F1’s Strategy Group is a cartel, smaller teams claim

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: F1’s smaller teams allege the arrangement between Bernie Ecclestone and the richest teams who receive the most money could be considered an unlawful cartel.

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Small teams accuse Ecclestone of presiding over F1 ‘cartel’ damaging sport (FT, registration required)

“Three of Formula One’s smaller teams have accused Bernie Ecclestone of presiding over a ‘cartel’ that benefits their rivals, ‘massively undermining its reputation as a sport’.”

Small teams seek Abu Dhabi talks with Ecclestone (Reuters)

“It spoke of a ‘questionable cartel’ of the rights holder, Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Williams who controlled ‘both the governance of Formula One and, apparently, the distribution of…funds.'”

Stevens to race for Caterham (Crash)

“Will Stevens will make his race debut for Caterham when the team returns at next weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.”

Stevens joined Caterham’s Racing Academy in June last year. However after the team’s change of ownership 12 months later he subsequently appeared with their logos obscured on his overalls (see picture) and was announced as Marussia’s official reserve driver last month.

Tost confirms Lynn still in frame for Toro Rosso seat (Adam Cooper’s F1 Blog)

“GP3 champion-elect Alex Lynn remains in the frame for a Toro Rosso race seat in 2015, despite strong competition from Jean-Eric Vergne, Carlos Sainz Jnr and outside bet Pierre Gasly.”

Michelin et la F1 – “On a des idees pour faire un show super” (Toile F1, French)

Michelin say they would not return to F1 if they were required to make tyres which have to be changed ‘every seven laps’.

Gary Paffett and McLaren to part company (Gary Paffett)

“Gary began working with McLaren in 2006, and has spent the past eight years as a combination of test driver and reserve driver.”

Virtual safety car needs more work (Autosport)

“One of the biggest issues that emerged in the tests was drivers finding it hard to concentrate on keeping below a specific delta time.”

Lewis Hamilton set to agree new deal at Mercedes next week (The Independent)

Toto Wolff: “The duel was so intense so we thought it was a good idea to talk after Abu Dhabi. Now we have agreed that we get together on Monday in Abu Dhabi to talk.”

Former Caterham owner Tony Fernandes F1 team boss ‘walked away from staff’ (BBC)

“He said of Mr Fernandes, who founded Caterham and is chairman of Queens Park Rangers Football Club: ‘He’s simply walked away from the employees.'”

What is a cartel and why does it matter? (Joe Saward)

“The European Commission does not need a complaint to get involved. If the bureaucrats think that there might be a cartel in operation they can take action on the basis that Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union prohibits abusive conduct by companies that have a dominant position in a particular market.”

Formula One Grande Premio do Brasil 2014 (F1)

A few interesting new radio messages from the Brazilian Grand Prix including Massa being told to move forwards after incorrectly pulling into the McLaren pit, Raikkonen saying the McLarens were too quick for him in a straight line, and Vettel being advised that Alonso had caught Raikkonen behind him but that Raikkonen was unlikely to hold him up – which of course turned out not to be the case.

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Comment of the day

A novel idea on how F1’s points system could be radically overhauled:

One thing I have thought of before is dividing the season into multiple ‘Cups’.

Five mini-championships divided along geographic or historic lines: Asia Cup (Australia, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore), American Cup (COTA, Canada, Brazil), Classic Cup (Silverstone, Monza, Spa, Monaco) and two others containing the rest. The drivers’ championship is decided by whoever wins the most cups in a season.

You’ll have the drivers fighting regularly, as they try and win each cup. You’ll have moments throughout the season where drivers have won something more than a race. Each little part of the season is compartmentalised and easier to remember.
@DavidS

From the forum

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Matthew H and Ionut93!

