The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Sept 16, 2009 18:14:24 GMT -5
Unbelievable.... Renault have said they will not contest the charges, and have fired Briatore and highly-respected technical boss Pat Symonds. news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8258987.stmI wrote an entire post earlier in this thread about Briatore, saying how everything he touches turns to gold. If you'd told me then that Briatore would be fired before the end of the year, I'd have told you to shut up and stop talking about a sport you know nothing about. Formula 1 is the reason I can't watch reality TV, and why I don't read fiction. It's all so dull by comparison.
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by The Stig on Sept 17, 2009 20:34:10 GMT -5
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hoyainspirit
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When life puts that voodoo on me, music is my gris-gris.
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Post by hoyainspirit on Sept 18, 2009 12:14:36 GMT -5
Thanx for the updates and links to this story!
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Sept 22, 2009 7:52:02 GMT -5
Renault were given a 2 year suspended ban, which is essentially a 2 year probation. Pat Symonds (the technical boss at Renault) was given a 5 year ban from all FIA motorsport. Flavio Briatore was given a lifetime ban from all FIA motorsport. Piquet was given immunity, and thus not punished. The FIA declared that nobody else (including Renault's #1 driver Alonso) knew about the plot. In the end it basically came down to who said they were sorry. The FIA said they were prepared to throw Renault out of F1, but they suspended the ban because Renault admitted their guilt, apologized, and fired those responsible. Symonds got a 5 year ban because he admitted his guilt and said he was sorry, and Briatore got a lifetime ban because he continued to deny his involvement. Article: www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78770Verdict in full: www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78771
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by The Stig on Oct 3, 2009 9:57:37 GMT -5
For the first time in 3 years, the Japanese Grand Prix returns to the legendary Suzuka Circuit. Suzuka is hugely popular in F1 due to its amazing figure 8-style layout. It has every kind of corner, from fast sweepers to slow hairpins and kerb-hopping chicanes.
This weekend is a crucial weekend for the World Championship. Jenson Button could clinch the Championship this weekend with 2 races still to go, but a bad race for him could also allow his teammate Rubens Barrichello to get back in the fight. That would be big trouble for Jenson, because the next race is at Barrichello's home track in Brazil (Barrichello grew up a few blocks from the track), and the final race is on a new circuit in Abu Dhabi, where anything could happen.
So with that in mind, the Japanese Grand Prix weekend has turned into mass chaos. In qualifying there were 5 crashes among 4 drivers (one managed to crash, repair his car, then crash again), 3 red flags, 2 injured drivers (fortunately neither was serious), and 1 driver who didn't even participate because he'd already written off his car!
Then to cap things off, 7 drivers will get 5 position grid penalties for tomorrow's race! One of the crashes occurred at the end of a session, when a lot of drivers still hadn't set laptimes. The yellow flags came out in that corner, but 4 drivers who hadn't set laptimes ignored them and drove past the scene at full speed, earning them all 5 position grid penalties. Then the driver who crashed got a penalty for trying to limp back to the pits with a damaged car, and impeding other drivers in the process. Then another driver crashed and damaged his gearbox, and a gearbox change is a 5 position grid penalty. Then another team announced that they also had to change their gearbox, getting a similar penalty.
With all these penalties, nobody actually knows what the grid is for tomorrow. FIA rules say that penalties are imposed in the order they were committed, but nobody's worked that out yet. Some journalists have thrown together provisional grids, but they've all gotten different results. Some have Button as high as 9th, while others have him as low as 12th! The final grid will be published later today.
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Oct 19, 2009 6:02:45 GMT -5
Jenson Button is the 2009 F1 World Champion!
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PhillyHoya
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Post by PhillyHoya on Oct 19, 2009 13:38:45 GMT -5
Congrats to Jenson!
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Nov 18, 2009 19:16:25 GMT -5
So now that the season is over, the drama should stop, right?
NOPE!
A few days after the season ends, Ferrari finally puts an end to one of the worst-kept secrets in F1 and announces that they've signed Fernando Alonso to drive for them in 2010. He replaced Raikkonen, and everybody assumed that Raikkonen would go back to McLaren to replace the under-performing Heikki Kovalainen.
But the Raikkonen to McLaren deal wasn't announced right away, and rumors started to creep in that Raikkonen wasn't happy with the amount of money McLaren were offering him. Then rumors emerged that new World Champion Jenson Button wasn't happy with the amount of money that Brawn were offering him. Button took a big pay cut earlier this year to help the Brawn team survive.
Then Toyota suddenly quit F1, effective immediately, joining Honda and BMW as manufacturers that have quit the sport in the last 12 months. Suddenly Renault held a board meeting on their F1 future, and it looked like we might get a 4th withdrawal, but that danger looks like it's passed.
