A party of three - Astom Martin - Daimler - Geely

 

Garry Sloan
2 November, 2020

Lawrence Stroll once again proves to be the consummate dealmaker with the announcement last week that Mercedes-AMG was involved in a new £1.3-billion refinancing package for Aston Martin.

Lawrence who had previously put together his Yew Tree consortium to purchase Aston Martin knew the company did not have enough cash to survive the next 12 months.

With a falling share price, he needed to act fast after the pandemic sent losses north of £227-million in the first half of 2020, as Aston Martin sold only 1,770 cars.

Stroll has put together a deal that includes issuing £1.2-billion in new debt and bringing onboard new shareholders Zelon Holdings and Permian Investment Partners with an investment of £125-million.

Mercedes will provide £286-million worth of hybrid and electric vehicle technology in exchange for increasing its stake from 2.3% to 20%.

The net result is Aston Martin will have a cash pile of more than £500-million and Stroll will maintain his position as the largest shareholder, talk about coming up smelling of roses.

Aston Martin who under Stroll had abandoned its plan to build its first electric car now has Daimler’s expertise and aims to manufacture 3,000 hybrid vehicles in 2024 and electric vehicles in 2026.

Mercedes involvement did not happen overnight, and it becomes clearer why it was important for Racing Point to sign a German driver, step forward four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel like Wolff has purchased shares in Aston Martin, with Vettel claiming to have bought a ‘few shares’ and Wolff buying a stake worth £37-million.

The Aston Martin F1 team needs a financially successful Aston Martin car business as they are to provide £40m a year in sponsorship in a five-year deal.

To place the figure in context Aston Martin sponsors the Red Bull F1 team to the tune of £15m a season so a substantial increase especially given the current financial climate.

It is unclear if title sponsor BWT will continue with their estimated £7.5-million sponsorship as the car’s livery will no doubt be racing green therefore negating the BWT ‘pink’ branding.

To sell the deal Stroll convinced the other shareholders that, “The global spotlight of Formula 1 is second to none and we will leverage this reach to showcase the Aston Martin brand in our key markets.

“It gives us the chance to meet and greet our customers at 22 locations (F1 races), show them our new models, and get them to experience what a weekend’s like for the world of Aston Martin.”

So, Vettel and Stroll Jnr can expect many a corporate function and PR appearance in 2021 onwards.

In pursuit of this strategy, Stroll has again produced the rabbit out the hat with the appointment of Jefferson Slack, the former marketing chief for basketball star Michael Jordan and CEO of Inter Milan, as its new commercial managing director.

So, it is looking good for Stroll’s and his ambitious plans for both the car business and the team, but wait a minute, he may have to use all his business skills to fend off a potential predator.

Mercedes parent company Daimler AG is always assumed to be German-owned but 35.97% of its stock is held by four American investment banks and hedge funds.

Stroll’s competition comes in the shape of Li Shufu the Chinese billionaire owner of Geely Automobile which owns amongst others the Volvo and Lotus brands.

Shufu is Daimler’s single largest shareholder owning 9.69% of Daimler and may have plans to accelerate Mercedes’s minority ownership of Aston Martin into a majority holding pitting him head to head with Stroll.

Shufu like all billionaires likes to get his own way and after Daimler rejected a proposal by Geely to acquire a stake or reach a technology-sharing deal Shufu set up a separate shell company, Tenaciou3 Investment Holdings Ltd to purchase the shareholding under the radar so to speak.

He will no doubt receive the backing of the people’s Republic of China who owns 5% of Daimler!

Interesting times ahead.

On a footnote: rumours abound in the paddock that Red Bull’s Adrian Newey on the back of Honda’s withdrawal may be poached by Stroll.

Dr Marko in attempting to explain the speculation told Sport1 that, “Adrian was recently able to test a rare Aston Martin and he thanked Stroll for it. There’s nothing more.”

It is all bit reminiscent of Vettel denying his move to Racing Point when he was spotted in Racing Point CEO Otmar Szafnauer’s vintage Ferrari with Vettel claiming he was only interested in the car!

Good Morning Vietnam

 By: Garry Sloan

The long-expected cancellation of the Vietnam 2020 race has struck another COVID-19 blow to Liberty Media’s finances.

In an interview with the New York Times in 2018 after announcing Vietnam as a new race, Chloe Targett-Adams, the sport’s global director of promoters and business relations (boy do they love their job titles) explained Liberty’s strategy.

