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Fangio exhumation postponed due to ‘second son’ claim

The exhumation of Formula One legend and five time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio will not happen just yet, after a judge suspended the process until a similar case, from another man claiming to be Fangio’s son, is completed.

A court in Mar del Plata in Argentina had ruled that Fangio’s body should be exhumed for DNA paternity testing in order to verify claims by Oscar Espinoza that he is his son.

However the exhumation which was due to take place on 7 August, has been delayed pending the outcome of a second claim from Ruben Vazquez. The new court order, issued by a court in La Plata, has overruled the former ruling, stating that the exhumation must not take place until Vazquez’s case is decided on.

The Vazquez case actually began before Espinoza’s and, according to the ruling, a ‘Stay Order’ was placed on Fangio’s body, stopping anyone else from exhuming or moving his remains.

It is unclear at this stage what claim Vazquez has to believe he is the son of the Formula One legend since Fangio never recognised any children and never married. He did however have a long-term relationship with Andrea Berruet, the mother of Espinoza.

This week marks the 20th anniversary of Fangio’s death. Fangio was 84-years-old when he passed away and is still the second most most successful Formula One driver in terms of world championships won – behind Michael Schumacher. Fangio won titles in 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957.

Juan Manuel Fangio Photo Credits: Wikimedia Commons

July 16, 2015
Red Bull Q&A with Christian Horner

The 2013 Formula One season saw Red Bull Racing win 13 grands prix as well as both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship titles. The 2014 F1 season, they managed only three race wins. They’re expected to complete the 2015 season without a single race win.

The former champions have literally gone from hero to zero due the complete lack of performance and reliability fo their Renault power unit and rule changes compromising their chassis design.

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner spoke exclusively to the official Formula One website about how he and the team are coping and how they intend turning things around.

Here’s what he had to say:

Q: Christian, back in Canada Red Bull’s motorsport consultant Helmut Marko said that Renault’s new project was on the dyno, and you would know its potential in three weeks’ time. That window closed at Silverstone – so what is the state of affairs?

Christian Horner: I think this is a question to be answered by Renault because it is their business, not ours. But as far as I am aware I think that they are making good progress on their dyno. They now have some strategic decisions about implementation, and the direction they want to take their development for the rest of this season – and that has an enormous impact on next year.

Q: What does their timeframe mean for you then?

Christian Horner: Of course it tests our patience. Like any competitive team we want performance yesterday, and unfortunately with engines the lead time is a lot longer than with the chassis. Patience is something that we are not really good at. We want to have performance as soon as possible…

Q: What is ‘as soon as possible’? The next three weeks?

Christian Horner: From where the concept is at the moment you are probably looking at least at a couple of months. Two to three months. It needs to happen this year – but also what you learn this year will help you next season.

Q: Both Renault and Red Bull have reportedly drawn up exit scenarios – but given that you recently signed a personal contract renewal with Red Bull, can we understand that their exit is now off the table?

Christian Horner: Hah! I signed that contract a short while ago. We are determined to get back to a competitive position. It hurts when you are not competitive, and unfortunately there are certain elements we are not in control of. But where we are in control, we are working flat out so that when the power upgrades do come, we are in a position to make best use of them.

Q: Are you satisfied with the chassis situation right now?

Christian Horner: We are never satisfied. Here you always try to get better. The regulation changes over the winter did hurt us – probably more than we anticipated – but we now have a pretty good understanding of the areas where we need to improve – and how to improve.

Q: Is there interest in trying to bring James Key over from Toro Rosso? He is showing what is possible on a slim budget…

Christian Horner: No interest at all. We have a strong technical team. Adrian (Newey) is still involved in all the things that are going on and with Rob Marshal, Pierre Wache and Dan Fallows we have a strong technical group – so no desire to change anything.

Q: What about Renault? There has been speculation that they could purchase Lotus. What would that mean for the two Red Bull teams? Boss Carlos Ghosn reportedly said it is very unlikely Renault will play the part of engine supplier in 2017…

Christian Horner: Those are decisions that they have to make. It would hold a certain irony if they buy back the team they sold. But as far as our position is concerned, we have a very clear agreement with Renault, which guarantees us priority status. Any of those scenarios requires having a competitive engine – and doesn’t really matter based on the agreement that we have.