Then Mercedes grabbed the headlines, but for completely different reasons. Mercedes has been McLaren's engine partner for almost 15 years now. They owned 40% of the team, and the Mercedes engine boss was one of the most visible people in the McLaren garage. They won championships with McLaren, they stood with McLaren through the 2007 scandals, and McLaren designed and built Mercedes' top-end road car. In the spirit of F1 unity, McLaren also let Mercedes give Brawn engines this year to help keep Brawn in F1. In other words, all was happy.
So everybody was a bit shocked when Mercedes announced they were selling their stake in McLaren and buying all of the Brawn team to form Mercedes Grand Prix. It's not every day that the defending F1 World Champions get sold.
It's also not every day that the defending World Champion driver switches teams, but that also happened, as Button went in the reverse direction and jumped from ex-Brawn to McLaren. Raikkonen (still probably the fastest driver in F1, when he can be bothered) promptly announced he was quitting F1 altogether and going rally racing. Mercedes are expected to announce soon that the German duo young hotshoe Nico Rosberg and underrated journeyman (and lumberjack lookalike) Nick Heidfeld will be their drivers.
Just your typical F1 off-season!
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Nov 22, 2009 8:47:06 GMT -5
And now there's rumors that Mercedes want to sign Michael Schumacher....
Schumacher and Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn are very close, and Schumacher got his start in high-level racing with Mercedes' sportscar team in 1990. He was supposed to race for Mercedes in F1, but they lost him to a loophole in his contract.
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Dec 13, 2009 17:03:18 GMT -5
The Schumacher to Mercedes rumors are really heating up. Some German sources say a deal is already done.
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SirSaxa
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Post by SirSaxa on Dec 13, 2009 20:21:12 GMT -5
The Schumacher to Mercedes rumors are really heating up. Some German sources say a deal is already done. Is "National Pride" a significant factor in this potential deal? For either side?
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Dec 13, 2009 22:11:05 GMT -5
The Schumacher to Mercedes rumors are really heating up. Some German sources say a deal is already done. Is "National Pride" a significant factor in this potential deal? For either side? Sort of. Mercedes want Schumacher because having him will make them top dog in the eyes of German fans. F1 races in Germany were a pretty remarkable sight when Schumacher was at Ferrari. You'd have Mercedes and BMW-engined cars fighting for the wins, but the entire crowd would be dressed in red and cheering for the Italian team. Michael's brother Ralf won in a BMW-engined car in 2001, and the crowd hated it because Michael was the only one they cared about. Even today, with Schumacher retired for years, most of the crowd in Germany still cheer for Ferrari. Mercedes know that bringing Michael onboard is a surefire way to change that. They're sick of playing second fiddle to him, even in retirement, so as the saying goes, if you can't beat them, join them. The irony is that Mercedes already have a top German driver in Nico Rosberg. But Nico can't win over the German crowd because his legendary dad Keke Rosberg was Finnish, and most people still see Nico as a Finn despite his passport. In the battle for the affections of the German crowd, Nico would lose out to Sebastian Vettel, who's a true German and is a better driver. But Schumacher trumps both of them. Schumacher doesn't care at all about Mercedes being German. The only guy he really cares about there is an Englishman - Ross Brawn. Schumacher worked with Brawn at Benetton, where they won 2 championships. Schumacher left for Ferrari, and after a dismal year without Brawn, he got Ross to join him at Ferrari, where they went on to dominate F1 in a way it's never been dominated before. Of course, there are other factors too. Bringing Schumacher onboard is a huge PR coup around the world, not just in Germany. It would really announce to the world that Mercedes are in F1 as a full manufacturer. Schumacher still has an enormous legion of fans around the world who can be turned into instant Mercedes fans, and merchandise sales will be out of this world. From Schumacher's point of view, Brawn had a great car last year despite basically having no sponsors, and now they have the backing of a major manufacturer.
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SirSaxa
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Post by SirSaxa on Dec 13, 2009 22:21:20 GMT -5
Is "National Pride" a significant factor in this potential deal? For either side? Sort of. Mercedes want Schumacher because having him will make them top dog in the eyes of German fans. F1 races in Germany were a pretty remarkable sight when Schumacher was at Ferrari. You'd have Mercedes and BMW-engined cars fighting for the wins, but the entire crowd would be dressed in red and cheering for the Italian team. Michael's brother Ralf won in a BMW-engined car in 2001, and the crowd hated it because Michael was the only one they cared about. Even today, with Schumacher retired for years, most of the crowd in Germany still cheer for Ferrari. Mercedes know that bringing Michael onboard is a surefire way to change that. They're sick of playing second fiddle to him, even in retirement, so as the saying goes, if you can't beat them, join them. The irony is that Mercedes already have a top German driver in Nico Rosberg. But Nico can't win over the German crowd because his legendary dad Keke Rosberg was Finnish, and most people still see Nico as a Finn despite his passport. In the battle for the affections of the German crowd, Nico would lose out to Sebastian Vettel, who's a true German and is a better driver. But Schumacher trumps both of them. Schumacher doesn't care at all about Mercedes being German. The only guy he really cares about there is an Englishman - Ross Brawn. Schumacher worked with Brawn at Benetton, where they won 2 championships. Schumacher left for Ferrari, and after a dismal year without Brawn, he got Ross to join him at Ferrari, where they went on to dominate F1 in a way it's never been dominated before. Of course, there are other factors too. Bringing Schumacher onboard is a huge PR coup around the world, not just in Germany. It would really announce to the world that Mercedes are in F1 as a full manufacturer. Schumacher still has an enormous legion of fans around the world who can be turned into instant Mercedes fans, and merchandise sales will be out of this world. From Schumacher's point of view, Brawn had a great car last year despite basically having no sponsors, and now they have the backing of a major manufacturer. Thanks for the quick response. Next time, please add a little more detail! How the heck do you know so much about F1, including so much history?