“Formula 1 saw an opportunity to capitalize on its growing Asian market, building on existing races in Singapore, China, and Japan.

“In Vietnam, we have an incredibly exciting and emerging market, it is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, and it hasn’t before hosted major events on a global scale.”

For Liberty, the race held a significant departure from the usual contract to host a race.

The race unlike most of the calendar is financed not by a large government cheque but by the private sector in the form of Vingroup, the country’s largest private conglomerate.

Liberty has extracted an annual fee of $60m on a ten-year deal making the Vietnam race a top earner.

Will this be a blueprint in a post-COVID-19 world where countries may be reluctant to underwrite the hosting fees and Liberty instead must rely on the private sector?

This trend has already started with private money funding the Mexican and Singapore races, amongst others.

Vingroup is owned by Vietnam’s richest individual billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong.

Vuong, worth $8 billion, made his fortune selling instant noodles, his company was purchased by Nestle for $150m in 2009 and Vuong used the proceeds to fund his move into property development, and as they say, the rest is history.

Vuong is using the race to promote his car manufacturing business VinFast with the race being named the ‘VinFast Vietnam Grand Prix’.

Vuong has invested $1.5 billion in the business.

VinFast launched its first car in June 2019 and is widely regarded as the first volume automotive manufacturer in Vietnam.

The manufacturer is rumoured to be developing a new model, the VinFast President, aimed at the luxury car market.

So, Liberty bags itself a nice healthy fee but does the rest of the paddock also gain?

Well, Vietnam’s economy ticks all the right boxes, pre-COVID-19 the International Monetary Fund stated Vietnam’s GDP would increase by 6.7 per cent. This means Vietnam’s economy is larger than Singapore ($337 billion) and Malaysia ($336 billion).

Vietnam Grand Prix Chief Executive Le Ngoc Chi summed it up when she told Reuters, “Vietnam is the right country at the right time in the right place.”

It looks like F1’s major players tend to agree.

Mercedes first opened a factory in Ho Chi Minh City in 1995 and is now expecting wealthy Vietnamese to fulfil their dream of buying a German luxury car.

Ferrari opened their first dealership in October of last year in Phu My Hung, a luxurious residential district of Ho Chi Minh City.

Mr. Dieter Knechtel, CEO of Ferrari Far and Middle East Hub at the opening ceremony commented, “It’s a great honor for us to be here officially in Vietnam, one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. This fantastic development underlines the importance of the Vietnamese market for Ferrari.”

Aston Martin has also joined the party in Ho Chi Minh City with a plush dealership.

Renault has officially returned in August of this year to the Vietnamese market through a local importer after a five-year absence.

It’s also worth noting when F1’s richest individuals get their chequebooks out to sponsor and fund teams, part of the calculation is F1’s global reach.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS group has licensed INEOS Technology to manufacture polypropylene, a plastic polymer that is used in everything from fridges to carpets to car parts to a Vietnamese refinery – Vung Ro Petroleum Limited.

Dietrich Mateschitz’s Red Bull announced in 2017 an investment of $120m in Vietnam over three years. The Vietnamese energy drink market is estimated at $757m with Red Bull holding a 50% market share.

So F1 going to Vietnam was like most of Liberty’s strategy – primarily about the money.

On a footnote, Mercedes use a motto at their Vietnamese factory, ‘Don’t follow! Be followed!’

VW CEO prefers F1 over FE

Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess has made some interesting remarks, in a Linkedin discussion with Bill Gates pointing out that Formula E only makes sense “if we get carbon-free electricity soon”. He added that “It’s possible, but Germany’s target date to exit coal power only by 2038 is for a rich, tech-leading country by far not ambitious enough”.

Diess heads the Volkswagen group, which has cars racing in Formula E under the Porsche and Audi brands says that he prefers Formula 1 and thinks that it would be better to push ahead with technology in motor racing.

“F1 becoming CO2-neutral, using synthetic fuels, is much more excitement, fun, racing experience, tech-competition than Formula E driving a few laps in city centers in gaming mode.”

Diess points out that this is a personal view, but it does show that there is still potential for Volkswagen brands to be in Formula 1 in the future, if the sport chooses the right paths for development in the future. The thinking is logical given that the drive towards electric-powered cars makes no real sense unless you have CO2-free electricity available, because the current electricity grids cannot cope with the numbers of electric cars which politicians are insisting upon. And the only way to get to the levels required in the time available is to build nuclear power stations, which inevitably have other flaws as they produce nuclear waste.

