1.3.09

Well a month has passed since my last round-up of F1 News. Now as then, the future of Honda F1 Racing is the top story. Last Monday the parent company said that there is no serious buyer in prospect and the only hope involves a Ross Brawn/Nick Fry management buy-out, this would involve Bruno Senna (whom the team tested back in November) backed by Brazilian money, an advance of TV money from FOM and some support from Honda. The latest is that an announcement is imminent and a car, with Mercedes engine, will test at Silverstone next week. There are reports of mutiny in the team, many of whom are said to fear they will lose their jobs anyway and will be worse off than if closure had occurred in December.

We've also had had that oldest of chestnuts.....Virgin, said to be considering a bid together with Prodrive (and former BAR team) boss Dave Richards. Whatever you think of Richard Branson, thus far he has managing to resist F1's allures, at least in any serious way despite being the ripest of targets for that F1 sport of pocket-emptying. Was Virgin about to be deflowered by rapacious F1 at last? But no, after a week or so in the headlines Branson skipped coyly out of reach, saying there was no way Virgin could become involved until teams were self-financing and the cars greener, so it looks like he cleverly turned an approach from Honda F1 into yet another exercise in self-publicity. Was it really 23 years ago he accepted the role of Litter Czar from Margaret Thatcher? Talking of hype, the "launch" of a US based F1 team has received great publicity. So far there has been an ocean of words, but no deeds that I can see.

It has been reported that Messrs. Brawn and Fry did turn down a bid from another billionaire. Mr B C Ecclestone says he offered $100m for a stake in the team. It may well have been that the potential conflict of interest between the roles of team owner/commercial rights holder would have made the deal impossible, but maybe it would have gone ahead. Bernie being one jump ahead, as normal, could have been thinking of Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz's opinion that F1 teams should have a stake in F1's ownership. If Bernie had bought into the team, I wonder if he'd got on to Gordon Murray, Charlie Whiting and Herbie Blash, "We're putting the band back together".

The other of the two figures who have long-dominated F1 was hardly out of the news either earlier in the month. Max Mosely said that he may now stand for re-election as FIA President in October, despite previously stating that he would stand down. He also rubbished rumours that former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Sir Fred Goodwin was in the running for the job. Mosley said "Sir Fred called me to say it was all nonsense. He was obviously rather embarrassed. The interesting thing is where it (the rumours) could have come from. It has to be someone with some kind of connection to F1. He's got to have some connection with Scotland. He's got to have no understanding of how F1 or the FIA work, and he has to be unusually stupid. There's at least one person who ticks all those boxes." I don't think he means Rab C Nesbitt.

Next Mosely said he had a good idea who'd tipped off the The Screws about his private stuff, but is not yet ready to reveal all. The next day he said that the FIA would be willing to help keep the British GP. Essentially, the agreement with Bernie is that there cannot be a calendar that eliminates the "traditional" races (Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Monaco and Belgium) without the FIA's agreement, BUT this is dependant on those countries offering a realistic rate to stage their race. There is no French GP this year, but Mosley said that the French organisers had not approached the FIA for help. This issue is of particular concern to British fans as most have little faith that Donington Park will be able to stage the British GP in 2010, despite its Chief Executive's protestations to the contrary and Bernie saying that if it is not ready then the race cannot be transferred to Silverstone.

It's rare that Mosely says anything fans agree with but the very next day he made it two in a row by saying that the F1 drivers' row over the cost of their Superlicences was "nonsense". This season the cost has gone up to €10,400 plus €2,100 per point scored, meaning Lewis Hamilton will have to fork out €216,200. To be fair to Lewis, he has said there is no chance in him joining in any putative drivers' strike. Most fans will have zero sympathy with the drivers, spoiled b******* is one phrase that springs to mind and another is that sometimes you just have to pay up and look big. On Thursday the GPDA announced that they will do the former but not the latter.

Most drivers are overpaid and hang around for ever, achieving little. This year, unless Honda is saved and appoints Senna, there will be just one new face on the grid, Red Bull protégé Swiss Sebastien Buemi at Toro Rosso. Bernie is keen to have the Senna name back in F1, but it's hard to see why, Bruno's done OK but is by no means the talent his uncle was.

A real sublime driving talent has been in the wars, with Michael Schumacher falling off a Honda Fireblade whilst testing for the German Superbike Championship. Don't do it Schuey! If you must do something risky, at least do it in something with four wheels. It does look like his role as a Ferrari F1 tester has been quietly forgotten. One cannot imagine either of the regular piloti being keen on the constant threat of being overshadowed.

One driver who has finally gone from the grid at long last is Crazy Dave Coolthud. He too has been in the news, practicing for his new role as paddock pundit for BBC TV. In a brilliantly incisive statement, he warned Jenson Button that his F1 career could be over unless Honda F1 finds a buyer. One is reminded of Basil Fawlty saying his wife Sybil's specialized subject on 'Mastermind' would be "The bleedin' obvious". I must fit new batteries to the TV remote and keep it close at hand so that the set can be swiftly muted whenever CD appears. However the good news about the BBC TV coverage is that they are going to bring back "The Chain"!

Amongst all this the new Red Bull RB5 appeared, and striking it is too. Superstar designer Adrian Newey said that he had enjoyed the challenge of the radical change in this year's regulations but in general he is not as interested in F1 because of increasing restriction. Astonishingly, his views were echoed by Max Mosley who said he believes that it has been a mistake to make the rules so tight. What's this, an admission of error from the FIA President? Then he said "It's a fault with the regulations.....they have constricted the areas where they can work to keep speeds and costs under control to the point where you get the best returns by endlessly refining every single component of the car." THEY ??

The majority of the teams tested at Jerez, but Ferrari, Toyota and BMW headed off to Bahrain in search of warmer weather, more representative of the season when it starts. On occasion they were thwarted by fog and sandstorms, but did get some serious running in. I'm delighted to say that Ferrari emerged on top, with Raikkonen and Massa setting almost identical times a tenth ahead of Heidfeld in the Bimmer and Trulli in the Prius, sorry Corolla; Ferrari and BMW ran KERS, Toyota did not.

Over in Spain Hamilton and McLaren were quickest of the '09 cars, though Macca were running an '08 wing set to give '09 downforce levels. He was a comfortable quarter of a second ahead of Alonso in the plug-ugly Renault R29. Vettel was third in the svelte Red Bull ahead of Kovalainen and the two Williams. It's too early to draw anything from this but it's interesting that Ferrari and McLaren are on top. It's also interesting that there has been a bit of old-fashioned technical controversy, with Toyota and Williams cleverly using rear crash structures to augment the size of their diffusers. Happily, the FIA have left them alone - for now.

Renault sponsor, Dutch bankers ING have announced that they are scaling down their involvement in F1 with immediate effect and pulling out altogether at the end of the year. RBS will do the same at Williams at the end of 2010. Meanwhile, as they are effectively using British taxpayers money, maybe they should paint the FW31 British Racing Green and it should become our national team. I'd much rather my tax money went to them than the London Olympics. As a sponsor, I look forward watching the Williams' whizzing round Silverstone whilst raising a glass of fizz in the Formula One Paddock Club to celebrate Frank's 40th anniversary in F1 and the 30th anniversary of his first win, also at Silverstone with Regga driving. As for who should drive today - there is only one possible answer - The Stig!

Only four weeks now 'til Oz!