FastMotoring Motor News In Speed

Following the signature of the commercial agreement with FOM this week by Mercedes-Benz, the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team is pleased to announce that Lewis Hamilton has signed a 3-year agreement to race for the team from the 2013 Formula One season.

Lewis’ career has been supported by Mercedes-Benz and McLaren since its earliest days. In 2000, he and Nico Rosberg were team-mates at TeamMBM.com in Formula A karting. Lewis drove with Mercedes-Benz engines during his two seasons in the Formula 3 Euroseries, winning the 2005 championship, and every one of his 104 Formula One starts so far have been powered by the three-pointed star. Lewis is one of four drivers, along with Juan Manuel Fangio, Mika Häkkinen and Jenson Button, to have won the Formula One world championship with Mercedes-Benz power. With 20 Formula One victories, he is equal with Mika Häkkinen as the most successful Mercedes-Benz Formula One driver.

The recruitment of the 2008 world champion marks the start of a new chapter for the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team. Lewis will replace Michael Schumacher, who has contributed significantly to the development of the Silver Arrows works team over the past three years. During this time, the team achieved the milestone of the first victory of the modern era for a works Silver Arrow, when Nico Rosberg won this year’s Chinese Grand Prix, and has scored five further podium finishes to date.

In parallel, Mercedes-Benz has put in place the right technical structure and given the team in Brackley and Brixworth the tools it needs to achieve long-term, durable success in Formula One. In the near future, three-time world champion Niki Lauda will also bring his extensive experience to the role of non-executive chairman of the team’s board of directors, further reinforcing the strength in depth at MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS.

The signing of Lewis Hamilton completes the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS driver line-up for the 2013 season alongside Nico Rosberg. Nico won his first Grand Prix this year in China and will enter his fourth season with our team.

Michael Schumacher

“I have had three nice years with the team which unfortunately did not go as well as we all would have wanted on the sporting side. I wish Lewis well and for the team to achieve the success we worked so hard for in the build-up. I would like to thank the team for their trust and all the guys for their unconditional commitment. I will now concentrate on the next races.”

Lewis Hamilton

“It is now time for me to take on a fresh challenge and I am very excited to begin a new chapter racing for the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team. Mercedes-Benz has such an incredible heritage in motorsport, along with a passion for winning which I share.

“Together, we can grow and rise to this new challenge. I believe that I can help steer the Silver Arrows to the top and achieve our joint ambitions of winning the world championships.”

Ross Brawn, Team Principal – MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS

“On behalf of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS, I would first of all like to thank Michael Schumacher for the important contribution he has made to the growth of our team over the past three seasons. His energy and commitment have never wavered, even when results have not matched our own expectations, and we are determined to finish the 2012 season together on a high. As always, it has been a pleasure to work with Michael.

“Looking ahead to 2013, I am delighted to welcome Lewis Hamilton to our team. The arrival of a driver of Lewis’ calibre is a testament to the standing of Mercedes-Benz in Formula One and I am proud that Lewis shares our vision and ambition for the success of the Silver Arrows. I believe that the combination of Lewis and Nico will be the most dynamic and exciting pairing on the grid next year, and I am looking forward to what we can achieve together.

“Over the past three years, we have been putting in place the foundations and building blocks that are needed to compete regularly for the world championship. Behind the scenes, we have assembled a team that is technically stronger, more experienced and better resourced, thanks to the support of PETRONAS and all of our loyal team partners. The potential is now there to match any other team on the grid, which is the minimum standard for a Mercedes-Benz works team. Our task is now to translate that potential into on-track performance for next season and beyond.”

Norbert Haug, Vice President – Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

“Mercedes-Benz has supported Lewis throughout his career, from karting, to Formula 3, to our successful partnership with McLaren, and it will be a very nice moment for all of us in the team to see him at the wheel of a works Silver Arrow next season, following in the tradition of British Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix drivers Sir Stirling Moss and Richard Seaman.

“Of course, it takes a great driver to replace such a legendary and successful one as Michael Schumacher. Over the past three years, Michael has been a great driver and an exemplary ambassador for MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS. His experience has been an important factor in guiding the development of our team in Brackley and we extend our sincere thanks to Michael for his loyalty, team play and commitment. We will be working very hard together in order to achieve the best possible results in the remainder of the 2012 season.

“The central task of any racing team is to deliver a car that allows the drivers to fully express their talents. In the 52 races for our works team, we have achieved a number of important milestones, including an historic victory for Nico Rosberg in China this year. We know that it is now time to take the next step, in order to deliver consistent front-running performances in the tradition of the Silver Arrows. Every single person in our team is working with total commitment and focus on achieving this ambition.”

