BlogF1

I’ve just read something quite absurd. In fact, it is so ridiculous, I absolutely must share. The news centres not on a Formula One driver, but on four-times World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb, who incidentally did have a go in an F1 car recently. It would appear that the FIA aren’t too happy with Loeb’s appearance, and an email conversation between two FIA members has been published. It really is quite hilarious…
…Oh by the way, that’s not a photograph of Loeb, it’s Formula One’s Nick Heidfeld, but you’ll see why it’s relevant in a minute. Continue Reading

I had started to write a second update to my earlier post; I don’t want to continuously swamp you with Mosley news. Like you I’m sure, I too am getting tired of the Mosley ’scandal’. However, it is important to Formula One. I don’t mean the ins-and-outs of what Max gets up to in his personal life, but what is abundantly clear to me is that Mosley cannot function, effectively, as the president of the FIA at the moment. I won’t repeat everything I said in the previous post, but this afternoon more news has been reported which compounds my feelings on Max’s current position. Continue Reading

FIA president Max Mosley was invited to Jordan this weekend to attend the country’s inaugural rally, another sport governed by the international organisation. Mosley, who was recently plastered over a Sunday tabloid in the UK, has stayed away for the two Formula One races that have taken place (or about to take place) since. The Crown Prince of Bahrain sent Mosley a letter ahead of his planned visit to the Bahrain Grand Prix essentially asking him not to attend. Max obliged and cited reasons of being very busy working with his legal team at the time. But choosing to attend Jordan this week may not have been the best idea either, as it turns out the president has been given the cold shoulder by many people. Continue Reading

Spanish drivers Fernando Alonso and Pedro De La Rosa claim they knew nothing of the FIA’s planned launch of their anti-racism campaign, EveryRace. When asked by the press at Circuit de Catalunya, host of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, both drivers appeared bemused by new FIA initiative. The website features photographs and quotes from members of the teams competing in Formula One, designed to show how diverse the sport is. However, while drivers like Heikki Kovalainen were shown, and quotes from David Coulthard featured, it was noticeable that the two drivers from Spain (where the initial incident sparked the campaign) were absent. Continue Reading

So what happened to Racing Against Racism then? It seems the domain is now forwarding to a new EveryRace domain, but at least the FIA have managed to put a website up on this one. As fair as I can see, there has been little official word as to why the FIA’s campaign to inform, educate and protect Formula One from racist behaviour has suddenly had a change of name. But either way, today the FIA officially launched their campaign and spoke a little to the press about how things have been since all this started. Continue Reading

Max Mosley, who has been caught up in a tabloid scandal which saw details of his private life published in the News Of The World, has given his first interview since the story broke. Mosley spoke to the Sunday Telegraph, a paper which seems to support Mosley, and spoke of the embarrassment to his family as well as discussing the upcoming FIA Extraordinary General Meeting and his future plans regarding his role as president of the organisation. Continue Reading

Formula One has been going through a phase of attempting to cut costs recently, the introduction of various rules controlling the amount of staff allowed at races, the amount of spare parts and the use of components within the cars all helping to shed some fat from the running costs and enable the entry barriers for new teams to be lowered. However, one rule that is due to come into force for 2009 actually adds considerable cost to some teams, so much in fact, they are currently in serious financial trouble. Continue Reading

With a three week break until the Spanish Grand Prix, I thought it would be a good time to resurrect the News Round-up posts, as well as write some series posts about things I’ve yet to discuss on the site. Earlier today I posted about the background to Honda, their past and how they got back into Formula One. Over the next two weeks I’ll post about Renault, Force India, BMW et al. For now though, here’s the latest from the world of fast cars and controversial rules. Continue Reading

FIA president Max Mosley has been hit with further allegations by British tabloid the News Of The World, as the paper apparently speaks to one of the prostitutes hired by Mosley for the ’sadomasochistic orgy’. It was to be expected that the newspaper would follow up their expose from last week with further information, such is the style of the paper. However, the continuation of the saga only further adds to the pressure on Mosley to step down from his position. Continue Reading

FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting has confirmed the changes made to qualifying after the incident that occurred at the Malaysian Grand Prix. In Sepang two weeks ago, Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen had completed their hot laps before the end of the third qualifying session and cruised slowly back to the pitlane to save fuel and tyres. However, Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso were still completing fast laps and the closing speed between the two parties could potentially have led to a horrifying accident. Continue Reading