F1: FIA President Todt Considers Sanctions and Tells FOTA How It Is

What Happens When It Looks Like Trouble is Brewing

9:02am EST — Jean Todt had promised to be a FIA president in a different mold than Max Mosley, and yet more evidence suggests that this is the case.  Todt was quoted in Le Parisien as saying, “There is an incompatibility between the status of a role model champion, and a possible infringement on the road. A driver is a driver like the others. We are therefore trying to see whether to do something, and how,” suggesting that “it would make sense for F1 drivers to face sanctions if they committed traffic offences,” according to an Autosport article, since he said, “I have actually asked [if sanctions would make sense in such a situation].”

The situation he refers to is part of the FIA push for greater road safety, as “Last year, 1.3 million people died on roads in the world – 90% in developing countries. The forecasts for 2020 are terrible, and they estimate that nearly two million people will be killed if no action is taken by then. Now, with a minimum of dialogue, that figure could be halved. This requires education, improved road networks, and the involvement of new technology on cars,” according to Todt.

The question remains, though, as to how such a move would be received, both by drivers and teams.  It all comes down to the sort of sanction.  It would be foolish for the sanctions to be any sort of racing sanction, since that would defeat the purpose of racing.  Similarly, if we want independent drivers who are not simply part of a team’s PR machine, it would be important to not punish the team for something a driver did on his own time, as well as being entirely unfair to do so.  That, quite broadly, leaves only fines and community service as available sanctions.  I’m not sure fines would make much of a deterrent, particularly with the drivers making what they make.  Also, if the fines inherent in a traffic offense that has been punished by a county’s government (particularly when it would be grievous to sanction a driver for something the local police didn’t even yell at him  for) aren’t enough to stop F1 drivers to act the fool on their own time, a fine from the FIA isn’t likely to do much, either.

This brings us to the likely core issue.  It isn’t about deterring drivers from “hooning” as Lewis Hamilton did in Australia [and you though I couldn’t work “hoon” into another article!], it’s about the FIA and F1’s public image.  I don’t think it particularly matters to Jean Todt, the FIA, team principals, or any other governing body over a F1 drivers’ life if he goes out and does something silly but not life-threatening on the motorway.  Except that it looks bad.  As such, simply talking about the possibility of sanctions serves the purpose of sanctions.  “Well, we’ve considered it, and it’s not our place to referee a driver’s personal life, so there’s not much we can do” sounds a lot better than “I’m sorry it looks like we don’t care about road safety, because when it comes to the sporting side of the FIA, we don’t.”

In more information from the interview with Jean Todt, via Autosport, the FIA president seems intent on aggravating FOTA, noting that despite FOTA’s seeming crush on Pirelli as the 2011 tire supplier, the FIA certainly has a say in who the tire supplier will be, “and it [the FIA] will soon launch a tender, with the commercial promoter of the championship, Bernie Ecclestone. FOTA may suggest that it decides, but the strong man is not he who speaks the loudest [emphasis added].”

Those sound like fighting words to me, and they certainly will to the team principals.  This is about far more than tire supplier decisions, which are important enough in their own right.  It is also about whose side Ecclestone is on, as well.  In a FIA-FOTA war, both are on moderately equal footing as we saw last summer.  In a FIA/FOM-FOTA war, the teams can leave, but without the commercial genius Ecclestone has proven himself to be, it would be disastrous.  Any split would be a bad thing, but this time Todt looks to be forestalling the regular arguments and bringing out the big guns early on, so to speak.  Still, this sort of commentary makes one wonder.  Has Todt gone to the Ecclestone school of FOTA management?  What other behind-the-scenes machinations don’t we know about?  While the tire decision ought be made sooner rather than later, and it likely will be, the ramping up of tensions here feel like those heightened ones between North and South Korea.  Best to keep an eye on both situations, it seems.

