LOTUS RETURN
In a decision the traditionalists will love the Lotus name will be back in formula 1 in 2010. The newly formed Lotus F1 team has been awarded the 13th entry in the 2010 Formula 1 championship, the governing body announced on Tuesday.
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The FIA said it had also received an "impressive" application from the BMW Sauber team, but given the uncertainty about the ownership of the Sauber squad the governing body decided to give the entry to Lotus although Sauber was given the "14th place" in case any vacancy arises on the 2010 grid.
The Lotus entry will be backed a company called 1Malaysia F1 Team Sdn Bhd, with Tony Fernandes as team principal. Fernandes is the founder and CEO of the Malaysian-based Tune Group, owner of the Air Asia airline. Mike Gascoyne will be the team's technical director and Lotus will use Cosworth engines.
The company is a partnership between the Malaysian government and a consortium of Malaysian entrepreneurs. The Lotus name will return to Formula 1 as a constructor for the first time since 1994.
Lotus will be initially based at the RTN facility in Norfolk, UK, some 10 miles from the Lotus Cars factory. The 50,000 square foot facility was originally built by Toyota for its initial Formula 1 programme and then used by Bentley for its Le Mans programme.
The team's future design, R&D, manufacturing and technical centre will be built at Malaysia's Sepang International Circuit.
Although the FIA approval of Lotus's plans has come late in the year, leaving the team in a race against time to get ready for 2010, Gascoyne is sure it can still make an impact.
"It will be a big challenge to get on the grid, but certainly by mid-season I think we would clearly like to be the best of the new teams, and by the end of the year I would hope we have broken into the top ten overall,"
"Things are very tight," he said. "We are aiming at the second week of February for the roll-out, and we have got a huge amount of work considering we are starting from nothing.
"One of the good things with Tony Fernandes and the Malaysian backing is that it is a very well-funded thing. We have got a very big aero programme in place with Fondtech and Jean-Claude Migeot, and we will be expanding that. The first half of the season will be tight, but it is a great challenge."
And Gascoyne has admitted that there are special emotions both reviving the Lotus name and setting up work at a factory in his local Norfolk.
"We are based at the RTN factory and I went to school about four miles down the road," said Gascoyne. "I was born and bred in Norfolk, and there is a bit of emotion about it.
"It is the same for Malaysia, with the Proton and Lotus tie-up. It brings a famous name back into F1, and it is a good story for F1. We are not pretending to be the old Team Lotus. We are the new Lotus F1 team."
The governing body added the it will look into expanding the grid to 14 teams, so that the Sauber team can continue next year as it appears that a buyer has been found. The FIA are consulting urgently with the existing teams regarding the introduction of an appropriate rule change to expand the grid to 28 cars in time for the first Grand Prix in 2010.
Depending on the outcome of the Renault/Singapore GP race fixing enquiry however this may not be necessary. Renault may be expelled from the championship or even quit if they receive a guilty finding.
FISI AT FERRARI & IS BRIATORE BUGGERED
As widely predicted, Giancarlo Fischella, fresh from his excellent second place for Force India at Spa has been confirmed as the unfortunate Luca Badoer’s replacement at Ferrari starting at next weekends Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
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Fisi will finish the season for Ferrari now that Felipe Massa has been ruled out for the rest of the year and is expected to stay with the team as the test and reserve driver next year. Massa is likely to return for the beginning of next season however head injuries can prove to be very slow in recovering, just ask Kark Wendlinger, so Giancarlo may well be racing for the prancing horse next year as well. Alongside who, you ask? Well Kimi has a contract, for what it is worth, as has Massa. According to the rumours, so does Fernando Alonso and there is always that German fellow who is apparently quick that is contemplating a drive or two. Haven’t seen a five car team since BRM in 1972……….
Will Kimi & Fernando do a swap? Sort of depends on the outcome of the enquiry into last years Singapore GP and if Renault will be around at all. It has been announced that the Renault team has been summonsed to appear before an extraordinary meeting of the FIA World Motor Sports Council on September 21 to answer charges that Nelson Piquet’s crash was no accident. It is alleged that he was instructed to prang at that time to enable Alonso who had just pitted for fuel to take the lead as the rest of the field would be pitting behind the safety car.
The timing of Piquet’s shunt was always a bit suspicious and there were many comments at the time, including from Felipe Massa, that is was intentional. The FIA claim that they now have fresh evidence available and they feel that Renault do indeed have a case to answer. Could it be that Flash Flav fucked up when sacking Piquet a couple of weeks ago and that the bitter Brazilian has blabbed? The timing would seem to suggest that Piquet may be the source of the “new information” and one would think that any evidence would have had to come from inside the team or from someone closely associated with it.
It wouldn’t be the first time that a team under the leadership of Briatore has been busted for dodgy dealings. Back in the mid-nineties the Benetton squad was caught with traction control software still on their cars despite it being banned. Benetton claimed that it was not activated and no-one could prove otherwise but there had been suspicions about Schumacher’s starts for most of the year when it was discovered. And of course Flav was in command when the Luftwaffe dive bombed Hill at Adelaide in ’94.
