LAUDA: LET’S NOT DESTROY F1 DNA WITH TOO MANY SAFETY ISSUES

Niki Lauda has joined a chorus of disapproving Formula 1 figures who believe the halo cockpit safety system is another step in eroding the ethos of Formula 1.

Lauda told Motorsport Magazine, “If you go too far with these things, it’s no wonder that fewer people are watching these days. I think – in a very respectful way – that the DNA of Formula 1 should be maintained, and we’re slowly going to destroy it if we keep on inventing what are, for me, too many safety issues.”

The halo system is set to be implemented in 2017, but already has some high profile detractors including Lewis Hamilton who called it the worst ever F1 invention.

“Because of improvements in the cars and tracks, Formula One has never been as safe as it is today, so now the question for me is how far can we go on safety issues without losing the interest of the people? If someone says he wants to make $40-million a year, with an easy car to drive, and no risk, this is not reality…”

Sebastian Vettel gave his reasoning during the FIA’s Sport Conference last week, “The fact that the cars have become a lot safer is obviously nice for us, because knowing a little bit of history shows you that many years ago the drivers weren’t as lucky, and I think you need to find the right compromise.”

The ingredients of passion, speed, danger and noise are very important. We want to make the sport safer – we can’t shut our eyes if bad things happen.”

“It’s a difficult balance, and it might sound wrong initially, but I think the sport in some way has to remain dangerous because that is what is appealing to people.”

“If you lose that ingredient, they don’t sense any more that it’s something out of their reach – out of this world – and it becomes less exciting. I think racing should keep its core pillars,” added Vettel

ECCLESTONE: I AM GOING TO TRY MAKE IT MORE EQUAL FOR ALL THE TEAMS

Formula 1’s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone has suggested bonus payments to the sport’s four top teams could be replaced with a Premier League-style system to spread revenues more equally from 2020.

Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull currently receive special payments worth tens of millions of dollars to reflect past success and their importance to the sport, and will be determined to retain them.

“I am going to have a good look at how things work to see if I can come up with something more equal for all the teams,” Ecclestone, 85, told the Times newspaper on Monday.

“The Premier League has a good way of distributing the prize money, so maybe that could work for us. There will be people who will like it and people who won’t like it, and people who will suffer.”

Ecclestone’s Formula One Management (FOM) has binding commercial deals with the teams until 2020.

One team source told Reuters the comments were to be interpreted as “the first shot of the post-2020 commercial negotiations”.

Ferrari, the only team to have been in the championship since it started in 1950 and the most successful, receive far more money than others including a special long-standing bonus of around $70 million.

The big four also stand apart as recipients of Constructors Championship Bonus (CCB) payments which have been agreed separately.



The details remain confidential but projected 2016 payments published by the autosport.com website in April put Ferrari’s CCB payment at $35 million. Mercedes and Red Bull were both in line for $39 million and McLaren $32 million.

Former champions Williams receive a ‘heritage’ bonus of $10 million.

Force India and Sauber have complained about the payments, which are paid regardless of performance, and called for a more even distribution to allow smaller teams like them to survive and compete on a more level playing field.

The two teams, one Indian-owned and the other Swiss, filed a joint complaint last September asking European Union competition authorities to investigate the sport’s governance.

Under the Premier League agreement, half of the UK broadcast revenue is split equally between the soccer clubs with 25 percent paid in merit payments and the remainder coming in ‘facility fees’ based on television exposure.

Next season will see clubs share even more television revenue thanks to a record 5.1 billion pound deal with broadcasters Sky and BT that runs from 2016 to 2019.

HONDA PLANNING F1 ENGINE SUPPLY TO SECOND TEAM

Honda is still open to supplying engines to a customer Formula 1 team, says the Japanese marque’s F1 chief Yusuke Hasegawa, even though Ron Dennis is determined to enforce McLaren’s apparent veto for exclusivity.

