Category: Motorsports

Categories
Formula 1 McLaren

Sergio says: McLaren has struggled with reality

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Reports suggesting McLaren will replace Sergio Perez with Kevin Magnussen are gathering momentum, with expectations an official announcement will follow after this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

That’s given Perez the unwanted freedom to comment on what he calls “probably the worst season in history” for McLaren. While Perez is one of only three drivers to finish every race so far this year, along with teammate Jenson Button and Marussia’s Max Chilton, the 23-year-old Mexican can only count the modest return of fifth place at the Indian Grand Prix as his best result.

He currently has 35 world championship points; a long way off the 66 points and three podiums he recorded last year with Sauber.

“I’m very disappointed,” he told Brazil’s Totalrace. “I think when your goals are much higher than your results, you get disappointed. And that goes for both sides.”

Figuring he has the talent to do better, Perez is placing the blame for his poor results squarely at McLaren.

“It’s a great team, I have no doubt of it, with a very capable crew, but I think it lacked organisation and a little bit of humility to face the reality,” he said. “During the season, being a great team, McLaren took a long time to recognise the reality of where we were, which was scoring points on a good weekend, and not winning races.”

Facing the prospect of an off-season looking for a drive Perez doesn’t have too many options, with Force India perhaps being his best bet. Although, Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil might have something to say about that.

[Source: Motorsport.com | Pic: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes]

Categories
Formula 1 WRC

Formula 1 return “nearly impossible” says Kubica

2013 Rallye de France-Alsace

On the eve of his debut in a WRC car Robert Kubica says a return to Formula 1 following injuries sustained in a rally crash in February 2011 remains a dream for him, even though he says such an outcome is unlikely.

“It’s a dream, a target, but for now, it’s very difficult, I would say nearly impossible,” Robert told the BBC when asked about a return to F1. “I will never take the opportunity if I don’t feel 100% ready. If one day things improve, for sure we will see. For now, I am concentrating on rallying.”

Kubica still has an open diary for 2014 and after wrapping up the WRC2 championship last month a full-time rally gig would seem a natural progression.

“Driving on gravel is very demanding. There are lots of movements on the steering wheel which put a lot of stress on my arm and my hand,” he said. “If I stay in rallying next year, I would like to do a whole season. But to do all the rallies in one year is quite a big challenge.”

A successful outing for Citroën in Wales Rally GB this weekend might begin to offer some clarity for next year. For now Kubica says he doesn’t have the strength to race a single-seater. Although, he isn’t ruling out a return to the track, where he has previously tested a Mercedes-Benz DTM car.

“One option is to come back to circuit racing. For sure, it won’t be single-seaters, but I haven’t got it clear in my mind what I will do.”

[Source: BBC]

Categories
Formula 1 McLaren

McLaren set to ditch Perez for Magnussen

Kevin Magnussen

The Formula 1 silly season is in full swing with word McLaren will replace Sergio Perez with reserve driver Kevin Magnussen, who first tested with the team at Abu Dhabi in 2012.

Magnussen has just collected the Formula Renault 3.5 title and looks set to follow the path of Robert Kubica and Giedo van der Garde as former champions who have made the progression to Formula 1. The 21-year-old Dane would also follow the path of his father, Jan, who made his F1 debut in a one-off race with McLaren in 1995 and also drove for Stewart in 1997 and 1998.

Officially, the word from McLaren Team Principal, Martin Whitmarsh, is: “The fact is at the moment we haven’t confirmed our driver line-up, we haven’t signed contracts with drivers.” But Autosport reports a deal with Magnussen has been agreed and awaits official sign-off.

It’s worth noting, British driver, Oliver Gavin, who races with Jan Magnussen at Corvette Racing in the American Le Mans Series has sent his congratulations to his teammate via twitter:

A lack of consistency is understood to be behind the decision to release 23-year-old Sergio Perez, who joins Pastor Maldonado as another current driver looking for work in 2014. With Nico Hulkenberg still the favourite to replace Kimi Raikkonen at Lotus, there’s not much on offer if you don’t have seat secured in 2014.