F1: Looking Back Over the Flyaway Start to the 2010 Season, and What We Expected

What Happens When There is, Nearly Literally, No News

12:01am EST — Now that the excitement of the Chinese GP (and the subsequent portrayals of Around the World in 80 Days by the teams and F1 circus to get back home) is over, what seems like an interminable three week break until Barcelona is one third over.  The teams are generally quiet, working on their updates for the beginning of the European season a bit later than usual with the break in air traffic, the drivers are relaxing and working out and doing whatever promotions necessary during the layover, commentators are floundering wildly for just about anything at all to talk about, and fans are waiting for news and a return to action.

Four races into the season, though, there is time for reflection and a re-evaluation of what we had thought might happen before the season began.  Big story-lines before Bahrain included the return of Michael Schumacher (and his re-teaming with Ross Brawn at Mercedes), Fernando Alonso at Ferrari, intra-team squabbles, three new teams, and (depending on your calculations) six rookies.  Oh, yes, and one boring race and three exciting ones, though that may have been down to weather conditions and not so much a return to extremely close racing.  Bahrain was generally considered a snooze, despite it being the beginning of Vettel’s early-season bad luck and a Ferrari 1-2 (Bahrain Grand Prix Redux), Australia brought interesting race conditions and the beginning of Hamilton’s bad luck (or bad behavior?) while Button won his first of two races so far (Australia Grand Prix Redux), Malaysia’s weather made qualifying topsy-turvy as Vettel turned his disappointment into a win (Malaysian Grand Prix Redux), and China brought rain and many tire changes into play for McLaren’s turn at a 1-2 (Chinese Grand Prix Redux).

However, what many assumed would be the biggest story-lines at the beginning haven’t been quite as monstrous as anticipated.  They’re still important and getting quite a bit of attention, but seem to be less a priority within the paddock.  Schumacher has returned, but certainly not triumphantly (good or bad, you be the judge. honestly, go vote in the F1B Oversteer vs. Understeer about just that).  He has been regularly out-qualified and out-paced by younger teammate Nico Rosberg (in every session barring one Friday practice), and in China he was almost an impediment the likes of Sebastian Buemi to Alonso, Massa, Hamilton, et al.

Fernando ALonso is at Ferrari, but the bigger story there, after much PR work by both the Spaniard and the team making it clear they like him and he likes them far more than Kimi Raikkonen in red or Alonso at McLaren, is the projected intra-team squabble between him and Massa.  Both have given as good as they’ve gotten, and neither has made moves that punted the other off the track, though there has been some good dicing between them when it counted.  In the other pre-season intra-team drama, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton don’t seem to be fighting so much with each other on the track as Hamilton seems unhappy with the team, his performance, or both.  While Button has won two races, Hamilton has been cited for aggressive driving off the circuit, had two reprimands for aggressive driving on the track, and has taken out tire frustration on the team.  It will be interesting to see how the two British world champions deal with the rest of the season in their British team, which is currently leading the constructors’ world championship.

The new teams have been experiencing the expected growing pains, but do seem to be adapting accordingly.  In an unexpected twist, Sauber seems to have added itself to the new category with continual mechanical failures and an inability to finish races.  In fact, much touted rookie Kamui Kobayashi has yet to finish a race in 2010, despite showing much promise for the final two races in 2009 (which makes me very sad, as I was all set to become a Kamui fangirl).  In China, many of the new teams were actually running in the points for a while, while the tire strategies of the top drivers shook themselves out.  It made for very interesting racing.

Finally, the rookies.  There are a couple of drivers who can be classified as rookies despite their previous F1 starts: the aforementioned Kobayashi and Jaime Alguersuari, who only began his F1 career at the Hungaroring last season and has not completed a full F1 season.  Vitaly Petrov seems to be the undisputed king of the true rookies, though, with points in China and a great battle with Hamilton in Malaysia.  Three (Bruno Senna, Karun Chandhok, and Lucas di Grassi) of the true rookies are racing for new teams, making it more difficult to chart their progress, while Nico Hulkenberg has been struggling at Williams (though his greatly experienced teammate Rubens Barrichello has as well).  Interestingly enough, Pedro de la Rosa and Michael Schumacher, neither of whom has raced for three years or more, are also struggling.  However, de la Rosa is in the troubled Sauber while Schumacher’s Mercedes is at least capable of upper points paying positions.

