Posted on 08/05/2009 7:57:45 PM PDT by Chode
This will be a general purpose thread for F1 news and pings that really don't require a thread of their own.
Mercedes offered financial assistance, to permit the 2015 German F1 race to be held at Hockenheim, per schedule.
They were turned down by the IAF. One more reason for new leadership.
Mercedes offered to help Hockenheim host F1 race
By Reuters
Last update 16 hours ago - Published on 22/03/2015 at 13:23
Formula One world champions Mercedes have revealed that they tried to keep the German Grand Prix on this year’s calendar but an offer of financial assistance was rejected and the race was struck off.
“The German GP is a core race on the Formula One calendar and we have a significant interest in this race taking place,” the German carmaker said in a statement.
“Mercedes-Benz has participated in discussions and offered a significant contribution to support a successful German GP, at the Hockenheimring, in 2015. This offer was unfortunately not accepted.”
Media reports indicated Mercedes had been willing to cover half of any potential losses and to pay for a significant amount of promotion.
Formula One’s governing body, the International Automobile Federation, issued a revised calendar on Friday with Germany absent for the first time since 1960.
The Nuerburgring had been due to host the July 19 race under an alternation agreement but a change of ownership and financial difficulties left Hockenheim as the only option.
However, with low attendances at that circuit last year, organisers were unwilling to risk a further loss with so little time to sell tickets and get ready. It still has a contract to host the race in 2016.
Mercedes said the calendar was a matter for the FIA, commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone and individual promoters.
“In principle, we do not believe it is the job of the competing teams to provide financial support for individual events and we do not believe this is a sustainable model for the future,” it said.
courtesy of truth_seeker, and it’s BULLSH!T!!!
..the midget tyrant has to be reeled in......
It is BS...but mostly it’s BERNIE’S REVENGE over that F1 corruption case he is (or was) involved in before some German court (IMHO).
Why do you think they came up with sun-roofs?
Sticking a Cosworth in a Vega was a waste of a fine motor.
Bernie is accustomed to being fellated by various sheikhs and dictators (or whatever pre-pubescent boys they can round up; Bernie’s preference). He thinks he is bigger than countries, so how dare the Germans question him?
The technology and performance of F1 is first-rate, but the politics, thanks to Bernie, are brutal.
Cannot wait for that man to step down, whatever the cause.
That was an odd duck, for sure.
There are always a few floating around on eBay it seems.
Will F1 be smart and hire Jeremy Clarkson to do world broadcasts of the races? Would this stop the drop in F1 viewership?
After all many teams want a ‘reasonably priced car’ and maybe the Stig could coach drivers such as Maldonado.
http://en.espnf1.com/blogs/motorsport/story/195455.html
Lies, damnable lies, and statistics
Kate Walker March 25, 2015
image: http://en.espnf1.com/PICTURES/CMS/29500/29547.2.jpg
© Sutton Images
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Of the 185 races thus far contested by Infiniti Red Bull Racing, all bar 37 have seen the team powered by Renault engines developed at Viry-Chatillon.
The 2005 season saw the then-rookie outfit classified seventh in the constructors’ standings with a Cosworth engine, where they picked up a de rigeur double-DNS at the ill-fated US Grand Prix at Indianapolis. In 2006, the Milton Keynes racers made the move to Ferrari power, and again finished seventh in the constructors’ championship.
Despite collecting their first podium finish under Ferrari power, 2007 saw Red Bull make the move to Renault. The Ferrari engine contract was inherited by Scuderia Toro Rosso, and while it was the junior outfit that collected the first fizzy drink race win, the Red Bull-Renault relationship proved beneficial to the Austrian team; the 24 points accrued that season saw them classified fifth at the end of the year.
It was in 2009 that the partnership’s championship-winning form first reared its head. The marriage of engine and chassis was a strong one, and Milton Keynes worked with Viry-Chatillon to make the most of what was then nascent double-diffuser technology. Red Bull’s first pole position resulted in the team’s first victory, a 1-2 for Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.
Brawn GP claimed both of that year’s titles, but Red Bull finished a strong second and collected six wins and ten podiums along the way.
The team’s period of utter dominance from 2010 to 2013 is largely credited to Adrian Newey’s aerodynamic genius, but RenaultSport F1 also had a significant role to play, working with Red Bull to maximise the gains from blown exhaust gases, engine mapping, and to nail down that legendarily stable rear end that allowed the RB[pick a number] to take high, low, and medium-speed corners as if it were on rails.
One hundred percent of Red Bull’s 50 victories have been secured with Renault power. The same can be said of their 57 pole positions and 44 fastest laps. All bar one of the team’s 115 first-, second-, and third-placed finishes used Renault engines or power units. (That’s 99.13 percent, facts fans!) Four out of four drivers’ titles and four out of four constructors’ titles were earned with Renault under the engine cover.
And now we have Red Bull’s big cheeses blaming Renault for everything that’s gone wrong since Mercedes got their power unit oh so right, while Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul has gone so far as to call the team liars, saying that his data shows the RB11’s problems have as much to do with the chassis and lack of driveability as they do his (admittedly) underperforming power unit.
“It’s hard to have a partner who lies,” Abiteboul is reported to have told France’s Auto Hebdo. “Adrian [Newey] is a charming gentleman and an outstanding engineer, but he spent his life in criticising his engine suppliers. He’s too old to change.”
Meanwhile, in RenaultSportF1’s official Malaysian Grand Prix preview, Abiteboul went into more detail about the issues suffered by the partnership in the opening round in Australia. “Our figures have shown that the laptime deficit between Red Bull and Mercedes in Melbourne was equally split between driveability issues, engine performance and chassis performance,” he is quoted as saying. “It’s therefore the overall package that needs some help and we have been working with the team to move forward.”
That the Red Bull-Renault relationship is deteriorating rapidly is now beyond question. All eyes will be on the Friday press conference in Sepang, at which the FIA have summoned both Abiteboul and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner to appear. Watch this space... “
Read more at http://en.espnf1.com/blogs/motorsport/story/195455.html#eMrvkcfur4JOMPiE.99
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