[Source: Autosport]

Categories
Bathurst 12 Hour Fiat

Fiat Abarth 695 Assetto Corse to race at Bathurst

Fiat Abarth 695 Assetto Corse

This feisty looking Fiat will be racing at the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour. Pretty cool, huh! The car’s full name is the Abarth 695 Assetto Corse. It was first announced in 2011 and Fiat will be competing with a pair of them in the Mount Panorama endurance race.

The Abarths will race in Category F when the action starts on 9 February and will be lead by Luke Youlden and Paul Stokell. The driving roster will be complemented by motoring journos Josh Dowling, Toby Hagon, Paul Gover and Mike Sinclair.

Alan Heaphy from Performance Parts and Engineering will prepare the cars and Fiat says the Italian pocket rockets have already “proven their potential by setting competitive times in the wet during track testing at Phillip Island.”

When first revealed the 695 Assetto Corse boasted 152kW (205hp) thanks to a 1368cm3 turbocharged engine. We’re not sure if Heaphy and his crew will be able to liberate more power, but at least the Assetto Corse should be fairly light. That’s due to its very small size, of course, but also measures such as using Lexan panels to replace the glass windows.

Fiat will reveal the livery of the cars later this year and we’re expecting to see something pretty cool.

Continue reading “Fiat Abarth 695 Assetto Corse to race at Bathurst”
Categories
Formula 1

Felipe Massa to race for Williams in 2014

Felipe Massa

After eight years with Ferrari Felipe Massa will be moving to Williams in 2014. He will race alongside 2013 rookie Valtteri Bottas, which leaves Pastor Maldonado being officially thanked for his services.

The 32-year-old Brazilian has won 11 races and stood on an F1 podium 36 times. On current form he’ll have to be an optimist to hold expectations those stats will receive notable increases during his time with Williams, despite his new team’s past glories.

And you sense Massa is acutely aware of that as well: “With such a major change of regulations in 2014, I hope my experience will be useful in helping the team in its effort to move on from a difficult period.

“I’m highly motivated to start working hard from the very beginning in what is an exciting new challenge in my career.”

Sir Frank Williams has spoken, too: “We are delighted to be able to confirm our 2014 driver line-up and welcome Felipe into the Williams family. He is an exceptional talent and a real fighter on the race track; he also brings a wealth of experience as we begin a new chapter in our story. Valtteri is a valued member of the team and I’m pleased he was able to demonstrate his talent in tricky conditions in Montréal. There is much more to come from him.”

Deputy Team Principal, Claire Williams, has been left to do the heavy lifting in terms of rebuilding team hopes: “This announcement is a key step towards our goal of returning Williams to the front of the grid, and part of our on-going plans to ensure we are stronger in 2014 and beyond. The stability of having both our drivers on multi-year contracts, Mercedes-Benz as our engine partner and a strong commercial base all contribute to the future success of the Williams F1 Team.”

You can read the full Williams F1 Team announcement after the break.

Continue reading “Felipe Massa to race for Williams in 2014”
Categories
Formula 1 Toro Rosso

Daniil Kvyat qualifies for FIA Super Licence

Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso

It’s been a busy few weeks for 19-year-old Daniil Kvyat. He’s scored a new job as a Formula 1 driver with Toro Rosso for 2014, wrapped up the GP3 championship and has now qualified for an FIA Super Licence.

That last achievement came thanks to a special “filming day” test organised for Kvyat so that he can take part in Friday testing for Toro Rosso at the final two races on the F1 calendar in the United States and Brazil.

A Toro Rosso team statement reads: “On Friday, the Russian who is now the 2013 GP3 champion, drove a two year old Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula 1 car, an STR6 at the Misano circuit in Italy, as part of a filming day organised by the team. He racked up 102 laps, equivalent to around 402 kilometres and thus qualified for the necessary paperwork required by the FIA for him to compete in Formula 1.”

So now any conspiracy theorists wondering if Mark Webber will be relieved of his Red Bull duties sooner than expected—allowing both Kvyat and Red Bull-bound Daniel Ricciardo an early start in their new rides—can rest uneasy knowing that Kvyat is qualified to race.

