Formula1 chat

Living close to Donington the sorry saga of the track etc is often in the local newspaper and regional tv news.

The update above is great for the track, but in one of the local papers the other day, it stated that a lot of small local business contractors and firms that were supplying Donoington with equipenment and services may never recover.

One suppleir of barrier fencing is owed £36k with no prospect ogf getting it back, the stress has been so scvere the owner has had a stroke. To that particular firm that 36k was everything and they have been struggling to survive, the local hotels and the like have seen their bookings decimated with no racing and no events at Donington. Catering suppliers, the St Johns ambulance and even the local Police force have huge sums owing to them, lets just hope Donington gets up an running and that they can support through patronage some of the firms effected. Some of these face banckrupcy all because they have not been paid by Donington. (Not Weatcrofts)

It just seems that those in charge had no idea of project or financial management and have ruined many other peoples lives in the process.

Putting it mildly, that makes sad reading indeed.
I can't say that any of it comes as a surprise to me though; it's what happens when bad decisions are made, then reversed & the perpetrators do a runner.
I really hope that someone in "authority" will lead an investigation into this whole bl--dy mess & ensure that Heads roll & that the Bills are paid by those responsible.
Taking another Tack on this.
Sums like 30k which are breaking the Backs of small Contractors are merely "Pocket Money" to many involved with Motor Sport.
A couple of "generous gestures" would also quickly resolve the problem. Wouldn't they?
I'm very worried that the longer the arguments go on & the longer the Circuit is unable to host events the deeper in debt & more unsalvageable the situation will become.
Serious action by those with the "powers" is needed now, not Tomorrow.
6-12 Weeks has been quoted as the time needed to get most things working again.
That would still give event organisers a good but tight time scale to organise events there for this Season.
The "Save Donington Campaign" is a great idea but it's not going to put the much needed Cash into the Coffers of those that are presently suffering.
The "big noises" that caused this mess are now sitting on their Tails in dark Corners & the must be taken to task!

Oooh that was one major Grump.
I'll have to take a short nap

Mercedes, McLaren, Renault and Ferrari all launched their new 2010 cars this week. I have to say if Lotus can produce a car looking as good as that F10 Ferrari or Mercedes then it will be a welcome miracle. Please just don't look like that RenaulT!

Trigger wrote:Please just don't look like that RenaulT!

that looks terrible, like vomit at high speed streaked down the back

Sorry we can't say too much about Lotus F1 --- YET
I can't wait either, all the other teams are hogging the press.

If Tim can get Nigel on the Front of Chicane - can he get him in the F1 car?
May not finnish but he would sure set some quick times
Peter

P.S.
Just logged onto the BBC site to listen to the first Lotus Cosworth in 27yrs ( must say it sounded a bit rough to me - perhars my ears have got older as well)
See what happens on friday !!!!

He is now confirmed as racing an LMP1 Ginetta Zytek at Le Mans this year with sons Leo and Greg. as well as other races in LMS.

About time too !

Ecclestone reveals teams can miss races
07/02/2010

For the past few weeks rumours have been flying around that Campos and USF1 may ask to miss the first three races of the season. What we didn't know until now is that not only are these two teams perfectly entitled to do this under the new Concorde Agreement, but so is any team on the grid.

This staggering news comes straight from the mouth of Bernie Ecclestone speaking to Pitpass' business editor today in the Express. "I think we won't see Campos and I don't think we will see the Americans... they are going to ask to miss three races," says Ecclestone adding "in the Concorde Agreement the teams are allowed to miss three races." Aguri Suzuki must be wishing he had signed this version of the contract.

The clause keeps the door open for F1's new entries but it could also give the sport a patchwork grid with teams coming and going depending on whether they can afford to race. It could dent interest in the sport as Ecclestone indicates by asking, "what if Ferrari miss three races?"

It could also see the company Ecclestone runs paying hefty fines if it breaches its contract with the FIA which grants it the commercial rights to the sport. According to company documents, under this contract Ecclestone's company is committed "to use its reasonable endeavours to procure the participation of at least 16 cars per Grand Prix."

In the past 12 months Honda, BMW and Toyota have pulled out of the sport due to the high cost of competition which averages $270m per team. However, missing the more expensive long haul races may be a way for teams which are close to the wall, and not likely to score points, to reduce costs and remain in the sport.

Stefan Grand Prix based in Serbia is ready to take the position of any team which drops out and, according to Ecclestone, "they are going to take over Toyota completely. The team and motorhomes." He adds that "they have got the money from the government, I've spoken to the prime minister."

However there is no space on the grid for the team so, as Ecclestone says, "they are ready to rock and roll but they've not got an entry."

Until Stefan gets the slot one imagines that the Serbian government won't be handing over the cash and, having filed a complaint against the FIA with the European Commission, it's hard to imagine the team getting a slot.

Stefan isn't the only team which may be hurting according to Ecclestone who says that he thinks Mercedes' withdrawal of its stake in McLaren will hurt the Woking team.

Ecclestone also suggests that just as the new teams may miss races, so too may he miss instalments on the $10m payment to them. "Maybe we can miss a few races," he says adding that the money will only begin to be paid if the teams start racing. He has a simple solution to minimise the number of team personnel at the races and cut costs for not only the new teams, but the existing ones as well - "very easy, don't give them passes so don't let them in."

