Gian Carlo Minardi “Safety comes first”

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New Formula 1 regulations continue to cause controversy. At the end of the first Jerez testing day, Gian Carlo Minardi focussed on the danger of cars’ new noses, especially in case of side collision or, even worse, in case of rear-ending. This theory was also confirmed by engineers and technicians the likes of Adrian Newey and Gabriele Tredozi.

In these days, Red Bull’s bright engineer talked about safety linked to new noses and the positioning of new batteries. But the Manager from Faenza would like to take a 360 degree view of new dangers “In comparison with 1994, the year one of the world’s most gifted drivers ever passed away, Formula 1 safety regulations changed so much. How about Formula 1 safety today? In these days I heard people talking about new turbo engines and reliability, only Newey talked about safety. What I’d like to understand is whether everything is under control and I’d like to hear that from FIA.  Formula 1 introduced many far-reaching changes, which can turn to be dangerous. It’s the case of new batteries which, in case of overheating, can set off unexpected blazes”, says Minardi on the website www.minardi.it. “Some led lights have been installed onto cars (red, yellow, green) so that, in case of danger, mechanics and technicians are warned and they can start working on fixing problems. Drivers were told that, in case of danger, they have to jump off the car and avoid touching the car’s bodywork, but, what about track commissioners? Were they duly trained? I heard that teams’ mechanics attended training courses on safety and teams can make use of self-certifications each engine constructor have drawn up for his clients. I think FIA should draw up an official register for teams and track commissioners.”

We don’t have to forget that in case of accident or breakdown, track commissioners are the first to intervene “Some circuits host International competitions only once a year. Are track commissioners well trained? Do they know how to behave? Do they know what kind of led light allows them to intervene on the car? I ask these questions on a very important matter such as work safety, as an enthusiast not a technician. I heard that circuits haven’t been given any information about that as well as any official register….” ends the former constructor from Faenza “Not to mention also shipping problems. In the past, batteries, which were smaller and less technologic, were shipped inside bespoke boxes, now they’ll have to be put inside special boxes both in the case of air way and roadway shipping”, that goes to the detriment of expense reduction.

Jerez testing – THE POINT…by Gian Carlo Minardi

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The Jerez four-day-testing session officially inaugurated the Formula 1 new era. The Spanish session has provided Ferrari with a fairly satisfied starting point and with the awareness the Italian squad has to fight against Mercedes who have a slight lead over them. Alonso stated he shares telemetry with his teammate Kimi and, to be honest, I don’t find it hard to believe. Ferrari is the only squad to be able to manage two first drivers, providing both with the same technical material. When performance levels will be evaluated, a true feeling of competitiveness will arise, but only time trials will set the strategies.

It’s only the beginning, so it wouldn’t be fair to “deliver any ruling”. It will be interesting to see cars’ behaviour in Bahrein, where temperatures will be higher, even if I think that the Stuttgart based manufacturer worked side by side with his four partners. They gathered many data thanks to the miles Mercedes, McLaren, Williams and Force India gained throughout the testing session.  The same was for the Maranello based squad, despite the problems Sauber and Marussia had.

Considering the close relationship between Renault and Lotus, the former would have missed the latter so much at Jerez. Starting from next session, there could be a better information exchange to go to the benefit of Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso, even if, according to White’s statement, there is quite a wide difference between indoor and on-track testing. The World Champion started on the wrong foot and now they have to give evidence proof of their strength. It’s in moments like this that a team should prove its virtue.

As far as engines are concerned, after Jerez testing session, some debriefs were held to discuss technical issues. Many car companies had the opportunity to attend the first session and evaluate a possible entry into the top tier Championship.

The Sakhir testing won’t give a clear idea on the whole situation, so evaluations can be made only after the first races. Now Formula 1 cars run more slowly than GP2, so only the most skilled teams in car handling and consumption will be successful. This has to make us think a lot, as this could be less attractive for race enthusiasts. We don’t have to forget that Formula 1 is the highest expression of motorsport.

I’m pleased to know that Williams will soon announce their partnership with one of the brands that has always made the history of motorsport. This partnership represents a great step forward not only for a team who had a troublesome 2013 season, but also for the whole F1 framework. In 1991, the year my M191 was powered by the Maranello-based company’s engine, me too I was very close to conclude an agreement with that company, but unfortunately we didn’t seal the deal.

