Mikko Hirvonen retired from the WRC after Wales Rally GB. Via his personal YouTube channel he’s released this thank you video, which includes footage from his final rally and a few short interviews with his colleagues and competitors.
One of the nice guys is leaving one of world motorsport’s best most exhilarating categories. Let’s refelect for a moment and say thanks.
“The Caterham F1 Team is delighted to announce that it will be racing at the final Formula 1 Grand Prix of the season in Abu Dhabi next week thanks to the support of the fans, who have helped the team raise enough money to make it possible through Crowdcube, the world’s leading investment crowdfunding platform.”
So reads an announcement on the Caterham F1 Team website. At least Bernie will be happy his F1 fans can afford to pay for an F1 team, even if its for one race only.
Caterham’s appearance in Abu Dhabi will be in contrast to the fact the team has made its 230 staff redundant. Apparently that move has been done with the staff’s blessing so that they may commence formal claims, assuming a buyer cannot be found. No wages have been paid at Caterham since 30 September.
Kamui Kobayashi will drive one of the cars in Abu Dhabi, but former teammate Marucs Ericsson, armed with the security of a job in 2015, has told Caterham to bugger off.
So, too, has Andre Lotterer, who drove for Caterham in Spa earlier this year.
That leaves reserve driver Roberto Mehri claiming the drive is his and he has a contract to prove it. Haha, kids these days.
Good luck to Caterham in Abu Dhabi. But really, what a mess!
[Source: Autosport]
Will you just look at all that bloody mud! It’s the signature look for the Wales Rally GB and, for once, being first on the road was a nice advantage for rally winner Sebastien Ogier who made the most of the wet conditions before the stages became too rutted and dug up by all the cars.
There’s some great photos below and we trust you will enjoy your last gallery of rally pics for 2014. Until Rallye Monte Carlo… if in doubt, flat out!
Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia have capped off a stunning WRC season with their eighth victory of the year at the Wales Rally GB. It’s the twelfth win for Volkswagen from the 13 race calendar and a season of success like this has to be savoured, for you can never expect it to be repeated.
“That is obviously the best way to end a season: with a win,” said Ogier after the rally. “We really had to go flat-out on Friday and had a close battle for the lead with my team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala. That allowed us to open up a big lead over the rest of our rivals.
“When Jari-Matti made a mistake on Saturday, it obviously completely changed the character of the rally for us. I just had to get the car to the finish line. However, that is anything but easy given the typical conditions here in Wales. All in all, it has been another magnificent season for Julien and me, with a fantastic team behind us.”
In perhaps his best achievable result in his final WRC start Mikko Hirvonen ended his career on the podium, a bit over 37 seconds behind Ogier. It was a great way for the popular Finn to say goodbye to his fans.
“I couldn’t really think of a better way to end my career,” Hirvonen said. “We had a great fight all through the weekend and to finish with the second place is absolutely fantastic.
“Today it was a bit emotional for sure. Before this morning I manage to be pretty on it and concentrate on the rally, but today it was a bit more difficult!”
Mads Ostberg finished third, meaning the healthy sight of three different manufacturers on the podium was a pleasing way to end the WRC season, dominated by Volkswagen.
Ostberg’s points proved valuable for Citroën and allowed them to claim second place in the manufacturers’ championship, just two points ahead of M-Sport (Ford).
Given their all-conquering season Volkswagen might have hoped the final event could end like the championship standings, with their drivers filling the first three places. But for some minor errors by Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen that might have been the case too. The Polos certainly had the pace in the muddy conditions, but not the consistency from the men behind the wheel.
Still, 2014 has been a great season for Volkswagen and we hope Citroën, Ford and Hyundai can raise their game in 2015.
Who doesn’t love watching footage of Formula 1 cars screaming around the tight Monaco Grand Prix circuit? Nobody, that’s who! Especially when you’re given a driver’s eye view from the helmet of ex-Force India driver Paul di Resta.
The footage was captured during the 2012 Monaco Grand Prix, won by Mark Webber. The image quality isn’t great, but we still think you’ll enjoy the ride.
Further to his comments about double points, Bernie Ecclestone expanded on a number of issues in F1, especially the chase for a younger audience. We think it’s best if we let Bernie’s words speak for themselves.
“Young kids will see the Rolex [watch] brand but are they going to go and buy one? They can’t afford it. Or our other sponsor UBS—these kids don’t care about banking. They haven’t got enough money to put in the bloody banks anyway. That’s what I think.
“I don’t know why people want to get to the so-called ‘young generation’.
“Why do they want to do that? Is it to sell them something? Most of these kids haven’t got any money. I’d rather get to the 70-year-old guy who’s got plenty of cash.
“So, there’s no point trying to reach these kids because they won’t buy any of the products here and if marketers are aiming at this audience, they maybe they should advertise with Disney.”
“I’m not interested in tweeting, Facebook and whatever this nonsense is. I tried to find out but in any case I’m too old-fashioned. I couldn’t see any value in it.
“And I don’t know what the so-called ‘young generation’ of today really wants. What is it? You ask a 15 or 16-year-old kid, ‘What do you want?’ and they don’t know. The challenge is getting the audience in the first place.”
“These teams don’t need to be in financial trouble. They need to think about what they have got to spend and do the best they can with that… it’s the same problem with ladies and credit cards.”
