In the round-up: Former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, who was ousted from the team late last year, says the team have been fortunate to emerge as Mercedes’ closest rivals in 2015.
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Montezemolo says Ferrari have been 'a bit lucky' as both Williams and Red Bull have failed to take the fight to Mercedes.
Fernando Alonso might not win another race - Jarno Trulli (BBC)
"I wonder if he might win another race or championship. McLaren won't get on top of the problems quickly and won't easily catch up with the teams in front next year."
Haas driver decision by September (Autosport)
"Our plan is to be clear of talks by August/September and then announce them."
Raikkonen vs. Vettel: 'Friendly fight' is firing up Ferrari (CNN)
"There's no politics, if there's something wrong we can say to each other and work it out."
Webber and Vettel back on talking terms (Gulf News)
"We actually flew from Melbourne to Dubai after the Melbourne Grand Prix and were pretty much sitting together and had a good chat"
"Although neither side is saying it, this is clearly a trial run for both F1 Management and Tata with a view to one day transmitting F1 Grands Prix this way. One imagines that if the transmission of the support packages goes smoothly, a migration of the F1 signal to this platform will not be too far behind."
F1 sub-contracts F1 VIP sales (Joe Saward)
"The company has long links with FIFA but was caught up in last year’s scandal over World Cup tickets."
Tweets
#ForzaJules since 7 months everyday we hope to get positive news… Depuis 7 mois on croise les doigts pour toi Jules #r8main #hope
— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) May 5, 2015
Intersting – all star charity footy match with #F1 drivers in Monaco – Novak Djokovic captains All Stars & Carlos Sainz plays vs Carlos Jr..
— James Allen (@Jamesallenonf1) May 5, 2015
Momentos… Moments… #McLarenHonda #rememberWhyYouStarted pic.twitter.com/UV3AevxNHe
— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) May 5, 2015
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Comment of the day
As F1 piles on the gimmicks in pursuit of popularity, is there a warning for it from NASCAR?
Most of the drivers hate the restrictor-plate racing as well:
“It’s really not racing,” Earnhardt Jnr said. “It’s a little disappointing how that all went down… Really, that was all right?”
“It’s not safe. Wrecking like that is ridiculous. It’s bloodthirsty if that’s what people want.”
“You put a lot of faith in your safety equipment and you kind of white-knuckle, hold on tight,” Gordon said. “I remember when coming to Talladega was fun.”
“I really do, and I haven’t experienced that in a long, long time. I don’t like coming here. I don’t like the type of racing that I have to do.”
I’ve also had the impression the past ten years that the fans have been growing tired of it as well as NASCAR’s TV ratings have been in decline as has the circuit attendance. Daytona and Talladega used to always be full but past few years they have had a real hard time filling the stands. I don’t think that tandem draft nonsence that we saw a few years ago helped much.
The more artificial and at times downright gimmicky stuff they have thrown in and the more focus they have put on ‘the show’ at times at the expense of the racing the less popular it’s got.
The final straw for me was the new championship system they brought in last year which in my view brings into question if it can really even be considered a championship any more because over half of the season doesn’t really count for anything any more, it’s basically a series of races that don’t mean anything for drivers who don’t win a race that leads into a weird knockout system at the end where for most of the field points totals over the year are completely irrelevant. A championship should be points earned over a season and not something that gets reset for the final few races so that those only those who qualify for those final races end up having a shot. It’s a pathetic system.
In terms of home grown racing IndyCar looks to be on the rise recently and that’s what gets me and my husband’s full attention now. Got tickets for the Indianapolis Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500 over the next few weeks so it’s going to be a fun month!
LyndaGreen
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On this day in F1
BAR dropped their attempt to overturn a two-race ban for using an illegal fuel collector on this day ten years ago. The team, whose drivers were Jenson Button and Takuma Sato, were kept from racing in the Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix.
Michal (@michal2009b)
6th May 2015, 0:28
Ferrari got lucky by firing you Luca.