Davide Rigon renews the contract with Ferrari and gets ready to compete in the FIA WEC

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After running a successful 2013 season behind the wheel of the Ferrari Italia 458 GT in the Blancpain Endurance Series Championship, International GT Open and FIA WEC and taking part in the rookie testing at the wheel of the F138 at Silverstone, Davide Rigon has seen his professional relationship with the Scuderia Ferrari being extended.

The Italian driver will be at the squad’s disposal also for the 2014 and 2015 season, continuing to cooperate with the Scuderia as a test driver. His cooperation started in 2011. Apart from carrying out an intensive programme at the F1 simulator, Davide will also take part in the single-seater development testing sessions. Simultaneously to the contract renewal with the Scuderia Ferrari, he will also take part in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The Italian driver, who is managed by the Giovanni Minardi’s Minardi Management, will drive the three-world title winner Ferrari Italia 458 GT, alongside the Amato Ferrari AF Corse. His goal is to be confirmed as a top driver at a worldwide level.

After winning in Shanghai, finishing second in Bahrein and Sao Paulo and finishing fourth in Fuji, this year Davide Rigon will make his debut in the Endurance racing’ s most renowned race: the 24 hours of Le Mans, which is scheduled for the week end of June 14th-15th.

In the 2014 season Rigon will race at eight of the motorsport’ s most renowned venues. The first race is scheduled for April 20th at the historical track of Silverstone and it will be followed by the 24 hours to be raced at the spectacular Spa-Francorchamps circuit (May 3rd). On September 20th the Championship will move to America and afterwards to Japan (October 12th), China (November 2nd), Bahrein (November 15th) and Interlagos, Brazil (November 30th), where the final race will be run.

On January 25th/26th Davide opened his racing season by taking part in the 24 hours of Daytona, driving the Ferrari 458 GT.

“My dream is coming true day by day. The Scuderia Ferrari is my second family and it’s a great satisfaction to have the opportunity to cooperate with the world’s most important and famous team. We carried out a well-defined programme over the last seasons, so, having the opportunity to follow up on that, it’s really exciting. New technological challenges are expected for the future and we’re ready to face them with determination. I am grateful to the President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, to the Team Principal Stefano Domenicali and to the Minardi Management’s staff, who has been by my side for 10 years”, says an excited Davide Rigon on the website www.minardi.it.

“As far as GT racing is concerned, I can’t wait to compete in the first race. To have the opportunity to compete in the FIA WEC World Championship is a great achievement and doing that behind the wheel of the reigning champion Ferrari 458 is even a more special experience. The 24 hours of Le Mans will be the cherry on top”, says also the Italian driver, “Daytona was a great experience. Thanks to Ferrari, I had the opportunity to learn a lot about this kind of competitions”, ends Rigon, “I felt comfortable behind the wheel of the 458 and I’m satisfied with my stint. Although there were more than 60 cars on the track, I made no mistakes.”

“I want to praise Davide for the results he achieved last year, thanks to which he deserved to enjoy the loyalty of the Scuderia Ferrari again. As Minardi Management, we’ve consistently worked hard throughout the season in order to reach the goals for the 2014 season. I’m sure Davide and Ferrari can achieve important goals even in a challenging season such as the upcoming one. It will be a very demanding season for Davide , especially if we consider that F1 regulations were changed a lot and he is engaged in the GT Championship”, says the manager Giovanni Minardi, “now he’s going to compete in the FIA WEC Championship. This year he will take part in the Championship from the very first event. Our goal was to make him shift from GT3 to GT2 this season and, as Minardi Management, we’re very pleased to have achieved it. It will be amazing to take part in the 24 hours of Le Mans”, ends the manager from Faenza.

Renault problems. Was Lotus forward-looking…….?

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While all teams are engaged in the fourth and last testing day at Jerez- Formula 1 will move to Bahrein on February 19th to run a further testing session – let’s try to play with numbers. Leaving testing times aside, let’s “tidy up” the number of laps completed by engine manufacturers and teams.

