After a devastating blow dealt to the FIA and FOM from the FOTA organization, Max Mosley has tried to save face by stating his departure was planned and was always going to happen at the end of the season. He indicated there was no pressure or anything the teams did to expedite the process. Are you serious?? This man has lied and cheated so much that making stuff up is actually believable to him. Regardless of what Herr Max states to the press, the simple fact is that FOTA has…
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Rally – Amazing Acropolis Footage
F1 – Peace Deal Brokered
Yesterday, Max Mosley sent out a letter describing in detail why he felt it was in the FIA’s best interest that he stand for re-election when his 4th term as FIA president ends in the fall. This despite his spankgate pledge to stand down from his position when his term expired. However, it looks like Mosley has again reconsidered. According to Autosport’s sources, Mosley, Luca Di Montezemelo and Bernie Ecclestone last night had meetings which have resulted in a deal. At this point, it sounds like the following has been…
Read MoreIndyCar – Rules and the Law of Unintended Consequences
Since the last weekend in April, the IndyCar series has been oval racing but the excitement of high-speed side-by-side racing has certainly been lacking. At the end of the Kansas Race, I wrote a short editorial, What Happened to Competitive Racing, where I went on a little rant about the new wheelbase rules further limiting the freedom of the engineers and reducing the drivability and competitiveness of the cars. It was pointed out at the time that the extreme weather might have been the primary factor for the lack-luster racing…
Read MoreIndyCar – Post Iowa Conference
F1 – FOTA Moving Forward
While the initial shot from FOTA is still being felt by most fans of Formula 1, FOTA have already began moving forward with their new series. Max Mosley’s threat of legal action against those forming a breakaway series has had little to no affect on those who have already made the decision. This week will prove to be an interesting news week as we have a WMSC meeting scheduled for Wednesday and what would appear to be a FOTA rebuttal meeting on Thursday. There were some very strong words this…
Read MoreF1 – British Grand Prix
With all of the talk based around FOTA and a breakaway series, many may have not even realized that one of the crown jewel events on the F1 calendar were taking place. What better weekend for the British crowd then hometown boy Jenson Button coming home with a hefty points lead and a seemingly bullet proof car. Things however, did not work out how Brawn GP had hoped for their homecoming. Red Bull Racing came to Britain with loads of upgrades including a completely different aerodynamics package. Sebastian Vettel took…
Read MoreF1 – FIA Responds with Lawyers
The FIA has now released a statement which threatens the FOTA teams with legal action. This is no surprise since the FIA has already hinted in the past that they would pursue such recourse if necessary. The FIA’s lawyers have now examined the FOTA threat to begin a breakaway series. The actions of FOTA as a whole, and Ferrari in particular, amount to serious violations of law including willful interference with contractual relations, direct breaches of Ferrari’s legal obligations and a grave violation of competition law. The FIA will be…
Read MoreF1 – Is F1 Viable Without FOTA?
First we have to ask if Ferrari, RBR & STR will be part of both F1 and FOTA1 since they will most likely still be listed on the entry list when it comes out today. Look for these three teams to file breach of contract lawsuits against the FIA immediately after the entry list is posted. But let’s assume that all 8 FOTA teams will be exclusive to the new breakaway series. Lola and N Technologies have withdrawn their entries from consideration which may be the start of a disturbing…
Read MoreF1 – Why So Quiet Bernie?
This is the sport that Bernie and Max brought to prominence. It has been Bernie’s life for decades. Mr. Ecclestone has proven to all that he is an unimaginably shrewd and capable businessman. So, why has he stood by the sidelines while Max and FOTA scuttled the ship? We can only make conjecture at this point. Bernie did make a statement this morning, “You’ll have to ask Max about it. For me, this situation is just back to the future.” Maybe referring to how he and Max gained control of…
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