Formula one 2009 (3 Viewers)

[Cronios]

I ve been a F1 fan for two decades, but there is nothing it can save the sport now, not even Alonso...

 

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[icemaη]

Renault considers Formula 1 exit

Renault could become the fourth manufacturer to quit F1 in a year

Renault have held an emergency board meeting in Paris to discuss pulling out of Formula 1 with immediate effect.

The French car company was considering whether to remain in the sport with its own team, switch to simply being an engine supplier or quit altogether.

The outcome of Wednesday's meeting was not immediately forthcoming.

News of Renault's possible exit comes on the day Toyota said it was quitting F1, becoming the third car company to leave the sport in the last 11 months.

Renault's emergency board meeting was attended by F1 team bosses Bob Bell and Jean-Francois Caubet, although neither man was allowed to take part in the debate about the team's future.

Renault have had their least competitive F1 season since 2002 and finished eighth out of 10 teams in the constructors' championship after Sunday's final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.

The company came under scrutiny for the team's involvement in the Singapore 2008 race-fixing scandal, in which they decided not to contest charges that they had asked Nelson Piquet Jr to crash to aid team-mate Fernando Alonso's bid for victory.

Motorsport's governing body the FIA gave Renault a ban from F1, suspended for two years, as punishment, while team bosses Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds were forbidden from attending FIA-sanctioned events.

Last month, Renault signed the highly-rated Polish driver Robert Kubica to lead their team in 2010 as a replacement for double world champion Alonso, who has moved to Ferrari.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8343221.stm

Another one?

 

[Stephan]

Montezemolo

 

[mikhail]

I ve been a F1 fan for two decades, but there is nothing it can save the sport now, not even Alonso...

There's a global recession on. People are holding off buying new cars. Even with the occasional scrappage scheme like the US had (has?), car companies are suffering as much as or more than most industries. F1 is an obvious cost to cut for most of them. Expect them to creep back over the next decade.

 

[bianconero]

If they used smaller drivers, like they do in horse racing, they could make the cars smaller and save money, but it would still be as exciting.

 

[Cronios]

Mercedes-Benz acquires Brawn GP team


German car giant Mercedes-Benz has taken over Brawn GP, it was announced on Monday. Mercedes engines powered Brawn to victory in both the 2009 drivers’ and constructors’ championships. The team is expected to be rebranded Mercedes GP for next season, with Ross Brawn remaining as team principal.

Mercedes will also continue to supply long-term partners McLaren with engines until at least 2015, but the company’s 40 percent shareholding in the team will be reacquired by McLaren over the next two years.

Along with its investors Aabar, Mercedes’ parent company Daimler AG will take over a 75.1 percent stake of Brawn GP, the team formed by Ross Brawn and his colleagues less than a year ago after previous owners Honda announced their withdrawal from Formula One racing.

"Brawn GP has been through an incredible journey over the last 12 months,” said Brawn. “From fighting for our survival to forging a strong relationship with Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines, winning both the constructors' and drivers' world championships, and now accepting Daimler and Aabar's offer to buy our team, which will secure its future.

“The senior management group will remain in place to lead our team and on behalf of everyone at Brawn GP, we are honoured to be representing such a prestigious brand as Mercedes-Benz in Formula One next year and will be working together to do our best to reward their faith in our team."

According to Mercedes, the decision to step up their level of Formula One involvement was prompted by recent agreements on ways of cutting expenditure in the sport and by the higher levels of income afforded to teams following the signing of the new Concorde Agreement earlier this year.

“Mercedes-Benz is the most valued and best-known premium automotive brand in the world. This brand looks for competition of the utmost quality in all relevant fields in order to continually improve its performance in the face of such new challenges,” explained Dr Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars.

“Due to the new Formula One environment, we will face the competition in future on the most important motor sports stage with our own Silver Arrow works team. Our new Silver Arrow Formula One team is a great sporting and technical challenge and we will tackle this with sporting spirit and full of enthusiasm.”

Brawn GP’s UK factory in Brackley is less than 30 miles from Mercedes’ Formula One engine plant at Brixworth, which should make for a highly-efficient operation to be coordinated by the familiar figure of Norbert Haug, Vice-President of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport.

