News and views on motorsports

Showing posts with label Flavio Briatore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flavio Briatore. Show all posts

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Agreed!

It seems you can't keep good engineers down. GrandPrix.com carries this story that points to engine developments in Formula 1 despite the homologation rules and the attendant engine freeze.

It seems engineers have been slipping in horsepower upgrades along with so called reliability improvements to engines and this has resulted in some teams gaining horsepower advantages over others. This of course is an age old tradition not only in grand prix racing but in all forms of motorsport, to poke, bend and stretch rules to the breaking point.

Reportedly playboy Flav is not amused with these developments and have sought to air his grievances in the media. Screw Flavio Briatore. No secret of course that he was displayed tremendous enthusiasm of the stupid engine freeze to begin with. Of course he would for at the time that the proposal was being made, the Renault was the car to have. How nice it would have been for the Renault team to have frozen 2005/2006 in time.

But engineers are smarter than this and as GrandPrix.com declares "That is the essence of Formula 1 ingenuity and, as such, should be applauded." I agree wholeheartedly and long may it continue

Saturday, April 05, 2008

The List Grows

Up until now, three motoring federations have joined the four manufacturers in condemning Max Mosley over his expose. These are the ADAC (Germany), the Dutch Federation and the FIA's biggest member club the American Automobile Association.

Max Mosley in the meantime is taking legal action against The News Of The World claiming a invasion of privacy and suing for unlimited damages. As Pitpass notes, he has not sued for libel. And neither has Max Mosley denied these acts. But this is really his private matter.

What isn't private is the fact that the FIA member clubs are beginning to distance themselves from the FIA president. Regardless of whether or not this is a private and personal matter (and the clubs feel that it isn't) the fact is the members want him out. And when leaders are no longer wanted by those who are in their charge then it really is time for them to leave.

If he stays on or even attempts to do so, he will have proven beyond any resonable doubt a fact that true racing fans have long known. That he is a power lusting political animal whose time is long past. And he will do whatever it takes to stay in power.

Max Mosley claims that he is being setup. According to this PlanetF1 article, he is reportedly claiming that this is some sort of plot by McLaren to bring him down. Even Bernie Ecclestone thinks so. But most surprisingly, even Dr. Mario Thiessen agrees that this could be some sort of trap.

Trap or no trap, the fact is he got exposed. And Max is not denying these acts. Its highly unfortunate for him because I think everyone has their own sexual fantasies. Anyone who denies having them is a bloody liar. However, its one thing having fantasies played out with a lover in private. Its another thing when this allegedly involves 5 hookers and gets aired in public. It shocks the hypocrites in the public.

The member clubs and the manufacturers (who guard their corporate image like crown jewels) want that most mythical person as the head of the FIA, the squeaky clean person. Irregardless of whether head of corporations are also known to indulge in lewd acts, in this case Max got caught and this is the mistake he has made.

And so, according to the rules defined by the hypocritically prudish, Max must go. To be honest, had Max been a good FIA president, I would be defending him all the way. But I hate his guts for the things he has done. Sorry Max. Time for you to leave.

Oh and Max... Whilst I see Bernie attempting to defend you, I still do not see your friends at Ferrari and Flavio Briatore coming to your aid despite your favours to them, especially to Ferrari, all these years. And now they are rats on a sinking ship.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Fair Condemnation?

Joint statements from Mercedes and BMW here.

Statement from Toyota here.

Statement from Honda here.

Ordinarily I'd sympathise with anyone who falls under this sort of scrutiny. But not this guy and not this time.

To be fair though and as this article in Pitpass mentions, there are no signs of any Nazi themes in the YouTube video. In fact, I thought the whole thing was bloody hilarious. I mean come on... the whole play acting was so elaborate and it just reminded me of a bad porno flick from the 70s. But then again, the YouTube clip was a minute and a half long. Lord knows what happened in the full 5 hours.

For years Max has been throwing around spurious and unfair accusations culminating in the whole McLaren affair. And now its his turn to receive unfair treatment. Do I care? Not a bit. In fact, I'm loving every moment of it.

But interestingly enough, no statements from either Max's friends at Ferrari or Renault just yet. And don't we all know why right? Luca and Jean! Say something. After all these years Max has been helping you guys out. Its time to return the favour mateys. Flavio! Surely you understand the fun of a little rompy pompy with the ladies right? You were there when Max received the honorary legion award from the French. Why aren't you at his side defending him now?

In all of this, there was one interesting conspiracy theory I read the other day. It was actually a comment in a F1Fanatic article. It goes something like this. News Of The World, The Times, Sky News and ITV are all entities associated with News Corporation controlled by one Rupert Murdoch. Well, recently ITV lost F1 rights to the BBC. In addition, Martin Brundle both of ITV and The Sunday times is being brought to court by the FIA over his "witch hunt" article last year. Therefore, this is retaliation by News Corp against Max and by association the FIA, the FOM and Bernie. Some payback huh?

All this is just so funny.