Diess has a Ph.D in mechanical engineering from the Technical University in Munich and spent 15 years with BMW before joining Volkswagen in 2015 as head of the VW brand and became chairman of the board of management of the VW group in 2018. The company’s brand include Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini.

Source: JSBN

Flax Fiber In Your Shake Now In McLaren F1 Seat

McLaren collaborates with Bcomp to develop F1's first natural fibre composite racing seat.

We’ve been working with Swiss sustainable lightweighting specialist Bcomp to develop just that, starting with a natural fibre racing seat for Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris – the very first F1 car part to be made of renewable textile fibres. By optimising the mechanical properties of flax fibres through fabric architecture, it’s been possible to make a seat with the required strength and stiffness, but with a 75% lower CO2 footprint compared to its carbon fibre counterpart.

What is flax and how is it used in the natural fibre composite seat?

Primarily used in the production of linen, flax is an incredibly versatile plant that has been around for millions of years. It differs from many biomaterials in that it’s ideal for use in crop rotation programmes and can be grown without directly competing with food crops. Flax is a CO2-neutral raw material and its fibres are biodegradable. At the end of the seat’s life, for example, it can be ground down into a new base material or thermally recycled without residual waste, rather than end up in landfill.

Inspired by the thin veins on the back of leaves, Bcomp’s proprietary powerRibs™ technology provides a three-dimensional grid structure on one side of the seat, which is then used to reinforce Bcomp’s optimally spun and woven flax fibre reinforcement fabric, ampliTex™. Made by twisting flax fibres to form a thick yarn, the powerRibs™ act as a backbone to the ampliTex™ flax fabric that is bonded to it.

“The original carbon fibre seat design was reverse-engineered by Bcomp, and then we optimised and manufactured the new design. The seat was run in pre-season testing without any problems and we hope to be racing with Bcomp flax seats in the near future.”

“We believe this seat functions as a conclusive demonstration that our technologies are ready to compete in the top tier of motorsport,” adds Fischer. “We match conventional carbon fibre while lowering the eco footprint by 75%, cutting costs, reducing vibrations and improving safety – all of which are highly relevant to achieving a sustainable future for motorsport and mobility.”

A high-performance, sustainable lightweighting solution

While the environmental benefits are clear, the mechanical properties of flax make it an attractive renewable raw material for high-performance composites. The tubular structure of flax fibres provides low density and high stiffness, which affords the opportunity to reduce weight while simultaneously improving vibration damping, as well as resistance to breakage, torsion and compression.

Just as we did in 1981, we’re looking to stay ahead of the curve. And that’s why we’re exploring the use of natural fibre composites which have the potential to be the next, sustainable, step forward in lightweighting. Flax fibres, for example, are 9% lighter than any equivalent carbon material and offer significantly better vibration damping.

Safety first

When it does break, unlike carbon fibre, it’s not prone to brittle fracture and splintering – a property that’s enhanced further by the structure of Bcomp’s powerRibs™ which stiffen and confine the damage zone. “The composite of ampliTex™ and powerRibs™ is not as fragile, and while it still breaks, the softer debris remains attached to the main structure with the help of the powerRibs™, which help dissipate the energy,” explains Fischer.

 

Cost conscious

The advantages don’t stop there. With a budget cap set be introduced from 2021, many F1 teams will need to reduce costs while maintaining and improving performance – no mean feat in a sport where, typically, a team can pursue more development routes the more resource it has available. Teams are going to have to work even smarter, and with Bcomp’s ampliTex™ and powerRibs™ solutions reducing raw material cost by up to 30% compared to traditional carbon fibre, this significant saving can free up budget to explore other ways of improving car performance.

It’s just the beginning

“Where we see significant potential is in the non-critical, semi-structural areas of the car, such as the driver’s seat, as well as off the car,” says Fischer. And it’s the latter, reveals Foster, where the immediate scope for further adoption of natural fibre composites really lies: “When used intelligently, the flax fibres reduce weight and cost, while maintaining and, in some cases, even improving performance. There are a range of possible applications beyond the car itself, including pit gear, truck panels, packing cases, timing stands and mould tools.”