The FIA, however, thinks engine manufacturers should be willing to supply more than just a works team, and Hasegawa now says: “If we had the resources, there is nothing that speaks against a second team.

“That way, you generate more data and experience and learn more quickly,” the Japanese told Auto Motor und Sport. “But in our current situation, there are not many teams who want our engine, and each team already has an engine.

“But we are planning on expanding our organisation so that when there is interest, we could supply a second team,” Hasegawa added.

HAS F1 BECOME FORMULA DESPERATE ?

Jenson Button, Formula 1’s most experienced active driver, has chastised the latest generation of new and “very erratic” grand prix stars.

The 36-year-old, who by season’s end will match Michael Schumacher’s huge career tally of 308 race entries, says an increasingly young grid lacks the poise of former F1 generations.

“I feel that there are many drivers who should have learned more than they did learn before arriving in F1,” Button is quoted by UOL Esporte.

“They are very erratic. It’s like they are driving in Formula Desperate – they look like they’re always so desperate,” he explained.

Briton Button, who is hoping to extend his career into an eighteenth consecutive season next year, said that kind of ‘desperate’ driving indicates a lack of maturity in some F1 rookies today.

“That sort of behaviour should have stopped by the time a driver arrives in F1,” he said. “By the time your career reaches this level, you should already be smart enough to know what to do with the car and how to race for position.”

Button said the new drivers he is talking about would do well to learn from some of F1 legend Michael Schumacher’s old races.

“These new drivers need to watch more of Michael’s races,” said Button, “because although he always raced very hard, at the same time he was always very correct in the way he fought.”

Austrian Grand Prix venue in Spielberg, could revive old OSTERREICHRING Layout

Red Bull is looking into expanding the current layout of the Austrian Grand Prix venue in Spielberg, to include the daunting west loop.

The energy drink organisation took the former A1-Ring and Osterreichring back to the F1 calendar in 2014.

But according to Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper, owner Dietrich Mateschitz is now considering reviving an iconic old section of the track called the Westschleife (west loop).

“From a driver’s perspective, the old track would be interesting,” said F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone. “It would separate the men from the boys a lot more than it does nowadays, anyway.”

Red Bull official Helmut Marko insisted that the expansion is only “in the planning stage” at present.

But he added: “The merging of these two tracks would create one of the most attractive and fastest race tracks in the world.”

Whether it happens or not, Ecclestone said he is happy F1 is back in Austria.

“Red Bull always does a great job. We love coming back there,” he told Kleine Zeitung newspaper, ahead of this weekend’s Austrian grand prix.

ECCLESTONE PLAYS DOWN LAS VEGAS F1 RACE REPORTS

F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone has dismissed the latest reports about Las Vegas potentially joining an F1 calendar of the near future.

Speculation that F1 might host more American races often does the rounds, but the latest word from Las Vegas was that an event on the world-famous ‘strip’ is more than just fantasy.

However, Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport now quotes Bernie Ecclestone as insisting: “The Americans talk a lot, but nothing happens.”

The F1 supremo has also given an alarming quote about the future of the Brazilian grand prix, saying of the long-running race at Interlagos: “It could be that the grand prix in Brazil this year is the last.”

Auto Motor und Sport said the problem in Brazil is purely financial, as the national broadcaster Globo reportedly struggles with strict austerity measures.

“Ecclestone will have negotiations with the organisers in Sao Paulo soon,” correspondent Michael Schmidt revealed, surmising that the Briton’s comments might just be “sabre-rattling”.

There is better news about the uncertain future of the German grand prix, despite Ecclestone saying not too long ago that the country could fall back off the calendar for 2017.

But he has now declared: “I can imagine there being a race in 2017.”

Schmidt said there are rumours that Ecclestone himself will promote a German race next year, and perhaps also leap to the rescue of the embattled Italian GP at Monza.

But Ecclestone played down rumours about Argentina and South Africa.