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On this day in F1

It’s unusual to see a driver who has just won his first world championship immediately switch teams but that’s exactly what happened five years ago today – Jenson Button left Brawn (who were turning into Mercedes) to join McLaren:

Images © Red Bull/Getty, Renault/DPPI

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90 comments on “F1’s Strategy Group is a cartel, smaller teams claim”

  1. So Stevens will be driving in the GP, not the test… did I read that wrong, or miss something? The front page also says that Kobayashi and Merhi are supposed to race in Abu Dhabi. Someone is lying!

    1. @steevkay Race debut could also mean just appearing in an FP1.. but who knows!

    2. I believe Mehri “claimed” he had a contract. So he is saying he should be the one, not that he is the one to race.

      So either he was lying, or Caterham have ignored the contract.

      1. @mike or it might also mean that the contract isn’t valid anymore, as Caterham is in receivership and the contract was signed before that?

        1. @mattds Is that a thing? If that is how it works it would explain the tone of the Mehri article.

          1. @mike I’m not much of an expert on legal matters but I do know that a company in receivership works under altered legal rules, and it seems possible that contracts can cease to be valid. Not saying that’s how it is 100%, but I’ve seen it explained that way, at least.

    3. @steevkay I believe Caterham received money from Steven’s backers to make up their funding amount.

      Obviously, any contracts between the drivers are essentially null and void, hence Ericsson flying the coop.

    4. I believe caterham are running 3 cars. Or possible one of there cars is an old two seater Minardi.

  2. i don’t understand why the small teams complains about the new PU (ok i DO understand: they’re extremely expensive) but, why is that no team is complaining about the no sense of the aerodynamics? how much money’s spent in that? and for what gain? 2, 3 tenths of a second? and what’s the road relevance of that? NONE!

    1. The difference is that the smaller teams can cut back on their aerodynamics if the current level is not affordable. If multiple small teams are in the same situation, they can also make those cuts in the knowledge that at least some competitors will be acting similarly, so not all reductions in spending are necessarily competitively disastrous.

      By contrast, they haven’t got the option of stopping buying engines. From the manufacturers’ perspective, these engines have to be up to the task of winning Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull the championship, so of course they’re expensive.

      1. you can decide if you invest in aero or you don’t, but if you don’t, you can be sure that at the end of the year you’ll loose half a second (to say the least) with your next competitor (and much more than that if you messure yourself against Redbull or Mercedes). and by doing so, you’ll risk to loose valuable championship points, and a lot of money for next season, wich put you in a situation of downward spiral. So, how about limiting the aero upgrades, the wind tunnel and the CFD in a more strict way?
        The Mercedes -Mclaren – Williams is the best example, they have the same engine, but guess who’ve got the biggest pocket to pour money into their Aero? (ok, Williams maybe not, they at least have some clever people arount that, it seems)

    2. The road relevance of the turbo lawnmower engines is the same as F1 aero. F1 as cars are so “far out of reality” that any kind of claims of road relevance are imho a joke. On real technical level. Turbo engines that rev to 5 digits? The road relevance was about 7000rpm and 200kmh ago!

      I’ve have always held that opinion that road relevance is a term coined by mercedes executives who want to justify racing in f1 to their shareholders and use that vague term to make it look like f1 is more than publicity stunt. But it isn’t.

      So, when the new engines were decided everybody knew they were going to be too expensive. The people in f1, the shareholders of merc, ferrari, renault. The public, us. Everybody. And uninteresting, unexciting. F1 is supposed to be fast, technological and something totally different than normal cars. This stupid road relevance crap is imho destroying f1. Lawnmower engines sounding like lawnmower engines costing insane amounts of money all the while making the cars obese and slower doesn’t being any new fans in f1.

      In the end f1 would be f1 no matter what kind of engine they have. No with the huge cost increase we are looking at losing 1 or 2, maybe even 3 or 4 teams. Maybe it would have been better to tell merc and renault to sod off when they wanted to put those lawnmower engines into the cars? That way we would have lost just one team.

