photo credit: Flickr/eltham_mob

It turns out Force India was so rattled by what happened upon the team’s arrival in Bahrain, they briefly considered withdrawing from the race last night.

In return for them probably considering this and actually pulling out of second practice, the team’s cars were apparently very absent from live feeds throughout qualifying today.

Classy, FOM. When questioned, Bernie Ecclestone said nobody wants to see who is in tenth place.

Note: Fernando Alonso starts 9th. Kimi Raikkonen starts 11th. Does nobody care who is in 11th place?

Bernie also tried to blame the alcohol advertisements on the car, however, Red Bull has also kept theirs on the car. To add to the “try to get out of this one, jerk” fuel, Force India was given the okay to keep their sponsor’s ads on the car.

Other low level teams are worried about their safety as they have not been offered or do not have the funds for the level of security teams like McLaren and Red Bull can get.

A protester was found dead before the start of Saturday’s events. He was identified as Salah Abbas Habib Musa, and he had taken part in one of the peaceful protests that turned violent with police action.

Track protests are apparently planned for tomorrow. Hopefully everyone stays safe.

If you would like actual qualifying news, well, Sebastian Vettel is back on top. And it’s hard for me to take the high road about this whole thing because of it, but I could be far worse off.

As we get closer to the Chinese Grand Prix, more news about the situation in Bahrain comes forward.
Some teams have apparently given their personnel alternate tickets just in case the Grand Prix in Bahrain is cancelled. There will probably be discussions up until the morning of the race in Shanghai this weekend about what to do.

Both Bernie Ecclestone and Jean Todt will be at the race this weekend.

According to Alan Baldwin’s Reuters article, an “unnamed team principal,” most likely you can bet on this not being Martin Whitmarsh or Christian Horner, said he is very uncomfortable with the race going on as planned.

“If I’m brutally frank, the only way they can pull this race off without incident is to have a complete military lock-down there. And I think that would be unacceptable, both for Formula One and for Bahrain.

I wish I knew who this was from so I could shake his hand.

Thousands of protesters gathered in Manama this weekend, calling for the release of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja. The activist has been on hunger strike for two months and was moved to a military hospital. Today, the Gulf Air Facebook page was hacked with the profile picture replaced with a photo of al-Khawaja. The page has since been removed entirely.

The chairman of Sakhir International Circuit in Bahrain claims the race will bring the country back together, despite the completely obvious signs that it is not wanted by many citizens.

On Friday, Damon Hill called for the FIA to rethink the race, and Richard Burden, a Labour Party MP in the UK, formerly a special motorsport advisor to the Minster of Sport, has agreed with him. Burden’s remarks on the situation are quite good, and can be read here.

At this point if they’re not willing to just give this race up, I hope to see it postponed soon. The race is schedule for next weekend, April 20-22.

photo credit: Flickr/Quinn Dombrowski

We’ve been without a French Grand Prix since 2008, when it was last held at Magny-Cours. Felipe Massa won the race, so you can get an idea of just how long it has been.

Tomorrow, Francois Fillon, prime minister of France, will be making an announcement regarding the race’s return at Paul Ricard circuit.

No details are known yet as to when the race will be back on the calendar, but it’s entirely possible it could be as soon as 2013.

Paul Ricard Circuit is located near Marseilles. The French Grand Prix was last held at the circuit in 1990 before it moved to Magny-Cours. Bernie Ecclestone’s company Excelis bought the track in 1999, so it should come as no surprise that Formula 1 should be returning here shortly.

photo credit: Flickr/98octane

With the first practice session just over two days away, not much is going on beyond guessing what might happen at the first race of the season. (Answer: NOBODY KNOOOOOOWS)

But, every year at this time, Bernie Ecclestone always has plenty of ideas to keep things moving, beyond suggesting an Australia night race.

First up, Bernie says he wouldn’t be opposed to the concept of a budget cap. If you recall correctly, when Max Mosley was FIA President, the budget cap was rejected and instead the Restricted Resources Agreement became a thing.

