Month: November 2019

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Flavio Briatore was sentenced to 18 months in jail by an Italian appeals court on Saturday, on tax evasion charges linked to his mega-yacht ‘Force Blue’

The former Benetton and Renault F1 boss, whose yacht was seized by tax authorities in 2010, saw his sentence reduced from 23 months, despite the prosecutor pleading for a four-year sentence.

Italian investigators allegedly uncovered a scheme by which the 63-metre yacht was registered to a company domiciled in the Virgin Islands, but used exclusively by Briatore for his personal use.

• Renault’s power deficit? It’s Briatore’s fault, says Abiteboul

The flamboyant business tycoon claims he does not own the yacht, and merely rented it from its parent company.

But as the beneficiary of the Virgin Islands off-shore entity, he is the de facto owner of ‘Force Blue’, and therefore must be held liable for payment of VAT taxes estimated at €3.6-million and fuel duties worth €800,000 between 2006 and 2010.

Briatore was also found guilty of issuing false invoices. The Italian’s lawyers said they were deterlmined to the sentence once again.

“We take note of the judge’s decision and will appeal to the supreme court. We are convinced of Mr Briatore’s innocence.”

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Daniel Ricciardo acknowledges that the decisions he makes regarding his next contract could prove crucial in terms of whether he stands a chance of being a future world champion.

The 28-year-old is out of contract at Red Bull at the end of 2018. However, he’s taking his time deciding where to go next.

“The next contract I sign or next extension I do, they are potentially the peak years of my career,” he told Motorsport.com.

“That next bit of paper I sign could make or break my desire in terms of whether I can fight for a title or not,” he acknowledged.

“That’s why I’m taking my time, I want to see where everyone is at. Maybe I’ll have more options, maybe I won’t.

“I doubt I’ll sign a one-year deal somewhere,” he added.

“It’s probably going to be a multiple year deal, two or more. So I need to make sure it’s the right place, competitively.”

Ricciardo made his Formula 1 début with HRT midway through the 2011 season, before moving to Toro Rosso the following year.

• Ricciardo : ‘Tensions with Max over a title fight would be great’

He was promoted to the senior Red Bull squad in 2014 alongside Sebastian Vettel, replacing the retiring Mark Webber. He won three races in his first season with the team, and two more since.

2018 will be the Australian’s seventh full season in Formula 1, but he insists he’s still developing as a driver.

“I’m still learning. I don’t feel I’m past my peak,” he said. “I’ve still got years in this sport, but I’m not 23 or 24 anymore.”

Ricciardo has been linked with a possible move to Mercedes next year. However, he’s also not ruling out staying at Red Bull despite speculation that he’s been ‘pushed aside’ in favour of current team mate Max Verstappen.

“Certainly I feel like part of the family,” he said.

“Whether I was to stay at Red Bull the rest of my career, or eventually move on, I would still keep close to a lot of the people within the family.”

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Williams looks set to become the first of Formula 1’s teams to reveal its 2018 charger, having chosen London as the venue and February 15 as its launch date.

The team’s FW41 will be the Grove-based outfit’s first car to have been designed under the guidance of Williams tech boss and partner Paddy Lowe.

Since his departure from Mercedes last year and his arrival at Williams, Lowe initiated changes and a new approach to its design efforts in a bid to iron out the team’s inconsistent performance and move up the grid.

• Toro Rosso takes its Honda-powered STR13 to Misano

The February 15 presentation which also provide Williams with an opportunity to publicly introduce its 2018 line-up, the youngest ever in the team’s history and the second least experienced pairing on the grid behind Toro Rosso.

Rookie and 22-year-old Sergey Sirotkin joins 19-year-old Lance Stroll, while Robert Kubica will fulfill the role of reserve driver this season.

Pre-season testing for the 2018 campaign begins for all teams in Barcelona on February 26.

Check the 2018 calendar with the teams’ official launch dates.

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Fernando Alonso will join the works Toyota team at Le Mans and additional selected rounds of the World Endurance Championship this year.

Alonso’s inclusion in the Japanese manufacturer’s line-up this year at Le Mans was widely expected following the two-time world champion’s proclaimed ambition to tackle motor racing’s Triple Crown.