After the first three days, Mercedes tops the standing, since the four teams whose engine is supplied by the German manufacturer, successfully completed 466 laps (McLaren, Mercedes, Williams and Force India), followed by the Maranello-based manufacturer who completed 235 laps, thanks to the Ferrari-powered Sauber C33 and the Ferrari-powered Marussia M03, who joined testing only yesterday and successfully completed 5 laps. The new Energy Renault-powered teams follow behind with a huge time gap from other teams. The total amount of laps which were successfully completed by them is 81; the world champion team only managed 14 laps. The only team who is not present in the standing is Lotus “As we can see, Mercedes as an engine manufacturer had the best interpretation of new regulations, as well as Ferrari, whose drivers gained several miles. The Renault-powered teams had a troublesome testing session. Maybe Lotus was forward-looking…”, wrote yesterday Gian Carlo Minardi on his website www.minardi.it.

As per what is heard, no teams are exploting all their engine unit power “Some external observers, through the employment of some phonometric tools, affirm that cars don’t exploit the 15.000 revs/min. that can be performed by their engines. It is for this reason that we carefully look at testing timesheet, but it’s too early to judge”, says the manager from Faenza.

Among the Mercedes-powered constructors, the Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton’s W05 turned out to be the most performing car by completing 177 laps. The second most performing car is the MP4-29 driven by Button and Magnussen, who completed 135 laps, followed by Williams, whose drivers Massa and Bottas successfully managed 89 laps. Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India completed 65 laps.

Among the Ferrari-powered constructors, the two partners Alonso and Raikkonen completed 136 laps. Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez’s C33 completed 94 laps. Max Chilton’s Marussia only managed 5 laps.

Among  the Renault-powered constructors, Scuderia Toro Rosso leads the standing, successfully completing 45 laps and it is followed by Caterham who completed 22 laps. Red Bull is the Jerez testing’s tail-end , as they only managed 14 laps with Sebstian  Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo.

“We don’t have to forget that this is only the fourth day of shake-down. In the past, teams took private testing sessions, while today they have to do it publicly. The problems some teams are dealing with throughout the Jerez testing session are ordinary problems, especially because Formula 1 has been fully revised”, ends Minardi.

Giovanni Minardi visits Birel Factory

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After closing a partnership agreement with Alberto Tonti to pursue the ambitious project to scout future champions starting from go-karting, which is the first step to climb the motorsport ladder, this morning, the manager Giovanni Minardi has visited the Birel factory, which is a leading company in the world of go-karting.

Minardi had the chance to see the 6000 metres squared Birel headquarter, together with the company founder Ronnie Sala. “I’m very pleased to have met Ronni and have had the chance to see the Birel world with my own eyes”, says Giovanni Minardi, “This trip has given me the opportunity to come into contact with the different features of the world of go-karting. The factory has cutting edge tools and machines for go-kart building and it’s a very well-organised company.”

 

Gian Carlo Minardi “The ship should never be abandoned”

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The third day of F1 pre-season testing at Jerez was over. Without taking into account testing times- the new F1 cars are 1 sec. slower than GP2 cars – what stands out immediately is the large number of laps completed by Ferrari’s Alonso (58), McLaren (50 with the new recruit Magnussen and 40 with the veteran Button) and Mercedes’ s Hamilton (62).

On-going problems for the Renault-powered Red Bull, who abandoned the circuit one day in advance, “It’s not a positive message at all to see the world champion team’s staff driving away from the track. A captain should never abandon the ship. This could be a warning about the squad’s problems, considering also that the last day of testing still has to be run. It’s rumoured that Adrian Newey and the Renault engine manager White had a ferocious quarrel”, says Gian Carlo Minardi on the www.minardi.it website, “I find it hard to understand why they abandoned, especially one day before the last day. On-track data can be analysed and amendments can be made according to them”, says the manager from Faenza.

After three days, we have a Mercedes-Mercedes who completed 177 laps, followed by Ferrari with 136 completed laps, Mercedes-powered McLaren with 133 laps (the first day the squad didn’t test) and Mercedes-powered Williams completed 89 laps. The Renault-powered teams are experiencing a troublesome testing session, Red Bull managed to complete only 14 laps “This is only the third day of shake-down. In the past, teams took private testing sessions before taking on-track testing, while today they have to make that publicly. The problems some teams are dealing with are ordinary problems, especially because Formula 1 has been fully revised. This is the reason why I don’t want to analyse testing times, but I’d rather analyse engine’s behaviour. As we may see, Mercedes has interpreted new regulations the best way, just as Ferrari, whose drivers are gaining miles. On the contrary, Renault is experiencing a troublesome session. Maybe Lotus was forward-looking…..”continue Minardi “Some external observers, through the employment of phonometric instruments, affirm that cars are not exploiting all their engines power, which is 15.000 revs/min. This is the reason why we carefully look at testing times, even if it’s too early to judge.”