All in all, it has been an exciting early season, both on and off the track.  Still, that on-track excitement has been encouraged by adverse weather conditions and poor qualifying decisions by some of the teams.  While there are  many discussions on how to improve the show, 2010 has proven that the easiest way would be to simply install sprinklers at random locations on each track.  When the race gets too processional, turn them on and let the strategy and precision driving ensue.

F1 News: Horner Says No Changes to Red Bull, Brawn for KERS Return, Webber Scrubs In for Open-Heart Surgery

What Happens When Everybody’s Ready for More Racing

12:02am EST — Red Bull says they won’t be changing their car after the FIA clarified the rules disallowing any changes in the suspension while the cars are under parc ferme conditions, Ross Brawn is for a return of the KERS system, and the drivers do some interesting stuff during their week off.

Horner Says the Rules Clarification Doesn’t Affect Red Bull:
According to team principal Christian Horner, as quoted in an Autosport article, the recent FIA clarification “has absolutely no impact on the specification of our car,” and that “The car that we will take to China will be exactly the same mechanically as it was in the first three races.”  While rumors continue to circulate that Red Bull has some sort of trick suspension, the team is adamant that they do not, and no changes have to be made to comply with the regulations.  In discussing whether the clarification was the right decision, Horner was quoted extensively,

Obviously the FIA has felt the necessity to clarify, and I think they’ve done exactly the right and the responsible thing, as it avoids a development rush in this area that inevitably wouldn’t be cheap. It’s a sensible ruling. It inevitably saves teams spending a huge amount of money on R&D to create such systems and obviously if anybody does run one, it would be in clear breach of the technical regulations. We’re more than happy with the FIA’s verdict, which we fully support. With these things, sometimes the wording and the spirit of the regulations leaves different interpretations and it’s great to see that on this occasion it has been clarified and that any form of active ride is therefore illegal.

Brawn (and others) Look to Bring Back KERS:
Ross Brawn and other team principals shared their opinions in an ITV.com article on the return of KERS, which was implemented last season to increaes overtaking, but instead ended up being a clever way to keep one’s opponent behind.  Brawn was particularly vocal with a suggestion for a push to pass button, “We think that the gains that were available last year in KERS were not probably significant enough and that we should look at KERS for the future with that in mind…If we had a push-to-pass button that you could only use a certain amount of time then we could have something really quite exciting. So I think KERS has a future, I think we need to be careful not to rush back to what we had last year, which we all agreed was perhaps not a huge success.”  Cost issues, in particular, are an issue, as Martin Whitmarsh noted, “I wouldn’t say it’s divisive [the KERS question]; it’s an issue where a lot of the teams can not afford KERS next year – and probably the majority can’t,” he said. That’s why we have got to have an understanding, we have got to find something that is affordable and worthwhile for the sport.”  Meanwhile, Williams team principal Sam Michael suggested that “Our opinion at the moment, this is Williams’s opinion, is that we should leave the regs the same until 2013 when the new engine [formula is introduced] and then increase the power, increase the energy, do whatever we need to do,” in order to keep the R&D costs and efforts down.  It looks as though the debate over KERS will continue to rage for the next few years, at this rate.

