F1 Insider - French Grand Prix
Discussion
I Get forwarded these, thought you guys might enjoy a read.
Once again the centre of France awakens to the roar of Formula One cars and here’s what the drivers, teams and media have to say about this weekend’s race;
The hot favourite to win this weekend is Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. Why? Here’s just a few statistics you should consider before you go and place a friendly wager. Ferrari have been successful at seven of the past eleven French Grands Prix (64%) and had a 1-2 finish here last year. Not only did Kimi win here last year but he has finished all seven French Grands Prix that he has participated in. One final reason is that Kimi has had two bad races in a row and he will not have three poor races on the trot. In fact his mental attitude is quite strong this weekend as he recently told a group of F1 Insiders, “This is where I started my championship turnaround last year and it is where I plan to start it again this year.”
Strike, Strike, Strike, that was the main words used in most of today’s UK press articles on Formula One. It seems the British media have had a little too much of the French grape over the past few days and decided that the biggest story was the potential Formula One driver’s strike. The FIA and Max Mosley who should keep a low profile in the opinion of many on pit lane has decided to substantially increase the Super License fee for all F1 drivers betting that the public won’t have much sympathy for the typically well paid F1 drivers. The British media have created the story that the British GP could be in jeopardy as they drivers may “Strike” to protest the proposed massive increases. The entire situation was best summed up by one very senior team principal who told me, “There will not be a strike. The GPDA (Grand Prix Divers Association) is just not well organized; even Lewis Hamilton isn’t a member. Besides during the next contract negotiation most drivers with clever agents will simply require the team to pay for his Super License. The ridiculous part is this will add to a team’s budget and Mosley has been banging on about all teams having a budget cap and he is turning out to be the one to actually raise our costs!”
Bernie Ecclestone’s daughter Tamara is turning out to be this year’s pit lane sensation as she is working on the Sky Italia broadcasts. Tamara is obviously well informed about the sport but many have said the real appeal she has been having with viewers is using her substantial knowledge of the drivers and the players within Formula One to gain valuable insight and then packaging that insight into race day anecdotes that are putting some very experienced pit lane reporters to shame. One executive at a major broadcaster told me, “Keep an eye on Tamara as she could be the future of F1 broadcasting!”
One F1 Insider overheard a great “Billy Bob” conversation between David Coulthard and Jarno Trulli who both visited NASCAR races recently while traveling to and from the Canadian Grand Prix. While they had trouble understanding some of the stronger southern US accents they felt that NASCAR might play a role in their future!
Speaking of Bernie he has bitten back at the FIA’s attempt to control the sport. FIA president Max Mosley has so far refused to sign a new Concorde Agreement, which has left the teams unhappy that (as things stand) the FIA has absolute power over the rules In the previous Concorde Agreement, which ran from 1981 to 2007, teams had a central role in the determination of the rules and are now considering splitting from the FIA. Ecclestone feels that a new agreement needs to be sorted quickly between all parties 'for stability', but has said he would not be involved in any way with a breakaway championship. "I told the teams, if they wish to break away, then do it, but we couldn't be part of it," Ecclestone said. "What this has come down to is, if we don't get a Concorde Agreement, what is going to happen?" he added. "[For the teams], it was simply, 'we don't have any links with the FIA, and if we want to do our own thing, we can always do our own thing'. "But we couldn't [endorse that] even if we wanted to.”
Poor Vijay Mallya, the ForceIndia team owner’s got a bad case of the mid-season blues. This very emotive and passionate man doesn’t know where to turn because he genuinely felt he would have better results this year and the bad breaks the team has suffered so far (like Monaco) have worn him down. One solution being talked about very privately is to have Flavio Briatore take minority ownership in the team at the end of this year when his Renault contract runs out. Sounds crazy? Remember Flavio recently brought Vijay into a minority ownership of his football team, Queens Park Rangers and Vijay may just return the favor.
