Glock: Marussia losing tenth cost me F1 seat

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In the round-up: Timo Glock on his F1 departure.

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Exklusiv – Timo Glock (Speed-Academy, German)

Glock says Marussia losing tenth place in the constructors’ championship – and the income that comes with it – cost him his place in F1.

Ecclestone k???ndigt Zusammenarbeit mit aktuellen Veranstaltern auf (Der Spiegel, German)

Der Spiegel claims Bernie Ecclestone has told the Nurburgring they will not host the German Grand Prix this year.

Pay as you go, go, go: F1’s ‘pay drivers’ explained (BBC)

“The highest earner in F1 this season will be [Lewis] Hamilton on $31m (19.6m), some way ahead of [Fernando] Alonso on a reputed ??15m (12.7m).”

Rolex 24 at Daytona: Ganassi claims overall win; Alex Job Audi R8 wins GT class (Autoweek)

Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and Charlie Kimball won the Daytona 24 Hours for Ganassi.

El abandon del circuito urbano de Valencia (Marca)

Are the growing signs of abandonment at Valencia’s F1 track an indication it’s held its last F1 race?

DSJ’s Funny Old World (F1 Speedwriter)

“‘Funny old world, isn’t it,’ was a favourite expression of the late, great journalist Denis Jenkinson. Were he alive today (he died in 1996) Jenks would surely find the current version of the F1 world funnier than ever.”

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Comment of the day

Zootrees on the recent interviews with Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet:

To me it read like two old guys remembering the glory days, and talking about “kids theses days"”.

Good point about Mansell and the Williams.

The world turns and things change. As far as limiting telemetry data, I doubt it would ever happen, and why should they? The team still has to use it, it’s not cut and dry. They have to collect it with proper runs by the driver and figure out what it all means.

Plus why throw motor racing into the past? Isn’t that one of the whole points of motorsport… advancement?

I see both sides of the tyre issue. But I don’t think it’s anywhere near having the same chassis or engine.

I mean, there are drivers and constructors championships, for a reason that’s what counts. That is F1. There will never be a tyre manufactures’ championship. Multiple manufactures is a variable no one really really cares about and can have ill effects.

From the forum

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Hoshi!

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On this day in F1

Emerson Fittipaldi got his world championship defence off to a good start with victory in the first race of the 1973 season in Argentina 40 years ago today.

Tyrrell team mates Francois Cevert and eventual champion Jackie Stewart joined him on the podium.

Image © Marussia

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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58 comments on “Glock: Marussia losing tenth cost me F1 seat”

  1. Sankalp Sharma
    28th January 2013, 0:56

    So much for Nurburgring. Never liked it better than Hockenheim anyway!

    1. To be honest, new Hockenheim sucks dinosaur balls. Old Hockenheim was an epic track with its own character. If I have to chose between new Hockenheim and new Ring, I’d definitely rather have new Ring.

    2. Are you joking, friend? Nurburgring – even the GP circuit – is up there with Suzuka and Spa in terms of its “epicness” and propensity for showcasing driver talent. This is as opposed to the ‘Ring, which is basically a twisty street-like circuit with no life at all.

      1. This is as opposed to the ‘Ring, which is basically a twisty street-like circuit with no life at all.

        I think that’s what he means.

      2. Sankalp Sharma
        28th January 2013, 4:31

        I’m not sure how you describe hockenheim as “no life at all”. Over the years, statistically hockenheim has produced better races and definitely more overtaking with or without drs or kers.

        1. statistically?

          1. I even doubt his “statistically”. Hockenheim 2010 was obviously very lowly rated on this site.

          2. @david-a – That was mostly down to people reacting to Alonso getting Massa to move aside for him. the rest of the race wasn’t actually that bad; it was just that one episode that dragged it down. Like Bahrain in 2012 – the racing wasn’t half bad, but people voted it poor because of the controversy that surrounded it.

    3. Germany needs a new track – that’s not named after a better one!

      1. @bullfrog – There aren’t really any viable options, though. EuroSpeedway Lausitz has a horrible safety record and has been in and out of financial misery of the years. Oschersleben would need an upgrade, and has a horrible first corner; a commentator once infamously said that whoever designed it “should be taken into a dark room and be beaten”. The Sachsenring is short, cramped, and ideally designed for motorcycles. And the rest, like the Norisring, are too small, or, like the Solitudering, no longer exist. It’s surprising how few racing circuits Germany actually has.

        The only other alternatives would be to build a circuit from scratch, which would be very expensive and take at least two years, or run the race on a street circuit.

        1. “the Solitudering no longer exists” except perhaps in Turkey and Korea.

      2. I think the Hockenheimring is still a decent track, which unfortunately stepped into the shoes of an even better one, so it pales in comparison somewhat. It has challenging corners, such as the blinding fast T1 and the Stadium entry, and a tricky series of corners beginning with the hairpin, which makes for very entertaining racing overall.

        So as we can’t get the old Rings back and as Prisoner Monkeys pointed out the others are even worse, I’m content as long as Hockenheim hosts the German GP. I’m not as fond of the Nurburgring, however, I think it is a pretty average 1980s track without many characteristic corners or interesting sequences.

