The World Motor Sport Council has confirmed that the 2012 F1 calendar is unchanged, following its meeting in Delhi today.
That in effect must mean that COTA has signed a deal with Bernie Ecclestone for the race to happen, given that Bernie said that the meeting was the deadline. It remains to be seen whether the track can be built in time, given the recent stoppage.
Bahrain also appears on the calendar despite obvious doubts about the wisdom of F1 going there.
Bahrain’s Sheikh Abdulla Bin Isa Khalifa is a WMSC member after Jean Todt gave him the presidency of the CIK, the karting commission.
Peter Gethin, the man who earned a place in the history books with his win for BRM in the 1971 Italian GP, has died at the age of 71.
The son of top jockey Ken Gethin, Peter chose not to follow his dad’s career path and instead got his start in motor racing with a humble Lotus Seven in 1962. He began to make his name with a Lotus 23 sportscar, before graduating to F3 with Charles Lucas in 1965, as a team mate to Piers Courage.
He began to attract attention with a Brabham in European F2 in 1968 when he was third behind the two Ferraris at Vallelunga, and second in the non-championship race at Albi. He then had an opportunity to showcase his talents in the F5000 series that was introduced in 1969. He would be closely associated with the ‘big banger’ single seater category in the coming years.
He began a relationship with McLaren when he won the inaugural European title in a semi-works car, finally clinching it after a crash in the finale at Brands Hatch. He would go on to successfully defend the crown in 1970.
At the start of that year McLaren also gave him his first F1 opportunity when he finished sixth (and last) in the Race of Champions with an old M7A. When team boss Bruce was killed testing a CanAm car in June – and with Denny Hulme already injured in a fire at Indianapolis – Gethin was called in to drive in the Dutch GP. He qualified a respectable 11th of 24, but spun off in the race.
He contested the remaining six races of the season, but was somehow unable to repeat his F5000 form. His only score was a distant sixth in Canada, while his best starting position was 10th in the Mexico City finale.
That year he was also filled in for McLaren in CanAm, commencing at the fourth round of the series in Edmonton. He qualified on the front row alongside team mate Hulme, and finished second in the race. He went on to win on his third outing in Elkhart Lake after Hulme – who Gethin had let win – was penalised. He was also second at Donnybrooke, and despite missing the first four races, and some poor reliability, he still finished third in the championship.
McLaren retained Gethin for F1 only in 1971. The season started well in the UK non-championship events when he finished second to Pedro Rodriguez in the Spring Trophy at Oulton Park, and second on aggregate to Graham Hill in the International Trophy at Silverstone. He also qualified an encouraging seventh for the Spanish GP.
However apart from that his World Championship campaign proved frustrating. After a crash in the seventh GP of the year in Germany, and having failed to score a point, he left the team in the summer.
He instead joined BRM, and in only his second race with the P160 at Monza scored the remarkable Italian GP victory that was to earn him a place in the history books. He outfoxed Ronnie Peterson and others at the Parabolica on the last lap to win by the tiniest of margins in the sprint across the line. He also scored an unwanted win the end-of-season victory race at Brands Hatch, which was stopped early after the fatal crash of his team mate Jo Siffert.
He struggled to repeat that pacesetting form and a disappointing 1972 season with BRM brought just a sixth place at Monza – although he did win the Pau F2 race in a Chevron.
Thereafter he focussed on F5000 again, winning the 1973 Race of Champions in a Chevron against F1 opposition. He contested just one GP with BRM that year and one more with Graham Hill in 1974 before his F1 career fizzled out.
After a return to CanAm he retired at the end of 1977, and for a while pursued a career in team management, mostly in Formula 2. In later years he was involved with driver training and coaching.
Senna won the Best Documentary prize at the British Independent Film Awards in London last night – one of the biggest accolades it has received to date.
It was also nominated for a BIFA for Best Film, but lost out to drama Tyrannosaur.
After collecting the prize writer Manish Pandey headed across the capital to the Autosport Awards, where he picked up the Pioneering and Innovation Award on behalf of the movie.
Attention now turns to the more prestigious BAFTAs.
“The BIFAs are regarded as the forerunners of the BAFTAs, so I think we’ve got a great chance,” Pandey told this blog. “Best Documentary has come back this year, and only three are nominated.”
Unfortunately there will be no Oscar glory as the film was snubbed by the committee who created the shortlist of 15.
“We were obviously disappointed about the Oscars, but that was the committee stage, the members didn’t vote – only 124 people vote for the top 15. They didn’t like us and that’s that. I’m disappointed, because with the wider membership, we had a real chance.”
In an interesting exercise in branding Mercedes has announced that AMG will be incorporated into its F1 team next year.
