Breaking News: Hamilton Stripped of Victory

Breaking News: Hamilton has been stripped of his race victory. He has been given a 25 second penalty, pushing him down to third place and gifting the victory to Felipe Massa.

Enormously controversial decision, one which I'm sure will cause much consternation for weeks to come and potentially cast a negative shadow over the whole of this year's driver's championship. Just when people start to talk about Formula One for all the right reasons again, after a truly classic race, the stewards threaten to drag the reputation of F1 through the sh*t yet again... Read more!

And then there were ten...

The 2008 Formula One season was supposed to mark a new dawn for the sport. As well as the much needed ban on electronic driver aids we would have a new set of aerodynamic regulations that would rob the cars of most of their downforce, thus facilitating better racing. We would also have a full paddock of 12 teams, filling all 24 available grid slots, and a brand spanking new Concorde Agreement clarifying the barbed issue of 'customer cars'. However, the reality appears to have fallen some way short of the dream we were promised. Some of these things have been postponed for a while, some seem destined never to occur. How did this happen? And who (if anyone) is to blame?

The protracted demise of the much-loved Super Aguri team means that for the rest of the 2008 season there will be just 20 cars on the grid. Up until the autumn of last year it had looked certain that there would be a full grid of 24. Super Aguri were continuing to raise eyebrows by punching above their bantam-weight, and David Richards' Prodrive team was coming together with the prospect of using McLaren customer chassis.

Things started to go sour, however, when it appeared that Prodrive weren't going to be able to use customer cars after all. It had been expected that a new Concorde Agreement to begin January 1st 2008 would allow some provision for customer chassis. Max Mosley had long since stated that this was his preference, as he believes privateer teams to be the real heart and soul at the basis of motorsport. The sport's last great remaining privateer Frank Williams, for one, wasn't so keen on the idea. Quite understandably he has been a little miffed that he and his team spend tens of millions of pounds each year or research, testing, development and manufacturing of their own chassis, when another team may simply roll up and buy an off the shelf item from another manufacturer.

Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso have managed to wriggle through a loophole to get around this issue, and Super Aguri had also been effectively acquiring customer cars from Honda for the past season and a bit. But the uncertainty and grey areas remain, and in that climate it became impossible for David Richards to enter F1. There's no way he or his investors could risk ploughing the vast sums of money required into an F1 team with the prospect that they wouldn't be allowed to enter this year, or possibly even next year. As well as a great team builder, Richards is a shrewd business man who has made his living out of successful racing teams. He is not a billionaire playboy type like Vijay Mallya who is willing to use Force India as his F1 plaything and not a serious business venture. How long until he gets bored or he realises that his chances of success are virtually zero remains to be seen.

At the time of Prodrive securing the nomination from the FIA for the last remaining garaged in the 2008 paddock there were allegedly teams and business men queuing around the block for the chance to hand over their $30 million bond. What chance of them now trying to succeed where Richards and Aguri Suzuki have failed? Very little I would imagine. Until an amended Concorde Agreement is put in place which will allow for customer cars, no team will be looking to simply buy from the likes of McLaren, Toyota or BMW. The only available route would appear to be to buy what remains of the Super Aguri team, which as been put up for sale by the administrators. But it would be an extremely ambitious individual or group that would take on the Super Aguri project given the problems they have had.

The notion of a team starting up from scratch and building a brand new chassis isn't even a vaguely realistic option given the enormous costs involved.

But isn't this the way things always used to be? Are things really any different now? In the 80s and early 90s new Formula 1 teams would come and go with the passing of the tides, often with hilarious consequences. One needs only to search the annals of F1 Rejects to witness some of the many spectacular failures like Andrea Moda or Pacific. Heroic failures like Super Aguri are part and parcel of what F1 is all about surely? The difference now is that the cost of even getting a team to the grid is simply enourmous, let alone the cost of making a team vaguely competitive. Where in the past any adventurous millionaire could cobble together a few bits of carbon fibre and an engine and have a blast at qualifying for an F1 race, now even billionaires like Alex Schnaider of Midland F1 are frightened off by the sheer scale investment needed to do any serious racing.

Whilst Max Moseley and FIA have campaigned furiously for reduced costs and more privateer involvement, the manufacturers' stranglehold on the sport has only grown stronger. One has to go as far back as Juan Pablo Montoya's Brazilian Grand Prix victory for Williams in 2004 for the last time a privateer team won a race. And even that was a one-off in that season. Every race since has been won by a team with big time manufacturer support. Williams have continued to battle on valiantly, but with the exception of a sprinkling of podiums here and there they haven't even come close to seriously worrying the big boys. If a team with the experience, expertise and resources of Williams can't take the fight to the manufacturers, what chance of a small upstart team even scoring points let alone winning races?

