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The CVC Group has responded to today’s news of Bernie Ecclestone’s indictment in Germany over the Gribkowsky affair.

Tonight it issued a short statement in essence acknowledging that the process is underway. It also made it clear that Ecclestone has six weeks to respond – the implication being that while it will “monitor” the situation, it won’t be taking any short term action.

The statement read as follows:

The Board of Formula One Group notes the following developments in Munich:

Mr Ecclestone, CEO of Formula One Group has now received a bill of indictment, in English, from the Munich Regional Court.

Mr Ecclestone has 6 weeks to provide a response to this bill of indictment, prior to a decision being made by the Court on opening proceedings.

The Board will continue to monitor developments in this situation accordingly.

Pat Symonds has left Marussia to take up a new role as chief technical officer of Williams, commencing on August 19.

Meanwhile Williams has confirmed that technical director Mike Coughlan has parted company with the team.

Symonds had spent two and half years with Marussia, in effect rehabilitating his reputation after the Crashgate scandal at Renault left him on the sidelines.

Williams was in dire need of a new technical chief, having missed out on the opportunity to take Paddy Lowe.

Sir Frank Williams said: “I’m delighted that Pat is joining the team. His technical capabilities and sporting successes speak for themselves and I’m sure that his knowledge and leadership will contribute considerably to the success that all of us at Williams are working hard to achieve.”

Pat Symonds said: “Williams is a team steeped in success and engineering excellence and I’m honoured to be asked to play a role in returning the team to its rightful place at the pinnacle of Formula One. Sir Frank, Mike and Claire have put in place the foundations for success and I’m immensely excited to begin this new challenge.”

Regarding Coughlan Williams said he “…has stepped down from his position as Technical Director and will leave the team with immediate effect. The team thanks him for the significant contribution he has made since 2011 and wishes him well in his future endeavours.”

Earlier a statement from Marussia said:  “The Marussia F1 Team and its Technical Consultant Pat Symonds have reached an agreement for Pat to relinquish his responsibilities to the Team with immediate effect,” adding “with Pat moving on to explore new opportunities, the Marussia F1 Team looks forward to announcing its own plans for the continued development of its growing technical operation in due course.”

John Booth said: “We have some very talented design and engineering groups in place who have achieved great things over the past few seasons and who are excited about maintaining our current positive trajectory, boosted of course by our new powertrain partnership with Scuderia Ferrari. We would like to thank Pat for the contribution he has made to the development of that structure. We look forward to announcing plans for our continued growth when it is appropriate to do so.”

News of Pat’s return to F1 with the then Virgin team was first broken by this blog in February 2011: https://adamcooperf1.com/2011/02/11/pat-symonds-back-in-f1-with-virgin/

Marussia will use a Ferrari powertrain and gearbox from 2014, the team confirmed this morning.

Ferrari has been looking for a new customer since it became clear some time ago that Toro Rosso was moving to Renault. Ferrari protege Jules Bianchi’s presence at Marussia clearly didn’t hurt the team’s prospects of negotiating a deal.

From the outside the fact that Marussia is a supercar maker appeared to be a potetial stumbling block, but clearly that situation has been resolved.

Marussia F1 CEO Andy Webb said: “The importance of this development to our Team cannot be overstated. Not only will we benefit from a customer supply from the most successful engine manufacturer in Formula One’s history, but this also provides further confirmation, if it were needed, of our commitment to the sport and determination to maintain our progression towards our long-term ambitions.

“We look forward to working with Scuderia Ferrari during this exciting new era of Formula One competition. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Cosworth, with whom we have partnered since our debut season in 2010. We have shared an important part of our Team’s journey together and Cosworth have been an integral part of our clear progression. We will continue to work together during the latter half of the season to ensure we all achieve our combined objectives before Cosworth leave the sport.”

Sauber has announced new partnerships with three Russian entities and says it will employ Sergey Sirotkin as a race driver in 2014.

The Swiss team has been under severe financial pressure in recent months and was in dire need of some new funding.

The three organisations involved are the Investment Cooperation International Fund, the State Fund of Development of North-West Russian Federation and the National Institute of Aviation Technologies. The head of the last-named is Sirotkin’s father.

Teenager Sirotkin finished third in Auto GP last year and currently lies eighth in the Renault 3.5 series. The fact that the team has in effect announced him for next season suggests that Nico Hulkenberg will be released to go elsewhere, assuming that the team retains its Mexican support and Esteban Gutierrez.

The team says that Sirotkin will benefit from a development programme, so one might guess that he will be doing some FP1 sessions, given that it has already announced its line-up for the Young Driver test.

A Sauber statement said: “With the National Institute of Aviation Technologies, one of the leading scientific research institutions in Russia, the Sauber F1 team will benefit from the advanced know-how of the front-end Russian scientists and engineers. The objective of the partnership is to open up new perspectives and revenue streams by commercialising jointly developed technologies.

