2253 replies to this topic

[More&Faster]

schumi pulled out to save face

[Skyliner]

schumi pulled out to save face

There's a lot to save.

Bam, double meaning!

[More&Faster]

[yonson]

[_R_]

Sebastien Bourdais has accused his former employers of lacking "style" by sacking him by text message.

The 30-year-old Frenchman was told his services were no longer required at the Nurburging, and he was replaced thereafter by Spanish teenager Jaime Alguersuari.

"The way they got rid of me was very disappointing," Bourdais, who recently reached an out-of-court settlement with the Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso team, told the French magazine Autohebdo.

"Dietrich Mateschitz was at the Nurburgring but he did not speak with me. He did not call me. Everything was done by SMS, which to me has no style," he charged.

Four-time Champ Car titleholder Bourdais, however, admits some blame for his failure to shine in one and a half seasons at Toro Rosso, whose team until 2009 received the basic chassis designed by its parent Red Bull.

He said the car was not built around a driver, but rather it was the drivers' responsibility to adapt to the car.

"That was never my best strength," Bourdais said.

[vietlol]

own zone

[Nacho]

@ the concept of being fired by text.





Well, my employer tried to do that to me, but i just showed up the next day and told him to stuff it.

[chiuey]

Breakaway threat baffled Ecclestone

By Jonathan Noble Thursday, August 13th 2009, 12:38 GMT

Bernie Ecclestone, Germany, 2009Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone says he is nonplussed by the confrontational stance that was adopted by teams this year as they threatened to set-up a breakaway series.

Although the future of F1 looks more secure on the back of teams signing a new Concorde Agreement with Ecclestone and the FIA, the sport's commercial chief is still baffled about why some outfits and their bosses were so determined to do things their own way.

"I was just telling someone the other day that most of them in Formula 1 are a bit new," Ecclestone said in an interview with Singapore's Today newspaper.

"They haven't served an apprenticeship. They just don't know what we had to go through to build things up in the beginning to what they are today. They want to take whatever they can as much as they can and disappear. A couple of them, I think, maybe thought they would like to do something else and be in charge of something.

"They are not even in charge of anything they are now doing anyway, so how they think they could be in charge of something as big as F1, I don't know. Anyway, it is their opinion."

Ecclestone reckoned that teams got carried away with the idea of a breakaway, and thinks that it would ultimately have been very hard to have taken on F1 with a rival series.

"This business is built now and it is easier to do what we are doing rather than start something again," he said. "I wouldn't want to start a series in opposition to Formula 1, for sure.

"There is no real reason for it; there is no logic in it. Just as I said to people, those who wanted to break away must have been carried away. The trouble is they are more the corporate types. This isn't a corporate business, it is an entrepreneur business."

And interestingly, Ecclestone said that should F1 have collapsed amid all the political wrangling that has marred this season, he would have walked away completely rather than try and rebuild it.

"There wouldn't be any point in staying if it collapses, would it?" he said. "I probably think it's not worth the effort rebuilding it. I've got enough energy to do many, many other things and that is what I would be doing."

SERIOUSLY??? Now that a conchord agreement is signed, and he wants to start stirring shit up all over again? Maybe if Bernie had any actual balls he would have publicly said this during all the commotion, then we would have a break away series. Bernie you are a sackless midget!

[cafcwest]

SERIOUSLY??? Now that a conchord agreement is signed, and he wants to start stirring shit up all over again? Maybe if Bernie had any actual balls he would have publicly said this during all the commotion, then we would have a break away series. Bernie you are a sackless midget!

Yup. Meanwhile he was covering his bases by copyrighting the names GP1, etc. Not after it is all done, he has to go and start talking shit.

This man literally has no redeeming quality. His death cannot happen soon enough.

[MrHahn]

Yup. Meanwhile he was covering his bases by copyrighting the names GP1, etc. Not after it is all done, he has to go and start talking shit.

This man literally has no redeeming quality. His death cannot happen soon enough.

As bad as it sounds - this is the utter truth.

[DrDickAction]

As bad as it sounds - this is the utter truth.

What if he dies, his wife inherits and is even worse? A la Georgia Frontiere.

[Ximian]

What if he dies, his wife inherits and is even worse? A la Georgia Frontiere.

Not a problem. Flavio seduces her and then she sells FOM to FOTA for a $1.

[vietlol]

Flav can seduce me any day

[chiuey]

What if he dies, his wife inherits and is even worse? A la Georgia Frontiere.

they are already divorced, she's already got half. his daughters would get the rest if he died.

[MrHahn]

Flab can seduce me any day

Fixed.

[cASe SenSiTive]

they are already divorced, she's already got half. his daughters would get the rest if he died.

Flavio has no problem seducing younger women.

[_R_]

Renault has claimed that the one-race ban it had imposed on it is "excessive and unfair" at today's FIA Court of Appeal hearing.

The lawyer representing the team, Ali Malek, told four judges at the hearing in Paris that the punishment handed down by the FIA is unnecessarily harsh, according to a report by Reuters.

"This case does not deserve more than a reprimand," he said, adding that race suspensions should only be used in cases of deliberate rule breaking.