What will happen if the case is proven? Well Renault are being charged under Article 151c, which is the standard disrepute charge and can result in a wide range of punishments, ranging from reprimands and fines through to race bans and exclusion from the world championship. Will Renault be tossed out of the championship? Will they cop a McLaren style fine? Will they just consider it all too embarrassing to be branded cheats and pull the plug on their involvement in the sport themselves? What then for Williams engine deal? Where would Kimi go? Which new team would be allowed in to fill their slot? And what of Flav himself? Would Briatore be banned from the sport? And what of Piquet himself? Even if he is the whistle-blower a guilty verdict will do nothing for his rapidly evaporating F1 career. Even if he escapes sanction not many teams will want to hire someone with such loose lips, especially one who has found to be involved in such outrageous cheating. Not too many sponsors would want to be associated with him either.
Nor with Renault or Flav either for that matter. And even if found not guilty, this could not have come at much of a worse time for Renault who are looking for a replacement title sponsor as ING will be ending their deal at seasons close.
And you thought things would quieten down after the recent Concorde Agreement? HA!!
Sam Snape
05-09-09
F1 – BMW QUITS, SCHUMACHER RETURNS
In a move that shouldn’t come as a complete surprise, indeed Max Moseley will be saying “I told you so”, BMW have announced that they are quitting Formula 1 as both a team and an engine supplier at the end of this year. With a 90% decline in yearly profits the German car maker has decided that there are more politically correct things they could be spending several trillion Deutschmarks on. Had they been enjoying more success and had a more stringent cost cutting agreement gotten through they may have stayed but as neither of these were the case, the plug has been pulled.
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As Max has quite rightly, not always politely, pointed out, manufacturers come and manufacturers go in F1. And when cash is a bit tight they can’t go fast enough. Either on the track or out the door. This will be BMW’s second exit in 22 years and Renault are rumoured to be seriously considering the same thing. Flash Flav has been said to have been racking up the frequent flyer miles trying to find the finance for a management buy-out. Just sell the yacht Flav… Toyota have denied that they are looking for a way out but as they have already cancelled the Japanese GP from the company owned Fuji circuit who can be certain where their next cost cutting measure will be. Just because the team manager says they will not withdraw doesn’t mean the folks in Tokyo agree. Mario Theissen didn’t see it coming either. Just last week he was on about how they had overcome their car problems and were expecting to improve greatly next year. Oops.
All of which of course, frees up Robert Kubica to look for other employment, which may well have buggered up Nico Rosberg’s hopes of a McLaren seat. Bet young Nico is glad he didn’t sign that BMW contract that was being waived under his nose. What now becomes of the 13th
team slot for next year? Will Peter Sauber buy the team back? Will Prodrive (Aston Martin) or Epsilon Euskadi buy their licence? Will Harry Potter enter in his Morris? Time will tell.
Meanwhile the good news is that Felipe Massa is well on his way to recovery. He is conscious and alert and able to talk with his doctors and may well be released from hospital as early as next week. It also appears that there is no permanent damage to his left eye, just a bucket load of swelling.
Ferrari has announced that Michael Schumacher will drive at Valencia in Felipe’s place and may well see out the rest of the season if he is competitive. Ferrari has requested permission from the other teams and the FIA to be allowed to give their super-sub a days testing before the Spanish race. Hmmm, perhaps the FIA will invoke the Red Car Rule again and allow it but I can’t see the other teams saying yes. After all, Alguersuari at Toro Rosso got none and neither will Grosjean when he hops into Piquet’s Renault, whenever that may be. Renault’s appeal against the Valencia suspension will be held on August 17. In any case Ferrari are already cheating by running the German in a 2007 car at Mugello. They claim that a) it is not this years car and b) the car belongs to the Client Department not the F1 team so it is not covered by the test ban rules. Perhaps Red Bull and Renault could run their replacement drivers in what they call next years car belonging to Red Bull Technologies or ING Client support and claim the same thing.
F1 – WEBBER THIRD MAKES SECOND
Backing up from his win at the Nurburgring Mark Webber took another podium finish at the Hungaroring and his third place was enough for him to snatch 2nd in the championship ladder from his team-mate Sebastian Vettel. In a return to form of the big teams Lewis Hamilton won for McLaren ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the sole Ferrari as his unfortunate team-mate Felipe Massa lay in hospital after being struck in the head by a broken spring from the back of fellow Brazilian Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn.
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Webber made an excellent start to battle past Hamilton at turn 2 and hold second behind the lightly fuelled Renault of Fernando Alonso. A few laps later Hamilton hit his KERS button to retake the place but Webber looked set for a comfortable second behind the McLaren. In what appears to have been a tactical error the Red Bull team sent Mark out on the harder tyres for his second stint and this, along with a slightly botched pit-stop dropped him well behind Raikkonen’s Ferrari by the time the final stops were completed.
