Formula 1 Weekly News Round-Up

Following last weeks "News Round-Up" after the Japanese Grand Prix, I bring you the news after China. The aim: to briefly run through the week's happenings in small digestible chunks, in the hope you don't get indigestion (Dyspepsia) and have to reach for the Rennies.

We'll take a look at the "smaller" news, which isn't reported as much in newspapers, in the hope you'll read something new.

1. Bourdais. you're just "too old."

Sebastien Bourdais is currently looking for a race seat, as Toro Rosso has yet to confirm his 2009 seat. Bourdais is languishing in 17th in the WDC, nine places behind teammate Sebastian Vettel. They may share forenames, but not driving skill.

Bourdais had been looking at Renault, as Nelson Piquet Jr. has yet to be confirmed, but was dealt a nasty blow when Flavio Briatore (Renault Team Boss) said Bourdais is "too old". Bourdais, 29, is currently the sixth eldest driver on the grid. Is 29 too old?

2. FIA unhappy with BBC and Brundle.

The FIA have been trying to persuade the BBC not to hire Martin Brundle for their 2009 F1 commentary. Brundle is often seen as the best F1 pundit around. The Times described Brundle "as the greatest TV analyst in this or any other sport," with a vast knowledge of racing, and nine years of commentary past.

In fact when he re-joins the BBC (if the FIA fail to dissuade the BBC) it will be 20 years since Brundle commentated on his first Grand Prix with the BBC back in 1989.

The reason behind the FIA's "campaign'" to stop Brundle becoming the BBC F1 pundit, is because of his outspoken view on the "Spying Saga" or "Spy-Gate" in 2007.

3. Webber sets the record straight with Hamilton.

Mark Webber criticized Lewis Hamilton's driving style in Fuji two weeks ago. However, Mark has now said his comments were taken out of proportion by the media and that he never said LH "will cause an accident if he fails to temper his aggressive driving style."

Mark spoke to Lewis before the Shanghai race to set the record straight, stating he only said "we have seen him moving around in the braking area, which has been a little bit of a concern." Mark also said "[Lewis] was fine with it because he knows how easily it can happen".

4. Canadian Grand Prix back on the cards?

The race was axed from the 2009 F1 calendar due to "unpaid'" money dating back three years. This was quickly dispatched by the Canadian GP organizers. 

The Quebec Government has said it will help with the bail-out and try to get the race re-instated on the 2009 calendar. However, this might be a lost cause as Bernie Ecclestone stated earlier this month that it won't be returning in 2009.

5. Cut costs or die.

Formula 1 has been threatened with the death penalty after Max Mosely said the sport won't survive in the current economic crisis currently being experienced worldwide. 

Meetings have been arranged with several teams to discuss the future of F1, with standardized engines, gearboxes and KERS, and engines lasting three races being the primary points of focus.

Standardizing KERS would make all the investment currently being put into KERS by each team irrelevant. Why didn't they all work together and save millions of dollars if this was the FIA's plan all along?

You can read a little more on this in Peter Haydon's article, Click here.

6. Ferrari test some new blood.

The top three finishers in Italian F3, Mirko Bortolotti, Edoardo Piscopo, and Salvatore Cicatelli, will be given the chance to test the F2008 in the hope Ferrari will find some new Italian driver for the future, maybe to replace Kimi Raikkonen?

It seems the idea has worked before, in the form of Lewis Hamilton, who currently leads the WDC by seven points. If it worked for Mclaren, why not Ferrari? 

7. Hamilton has a Joker, but can't play his hand.

Lewis Hamilton's Mclaren has had impeccable reliability this year; so far, he has seen zero engine or gearbox failures. This has meant Lewis hasn't had to use his "Joker" engine change, which allows a driver to change the engine without incurring a 10-place grid drop. 

This would be good news for Lewis, who is heading into the final race of the season with a used engine. But, notice the word "would." Rules state that the Joker cannot be used in the final race of the season, which means Hamilton would incur a penalty if he changed engines. Bummer.

8. "Hamilton can do it" says Flavio.

Just last week Flavio Briatore said Hamilton would 'mess-up' as he did in 2007, but what a difference a week and a race can make. Flavio has now said he "If I need to put money on anyone, then for sure I will put it on Hamilton".

9. Toyota, the future looks bleak.

Toyota have stated they may leave Formula One if standardized engines are introduced. What will be the point of having the Toyota name in Formula One, if they are racing the same cars? This feeling is also felt at Mercedes, Renault, Honda and BMW, could five of the teams sway Max and Bernie to keep manufacturers engines?

10. Jordan to join the BBC commentators for 2009.

No, not 'Jordan' the big busted lady, sorry lads, they couldn't find a boiler suit big enough, but Eddie Jordan. The ex-team boss of Jordan Racing has reportedly signed with the BBC to commentate alongside Brundle (pending FIA) and Coulthard. Great.