Hear Hear!!

Hear Hear!!

  June 09, 2009    MamaeyaYT

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I love it when the general press (as opposed to cowering racing journalists) hits hard, as did the UK Guardian in this article by Richard Williams today. Highlights:

"Those who watched the Turkish grand prix on television might be interested to learn that the people in charge of the transmission were instructed to focus their cameras tightly on the cars in order to disguise the paltry attendance.

Not everything can be obscured by green sheeting, cunning camera angles or Jenson Button's dazzling smile. Button's success ....is just about the only thing formula one has going for it during a year in which the corrosive effects of Mosley's political machinations and Ecclestone's insatiable greed have become fully apparent."

Brilliant opening salvo but there's more:

"By imposing a wholesale set of rule changes at the beginning of this season, rather than introducing alterations gradually, he made himself look like a reformer while actually forcing the teams to incur huge additional costs, not least through the addition of his vastly expensive and troublesome KERS system, already abandoned by most of the teams."

Where were articles like these years ago before the introduction of the rubbish KERS. Instead we even had some blogs and press supporting its entrance. But the article goes further and this part I like:

"So far only two teams – Williams and Force India – have switched to his camp, suffering expulsion from Fota as a result of choosing self-interest over the long-term health of the sport. The association's eight remaining members – Ferrari, Renault, BMW, Toyota, McLaren-Mercedes, Brawn, Red Bull and Toro Rosso – might very well take the view that grand prix racing can exist perfectly well without one team that won its last championship in 1997 and another that shows little sign of doing anything other than making up the numbers."

Finally someone else says these things I've been trying to get across!

"Whatever Mosley may say, his objective appears not to be making formula one cheaper, greener or more competitive. It is to retain control of the sport first by dividing and ruling the existing competitors and second by threatening the introduction of a bunch of new teams whose loyalty to him and to Ecclestone has been bought by the rewriting of technical regulations and by the promise of financial assistance."

The article concludes:

"How much better the world would seem if formula one returned to Silverstone next year and Mosley and Ecclestone did not."

Amen to that Mr Richard Williams!

And so to the wannabe racing team boss Vijay Mallya. Why don't you quit being a wannabe and take your billions elsewhere instead being a nuisance in grand prix racing? Giving it to help the hardcore poor in your country who live on the streets eating scraps off garbage would probably be more beneficial to yourself and your nation in the long run.

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Led By The Nose

Led By The Nose

  June 08, 2009    MamaeyaYT

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An interesting Q & A with Frank Williams is published here on Autosport. Frank Williams have indicated that the Williams team have been expelled (and not even temporarily) from FOTA, despite headlines claiming that the suspension was temporary.

But more interesting is the fact that Williams admits that he'd rather be in a series organised by the FIA and Bernie than anything else anyone else comes up with. And of course, its all about the money admits Williams. Money from Bernie. And also not forgetting money for designing Max Mosley's new Formula 2 championship.

Strange. First this pre-supposes that only Bernie can bring the money. I am certain the FOTA folks could do a pretty damned good job of it as well. Second, he forgets that teams combined gets only 50% of the money. The rest are raped out of the sport by CVC. Assuming that someone else makes a good job at organising a championship, Williams would get more out of it then sticking with the leeches.

And lastly, I hate to say it yet again but here is the man who, along with Ron Dennis and Ken Tyrell, found himself ripped off out of their fair share of the F1 commercial revenues by none other than Bernie Ecclestone. And yet by his own admission would follow Bernie wherever he now went.

The sad fact of the matter is that Williams Grand Prix Engineering are no longer the force on the track that they once were. So pathetic have they become they have to resort to low fuel flash laps in practice to get any attention. They have not won a race since 2004 and judging by things they won't be winning anything unless half the teams don't finish the race. They are a firm mid-fielder and sometime bottom feeder. It is no surprise that the other bottom feeder (but extermely wannabe) team have also followed them into Max and Bernie's arms.

How does Willaims feel about competing in a Formula 1 championship devoid of the best teams? His reply is simply : "That's tough shit. We've made our choice" Well I guess the temptation to go back to the top whilst all the big boys are away was just too much for Williams. Its rather like Ferrari at Indianapolis in 2005. They finished first across the line. But it was a most hollow of victories.

Years ago the word piranha was being thrown about to describe some of the Formula 1 team bosses. Increasingly I feel this label belongs firmly with Frank Williams. I wish him the all the worst.

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The Budget Cap

The Budget Cap

  June 06, 2009    MamaeyaYT

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I hate this idea of a budget cap. I really do. Maybe because it radically changes the face of grand prix racing and I hate the idea of racing changing even further because of Max and cohorts. Perhaps I hate the fact that to my mind, its just a deceitful way arguing that the teams should not need to receive more money from Bernie and the CVC dogs. Maybe I hate the fact that Max argues there are is no technical innovation in grand prix racing and yet it was he who framed the current rules so tightly that innovation is not permitted. There are even provisions in the sporting regulations that state that any innovative advantage a team has will be removed after a year! Yeah, perhaps I just hate the disingenuousness of it all and I really want to see the end of Max, FOM and CVC.

