In the round-up: Bernie Ecclestone calls Lewis Hamilton’s choice of management “a disaster”.
Links
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
Bernie Ecclestone says showbiz link is a ‘disaster’ for Lewis Hamilton (The Guardian)
“I think it’s a disaster. He gets to meet people that probably he wouldn’t have met, and [who] have probably the wrong sort of influence on him. He’s at the age, perhaps, and he has the amount of money, where when he’s influenced, he can carry things through, which he wouldn’t normally have done.”
“HRT F1 Team is obliged to deny that Caterham Technology and Innovation, a subsidiary company of Caterham F1, will be in charge of the design and fabrication of the F112’s monocoque.”
“Unfortunately someone published nonsense about Kamui [Kobayashi] leaving our team. Stupid. We are very fond of him, he stays with us!”
Force India set to reveal drivers next week (GP Update)
“Silverstone-based Force India is expected to formally announce its 2012 driver line-up next week.”
Motor racing-Lotus happy for Raikkonen to take risks (Reuters)
Dany Bahar: “It’s not something we are focused on from a group perspective, saying: ‘This is Kimi now you have to do everything to protect him from going out of his own house’. It doesn’t work.”
Eric Boullier – “Over three years our aim is to be considered as one of the top teams” (Renault)
“Q: Did the fact that Romain is French make the difference?
A: Absolutely not! It was just another point in his favour. For our French partners like Total it’s a godsend to be able to take advantage of his presence as one of our drivers.”
Virgin Racing stake yields a loss for Lloyds (The Independent)
“The team, part-owned by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, was driven to a �35.3m pre-tax loss in the 14 months to 31 December 2010 following a disastrous �17.6m investment in a computer-aided car design system.”
F1 is a ‘sport as good as any other’, says Karthikeyan (Times of India)
“Amidst debate over the ‘elitist’ nature of Formula 1 and whether it qualifies to be a sport at all, Indian racing star Narain Karthikeyan on Saturday said that F1 is a sport as good as any other and the drivers involved in it work really hard.”
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Comment of the day
Electrolite thinks Toro Rosso deserved better than eighth – and their drivers deserve to keep their seats:
I want to see them both in the car next year. They’ve both impressed me, and for those two young lads to nearly claim sixth (Buemi’s reliability didn’t help) was fantastic to watch. 8th somehow doesn’t seem representative.
Electrolite
From the forum
- Calum asks what do you want from the 2012 season?
- It took a while but we finally got an answer to my latest question on Only Connect: F1 edition
- Another seat has been taken in the 2012 GP2 driver market
Happy birthday!
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On this day in F1
Happy birthday to HRT team principal Colin Kolles who is 44 today.
supernicebob (@supernicebob)
13th December 2011, 0:14
I think that’s the first vaguely sensible thing Bernie has said all year.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
13th December 2011, 0:53
@supernicebob Totally agree with you.
celeste (@celeste)
13th December 2011, 0:57
I agree, Simon Fuller is no good for Hamilton…and hen also ruined American Idol, I´m never watching that show again…
George (@george)
13th December 2011, 17:39
Well I guess he would know something about 20-somethings with too much money :P
Arkadiusz Kuna (@thekuna)
13th December 2011, 0:20
I thought Eric was an engineer and so his statements should be logical. I guess I was wrong.
KeeleyObsessed (@keeleyobsessed)
13th December 2011, 8:27
Which statement is illogical? The one about him hoping to make Lotus (currently Renault) a top team, or the one that explains why Grosjean got a seat? Grosjean got a seat because he was the best all-round person for the job. He brought money, talent and a good No.2 driver for Raikkonen. It’s no secret that the team have taken a big shock with the loss of Kubica, and now they have to make the right decisions.