[Source: Toro Rosso | Pic: Toro Rosso/Getty Images]

 

Categories
Formula 1 Lotus

Kimi backs out of Lotus career

Kimi Raikkonen

The melodrama of Kimi Raikkonen’s recent relationship with Lotus has reached a climax with word the 2007 world champion will miss the final two grands prix of the season to have back surgery.

Kimi and Lotus have endured a strained relationship ever since the 34-year-old announced he was moving to Ferrari in 2014. Motivations for Kimi’s switch became clearer when it emerged he hadn’t been paid all season due to Lotus’ financial woes.

Indeed, last week Raikkonen had threatened to withdraw from the final two races unless his pay disupte was finalised. This followed an angry radio exchange during the closing stages of the Indian Grand Prix where Lotus Trackside Operations Director, Alan Permane, ordered Kimi to “get out of the fucking way” of a faster Romain Grosjean.

Despite all this we were led to believe Kimi would be racing in Austin and a satisfactory resolution to his pay dispute had been reached.

Clearly that resolution didn’t last and we’re being told that Kimi’s troublesome back has forced his hand. Of course, the timing of his injury-related end to the season could just be an amazing coincidence.

“In an ideal world it would have been nice to finish the season with Lotus in the final two grands prix,” Steve Robertson, Raikkonen’s manager, told Autosport.

“However, due to the severe pain that Kimi is having, sadly it is not possible.”

Highlighting what a farce the Raikkonen–Lotus saga has been, the lead story on the Lotus website is currently all about Kimi looking forward to racing in Austin next weekend.

Lotus reserve driver Davide Valsecchi is probably hoping, maybe even expecting, to get the call up to replace Kimi. But who knows what will happen next.

[Source: Autosport | Pic: Lotus F1 Team/LAT Photographic]

Categories
Formula 1 Infiniti Red Bull Racing

Some people are never happy

2013 Indian Grand Prix

The dominance of Sebastian Vettel in Formula 1 has had many people suggesting the sport has become boring. That it’s turning fans away from the category. The fact Vettel and his team have won the two biggest prizes in the sport for four consecutive years helps to support this claim.

As bad as that might be for the average F1 punter, if it is bad at all, you’d reckon team sponsors would be loving all the attention. Apparently not. Arriving late to the Red Bull gravy train—first as ordinary sponsor in 2011, then as title sponsor at the end of last year—Infiniti has always been an odd and slightly misleading fit with F1’s premier team, given Renault builds the engines. And now they’re actually having a whinge that Vettel’s success is bad for their sponsorship.

Yes, really. Here, look:

“It’s a fact that we are in F1 to gain awareness of our brand, and that’s all about getting eyeballs on screens.

“From that point of view you could say Sebastian has been too successful. Wrapping up the championship with four races to run is maybe not good news for us from that perspective.”

They’re the words of Andy Palmer, Infiniti’s Executive Vice President, and he may as well add moron to his otherwise impressive job title. Perhaps he’d prefer INFINITI Red Bull Racing to be fighting with Williams as the best former high achievers in the field scrapping over tenth place and whatever dignity that might offer.

A sponsor complaining that the team they back is too successful? Really, get a grip Andy. Proving his own flaws Palmer adds they will be leeching off Red Bull and Renault successes further by creating more special editions carrying Vettel’s name. Authentically, too he insists.

“The beauty of Seb is that he won’t get involved in any project that isn’t utterly authentic,” said Palmer. “So he turns up at our test days and puts in the hard work. It’s a genuine benefit, and we have plans to use his expertise on more models bearing his name. But the point is we want to do them properly, and that means they are inevitably a couple of years down the line in the product cycle.”

“Utterly authentic.” Do you reckon he had a straight face when he said that?

[Source: Autosport | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Categories
WRC

Is the WRC shooting itself in the foot?

2013 Rallye de Espana

The WRC should be ready to ride a new wave of prosperity. In Volkswagen the sport has a new and heavily backed manufacturer that has just made nine-time manufacturers champions Citroën look like rank amateurs.