Michal (@michal2009b)
6th May 2015, 0:29
should I said by sacking him :)
MB (@muralibhats)
6th May 2015, 0:31
Alonso could had added 2007 season also in the moments.
nidzovski (@nidzovski)
6th May 2015, 20:24
i see what you did there :)
MarkM
6th May 2015, 1:00
Montezemolo, if you call properly “structured” lucky, if you call a “proper chain of command” lucky, if you call “the freedom to design and not have one man looking over your shoulder” lucky, if you call allowing people to make their own decisions and having free spirit to follow and make the decisions they believe are right based on their expertise lucky?
then yeah, I guess they are lucky aren’t they! ;-)
@HoHum (@hohum)
6th May 2015, 1:11
To be fair, he was not saying Ferrari’s improvement was due to luck, only that they were lucky in that both Williams and Red Bull failed to improve. But your points are good.
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
6th May 2015, 3:12
To be honest, it is almost impossible to believe that Ferrari recent organizational changes were planned upfront. No major organization would plan to make such drastic changes in such a short time, it would be foolish to do so, as the consequences could be dire. Ferrari have well and truly “lucked” into a feel good situation.
Major corporations, Ferrari included, develop succession plans in great detail, sometimes even years in advance. Some how, I doubt that Messrs Di Montezemolo and Marchionne had such a plan, if they did, it would certainly be surprising if one Marco Mattiaci featured. However, the fact is that the Ferrari tree needed a massive shake up, and it duly did get one.
The point Im trying to make here is that, the situation that they find themselves in right now wasnt built up with significant planning up front. The house needed cleaning urgently and instead of using more conventional methods of cleansing, the CEO just opened up the water mains and flushed the place out! The current management structure is working well at Maranello, but it could have equally gone the other way as well.
Lenny
6th May 2015, 5:39
Well is that not the case with everything in life?Things can go your way or the other way;Ferrari has a lot of money and things could only go up from where they were last year so no it’s not luck,they simply did their homework.Also their racing team isn’t really comparable to a traditional corporation as they only plan in the short-medium term (24-36 months) so changing things on the huff rather than planning years ahead is totally normal in this context.Afterall why plan years ahead when regulations,prize money fluctuations and staff change all the time?
anon
6th May 2015, 6:53
@hohum Exactly – if you read the original article, what he says is that whilst the team deserves to be congratulated for what it has achieved and its success is well merited, they have also been fortunate that Williams have not improved, Red Bull have imploded (as he puts it) and McLaren are in a crisis.
To a certain extent, he does have a point that Ferrari’s relative movement up the grid is as much down to the weakness of its competitors as to its own improvements – Williams, for example, have already admitted that they underestimated the potential gains that Ferrari could make.
Equally, he suggests that work on the 2015 car started a lot earlier than Arrivabene has claimed – he is claiming that he instructed the team to start work on the 2015 car in January last year, right after the first test session, with Domenicali being responsible for securing the additional funding needed to start work on that car earlier than normal.
@jaymenon10, I’d agree that it does feel a little as if Marchionne kind of rushed into his decision – he’s had a grudge against Luca for a while because Luca happened to be blocking some of Marchionne’s proposals (such as listing Ferrari on the US stock exchange and refusing to ramp up sales in the way that Marchionne seems to have wanted to do with Ferrari).
It feels a bit as if he’d spotted an opportunity to force Luca out over Ferrari’s poor 2014 form and decided to seize it before he’d thought through all of the implications – if I recall well, he announced Ferrari’s listing on the US stock market before he announced who their new team principle would be, which perhaps suggests that was his higher priority at the time.
iFelix (@ifelix)
6th May 2015, 10:14
The fact that Williams and Red Bull were not in contention was surely a factor. But let’s not forget that they beat both Mercs who are still the by far dominant car by combination of smart strategy and helpful ambient conditions. It was indeed the first time since the start of 2014 season that Mercs were beaten without any extraordinary reason (technical failure and alike). One can’t credit this to chance.
