Bleacher Report - Formula 1

More on Terrell Suggs-Candace Williams Domestic Violence Incident

Jarrett Carter — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:27:55 -0500

Here are the scary, graphic details about the Terrell Suggs-Candace Williams domestic violence incident that are troubling to say the least.

According to the complaint, Williams said Suggs threw a soap dispenser at her head, hit her in the chest with his hand, and held a bottle of bleach over her and their 1-year-old son, which spilled on them and caused a rash. A District Court judge wrote that a laceration was visible on Williams’ chest.

Suggs did not travel with the team to Green Bay for tonight’s game, and it will be sad, yet compelling to see how the local media handles this incident of an athlete not being able to turn off aggression—particularly in the midst of a playoff push.

Technorati Tags: Candace Williams, Terrell Suggs

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Confirmed: British Grand Prix Awarded to Silverstone

Gareth Llewellyn-Stevens — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:14:02 -0500

Silverstone Circuits Limited confirmed that it has a contract to run the British Grand Prix for the next 17 years, ensuring the prestigious event's future in the Formula One.

The deal, worth around £300 million, was announced Monday morning after Bernie Ecclestone agreed to forgo fees of a further £60 million—the only major stumbling block on the race's future.

To secure the necessary finances for the upgrades the circuit needs, Silverstone needed a long-term deal to give them the security to proceed, in addition to reducing or removing the 7 percent annual increase on fees to Ecclestone.

As part of the agreement, Silverstone will undergo a modernisation of the facilities including the rebuilding of the pit lane and paddocks to bring them up to standard with facilities at other circuits.

With just seven months until the race, Silverstone has a strict timetable and work will begin immediately after Christmas.

While I expected a deal to be announced, I am surprised that Ecclestone has finally awarded an unprecedented 17-year deal to Silverstone, despite his warnings that F1 does not need a British Grand Prix.

Of course, he had originally gave Donington a 17-year deal before financial problems wrecked any hopes they had of developing the Leicestershire circuit, nevermind host a race. But traditionally, Silverstone has had to work with five-year deals with the uncertainty preventing them from exploring new financial agreements.

Silverstone MD Richard Phillips said, "We've always had the belief the British Grand Prix was an important cornerstone of Formula One but, with Bernie, you're never quite sure. At the end of the day, though, you have to have a British Grand Prix.

"We've now got to sell a lot of tickets, to get out there and do similar sorts of numbers as we did this year when we had 230,000 people there over the three days, and promote the event."

Ecclestone said, "This will ensure the British Grand Prix is included on the Formula One calendar for many years to come, which is something I've always wanted to happen."

But being the man he is, he couldn't help but get a dig in at the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC). “It’s been a long and tiring nonsense,” he said. “They could have done this whole thing months and months ago.”

BRDC president Damon Hill said, "This announcement is tremendous news. It really does cement Silverstone as a motor sport venue and is incredibly satisfying for the BRDC to cement its relationship with F1. We want Silverstone to be retained as a place for motor sport, for motor racing of all sorts, but significantly the British Grand Prix."

But while a deal and fees have now been agreed upon, let's not get too carried away by this. Dig a bit deeper and you will discover that Ecclestone's fee has dropped from a 12 percent to a five percent increase on the race fee.

It will still cost Silverstone £310 million to host the race—a very welcome cost compared to the original cost of £370 million that Ecclestone had wanted—but let's remember that last year Silverstone made a profit of just £662,000.

It's quite wise to have that mutual break clause in the contract after 10 years in case it starts to go wrong for the circuit.

In the mean time, let's rejoice! The British Grand Prix is saved for at least 10 years, and maybe more.

Hard cheese, Gillett. You've now got an extra 10 years to try and find some money for Donington.

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Who Will Be the 2010 F1 World Champion?

Adam Flinn — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:40:45 -0500

Most of the big teams have filled their seats, so it's a good time to start thinking about who will win the title next year. There's a pretty good selection of contenders and many of them are in new locations, so it should be an interesting year.

Last year, I wrote several articles saying that several different drivers were going to win the 2009 world championship. Sadly, I wrote them all before Brawn had been created, and therefore was wrong about all of them. This year I'm hoping to get one of them right, so in no particular order, here are several drivers who will definitely be the 2010 champion.

Driver Number One: Fernando Alonso

After two fairly unsuccessful seasons at Renault, Alonso will be desperate to challenge for the title once again. Replacing Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari, he is moving to the most successful team of the decade, although you wouldn't know that based on their 2009 challenger.

He has only won twice in the last two years, and one of them involved his team fixing the race. Only 26 points came his way in 2009, which is not something a double world champion who's still on top of his game will be proud about. Ferrari will give him the chance to change that, and as long as he doesn't fall out with Stefano Domenicali, Alonso should be fighting for the championship once again.

