If the punishment for the seven teams who boycotted the United States Grand Prix is deemed unreasonable, F1 could be on the road to an unavoidable split. The FIA will trial the Michelin teams on Wednesday June 29th, and the outcome will be pivotal for the future of Formula One. Already Paul Stoddart, a strong … Continue reading Editorial: How can you expect to be taken seriously?
Nine rounds passed in the unprecedented 19-round 2005 Formula One World Championship, and Spain’s Fernando Alonso is the clear championship leader. But he may not have it all his way in the second half. We rate the drivers’ performances through the season to date. 21. Christijan Albers, Minardi, 4 pts (17) There has not been … Continue reading 2005 half-term report: Drivers #21-6
Organisers of the Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland have generously offered to honour any tickets stubs for the United States Grand Prix as entry for their round of the Champ Car calendar. For more information see http://www.grandprixofcleveland.com/ The FIA and F1 teams would do well to imitate such generosity if they hope to ever … Continue reading Champ Car take F1 tickets
When logic and persuasion are failing to vindicate your political position, reach for flimsy, vague analogies instead. In defence of the FIA’s ‘no compromise’ stance on Michelin’s tyre problems at last weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Max Mosley argued: “To make the competitors in a downhill ski race with the correct skis run on a … Continue reading Mosley gets defensive
BMW confirmed F1’s worst-kept secret by buying into the Sauber team. They must have dropped their heads in dismay when they realised that their official announcement of the purchase would coincide with the most dismal controversy in F1 since 1994.
The political strife that has dogged the 2005 season behind the scenes finally boiled over onto the track, leaving the US Grand Prix an unedifying farce that may have caused terminal damage to F1’s reputation in the USA.
So, if you were in Jenson Button’s position last Sunday you wouldn’t have crashed into the wall? Likewise I bet that if it had been you in the cockpit of the number 10 McLaren you would have ignored the team, pitted and won the race? Of all sports, motor sport is perhaps the easiest of … Continue reading Unforced Errors
Stalinist Russia had nothing on propaganda, F1-style. F1Fanatic takes an ever-so-slightly cynical look at what those team press releases really mean… You know the score, halfway through a deathly dull one shot qualifying session, Louise Goodman grabs David Coulthard or Felipe Massa to talk through their heroic drive to 12th on the grid. They will … Continue reading F1-Speak
The FIA have put forward a radical proposal for the Formula One rules package from 2008 onwards. But in the light of the shambolic preparations for the United States Grand Prix, is there any cause for optimism that they might get it right? Let’s turn our minds back to the recent FIA survey of what … Continue reading Editorial: A Rules Revolution
Just five days after announcing the departure of technical director Trevor Carlin, the troubled Jordan team have now revealed that their 2006 car will not be manufactured by Dallara, but be built in-house. Although team owner Alex Shnaider threw a lavish party at his adopted homeland Canada last week in celebration of his team competing … Continue reading Jordan drop Dallara
The nation’s sports writers lined up to condemn the travesty of a Grand Prix that took place in the United States. The June 20th newspapers did not make welcome reading for dedicated fans of Formula One. At least ITV made a decent fist of the broadcast for once. Ecclestone and Mosley have presided over a … Continue reading United States Grand Prix 2005 Media Review
The Canadian Grand Prix gave us drama, incident and a smattering of controversy. But did it capture the attention of the nation’s sports writers? Find out in our post-race media review. So, when was Jenson Button’s last retirement as a result of driver error prior to his Canadian crash? The Sun quote the man himself … Continue reading Canadian Grand Prix 2005 Media Review
This week’s racing press has seen perhaps the biggest split since Ayrton Senna died, between those who ‘get’ racing and those who do not. I cannot believe those who comment that Kimi Raikkonen should have jeopardised a potential Grand Prix win by changing his damaged tyre. Newsflash: Raikkonen is a racing driver and he is … Continue reading Talking Money
A chance Google mix-up earlier this week got me musing on the problem of unintended consequences. Plan for one thing, get the other. Luckily for us, unintended consequences have played a major part in making the 2005 season rather good so far. Take Ferrari’s sudden and shocking decline in form relative to the opposition. The … Continue reading Editorial: Unintended Consequences
2005 sees the sixth running of the United States Grand Prix on the Indianapolis ‘infield’ circuit and, for the first time in this period, the field of drivers will include an American. But will F1’s brave new rules win over the notoriously indifferent American audience? F1 has had a rough time in America. Although for … Continue reading United States Grand Prix 2005 Preview
The Canadian Grand Prix proved dramatic and incident-filled from start to finish, if lacking in much outright racing. But, with Kimi Raikkonen winning and Fernando Alonso failing to score, it gave a welcome shot in the arm for the championship battle. Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher provided the Saturday shock by stealing the front row … Continue reading Raikkonen takes vital win as Renault falter
The Williams-BMW partnership looks unlikely to last for a seventh season as both team owner Frank Williams and technical chief Patrick Head have lashed out at the Munich car manufacturer for deflecting blame from themselves for their car’s failure to win a championship so far. Rumours suggest BMW will buy into the Sauber team and … Continue reading Williams slam BMW
Meanwhile Jordan’s dismal start of to 2005 has been compounded by the loss of technical director Trevor Carlin, who has left to concentrate on running his F3 team. As Carlin was put in place my new owner Alex Shnaider, his departure may signal that Shnaider is indeed losing interest in entering his own team next … Continue reading Carlin departs Jordan
Mark Webber has warned that the use of the safety car could precipitate more serious accidents as the enforced low-speed running causes tyre pressures to become dangerously low. This problem has been observed in F1 since the growing regularity of the use of the safety car in 1994, when it was suspected to have been … Continue reading Safety car ‘unsafe’
Max Mosley has fired a double salvo in retaliation to media criticism of driver safety in the wake of Kimi Raikkonen’s last-lap crash in the European Grand Prix. Mosley has warned teams not to risk accidents by allowing drivers to race on seriously worn or damaged tyres – potentially a futile plea, as no team … Continue reading FIA warning on tyres
