Indian GP organisers want government support

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: The Indian Grand Prix organisers urge the government to help them pay for their race.

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Government should treat the Indian Grand Prix as their own: Jaypee’s Sameer Gaur (NDTV)

“If F1 has to be in India on a long-term basis, the Government of India should own the event like it is their own event, not only look at it as a Jaypee event. Yes, Jaypee has made the circuit. Yes Jaypee has paid the license fee but the government can share the licence fee. There are many governments around the world that share the F1 license fee.”

Lotus holds key to Raikkonen future (Autosport)

Raikkonen’s manager Steve Robertson: “If the team can provide him with the answers he is seeking, which will ensure he has a car that can fight for race wins and the championship, then he will stay.”

Brundle: Kimi wants to leave (Sky)

“Does Raikkonen really want to leave Lotus? You have to assume he does as he is scouting around.”

McLaren doubt they’ll win a race in 2013

“Asked about McLaren’s chances of winning this year, Neale said: ‘I think that will be a real challenge, if I’m honest.'”

A question of feeling (Ferrari)

“Two days after that event, Kamui [Kobayashi] presented Eugene Kaspersky with the damaged nose of the F60, which now holds pride of place in the CEO’s Moscow office.”

DC Describes A Disastrous Belgian GP (F1 Speedwriter)

“As I was taking off my gloves Michael came running into our garage shouting and screaming at the top of his lungs: ‘WERE YOU FUCKING TRYING TO KILL ME?!’ I said something like: ‘It was you who ran into the back of me, pal.'”

Emmo: My greatest tracks (McLaren)

“The Nurburgring Nordschleife – not to be confused with the pale imitation that the Formula One circus uses today – was and still is the most majestic stretch of asphalt on which Grand Prix cars have ever raced.”

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Comment of the day

@Magnificent-Geoffrey wonders whether most tyre manufacturers would want to take over from Pirelli:

I really don’t see why F1 would go anywhere else for tyres. Pirelli have done their best to fill a difficult brief they’ve had to fulfil and, for the most part, have done a good job and have been very open about their desire to continue supplying the sport.

On the other hand, the way they’ve been abused by the FIA and chastised by the fans (unfairly, in my view) when they’ve fallen short must surely put the majority of other would-be suppliers off from wanting the job themselves.

I think the FIA believe that being the official tyre supplier for F1 is this golden privilege and major aspiration for all tyre manufactures all over the world. While that may have been true once, I think the trouble Pirelli have had to deal with over the last two and a half seasons has shown that it can be as much a curse for a supplier as it is a blessing.
@Magnificent-Geoffrey

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On this day in F1

Ian Scheckter turns 66 today. The older brother of 1979 world champion Jody Scheckter started 18 F1 races but never scored a point.

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29 comments on “Indian GP organisers want government support”

  1. CotD:

    I really don’t see why F1 would go anywhere else for tyres. Pirelli have done their best to fill a difficult brief they’ve had to fulfil and, for the most part, have done a good job and have been very open about their desire to continue supplying the sport.

    I don’t remember FIA asking Pirelli for tyres that delaminate or explode, only for tyres that degrade quickly.

    1. @kingshark They’ve supplied tires since the start of 2011, are you just going to focus on that one race?

      1. @roald
        It’s happened on a few more than one occasion, actually, and those delaminations weren’t just in Silverstone, but in Spain and Bahrain too.

        1. And of those tyres that delaminated, how many where on the wrong way round,
          and/or under pressure
          and/or at excessive camber angles.

          1. McLaren said they used it the right way on Perez’s car when it exploded two times in Silverstone.

          2. @hunocsi Actually Mclaren had switched the tyres around. They said they were running them correctly because Pirelli didn’t say they couldn’t do this and so according to Mclaren they were within Pirelli’s guidelines.

    2. @kingshark that’s fair enough but overall I agree, they’ve done a good job in the circumstances (very limited testing and an incredibly counter-intuitive and strict brief). I have absolute confidence they could make “proper” tyres very capably next season (as they are intending to do).

  2. “If the team can provide him with the answers he is seeking, which will ensure he has a car that can fight for race wins and the championship, then he will stay.”

    With Lotus he can fight for them, but can he win them?