Putting all these other bigger issues aside, I do wonder whether the budget cap in and of itself is such a bad idea. I have to agree with Mosley on one thing. If applied, it is at least ensures fairness (though I think fairness can also be achieved by other means). But whatever, on the face of things, those folk from Norfolk who want to revive the Lotus name, could theoretically be fighting on the same terms as Maranello. If you ask me, I think Maranello is afraid of this. For if everyone is on equal footing, then its down to creativity (if this is allowed as well, but I'll come to this later). Time was when Ferrari were getting beaten by so-called garagistes using only Cosworth DFV engines and old Enzo hated that. And so would Luca di Montezemolo. Ferrari builds its brand on grand prix mystique and here's a chance that the myth would be destroyed. Not good. And I would say it also applies to a lesser extent but still significantly to other car manufacturers in Formula 1.

However, we should not let ourselves get carried away. As I said before, this is only in theory. Whilst a budget cap allied to greater innovative freedom seems like a great idea here are some reasons why it would not work in the long run.

Budget caps are impossible to police

Seriously, do the teams or anyone for that fact want a bunch of FIA people to rummage through their books? And even if they were allowed, so what? Auditors have been rummaging through people's finances for ages but still you had things like Enron happening. Sarbanes Oxley? Pffft. Such regulations simply creates more loopholes for hanky panky.

When they implemented currency exchange controls, banks simply created currency swaps and derivatives on those. When it comes to money, there are very creative ways of ensuring that it gets where it needs to go and of course there are creative accounting techniques that have been practiced for hundreds of years.

Whats to stop Mercedes for instance to place their CFD and wind tunnels under Mercedes trucks or AMG for instance? In return, Mercedes High Performance Engines could do some "research" work for those divisions. After all engine expenses are spared from the scrutiny of the FIA. Whats to stop Mercedes HPE from transferring the results of such CFD and wind tunnel work back to McLaren? Nothing would stop McLaren from claiming that they innovated and "discovered" this all on a miniscule budget because of the genius of their engineers. Are the FIA going to send auditors to the entire Daimler Benz empire?

Likewise, are the FIA going to send auditors down to Nissan in Japan to investigate possible Formula 1 chassis work? In fact, whats to stop Nissan doing it out in the open? If Nissan wanted to build a grand prix car simply for pure research purposes, there would nothing the FIA could do to stop them. Nissan are not competing. Its the Renault Formula 1 team that does so. And if Renault "inherits" or is simply allowed to "view" the results of Nissan's research, does this in and of itself constitute a breach of regulations?

Both McLaren and Ferrari have road car divisions separate from their teams. In the case of McLaren this goes even further to encompass other vehicle and technological enterprises. There's no stopping either of these teams parking grand prix development expenditures to these other operations.

Such things are not confined only to the large manufacturers. Any team can practice such creativity. Lola for instance builds racing cars for other formulae and series. Who's to say what expenses are incurred for the grand prix team and what expenses are attributed to development of chassis in other formulae? Only Lola's accountants know and you can bet they ain't saying. Other teams could also set up similar situations very easily. They could for instance sell engineering services to other entities and organisations for non-financial consideration.

I'm certain the FIA will look into all of this. Max is quite a clever bastard. But he should know that budget caps will exist only in name. Teams will find even cleverer ways to cicumvent these caps. In the end, I feel that the so called cap will simply be abandoned, the way horsepower limits (300 bhp) were abandoned in rallying.

Technical Innovation Causes Safety Issues As Cars Get Ever Faster

As I said before, the only reason why there have not been any innovations in grand prix racing lately is because the regulations are framed in such ways as to prevent these innovations from happening. Max has long argued that this is for cost and safety reasons. History will show that the cost savings never materialised much. But Max could always count on safety as the reasons for killing off technical creativity. He would argue (and he would be right) that the cars would be going too fast for their own good.

As it stands, despite ever tightening regulations, engineers have found ways of making the cars go even faster. Any limits placed on them have been temporary. Eventually development catches up and cars go even quicker than ever. I suppose the FIA can argue this is possible because of the hundreds of millions that go into 24 hour development. And so they want to place this budget cap. In exchange teams get more liberal regulations.

However, if Max is correct, that with such freedoms, engineers and teams would not need the close on half a billion dollar budget to go faster, then in the end, the FIA would still need to curb their creativity and thus the speed of the cars for safety reasons. How are the FIA going to achieve this? Tighter budget caps? Would it still be considered grand prix racing when teams are limited to only say 5 million dollars or less per season? That would just be ridiculous. Sports car teams spend more. The only practical way would be for the FIA to write ever tighter technical regulations and all this will do is curb creativity. Once again, whatever monies are available would simply be spent refining existing technology rather than producing new ones.

