In the round-up: Daniel Ricciardo has said that, if the Australian Open tennis tournament can go ahead without a rise in Covid cases, it could be ‘the template’ for a Melbourne Grand Prix.
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Tennis is 'the template' for F1's Melbourne return says Ricciardo (The Age)
"I'm a massive tennis fan and I'm going to be watching it, and I'm hoping they can pull it off because it's a template in some ways for how we can get our event done in November."
Magnussen has won a million-dollar showdown against a former manager (Jyllends Posten - Danish)
"He will not have to pay 20 percent of his gross income from 2015 to 2021 to Dorte Riis Madsen, the Eastern High Court of Denmark has ruled."
Thanks to Bob for the tip!
Fifth gear: five take aways from Sebring testing (IndyCar)
"Ganassi and Andretti – two of the 'Big Three' teams of IndyCar in recent years – participated in the test, with Ganassi on track Monday and Andretti turning laps Tuesday. It should come as no surprise that it was reported reigning series champion Scott Dixon was quickest Monday in a Ganassi Honda and perennial series title contender Alexander Rossi was tops Tuesday in an Andretti Honda."
McLaren racing and Garena announce new partnership for an upcoming in-game collaboration (McLaren)
"The partnership will deliver on both companies’ shared belief to offer creative and engaging experiences to its community of fans across racing and gaming. Fans can look forward to seeing McLaren’s Formula 1 racing driver, Lando Norris, playing a key role as part of the collaboration."
"Penske doesn’t do charity when it involves his name. The tenures of two of his most successful drivers in decades - Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya - ended not on the timelines of the drivers with five combined 500 victories, but when Penske said it was time."
"At ROC we are always looking for ways to put new exciting tests in front of some of the world’s top race drivers. In the past, that might have been a very tight track inside a stadium, but this time we will be able to build a longer, wider more spectacular track. The event will be unlike anything we are used to seeing and be one of the ultimate tests of a driver's car control."
FIA WEC 2021 grid revealed (WEC)
"Thirty-three entries representing 12 nations: Italy (7), Germany (6), Great Britain (5), USA (4), Japan (3), France (2), Switzerland (1), Poland (1), Netherlands (1), Denmark (1), Belgium (1), Slovakia (1). Five entries in Hypercar, 11 in LMP2, four in LMGTE Pro and 13 in LMGTE Am "
ETCR demonstration during the 24h Daytona weekend (ETCR)
"Augusto Farfus will drive the Hyundai Veloster N ETCR on the banking of the Florida speedway before the start of the IMSA Challenge race.t"
"Whether it was an over-commitment to a technology that was far from ready for prime-time, or a misguided engineering effort that siphoned millions into a dead-end before alarmed executives pulled the plug, the common factor was surprisingly familiar: 'we know what's best.' Except they didn't — and that became an extremely expensive lesson to learn for each member of this otherwise distinguished duo."
Rallye Monte-Carlo 2021: Highlights Stages 1-2 (WRC via YouTube)
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
What a day with @alpine_cars! What say you @OconEsteban?
"Today was an amazing experience driving the Alpine A110S at #RallyeMonteCarlo. It's been a dream of mine to have a go at rallying so to have a taste of it at a brilliant event like this was definitely special. [1/2] pic.twitter.com/8qs8pWOCJf
— Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) January 21, 2021
32 years of @F1 car evolution; a driver's eye view.
MP4/4 ⏩ MCL35 pic.twitter.com/Zqwx2IOxTc
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) January 21, 2021
Just a wild thought in the rumoured Merc cooling update.
The current car has the forward facing inlet trumpets indide the plenum fed via a low mounted intercooler. Pic below.
May be the inlet set up is reversed? pic.twitter.com/aEm67NrTLq— Craig Scarborough (@ScarbsTech) January 21, 2021
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Comment of the day
Stefano Domenicali has proposed rotating races on future F1 calendars to maintain variety of venues without extending the calendar excessively, but is it realistic to expect every-other-year events to be financially viable, asks GT Racer:
I can’t see many of the race promoters been open to the idea of rotating races as that sort of arrangement offers them no benefits, It’s all mostly negatives.
Lost revenue is an obvious negative but it can also be harder to promote and drum up interest in a race that only happens every other year. The promoters need a big event to promote each year as that is how they sell tickets and make their revenue, Without that they will lose money which makes it harder to continue hosting the big events.
One of the factors that led Hockenheim and Nurburgring to losing the race completely was that the alternating arrangement after 2006 hurt both venues as both were losing chunks of money due to the lost revenue, Both were finding it harder to draw in fans and both felt that was at least in part due to not having that annual big event to promote year around and both then also felt that hurt there ability to attract other big events.