Take mould tools, for example. Currently, most of the moulds used to make parts of the car, are made of carbon fibre composite because it has low thermal expansion. However, flax fibres also possess this property, potentially making them a suitable tooling material for moulding performance parts that are made from standard composites. So even if the part being produced isn’t made from natural fibre materials, the tool to produce it can be – allowing us to reduce the cost of mould tools and our carbon footprint.

Source: McLaren Racing

KOLLES: THERE IS NO WAY YOU CAN COPY A CAR FROM PHOTOS

17 August, 2020

by: Paul Velasco



Colin Kolles has kicked the hornet’s nest with claiming that it would be impossible for Racing Point to have built the handy RP20 by simply copying the Mercedes W10 from photographs and taking a swipe at Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff by questioning his motives.

Racing Point was protested by Renault, upon which the FIA ruled that brake-ducts used this season on the RP20 were not a listed part, one that requires teams to design the components inhouse.

Otmar Szafnauer admitted that their technical team did actually copy the title-winning Mercedes of last year, but are adamant the did so within the realms of the regulations and thus have appealed the fine and 15 points docked by the FIA.

A qualified dentist by trade who has also run F1 and WEC teams, Kolles was speaking during a Sport1 TV talk show when asked about the process of designing an F1 car from concept to rollout.

“There is no way you can copy a car from photos. It’s not only the brake ducts, it’s also about the entire concept. I was told they were given access to a 60% wind-tunnel model and an F1 show car as a blueprint, from this the parts were scanned and converted to CAD,” he explained.

“It would not work any other way,” insisted Kolles, who has previously crossed swords with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, when in 2013 he taped a conversation between the pair and threatened to expose explosive comments made by the Austrian.

They reportedly settled their dispute with intervention by Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, while Mercedes obtained a court order preventing the publication of the details of the conversation.

During yesterday’s talk show, after the Spanish Grand Prix, Kolles took another swipe at his old foe Wolff, who now has a share in Lawrence Stroll’s Aston Martin project.

While there is no doubt the alliance between teams and their bosses have become a lot cosier since the Canadian billionaire saved Force India and launched Racing Point which, in turn, will morph into Aston Martin next year.

Kolles continued, “Basically if I were a Mercedes group board member, I would be asking why the team principal is always on vacation, on a boat or visiting Gstaad. These are among many things which, in my opinion, have not been totally compliant.

“I believe they have a very, very close connection. Although this is my own personal opinion I know I am not alone and others there are others that share this opinion too,” added Kolles, now team principal with ByKolles Racing WEC team.

IS IT ALL ABOUT FERRARI VERSUS OTMAR?

Paul Velasco, 13 August, 2020

I have been witnessing the Pink Mercedes-gate saga with bemusement, wondering why is Ferrari having such a go at Racing Point for the copycat car they put out for this season.

Afterall the business model employed by Lawrence Stroll and his crew is almost identical to the benchmark-setting one that Ferrari engineered with Haas when they entered the sport back in 2016.

And that’s when the penny dropped! Deja vu.

At the time of the arrival of Haas on the big stage, there was a big stink regarding the legality of the car, moaning about it was impossible to build and F1 car so quickly without having access to the intellectual property.

It rumbled on for several months before quietening down, but the Haas-looks-like-a-Ferrari of 2016 was always a bug-bear for many, and the arrival of the American team in the top flight was tarnished by the saga. A similar saga erupted in 2018.

Notably in both episodes, Moaner-in-Chief was none other than Force India, with Otmar Szafnauer acting Force India team principal at the time, who grabbed more than a fair share of headlines with their persistent criticism of Ferrari and Haas at the time.

“When you design, make and build your own cars, and there’s one team that isn’t doing it, and is getting a lot of technology from a top team, you’re going to get that friction. I think that’s what it’s really about. It’s not about the competitiveness. That’s the root cause of the friction.”

Yes! That’s what Otmar was said back then.

And with regards to shared parts and their uncanny similarities, he continued, “It’s kind of like having two snowflakes that are the same. It’s tough for two totally independent designers to design an aerodynamic piece with exactly the same radius that isn’t compliant.”

Fast-forward to now, Force India is now Racing Point and soon to Aston Martin, questions are being asked about the RP20’s similarity to last year’s title-winning Mercedes W10.

Last month Szafnauer told reporters, “We copied the Red Bull in the past too, but we copy it within the rules. So we see what they are doing, we take pictures, we try to understand it, we run it in the tunnel, and we do it ourselves.

“We look to see what is fast. We thought: that’s fast, can we do the same. No different than what we did with the Red Bull when we ran a high-rake concept.

