Motorsport: Absent V8s hog GP spotlight

Friday motorsport reportMarch 16, 2007

The decision in the Holden Racing Team ownership wrangle -- on whether Mark Skaife is the sole and rightful owner of HRT -- could come any time from the Touring Car Entrants Group's headquarters on the Gold Coast.

The HRT transporter is due to depart Melbourne on Sunday for Perth and the second round of the V8 Supercar Championship at Wanneroo on March 24-25.

There is an inkling the TEGA decision may be announced today, although since it has involved lawyers so much in recent days the situation may require further consideration until Monday.

Any delay beyond Monday would be quite impractical.

Imagine if the HRT transporter got halfway to Perth and it be announced that HRT has lost its licence to compete and have to turn around and head home to Melbourne.

We'll report on the TEGA decision whatever day it comes.

Meanwhile, grand prix organisers are claiming the absence of the V8 Supercars from Albert Park this weekend has not affected crowds, with the first-day attendance yesterday supposedly slightly higher than last year.

However, the wheels are well in motion for the return of the Supercars to the GP next year.

Indeed, grand prix chairman Ron Walker has flagged in The Age newspaper today that he's hopeful of making an announcement about that this weekend.

The chief executive of V8 Supercars Australia, Wayne Cattach, thinks that is a little premature, though.

"We need it (the GP) to be the first or second week in March," Cattach says.

That's because the first two rounds of the Supercar championship need to be out of the way before the AFL season starts, because of new V8 telecaster Channel 7's AFL  commitments.

"We can easily agree the terms, because they've basically been negotiated already, but when it comes to the date they (AGPC) don't seem to be in control of it. It's all about dates," Cattach says.

And F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone is the man who, in the end, decides the date of all GPs.

Ecclestone is now in Melbourne, but he may not feel inclined to flag the 2008 GP date yet.

Ecclestone's sole interest in F1's health, not in appeasing promoters -- even his mate, Ron Walker -- or support categories.

Irrespective of the attendances this weekend, claimed or actual, the GP is reportedly headed for an extra loss of $5 million this year in corporate hospitality revenue because of the Supercars not being there.

That, it is speculated, will push the overall GP loss towards $30 million this year.

So the GP needs the Supercars back. And, it must be said, some V8 teams are not happy that they are not there this weekend.

Even if Supercar races at the GP are non-championship, they are a golden opportunity for exposure of the sponsors of those V8 teams in front of a sizeable audience.

GP chairman Ron Walker agrees with Cattach that talks on a return are basically complete but says, more optimistically: "They've been going on for some time and, hopefully, sometime before the F1 race happens (on Sunday), there'll be some good news."

Cattach doubts anything can be said about a return so soon because of the doubt that Ecclestone will confirm next year's GP date so soon.

"There's been no arrangement that I know of that could lead to an announcement," Cattach says.

"We've had discussions, but there's no deal."

The lead-in to the F1 action this weekend has been incredibly dull -- and the Melbourne press continues to be very negative about it.

Yesterday the Herald Sun newspaper, the country's biggest-selling daily, carried a "Party poopers" headline on motoring editor Paul Gover's story lamenting that the F1 superstars had been invisible in Melbourne.

Today the Herald Sun follows up with prominent pictures of empty grandstands at Albert Park yesterday and headlines "Vroom to move as GP hits town" and "Formula for boredom".

It's a fairly similar theme in The Age, whose website has a headline about "this year's loud yawn", although the same story in the actual paper tones that down to "loudest event".

Most of the F1 interest in the past couple of days has been in the idea of running the Melbourne GP at night in future, so that it would be telecast into Europe -- where the bulk of the F1 television audience is -- during friendlier, daylight hours.

Bernie Ecclestone was quoted this week saying it's "a terrible shame that the first grand prix of the new season should be staged in the afternoon in Australia ... having to get up and watch it in the night (in Europe) is not the best way to get the show on the road".