The saddest part of all of this is that it seems impossible to imagine how this situation could be overturned in the future. The fact is that Formula 1, like all the world's major sports these days, in not just a sport. It's big, big business. You can throw all the cost-cutting measures at it as you like, but while there are budgets available to be spent, F1 teams will spend every last penny. And nobody has more spending capacity than the big manufacturers. The move to 'greener' KERS technology system in 2009 will sadly only increase the manufacturers' willingness to spend big in the pursuit of F1 glory in an attempt to show off their wonderful new green technologies to the wider car buying market, thus undermining all the FIA's hard work in attempted cost cutting. Any prospective privateer entry would be a fool to think that he/she will be able to have even the faintest hope of mixing it with the big boys in this climate.

There are simply too many sharks in the F1 ocean. There is no room for the little fishies to swim anymore.
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Giving The FIA a Bad Name...

No, this is not an article about Max Mosley's shenanigans in a London basement. There is a far more serious issue of public image facing the FIA. One that has the capacity to undermine the very foundations of the organisation. This is big news people, prepare to be stunned...

Sebastien Loeb doesn't shave enough.

Absolutely despicable behaviour from the 4 time World Rally Champion and hero to millions. I don't know how he sleeps at night; anyone would think he was free to be able to style his facial hair any way he saw fit?! Thankfully the FIA have been on the case and recommended that the TV companies don't show any lingering close-ups of Loeb for fear of bringing the sport into disrepute, thus saving us precious rally fans from Loeb's hideous visage.

A brief synopsis of this latest farcical story: FIA delegate and head of African motorsport Surinder Thatthi lodged a complaint with the powers that be that Sebastien Loeb was looking far too unkempt when receiving his winner's trophy at WRC Rally Mexico. Morrie Chandler, the head of the FIA's rally division, upheld the complaint and advised the TV companies not to focus heavily on rally winners if they have not taken sufficient care over their appearance. (Apparently neither Thatthi nor Chandler have considered the fact that after several hours in a red-hot cockpit wearing a crash helmet, one's hair may end up looking a little ruffled.)

What made the matter all the more baffling was the language used in an email from Chandler, reprinted in Paris' le Figaro newspaper. "The same thing happens in football and other 'virile' sports. Of course such people are an insult to real men."

So if football and other such pursuits are 'virile' sports, what does that then make rallying? Impotent?! Perhaps that would explain the WRC's drooping viewing figures and dwindling manufacturer interest over the past few years, as fans have seen the sport increasingly neutered and softened since the peak of the Group B days.

Naturally the French press are more than a little put out by this revelation. le Figaro have seen it as an example of double standards from the FIA; ie how can the FIA be sensitive enough to complain about a driver's facial hair while the President of the organisation is up to all manner of extravagant sexual exploits with ladies of the night?

Whilst they may have a valid point, I feel the most important matter arising from this is that this whole exchange of emails occurred some weeks before the Max Mosley sex scandal broke. So who has passed this on to the newspaper now, in the run up to the crucial vote over Mosley's future on June 3rd? Or have the newspaper been sitting on the story, waiting for a perfect time release it to further undermine public confidence in the FIA? Can't help but thinking that, as story after story slowly trickles its way into the press, is there someone behind the scenes pulling the strings, orchestrating the media hatchet job on the FIA? Hmmmm...

Whatever, I think the upshot of this is that as head of Rally affairs for the FIA Mr Chandler should focus more attention on attracting more viewers, manufacturers and sponsors to the floundering World Rally Championship and stop worrying about the appearance of one of the sport's brightest and best stars. Either that or he should just do the honourable thing and resign his position, leave the rallying to the "real men," eh Morrie?


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Mosley Fighting for his Career After F1's Manufacturers Wade Into Battle

Whilst the media and F1 fans whipped themselves up into a frenzy over the bombshell revelations of Max Mosley's, err, "interesting" private life, everything went eerily quiet within the F1 fraternity for a few days. A mixture of stunned silence and carefully considered reticence pervaded the Grand Prix teams. Stunned silence because nobody knew how the hell they are supposed to react to such outrageous news. Considered reticence because nobody dared speak out in case it all turned out to be false and they risked the wrath of Mosley's formidable team of lawyers if they were to speak out of turn.

Now that it is clear that this is no hoax, and it really was good ol' Max strapped to that torture bench, key people are beginning to pipe up. Firstly Bernie suggested that it perhaps wouldn't be best for Max to be at this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, is it would bring the wrong kind of media attention to the sporting event. Then shortly after it was revealed by The Times that the decision has been taken out of Max's hands anyway, as the Crown Prince of Bahrain Sheikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa has written to Mr Mosley saying that he is not welcome in Bahrain this weekend anyway.

Perhaps seeing that Mosley was on the ropes after that blow from the Crown Prince, four of the biggest teams in F1 have gone in for the kill. Firstly the two big German manufacturers BMW and Mercedes-Benz released a joint statement saying that the consequences of Mosley's "disgraceful" actions, "extend far beyond the motor sport industry." Whilst they may not have said it in so many words, what they are saying is that if Max were to stay in office it would be catastrophic for the image of World Motorsport, and that they would no longer want to be a part of anything that Max is in charge of. Effectively, either he walks or we walk.