Driver Number Two: Lewis Hamilton

When McLaren have a half-decent car, Hamilton can get some impressive results out of it. Two wins in 2009 shows his talent, and he outscored everyone else over the final half of the '09 season. Compare that to team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, who was unable to make the podium all year.

Like Ferrari, McLaren shouldn't make the same mistakes twice, and 2010 has to be a lot more successful for them. Lewis definitely has the skill, and having been with the team for many years, he should have the upper hand over new team-mate Jenson Button. His driving did improve over 2009, but the car couldn't prove it with the results.

Driver Number Three: Felipe Massa

It's easy to forget that Massa was sitting in 5th in the championship before his accident, and there are many who say he would have won the Hungarian GP. 2010 will be his fifth year with Ferrari, and his driving has got better every year.

However, he will not have driven competitively (charity karting doesn't count) for many months, and it won't be clear whether the accident has had an impact on his ability until the first race of the season. Personally I think he will be fine. After all, when Michael Schumacher broke his leg he won the next five consecutive titles...

Driver Number Four: Sebastian Vettel

Vettel is a future world champion, and it's just a case of guessing 'when' instead of 'if'. He could have won it in 2009 if he hadn't made mistakes, and the car wasn't blowing its engine all the time.

Red Bull will need to provide him with a good car again, and it's up to Adrian Newey to prove the '09 car wasn't a fluke. With a decent car, Vettel will once again be a huge championship threat. Most importantly though, it needs to be reliable, and with engine manufacturer Renault's interest in F1 looking a bit dodgy, this could be tricky.

Other Possibilities:

I'm sure you're wandering where Jenson Button is on this list. To be honest, I don't think he will win the title two years in a row, especially with a much more challenging team-mate. When the car is perfect, Jenson can dominate, but when faced with pressure, he isn't there. However, you can't write off a world champion, so we'll have to wait and see.

It might be worth keeping an eye out for Nico Rosberg as well. 2009 showed that he has a lot of potential by scoring 34.5 points in a car that his team-mate couldn't score any with. Now with Mercedes, it could be quite interesting to see how he performs. A race win, perhaps?

For a time, Mark Webber was looking very promising, but he looks to me like one of those drivers who seem destined not to win the championship. He has no luck, but I would be very pleased to see him lift the title.

There's still three months to the start of the year. Sigh.

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Kimi Raikkonen's Future Revealed: Rallying for Citroen's Junior Team

Stuart Baird — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:30:47 -0500

Kim Raikkonen, the 30-year-old 2007 World Champion, will be rallying next season for Citroen's junior rally team in the WRC.

The Finn has signed a one year deal with Citroen's Red Bull backed junior team. This would give Citroen a great boost, having the greatest driver in Rallying in their main team, Sebastian Loeb, and an ex-F1 World Champion.

Kimi will team up with fellow compatriot Kaj Lindstrom as his co-driver, who previously partnered multiple rally champion Tommi Makinen.

"I always wanted to compete in rally, especially in the World Rally Championship at some point in my career," said Raikkonen, who impressed on his debut at the Rally Finland, earlier this year. "Thanks to Red Bull, I have the opportunity to drive the best car of the series with the Citroen C4."

Citroen team boss Olivier Quesnel as released a statement about Citroen's future.

"We will continue to count on Sebastien and Dani to defend our world titles in 2010. We will also be prolonging our association with Sebastien Ogier who showed outstanding potential this year.

"Last but not least, it is with immense joy that we welcome Kimi Raikkonen to our ranks. We are very proud he has chosen Citroen."

Raikkonen will contest 12 out of 13 events, as the team are not entered into the New Zealand Rally.

Raikkonen has said he will return to F1, but only if he is offered a seat in a title winning car, stating, "We will see what happens in the future."

Raikkonen is taking a sabbatical after Spaniard Fernando Alonso was given his seat at Ferrari, and Kimi failed to secure a seat at his old team, McLaren, who took the 2009 World Champion Jensen Button instead.

The question is now, however, is whether many Raikkonen fan's will begin watching more Rallying to see if their can man perform as well as he has done in F1.

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BMW Sauber Confirmed As 13th Team For 2010 After Toyota Departure

Gareth Llewellyn-Stevens — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:17:53 -0500

BMW Sauber has finally been confirmed as the 13th entry for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship following Toyota's decision to leave the sport.

BMW had decided to quit the sport before Toyota, but negotiations of a buy out with the mysterious Qadbak Investments Ltd consortium led to the team failing to sign the new Concorde Agreement, and ultimately facing the prospect of not being on the grid in 2010.