Drivers Relax, Webber Goes in for Heart Surgery:
While many F1 fans (and if the China previews released by the teams are any indication, the teams too) are anxious for this off-weekend to be over and racing to begin again in Shanghai in a week, the drivers have been putting their free time to good use.  Karun Chandhok seems to be making the tour of every TV and radio station in India.  Heikki Kovalainen is playing golf and watching golf and soliciting movie recommendations online, though unhappy with the “Travolta movie people” suggestion of From Paris with Love (really? that’s shocking).  Timo Glock is bicycling and excited about Airbus A380 sightings.  Jenson Button is “just chilling” while girlfriend Jessica Michibata has a book signing in Tokyo, after spending some time on the simulator (as did Jaime Alguersuari at Milton Keynes).  There have also been many comments about working out and the programs each driver has been sticking to to keep fit.
Meanwhile, Mark Webber has scrubbed in for open heart surgery, complete with a picture pre-surgery.  Why? “Ok ok, the reason I said yes to the offer,was because I was interested in watching other professionals perform under pressure!!”  He’s home in Australia, and I’ve got to wonder if the person undergoing the surgery knew Webber was sitting in.  Let’s reserve judgment on whether it was fitting for him to be there (and please refrain from a discussion of health care systems), but just note that there’s a way to spend some off time and wonder how that offer comes up in conversation.  Anyway, those are the updates from the F1 drivers on how to fill up time between races.

F1 News: Team Officials Speak Out

What Happens When They Say Some Standard and Interesting Things

12:02am EST — In the days after the Malaysian GP but before the Chinese GP, various team principals and officials have been speaking to the press, as they are wont to do.  While much of it has been quite typical, a few comments do seem to spice things up.

Brawn Says Radar for Quali Was Clear:
In quite a long speech from Mercedes GP team principal Ross Brawn on ITV.com, he admitted that many of the teams relied too much on their radar, causing some of the upside-down qualifying in Malaysia,

[The radar] was so definitive that there wouldn’t be any rain for the rest of the session. I think what happened was that because of the mountains here, some of the clouds disappear before they go over the mountains, then when they get to the other side they re-form and dump on the circuit. You’d think we’d all just go out and put in a lap as insurance, and then just wait for conditions to develop – and I’m sure that’s what will happen next time. Putting an insurance lap in would be the sensible thing. If we go with the technology, we’ve got something to blame. If we go on our own intuition, then we’re the ones at fault, and so we tend to grasp at straws a little bit.

Whether the reader thinks that Brawn is looking for an excuse or taking his lumps is up for debate, but Williams driver Rubens Barrichello was pretty clear on his thoughts about the rain debacle, “top teams do rely a little bit too much on the computers, and sometimes it’s a little bit too late.”

Fry Adds Interest to Typical Commentary:
In a typical post-race interview with Autosport, Mercedes CEO Nick Fry did mention one important fact about the returning Michael Schumacher, “Michael is, for me, quite remarkable. Even this weekend, the level of feedback that he gives is something that I have never seen before – and that is just not in the debriefs. When you have the headphones on you hear amazing things – and in qualifying he was driving around almost giving a commentary. The FIA, who also listens, was also very impressed that a driver can do that.”  While there have been quite a lot of questions about Schumacher’s return and his near constant out-qualification by teammate Nico Rosberg, this high level of quality in feedback is something from the world champion that cannot be discounted.

F1 Opinion: SPEED’s USF1 Explanation, Schumacher Slower Than Rosberg All Weekend

What Happens When the News Flow Slows, a Bit

12:01am EST — With the news slowing as teams return home from Bahrain, do laundry, make updates, and fly back off for Australia, here’s a bit of opinion, previously published by this author at Formula1Blog.