Hyundai is committed for the long haul and eager to hand BMW a lesson on how they should have handled MINI’s failed foray into world rallying. You sense Ford would be willing to consider a return of full factory presence if it had greater confidence in the sport’s administration.

Sebastien Ogier is replacing the irreplaceable Sebastien Loeb with some ease. Thiery Neuville is a young driver laughing at the reputations of those with much greater experience, fast on his way to success. Mikko Hirvonen, Jari-Matti Latvala, Dani Sordo and possibly even former F1 ace Robert Kubica, won’t be happy sitting in the background watching the Sebastien and Thierry show. The WRC has some serious talent, if not an over abundance of depth.

And then there’s the might of the Red Bull marketing machine who is supposedly promoting the category.

So what’s the problem? What’s going wrong? Well, we can’t really tell you because meaningful discussion from the latest World Rally Championship Commission meeting to chart the future of the sport appears to have been silenced.

All we can tell you is Volkswagen walked out of the latest meeting in disgust and share a sweeping statement from an unnamed source that shows things aren’t as rosy as you might expect: “It’s fair to say this wasn’t the most productive Commission meeting.

“There’s a real feeling that there simply isn’t enough communication on matters which are key to the future of our sport.

“We still don’t have answers on key questions about the future.”

The WRC is such a spectacular category. It deserves much better, especially when manufacturers are slowly showing renewed interest.

[Source: Autosport]

Categories
Formula 1 News

Bernie Ecclestone’s life revolves around controversy

Bernie Ecclestone

Bernie Ecclestone has found himself in more hot water, forced to defend himself in the British High Court against claims he deliberately undervalued Formula 1 when its commercial rights were sold to CVC Capital Partners in 2005. The hearing is scheduled to take three days and began with a slightly bizarre entrance to the court building from the 83-year-old F1 supremo (see video below).

German media company Constantin Medien is seeking £100 million in damages from Eccelstone, claiming he sold to CVC Capital Partners in 2005 on the cheap after they had agreed to allow him to keep his “supremo” title and keep running the sport.

Constantin Medien, a former F1 shareholder, stood to benefit from massive commissions if the sport’s rights were sold for more than £1 billion. The sale price in 2005 was £830 million.

The case is related to the bribery claims Ecclestone is facing from a German court alleging he paid former BayernLB banker Gerhard Gribkowsky $44m to prevent Gribkowsky from exposing Ecclestone to British tax authorities. For his part in the transaction Gribkowsky was convicted and sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in jail.

[Source: The Telegraph & Yahoo Sport]

Continue reading “Bernie Ecclestone’s life revolves around controversy”
Categories
Hyundai WRC

Hyundai signs Thierry Neuville to lead WRC charge

Thierry Neuville

Hyundai Motorsport has confirmed one of WRC’s hottest rumours by announcing the signing of young Belgian ace Thierry Neuville and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul.

The 25-year-old M-Sport driver is currently in a fight for second place in the world championship and will be going all out at Wales Rally GB in his Ford Fiesta WRC to hold off the challenge from Volkswagen’s Jari-Matti Latvala, who is 14 points behind with just one event to run.

But from next year Neuville will be showcasing his talents at the wheel of the all-new Hyundai i20 WRC. Described by Hyundai as a “multi-year deal” it’s believed Neuville has been secured on a three-year contract which is a great sign of Hyundai’s commitment to the WRC.

Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal, Michel Nandan, is pleased to get his man. “By signing a driver of Thierry’s talent, we can show that Hyundai’s WRC engagement is serious and focused on long-term success,” Nandan said.

“It is also great recognition for the work that the entire team has carried out in such a short time. We both share similar values and objectives to win the championship in the long-term so we are proud to have Thierry in the team and as an ambassador for the Hyundai Motorsport brand.”

[Pic: M-Sport]

Continue reading “Hyundai signs Thierry Neuville to lead WRC charge”
Categories
Caterham F1 in pictures Ferrari Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Toro Rosso

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in pictures

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Another grand prix another stroll in the park for Sebastian Vettel. At least the photographers were given a tougher ride than Vettel at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, having to contend with twilight conditions before freezing the action under lights. We think you’ll agree they did a fine job, too.

Continue reading “2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in pictures”