292 replies to this topic

[vietlol]

Parr clarifies Ferrari legality comments

By Jonathan Noble Friday, April 17th 2009, 06:24 GMT

Williams CEO Adam Parr has insisted he never meant to imply that Ferrari and Renault had been using an illegal car for years in Formula 1, as he moved to clarify remarks he made at this week's FIA International Court of Appeal hearing.

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali and Flavio Briatore have been upset by suggestions Parr made in the Paris hearing, where he stated that if rivals thought his team's diffuser was in breach of the regulations, then they had to accept their own machines had been illegal for years.

Parr has made it clear, however, that his remarks were simply a response to Ferrari's own assertions in the trial that the Williams was illegal.

"I think that there has been a very fundamental misunderstanding of what happened in the court on Tuesday," said Parr, responding to a request from Domenicali to clarify his remarks.

"Part of the case presented against us related to what we call as the use of multiple vertical transitions. Essentially, you have to have a reference plane, which is like the plank, and 50mm above that you have the step planes. One of the key issues in the case was: when do you have to have a transition between those two?

"Essentially you have to have a vertical transition between the two when the step plane is visible directly above the periphery of the reference plane. Where you don't, it is explicit that you don't have to have one. So one of the key issues in the case was that if you don't have to have one at certain points then by definition you can have many transitions.

"Ferrari's case was that you could only have one or at best only one on each side. The problem that they had was that for many years cars have had multiple vertical transitions because at the front, where they have turning vanes or bargeboards, they have had a slot in that transition that creates more than one.

"So, they actually said in their submissions that on a strict interpretation of their case, their cars were illegal. Then they gave various reasons why that should not matter, but they said in their submissions and in their evidence, by their interpretation of the rules, that those cars were illegal."

He added: "To be absolutely clear, it was never our case that their cars were illegal. It was, if anything, their case. So we rejected that as being quite wrong. I want to be absolutely clear, on the record, that we have never said and we do not believe that for one minute either the Ferrari cars, or Renault cars, or anyone else's cars, for the last eight years have been illegal. What we say is that they, and we, have used the same principles for eight or nine years."

Parr said he would go and talk with Domenicali to clear up any misunderstanding between them over the matter.

"Stefano Domenicali is a man who you cannot but respect," said Parr. "I've always found him to be incredibly straight. It is not just that he is a charming guy; he is an intelligent, straightforward man.

"I think he is about a week older than me, and in some ways we have a similar education he is from a legal/economic background although he has worked for years in F1 unlike me. He is just someone you just get on with, you trust and you like instantly.

"We've known him in his previous role for many years and one of the first things I did when he became the team principal was, when I spoke to Tim Newton (Williams team manager) I said he was a guy you could always trust. I would just hate anybody to think that there was any disagreement between myself and Stefano, or between Williams and Ferrari."

[Robert]

How bad has it got to suck for Fernando, having "dreamed" of driving for Ferrari and rumored to be the next in line; driving a dog at Renault and now Ferrari falls off the grid performance-wise lol.

[vietlol]

They will bounce back before the end of the season, although I dont think anyone is going to catch Brawn.

All Ferrari need is Fred's 6 tenths

[vietlol]

WHAT DID YOU MAKE OF BRIATORE’S COMMENTS THAT HAVING A TEAM LIKE BRAWN AT THE FRONT OF F1 IS DAMAGING FOR THE SPORT’S CREDIBILITY?
“Unless he is at the front of F1, I am sure [he thinks] any team [being
there] hurts the credibility of F1. He also needs to remember that he
tried to employ me for this year, so…”

Alonso not the only one afraid of strong team mates?


I jest but thats pretty funny and something I dont think any of us knew (that Button could have been in Renault this year)

[More&Faster]

i'll post the whole interview since i thought it was good. fuck flavio. he's just bitter cause his car sucks.