Robert Kubica is perhaps the most humble and most realistic Formula One race winner in recent memory. He has a great car and he has a team and quite frankly he is a great driver. A number of team leaders have told me that if you put Kubica in a McLaren he would beat Lewis Hamilton at least 8 out of 10 times. But what does Kubica have to say about his recent victory in Montreal and his chances for winning the world championship this year? Robert recently told a group of Polish friends, “I’m realistic and don’t put me up as a title contender. Kimi should worry about Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa not me.”
Is the media turning on Lewis Hamilton? The rumblings from British media in Magny Cours are that “…something has changed with Lewis…something is different…” Long before this weekend the non-British F1 media have been saying they felt Lewis was acting as though winning the F1 World Championship was his right and he had crossed the border from confidence to arrogance. One group felt that perhaps it was that Lewis was not “worldly enough” and did little to understand cultures outside of his home country. But a group of F1 Insiders tell me what may have turned the tide with the British media is when they witnessed Lewis’ abrupt response at yesterday’s French GP press conference from Anne Guitini of the highly respected L’Equipe newspaper. In her typical soft approach Anne asked Lewis, “Sorry to disturb you, Lewis, but is it what you call a small incident involving Kimi being a victim? Is it smaller than a mistake that would annoy only you?” And in front of the gathered media of more than 100 Lewis snapped back , “That’s what I just said!”
One very prescient UK media type and F1 observer told me the only thing wrong with Lewis was his inability to speak “…the plain truth.” As one example he reconstructed two TV interviews Lewis did at the Canadian GP. The one prior to the race he made fun of this father for smashing a Porsche “…while only doing 30 miles per hour.” The second interview shortly after his pit lane crash doing about 30 miles, Lewis said everything except it was his fault. This veteran F1 observer told me that it would have been much better to simply admit the pit lane incident was his fault and maybe blame it on making fun of his father’s prior accident!
Once again the centre of France awakens to the roar of Formula One cars and here’s what the drivers, teams and media have to say about this weekend’s race;
The hot favourite to win this weekend is Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. Why? Here’s just a few statistics you should consider before you go and place a friendly wager. Ferrari have been successful at seven of the past eleven French Grands Prix (64%) and had a 1-2 finish here last year. Not only did Kimi win here last year but he has finished all seven French Grands Prix that he has participated in. One final reason is that Kimi has had two bad races in a row and he will not have three poor races on the trot. In fact his mental attitude is quite strong this weekend as he recently told a group of F1 Insiders, “This is where I started my championship turnaround last year and it is where I plan to start it again this year.”
Strike, Strike, Strike, that was the main words used in most of today’s UK press articles on Formula One. It seems the British media have had a little too much of the French grape over the past few days and decided that the biggest story was the potential Formula One driver’s strike. The FIA and Max Mosley who should keep a low profile in the opinion of many on pit lane has decided to substantially increase the Super License fee for all F1 drivers betting that the public won’t have much sympathy for the typically well paid F1 drivers. The British media have created the story that the British GP could be in jeopardy as they drivers may “Strike” to protest the proposed massive increases. The entire situation was best summed up by one very senior team principal who told me, “There will not be a strike. The GPDA (Grand Prix Divers Association) is just not well organized; even Lewis Hamilton isn’t a member. Besides during the next contract negotiation most drivers with clever agents will simply require the team to pay for his Super License. The ridiculous part is this will add to a team’s budget and Mosley has been banging on about all teams having a budget cap and he is turning out to be the one to actually raise our costs!”
Bernie Ecclestone’s daughter Tamara is turning out to be this year’s pit lane sensation as she is working on the Sky Italia broadcasts. Tamara is obviously well informed about the sport but many have said the real appeal she has been having with viewers is using her substantial knowledge of the drivers and the players within Formula One to gain valuable insight and then packaging that insight into race day anecdotes that are putting some very experienced pit lane reporters to shame. One executive at a major broadcaster told me, “Keep an eye on Tamara as she could be the future of F1 broadcasting!”
One F1 Insider overheard a great “Billy Bob” conversation between David Coulthard and Jarno Trulli who both visited NASCAR races recently while traveling to and from the Canadian Grand Prix. While they had trouble understanding some of the stronger southern US accents they felt that NASCAR might play a role in their future!
Speaking of Bernie he has bitten back at the FIA’s attempt to control the sport. FIA president Max Mosley has so far refused to sign a new Concorde Agreement, which has left the teams unhappy that (as things stand) the FIA has absolute power over the rules In the previous Concorde Agreement, which ran from 1981 to 2007, teams had a central role in the determination of the rules and are now considering splitting from the FIA. Ecclestone feels that a new agreement needs to be sorted quickly between all parties 'for stability', but has said he would not be involved in any way with a breakaway championship. "I told the teams, if they wish to break away, then do it, but we couldn't be part of it," Ecclestone said. "What this has come down to is, if we don't get a Concorde Agreement, what is going to happen?" he added. "[For the teams], it was simply, 'we don't have any links with the FIA, and if we want to do our own thing, we can always do our own thing'. "But we couldn't [endorse that] even if we wanted to.”
Poor Vijay Mallya, the ForceIndia team owner’s got a bad case of the mid-season blues. This very emotive and passionate man doesn’t know where to turn because he genuinely felt he would have better results this year and the bad breaks the team has suffered so far (like Monaco) have worn him down. One solution being talked about very privately is to have Flavio Briatore take minority ownership in the team at the end of this year when his Renault contract runs out. Sounds crazy? Remember Flavio recently brought Vijay into a minority ownership of his football team, Queens Park Rangers and Vijay may just return the favor.
Robert Kubica is perhaps the most humble and most realistic Formula One race winner in recent memory. He has a great car and he has a team and quite frankly he is a great driver. A number of team leaders have told me that if you put Kubica in a McLaren he would beat Lewis Hamilton at least 8 out of 10 times. But what does Kubica have to say about his recent victory in Montreal and his chances for winning the world championship this year? Robert recently told a group of Polish friends, “I’m realistic and don’t put me up as a title contender. Kimi should worry about Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa not me.”
Is the media turning on Lewis Hamilton? The rumblings from British media in Magny Cours are that “…something has changed with Lewis…something is different…” Long before this weekend the non-British F1 media have been saying they felt Lewis was acting as though winning the F1 World Championship was his right and he had crossed the border from confidence to arrogance. One group felt that perhaps it was that Lewis was not “worldly enough” and did little to understand cultures outside of his home country. But a group of F1 Insiders tell me what may have turned the tide with the British media is when they witnessed Lewis’ abrupt response at yesterday’s French GP press conference from Anne Guitini of the highly respected L’Equipe newspaper. In her typical soft approach Anne asked Lewis, “Sorry to disturb you, Lewis, but is it what you call a small incident involving Kimi being a victim? Is it smaller than a mistake that would annoy only you?” And in front of the gathered media of more than 100 Lewis snapped back , “That’s what I just said!”
One very prescient UK media type and F1 observer told me the only thing wrong with Lewis was his inability to speak “…the plain truth.” As one example he reconstructed two TV interviews Lewis did at the Canadian GP. The one prior to the race he made fun of this father for smashing a Porsche “…while only doing 30 miles per hour.” The second interview shortly after his pit lane crash doing about 30 miles, Lewis said everything except it was his fault. This veteran F1 observer told me that it would have been much better to simply admit the pit lane incident was his fault and maybe blame it on making fun of his father’s prior accident!
It is/was spoof "magazine". Many years ago it was posted on usenet in one of the F1 groups.
Do a search and you should find examples as follows:
F1 Insider
KJR
Do a search and you should find examples as follows:
F1 Insider
KJR
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