“But the development is our own, but although everyone says you copied a Mercedes, it is our own. It is our own design and it is our own development. It is our own wind tunnel model. It is our own concept,” insisted Otmar.

Ironically, at the time when Force India was on the warpath about the copy cat Haas, team boss Guenther Steiner said, “They see ghosts. The car looks very similar to a Ferrari from last year… So should we have copied a car which is behind us, or should we go with a car that goes pretty quick? Give me an answer to that.”

In fact Steiner saw no problem with the Pink Mercedes initially and told reporters in Barcelona, “What is wrong with that?

“The regulations are quite clear, you don’t exchange CAD data. I would put it like this, they use a lot of Mercedes parts on their car, so why would they go and copy Red Bull? It is the same with us. We buy a lot of parts from Ferrari, so which car we going to copy? I guess a Ferrari.

“If we were to copy a Toro Rosso or a Red Bull, we would be pretty stupid because we are trying to invent something that isn’t there. I think they are just doing what we are doing, just trying to get the best out of it, and use that model.”

And then inadvertently, or not, the outspoken Haas team principal got to the crux of the matter, “Sometimes you have to think before you talk. We all know they complained quite heavily a few years ago. And now it is going full-circle.”

In racing, throughout history, everyone copies the benchmark cars and Otmar claims to have proof that the contentious brake-ducts were their in-house creation and not simply plucked off the Mercedes spare parts shelf as some are suggesting.

“It is impossible for them to be illegal, brake ducts, just so you know, take a long time to design and make, they are very, very complicated and we have 886 individual drawings for our brake ducts,” explained the Racing Point team boss.

Which begs the questions: Is Otmar paying the price for his trash-talking the Ferrari-Haas deal a few years ago? Is this even about Racing Point? Or is it all about payback?

Incidentally, this ‘Tracing Point’ yarn originated as a Renault versus Lawrence Stroll’s team, but gradually sides emerged with Ferrari, at first quiet, clearly the ‘muscleman’ in the protesting camp and apparently with an axe to grind.

They not only want the Pinks DQed, but Maranello also have an issue with the levity of the punishment meted out by the FIA. Taking it all into the realm of nasty, at a time when the likes of Williams and McLaren jump ship and swim away from the protesters.

With Racing Point morphing into Aston Martin next year, and Ferrari reject Sebastian Vettel supposedly set to spearhead the effort, the Reds might well feel it within their game-plan to start attacking the beast while it is still germinating.

A smart Maranello lawyer may even have suggested that Ferrari do the early punching on behalf of Haas as they appear to be doing. If the legal advisor is ambitious and creative he might even suggest that if they punch enough who knows what they will find? Another Nigel Stepney?

In other words: All is fair in love and war, as Otmar may be coming to realise he pays the price for old battles against an adversary with a long memory. And now, with opportunity knocking, the knives are out to inflict maximum pain.

They’ll all probably tell you that the one thing is not related to the other, but I will wager the scenario is as laid out above or thereabouts.

CAREY: PREVIOUS REGIME WAS CRAPPING ON THE SPORT

Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey has sharply criticised what he saw as the negative mindset of the sport’s previous ownership under Bernie Ecclestone, indicating their attitude only damaged the marketability of their product. 

Carey, replaced Ecclestone as part of Liberty Media’s takeover of F1 in January 2017, suggested that the former supremo and his cohorts were far too content to criticise without offering any solutions.

“There were things that the sport needed to get on top of that it hasn’t,” he told Autosport, using rising costs as an example of an issue his predecessors failed to address.

Additionally, he highlighted Ecclestone’s scornful reception to the introduction of V6 hybrid-turbo engines in 2014.

“I’ve talked about the hybrid engine and the incredible technology involved in it, and yet the years preceding us mostly was all people crapping on it as opposed to saying: ‘This is the most efficient engine, it’s an incredible piece of technology,’ and it was really a step for the sport to deal with an important issue.”

Being so forthright such criticisms, Carey suggested the Ecclestone regime hurt interest from would-be race holders, something that Liberty has been successful in reversing.

“There were questions about the promoter side of our business, and I think the strength of that [currently] has been indicated and been a real positive,” he said.

“I think it is a sign of the interest in the sport, the interest that is there that wasn’t being tapped into because the sport wasn’t doing things that you need it to do.

“The sport had gotten a little too critical of itself, as I said, crapping on the engines, Bernie saying ‘I wouldn’t buy a ticket’.

