17 replies to this topic

[TrulliJV@McLaren]

As you may or may not know, the french canadian TV station RDS has a reporter on site at every race.

According to him, the F1 season COULD END THIS WEEKEND. Major logistical problems are expected to hamper the teams ability to have the cars and all the equipment travel to USA and Japan.

Has anyone else heard the same ?

Thanks.

[squiggle bob]

i dont really buy it, but it would make sense in the US, with the limitations on air travel..

[LB]

Its a possibility .. but they should go even If they need to hire a few container ships

[HP]

Originally posted by LB
Its a possibility .. but they should go even If they need to hire a few container ships

Which arrive a week or so after the scheduled date of the USGP

[Psychoman]

Dunno, they could postpone it to the week after Suzuka. Could make things interesting, being near the end of October in America...

[Indian Chief]

Originally posted by TrulliJV@McLaren
According to him, the F1 season COULD END THIS WEEKEND. Major logistical problems are expected to hamper the teams ability to have the cars and all the equipment travel to USA and Japan.

If this is true (very unlikely, IMO), then can you imagine what would have happened if the championships were still undecided??? Had MS and Ferrari been leading the championship, the cries of favouritism would have been deafening.

[Chris G.]

It would seem that Bernie would stand to lose some major cash if they canceled the season. I don't think Bernie likes to lose money.

[pa]

I think it's just a rumour, and a pretty silly one at that. The aircraft are all chartered, and they're contracted for months in advance. It's not like the teams have to go to the airport and wait in line with everyone else. Beside, they're flying directly to Indiannopolis, which ain't exactly O'Hare.

[TrulliJV@McLaren]

This rumour is getting stronger by the minute...



http://www.formula1....1/09/s7010.html

[JayWay]

I get RDS now. That makes 3 stations that I get that has F1...And I still get commercials.

I just wanted to say that

[DEVO]

All that I can say is: "Greed is good." For that reason, we will finish the season as planned.

[Scudetto]

And the speculation builds

[Viss1]

There are many compelling reasons not to run the USGP. However, I have faith that Bernie's wallet will ultimately have the final say.

[WillieF1]

The Formula1 and F1i articles look nearly identical, both even talking about tobacco livery at Jerez. We will no doubt be inundated with this rumour as more sites pick up on it and put their own spin on it.

Bernie has said in the past that F1 will never go back to Jerez because of the Mayor storming his way onto the podium a few years ago. But if the USGP is cancelled, money talks!;)

[AcidIce]

Originally posted by WillieF1
Bernie has said in the past that F1 will never go back to Jerez because of the Mayor storming his way onto the podium a few years ago. But if the USGP is cancelled, money talks!;)

Who stormed his way onto the podium? The Mayor of Jerez?

Didn't know that, but it doesn't surprises me either. The Mayor of Jerez is a complete arsehole, blackmailer and stuff. He doesn't allow the Jerez soccer team to play in Jerez, because he wants to own it and he doesn't. Instead he has had the team owner beaten by some of his gorillas. He only speaks to his own newspaper and has been expulsed from his party. He's a tyran of his own.

Mayor asshole is what he is.

[Harald]

Hi all. This is what I can glean as of mid-afternoon, eastern US time, Monday:

• Tony George is reported to have already consulted with his attorneys about legal action if either the USGP is 'desanctioned' (which used to mean no championship points were awarded) or is cancelled outright.
  
• He is on record as 'adamant' that all security and track and race safety requirements in his contract with FIA and SLEC have been and will be met.
  
• I can't confirm that at the moment because we're having system problems here in the office and the server keeps bouncing me when I try to log onto the Indy-USGP website. ( www.usgrandprix.com )
  
• Anyway, Tony - at last report - is arguing that he has, therefore, fulfilled his contractual obligations, and,
  
• since no Act of God (hurricane, tornado, flood, etc.) has rendered the actual race facilities at Indianapolis incapable of hosting the USGP, which is the only escape clause FIA and SLEC appear to have in their contract(s) with the track owner(s), Tony is insisting that the race should go as, when and where scheduled.
  
• (George, FIA, F1 Inc. (a.k.a. SLEC) and several teams have all rubbished that earlier story about the venue being moved to another US track.)
  
• No word - as of around 2.30 PM, Monday, eastern US time - about whether the teams will be able to air freight all their equipment into the US in time for the race next week.
  