Lack of Rule Stability Will Raise Costs Anyway

Lets face it. One of the reasons why budgets in Formula 1 have gone sky high is because bloody Max has changed the rules according to his whims every couple of years. In some cases, he's changed it year on year. Such rule instability forces teams to deploy massive amounts of financial resources for development. Now who's to say that if Max gets his way and teams sign up unconditionally, he would settle down and stabilize the rules. Especially given safety concerns. He'd keep on changing the rules and I argue that even the little teams will be complaining. What would happen I feel is that teams would argue that the budget cap be relaxed in order to properly respond to these rule changes. And there goes the farm on budget capping.

Conclusions

I believe the FOTA teams are looking to make massive cost reductions to their operations. And I believe they are in a better position to suggest more practical and economical ways on how these can be achieved. For this to happen in the long run, there must be rule stability. And this is the thrust of the FOTA argument. That rules are managed and constructed in consultation with the teams and not simply on the whims and fancies of an ego-maniacal FIA president.

If you ask me, I don't think the FOTA teams are worried about these budget caps, or at least they shouldn't be. Better spend their time in finding not only new technical innovations but also financial innovations and creative organisational and commercial structures to circumvent such nonsense. Who's to say that they aren't doing this right now?

However, as the loud mouthed Flavio has recently said, what FOTA requires is transparency and rule stability. This is an essential ingredient to cost savings and is something that Max doesnt seem to understand or realise. And if those traitors Williams and the oh so wannabe Vijay Mallya and his Force India team had the foresight they would see that unconditional surrender to Max will in the end be folly and detrimental to them in the long run. I argue that all these hopeful new entrants should also place stability and transparency conditions not just on the FIA but also the FOM on whom their lives will depend on.
I am surprised that Williams, Force India and others seemingly take such a short term view of things. In the long run, they will be back on the table arguing against the FIA once more.

As for Max, it would seem that here is a man who wants and needs to be in complete control and be able to dictate the regulations as he pleases. I do believe though that a lot of the motivation for it is commercial and even political. Commercial pressures come from Bernie and the CVC dogs. Political pressure would perhaps come from environmental lobbies and governments. To satifsfy these pressures, I think he doesn't at all mind to be seen as the ruthless dictator and perhaps he even enjoys it. In the end I feel that he simply wants to satisfy his ego as being the man who changed and "saved" grand prix racing. There cannot be any doubt that he himself is engaging in legacy building.

And so the practical way forward is to perhaps to let Max be seen in public as the victor in this standoff. After all, car manufacturers and teams are in different businesses and not in the business of politics. FOTA should perhaps capitulate and be seen to have been humbled by the great dicatator, Premier Max. Then, work with Bernie to come up with a new Concorde Agreement that this time guarantees rule stability. I'm not sure how they would get more money out of Bernie and CVC but thats a different story. In the meantime as I mentioned FOTA teams can simply restructure their organisations to circumvent these silly budget caps. In the long run they should realise that budget caps will (in substance but not form) disappear anyway. And all that would remain (if they played it smart) is rule stability guaranteed by a new Concorde Agreement.

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The Battle Lines Are Drawn

The Battle Lines Are Drawn

  June 04, 2009    MamaeyaYT

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To the press Max Mosley has made known that there will be no compromises. And for good measure he has reminded the FOTA teams as to just who has been setting the rules for the last 60 years. And if they don't like it, they can eat shit and start their own championship. Well that would be interesting. Personally I'd prefer to that they did. What better way to rid themselves of cancerous CVC and corrupt dictatorships? But somehow I have a feeling this isn't going to happen.

What I do think will happen is that we'll have like Brawn and Force India getting really nervous and caving to Max pressure. I reckon even Red Bull and their two teams will follow. This leaves the five manufacturers Toyota, BMW, Mercedes (via McLaren), Renault and Ferrari. Rumour has it Renault and Toyota want out if given the chance. So this leaves BMW, Mercedes and Ferrari. Of these, only Ferrari have been extremely hardcore.

Some have suggested that the remaining 5 manufacturers run 4 car teams to make a 20 car grid in a new championship. Sure why not? Or how about allowing customer cars and allowing private entrants to purchase their cars, perhaps with the condition that the customer cars be co-identified with the manufacturer. As I have said numerous times, Red Bull has proven that the concept can work. And perhaps Red Bull can persuaded that a new championship is a good idea and that they should put all 4 Red Bull Technologies racing cars in there.

In prosperous economic conditions, I would say a new FOTA run championship would have a better than even chance of succeeding. But the reality of it is that in these turbulent times, they will not have the collective will to do so. And that would be the end of FOTA. The members will either cave in to Max or they will leave the sport. The only question is which option will Ferrari choose? I doubt if Luca would want to lose face over this affair but what are his choices? Ferrari have signed up with the FOM to 2012. If they leave now, they are facing a massive lawsuit from the likes of the dogs, Bernie and CVC. Could they afford to do so? Profitable as Ferrari are, it would be in their best interests to do so. Luca may just have to eat humble pie over this entire affair.

