Autosport editor in hot water with Team Lotus

Posted on 13/12/2010

Mike Gascoyne is unhappy with Autosport's coverage © Getty Images

The editor of leading motorsport magazine Autosport, Andrew van de Burgt, has landed himself in trouble with Team Lotus technical boss Mike Gascoyne.

Autosport’s recent coverage of the Lotus v Lotus saga said that Group Lotus linking up with Renault meant that "The real Lotus is back".

"Lots of fans unhappy with the Autosport articles this week, me too," commented Gascoyne on Twitter.

It was reported that Van de Burgt defended his magazine’s coverage on Team Lotus' official Facebook page before deleting it, insisting that Tony Fernandes' 2010 entry under the Lotus name was "a cynical attempt to generate publicity and sponsorship".

"The Lotus buy-in of Renault is to promote and sell Lotus road and race cars - the whole reason Chapman set up Team Lotus in the first place. No hoax. Stop over-reacting," said van de Burgt.

The Autosport editor clarified on Monday that the excerpt linked by Gascoyne was extracted from a private letter and used without permission and that he is now seeking legal advice.

McLaren email gaffe irritates media

Posted on 09/12/2010

Martin Brundle made light of the incident © Getty Images

McLaren's communications department appears to have some questions to answer after an email gaffe late on Wednesday left some members of the media venting their anger.

The team sent an email to the regular recipients of its press releases asking them to update their contact details ahead of the 2011 season but McLaren forgot to hide the email id of the 'priority' and 'general' media distribution lists, meaning that hundreds of recipients pressing 'reply all' accidently sent their details to members of the media all over the world.

The mistake caused inboxes to become flooded with emails. Some journalists vented their anger but others, including former F1 driver and BBC commentator Martin Brundle, saw the funny side.

"What a ridiculous **** up," wrote Brundle. "Brilliant. Hello everybody. My Blackberry battery is not prepared for this. Happy Christmas."

On Twitter, the saga is now known as 'McLarenmailgate'.

Massa's captain crashes his boat

Posted on 08/12/2010

Yet another headache in a testing year © Getty Images

Felipe Massa was waiting for his boat to collect him from a marina when his captain suffered a seizure and the boat crashed.

The boat was cruising on an island near the beach of Guaruja off Sao Paulo's south coast when the 50 foot vessel veered off course and hit rocks, damaging the boat's hull beyond repair.

Massa's spokesperson Marcio Fonseca revealed that the Ferrari driver was in contact with the captain when the incident occurred but that he is now okay.

"Suddenly, Felipe could no longer talk to him. Felipe ran to the scene to see if all was well. He [the captain] was taken to hospital but he's ok, only some light bruises."

Battered Bernie appears in watch advert

Posted on 07/12/2010

"See what people will do for a Hublot." © Hublot

Ever the entrepreneur, Bernie Ecclestone has turned his own violent mugging into a commercial opportunity.

The F1 supremo was viciously punched and kicked in London in late November and his expensive Hublot watch was stolen from his wrist.

Once recovered sufficiently from the initial shock of the incident, Ecclestone sent a photo of himself showing his injuries along with a short note to the CEO of Hublot. As the two men share a sense of humour, they agreed to make an advert to be published in the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribute on Wednesday.

A photo of the Ecclestone’s battered face appears on a print advert for his sport's official watch sponsor, including the Ecclestone attributed quote: "See what people will do for a Hublot."

Mercedes top of the stops

Posted on 07/12/2010

Michael Schumacher makes a pit stop © Getty Images

Although the Mercedes team did not field the best car in 2010 it had the fastest pit crew in pitlane.

That is the result of an analysis by Germany's Auto Motor und Sport which showed that the team turned around Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg faster in pitstops than any rival outfit.

The fastest stop in was 2.9 seconds, achieved by the Red Bull crew during a Sebastian Vettel pit stop at Monza.

But overall, Mercedes' was the fastest crew, emerging with the quickest stop of the race on eight occasions - in Malaysia, Turkey, Germany, China, Spain, Monaco, Britain and Belgium.

Red Bull was next best, changing the RB6's tyres quickest at five grands prix, ahead of Ferrari's three quickest stops with Sauber best in Korea and Brazil. Surprisingly, McLaren was only fastest once this season, in Japan.

Mercedes' stops were achieved with a fully automatic 'traffic light' system which is up to half a second faster than using a traditional 'lollipop man'.

Webber tops Aussie sports earners list

Posted on 01/12/2010

Mark Webber still has good reason to smile © Getty Images

Despite narrowly missing out on the 2010 drivers’ title, Mark Webber has jumped to the top of the list of Australian sports earners.

