Adam Cooper F1

The Nurburgring has now joined Hockenheim in confirming that it will not host a German GP in 2015 – a year that sees Mercedes as reigning World Champions, Nico Rosberg fighting for the title, and Sebastian Vettel racing for Ferrari.

Bernie Ecclestone, who said last week that the event was “dead,” had been negotiating for weeks with both venues. He had clearly been hoping that Mercedes would step forward and underwrite the race – the company has always brought a lot of guests to its home race – but Toto Wolff made it clear in Melbourne that it would not happen.

Nurburgring spokesman Pietro Nuvoloni told SID: “Due to time constraints, organisational and economic reasons, it makes no sense at this stage to stage the race.”

He added that the track had “submitted a very detailed offer and also underlined in this willingness to wear a manageable possible financial loss. Because so far no agreement could be reached, we have now closed the window. We regret that very much.”

Earlier this week Hockenheim said that there was no chance of a race. In any case even had a deal been reached, at this stage it would have been impossible for either of the tracks to properly market tickets.

The German GP has figured in every World Championship except in 1955 and 1960.

Giedo van der Garde says he hopes his case acts as a wake-up call to the sport after many other drivers have had problems with teams – and not been in a position to fight back.

Several current drivers are owed money by teams (including Sauber), and for example it’s a matter of record that Timo Glock was one of the major creditors of Marussia.

Van der Garde is backed by powerful businessmen who were not willing to walk away without a fight, including father-in-law, Marcel Boekhoorn and manager Jeroen Schothorst.

Van der Garde has already been in touch with GPDA boss Alex Wurz on the subject.

“I would like to direct a few words to the teams, drivers, future drivers, their managers and the Formula One governing bodies,” said Van der Garde. “I sincerely hope that what has happened to me will start a movement aimed at setting new standards and bringing about new regulations to help protect the rights of drivers. I would like to think that the values and business ethics that apply in any other business should be equally applicable in Formula One.

“I am lucky to have had Marcel and Jeroen on my side. Both of them have extensive backgrounds in business and bring a lot of expertise to the table when it comes to resolving complicated business affairs. Without them, I would have remained empty-handed in the wake of this extraordinary affair.

“There are numerous examples of talented drivers with good intentions but without the sort of professional support that I have had, who have been broken by Formula One and who have seen their careers destroyed. I therefore hope that my unprecedented case which was heard last week by the Supreme Court of Victoria at Melbourne will serve as an example to illustrate what should change, and that new regulations will be implemented to help protect driver rights.”

The Giedo van der Garde v Sauber case looks set to come to a conclusion in the next couple of days after the parties finalised a settlement.

The bones of the deal were put in place in Australia on Friday, which is why the court action was dropped, and Sauber was able to compete.

It’s understood that the figure involved is €15m, a substantial sum given the obvious financial predicament of the team.

Bernie Ecclestone has in effect fined Manor for its failure to participate in the Australian GP weekend – despite the FIA decreeing that the team had fulfilled its obligations.

While most observers are sympathetic with Manor’s predicament – given the timescale involved – the bottom line is that there has been a battle between Bernie and the FIA over whether the team should be allowed in. The fact that it had entered just before it went into administration was the key.

As explained here on Sunday, Bernie is of the view that the team committed to properly taking part from the start of the season, and he clearly contends that the team knew some time ago that it would not be able to run the cars. Having already paid $10m to the revived team he feels he has been duped.

Indeed, one observer phrased it thus: “They bullshitted Bernie, and you don’t bullshit Bernie…”

It’s understood Bernie was seriously underwhelmed with new owner Stephen Fitzpatrick and team chairman Justin King when he realised what scenario was playing out in Australia.

As noted on Sunday, Bernie had already suggested that a fourth non-participation after the three at the end of last year would be the end of the team.

He has not gone that far – presumably because the FIA Stewards gave the team the benefit of the doubt and that legally they are seen to have participated – but he has ‘fined’ the team by making it pay the freight costs to Australia.

“We should have never ever, ever allowed Manor to do what they’ve done. It’s our fault. I predicted this would happen,” Ecclestone told Reuters.

“They had no intention of racing in Australia. Zero. They couldn’t have raced if someone had gone there with a machine gun and put it to their head. It was impossible. So they had no intention.”

Regarding the freight he said: “They are not competing so they have to pay for that.”

It’s clear that it Manor fails to take to the track in Malaysia, or fails to play by Bernie’s rules in any way, the consequences could be serious…

Meanwhile this is what I wrote before the race on Sunday: https://adamcooperf1.com/2015/03/15/could-manor-be-in-big-trouble-with-ecclestone/

Not surprisingly Bernie Ecclestone has backed Christian Horner and Helmut Marko’s suggestion that the FIA should attempt top level the playing field in the light of the Mercedes domination in Australia.

Ecclestone and Horner remain close, and their opinions rarely diverge.

“They are absolutely 100 percent right,” Ecclestone told Reuters. “There is a rule that I think Max [Mosley] put in when he was there that in the event that a particular team or engine supplier did something magic – which Mercedes have done – the FIA can level up things.

“They have done a first class job which everybody acknowledges. We need to change things a little bit now and try and level things up a little bit.

“What we should have done was frozen the Mercedes engine and leave everybody else to do what they want so they could have caught up. We should support the FIA to make changes.”

It’s not clear what rule Ecclestone is referring to. However it may be Article 2.5 of the Tehcnical Regulations:

“New systems or technologies : Any new system, procedure or technology not specifically covered by these regulations, but which is deemed permissible by the FIA Formula One Technical Department, will only be admitted until the end of the Championship during which it is introduced. Following this the Formula One Commission will be asked to review the technology concerned and, if they feel it adds no value to Formula One in general, it will be specifically prohibited. Any team whose technology is prohibited in this way will then be required to publish full technical details of the relevant system or procedure.”

If it is what Bernie is referring to it might be stretch to find a way to apply it – the FIA view is that there are no ‘new technologies’ in the W06 package – and in any case it clearly states it allows teams to keep their advantage for the season.