SPEED Coverage from Bahrain Offers an Interesting Explanation for USF1:
Obviously, this weekend’s race coverage had to explain the USF1 situation to the more casual viewers who do not follow Formula1 in the off-season.  Here in the States, we watch F1 on SPEED channel, home to the excellent and entertaining color commentary team of Bob Varsha, David Hobbs, and Steve Matchett and last season’s grid reporter, Peter Windsor.  Both Windsor’s absence from the SPEED team and USF1’s absence from the grid had to be explained, as his position as one of the team’s owners was touted quite often late last season.  Bob Varsha did the honors, explaining first in the second practice coverage on Friday and again, with nearly the same language, during the half hour pre-race show Sunday morning, along with another mention during qualifying on Saturday, just why USF1 wasn’t on the track in the 2010 season opener.
It is this explanation that has raised eyebrows at OASTD.  It began quite well, explaining that the team had money troubles, couldn’t produce a car in time, and that Windsor had mentioned to his old friends/colleagues on the SPEED team that the FIA had asked that the involved parties not discuss anything about the situation until it was sorted.  Then, Varsha continued (both on Friday and Sunday, and also possibly during qualifying), in a statement that was usually overlaid with footage of the new teams running, suggesting that we, the fans and viewers, should not be too harsh on USF1 since, they and they alone of the new teams, were actually constructors as the spirit of the rules indicated teams should be.
Instead, he indicated during the SPEED broadcasts, these new teams actually racing this weekend were consumer teams who bought their parts and chassis and engines from other sources instead of building them themselves.  The coverage went nearly to the point of denigration of Lotus, Virgin Racing, and HRT, in favor of the mountain USF1 attempted to climb and failed.
The explanation seemed to be a bit much, in the wake of what happened.  I understand that Windsor used to work at SPEED.  I understand that the USF1 and SPEED headquarters were/are practically next door in Charlotte, North Carolina.  I really understand wanting to be certain that the coverage of USF1 was not too harsh.  But, the favor seemed to be returned in harsh coverage on the new teams that actually made the grid, constructor or consumer teams or not.  As a reminder, from it’s inception until this season Toro Rosso was a “consumer” team.
In the end, we won’t know why what was said was said that way.  It could have been the SPEED F1 coverage team’s decision and writing, a producer’s, an intern’s, or word from SPEED on high.  It reminds me of the casual drop-in that Campos (now HRT) would not make Bahrain, either, when the USF1 deferral request was first made known.  An interesting and seemingly odd bit of editorializing.

Schumacher’s Return Highlighted By Slower Pace Than Teammate:
When Michael Schumacher announced his comeback with Mercedes, there was a lot of excitement and speculation that he would either a. be too old or b. tromp all over the comparatively inexperienced youngsters.  Then came testing, where it became apparent that the Merc simply wasn’t fast enough to hunt for the championship straightaway.  People’s excitement was tempered, but there is still a sense that his masterful developmental ability, combined with Ross Brawn at the team’s helm, will soon allow Schumacher to be the force to be reckoned with that he has been.  Then came the first true test: this weekend at Bahrain.  Where he was out-paced and out-qualified in every track session by teammate Nico Rosberg.
It was Rosberg, 8th; Schumacher 10th in practice one on Friday, Rosberg fastest; Schumacher 3rd in practice two on Friday, Rosberg starting fifth; Schumacher 7th after qualifying, and Rosberg finishing 5th; Schumacher finishing 6th in the race today.  So, with an entire race weekend the only available racing data, we can completely say that (note some amount of sarcasm here) young Rosberg has out-performed his more illustrious colleague in the same equipment in every bit of proper track running all season.
There are myriad reasons why, from something as simple as Schumacher not liking Bahrain, being a teeny bit out of practice, or that ever-elusive and varying quality called luck.  Obviously, we will have to wait all season, and the next three years for the rest of his contract, to learn if Michael Schumacher is truly back in all of the powerful racing glory he once demonstrated.  However, it is clear that the previously expected (in some quarters) domination of the field is belied by his early pace behind younger and more in-practice teammate Rosberg.

F1 News: Mercedes Plans Diffuser Unveil, Sauber Might Have Tire Advantage

What Happens When Everyone Is Excited and Nothing Is Happening (for the fans, at home)

12:01am EST — Yet another day closer to the season opener in Bahrain, yet another slow news days in Formula1.