“The partnership includes further activities for the promotion of the inaugural Formula 1 Grand Prix in Sochi in 2014 and attracting the talented young Russian generation towards motorsport. In particular, a development programme will be set up for the Russian driver Sergey Sirotkin to prepare him as a racing driver for the team in 2014.

“This extensive co-operation will showcase Russian innovation at the pinnacle of motorsport. At the same time, the Sauber F1 Team will have a solid foundation to increase its competitiveness on a long-term basis.”

Kimi Raikkonen will drive for Lotus on the third day of the ‘Young Driver’ test, which has now of course been turned into a Pirelli test open to race drivers.

The car will be driven on the first and second days by Nicolas Prost and David Valsecchi, the latter having already sampled the E21 in pre-season testing.

“It’s great timing for us to have this season’s Young Driver Test scheduled in the middle of the year as it allows us to evaluate more of the new parts we have for the E21 as the championship battle intensifies,” said Eric Boullier.

“Remarkably, the UK has been having some notably good weather recently so we’re looking forward to getting some good running across the three days. By running Nicolas and Davide we are giving them both invaluable experience and also gaining great feedback, as we’ve previously seen what they can do in the car and appreciate the valuable information they give us.”

“This will be an interesting test and we have a lot planned across the three days,” said trackside operations director Alan Permane. “Obviously we want to give all three drivers the maximum track time possible as well as assessing the latest upgrades to the car. Our aim on the third day will be to help Pirelli understand the latest changes to their tyres at the same venue where they most notably had issues this season.

“For Nico and Davide it’s an opportunity to learn and improve, while for the team it is a great opportunity to try to refine some of the latest developments we have for the E21. Kimi is also allowed to run, enabling him and other race drivers to test tyres for Pirelli. This will benefit both him and Romain by granting us a better understanding of these tyres before we head to the next event in Hungary.”

Martin Whitmarsh insists that McLaren’s improved form in Germany was not purely a result of the change in tyre specification for that weekend – but he accepts that there’s still a long way to go before the MP4-28 is a real contender.

Jenson Button eventually finished sixth after running third for many laps before his late first stop, while Sergio Perez took eighth. McLaren had failed to score a point in the previous two races.

“We worked hard on our car,” Whitmarsh told this writer. “I don’t think there’s a massive change in order on the tyre spec, if you look up and down the pitlane. I’m sure Force India will see it differently, but if you look at all the other cars, despite the protestations of what was going to happen, I don’t think it made any earth shattering changes.

“I’m not going to get carried away, but our race pace was reasonable, I think both race drivers did a good job. Driving to a two-stop strategy took quite a lot of discipline. It was a little bit frustrating at the end, because we were had over by traffic, and also by a fairly unusual safety car arrangement, which helped Mark [Webber] a lot.

“You’re never satisfied in those situations, and we ended up ultimately frustrated by that. But put that aside, we raced well as a team. If we had been flat out three-stopping, then we would have looked quicker in the race that when you’re trying to look after the tyres and run to a two-stop strategy. Overall, a little step forward, but we’re not doing hand stands quite yet.”

Whitmarsh said it was encouraging to be able to race for points after the recent drought.

“For a lot of the race, Jenson could see the leaders, and we were racing. It’s much less tiring than when you climb off the pitwall than when you’re not really in there racing in any way. Jenson was a little bit unlucky with the safety car, unlucky with traffic, it’s just annoying when a team fighting for 19^th and 20^th [Caterham] don’t radio their drivers and get them out of the way.

“That cost him a couple of seconds and meant Lewis was on him. On the other hand, Lewis was in a quick car, starting from pole, so he probably feels a little bit more disappointed than we do in that regard.

“With Checo, he was held up behind Ricciardo in the first stint, then he got held up behind Maldonado in the second stint, so he lost a lot of time like that. But again he drove really well. He went into the race not confident in the balance of the car, but I think he made a good start, and raced well when traffic allowed him to.”

The FIA has reacted swiftly to the Nurburgring pit incident by introducing with immediate effect two rules already approved for 2014.

The speed limit will come down from 100km/h to 80, and pit crews will have to wear helmets.

In addition only officials and team personnel will be allowed in the pit lane in qualifying and races, and approved media will be confined to the pit wall.

A statement tonight said: Following a pit lane incident at last weekend’s German Grand Prix, the FIA has decided to take steps to increase F1 safety and is to institute an immediate ban on anyone other than event marshals and team personnel being present in pit lane during races and grand prix qualifying sessions. Access for approved media will be confined to the pit wall.
 
Last weekend’s incident at the Nürburgring occurred when, following a pit stop, a wheel became detached from the Red Bull Racing car of Mark Webber as he made his way towards the pit lane exit. The loose wheel struck a television cameraman who was hospitalised as a result. He is expected to make a full recovery.
 
