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…
Welcome home Formula 1 in Montreal. I missed you this year. I really hope I can enjoy your sights and sounds this coming season. Joe if I wasn’t moving out of the city next month I would offer you my apartment. I am happy that the race has come back. People are already complaining about the cost. 15 million annually (CAD), no word on the interest year over year. and Bernie is likely getting a tax free break, in Canada atleast.
Sounds good if you ask me. I know the city loves the race, even girls who can’t give a damn about F1 get all excited and ummm…. never mind.
I read a government minister saying the Federal gov’t is contributing only $25 million over the next five years, and another post said they were giving $5 million for this years race. So can we infer that Bernie is not asking for anymore money in subsequent years? would it be 15$ CAD each year for the duration? Or maybe its less in the first few years and ramps up to average 15 over the span of?
If we got away with no interest is this a coup? Given that Silvertone is looking for a deal at 12 million pounds plus 7% a year, we got a great deal!!!
If they choose to exercise the 5 year option thereafter and it has no interest as well then we are really looking pretty for the health of the event in Montreal. Go taxpayers money!
I think they want to bury this so people don’t question where the money iscoming from taxes etc. Hopefully they lower the prices though. My first race was in 95 watching Alesi win, stood at the first corner for 60 bucks or something like that, still one of my best memories. At 400 or whatever they were charging, I’d rather join the parties at the bars and catch it on the screens
Your diligence much appreciated
[...] of current F1 gossip, breaking news from insider sources, and the occasional rant. Friday, Saward mentioned something both true and fascinating: few in F1 (while well versed in the adage that any publicity is good publicity) think about the [...]