Bernie Ecclestone confirms Formula 1 will stick to 19 races in 2013 By Jonathan Noble Tuesday, February 5th 2013, 16:14 GMT
ZitatFormula 1 will stick to 19 races this season after failing to find a replacement for New Jersey, supremo Bernie Ecclestone says.
Ecclestone and the FIA had reshuffled the calendar in a bid to slot in a 20th race on July 21, but despite talks with Turkey, Austria and Portugal no deal could be reached.
Although there remains time to sort out an extra event, Ecclestone said on Tuesday that he was now resigned to not holding a 20th race.
"The calendar has been formed already, it's too late," he told Dubai's The National newspaper at an announcement for a new five-year global sponsorship deal between F1 and Emirates airline.
He added: "[I am] disappointed that it didn't happen before; we can't suddenly slot it in."
F1's tie-up with Emirates has prompted talk that Dubai could be in the running to hold a race, but Ecclestone has ruled that out because the Middle East is already well represented with Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.
"We support races that we think are good for F1, wherever they may be," he said.
"We have a restriction for 20 races and we already have two in this area, so it would be difficult to pop another one in."
Martin Whitmarsh is sorry because Heikki Kovalainen's F1-career seems to have stopped too early.
Whitmarsh confessed to Turun Sanomat that he had made inquiries and tried to use McLaren's close connection to Marussia in order to help Kovalainen back in F1.
– I spoke with Heikki on Tuesday when I tried to help him by opening his way to Marussia. He will get a place in F1 in some way or another. He definitely deserves to be here, Whitmarsh assured on Wednesday morning.
Marussia has a business relationship with McLaren. However the team filled their seats when they confirmed on Wednesday morning that Luiz Razia has a racing contract. Their other driver is Max Chilton.
Lotus is fast again just like last year also. They have reasons to belittle the significance of laptimes in opening tests, still nobody will try to be slower on purpose here.
The times depend on the competitiveness of the car, the tires, the fuel amount - and sometimes on a deliberate underweight.
On this track 35-40 kg more or less of fuel means one second.
The performance ability of the new tires also drops ruthlessly fast which again makes it even more difficult to compare. For some reason the hard compound looks to be faster here than in many other places.
As a reporter who closely follows what Lotus does, I have during these two days heard quite a lot of hinting that Romain Grosjean's faster and faster laptimes indicate particularly that the team is in financial troubles.
Fastest laptimes have a history of being one way to attract new sponsors.
Of course they admit in Lotus that the times are difficult, but they are difficult in almost every other team also. Pay-drivers are now wanted starting from McLaren.
The hints about an underweight car have in Lotus-camp been disregarded by reminding that their drivers were on the top of the list last winter in Jerez opening tests also. As an endresult the cars were fast all season long in races too.
And there's no reason to suspect that the new E21-car wouldn't be competitive. It still lacks a huge amount of new parts which they bring to the tests in Barcelona and then especially to the opening race.
We will get the first indications of Kimi Räikkönen's speed on Thursday. First Kimi gets familiar with the tires, but I think that he will be going fast by afternoon and not just trying to go fast....
ZitatWhat will happen to Räikkönen's giant fortune?
Torstai 7.2.2013 klo 11.04
Jenni Dahlman-Räikkönen will probably not be left emptyhanded after a possible divorce.
The marriage agreement was drawn up in Switzerland and it has been a top secret and will also remain a top secret. The couple doesn't have a registered prenup in Finland so the possible property division will happen according to the laws in Switzerland and according to a mutual agreement.
Kimi Räikkönen's fortune is at least 100 million euros.
Kimi has been interested in investing. He owns properties all around the world. Some are empty, but his pals for example live in some properties.
Kimi has real estates at least in Switzerland, Thailand, Porkkala, Espoo, Helsinki and Nilsiä.
It tells someting about Kimi's character that this rich Finn agrees now and then to do some commercials although he doesn't need the fee.
ZitatKimi's and Jenni's marriage has been in crisis before too - read the rare interview with both of them
Sari Parkkonen 11:19 | 7.2.2013 | 1 kimijajenni
Kimi's and Jenni's happiness in Me Naiset -magazine from 2005.
