Bernie gets a zimmer frame for his brithday

Posted on 28/10/2010

The steering wheel on Bernie Ecclestone's new zimmer frame © Getty Images

Photos of Bernie Ecclestone giving a middle finger salute are complementing reports on Thursday about the F1 chief executive's birthday.

F1's chief executive and long-time 'supremo' is turning 80, and Red Bull marked the forthcoming occasion in Korea last weekend with a mischievous present. It was a zimmer frame, featuring a Red Bull front wing and a special F1-style steering wheel with a range of custom buttons.

One of the buttons was labelled 'Viagra', another 'Nurse', and yet another 'Pasquale' - referring to his ever-present assistant Pasquale Lattuneddu. Posing at the front of the Red Bull garage with Christian Horner and Sebastian Vettel, Ecclestone greeted the massed photographers with good humour and the obscene single-finger gesture.

And according to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, Ecclestone does not intend to mark the occasion of his actual birthday on Thursday. "I hate parties," he said.

When asked what he really wants for his 80th birthday, the Briton was quoted a few days ago by the German weekly Die Zeit: "I just want to get there."

BBC receives complaints for Korea coverage

Posted on 27/10/2010

The BBC received nearly 300 complaints © Getty Images

The BBC received nearly 300 complaints from viewers after it switched its live coverage of the Korean Grand Prix from BBC1 to BBC2 to accommodate the Andrew Marr Show after the race was delayed because of rain.

Coverage of the grand prix was due to run on BBC1 from 6am to 9.15am, when the politics show was scheduled to begin. The show was put back by 15 minutes to 9.30am, but the grand prix had still not finished and the live coverage was switched to BBC2 for another hour.

Unfortunately for the BBC, that was when many of the most exciting incidents took place and as a result some 273 complaints were made with some viewers having set their televisions to record the race.

Sauber upset by 'unsporting' behaviour

Posted on 25/10/2010

Peter Sauber © Sutton Images

Peter Sauber believes members of the Ferrari and McLaren teams displayed "unsporting" behaviour during Sunday's Korean Grand Prix.

Sauber said he was upset to see team members of rival teams celebrating jubilantly when Red Bull's Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel retired from the front of the inaugural Yeongam event. After he saw their celebrations on the pit wall monitors, Sauber told Swiss daily Blick: "They were scenes that didn't please me at all. Very unsporting.”

Drivers recreate iconic F1 photo

Posted on 21/10/2010

The title contenders recreate the famous photo of 1986 © Getty Images

The five drivers in with a chance of winning the 2010 drivers’ title indulged in a piece of Formula One nostalgia on the Thursday before the Korean Grand Prix weekend by recreating a famous scene.

As the 1986 world championship fight came down to the wire in Adelaide, the four title protagonists – Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet – posed on the pitwall with Bernie Ecclestone for a media photograph in Estoril.

Two and a half decades later, the F1 supremo was back on the new Yeongam barrier with the current batch of title contenders to recreate the scene.

"It was good to do the photo with all the guys," said championship leader Mark Webber afterwards. "Going back all those years with some of our heroes obviously in those [1986] photos."

The 1986 title showdown also went down to the wire © Getty Images

Woman dies driving replica IndyCar

Posted on 20/10/2010

A woman crashed a replica IndyCar into a wall at a high speed and died while taking part in the Mario Andretti Driving Experience at a Southern California motor speedway.

The San Bernardino County coroner's office reported 24-year-old Ashley Phalen of Los Angeles was killed when her vehicle slammed into a wall and overturned at the Auto Club Motor Speedway in Fontana. She died at a nearby hospital.

Phalen was participating in what is described on andrettiracing.com as the "World's Fastest Racing Experience." The website says people can drive a race car with 600 horsepower for an eight-minute session and reach speeds up to 160 mph.

An after-hours phone message for the Andretti Driving Experience wasn't immediately returned.

Sachin Tendulkar turns speed king

Posted on 18/10/2010

Sachin Tendulkar at the 2004 European Grand Prix © Getty Images

Sachin Tendulkar, viewed by some as the greatest batsmen in the modern game and others as a deity, recently drove the frighteningly fast Caterham Seven at the company’s test track.

Caterham’s press release suggests Tendulkar did not know what he was getting himself into. “Wow, I can’t wait, it does a 2.9 0-60mph acceleration time,” he reportedly said when told.

Afterwards, probably relieved at having got through the drive alive, he said: “I can’t believe the acceleration; it’s scary even in a straight line, and it handles brilliantly, just like a go-kart.”

“When we heard Mr Tendulkar was keen to drive the R500, we naturally jumped at the chance, to show off our quickest production model,” Andy Noble of Caterham said. “We were delighted to hear how much fun he had driving the R500 and that he was able to experience something very unique and different.”

Toro Rosso: 'Don't panic: it's Korea, not the dark side of the Moon'

Posted on 18/10/2010

© Getty Images

Toro Rosso has encouraged its fellow members of the Formula One paddock to stop worrying about the upcoming Korean Grand Prix and look forward to it.

In a tongue-in-cheek press release, it said the rural location was not too different to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and that the Europeans' concerns over the track surface are a little hypocritical given that the 1985 Belgian Grand Prix had to be called off because the “mythical” Spa Francorchamps wasn’t up to the job.

It continued: “There are suggestions that the facilities in the garages and the paddock might not be fully finished yet and therefore will not match the modern standard required of F1, which we assume means not up to the standard of Melbourne or Sao Paolo perhaps. Anyway, not everything unfinished is necessarily bad: what about Franz Schubert’s Unfinished 8th Symphony, one of the composer’s most popular works and today considered one of his best. Some things are better left to take their time, such as Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia, one of the most famous churches in the world, which has been under construction since 1882 and is not due to be completed until 2026.”