While Australian F1 driver Mark Webber thinks a night race in Melbourne is a great idea, dual world champion Fernando Alonso has grave doubts about it -- particularly that a night race could be made safe enough for drivers.

"I did a demonstration in Valencia (in Spain) when we (his new team, McLaren) launched the car in January and it was at night -- and it was extremely difficult to see anything, to see the road," Alonso says.

"For me, it's very hard to believe that they will have strong enough lights to see perfectly okay to have a race. But sometimes, you know, F1 surprises you."

Alonso is refreshingly forthright in his opinions.

Asked at yesterday season-opening official press conference whether he would miss seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, Alonso made it quite clear that he wouldn't it.

Schumacher has gone off into retirement with phenomenal statistics, but clearly Alonso has not forgotten some of the German's tactics, especially the way he blocked the track in the lead-up to the Monaco GP last year.

Sunday's GP will be the first AS -- After Schumacher -- but Ferrari go in as favorites, with Felipe Massa the more favoured driver than Schumi's replacement, Kimi Raikkonen.

Raikkonen very much lived up to his Ice Man nickname at Ferrari's pre-event press conference, especially in his frosty attitude to the local fans of F1's most iconic team.

However, Raikkonen has one strong Aussie ally.

Chris Dyer, the former Holden Racing Team computer whiz who has spent almost a decade in F1 and was Schumacher's race engineer the past few years, is now in the same role with Raikkonen.

While conceding that the Finn is not as communicative as Schumi, Dyer seems pleased with the working relationship they have developed, although he says it will be the races -- now that they have arrived -- that will prove the test of the rapport.

"I don't know yet in the races how much we will have to pace Kimi," Dyer says.

"I don't think there will be any problem turning him up, but I'm not sure how much we will have to turn him down -- and how much he'll manage that himself."

Something to watch for this weekend is how Aussie driver Webber fares in the Red Bull RB3, about which he has been quite downcast this week, in comparison with the Williams team he left after two disappointing seasons.

There is a feeling that Williams may be on the up again after the worst year in its history.

Triple world champion Sir Jackie Stewart is one who feels Webber may have made the wrong move -- again.

"I think it was a bit premature of him to write them (Williams) off," Stewart says.

"I'm not sure going to Red Bull was a great move in comparison to staying put."

Webber himself says: "I don't think they (Williams) are going to win races, but they look like they've made a good step forward."

Sir Stirling Moss, still regarded by many as the best driver never to win the world title, has cast grave doubts on Webber's future.

Moss feels Webber's career has lost its upward momentum -- and says few drivers recover from that and stay on track in the sport much longer.

However, Webber's Red Bull teammate, veteran David Coulthard, has sprung to the Aussie's defence.

"There is no question that Mark has the talent, he just doesn't have the car," Coulthard says.

"We have just got to knuckle down, do the job and develop the package -- that is the business."

The great "customer car" row that threatened to come to a head in Melbourne seems to have fizzed.

Certainly the Super Aguri cars, essentially last year's Hondas, got through scrutineering.

There may still be some concerns about the Toro Rosso cars, which are basically Red Bull RB3s with Ferrari engines instead of Renault motors.

Just a couple of other motorsport matters to conclude today:
>>>Team Australia in the A1 GP series has swapped drivers for the next round in Mexico, with Sydney's Ian Dyk taking the place of West Australian Karl Reindler. We hear there has been at least one other change in the team line-up too -- on the management side. Alan Jones, the 1980 F1 world champion, remains in charge, but it has been a difficult assignment for everyone involved.

>>>Ryan Briscoe makes his debut with Roger Penske's Porsche sports car team at Sebring in the US this weekend. Briscoe was being groomed for F1 by Toyota for several years, and indeed outperformed some drivers who are now in the GP ranks. He's also shown, in his V8 Supercar outings with Holden Racing Team last year and Team Australia in A1, that he's quick in any kind of car. The Porsche deal is a good one for Briscoe, and one which he personally finalised with the manufacturer in Stuttgart, but it's a pity he won't be on a stage more visible to Australians.