Golfer Greg Norman was first in last year’s Rich List published by BRW magazine but has been removed from this year’s list due to the curtailment of his playing commitments.

"Norman still makes millions but almost all of his money comes from property development and other business deals," BRW said in a statement.

Webber was fourth on last year's list, but his estimated $13.4 million earned this season puts him ahead of NBL basketball player Andrew Bogut.

Bogut's earnings are listed as $12.6m, ahead of motocross rider Chad Reed ($7.5m), MotoGP's Casey Stoner ($6.8m), Premier League player Tim Cahill ($4.2m) and NASCAR driver Marcos Ambrose ($4.2m).

Button surprised by 'random' video clip

Posted on 30/11/2010

Jenson Button appears briefly on the youtube clip © youtube

Jenson Button was as surprised as anyone else to find himself on a short Japanese film posted on youtube.

Button appears 1min34 seconds into the clip, which shows him coming through the doors of customs at an unknown airport.

When first alerted to the footage on his twitter feed, The_Real_JB, Button at first denied the person in question was in fact him.

“Defo not me! I always travel with bags plus I've never owned that top... Freaky though!”

On closer inspection however, Button admitted that the mystery man in question was, in fact, his good self.

“Whoops! sorry guys after watching this footage I realised it is me! at 1min34! To me it looks like winter testing in Valencia or Jerez. The short haired guy is Physio Phil with the bags!! Completely random though!”

Ecclestone takes a 'good whacking'

Posted on 29/11/2010

Bernie Ecclestone was knocked unconscious in the attack © Getty Images

Bernie Ecclestone made light of being the victim of a mugging outside his home last week despite being kicked unconscious by his attackers.

Ecclestone was sporting a very badly bruised eye on Saturday after his assailants fled with an estimated £200,000 worth of jewellery from him and girlfriend Fabiana Flosi.

"I'm feeling it now, a bit painful, it was a good whacking," said Ecclestone. "When I was on the ground I could hear Fabiana (Flosi) screaming for help and I took a kick or two in the head and went unconscious. When I came to there was blood everywhere from my head wound but I was lucky.

"It was completely stupid and uncalled for. If they had confronted me and asked for everything we had, I would have handed over everything in my pockets, my wallet, anything."

Ecclestone added that the muggers "ripped" the earrings from his girlfriend's ears but dismissed reports that the Hublot watch taken from his wrist was worth more than $300,000 as "bollocks".

Petrov reveals Alonso fans defaced website

Posted on 25/11/2010

© Sutton Images

Vitaly Petrov has revealed that fans of Ferrari and Fernando Alonso littered his official Facebook page with insults and abuse.

"Many people cursed me, saying I had blocked Alonso," admitted the Russian driver.

Petrov played a pivotal role in the outcome of the 2010 world championship when points leader Alonso could not pass him during the final race at Abu Dhabi earlier this month. Alonso was critical at the time and shook his fists at Petrov after the race, but the Russian rookie can’t understand why he has become the villain.

"It's nonsense, I did nothing wrong,” he told Bild. “For 39 laps I was in front of him but no one told me on the radio that I was helping Sebastian be world champion.

“Even if he had [passed], he also had to pass Rosberg. I drove my own race and Ferrari made a tactical error," added Petrov, who dismissed Alonso's post-race gesticulations as "bad manners".

Alonso's failure to pass Petrov meant that Sebastian Vettel was able to close a big points margin to the Spaniard and secure the 2010 title. "He deserves it," Petrov said, referring to Vettel. "The newspapers said it was a miracle, but it was his hard work."

Bild asked Petrov if the new world champion had congratulated him personally for his role in the title outcome. "He doesn't have my phone number," answered the Russian. "But I saw that he wrote on his website to his fans that he was grateful to me."

'I just don't give a f***' - Foul-mouthed Hamilton on Twitter

Posted on 24/11/2010

© Sutton Images

Lewis Hamilton caused a stir on the social networking website Twitter when he used bad language to defend his writing style.

Hamilton, who has over 53,000 followers, responded to fellow users who were mocking the quality of his tweets by posting: “To those of you who care, thanks for your support, am on here for you. To all you haters… I just don’t give a f*** haha.”

He has since deleted the offending tweet and indicated that the whole issue had been blown out of proportion (which it probably has). He also issued the following apology: “Aight, to my young peeps I apologise for the language. Am not venting, I’m always chill. Was not aimed at u. God bless.”

But even amended that later on: “To my people (I prefer to say that than fans) I've got nothing but love for u guys..to the others...all I can do is smile..picture me rollin!”