The Unofficial Formula-1 Blog

Super Aguri - To Be or Not To Be

Neeraj — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:03:24 +0000

Not-so long time ago we report about Super Aguri in talks with an Indian consortium for a possible investment in the team, which didn’t worked out. Later on they got a deal with a Magma Group [backed by a Dubai based investment company]. Super Aguri team owner Aguri Suzuki announced that the deal has collapsed.

It is said that the Dubai based investment company is no more interested in putting in the money. As a result, it has again put a big question mark on whether Super Aguri would participate in Spanish Grand Prix next weekend. Though Aguri Suzuki is again talking to potential investors and Honda as well.

The possibility of the Indian Consortium [Spice Group] again talking to Aguri Suzuki depends on Honda. Since Honda has been adamant that Anthony Davidson has to be second driver in Super Aguri’s lineup, the earlier talks between Super Aguri & Spice Group failed due to same reason.

So what future holds for Super Aguri, we’ll get to know in few days time. But it will be disappointing for Sate & Davidson’s fans not to see Super Aguri on the grid in Spanish Grand Prix.

Tags: Formula 1, F1, Super Aguri, Aguri Suzuki, Honda, Takuma Sato, Anthony Davidson, Spanish Grand Prix

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The Mosely Saga Continues

Neeraj — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:39:03 +0000

The situation is going from bad to worse [if it already was not so] for Max Mosely. Mosely sent a letter to letter to ‘n’ number of people & motor sport bodies, yesterday, whereby he stated his stance on the whole issue. But in last 24 hours, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Toyota & Honda had issued statements where all of them has displayed their disappointments at the ongoing controversy and have asked FIA to look into the matter very seriously. And to make matter worse, the Crown Prince of Bahrain, Sheikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa has asked Mosely not to attend the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend. This, undoubtedly, is a big blow for Mosely.

Mercedes-Benz & BMW issued following joint statement:

“This incident concerns Max Mosley both personally and as President of the FIA, the global umbrella organisation for motoring clubs. Its consequences therefore extend far beyond the motor sport industry. We await a response from the relevant FIA bodies.”

Toyota issued the following statement:

“Toyota Motorsport does not approve of any behaviour which could be seen to damage Formula One’s image, in particular any behaviour which could be understood to be racist or anti-Semitic. Senior figures within any sport or business, including motorsport, must adhere to high standards of behaviour. When all the facts are known, it will be for the FIA to decide whether Mr Mosley has met the moral obligations which come with the position of FIA President.”

And Honda issued the following statement:

It is necessary that senior figures in sport and business maintain the highest standards of conduct in order to fulfil their duties with integrity and respect. The Honda Racing F1 Team is extremely disappointed by recent events surrounding Mr Mosley and we are concerned that the reputation of Formula One and all its participants is being damaged. We request that the FIA gives this matter careful consideration and reaches an immediate decision in the best interests of F1 and Motorsport.”

Mosely, not to be left behind had already issued a reply to Mercedes-Benz and BMW:

Given the history of BMW and Mercedes Benz, particularly before and during the Second World War, I fully understand why they would wish to strongly distance themselves from what they rightly describe as the disgraceful content of these publications. Unfortunately, they did not contact me before putting out their statement to ask whether the content was in fact true. No doubt the FIA will respond to them in due course as I am about to respond to the newspaper in question.

And this, I’m sure, is not going to go down so easily. In time to come, more teams will possibly issue statements on the current issue and things are only going to escalate more so and will effect the sport in one way or another. For the good of things, now I believe that Mosely should step down or at least does not stand for re-election. But then he being the Mad Max we know, he’ll surely fight it till the very end whether it brings out any good for him or not.

Tags: Formula 1F1BMW-Sauber, Mercedes-Benz, Honda Racing, Max Mosely, Bahrain Grand Prix

The Max Mosely Controversy

Neeraj — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 06:07:46 +0000

Few days back, Max Mosely appeared in th headlines of News of the World tabloid. Though we all know how much he enjoys being in the limelight, but this time it was for all the wrong reasons [wrong for Mosely]. As per the tabloid Mosely was secretly filmed in a sick Nazi orgy with 5 hookers.

Now after many days of silence, Mosely has finally spoken. He had sent following letter to all presidents of the national FIA clubs, all members of the FIA Senate, the World Motor Sport Council and the World Council for Mobility and the Automobile:

From information provided to me by an impeccable high-level source close to the UK police and security services, I understand that over the last 2 weeks or so, a covert investigation of my private life and background has been undertaken by a group specialising in such things, for reasons and clients as yet unknown. I have had similar but less well-sourced information from France

Regrettably you are now familiar with the results of this covert investigation and I am very sorry if this has embarrassed you or the club. Not content with publicising highly personal and private activities, which are, to say the least, embarrassing, a British tabloid newspaper published the story with the claim that there was some sort of Nazi connotation to the matter. This is entirely false.

It is against the law in most countries to publish details of a person’s private life without good reason. The publications by The News of the World are a wholly unwarranted invasion of my privacy and I intend to issue legal proceedings against the Newspaper in the UK and other jurisdictions.

