F1 supremo Bernie faces £1bn divorce
Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone was facing making Britain’s biggest divorce payout of £1.2billion yesterday.
A privacy law would suit Mr Mosley very nicely. Like his father he does not believe in freedom
"A privacy law would be a charter for the rich and powerful – something that would have, no doubt, appealed to Sir Oswald Mosley. The son, like the father, does not believe in freedom." Never mind that the Daily Mail, in which this article was printed, was fulsome in its praise for Oswald Mosley at the time.
"Other people are sniggering about stories in the motorsport press that suggest that McLaren is struggling in pre-season testing and may have produced a dud for 2009. In your dreams, guys!"
France unveils plans for new F1 track
"French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte will work with British construction experts Apex UK, who also helped build the Dubai Autodrome, to head up the project."
Whitmarsh, McLaren and Barcelona
"What makes this controversial is that he is actually suggesting that Bernie Ecclestone be by-passed in the quest to put a US or Canadian GP back on the calendar. A clearer admission that Bernie's ridiculous demands of circuits are no longer acceptable could not be hoped for."
Kaushal's new F1 blog
"I’m finding this McLaren under-performance story fascinating. There are many who think it’s a new approach to testing in a season when testing will be banned from two weeks from now onwards. McLaren have even run Monaco parts along with the rest of the job sheet."
These are links I’ve bookmarked using Delicious. You can see my Delicious profile here.
kaushal
13th March 2009, 0:57
I have long way to go :)
scunnyman
13th March 2009, 0:58
So Bernie’s wife is divorcing him on the grounds of UNREASONABLE BEHAVIOUS. Well that should come as no surprise to any f1fanatics out there, as he has been using unreasonable behaviour in formula one for many years.
Gman
13th March 2009, 3:48
haha, he’s had many good moments, but way more mishaps in recent years.
patrickl
13th March 2009, 21:23
Indeed. Can’t F! divorce him too?
scunnyman
13th March 2009, 1:36
I cannot agree whith Martin Whitmarsh’s comments about north american races. It’s about time sombody stood up to Ecclestone on this point.
Gman
13th March 2009, 3:50
Tremendous news from Whitmarsh on the topic of a strong presence in North America- I was always critical of Ron for not stepping up and supporting this market, but now Martin appears to be taking the bull by the horns and really trying to jump start something. As an American who belongs to McLaren’s fan membership program, it is quite good to see that someone in Woking gives a care about getting back here.
alan
13th March 2009, 7:49
Personally I dont care a monkeys(sorry Keith) about bernie loosing a bilion – he’s scalped to many others for my sympathy – ps always wondered what a taller attractive woman found in him anyway?
But not having F1 in america is bad business sense and sheEr lack of forsight and imagination – plus F1 on an oval – God brooklands went out years ago there are more interesting race tracks albeit needing investment in america – but bernie would never spend to give them the facilities that they needed.
He wants everyone else to do that for him and be gratefull for it – the days of speculation and rip offs are done now and quality and imagination are needed to get people to spend their money on F1
ajokay
13th March 2009, 9:14
On the new French GP venue:
“The track will feature a one-km long straight”
And heres betting that that one-km long straight will be followed by a nice, tight hairpin.
greg76
13th March 2009, 9:24
You have a picture of the layout there:
http://www.wilmotte.fr/pge/actualites/
PJA
13th March 2009, 9:41
I am really surprised at the news of this new French F1 track. I know Magny-Cours was always criticised for its location but does France not have any circuits that could possibly hold a GP without building a new one?
I would not be shocked if this is not ready for the 2011 season as the article states. I don’t know how hard planning is to get in France, but just getting the finances for the build would be difficult in the current economic climate. We all know that the circuits lose money hosting a GP and the only new tracks in recent years have been funding by government money.
The article doesn’t mention Herman Tilke, has he not had anything to do with designing it, and if this is the case when was the last purpose built F1 track he had nothing to do with?
mkh1
13th March 2009, 10:23
I don’t think he designed the indy road course. The new Algarve track wasn’t designed by Tilke but it’s only used for testing. It’s nice to see a track design by someone different.