Some places could maybe get away with it as they have that massive die-hard motorsport-mad fanbase, But some venues would simply not be able to sustain the race if they were been alternated on and off the calendar.
@GT-racer
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On this day in F1
- 65 years ago today Juan Manuel Fangio won the Argentinian GP, catching and passing Stirling Moss, after taking over his team mate Luigi Musso’s Lancia-Ferrari
Calum Menzies
22nd January 2021, 0:14
I wonder if they could rotate races by giving, say a 6 year deal with 5 races, rather than year on / year off.
Would free a little bit of space up for variety on the calendar and track revenue wouldn’t be as “up and down” as the year on / year off would.
I’d prefer rotation to 23, 25, 30 races per year!
Sean
22nd January 2021, 1:29
It sounds nice in theory but from my experience here in the US with a couple of international sports/ competitions attempting similar it doesn’t work out too well. When an event is annual you can get local support and enthusiasm from the local community and the regional fans who will attend each and every year. When events have tried biennial schedules they tend to fail in drumming up the attention of those people in a consistent enough manner to support the event long term.
Germany is a great example of how the rotating schedule really failed F1 already and they are not even that far apart. While you can point to any number of factors that led to the decline of the German GPs the rotating schedule almost certainly accelerated the decline.
Calum
22nd January 2021, 13:05
I am absolutely not suggesting year-on / year-off like Germany did, because it clearly failed and wasn’t sustainable like you say.
Which US international events tried the 5 out of 6 years idea instead? I’d like to read into how they found it.
@HoHum (@hohum)
22nd January 2021, 0:37
@gt-racer, Sadly, Bernie’s ability to squeeze all the blood from a stone meant that most, if not all, unsubsidised tracks actually lost money holding a GP.
schooner (@schooner)
22nd January 2021, 1:02
Given the opportunity (yeah, right), I think that I’d rather have a go in the MP4/4 than the MCL35.
S
22nd January 2021, 3:55
Likewise.
Give me 10 opportunities, and I’d still take the classic over the modern 9 of those times.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
22nd January 2021, 4:18
What an odd thing to say, in no way is the Australian Open a comparable template for F1 as the sticking point is the two week quarantine that doesn’t fit with F1’s operations.
Only way I can see F1 happening in November now, considering the state government is unwilling to compromise on that two week quarantine for special events, is for the hotel quarantine to be scrapped by then all together.
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd January 2021, 6:57
Yeah, I was wondering about that one too, with all tennis players frustrated and stuck in their hotel rooms for a forthnight, I would hardly see this as a template of what to do @skipgamer.
S
22nd January 2021, 7:08
Interesting viewpoint – clearly from someone who doesn’t live in Australia.
Melbourne’s original date was dropped primarily because F1 weren’t willing to do quarantine (which the tennis players and staff were) and was postponed in the hope that they won’t have to do it later in the year.
It’s not the Victorian government that needs to compromise.
If anyone wants to come and enjoy the relative safety and freedom of Australia, they need to abide by the local laws.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
22nd January 2021, 7:53
erm… Not sure why you think I don’t live here, I didn’t say the gov should compromise, just that they’re unwilling to… You basically said the same thing I did in a different way.
S
22nd January 2021, 8:39
@skipgamer My apologies for the assumption.
The wording of your post came across to me as though you feel that Victoria should have compromised their entry requirements and quarantine safety procedure to make it easier for F1 to come.
I can’t see the hotel quarantine going away this year, and I don’t think it should. If F1 wants to come, they need to fit the 2 weeks quarantine into their schedule. They could have done it in March but they’ve chosen not to.
Tennis agreed to it, F1 didn’t, and one of them is now guaranteed to run their event this year.
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd January 2021, 8:47
@S Doing so in November isn’t possible because of Brazil two weeks prior.
S
22nd January 2021, 9:02
@jerejj
Precisely. That’s quite the corner that F1 have backed themselves into, isn’t it? ;)
If they still have the compulsory quarantine requirements later, they’ve lost the GP again.
If only they’d done it in March when they had the opportunity…
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
22nd January 2021, 7:37
I mean so far, isn’t the Australian Open an example of how not to do it?
Despite charter flights the number of positive cases is crazy for such a small group.
Even accepting that the players were always going to go stir crazy in their rooms, just like any normal person who has had to isolate.
ColdFly (@)
22nd January 2021, 9:32
They don’t just go crazy, some even test positive days into their quarantine.