In order to reduce the risk of similar accidents in the future, the FIA, on the initiative of its President, Jean Todt, will be seeking to make changes to the Formula One Sporting Regulations. In order to effect this, the FIA today informed teams that the approval of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) will immediately be sought for two changes to the Sporting Regulations. Both of these changes have already been approved for 2014. However, for safety reasons, the WMSC will be asked to approve their immediate implementation. The changes are:
 
1)    Article 23.11, which will now require all team personnel working on a car during a pit stop to wear head protection.
  
2)    Article 30.12, which will provide for a reduction of the pit lane speed limit during races from 100km/h to 80km/h (with the exception of Melbourne, Monaco and Singapore, where due to track configuration the limit remains at 60km/h).
  
Finally, in relation to the incident at the German Grand Prix, the FIA is expecting a written report from Red Bull Racing tomorrow. This will also be shared with the other teams in order to help improve pit lane safety.

The FIA confirmed to the F1 teams today that the Silverstone Young Driver test will still take place over three days – ending any hopes Mercedes might have had that it would be allowed to participate in an extra fourth day.

Crucially the FIA has also decided to ensure that race drivers can only be involved in Pirelli testing, having contemplated allowing teams to do what they want in terms of car development.

FIA observers will ensure that any changes made to the cars when a race driver is running relate only to the tyre testing, so teams will not be able to swap wings and other parts around and so on.

However a race driver could in theory test new parts if they are on the car in the morning, and remain in place all day.

The FIA today sent the following note to teams, which has also been seen by this writer:

1)  The young driver training test will remain a three day test from 17-19 July.

2)  One specification of tyre will be available for the test. The 2012 construction will be used but with the hard, medium and soft 2013 compounds.

3)  Pirelli will be authorised to provide each team with five extra sets of tyres for this test, bringing the annual total to 105 sets. All of these sets may be used.

4)  Any driver who has competed in more than two F1 World Championship races may take part in this test, provided that the purpose of him doing so is to test tyres for the appointed tyre supplier. In order to meet this requirement, all teams shall, in particular, ensure that any changes made to a car at these times are exclusively related to the tyre tests set out in the run plan provided by Pirelli. An FIA observer will be appointed to ensure the regulations are being followed.

After looking so strong at Silverstone just a week earlier Mercedes once again struggled with tyre management in Germany, as both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg lacked grip.

Ross Brawn admitted that the ban on attending the Silverstone test – where the ‘Hungary’ tyres will be run by rival teams – is even more costly now.

“It doesn’t help, because obviously we won’t be trying the ’12 tyre on this car until we get to Hungary,” he said when asked by this writer. “It would have been nice to at least have had an insight. But it’s what we have to live with.”

Brawn said that with the one-off tyres used in Germany the high temperatures on race day appeared didn’t do Mercedes any favours.

“There were some things like swapping the rears, which was helpful, and that’s disappeared now. Silverstone wasn’t that warm, Montreal wasn’t warm, and we always said we need a hot race. This felt a little bit like some of the races earlier in the year where we struggled until things cooled down a little bit.

“I think the ability to swap tyres before was a good way of offsetting the stress in a tyre, so you could use it in qualifying and then swap it and have it in a different condition for the race. You can’t do that with these tyres, there’s no advantage to doing it with these tyres. And I think we were back into going over the limit of the temperatures of the tyres, and suffering because of it.

“The first half of the race was pretty horrible, and then the second half of the race, the fuel weight went down, it got a touch cooler, and we got back in the window again. And it was respectable. Times weren’t so bad. It just shows how critical we are. But on high fuel at the beginning of the race, trying to push, we just overstressed the tyres. We have to try and find more solutions to resolve that.

“I think it is something you fall over the edge of. The track temperature did take it over that threshold, and the fact that it came back a bit towards us for the second half of the race I think demonstrated that. The fuel weight went down. I don’t think it necessarily did get any cooler in the second half, but certainly when the fuel weight went down, we were in a better position.”

Brawn conceded that it was difficult to get a handle on the change of spec, which will change once again by the next race.

“When we ran the [2013 prototype] tyres in Brazil the newer tyres did seem to run a little bit hotter, but we’re not sure where this tyre that we had today sits in that whole thing, so it’s a little bit difficult to judge. I think the solutions or things that we have to do will be relevant, whether we stayed with this tyre or whether we get the 2012 cars that we’re going to have in Hungary.”

He admitted that the drivers were frustrated, but said everyone was working to improve the situation.

“Lewis wears his heart on his sleeve, but he’s very constructive after the race. We had a very constructive debrief, because we’ve got to look at where we came from. We’re disappointed today because we scored 12 points. Second half of last year we would have given our right arm for 12 points.

“We’re still second in the championship, and we’ve still got a lot of things we can do. They’re healthy frustrations, they’re not negative. Both drivers have given us a lot of good insight in the debrief we’ve just had.”