The F1 teams kept radio silence for several day on the whole Max vs. NOTW issue. And then, not unlike in case of F1 news sites, several of them came out at the same time and made themselves heard:

BMW Sauber and McLaren-Mercedes

“The content of the publications is disgraceful. As a company, we strongly distance ourselves from it. This incident concerns Max Mosley both personally and as President of the FIA, the global umbrella organisation for motoring clubs. Its consequences therefore extend far beyond the motor sport industry. We await a response from the relevant FIA bodies.”

Mosley replied them in very weird manner:

Read the rest of this entry »

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here

Two days have passed since Max Mosley made the news for all the wrong reasons. What happened since then ? Simply put, the pressure on Mosley is mounting.

Mosley succeeded and having the photos and video removed from YouTube and The News Of The World site. The mainstream F1 sites broke the radio silence and published the story. All of them at about the same like if on command from somebody … And then various F1 figures began to voice their oppinions on the matter. Here is the collection:

Bernie Ecclestone:

“I’ve known him an awful long time. If somebody had told me this without the evidence I would have found it difficult to believe. Assuming it’s all true, what people do privately is up to them. I don’t honestly believe [it] affects the sport in any way. Knowing Max it might be all a bit of a joke. You know, it’s one of those things where he’s sort of taking the p***, rather than anything against Jewish people.”

and Bernie Ecclestone again on comments that Mosley may cancel travel to Bahrain:

“He shouldn’t go, should he? The problem is he would take all the ink away from the race and put it on something which, honestly and truly, is nobody else’s business anyway.”

… and Bernie Ecclestone on future of Max Mosley (for The Times)

“What Max should do is what he thinks is right because it is only him that’s involved, not the FIA. He must do what he believes, in his heart of hearts, is the right thing. If Max was in bed with two hookers, they’d say ‘good for you or something like that’. But this, as it is, people find it repulsive. I think that’s the problem. The trouble with Max is he’s been brave and there is bravado at the moment, but I don’t think it’s going to be easy. And if he starts to sue, from what I understand, the chances of him winning would be slim and, the trouble is, it’s just a lot more ink for the press.”

Read the rest of this entry »

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here

If anyone thought this year will be without controversy in F1, well it was not to be. Only 2 weeks into the season and the new “gate” is on horizon. And it involves none other than Max Mosley himself.

The British paper The News Of The World ran this story yesterday. If the link does not work, then a video from the story is on YouTube and attracted well over 100,000 view in few hours only … No wonder …

Some European papers picked up the story (like Gazetta dello Sport in Italy), but not even a mention yet on any major Formula 1 websites. It looks like everybody is waiting what Max Mosley has to say … The F1 Forums however have been flooded with the Mosley discussions for whole Sunday …

Update: There is an article in Times Online available now, click here

It is hard to tell from the photos and video if the man described as Max Mosley is really Max Mosley. But the silence from him and from all F1 sites may suggest that he may be. If the story was a total fabrication I would expect Mosley to deny it right away and strongly.

So what now ? Will he resign ? Should he ? Will he be forced to ? Or will this just go away ?

Here are few links to other blogs reporting on this story:

Times Online Formula One Blog
F1Fanatic
BlogF1

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here

FIA has been in action again. Max Mosley seems to be on track to impose the budget caps from season 2009 already.

“Starting in 2009, there will be a cap on expenditure for all Formula One costs other than engines, drivers and expenditure exclusively for promotion and marketing. Because of the variety of arrangements, particularly shareholdings, team principals’ remuneration will not be included in the cap.”

The budget cap figure for 2009 and perhaps for 2010 and 2011 is expected to be set after a meeting between FIA technical advisor Tony Purnell and financial representatives of the teams on January 31 in Paris. The Financial Working Group is expected to finalize the details of the regulations before June 2008. Mosley warns of different action should not sufficient progress be made by then:

“If the Financial Working Group are unable to devise a satisfactory method of checking expenditure or if a majority of the competing teams do not agree the proposals by 30 June 2008, the cost reduction measures voted by the World Motor Sport Council on 7 December 2007 will be adopted for 2009 in their entirety.”

That would be the radical measures like the wind tunnel limits advertised by Max Mosley few weeks ago. While I think that limiting the massive spending is the step in the right direction I am not that sure it will work. Teams will be looking for the ways how to get around this especially those in a need to catch up during the season. Mosley is clearly aware of that, therefore the warning. I really want to see how is he going to police the budget cap. Especially when 3 costly areas are left out…

The FIA and the team bosses came up also with sensible proposal not to penalize one engine change per car per season. That would mean that the first 2008 engine change for a driver will not be followed by the 10 place grid penalty. This proposal needs get an approval of the World Motorsport Council and the vote is expected soon.  A rare voice of reason

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here

Friday, April 28, 2006 - FIA president Max Mosley:

“Prodrive have the best combination of financial backing, technical capability and motorsport experience. The team are well known to the FIA through their participation in the World Rally Championship and Richards has experience as a Formula One team principal.”

Fast forward to January 10, 2008 - Dave Richards:

“F1’s new commercial agreement means that Prodrive will not enter the sport in the near future.”

