Tag: Formula One 2012

Jul 22 2012

F1 2012: Hockenheim

Local Boys Geared Up for German Grand Prix, but Not at Pole Position

By BRAD SPURGEON, The New York Times

July 21, 2012

(A) bit of bad German news has been all the talk of how the other track that hosts the German Grand Prix in alternating years, the Nurburgring, is in a complete state of financial ruin and its future in doubt, as the circuit is going bankrupt. In 2009, the local government backed and paid for a renovation of the circuit into both a circuit and a theme park, and it has turned into a fiasco.

Last March, the European Commission sent out a press release that began thus: “The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether a €524 million set of aid measures supporting the racetrack and leisure park at the Nurburgring in Germany is in line with EU state aid rules.”

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And in a final bit of bad news, German media has found the race a good moment to report that prosecutors in Munich are preparing to investigate claims by a German banker that Bernie Ecclestone had attempted to bribe him, offering $44 million in exchange for selling Formula One to CVC Capital a few years ago. The banker, Gerhard Gribkowsky, was recently sentenced to eight and a half years in prison in another matter, after admitting bribery, breach of trust and tax evasion.

F1 : No German arrest for corruption as Formula 1 supremo skips Hockenheim race

F1SA

Sunday, 22 July 2012

The Formula 1 Chief Executive’s absence, unusual for a European race but not unheard of, heightened speculation he is afraid of being arrested.

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“With Mercedes-Benz stalling on a new Concorde Agreement, and sponsors watching on anxiously, no one knows quite what will happen next,” Tom Cary wrote in the Telegraph.

If you build it, they will come? The Nürburgring folly

Mark Hallam, Deutsche Welle

7/21/12

How do you take the world’s most famous racetrack, with relatively small financial woes, and turn it into a half-billion-euro hole in less than a decade? The answer’s simple: renovate it with things it doesn’t need.

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The idea behind revamping the Nürburgring was to turn it into a publicly-traded company at least partially owned by private investors.

Two businessmen, Kai Richter and Georg Lindner, combined with then-Nürburgring CEO Walter Kafitz to convince the state government that the project was viable. The pair pledged to contribute to Nürburgring GmbH, and said others would flock to the project once the foundations were laid.

No new investors emerged. Midway through the construction process, Richter and Lindner themselves withdrew, saying they were out of money.

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“Well, firstly, Richter and Lindner obviously must go!” Hahne said. “Secondly, the racing and ‘event’ segments of the company must be divided. And thirdly – this is most important – the race tracks must remain in public possession, either at the regional or federal level.”

His suggestion, in short, is to do everything possible to turn the clock back on five disastrous years, at a great cost to the state and the German taxpayer.

Famed German Tracks Leave Their Mark on Series

By BRAD SPURGEON, The New York Times

Published: July 20, 2012

With the advent of the Schumacher era, Formula One became so popular in Germany that for many years the country hosted both the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim and another race – either the European Grand Prix or the Luxembourg Grand Prix – at the Nürburgring. Since 2008, the German Grand Prix has rotated between the Nürburgring and Hockenheim, while the European Grand Prix has moved to Valencia, Spain.

But many of the most memorable races of the German Grand Prix took place at the old Nürburgring track, the Nordschleife, or north loop, which was a track 20.81 kilometers, or 12.93 miles, long, winding through the forests of the Eiffel hills. It was a roller coaster of a track and on it only the greatest drivers could prove their mettle.

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The Hockenheimring was redesigned in 2002, with a vast portion of long straights through the forest cut off in favor of a small track with a large, tight hairpin to facilitate overtaking.

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The distinctive, winding track in the stadium area has remained, however, and is a favorite for fans to see the cars and for the drivers to see the fans.

3 drivers were penalized for gearbox changes, Rosberg, Grosjean, and Webber (at Silverstone).  Perez was penalized for impeding in Q2.  Red Bull is in violation of Engine Torque mapping rules.  No penalty imposed.

Forecast is for a dry track. Coverage is at noon on Faux

Pretty tables below.

Jul 21 2012

F1 2012: Hockenheim Qualifying

Sigh.