– Our love is blossoming despite crashes, Kimi Räikkönen and Jenni Dahlman-Räikkönen said. In 2005 Me Naiset had an opportunity to meed the couple at their home in Zürich.
A joyful Jenni meets us at the door and upstairs is a familiar man from TV and headlines. This time Kimi is without a helmet, racing outfit and car and he is holding a TV - remote control in his hands. After a while he eats a sandwich and throws himself on the sofa to watch from TV how different vehicles crash into each other. He calls Jenni 'darling' and changes his shirt like a good boy when his wife asks him to do so. He often reveals a relaxed smile, something you rarely see on the paddock.
One of the world's most cool-headed and toughest F1-drivers is going around the kitchen wearing jeans and tickling his new wife like a teenage boy. Not even the starting F1-season seems to stress him. Next day he will go to Australia and start fighting for the WDC.
Here it's peaceful and homey
Zürich is a good place to live in many ways according to Kimi and Jenni.
– I lived nearby already before Jenni. I wouldn't even think about moving to Monaco for example, it's too crowded for me. I have lived in a house all my life and in Monaco I would have to live in an apartment building. It's homey and peaceful here, Kimi says.
Jenni adds that Zürich is only 2,5 hours away from Finland by flight. It's also handy to fly wherever else in Europe from Zürich. It's especially handy to fly with a private plane so you get immediately back home from races.
– The local people are very friendly, although few of them talk English, Jenni says.
Jenni also thinks that Zürich is one of Europe's best shopping cities - and most expensive also.
Kimi and Jenni moved to this house three years ago. Grey floors made of stone, several terraces and a white space stole their hearts.
– And there was already a sauna here - where would any Finn cope without a sauna, Jenni laughs.
They built a swimming- and jacuzzi-pool on the terrace and a bar inside. Downstairs there is also a gym and a solarium that they got from McLaren as a wedding gift.
The entrance hall tells that a F1-star lives in the house. There is a big glass showcase where Kimi's all trophies are put on display. The most spectacular are the trophies from Malaysia 2003 and Belgium 2004. On the upper shelf Kimi's over ten helmets are displayed and when you go up the stairs to the lounge you find an important F1-memory above the fireplace: the steering wheel of the car Kimi drove his first podium with in Australia. A layman hardly recognises it as a steering wheel: the shape is different and the middle part of it is filled with setup-buttons.
Things related to F1 and a picture of the couple is in the living room's shelf are those important signs of their own life which tell something about the people living in the house. Other than that the home is designed to the last with harmony and style, something Jenni has created together with the interior designer. The colours change from black and grey to white and the furniture are Italian classics.
– Kimi has given me free hands when it comes to interiation and we have a similar taste. It's just a shame when I have to interiate three homes at the same time. It feels that one of them is unfinished all the time.
Jenni and Kimi have a city apartment in Helsinki and a big house by the sea in Porkkalanniemi. Jenni tells that the interior there is more romantic and soft than in their home in Switzerland.
– There we have something that is important for both of us. When we got married we got from Vanajanlinna as a wedding present a beautiful and old leather sofa. It's the same sofa on which Kimi and I met each other 3,5 years ago and it has a plate telling of that attached to it, Jenni tells.
Jenni and Kimi are thinking about buying a home from Dubai also. However the home in Switzerland is spiritually the most important one.
– Here I get to be in peace. If someone recognises me they behave in a discreet way, Kimi says.
A while ago they had a pack of autograph-hunters running after them in Finland.
– I understand fans, but sometimes it's very rough when you can't even go out to eat without being the center of attention, Kimi says.
We had a tough discussion
The couple has been the center of attention especially after their wedding last summer. The headlines have reported very accurately with whom they are with when they are separated and not one party or blunder has gone unnoticed. Kimi's last blunder in the night club in London created a discussion if Kimi's and Jenni's marriage is in crisis.
It doesn't look like that when Mr and Mrs Räikkönen joke to each other and at times hold each other gently.
– Everything that I can imagine is good in Jenni, Kimi said.