      1. Ah, yes, Formula Ferrari. Truly the crown of motor racing.

        1. From a neutral perspective yes that is loudest Formula and lap records stumble with fastest laps

      2. I will try and explain the car relevance to you. Please bear with my bad English in is not my first laughish. The relevance comes in the fact how the normal engine works with the electrical engine. True that not one of the two parts of the engine (petrol part or the electrical part) in it self will ever be use for a road car but the way they are working with each other that part you will see in road cars. Basically they way they get the car to save fuel that is road relevant and that is what they were after not the engine it self. The software that is road relevant.

        1. Well explained @koosoos, even in your 2nd. laughish (lol) but there is more than just the software, it is how efficiently the 1.6L turbo engine extracts power from the limited amount of fuel burned, apparently MB-AMG engines are around 15% more efficient than Renault and Ferrari and that is where the road relevance comes in.
          @matiascasali.

      3. Wow, that’s some lawnmower you run, 650bhp + 2 electric motors…. F1 is becoming road relevant, the engines are a step that way V12’s and V10’s are a dead technology, Replaced by smaller V8’s with turbos, soon as the technology currently in F1 starts getting integrated into cars V8’s (apart from in America) will head into the obsolete box too. The future is a smaller Engine turbo’d and electrical assistance! As its fuel efficient and powerful

      4. Bear in mind Mercedes is german–here, road relevance does NOT end at 100 km/h ;-)

      5. F1 as cars are so “far out of reality” that any kind of claims of road relevance are imho a joke.

        Yes, you could say that. However, this has been the case for many, many years. Yet we have seen a lot of technology trickle down from F1 into modern road cars. That is where the road relevance comes in.

        Turbo engines that rev to 5 digits? The road relevance was about 7000rpm and 200kmh ago!

        If we are just talking about road, rather than road cars, most mid-level motorcycle engines rev to 5 digits. Even for cars, they are only doing about twice the revs as a car engine, and most aren’t revving to the max anyway: Peak power is comming in around the 10k mark (I believe, from reading between the lines on a few technical articles).

        F1 is supposed to be fast, technological and something totally different than normal cars.

        Do you not realise that it is! These cars are incredibly fast, use advanced technology, and are nothing like road cars. Road relevance is about the manufacturers being able to push the bounds of technology in a way which they can transfer some developments into road cars eventually.

        If you go back to the V8s, they were way behind the times, technologically speaking. Dead. Manufacturers did not want to develop big, thirsty V8s. What would be the point for them? Nothing in the engine could be transferred to road going vehicles, ever. To them, it would be no different from using a coal-fired steam engine. Both are dead technology with no future.

        lawnmower engines

        I would love to see what lawnmower you use! Most are pitiful, single cylinder afairs, using technology even more outdated than the old V8s. These engines are powerful, efficient, and technologically advanced. Pretty much what one should expect from F1. Admittedly, they are quiet compared to what we are used to, but I’d take that any day over F1 falling by the wayside, which would happen when all the existing engine manufacturers pulled out, refusing to develop last centuries technology, except for Ferrari.

      6. You forgot to mention in the end of your comment that Ferarri wanted 1.4 not 1.6, So when you say they should have told Merc & Renault to sod off you should have also included Ferrari in that statement.

        1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
          18th November 2014, 12:41

          @woodyd91 hahaha excellent point. So no mercedes, no renault, no ferrari… maybe this “lawnmower owner” wanted moped engines into F1 cars… that would definitely be road relevant!

      7. the road relevance is a fact, not some mercedes executives talk. Disk Brakes, Fuel Injection, rearview mirrors, radial tyres, turbo, onboard computing, safety belts, so yes, F1 is and should always be road relevant. Even more: i think that F1 took too much time to downsize their engines! when was the last time you see (except USA) a V8 car? a V10? it may be a wild guess, but in my view, more than 90% of the cars uses 1.6L OR LESS, so why is it a bad thing?