• This apparently might also be a problem for the Japanese GP, according to a couple of F1 news sites, since some teams 'keep on flying' from here to the East, rather than 'loop' back through their bases in Europe before going to Suzuka.
  
• I am still trying to log back on the actual Indy-USGP website. It might also be worth it to monitor the FIA website ( www.fia.com ) as well.
  
• BTW, finances, more than anyting else, are keeping me home two weeks from now. And, now that Juan Pablo has done the business, there was already even less incentive to go.
  
• But, that said, I admit that I would have had major second and third thoughts about asking my wife to go with me to Indy even if the financial problems - and some long, long, longoverdue good news for Juancho yesterday - had not intervened.
  
• Further to the basic point here, with these reports growing that individual teams - Ferrari and Jaguar are cited right here on AtlasF1 - are 'releasing' their drivers - including Michael - to make their own decisions about whether or not to come to the USIndianapolis, this thing could unravel PDQ.
  
• And, if any of the star drivers opt not to go to a race that is held anyway at Indy, it will leave Tony George - and his lawyers - spitting nails, lawsuits and you-know-what.
  
• Finally, this all makes me wonder about Bernie Ecclestone's internationally-televised threat yesterday that, if they don't show up Friday after next in Indy in racing kit, Michael and other drivers could actually lose points if, in Bernie's exact words

  . . . they do something stupid.

  
  
• I suspect he's being ambushed by these 'releases' from the team managements. If they allow their drivers to race or not at Indy, who is 'doing something stupid?'
  
  I guess stupidity, like beauty, will be in the eye of the beholder. And of the judge.

Did any of that help? Hope so.

The Mourning Anchor
Washington, DC

[Toyoter]

Hmm. If they can't manage to get their equipment to the U.S., the drivers should still show up for the race. They can run a few laps around IMS on foot, and we'll finally get to see who the fittest driver really is

[WillieF1]

This is getting way OT, but this is the story of why the Jerez rumours may be off base. I was wrong about Bernie saying it, it was Max...

AcidIce - Is Pacheco who you are talking about?

DECEMBER 15, 1997
Goodbye Jerez
The only good news for Estoril is that its longtime rival - Jerez de la Frontera - is also in trouble with the FIA as a result of the behavior of the mayor of the town after the European GP in October.

The podium ceremony was rather convoluted at the race because the FIA decided - for the first time - that the people handing out the trophies would change, depending on who won the race. The governing body normally issues a list of the dignitaries involved but at Jerez there were two different lists one for a normal race result and the other in case a McLaren won. This was because of the appearance at the race of Daimler-Benz chairman Jurgen Schrempp who obviously did not wish to be photographed handing out prizes to his rivals. This would not have been a problem apart from the fact that the finishing order changed on the last lap with McLaren drivers Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard both overtaking Jacques Villeneuve. There appears to have been some confusion among the VIPs as to who would get on worldwide television. The mayor of Jerez Pedro Pacheco and regional president ManuelÊChaves made some of the presentations, while
Schrempp did nothing.

The result of this was that eyewitnesses reported FIA President Max Mosley screaming at the mayor, informing him that his race track would never be given another Grand Prix.

Last week Mosley delivered an official version of the decision. "The disruption caused embarrassment and inconvenience to those presenting the trophies," the FIA explained, "and therefore, no further rounds of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship will be held at the Jerez circuit."

Pacheco was less than pleased with the outcome. "It's an outrage," he said. "They are proposing a permanent ban. The only thing they did not do was propose that the circuit be demolished. The ban will be impossible. There will be F1 in Jerez."

Despite his protests, however, Pacheco is not in a strong position. Back in 1985 he was the man behind the construction of the track, the intention being to use the events to promote the town and its famous sherries around the world. This was successful for five years and then F1 moved to Barcelona, leaving Jerez with only a couple of European GPs.

The loss of F1 not only negates the purpose for which the track was built but also deprives the area of a much-needed $35m which a Grand Prix brings into the region. This will, inevitably, harm the mayor as the only way that the FIA is going to consider Jerez is if there is a different mayor.

It should be added that Jerez has not helped itself in recent weeks by refusing to agree to upgrading work unless the FIA guaranteed that it could hold a Grand Prix. This is likely to have a serious effect on the track's future as a testing
facility as the FIA testing license may now be withheld, which means that the Grand Prix teams are going to be struggling more and more to find warm weather testing in Europe. Although Jerez was a long haul south from England, it often provided much better weather than Estoril and Barcelona.