The Spaniard, who enjoyed a day of testing with Toyota in Bahrain late last year and made his sportscar debut at Daytona last weekend, will also race in the WEC although he will not take part in the October round in Fuji as the race clashes with the US Grand Prix in Austin.

Unfortunately for British fans, Alonso’s arrival at Toyota will be to the detriment of Anthony Davidson.

The manufacturer’s LMP1 squad will include usual drivers, Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José Maria Lopez in the #7 car, while Alonso will be paired with Sébatien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima in the sister #8 car.

• Alonso: ‘Daytona better F1 preparation than going to the gym!’

Alonso’s commitment to McLaren will take precedence over his deal with Toyota.

“Like Fernando, at McLaren we’re racers at heart, and our team is built on a brave heritage of competing and succeeding in different forms of the sport,” McLaren’s Zak Brown said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Equally important is the confidence that nothing detracts from our number one goal of Formula 1. After proper evaluation, we are satisfied that this campaign does not do that, and that McLaren’s best interests prevail.”

Alonso reiterated his Triple Crown ambitions and his natural propensity to race out of his comfort zone.

“I’ve never been shy about my aim of winning motorsport’s ‘Triple Crown’ – the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indy 500, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We tried for Indy last year, came close, but just missed out.

“This year, I have the chance thanks to McLaren to race for the win at Le Mans. It is a big challenge – much can go wrong – but I am ready, prepared and looking forward to the fight.

“My deal to race in WEC was only made possible through the good understanding and strong relationship I have with McLaren, and I’m very happy that they listened and understood what this means to me.

“In no way will this challenge take away from my main target of Formula 1 with McLaren. In 2018, my aim is to be competitive at every grand prix, and I feel sure that we are closer to achieving that.”

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Monisha Kaltenborn, who guided Sauber’s destiny in Formula 1 for several years, is returning to the motorsport fray with her own team.

The 46-year-old former team manager, who was ousted by Sauber’s new owners in June 2017, has formed KDC Racing in association with Monegasque entrepreneur Emily de Comberti.

The team will be compete under the Swiss flag but is based in bustling business center Granollers, near Barcelona and the Circuit de Catalunya.

“Motorsport is and will remain my greatest passion”, Kaltenborn told Auto Bild.

“For almost twenty years, I have held leading positions in motorsport, so it is only logical that I continue.

Ericsson sees ‘unpredictable’ but competitive season ahead for Sauber

“Formula 4 is a relatively new series, an exciting racing class that I see a lot of potential in. Especially in the field of developing young talents, which appeals to me.

“In Formula 4, you can already see which drivers have the making of a future champion.

“As a co-owner, I have a decisive voice in the strategy of the team, and my priority is to prepare young drivers for a future in motorsports.

“My years of Formula 1 experience come in handy. The day-to-day business is led by our team manager Josep Trinidad, whom we place great trust in.”

After establishing itself, KDC Racing has lined up its sponsors for the 2018 season and will soon reveal its driver line-up.

“We are in this project to make a difference,” says Kaltenborn.

“Our goal is to build a competitive team and develop young drivers with the tools and skills to maximise their potential and racing performance.

“There are also other promising projects, but it’s too early to talk about them.”

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During today’s shakedown session at Silverstone, Mercedes put a visor cam on Valtteri Bottas’ helmet to give us an on-board view from the Halo-equipped car.

It’s a short, slow lap but still provides a unique perspective on the mandatory cockpit safety device, as seen from inside the cockpit.

Check out the video, and see for yourself!

What’s it like driving a 2018 @MercedesBenz @F1 car with the new Halo fitted?@ValtteriBottas was the first man to find out…

Ride onboard and see for yourself! #DrivenByEachOther #F1 pic.twitter.com/gYfLcfEXIF

— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) February 22, 2018

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McLaren’s Zak Brown believes 2018 could be a tumultuous year on Formula 1’s political front as the sport’s managers tackle a series of crucial but thorny issues with the teams.

A year into its ownership of Grand Prix racing, and as it continues to settle in, Liberty Media has received criticism from within the F1 community for its lack of transparency regarding the future and the slow pace of change of the sport’s state of affairs.

As he sees the glass half full rather than half empty, Zak Brown advocates patience although he admits the honey moon is over between Liberty and the teams.

