On tap this week:
- No sympathy for F1 minnows
- Motorama features motorsport panel
- Carl Haas at 85
- Mercedes still tops
- Quote of the Week: Former F1 Doc takes Dennis to task
- Jordá meets with mixed reactions
With preseason testing in the books and the Formula One Australian Grand Prix season opener now in less than two weeks away, all indications suggest the financial crisis rocking the sport will only getting worse.
Reports at the final test in Barcelona over the weekend suggest several teams are desperately looking for lifelines in the hope of making it to the season opener in Melbourne. How many will actually survive until the late November finale in Abu Dhabi is anyone's guess.
While there's been some talk in the paddock about finding ways to help the have not outfits stay afloat, the one thing they won't be getting is any empathy from the big teams.
"Honestly — this sounds a bit harsh — you need to know what you're doing," said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
"It's like the Premier League or the NFL: You cannot just enter, believe you can compete with multinational corporations — big automakers who see it as a marketing platform — and think that as a private individual or as an entrepreneur you can have a go."
Over at McLaren, chief executive Ron Dennis took a similar stance, saying last week that the sport's money troubles won't be solved by the F1 budget cap the small squads want, but rather "it's self-discipline of the teams that is required."
On the eve of the 2015 season Caterham and Marussia are already under bankruptcy protection, with the latter trying to raise the cash needed to be on the grid when the 2015 season opens in Australia.
Further up the grid, Force India barely made it to preseason testing due to cash flow issues, with the outfit only getting its 2015 car on track during the final four-day session that ended Sunday. Rumours persist that both Lotus and Sauber desperately require investment to survive 2015.
"Yes, two teams have gone bankrupt, and it's not good because this is about people losing their jobs and it is a tragedy," Wolff said.
"This is how Formula One has always been. In the last 20 or so years, 100 teams have gone.
Random thoughts
If you've ever wanted to take the country's motorsport writers to task, your chance is coming in two weeks. The Motorama Custom Car and Motorsport Expo's Meet the Media panel takes place Mar. 14. It starts at 1 p.m. and is scheduled for an hour. In addition to yours truly, the panellists include The Toronto Star's Norris McDonald, Erik Tomas of Raceline Radio, and the Hamilton Spectator's Tim Miller. The Motorama Custom Car and Motorsport Expo runs Mar. 13-15 at the International Centre near Pearson Airport. Tickets may be purchase through the Show's website.
By the numbers
Carl Haas celebrated his 85th birthday last week, prompting many to look back on his tenure at the helm of one of North America's most famous motorsport operations, Newman/Haas Racing (NHR). Founded in 1983 with partner Paul Newman, who passed away after a battle with cancer in 2008, having NHR on your resume as a driver or crew quickly became a huge badge of honour in IndyCar. In its 29 seasons, the legendary Newman-Haas team scored 107 wins, 109 poles and took eight drivers championships. Drivers winning titles with Newman-Haas were Mario Andretti (1984), Michael Andretti (1991), Nigel Mansell (1993), Cristiano da Matta (2002) and Sébastien Bourdais (2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007). Canadian James Hinchcliffe and his 2011 IndyCar teammate Oriol Servià went into the record books as the last two drivers with the team.
Technically speaking
Anyone thinking that Mercedes wouldn't dominate for the second consecutive season likely got their answer in the final Formula One test that ended Sunday. Its driver Nico Rosberg clocked the fastest lap of the test using a set of soft Pirelli tires, putting up a time on Day two that was three-tenths quicker than any non-Mercedes rival could manage in the four days. Worse yet, that quick lap set by Williams' Valtteri Bottas was on faster supersoft tires. The best any non-Mercedes driver could do on softs was an effort eight-tenths slower than Rosberg by Felipe Massa of Williams. "From a performance point of view, it's clear that Mercedes is still ahead by quite a way, but right behind there is us, Williams and Red Bull, all very close," said Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. "We will know more in a couple of weeks."
Quote of the week
"Word to Ron Dennis: if there's loss of consciousness, if there's a normal CT, then it's BY DEFINITION a concussion."
— former Formula One medical delegate Dr. Gary Hartstein reacting on Twitter to the McLaren boss' assertion during a Barcelona press conference last Thursday that his driver Fernando Alonso did not suffer a concussion in a testing accident.
The last word
The ridiculousness of pay drivers in Formula One reached new heights last week when the Lotus F1 team announced 26-year-old Carmen Jordá as a development driver. For those who haven't heard of this Spanish prospect, it could be because her best race finish in the past three years of GP3 competition is a 13th, and her best finish in any series of note was 10th in Indy Lights back in 2010. All that didn't stop Lotus from calling her career so far "distinguished" in a press release. The news prompted a bit of Twitter scorn from some GP3 series drivers she raced against, including her 2012 teammate, Irish driver Rob Cregan: "Carmen Jordá couldn't develop a roll of film let alone a hybrid F1 car, F1 is about talent not money and nagging up fake positions."
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Jeff Pappone