While it’s impossible to say whether this is the right decision at the current moment in time, I certainly don’t see anything wrong with the decision…
Christian Horner's Foot (@charliereay)
13th December 2011, 10:33
I think it is to do with how Eric says Romain’s nationality didn’t affect his decision, and then Eric lists all the ways in which Romain’s nationality helped him make the decision. Erm…
Dobin1000 (@dobin1000)
13th December 2011, 11:18
To be fair Boullier did not actually contradict himself. The question he was asked is whether Grosjean being French ‘made the difference’; i.e. was there another driver who was his equal, but who didn’t get the seat only because he wasn’t French?
Boullier said this isn’t the case, but that Grosjean being French was just another good thing about him from the sponsor’s (and therefore the team’s) perspective.
snowman (@snowman)
13th December 2011, 0:20
Boulier and the 3 year plan. I’ve heard that 3 year plan more than once before. Jaguar comes to mind.
LexBlair (@lexblair)
13th December 2011, 0:29
okay, now i am seriously getting sick of this: at this age…oh and how could i forget: he is so young ………FOR GOD SAKE….how long is he gonna have that “excuse”…..one would think that after years go by…
maxthecat
13th December 2011, 11:57
Well he’s 26 now, so in 4 years he’ll be 30 and an old timer.
David-A (@david-a)
13th December 2011, 0:41
@magnificent-geoffrey will love that tweet from Sauber :)
Magnificent Geoffrey (@magnificent-geoffrey)
13th December 2011, 10:07
@David-A Yes. Yes I did. :D
Colossal Squid (@colossal-squid)
13th December 2011, 1:13
‘It was just another point in his favour’ I dislike Boullier, and this statement does him no favours. This is the pinnacle of motorsport. A team boss should look solely at a drivers talent, especially if they want to be the best. Grosjean has had a great season in GP2 but sentiments of nationality should have no place in picking a driver, even if it is just a point in his favour.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
13th December 2011, 1:28
So, Boullier:
Says someone who works at a team that designed front-exit exhaust pipes. Are they on drugs at Renault? :P
Neusalz (@dpod)
13th December 2011, 2:56
Great comment! Really had a good laugh.
electrolite (@electrolite)
13th December 2011, 1:54
Wahey, COTD number 3!
Alguersuari in particular has to stay. Although I might be biased slightly – he’s pretty much the same age as me, and to imagine finishing sixth in a Formula One race is ridiculous!
electrolite (@electrolite)
13th December 2011, 1:55
Wahey, COTD number 3!
Alguersuari in particular has to stay. Although I might be influenced slightly – he’s pretty much the same age as me, and to imagine finishing sixth in a Formula One race is ridiculous!
Chalky (@chalky)
13th December 2011, 8:17
Thanks for making me feel old. :D
Magnificent Geoffrey (@magnificent-geoffrey)
13th December 2011, 10:08
@electrolite Nice one team mate!
Tom Bisset (@pianoshizzle)
13th December 2011, 1:59
Does anyone else think it is ironic that Hamilton is being criticized for having showbiz-style management, yet everybody in F1, including Bernie, calls Formula 1 a “show”? Maybe Hamilton caught the wrong end of the stick? (Tongue-in-cheek!)
BasCB (@bascb)
13th December 2011, 12:11
Nice observation, @pianoshizzle – Tom, hadn’t looked at it that way before. I guess in a sense, what Bernie says about why he thinks its a mistake for Hamilton fits with that though.
Saying he is still to young to be able to live with the show AND the sport.
