Latest F1 news in brief
04/22/08
- Todt to re-emerge for Monaco grand prix
- Alonso names possible new teams for 2009
- Entire Super Aguri team dispatched to Barcelona
- EU to investigate Valencia GP claims
- Button 16th in English triathlon New
- Alonso would 'damage' Ferrari – Montezemolo New
- Montezemolo gives Mosley cautious backing New
Todt to re-emerge for Monaco grand prix
(GMM) Jean Todt no longer has a day-to-day role in formula one or with the Ferrari team, but he is not planning to be a stranger to the F1 paddocks this season.
The 62-year-old Frenchman, who led the Maranello based team throughout the 1993-2007 period, handed the role to Stefano Domenicali for this year, and recently resigned as the famous marque's overall CEO.
Todt, however, attended the consecutive Malaysian and Bahrain grands prix, although he confirmed that he is not planning to show up in Barcelona this weekend.
"I will return for Monaco, not before," he said at the Sport Awards gala in San Marino.
But amid rumors that the now plain-clothed Todt is positioning to take over from embattled FIA president Max Mosley, Ferrari boss Domenicali confirms that Todt still lends him and Ferrari a helping hand.
"He's still with us. Of course this is a strength, it's not a negative point," the Italian said recently.
"He will always be (at races), even if he's not physically, for sure he will still be on the case," Domenicali added.
Todt is still a Ferrari board member and, given his record and experience, is no doubt still consulted by top management about key decisions.
"Maybe he is not coming to all the races, maybe he is not working from 7am to 9pm like he was doing before, but he is still around for the most important decisions," team racer Felipe Massa, who is managed by Todt's son Nicolas, said.
Alonso names possible new teams for 2009
(GMM) Fernando Alonso has singled out four teams as potential alternatives to his current employer Renault for the 2009 season.
Despite his past success for the French squad, the former double world champion has been disappointed by Renault's performance so far this year, after returning from an ill-fated McLaren tenure in 2007.
Alonso, the 26-year-old winner of 19 grands prix between 2003 and last year, is now making no secret of his search for a winning cockpit for 2009.
"What I want is to race in a car that can give me victories," he confirmed to the Spanish newspaper El Pais.
"There are several – Williams, Toyota, BMW and Ferrari – that are always on top, no matter what," Alonso said.
He revealed that his "priority in life" at the current moment is to return to the top step of the formula one podium.
"Two years ago, when I won my second world title, perhaps I had other ideas and other priorities," Alonso said.
"Now, I have gone back and I have the desire for revenge — 99 per cent of the time I think about winning again."
He refused to specifically answer a question about whether signing for Ferrari is his main goal for this year.
"There are many factors to assess," Alonso answered. "My first option is to continue here if Renault can make a winning car, and the truth is that we are moving forwards.
"But I do not want to keep fighting to get to Q3."
He said his short-term goal when he arrives at grands prix this year is now simply to improve his current situation, held back by the limited performance of the R28 car.
"The only thing to do is to try to improve. There is no alternative," Alonso added.
He admits that it will be difficult to remain motivated for the remaining fifteen races this year.
"It is hard," Alonso confirmed. "But every weekend you have a new opportunity, and so you work from that dream.
"I always think I am going to be able to be on the podium. And if it turns out it is not possible for Barcelona, I will think about Monaco, because there is always a new reason," he added.
Entire Super Aguri team dispatched to Barcelona
(GMM) The entire Super Aguri team, including all the transporters and the race cars, has been dispatched to the Barcelona circuit, it has emerged.
Despite continuing uncertainty about the financial survival of the Japanese outfit, including the question of whether the team will even race this weekend, frantic activity is still going on behind the scenes — including the preparation of the team's facilities and pits at the Circuit de Catalunya.
The German magazine Auto Motor und Sport claims that, after the recent withdrawal of the Magma Group's planned Dubai backing, talks with the Leafield operation have been on again.
The outcome is not yet known, but it is clear that Honda – Super Aguri's main hope of staying afloat at least in the coming days – wants written guarantees from an investor before the team is given the green light to even practice in Spain.
The Swiss publication Motorsport Aktuell reported that the Super Aguri sale was complicated by the emergence on the market of Dietrich Mateschitz's 50 per cent Toro Rosso share.
It also emerges that the team's managing director Daniele Audetto is back in the frame at Super Aguri, despite his absence from the races so far in 2008.
EU to investigate Valencia GP claims
(GMM) The European Union will investigate possible irregularities concerning the organization of the inaugural European grand prix on the streets of the Spanish port city Valencia.
It was previously reported that the European Commission, the executive branch of the EU, had ruled admissible a formal objection to the formula one project lodged by the environmental group Verda.
Amongst other things, the group claimed that a sufficient impact study was not done, and that some of the land for the circuit was taken from a protected 'green area'.
To the Spanish news agency EFE, and in response to parliamentarians' requests, the European parliament's environment commissioner Stavros Dimas confirmed that an investigation into possible violations by the organizers will indeed now take place.
Dimas also confirmed that Valencian authorities have so far failed to hand over studies about the fulfillment of European noise pollution directives, in anticipation of the late August F1 event.
Button 16th in English triathlon
(GMM) Jenson Button featured high in the time sheets after competing in a triathlon last weekend.
According to the organizers of the Sevenoaks Triathlon, the Honda driver took 91 minutes to swim 400m, ride 27 kilometers and jog 8 kilometers around Knole Park, in the southeast English county of Kent.
Button, 28, who competed alongside his physio Mike Collier, finished 16th of the 250 triathletes, about eight minutes behind the winner, Kent News added.
Collier, ten minutes behind Button, placed 47th.
Button's official website revealed that the British racer regularly competes in triathlons, and even won a similar event in Lanzarote over the winter.
Alonso would 'damage' Ferrari – Montezemolo
(GMM) Fernando Alonso's reported desire to switch to Ferrari next year has been dealt a harsh blow by the famous Italian team's president.
Luca di Montezemolo is quoted by the sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport as questioning whether appointing the Spaniard, a former double world champion, would be "desirable" for Ferrari in terms of maintaining harmony in the scarlet-clad garages.
"To line up a (Kimi) Raikkonen-Alonso double act would mean wanting to damage yourself," he said.
"I want two equal drivers that work together," Montezemolo added.
Montezemolo gives Mosley cautious backing
(GMM) Luca di Montezemolo has only tentatively backed Ferrari colleague Jean Todt's full backing of the embattled FIA president Max Mosley.
Montezemolo, the Maranello based marque's Italian president, commented on the fallout of the sex scandal in the pages of sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport on Tuesday.
"Objectively, I think it will be difficult for him to stay," the 60-year-old said in an interview.
Montezemolo, however, acknowledges the dilemma about the prospect of Mosley's departure.
"Should he withdraw from the FIA, the federation would need a successor with the same experience, competence, character and balance," he added.