After Spain, Formula 1 will move to Bahrein, where Lotus will take part in the testing session, too, and “Starting from February 19th, testing will be held in Bahrein, where temperature will be much higher. If some teams already have some cooling related troubles, I don’t dare to think what will happen in Sakhir”, ends the manager from Faenza, “These first testing days demonstrated that some teams did a great off-track job, to be honest, I’m surprised by Renault negative performance.”

Jerez testing Day 1 – Gian Carlo Minardi raises alert over the employment of chemistry

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The new era of Formula 1 started this morning with the first session of collective testing which took place at the Jerez circuit. Only Lotus and Marussia didn’t take part in the event….It was a quite complicated session for teams, who had to deal with new technical upgrades. If, generally speaking, testing times have to be taken with a pinch of salt, today’s times have to be considered just as they are, even if I was pleased to see Kimi Raikkonen completing 31 laps.

“As it could be expected, it was a quite complicated session; red flags were deployed several times. Hamilton had his first running severely curtailed, as his car was involved in a collision. Mechanics worked much longer than their drivers. It was an unlucky day for McLaren who had to stop because of electronics issues, whilst Red Bull and Caterham had their cars completed only late in the afternoon, so they only managed to shake down”, says Gian Carlo Minardi on his website www.minardi.it.

Attention was mainly paid to cars’ new shapes, especially to cars’ nose, which is trunk-shaped “The problem is always the same. People who write regulations are not designers, so this is the result. Without even considering cars from an aesthetic point of view, which is highly controversial, influential people such as Eng. Adrian Newey and Gabriele Tredozi – who was at Jerez – focus their attention on safety.  If a car catches the broadside of a competitor’s, these bulges can cause serious problems; furthermore, they can distort the design of a F1 car.”

Thanks to his long-standing experience as a constructor, the manager from Faenza wants to focus his attention on a very interesting fuel related issue “I hope that engine suppliers and fuel suppliers haven’t brought regulations to the extremes like the chassis manufacturers. Through the employment of chemistry, the specific weight of fuel could be altered and the performance of the turbo improved, distorting the Championship and misrepresenting the intention of FIA, who aims at having that product applied to standard cars. In the past, in fact, before adapting fuel features to F1, the fuel supplier had to provide some samples to be previously tested on standard cars. With regards to engine, some beholders have written up a performance ranking by using some phonometric instruments; Mercedes and Ferrari are ahead of Renault. Obviously, it is also necessary to analyse gas consumption, which is a very important topic.”

Hamilton successfully completed 11 laps, finishing behind Ferrari. Mercedes finished ahead of Bottas, Perez’s Force India and Toro Rosso, who successfully completed 15 laps “Mercedes proved to be a dreadful car. Force India delivered an excellent performance.”

Tomorrow the second day of testing will start. Let’s wait and see McLaren and Red Bull’s testing times.

Formula 1 rides the new era of communication

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Waiting for the new Red Bull, Mercedes, Marussia and Caterham to be officially launched and after the McLaren MP4-29, the new Ferrari F14-T, the Sauber C33-Ferrari, the Williams, the Force India and Lotus have been unveiled on the net, the first day of testing is about to start at Jerez.

Formula 1 is ready to write a brand new chapter of its history, not only from the point of view of technical changes, but also from the point of view of communication.

“We’re living a historic moment. Communication is quickly changing, thanks to Internet, but newspapers and reviews usually get left behind. On-line news released by social networks and websites, always get the jump on reviews and newspapers”, says Gian Carlo Minardi in his website  www.minardi.it. “The top series is trying to make the best use of the new means of communication, so media are challenging each other to be the first to reveal the new F1 cars. I get the feeling that everybody wants to claim the authorship of a technology solution.