Furthermore, while I personally don’t like Marchionne, he has a reputation for creating fast turnaround in companies in crisis. He did in Fiat, Chrysler and now trying his hand in Ferrari and so far has been successful. As they say: “once is a coincidence…”
Tony Hamilton (@tonybananas)
6th May 2015, 13:45
You could go the whole hog and say Mercedes were lucky last year that none of their competitors made as good a job of the new regulations as them. Where would you stop? Ultimately you can only deal with your own organisation.
ColdFly F1 (@)
6th May 2015, 15:07
@hohum, yeah it seems to happen more and more that commenters ‘forget’ to read the article.
But interestingly this time they can be forgiven as the link is incorrect!
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
6th May 2015, 15:17
I’d like to clarify that my Comment was independent of the article.. The word “lucked” somehow felt appropriate.
celeste (@celeste)
6th May 2015, 1:35
Are you telling me Webber and Vettel are no longer mortal enemies?
Man, boring… I was waiting for the day Mark unleashed a cocodrile on Seb´s motorhome…
@HoHum (@hohum)
6th May 2015, 1:47
Great COTD, timing, as they say, is everything and unfortunately for F1 fans Bernie took notice of NASCAR when it was at the peak of it’s earnings, which as with many brands happens when the product has been adulterated but still retains the loyalty of its fans/purchasers, such is the inertia of loyalty that the product can continue to sell well for many years so long as it’s fans believe that the product will improve again and management is striving to give value to customers, unfortunately just like a Ponzi scheme it can’t go on forever and will fail unless profits are foregone in order to re-build the brand. Don’t believe me, remember Rover, Wolseley, Australian wine ?
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
6th May 2015, 1:49
Quite interested to see who Haas will hire. I think JEV will be one of them. He is already at Ferrari and isnt doing much other than FE, or could it be Este Gutierrez? The latter may be a bit of a risk, but it could be good for business. Tip Alex Rossi to be involved in some capacity, perhaps as a test driver.
From Joe Saward…” The company has long links with FIFA but was caught up in last year’s scandal over World Cup tickets.” – Prerequisite to getting a job with F1!
Hayden
6th May 2015, 2:12
JP Montoya would be a dream come true…
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
6th May 2015, 3:00
It would be…but he is too old to come back to F1…further to that, I dont think he would want to come back either!
I really hope JP goes to Le Mans and completes the triple crown.
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
6th May 2015, 4:26
Looking good for JP in Indycar… maybe he could battle for that title with Castroneves, then they could go to Le Mans with a Penske attempt? :D
Lenny
6th May 2015, 3:16
To be honest I think -but mostly hope- that Ferrari hired Gutierrez as bargaining chip to get Hulkenberg (top class driver IMO).We all know they don’t really need his Claro sponsorship so perhaps they’ll trade him at the end of this year, I see it as a win-win situation for everyone!Force India becomes Mexico’s favourite team and No.1 promoter of the GP with Gut and Perez onboard,Este continues his carrier (he’s 23 and former GP3 champ so maybe not top class but he deserves it) and Ferrari re-becomes Germany’s favourite team again just in time for when they go racing again at Hockenheim.All this can only boost the chances of the Italian and German GPs to stay on beyond 2016 given the political gravitas of Ferrari and help Force India take the next step after a good 2014,new wind tunnel in 2015 and solid sponsorship and exposure in Latin america in 2016!Speculating to the max here but hope to be right
Key (@key75)
6th May 2015, 10:26
That’s a great speculation!!! I still think Kimi will stay for more a year, but your idea would be a win-win situation really and I would love to see Hulk with Vettel.
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
6th May 2015, 4:23
@jaymenon10 True, Vergne would be the obvious number one driver, but I can imagine say Sutil trying to get involved. But it wouldn’t surprise me to see Gutierrez placed there, with Vergne continuing his role at Ferrari. Rossi’s made a good start in GP2, so this might be his year to shine and claim that second Haas seat..
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
6th May 2015, 7:07
I think Heikki stands a good chance. Tons of experiencen and the only GP winner whom I think could return right now.
