Good news for Australia, but bad news for Silverstone.

First the good news. Now for some better news. Australia signed a new agreement to keep the GP until at least 1015. The race will now start at 5:00 pm (0600 GMT) after a compromise was reached over start times. The sticking point has always been that Bernie Ecclestone wanted a night race in Australia to increase European viewership and GP organizers said no, it is too expensive. Now, the agreement reached is a compromise where the new start time will be later and still ensure the race with a 2 hour time limit will finish before nightfall and the need for lighting.

Now for the bad news. The announcement came today that 2009 will be the last year for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Donington Park will be the new home after signing for 10 years starting in 2010. Here’s the official announcement from Max Mosely:

“After many years of patient but fruitless negotiation with the BRDC, we are delighted that Bernie has nevertheless been able to ensure that the British Grand Prix will keep its place on the Formula One World Championship calendar.

“We understand that the development programme planned for Donington will achieve the very high standards we and FOM expect from a modern F1 circuit. Finally, British Formula One fans will get the Grand Prix venue they deserve.”

Bernie Ecclestone says:

“Finally the uncertainty is over. A contract has been signed with Donington Park and the future of the British Grand prix is now secure.

“We wanted a world class venue for Formula One in Britain, something that the teams and British F1 fans could be proud of. The major development plans for Donington will give us exactly that. A venue that will put British motor sport back on the map.”

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you subscribe to F1-ToGo RSS feed!

• 1 Comment

The Australian Grand Prix looks like it will be on. The Sunday Herald Times Sun reported that a verbal deal has been struck between Victorian Premier John Brumby and Bernie Ecclestone.

This deal is said to keep the Grand Prix in Australian and Melbourne until at least 2015. The start time for the race would be 5pm local time and that has apparently appeased Bernie because of course it creates better start times in Europe. The 5pm start time is only for 2009 and maybe a little later in future years. This is good news for Australia and for a grand prix that has always given us very interesting races.

Just a few short months ago we remember the verbal war between Brumby and Ecclestone with both standing firm and Ecclestone shooting bullets at Australia threatening to take it away and move it elsewhere if it was not going to be held as a night race. Not the best face of Ecclestone, but negotiation none the less.

Remember these quotes from Ecclestone?

“Maybe we don’t want to be in Australia. Our costs are very high in Australia and we get a lot less money. It’s bloody bad for us. We’ve got quite a few places on the list that would like to have Formula One and, as it seems your guy down there John Brumby, Premier of Victoria doesn’t want Formula One, we can make him happy and make the other people happy.”

“In Melbourne, if we were to continue to be there, we would have to have a night race. That would be the only option.”

In fact, John Brumby called Ecclestone’s bluff when he said this back in early February

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you subscribe to F1-ToGo RSS feed!

• 2 Comments

After 6 races so far this season, interesting discussions are starting to take place in the internet forums and the media with 2 questions the center of attention. How good is Felipe Massa and who is the better driver on Ferrari at the moment? I could have posted those questions before the start of this season and the answers I received would have easily been Raikkonen as the better driver and Felipe Massa is ok, but mistake prone and not championship quality. They would have been stupid questions then. Now, I really do ask those questions because Felipe Massa is starting to turn some heads and finds more positive media than Kimi Raikkonen right now.
With preconceived ideas of who was the better driver, the season started in Australia with both Massa and Raikkonen making mistakes. It was an all around terrible weekend for Raikkonen who after car trouble only qualified 16th. In the race, Raikkonen succumbed to engine trouble, but had 2 ‘offs’ of his own making. Massa didn’t fair much better with a spin on lap 1 and a ‘kiss’ with Coulthard later. He also succumbed to engine trouble. So it was a bad race for Ferrari in general, both Raikkonen and Massa made mistakes yet in the days following, rumors started around the paddock that Massa’s days at Ferrari may be numbered. “He’s mistake prone, not consistent, etc..”, with these remarks stemming from previous seasons. Instead, look at 2008 as a separate year and don’t think about previous years and what you got was Australia poor for both drivers, end of story.

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you subscribe to F1-ToGo RSS feed!

• 2 Comments

Are BMW-Sauber and McLaren Mercedes evenly matched? That depends on who you talk to I guess.
4 races down and the drivers championship standings Ferrari, McLaren, and BMW-Sauber look like this

1. Kimi Raikkonen 29
2. Lewis Hamilton 20
3. Robert Kubica 19

5. Nick Heidfeld 16
6. Heikki Kovalainen 14

In Australia Lewis Hamilton dominated with Heikki Kovalainen finishing 5th 18 seconds back of Hamilton and set the fastest lap of the race. Nick Heidfeld finished second 5.4 seconds back of Hamilton and Robert Kubica finished 9th with a retirement.

In Malaysia, Raikkonen was dominant winning the race easily, but second belonged to Robert Kubica 19.5 secs back and quite a bit ahead of Kovalainen who was third and 38.4 secs back. Lewis Hamilton qualified poorly in 9th and finished 5th 46.5 secs back. Nick Heidfeld finished 6th 49.8 secs back of Raikkonen, but set the fastest lap of the race.

On to Bahrain. Again, Ferrari dominated this race with Massa winning and Raikkonen 2nd. 3rd place was Robert Kubica 4.9 secs back of Raikkonen and 4th place to Nick Heidfeld who was 8.4 secs back. Heikki Kovalainen, the best of McLaren once again finished 5th behind both BMW-Saubers a full 26.7 secs back of Raikkonen. We can safely say that Lewis Hamilton didn’t figure in any leader stats in this race.