JimN (@jimn)
13th December 2011, 13:45
On the basis that Bernie always means the opposite of what he says, seems like Bernie likes the show. ;-)
silencer (@silencer)
13th December 2011, 2:09
That HRT and Caterham link… wow… not see that coming
I was more looking into Kobayashi & Bianchi news for the past week
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
13th December 2011, 3:34
Oh, look: more talk from Renault about how Raikkonen is absolutely committed. In fact, there are two stories about it on Autosport’s front page. In fact, in the past two weeks, they’ve run nearly a dozen stories about Raikkonen’s commitment:
* Lotus Renault accepts Kimi Raikkonen will need time in Formula 1 comeback
* Lotus says Renault choosing Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean for 2012 and dropping Vitaly Petrov is a statement of intent
* Lotus boss Dany Bahar has no doubts about Kimi Raikkonen’s motivation
* David Coulthard says Kimi Raikkonen will return to Formula 1 stronger than ever before
* Romain Grosjean: Chance to partner Kimi Raikkonen makes 2012 Lotus Renault seat even more alluring
* Kimi Raikkonen will prove his critics wrong, insists Lotus Renault team owner Gerard Lopez
*
Vettel says Raikkonen may need time to be competitive when he returns to F1
* Renault boss Eric Boullier sure Kimi Raikkonen will deliver in Formula 1 return
* Former grand prix driver Jean Alesi says Kimi Raikkonen will be a boost for Lotus
* Kimi Raikkonen says motivation not an issue in Formula 1 return
Call me a cynic, but I’m seeing his team-mate, three team personnel, a sponsor’s brand ambassador, a commentator and a rival driver all commenting on Raikkonen’s return and moving to dispel talk of the Finn lacking motivation. For something that is supposedly not an issue, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people talk for so long about how something doesn’t mean anything.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
13th December 2011, 3:41
It appears that Lotus are finally making good on their promises of sponsorship – all works-supported teams will run the same livery (and all customer teams will have a different livery) and they will all receive funding.
Fixy (@)
13th December 2011, 14:54
Great! Thanks for sharing @prisoner-monkeys .
Wonderduck (@wonderduck)
13th December 2011, 5:05
I’m sorry, but I’ve got to say this: Bernie is something of a ****, isn’t he?
Ella (@ella)
13th December 2011, 7:11
Not sure how reliable or interesting this is (it looks pretty legitimate) but I came across this link about Kubica’s future –
http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/f1-kubica-will-test-2010-ferrari-report/
KeeleyObsessed (@keeleyobsessed)
13th December 2011, 8:11
@Ella Please no.. Kubica is a great driver and driving for Ferrari alongside Alonso will just completely ruin him, assuming he’s come out of this crash (relatively) unscathed… I’d far rather see him return with Williams and help build them back up than go to Ferrari alongside Alonso and see him completely destroyed…
TheBrav3
13th December 2011, 23:33
There is no way he can be worse than massa and like he said he doesn’t remember the accident. To him he was in a rally and then he woke up in…lets just say sedated pain, So long as he is 100% fit he’ll be as fast as ever after shaking the cobwebs off.
TheBrav3
13th December 2011, 23:34
how ever “La Gazzetta dello Sport” is not as reputable as say f1 fanatic and that rumour has been going around for a long time they could just be filling the pages.
SempreGilles (@sempregilles)
13th December 2011, 8:13
Bernie is really good at digging up old wounds isn’t he… Something will change for Hamilton, since he isn’t a driver that accepts the disastrous season he had this year. But it is a change he has to make for himself.
And I think a lot has to do with the car to. Just like most champions for the last 10 years, if you have a car that can win races driving on the front of the pack for all the weekend, you are less likely to make mistakes. And those few mistakes don’t matter anymore.
Carlito's way
13th December 2011, 10:18
Oh man that Boullier guy is soooo out of his depth. Can’t even handle an interview without contradicting himself. Get that guy out of there ASAP, that team deserves better
LHFANATIC
14th December 2011, 4:39
Bernies comments sound a bit racist to me
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
14th December 2011, 13:09
I’m not convinced Hamilton’s woes are all down to lack of ‘proper’ management. Clearly he’s had some more personal issues and with the car not delivering as promised and the RB& romping home every weekend, frustration was going to set in regardless.
This years frustrations will have him placed well for next year, if he learns from 2011.
About time too Force India! Fingers crossed for Hulkenberg.
The Limit
14th December 2011, 17:21
Ecclestone for once spoke alot of sense, however I disagree slightly. He talks of Hamilton as if he were nine years old, not the twenty six year old man that he should be. If things like girlfriends and Ice T have affected Hamilton’s way on thinking then things are alot worse than I thought!
Come on Bernie. F1 is a man’s game, play like a champion and send the kids back to GP2.