        1. @matiascasali Not exactly. I’ve seen a documentary about F1 cars and they said that while some F1 technologies are making their way to the road cars lots of these technologies have been developed for other industries, especially the aviation industry, and few are road car technologies that have been turned to the max for racing. After all we have a hybrid cars on the streets for a few years now. It was on these pages where I read that the Mercedes F1 engine team was supported by the know-how of the company’s road car development team. And after all, as @socksolid mentioned, the F1 car PU is very specialized to do one thing only – to get the maximum power from the available energy input and has to last for 1000Km. Road car, while it has to be efficient, it also has to be cost effective and last a lot more K’s. These are contradictory requirements and need a lot of different technologies.

          1. when you test something, you usually take it to his very limit. An engine, delivering more than 600bhp out of 1,6liter displacement, and doing so revving up to 10.500 rpm for 1000km is just amazing, and if you detune that engine to run at 4000 rpm, the durability will gro exponentially. So, even if F1 is a fountain of knowledge to aviation industry and some other industries, it’s still is the main place were new technologies are developed or old technology is improved to his very limit

    3. I’d like to see less aero-dependent F1 cars. The only way I can see it happening, though, would be to mandate spec wings and body shapes. Certainly a LOT of money would be saved (mostly due to lost jobs, unfortunately), and the racing itself might even be more entertaining. The issue for me is that such a rule would send F1 ever further down the slippery slope towards becoming (nearly) a spec series, ala Indycar.

      1. Exactly. a double edged sword, but surely money could be saved by limiting the number of updates that could be made to the wings or even the entire bodywork, make it like the engine, a few adjustable elements to suit the track but you race what you brung to the 1st. race.

        1. That’s my thoughts, too. (Wow, I think that’s twice I’ve agreed with you today, @hohum. We normally seem to end up on opposite sides of a debate! Lol)

          The best way to limit resources would be to homologate all the body work. Maybe allow 1-2 points in the season when you can bring updates, but only to certain parts.

          1. @drmouse, as true fans of the SPORT of F1 we are bound to be in agreement on many things, but also to have differences when it comes to a course of action.
            I agree entirely with your suggestion of a fixed number of updates, I love constant development but realise there must be some budgetary constraints.

  3. Ant making room for Magnussen perhaps? Hmmm…

    1. Obviously meant Garry—headed to bed now.lol

      1. Actually it seems that he had to go because he is a Mercedes DTM driver and couldn’t also be associated with Honda.

      2. @lexblair No, he’s making space for de la Rosa!

    2. Talking about making room, I somehow found myself nurturing the thought -up until this moment though – that Alonso’s next destination has not yet been officially confirmed because Lewis Hamilton is replaceable at MercedesAmgF1 (no matter how much he signed on as contract) dependung on how he handles the outcome of Abu double.

  4. This century it has been unusual (On this day) but in the era that Williams was winning championships it was pretty common.

    1. World champion Williams drivers, 1987-97: 5
      Drivers carrying number 1 on a Williams the next year: 1
      (Jacques Villeneuve in 1998, and you hardly knew he was there)
      Inflated salaries saved by Frank: £loads…

      1. Well he had to spend a lot of money on Newey.

  5. @DavidS I really like that idea, it would be like having five mini seasons within a season. Many series have tried things like it (ex. NASCAR’s Winston Million, Indycar’s Triple Crown of 500 mile ovals, Tudor Sports Car’s North American Endurance Cup), although none to the scale proposed in your comment. It would be cool to see your idea tried out.

  6. God, no, @DavidS

    We had that sort of thing here in one of the national series and it’s incredibly, INCREDIBLY, confusing and worst of all, sometimes even each cup can be decided before the last race of the cup, so you get more meaningless races per season.

    Seriously no.

  7. Good to read what the “small teams” are telling the world about this formula 1 pinnacle of motorsport. They are quiting the mask of this dirty bussines of “Godfather” Ecclestone and his partners. A jail is the place for Bernie & CVC, not formula 1 world.

  8. So Williams isn’t classified as a small team anymore? That really just leaves Sauber and Force India then as a ‘minnows’ of F1, though on second thought, Lotus can be argued as one, despite its prestigious name.

