from the FIA:

During the Extraordinary General Assembly held in Paris today, the FIA Member Clubs voted on a motion of confidence in the FIA President.The FIA membership voted as follows:For the motion: 103
Against the motion: 55
Abstentions: 7
Invalid votes 4

Mosley got the result he believed he would get. The vote shows the vast majority of the FIA member clubs does not feel Mosley’s private life has any effect on his work as FIA president. The future will show whether that is the case or not …

F1Wolf

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The judgment day is getting closer and Max Mosley saga is heating up. Yesterday a letter from Franco Lucchesi (FIA Deputy President for Automobile, Mobility and Tourism) to all titular members of the World Council for Automobile Mobility and Tourism revealed that Mx Mosley refused a compromise solution to the whole mess surrounding FIA and Mosley himself. The proposal presented to Mosley by Region I President Werner Kraus and Franco Lucchesi gave Mosley guarantee of vote of confidence on June 3, 2008 in return for Mosley’s resignation starting from November 2008.

The response from clubs came quickly - 24 clubs representing 22 countries (but not the majority of votes) have written a letter that pretty much says the FIA would be better off without Mosley:

“We strongly believe that the only respectable way forward for the FIA, and for yourself, is to have an orderly transition, with an immediate agreement and your commitment to step down. The FIA is in a critical situation. Its image, reputation and credibility are being severely eroded. Every additional day that this situation persists, the damage increases. There is no way back.

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F1Wolf

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After the letter from Max Mosley to all FIA Club Presidents and following reaction from Bernie Ecclestone, here comes the promised letter from Bernie Ecclestone to the FIA Club Presidents. Full text inside the post.

22 May 2008

To all FIA Club Presidents

Dear President

The FIA President wrote a letter to you on 16 May 2008 (the Letter) in connection with the FIA Extraordinary General Assembly called on 3 June to consider allegations published about his private life.

The Letter makes statements that could lead to misunderstandings and inaccurate conclusions being drawn. We, the Formula One commercial rights holder (the CRH), are writing to you to ensure that you understand our position on matters raised in the Letter insofar as they relate to Formula One.

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F1Wolf

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Max Mosley sent the letter to the FIA presidents and that letter was not exaclty Bernie Ecclestone friendly. So it is no surprise that Bernie Ecclestone is not too happy. His response did not take too long to come:

“I sincerely hope that it isn’t a declaration of war because, if that’s what the message should be, then we’ll have to defend ourselves. That is what anyone would do. I don’t believe that’s what Max wanted the letter to say. I don’t want to have a war with Max. I hope he doesn’t want one with me. This whole business is really about what was printed in the News of the World and whether this in any way damaged the FIA clubs or the FIA - that’s all. It’s nothing to do with anything else and I don’t quite know why he’s come out and said these things. I am sorry if the press have reported things which he doesn’t like, but we certainly don’t have any influence over the FIA We have decided we are going to contact all the clubs who Max wrote to, with a reply to the matters raised in his letter.

I think the General Assembly of the FIA was called for one reason only - to decide whether or not they think Max is the right person to be their president. The vote will be on that, not about the Concorde Agreement.”

Quite strong words here … Not really a sign of support from Ecclestone for Mosley’s cause…

Are these two guys seriously contemplating fighting each other or is this just a part of some bigger game ?

In any case, nice touch from the F1 bosses on the eve the Formula 1 showcase race in Monaco.

F1Wolf

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Max Mosley is determined to stay on as FIA president until the end of his term in 2009. Even if that means leaving the public representation to two Deputy Presidents. This is one the things he states in his four page letter to all FIA club presidents. The more interesting however are the reasons why he wants to continue. One is Mosley’s concern about the election of his successor. And this question is directly connected with the next point. The negotiations… Mosley’s letter may be going on for four full pages but the points that will sure stir the biggest controversy and discussions are his revelations about the current negotiations between FIA and the Formula One Commercial Rights Holder.

“We are in the middle of a renegotiations of the 100 year commercial agreement between the FIA and the Formula One Commercial Rights Holder (CRH). In effect, this agreement governs Formula One. The CRH originally asked us to accept changes to the agreement in order to reduce the CRH’s liability to tax. These we can probably concede. But the CRH has also now asked for control over the F1 regulations and the right to sell the business to anyone - in effect to take over F1 completely. I do not believe the FIA should agree to this.
To do so would be to abandon core elements of the FIA’s patrimony including, for example, our ability to protect the traditional grands prix. We would also be weaker financially but, even more importantly, we would put at risk the viability of the FIA as the regulatory authority of international motor sport and lose a valuable communication platform for the wider interests of the organisation.”

So Max Mosley is basically saying, that if he is forced to resign, FIA is about to loose the control over Formula 1. In the part of his letter where he talks about the election of new president he openly expresses concern that a person may be elected that would actually support the interests of the Commercial Rights Holder in the current negotiations.

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F1Wolf

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