Seconds out, Round 2...

In step the Japanese. Both Honda and Toyota released their own separate statements on the matter, with both saying roughly the same sort of thing. The crux of the issue for the manufacturers is that the scandal surrounding Mosley inevitably draws massive negative publicity onto the whole sport and its participants. They are demanding that the FIA "takes action" to stop the rot. The only conceivable action that could alleviate the crisis is, of course, the immediate resignation of Max Mosley.

Whilst some of the sport's biggest teams are yet to step in, notably McLaren, Ferrari and Williams, the fact that it is the actual manufacturers and not the teams that is most damaging to Mosley and the FIA. The big manufacturers tend to be the ones with the most money and the most influence rather than the teams themselves, and BMW, Mercedes, Honda and Toyota are four of the biggest and most influential manufacturers on the planet. The FIA does NOT want to get on the wrong side of them! Perhaps the most significant step in all of this is that those most bitter of arch rivals BMW and Mercedes decided to release a statement together, not separately. If that isn't a signal of intent then I don't know what is.

Now even young hotshots Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton have had something to say about the issue. Whilst being careful not to say too much in direct relation to Mosley, when asked whether they agreed with Honda's statement regarding people carrying out their duties with "integrity and respect," they both talked about the importance of people in the public eye "setting a good example."

Apparently in response to the statements made by the sport's big money teams, the FIA this afternoon released a statement saying that an Extraordinary General Assembly of the FIA Senate has been called, and will take place at the earliest possible date.

The referee is standing above Mosley, beginning his 10-count. Can Mosley drag himself up off the canvas after this? Read more!

Auf Wiedersehen, Max?

FIA supremo Max Mosley has apparently been filmed engaging in a five hour bondage torture session in a private S&M chamber with a group of prostitutes! And this wasn't just your average, run of the mill bondage marathon. Ohhhhhh no. This one involved Nazi death camp roleplay! You simply couldn't make it up!

I'll spare you the full graphic details, you can read for yourself by clicking the link below if you have the stomach for it. But to put it briefly, he plays the role of both torturer and prisoner throughout the debacle, speaking in German through much of it. He was flogged so hard his backside needed medical attention at one point, before taking turns at spanking a series of prostitutes dressed in 'prison camp' uniforms.

Clearly this is appalling to say the least. However, some of you may not know the full context to these revelations. Max Mosley is the son of the notorious Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists in the 1930s and a close personal friend of Adolf Hitler. Oswald Mosley was imprisoned during the war for his extreme views and his close personal ties with the Nazi party (indeed, Hitler and Goebbels were both guests at his wedding to Max's mother Diana Mitford), and his name is still to this day a by-word for extreme Fascism in the UK. Max has fought a constant battle to disassociate himself from his father's legacy, claiming that (quite rightly) a man should never be judged on the actions of his father. In fairness, he has been very successful in this. Up until now that is!

Now, Max Mosley has never been the most popular chap in the world of motorsport, often courting controversy with his single-minded authoritarian approach to ruling the sport. However, he has remained in charge for well over a decade and has many supporters who defend him by comparing his reign to that of his predecessor Jean Balestre, who was the most unpopular figure ever to hold the position. This controversy, though, will make anything else Mosley has faced in his career seem like a storm in a teacup. It is impossible to see him being able to continue in his role after these disclosures. Whether you now view him now as a figure of hate, or one merely of ridicule for his depraved actions, his position is in all probability untenable.

Link to the hideousness. WARNING: there are pictures and even a video, and they are NOT pretty! - News of the World article

An interesting perspective on how this had all come about relates back to the last big controversy that Mosley has had to deal with, the McLaren 'Spygate' scandal. Towards the end of 2007 Max Mosley announced that he was pursuing legal action against prominent F1 reporter Martin Brundle and The Times newspaper after an article by the former F1 ace published in the paper was critical of the way that Mosley handled the affair (see here for more). Mosley was openly furious that Brundle had presented him as being the leader of a witch hunt against the McLaren team. However, scratch the surface a little and we see that The Times newspaper is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International and News Corporation. The News of the World is also part of the News International stable.

Knowing the, ahem, aggressive tactics of News International in the many, many legal actions they have contested over the years, it is not too great a leap of faith to imagine they would have been digging very hard to dish some kind of dirt on Mosley. It is often the best way to avoid such cases ever reaching court and getting messy. Judging by the way things have been filmed it just screams 'set up'. Max Mosley has taken the bait, been lured into the trap, and has given News International the jackpot they have been digging for!

I often feel a little bit of sympathy for the footballers and celebrities that end up getting ensnared by these little tabloid traps, but for some strange reason I'm not the least bit sympathetic! It couldn't have happened to a nicer person! Read more!