    1. A prestigious [i]adopted[/i] name. What was their original name again?

      1. A prestigious [i]adopted[/i] name. What was their original name again?

        Benetton & Toleman. Still pretty prestigious if you ask me. :)

  9. If we had the cup idea would all races be held together? I know that’s a big no no for Bernie. I would like this order though.

    Eastern Cup
    Australia
    China
    Malaysia
    Singapore
    Japan

    Western Cup
    Canada
    U.S.A
    Mexico
    Brazil

    Prime Cup
    Bahrain
    Austria
    Hungary
    Spain
    Russia
    Abu Dhabi

    Classic Cup
    Silverstone
    Monaco
    Monza
    Spa

    1. Nice idea. If they weren’t grouped together like this then it would be confusing though.

    2. Nice, but you forgot the Nürburgring, and also I would put Hungary in the classics group (on the calendar every year since 86).

    3. A race at Spa-Francorchamps in November. I can see you don’t live in North-Western Europe.

      1. Is it really that bad?

    4. Instead of Prime Cup…may I suggest Bernie’s Cup which can include any other new races Bernie has dreamt of.
      Not sure any of the drivers would display the cup on their mantelpiece though.

      1. There’s an idea lol:
        Bernie’s Cup:
        Azerbaijian
        Las Vegas
        Great Wall of China (Racing on the wall should be a good enough gimmick for Bernie)
        The Moon

        You get the idea

    5. P.S I called in Prime Cup because all the races were somewhat close to the Prime Meridian.

  10. I do hope Pirelli pull out and Michelin get what they want and become F1 tyre supplier again, or any other tyre maker with the same requirements for that matter.

    1. So instead we go from one set of tyre gimmicks to another (I take it you read Michelin’s suggestion of enforcing a requirement to reuse the same set of tyres you started the race to finish the race) in order to generate the publicity that Michelin is seeking? And it also seems odd that there are those that decry the idea of “road relevance” for the engines and yet then champion “road relevance” for the tyres…

      1. In other words, it’s Bridgestone all over again…

      2. “Michelin’s suggestion of enforcing a requirement to reuse the same set of tyres you started the race to finish the race”
        Actually, that’s not gimmicky at all. They just want to make tyres that “don’t have to be changed every 35 corners”. I think that what they would prefer is building tyres that have to last the entire race, but if we want to keep the old rule of having to switch tyres during a race, this makes sense. The reasoning isn’t that stupid: drivers will have to take care about their tyres but the tyres would also be made more resistent, thus giving us the best of bith world: drivers are allowed to puch early in the race but that could backfire at the end of the race. Now, everyone saves their tires at the some moment, that would be different if they have to re-use their old tires. After all, when you switch to winter tires for the winter, you take your old tires back when you switch back once the winter is over.

        1. I have to disagree and say that it is a gimmick, in the sense that it is a move purely designed to engineer the same scenario as we have now – where you are creating differences in tyre wear in order to create a substantial difference in performance between cars – but in a manner that separates them from the practises of the current tyre suppliers.
          Equally, if it is the case that the drivers are burning their tyres out in the first stint when pushing hard, it suggests that perhaps Michelin are not making the tyres that much more robust than now.

    2. @hohum Why? Pirelli make the tyres they were asked to make, and take a lot of flack for it from so-called “experts” who believe that therefore Pirelli can’t make tyres.

      Who’s to say Michelin or any other manufacturer would have brought anything different.

      The FIA and/or FOM set the specifications, so the manufacturer has to comply.

      F1 is turning into a spec. series, and still costs are rising, so something else must be wrong.

      It’s not the engines (sorry, hated the noise of the V8s) or the hybrid systems.
      It’s not the tyres (well, not specifically Pirelli)
      It’s not the drivers (the current crop are so much better than some of those racing in the 80s/90s, all of them, even Chilton/Gutierrez/Ericsson)
      If anything, it’s the obsession with fiddling with the aero regs constantly, so that even if you have the best engine, you might be off the pace.
      The lack of in-season testing means that real-world correlation of data can only occur at a race weekend, and all that means is that everyone is compromised.