Thank goodness this is the last tape delayed broad cast on Faux this season because it’s just impossible to keep up with the point paying positions without using Speed Racecast and that is live though there is some update lag.

Then you have to watch it to sync them up.

These are the same tricks I used for Valencia and Silverstone.

The good news is that it’s not quite as damp as Silverstone was.  In the morning Practice the weather wasn’t so bad and they were able to turn some laps on the Softs.  It rained all afternoon and the only tires that would work were the Inters.  This is kind of a problem because lots of teams have mid-season aero replacements that have never been tried.

Did I mention mid season?

Yup, race 10 of 20 followed next week by Hungary and then Formula One takes August off entirely.

If the race is run on dry tires the choices on offer are Mediums and Softs.  Hockenheim is known for a lot of brake and tire wear because of its high speed straights and tight corners.

Kobayashi was fined 25k euros for hitting 3 crewmen at Silverstone.  Maldonado received a 10k euro fine for wacking Perez.

Jul 08 2012

F1 2012: Silverstone

Rolling in the mud

So one of the features of my “vacation” is working in large unpaved parking areas in the rain which comes down quite heavily at times.  I solve this problem by not worrying about it (Oh, what a world) and bringing a change.  I think I’ve told you about hip deep (no shit) Valet Parking but maybe not about the upper and lower lakes which are basically huge bowls that won’t drain until the water reaches the top of your door locks.

The sad fact is that when it gets dark they bring in the skip loaders and chains and yank them out any old way they can (hey, it was a total loss to begin with.  Call your insurance company.) and tape off any water still standing.

So I have some sympathy for the poor sods at Silverstone-

A Soggy Return to ‘The Home of Motor Sport.’ Why?

By BRAD SPURGEON, The New York Times

July 7, 2012, 12:27 am

Overnight things went from bad to worse at Silverstone as the track director decided to tell ticket holders not to show up on Saturday for the practice and qualifying session. The public parking lots on grass and soil were so badly flooded that they decided to prevent ticket holders from driving to the track, in order to allow the parking lots to be in better conditions for Sunday’s race.

But will anything improve? It rained massively on Saturday afternoon, causing a 1 hour and 30 minute pause during the qualifying session. Furthermore, the forecast is for one month’s worth of rain falling over Saturday and Sunday. In fact, some 60 areas of the country are under severe flood warnings.

Seriously, this is like the #1 topic, how sucky the parking and traffic situation is in the midst of this mid-summer English monsoon.

Silverstone invokes "Dunkirk spirit" after rain chaos

By Alan Baldwin, The Star

Sunday, July 08, 2012

“We had to make a difficult decision yesterday which was really upsetting but I have to say today has been a much better day,” he told reporters after another big turnout for a rain-delayed qualifying session.

“A remarkable number of people actually got here somehow, I’m not quite sure how…and we are very grateful to the people who did stay at home. At least it’s given us breathing space now and we are looking forward to tomorrow.

“The fans seem to be very supportive and there’s a bit of a Dunkirk spirit about this one,” added Phillips.

Never wear anything you’d be afraid to throw away.

British Grand Prix events are regrettable but the blame must be shared, says Damon Hill

By Damon Hill, The Telegraph

9:00 PM BST 07 Jul 2012

Damon Hill was, until last year, president of BRDC, the owners of Silverstone.

It’s a great shame what happened on Friday but finger-pointing does no one any good. Clearly the British Grand Prix is a big event of massive importance to the sport and what has happened is regrettable, but I think it’s important to point out that the efficient running of it is not just an issue for Silverstone, or Formula One, or Northamptonshire, but for everyone.

What happened here is not an isolated case this summer. So many events have been hit. Together we need to work out how to make this, a premier national event, work smoothly, so we’re not embarrassed and people don’t suffer.

We are going to have wet weather; we are going to have wet races. So there needs to be a sensible analysis of how to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

And it’s a good thing they have that to talk about too because everything you thought you learned in Practice and Qualifying you really didn’t because for the first time in 2 days we’re going to start dry.

Pretty tables below.