The rest have not gone to such lengths as Ferrari and therefore caving in to Max will not be such a loathsome option. For those manufacturers that choose to remain, you can be assured there will be reconciliatory gestures all round. Lots of back slapping and all that with Max and Bernie.

So for those that sign up to the FIA championship what would be their future? More of the same. Whilst teams want rule stability and governance transparency, they will have neither of this. And faced with this budget cap, they will wonder how to respond to Max when he keeps changing the rules ever so often to his own whims and fancies. Some people never learn the lessons of history and this folly will continue on.

In short, I'd love to see a new championship but I seriously doubt if this is going to happen. Nice try FOTA.

PS: Please prove me wrong

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Why They Tolerate Ferrari

Why They Tolerate Ferrari

  June 03, 2009    MamaeyaYT

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Lets be clear about one thing. Ferrari may sneer at all these new entrants trying so hard to get into grand prix racing. But they themselves were once the newcomers. When Ferrari entered the world championship in the 1950s it was a young team facing up to established names like Alfa Romeo and Mercedes. Enzo was at one time himself a garagiste, as he would call the FOTA teams in the 80s.

In time and over the years Ferrari have continued to compete and win from time to time and have built up the romance and legend surrounding the team, playing on the fantasies and emotions of fans worldwide. I confess to being caught up with this legend. Its hard to resist. Though I despise the dirt behind the legend, nevertheless the cars are so beautiful and more importantly, so characterful. Of course if the basis of supercar choices is based purely on logic, you'd choose a Porsche or even Nissan's latest R35 GTR. But frankly none save perhaps McLaren or Lamborghini arouse the senses so completely.

The revelations of secret vetos (by Ferrari's own admission in arbitration) reveals the advantages afforded to Maranello. Its something non-Ferrari fans have always known and Ferrari fans in turn have accused us (and anyone daring to challenge Maranello, most notably Ron Dennis) of whingeing. Well its not whingeing motherf****ers, its the goddamned truth! Excuse my outburst but I'm ever so sick of idiots.

Ok putting that aside, why would the other teams tolerate all this? The extra monies given to them, the right of veto bestowed on them and even the disparaging remarks made by this most unsporting of teams? The teams actually want to go up against the odds. Perhaps it makes victory against Maranello even more satisfying. But perhaps there's another more practical reason. Particularly where it comes to the big manufacturers.

Think about it. Ferrari have the largest following of all the teams. Some of these fans border on pathological fanaticism, following grand prix racing religiously to see their beloved prancing horse. Most of these fans will never be able to afford a Ferrari road car. Ever! Guess which cars they would be able to afford? Renaults, Toyotas and Hondas of course. Some who are a little smarter and more affluent will be able to afford Mercedes and BMWs in their lifetime. Ferrari fans are captive audiences for these manufacturers. Competing against Ferrari gives them exposure. And, if in the case of Renault, you beat Ferrari, you are even able to shout this out louder to the world.

OK, so the manufacturers are increasingly demanding more revenues from the dogs CVC and Bernie Ecclestone. However, the airtime and the association with the world championship gives manufacturers the reach they desire with their potential customers.

If Ferrari were to leave, it would from a marketing standpoint, devalue grand prix racing. Sure, there would still be fans but a lot of them would be lost. With lost fans, other sponsors would leave as well. Of course I disapprove of all this. But its a fact. The problem of course is that the entire grand prix racing ecosystem has become so corrupted. Its become all about the money and nothing about the sport.

If you aren't sickened by all of this, you should be. There simply must be a better way!

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The So Called Solution

The So Called Solution

  May 28, 2009    MamaeyaYT

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So it has emerged that Mercedes have floated a compromise proposal to FOTA and the FIA regarding the rules for next year's Formula 1 world championship. In effect, a budget cap of 100 million would be in place and the smaller teams would be technically assisted by the current manufacturers, although this stops short of chassis supply.

What a load of bollocks! Why not simply allow customer cars? Toro Rosso have shown that the concept can work. Heck, even Super Aguri showed that its possible to show the works teams a thing or two. Lola, who apparently will enter the 2010 championship, is in the business of constructing racing cars and selling them off to teams in other formulae. If customer cars were allowed, they could supply the other entrants as well.

Interestingly, there are two different views within FOTA itself. Some folks led by Williams who are adamantly opposed to the idea of customer cars on the grounds that this would somehow jeapordise the constructors world championship. Again, completely bollocks. Then there's Red Bull, who were assured when they entered Formula 1 that customer cars would be allowed.