It will now officially be known as Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team.
In addition the engine facility at Brixworth will henceforth be known as Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains.
In addition to its success in the DTM AMG has of course supplied safety and medical cars to F1 since 1996.
Making the announcement, Norbert Haug said: “These three letters are synonymous with high technology, sporting performance and excitement and this step is a further strong sign of the strategic commitment Mercedes-Benz has made to Formula One.”
Ola Källenius, Chairman of Mercedes-AMG GmbH, commented: “It is an historic first for the AMG name to be associated to the works Silver Arrows team, and offers fantastic opportunities: first, to further build the sporting identity of the Mercedes AMG brand through one of the world’s most-watched and most successful sports; second, to explore and deliver technology transfer between road and track.
“This is already being practised with the SLS AMG E-Cell project, whose electric powertrain will be developed as a joint venture between Mercedes AMG and our F1 engine specialists in Brixworth.”
Team Principal Ross Brawn added: “We are very proud to reveal our new team name today. It adds another strong performance element to our team’s identity and, by virtue of being shared between Brackley and Brixworth, will forge even stronger links within our team. At the factory, we have been focused for some time on the challenge of 2012, and our very clear ambition to move forward up the grid next year.”
Mercedes also confirmed that the new W03 won’t make its debut until Barcelona on February 21 – leaving Brawn and his revamped technical team the maximum possible R&D time.
Regarding the late launch, Brawn said: “As always, the winter development and manufacturing processes are a trade-off between time for finding performance in the factory, and time for delivering that performance during pre-season testing. We believe that the decision to run the car at the second winter test is the optimum compromise for our design and development programme with F1 W03.”
Kimi Raikkonen made his first visit to the LRGP factory today and stayed on for the (somewhat premature) Christmas party, which provided him with an easy way of getting to know fellow team members.
“It is my first time in Enstone,” said Kimi on the team website. “So it is very nice to see the factory – it feels good. It is a very warm feeling and I’m very relaxed. I haven’t really read the newspapers about all the excitement but it is quite normal, isn’t it? It doesn’t put any more pressure on me. I always try to do my best, so I don’t put myself under pressure. It will be exciting, yes, but no pressure really and we will see how it goes.”
“I think we decided that we had to look forward in terms of performance and the key way to see how good a car is, is to have a good driver,” said Genii boss Gerard Lopez. “Kimi has proven in the past that he is among the fastest and in terms of age he’s still in his prime. In terms of motivation from what I have seen and spoken to him, he is probably as motivated as ever.
“And the more people question the better it is, because it is going to increase his motivation even more to prove that they are wrong. I’m excited that he is here because I think it’s one of the very important steps in getting the team to where we want it to be – which is one of the top teams in Formula 1…”
Red Bull has this afternoon followed up Ferrari’s lengthy statement on the background to the Italian team’s planned withdrawal from FOTA with a rather shorter note of its own.
The team said simply: “Red Bull Racing can confirm it has served notice to withdraw from FOTA (Formula One Teams Association). The team will remain committed to finding a solution regarding cost saving in Formula One.”
Meanwhile Dietrich Mateschitz has a foot in both camps as Toro Rosso remains in FOTA.
Ferrari and Red Bull Racing have withdrawn from FOTA in the light of the ongoing debate over the future of the RRA.
After the news emerged on the Autosport website today Ferrari quickly issued a statement to justify its position.
Among the issues thay the team says need addressing – and not for the first time – are the use of technologies relevant to high performance road cars, and testing.
“Ferrari has informed FOTA President Martin Whitmarsh that it is leaving the organisation made up of the teams competing in the Formula 1 World Championship.
“It was a difficult decision and a great deal of thought went into it. It was taken reluctantly after analysing the current situation and the stalemate when it came to debate on some issues that were at the core of why the association was formed, indeed with Ferrari and Luca di Montezemolo as the main instigator and promoter of ideas. It’s not by chance that the President of the Maranello company held that same position and job title within FOTA up to the end of 2009.
“Some of the major achievements of the association during these years, also worked out in conjunction with the FIA, centred around cost reduction, which was of significant benefit to everyone, the big teams and the small ones. Ferrari was on the front line in this area, even before the birth of FOTA and it intends to continue down this route to ensure the sustainability of the sport in the long term. Now however, it is necessary to find some new impetus to move it along because FOTA’s drive has run its course, despite the excellent work of current President, Martin Whitmarsh in trying to reach agreement between the various positions for the common good.
“Ferrari will continue to work with the other teams to make the current RRA, Resource Restriction Agreement, aimed at controlling costs, more effective and efficient, modifying it to make it more stringent in key areas such as aerodynamics, to rebalance some aspects such as testing and to expand it to areas currently not covered such as engines.