It also told members of the paddock that the European way of life was considered a little “excitable” by the Koreans and drew on an extract from a “Korean Teaching Manual”: “Western people show exclamation even over trifles and are moved so easily by things that Koreans aren't effected by. This means they are accustomed to expressing feeling freely and frankly. In Western culture, they start a conversation about the weather when they meet someone for the first time: "It's a lovely day, isn't it?" This is reference to the inclement weather in England. The people who live in an area with nice weather like Korea aren't touched by this kind of thing but Englishmen can be impressed.”

Finally, the press release suggested learning the names of the local Mokpo football team if the long bus journey from Seoul became tedious.

Jake Humphrey swaps F1 for rallying

Posted on 13/10/2010

Jake Humphrey does his homework ahead of this weekend's rally © Jardine International

BBC’s Formula One anchorman Jake Humphrey will try his hand at co-driving a rally car at next weekend’s Cambrian Rally.

He will take the passenger seat of F1 pundit Tony Jardine’s Ford Fiesta as the pair pit their wits against the North Welsh countryside. The only problem appears to be that Humphrey has no idea what he is doing...

“Obviously the problem with the Formula 1 and working with the Commonwealth Games is that I haven’t had the chance to really get my head around this, so I’ll be cramming the night before in the hotel before we head out to the first stage,” said Humphrey. “I have absolutely no co-driving experience. When Tony gave me the book with all the pace notes in I hadn’t seen any of them before. But I have been learning, I know what ‘triple caution’ is, so I’m going to say that one extra loud. I’m just hoping that I won’t see too many ‘triple cautions’ because that will start to concern me, particularly if I miss them!”

Ever the optimist, Jake added, “I do feel nervous, but because I’m alongside someone who knows what they are doing I feel better. I know that if I get us in a muddle, Tony will get us out of it.”

Humprey’s participation will promote the Motor Sports Association’s Go Motorsport campaign and a small feature will appear in the build up to one of the remaining grands prix on the BBC.

Christmas comes early for Webber

Posted on 12/10/2010

Mark Webber was fortunate his tyre stayed on its mounting © Sutton Images

The early Christmas present Mark Webber really wants is the 2010 drivers’ title but come what may, his Red Bull boss Christian Horner has already decided what to give him this year.

Webber was fortunate to finish the Singapore Grand Prix after a closer inspection of his car revealed his right front tyre had slipped off its mounting following his collision with Lewis Hamilton. It led to Hamilton’s retirement but Webber continued to collect 15 valuable points for finishing third.

"We will convert it into a coffee table and give it to him as a Christmas present," said Horner. "How that tyre stayed on that wheel was quite remarkable."

Jenson Button mistaken for Chris Martin ... again

Posted on 10/10/2010

Coldplay's frontman Chris Martin and McLaren driver Jenson Button © Getty Images

It turns out Jenson Button is not just famous for being an F1 driver, he is also a renowned Chris Martin (Coldplay’s lead singer) lookalike.

"I had an American come up to me at the airport, Heathrow, a few months back and she said 'Me and my family are big fans of yours'," Button told Reuters.

"I said 'Wicked, thank you so much. I didn't think Formula One was that big in America'.

"And she said 'Yeah, we've got all your records, all your albums.' I was, like 'Fantastic. you think I'm Chris Martin don't you?' and she went 'Are you not?'"

"I said 'No, I race in Formula One cars'. So she said 'What's your name?' and I said 'Jenson Button'. Then she said. 'Ah, my family are big fans of yours'. And I'm like, 'Yeah, of course they are.'"

Mercedes pays the price

Posted on 08/10/2010

Mercedes is reportedly losing money on merchandise sales at grands prix in 2010. Cologne tabloid Express reported that Red Bull is selling the most merchandise at grands prix this year, followed by Ferrari. The report said Allsport charges teams more than €20,000 for merchandise booth rental at races, which in addition to hiring staff and buying the goods adds up to about a €50,000 spend per race for the top teams. Mercedes is reportedly selling between €90,000 and €100,000 each race weekend, but Norbert Haug said: “The media value is a hundred times the numbers you are talking about.”

Ecclestone and Sauber miss Suzuka

Posted on 07/10/2010

Two prominent figureheads of F1's travelling circus are conspicuously absent at Suzuka. According to the Swiss newspaper Blick, the sport's chief executive Bernie Ecclestone - who turns 80 in three weeks - did not want to travel the 9,000 kilometres from Europe to Japan.

And team founder and boss Peter Sauber is not at Suzuka this weekend because he has accepted an invitation to attend a wedding. The lucky groom is Carlos Slim Domit, the chairman of Sauber's new major sponsor Telmex and heir to his father Carlos Slim Helu's many billions. Forty-three year-old Slim Jr's wedding is taking place in his native Mexico City.

Mallya's empire set to expand into football?

Posted on 05/10/2010

A bejewelled Vijay Mallya © Getty Images

Vijay Mallya is reportedly in talks to buy the London football club Queens Park Rangers.

The club is currently owned by F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone and former Renault team boss Flavio Briatore. The Evening Standard newspaper said Mallya, the Indian billionaire and owner of the Force India F1 team, is eying a "significant" stake in QPR, who compete in England's Football League Championship.

As well as Force India, Mallya also owns Indian cricket team Royal Challengers. The report said Ecclestone and Briatore, who stepped down as chairman in February, are keen to sever their ties with the club.

The talks have reportedly been taking place for more than a month, with an agreement possible within two weeks. QPR's other owner is Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian steel tycoon who is the world's fifth richest man.