Formula One News — March 2009

The FIA World Council has been meeting today in Paris and has ruled the that there will be the possibility for F1 teams to compete with cars built and operated within a stringent budget cap of $42m.

The FIA World Council meets today to decide on important issues facing the sport as a result of the ongoing economic crisis. The feeling in FIA circles is that the threat to the sport is unprecedented and that we have probably yet to see the full extent of the crisis.

Rubens Barrichello topped the timesheets at the end of the first day of running at the final pre-season test, taking place this week at Jerez de la Frontera. The Brawn-Mercedes driver completed 300 miles of running on Sunday, setting a best time of 1m19.236s.

The planned Formula 1 circuit at Flins-Mureaux, near Mantes-la-Jolie to the west of Paris, is aiming to become the home of the French Grand Prix in 2011. There is still some scepticism in France regarding the project but the design of the new facility is very interesting and sets new standards in terms of ecological design standards.

The speed of the Brawn-Mercedes has taken everyone by surprise and while there may be a certain amount of showmanship involved, it is clear that the car is good and may even be good enough to race for victories.

Pierre Bedier, the president of the Yvelines Conseil General has revealed details of the planned F1 factory at Flins-Les Mureaux, in the Seine Valley to the west of Paris. Bedier said that the French firm of Wilmotte et Associes has presented the best project, which includes the circuit design by the British firm Apex, which designed the Dubai Autodrome and is involved with a number of other circuit designs around the world.

Ross Brawn has confirmed that Brawn GP is not owned wholly by him and that there are four others involved in the team. These are chief executive Nick Fry, financial director Nigel Kerr, legal counsel Caroline McGrory and HR director John Marsden.

For all of those who think that Formula 1 may be immune to the recession, it is worth noting that in the United States, Roush Fenway Racing, which has won two of the four NASCAR Sprint Cup races so far this year, is reporting that its sponsors are already asking for help for next season - despite the fact that there are solid contracts in place with most of them.

FIA President Max Mosley appeared before the Parliamentary Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport to give evidence in relation to its inquiry into "Press Standards, Privacy and Libel".

Brendon Hartley, the 19-year-old New Zealand driver, will be reserve driver for both Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2009.

The BMW Sauber team has concluded an interesting deal with the software company Artificial Life to deliver a BMW Sauber F1 Team racing game to users of the Apple iPhone and Apple iPod Touch devices.

Singapore enterpreneur Ong Beng Seng has a large business empire. He owns hotels all around the world while also controlling a number of important franchises in Asia, notably in the fashion world, the restaurant business and in the automobile trade.

Today in Barcelona all 10 Formula 1 teams ran together for the first time this year but it is still a little early to suggest what is going to happen in Australia. The day's testing ended with Nick Heidfeld fastest in the BMW Sauber. He was six-tenths of a second ahead of the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, which is the kind of gap one can only imagine has something to do with fuel loads.

The new Brawn GP team is reported to have landed funding from the Austrian online betting company Bwin Interactive Entertainment. This would explain why there was so many delays with Honda agreeing to sell the team as online gambling remains problematical in legal terms in many countries although others have concluded that it is impossible to control and have started to issue licences.

The Scuderia Toro Rosso STR4 has been unveiled at the Circuit de Catalunya this morning. The car will take part in four days of testing at the circuit with Sebastien Bourdaais doing the first two days and then handing over to Sebastien Buemi. The car is a co-production of Red Bull Technology and Toro Rosso and is fitted with a Ferrari V8 engine as opposed to the Renault used by Red Bull Racing.

Towards the end of last week the accounting firm Deloitte & Touche wrote in an annual report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that General Motors's "recurring losses from operations, stockholders™ deficit and inability to generate sufficient cash flow to meet its obligations and sustain its operations raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern".

The change in the Formula 1 rules means that the sport is looking at a potential shake-up of the established order, but the testing in recent weeks has been very difficult to read and it has become clear that some teams are avoiding showing their hand until the Australian GP, while others are going for times in order to achieve other goals (such as selling sponsorship).

After months of waiting Honda has finally announced that its F1 team in Brackley has been sold to Ross Brawn. Honda did not give details of the new ownership structure but it is believed that this involved several other members of the Honda Racing F1 management.

The FOTA press conference in Geneva may be viewed as an historical event in the longer term, but the actual details of what was said was not really extraordinary. FOTA president Luca di Montezemolo said that all teams are prepared to commit to signing a new Concorde Agreement, locking them into Formula 1 until the end of 2012, but it was clear that after that there will need to be concessions by the Formula One group.

The Belgian Grand Prix last year lost $4.7m. The race day attendance was just 52,000, which was 10,000 down on the previous year. The race at Spa is seen as a major tourist event in the region and is funded by the government, but with such losses it will become hard to justify, particularly if the numbers do not get better in 2008.

BMW Sauber has announced a partnership with foreign exchange company FxPro. The company logos will be seen on the front wing and side mirrors a

The USF1 team has got off to a troublesome start with Formula One Management objecting to the use of "F1", which it claims to own. The Formula One group likes to put TM signs on all mentions but this means little more than the fact that the trademark has been applied for, and even have been refused.

It has been expected for a while, particularly given that this year's Renault F1 is not looking like a world-beater, but Renault has now officially said that it will quit F1 unless the team receives a bigger share of F1's revenues.

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on the Ile de Notre Dame in Montreal has long been a favourite venue of the Formula 1 circus. And tens of thousands of F1 fans from across the United States have regularly made the pilgrimage to the city to enjoy the race and the party atmosphere that has been so successfully developed in the last 10 years.

Adding to the belief that Honda Racing F1 will be rebadged as Brawn Racing is the news from official filings that Caroline McGrory has been appointed the company secretary. This follows the news last week that McGrory registered the Internet domain names brawnracing.com and brawnracing.co.uk.