“I’m afraid they (Argentina) don’t have the money,” he said. As for South Africa, “It would be good, but Kyalami is too small for us.”

FORMULA 1 STILL FOLLOWING THE MONEY AT ALL COSTS

Azerbaijan makes its Formula One debut this weekend but there is nothing new about the commercial logic that brings the sport to Baku.

‘Follow the Money’ has long been Formula One’s mantra and the oil-rich country ticks a fair few boxes even if the sharp decline in worldwide oil prices has hit the economy and currency of late.

The latest models of Rolls-Royce are displayed in brightly lit showrooms, Ferrari and Lamborghini dealers are not hard to find and nor are shops selling luxury brands.

For those willing to part with significant amounts of cash, grand prix racing with its roots and soul in the European temples of motorsport such as Monaco and Monza, Spa and Silverstone, has cachet.

The sport, which had estimated turnover of $1.9 billion in 2015, wants to grow its revenues and, increasingly, that means leaving mainstream Europe far behind.

“The challenges some European economies have are such that it makes it very difficult for them. You have to go where the growth is,” Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising giant WPP and a Formula One board member, told the official F1 website in an interview this month.

“If you run a country and want to put it on the global map you don’t have so many choices,” he added when asked about the rationale for countries like Azerbaijan who lack any motorsport tradition.



“You can get the Olympics, the World Cup or a Formula One race. And the first two are only every four years – and you have them only once.”

Azerbaijan sees Formula One and other major events as a means to project a modern, more dynamic image to a global television audience and promote long-term economic growth.

The former Soviet republic has hosted the inaugural European Games and the Eurovision song contest and is set to have rounds of the 2020 European football championship. Baku also bid unsuccessfully for the 2016 and 2020 Olympics.

The inaugural race in Baku is officially the “European Grand Prix”, a designation previously given to circuits in Britain, Germany and Spain.

Russia, China, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, India, Malaysia, South Korea, Turkey and Singapore have all made debuts in the last two decades — with some already gone — while European races are now a minority on a record 21-round calendar.

Germany was absent last year, Italy has yet to agree a contract beyond 2016 and France has not had a race since 2008.



No figures are given for how much Formula One Management charges for hosting fees, which differ from country to country, but media reports have suggested Azerbaijan is paying around $40 million a year.

With only 28,000 tickets available for the race in Baku, the amount organisers can recoup will be a fraction of the outlay but breaking even was never the main aim.

“The primary objective is to promote our city from the tourist point of view and investments,” race promoter Arif Rahimov told Reuters last year.

The expansion into new territories has also put the sport’s position on human rights in the spotlight, and questions about the records of some of the governments bankrolling the new races are awkward.

Various European bodies and human rights groups have accused Azeri President Ilham Aliyev of muzzling dissent and jailing opponents, charges Baku denies.

“I would not want to comment,” said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff when asked by Reuters about the situation in Azerbaijan.

“We are here to put on a great sports show and go car racing and we have Bernie (Ecclestone) who is the (series) promoter and the FIA which is the regulator and us as a team should keep out of it and just go and race.”

BERGER: MARCHIONNE MADE A TYPICAL F1 ROOKIE ERROR

Ferrari big boss Sergio Marchionne made a typical rookie error in predicting immediate wins in 2016 and the world championship title, according to former Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger.

So far, the Maranello team has failed to deliver on the bold promises made by its new president, causing some to wonder if that means team boss Maurizio Arrivabene’s place at the helm is now in doubt.

“It is not for me to criticise Mr Marchionne,” Berger, who drove for Ferrari over two separate stints in the 80s and 90s, told the German newspaper Welt.

“But he has made a typical rookie error in formula one. He is one of those successful businesspeople who believe they can also set up a business plan for their company in F1.

“But you quickly realise how unpredictable formula one is, and how it works differently when you are making a roadmap,” said the Austrian.

“As it does for Red Bull, my heart still beats for Ferrari so I hope that soon they are able to return to great success.”