F1: WRC: - Realview

BriefLY
»»
German banker Gerhard
Gribkowsky was this week
sentenced to eight-and-a-half
years’ imprisonment for a collection
of crimes including tax evasion,
receipt of bribes, and breach of
trust. The charges all date from
the sale of BayernLB’s Formula
One stake to CVC Capital Partners.
Gribkowsky was chief risk officer
for Bayern LB at the time, and was
thought to have used his position
to influence the sale of the stake
following a $44 million payment
from Bernie Ecclestone. Ecclestone
admits paying the money, but says
he was being “shaken down” by
Gribkowsky. While Ecclestone
has appeared in the court as a
witness, he has not been served
with any charges by the German
prosecutors.
For more on this story and its effect
on Formula One, see the feature
further on in this issue.
»»
In the run-up to next weekend’s
British Grand Prix at Silverstone,
FOTA are hosting one of their
popular fan forums. The event,
which gives Formula One fans a
chance to grill paddock figures
including drivers and team
principals on the motorsport
questions of the day, will take
place at Williams’ Grove factory on
Tuesday 3 July from 6-8pm. Frank
Williams, Ross Brawn, Pastor
Maldonado, and Martin Whitmarsh
have all confirmed they will be
taking part. For the first time at
FOTA event there will be a legends
panel with guests including Patrick
Head and John Watson. At the
time of writing, limited spaces for
this event were still available via
www.fota.co.
Mercedes not pulling out of F1
One of the stories doing the rounds
this week was the rumour that
Mercedes might be forced to pull
out of Formula One if the Daimler
board determines that Bernie
Ecclestone’s involvement in the
Gerhard Gribkowsky scandal violates
company corruption statutes.
The story originated in Handelsblatt,
a German business newspaper, and
stated that the Daimler board was
keeping a close eye on proceedings in
Munich. If Ecclestone were indicted by
the German courts on charges similar
to those faced by Gribkowsky – tax
evasion, bribery, and breach of fiduciary
trust – then Mercedes would be forced
to leave the sport.
The 30 June deadline for putting
cost-cutting proposals to the World
Motor Sport Council has now passed
without any definite agreements,
putting cost-cutting proposals under
threat.
Adding to the headache for those
in favour of cost-cutting are recent
comments from Sir Frank Williams,
founder and team principal of the
Williams F1 team, who has spoken out
against enshrining cost cutting in the FIA
regulations.
“I am against any kind of interference.
I don't want any third-party interference
with one's business, to have people
sneaking around wanting to check this
and that. It's just like waiting for the
taxman every day,” Williams told formula1.
But the Mercedes board has long
been divided between those who see
the motorsports programme as vital to
the brand’s integrity, and those who see
it as a waste of potential profit.
Since Mercedes’ F1 involvement has
expanded from engine manufacturer
to team owner, those opposed to the
motorsports programme have taken
advantage of every available opportunity
to call for an immediate withdrawal. This
is one such opportunity, and there is no
reason to believe that Daimler would
invoke anti-corruption statutes as a
reason to quit the sport.
Mercedes have invested heavily in
Formula One in recent years, both in the
monies spent building the race team and
com website. “Williams is not pleading
for more restrictions. But I have said
many times that we have to control driver
costs.”
Speaking to Autosport earlier this
week, Eric Boullier also sounded a note
of caution. But the Enstone boss was
more accepting of cost control measures
than his colleague from Grove, warning
only against agreeing to unsatisfactory
solutions as the result of the then-looing
30 June deadline.
“It is good that everybody in the
paddock understands that we need to
be thinking carefully about the future
of F1,” the Lotus team principal told the
magazine. “But we definitely need to
take the right decision, and we definitely
do not need to rush into a decision that
in research and development costs for
the 2014 engine. Both projects are now
bearing fruit, with the current on-track
success for the W03 and the forthcoming
formula change. To pull out now would
represent too great a loss of money and
face for the Daimler board to explain to
its shareholders’ satisfaction.
Were that not the case, the argument
for departing is a flimsy one at best. The
statute in question states that Daimler
“does not tolerate the immoral or corrupt
practices of its employees or its business
partners”. But similar anti-corruption rules
are standard business practice, inside
and outside of Formula One, and it does
not follow that Mercedes would use the
excuse of a trial to quit the sport.
we might regret. … We are all in favour
of making F1 better, more sustainable
and having a long term plan. Cost-cutting
is part of the strategy, but we need to do
it consciously.”
Wise words indeed. But given that
the 30 June deadline has passed with
no agreement reached, anyone wanting
to put cost-cutting into the regulations
needs to have unanimous agreement
from all the teams. And while Red Bull
and Toro Rosso are known dissenters,
Frank Williams’ statements to the
formula1.com website suggest the
team principal is singing from Bernie
Ecclestone’s hymn sheet on this one,
and not taking the standard FOTA
position.
“There are 12 teams and each operates
F1 >>> news
Dr. Dieter Zetsche (GER),
CEO of Daimler AG.
F1 cost-cutting under threat as deadline slips by
in different circumstances,” Williams,
below, told the website. “We have
several manufacturer teams. One of
them is Ferrari, who seem to have a
great deal of money and who are in effect
subsidised. But that is fine – they are
Ferrari. They are the core of Formula 1
and that is how it should be.”
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