“It’s complaining, not fixing.”

“There were problems, but there wasn’t enough action to address the problems, like the costs.”

“Usually in life, if you’ve got issues, you fix them.”

Since taking over as CEO, Carey has led F1 in a new commercial and technical direction, with the launch of a Netflix documentary series, an online streaming service, races in Vietnam and the Netherlands, and from 2021, a complete overhaul of the regulations.

ECCLESTONE: THE TEAMS HAVE TO SUE THE FIA

Rival teams should sue the FIA for their lost millions due to the Ferrari fuel-flow settlement, says former Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

A subject of ongoing controversy, the FIA’s confidential settlement with Ferrari over allegations it subverted the 100 kg/hour fuel-flow limit in 2019 has been unanimously opposed by the seven non-Ferrari linked teams on the grid, with a statement from the group indicating that they were considering legal action.

Now Ecclestone, who stepped down from his post as F1 CEO when Liberty Media took over the sport in January 2017, has suggested that legal action is exactly what they must pursue.

“The teams have to sue the FIA. It’s about millions that I think they deserve back in money,” he told f1-insider.com.

“If Ferrari were clean and innocent, why did they even agree to a deal with Jean Todt? That alone seems like a confession to me.“

Should the Scuderia be disqualified from the championship, approximately $40 million in prizemoney would be distributed to the eight teams below them on the 2019 championship table, plus any performance-related bonuses from sponsors.

On their part, the FIA maintains the settlement is both “effective and dissuasive” and necessary as “further action would not necessarily result in a conclusive case due to the complexity of the matter and the material impossibility to provide the unequivocal evidence of a breach”.

JIMMIE JOHNSON AND McLAREN INDY CAR

Johnson has confirmed that he will test for the team at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama on April 6, the day after the IndyCar race there. He was at the Arrow McLaren SP workshops last week in Indianapolis for a seat fitting.

At 44 the California driver is too old to do Formula 1 but he would be fine taking part in the Indy 500. It is interesting to note, therefore, that Arrow McLaren SP recently did a quiet deal to acquire the number 48 (Johnson’s number in NASCAR) from Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, which suggests that the news that Johnson is going to test a Arrow McLaren SP car may be more than just a jolly day out.

This year he remains a full-time NASCAR Cup driver but next year he will have time on his hands and there is speculation that he might race for Arrow McLaren SP, which is using Chevrolet engines. Johnson says that he is not planning to run at Indy and will not be racing on the IndyCar ovals but it does look like he could be doing some street and road courses if things go well.

And, no matter what he says, one cannot help but wonder it he might one day change his mind about the ovals. That would be something... and it would probably help sell more McLaren road cars as well...

Source: JSBL

F1 TEAMS “SHOCKED” BY FIA-FERRARI SETTLEMENT

By:  Ben Stevens

 4 March, 2020

After a report yesterday that Mercedes’ Toto Wolff had written to six other teams requesting their support in protesting the FIA’s settlement with Ferrari regarding the 2019 fuel-flow scandal, it is now apparent he has got his wish.

Together, the seven non-Ferrari-connected teams in Formula 1 have released a statement, decrying the FIA’s handling of the situation and threatening legal action should the settlement not be disclosed.

The statement, in full, reads as follows:

“We, the undersigned teams, were surprised and shocked by the FIA’s statement of Friday 28 February regarding the conclusion of its investigation into the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 Power Unit.

“An international sporting regulator has the responsibility to act with the highest standards of governance, integrity and transparency.

“After months of investigations that were undertaken by the FIA only following queries raised by other teams, we strongly object to the FIA reaching a confidential settlement agreement with Ferrari to conclude this matter.

“Therefore, we hereby state publicly our shared commitment to pursue full and proper disclosure in this matter, to ensure that our sport treats all competitors fairly and equally. We do so on behalf of the fans, the participants and the stakeholders of Formula One.

“In addition, we reserve our rights to seek legal redress, within the FIA’s due process and before the competent courts.”

Signed,

McLaren Racing Limited
Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited
Racing Point UK Limited
Red Bull Racing Limited
Renault Sport Racing Limited
Scuderia Alpha Tauri S.p.A.
Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited

MARKO: WE DID OUR BIT NOW ITS MERCEDES’S TURN

 17 November, 2019

Ferrari’s rivals in Brazil held fire on lodging an official protest against the Maranello team’s engine in the wake of two technical directives already issued to the teams.