– I again respect in Kimi the way he takes so good care of all the people who are important to him, Jenni says.
The couple doesn't much fight and if Jenni is irritated at some mundane thing in Kimi, then it's his way of leaving clothes here and there for Jenni to pick up.
Jenni rolls her thick and heavy diamond-ring in her finger. It's understandable that she necessarily doesn't want to keep it when she is working in the stable, but some conclusions have been made about that also - an empty finger is definitely a sign of marital problems.
Kimi again is now without a ring. When he drove in the wall during testing he hurt his finger so much that it's still swollen up.
– It doesn't bother his driving but the ring doesn't fit, Jenni says and continues that Kimi's ring was too small from the beginning.
Now the couple can already take the fuss concerning their marriage with humour.
– As a consolation to those who have lost their night sleep: our marriage and love is doing well, Kimi and Jenni says.
Jenni doesn't even try to deny that it wouldn't have been difficult.
– I'm the one of us who is more sensitive and think more about what others think. We had a very tough discussion about the subject. Anyone can relate to my position: how would it feel to get so much down your neck when you are a young wife?
– I am also the one who has to face the fuss in a different way than Kimi, who is much to his own when he is out in the world.
She also thinks that Kimi learned the hard way that whether he liked it or not, in his position he has to take into consideration what outsiders think.
Kimi has been sorry for Jenni's sake.
– Of course my own blunders bug me because of Jenni. But it also bugs me that my name is so often linked to events that I had no part in. All it takes is that I sit in the same bar. Sometimes it has happened that I haven't even been in the same country.
– I just have to try living so that no big things don't come out of it. However for me the most important thing is that people close to me know what has happened, what is true and what isn't, Kimi says..
– The trust between us is completely in order. It's only natural that we go out separately in the future also, we are not jealous about each others, Jenni and Kimi assures.
– Even if I would at times make blunders it still feels strange how my partying is in the headlines and then in the same paper they tell in small print that someone killed another person. I haven't done anything bad to anyone at least, Kimi said.
Kimi's consumption of alcohol has been reported in the international media also and the latest blunder was already thought of straining the relationship with the team so badly that some even flashed personal interviews, even sacking.
– We have talked things through with the team. There is nothing unclear about that. And I am not any alcoholic or the Nykänen that they have tried to turn me into. I don't even have any championships, Kimi grins.
Someone could speculate if Kimi has had time to live his youth at all, since he has been sitting in a car ever since a little boy. Is he now taking back the lost time?
– I don't feel that I lost anything, on the contrary I have seen things that others can only dream about. I moved abroad when I was 18-years old and was going all over Europe when I was 15..
Kimi doesn't feel that his position is any model.
– Although I would be whatever F1-driver I am still a normal human being. I think that I deserve the right to live a normal life, go out if I feel like it, and I also don't feel that I have to make account of it to any outsider. Also what I do with my money is my business only. I have earned my money and don't owe anyone anything, Kimi said.
Money and success are things that easily attract people who take advantage of you or stab you in the back.
– I don't feel that I have changed due to the success. My roots in Finland mean that I have good old buddies there, buddies who relate to me just like they have always related to me. Honesty is the most important thing in my relationships. Money never brings happiness although I have been able to fulfil my dreams with money, most important of them being my home. I am grateful to my parents, they are the best parents I can even imagine having and I wouldn't be in this position without them.
One of Kimi's close people is his big brother Rami. Kimi and Jenni are eagerly waiting for a happy family event, because soon his brother's family will get a baby.
Glamour is far away from F1
Publicity, representing, PR-events - those are the downsides of his profession according to Kimi.
– I would rather only focus on driving because that is what I know how to do and that is what I enjoy. I have met VIP-people in events, starting from kings, but I would still come up with something better to do during the time I spend in PR-events.
The upcoming F1-season is different for Kimi and Jenni since now Jenni will participate only in a few races. She is going with him to Australia and Malaysia, but is already sad about what a month's travelling will mean for her horse riding.
Riding is Jenni's new thing, a thing she relates to so ambitiously that her goal is to become a competing horse rider.