Q: Some suggested Red Bull Racing have been ‘flirting’ with Ferrari recently. Could that be a short-term remedy? For sure it doesn’t appear to be a long-term solution if you want to win titles again…

Christian Horner: Ah, I think it would be an exaggeration saying that Red Bull is ‘flirting’ with Ferrari. Obviously Red Bull Group had a relationship with Ferrari for many years as engine supplier for Toro Rosso. Sergio (Marchionne) made a generous offer without any details when he attended the Austrian Grand Prix – but right now our focus is on what we have at this point in time.

Q: 2016 is one thing – but what about 2017?

Christian Horner: That could be a completely different ball game.

Q: Would you ever have imagined after so many successful years that you would find yourself in the doldrums so quickly – and with no obvious way out?

Christian Horner: Things change here very quickly. The vast majority of the people that helped us win eight titles and 50 Grands Prix are still here. But the circumstances have changed. Unfortunately the element that has the biggest effect on our competitiveness is one we are not in control of.

Q: You have said that even were Sebastian Vettel still racing for Red Bull Racing, you would still be in the same bad situation…

Christian Horner: If Sebastian was still with Red Bull our position would be no different because the drivers aren’t our issues.

Q: Would you really be in the same situation with Sebastian? Does the driver make so little impact?

Christian Horner: We would be poorer!

Q: Bernie Ecclestone has suggested that F1 racing will be simpler – and more exciting – in 2017. Why did it take so long to understand that the sport was being pushed in the wrong direction?

Christian Horner: The fact is that if you have a bunch of ‘experts’ who all believe that they know what should be done, you end up with confusion. I think that the reality has only recently been understood – and as a result of that there is more alignment on what needs to be done.

Bernie was always right saying that F1 is about man and machine at the limit. It needs to be dramatic, it needs to be fast, it needs to be loud and it needs to be sexy. In one word, it needs that ‘wow’ factor to it.

We need to go back to these principles, which is relatively easy to achieve if everybody wants to achieve the same thing. They are not all quite sure how to achieve it – but they now have agreed on what they want to achieve!

Image Credits: Infiniti Red Bull Racing / Getty

July 14, 2015
Jules Bianchi Update: Condition ‘more terrible than if he had died,’ says his father

Jules Bianchi’s father, Philippe, has admitted that he is becoming a lot less optimistic about the chances of his son recovering from the injuries suffered during a horrific crash at last year’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Jules Bianchi remains in a coma at a hospital in Nice, nine months after his horrific collision with a recovery vehicle at the grand prix at Suzuka and his father describes the situation as one that his putting the Bianchi family through “daily torture”.

Bianchi suffered severe brain injuries in the crash and his family have remained hopeful, remaining at his bedside, but his father wass a lot less optimistic in an interview with France Info, a local radio station.

“It’s unbearable, it’s a daily torture,” Philippe Bianchi told the radio station. “We sometimes feel like we’re going crazy, because for me, it certainly is more terrible than if he had died. For we’re not able to help him more than we can.

“Time goes by and I am now less optimistic than I may have been two or three months after the crash, when we could hope for a better evolution. At some point, you need to be well-grounded and realise how serious the situation is.”

Bianchi, who was driving for Marussia and was part of Ferrari’s young driver programme, has not made any significant progress in his recovery. His father went on to say that waking up from the coma would lead to further complications as he struggles with a conversation he had with Jules following Michael Schumacher’s skiing accident in December 2013.

“If he finds himself with huge disabilities, we’re pretty sure it’s not at all what Jules would want. We had talked about it. He told us that if he were to have an accident similar to Michael Schumacher’s, if he were even just not to be able to drive anymore, it would be very hard for him to accept it. Because it was his life.”

We all continue to hope for a full recover for Jules and our thoughts remain with the Bianchi family throughout their struggle.

#ForzaJules

July 13, 2015
Juan Manuel Fangio’s body to be exhumed for paternity test

Five-time Formula One world champion Juan Manuel Fangio’s body will be exhumed for a paternity test, following an Argentinian judge’s ruling just days before the 20th anniversary of Fangio’s death.

Fangio died on July 17, 1995 and had never married nor left behind any known children. However, Oscar Espinoza, the son of Fangio’s long term partner of two decades, Andrea Berreut, has claimed that he is the son of the F1 legend. Espinoza started the lawsuit in 2013 and the ruling allowing Fangio’s body to be exhumed for the DNA tests was passed down this week.

Fangio’s body is buried in his hometown of Balcarce in Argentina. It will be exhumed on August 7.

Fangio is still the second most successful F1 driver in terms of world championships won, behind Michael Schumacher. Fangio won titles in 1951, and every year from 1954 – 1957. He achieved 24 race victories from 52 races.

Photo Credit: Fangio, for Maserati – photo under commons licence.

