BMW announced earlier this year that they would not be returning to Formula 1 next year. Shortly after that, the team was purchased by Swiss firm Qadbak who had been considered suspect. That deal has failed and will now be purchased by the man who started it all, Peter Sauber. Originally the team had been sold to Qabak who had some suspect issues come up. In recent days it would appear as though the deal was going to fall through. Now with the Swiss firm gone, Peter Sauber will now…
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F1 – Force India Reveal Line-up
Force India made amazing progress with the Mercedes package in 2009. They now will retain their current line-up for the 2010 season in hopes of adding consistency. Adrian Sutil and Viantonio Liuzzi will pilot the Force India Mercedes for 2010 which adds yet another full driver line-up to the grid. Lost is Fisichella who jumped ship in the later part of the season to have a sorry run with Ferrari. Fisi gave the Indian team its best ever finish of 2nd at Spa. However, Liuzzi and Sutil both had strong…
Read MoreLe Mans – Highcroft and Acura 2010
While we await formal news about Acura’s factory involvement with the American Le Mans series, the Patron Highcroft team has announced they will stay with the Acura. The car they chose is the surprising part. The team has chosen to run the ARX-01C which took Fernandez racing to championship glory in 2009. The article on Autosport states the team will continue to work with Honda Performance Development, however Acura has been relatively quiet since the season ended. Highcroft racing believes that given the performance of LMP2 car at Laguna Seca,…
Read MoreEpisode 16 – Open Paddock Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin us this week as we talk about Jenson to McLaren, Mercedes GP as well as a whole host of F1 news topics. Will Power goes full time in the IndyCar series and Ford tells the IRC to get lost. As always we try to solve IndyCar’s problems because they obviously cannot do it themselves. **NOTE: I broke my headset 30 seconds before recording the show, so the sound may not be up to par…thats what happens when you try and act like Kimi.
Read MoreF1 – Button/Brawn Fallout
We now know that Jenson Button is with McLaren and Brawn is now Mercedes and the two are not together. However, reports that have surfaced within the last 24 hours shows how ugly the situation really was. The feelings between the two bring back not so distant memories of Fernando Alonso and the McLaren team. While there are obviously differences in the two situations, the bottom line is the same. Ross Brawn has stated that Jenson Button was in breach of his contract while visiting the Woking based team. At…
Read MoreRally – Kimi and Citroen
After snubbing Mercedes GP and confirming his temporary exit from F1, Autosport is reporting that Kimi is closing in on a deal that would see him in a C4 backed by Red Bull. While he will have little implications in any title fight, this raises a couple questions about the Kimsters career as a whole. We have to establish one thing up front and in the clear, Kimi Raikkonen will have no implication in the 2010 WRC title if he gets this deal. I know I know…Shaun, how do you…
Read MoreRally – S2000 Fiesta M-Sport
F1 – Kimi Out for 2010
Since Ferrari officially announced that Fernando Alonso would be racing for them in 2010, Kimi Raikkonen has been at the center of the driver market “fault line” that is set to completely reshape F1 next season. Speculation had him driving for the Woking based McLaren squad whom he had previous success. Instead, Kimi has chose that he will do nothing in 2010 outside of maybe making a couple more appearances in the ape suit. The 2007 Finnish world champion will take a sabbatical from Formula 1 racing during 2010 after…
Read MoreF1 – Mercedes Buys Brawn
As we lose one manufacturer, we now gain another as Mercedes announced today that it has purchased a 75% majority in the Brackley based Brawn GP. Also announced was the contract renewal of their deal with McLaren as well until 2015. Chatter had indicated that Mercedes would become more involved with Brawn GP, but to what degree remained a close secret. The team will now be a full works operation and will use the same Brackley base as opposed to opening a new location in Germany. Also, the management team…
Read MoreEpisode 15 – Open Paddock Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadThis week Mike is back from the Smokies and I try to fight off a nasty cold. We also hit off season news including the new IZOD IndyCar Series as well as discuss the Indy 500. Formula 1 news a plenty and all the other news you may have missed….which was not much. Enjoy and have a safe weekend.
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