– I think it's good that Jenni has her own special thing. We didn't need to discuss about it, Kimi says.
Jenni has realised, after travelling for a few years, that she needs some content in her own life.
– For a spouse it's quite boring to go from a F1-race to another. Especially in Europe where the races are usually held in the middle of nowhere. Life is all about the hotel and the paddock.
– From a driver's POV the glamour is far from it. The F1-circus often gives out a glamorous picture, but even if they would arrange a party during races you rarely see any other drivers there, Kimi said.
Kimi said that he doesn't necessarily need Jenni to be there.
– We can just as well discuss over the phone.
Erja and Mika Häkkinen chose differently back in the times. Erja was tightly beside her husband and was almost like his secretary.
– I have managers who take care of all my things starting from paying the bills, Kimi said.
– The difference between me and Erja is that Erja is almost twice as old as me and she has already had time to do her own things. I myself again think what my options are - permanent job, school? They seemed like impossible options since I also wanted to go to races. Then I rejuvenated my childhood hobby.
Jenni now has three horses in Tomas von Rettig's stable in Finland. Tomas is also Jenni's trainer.
Jenni's participance in F1-races is decided once she has checked the upcoming season's horse competitions.
– I am going to participate as much as possible in show jumping on a regional level so that I get experience.
Kimi said that he has been twice to the stable with Jenni and that he even took a ride on the 'oat-engine'.
– I'm more fascinated about other kinds of engines and my allergy also prevents me from spending time in the stable.
– Well, maybe there will be a time when you are the one supporting and cheering me at the side of a horse competition -field, Jenni says.
Children are not a part of Kimi's and Jenni's plans in the near future.
– The time for the children comes when life settles down. We want to offer our children the best possible circumstances and it doesn't work with us travelling so much.
Children are important to Kimi in another way also - through charity that he likes to take part in by supporting SOS Children's Village.
– Kids from the SOS Children's Village have for a couple of years visited Monaco during a GP in my boat, Kimi says.
True to his name Iceman, Kimi goes into the new season with a good feeling.
– I'm not nervous and I don't take unnecessary pressure about driving. I have done this all my life and slowly grown into this profession. This is not work, this is a way of living.
Jenni says that Kimi really is an Iceman - the name Ron Dennis gave him.
– In work he is always completely calm, in normal life another side surfaces.
Jenni says that she stresses a lot before her own competitions and wonders how Kimi can be so calm.
– Well, maybe there's a little nervousness in the starting grid, Kimi gives in and Jenni ponders what Kimi's pulse might be at that moment.
What describes Kimi's nerves is how he just before the race can sleep tightly in his van.
Kimi deals with the driving related pressure by himself.
– I don't need any outsiders for that. There are drivers who have a psychologist helping them and they tried to push one of those on me too. I just said that I don't need one, Kimi states.
Kimi says about McLaren's new car that it's "quite good".
Last year was a year of misfortune for Kimi because his car broke down so many times.
– When the WDC is clear in the middle of the season, then you just have to motivate yourself race by race.
According to Kimi the money circulating in the F1-world has made the place even tougher than before.
- Sometimes the world used to be a more relaxed and funny place, now it includes raw fighting that takes place off-track.
Kimi's teammate is the fiery Juan Pablo Montoya and they are talking that his and Kimi's relationship is not the best possible.
– I don't care who is my teammate. It's natural that both try to be fastest inside the team. It can also include a battle of spirits and backstabbing that takes place in the media for example. I myself do my best as a driver and see how far it takes me.
World championship?
Kimi says he had made his plans concerning his own life for years ahead.
– Maybe the WDC comes, maybe it never comes. It's a thing were the driver's talents alone aren't enough, it's a question of so many other factors.
Then what would the F1-star rather do when his career is over and he has time for something else than driving?
– I would concentrate more on motor sledge -racing, which is an important hobby for me.
But before that: Jenni notifies Kimi that before leaving for a one month's trip he still has to go to the bank and also buy himself a new suitcase. Kimi politely offers his guests a ride to the center of the city in the back seat of his SUV.