  2. I told them ‘Nebuchadnezzar’ and amazingly the girl said, ‘Isn’t that the name of a Persian King’

    1. Don’t you know that Starbucks is the worlds largest employer of arts graduates.

    2. What were you expecting them to say? “Wasn’t that Lawrence Fishburne’s ship in The Matrix?”

    3. When I get into a restaurant I always ask for the name of the person serving me. So it doesn’t bother me when they ask for my name.

  3. I’m sure that’s what HR told you Timo. Maybe Concorde is more the reality.

    1. If Marussia had finished in tenth place, then they probably would have been made an offer under the Concorde Agreement. So when you think about it, losing tenth place lost Glock his seat at Marussia just like he said it did.

      1. We can actually conclude, that even more indirectly, this is all Vergne’s fault. I am surprised he didn’t kick seven shades out of him in Brazil.

        1. First of all, I don’t know what you’re talking about, because I don’t recall Vergne having anything to do with Marussia’s final championship position in Brazil.

          Seconly, mine isn’t an indirect conclusion. On the one hand, Timo Glock lost his seat because Marussia lost tenth place and the money that went with it. On the other hand, Timo Glock lost his seat because Marussia lost tenth place and with it, a renewed deal under the 2013 Concorde Agreement. They’re just two ways down the same path, but thejudge13 is trying to make them out to be separate issues to turn Glock’s departure into a political debate.

          1. @prisoner-monkeys

            Vergne hit Glock, who was then forced to pit. He was ahead of both Caterhams at that moment.

            Unfortunately, Vergne crashed into the back of my car and destroyed the race for me because it was right at the restart and I had to pit under the green flag.

            https://www.racefans.net/2012/11/26/2012-brazilian-grand-prix-driver-weekend/

        2. Poor old Vergne was probably focused too much on making sure he doesn’t obstruct Vettel who was 1.8 km in front of him at that point.

      2. And there would be a lot more money in the pot to share out if Bernie had only taken several million dollars salary instead of taking half of all revenue. Look at the underlying disease, not the symptom.

    2. In all honesty Marussia were second best out of them and Caterham, so it was fairly just in my opinion that Caterham got the 11th place and hence 10th in the constructors. It was Glock who nearly caused the major upset though, so indeed it is a shame that he only lost his drive due to financial reasons.

  4. Lotus launch today! Love this time of the year! :D

    1. I am so glad that launch season starts today – it’s a public holiday here in Australia and I am bored out of my mind. Even if it is for a team that I don’t particularly like, the launch gives me something to look forward to.

      1. Having said that, I just found out that the launch is scheduled for 6:15am AEDST …

        1. I just realised the same thing @prisoner-monkeys , I’ve got to wait until 23:15 for it!

  5. So Hamilton is draining $30 million from Mercedes! Damn! That amount of money must be worth a lot if invested into car development. He’s effectively draining money that could be invested into making his car faster.

    The question is, can he bring more to the table, then engineers can with additional $30 million?

    1. My guess is Hamilton’s paycheck will probably be coming from Mercedes group itself, rather than the F1 team budget. I doubt Daimler would be that silly.

    2. @brace The thing is, you’d have to compare this relative to the salary of the guy he replaced (Michael Schumacher). That is a tricky thing to do, as there are two conflicting reports of his salary. Mercedes said they were paying him something in the order of $10m (all amounts USD). But there are other press outlets saying that his basic salary is actually at $33m. If you believe the Mercedes-given figure, then there is a different of about $20m. But if the press-leaked figure is true, then in reality, there’s no real difference in salary.

      The way Mercedes are acting now (them gobbling up technical directors left, right, and center), it seems getting Lewis hasn’t really drained Mercedes’ money. If anything, it’s encouraged them to spend even more to make sure Lewis gets a good enough car to win championships. Brawn and Schumacher could’ve used that kind of money a lot earlier than 2013, though…

      1. @journeyer

        The way Mercedes are acting now (them gobbling up technical directors left, right, and center), it seems getting Lewis hasn’t really drained Mercedes’ money. If anything, it’s encouraged them to spend even more to make sure Lewis gets a good enough car to win championships. Brawn and Schumacher could’ve used that kind of money a lot earlier than 2013, though…

        I don’t think Hamilton’s signing triggered the recruitment drive. Ross Brawn has been steadily building up the team for the past eighteen months, and comments from within the team made it pretty clear that they wanted to keep Michael Schumacher in 2013. They only explored the potential for another driver – and settled on Hamilton – when Schumacher took his time in deciding his future. The recruitment drive probably would have happened with or without Lewis Hamilton joining the team, so I think it is misleading to say that his presence is what inspired them to build up the team. It’s clearly been the plan for some time now.

