links for 2009-06-23
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Sam Michael: "Nico [Rosberg] at stages was a good 0.5s quicker than the cars in front of him, but he couldn't get past. And those were cars without KERS obviously, so there is still work to do.
"It's maybe working a little bit, but we have just got to keep trying to improve it because it is not an easy problem."
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" The biggest question is whether the FIA clubs that are opposed to Mosley will be joined by others, worried about what is happening in F1. The FIA has long been a federation in which the member clubs depends on the FIA leadership for certain things which are vital to their interests of their country and their ASN – an important rally, for example. If they do anything which causes upset there is the danger that they will lose the one thing that is vital to them. So they tend to think that it is in their interest and the interest of their club to go along with the leadership. The fact that no-one has stood against Mosley is not because they all agree with him but rather that the consequences of such an action could be adverse to their interests. However, as was seen back in 1991 when Mosley defeated incumbent Jean-Marie Balestre, if they feel that the sport is threatened they will turn against their leader."
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"On the face of it, this is a scheduled meeting of the WMSC and it was due to ratify the entry list for 2010. When Mosley announced on Friday that he was launching a legal action against FOTA, the entry list was put on hold, but now that Mosley says he has dropped the legal action, the question will come up about who is on the entry list."
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"According to rumours at Silverstone, the organisation of the new FOTA championship could be placed in the hands of the International Management Group (IMG), the world's premier and most diversified sports, entertainment and media company."
Wow! If this is true, Fota are really serious.
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Why does Max Mosley always make me so angry? Oh yes, it's because he's a liar!
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"Now the race has a new enemy in the local archaeologists, who are reported to have found an important archaeological site, dating from 13,000 years ago. It is said that this is one of the richest such sites ever found in France and that similar finds have been classified as historic monuments."
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"On the Thursday before the race I was fortunate enough to be able to drop in to see Nick Wirth in Bicester. The visit was planned long before I knew that Wirth was involved with the Manor F1 team… Nick and I talked a lot about F1 (funnily enough) and much of what he said made sense but the most impressive thing for me was the people I bumped into when I was going from office to office. These were serious people from some of the serious teams and I quickly realised that while some of the teams listed by the FIA were “paper tigers”, Manor Grand Prix is not one of them."
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Very interesting thoughts on developing the car from Martin Whitmarsh. Sounds like his inexperience is hurting the team a bit.
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Ed Gorman's latest take on political matters.
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"The Times understands that Mosley is prepared to countenance not standing for re-election as president this October but only if what is seen by him as the attack on the FIA's authority by the Formula One Teams Association (Fota) comes to an end.
"The impression gained from authoritative sources is that Mosley is expecting Luca Di Montezemolo, the president of Fota, to set out his case over the crisis in the sport at a hearing of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council in Paris tomorrow.
"The way this is handled could be critical to Mosley's future. If he feels that Di Montezemolo is making a personal attack and an attack on the FIA as whole, Mosley will consider that he has no choice but to stand again. "
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"Oh and by the way, apart from KERS, why did Adrian Sutil have to start the race from the pit lane, why do the cars carry different fuel loads, why are they obliged to change tyre compounds during the race, or are they? We must be told. "
This isn't the fault of the BBC's commentary. This is just a who's who of the FIA's bad rules introduced in recent years.
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"At Silverstone over the weekend [Max and Bernie] turned from masters of all they survey to dictators under siege. Facing the last days of imperial power, they flailed about them with the first weapons that came to hand, inventing positions before abandoning them in full retreat.
"When they realised that, for the first time in their experience, they were facing a genuine threat to their joint autocracy, the pair broke records for the fastest 180-degree turns in grand prix history. If the eight rebel members of the Formula One Teams' Association had needed early proof of the success of their threat to walk out and stage a new series of their own, here it was."
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Interesting thoughts from Red Bull's design legend
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It's from The Guardian, but I'm not sure I'd trust it at this early stage. It will surely take longer to organise a calendar from scratch.