I still can't understand Williams' argument. We could easily add a team's title in addition to the constructors championship. For instance, points for the constructors championship could be scored by the top two cars of the constructor regardless of the team that won it. If Williams for instance supplied cars to say Campos, and such a team scored a one-two in the race, Williams as a constructor would collect points since they are the constructor of the cars. They would still gain the prestige of winning the constructors title. If Campos regularly beat the works cars, then the team championship would be won by Campos.

In other formulae and especially in sports cars we see different combinations of chassis and engines all the time. In grand prix racing, we see that its possible for the customer team i.e. Toro Rosso to win against the works team using different engines. In sports cars we regularly see the customer teams beat the works cars. It all adds to the interest in the sport.

Teams would be in a far better position to afford grand prix racing if they did not have to spend monies on research and development and maintaining production facilities. But nevertheless, they would still have to pay for their chassis. In fact, this would be a revenue source for constructors. Lola makes a living from this. And so could say the Williams team, who I'm sure with its still vast technical resources could make better racing cars.

Frank Williams is a complete ass. And so is his team. I'd never thought I'd ever say that. And yet now, I wish Williams demise from grand prix racing.

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Williams Give In Again

Williams Give In Again

  May 26, 2009    MamaeyaYT

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So Williams has broken ranks and have signed up for next year's world championship. Or should that be called selling their collective souls? Needless to say I am more than a little troubled and disappointed. The reason given is that Williams does nothing else but grand prix racing and hence cannot afford to be left out.

Williams, Brawn GP and wannabe team Force India are 3 teams currently competing who are in support of Max Mosley's budget cap. With Williams' capitulation how long before the other 2 break ranks and capitulate? Despite Williams' assurances that they are still in support of FOTA, the practical reality is that the FIA and FOA have once again succeeded in bending Williams to their will.

I suppose some people never learn. In the past, the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA) was intended to care for, among other things, the commercial rights of the teams. This it did. However, with sleight of hand and the incompetence of solicitors representing Williams, McLaren and Tyrrell, Bernie Ecclestone managed to deny those rights and grab it all for himself. Williams and McLaren went so far as to sue their incompetent former solicitors but in the end, Bernie stepped in to ensure that the lawsuit never saw the light of day lest it revealed the dirt that went on to the public.

How much money was paid to shut the teams up? No one knows. It couldn't have been so small a sum but I doubt if it was a very large amount neither. Bernie managed to flog off those commercial rights, first to the now defunct Kirsch, then a string of banks and finally the loathsome CVC. Bernie became a billionaire from that sale whilst Frank Williams is struggling to stay afloat.

And what did Williams and McLaren get? Well obviously not enough since Williams is now thinking like small fries. Instead of standing their ground and possibly gaining what is theirs by right i.e. greater share of the commercial revenues of the sport, they capitulate once more. By signing with the FIA, Williams have lost all leverage against Bernie and CVC. How on Earth can you demand more from those bastards and in the long run eradicate their cancerous activities if you have a contract with the FIA to race?

Perhaps it is just as well that Williams are merely given scraps off the food table and today are merely a midfield runner destined one day to fade away to oblivion. Their cowardice deserves such reward. Sorry Frank, I have lost all respect for you.

Update 27/05/2009 : Williams have been temporarily suspended from FOTA membership. As well they should be. Hopefully Williams will be denied any gains made by FOTA. They don't deserve any of it

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Whats the point?!!

Whats the point?!!

  May 12, 2009    MamaeyaYT

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Sometimes I think these F1 websites are so desperate to suck-up to their readers (i.e. the fans) that they simply trip and fall all over themselves. Look at the screenshot of Pitpass today. Can't read it? I'll quote it again:

"The teams, might argue that they put on the show… but never forget, you are the audience and without an audience the show cannot go on, after all, what would be the point?"

Oh my god! Do these people even understand what racing is all about? I wonder if these folks even understand the spirit of it all? Once upon a time person A and person B met on a stretch of road. Both liked to drive and drive quickly. Each thought him (or her)-self faster than the other. And they both felt compelled to prove that point and put pedal to the metal. Thus began motor racing. (Of course, the first time this scene played out, I doubt if it was in an organised event). If you haven't felt this feeling, please do not consider yourself a fan of racing. You simply do not understand.

And so from those simple roots, evolved organised competition. Not for the sake of fans but for the drivers, manufacturers and teams themselves. The competitions got bigger, the prizes got larger. Ultimately this led to grand prix racing, that pinnacle of road racing competition. I have always argued that if there was no Formula 1, someone would invent it. And if the FIA Formula 1 world championship were to die, another would come along to replace it. Why? Because true racers need it. There still would exist this need to prove yourself the fastest and the best. Full stop.