      1. I’m sorry but I don’t think you’re right about the tyres at all. It is not the FIA or FOM who decide about tyre specifications. They don’t have the expertise to do that – at all.

        The FIA or FOM have given Pirelli requirements, not specifications. Broadly, they were asked to spice up the races by providing tyres that force the teams to pit multiple times (2-3 times to be specific). It is then up to Pirelli to create the tyres that will make it possible. There are a number of routes to take (as we’ve seen in the past years) to achieve the goal.

        There is a good share of responsibility on Pirelli’s side. I believe the criticism they received early 2013 was wholly deserved. 2012 was on the edge but 2013 was far beyond it.

        That being said, aside from a few exceptions, I think they’ve done a great job this year. They’ve struck a good balance. The tyres allow for good racing while still wearing out at a good rate to allow a few pit stops. Outside of the few races they went too hard in their tyre allocation choice, they’ve done really well.

      2. @nvherman, ” why ” you ask, and then answer your own question ” Pirelli make the tyres they were asked to make, and take a lot of flack for it ” thereby enableing another poorly thought out trick gimmick that does the opposite of what it is supposed to do. Michelin refuse to be party to that type of tyre tomfoolery, that’s why.

    3. Tyres that do not degrade lead to a simple procession. Michelin becomignt eh supplier would be a mega-bore fest as was the early 2000’s. Since Canada 2010 it has become much more exciting. F1 races should not be a series of sprints between refuelling stops – you have to manage things like brakes, tyres, fuel consumption, etc. Otherwise you can just play a videogame…

      1. “Tyres that do not degrade lead to a simple procession.”
        Do we know if we know this? There were so many changes done at the same time and they all seemed to contribute to increased passing and less procession. I would like to see how a race went down without DRS and just high degradation tires and no refueling. I would also just like to see a race with no DRS, long lasting tires without refueling.

        1. “Tyres that do not degrade lead to a simple procession.”
          Yeah, Suzuka 2005 was such a borefest.

      2. @abbinator The processions we have had in the past, and in many regards still have to this day at some tracks more than others, and often masked by DRS, is due to F1’s addiction to downforce and thus the dirty air effect. Many think F1 should be a sprint not an endurance race, as the supposed pinnacle of Motorsport. I think there are many ways to achieve a happy medium.

        They can easily make tires that still need to be conserved, still last the same number of laps as now, but tires that don’t fall off a cliff after giving just 2 or 3 good laps. Rather have them allow 10 out of 20 hot laps per stint and a gradual decline, not a cliff such that the overwhelming action by the driver is conservation rather than pushing.

        But it starts with getting off the downforce addiction, which they have made small strides in, but imho need to do more. My dream scenario would be that they get off aero enough that they do away with DRS.

      3. “Tyres that do not degrade lead to a simple procession.”

        Not true at all & I don’t know why the Pirelli defenders constantly push this nonsense.

        The usual tactic is to go on about how 2010 was so boring with no overtaking, Well 2010 actually featured more overtaking than any season since 1989, So clearly the durable tyres & mostly 1-stop races did not generate processions & there was quite clearly plenty of overtaking.
        The seasons between 1994-2010 the overtaking was hindered by refueling with teams putting strategy above on-track racing, Hence why overtaking dropped off massively as soon as refueling was introduced & then shot back up as soon as it was banned.

        Also remember that after 2010 the things like the f-ducts & the double diffusers were been banned & this would have improved the racing further without things like DRS & the Pirelli rubbish tyres so, Lets ban the DRS & bring in Michelin to really push tyre-tech again.

        I find it amazing that F1 which is supposed to be the pinnacle of open wheel/single seater racing which is pushing technology in other areas insists on pushing tyres which are just not that good, irrelevant to anything else & are falling behind the tyres used in every other category.
        All the advancements in motorsport tyres are been done in SuperGT & WEC now, Categories where tyre war’s & no silly high-deg tyres allow tyre suppliers to really push the boundaries.