“It is our target to develop a model for our Formula One activities which will initially be run with significantly reduced budgets by Mercedes-Benz and which, in the foreseeable future, will be self-financing,” commented Haug.

“Furthermore, we naturally want to inspire our faithful spectators and TV viewers worldwide and maximize media coverage for our brand. With Formula One, Mercedes-Benz can continue to clearly demonstrate its willingness to compete and win on the most important motor sports competition stage in the world.”

stage in the world.”

Mercedes have yet to comment on the driver line-up for their 'new’ team. Rubens Barrichello has already left Brawn for Williams, while speculation continues that world champion Jenson Button could switch to McLaren to partner Lewis Hamilton.

 

[icemaη]

Raikkonen rejects F1 for rallying

Former world champion Kimi Raikkonen will not be racing in Formula 1 next year after failing to find a drive.

The 30-year-old Finn had been trying to do a deal with McLaren but they would not offer him the salary he wanted, his manager David Robertson told BBC Sport.

"They couldn't afford him," Robertson said. "It wasn't in his interests to race for what they were offering so he's going to go rallying instead."

Robertson said he believed McLaren had already signed Jenson Button.

Raikkonen is trying to find a drive in the world rally championship, Roberston said, although nothing had yet been sorted out.

He made his world rally debut on his home Rally Finland last August, setting competitive times before crashing out.

"He wants to be back in F1 in 2011 but with all the money he has earned he doesn't want to go in a medium-type team for money," Robertson added.

"The same criteria would apply as this year - he'd only go where he feels he has a chance of the world championship."

Asked whether Button's appearance on the market had wrecked Raikkonen's hopes at McLaren, Roberston said: "If they hadn't gone for Jenson, they'd have gone for someone else."

Raikkonen, who won the world title for Ferrari in 2007, was forced out of Ferrari at the end of this season to make way for Fernando Alonso, despite already having a year left on his contract.

Raikkonen is being paid a sum believed to be in the region of 20m euros not to race for Ferrari in 2010, but still wanted to be paid what he felt was a fair sum to drive for another team.

Robertson would not confirm the Ferrari payment, describing the arrangements with Ferrari as "confidential".

Although he won the Belgian Grand Prix, Raikkonen's final season with Ferrari was a disappointment, with car that was never the fastest in the field.

He said: "Kimi wanted a winning car, only McLaren could supply that and he only had them in his sights. He didn't want another year like this one.

"But they had their issues with Mercedes, Santander and the FIA and from a financial point of view they are not the powerhouse they were. They couldn't afford him."

Mercedes announced on Tuesday that they were selling back their 40% shareholding in McLaren and buying the Brawn team instead.

Spanish bank Santander will sponsor Ferrari next year, although they will still retain a smaller presence with McLaren.

And governing body the FIA in 2007 fined McLaren $100m (then £49m) after they were found guilty of possessing confidential Ferrari technical information.

Asked how Raikkonen felt about the temporary end of an F1 career that started in 2001 and in which he won 18 grands prix, Robertson said: "He's one of those guys who moves on quickly - he just said 'now we concentrate on rallying'.

A McLaren spokesman refused to comment on Robertson's remarks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8365967.stm

Just as I expected.

 

[Salvatore]

Pretty much the same here. Shame he quit so early because he is still a top 3 driver, wish him the best

Classic.

Edit: oh yeah, completely forgot to say that Button -> McLaren.

 

[Cronios]

The mercedes coming to F1 has to be one of the most important things that happened in F1 in the past 5 years...

 

[icemaη]

I hope McLaren chokes and chokes hard. I think Raikkonen will return to F1 next season, when Button flops at McLaren.

 

[Firestarter]

I hope McLaren chokes and chokes hard. I think Raikkonen will return to F1 next season, when Button flops at McLaren.

Ugh, that's exactly what's going to happen. Who's in that new Mercedes team?

 

[icemaη]

Rosberg and Heidfeld are the main possibilities...

 

[icemaη]

Michael Schumacher signs up for F1 return with Mercedes

Seven-times Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher will come out of retirement to race for Mercedes next year, BBC Sport understands.

The German, who will be 41 on 3 January, has signed a contract and the deal will be announced imminently.

Schumacher will partner compatriot Nico Rosberg in the team that won the drivers' and constructors' titles in 2009 in its former guise as Brawn.