Bernie and his autocratic style has built Formula 1 into the global phenomenon it is today. Nobody can mistake that. But things have changed and are constantly changing in the new media landscape. Television audiences are falling and, rather than looking at ways to bring new fans to the sport, Bernie is more worried about flogging off tacky watches to 70-year-olds.
Is the future of F1 really best left to a sexist luddite who is 84-years-old?
[Source: The Independent | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]
This time next week we’ll know who the 2014 Formula 1 world champion is. Will it be Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg? And, importantly, will the whacky novelty of the double points on offer be the deciding factor?
For a number of reasons, please, let’s hope that’s not the case. As it turns out even Bernie Ecclestone, the man behind this oddball idea, seems to think the novelty has a bleak future. Of course, he won’t admit the idea was a mistake, instead he calls the teams “bloody idiots” for not embracing three races of double points pandemonium.
“One race is stupid but imagine if it was the last three races,” he told The Independent. “It means that somebody would have to have a 150-point advantage minimum to be sure they will win. The teams have not accepted it because they are bloody idiots. They are all mechanics. They think of their team in the short term.
“I’m not going to propose the three races again. I’m going to let them get on with it. I don’t know what we’re going to do next year.”
I know Bernie, let’s drop this batshit crazy idea of yours and be done with it!
[Source: The Independent]
If you want to be king of the mountain at your next track day then you really need to get your hands on a Formula 1 car. Even a shit one like the 13-year-old Arrows A22 will leave you looking like a driving god, as this video shows!
Just be prepared to slow down for unsuspecting drivers who, just a nano second ago, had no idea you were approaching them and about to fly by.
[Thanks to Wayne for the tip]
Toyota capped off a weekend of mixed results with champagne for both cars at the WEC 6 Hours of Bahrain yesterday. The #7 TS040 driven by Mike Conway, Stephane Sarrazin and Alexander Wurz won the race. It’s the first win for the #7 car this year and Toyota’s fifth race win for the season.
However, the glory went to Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi in the #8 car, who finished well down in P11 after suffering alternator problems. Despite this they’ve done enough to wrap up the WEC drivers’ championship. With just one round to go Toyota Racing remains favourites to secure the manufacturers’ title for the first time as well.
Porsche also enjoyed a first this season, by seeing its two cars finish on the podium. The #14 919 once again started from pole position and enjoyed a reasonably smooth run. The #20 car had a scrappy day but the lack of major dramas meant they could get a valuable third place.
Audi had a pretty horrible weekend with major work required before taking the track aftrer discovering damage to the monocoques of both cars. In that respect they did very well to get out and compete and remain relatively competitive.
Yet, for the first time in the short history of the new World Endurance Championship format Audi is in danger of losing its world championship status. The team is 40 points behind Toyota with only one race left on the calendar, the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo later this month.
Strap yourself into the AUSmotive time machine and tavel to China with us to look back at the WEC 6 Hours of Shanghai.
Held across the first weekend in November Toyota’s late season form continued securing a one-two victory and edging closer to drivers’ and manufacturers’ championship success.
Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi consolidated their lead in the drivers’ championship by winning the race in the #8 TSo40 and enjoyed a comfortable 72 second margin ahead of their teammates in the #7Â sister car.
Porsche had to make do with P3 and might have hoped for more after the #14 919 started from pole and early on both cars headed the field until tyre dramas cost the #20 car any chance of a decent result. In the end Webber and his mates had to make do with sixth.
That means the Audis filled positions four and five. The R18 hasn’t enjoyed much success since winning Le Mans and you sense Audi will have to come up with a great car in 2015 to maintain its recent dominace.
Now, get ready for our time machine to bring you back to the present where we’ll have a 6 Hours of Bahrain up date for you real soon!
The first tangible steps in the new McLaren-Honda era will take place later today when the team completes a filming day at Silverstone. Confirmed via twitter McLaren will run an MP4-29H1x1 alongside two classic McLaren-Honda F1 cars.
Under Formula 1 regulations the team can run up to 100km as part of its filming days. McLaren is yet to announce its driver pairing for next year and neither Jenson Button nor Kevin Magnussen will be at the wheel. Today’s driving duties will be carried out by Oliver Turvey and Stoffel Vandoorn.
Silverstone’s grand prix circuit is 5.9klm long so McLaren will only get around 16 laps to play with. No doubt there’ll be plenty of pretty pictures and glowing words to follow, which we will share with if we can.
The Volkswagen Polo R WRC has taken the rally world by storm. Since making its debut in Monte Carlo last year it has won 20 out of 24 rallies entered. Even with the resources Volkswagen is throwing behind its WRC team, that’s quite a remarkable achievement.
Heading into the 2015 season you’d think Volkswagen Motorsport would be confident its dominance can continue. According to Volkswagen technical chief Francois-Xavier Demaison that’s not the case at all.
“I am more nervous with the new car,” revealed Demaison. “When we started with the current car, we did not really have pressure—we had a three-year plan to be champions.
“The idea was to do the first car and then make a second step to improve it, but when we see the results we had with this car… it’s a bit more complicated now!
“We have to be better or at least as good. It’s really hard for us for next year.”
Perhaps adding to Demaison’s concerns is the fact Hyundai will have an all-new i20 WRC next season, whereas Volkswagen will be racing an evolution of the current car with up to 80% of the 2014 championship winning Polo R WRC to be kept.
[Source: Autosport]