It takes only a few seconds to spread news or a picture across the world, which was something unimaginable a few years ago, when the main means of communication to spread news were newspapers and cameras. I do think this is the best way to launch a new car as, in my opinion, there’s no point in spending money to make a spectacular launch which has nothing to do with technology”, continues the manager from Faenza, “There’s still much room to improve, but we have to try to attract more audience, above all in Europe. Investors coming from new markets are supporting F1, but  the top series lost its appeal in the old continent.”

These days Formula 1 was upset by the Lotus Team Principal Eric Bouiller’ s sudden abandon. In the first instance, Bouiller was supposed to replace the 55-year-old British team principal Whitmarsh who is ready to join the Enstone-based team “I consider Lopez’s decision to re-join the team as the team owner to be a very good thing. I’ve always disapproved the presence of managers in Formula 1. Now a manager is also the head of the squad, but he can quit at any time. In the past, the team principal was also the owner of the team”, says the founder of the F1 team of the same name.

Gian Carlo Minardi “Zanardi, a model for us all”

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After winning two golden medals and a silver medal at the London Paralympic Games in 2012, where he competed as a handbike rider, and after winning three world titles in on-the-road competitions, Alessandro Zanardi is now ready to make his return behind the wheel of a GT car.

Four seasons after his last race, the former F1 driver and Cart Champion will make his return behind the wheel of a GT3 BMW Z4 to contest the Blancpain GT Sprint Championship “I’d like to wish Zanardi good luck. He has demonstrated all his value by winning two Golden medals at the last Paralympic games- which is not his sport- he’s now ready to take a challenge again at the age of 47”, says Gian Carlo Minardi.

“It won’t be an easy challenge for him for many reasons, for sure. He didn’t race for a long time, so now he has to get used to drive a race car again. He’s a very determined person and a model for us all. We have to learn a lot from him. He’s the living proof of a strong will; he demonstrates that with a strong will and stubbornness, important goals can be achieved.”

Alessandro Zanardi joined the Formula 1 Championship in 1991 alongside Jordan, taking part in the last three races. Gian Carlo Minardi called him the following year to replace an injured Christian Fittipaldi in the British, German and Hungarian GP “I met him when he was very young. I feel regretful thinking back to those years. If he had had the same physical condition as today, his F1 career would have been different. Unlike in 1992, his physical condition is excellent today. We had a good relationship, but also some problems. It was only my 8th season in F1 and he was not physically ready at that moment”, remembers the manager from Faenza “I wish him good luck again for his new challenge.”

Alarm bell for Caterham

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On the occasion of the launch of the 2014 line-up (Kamui Kobayashi and Marcus Ericsson will race respectively with number #10 and number #9), the founder of the English-Malaysian team Tony Fernandes, announced that, if the team doesn’t score important points throughout the 2014 season, it will probably quit F1.

Caterham joined F1 Championship in 2010 with the name of Lotus Racing, before becoming Caterham in 2012. Since the team has been racing in the top series for five years, Fernandes expects it to score the first points. The Malaysian entrepreneur doesn’t want his team to be at the bottom of the standing any more “If the team keeps on holding bottom positions in the standing, we’ll leave F1. After 5 seasons in the F1 Championship, I expect the team to score the first points. It makes no sense to continue to hold the bottom positions”, says Fernandes “There’s a limit to patience, motivation and money”

The English-Malaysian team joined the Circus along with HRT and Marussia. At the end of 2012, HRT had already raised the white flag.

Ericsson and Kobayashi to join Caterham

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The Drivers line-up has been replaced at Caterham. Pic and Van Der Garde have been replaced by Kamui Kobayashi and Marcus Ericsson.

After spending a year as a GT driver for Ferrari, the former Japanese Sauber team driver re-joins the top series alongside the Tony Fernandez-owned F1 team. He will partner the 23-year-old Swedish driver Marcus Ericsson, who steps up to Grand Prix racing from GP2 and Formula 3.

With today’s announcement, the Formula 1 World Championship drivers line-up is completed. The Championship will start next week by a-three-day collective test session to take place at Jerez circuit.

After exiting from Caterham, Giedo Van Der Garde will join Sauber as a test and reserve driver and will theoretically partner Sergey Sirotkin.