And guess what? People liked to watch. And so if the spectators enjoyed watching then so be it. Through advertising, gate tickets and other forms of revenue collections, this would benefit the organisers and teams (one would hope). And if not, those guys would still be racing regardless if there wasn't a single person to watch. Perhaps grand prix racing would not surive but the next formula down to the next and all the way down to club level would still carry on. Ultimately they'd find a way to organise the biggest and fastest competition around once more. Why? Cause real racers (drivers and teams) need to prove themselves the best. This is the fundamental aspect of racing whether you're talking about the guy who races on the street (not that I approve of such things) to the club racer to the Brawn GP Formula 1 team.

I often think these days that people forget this fundamental fact. And so we mix in stupid things like marketing, branding and all the other business garbage.

Now of course, as a fan, I like to give my opinion. Thats why I started this blog. But to claim that grand prix racing exists only for the fans and that we are the only point of it is just plain missing the point. If Pitpass, who puport to be racing fans can put this up, then I am really worried for the future of grand prix racing. Specifically, on what it would evolve into. As it is, it has become increasingly distasteful and I fear simply pampers to the wrong sort of audience.

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A Liar and A Snitch

A Liar and A Snitch

  April 04, 2009    MamaeyaYT

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"It was while we were waiting for the stewards that I was misled and was instructed by my team manager to withhold information. That's what I did. I felt awkward and uncomfortable, and I think the stewards could see that. I sincerely apologise to the stewards for wasting their time and making them look stupid.

"I have not gone through life being a liar and I am not a dishonest person, and I don't want the world to think that. I am a team player. Whenever I have been told to do things, I have done them."

-- Hamilton, Sepang Circuit 3/4/2009

Yes, Hamilton, we already knew that you are a fucking liar. You lied last week just as you did in Hungary in 2007. And so much for your claims of being a team player. You have pointed the finger directly at your team manager to save your own arse. To take joint responsibility like a man? But I suppose you lack the spine to do this.

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Honda! You Fools!

Honda! You Fools!

  March 28, 2009    MamaeyaYT

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I am quite tired of blogging but with the results of today's qualifying in Melbourne, I just had to write this one. It was fantastic to see a complete change to the look of the grid. What was amazing to see was that the top 3 was dominated by privateers not manufacturers! This is how it should be done!!

But my main focus here is on the Brawn GP cars. About a month ago I was telling folks about its speed but as is usual, many seemed to dismiss their pace as running light showboating. But there was something different about this team. Whereas show-boaters go quick once at best, these guys were consistently setting the quickest times. And not just on banzai laps. Reports showed that they were consistently fast on the long runs and signficantly, their relative pace seemed undiminished towards the end of the long runs. And when they do go for broke, there's nothing to touch them.

Well, in Melbourne, so it proved in qualifying. One thing great about this new format is that you do get to judge race pace in the final session. And if you look at their speed in final qualifying there seems to be nothing to touch these Brawns. For the good of the sport, I dearly hope they take full honours tomorrow. And if not them then at least Vettel's Red Bull.

But really the point I would like to make in this post is Honda's shortsightedness in flogging off their team just as they were on the brink on greatness. Honda's pull out put the team in all sorts of trouble. They got the cars very late to testing. This alone I believe slowed the pace of their development. But so fast was the cars they they still ended up quickest.

And late into the game, the team had to adapt to the Mercedes engine. Now this car was designed with a Honda engine in mind. Do not underestimate the significance. You can't simply bolt in any old motor to the back of these machines. The design has been optimised for engine shape, configuration and drive characteristics and delivery. The Mercedes is an incredibly strong motor of course and I bet that help. But could you believe how fast the Brawns would be running the engine they were really built to run on? I would imagine had Honda kept with it, the cars would be untouchable and I would gather would have been at least a second quicker than the next fastest runners.

When Ross Brawn took over the team I had thought him and brave man and I admired his spirit. I mean, he could easily have found employment elsewhere but he went down the route of owning the team and doing this his way. But I suppose looking at the performance of the Brawns, he knew didn't he? He knew they had created something special even before it had turned a wheel. Knew it would be competitive and quick and be able to take the fight to the likes of Ferrari and McLaren, both of which are absolutely nowhere to be seen in Melbourne.

Honda! Long have I followed this company and rooted for them on the back of their exploits in the 80s and early 90s and the fact that they powered Ayrton Senna to all three of his world titles. I have always admired their inventiveness and competitiveness and have always prayed they would do well. But there was a difference between Honda of the 80s and the Honda company now. Soichiro Honda lived and breathed racing. Making road cars was more of a side activity for him to finance his racing, much like old Enzo himself. Many many racers around the world and especially in Japan felt a betrayal with Honda's pullout of grand prix racing. With only a single win to its name, it felt like there was unfinished business. When Honda previously talked of the power of dreams, it really refers to Soichiro's dream of taking on the best of the Europeans and kicking the living shit out of them.

But today, the Honda company has perverted that dream. Transformed it to that ridiculous "My Earth Dreams." A betrayal to its roots and to its spirit. Old Soichiro Honda should be turning in his grave. Ayrton Senna too for that matter.