The qualifying of Malaysian GP has concluded with front row lockout for McLaren. Lewis Hamilton took his first Malaysian GP pole position, his teammate – Jenson Button second, Michael Schumacher third. Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel will start from fourth and fifth respectively.

1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m36.219s

2.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m36.368s   + 0.149

3.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m36.391s   + 0.172

4.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m36.461s   + 0.242

5.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m36.461s   + 0.242

6.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m36.634s   + 0.415

7.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m36.658s   + 0.439

8.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m36.664s   + 0.445

9.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m37.566s   + 1.347

10.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m37.698s   + 1.479

11.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m37.589s   + 0.874

12.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m37.731s   + 1.016

13.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m37.841s   + 1.126

14.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m37.877s   + 1.162

15.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m37.883s   + 1.168

16.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m37.890s   + 1.175

17.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m38.069s   + 1.354

18.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m39.077s   + 1.905

19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m39.306s   + 2.134

20.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m39.567s   + 2.395

21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m40.903s   + 3.731

22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m41.250s   + 4.078

23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m42.914s   + 5.742

24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m43.655s   + 6.483

We are looking forward for tomorrow’s race and wishes best of luck to all teams. Meantime, check out some snapshots that we taken during the qualifying race.

F1 2011 Line up

Proton’s F1 plans

There has been a lot of fuss lately surrounding the usage of the name Lotus’ in Formula 1. This is perfectly understandable, as Lotus has a huge heritage in the sport, being perhaps the second most recognisable F1 team behind Ferrari despite its sixteen year absence. Lotus won six championships with driving legends such as Clark, Fittipaldi and Andretti. In there later years they launched the careers of both Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell in the 1980s. Senna won his first race for the team in Portugal 1985, while Nigel Mansell would likely never have made his F1 debut if he had not been given an opportunity by Lotus in 1981, with Colin Chapman seeing something in him that no one else at the time saw. Without Lotus, it is very likely we wouldn’t be being treated to Nigel Mansell appearing in Moneysupermarket advertisements.

The present situation

Here are the facts. Tony Fernandez formed a team called 1Malaysia to compete in the 2010 F1 season. Fernandez planned to run the team as Lotus in order to benefit from the team’s history which would help him attract fans, sponsors and key team personnel. He gained the permission of Proton (who owns the Lotus car company) to use their name and paid them for the trouble. This was a fantastic opportunity for Proton to gain some great free marketing for the Lotus brand. However, Fernandez recently bought the rights to the name Team Lotus’ which was the name of the original Lotus F1 team. To confuse matters, the Team Lotus’ name has been owned by David Hunt since the collapse of the original Lotus F1 team in 1994. Hunt and Fernandez are under the impression that Lotus cars and Team Lotus’ are separate entities, as during the original teams existence the two groups operated separately with neither being financial responsible for the other. This is what allowed the original Lotus team to go bankrupt back in 1994.

In 2009, Proton gained a new CEO called Dany Bahar. Bahar was responsible for the programme which brought Red Bull to F1 in 2005 before he moved into the position of brand manager at Ferrari. Upon his appointment at Lotus, Bahar made it clear that he saw Lotus as being very similar to Ferrari and therefore planned on marketing the company in the same way. This would mean he would not follow traditional marketing platforms (posters, TV and radio campaigns etc) but would instead support motorsport activities and benefit from the press stories associated with it and the fact that car fans would want to drive the same cars as their heroes. He hoped that this would allow the company to grow to a point where they are selling four times as many cars by 2015. This would involve global expansion away from Malaysia and therefore the Formula 1 world championship was the ultimate target to facilitate this. Fernandez’s team allowed Lotus to do this and make a profit, however the fact that they gave there permission for the usage of the name meant that they maintained some control of the way the brand was presented. The news that Fernandez was going to use the Lotus name without their permission ruined this plan and Bahar argued that he should have control over how his brand is presented. In response, Bahar has bought a stake in the ultra successful GP2 team ART who have won championships in the past with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. ART are owned by Nicholas Todt and have had ambitions to enter F1 for a long time but have never had the money to allow them to do so. Proton’s involvement changes all of this and now ART involvement in the sport is looking increasingly likely.

What’s going to happen?