Also as this track isn’t in Asia a part of me can’t see Bernie giving his support.
ajokay
13th March 2009, 11:11
I think he’s already given his support. That’s why this plan for a new track exists. He wanted to move away from Magny-Cours to a track in or around Paris, which this is.
Adrian
13th March 2009, 16:52
If it’s not designed by Tilke it gets my support – we need more variety in the tracks raced on…
patrickl
13th March 2009, 21:39
Maybe the drivers didn’t like it, I always felt that Magny Cours was one of the best places to visit and F1 race. Long straight, nice hairpin at the end with lots of action. The big grandstand (and general admission area) there offer a great view of the track and the cars pass by twice each lap.
Chaz
13th March 2009, 20:22
Slightly off subject but is F1.com trying a low key relaunch…
Pete Walker
14th March 2009, 13:32
Am I seeing things or are the two images of the proposed layout are different?
Hounslow
14th March 2009, 20:20
No Peter Walker, i think they’re the same track, but viewed from different sides.
I think I counted five hairpins and no elevation change. This will be no diffent to Seville or half the other boring tracks that F1 visits. It doubles back on itself to make maximum use of the space available, and as a result has to include loadsa 150 degree plus bends.
If this gets built, it will be boring, and everyone will complain about the quality of racing and the FIA will tinker about with aero restrictions and engine changes to the cars, whereas if they’d left the races on *real* circuits, with *real* cars, the quality of racing would be fine.
Rant over. I’m going to call my therapist.
Pete Walker
14th March 2009, 21:05
Trust me, follow the circuit round from the start/finish line. They are two alternate designs – the last part of the lap is different. ;)
Arthur954
14th March 2009, 23:25
Couldn´t they use the Le Mans track with the long long Les Hunaudieres straight? this is a LONG track laid out over a vast area, and for sure would provide a DIFFERENT experience for both the spectators and drivers.
This race, the U.S. ovals, etc are the VARIED races we need.
However ” Mathusalem” Bernie is set in his ways and does not like anything other than a Tilke track. This is “unreasonable behaviour” on his part
scunnyman
15th March 2009, 12:21
Hey Arthur954,
i agree with you that f1 needs more variations in it’s track designs and le mans may be a good choice. But as for your idea of us ovals it would make f1 more expensive for the teams because they wouldneed a different design chassis just for an oval because of the banking. In irl/indycar/champcar they have a car for the ovals which one side of the car is designed to be bigger with bigger tyres and such to make the cars go round in circles. So in essence it would contradict the cost cutting measures everyone is introducing into formula one.
There has got to be many tracks around the world that could be used if the people in charge of f1 were serious about the spectacle of the sport and could help these tracks get upto f1 standard.
And this f1 standard for tracks really bugs me, because people say LAGUNA SECA could not be used by f1 cars because it is dangerous. I don’t know why cos indy cars have been using it for years and they are probably the closest racers to f1 cars and sometimes are faster than an f1 car on certain tracks with speeds well in excess of 200 mph.
In my opinion it’s the real F1 fans who should be catered for and we are not asking for much in varied tracks and longer races. and more of them.
Tomister
15th March 2009, 12:15
The Le Sarthe circuit would be deemed to long and unsafe for F1 racing, I guess. But why not race on the 4.5km Bugatti circuit? It looks modern und safe enough to me, plus F1 would still be racing at Le Mans. You would hardly find a more historic (and thus fitting) venue.
The Limit
15th March 2009, 22:17
Now thats alot of lolly! I don’t suppose the teams and circuit owners will be getting a cheque that big, after investing billions of their own cash towards ‘the circus’ as Luca would put it? That is an obscene amount of money.
Does anybody know if his daughter is single by any
chance?
JohnBt
16th March 2009, 2:57
What a bore. Something like this will surely be much much more interesting, “Bernie’s ex-wife uses her money form divorce to fund BrawnGP.”