F1

[Doobrey]

As much as I hate to admit it,I feel pretty bad for Bernie.
He was stuck between a rock and hard place with Mosley refusing to budge on a compromise.

I guess after the Paris hearing we'll know more.
Knowing what a jumped up little dictator Mosley is, I bet he'd do something stupid like ban all the Michelin teams for a couple of races  :-o

Maybe the teams will decide enoughs enough and bring forward the GPWC idea to 2007 ? Dunno if the Concorde Agreement allows them to do this though..but then what can the FIA do? Ban them from a series they no longer want to race in?

[Vincent]

Doobrey wrote:
Maybe the teams will decide enoughs enough and bring forward the GPWC idea to 2007 ? Dunno if the Concorde Agreement allows them to do this though..but then what can the FIA do? Ban them from a series they no longer want to race in?

He would probably be able to sue them for no-showing, creating a 1 team F1 season, not honouring the concord agreement until the end of 2008...

There's probably loads of things Mosley could sue for.  He probably would too.

I'd agree with Abou77 with putting Bernie in charge.  He actually talks to the teams all the time, so he'd know better than anyone how to run things smoothly.

[Vincent]

James Allen's USGP verdict:

How close did the Sunday morning meeting come to finding a solution?

Not close at all. I understand that at one point it was suggested that the Michelin cars should drive “slowly” around Turn 13, even using pit lane speed limiters.

Considering that the Bridgestone cars would have been doing 190mph, that would surely have been more dangerous than exploding tyres!

If the debate was on that kind of level you can see why a load of vastly experienced men failed to see common sense.

If you’d had a dozen middle-aged women in there, the problem would have been sorted in 20 minutes.

:lol:

[Doobrey]

Well maybe it's time to get Mrs.Mosley to meet the team bosses wives now..
F1 teams may boycott more races

"Would we race after a (heavy) penalty? I think we'd have a meeting and you wouldn't guarantee it," Stoddart said.

But FIA president Max Mosley countered: "The governing body will always win."
"If it emerges that the guilt of certain teams is of a certain level, then a ban will be justified," he told the newspaper. "There are various other possibilities - points being deducted, a fine or reprimand."

[PMC]

Mosley would be most unwise to declare war on the teams, there's too much at stake right now.

If Minardi's financial situation is as dire as many say then a fine might tip them over the edge.  Meanwhile we have McLaren, Williams, Toyota, Sauber (now BMW), Red Bull and BAR who all withdrew from the race on safety grounds.  Can Mosley really cry foul on safety grounds, yet bring charges of disrepute on teams who didn't race for the same reason?

Damon Hill summed it up perfectly in Top Gear yesterday when he said "something's smelled bad in F1 for years, but now it positively stinks".  

[Vincent]

PMC wrote:
If Minardi's financial situation is as dire as many say then a fine might tip them over the edge.

Minardi shouldn't be fined - they're bridgestone runners.  It's only the michelin teams that will be penalised.

[Doobrey]

Vincent wrote:
Minardi shouldn't be fined - they're bridgestone runners.  It's only the michelin teams that will be penalised.

But who's the one always {bleep}ing and moaning about the FIA?
..and who tried legal threats against the FIA at Australia?
..and acting/behaving like a spokesman for all the team bosses at the USGP?

I'd hazzard a guess and say Minardi are on Mosley's {bleep}list too.

"Would we race after a (heavy) penalty? I think we'd have a meeting and you wouldn't guarantee it," Stoddart said.

Yes, go on strike boys!

I'd love it if the drivers in the number one capitalist spectator sport all went on strike.

I can see Clarkson and Littlejohn ranting about it now. :lol:

[Vincent]

Doobrey wrote:
I'd hazzard a guess and say Minardi are on Mosley's {bleep}list too.

Yes, but I doubt there's anything they can do about it ;-)

If Minardi were to be punished then they'd have to punish Jordan too - something I can't see happening.

[Vincent]

BBC

Punishment has been deferred until 14th September.

Don't know what it'll be, but Mosley says it'll be financial penalties for the 7 teams and not points deducted.  It would be points only if it was an illegal performance benefit.

Michelin will not be punished (they weren't at the meeting and were never invited to it either - only the 7 teams were there) but they have said that they'll refund the punters.

The teams were found guilty of 2 of the 5 charges.

-edit-
Refund

[blobrana]

Hum,
The first Turkish GP starts tomorrow,
Grid placement race on right now…

[Abou27]

Ah, yes, qualifying?!


Loads of bottomming(?)-out today. Will this be penalised or will it depend on how many, or which of the teams are affected?

(i.e. Alonso is a likely candidate for disqualification)

Brialliantly unpredictable circuit, looks like it should be a fantastic race tomorrow!

[Doobrey]

Abou27 wrote:
Brialliantly unpredictable circuit, looks like it should be a fantastic race tomorrow!

You're right about the circuit, it from what I read it's getting bumpier the more it's used. What the hell that'd do to the wear on the wooden planks if it gets worse during the race is anyones guess.How will the stewards/FIA handle any excessive wear spotted in scrutineering?

BTW, is it just me or does anyone think BAR are being a smidge hypocritical about the Button/Williams situation?
 Last year it ended up at the CRB to force Button to race for BAR for this year. Now Williams apparently have Button under contract for next year, BAR are saying "Jenson shouldn't be forced to race for a team that he doesn't want to be in."  :lol:

[Abou27]

@Doobrey

Yeah, I hope Frank Williams has the resolve to put the spoilt brat in his place.  Looking promising at the moment.  He ain't doing his image any good, though.  Presonally, I can recognise him to be a good driver but his supercilious attitude out of car makes me dislike him intensely.  He was like it in his first year in F1 - way too {bleep}y in interviews.  Kinda wound me up.  But of course, I'm just one side of the coin; I'm sure many admire these traits!

Good race. McLaren worringly quick.  Hard to judge imapct of third driver (particularly at unknown track) - one of the most stupid rules in F1.  Will take the edge off for me if Raikkonen wins Championship.  What do others think?

[Bezzen]

I think everyone should have a third driver on track. And then they should ban private testing to cut costs. And all the third drivers should be allowed to qualify for the last four open slots on the grid. They wouldn't race for constructors points, off course. That way we would have a nice full grid with some of the up and coming drivers and costs would be drasticly cut due to no private testing days.

Anyway. I guess the big teams would never allow that to happen (Ferrari in particular seem to love the private testing), but I think it'd be nice.  :-D

[Vincent]

All the teams except Ferrari agreed to cut testing this season, so a ban on private testing will forever be out of the question.