Jul 07 2012

F1 2012: Silverstone Qualifying

Know much?  Me either.

Silverstone is everybody’s test track, but they haven’t done much.

The weekend is going to be Wet, Dry, Wet which means the only time they’ll get with the drys (Hard and Medium) is P3 and Qualifying.  It will be a challenge to see how they balance the chassis setup between Qualfying (dry) and Racing (wet).  Clear vision is a distinct advantage.  Most drivers Friday spent the majority of their time in the garage.  To be fair the place was an ice rink.

They won’t be using drys tomorrow though they could run out of Wets and Inters.  I wonder if someone will try to spare his Mediums?

Debrief was all rain games, spins, and blooper reels.  They did mention that negotiations on the new racing agreements are not going well which is amazingly reality based for them.

Guess they ran out of everything else.

Renault has no idea what is wrong with their alternators.  Test driver Maria de Villota of Marussia lost her right eye in a crash.

Coverage starts at 8 am on Speed.  Tomorrow the race is tape delayed until noon on Faux so I’ll have to use the same tricks I used for Valencia.  I’ll mostly be watching this today though because nothing important ever happens in the first 90 minutes of Le Tour.  It’s like Turn Left that way.

Jun 24 2012

Formula One: Valencia

So we’ve been following the Gerhard Gribkowsky case since August 2011.

As you may recall it’s alledged that Bernie Ecclestone paid Gerhard a bribe of $44 Million so that the sale of the Kirsh Group’s interest in Formula One was not only below market value, but also so they would not participate in any profit sharing.  Bernie’s counter-contention was that it was merely an extortion payment to hide the fact that he and his wife were evading $3.2 BILLION in taxes on the family trust fund.

Well, Wednesday Gribkowsky admitted accepting the bribe in Court-

Ex-BayernLB Banker Admits Taking Bribe on Formula 1 Sale

By Karin Matussek, Business Week

June 20, 2012

Gribkowsky told the Munich Regional Court today the indictment against him was “in most parts” correct. He made his declaration after closed chamber negotiations between the court, prosecutors, and his defense lawyers. In exchange for his confession, the judges informally agreed Gribkowsky would get a prison term of 7 years and 10 months to 9 years, Presiding Judge Peter Noll said at the hearing.

Prosecutors last year charged Gribkowsky, who managed Munich-based BayernLB’s interest in Formula One, with accepting bribes, breach of trust and tax evasion. They claim he received $44 million in bribes to steer the sale of the bank’s 47 percent stake in the racing circuit to CVC, a U.K.-based buyout firm, and also agreed to a sham contract under which Ecclestone received a kickback. Until today, Gribkowsky denied the claims.

“It took me a long time to come to terms with what I have done and to admit even to myself: Yes, it was bribery and yes, I should have paid tax,” Gribkowsky said in his first comments to the court since the trial began in October. “Still today I have troubles accepting this as a reality.”

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Ecclestone, who is being investigated by Munich prosecutors over the issue, has said he was caught up in a sophisticated shakedown and bribed Gribkowsky because he feared the banker might tell U.K. tax authorities about a family trust controlled by his then wife.

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BayernLB’s 47 percent share was sold for 840 million euros ($1.07 billion). Ecclestone asked for a kickback of $100 million from BayernLB for his role in setting up the sale, Gribkowsky told the judges. Gribkowsky reduced the amount to $66 million in negotiations and said he agreed to it knowing he had the power to reject Ecclestone’s demand completely.

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Because Ecclestone didn’t want cover the cost of the bribes, Gribkowsky set up another scam to funnel money from BayernLB to the Formula One executive, according to the indictment. The bank manager signed a sham contract under which BayernLB had to pay Ecclestone a kickback of $41.4 million and another $25 million to his then wife’s trust, prosecutors claim.

Banker Admits Formula One Bribe

By LAURA STEVENS and DAVID CRAWFORD, The Wall Street Journal

June 20, 2012, 5:15 p.m. ET

Mr. Gribkowsky was arrested early last year after Munich prosecutors launched a probe into allegations that he accepted bribes from Mr. Ecclestone to divest BayernLB’s stake in Formula One for far below the actual value.