        F1 should be ashamed of itself.

        1. What advancements are the SuperGT series actually promoting? And I wouldn’t exactly say that the WEC is promoting much tyre competition given that Michelin has a near monopoly over the series (only two entrants in the field are not using Michelin tyres) – if anything, ever since Michelin became the primary sponsor of the WEC, tyre competition seems to have been declining rather than increasing.

          Equally, you complain about Pirelli’s tyres being rubbish, but it isn’t as if other tyre manufacturers have a stunning record in that department either – over in the US, they nearly had to abandon the opening races in the Tudor United Sports Car Championship because the tyres that Continental provided in pre-season testing were exploding so violently that they were throwing the cars into the air and forced them to completely abandon all testing, making the blow outs suffered by Pirelli in Silverstone last year seem pretty mild by comparison.

          Or what about Michelin and the “slick intermediate” tyre they introduced a few years ago – a tyre which a number of outfits decried as dangerous and accused Michelin of causing an increase in the number of accidents due to an increased risk of aquaplaning (Racecar Engineering announced that, quite quietly, Michelin has had to bring in completely new wet weather tyre compounds this season for the WEC because of those complaints).

          1. And maybe those “completely new” wet weather compounds are, as I suspect, superior to past compounds, that would be an advance in my mind.

        2. Right on as usual. Dizzy.

  11. i personally don’t think lynn deserves a seat at toro rosso. he’s never been as convincing as kvyat was last year. he’s just lacking racecraft and overall i don’t think he’s ready for f1. send him to formula renault 3.5, if he wins that, i say he’s ready but currently, i think not.

  12. Interesting to see that Michelin would now join even if they were the only tyre supplier. Wouldn’t mind it.

  13. So actually Caterham is going beyond the 3-cars per team concept. From what people have been saying we have now 5 or 6 “confirmed” drivers for Abu Dhabi!

    1. They can do that as they got so much cash from crowdfunding.

    2. As others have surmised, clearly Rosberg likely is funding each car personally, with specific instructions to partner Kobayashi with Ide, Danica Patrick, Alex Yoong, and Taki Inoue. Each has been briefed on the differences in coloring between the helmets and rollhoops between the Mercedes cars, lest they become confused in meeting their duties.

  14. A Cartel. Well there’s certainly a case to claim the big teams have colluded with FOM to protect themselves from competition from other teams. Ferrari and Red Bull especially, with the terms they secured for leaving FOTA – that is a mother of anti-competitive agreements.

    I would love it if Bernie had another court case.

    1. As I understand it, a team isn’t entitled to any TV rights payout in their first two years in this racing series (e.g. if they are a new team or they have changed owners), so have there been any exceptions to this rule? For example, did Mercedes GP get a TV rights payout in 2010 or 2011? I couldn’t find any evidence to say they were, mind you I couldn’t find evidence to the contrary either, so one has to believe they didn’t get a TV rights payout.
      Also, a team has to pay an entry fee for the current year based on the points they earnt in the previous season, which means a winning team has to pay a bigger amount to enter than a new team does. Ignoring the arguments over the fact the TV rights payout is much larger than the entry fee, have there been any exceptions to this rule? For example, do Ferrari, Williams, and say McLaren get a cheaper entry fee than the rules require or do they pay the same rate as the rules state?
      Someone recently said that if an F1 team goes into administration because of financial debt, then F1 won’t give them their TV rights pay out (which probably ensures the team goes bankrupt). Again, have there been any exceptions to this rule?
      I am guessing those rules were adhered to, in which case it will be hard for the smaller teams to prove the established teams were acting as a cartel. If there were exceptions, for example did Mercedes or Lotus get a TV rights payment in their first or second year of operation, then that could be used to prove there was a cartel.
      I don’t like the rules, I didn’t make the rules, I think they are intended to make life difficult for new teams, and we can see they are successfully doing that, but I think those rules would have been adhered to.