Mercedes Plans Diffuser Unveil:
According to an ITV article, “Mercedes is bringing a big upgrade to Sakhir, where it will run with its definitive 2010 diffuser for the first time.”  While the team, fielding Michael Schumacher in his return to F1 and Nico Rosberg, was not a stand-out in the fifteen days of pre-season testing (for a full analysis of those tests, see “F1: Complete 2010 Pre-Season Testing Analysis” here at On Any Sunday, These Days), they hope to do perform better now that the two weeks between the test and the first race have been used for development.  According to Schumacher, “Our car also has not been in its final configuration – something we had deliberately wanted…It is important to be close and then use the long season to be at the top at the end. It is not the start which is important; it is the finish.”  This sort of waiting could have wonderful or disastrous consequences for the 2009 championship team.  Either the team will have pulled off the final development and will continue to grow throughout the season, as Schumacher suggests, or they could simply stay where they were a month ago: in the upper mid-pack.  One does not want to doubt the racing dream team that is Schumacher and Ross Brawn, it is Formula1 and nearly anything can happen.

Sauber Tire Performance Could Make Quite the Difference:
In an interview with Autosport, Bridgestone’s director of motorsport tire development, Hirohide Hamashima, says, “We have compared many teams’ data…Sauber is more consistent.”  According to the article, “Hamashima believes the difference between Sauber and the other teams is enough to offer the outfit strategy options that others do not have.”  Sauber technical chief Willy Rampf agrees, “Our car is not too heavy on its tyres [sic], so we can do reasonable long stints without killing them. That will help keep the strategies more flexible, if you’re not forced to stop by tyre [sic] wear.”  With Sauber posting highly respectable times in pre-season testing, the team might be a surprise contender for serious points in 2010, and possibly the championship or as a championship decider with properly managed tire strategy.  Without refueling and with the requirement that teams must use each compound in the dry, tire strategy will be key throughout the season.

F1 News: Shake-Up at Mercedes GP LTD, Lotus Adds Team Principals, Testing Begins Again

What Happens When It’s Team Restructure Day (or the News of It, At Least)

12:02am EST — After a shaky start, information surfaced that Mercedes GP LTD removed and appointed new directors earlier this month, then LotusF1 announced double Deputy Team Principals, and testing begins again Wednesday in still-rainy Jerez.

Changes Occur at Mercedes GP LTD:
Nick Fry and four other directors at the former Brawn GP have left their positions as directors at the new Mercedes GP to make way for new directors from Daimler and Aabar Investments, the two companies who bought out the majority of championship-winning Brawn GP team.  According to a list of documents filed on February 5 through Companies House, which is “an Executive Agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)” of the government, wherein all companies in the UK must be registered, Fry, Gordon Blair, Nigel Kerr, Caroline McGrory, and John Marsden were all “terminated” (the legal term, it is unlikely they were actually fired as the term might suggest) as directors for the UK-based company and Mohamed Badawy Al-Husseiny, Norbert Haug, Dr. Joachim Schmidt, Dr. Thomas Weber, and David John Forbes were appointed in their stead.
This constitutes a change in the make-up of the company that owns the team, though not a surprising one, after a moment or two of reflection.  New boys have taken over the majority of the team, with the old crew having sold a majority percentage in the team to Daimler and Aabar.  It makes sense that these new investors would want their own men at the helm of the company.  This change is interesting as it truly represents the change of the team/company from plucky and tiny, former-Honda-team Brawn GP to Mercedes Grand Prix.  (follow the headline link for instructions on how to find the list of documents and further information about the change)

LotusF1 Adds Two Deputy Team Principals:
According to a press release from the team, S M Nasarudin and Dato’ Kamarudin Meranun (shareholders of the LotusF1 company) have been appointed as Deputy Team Principals.  The release said that this change is “a strengthening of its senior management team” and “give Lotus Racing’s leadership team a strong base.”  Various commentators have suggested that this is in preparation for Fernandes’ eventual step down from the team principal position, but one could easily see it as another way to increase the Malaysian presence within the UK-based team and quiet possible quite detractors (of which, I in the States have heard none) at home who complain about a Malaysian team not in Malaysia or those in the UK or Europe (of which there are many) who refuse to hear discussion of LotusF1 as a Malaysian team as its headquarters are in the UK.