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BayernLB, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. secured a combined 75% equity stake in Formula One in 2002, part of a debt settlement plan from the bankruptcy of German media company Kirch Group.

F1 : Ecclestone in crisis as Gerhard Gribkowsky Formula 1 bribery affair develops

F1SA

Friday, 22 June 2012 09:41

The reinvigorated Formula One bribery affair has raised questions not only about the viability of the sport’s planned floatation, but about whether Bernie Ecclestone will lose his job or even face jail in Germany.

“Will Ecclestone go to Hockenheim?” the Die Welt newspaper, obviously musing a potential arrest now that former Formula 1 banker Gerhard Gribkowsky has confirmed the Formula 1 Chief Executive’s payments to him were indeed bribes, wondered.

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German lawyer Sewarion Kirkitadze told Bild that Ecclestone ultimately face a prison sentence of “up to ten years”.

“He should also expect the prosecutor to prepare an international arrest warrant and an extradition request.”

Formula 1: Bernie Ecclestone Seeks Nothing Wrong in Paying Banker £28M

Auto Racing Daily

Jun 23, 2012

Bernie Ecclestone said that he had been “a bit stupid” to pay a German banker $44million (£28million) following the sale of Formula One to present owners CVC Capital Partners six years ago but insisted once again that he had done nothing wrong.

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“I have always said that we gave him money but it was not for what he said,” said the 81 year-old, who appeared as a witness at the trial in November. “He was shaking me down a bit and saying I had control of a family trust which was not true. He was doing the best he could. I was a little bit stupid – normally I would have told him to get lost.” Telegraph.co.uk

Ecclestone, 81, told Reuters that Gribkowsky had been putting him under pressure over his tax affairs. He paid some 10 million pounds ($16 million) to the banker to “keep him quiet” and not as alleged to smooth the sale of the Formula One stake to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.

Ecclestone puts brave face on Gribkowsky’s £28m bribe confession

David Tremayne, The Independent

Saturday 23 June 2012

As investment banker Gerhard Gribkowsky awaits sentence in Germany after confessing to taking a $44m (£28m) bribe, allegedly from Bernie Ecclestone, there has been inevitable speculation whether Ecclestone can escape being dragged further into the sport’s latest cause célèbre. It has already led to a delay in the proposed flotation of F1 in Singapore even though the $10bn (£6.4bn) valuation sought by rights holder CVC Capital Partners had been achieved by a recent sale of shareholdings to American investors.

Theoretically if somebody is found guilty of receiving a bribe then the person making the bribe can also be charged but, for Ecclestone, Valencia has been business as usual and he does not appear to have a care in the world. He blamed Gribkowsky for “shaking him down” while testifying at the Bavarian banker’s preliminary hearing, and his attorney Sven Thomas issued a statement after Gribkowsky’s confession claiming that it would have no impact on the prosecutors’ investigation into Ecclestone’s dealings.

Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone faces fresh allegations over £28 million ‘bribe’

By Tom Cary, F1 Correspondent, The Telegraph

10:31PM BST 20 Jun 2012

If Munich’s state prosecutors decide to go after Ecclestone, sources have indicated they might try to agree a financial settlement rather than go through a lengthy and costly trial with a billionaire in his eighties.

Should they press charges, it remains unclear what action, if any, CVC will decide to take. Ecclestone told The Daily Telegraph earlier this year that the private equity firm “could get rid of me tomorrow if it wanted to”.

These are extremely delicate times in the sport. CVC has sold more than £1.3billion worth of shares over the past few months ahead of a mooted flotation on the Singapore stock exchange later this year, although it says it intends to remain F1’s controlling shareholder. CVC declined to comment on Wednesday night.

I’ll be extremely surprised if any of this is mentioned today.

Speaking of surprises, in racing related news the headline is ‘Scuderia Marlboro UPC fails to advance to Q3’.  Timo Glock is too sick to race so only 23 cars will start.