Ecclestone thinks a budget cap would be a step in the right direction, considering teams seem too optimistic about current economic situations. The teams need to take off their “rose colored glasses” and buckle up on their budgets to control costs.

Large teams are always inherently opposed to spending limits given their larger sums of money compared to teams like HRT that struggle to finish a car before the season begins.

Ecclestone suggests trying to control the bigger teams’ spending so the smaller ones do not feel the need to spend and spend in an attempt to be on the same level as them.

The Marussia team says they support the idea of the budget cap. CEO Graeme Lowdon thinks that cost control would also help innovation and clever ideas flourish, compared to being able to spend mindlessly.

Ferrari has also brought back the talk of customer cars, using the excuse “it could help Italian drivers.”

But Luca di Montezemolo’s wording is a bit…strange.

“I have an idea: giving a minor team a Ferrari from the previous year and forcing them to field a young Italian. That would be fantastic…”

Forcing. Here, you can buy this car from us, but you’re going to have to use this Italian.

McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh and Marussia’s John Booth both oppose the idea of customer cars.

Whitmarsh says that constructors each making their own car is what sets Formula 1 apart from other forms of motorsport. Booth says it wouldn’t be as fair to everyone on the grid as cost control. If everyone could go out and buy last year’s Red Bull car, you can bet they would.

And so, the battle over spending rages on.

photo credit: Flickr/Gustavo Adachi

Spain will have only one race starting in 2013, as Bernie Ecclestone finishes up an actually logical deal. Organizers of both the Spanish and European Grands Prix have agreed to alternate venues beginning next year.

The Spanish Grand Prix will then alternate between Valencia’s street circuit and Barcelona, at Circuit de Catalunya.

It was previously revealed that Valencia’s organizers were having a tough time paying for the race, and this solution will help them. As of right now, the dates have not been decided.

photo credit: Stefan Schlautmann/Flickr

So, I thought I had posted on here that I was going to be on a ridiculous trip from Saturday to today, but apparently I did not.

I was on a ridiculous trip from Saturday to today. I just drove back from Tampa and I am trying not to fall asleep at the keyboard. I have a sunburn.

Remember how Red Bull and Ferrari were going to show up to the last test a day late and test on Monday? Turns out they can’t. March 5, the Monday in question, is part of the “blackout” period before the beginning of the season.

This also means that Lotus cannot get in any extra testing. They have fixed their suspension problem, by the way.

In not so happy fixing news, the new Marussia car did not pass its final crash test, and will miss all testing. HRT finally passed all their tests, and they hope to test for at least two days this weekend.

And since we are almost only 2 weeks away from the actual season, it’s time for Dumb Stuff Bernie Says!

As usual he’s out to get Melbourne to keep hosting the race, and instead make it a night race. Every. Year. He also says Mark Webber will be the one to have the best chance to oust Vettel. Apparently he missed three-quarters of Webber’s starts last season.

Tomorrow starts the final tests. It’s almost go time.

It’s a very sensitive subject, one you won’t see teams commenting on publicy until someone above them does something.

Last year’s Grand Prix in Bahrain was cancelled amidst government protests. Things looked to have settled down to the outside eye, complete with the government claiming all was well, and the Bahrain Grand Prix was put back on the 2012 calendar, this time with a date in April.

Now, attention is back on the country after accusations that police beat a human rights activist at a rally on Friday (BBC story). The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights is leading the call for teams to boycott the race, a call that began with the man who was beaten, the group’s vice president.

Coincidence?

Bernie Ecclestone stated back at the Brazilian Grand Prix that it would take something “terrible” to stop the race from going on as planned.

According to Andrew Benson, some insiders don’t think the race is going to happen again already.

Meanwhile, the organizers of the race claim that the government of Bahrain is making sure no human rights violations are happening, citing likely biased report from the King of Bahrain.

I am an economics and political science double major, so I have quite a keen sense of what is going on here. Nobody wants to lose the money, and there is so much money involved that human rights violations don’t matter. It’s pathetic, and it’s obvious as day when the FIA is involved.

Look at the inclusion of a Bahrain endurance race on the world endurance championship calendar. Nobody has ever held an endurance race there, and it’s immediately put on a calendar for the pinnacle of endurance racing.