Both Mercedes and Red Bull-Honda appear to be teaming up against Ferrari, while speculation that a protest was imminent died down as qualifying took place at Interlagos.

“We did our part,” Helmut Marko told reporters in Brazil, after Red Bull prompted the first technical directive in Austin. “Now it’s Mercedes’ turn. They know more about it than we do.”

Auto Motor und Sport quoted an insider as saying at Interlagos: “If Ferrari continues in the same way, they certainly have a lot of courage.”

But on Saturday, Ferrari’s power advantage of Friday actually faded, and it was Max Verstappen scoring pole.

“We got beaten fair and square,” said Sebastian Vettel. “It was a bit of a surprise. Not to see them [Red Bull-Honda] that quick but to see them that quick on the straights. So, a little bit suspicious.”

Vettel may have been joking with his final jibe, but heads were being scratched as to why Honda is suddenly so strong.

One theory is that Honda’s efficiency on the hybrid side means it is less affected by the high altitude in Sao Paulo.

“We’ve been down on power,” Mercedes’ world champion Lewis Hamilton said after qualifying behind the Red Bull as well as Vettel’s Ferrari.

“It’s obviously great for the sport that we have another manufacturer starting to produce good engines, but I don’t fully understand it.”

James Allison, who in Toto Wolff’s absence is the acting team boss in Brazil, explained: “We would have to conclude that Honda has advantages on the electrical side.”

Valtteri Bottas agrees: “Red Bull has a good car for the high altitude circuits.”

As for the risk of a protest against what is being described in the paddock as Ferrari’s engine “tricks”, boss Mattia Binotto said the team has changed nothing since the FIA issued its technical directives.

Red Bull’s Marko told Auto Bild: “We did not ask the FIA about Ferrari specifically. We just want to be sure that we have no disadvantages for 2020. But suddenly, Ferrari does not have such a big edge in top speed. It’s strange.”

FIA explains plans to clamp down on oil burning in F1

The FIA is confident new regulations this year will be successful in catching teams that attempt to burn oil in the engine's combustion chamber to gain a power advantage.




Oil burning became a sensitive issue last year amid concerns some engine manufacturers were circumventing F1's tight fuel flow limitations by using oil as additional burnable fuel.




Under the regulations, F1 engines are limited to a fuel flow rate of just 100kg/hour in an attempt to force manufacturers to find extra power through efficiency gains rather than burning more fuel. But if oil can be introduced into the combustion chamber, it too can be burned to offer a small power boost above and beyond the limited flow of fuel.




It is thought this extra power boost can be particularly beneficial in qualifying, when fractions of a second can make the difference between pole position and the second row of the grid.


A technical directive was introduced at the Italian Grand Prix last year to limit oil consumption from 1.2 litres per 100km to 0.9 litres per 100km, and ahead of this year the rules have been tightened again to limit consumption to just 0.6 litres per 100km.

Charlie Whiting, the head of the FIA's technical apartment, said a number of extra measures had also been introduced to prevent teams burning oil in the combustion chamber on purpose.

"We've closed down all the things that they were able to do last year via mainly oil spec, because not only was oil being burnt a little, but they were putting things in the oil to aid combustion," Whiting said ahead of the new season. "There was no real oil spec last year, now there is. Now they have to approve oils. They can only use approved oils. So they give us a sample, just like they do with fuel, and that has to be approved as the only oil they can use.

"We've also tightened up the engine rules in Article 5 of the technical regulations, and we've also routed the breather that can no longer go back into the air intake which was the biggest issue. It has to go out the back like virtually every other racing car in the world. And we've told them they can't use more than 0.6 litres per 100 km. All those things combined I think will do the job."

However, one concern raised by Red Bull team boss Christian Horner is that the new oil consumption limits are not tight enough to detect the burning of oil for a single flying lap. However, Whiting believes detailed checks and new oil sensors will allow the FIA to keep tabs on whether oil is being used as fuel.

"I think the loophole that you're talking about is the difficulty of checking how much oil has actually been used during qualifying. You've got a small amount of laps, so if you're looking at a percentage you've got to try and detect smaller quantities that have been used. That's a challenge.

"We've made them all fit homologated oil sensors in their main oil tanks, but they've got auxiliary oil tanks as well, so we've got to be able to check those too. It's just a matter of detailed checking just to make sure that they are respecting the 0.6 even over short distances.