Two years ago there were 22 subjects bidding for the presence on Formula 1 grid. Eleven came from then existing Formula 1 teams, another eleven from F1 wannabies that included among others Prodrive, Direxiv, Eddie Jordan, Paul Stoddart, Carlin Motorsport, Craig Pollock. All the existing teams, including Super Aguri that was yet to make their own F1 debut were granted the entry to 2008 season. The only spot for a new team went to Prodrive.

There is no doubt that such an overwhelming interest in F1 entry was a result of new customer car rules advertised by FIA at that time. The new rules did not materialize, Prodrive had no plan B and so 2001 is still the last season we had full 12 teams / 24 cars F1 grid.

Read the rest of this entry »

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here

Well, that is the opinion of Max Mosley. Perhaps he read some comments on this site and replied them through The Guardian .

So here are few latest gems courtesy of Max Mosley:

On the 2007 F1 Champion Kimi Raikkonen and whether he pleased Kimi has won it:

“Relieved because, if it had been either of the two McLaren drivers, there would always have been a question mark. I’m not sure how big a question mark but it would have been there. And that puts you in an incredibly difficult position. I think we’ve been very lucky.”

On the Ferrari McLaren thingy:

“People are interested in the human aspect and the whole human aspect of the Ferrari-McLaren thing fascinated a lot of people outside Formula One. The publicity actually increases interest. So I don’t think it does any harm to Formula One as long as the sponsors and so on feel the sport is honestly run and honestly governed.”

What does he exactly mean by the “human aspect” ? Tearful Ron Dennis or enterprising duo Coughlan/Stepney or the not exactly smart act by Mrs. Coughlan or the childish Fernando Alonso ?

Read the rest of this entry »

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here

What a bizzare turn of events… I suspect there must have been some behind the scenes talks between Mosley and McLaren, and the timing of both announcements seems to confirm my suspicion. I can’t believe I am saying this but it looks like Max Mosley has proven his case against McLaren… I must say the events of yesterday are perhaps even more shocking than the 100 million dollar fine imposed on McLaren… McLaren team that always denied use of any Ferrari data all of a sudden admits widespread use the information among their technical staff. And what more, the team even comes out with an apology to FIA and announces freeze on development of parts that might have been influenced by the information from Ferrari… Wow … This FIA McLaren Report explains things a bit. If what is in that report is indeed the real story, it shows that the information Coughlan obtained from Stepney was quite extensively used within McLaren, and moreover Coughlan’s role in the car development was much bigger than what McLaren previously admitted.

Here is the full statement from McLaren:

“As a result of the investigations carried out by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile it has become clear that Ferrari information was more widely disseminated within McLaren than was previously communicated. McLaren greatly regrets that its own investigations did not identify this material and has written to the World Motor Sport Council to apologise for this.

Read the rest of this entry »

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here

UPDATED - FULL WMSC DECISION AT THE BOTTOM OF THE ARTICLE

The history repeats. Like McLaren earlier this year Renault were found guilty but escaped without punishment.

FIA Statement:

“An extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council was held in Monaco on December 6, 2007. The World Council found Renault F1 to be in breach of article 151c of the International Sporting Code but imposed no penalty. Detailed reasons for this decision will be issued on December 7, 2007, and a transcript of the proceedings will be published as soon as possible thereafter.”

Renault and Flavio Briatore are obviously pleased with this outcome:
Read the rest of this entry »

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here

On November 7 the news broke out that Alonso is close to signing a deal with Renault, announcement was expected later that week.

Then only a day later Renault was summoned to the World Motor Sport Council to answer spying allegations. Coincidentally about the same time some sites reported that Alonso’s manager was talking with Red Bull. This started all sorts of theories, including Bourdais staying one more year in the US and Coulthard making room for Alonso by moving to Toro Rosso. This has been rubbished since by Bourdais, but not by Red Bull or Toro Rosso teams, at least I haven’t spotted it.

After the Renault spy case hearing news I wondered whether Renault and / or Alonso will be in a position to sign anything until the ruling is out, and that will be December 6 if there are no appeals.

With no news about the Alonso / Renault deal and no fresh indications he is in talks with anybody else it really may be the case that nothing will happen till the Renault ruling is out …

Perhaps the text on scooter helmet on the picture above points into his next destination Just kidding …

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here

After reading several of the lates news releases on this Renault case, visiting several forums to see what other make of it, in the process making fool of myself on one of them with my memory black out on the Stepneygate, I am trying to put some of the recent developments in a context.

The first information came out on September 11, 2007, just days  before the WMSC hearing and McLaren verdict FIA confirmed to Autosport:

“We have noted the speculation and we can confirm that McLaren lawyers have recently brought to our attention certain matters regarding Renault F1. But we can also confirm that the team (Renault) does not form any part of our investigations into McLaren’s alleged breach of Article 151C of the International Sporting Code. The FIA has reminded McLaren that the World Council hearing in Paris on Thursday will focus solely on the new evidence in that investigation. To the extent required, any other matters will be dealt with as part of an entirely separate process. Renault F1 are aware of this and are happy to cooperate fully.”

Flavio Briatore then responed with his now famous quote:

“We told the FIA what we had, so there’s no problem. I don’t know what Dennis refers to, he’s throwing stones a bit everywhere. We are calm, no problem at all.”

Then came weeks of silence and all of a sudden 2 days ago news broke out that Renault were called to appear before WMSC to answer the allegations.

Renault as expected came up with a statement to the media:

Read the rest of this entry »

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here