Tire choices are Mediums and Softs.  Hardly any Softs escaped unused among the contenders in Qualifying so some of the big names in the back might attempt an early charge and extend strategy.  It will be Soft, Medium, Medium and after Canada I’d hardly expect any team to deviate.  It’s a fuel and brake hog so there could be some failures.

One newsworthy exchange that did air during Practice or Qualifying, I misremember, is that the stands are pretty empty this year.  The commentator observed that it’s hard to justify $400 for a ticket with 24% unemployment.  What did not get said is that there is discussion about dropping Valencia next year.

live stream?

Pretty tables below.

Jun 23 2012

Formula One: Valencia Qualifying

So, do you want to talk about tires?

Me either, but the engineers want to talk about tires because they’re very unhappy, calling them ‘unpredictable’.

Pirelli, for their part, deny this, saying that not only are they utterly reliable in their performance, but that durability and speed are consistent (though variable) throughout the range of racing temperatures which are beyond their control (being weather based and all).

All of this precipitated of course by Alonso’s spectacular late race, 7 place fold in Canada as he attempted to execute a skip pit advantage strategy that went disastrously wrong.

Please forgive my complete lack of sympathy for the Maranello crybabies of Scuderia Marlboro UPC.  The sad fact of the matter is that the Rules Committee is getting exactly the kind of competition they designed with 7 different winners in 7 races so far.  It’s a personal disappointment to me also since I’d prefer to see the possibility of a two stop vs. three stop, but I’d like a fuel weight strategy too and longer stops mean less ability to run away and hide in the lead.

So I entirely disagree with the concept that when you pit and for what is the dominant factor- they are like the weather, sucking equally and for everyone at the same time.  It’s still about qualifying to the extent of balancing saving tires and getting good position, a good start, and staying within a stop of the lead and out of trouble.

And if pit idiocy were eliminated McLaren would have a good team, so count your blessings.

Tomorrow’s broadcast is going to be challenging.  Tape delayed @ noon on Faux it makes my life miserable because the Speed Racecast at 8 am and that’s where I get my in-race positions.  I expect I’ll suffer through it like silent radio, taking periodic measurements.  Speed.com is supposed to live stream it too.

May 27 2012

Formula One: Circuit de Monaco

Monaco is the preening face of Formula One which is the only reason it has survived practically unchanged while the other great courses have been warped almost beyond recognition.  It’s a short twisty funnel of doom where you start where you finish unless you park.

And by park I mean flaming chunks of twisted metal or mechanical failure.

The study of entrophy is hugely depressing-

The law that entropy always increases holds, I think, the supreme position among the laws of Nature. If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell’s equations – then so much the worse for Maxwell’s equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation – well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation.

The thing about young people is that each slice of their existence represents such a large portion of the whole.  It takes close study or direct comparison to detect the decline.

Nothing is what it was and implosion is never far away.  We circle the drain.  The makeup is cracking and the surgeon repaired throat wattles…

Well, wattling.

But the point is the decaying facade of western civilization is on display today.

‘I think it’s time I was thinking of getting back to New York.  Let’s have a meal somewhere and I can phone the airline for plane times.  What day is it, we seem to have lost a weekend.  I need a drink.’

‘You need a lynching.  You’ve upset my friends and I haven’t written a goddamn word.  I’ve been too busy looking after you.  Your work here is done.  I can never come back here again.  This whole thing will probably finish me as a writer.  I have no story.’

‘Well I know we got a bit pissed and let things slip a bit but there’s lots of colour.  Lots happened.’

‘Holy Shit!  You scumbag!  This is Kentucky, not Skid Row.  I love these people.  They are my friends and you treated them like scum.’

Pretty tables to come.

Pretty tables done.

May 26 2012

Formula One: Circuit de Monaco Qualifying

Ah Monaco.

The ships, the lights, the sounds, the money.  Everything Formula One is about except, of course, competition.

Not that Formula One is usually about competition.

This year is a shiny abberation but you can’t learn much at Monaco.  It’s old and slow and there’s no place to pass or park which makes it a perfect yellow flag companion to the turn left Brick Yard and the stomping ground of Scuderia Marlboro which is all show and no go.  You want action?  Rent Grand Prix (I understand Eva Marie Saint is hot in her torpedo bra).