His spokeswoman Sabine Kehm said she could not make any comment.

The German newspaper Bild is reporting that Schumacher signed a one-year deal and it is likely he will have the option to continue beyond 2010 if his returns goes well.

Schumacher will reportedly earn £6.2m after signing up to reunite with Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn, who masterminded all seven of his titles, the first two with Benetton in 1994-5 and the subsequent five with Ferrari from 2000-4.

Mercedes are known to want German rising star Sebastian Vettel in the long term, but the 22-year-old is contracted to Red Bull until the end of 2012.

Rosberg, who signed for Mercedes shortly after the season ended, has already warned Schumacher he faces a tough task getting back up to speed with F1 but said he would welcome him as a team-mate.

"It will not be easy for him," Rosberg was quoted in German newspaper Stuttgarter Zeitung.

"When you stay away from F1 for a long time, it takes time to get used to all the test sessions again. It's not simple.

"I have no idea if it (a comeback) is true or not, but if he did join that would be an absolutely fantastic move."

Schumacher was forced to call off a planned temporary comeback as a stand-in for injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa last season because of a neck injury sustained in a motorcycle accident last February.

But Schumacher is known to have had medical checks recently and it must be assumed he has been given the all clear as he would not want to face the same embarrassment again.

He signed a revised contract as a consultant for Ferrari, but he told Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo last week that he was "very close" to concluding a deal to race for Mercedes.

Ferrari have had to release him from his contract to enable him to race for Mercedes.

His comeback is the most high profile in F1 since Austrian Niki Lauda came out of a two-year retirement for the 1982 season to race for McLaren.

Lauda, who was 33 at the time, went on to win a third world title in 1984.

Juan Manuel Fangio is Formula 1's oldest world champion, the Argentine won a fifth world championship at the age of 46 before retiring.

Schumacher has been training hard in preparation for a return and, assuming his neck is fully healed, is not expected to have any problems with fitness.

His former team-mate Eddie Irvine told the BBC last week that he expected Schumacher would win races, even though he would not be as powerful a force as before.

"The speed will be there, though he won't be as fast as he was seven years ago," Irvine said.

"He's not at the peak of his game, but he's still good enough to win races as he has such an immense talent. It's still four wheels, a steering wheel and an engine and there's never been anyone better than Michael."

Irvine said he thought Schumacher would be at a disadvantage in wheel-to-wheel racing compared to the younger generation of drivers such as 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton.

"Lewis isn't going to back off, but Michael will have to because he'll be 41," Irvine said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8427552.stm

Not sure what to make of it. His coming back is good, but its not in a Ferrari.

 

[blondu]

first of all he's a german so it's normal and natural for him to choose mercedes, 2nd ross brawn is there so...yes i'll accept it and i'll enjoy every minute of this because i've stopped following f1 after he retired.

 

[V]

Wow that's great news. Even for a non-Schummi fan this is really interesting.

And don't be such babies because he didn't chose Ferrari. In my book the man gets more respect for this move. What has he got to prove in Ferrari?

 

[icemaη]

I wouldn't call myself a fan of Ferrari. I follow them. I am a Schumi fan, and I've followed F1 from when he moved to Ferrari. But now its weird to see him in a different car. Thats all. As long as Hamilton or Button fails I will be satisfied. I wish well for Massa as I think he should have won the championship which Hamilton won.

This season is going to be exciting, for a lot of reasons. Schumi coming back just made it better.

 

[Firestarter]

Whoa. That's such fuckery Kimi not in Formula One anymore and Michael returning for a team that's not Ferrari. MEH!

 

[V]

It's funny to see Schumacher as second driver to Rosberg.

I know McLaren insists they don't have the first and second drivers, their drivers are "equal"(hint Alonso/Hamilton), but officialy one has to be #1. Which one is #1, Button or Hamilton?

 

[Firestarter]

It's funny to see Schumacher as second driver to Rosberg.

I know McLaren insists they don't have the first and second drivers, their drivers are "equal"(hint Alonso/Hamilton), but officialy one has to be #1. Which one is #1, Button or Hamilton?

I dunno probably Hamilton me thinks.

 

[V]

One would think so, but fact is Button is the current champ so I don't know.