What Iran can learn from the FIA

It looks like common sense has prevailed, with Max Mosely leaving the FIA and Formula 1 finding new stability.

This seems to be a very good lesson for the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei; When your choices are stick with a bad president and drive headlong toward splits within the country and the risk of civil war or alternatively ditch the unpopular president and make your position all the more secure by seeming to be accessible and understanding (even if you’re not) then even a hardline ruler like Berni Ecclestone can make the right decision after a week of protesting!

So now hopefully with the risk of a break-away series fading away we can focus on the horrific human rights violations, and mockery of free speech and democracy in Iran!

• BBC News – F1 deal ends threat of breakaway
• BBC News – Iran “will not yield” over poll

2009, a quiet year for motorsport

The casualties so far:

Suzuki and Subaru have pulled out of the World Rally Championship, leaving just Ford and Citroen for 2009 season

Honda has pulled out of Formula 1, and Max Mosely has proposed a raft of cost-cutting measures (BBC Sport – The Battle to Save Formula One).

Jaguar has been in  discussion with the British government looking for state aid (BBC News – Government confirms Jaguar talks) but don’t worry it has been overseen by Business Secretary Lord (Peter) Mandelson and he’s never had any problems with cah donations!  Even George Bush has stated that he will not allow a disorderly collapse of the US car industry (BBC News – No ‘disorderly’ US Car Collapse).  Yes, in his last 32 days of power any collapse will be very orderly and well organised.  Somehow Bush’s statement doesn’t fill me with cheer!

Of course we’ve also got Berni Ecclestone announcing he wants to change how the drivers championship is scored in Formula 1, replacing points with medals, but will that matter as more and more teams have to pull out to cut costs, and when the sponsorship dries up as all the investment banks battle to stay afloat.

I’m quietly optomistic.  The next few years will be very hard on motorsport, but I think it will bounce back better than ever.  Looking back over the years I’ve watched racing and the highlights for me were in the slow growth years immediately after hard times.  The early 80′s, the early 90′s.  In recent years the sport has become too fat at the highest levels, with F1 being endlessly manipulated for money by it’s Machiavellian management. A1GP failed to make a huge impression on the global media, but could become more of a shining light since it is insulated from some of the development and money issues of F1.  Best of all the more grass-roots levels of racing will gain in popularity as people look for a budget racing experience.  The important, but under invested, classes like touring car and karting will hopefully gain from the loss of the upper eschelons and in three to five years time this grass roots investment will pay dividends.  All we’ve got to do is wait!

Did Lewis Hamilton gain a track advantage?

Belgian Grand Prix 2008

I’m a bit late to this one, since I’m currently sat watching the GP2 race from Monza on the SPEED channel and waiting for the start of the Italian Grand Prix, and if you managed to miss it to you can read all about it on the BBC News website.  I’m not going to moan about missing it just because SPEED showed it live after Fox had been showing the races time delayed for the previous 5 races, well maybe I’ll moan a bit.

Having watched replays and repeats of the event I think the penalty is very harsh, and Maclaren are right to appeal the ruling.  The issue is that the officials have followed the letter of the law regarding the racing advantage and not followed the spirit of Grand Prix by overlooking the incursion or penalising it lightly if the driver gives up the positions gained immediately and visibly after incident has occured.  Sure Lewis gained a big advantage by cutting the bus stop chicane, but he did then immediately let Raikkonen retake the lead on the straight and the telemetry recordings from his car support this claim.  So yes he deserves a warning, maybe a ten place penalty on his next start, but did he really deserve to be stripped of the win?  I think the answer to that is ‘no’.

Now you could claim this is the second time he has done this, having been involved in a similar incident at the French Grand Prix, but it is practically impossible to say that it was an intentional manouvere.  Formula One is a dangerous, unpredictable, high-speed sport and drivers racing at the limit are bound to over-cook it occaisionally and go too fast or too far.  In these situations if the driver is lucky there is run-off and they risk a penalty (like Lewis in this situation).  If the driver is unlucky then they crash and their race is over.  Was Lewis knowingly cheating?  I don’t think so (and this isn’t because I’m a rabid Hamilton fan because I’m not) because I think he was just racing at and occaisionally beyond the limit.  Should he face a penalty?  Yes, he should because he did gain an advantage.  Was the penalty given fair? No, and the decision should be revisited.

Now to watch a wet Italian Grand Prix.  Oh, and did anyone else notice that there hasn’t been much heard from Max Mosely recently?  Maybe he is tied up somewhere

— update — update — update —

I’ve watched the clip a few more times now, and I hate to admit it but I think the stewards made the right call based on the evidence available.  Hamilton did allow Raikkonen to regain position but did not do so in a way that was visible and sustained.  His duck and weave straight back into an overtaking position was not “in the spirit of the sport” and although Charlie Whiting said it was “good enough” it wasn’t the kind of behaviour I’d expect from a sportsman at this level of competition.  I feel the penalty given was harsh, and should be appealed so that a more appropriate penalty can be applied.  More importantly the rules regarding this kind of incident need to be clarified so that teams and drivers know exactly what they can get away with without this kind of confusion.

How never to get a ride in European/International motorsport

I’ve just read an interesting little story on AOL.com where Marco Andretti claims that McLaren tried to sabotage his Dad’s drive in 1993. It is hilarious stuff, released ahead of Marco’s appearance in this weekend’s Indianapolis 500.

Now even if you are Mario Andretti’s grandson, and therefore a third generation American motor racer, if you want to play in the big leagues outside of the US national series you probably don’t want to go and upset too many team bosses. You really don’t want to go an upset a successful team like McLaren by claiming they made your Dad’s car behave strangely in the corners via electronic sabotage to allow McLaren to replace Dad with Mika Hakkinen because he was a cheaper driver.

Oddly enough his Dad is keeping quiet, not confirming or denying the rumours, nor making to big a deal about his speedy return to US racing after failing to place higher than 3rd in a season which saw him highly payed but failing to deliver alongside his already 3 times world champion team mate Ayrton Senna. Mario hasn’t mentioned said a word either!
So given all these rumours I’m surprised when Marco ends the article by saying he’d want to try F1.

“Because I want to tackle it, you know what I mean?,” he said.

Marco Andretti tested a Honda F1 car in 2006, but he isn’t willing to make the jump unless it is with a team that can win. He believes the F1 establishment wants him to fail, too.

“I don’t have any other mentality other than to go over there and win,” Andretti said. “Because I think it’s a bigger story if I go over there and fail, really. It really is. Because that’s what people are waiting for, to be honest, over there.”

Somebody should tell him that accusing McLaren of sabotage is probably not the best way to go about securing a seat with the big boys!