Flavio Briatore has come out on the winning end of his appeal to have his ban overturned, after he was exiled for life for plotting with driver, Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash in order to give Alonso the first place position in the 2008 Singapore GP.

The French Court found that the actions on the part of the FIA were illegal. Also on the winning end is Renault F1’s ex Director of Engineering, Pat Symonds. This is a big victory for Briatore, even though he now has some damage control to do. With regards to his financial claims, he was only able to recover  £18,000 of the  £900,000 he wanted.

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Judgment Day has come for Renault’s Ex F1 Boss, Flavio Briatore. He was banned for life back in 2009 after ordering team driver Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash in order for team mate Fernando Alonso to go ahead and win the race.

Briatore believes the ban was excessive and illegal, and that FIA boss Max Mosley asked for him to be banned for revenge purposes. In late November, he went to the French courts to appeal his ban, hoping to get his ban lifted, as well as £900,000 in damages. Even though Briatore was wrong in conspiring to sabotage the event, he is arguing that the FIA method of investigations were against the FIA’s international sporting code.

Stay tuned for further updates today.

Ex-F1 driver, current DTM driver, current brother to the 7 time F1 world champion Ralf Schumacher has stated that he is interested in an F1 return if the right offer is made to him.

Ralf has stated that the desire to to return to F1 is “burning” inside him. On another note, he mentioned that his desire to return had nothing to do with competing with his older brother, but simply because he liked it. He told German DPA Press this:

“Competing against Michael is not that important for me

“In any case, I would seriously consider an interesting and attractive offer to drive in a competitive Formula One team.”

Currently he races in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) series, where is racing luck isn’t any good either, so the real question is, who would want him to race after his poor career history?

Pilots have airplane simulators to practice on, and now Ferrari F1 drivers have their own F1 simulator, which is said to be one of the most advanced virtual reality machines built to date.

Weighing in at over 200 tonnes, packing 60GB RAM, using 10 computers, pumping sound through a 3500watt surround sound system and displaying a 3D environment through 5 flat screen monitors, it’s definitely the way forward with regards to track testing. Unfortunately they did not build this for some tycoon to play Gran Turismo 5, but will be used to aid F1 drivers in preparing for future races. Since there are so many limitations to real life testing, such as limited time on the circuit, this new simulator will make it much easier for the drivers to spend time learning the tracks’ corners and straight aways.

The sensitivity experts said that the simulator is very good at replicating motion, movements, forces, noise and vibrations. There are other areas which are not yet perfect but very close to reality.

The Ferrari simulator, built with the technical support of Moog, consists of an aluminum and composite structure in which are fitted the Formula One Car cockpit and the equipment which produces the images and sound. The platform weighs around two tonnes and is fitted with electronically controlled hydraulic actuators that way around half a tonne each. The whole structure is fitted on a specially designed and built base, weighing two hundred tons.

Ferrari now has their advantage for the 2010 season, but the question is whether other teams are secretly on par with this kind of tech, or still lagging behind the competition.

[Via: Ferrari]

Yes folks, it’s official, Michael Schumacher has signed with Mercedes and will be hitting the F1 asphalt from 2010.

So far, his PR agent has not commented on the situation but various agencies state that an announcement is soon to be made public. Details about his contract are still unknown at this time but he is expected to race for one year for 7 million euros according to German newspaper, Bild.

Lots of other race drivers and team owners are already criticizing his comeback, saying that his injuries may prove to be a problem, or he is just not physically fit and agile as he was in his prime.

More details soon.

For another straight running year, SPEED TV will have the rights to broadcast Formula 1 in the United States. This year they’ve made it even better with the addition of live online coverage, so if you can’t make it to the TV set, you can follow it from your PC. According to them, all events will be broadcast live including practice, and qualifying sessions, but I’ve had to watch taped races due to races being blacked out, so I’m not too sure if the problem comes down to regional cable channel providers having rights to SPEED for the event. FOX Network has attained the rights to show 4 of the events (in a consecutive row).

[Via: Formula 1 Blog]

Every year, Bernie Ecclestone posts a greeting card to his dearly beloved fellow F1 team owners, board members and other staff to truly show how he appreciates their work during each year of Formula 1. This year he takes a stab at quite a few victims. Details are as follows:

• On the departing boat in the water is BMW’s Mario Theissen, badboy soon-to-be ex-Pres Max Mosley and Toyota’s John Howett
• On the deck are the other team bosses who will continue into 2010
• In the little pirate boat stands Renault’s ex-team manager, Flavio Briatore holding a rocket launcher, ready to shoot down the bigger vessel
• Finally, Ecclestone himself sits in the lifeguard chair in the far distance

Funny stuff. Click the pic above to see it a bit bigger.