July 13, 2015

21-Race Provisional F1 Calendar for 2016 Released By FIA

At the World Motorport Council(WMSC) meeting on Friday 10 July 2015 the FIA ratified a few rule changes to the F1 season and released a provisional 21 race calendar for 2016.

The season will get underway on 3 April 2016 in Australia back-to-back with China on 10 April 2016 and will conclude in Abu Dhabi on 27 November 2016. With the later start and conclusion the order has been tweaked slightly with the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi being moved up to 1 May 2016 and the Malaysian Grand Prix moved down the calendar to 25 September 2016 for the second round of fly-away races. The Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku is scheduled for 17 July 2016.

There are a number of back-to-back races at the start of the season and towards the middle of the season. This is in-line with the FIA’s goal to reduce the interval between races and to fit more races in a season.

Below is the provisional 21-race calendar for 2016:

1	3 April	Australia
2	10 April	China
3	24 April	Bahrain
4	1 May	Sochi
5	15 May	Spain
6	29 May	Monaco
7	12 June	Canada
8	26 June	UK
9	3 July	Austria
10	17 July	Baku
11	31 July	Germany
12	7 August	Hungary
13	28 August	Belgium
14	4 September	Italy
15	18 September	Singapore
16	25 September	Malaysia
17	9 October	Japan
18	23 October	USA
19	30 October	Mexico
20	13 November	Brazil
21	27 November	Abu Dhabi

July 10, 2015

Rule Changes Ratified by World Motorsport Council

The FIA World Motorsport Council(WMSC) met on Firday 10 July 2015 in Mexico City, Mexio and ratified some of the adjustments to the F1 regulations put forward by the F1 Strategy Group and approved by the F1 Commission.

Power unit penalties are now much more simpler. Drivers will no more incur any time penalties during the race if a driver is unable to drop further down the grid. This means that as soon as a driver incurring a penalty gets dropped down the grid and reaches last place, that is the position the driver will start in. No further penalties will be applied.

Good news for McLaren and Honda. The WMSC has approved the change to allow new power unit manufacturers one extra power unit per driver. This will be applied retrospectively to Honda.

The above changes will come into effect immediately.

Changes to the Super Licence regulations have also been made. Drivers who obtain a Super Licence but do not have the opportunity to race in F1 will now be able to hold onto the Super Licence for three years. Changes to the points scoring system for a Super Licence have been made. There is now a larger list of racing series included in the Super Licence points system. The winner of the Formula E Championship will now be granted a Super Licence even though the Formula E Championship does not form part of the points system.

July 10, 2015
FIA to warn teams about dummy pit stops

The FIA will warn teams about their pit lane conduct and the consequences of carrying out dummy pit stops in Hungary after Mercedes attempted to fool Williams during the British Grand Prix.

On lap 14 at Silverstone Mercedes mechanics were sent into the pit lane while the Williams drivers were leading the race. Neither of the Mercedes cars stopped. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff acknowledged after the race that “it was a bit of a game that didn’t work”. One of his drivers, Lewis Hamilton, did go on to win the race though.

F1 race director Charlie Whiting says that he will warn teams at the Hungarian GP later this month “that we will want to see and hear evidence that they were actually intending to stop.” Whiting wants to ensure taht a precedent is not set.

Article 23.11 of the Sporting Regulations states: “Team personnel are only allowed in the pit lane immediately before they are required to work on a car and must withdraw as soon as the work is complete.” No action was taken against Mercedes during or after the race.

Whiting spoke to the BBC saying, “Going into the pit lane like this, ie, for no valid reason, is not allowed but the difficulty would be proving it was a clear breach. I will talk to all the teams – at the next race in Hungary – about this and warn them.”

Whiting added that Mercedes was not called in to explain its dummy pit stop because it was impossible to judge at the time whether the team intended to stop or not.

“At the time, what Mercedes did was OK as no-one knew that they were not actually going to stop. In fact we still don’t really know. However, in view of the fact that they were alleged to have said that it was a ‘dummy’ pit stop, they may have put their foot in it rather.”

Photo credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas

July 10, 2015
Video: Fernando Alonso In the McLaren Simulator Around Silverstone

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso takes for a lap around Silverstone in the McLaren simulator.

July 8, 2015
F1 2015: British GP Review – Hamilton Shines At Silverstone

One-hundred and forty thousand fans were treated to quite a race around the famed Silverstone circuit.