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Dec 14, 2009 20:18:01 GMT -5
I've been into racing for most of my life, and for the past 10 years I've been completely and totally obsessed with F1. It's the kind of sport that's not too interesting if you're just a casual fan, but absolutely fascinating if you dig deeper into what's going on off the track.
The political stuff is like a mystery novel - you never know everything, nobody's ever telling the full truth, and you're always finding more and more little details that change the entire picture. A lot of people say that the political stuff ruins the sport, but I think it makes it even more fascinating.
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Post by redskins12820 on Dec 14, 2009 21:20:28 GMT -5
How did I just read this thread? This is absolutely amazing. I've never watched a single F1 race, but I may have to because the drama is just too good. Stig, thanks for writing all this up!
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Dec 16, 2009 21:43:47 GMT -5
Renault have sold a big stake in their team to a private equity firm, but the team will stay in F1 and still be known as Renault. If you want to follow F1, the best site is Autosport: www.autosport.com/news/For a bit more gossip and rumors, James Allen has an excellent blog: www.jamesallenonf1.com/Allen used to be the TV commentator for F1 in the UK, and he was absolutely awful. However, his blog is surprisingly good, and he has excellent sources all over the paddock. He can also be a bit more blunt and open about the political goings on, since he's not an official journalist anymore. The BBC has also has a pretty good F1 section: news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/default.stmThe American F1 broadcaster is Speed Channel. Their F1 site is formula-one.speedtv.com/Their news section is absolutely awful, full of unsubstantiated rumors and stupid headlines. But they have some great columnists, especially Adam Cooper. The official F1 site is www.formula1.com. It's total garbage, and basically serves as Bernie Ecclestone's propaganda machine. The only thing it's useful for is live timing of every F1 session. Watching F1 races in the US can be tough. The broadcaster is Speed Channel, which isn't in a lot of basic cable packages. The other problem is timing - the races are shown live from the other side of the world, which means they come on at awkward times in the US. The European/Middle East races start at 8AM Eastern Time. The Asian races usually come on about 3AM. The good news is that the Speed Channel commentary crew is excellent.
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FewFAC
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Post by FewFAC on Dec 17, 2009 13:34:29 GMT -5
Speed usually does a replay of the races later in the day at more manageable times. Personally, I prefer to watch the qualifying to the races.
Anyway, thanks for the updates. Watching F1 is awesome, though you'd never catch me watching NASCAR or Indy. I've followed the behind the scenes drama as little as possible because the drivers tend to come off of as superfragile, egomaniacal divas.
I've watched most of the last two seasons, but hadn't really been following it since Schumi retired. Was it just me or did it sound like when he originally got in that accident that, especially when he tried to come back after Massa's injury, it would kind of permanently preclude him from withstanding the force of driving a F1 car? ?
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SirSaxa
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Post by SirSaxa on Dec 23, 2009 8:46:08 GMT -5
Schumacher confirms return to F1 with Mercedes -- as The Stig reported some time ago. EXCERPTS Schumacher had been working as a consultant with Ferrari since his retirement, attending some F1 races. He said he had not envisioned a permanent comeback until approached by Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn -- the man who oversaw the German's seven world titles: five with Ferrari and two with Benetto
"The one reason I seriously thought about my return is its because an old friend asked me," Schumacher said. "Mercedes gave me a chance to enter Formula One and throughout the years we were never able to work together, but now I have that chance. I am happy to give back for what Mercedes gave me in the early days.
"I was not thinking I would have an offer," Schumacher said. "I could not have imagined I would have returned. Due to this special combination, that no one could have planned in advance, I just thought, 'Why not?" ESPN on Mercedes F1 Driver
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Dec 23, 2009 11:34:54 GMT -5
Yes indeed!
80 days before the season opener in Bahrain, which now has to be one of the most highly anticipated races in F1 history.
- Up to 4 totally new teams - One of the most famous names in motorsport (Mercedes) returning as a full constructor - The most talented driver in the sport (Alonso) switching to the most famous team in the sport - The defending World Champion switching teams - Arguably the greatest driver in F1 history returning to the sport
It's going to be fun! The only problem is that it's at Bahrain, which is a pretty forgettable track with forgettable races.
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by The Stig on Dec 31, 2009 12:37:31 GMT -5
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