So the competitive portion of the Formula 1 championship is now over and the most unlikely of outcomes has been finally realized. Jenson Button was able to end all doubt before Abu Dhabi and claim his ‘World Champion’ title. Going in to this race, he only had to score 6 points to lock up the championship, and depending on where his rivals finished in Interlagos, that point total would drop. Brawn GP rose like a phoenix from the ashes of the deplorable Honda program, barely making it to the grid…
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OP-Ed – The Role of a Series
The Indianapolis 500 made good gains this year in both attendance and viewership, but the rest of the season hasn’t been as rosey. This got me thinking, what makes for a successful series? What standards should we use? When I think of various series throughout motorsports that are perceived to be successful, Le Mans and ALMS come to mind, as does Formula 1, SCORE, IndyCar (in its various forms AAA/USAC/CART/IRL), and NASCAR. However, what makes those series memorable isn’t the whole sequence of races that make up the series, but…
Read MoreF1 – REPORT: Senna to Campos
The German publication Auto Motor und Sport is reporting that the ink is all but drying on a contract that will see Brunno Senna make his 2010 debut with Campos F1. There is further rumor that Pedro de la Rosa will team with the Brazilian in the second seat which would give Campos a promising lineup heading to the 2010 campaign. This has not been officially confirmed, however Senna stated earlier this week that he was 90% sure he was going to make his F1 debut next season. Senna has…
Read MoreF1 – Alonso Confirmed at Ferarri
It seems like the last three seasons have been building up to this. Fernando Alonso was confirmed at Ferrari for the 2010-2012 seasons, with options on 2013 and 2014. Of course, no details have emerged on his contract, but speculation puts it around 25 million euros (36 million USD) per season. But the story goes a little deeper, due to the contracts that were already in place. With Felipe and Kimi signed through 2011, Ferrari had to make way for Fernando to join, but that was further complicated by Massa’s…
Read MoreF1 – Teams Vote Down KERS Again
Word is now coming out that the teams met over the Singapore GP weekend and voted to not use KERS in 2010. If you recall, this is the second such vote taken this season as FOTA voted to not use KERS in 2010 earlier this year. We were all wondering what would become of the system, but it was given new hope in the form of the finally released technical regulations for next year, which increased the weight minimum from 605kg to 620kg. This move was initially made so that…
Read MoreF1 – Alonso Announcement Thursday
Reports are coming out of the Spanish media that Fernando Alonso will be announced at Ferrari on Thursday. Reportedly, Alonso will make 25 million euros per year for the next 5 years, with an additional option on a 6th year. We have been hearing rumors of this deal for the last several seasons, but it was supposedly debunked when Ferrari resigned Kimi and Felipe through the 2010 season. But then we started hearing rumors earlier this season that Ferrari was attempting to buy out Kimi’s 2010 contract. At this point,…
Read MoreF1 – Eccelstone Doubts USF1
It has been known for what seems like eternity that Bernie Ecclestone is a very outspoken man. One to never let an opportunity in front of a microphone go, Bernie has now heaped scorn at the Peter Windsor/Ken Anderson USF1 entry claiming that he does not believe the team will be ready for 2010. The new Charlotte based team has worked methodically and round the clock to ensure their entry would hit the grid by 2010 and have done it all right in my opinion. They have their own chassis…
Read MoreF1 – 2010 Schedule Released
The FIA took the opportunity of the WMSC meeting with Renault to release the 2010 F1 calendar of events: March 14 – Bahrain March 28 – Australia April 4 – Malaysia April 18 – China May 9 – Spain May 23 – Monaco May 30 – Turkey June 13 – Canada* June 27 – Europe (Valencia) July 11 – Great Britain July 25 – Germany August 1 – Hungary August 29 – Belgium September 12 – Italy September 26 – Singapore October 3 – Japan October 17 – Korea October…
Read MoreF1 – WMSC Puts Down Smack
The FIA has issued their full verdict on the Renault ‘Piquetgate’ scandal and the arbitrary hand of FIA justice has fallen. Leading up to this mornings WMSC hearing, Pat Symonds and Flavio Briatore left the team and Renault made it known that they would not dispute any of the FIA’s findings. On top of that they issued an unreserved apology to the FIA for the actions of members of their team. The FIA found that Nelson Piquet Jr., Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds conspired to have NPJ crash during last…
Read MoreF1 – More Entries for 2010
The FIA has written to the teams to seek their blessing to expand to 14 teams for the 2010 season. This was prompted by BMW finding a buyer for their operation and the addition of Lotus as a new team. Lotus F1 has taken the official 13th entry on the grid for next season with backing from the Malaysian government and several Malaysian firms. The team principal has been announced to be Tony Fernandes, the founder and CEO of Tune Group who owns Air Aisa. Mike Gascoyne has been named…
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