I’m afraid of some group using the race to make a statement and getting hurt. I don’t want to see the people of Bahrain getting tangled up in more of a mess to cause the race problems, and I sure don’t want to see drivers or team members used. If there really are any doubts, it’s time to take the race off the calendar and come back at a far later time.

There are social problems in plenty of countries where Grands Prix are held, let’s face it, but the problem with Bahrain is how closely linked the race is with the royal family, and that is why it can become a prime target.

And don’t forget, no corporation wants to get involved in something like this, although it’s unlikely they will publicly pull out. It’s highly unlikely any group, from a one team sponsor to Pirelli as the tire supplier would want to make such a bold statement.

More or less it’s going to have to come down to these higher up groups speaking privately with the FIA and with Ecclestone and telling them that they have serious concerns. It may be enough to have them think with their brains instead of with their wallets.

Unless an OUTSIDE group that is not the King of Bahrain can prove that human rights violations are being fixed or not even happening, there should not be a race here. Period.

Photo from Flickr user Andrew Griffith

Numerous times Luca di Montezemolo, president of Ferrari, has been rumored to run for political office. Formula 1 is political enough to give you all the experience you need for some job like that, but it was never true. Recently, di Montezemolo wrote a letter to the Italiafutura group, which read as an announcement of candidacy. It is signed “Luca di Montezemolo, future president of Italy.”

But di Montezemolo denies that’s what it was about, saying he’s with Ferrari.

He took the opportunity though to say Ferrari will be debuting their 2012 car on February 3, so all is not lost apparently.

The president of not-Italy also said Ferrari will be pushing for more testing, because current regulations are restrictive to helping new drivers get a taste for the sport.

Other news:

- Robert Kubica and his rehab doctor Riccardo Ceccarelli have parted ways over a disagreement on the last phase of his post-accident recovery. No idea what the rift was, but it should come as no surprise the doctor, who does not work in driver management, has no idea if Kubica has been in talks with Ferrari.

- A London High Court judge says that Bernie Ecclestone’s payments to Gerhard Gribkowsky are indeed bribes, despite Ecclestone saying he had no choice but to pay up….one of the definitions of “bribe.” This is getting good.

- Jenson Button thinks he can do even better next year than he did this year. While not plotting his second world championship, he is being recognized for his amazing(ly bad) commercial acting talent.

- Kimi Raikkonen will test a 2009 Renault car with GP2 tires next month. Raikkonen doesn’t think he’ll have much of a problem getting back into the F1 swing of things, citing his 9 seasons in the sport before heading to rallying. He says the most difficult thing will be tires, as the manufacturer has changed since he was last racing.

- Bruno Senna was spotted at the Williams factory. Senna’s experience driving for a Renault powered car interests the team as they switch back to Renault engines, and he met with engineers there. Rubens Barrichello has also revisited recently, and has supposedly gained about $5 million in personal sponsorship money.

- There are rumors that Jarno Trulli is not exactly safe over at Caterham. Martin Brundle took to Twitter to say he thinks Vitaly Petrov popping up with the team is entirely possible.

Jaime Alguersuari has recently been linked to the test driver role for Mercedes. The rumors surrounding Alguersuari to HRT are all but crushed after new team principal Luis Perez Sala says that it’s not realistic, as the team has been in talks with several other drivers for weeks now.

- Fernando Alonso and his wife Raquel del Rosario, singer for the Spanish band El Sueno de Morfeo, are splitting up. The two had been married since 2006. In a joint statement they said they will never separate as friends, and would appreciate the media continuing to respect their personal lives at this time.

Photo from Flickr user sBerna.

At first it looked like it wasn’t happening today. And then it happened. After weeks of speculation, Force India finally confirmed that Nico Hulkenberg will replace Adrian Sutil. Paul di Resta was also confirmed for his second season with the team.

No word on who replaces Hulkenberg as reserve driver.

This leaves just two obviously open spots: one at Williams and one at HRT.

In other news:

- In the United States, we’re all a bunch of idiots who will not be able to comprehend cars turning left and right all the time at high speeds.

