1
July
Principal Franz Tost of Torro Rosso insists that his team will remain stable throughout the upcoming season despite co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz looking to sell his share. Tost said that the initial news of the sale did have an effect on the team, but it was only minor and short-term. He said that everything is back to normal now and it will remain that way no matter what happens with the sale.
Tost assured reporters that the team would be fine financially as well as in their day-to-day operations. British Formula Three competitors Ultimate Motorsports have already expressed interest in buying a stake of Toro Rosso, which may in fact solve this problem quite soon and painlessly.
Tost also gave a quick review of the team’s current state. He said that drivers Sebastian Vettel and Sebastian Bourdais were both doing well, as are most of the other employees. The team principal said that Bourdais had a great start in Melbourne as well as in other races and he hopes to see more success from the driver soon. Basically the point of Tost’s talks was to calm the fans and the media and show that nothing is wrong. Whether that is what is really true behind the scenes, who knows?
29
June
McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh told reporters today that he knows his team has underperformed thus far in the 2008 season. He hopes to get back on track during the second half of the season by getting back into the midst of championship contention. With Lewis Hamilton’s recent upswing attitude, that might just be possible.
The team is counting a lot on a good performance in Silverstone next week. Not only is the race in England, but both McLaren drivers left the testing site with confidence this week. The team has made several changes to their car including a few to aerodynamics, which should boost their performance as well.
Currently things aren’t too great for McLaren in the standings after a rough couple of weeks. The team is in third place in team standings with 58 points, trailing BMW Sauber by 16 and arch-rival Ferrari by 33. In the individual standings, Lewis Hamilton dropped to fourth place last week after a bad finish due to his penalty. He currently has 38 points, which is 10 behind current leader Felipe Massa. Heikki Kovalainen currently has 20 points and is in 6th place.
If McLaren can successfully put behind their recent problems, then they are far from out of it. As Whitmarsh said, “We’ve got a good car and we all know we can do it. Everybody still believes in themselves, we just need to make sure we do a better job, myself included.”
25
June
The FIA has announced that Formula 2 will make a return to the sport as a feeder for F1. The group voted to revive the feeder in hopes that it can be a cost-effective way to develop young talent for the big league. They hope that the cost will be around 200,000 euros per car (per season.) Currently the major feeder for the sport is the GP2 series, which was created in 2004.
Prior to GP2 there was Formula 3000 and before that the original F2, which was abolished in 1984. Re-adding Formula 2 will give more drivers a chance to prove themselves worthy of F1 and it should also help increase popularity for the sport due to more races and events.
The introduction of the new F2 wasn’t the only matter on the table for the FIA though. They also discussed the entrance fee requirements for the 2009 season, in which they came up with the conclusion to go ahead with the price increases to a little over double of what drivers are currently paying. The reasoning of the FIA is that the money is not much to the drivers, so it won’t affect them a lot, but for the governing body the extra money is almost needed to cover growing costs.
19
June
Fernando Alonso recently spurred speculation about a strike when he called it a possibility due to the rising cost of racing licenses. The Spanish driver is peeved with the FIA’s sharp increases and he probably mentioned the word without really thinking about it.
Either way, it created a line of events and before anyone knew it the story was atop F1 headlines. Today, several top drivers including Kim Raikkonen of Ferrari put down the rumors. Raikkonen said that all of the drivers were never going to strike, as some assumed from the Renault driver’s words.
It may not lead to a strike, but the licensing fees are bothering some (although not all.) Max Mosley said that the costs should be a non-issue because the drivers earn so much more than it, that for most of them the fees won’t really have any effect. The drivers would probably give in, but they have been asking for a meeting with Mosley that would get the ordeal straightened out, but such a meeting has yet to take place. Some teams are turning to Bernie Ecclestone to discuss the matter instead. All-in-all, it isn’t something to worry about, and it shouldn’t create a big disruption as we move through the season.
17
June
The eighth race of the F1 season will be held this weekend at Magny Cours (French Grand Prix.) Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld look to boost themselves to the top of the team standings as Ferrari hopes to gain some breathing room from both BMW and McLaren. Of course the individual standings are a different story, with Kubica at the head of those. Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton are each only four points behind Kubica so we can definitely see a shift in the individual standings as well this weekend.
It will be an interesting race at the complex circuit as the drivers try to find the perfect balance of speed and control to match the intricate structure of the course. The rivalries and close competition only add to the excitement as does the hopeful prospects looking to make a splash. Among these underdogs is Toyota, who recently told reporters that they are striving for the “center of the podium” in F1. Toyota is also driven by the recent death Ove Andersson, who was the man that brought the team to F1 in the first place. Andersson’s passing was a tragic affair, but the racing team hopes to bring some good out of it by finally pushing themselves to the top.
So who will win come Sunday? It’s anyone’s guess at this point. That’s just what makes F1 so great; you never know what will happen.