3 minutes with…Jenson Button

April 17, 2009 by James Allen

Jenson Button was fastest today in Friday second practice, his time a good six tenths inside last year’s pole time. He finished second here in 2004 behind team mate Rubens Barrichello, who was in a Ferrari at the time. Both men love this track and are strong here so it should be the best battle between them to date.

He has been attacked this weekend by his former boss Flavio Briatore as a ‘kerbstone’ -an odd use of a word, but I think what Flavio meant is one of those big old heavy milestones or bollards at the side of the road. Either way it was meant to suggest that Button isn’t one of the greats in current F1 and that him winning everything damages the credibility of the sport. It was pretty insulting. Jenson had had a chance to weigh up Flavio’s words and this is his response. Note that he makes reference to Briatore having tried to hire him for this year, presumably in place of Piquet…
smiley-jenson-3-thumb

WHAT DID YOU MAKE OF BRIATORE’S COMMENTS THAT HAVING A TEAM LIKE BRAWN AT THE FRONT OF F1 IS DAMAGING FOR THE SPORT’S CREDIBILITY?
“Unless he is at the front of F1, I am sure [he thinks] any team [being
there] hurts the credibility of F1. He also needs to remember that he
tried to employ me for this year, so…”

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IN RESPONSE?
“He is obviously a very angry man after the diffuser issues and he is
obviously very disappointed that they haven’t produced a car that is
as competitive as ours. We have produced a very competitive car
because of the workforce we have back at Brackely and you cannot take
it away from them – it is very unfair to say that. They have worked
very, very hard in very difficult circumstances and it is very, very
unfair for Flavio to comment as he has just because he is a little bit
bitter – he should also not forget he tried to employ me for this
season.”

WHAT WAS THE RESPONSE OF THE TEAM?
“Laughing, basically.”

HOW BIG A RELIEF FOR YOU WAS THE DIFFUSER DECISION?
“I don’t know if relief is the right word, but it is nice that is
behind us now and we can concentrate on the rest of the season. That
is the result that we expected. It is not our fault we have built a
good car, and when a regulation changes I think things change in F1.
We have seen changed. Some people might not be that happy about it,
but instead of getting angry and putting their views out there, they
need to concentrate on improving and catching us up.”

WHAT IS YOUR EXPECTATION FOR THIS WEEKEND’S RACE?
“I am looking forward to it. It is a circuit I’ve enjoyed in the past
and I’ve had some reasonably good results here in the past, even with
a difficult car. I am looking forward to it and it is quite a similar
circuit to Sepang, our tyre compounds are also reasonably difficult to
work with, the softer of the two is graining, so we are going to have
to work hard to stop that graining, and again the tyres are going to
be very important this weekend and getting them working in the correct
operating range.”

ARE YOU WORRIED THAT THE LEGALITY ISSUE WILL CLOUD THE CHAMPIONSHIP?
“No. We had legal issues last year and the year before we had legal
issues with other teams. It is not a problem because if parts on our
car were illegal it would be an issue, but they are not. They are
legal, it is just other teams have questioned the legality of our
parts and the court has said they are legal. Nothing matters except we
have got the performance and other people don’t seem to have it at the
moment.”

Posted in BrawnGP, Uncategorized | Tagged Button, F1 | 22 Comments »
Flavio goes for it…big time

April 17, 2009 by James Allen

A furious Flavio Briatore continues to rage about the unfairness of Formula 1.

After some savage comments in Melbourne about the integrity of Ross Brawn, his former technical director, the Renault boss has now laid into the FIA and the drivers currently at the front of the field. He claims that a pecking order of Brawn, WIlliams and Toyota shows that F1 has lost all its credibility,

“The drivers in our teams are all world champions and instead there’s a driver who’s a semi-pensioner and another, a decent bloke, but he’s a kerbstone, fighting for the world championship. (A reference to Barrichello and Button respectively). I don’t know how we can say we have credibiity.”

“It’s impossible to make up the ground to those teams. In three or four races the championship will be decided and I can’t see the interest for spectators to watch a Grand Prix, when Button has 60 points and Nakajima has 50. Better to listen to radio or go and do something else.”