The reports are once again coming in that Micheal Schumacher may sign with Mercedes before the year end, maybe even before Christmas.

According to German daily newspapers, Bild, it seems the contract has been written out and is ready to be signed, and that Michael has verbally agreed to the deal already. It even goes on to say that he would get €7 million in return for a year’s worth of service to the team.

On a separate note, Mercedes did say that they would announce the 2nd driver some time next week (definitely before Christmas). This new rumor adds to the truthfulness of the claim.

At the moment, both parties are tight lipped on the situation, so we just have to wait and see what surprise is in store for us.

The Silverstone track has been officially signed for the British GP for the next 17 years.

After some tough negotiations between F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone and BRDC’s president Damon Hill, they were finally able to reach an agreement to keep Silverstone for the next 17 years. The track actually was on the line of not being able to make the 2010 line up after the officials were unable to meet the officials demanded by Ecclestone.

“Everyone was well aware that the British GP is not just a sporting event, but it is dynamo of the industry in this country. Losing it would have been damaging and perhaps there would have been no coming back.

“The title of Silverstone as home of motor sport has come true. It is a place for all motor sport. Everyone in the BRDC loves motor sport and we are looking forward to the MotoGP as well as the British Grand Prix.

“It’s not easy to enter into an agreement of this magnitude. It’s a big commitment. But the BRDC felt we wanted this relationship to continue, and we were prepared to back the negotiating team, with the level of risk satisfactory for the deal to go ahead.” – Damon Hill, President of British Racing Drivers’ Club

[Via: GP Update]

After missing one year in the F1 Championship, the Canadian Gran Prix is once again in the line-up for the 2010 event.

This comes a year after the Canadian local authorities and F1 Boss, Bernie Ecclestone were unable to reach an agreement after Ecclestone demanded they pay $165 million to keep the event running.

Currently the government has finally decided to cough up the cash over the 2010-2014 period in which the new agreement is based upon. Funds will be donated from different sources including the Federal Government, tourist board, Municipal and Province boards.

F1 generates heavy tourism for Canada, with as much as 25% of the visitors being non-province citizens.

[Via: AP | Image]

The future of the Sauber team has finally be solidified after an agreement was reached between the Board of Management at BMW and Peter Sauber yesterday (Thursday).

This came after negotiations between the company and Qadbak Investment ltd. fell through due to a bit of hoodwinking.

Both parties are very happy with the deal, especially Peter Sauber, due to the fact that they don’t have to relocate.

“I am very relieved that we have found this solution. It means we can keep the Hinwil location and the majority of workplaces. I am convinced that the new team has a very good future in Formula One, whose current transformation with new framework conditions will benefit the private teams. Our staff here are highly competent and motivated, and I look forward to taking on this new challenge together with them. I would like to thank BMW for four shared years that have in the main been very successful.” – Peter Sauber

“We are very happy with this solution. This fulfils the most important requirement for a successful future for the team. Our relationship with Peter Sauber has always been excellent and marked by absolute respect. We would like to express our thanks to Peter Sauber and the whole team for the excellent cooperation during the recent four years.” – Dr Klaus Draeger, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG

The new team will see some right sizing though, mainly with some job positions being eliminated due to redundancy. Staff levels will drop from 388 to 250 employees. The team will be looking to start small as they head into the 2010 season.

Personally I am satisfied to see the Sauber team back in action and we wish them luck.

In yesterday’s report, we mentioned that ex-Renault F1 manager Flavio Briatore had taken the FIA to the French courts yesterday. His intentions were to get the lifelong ban against him for match fixing removed, as well as to claim £900,000 in compensation for damage to his reputation.

The FIA said that he had “undermined the sport’s ethic and the credibility of the competition and (had) put other people’s security at risk”. They also stated that they were well within their rights to serve such an order considering the circumstances.

After the appeal, the judge stated that a ruling would be published on January 5^th, 2010. Briatore felt confident that the judges would see his side of the story and lift the ban. However, if the ban does not get lifted, he may lose out on more than he bargained for, namely the Co-Ownership position held at the football club, Queens Park Rangers. This would be easily done according to the league’s fit-and-proper persons rule.

Exiled F1 manager, Flavio Briatore heads to the french court today to find out what his future is in the sport. He has filed a case against the FIA with the hopes to get the lifetime ban placed on him lifted.

This comes after he was permanently suspended from the sport for ordering team driver Nelson Piquet Jr. to purposely crash at the 2008 Singapore GP, giving favour and the win to team mate Fernando Alonso.

Briatore is arguing that his ban was unjust and unfair because he believes FIA boss Max Mosley is simply trying to get back at him for all the years of confrontation between the two. He was quoted saying that Max Mosley was “blinded by a desire for personal revenge.” Also, he says that the actions of the FIA were “excessive and abusive.” At the end of the day, he wants his ban removed and £900,000 in compensation fees for damage to his reputation.