Shall I seem cynical?  Perhaps, but the truth is that I didn’t even bother watching practice where teams are testing fiddly aero bits they’ll never use again in search of extra downforce which will allow them to drive on the top of the tunnel like Men in Black.

Iconic.  That’s the word I’m looking for.  One “R” away from a trip through the dryer though waving steamy hot metal over your pleats and creases is so satisfyingly mindless.

How the Ecclestone and the mighty have fallen.  Live broadcast tomorrow @ 7:30 am on Speed (GP2 @ 6 am).

Oh, surprises below.

May 13 2012

Formula One: Catalunya

Ok, on the Irony Board (like that?  I just made it up) this doesn’t sir pass (look, another punny) Colin Powell, Village Liar defending his UN/WMD speech, but Schumacher didn’t even bother to go out in Q3 so he could save tires.

Or you could call it the courage of his convictions.

Does it sound early to you?  I actually kind of hate the European starts more because I have to get up instead of going to bed late and it interrupts my nightmares about people behaving in un-professional manners.

Like you’ve never had one.

Any who today’s grid is full of surprises and it’s likely to end the same way because Circuit de Catalunya is not renowned for passing opportunity which is good for Lewis except for Team McLaren’s history of abject failure when in positions of advantage.

Remind you of anybody?

Oh man, more coffee- let’s bury the lede not praise it.  Hamilton starts from the back because of a fueling violation.

Formula One: Hamilton stripped of pole for Spanish Grand Prix

Daily Times, A New Voice For A New Pakistan

Sunday, May 13, 2012

“A team member had put an insufficient quantity of fuel into the car thereby resulting in the car having to be stopped on the circuit in order to be able to provide the required amount for sampling purposes,” a statement said. “As the amount of fuel put into the car is under the complete control of the competitor the stewards cannot accept this as a case of force majeure. “The stewards determined this is a breach of article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One technical regulations and the competitor is accordingly excluded from the results of the qualifying session,” the FIA statement read. “The competitor is however allowed to start the race from the back of the grid.” No driver has won in 21 years of the Spanish Grand Prix being held in Barcelona from lower than third place on the grid. A McLaren spokesman said the team accepted “the stewards did not agree with our interpretation of force majeure. Our aim is now to maximise the points we can score tomorrow.”

Force Majeure.

Scrambled tables below-

May 12 2012

Formula One: Catalunya Qualifying

Richard (my Dad) tells me that McLaren sending out their test drivers instead of their race drivers means big changes, not mere tweeking and I suppose we shall see.  They come to Barcelona with a new nose and most teams have made at least some changes though many are complaining that in-season testing is a huge waste of time.

Personally I think that attitude means your team is under-organized or capitalized or both.  If you don’t have the chance to react to innovation you might as well write off your season and if you choose not to…

Well, you’re the Washington Generals now aren’t you?

Teams and drivers are closely matched after 20% of the season with the biggest ‘surprises’ being Scuderia Marlboro (they suck and have a slow car too, the surprise is that they are doing as well as they are) and Lotus (which shouldn’t really surprise anyone since they’re the Renault team renamed).  Mercedes (Brawn) is incredibly unhappy with the new Concorde which leaves them out of the $50 Million bribe club (Red Bull, McLaren, Marlboro) and has scheduled a vote on their participation next year even though they’re showing improvement.

Schumacher is also upset with Pirelli, complaining that so much attention is going into tire wear that that it’s like “driving on raw eggs” and there’s no opportunity to test the other aspects of the cars or the aggressiveness of the drivers.  This week we are using Hards and Softs with a 1.3 second per lap differential between them and no indication yet how long they will last on track.

After the Bahrain avalanche I suppose any amount of news would seem slight and I’ll try to delve a little deeper for the race tomorrow, but they’re still fussing with setups in Practice and we won’t actually know anything until after Qualifying.

Repeat tonight at 1 am.  The actual race is a 7:30 am start tomorrow on Speed with a repeat at noon Monday.  GP2 starts at 6 am.

Surprises below.

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