Denis 68
6th May 2015, 8:08
You serious?
He was absolutely useless when he came back last time to fill in for Kimi.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
6th May 2015, 8:19
As also D’Ambrosio proved it is very hard to jump into a car you don’t know and be quick right away; especially if it had been almost a year since your last race…
Besides, I did not say I’d hire him. I said he stands a good chance with the experience he has at several teams. Haas has said they wanted someone who has already driven in the sport. I can’t think of many who have been there recent with as many experience as Heikki.
Denis 68
6th May 2015, 10:14
For a driver of Heikki’s experience (one time race winner in F1) coupled with the fact that he had only been out of a race seat for less than a year (unlike Luca Badoer for example who had been out of a race seat for 10 years) his performances were embarrassing.
How many chances does a driver deserve?
Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
6th May 2015, 13:01
I agree, JEV is definitely in the hot seat with his Ferrari contract, and impressing with Andretti in FE.
As for the second seat I can’t see past Rossi providing he makes the points cut.
@keithcollantine how about an article showing how well next years F1 hopefuls will have to do in their various series to make the points berth? Just an idea if it’s a slow week sometime :)
Totally off topic, but speaking of JEV, does anyone else get annoyed at FIA keeping redundant/ badly thought out 3-letter timing names?
For instance, Juan Pablo Montoya was MOY instead of MON… why? Because of racing legend Tiago MONteiro of course! A far better solution would have been to use JPM, but they went with the awkward MOY instead.
Similarly, poor Max V has to settle for VES because Jean-Eric used VER, even though a far better solution would be for Max to use VER and Jean-Eric to use JEV if he returned, since thats what everyone calls him anyway.
The FIA never let common sense get in the way of some nice red tape.
Why is this does anyone know? Am I the only person OCD enough to get wound up by it?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
6th May 2015, 16:47
@fullcoursecaution
Actually that was already covered during the (very slow) off-season!:
Who will be eligible to race in Formula One next year?
Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
6th May 2015, 16:55
Ask and you shall receive… You’re a lap ahead of the competition @keithcollantine !!
American F1
6th May 2015, 14:32
Vergne and Rossi! Though I think Josef Newgarden from Indy might be a good choice as well (yes, I know he needs an F1 superlicense).
JackySteeg (@jackysteeg)
6th May 2015, 2:19
Good to see that Luca is about and still talking nonsense.
tmax (@tmax)
6th May 2015, 5:00
I for sure can vouch that Alonso will (WILL) win another F1 race. No doubt whatsoever about that.
As far as big Luca’s comments are concerned I think it was a bit fair. If Williams and Red Bull had done a better Job the assured 3rd Place for Ferrari would be doubtful.
A very Nice Round up Keith , Lots of Fun articles. Interestingly Seb featured in 3 of them !!!
Duc Pham (@ducpham2708)
6th May 2015, 6:38
Yeah and Mercedes was lucky last year thanks to Ferrari and Renault messing up their engines, and your own success with Ferrari in the early-2000s was also lucky thanks to the fact that McLaren wasn’t able to take the fight to your team.
What a childish thing to say after being sacked Luca.
KoosOos (@koosoos)
6th May 2015, 7:07
I think the Tata news is the best news we had in F1 in a long time and no one has mention it. I relay think ppl do not under stand what this could mean for F1 and the teams. This could in the long run make F1 viable and insure that no team will have any financial problems. Let say that Bernie ask as 20 pounds for a monthly subscription to live streaming of F1 races and a Internet channel. If only 10 milj ppl subscribe it will mean that F1 will make an extras1 bilj profit for the year. Out of that 1 Bilj profit the teams will get 670 milj extra in the price pot at the end of the year. That is just with 10 milj ppl. If every one how is paying a subscription fee now to watch F1 subscribe just think what the amount of money we are talking about.
