F1 is boring me to death!!!!

[David Morton]

Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone lost a court appeal Friday, clearing the way for a trial over control of the sport. Ecclestone wanted the case moved to a Swiss court, but a judge ruled the lawsuit should be heard this month in London. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Three banks -- Bayerische Landesbank, Lehman Brothers and J.P. Morgan Chase -- own 75 percent of the shares in Ecclestone's holding company, SLEC Holdings. SLEC owns the myriad of companies that run F1. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

A victory by the banks would loosen Ecclestone's control over a sport he has run for 25 years /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif, amassing a fortune estimated at $3.7 billion. GPWC Holdings is trying to wrest control of the sport from Ecclestone and run the series beginning in 2008. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Despite being majority shareholders, the banks don't have a majority on any of the key company boards. They are suing the minority shareholder, Bambino Trust. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif Bambino beneficiaries are members of Ecclestone's family, including his wife, Slavica. Remember she is the tall one. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[David Morton]

Negotiations are in their final stages for a Red Bull buyout of Jaguar Racing. The sale must be finished by tomorrow, Monday 15th November in order for the team to enter next year's World Championship. It is rumoured that the deal will cost Red Bull a nominal sum but will remove a major liability from the Ford Motor Company's books. The firm has already set aside money to be used to pay for the closure of Jaguar Racing and Cosworth Racing but obviously it would be better for Ford if the team was sold, both from a financial point of view and from a public relations viewpoint. If the company does not do the deal with Red Bull as many as 300 people will be out of work. The team will need a sizeable budget for the next few years but as Ford was only contributing $60m this year to the programme (and most of that was going straight to Cosworth to pay for the engines) the money necessary may not be as high as some have speculated. However if the team wishes to move up the grids more money will be needed. It may be that Red Bull will look at 2005 as a building year, putting in place longer-term plans and so the costs will be kept down, particularly if the team is run by the same management as for the last two years which has done a very good on a minimal budget. The team ran this year on $138m and made a small profit. The money not supplied by Ford came from sponsorships and from the TV money which comes from FOM.
This is a small budget compared to Renault, which had a budget of about $240m but it is well in excess of the small teams like Minardi and Jordan which ran with less then $48m.

All the current dealings are covered by confidentiality agreements but the word is that a decision is close.
It is a similar story at Jordan where Arden Motorsport's Christian Horner is believed to be close to a deal to take over the team. There is also rumoured to be a second bidder.
If Jaguar Racing is saved the team the drivers will probably be Christian Klien and Vitantonio Liuzzi. They have also been working to build a development car and will begin testing shortly.
Red Bull was previously the owner of the Sauber team but sold to Credit Suisse in 2001 after a disagreement with Peter Sauber over drivers. At the time Sauber was championing the cause of Kimi Raikkonen while Red Bull wanted Enrique Bernoldi. Sauber was, as usual , correct.
Onre the engine front it is anticipated that a deal will soon be announced that Cosworth Racing has been sold to a consortium headed by Champ Car series owner Kevin Kalkhoven and some of his partners. The deal is expected to include a plan to continue to build F1 engines although it is not clear how much money will go into engine development. Cosworth's engine development budget in recent years has only been around $75m, insufficient to keep up with the big boys in F1

 

[Keith]

Great info, thanks David! Looks like an interesting year in prospect. I wonder if this deal will queer the pitch with Peter Sauber's sponsorship?

 

[Keith]

Well now we know. Peter sauber HAS lost the Red Bull sponsorship but gained a new strap line: "Red Bull gives you wings but the FIA takes 'em away"

Great news for the Jaguar team and all the employees. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Cosworth news not so great IMHO.Although I fully support Champ cars (OWRS) over the IRL I caanot see that the sale of Cosworth to a non engineering based concern is going to do much for the future of Cosworth at the cutting edge of race engine development. I would have personally liked the company to remain in UK hands with someone like Zytec or even Engine Developments who are really strong in sports cars. David, your comments about the limited amount of development budget put in by Cosworth shows why this once strong motor has fallen by the wayside. I cannot see the new owners increasing this - but one lives in hope. It would be hard to contemplate F1 without a Cosworth somewhere in it..if only for Jack Duckworth's sake. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Who said F1 is boring!!!!????

 

[Bill Bayard]

It's official! Ford has announced the sale of Jaguar Racing to Red Bull.

How will the Red Bull stack up against the Black Horse? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

I hope that Red Bull has plenty of patience and some bottomless pockets!