Nothing is certain until Bahar and Fernandez sort their difference of opinion, with this now going on behind closed doors. Bahar’s involvement in ART is interesting as it was only announced after Fernandez declared his intention to use the Team Lotus’ name and after ART had withdrawn an application to enter their own new team into F1 in 2011. This would suggest that Bahar now wants to start a Lotus F1 team of his own and that he believes that starter operations such as the one Fernandez has created this year are not the best way into F1 due to the time needed to build up the team’s competitiveness and the investment needed to build facilities. The only other alternative is to buy an existing team.

The Renault team is currently facing an uncertain future. It was sold by Renault to the investment firm Genii capital late last year. It is believed that Genii capital funded the purchase with a loan from DIAC bank, which is owned by Renault. This shows the determination of Renault to offload the team from its responsibility in order the save money following the credit crunch. This loan is alleged to have recently been repaid by Genii Capital using two new loans from two different Eastern European banks. Genii capital Principal Gerard Lopez recently admitted that the cost of running the team had been far greater than he expected in 2010. This combined with the fact that he hasn’t actually bought’ the team suggests that his F1 ambitions are not long term. When he purchased the team, they had just been convicted of race fixing at the Singapore grand prix in 2008 and had finished a dismal eighth in the constructor’s championship despite having Fernando Alonso as a driver. In the space of one year, Lopez has transformed the team with Robert Kubica in the driving seat, and they are now a very strong fifth in the constructors with their sporting image significantly improved. The team is therefore worth much more now than what they were at the end of 2009, and therefore Genii Capital has a great opportunity to sell the team at a profit.

Proton would be the ideal buyer, as purchasing a former championship winning team would give them the opportunity to be competitive with their F1 team straight away. Naming the team Lotus would fulfil Bahar’s ambition of making Lotus into a Malaysian Ferrari and allow them to continue using F1 as a global marketing platform. ART could be used to run the team and therefore fulfil their F1 ambitions, allowing Bahar to focus on continuing to build the road car company. The only stumbling block in this plan is Fernandez’s intention to use the Team Lotus’ name. Having two teams named Lotus would obviously give both teams a bit of an identity crisis. When Bahar was giving Fernandez permission to use the Lotus name he could withdraw permission at any point allowing him to start up his own team (as it seems was his intention). However, with Fernandez’s use of the Team Lotus’ name this luxury disappears.

Will the real team Lotus please stand up

One thing is certain, there will not be two teams called Lotus in F1 next year as neither would benefit from it. Either Fernandez will be allowed to run as team Lotus and Bahar will have to rethink his plans, or Fernandez’s team will be renamed 1Malaysia again and the Renault team will be called Lotus Racing in 2011. This is a confusing and unfortunate situation for fans. The only hope is that the two parties sort out the situation soon and that we have at least one Lotus team next year.

Fernandez’s plans to use Renault engines and Red Bull hydraulics in 2011 should see the team much improved; however it is doubtful that they will be as competitive as the Renault team (or what ever name they go by next year). In 2010, each modification made to the Renault car has resulted in a lap time reduction which is a good omen for the development of the 2011 car. If Bahar buys the team he will also immediately be able to boost the team’s finances by selling its prized asset. Robert Kubica, who is under contract to the team for 2011, is known to be eager to join Ferrari at some point in the future. Meanwhile Felipe Massa is unhappy at Ferrari having played a supporting role to Fernando Alonso this year. It is therefore likely that both drivers would happily swap places, allowing Kubica to join Ferrari and giving the Renault team a much needed cash injection with Ferrari likely willing to buy Kubica out of his contract. If ART were to be running the Renault team for Bahar, it is interesting to note that ART boss Nicholas Todt is also the manager of Felipe Massa. Massa would surely be very happy to be the lead driver in a team where he would once again have the complete support of management. This would leave us with Kubica and Alonso fighting for the championship as team-mates at Ferrari, while Felipe Massa would likely be fighting for wins with Lotus Renault. Is it too good to be true?

If you able to recall, this year Lewis Hamilton charged by Melbourne police over a street “burnout” performed outside the Australian Grand Prix under Victoria’s anti-hoon laws.

Today, the first Holden Commodore has become the first car to be crushed under Victoria’s anti-hoon laws. Till date, thousands of vehicles have been impounded since the laws were introduced in 2006.

The above picture (abc news) - The crushed Holden Commodore belonged to a 22-year-old man who was a third-time offender. The car was un-roadworthy and not subject to any finance agreement. The crushing was done this morning at a metal works in Dandenong South. Some of the components have been stripped into parts and the chassis body compacted to be scrapped metal.