- Kimi drives very smoothly, no over speeding and no sudden brakings. In the chicanes it felt at times that one taxi came too close and also wedged in an ugly way in traffic lights. He probably had no idea who he was wedging in on.
Don't know how much this will affect Force India... " title="hmm" /> maybe that's why they haven't confirmed 2nd driver yet. http://www.yallaf1.com/2013/02/14/mally ... aF1.com%29
ZitatMallya’s Kingfisher on the verge of collapse
14 February, 2013 Mallyas Kingfisher on the verge of collapse photo
Force India F1 team boss Vijay Mallya’s grounded airline Kingfisher appears to be on the verge of folding.
Respected business newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal, said plans by Kingfisher’s lenders to recall loans is “likely to cause severe financial strain” across Mallya’s entire portfolio.
“Fifteen days earlier, I would have given a confident answer. Today I have none,” an unnamed ‘senior Kingfisher executive’ is quoted as saying.
An aviation official told the Times of India newspaper: “It is almost the end of the road for Kingfisher.”
The Business Standard said among collateral available to lenders are assets like helicopters, while Mallya’s villa in Goa, India, is being sold.
The Financial Times said another of Mallya’s houses near Mumbai has already been collateralised.
Representing Kingfisher’s lenders, the State Bank of India’s deputy managing director Shyamal Acharya told The Hindu: “We gave them enough time. They are not saying anything new or credible.” (GMM)
Do we have anymore information on this? This is intriguing.
YiNing: I've been " title="hmm" /> about why they haven't announced a second driver yet. This is a team that properly fought for a race victory last year (Hulkenburg in Brazil). They are a very solid midfield team that could compete for good points with adequate finances. Yet they can't even find a second driver for 2013. It makes no sense!
ZitatThe dread for orders arised Räikkönen's slogans
F1 | Turun Sanomat 23:04
Lotus-team's highlight last season was Kimi's victory in Abu Dhabi. Also Kimi's legendary messages to his race engineer are remembered well.
The victory in Abu Dhabi was the highlight for Lotus-team. For many outsiders the winner was Kimi's words to Simon Rennie "Leave me alone. I know what I'm doing!."
Gerard Lopez jokes to Turun Sanomat, that the stunt only emphasized how the team gives Kimi freedom to be himself.
– Kimi is Kimi. I mean he didn't mean that the comment would turn into any slogan. It just was like he felt at that very moment and he said it.
– Kimi is definitely the whole F1-sport's most honest guy. Everybody aren't as honest and open, but he is. That's why so many sees Kimi as a very refreshing exception from all the others, Lopez said.
– Of course the victory in Abu Dhabi was for us the most fantastic moment. We don't mind at all that the radio-comment in that race became memorable.
– We are not squeezing our drivers into any molds. They are what they are naturally - and say what they say. I believe that is why Lotus is so liked. We are a natural team, Lopez assures.
Not the biggest fan of orders!
Räikkönen himself doesn't like to think about the past - and the slogan in Abu Dhabi makes no exception in that sense.
What do you think now that your slogan "Leave me alone" is chosen as the highlight of year 2012?
– I would much rather had fought further in the championship, but it didn't happen. It was just cool to win that race and get good results in other races also, Räikkönen says.
But at least your words got the F1-fans wild?
– I don't care about that myself. I just try and do my own stuff. It was just something that happened during that race. You don't plan those beforehand. I'm just not the biggest fan of orders and that's how it ended up in that race.
Räikkönen reminds that the incident was not unique in any way.
– I have often said all kinds of other things earlier too, but outsiders don't know about them since they weren't heard in television.
Lopez trusts in continuance
Lopez thinks that we can expect something unique from Räikkönen in the future also.
Rennie operates now in Red Bull as Mark Webber's race engineer, so at least no new slogans between the same men won't arise.
Then what new does Lotus have for this year?
– We have a new car and a couple of new sponsors, but we are especially pleased that everything else is the same. That is most important.
– Our car seemed fast last year and I think that it looks even faster now. We hope to be stronger. The question is how strong our competitors are, Lopez said.
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Fri Feb 01, 2013 6:30 pm
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