F1 links: the German GP and Austrian stamps

Bernie and the Germans

“Ecclestone is not keen on any race getting a cheaper deal and says that the German government should subsidize the event. The German government did a great deal to support Germany’s bid for the soccer World Cup in 2006, offering guarantees which helped win the deal. It also provided improvements to transport infrastructure estimated to have been worth $4.7bn and direct aid to build stadiums in Berlin and Leipzig, which cost $320m. A report released by the German Institute for Economic Research later concluded that the claimed effects of the World Cup was exaggerated and that the resulting economic growth was negligible. The tournament made a profit of $250m for FIFA, the international soccer federation, and DFB, the German football association, and cafes, hotels and restaurants all cashed in but the resulting income fell way short of the claims.”

Montoya on why he’s in NASCAR

Juan Pablo Montoya on NASCAR versus F1: "If you want to drive the most advanced technical car in the world you drive a Formula 1 car. But if you want to do racing you come to NASCAR. That’s the way I see it. Are the cars the most advanced? No. Are the tyres the best tyres? No. But it brings a lot of the driver onto the table.”

Newey still has KERS safety concerns

‘McLaren and BMW, meanwhile, are two teams that have opted to place the systems in their car’s sidepods – a route Newey believes has its drawbacks. "If you fit it in the sidepod, which I believe McLaren have, then it’s [about] physically packaging it?óÔé¼?ªit will be a more complicated battery shape which requires more expensive technology. "And you have to make sure you comply with the side impact test still."’

Mosley: KERS is here to stay

Mosley on banning KERS in the 1990s: “There were three teams working on systems, and the McLaren one was done by Ilmor and I think it was hydraulic. I looked at it and thought it was fascinating technology. Then I talked with Charlie (Whiting) and a few other people and we decided that we could not guarantee the safety of the storage devices. It was potentially explosive and the problem is that if you have 400 kilojoules, it is not a huge amount of energy and enough to vapourise about 120 grammes of water, but if you release it instantaneously it will be a hell of a bang. It needed to be dissipated over two or three seconds, and that technology didn’t exist. In the meantime, flywheels in particular were what we were worried about, as in those days they were not talking about batteries to do that.”

Clever men

“I remember well being at the Place de la Concorde when Jean-Marie Balestre was first challenged for office by Max Mosley, back in 1991. The Frenchman went into the FIA General Assembly utterly confident that he had secured sufficient votes to hold on to the job he had held for 13 years. As it turned out he was defeated by 43 votes to 29. He came out shell-shocked by what had happened. He had trusted his allies and at least eight of them had swapped sides. Eight swing votes would have taken Balestre up to 37 and Mosley down to 35. Balestre always believed that this had been done deliberately to put him off his guard. He was probably right.”

Croft and the British Grand Prix

“Yorkshire’s Croft racing circuit has been ordered to pay $1.2m after being found guilty of noise pollution […] The key question is whether the Croft decision will have any legal implications for other British racing facilities, particularly Donington Park, where work has begun to upgrade the circuit for Formula 1 in 2010. British Common law is based on precedent and legal decisions affect the law that is applied in future cases. If such a decision were to be applied to Donington Park there could be dangers for the British GP.” More on the Croft verdict here: Another disgraceful judgement which puts the future of British motor sport at risk.

Stamps honour Lewis Hamilton’s world championship win

Austria joins the Isle of Man in producing commemorative Lewis Hamilton stamps

Coulthard warns Button about missing ’09

Coulthard on Button: “He has to now consider himself as driving for a mid-grid, privateer team.” Except for the ‘driving’ part.

The FIA, Drivers and Licences

“The FIA is behaving exactly like the company that tries to economize by rationing stationery supplies to its employees; instead of tackling the problem at its source (usually too many freebie junkets for its executives), the organization looks for innocent but powerless areas to squeeze money from.”

Why there will never be a Team Great Britain in F1

“Force India? May prove a great addition to the F1 grid. Team USA? Brilliant, bring it on. Team Great Britain? Not needed, not wanted, and not likely to ever happen.”

Win a Driving Experience of a Lifetime With Schumacher

Competition run by Bacardi.