Briatore has won four world championships, two with Schumacher in the Benetton days and two with Alonso in the Renault days. In none of those seasons did his team have the kind of advantage that Brawn now enjoys, it was always very tight with Williams, McLaren and Ferrari. Although the mass damper on Alonso’s Renault, before it was banned, gave Renault something the others didn’t have, it did not put them well clear of the opposition, as Brawn is today.

Briatore’s outbursts have confused some of his fellow team principals. He is part of FOTA, indeed he heads the commercial working group, and yet in recent weeks his outbursts against other teams have made it look as though the spirit of FOTA unity now lies in shreds.

A close friend of Bernie Ecclestone, the pair are usually seen together most evenings at Grands Prix. Asked about Briatore’s comments this afternoon, Ecclestone said, “Everyone is entitled to their opinion.”

Flavio also sets his sights on the FIA for allowing a situation to develop which goes competely against the notion of cost saving.

“At a time when we are talking about bringing down budgets to £30 million a year, we have spent £15m on KERS and and other £10m on diffusers. So that leaves five more for travel and paying the employees!”

[Nacho]

@ Flav.

Fat fuck being pissy about failing only makes me more happy.

[Nacho]

jesus, mclaren didn't even let the hammer drop on the ruling before whipping out a diffuser

Any team that didn't have one at least seriously on the drawing board before the ruling is only wasting their own time and points in the championship.

[Nacho]

Ferrari has admitted that removing its KERS for the Chinese Grand Prix has not proved beneficial so far.

After several reliability problems in the previous races, Ferrari decided to abandon the new system for Shanghai. But after struggling in practice today, Felipe Massa said getting rid of KERS was actually a backwards step.

"Here we are also running without KERS and as a result, we are losing even more performance, in addition to not having as much aerodynamic downforce as the best cars," he said.

"Our fight for the championship is ever more compromised.

"We must try and push as hard as possible on the development of the car, but we know it will be very hard to catch up. The only recipe for getting out of this difficulty is to work."

Team boss Stefano Domenicali reckoned that because the car had been designed with KERS in mind, removing the troublesome system had turned out to be counter-productive.

"Clearly, without KERS, we lose a bit of performance and initial indications are that we are not seeing any improvement in the balance of a car that, let's not forget, was designed to carry this system," he said.

"We are in a difficult situation and we must try and stay calm and work hard on all fronts."

But Kimi Raikkonen was less bothered by the loss of the device.

"The balance of the car isn't bad and one doesn't feel the lack of KERS," he said.

"The point is that we are too slow compared to the teams currently at the top of the order. We must try and improve the car. At the moment, we are not able to fight for the title."

@ Kimi. "You did what to my car? Oh, i didn't notice."

[_R_]

i got nothing to say....
it's just amazing how mclaren and ferrari have dropped so fast.... kovy in 9th is the best so far...

[yonson]

[AErrorist]

God I hate Renault

[Robert]

The first half of this season(+) is going to be brutal.

[yonson]

The first half of this season(+) is going to be brutal.

It'd be nice for Kimi to at least FINISH a race... possibly even in the points

[vietlol]

God I hate Renault

tbh its just flava flav always making the comments, Pat Symonds is #1

[vietlol]

Translated Q&A with Briatore:

Q: The verdict is there: Ross Brawn was right.
Briatore: ''What was he right about ? The diffuser issue ? Imagine if someone would leave the earth for a year and comes back to find out that Reggina, Lecce, Bologna and Torino are at the top of the Serie A table while Milan, Juventus and Inter are fighting against relegation. In this same way a Formula 1 fan finds out that the championship can be won by someone that was (already) retired (Barrichello - AFCA), one that is as slow as a milepost (Button), Rosberg, Click, or perhaps Clock (Glock - AFCA), Naca...Naca...what's he called ? I don't even know...

Q: ...Nakajima. But your ungenerous towards Button.
Briatore: ''He's a good guy for heaven's sake. He's not someone that causes trouble, he's not 'dirty'.''

