Typical…

So today I set off at the crack of dawn to drive home to France. I was working on the principle that a Friday in November would be a good day to be travelling and out of contact with the F1 world. I mean, who in their right minds announces anything on a Friday, unless they are trying to bury the story? It never ceases to amaze me that F1 folk do not think about the timing of announcements. If you put out any kind of statement after lunch on a Friday it is going to be picked up by only a few media outlets because most people are at that point winding down for the weekend and are well into the TGIF mindset. The big newspapers are into producing their Saturday editions and those tend to be rather fluffier than weekday publications because people want less stressful news at weekends. If you miss the deadlines for the Saturdays then the story will be buried because the Sundays often have different staff or too much soccer/rugby/tiddlywinks. By Monday the story is ancient history…

So as I was driving through the pouring rain and gusting winds BMW confirmed that it had sold its F1 team to Peter Sauber (a good story to bury given that the Munich company had previously announced selling the team to Qadbak). We all assumed that BMW would have done sensible due diligence on Qadbak, but this was obviously not the case because when push came to shove there was clearly no money there. So how did the first deal get done? Someone somewhere must not have been doing his homework…

Then Force India announced its driver line-ups. Hmmmm. Not very exciting news and Vijay Mallya lives on his own timezone so there was no surprise in that

And then Canada announced that it would be back on the F1 schedule…

I did hear that one last night but was stuck in a traffic jam rushing to get to dinner and did not have time to write it.

So, tomorrow is Saturday. There should not be any announcements… and so I am on the road again.

It remains to be seen how the FIA works out whether Sauber should get an entry before Toyota/Stefan (an odd deal, but apparently it is happening). I will take a look at all that next week…

Peter Sauber buys back his team

Peter Sauber has bought his team from BMW after Qadbak failed to complete the deal. Sauber now hopes to get the 13th F1 entry.

The birds of Cologne

The other day I was merrily telling someone that we have already reached the shortest day of the year – the winter solstice – but I have just realised that I was a month ahead of myself and that it is not until December 21 that this occurs. Great news, another month of days that end at tea-time. I have been been rushing around England in recent days and it has been quite a rewarding period in some respects. I don’t understand how anyone can endure the endless traffic jams and constant roadworks, but what can you do? I have paid fortunes to local government for car parking and I have concluded the Borough of Kensington & Chelsea should reinvest some of its ill-gotten gains installing machines that take credit cards rather than shillings and threepenny pieces.

And while all this was going on I got a call at some point from a little bird in Cologne who told me that the staff of Toyota have been told that their entry has been sold on to someone else – and that some of them are going to be asked to stay on to build and run their car for a man called Stefan from Serbia. Apparently the government down there is paying for “Stefan Grand Prix” to become a reality.

You heard it here first. Now I have to get going. More London traffic to get through. Tonight I will be back in Paris and tomorrow it will be the joys of the south-west of France.

Doing the travelling, meeting and family thing

Formula 1 is an all-consuming business but every now and then one has to take a step back and find out what happened to one’s real life…

So I am on the road this week in England, seeing family and friends, having meetings for future work and so on. This means that the regular flow of posts will be slightly disrupted, although I will endeavour to keep you up to date with any major developments in F1. I’d love to deal with all the comments as well but time is pressing. There are likely to be a number of announcements after December 1 as old contracts come to an end and new arrangements can then be announced.

Hildebrand and di Resta to test for Force India

British driver Paul di Resta and current Indy Lights champion American JR Hildebrand will share driving duties of the VJM02 for the test in Jerez, Spain next week. Twenty-three year old Paul and 21-year old JR were given a chance to use a simulator last week and the two came out as the best of the candidates.

Di Resta, from West Lothian, Scotland, is a Mercedes works driver in the German touring car series, the DTM, and finished third overall with one win in the 2009 championship. He also has an impressive record in the junior formulae, winning the 2006 Formula 3 Euroseries against a field including current F1 race winner Sebastian Vettel. In 2004 Paul was awarded the prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year.

Hildebrand is from California and has to prominence on the American racing scene thanks to his victory in the Indy Lights series.

“It’s been a while since I last tested an F1 car but I’ve been working hard in the simulator and giving it my all in the DTM so I’m confident I’ll be up to speed quickly,” said Di resta. “It’s an exciting opportunity for me as F1 has always been my dream and I feel this is taking me one step closer to achieving it. I’m realistic that I’ve got a lot to prove and that I need a bit more experience of the cars and the F1 environment before getting a permanent seat but this is just the beginning of what I hope will be a very bright future with Force India. I’d like to thank Mercedes for giving me this opportunity and to Force India for being so supportive.”

Hildebrand has been mentioned as a possible driver with the USF1 team, but that may depend on funding.

“I’m ecstatic to get my first taste of F1. I’ve heard so much about the performance of the cars and know this is going to be quicker and more responsive than anything I’ve ever sat in before. I know it’s a big challenge but I feel ready to tackle it. The aim is to learn the track and the car and then hopefully show my potential. As an American we don’t necessarily have the culture of F1 but anything that’s so impressive and cutting-edge demands respect. I hope I can do the car and myself justice. Thanks to everyone for making this happen, I can’t wait to get to Jerez.”