Lenny
6th May 2015, 9:17
Perhaps it is a great opportunity but James Allen made a really poor job of explaining it in a clear way. I read it several times and the only two useful infos i could extrapolate from it is that TATA (surprise,surprise) sponsors his website and it is a great opportunity for F1 and Bernie Ecclestone. The article is literally littered with stuff like “this is great,awesome,wonderful,the future” mumbo jumbo without getting to the point.Anyway glad at least one person got it and hope it really is a way forward for promotion and broadcast
William Stuart (@williamstuart)
6th May 2015, 9:18
What about the F1 Youtube channel having like 2 minute highlight vids going up a few minutes after the race has ended, along with the full race, which you have to pay lets say £3 to watch. Then they can get people interested with the highlights and the £3 cost isn’t too much to put people off as long as the quality is good and you can change camera angles (onboard, pit lane view etc).
Whatever happens F1’s social presence is atrocious and way off where it should be.
KoosOos (@koosoos)
6th May 2015, 11:11
@williamstuart
The problem with 3 Pounds is that it is not viable for the sport to do it at that price. The sport will loss money at that price and not gain any money. Pay to view suppliers pays for the right to have internet content and F1 will have to ask less for the TV rights. The internet viewers will have to make up that difference and make it profitable else there is no need to changes it. Remember that for every pound the sport losses the teams losses as well. The one thing you have to remember is that we want it to be as cheap as possibly but give F1 as much profit as possible. If that means that we can do it with sponsors and free TV so be it but the reality is that we can’t. So we need to find a new way and that is what the Internet can do for the sport.
William Stuart (@williamstuart)
6th May 2015, 22:39
It’s a typical business catch 22, if the prices are too high no one will buy them and F1 won’t want to support it. However if the prices are too low then they won’t make as much money, and will believe that big companies dominating the pay to view market is still the best way of delivering content. Therefore it’s a tricky situation, but I think F1 should take a financial hit now (the sport itself isn’t lacking money too much only the smaller teams) and establish a reputable and widely known presence online. It should pay off because it would widen the fanbase for younger people. This would have several knock on effects, with more views more sponsorship comes for the teams so they won’t struggle as much financially and the sport would be more attractive to new teams so potentially bigger grids with better quality drivers and thus better racing.
I don’t think enough mention is made of the lack of social media presence of F1, I’m worried that if they don’t put effort in to it now then they will be left behind in the future and will be in an even worse situation than now.
KoosOos (@koosoos)
7th May 2015, 10:51
@williamstuart
That is true. They can do allot more on social media. But asking the smaller teams to take a knock now will be impossible. The problem with sponsors is much deeper then just the fact that the viewing figures is down. The sponsors will get more for there money by advising before and after the race and in some country in between the race then sponsoring a team. Just go and thing how many teams sponsor you can name by hard with out going to have a look. The other problem F1 has when comes to sponsor is the amount of time a sponsor gets in a race. If a F1 team get 20 min of air time in a race it is a lot. Take a football team if they play a match you will see there sponsors on there outfit for 90 minutes. Where do you think the sponsor are going to invest there money, in F1 or Football. The problem with F1 is more a marketing problem when it comes to sponsors. That is also the main reason why Bernie has moved away from sponsor and to getting money from else where. I still think that a 10 pound a month subscription fee to stream races and get other contend is not a bad price if you take in to account that what the price now is. But like you said it is a catch 22.
evered7 (@evered7)
6th May 2015, 11:11
@williamstuart You are asking them to put a lot of thought into their actions. Something F1 doesn’t do these days.
F1 should first let subscribed viewers choose the driver they want to follow. Currently I am subscribed to Star Sports in my country and I am at the mercy of the TV Directors to show me what is happening with my favorite team/driver.
I like how the WEC race at Spa was available for 5 Euros. I am going to buy the whole video package sans Le Mans which costs less than the F1 Timing app.