How long can Brawn keep this up? God knows. Without some heavyweight backing I simply don't know. Maybe for the next 3 to 4 grands prix perhaps. Maybe less. Who knows? But they should milk their current successes for all its worth.

They say the best revenge after being dumped by a lover is to simply live well. Well the best way for Brawn to extract retribution against Honda is to put the car on pole and win the race. One out of two tasks are done. Here's hoping that win comes. That'll really be sticking two fingers up the air to those narrow minded idiots in Japan.

All this provided of course that the FIA doesn't rule their diffusers illegal. Well, I think the FIA have no problems with the design after all they passed it. But as usual they just might listen to Ferrari. Even if they do though, Ferrari would still not end up quickest. That'll be the Red Bulls! Long live the revolution!

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Formula 1 Reloaded Part 2

Formula 1 Reloaded Part 2

  December 10, 2008    MamaeyaYT

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In the wake of Honda's demise Pitpass has this interesting editorial by Mike Lawrence that attacks the role of Formula 1 owners, CVC. Essentially, this is similar to the point I had made before, that CVC is an irrelevant stakeholder of the sport that serves to do nothing except serve as a rent collector. They don't even serve Bernie Ecclestone to my mind, who had cashed out his Formula 1 holdings a long time ago to Kirsch. CVC simply took out a huge loan to buy the shares from the banks after Kirsch went into liquidation. And now to service the loan, CVC of course withdraws a huge amount of money from the sport. Money, as I had argued, rightly belongs to the teams. Further amounts are taken for the benefit of CVC and through them, their own investors.

There are many side effects of these activities.

First, there is a need to take Formula 1 out of Europe and North America and bring it out East where gullible governments pay huge amounts to host these races on some of the most dreadful Tilke designed circuits. More are set to join in, South Korea and Abu Dhabi being the latest. And yet more are clamoring for a grand prix. A certain poverty stricken nation who should be spending those millions to take children out of living on the streets are ever ready to throw money at FOM instead. With these Eastern circuits, once the novelty wears off, struggle to keep the grandstands packed without giving away free tickets to school children. And sad to say, Malaysia is no different there. (Though honestly, Sepang manages to keep the hillstands packed to the brim!) And yet host a grand prix anywhere in Europe and even at Indianapolis and the fans keep pouring in year on year. Its funny but shouldn't races be run where the loyal fans are? Shouldn't races be run on classic circuits unmolested by the evil hands of Tilke?

Second, because less money is available to the teams (though that improved slightly a couple of years ago), the only ones that can afford to compete are the manufacturers. Without them, Formula 1 is left without a grid. CVC, quite smartly imposes that these manufacturers must sign up to compete for an agreed period of time, forcing their commitment.

Bernie understands this and does all he can to keep the manufacturers in. On the other hand, Max Mosley understands that these manufacturers could leave if the costs escalate to exceed the benefits of competing in grand prix racing. Hence his drive to reduce these costs up to and including the ludicrous standard engine measure recently proposed.

What benefit is it for Honda to compete in a Formula 1 where their talents cannot be allowed to shine through? Sure they have not been performing but without the freedom to allow innovation and ingenuity and produce differentiation, whats the point of the competition? There doesn't seem to be any benefit to the competition when it has to adopt a standard engine or even to have their engines forcibly equalised by regulations. Especially since their money can be put to better use elsewhere in these times of financial meltdown.

Third, you drive out teams whose heart and soul is nothing but pure racing. Teams, that by right, should be the ones to compete in the sport. These teams are driven by pure passion and its great to see these guys get it absolutely right despite facing the manufacturers. But here now, we have a sport which sidelines these pure bred racing teams in favour of makers of the horrid Toyota Prius. Furthermore, a competition billing itself as the pinnacle of motorsport has now been perverted as testlab for so-called road relevant technologies like KERS which teams are now re-considering because of the weight penalty and small gains.

There are many other consequences of this unjust and perverted ownership of the sport but I shall leave it there for now. It seems clear that whenever you see or read about some silly idea from Max and Bernie, you only have to see that they are serving no one except CVC. They have become the minions of these investors.

There seems to be a need to materialise a championship for real racing fans not the "casual fan" who knows bugger and real racing teams and not manufacturers engaged in battle in the best traditions of motorsports. A championship owned by the teams and not greedy investors with no interest in motor racing save to reap profits to serve feed their insatiable appetites. A championship run on the best drivers' circuits in the world and not on those with stupid grandstands to pamper the so-called casual fans and corporate types.

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Honda Quits

Honda Quits

  December 05, 2008    MamaeyaYT

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A few questions pop into mind at the announcement that Honda is leaving Formula 1. But the most important ones would be:

- What will Ross Brawn do now?
- What will Jenson Button do?
- Would Honda have left if they were winning races and world championships?
- Which team will be next?

