F1 News & Rumours

[5vz-fe]

Not that much we missed

[Mattk]

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/...131210124.html

Lewis Hamilton stars as Apollo in a Turkish production of Fires of Anatolia, a stage show depicting the battle of Troy. Hamilton had fun, but everyone else thinks he looked ridiculous.

[HeilSvenska]

^LOL!

Hamilton then took part in a mock fight scene before being elevated from the stage to take his place next to Zeus.

I shall scour youtube to find this!

[styla21]

Aguri will be back Watch this space.

[HeilSvenska]

Originally Posted by styla21 Aguri will be back Watch this space.

Not with a $100 million debt and the customer car ban.

I couldn't care less about Super Aguri. But I'd like to see Prodrive next year, anyone with me?

[styla21]

Oh no, the team will be back. The name Aguri will be missing - but an iteration of the current outfit will be back. Administration > Liquidation > Bankruptcy process can very quickly turns a $100m debt into $10m.

[HeilSvenska]

Originally Posted by styla21 Oh no, the team will be back. The name Aguri will be missing - but an iteration of the current outfit will be back. Administration > Liquidation > Bankruptcy process can very quickly turns a $100m debt into $10m.

Is that a insider knowledge or a speculation?

It seems strange that an entire team might disappear, but it's happened before. Arrows, Prost GP, etc... Usually they sell off the team itself or intellectual properties, expertise, and chassis, but Aguri F1 had none of these. There is nothing to sell. Nothing the other teams would want. ...except maybe Force India. The way the team's set up, as one of the "customer car" teams, I just don't see it coming back in any form. ...unless you have a credible evidence suggesting otherwise. It'll probably just end at liquidation.

You'd have to be some sort of an idiot to inherit a massive debt for a crappy team that struggles to finish last place. Cough, Alex Shnaider, Spyker, Red Bull, and maybe those Indian folk.

[Mattk]

I have to disagree, styla. Aguri formed a new team, not well established. It never got established, and now it never will. This is not a buy-out. This is withdrawal, elimination. It's over. Someone completely new will take over the spot. Aguri is finished.

[styla21]

Originally Posted by Mattk I have to disagree, styla. Aguri formed a new team, not well established. It never got established, and now it never will. This is not a buy-out. This is withdrawal, elimination. It's over. Someone completely new will take over the spot. Aguri is finished.

Try telling that to PKF in London as administrators.
I am under NDA and will not say too much.

There are core-assets in formula 1 that are not tangible, and cannot be displayed on-balance sheet. These are the assets that really need to be examined, quantified and understood by a potential owner to truly understand it's value.

The Concorde agreement (2.0 - yet to be signed and established, but is drafted and agreed in principal by the teams, for implementation into 2009 season) creates a scenario whereby there is a significant increase in value of FIA license. Its implementation curbs expenditure, whilst dramatically increasing the equality of dispersion of income from FOM (formula one management). You simply cannot establish the value of a team by the value its wind-tunnel, or the cumulative value of the parts bin... This license value is central, and the income integral. In the past, this has not been geared toward the independents. Post Concorde 2.0, the rules change in their favor.

Further, Honda will still supply money through their sponsorship (if a deal is worked out) as long as their are other co-sponsors that create a positive-cash base for the team to function as a going-concern. As Aguri did not have any significant backing, Honda was funding a dead horse and had a fiduciary responsibility to draw a line in the sand.

If you look at the Aguri situation as an arbitrage play, it has merit. The value of the FIA license and the landscape of profit sharing changing so dramatically creates an attractive deal for 09-beyond - for those who can package the team AND do so with necessary sponsors.

I qualify this by referring to Heil's comment also - you are correct that Aguri will not be back (for foreseeable future anyway); my comments are directed toward the Team and it's operations as were formally known as Aguri.

[HeilSvenska]

Death knell for Magny-Cours as Bernie confirms the track's worst fears. And it could possibly mean that there might not be a 2009 French GP. There's always Paul-Ricard, but the access is going to be a problem.

Formula One to quit Magny-Cours Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone says this year's French Grand Prix will be the last held at Magny-Cours. Ecclestone has long argued that the Circuit de Nevers, 155 miles (250km) south of Paris, is inaccessible and not up to modern F1 standards. He said in an interview with French sports daily L'Equipe: "The concern is the location - 2008 will be the last time we continue like this. "I would really love a French Grand Prix in the streets of Paris." Ecclestone added: "Prime Minister Francois Fillon told me we would see if we could have a Grand Prix in Paris or just outside but that would not necessarily be for 2009, rather for 2010." After the pair met last year, Fillon's office said three locations - the towns of Versailles and Evry and a site near Disneyland Paris east of the capital - were being considered as replacement venues. Any delay in finding a new site could see the race dropped from the Formula One calendar. Magny-Cours has been the permanent home of the French Grand Prix since 1991. The year's race takes place on Sunday, 22 June.

[styla21]

Paris street race could be unreal!
Don't know how feasible it is though.. Could be a tighter track than Monaco!

[Mattk]

I've always liked watching the Magny Cours races. It's a good circuit and it's a shame Ecclestone is dumping it from the season.

[dannyroz]

Why is Eccelstone getting rid of all the GPs that made F1 so fucking good? Suzuka, Indy, now Magny Cours...

Whats next Bernie, Silverstone? I should be careful what I say shouldn't I?

[Mattk]

^Money. F1 is not exactly profitable. The Melbourne Grand Prix has been very unpopular with Victorians because the government loses so much money supporting it. It doesn't help that Ron Walker, the Australian GP Corporation chairman has been shamelessly promoting himself and the GP on his own newspapers and radio stations.

Ecclestone, on the hunt for greater profits, has started to move beyond traditional motorsports nations. European grands prix races are being removed to establish new races in the Middle East and Asia. Sure, some of the new circuits have been successful (e.g. Sepang), but some are just contrived, like the night race in Singapore.

I used to live in Singapore, and whilst the F1 coverage on cable TV there is first-class, there is no motorsports in Singapore. The best they can do is go to Malaysia (because that's where the nearest race track is), or participate in carpark rallies, where they close off outdoor carparks and race around them. Fun, but hardly sophisticated.

What Ecclestone has done is essentially abandon motorsports enthusiasts and motorsports nations in favour of getting the big bucks. Yes, he has to run a business, but F1 is more than a business in the strict Chicago School sense. F1 is a community and a culture and that needs to be developed.

[Pokiou]

BYE BYE to all the good F1 tracks i tell you..