Today’s case simply isn’t one to prove who was right or wrong, but is indirectly centered around the years of struggle between the team managers and the FIA board, where Briatore played a big role is arguing for the rights of the teams. Stay tuned for updates.

[Via: PlanetF1 | Image]

After Mercedes recently bought out the Brawn GP F1 team, there was much speculation as to who would fill the lucky 2 seats for the 2010 season. There were many rumours that Jenson Button would take the seat, but after final confirmation, Nico Rosberg has been signed for one of the 2 spots.

Also, Michael Schumacher was widely tipped to take the second seat, but it is now expected that Nick Heidfeld will most likely get the spot.

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Earlier this year, after a shoddy performance by the BMW-Sauber team, BMW decided to officially pull out of F1 racing. Since then, the Sauber division has joined forced with automaker Lotus resulting in the formation of the Lotus F1 team.

 The team is actually a partnership between the automaker, the Malaysian government and a number of other high profile Malaysian investors.

Today we get to see an actual size model of the F1 racer going into Wind Tunnel testing. The model is currently not assigned any designation yet. Below is a short press release, some photos and an interview with The Chief Technical Officer, Mike Gascoyne.

Just one month after confirmation of its entry into the 2010 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, Lotus F1 Racing is already heading into the windtunnel with a scale model of its first Formula 1 car. The as yet undesignated model is the product of the recent collaboration between Lotus F1 Racing Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne and the team’s technical partners, and represents an important step in the team’s preparations for next season.

Interview with Mike Gascoyne – Lotus F1 Racing Chief Technical Officer

How important is the completion of Lotus F1 Racing’s first windtunnel model?
“The start of any windtunnel testing is an important step in the development of a new Formula 1 car, but it is particularly exciting for us as we continue preparations for our first season. It has been a very busy time since our entry was confirmed by the FIA. We had been working on the entry for several months so we already had aspects of the team infrastructure in place; the finances, the factory and the top management. Once our entry was confirmed in mid-September, we were able to accelerate our recruitment and car development process and this is really where we are at now.”

What precisely is the involvement from Malaysia?
“Our entry has only been made possible thanks to financing from the Malaysian private sector, so Lotus F1 Racing will be a Malaysian team through and through. Additionally we have valuable support from the Malaysian government through its 1Malaysia initiative, so we will essentially be flying the Malaysian flag in Formula 1. I am liaising with our Team Principal Tony Fernandes about our plans on a daily basis and am currently spending some time in Malaysia interviewing potential candidates for technical roles. The team is also in the process of recruiting Malaysian employees for other positions, including administration, marketing and PR.”

The team is currently based in the UK, but is there a long-term plan to move to Malaysia?
“The longer-term vision is to create a centre of technical excellence at the Sepang circuit which we have already started planning together with Tony Fernandes and his associates. Naturally this takes time, so we have opted initially for a UK base at the RTN facility in Hingham from where we will run the F1 operations while we establish our Malaysian facilities. Ultimately, the team will be headquartered in Malaysia, but we will keep a small UK base which will give us a logistical advantage when we are racing within Europe.”

What technical partnerships do you already have in place?

“We have been working with Fondtech to develop the aerodynamics, as well as with gearbox specialists Xtrac. We have an engine supply deal in place with Cosworth and we also have the support of engineering and composites teams in Malaysia who will play an integral role in developing the car.”

Is there really enough time to get a car and a team up and running before the first race in Bahrain?
“There is no escaping the challenges that we face simply to get the car ready for the first race of next season, but I am confident that we are up to the task in hand. Our target is to get the car ready for a roll out by the middle of February so that we can carry out pre-season testing in preparation for Bahrain in mid-March.”

What are your expectations for the first year?
“We need to remain realistic in our aims for the first year. We are a new team and we are starting our development late, so it will be an achievement just to get two cars on the Bahrain grid. I hope by the middle of the season we will have established ourselves as the best of the rookie teams and then continue to make forward progress for the rest of the year.”

How integrated will the F1 team be with other Lotus groups?
“It is a big honour to be associated with such an historic and prestigious Formula 1 brand as Lotus for whom I have a lot of respect. We will have a close relationship with other Lotus groups and we will do all we can to ensure that the Lotus name is treated respectfully with our new team.”

Finally, has there been any decision made on drivers for next year?
“We have been looking closely at the driver market to determine our best options for next year including Malaysian drivers, but no decisions have been made yet. We need versatile drivers. We need reliable and technically-minded drivers who can help us develop the car during the season, but at the same time we need drivers who are hungry for results and who can extract every little bit of performance from the car at all times.”

[Source: Lotus]