Alarm bells over Renault future

Carlos Ghosn has been in India of late and talking to representatives of Forbes Magazine in India. A full interview with the Renault-Nissan boss will appear in the first week of December but some of his remarks are already online and these are deeply worrying with regard to the Formula 1 world. Ghosn was asked how important Formula 1 is for Renault.

“F1 is one of the most-seen spectacles in the world,” he said. “It is facing some challenges: Challenges on how fair it is and how do you marry F1 with the environmental concerns. Can you bring zero emission through technology? So there are lots of questions about F1.”

How fair it is? Well, Monsieur Ghosn. You seem to have forgotten the concession that the teams made last winter when your team was whinging about not being able to develop its engine. Renault was allowed to do that. Remember? Oh, I guess the unfair thing is because Renault got banged to rights over Singapore in 2008. Still I would argue that F1 was very fair to Renault. It threw Flavio Briatore out of the sport but gave the manufacturer the benefit of the doubt. Now it seems Ghosn is trying to make out that F1 has treated Renault badly. Oh, and let us not talk about the McLaren data that turned up at Renault at the end of 2007 to which the FIA turned a very blind eye. Fair? Renault should market a model called the Houdini, in recognition of the company’s close shaves in F1.

The interviewers kept on with the same theme and asked whether Ghosn thought F1 was going to be important for Renault?

“I don’t think it is going to be very important for anybody, if it doesn’t answer some of the concerns that surround F1,” he said. “I notice that in the last year, three car manufacturers have bowed out of F1. Three in one year! That means there are a lot of questions that we need to resolve.”

Bad news, Mr Ghosn. The question that need to be resolved are in your neck of the woods. People are not buying cars. Formula 1 might help to sell some more and give Renault a better image than it currently has.

The latest remarks are going to set alarm bells ringing in Enstone and at Viry-Chatillon and one can imagine that any employee of Renault F1 who has the opportunity to take another job elsewhere will now go down that route, rather than sticking around and hoping that the French company will have a little more gumption than Honda, BMW and Toyota. It seems that Ghosn is no different to other car makers and is already formulating excuses to use when he announces that Renault is getting out of F1.

We will see, but that is how it sounds. The bad news for Ghosn is if he tries to peddle this line, the F1 world is not going to respond well. Renault signed the Concorde Agreement and thus is legally bound to stay in F1 until 2012. It can break that agreement or sidestep it by trying to sell the team, but what does that say about the company?

It all goes to prove that when it comes to motorsport no manufacturer can be trusted. They should be used by the racers to get money and technology but teams are much better off being independent. They have more chance of survival that way.

Mercedes confirms Rosberg

Mercedes Grand Prix has announced Nico Rosberg as one of its drivers. The news has been expected for some time.
The 24-year-old German goes to Mercedes after four years with Williams.
“Nico is a great talent and, with four years of experience in Formula 1, is a driver who will be able to make a valuable contribution to our team right from the outset,” said team boss Ross Brawn. “I had the pleasure of working with his father Keke during his Formula One career and it is great to see Nico following in his footsteps.”

Poor old NASCAR

Remember the bad old days when Michael Schumacher and Ferrari were winning everything. That may be impressive from a sporting point of view but is dull entertainment. NASCAR is an entertainment business but Jimmie Johnson has just won a fourth consecutive NASCAR Cup title for Hendrick Motorsport.

Others have won more titles in their careers, no-one has ever done it in consecutive seasons. And such is Hendrick domination these days that Johnson and team-mates Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon finished 1-2-3 in the title. If the team’s fourth driver Dale Earnhardt Jr could have got results to match his popularity it would have been a complete whitewash…

Hendrick has now won a record 12 NASCAR titles.

Kovalainen and Vettel in Homestead

Formula 1 was well represented at Homestead on Sunday with Jarno Trulli being joined at the final NASCAR race of the year by Sebastian Vettel and by Heikki Kovalainen. Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Speed, both former F1 men were in action in the big race.

Another scenario for Mercedes

The identity of the two Mercedes Grand Prix drivers remains uncertain at the moment, although Nico Rosberg is believed to have a contract in place. There has been much speculation about the other drive since Jenson Button signed for McLaren with the names Kimi Raikkonen, Michael Schuamcher and Nick Heidfeld being bandied around. The latest name in the frame is that of Robert Kubica, who is contracted to drive for Renault F1 in 2010. There is speculation, however, that Renault will sell the team and if that happens Kubica would come likely come on the market again and would be a very good choice for the team. The Polish driver was much in demand before he decided in September to join Renault, talking to McLaren, Williams and Ferrari before deciding to go for the lead drive with the Renault team. At the time all seemed to be well but the Singapore 2008 scandal transformed Renault’s situation. It remains to be seen what the French car manufacturer is going to do. Some think that Renault boss Carlos Ghosn has a little more gumption than most of his colleagues in the automotive world and hope that he will find a more creative way to extend the company’s 32-year involvement in F1. The automobile world is still suffering from the difficult economic situation and others fear that it may turn out that Ghosn is no better than them and that Renault will follow the other manufacturers out of F1.