  15. @keithcollantine Crash.net removed the article about Stevens – it seemed like a draft that was accidentally released anyway, without any quotes and in the end it also said that the 2nd driver wasn’t confirmed (by the time of the article Kobayashi already was).

  16. Nice pic of Bernie and Horner. It is amazing that that guy can get anything done what with his constant gargling of Bernie’s sack.

    1. Hahaha, too true. :)

  17. Regarding the note about Button switching teams after winning the 2009 championship… Piquet did the same thing in 88 (switched to Lotus in order to continue with Honda engines) Prost in 90 (feud with Senna made him go to Ferrari) and Hill in 97 (went to Arrows because Williams would not budge on salary negotiations).

    1. On a similar note, Two time world champion (’94/’95) Michael Schumacher spent 4 seasons at Ferrari without a WDC before winning 5 in a row.

      Two time world champion Fernando Alonso spent 4 seasons at Ferrari without a WDC then left…. I don’t believe black cats or walking under a ladder has any effect on anything but it’s an interesting parallel

      Re Raikkonen’s radio messages – somebody commented a few days ago that of all the teams, very few Ferrari messages appear on the official transcripts – only one from Raikkonen’s engineer and none from the Alonso team in Brazil. Do teams censor the transcripts before release?

  18. re: COTD. if there were 5 cups and a driver won the first 3, the championship would be over by August/September

    1. The don’t have all the races together. Do the season normally but still divide points into each cup.

  19. I’m not really in favour of an overhaul in the points system (though I think restructuring is needed, both to put more emphasis on winning and to spread points down further to give the minnows something to fight for) but that COTD is certainly my favourite suggestion.

  20. I don’t think the “cartel” crack was well-judged. Even if there were the outlines of an actual legal competition issue here, regulators and enforcers (at least in the U.S.) give sports leagues broad license in how they conduct their internal affairs, and for good reason. These issues are more properly contractual issues among the teams. One could say that there was underlying “boycott” behavior going on or the like, but such claims in this context would never withstand the “rule of reason,” (speaking of the U.S. conceptual framework, again) and no closer scrutiny would be applied.

    1. @dmw, Don”t forget that Bernie paid $44m. to avoid the possibility of a tax audit, how much might CVC pay to avoid an EU investigation.

  21. Maybe something for tomorrow’s round-up: http://www.pitpass.com/52985/Exclusive-Concern-over-Caterham-parts-safety

    I’m not sure I’m happy Caterham will race at Abu Dhabi any more …

    1. This is just terrifying, the reports a week from now, it seems, may read something like this:
      Rosberg wins championship after Hamilton’s car damaged by debris while attempting to lap disintegrating Caterham. Caterham is in a sad state. Plus this article also touches on something I have been wondering myself; if all of Caterham’s staff have been laid off, who is going to the race? Where will the pit crew, mechanics, engineers, etc. come from?

      1. I read that they (re)hired essential staff on a contract basis. That is a legally questionable practice (in the U.S.) if it causes the employer to shed obligations otherwise owed. But I suppose the sacked workers, if they are the gambling types, can pass up the money and have a go in bankruptcy court.

  22. Of course the F1 strategy group is a cartel. What is even more concerning is the fact that most people here simply ignored the real piece of news in that the smaller teams finally are getting to a point where they no longer care about annoying the big players. The situation is desperate enough as it is. I don’t really care about the points system, any new rookie coming up the ranks or any of that nonsense when behind the scenes F1 is in such a disarray.

  23. This is a very hard claim.

  24. “on this day” its rare to switch teams immediatley after winning the world championship unless you drove for williams in the early 90’s. mansel to newman hass in 93, hill to arrows in 97. prost also retired again in 94 after winning his first wc out of retirement. was a bit of a trend of williams sacking their drivers immediately after winning in the 90’s. only villeneuve broke the trend, but they supplied him with an underperforming mecachrome powered car for his title defence.

  25. As I suspected and wrote here 2 months ago Fernandes snatching the team back was just a way of protecting himself from what he originally had done.

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