Motorsport: Melbourne ain't seeing the lights

Friday motorsport reportApril 20, 2007

Night Oz GP at least another year away
The idea of turning Melbourne's Formula 1 grand prix into a night race has been postponed.

It certainly won't be happening for 2008, outgoing Australian Grand Prix Corporation chief executive Tim Bamford says.

The idea of lighting up the Albert Park circuit came up ahead of this year's race.

It is F1 ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone's way of increasing the television audience for the Melbourne event in F1's traditional European heartland.

The 12 GPs in Melbourne, and 11 before them in Adelaide, have been run while Europe has been asleep, meaning much lower viewing figures than the average for F1 races.

Bamford didn't explain the delay in any move to a night race, other than to say it wouldn't be happening in '08.

He got a grilling from ABC Radio's Melbourne morning presenter Jon Faine, who initially remarked that Bamford had been sacked -- but promptly amended that to say he was going before he was pushed.

Bamford denied both suggestions, but he fluffed his lines under the heat of Faine's intense questioning.

Asked how much the GP lost last year, Bamford said $23 million, but the AGPC's last annual report says $21.275 million.

Asked what the damage was the year before, Bamford thought it was $18 million, but the AGPC 2005 annual report says $13.661 million.

[Faine's research or market intelligence let him down a little though, as he talked of a $50 million loss on this year's event, held little more than a month ago. From what we've gleaned, though, the worst it will be is $35 million, but that's still horrid].

Bamford's slip-ups might leave people to wonder whether losses on the F1 race have been understated, as some key people in the MotoGP community, in particularly, suspect -- feeling that some of the AGPC's red ink is being unfairly attributed to the two-wheel GPs at Phillip Island, also run by the AGPC.

That aside, it was curious that someone so intimately involved for so long at GP House could not get the numbers straight, at least in line with his own annual reports.

Most chief executives would reel off their past five years' financial results accurately to the third decimal place.

Macneall has been a bit more expansive this week on that exit than he was at the time, but before we get to that, a little on Prevot.

He's 38 and has had close links to SWRT, having sat in Impreza world rally cars alongside fellow Belgian Bruno Thiry in 1999 and Frenchman Stephane Sarrazin for the 2006 season.

Prevot has competed in more than 100 world and European events in a co-driving career stretching back to the late 1980s.

He's also partnered another French rally ace, Francois Duval, and been on the WRC podium 12 times.

He and Atkinson have just completed three days of testing in Sardinia in the 2007 Impreza that was only introduced at the fourth round of this year's WRC -- and has done only two events.

"Right from the start of the test we seemed to work well together and we improved with every day,” Atkinson says.

"Stephane's an experienced and professional co-driver and he adapted to my driving very quickly.

"Of course there's still work to do, as Stephane gets used to my notes system, and my words and phrases, but it's good so far.

"We already have a good understanding in the car and I'm feeling positive about our rally debut in Argentina (in early May)."

SWRT managing director Richard Taylor says: "Finding a suitable world-class co-driver partway through a season is never an easy task, but Stephane was a logical choice.

"His vast experience, allied to his knowledge of the way our team works, means he will be able to fit seamlessly into our driver line-up.

"We're confident he and Chris will work well together and expect them to be in contention for a strong points finish in Argentina."

Whispers at the time of the split were that it was less than amicable, but Macneall was initially restrained in his remarks.

Now that he's relocated to Dunedin to co-drive with his girlfriend, top Kiwi rally star Emma Gilmour, he has opened up somewhat to Peter Whitten, editor of Australia's RallySportMagazine -- now a totally online publication at rallysportmag.com.au

"I sat on the side of the road for three hours after the crash (in Portugal) and after talking to Emma on the phone, I decided that I'd had enough and would give up my position," Macneall says.

"I want to co-drive for someone I can really work with and things didn't seem to be working as they should -- we were making mistakes and that was costing us.

"I am really happy with my decision, and am looking forward to contesting the NZ championship with Emma more than anything I have done in motorsport for the last couple of years.

"I wish Chris well. I hope that the change will do him good and make him examine all areas of his driving. He is an amazing talent, super quick in the fast stuff, probably quicker than anyone in the WRC, but there are some other areas that need to be worked on."

Macneall says he would consider returning to the WRC but it would need to be for the right reasons and with the right driver.

"I enjoy living life in this part of the world and whilst it is great to travel to new places and do all of the WRC rallies, it is also sometimes nice to be at home," he says.