“Formula 1, like the rest of the world in fact, is currently going through a delicate period. Ferrari wants to work with all parties for the future of a sport that expresses the highest level of motor sport technology. We must return to a situation where Formula 1 is really a test bed for advanced technological research, the results of which can be transferred to Granturismo cars.
“In addition, we must not forget that this sport must become more user friendly and more accessible to the general public and furthermore, it cannot be the only professional sport where it is practically impossible to do any training: the number of days of testing must be increased so that the drivers, especially the young ones who lack experience and the teams, can be adequately prepared, as well as providing more opportunities for them to come into contact with spectators and sponsors.”
Williams confirmed tonight that Pastor Maldonado will stay on with the team in 2012, having listed no driver names in the FIA entry that was published yesterday.
Sir Frank Williams had already stated publicly that Maldonado was likely to stay, although a recent controversy in Venezuela over his PDVSA sponsorship led to some question marks.
The team has also confirmed that Valtteri Bottas will now officially be third driver. The GP3 champion will have a schedule of 15 FP1 sessions on Fridays.
The name of the team’s other main driver has not been announced, although Adrian Sutil is among the favourites.
Sir Frank Williams said: “Pastor has proven this year that he is not only quick but also that he is able to maintain a consistent and strong race pace. Pastor has been responsible for all of our forays into Q3 in 2011 and his race at Monaco was outstanding. Pastor has also settled into the team at Williams very well, contributing strongly in the factory and with our partners. He will play a critical role in 2012 as we rebuild the team and move forward.”
“I am delighted to be able to continue with Williams into my second season and I will give my very best to help the team as we push to return to the front of the grid,” Maldonado was quoted as saying in a team statement.
“This has been a tough season for the whole team but it has given me personally the opportunity to learn and develop. I am convinced that the steps we have taken to improve our competitiveness will bear fruit in 2012 and beyond. I am thrilled to be part of that and also to represent the people of Venezuela in Formula One.”
Regarding Bottas, Williams added: “We have a very specific approach to young driver development, working with one highly talented individual over a period of years. Valtteri has proved a very capable and rounded young man of fierce determination.
“As the team’s Reserve Driver, we anticipate that Valtteri will participate in a Friday practice session at 15 Grands Prix next year, most likely with a more experienced driver taking over for the remainder of the race weekend. We will announce the identity of that driver in due course.”
Valtteri said: “I would like to thank Frank Williams and the whole team for the investment that everyone at Williams has made to help me over the past two years. The opportunity now to continue this unique development with the position of Reserve Driver will enable me to gain essential experience as part of the race team in 2012.
“In this position, I will do my utmost to help the team to set up for a great race weekend and also look forward to playing a role off the track with the team at the factory and with our partners.”
Bernie Ecclestone has given COTA an extra week to save the US GP.
Ecclestone had insisted that today was the final chance, and it’s believed that COTA’s Bobby Epstein and Steve Sexton met with him in London.
The extra week will push the decision all the way to the crucial World Motor Sport Council meeting in Delhi on December 7.
“The deadline hasn’t been met so we are still trying to make it happen,” Ecclestone told AP tonight. “They need to get some money and a pen. They are struggling to get the financial side sorted out.”
He added: “If it isn’t all signed before the World Motor Sport Council meeting [the race] can’t happen.”
Michael Schumacher admits that Mercedes GP faces a tough winter as the team tries to make the huge steps that will get it back to where Brawn was in 2009.
Asked to sum-up his season, Michael said: “The sum-up is that we very much look forward to next year! We have a tough and strong winter in front of us. All the guys are working flat out to get us where we belong, and that’s closer to the winning road. I hope desperately that next year that’s going to be the first step towards that.”
Schumacher’s final race of the year in Brazil was spoiled by a puncture he received after being tapped in the rear by Bruno Senna – although he admitted it would still have been a hard race. Senna received a drive through penalty as a result of the clash.
Ironically Schumacher experienced a near identical incident in 2006, when he was hit by Giancarlo Fisichella’s Renault while battling for the title with the Italian’s team mate.
“It was a difficult one, and it had quite a few memories to 2006, my last race that I did before my retirement,” said Schumacher. “Exactly the same circumstances, again somebody that seemed to have a problem to take the normal trajectory of corners, and ran into me.
“It’s a shame. It would have been a nice race, some solid points we could have taken home. Although for sure as we’ve seen with Nico it was a tough race for us, we saw already Friday with these sorts of temperatures that we were struggling a bit more than other people were.
“My balance for the first two stints due to some damage that occurred after this tyre damage wasn’t perfect, but we altered it for the last stint, and actually it was OK then.”
Adam Cooper F1 