You can argue the 14 days, but the quarantine not a crazy tool to keep overseas infections out.
Dean Franklin
22nd January 2021, 6:19
There won’t be a race in Australia or Asia this year. Ricciardo is out of his mind if he thinks team will be willing to quarantine for two weeks for one race weekend.
S
22nd January 2021, 7:11
They’ve shown already that they aren’t.
I’m with you – betting that the GP will probably be cancelled again.
F1 just isn’t flexible enough. Too much easy money available in Europe, so why bother coming all the way across to the other side of the world…
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd January 2021, 7:39
@Dean Franklin @S
Bahrain is in Asia and isn’t in danger, and so are Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which aren’t due until the end of the season. Too early to also judge Singapore and Japan this far in advance.
S
22nd January 2021, 7:49
@jerejj I didn’t mention Asia. Only the Melbourne GP.
There’s almost an absolute guarantee that there WILL be races in Asia – but probably not east of the UAE.
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd January 2021, 8:49
@S My point about Asia was to Franklin but added you as part of the same thread.
fauci
22nd January 2021, 13:15
If we weren’t seeing new strains and higher rates than ever before I imagine Victorian govt. might have accepted a bubble. If the vaccine shows a serious impact on the numbers by mid year they’ll be more likely to lower the bar.
Dean F
23rd January 2021, 5:41
You’re correct. In my head I think of those as Middle Eastern races despite being on the Asian continent.
The Asian races not in the Middle East won’t go ahead. There is 0% chance.
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd January 2021, 7:40
I had totally forgotten the Magnussen court matter. Not that I’d care about it anyway.
COTD: Fair point. Indeed more downsides for individual tracks than upsides.
Napier Railton (@napierrailton)
22nd January 2021, 7:48
Really stupid question here, but it’s only just occurred to me. How come there is an LMP2 class when there is no LMP1 class any more.
Surely they should be renamed HyperCar2 or simply prototype class.
Wellbalanced (@alloythere)
22nd January 2021, 9:30
Unfortunately I can’t read Danish, but if anyone can, I would be intrigued to know what figure was being claimed, and what Magnussen’s earnings over that period were.
Bob C.
22nd January 2021, 12:15
Well, I read Danish, but I am not fluent in contract-legalese, but for what it is worth (no pun intended):
The article, and other numbers having been kicked around in the Danish press, talk about a 20 per cent stake in the gross income in the company that was formed around Magnussen by his main sponsor, Bestseller.
What exactly constitutes “gross earnings” is a bit murky to me, but in seems to include personal sponsorship (primarily from Bestseller), Magnussen’s earnings from MacLaren, Renault and Haas, other sponsorships and a catch-all term of “other funds and loans paid into the company”.
All in all, the figure being quoted in the court decision as “undisputed” is about 130 million Danish kroner, covering the period of 2015-2020. That is roughly 20-21 million USD, and the manager had sued for the 20 % stake of this.
Notably, the initial contract that the manager was referring to in her claim, was from 2008. The court has noted that Magnussen was only 15 years old at the time, and his then lawyer has, as part of the case, been reprimanded for having given advice at the time that is considered “leading to responsibility on the part of the lawyer” (whatever that legalese means in human language).
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd January 2021, 19:07
@alloythere Use Google translate if you don’t get an automatic translation (like I do) on the website itself.
chimaera2003 (@chimaera2003)
22nd January 2021, 10:43
Given that even in a normal season there are normally only 2 weeks max between races (with the exception of the summer break), a 2 week quarantine mid-season is never going to work. If an event insists on it then it will have to accept that the race just won’t happen, hence the Australian GP needed to be the opening race or it probably won’t happen.
I think the Australian Open tennis analogy is slightly off as well simply due to the relative status within the sport and the number of people involved. The Australian Open in tennis will carry much much prestige (1 of only 4 majors) than the Australian GP will within F1 (1 of 20+ races). Therefore players (plus a coach, as opposed to 50+ staff if F1) will likely sacrifice more to participate and put up with a two week quarantine if needed. I suspect that if the Australian Open didn’t carry major status (with much reduced prize money) then far fewer players would make the same sacrifice.
I can see why F1 would refuse a quarantine since in effect a single positive test (out of 50+ team personnel) could wipe out a team from competing and that is 10% of the grid and have a detrimental impact on the overall championship. A single player missing the Australian Open won’t impact the competition integrity in the same way as it is one of 300+ players and it is a one-off event.
As others have said, why travel to Australia and risk a restrictive quarantine when alternative races in Europe can be put on in it’s place.
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd January 2021, 19:09
@chimaera2003 Spot on concerning everything.