Tag Archives: bernie eccelstone

Feb201118

Rob

2

No Bahrain? Australia to start? What will Ferrari and Nico Rosberg do?

With the political unrest currently in the Middle East spreading into Bahrain over the past week the world of F1 seems set to end up making some sort of political statement. They have a scheduled test and then the first GP of the year both set to happen in the next month in a country that is beginning to show the same dissatisfaction as other Middle Eastern countries and bar Iran they have succumbed to the pressure and had to do something.
F1 will want to keep it’s hands clean in the political sphere to avoid harming and future deals with either the current or any future power holders in the country but without a swift end to the protests it can’t justify aligning itself with any faction that would be the case were the GP to be held. I suspect that the situation will have calmed down for the race [...]

Apr201014

Rob

0

Korean track might not be ready for 2010

The debut race in Korea may yet be postponed until 2011 as work on the circuit is behind schedule, Bernie Ecclestone apparently visited the venue straight after the Malaysian GP to see what was happening. The designer Herman Tilke has also expressed worries about the completion of the track, though he’s made sure to distance his company from the problems.
If the race were postponed it would create a large break at the end of the season with just 2 races to go, the Brazilian and the Abu Dhabi GPs. This wouldn’t be the best time in the season to grab an extended break either – the last few years have seen the Championship battle go down to the wire and having to wait a month for more F1 will surely turn people away.
Be sure that Bernie was banging some heads together and trying to get the project back on track. [...]

Mar201023

Rob

0

Stefan GP and Toyota split up – for now…

Stefan GP – the team that tried and failed to take US F1’s position on the grid – has had a set back to it’s plans to enter F1. It’s main point was that it had the Toyota car, offices and technical support but now that agreement that was based upon Stefan GP actually gaining an entry has come to an end and the Stefan GP outfit has nothing again.
It seems that this saga will not end – though it does mean that Zoran Stefanovic is determined and that usually gets you what you want in F1. Bernie also still seems behind the outfit saying that it’s not all done and dusted and that we may yet see the team on the grid this year – though they would have to buy US F1’s entry and jump over some pretty big FIA hurdles to pull that one off. If this [...]

Feb201024

Rob

0

How the FIA failed entirely in expanding the grid

When it was announced that the FIA would be looking for new teams to bolster the F1 grid I was surprised – isn’t this a club where you have to know Bernie and have had dinner with him a few times plus have filled his pockets with gold before you can fill in the form? But no, they were indeed opening up F1, and they had a lot of applications.
The FIA (and Bernie) should have looked at the applications that were tabled and then thrown away the financially unsound ones and then looked at what was left, there was a lot of talk about due diligence  at the time. This process was obviously not through enough, two of the teams that were granted entry have been sold and bought before the new season has even started (Campos Meta and Manor), and a third is rumoured to have mounting financial problems [...]

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