At the Spanish Grand Prix, Hamilton bounced back finishing 3rd behind both Ferraris 4.1 secs back of Kimi Raikkonen, but only 1.5 secs behind Felipe Massa. Unfortunately Kovalainen had a bad crash, but until then was keeping good pace with a fastest lap time of 1:22.453 and was in 6th place at the time of his crash ahead of Nick Heidfeld.
Robert Kubica finished the race in 4th after starting 4th only 5.6 secs back of Raikkonen. Robert Kubica was pushing Hamilton and both cars pitted together and came out the same way. In this race it was pretty clear that as the race progressed BMW-Sauber and McLaren Mercedes were running pretty much the same pace as the gaps didn’t change through to the end.

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you subscribe to F1-ToGo RSS feed!

• 3 Comments

After 3 races, there are a few drivers frustrated by their performance weather by their own driving or by bad luck and are looking to Spain and beyond to get back into shape. Adrian Sutil, David Coulthard, Nelson Piquet, Lewis Hamilton have all had to answer questions about their poor start to the season. Felipe Massa would have been on my list, but for now he’s recovered.

None of these drivers has had particularly good luck so far and that pretty much covers it yet bad luck or not, teams want more.

Adrian Sutil is one of those drivers. Mechanical in Australia, mechanical in Malaysia, and 19th and last on the grid in Bahrain. Given that, he has had some bad luck. On the other hand, his grid starts haven’t been impressive at all and are really highlighted by Giancarlo Fisichella’s performance. Sutil started Australia 22, Malaysia 20, and Bahrain 20 and by those figures alone he needs to pick up the pace. I don’t expect Sutil to match Fisichella, but confidence in him as an F1 driver would improve if he could close the gap even just a little on Giancarlo.

David Couthard has spent most of his time defending himself for on track incidents. In Australia he came together with Massa when Massa attempted a pass. Bahrain saw him involved in not one, but two incidents where he came together with Sutil resulting in a puncture. Later he and his mate Button came together in another overtaking maneuver. Some say David has no responsibility in any of these, and others say he needs to take some responsibility. Everyone has their opinion so I will leave it at that.

If David can have some clear races, points will come. Simple bad luck is the story of his season so far.

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you subscribe to F1-ToGo RSS feed!

• 1 Comment

6 days left to win!

There is only 6 days left to get your pick in and win. All you have to do before March 12 is pick the 3rd place finisher in the 2008 Australian Grand Prix. I have 2, yes 2 1/18 scale diecast 2007 Kimi Raikkonen winning Ferrari.

Just send me your 3rd place pick before the end of the day March 12 (your timezone) and I will enter you into the draw to win 1 of these 2 great scale F1 cars. On March 17, I will draw until I get 2 correct picks of the 3rd place finisher and they will win.

I took a picture below of one of the cars and they look great. Click on the picture for a larger view.

Remember, the contest closes March 12, 2008!

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you subscribe to F1-ToGo RSS feed!

• 2 Comments

Bernie Ecclestone may be the most terrifying person alive for Grand Prix hosts. If i was in charge of hosting a grand prix, I would be looking over my shoulder right about now.

Ecclestone has been loading a gun and pointing it at a few circuits lately and one (Australia) he is actually firing at. Come 2011, the F1 grand prix calendar could look vastly different. Here’s a bit of what is going on.

[tag]British Grand Prix[/tag]

Bernie has had his eye on this one for a few years now, giving organizers ultimatum after ultimatum. So far the British Grand prix has survived and remains on the calendar, but only barely. ecclestone has of course been very concerned over the facilities and the FEE. Sure, the Silverstone venue is updating, but with Bernie, you just never know.

“Assume the facilities are built and we like it,”

“The next problem is the commercial agreement for us to be there.

“This has not been discussed, other than the guy who came to see me some time ago saying there is no way we [the BRDC] could pay you even what we have paid you in the past.

“There are two things to overcome – first they need to build the facilities, then they need to pay the market rate. There is no sentiment in this from my point of view.

“I want only what we do in any other country, no more, no less. I sincerely hope they [the BRDC] are in a position to deliver what they know they have to carry out to get the grand prix in 2010.”

The British are very resilient and have a lot of traditions including their Grand Prix. If it is pulled from the calendar, they won’t go down without a fight.

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you subscribe to F1-ToGo RSS feed!

• 1 Comment

Are we going to lose the Australian Grand Prix? Good question, but probably. Berinie Ecclestone sounding a little ‘put off’ has threatened this race with some tough words.

Maybe we don’t want to be in Australia. Our costs are very high in Australia and we get a lot less money. It’s bloody bad for us. We’ve got quite a few places on the list that would like to have Formula One and, as it seems your guy down there John Brumby, Premier of Victoria doesn’t want Formula One, we can make him happy and make the other people happy.

He does tend to strong arm people, but here’s a little of why. This grand prix despite having deep pocketed sponsors like Fosters, and not ING, Victorian Govermnent Premier John Brumby says the race has never turned a profit and indeed lost 35 m dollars last year.
1998 saw the lowest crowd number until last year with only 301,000. Now having the race in the park, jumping on the protest wagon are environmental groups against the park venue and they are gathering steam and puting pressure on the government.

It isn’t any wonder that late last year Mr. Brumby said this race may just become too expensive if licencing fees continue to rise.

There is also no doubt that this is an expensive grand prix for any sponsor and team and the time zone isn’t a friendly one.

Now look at Ecclestone’s demand. “In Melbourne, if we were to continue to be there, we would have to have a night race. That would be the only option.”

More audience available with a new time slot means more sponsorship and more money, but nevertheless, financing a night race doesn’t come cheap. So, does this sound like someone who is even considering Australia beyond 2010? Things are not looking too good.

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you subscribe to F1-ToGo RSS feed!

• 0 Comments. Leave one because we like them.