    1. why not. Alan Permane has admitted they are going to switch focus to 2014 soon. While rbr just said they are going to bring new upgrades in the remaining 9 races.

      Kimi is waiting for Lotus to finalize its deal with infinity to ensure sufficient fund for 2014 and make sure they could sustain the development. Eric promised to get it done week after hungarian gp, and here we are, nothing has been done yet.

  3. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    22nd August 2013, 0:58

    There’s so much smoke and not enough fire with this Kimi-RBR thing.

    They’re all playing the media game to try and tactically get the upper hand.

    I mean, let’s be honest, in the past few days, it has been reported that Kimi had RBR at his #1 option. And then a day later, talks had broken down. The day father that, Red Bull were elegedly making “one last push” to get Kimi.

    It’s as simple as this, if Red Bull wants Kimi and Kimi wants Red Bull then Kimi they shall have.

    It’s got to the point where there’s so much media haze that I have no clue who is going to get the seat anymore.

    1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
      22nd August 2013, 0:59

      The day father that

      The day after that.

      Dam auto-correct.

    2. But what else has there been to talk about?

      1. We can talk about how everyone that has been looking back at 2012 and whining about how Vettel will run away with the championship with a string of flyaway wins are looking at the wrong part of the 2012 season. We have had only one race with the 2012 construction tires with softer 2013 tread compounds and it may take the teams 5 or 6 more races to get a handle on them; until then we may be back to the early 2012 tire lottery.

  4. spa 98′ ..one of the all time classic grand prix

    1. THE all time classic spa GP. Watched, re-watched and re-watched…

      1. I’ve tried to watch that race on the ’98 season review but for some reason the FIA banned that part because of ‘Copyright’.

    2. Nice read from DC, and good to know that his “smooth” start means dropping from P2 to P4 :P

  5. Alright! That sounds to me like manager-speak for Kimi is staying put at Lotus! If this was his plan all along, then he has been pretty efficient in generating plenty of press with very little energy input. I hear that he’s good on tires too.

    1. Kimi!, why did you get us all excited for nothing? :-)

  6. I agree with the COTD: Pirelli have done everything that was asked of them by the teams, so it’s deeply unfair for the teams to turn around and criticise for it because they had to work to understand the tyres. This is a prime example if the fans assuming that everything the teams do is what is best for the sport, even when the teams are so clearly in the wrong.

  7. The comment from Sameer Gaur shows the “flaw” in the F1 business model. Currently there are enough tracks that pay the license fee but why track owners don’t form an association and collectively bargain for a better deal is beyond me. If the European tracks alone do it, then it would be already enough pressure for Bernie to cave.
    Bernie does the same thing with track owners what he’s doing with the teams – negotiate a separate deal with each of them and in the big picture teams and tracks lose and Bernie and CVC win. There is enough profit in F1 to ensure sustainability for tracks and teams but somehow they negotiated themselves in a corner.

  8. Well said, Mag.

    I’ve got a lot of sympathy and respect for Pirelli and really all F1 is doing is embarrassing itself with this constant messing around.

  9. What a funny remark from Coulthard.
    He always forgets to mention that lifting in the rain, with all that spray behind, isn’t exactly a smart idea (if you want to avoid a crash).
    I don’t accuse him of doing it on purpose, although that would have smart doing it that way.

    1. Schumacher didn’t have to drive through the spray. He could have moved across the track to where there was no spray, especially as the team would have been on the radio saying ‘You’re about to lap DC’.

    2. Also, as this quote shows, he didn’t lift off at all:

      As I went through the Pouhon corner I maintained my position and my speed on the right hand side of the track to give Michael plenty of room to overtake me. The next thing I knew there was an almighty thump at the rear of my car.

      1. Listen to TMF, he is right.
        Coulthard in 2003:
        “I lifted to let him pass me, but I lifted in heavy spray on the racing line. You should never do that. I would never do that now.”
        Source:
        http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/06/1057430084085.html

    3. actually he admitted a while ago that lifting there wasn’t a smart idea.

  10. Kimi Raikkonen has turned up at Spa feeling feeling very unwell. So unwell, in fact, that he has been forced to cancel all of his media commitments with immediate effect.

    1. Stop the smear!
      Even a finn catches a cold.

Comments are closed.