“Some senior team executives have been openly critical of Liberty. I prefer we’re constructive,” Brown told James Allen on the F1 reporter’s guest blog.

“They’ve only really had their feet under the desk for the last six to 12 months having inherited a sport previously operated pretty uniquely.

• A big change of look is in store at McLaren – Brown

“They’ve had to put infrastructure in place, learn the environment and prioritise where to invest – all at the same time,” adds Brown.

“I know from my McLaren experience, I’m on top of things now, but it takes you a year minimum to get on top of things and it’s the same for them.

“F1 is a fast-moving, impatient and unforgiving sport but the teams can’t rely solely on Liberty and F1 to solve all the problems.

“Yes, there are several challenges but the key is turn these into opportunities.”

As Liberty enters the thick of things with regard to defining F1’s future regulations and the all-important engine platform from 2021 – a draft proposal of which was met with doubt by several teams and an outright quit threat from Ferrari – Brown is predicting a fair amount of turmoil when discussions likely come to a head later this year.

“There will be some big negotiations going on through 2018 with the teams on contract renewal and I predict that there will be public fireworks; we are already starting to see that,” says the McLaren boss.

“I do not think it’s going to be quiet. Will Ferrari really leave if they don’t like the new rules?

“I have my opinion but we’ll see how this plays out.”

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Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo is keeping his hopes up for Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix, believing the Ferrari duo that heads the grid is within reach.

The Aussie qualified fifth in Saturday’s evening session but will start on the second row thanks to Lewis Hamilton’s five-spot grid drop.

Ricciardo considered the 0.4s deficit with poleman Sebastian Vettel as an encouraging sign, and one which offers good prospects for Sunday given the race pace of his RB14.

“In a way it was closer than expected,” he said after his qualifying effort, speaking to Sky Sports.

“I think to pole it was maybe four tenths or something, that’s encouraging. But it’s still frustrating to be at the tail end of that.

“The lap, there were bits and pieces, probably a tenth left on the table but I don’t think there was more than that to get myself further up the grid. I think Lewis still had a couple of tenths on me.

Verstappen blames ‘power surge’ for qualifying crash

“Yeah, frustratingly close but encouraging that there was no big gap.”

Ricciardo’s performance in free practice on Friday hinted that his Red Bull’s speed on the long runs bodes well for the 57-lap event.

“Practice and qualifying are okay but Sunday is my favourite day of the week,” he added.

“Yesterday our race pace didn’t look bad but our car in the second practice wasn’t as good as it was in FP1.

“That’s encouraging to know that our car will be even better than what we showed yesterday and hopefully puts us in the fight.”

Asked whether he could realistically take the fight to the Scuderia’s chargers up front, Ricciardo reckons he can.

“It’s not a long shot, I think its within reach, so looking forward to that. And hopefully in 24 hours time we can do a pretty cool interview after a good race!”

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Motorsport legend and 1978 F1 world champion Mario Andretti believes F1 should have followed IndyCar’s approach to aerodynamics when it introduced its new-spec cars in 2017.

IndyCar has switched to a sleek, new mandatory and universal aero kit this season which has considerably reduced downforce levels, an initiative rooted in the series’ decision to reduce costs and promote closer racing, exactly what F1 needs.

F1 on the other hand, overhauled its regulations last year, putting on track new-spec wider cars which offered much higher levels of downforce thanks to bigger wings.

While the cars are spectacularly faster, their speed has come to the detriment of racing, with overtaking opportunities often few and far between according to the circuits.

• Formula 1 to unveil its blueprint for the future to teams in Bahrain

“I think the [IndyCar] series, the management have done a great job in tweaking things,” Andretti told Motorsport.com.

“They’re doing the right thing with the aerodynamics of the cars and coming back to a more of a pure-looking single-seater, open-wheel car which I think was something all of the open-wheel aficionados wanted to see.

“Unfortunately, last year’s cars started looking more like a sports prototype car with all the winglets and all the bullshit that was hanging over, but what they’ve done, I think is personally [what] Formula 1 missed [out] on.

“They reduced the downforce of the car which is an element, they still gave them good downforce with the ground effect because it does not create turbulence.

“But with the smaller wings, you can stay near the guy’s gearbox and you can have a competitive overtake.”

©IndyCar