Testing Begins Again in Rainy Jerez:
Teams, journalists, and residents of Spain alike have been complaining of the continuous rain in Spain.  Still, testing returns to the internet and Twitter (oh, yes, and the track, too) Wednesday.  The following is the full driver line-up for the next four days, according to Autosport:
Team: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Ferrari: Massa, Massa, Alonso, Alonso
Force India: di Resta/Liuzzi, Liuzzi, Sutil, Sutil
Lotus: Fauzy, Kovalainen, Kovalainen, Trulli
McLaren: Hamilton, Hamilton, Button, Button
Mercedes GP: Schumacher, Rosberg, Schumacher, Rosberg
Red Bull: Vettel, Vettel, Webber, Webber
Renault: Petrov, Petrov, Kubica, Kubica
Sauber: de la Rosa, de la Rosa, Kobayashi, Kobayashi
Toro Rosso: Buemi, Buemi, Alguersuari, Alguersuari
Virgin: di Grassi, di Grassi/Glock, Glock, TBA
Williams: Barrichello, Barrichello, Hulkenberg, Hulkenberg

F1 News: Heidfeld at Mercedes, Brawn Supports New Points System, Former F1 Drivers Turn to Le Mans

What Happens When the News Slows, a Bit

12:10am EST — After the excitement of actual times and on-track action from the test session at Valencia, a day with a reserve driver announcement, support for rules changes, and a the mention of a few ex-F1 drivers racing in the Le Mans series, the amount of news seems slow.

Nick Heidfeld (Finally) Announced as Mercedes GP Reserve Driver:
After quite a bit of speculation and wondering where else he could go, Mercedes GP announced Thursday that they have hired an all-German driver line up, with Nick Heidfeld as their reserve driver for 2010.  While team principal Ross Brawn said in the official press release, “It’s a great pleasure for us to have signed a driver of the calibre and experience of Nick Heidfeld as our Reserve Race Driver and Test Driver for the 2010 season,” one has to wonder what good Heidfeld’s experience will do with no in-season testing.  Still, it was likely the best option for the German for this season, barring a contract with a likely under-performing new team.

Ross Brawn In Favor of Increased Points Totals for 2010:
According to an article published by the BBC, Ross Brawn, Mercedes GP team principal and member of the FIA F1 Commission, is fully in favor of the proposed changes to the points system.  “There is a much stronger incentive for the person in second place to try to beat the guy in front.  The argument is if there’s only two points, it’s not such an incentive. If it’s seven it’s much more attractive,” he noted.  Apparently, this change to the proposed points system was made to encourage drivers to race for the lead.  With recent concerns over parade-races and a suggested lack of entertainment and close racing, these off-track changes have been made, to use an over-used phrase, to improve the show.  The F1 Commission has suggested this points change (with points to be awarded from first to tenth place, 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 for each postition) and only approval by the WMSC stands in the way of its implementation.

Le Mans Series Releases 2010 Entry List with Plenty of F1 Talent:
Well, really, it’s mainly just Giancarlo Fisichella and Nigel Mansell as the newsworthy entrants, but the entire list can be found on the series website.  The percentage of former F1 drivers will likely increase for the 24 Heures du le Mans event (Sebastian Bourdais has already confirmed a contract with Peugot), but for now Fisichella’s position with the Ferrari GT2 class team and Mansell’s entry with his sons in the LMP1 class, driving a Zytek 09S are the biggest stories.  Other former drivers have entered, such as Alan McNish, though they are drivers who have regularly contested the series.