Q: Are you still prepared to help Brawn GP financially ?
Briatore: ''I'm not. Actually, at the next FOTA meeting I will propose that each team will keep the money that it intended to give Brawn GP. The FIA has proven Brawn GP right and we, for once will say the FIA is right: Brawn GP is a new team. It will have to do the same as us when we entered (F1). Brawn is richer than I am, than all of us.''

Q: Do you mean that Brawn GP has more money than the big teams ?
Briatore: ''He bought the team for € 1 and on top of that he has received € 130 million from Honda as if it were a newlywed getting money from her parents. € 100 million in cash, € 30 was the famous bonus we (the teams) were willing to pass on to them. Fortunately we haven't yet done so ! I will propose to keep that money: I have to spend a lot of it in order for Renault not to remain one second adrift of Brawn GP. The difference now is that I know where to get the money from !''

Q: Apart from coming up with a double-decker diffuser, what has Brawn done that makes you so angry ?
Briatore: ''He hasn't been transparent as the technical head of the FOTA, he knew (about the diffusers) but didn't say it. Ah, I will propose others to have that role, I no longer feel represented by him. In fact, it's better to put the first Chinese bloke that comes round the corner in that position. Also, Brawn has behaved in a very bad way, attacking everyone one-on-one in front of the Court of Appeal, and in a rude way towards Byrne. Without Byrne, Brawn('s career) wouldn't even exist, I know this very well because both of them worked at Benetton. Byrne is a loyal and honest person, Brawn shamelessly attacked him, and he's done the same thing towards the others. So, he's a genius and all the others are idiots ?''

Q: So could this ruin the unity with the FOTA ?
Briatore: ''Why ? The FOTA approve (on matters) with a majority of 70% of the votes, thank god we don't always have to agree all ten of us. There are some bandits in the sport, it's no longer possible to be monolithic on every issue.''

Q: Parr has accused Ferrari and McLaren of having won titles with illegal cars.
Briatore: ''And for these words someone, the FIA itself, could charge him. Parr is an idiot.''

Q: He's got a role within the FOTA.
Briatore: ''Yes, it's being a pain in the arse.''

Q: Getting back to the verdict: was it really a technical one, or was it political ?
Briatore: ''One of the judges (De Marco from Malta) has fallen to sleep, or he's simply no good, or he knew on forehand what the outcome was going to be. The others were ready to fly out at the airport: after an eight-hour hearing they came up with the verdict in one hour. I don't want to think that there has been the intention to manipulate the result of the championship. If it were like that then that would be very grave, but I repeat: I don't even want to think about it.''

Q: Is the FIA to blame ?
Briatore: ''Very much so, because this entire row should have been dealt with earlier. There are technical people which homework it is to prevent problems.''

Q: Would it be necessary to put someone alongside Charlie Whiting ?
Briatore: ''The FOTA has put forward Brawn as his technical counterpart: look at what a great technical package he came up with.''

Q: Do you step out of this chaos with at least one certainty ?
Briatore: ''Yes, if you fall down a manhole then it's not a 'hole' but an 'opening'.''

Last question/answer is GOLD

[More&Faster]

Briatore: "WAAAAA"


screw that guy

[yonson]

According to the F1 website FP3 has started, but the live timing isn't showing anything

[DocGolem]

According to the F1 website FP3 has started, but the live timing isn't showing anything

I thought it started at 11:00 Eastern.

[DocGolem]

There's a breeze, watch out Hammy!

[yonson]

Yeah, evidently the idiots running the F1 site got it wrong

[DocGolem]

Nico pulled a Hamilton!

[yonson]

Damn, Nico out already

[yonson]

do the faggots at SPEED show F1 Debrief now instead of FP3

[yonson]

SNAP Kimi to P1, I hope they aren't on low fuel

[vietlol]

vip_racing guy says quali will be passworded, is that dragon_maclaren feed still working?