Minardi “The idea of joining the F1 Championship without having a background as a constructor is madness”

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Few months ago FIA issued a call for a tender in order to recruit new teams to join the F1 Championship, as it happened in 2010, when squads such as HRT, Virgin Racing (today Marussia) and Lotus Racing (today Caterham) joined the top series.

Three teams are interested in joining the Circus, so far: Stefan GP, Haas Racing and a team directed by Colin Kolles “The idea of joining the F1 Championship without having a background as a constructor is madness. You cannot take on take on the role of constructor from one day to another”, says Gian Carlo Minardi “I get the feeling that it’s more a matter of promoting their image rather than anything else. To allow teams who are not constructor teams to join the top series wouldn’t bring any advantage to F1.”

As a matter of fact, the last teams who joined the World Championship have demonstrated that it’s very difficult to establish a team starting from the basics “The recent past has to set a trend. The last teams who joined the Championship took on the role of constructors, without having a background as constructors. If we also consider that it’s very difficult to find the required financial resources, we can understand that the whole situation is really complicated”, continues the manager from Faenza who started his racing career competing in the Formula Italia Championship and founded the Minardi F.1 Team who ran 340 GP throughout the course of 21 years. In the ‘80s, he also competed in the Formula 2 Championship before shifting to F1. “The situation of the Lotus Team and Red Bull Racing is different. The squad managed by Eric Bouiller grounds its roots in Formula 2. It rose from the ashes of Renault, Benetton and Toleman, while Red Bull bought the former Jaguar Racing (Stewart Grand Prix).”

The new team would replace HRT, who left the Circus two years after their entry, because of financial issues. On February 28th FIA and FOM will make the first announcements about that. We’ll lie in wait for future announcements.

Gian Carlo Minardi “We should give priority to the present”

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This is a crucial week for Formula 1. Next Wednesday, all F.1 Team Principals will meet the President of the FIA Jean Todt to discuss future and present decisions. On the same day, some single-seaters will be virtually revealed, as well as the first session of collective testing scheduled at the Spanish circuit of Jerez starting from January 28th.

The Salary Cap, which is expected to be introduced in 2015, is a fundamental subject for the survival of the circus, however, F1 current issues should be at the top of the meeting schedule, despite the statements made by the people concerned.

In this moment, several teams are dealing with the increase in costs, which is caused by the important technological upgrades which have been introduced this year and by the lack of sponsorship. Except for the two or three top teams, all other teams are in a quite bad situation. In the past, the ordinary matter was the survival or the closure of small teams such as the Minardi, while now we see Lotus, the fourth team in the standing, undergoing a financial crisis and McLaren failing FIA crash tests.

Formula 1 has always represented the highest expression in terms of technology and all the technological upgrades introduced for the 2014 season will be also applied to standard cars: energy recovery, restrictions on fuel and the introduction of turbos to replace aspirated engines. Only car racing can foster technological research, however I think that this is not the right moment to embark on such a demanding adventure. The worldwide financial crisis has not been seriously taken into account. We don’t have to forget that the Formula 1 Championship is the most followed media event after the Olympic Games and the World Cup, with the last two events being held every 4 years, while F1 GP are held every 15 days. Therefore the Circus can’t afford to take choices which are not sufficiently though out, such as points doubling, in order to make the Championship more attractive. In my opinion this is an illogic decision. In my opinion the current regulations is too severe. The number of engine units available per driver was significantly reduced as well as test days; I think this is a too radical reduction, especially if we consider that several changes have been introduced and teams have to deal with a larger number of issues. Delays on the schedule are clear and this will influence cars’ reliability, performance and safety.

The first half of January has passed and the first session of collective tests will be shortly held on the track of Jerez. Who will take part in that? What will be their technical features? How will they face up to the first race events? I get the impression that the World Championship won’t be won by those teams who will have the best technical features, but by those teams who will manage to cross the line. Reliability will be the winning feature. In a highly competitive and technological framework such as F1, economic issues have a deep influence not only on technological research, but also on the reliability of the different parts.

F1 is going through a critical moment and has to deal with the lack of a real leader. Mr. Ecclestone’s issues have repercussions on the F1 environment; despite he stated he can rely on the support of all teams.

I hope that F1 issues will be seriously considered with regards to the 2014 season, so that the highest level of competitiveness is ensured for this sport.