Paddock Diary: Russian Grand Prix day three

On day three of @DieterRencken’s diary from the Formula 1 paddock in Sochi: Bernie Ecclestone returns, sponsorship worries and a farce in qualifying.

8am

A sort of lie-in, although the time still equates to 7am at home in Belgium. The luxury of the hour extra in bed is due to Liberty’s (later) time-shifting of timetables, but, frankly, most of the paddock would prefer to leave an hour earlier in the evening than gain extra morning bed time.

10am

After the usual morning routine and catching up on news it’s time to make my way to the circuit, so aim for the 9:40 shuttle, which gets me to the paddock 20 minutes later. I grab coffee and croissants at Mercedes; while enjoying my continental breakfast in walks the now-goatee-bearded Bernie Ecclestone, kitted out in black Rosgonki jacket.

Rosgonki is a term much in evidence in Sochi this year, being an amalgam of the host country (Ros) and “race” in Russian (gonki) as the newly adopted name of the promoting company. As per last year, Ecclestone is an honorary guest of the promoter, and as such is attired in their colours. After a quick catch-up. I haul out an Ecclestone puppet I’d discovered in a long forgotten box during my recent office refurb.

In 2011, following the earthquake and tsunami which devastated parts of Japan and killed thousands, Suzuka circuit was raising funds for victims and was granted permission by F1’s then-tsar to sell the puppets during race weekend. In anticipation of Ecclestone being in Sochi I’d packed the puppet, and, to the surprise of colleagues present in the Mercedes hospitality, ask the 87-year-old (88 at end-October) to sign said doll. He does so with a smile and flourish.

11am

Wander the paddock and sight Dmitry Mazepin and Uralkali director Paul Ostling, so we have a brief chat while they wait for a meeting with Liberty boss Chase Carey to discuss the latest developments in the Force India saga. The American rescues them from my questions – but before he does so they make the point very clear that they still want the team, as we previously reported.

Later, while in Force India checking out unrelated stuff, Mazepin walks in and approaches Lawrence Stroll. After a brief chat the two head upstairs; subsequently I see the Russian in the paddock, and ask how his chat went.

“Lawrence and I are old friends,” he says, “and I explained our side of the story, why we’ve taken the action. It’s now in the hands of the courts…” There are unlikely to be any significant developments until that happens.

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1pm

After final practice I head off in search of lunch, and end up watching the Ryder Cup at McLaren while munching on baguette sandwiches. I’m not a fan of golf – I fail to see how hitting a stationary ball can be viewed as a challenge – so break into conversation with two sport sponsorship brokers sitting at the table.

We touch on the state of F1 sponsorship, and it’s clear from their comments that unless Liberty discloses some extremely healthy over-the-top streaming numbers very soon, commercial entities will adopt the view that F1 viewerships are in a continuing downward spiral. Not good.

4pm

Qualifying once again highlighted how short-sighted can be F1’s rules; how regulations intended to “spice” the show and /or save costs have the opposite effect, in this case Renault sitting out Q2 in order to gain the advantage of starting on the sixth row of the grid, with the advantage of starting the race with a free choice of tyre compounds.

Any wonder fans – and, crucially, sponsors – are becoming increasingly concerned about the state of F1?

I hit the interview trail: Toro Rossos, Ferrari, Renaults, McLarens and Mercedes, while colleagues cover the rest. The Renault drivers give good accounts of the team’s tactics, though it’s clear the pair of them would rather have had the chance to bang in a lap time. Then its time to package all the material, and send it to various bases.

7:30pm

Done, I head for the shuttle to the apartment block and burger bar, where some colleagues are already dining. We swap the day’s yarns over Rosburgers and Rosfries before I depart for my room. As I page through Steve Parrish’s irreverence (see yesterday’s diary) he tweets: “Pleased U are enjoying the immaturity!”

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