Following Toyota's decision to renege on the Concorde Agreement and the collapse of the Qadbak deal, former Sauber team owner, Peter Sauber, stepped in to lead the buyout from BMW.

On Monday, the FIA published their list of entrants for the 2010 season, with a footnote advising that an announcement would be made soon about Toyota's entry.

However, today's announcement will be welcome news to the Swiss-based team in limbo since the initial departure was announced.

A statement from the FIA said, "The FIA has written to inform BMW Sauber AG that their application for an entry in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship has been successful.

"Subject to their signing the Concorde Agreement, BMW Sauber will be awarded the 13th entry in the Championship, taking the place of the departing Toyota team.

"The FIA has worked closely with the Commercial Rights Holder and the teams involved over recent weeks and is grateful for their support in achieving the best outcome for the sport."

BMW Sauber has already lost driver Robert Kubica to Renault for the 2010 season, while Nick Heidfeld has yet to confirm a driver for next year, but has been linked with 2009 world champions Brawn GP, rebranded as Mercedes Grand Prix for 2010.

The FIA will update their entry list in due course, with Swiss newspaper Blick reporting that the team will be rebranded as Team Sauber F1 until a title sponsor is found. The 2010 car will be the C29, numbered 26 and 27, and powered by Ferrari engines, rekindling an old very close working relationship between 1997 and 2005.

It is also unclear on what financial terms Sauber has joined. Given that it lost all guaranteed rights by not signing the new agreement and likely wouldn't receive the financial reward generated from points won, it can be speculated that they have joined on the same terms as the four new incoming teams.

The statement from the FIA appears to confirm that with "working closely with the Commercial Rights Holder and the teams over recent weeks" most likely to be a nod to the financial arrangement for Sauber in return for their entry.

Without the millions of BMW, expect Sauber to reduce their 388-man workforce at Hinwil at least below 250, while they will need to quickly secure sponsorship to have a hope of mounting a serious challenge in 2011.

Sadly for Peter Sauber, a Brawn-like buy out success is unlikely to happen, neither will there be the kind of support Brawn enjoyed from the Virgin Group, who recently announced they were going into partnership with the Manor GP team and will race as Virgin Racing.

That said, Sauber are still in F1, with or without buckets of cash, and that itself is success enough. As well as the Ferrari relationship, it is also speculated that former sponsor Petronas will return in some capacity.

In their previous incarnation, Sauber launched the careers of Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Felipe Massa, gave Nick Heidfeld a competitive drive from 2001, and in the same year launched the F1 career of a relatively unknown Finnish driver by the name of Kimi Räikkönen. With the team finishing that year fourth, in the constructors championship, was their best effort.

On the current driver front, experienced drivers Heidfeld, Jarno Trulli, and Heikki Kovalainen are all chasing 2010 drives, while former Toyota rookie Kamui Kobayashi is also available on the cheap, while 2008 and 2009 BMW Sauber test driver Christian Klien, and McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa are also in the market.

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Manor Set to Become Virgin Racing

Adam Flinn — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:16:52 -0500

The publication of the FIA entry list has shown the name "Virgin Racing" in the place of Manor, suggesting that the team has changed its name.

An announcement of the deal is expected soon by Manor boss John Booth and head of Virgin Richard Branson.

So far Manor/Virgin have signed one driver in Timo Glock, while there are plenty of drivers on the market to fill the remaining seat.

The entry list failed to include a place for Sauber, but the team is optimistic that they will be on the grid for the start of the 2010 season. They will replace Toyota, who last month announced that they were pulling out of the sport.

Mercedes are currently listed as Brawn, but the FIA has acknowledged their intention to change their name.

The current entry list for 2010 is:

1) Jenson Button MCLAREN
2) Lewis Hamilton MCLAREN
3) Nico Rosberg BRAWN
4) To Be Confirmed BRAWN
5) Sebastian Vettel RED BULL
6) Mark Webber RED BULL
7) Felipe Massa FERRARI
8) Fernando Alonso FERRARI
9) Rubens Barrichello WILLIAMS
10) Nico Hulkenberg WILLIAMS
11) Robert Kubica RENAULT
12) To Be Confirmed RENAULT
14) Adrian Sutil FORCE INDIA
15) Vitantonio Liuzzi FORCE INDIA
16) Sebastien Buemi TORO ROSSO
17) To Be Confirmed TORO ROSSO
18) To Be Confirmed LOTUS
19) To Be Confirmed LOTUS
20) To Be Confirmed CAMPOS
21) Bruno Senna CAMPOS
22) To Be Confirmed US F1
23) To Be Confirmed US F1
24) Timo Glock VIRGIN
25) To Be Confirmed VIRGIN

As you can see, an unknown driver called To Be Confirmed is a likely favourite to land a drive in several of the teams.

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