      2. Yeah, some journalists cannot do simple arithmetic: if you divide $33m with the his 3yrs contract you will get what Mercedes said his salary is ….. and the difference will not be $20m but just $1m ……

    3. It’s not that simple, F1 is a high risk gamble, if you win the constructors championship FOM gives you about $350million, if you spend $400m. to do it you are out $50m. but sponsors are throwing money at you to have their name associated with a winning team. If you spend $50m and come no-where you get nothing, so you are out $50m and sponsors are hard to find.

      Of course if more of the money the teams earn by “putting on the show” was distributed amongst them, even “team last”, could get a few million return for their effort.

      1. and why should a loser-team like HRT get anything other than a bill for the cost of the nuisance it was to the real teams and the real drivers? Formula 1 doesn’t need crappy backmarker teams like HRT just taking up space on the grid. They were a joke and good riddance to them. To the victor go the spoils!!!!

  6. Are the growing signs of abandonment at Valencia’s F1 track an indication it’s held its last F1 race?

    Perhaps maintaining the circuit is, for the time being, an unnecessary expense. The future of the race is currently in limbo, since it is supposed to return to the calendar in 2014 as the Spanish Grand Prix before the race heads back to Barcelona in 2015, but organisers in Catalunya have said that they don’t want to share the race with another venue. With the Spanish economy in shambles and no clear future for the race in Valencia, it’s probably not worth maintaining the circuit and facilities until the situation between Valencia and Barcelona is resolved.

  7. Hah! Looks like I’m not the only one pretending to be Senna. I take it up a notch though. Every barista who can tell who Senna is gets a tenner.

  8. I only just realised that the launch of th E21 is only happening at 7:15 PM UK time, that’s nearly midnight where I am. I thought it would be around mid day…oh well, I suppose good things come to those who wait!

    1. You would think that they would launch the car around 9:00 am or maybe noon, so as to get maximum press exposure on the day of the launch.

      1. That’s what I thought. There must be a time of day in the UK which is reasonably convenient for everyone (US, Aus, the far and middle east, South America).

        1. Not really. Somebody has to miss out.

    2. @geemac Suits me! I never get to catch launch days as they happen, it’s about time :P

      1. Haha, fair enough!

  9. Meanwhile, one alarming statistic is regularly trotted out. F1’s entire global TV rights income is about the same as that of the Turkish football Premier League – in the region of $490m.

    Most are astonished to hear that, but it seems as if it’s accurate, as far as these figures can be accurately assessed. Which raises questions about whether the sport is being marketed and promoted as effectively as it might be.

    That low? For some time I’ve been questioning Ecclostone’s management of F1 and this number, if correct, is the proof that Mr BE is not realizing F1s potential.

    F1 must do better than that.

    1. I can think of one way to increase the income from television rights.

      It’s not going to be popular, though.

      1. Don’t say it, man! You’ll doom us all!

        1. Well, it’s true. The sport can’t suddenly start to draw in more income from television rights. New deals would have to be done with broadcasters, and most of the free-to-air networks are already paying as much as they are willing to pay for the rights. Only the pay television channels can afford to pay more.

          1. Indeed @prisoner-monkeys it is true, of course by restricting the number of people watching the appeal to sponsors of the sport is diminished resulting in less income for the teams and from trackside advertising revenue which all goes to FOM.
            Has anyone out there ever seen an advertisement for F1 that wasn’t paid for by the TV station or the track promoter? I haven’t, Bernie takes,takes and takes but nothing goes back into the “business” except the “one for you, one for me” division of the total revenue with the teams.

  10. For a passing moment I mixed up the Daytona 24 hours with the Le Mans 24 hours, and thought that Montoya just became the second driver ever to complete the Triple Crown of Motorsports.

    Oh yeah, he still came as close as one could nowadays, hasn’t he? I mean this could have been a very serious experiment and a testament that he fits in the demands of sports car racing – I think he should definitely try Le Mans. On the other hand, Montoya always seemed to have a personality which is as bothered by making history and breaking records as Raikkonen. Both are just wanting to have fun driving – which is probably a very acceptable approach.

    1. Drop Valencia!
      28th January 2013, 8:54

      If LeMans was in the USA he would be there, he loves living in the States that’s all.

      1. He does not have to move to compete in Le Mans, does he? Of course, preparations would require a lot of time spent in France, perhaps even necessitate a part-time Sprint Cup schedule for a year as well, so there is rationale in your reasoning after all.

    2. I think this proves he definitely could do it, if he puts his mind to it..

    3. JPM obviously has the skill to win Le Mans, whether he could get the car and the luck is another matter.

  11. 8 more hours folks!

  12. “The highest earner in F1 this season will be [Lewis] Hamilton on $31m (£19.6m), some way ahead of [Fernando] Alonso on a reputed €15m (£12.7m).”

    Am I the only one who thinks that the BBC article really tries it’s best to make the comparison of salaries as hard as possible? They are using three types of currencies in one sentence. Not bad.
    I can understand using euros as that is how Alonso probably gets paid, and translating that into pounds for the British public, but why use the dollar?
    Just a small annoyance. :)

    1. Even forex traders would find that artice anything but reader-friendly.

    2. Exchange rates fluctuate

  13. The DSJ story… That’s it!

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