"It's relatively simple over a race distance, but I think the sort of things that Christian was saying for example, we know that Renault very, very low oil consumption. Others don't. Still well within the 0.6, but they fear that we won't be able to police it because of the small sample. But we're confident that we can."

Rumor Mill : Haas to sell to Andretti ?

One interesting rumors suggests that Gene Haas is going to sell his Formula 1 operation to Michael Andretti having become frustrated with progress in 2019. There are no obvious signs that Haas has made a decision to continue or not. The team has just announced a deal with MindMaze, the global brain technology company specializing in neuro-inspired computing platforms, but this is not a big deal. 

The team had been hoping to land the Orlen deal with Robert Kubica, but that has gone to Alfa Romeo. Formula 1 has done a good job for Haas, raising the profile of his machine tool business around the world, but it is not clear whether Haas wants or needs to continue.

Selling the team on to Michael Andretti is a logical step in many respects, but there is one slight difference: Haas is a multi-billionaire and can afford to fund an F1 team on his own, Michael Andretti is not and cannot - and while Michael would love to be involved in F1 and wave the American flag, he needs someone to pay for such an adventure. There is a sense that Formula 1 is unfinished business for Michael, who had a rough time as a driver in F1 and would like to come back as a team owner and win.

It should be remembered that in the summer of 2018 Michael and his company president J-F Thormann appeared in the F1 paddock in Montreal and it was clear that it was not a social call. The two had a number of meetings with F1 people, involving Pieter Rossi, the father of Andretti IndyCar driver Alexander Rossi, who used to be a Formula 1 driver. The word was that Rossi might have access to some private equity money from Silicon Valley to fund such a deal. It is clear that F1 owners Liberty Media would love to have the Andretti name in F1 and a top level American driver. The focus at the time was a takeover of the troubled Force India which ultimately went to Lawrence Stroll later that summer and has since become Racing Point.

One of the things that stopped that deal happening was that it was impossible to know how much money would be needed because there was then no budget cap in place. That has now changed and from 2021 teams will need to restrain their spending, at least up to a point.

Andretti has no shortage of things to do.

The team currently runs five full-time cars in IndyCar with Rossi, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti, Zach Veach and Colton Herta. There have been rumours for some time that the team will run a sixth car at Indianapolis for Fernando Alonso. The team ran three cars in Indy Lights last year and is likely to do the same again in 2020, while it has also been running the successful BMW i Andretti Motorsport team in Formula E. 

There has also been a team in the now-defunct Americas Rallycross Championship, featuring Scott Speed and Tanner Foust, plus a McLaren 570S being run in the Pirelli GT4 America Sprint series for Jarett Andretti. And Michael is a shareholder in the Walkinshaw Andretti United team in the Supercars championship in Australia, where he is partnered by McLaren’s Zak Brown and Tom Walkinshaw’s son Ryan.

Source: JSBM

FLORSCH: WOMEN DRIVERS SERVE AS ADVERTISING OBJECT

Source: GMM 

German race driver Sophia Florsch thinks Formula 1 too often uses female drivers purely to attract attention and be seen to be doing the politically correct thing.

On Twitter, the 17-year-old hit out after Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto announced that the Italian F1 team’s driver ‘academy’ is looking for female drivers. She said women are too often seen as mere “marketing stuff”.

Following her remarks, it was announced that the female-only ‘W Series’ would support the United States and Mexican grands prix this year.

Florsch told Auto Bild: “There have to be people who believe in women as racing drivers rather than just attracting attention. There have been a few women in the past who were supported by F1 teams, but they just stood there to smile and wave at the camera.

“It would be important that the girl had the same opportunities and support as the boys, for example like Mick Schumacher, who is also in the academy, and not only serving as an advertising object.

“I don’t want to assume anything negative about Ferrari but in general the way teams worked with women didn’t really help them,” she added.

Florsch, who made global headlines in 2018 for her horror crash at Macau, is currently looking for a seat for 2020. But she said she is not interested in the W Series.

“Look at Jamie (Chadwick),” she said. “She now has another year in the W Series because she still doesn’t have enough money for Formula 3. So she loses two years in a racing series where the level is, unfortunately, lower than a series where the men also race.

“We need equal opportunities. It has always been my drive to be the best and that includes beating the men on the track. The chance that a woman with potential for higher categories will emerge in this way is very, very small,” she concluded, referring to the W Series and Ferrari academy initiatives.