"Sixteen events is a lot of traveling and if I was to do that again it would need to be with the right person."

Gilmour and Macneall finished second at the opening round of the NZ championship, the Otago Rally, and next up is the Rally of Whangerai, also a round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship.

Macneall says Gilmour has the ability to go a long way in the sport and that, while a WRC campaign would be prohibitively expensive, she could tackle the Australian Rally Championship or another international program in the near future.

Corner was fined US$2000 for three rule violations arising from an unapproved rear axle housing fitted to Ambrose's Ford Fusion.

The breaches were discovered during technical inspection on the opening day of the meeting.

Scott Zipadelli, crew chief on the sister Ford driven by Jon Wood, was fined the same amount for the same reasons.

Mansell a hard marker on Hamilton
Amid all the hype about Lewis Hamilton, the F1 rookie who has been on the podium at his first three GPs, Nigel Mansell has weighed in with a more sober assessment.

"Lewis has lucked into a fabulous car," Mansell told website sportasylum.com. "What Lewis has done has been very impressive but it is what he should have been doing anyway."

Mansell reckons Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher made more impressive starts in GP racing.

"What he (Hamilton) has been able to do is excellent, if not fantastic," Mansell concedes, adding that traction control and power steering have made it easier for new drivers to make their mark.

"If they didn't have it, they would have had to be a hell of a lot stronger and bulkier.

"There are a lot of things aiding a lot of drivers coming through now.

"I wouldn't say they wouldn't have made it, but it would have been more difficult and taken time for them to do their apprenticeship."

The front of Alonso's car was damaged after a lighting gantry fell from the ceiling of the garage after Friday practice, evoking memories of an incident in the McLaren garage in Melbourne just before the start of a race some years ago.

The MP4-22's front wing was changed on Saturday morning but El Mundo Deportivo newspaper says the entire monocoque might need to be replaced for the upcoming Spanish GP.

Alonso told Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport: "Maybe a mistake was made while re-assembling the car after that mishap."

He will reportedly do two of the three days of McLaren testing in Barcelona ahead of that race and Hamilton only one.

Asked by website formula1.com whether he gives the RB3 the thumbs-up or the thumbs-down, Webber says: "My thumb is in neutral position, with a slight tendency to go north."

Of the Spanish GP, he says: "We are not bringing a B-car like anyone else."

And asked what the best race finish the team can expect this year, he says: "If we finish and have no serious problems, I think we are able to grab a point or two (for seventh or eighth place). But that must be a perfect weekend."

Webber is either realistic or hoping that a "tough love" approach will motivate the team to improve. Perhaps both.

In a couple of other instances he was mildly more optimistic.

"There is a very good launching pad from this situation," he says at one point, and: "For next year, in relation to other teams, I feel much better."

Bahrain is outside the European Union, which has driven the outlawing of tobacco sponsorship, and is one of the few countries not to have signed up to the World Health Organisation's voluntary ban on cigarette advertising.

British F1 telecaster ITV's Ted Kravitz points out that, "in a strange way, the fact that there is still tobacco money in F1 helps the other teams as it removes a powerful predator such as Ferrari from the sponsorship pool".

Dutch driver Christijan Albers will drive his Ferrari-engined Spyker F1 car against an F-16 fighter jet at Volkel, the Royal Netherlands Air Force base.

In Belgium last September an F-16 raced a Dodge Viper and a Honda CBR 1000RR motorcycle.

The Dodge completed 1000 metres in 22 seconds, the Honda bike in 18 seconds and the F-16 needed only 17 seconds.

By the time the F-16 crossed the finish line, the Viper had only completed 597m and the Honda 892m.

Spaniard Oriol Servia, who substituted for Tracy at Long Beach and finished second -- behind Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais and ahead of Australia's Will Power -- will be in the Canadian's seat again in Houston.

Power, winner of the opening round in Las Vegas, has a 15-point lead in the series over another Canadian, Alex Tagliani, with Bourdais third and the defending winner in Houston. Australian Paul Stoddart's Team Minardi USA has the top rookie, Dutchman Robert Doornbos.

Houston, the fourth largest city in the US, is also host this weekend to the fourth round of the American Le Mans Series, with Australia's Ryan Briscoe driving a Porsche RS Spyder for Roger Penske and David Brabham an Honda-derived Acura.

"The normal race car driver has a screw loose. To drive on an oval we have two screws loose,” she says.

Not as good what A.J. Foyt tells rookies at The Brickyard.

"Just turn left. If you turn right you'll be eating concrete!”

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