 

[Keith]

I don't believe Ford actually "sold" the team, for money that is, I think they "gave" it away per ce and all RB have to do is pick up the not inconsiderable wage bill and immediate running costs to say nothing of the 2005 entry fee! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

One reason why Schumacher does not find it boring. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif
I wonder if this was the day he missed the start? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[David Morton]

Any guesses who the Red Bull F1 drivers might be?
Definitely not DC ! - how about Alex W and Tony D ?
- lots of experience alongside lots of speed !
And another famous Austrian as a team director or mentor - Gerhard B.
Mateschitz could end up with the dream team for 2005 so long as the new car and 05 spec engine do the business. Let's hope...

 

[David Morton]

Red Bull Racing’s new colour scheme – probably running in Barcelona next week.
Dave M

 

Good stuff Dave, keep it coming! You had the news a full 24 hours before it was posted at f1-live .

 

[David Morton]

Not much news this week really, but apparently DC had reached an agreement to drive for Jaguar before Ford sold out to 'DiDi' Mateschitz (Red Bull). Lucky escape for Red Bull or what ? DC is now apparently trying to sell his talent around the teams to become a test driver in 2005.

 

[Keith]

DC talent? Is that as a hotelier or an accomplished whinge-er? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[David Morton]

Prodrive and British American part company as Honda becomes 45% shareholder. Dave Richards departs BAR at Brackley as Honda's offer becomes public. Looks like Sato may have more of a role at BAR after all, but as what? Very likeable young man and he lives here in Marlow having bought an apartment in the old brewery development and has IMHO now lots of racecraft. In Jordan he was a wild man and that team did not need a NDT department because Sato smashed everything up anyway, but he has since calmed somewhat.
He is a Honda Scholarship man but hadn't ridden anything but a bicycle until about 18 yrs old. I imagine he will have a place in BAR in 2005 after the Honda buy in.

 

[David Morton]

Keith,
don't be too hard on DC. He did amass a reasonable amount points in his time and a few notable wins but he was always going to be a No 2 or 'bridesmaid'. He was a whinger no doubt and I recall the 1998 Gp in Silverstone when it peed down continuously. He levelled an accusation that I gave one set of weather info to Hakkinen and something else to him. Newey and Big Ron were on the pitwall at the time and I was giving him (Newey) the continous updates and how he interpreted it was down to him. I think it was him who put DC onto inters and kept MH on wets when they were running 1-2, which may have been the 'pratperch' hedging their bets. Remember the Mc'cars also had an extra brake pedal as well that year (Bias braking or Brake Steer?) DC went on to lose it in the Abbey/Vale area, and he abandoned the car and left it for some press snapper to shove a camera inside and photograph the pedal setup. I think he had a mild upset with Big Ron very quickly after that.
For my part, we had a discussion in the truck and I told him I really did not give a monkey's what he said. He did subsequently apologise and commented it was all said in a red mist...........
A whinger - yes, but I also think that anybody who can cut the mustard in a Gp car is somebody quite special.

 

[David Morton]

Nick Fry will take over at BAR from Richards.
Never heard of him? Nor me. But a search shows
he had 25 years at Ford followed by Prodrive and now BAR.
How long will he last? Any body's guess if Red Bull don't get results.

 

[ChrisL]

For those sentimentalists out there like me, it will be sad to see DC leave without some significant success. For those who can remember, DC was given an opportunity to drive full-time at Williams as a result of the loss of the great Ayton Senna. Another direct link to the man will be broken, but it would have been nice to see DC win a championship in Senna’s stead.

 

[David Morton]

Chris,
Coulthard will be having a seat fitting at Red Bull ahead of testing this coming week. You get your wish.
Ecclestone continues his orchestration in the dark by trying to register the names Grand Prix and British Grand Prix. Seems he is now trying to clutch at anything he can.
His court case V JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers and Bayerische Landesbank is not yet resolved. At the moment evidence would suggest they'd bought three 25% stakes and rights to see the books, sit on board meetings get 3/4 of the profits.
Bernie would probably argue there isn't any.
Dave M



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[David Morton]

Judge is still delivering his address but it looks as though the banks have won and Ecclestone and his tall wife have lost control of F1.
More shortly. There is a God after all.....

 

[David Morton]

Now confirmed - Bambino holdings (Ecclestones company) will appeal against the court's decision. Chance of successful appeal? I would not hold my breath !!!

 

[David Morton]

I should point out that this is all about FOH (Formula One Holdings) and not FOM and FOA (management and admin where Ecclestone still has the bulk of the power though it would not be inconceivable that the banks will challenge that as well.