FOTA win?
Well, the details are sketchy to say the least, but it appears that the three protagonists (FIA, FOTA and Bernie) have come to a deal. All the FOTA teams have now signed up for the 2010 season and have called off their plans to run a breakaway championship. It also appears that Max Mosley has agreed to stand down as President of the FIA.
So what concessions has either side made? We'll have to see...
Handbags at dawn…
The entries for the 2010 Formula One World Championship have been announced today, with all the usual suspects signing up, along with some new blood. Five teams (Renault, Brawn, McLaren, BMW and Toyota) have submitted provisional entries and this has obviously annoyed the FIA. This is because they believe that the teams contractually committed themselves to the championship by signing with them and FOM in 2005. The teams on the other hand, are not happy about the budget cap and the racket that runs the sport etc.
So it looks like there will be another damaging battle for power, with neither side paying attention to what happens in the real world (Bent politics, global warming, recession) or to what happened in the aftermath of the CART/IRL split over ten years ago. So there they go rolling down the hill in their safe little bubble, towards the rocks below...
Mosley beats the News of the World
Into submission. Quite right too. The News of the World is a nasty rag with no respect for peoples privacy. It deserves a sharp slap on the wrist. We're already the most watched country in the world, so the last thing anybody wants is a tabloid poking their nose in as well, trying to make a story out of someone's private life.
However, I have a few reservations about Max's intention to carry on as president of the FIA. He has put the nose out of a lot of powerful people in motorsport (and public life in general) over this affair. His arrogance and dictatorial manner in the way that he has dealt with things has not gone down well. He is not welcome in Bahrain, the Australian Prime Minister refuses to meet with him and the American Automobile Association is considering withdrawing it's membership of the FIA. Jackie Stewart is right when he says that if he was a chairman or CEO of a large private company, he'd have gone months ago.
Mosley is obviously a strong man who is not willing to have his name dragged through the dirt by a tabloid rag. Plus, what he does in his own time is entirely up to him, as long as it's legal! But the implications of the way he spends that leisure time, the court case and how they reflect back on the FIA mean that it is difficult for him to justify continuing in the job.
The Doctor strikes back! Hamilton wins too!
No, I'm not referring to some strange sci-fi crossover involving the TARDIS and Darth Vader. Valentino Rossi came out on top after a hard fight with Casey Stoner for the US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca on Sunday. Stoner refused Rossi's handshake afterwards, as he was angry at the overtaking manouevres the Italian pulled on him earlier on in the race. Dani Pedrosa may now be dropping out of the hunt, thanks to the injuries he sustained at the Sachsenring. Jorge Lorenzo suffered another injury, breaking a bone in his foot and James Toseland finished ninth with a shot rear tyre.
At Hockenheim, Lewis Hamilton won the F1 German Grand Prix, despite a safety car period bunching the field up following Glock's big accident and McLaren making it even harder for him. While most of the teams got their cars in for tyres and fuel during the SC period, McLaren left the Englishman out on the track, meaning that when he did pit, he had his work cut out to regain the lead. However, Hamilton is no slouch when it comes to overtaking, working his way past Kovalainen, Massa and Piquet. Yes, Piquet raced a good one too, coming home second, which has probably done his shakey position in the Renault team no harm at all.
MotoGP begin their summer break now, but F1 will be setting their sights on the Hungarian Grand Prix at Budapest in a few weeks. Will Hamilton be able to continue his hot streak? Will Ferrari make a comeback? Is Max Mosley out of the dungeo...sorry, woods yet? Find out in our next exciting episode of....
Spankathon!
There you go, that got your attention! I was going to entitle this post as 'Weekly round-up' but that is far too tame. Alas, unfortunately, that is all it is!
- MotoGP: Casey Stoner continued his hot streak by winning a rain drenched German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring on Sunday. Dani Pedrosa is now facing uncertainty as to whether he will be taking part in next weekends US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca after crashing out while leading the race. The Spainard was pulling out a massive lead before crashing out on lap 6. The incident has injured his fingers and he is now taking medical advice. Valentino Rossi finished second and is now the championship leader from Pedrosa.
- Spankathon: Max Mosley is continuing his case against the News of the World for running a story detailing his kinky dominatrix sessions. Max is portraying himself as the whipping boy in all this (sorry, I couldn't resist). His team appear to have the tabloid on the back foot however, as the Dominatrix who filmed the session, failed to turn up to be cross-examined yesterday. The plot thickens...
- NASCAR: YEEEEHAH! It's Nascar, folks! Can you hear the banjo playing in the background? The greatest race series on the planet (Disclaimer: only if you live in the US, have a mullet, own a truck and have never even made to your state boundary) have now started inventing their own words! Commonality???? WTF??? I know the majority of Nascar viewers probably can't 'read real good' anyway, but this takes the biscuit!
It is also the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim this weekend. Personally, I'm not sure if I'll watch it. Ok, the championship is excitingly close, but watching a race at Hockenheim is just tedious these days. It looks like a car park and the racing ain't up to much either. It's all point and squirt, break from top gear to first, don't bother overtaking, wait for the pit stop. The track has no individuality anymore, it's just another Tilke Snore-odrome.
It is almost as if Formula One is now too fast for racing to take place anywhere, so instead they are trying to give us an illusion of a race taking place, when in fact all it amounts to is a game of chess between the very clever (and not so clever) men on the pit wall. What is the point in all of this?
In fact, lets just screw all the hospitality nonsense, the celebrities, the paddock club and refuelling rigs. Undo all the changes that Hermann Tilke and his team have done to various tracks over the years, fuel the cars up for a full race distance and let them get on with it. Let refuelling be the domain of a long distance sports car race. Those that bang on about safety being paramount always seem to overlook the fact that refuelling during the race has to be THE most dangerous aspect of modern F1. Despite being jeered at and maligned over the years, Jackie Stewart has rammed home the importance of safety in motor racing more than anyone. He must feel that refuelling is against everything he has fought for over the last 40 years.
While we're at it, change the tracks. Make them more challenging and exciting without skimping on safety provision. A safe track does not mean endless chicanes and long straights going into first gear corners. It means proper run-off areas, armco barriers, the removal of dangerous hazards (unprotected trees close to the track or concrete walls on the exit of fast corners), excellent medical facilities and well trained marshalls. Additionally, position the grandstands so that the the crowd feels closer to the action, not so far away from the track that they might as well just watch it in their living rooms.
Right, rant over.
Mosley avoids a spanking
Max obviously remembered to wear his Teflon jacket today, winning a vote of confidence from the FIA, allowing him to stay in office. According to some areas of the press and the motor sport establishment, he's been a naughty boy, a very naughty boy, in fact. But the members of the FIA have decided to overlook his private life and consider how good he actually is at his job. Mosley won the vote of confidence with a total of 103 votes out of a possible 169. As you can imagine, some people are happy, others want to administer a beating to him as well.
Other news
Valentino Rossi won the Italian Grand Prix. I can honestly say that from my position in the armchair, I saw absolutely no spanking taking place, just some decent racing. James Toseland came sixth and looked rather handy. Rossi won his third race on the trot and had a stupid helmet.