Still, on a day where the popular theory was that the Brawns would return to their early season form Webber was the only driver from the top of the championship ladder to score decent points and not only has he taken 2nd place off Vettel, but closed to within twenty points of Button for the title lead. With the Britton finishing in seventh place he now has 70 points with Webber on 51½ and Vettel on 47.
"I expected us to be a little bit quicker after our running on Friday, but to be honest we expected these guys (McLaren and Ferrari) to be around us. We knew it would be a more difficult venue for us and that we wouldn't have the advantage that we maybe had at the last two events so, all-in-all, I'm happy to get the result we did today. I think we would have had a better chance to fight with Kimi (Raikkonen) if we'd made a slightly different pit stop and chose a different tyre for the middle stint, but that was my call. I was worried about how long the middle stint was, so it was quite difficult to know which tyre to put on. Overall we still have a lot of positives to take away from here we're still up there, we're in the hunt and know that we can take our car to a lot of venues and be competitive. Red Bull and Renault have a lot to be proud of, we're still a strong force and it's a positive day."
In other news from Hungary the unfortunate Felipe Massa has undergone surgery to repair several fractures to his skull and has been placed in an induced coma for a couple of days to allow the swelling to reside. Renault is also in the news as it is now certain that Nelson Piquet has driven his last Grand Prix for the team but one way or the other he will not be at Valencia. Renault has been suspended from the race due to the team releasing his car from his pit stop without having fastened his right front wheel. The FIA took a hard line on this after the events of the last couple of weeks where not only has Massa been injured by debris on the track, but young British F2 driver, Henry Surtees, son of 1964 World Champ John Surtees, was killed after being hit by a loose wheel at Brands Hatch.
Sam Snape
IRL – PENSKE POWER
Will Power and Helio Castroneves completed a productive weekend for Penske Racing, earning a 1-2 finish at the Rexall Edmonton Indy on Sunday afternoon, with Power scoring his first IndyCar Series victory.
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Power cruised to the finish line of the 95-lap race under caution in the No. 12 Penske Truck Rental Dallara/Honda ahead of his teammate. Meanwhile, Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe finished fourth, keeping him in third place in the tight series championship standings. Briscoe is now 14 points behind new leader Scott Dixon, who finished third on Sunday.
Since filling in for Castroneves at the season opener in St. Petersburg, Power has performed well for the team, earning additional races after posting solid results at St. Pete, Long Beach and the Indianapolis 500. He has now scored top-five finishes in four of his five races for the team, including back-to-back podium results at Toronto and Sunday's win at Edmonton's CityCentreAirport circuit.
"I'm very happy," Power said. "The Penske Racing crew did an incredible job. I'm really enjoying being a part of this team. I'm not stressed, I'm just taking it one race at a time and doing my best. I've got to thank Roger (Penske) for the opportunity. Today was a great day."
Power led 90 of the 95 laps in the race to complete a near perfect race weekend which also saw him win his second IndyCar Series pole position. With Briscoe and Castoneves running in second and third place for the early part of the race, it looked a podium sweep was possible for the Penske trio. But Dixon was able to work his way into second place after the second series of pit stops before Briscoe was able to reclaim second place.
As the race wore on, Briscoe experienced some handling issues on the No. 6 Team Penske Dallara/Honda and he fell back to fourth place. Castroneves then got by Dixon for the second spot and ran strong to the finish for his best road/street course result of the season.
Castroneves praised Power for his effort, though he was disappointed that the Penske teammates didn't get a 1-2-3 finish to match their 1-2-3 start in the race.
"I feel great. It's a shame that a 1-2-3 team finish slipped away," said Castroneves. "But our goal was to stop the Ganassi guys and we were able to do that with Will's win. When Will came on board, we never had a doubt that he would be a top race contender and it's great that his win keeps championship points from our opponents. It was a well-deserved win. Second place was a solid finish in the Team Penske car. Penske Racing did an incredible job today. I'm very happy."
The race was difficult for many drivers, who nearly went the distance without a caution period. Ironically, the race's first caution came with just one lap remaining, forcing the race to conclude under the first yellow flag of the day. While Briscoe and others felt the effects of the physical race, he still managed to finish fourth.
"It was a tough race, I'll tell you what, without any yellow flags," said Briscoe. "It was tough out there. Luckily, I'd taken my fluids before the race. That's probably one of the tougher races I've done but the Team Penske guys did a great job. We were hoping to finish on the podium but we had a few issues so we'll take the fourth-place result. Congratulations to Will and the guys on the 12 car team."
For Power, the result marks his fourth major open-wheel racing win - the 28-year-old Australian racer posted three victories in two plus seasons competing in the Champ Car World Series.
Penske Racing will once again field three entries next weekend when the IndyCar Series season continues on Saturday night, August 1, with the Meijer Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway.