Shocking news that will shock many F1 supporters is that automaker, Toyota Motor Corporation have announced its immediate withdrawal from Formula One.
The decision once again has caught Formula One by surprise, with the team signing the 2009 Concorde Agreement, about the future of the sport it was therefore widely assumed that the Toyota team would be fully committed to Formula One until the end of 2012.
The company president Akio Toyoda told the press the TMC would withdraw from Formula One because they needed to cut the costs and needed to focus on its core business, and added that this was a very painful decision for the company.
General Motors have reversed its decision to sell its European arm, Vauxhall-Opel. It had agreed to sell a majority stake to a consortium led by the parts maker Magna, a bid that was supported by a large share of money from Russia’s state bank.
GM says the eleventh-hour decision to keep Vauxhall-Opel has been made because it can now see its way to being profitable in the US. This is possible because earlier this year it went through bankruptcy in the States, slimmed itself down and shook off debt. It also says the car business is turning the corner in Europe.
After winning both the F1 drivers and constructors championships it’s no wonder that Ross Brawn can be ecstatic about the team’s performance in their first year in F1.
It is absolutely astounding that a team that rose from Honda’s ashes at the start of the season could have performed so spectacularly brilliantly, especially in the first half of the season. But Ross Brawn says he also has high hopes for next season given that they had to overcome many more issues before the start of last season and the car was still the best on the track.
It remains to be seen if Brawn can regain the advantage they had at the start of the season, but if next season is only half as goo as this season it won’t really matter. This year has brought the fun back into F1.
With the future of F1 in Britain still in doubt after Donnington Park was unable to prove funding for the development of the circuit, British F1 ex-world champion Damon Hill has stated that even Silverstone – the home of F1 in Britain for the last 20 years may not be able to stand in to host the race due to competition from other countries who have better funding and infrastructure already in place.
In an interview with BBC Radio 5 live he stated:
“F1 can go anywhere in the world and get a huge amount of money,”
With British drivers winning two F1 Championships in the last three years, the exclusion of Britain from holding a race will be a major body blow to the sport in the UK. Discussions are currently taking place and hopefully a resolution will be found soon.
We brought you news last week about the prospective future of new F1 World champion Jenson Button. The newly crowned Brawn hero had yet to sign a deal with his winning team for 2010 and speculation was rife surrounding his position in the team.
News just reaches us that Button has now emerged as a contender for a drive alongside fellow Brit Lewis Hamilton at McLaren. The first choice to replace Hamilton’s current partner Heikki Kovalainen would be Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen who has yet to decide his future after being ousted from the team to make way for Fernando Alonso. And although he would be McLarens first choice, having Button at the team next year alongside Hamilton would be a mouth watering prospect for all F1 fans.
We mentioned in an earlier article that Silverstone may get a last chance to host the F1 Grand Prix next year after worries that Donnington would not be able to hold the event.
The latest deadline that Donnington had to show it had the necessary funds in place has now passed (1200 GMT). That means that Silverstone may now get the chance to host the GP they thought they had lost earlier in the year.
Silverstone has been F1’s stomping ground in Britain since 1987 and has seen many track and circuit developments over the years, whereas Donnington has only hosted one race in the last 20 years, the European grand prix in 1993.
Jenson Button has only just won the F1 World Championship and speculation has already started surrounding his seat at the team next season.
Button has yet to sign a deal with Brawn for 2010 and is still in the monetary discussion phase of contract negotiations. He has pointed out that he is not as expensive as some other F1 drivers and feels he belongs with the team. He took a pay cut when Brawn took over from Honda from £8 million to just £3 million. But now being F1 champion could alter the salary he thinks he deserves. Brawn chief executive Nick Fry hopes that Jenson will renew his deal and actually joked that being champion may well now make him more expensive.
The Brit has done a brilliant job for the Brawn team this year and fans of the sport will hope he continues his career with Brawn and keeps on producing championship winning performances.
After all the pressure and all the questions surrounding Jenson Button’s challenge for the F1 World Championship, the Brit produced a championship winning performance at Sao Paulo yesterday.
Main rival Rubens Barrichello suffered a rear puncture late on which meant he could only finish in eighth place and with Jenson storming through the pack from a disappointing starting grid position of 14th to finish above his rival in fifth, the race to be champion was over.
Jenson started the season perfectly winning six out of the first seven races but the Brawn car (and Button himself) has not been performing well enough recently putting his title bid in doubt. All was forgotten yesterday when Button finally fulfilled his potential and gave Brawn a World Champion and constructors Championship title in their first season in F1.
A name synonymous with F1 but that has not featured in any F1 race since 1994 is Lotus. But next season they are going to feature alongside three other new entrants.
The team are currently preparing to wind test a full scale model of their 2010 race car and hope all glitches will be ironed out before full scale pre season testing which will take place at the end of February. The season begins in Bahrain in mid march.
The Malaysian funded team will be using Cosworth engines and speculation is still rife on the driver line up. The team hopes to establish themselves into the F1 fold at the start of the season and then hopes performances will improve as the season progresses.
Silverstone may be allowed to step in if Donington Park do not comply with stipulated criteria set out when the British Grad Prix was given to the circuit organisers Donington Ventures Leisure. The company had until the end of September to prove it has funds in place and has fulfilled legal and planning constraints to develop the circuit to meet current standards. It has however up till now not provided any assurances that this is in place.
Motor racing at Donington Park stopped last month so the proposed development could take place. Unconfirmed reports state that Donington boss Simon Gillett has only two weeks to remedy the problems before Silverstone will be given its opportunity at holding the premier event in the UKs motor racing calendar.