Lewis Hamilton thrilled the home crowd with pole position on Saturday ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg while Williams locked out the second row of the grid. At this point you would’ve been forgiven if you’d assumed that it was going to be another Mercedes dominated afternoon. Felipe Massa rocketed off the starting line and straight into the lead of the race followed by teammate Valtteri Bottas.

The Finnish Williams driver soon fell prey to a determined Lewis Hamilton but held of Nico Rosberg to settle in third. An accident involving both Lotus and both McLaren’s brought out the safety car and saw the end of the race for Romain Grosjean and Jenson Button. Fernando Alonso clunked into the side of his teammate but was able to continue after a stop for a new nose.

The restart of the race saw Hamilton launch an attack on race leader Felipe Massa but the canny Brazilian held his line and the position. The move sent Hamilton off the circuit at Club corner and into third as Valtteri Bottas seized second place. The fight for the lead of the race was a welcome sight and more so was Hamilton’s doggedness. In truth Hamilton’s championship fight is not with Massa and he couldn’t have been faulted for choosing the cautious route, but he didn’t. At the heart of Lewis Hamilton is still an out-and-out racing driver whose sole ambition is to win and that is what he put on display in that move.

The Williams driver couldn’t manage to run away from Mercedes but they were holding their own. As if to underline the difficulty of overtaking in Formula 1 Felipe Massa was able to resist a visibly quicker Bottas during the phase of the race. The Williams pitwall initially called off the fight between their drivers but quickly changed course and gave their drivers the freedom to fight. Despite this Bottas was unable to overtake his teammate.

Lewis Hamilton was the first of the frontrunners into the pitlane and used the undercut to perfection as he took the lead of the race as the two Williams made their respective stops. The front running back had now reshuffled with Hamilton in the lead from Massa, Rosberg and Bottas.

It wouldn’t be Silverstone if the weather didn’t have some sort of impact on proceedings. At first the rain was steadily falling on one side of the circuit while the other remained bone dry. As drivers were slipping and sliding their way around several drivers including Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso gambled with a switch to intermediate tyres. It proved a touch too early for Raikkonen who shredded his intermediates on the drying surface.

Lewis Hamilton timed his tyre switch to perfection as the rain started falling once more as he exited the pits on the green-walled intermediate tyre and retook the lead of the race. Rosberg made his stop a lap later and emerged in second place where he would remain until the chequered flag. Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas chances of the podium evaporated as the pair struggled for pace in the wet conditions. The duo eventually finished fourth and fifth as a slightly later call for intermediates from Vettel meant that the Ferrari jumped both Williams’ into third place.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat finished sixth while Nico Hulkenberg brought home his heavily revised Force India in seventh ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. The sister Force India of Sergio Perez finished ninth ahead of Fernando Alonso who ended a miserable non-point scoring run with tenth place.

To win on home ground is something special and Hamilton has now done it three times. This win is an invaluable boost of confidence that could carry him all the way to that coveted third world championship title.

July 6, 2015
Grosjean Feels Ricciardo is Responsible for First Lap Incident

Lotus’ Romain Grosjean feels that Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo is to blame for his premature exit on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix race.

Ricciardo made contact with Grosjean going into Turn 3. This sent Grosjean into the side of his team mate Pastor Maldonado. Both Maldonado and Ricciardo were able to continue for a while until both of them had to retire from the race. Maldonado due to damage sustained in the crash and Ricciardo due to an electrical problem.

“There were a lot of cars into turn three,” said the Frenchman.

“Daniel came in hard and hit me, and I collided with the Sauber on the outside, breaking the front wing and it created a puncture.

“The car went left and I hit Pastor which was a shame.”

“That was a very short race for the team and I feel for everyone here at Silverstone and at Enstone,” he said.

“No-one likes to end a Grand Prix like that as so much effort goes into making and preparing the cars.”

Grosjean’s crash also caused the retirement of McLaren’s Jenson Button after his team-mate Fernando Alonso, while trying to avoid the colliding Lotus’, had half a spin and made contact with Button’s left sidepod which shut off the McLaren’s engine immediately.

All the drivers that were involved in the first lap incident were called to the stewards after the race. The stewards decided that no one was responsible for the incident an no penalties were levied.

Deputy Team Principal at Lotus Federico Gastaldi has described the teams home race as frustrating.

“Motorsport is sometimes a cruel sport and we saw that today,” he said.

“There was nothing either of our drivers could have done to avoid the first lap incident and that was our race over.

“It’s been a frustrating home weekend for us.”

“We weren’t able to show the pace we have in the car, we’ve suffered from a few niggles, then it was a very early bath for both our guys.”

July 5, 2015