Bernie Ecclestone says budget cap is likely to go up from £40m
"One possibility is that, over the next month or so, Ecclestone will intercede between Mosley and the teams and try to get the FIA president to accept a significant increase in the cap, to something like £60 million or more for next year. The headline figure would then fall from there on a so-called “glide path”, which would bring it back to about £40 million by 2012."
Poor race stewarding isn’t confined to F1
Spa's chicane is the scene of another bad race stewarding decision, this time in World Series by Renault.
Force India to benefit from KERS as of the German GP
Vijay Mallya: "In Germany we will introduce KERS, because the car is KERS enabled and we have a contract with Mercedes for the KERS."
Lewis Hamilton ‘snubs’ McLaren ex-mentor Ron Dennis
"It is the second time in a week that Hamilton has appeared to snub his mentor, having failed to attend a party hosted by the Crown Prince of Bahrain on Sunday at which Dennis was present."
Silverstone back in Formula One frame as Donington doubts grow
"However, it emerged last night that a British race on the Formula One calendar is a key component of the new commercial contract, known as the Concord Agreement, which Ecclestone wants the teams to sign. One team principal, who refused to be named, said that the contract demands specifically that five key races are protected as part of Formula One’s heritage: in Britain, France, Italy, Belgium and Germany." And how's that working out for France?
These are links I’ve bookmarked using Delicious. You can see my Delicious profile here.
F1Yankee
5th May 2009, 0:48
“It would appear that everyone is in favour of the cap, including Ferrari, if we can get them to agree, which we can,” Ecclestone told The Times this weekend.
what?
scunnyman
5th May 2009, 0:58
Hey Bernie must read F1fanatic.
I suggested £60m first
mkh1
5th May 2009, 9:43
If Bernie ever went on this site then he would know how much the fans don’t like him, not that he cares what other people think as long as he gets his money.
scunnyman
5th May 2009, 1:12
I wonder if it was the same steward at Spa that messed up Hamilton’s race in 2008.
In my opinion if someone goes off the circuit and back on then another driver overtakes the worst punishment to that driver should be to relinquish that place back. If in the case of several drivers passing then they all should allow him back past. Allowing for the fact that they passed by fault.
Nick
8th May 2009, 22:11
hamilton did not give back the advantage.
scunnyman
5th May 2009, 1:23
I have a feeling that maybe Hamilton has been advised to but some distance between himself and Ron Dennis for the time being so that they let the Liewhatchamacallit thingymajig die down.
I can’t see Lewis turning his backon his mentor so suddenly and easily after all that Ron has done for him.
it would be like Lewis having his biggest idol SENNA still live and he disown him.
I have big doubts about this story.
I am willing to be proved wrong though.
scunnyman
5th May 2009, 1:35
It’s ok saying the British Grand Prix is protected by the concorde agreement, which is fine. I can see Bernie saying no teams has signed the agreement yet so the contract does not stand.
He always has an answer.
I believe there needs to be a completely new formula contract where all traditional circuits are protected for at least 99 years, and to have at least one race per continent so we could have an african race as well as an american race on the calendar.
Also the contract should have no facility for giving funds to Ecclestone, just a percentage for running the sport and the rest be pumped back into the sport.
mkh1
5th May 2009, 9:49
“It would appear that everyone is in favour of the cap, including Ferrari, if we can get them to agree, which we can,”
Yes of course, coming from the same man who didn’t know how much the teams didn’t want the wins system (or anybody else for that matter).
HounslowBusGarage
5th May 2009, 10:01
The actual level of the budget cap is going to be a finely judged matter.
It’s got to be high enough to make the current high spending teams actually believe they could get down to that level, and low enough for new team entrants to believe that they can scrape together that amount of money.
I still think it will be impossible to impose with certainty, even with a forensic accountant embedded with each team.
PJA
5th May 2009, 15:22
The fact that France is no longer on the calendar and that Belgium has being missing from the calendar some years this decade shows how protected the Grand Prix on that list are.
The only places certain to host a Grand Prix after their current contract ends are Monaco and any country prepared to pay silly money to Ecclestone.
To me the Hamilton snubbing Dennis story is the paper trying to make story out of nothing
PabloDee
5th May 2009, 16:53
Budget caps are a big game … it’s the same in every sport that has them … it’s VERY easy to hide development costs or payments to staff outside the system especially for the bigger teams, it disadvantages the smaller teams and the FIA know it ! … THATS why Ferrari would like it !
Chaz
5th May 2009, 18:24
£60 million sounds better, but I still think it could be a little higher in order to ensure and maintain F1’s technical genius and superiority from other motorsporting categories…
Richard S
5th May 2009, 18:38
It’s the job losses that will stick the hardest. Such draconian change may make MM look (feel) like a knight in shining armour but does nothing for the unemployment rate. It’s totally heartless. At least now the impact can be lessened and the change can be gradual (which is logical).
Oliver
5th May 2009, 21:09
Why must things be made easy for the new teams. Its far easier for a new team to work within a budget than an already existing team.
Rather than forcing teams to work to a minimum, I’d rather they have a working range of 60 – 100.
The rich teams didn’t start up rich, they all worked their way to were they are now. Why should they sacrifice their success for others.
Make the rules such that its not possible to waste money on the cars, but leave the teams to spend money as the see fit, even if its on their motorhome.
I suspect Bernie and Max are trying to take F1 back to the way it was mechanics had lots of grease on their overalls.
Dane
6th May 2009, 4:33
Ron giveth & Lewis taketh away