Lenny
6th May 2015, 9:23
Also no offence as probably English isn’t your first language (it isn’t mine either) but it’s really hard to understand what you mean from the way you write…What is a milj?Or a Bilj?On top of that you further confused me on what James Allen actually meant lol
KoosOos (@koosoos)
7th May 2015, 10:26
@ lenny
Milj = Million
Bilj = Billion
Sorry
He meant that with the tech that Tata is bring youu can now start to stream the race directly to he fan.
santiago (@santi2304)
6th May 2015, 7:23
Its getteing boring to hear that alonso might not win again,let time tell the story.
Steve K
6th May 2015, 7:28
You cannot have a 3300 pound car going 250 MPH. Alternatively, NASCAR will never stop going to Talladega or Daytona. What else are they to do but lower the speeds down to 200 MPH and race in packs? Junior makes a great point but he fails to offer any solutions.
William Stuart (@williamstuart)
6th May 2015, 9:22
How do the Nascars weigh that much? That’s like 1.5 tons right? It looks like they are just a polycarbonate shell wrapped around a pretty bare chassis, I would’ve thought they’d be around a tonne not 50% more than that.
Corey
6th May 2015, 13:47
The front and rear bumpers are polycarbonate, but the rest of the body is actually sheet metal. Along with a tubaler steel roll cage, teams also add tungsten weights into the framerails which brings the car up to the 3300 pound weight limit.
Todfod (@todfod)
6th May 2015, 7:39
Sounds like the grapes are sour for Luca. Ferrari are ‘lucky’ ?!? I think Luca is lucky that in season testing wasn’t banned earlier, so they could afford spent countless hours and resources in building their early 2000s streak.
He took a lot of swipes at Alonso which were unfair. I think he needs to refresh his memory to how good Alonso was for those 5 seasons. They couldn’t even produce the 2nd best car on the grid during those 5 seasons, yet in his debut season he took the championship battle to the last race, only to be let down by Ferrari strategists. In 2012, he did what no Ferrari driver has done before, by nearly winning a championship in a car way behind the Red Bulls and Mclaren on pace.
After 4 to 5 seasons of constant disappointment from Ferrari’s management and engineering team, it’s obvious he’s going to be frustrated and glum. Heck, if Vettel sticks around for even 3 or 4 seasons with the 3rd fastest car on the grid, I’ll be amazed.
BasCB (@bascb)
6th May 2015, 8:12
yes, I really dislike the negative tone of that article too @todfod.
Sure, Ferrari did “luck” into having a slightly easier position because Williams failed to continue their momentum into this year and Red Bull as well as McLaren have their own issues. And its clear that they must have started work on 2015 early, as it was obvious from the first tests, that they had produced a dud last year.
But really the thing is, that contrary to what Monti kept saying last year, the team clearly showed how there IS potential to catch up within the current rules, and all fans can only be happy to see them do it after years of just talking about getting better the next year and failing.
As for Alonso, its sure he has his faults, and his judgement in where to go or go not might not have been best at all times. But its clear that he did do a great job with the cars the team gave him the last year.
And I am sure that it feels more satisfying to him to see McLaren go from hopeless to points contender and maybe race winner, and contender for titles once more than working hard for yet another 2-3rd placing. For me, as a fan of F1, I just hope that we can see him do amazing things with a car, no matter where on the grid it is.
tonyyeb (@tonyyeb)
6th May 2015, 9:02
Is it me or are the BBC F1 “journalists” just going round all of Alonso’s ex team mates trying to get retirement / never win again quotes?
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
6th May 2015, 15:44
Benson is trying is utmost to never become a journalist.
Gridlock (@gridlock)
6th May 2015, 9:36
Tata sponsor Mr Allen, AFAIK. Hence the frequent stories about them.
bull mello (@bullmello)
6th May 2015, 17:25
Very generous of Luca to not take complete credit for the Ferrari turnaround. He has taken a couple of opportunities now to beat them down and pat himself on the back. Surely the great work from James Allison did start before Arrivabene arrived, but Luca wasn’t the designer. Arrivabene has certainly changed the attitude and focus of the team to make a better working environment with a better focus on both drivers. I’m glad Ferrari seems to have moved out of the dark era of fear and into the light.