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Formula 1 Reloaded Part 1

Formula 1 Reloaded Part 1

  October 29, 2008    MamaeyaYT

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Can you believe whats going on in grand prix racing these days? The world has turned upside down. The two senile old men firmly at the helm of Formula 1 is absolutely determined to destroy everything that made the series the obsession of millions of true blue racing fans worldwide.

The complexities of issues revolving around the grand prix circus are too numerous to mention. I've tried to articulate these over the years many a time, so I won't go into it again. I'm just so sick of writing about bad things. I think I'm not alone in this. Checkpoint10 has resorted to writing fiction such are the atrocities being committed these days.

So how to redress these problems? Well, given that "No bucks, no buck rogers", the fundamental thing, the start of many different measures that needs to be in place, is to address the problem of commercial ownership of grand prix racing.

As you may know, the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA) was formed decades ago to further the interest of the teams, particularly the issue of commercial rights. Unfortunately the man that teams had left in charge of all this, one Bernie Ecclestone, for all intents and purposes usurped the association from right under the teams' noses. This is not a joke. Williams and McLaren were more than prepared to sue the solicitors advising them on this affair for negligence in carrying out their duties. Of course, Bernie made sure it was all settled out of court.

Consider that the commercial rights, once it became valuable, was flogged away by Bernie for a considerable amount. An amount so huge, Bernie ended up with billions. How much of that went back to the teams? A trickle, a drop in the ocean. And now, the commercial rights of Formula 1, after several rounds of ownership changes are in the hands of a private equity firm. Yes, those leeches that are partly the source of the world's financial troubles today.

Understand this. In the long run, when the chips are down, do you really believe CVC has the sports interests at heart? And by interests I mean the interests of the fans and the teams that go racing? Of course not. For thousands of years, it is the profits that are of interest to business. I'm not sure but perhaps you do know this, but what has CVC done for the sport? Half the profits of the sport goes to CVC. And why should it go to them or any other private or public shareholder? It should belong to the teams.

So thats the first thing to do. The next thing is to look into how the teams' share of the financial spoils are distributed among themselves. At the moment, the winning constructor gets the lion share, followed by the team that came in second and so forth. This of course is before the Ferrari "tax," the special payments to Maranello that guarantees them more money even in the years they do not win the world championship.

This system, like those of purely capitalistic (I say purely) countries, is deeply flawed. The rich get richer and the poor get buggered. And the gulf between the rich and the buggered grows ever larger each year. The successful teams get more and more money and that makes them ever more successful. The smaller teams in the long run are destined to leave. Minardi, Jordan and recently Super Aguri, the victims of such inequity.

And so to my proposal. That each year, the profits from commercial activities be distributed equally, regardless of championship position, to all teams. This may seem sacrilegious to some, but consider that all teams play a part in the show. The winning constructor needs teams to beat else whats the use of competing. And if you consider this a sport then everyone should start on equal footing.

Of course there would still be inequities. The large manufacturers, bent on winning at all costs, will still have more resources at their disposal than Toro Rosso or even Williams. The winning constructors will always attract more sponsorship for winning trophies than the team that came last. This should always be the case but for turning up to play, they all should get the same amounts. And therefore, winners will naturally and as a matter of course, gain greater financial reward. What I am proposing is that we close the gap between the teams out front to the teams behind.

If, the commercial rights really did belong to the teams and they retained 100% of the profits, then a share of the profits will amount to a considerable sum. Enough to keep all teams, large and small, on the grid, year after year. If allied to customer cars, and by that I mean being able to purchase chassis and engines from specialists like Dallara, Lola or Cosworth, then we would have a very strong field in grand prix racing. If the manufacturers or McLaren and Williams want to retain their manufacturing facilities then by all means. But a smaller team on a budget would still be able to compete effectively against them.

In any case, the objectives of teams competing in the world championship ought not to be making exorbitants amounts of money. Its to win. Win the world championship and through that job well done, gain their just rewards.

The commercial rights of the sports or the income generated therein is the key to a successful championship. Then we would have less of this silly talk about cost cutting and such, which to my mind, has no chance of succeeding. But what can be done, is to lessen the impact, not of money per se, but the lack of money. If measure such as these can generate a competitive championship, viewing figures will increase. And that will in turn bring in more sponsorship, increase the value to television rights, merchandising sales etc which in turn benefits the teams who can then spend as they wish on innovation (assuming more liberal technical and sporting rules) and development. In times of global crisis as we do today, such measures as above would go a long way to ensure that, whilst the smaller teams won't have the resources of the giants, at least they have a fighting chance to survive.

If you think carefully, it seems clear that the struggle right now is between the need to satisfy the insatiable appetites of private equity CVC and to ensure the survival of the teams that make up the sport. These are incompatible goals. And for the sake of the sport, the one that should be made redundant in the equation is CVC. That and the inequities of income distribution prevalent in Formula 1 at the moment.

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