"Was there a conscious wrongdoing from Renault? There was none what-so-ever. The only persons who knew were the two mechanics. Nobody on the pitwall knew there was a problem and the driver did not know either.

"There was a series of unfortunate events but no conscious wrongdoing."

The FIA stewards imposed the suspension on the team after Renault released Fernando Alonso from a pitstop in Hungary before his front right wheel was properly attached.

But Renault claims the mechanics were unable to inform the personnel on the pitwall before Alonso's wheel dislodged.

The lawyer representing the FIA, Paul Harris, said: "There is no doubt what-so-ever this was a serious incident. The car should not have been left out on the track.

"The mechanics are employed by the team and their knowledge must be attributed to the team. Renault cannot simply rely on their flawed procedures to say they could not communicate. Two wrongs don't make a right."

Renault team manager Steve Nielsen spoke to reporters after today's hearing. He said: "I've been optimistic ever since we got the penalty. We feel the penalty is unjust. We admit we did some stuff wrong, but we don't think that the penalty fits the crime."

yeah... a tad excessive...

[DrDickAction]

Anyone honestly think this ban is just retribution for Flavio being one of the FOTA ringleaders?

[_R_]

Renault will race in the European Grand Prix this weekend after the FIA Court of Appeal overturned the team's one-race suspension today.

The team claimed at today's hearing in Paris that there was no conscious wrongdoing when Fernando Alonso was released from his first pitstop in the Hungarian Grand Prix before his right front wheel was properly attached.

It also argued that the only people who knew about the error were the mechanics working on that wheel, and that they were unable to inform any team personnel on the pitwall to warn Alonso before the wheel detached.

Renault conceded in the hearing that it had contravened the rules in releasing Alonso when it was unsafe, but asked that the one-race ban imposed by the race stewards be reconsidered.

The court upheld Renault's appeal and instead issued a reprimand and imposed a $50,000 fine.

An FIA statement said:
Renault admitted to the court that it breached the sporting regulations, in that it failed to ensure that car #7 complied with the conditions for safety throughout practice and the race, and that it released the car after a pitstop when it was unsafe to do so. However, it requested the court to reconsider the severity of the sanction imposed by the stewards.

Having heard the arguments of the parties, the court has decided as follows:
1. to allow the appeal and overturn the sanction imposed by the stewards in the contested decision;
2. to issue a reprimand and impose a fine of $50,000 upon Renault

It added that the full reasons for the decision will be released in the coming days.

Renault to race...

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

Renault to race...

100,000 Spaniards just came.

[DrDickAction]

Renault to race...

[_R_]

Felipe Massa is targeting a comeback at this year's Brazilian Grand Prix as he continues to make good progress in his recovery from the head injury he sustained in Hungary three weeks ago.

The Brazilian sustained a brain concussion and damage to his skull and left eye after being struck on the helmet by a spring that had fallen out of Rubens Barrichello's car.

Massa is now recovering at home after being released from the Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo two weeks ago, and is hoping to return to Formula 1 as soon as possible - targeting his home race in October.

"I cannot wait to race again, I hope I can do the Brazilian Grand Prix," Massa told Brazilian television channel Globo. "But it's not for me to say, it's for the doctors, and I have to show I can be ready for the grand prix."

He will have to pass an FIA medical test and an eye examination before he will be allowed back into a Formula 1 car.

"I think I am going to do some laps in a go-kart beforehand, then I will go to the FIA to do the examinations and get the authorisation to come back to racing."

Massa says he has no recollections of the accident itself, and just remembers waking up in the hospital in Hungary.

"I lived the accident, but I slept," he said. "I didn't see the spring. Many people ask me: 'the spring came, did you not see it?' But I didn't see it hit me, I didn't see anything. The spring just hit my head and I slept. The car crashed and I carried on accelerating but it almost wasn't me that was doing it. It looks like I move my hands, but I was sleeping.

"When I woke in hospital, I felt that everything was working. I saw that my eye was really really big, but I was breathing and thinking. I could move my arms, I could move my legs, I could move everything."

He confirmed that Barrichello feels no guilt over the incident after he was visited at home by his fellow Brazilian last week.

"Not at all," Massa added. "He didn't even know that I was behind him. It's not a problem at all. We are really good friends and what happened was going to happen, it could have been the spring from anyone."

Massa also said he had been touched by the response from his fans in his native Brazil.

"I had an idea, but the moment I got back to Brazil after the accident everyone was clapping me and shouting and hoping for me to get better and come back and race," he said. "It's a unique feeling and I keep saying 'thank you' all the time."

if he does come back, it'll be for Brazil and Abu Dhabi...

between me calling that FIA/FOTA battle outcome and this...that's some Nostradamus shit right there
I should get paid for this

[DrDickAction]

I'd totally paypal you some $$$, but I know you're just going to squander it on apple products

[Redliner]

I'd totally paypal you some $$$, but I know you're just going to squander it on apple products

[_R_]

I'd totally paypal you some $$$, but I know you're just going to squander it on apple products

Elmer's Project Trackday Bike Edition Fund?
if it makes you feel better, I've only ever bought 1 apple product (my ipod touch) everything else is either free or given to me