I have received a very large number of messages of sympathy and support from those within the FIA and the motor sport and motoring communities generally, suggesting that my private life is not relevant to my work and that I should continue in my role. I am grateful and with your support I intend to follow this advice. I shall now devote some time to those responsible for putting this into the public domain but above all I need to repair the damage to my immediate family who are the innocent and unsuspecting victims of this deliberate and calculated personal attack. You can, however be certain that I will not allow any of this to impede my commitment to the work of the FIA.”

Yours sincerely,
Max Mosley
FIA President

After reading the letter, one thing that’s for certain is that the person in the videos & images is in fact Mosely himself, because he has only refuted the Nazi allegation in his letter.

Some of us might applaud him silently for playing around with 5 hookers at the age of 67, but the question that really stands is will this have any effect on the chances of his re-election ? It is well known that many people in the F1 paddock wants him to leave after his current tenure ends so the current controversy will only help them in being more aggressive going forward.

Tags: Formula 1Max Mosely, FIA, Controversy

Spice Aguri ?

Neeraj — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 07:07:37 +0000

After “Force India Formula 1 Team”, there are now talks of Super Aguri with another Indian consortium for a possible investment. The Indian consortium is led by the Spice Group, which is currently promoting Indian A1 team.

The deal is supposed to cost $66 Million, that is the debt that Super Aguri is currently running, plus One Dollar as token amount. But this comes with one condition that Narain Karthikyean should get the driving seat. Which apparently is not acceptable to Honda as they very keen to continue with Anthony Davidson. They way we see it, Honda is keeping Anthony Davidson as future replacement of one of the own drivers.

But his has come under criticism from some quarters of Formula 1, firstly because the sponsorship money that Narain Karthikyean will bring, Davidson can only dream about. And secondly if Honda is so much concerned about Davidson then they should take him as a part of their own team.

The feasibility of Spice Group joining hands with Super Aguri now firmly stands on whether Karthikyean will get the driver’s seat or not, and that is something the Spice Group is pretty clear of.

Things little wobbly

Neeraj — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 04:42:33 +0000

After upgrading the blog to latest version of wordpress, something has broken hence some posts are not getting published correctly. I’m working on it and trying to make things right before returning to the blogosphere. Sorry about that.

Ross Brawn joins Honda & Ferrari announce team changes

Neeraj — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 07:45:31 +0000

Finally the cat is out of the bag. Ross Brawn will be joining Honda F1 team as Team Principal, bringing to an end, a year full of, which-team-will-he-join debate. And with equally good timings, Ferrari announced the changes in their top order with Jean Todt making way for Stefano Domenicali as the new Director of the F1 team.

In the past, there has been lots of talk of Brawn’s possible move to many teams, including coming back to Ferrari. Even we reported Brawn’s possible linkage with McLaren. But that was not to be. During the season I did read about Brawn being approached by Honda, but I must admit I never gave it that much of an thought. I always thought that Brawn will go back to Ferrari, possibly as Team Directory replacing Todt. And that is what Brawn had been saying all year round, that his first choice would always be returning to Ferrari.

Now, given the recent development, I just thought are things really the way they look ?

I mean, could it be possible that Ross Brawn had already made up his mind to leave Ferrari, and join some other team. Also his 1 year sabbatical theory could just be the cover up for fulfilling his contractual obligations. It is normal practice, within racing teams, to make sure that senior person does not join their competitor immediately, there is usually some time lag. And not to forget that Brawn joins Honda, which, let’s be true to ourselves, was one of the slowest teams on the grid (this also makes sense). Or am I just going bonkers ?

This brings us back to the same old story. No Ross Brawn. No Michael Schumacher. No Jean Todt. Ferrari looks so different now. But they are still carrying on with their winning ways and that is what matter to the most of us.

Tags: Formula 1, F1, Ferrari, McLaren, Honda Racing, Ross Brawn, Jean Todt, Stefano Domenicali, Michael Schumacher

Indian Spyker

Neeraj — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 09:56:42 +0000

Yes … in a months time, Spyker would be 60% Indian, with Vijay Mallya and Michiel Mol buying the cash-starved team. And what better news to come back to the world of Formula 1 and blogging.

The news of Vijay Mallya making a bid to buy over Spyker came out nearly a week back, but due to lack of interweb I was unable to share the news. Anyways, existing Spyker Board of Directors have approved the bid from Mallya and Mol and they are given 30 days to wrap up all the legal works.

The news of Spyker preparing for sell-off made rounds around Monaco Grand Prix, but things were not very clear. Then during Istanbul Grand Prix the news became clear enough and it was then that Mallya and Mol made their bid of 80 Million Euros, which Spyker Board accepted exclusively.

What this means, is that Narain Karthikeyan stands a good chance of driving the F1 car next year again. And this also means that Mallya will be pushing much more now for a Indian Grand Prix in coming years. A detailed account to follow soon.

Tags: Formula 1, F1, Spyker, Vijay Mallya, Michael Mol, Indian GP, Monaco GP, Istanbul GP, Narain Karthikeyan