Friday Talking Points

French PM vows to revive grand prix

French prime minister Francois Fillon has vowed the government’s support in reinstating the country’s formula one race. After the demise of the Magny Cours event, and also the alternative Disneyland Paris project, Alain Prost said last week that the latest Flins-Les-Mureaux foray had also hit “political problems”.

“I cannot believe that we do not have a grand prix of France,” prime minister Francois Fillon, born in Le Mans and a keen motor racing enthusiast, told Europe 1 radio. He promises that the “government will do everything so that there is a (GP) as quickly as possible”, for example in 2010 or 2011.

David Richards set for 2010 F1 entry

David Richards’ Banbury-based outfit is set to make its formula one debut next year. The team, expected to link up technically with McLaren-Mercedes, will initially enter the world championship as Prodrive, before becoming Aston Martin by 2012.

It is believed Richards, formerly team boss at Benetton and BAR, committed to lodging his official paperwork by Friday’s deadline after discussions with Bernie Ecclestone that lasted until late Wednesday night.

It was on Wednesday that the FIA rules finally became clear (pending official confirmation), following a compromise deal amid the existing teams’ standoff with the sport’s ruling bodies.

Next year, the budget cap will be 100m, with special concessions such as cheap components offered to small teams, before the figure shrinks to 45m in 2011. “The cars will be built at Banbury and have Aston Martin-badged customer engines obtained from a supplier,” Richards confirmed to Autocar.

Among the backers is Aston Martin’s majority owner Investment Dar, a Kuwaiti shareholding company, and another Middle Eastern interest.

FOTA teams to lodge 2010 entries by deadline

The remaining formula one teams, with the possible exception of Toyota, are expected to lodge their official entries for the 2010 world championship on Friday. The registration period closes at 11.59pm on Friday night, but Ferrari, McLaren, BMW, Renault, Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Brawn and Force India are expected to deliver the paperwork to the FIA in a block FOTA package several hours earlier.

The news comes in the wake of multiple sources reporting that the standoff between the teams’ association and the sport’s ruling bodies is now over, with the proposed FOTA compromise accepted in principle by Max Mosley.

However, the teams’ 2010 entries – particularly the one lodged by Ferrari – may be attached to a proviso that the concerns about governance are also addressed, in exchange for all the teams signing a Concorde agreement through 2012.

At one top team, a usually forthcoming source said there would be “strictly no comment” on this issue until official confirmation. This confirmation will likely be made concurrently in the form of FOTA and FIA statements.

However, with the 45m euro cap arriving only in 2011, it is now unlikely that technical offerings to new small teams will lead to their debuts next year, when the interim budget cap figure will be 100m.

The exception is David Richards’ Prodrive/Aston Martin team, which is expected to lodge an official entry on Friday and link up for a technical collaboration with McLaren-Mercedes.

Fuji to give up Japanese GP – report

Owners Toyota have decided to no longer host the Japanese grand prix at Fuji Speedway, the Asahi newspaper reported on Friday. The circuit, located in the foothills of Mount Fuji west of Tokyo, hosted the country’s 2007 and 2008 F1 races, and was due to return to the calendar in 2010.

This year, an annual alternating scheme with Suzuka commences.
he Asahi Shimbun said Toyota’s decision was based on the need to cut costs, amid speculation the Japanese carmaker may not lodge an entry on Friday to enter its Cologne based team in the 2010 world championship.

But a Toyota spokesman told the news agency AFP that Fuji Speedway is “making preparations to host F1 next year”. Toyota driver Timo Glock has spoken this week about the speculation suggesting the marque’s involvement in formula one may be coming to an end. “If I was to worry about that then I would not be concentrated enough on my job,” he told the German daily Der Tagesspiegel, “and that would not help anybody.”