As ever, Ecclestone holds all the keys.

From pitpass
http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=39908


Eddie

Formula Uno

The Ferrari F1 team fired their entire pit crew yesterday.

This announcement followed Ferrari's decision to take advantage of the
British government's 'Work for your Dole' scheme and employ some
Liverpudlian youngsters.

The decision to hire them was brought about by a recent documentary on
how unemployed youths from Toxteth were able to remove a set of wheels
in less than 6 seconds without proper equipment, whereas Ferrari's
existing crew could only do it in 8 seconds with millions of pounds
worth of high tech equipment.

It was thought to be an excellent, bold move by the Ferrari management
team as most races are won and lost in the pits, giving Ferrari an
advantage over every other team.

However, Ferrari got more than they bargained for!


At the crew's first practice session, not only was the scouse pit crew
able to change all four wheels in under 6 seconds but, within 12
seconds, they had re-sprayed, re-badged and sold the car to the Mclaren
team for 8 cases of Stella, a bag of weed and some photos of Coulthard's
bird in the shower.

GrumpyBodger wrote:Formula Uno
The Ferrari F1 team fired their entire pit crew yesterday.

This announcement followed Ferrari's decision to take advantage of the
British government's 'Work for your Dole' scheme and employ some
Liverpudlian youngsters.

The decision to hire them was brought about by a recent documentary on
how unemployed youths from Toxteth were able to remove a set of wheels
in less than 6 seconds without proper equipment, whereas Ferrari's
existing crew could only do it in 8 seconds with millions of pounds
worth of high tech equipment.

It was thought to be an excellent, bold move by the Ferrari management
team as most races are won and lost in the pits, giving Ferrari an
advantage over every other team.

However, Ferrari got more than they bargained for!

At the crew's first practice session, not only was the scouse pit crew
able to change all four wheels in under 6 seconds but, within 12
seconds, they had re-sprayed, re-badged and sold the car to the Mclaren
team for 8 cases of Stella, a bag of weed and some photos of Coulthard's
bird in the shower.

Bloomin excellent ...made me laugh - nearly choked on my Italian pasta - I'll be reading this to my accountant this afternoon- a Ferrari fan (well was until Lotus came back).
Cheers, Tim.

Some of the latest news from F1.

The Campos Formula 1 team has been renamed Hispania Racing (HRT F1) after being taken over by Spanish financier Jose Ramon Carabante.

The new US F1 team will almost certainly not race this season as doubts increase about their future. They will not make any of the first four races, are two months away from having a car and have insufficient funds

Lotus came through courtesy of Heikki Kovalainen for 18th place on 2m 00.873s. Team mate Jarno Trulli shadowed him with 2m 00.990s, which left the green and yellow cars comfortably ahead of the black and red Virgins. Timo Glock lapped his VR-01 in 2m 02.037s, with team mate Lucas di Grassi close on 2m 02.188s.

1 Nico Rosberg / Mercedes Benz GP Ltd 1:55.409
2 Lewis Hamilton/ McLaren-Mercedes 1:55.854
3 Michael Schumacher/ Mercedes Benz GP Ltd 1:55.903
4 Jenson Button/ McLaren-Mercedes 1:56.076
5 Sebastian Vettel/ RBR-Renault 1:56.459
6 Nico Hulkenberg/ Williams-Cosworth 1:56.501
7 Felipe Massa/ Ferrari 1:56.555
8 Vitaly Petrov/ Renault 1:56.750
9 Fernando Alonso/ Ferrari 1:57.140
10 Pedro de la Rosa/ BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:57.255
11 Kamui Kobayashi/ BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:57.352
12 Adrian Sutil/ Force India-Mercedes 1:57.361
13 Rubens Barrichello/ Williams-Cosworth 1:57.452
14 Vitantonio Liuzzi/ Force India-Mercedes 1:57.833
15 Robert Kubica/ Renault 1:58.155
16 Jaime Alguersuari/ STR-Ferrari 1:59.799
17 Mark Webber/ RBR-Renault 2:00.444
18 Heikki Kovalainen/ Lotus-Cosworth 2:00.873
19 Jarno Trulli/ Lotus-Cosworth 2:00.990
20 Timo Glock/ Virgin-Cosworth 2:02.037
21 Lucas di Grassi/ Virgin-Cosworth 2:02.188
22 Bruno Senna/ HRT-Cosworth 2:06.968
23 Sebastien Buemi/ STR-Ferrari No time
24 Karun Chandhok/ HRT-Cosworth No time

GrumpyBodger wrote:Formula Uno
The Ferrari F1 team fired their entire pit crew yesterday.

awesome...

Here's a shot from practice at Bahrain today......

A good first run at a GP meeting!

Congratulations to Lotus Racing for completing their first qualifying session of 2010. Shame that Timo beat us to the fastest of the newbies but it's all about the Grand Prix tomorrow and I'm sure they will have the pace over Virgin and maybe a few others. Surprising to see McLaren struggling so soon in the year again but a good start for Vettel and Ferrari.