Oh no wait, sorry, Bernie Ecclestone is using the excuse that “the US wants to see profits before anything else” regarding US races. So despite approving not one, but two, American grands prix he thinks the sport will not be big in America.

Just shut up.

Ecclestone also said the US Grand Prix is not guaranteed for 10 years. Of course, there’s never been any mention of the specifics of the new contract between Ecclestone and Circuit of the Americas. Neither seem to want to comment on the length, which possibly could have changed.

- Caterham announced their car has passed the required FIA crash tests. They have not announced when they will reveal their 2012 car.

- Sauber will unveil their car on February 6, the day before pre-season testing starts.

- I’ve been considering adding a bit of GP2 coverage in here, since many drivers come from the series.

The 2012 calendar for GP2 includes 12 events. Each event is made up of two races: one Saturday race with a format similar to an F1 race, and one Sunday shorter sprint race, where the top 8 finishers reversed. So, if you finish 8th on Saturday, you start first on Sunday.
March 23-25 – Sepang, Malaysia
April 20-22 – Sakhir, Bahrain
April 26-28 – Sakhir, Bahrain
May 11-13 – Barcelona, Spain
May 24-26 – Monte Carlo, Monaco
June 22-24 – Valencia, Spain
July 6-8 – Silverstone, Great Britain
July 20-22 – Hockenheim, Germany
July 27-29 – Budapest, Hungary
August 31-Sept 2 – Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
September 7-9 – Monza, Italy
September 21-23 – Marina Bay, Singapore

- Colin Kolles is leaving HRT effective tomorrow. He has been the team principal for HRT for the past two seasons, and the team was based out of a factory he owns in Germany.

This is part of the step to move the entire team’s operations over to Spain after Thesan capital purchased a controlling share of the team.

No word yet on who will replace Kolles as team principal.

- Out of curiosity, I like to look at the website for Blick, a Swiss newspaper. It’s in German, but I love to see what they say about a couple Swiss hockey players. It is gossipy and I love it.

Well apparently I should have really looked at the top story in the Formula 1 section because I could have written about it in English first!

Supposedly Force India’s lineup will be announced tomorrow, with Nico Hulkenberg replacing Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta staying on with the team. Jules Bianchi, who is currently with Ferrari, will be the reserve driver. He would be contracted to the team similarly to how Daniel Ricciardo was with HRT.

Apparently there was also a rumor a few days ago that Bianchi would replace Kamui Kobayashi at Sauber. I have got to get in with this gossip quicker.

Additionally, there’s a possibility that team owner and principal Vijay Mallya may leave the team over his finances and lack of agreement with Sahara Group, who bought part of the team a couple months ago.

- The FIA joined Twitter, and started tweeting around 4am eastern time.

- Bernie Ecclestone said it was a mistake for Lewis Hamilton to drop his father as his manager. Ecclestone claims that Hamilton hanging around celebrities was a “bad influence.” I’m pretty sure that no matter who the manager is, celebrities tend to be at Grands Prix, but what do I know.

Hamilton of course responded, saying his problems were his fault and not his new management team’s fault. Duh.
But that’s not all the gossip involving Hamilton! Apparently Nicole Scherzinger still loves him despite their breakup. I personally always go to the press to tell everyone about how beautiful my ex-boyfriends are.

- Eric Boullier has hinted that it’s possible for Bruno Senna to be taking the reserve driver role at Lotus F1. Senna said that he would gladly accept the role if he couldn’t find a full-time drive elsewhere.

- Red Bull Racing plan to unveil their 2012 car on February 5, two days before the first testing session, according to French media.

- Caterham has released their logo for next season. You can see it here.

- Former driver JJ Lehto has been sentenced to a 28 month jail sentence for killing a friend in a boat crash. Lehto was drunk while operating the boat. He is appealing the sentence, claiming he was not the driver although the friend’s injuries indicated otherwise.

Lehto’s best result in F1 was a third place finish in 1991. He drove in the sport from 1989 to 1994. Outside of F1, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice.

Photo from Flickr user nhayashida.