Magny Cours set for 2013 return?

Wednesday 7th November 2012

Magny Cours set for 2013 return?


Bernie Ecclestone has revealed that Magny Cours is the only circuit he will consider if the French GP returns to the calender.
There has been talk that the French Grand Prix will make a comeback next season after the race scheduled for New Jersey was pulled from the schedule.
Alain Prost was reported to be in Abu Dhabi last weekend to discuss the possibility of hosting the race at the Paul Ricard circuit, but his efforts appear to have been for naught.
"If we go to France, then it will be at Magny-Cours," Ecclestone is quoted as saying by Auto Motor und Sport.
Should the race be added to the calender it will most likely take place on June 23, before the British Grand Prix.
"That would make sense, wouldn't it?" Ecclestone said of timing of the race.
The last French Grand Prix took place at Magny Cours in 2008.

'Be wary' of Ecclestone's Magny Cours comments - Tambay
Wednesday 7 November at 06:35 : Nov.7 (GMM) The F1 world should handle with caution Bernie Ecclestone's suggestion his sport could be heading back to Magny Cours.

Amid reports Paul Ricard is leading France's bid to revive the country's defunct grand prix in 2013, F1 chief executive Ecclestone said this week: "If we go to France, it will be Magny Cours".

But former French F1 driver Patrick Tambay told RMC Sport that commentators "must be wary" of the wily 82-year-old's comments.

He said Ecclestone could merely be using Magny Cours' name to put pressure on Paul Ricard amid the negotiations.

Magny Cours chief Serge Saulnier declined to comment.

But a source close to the circuit, which last hosted the French grand prix in 2008, said Magny Cours' bid to host F1 again is still alive.

A spectacular new Formula One documentary will be unveiled next Thursday in Austin during the build-up to the 2012 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix. Entitled ‘1’, the film tells the story of the drivers who raced during the sport’s most dangerous era in the 1960s and ‘70s and those who stood up to improve safety standards.

Using rare archive footage, ‘1’ features the largest list of F1 interviewees ever assembled for a single film, among them 12 world champions. Contributors include Bernie Ecclestone, Max Mosley, Sid Watkins, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Jody Scheckter, Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Jacky Ickx and Martin Brundle.

The Spitfire Films production is directed by acclaimed documentary maker Paul Crowder, whose credits include the award-winning ‘Riding Giants’, and written by Crowder’s long-time creative partner Mark Monroe, the man behind Oscar-winning documentary ‘The Cove’. Producer Nigel Sinclair is a noted film and documentary maker who has previously won Grammys for ‘No Direction Home: Bob Dylan’ and ‘Foo Fighters: Back And Forth’.

"The early days of Formula One racing was a very different time - the risks were high and the characters were more than larger than life," said Sinclair. “Our film is a big screen experience in which we travel across the world with the glamorous circus surrounding this death defying sport but also experience the tragedy that came with it. It’s emotional, frightening and so very, very exciting, but ultimately about humanity and friendship between the drivers.”

“Millions of people worldwide watch the Formula One races as the circus travels the globe, but there are many who just don’t know the history behind this, at one time, incredibly dangerous sport,” added Crowder. “Our film conveys the essence of the era while telling this story and giving intimate insight into the life and personality, struggles and triumphs of racing’s pivotal characters.”

The red-carpet special presentation of ‘1’ - a collaboration between SXSW Film Festival and race venue, the Circuit of The Americas - will take place on November 15 at the Paramount Theatre in the centre of Austin.

Spitfire Pictures is the documentary film production label of Los Angeles-based Exclusive Media, who are also currently in post-production on ‘Rush’, the highly anticipated Formula One feature film directed by Ron Howard and starring Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt and Daniel Bruhl as Niki Lauda, due for release in September 2013.

F1: New Flexi Saga Questions ‘Rubber Red Bull’
The legality of the Red Bull RB8 is being questioned again...
SPEED Staff / GMM | Posted November 08, 2012 GMM Newswire






Sebastian Vettel drives the Red Bull RB8 at Abu Dhabi. (Photo: LAT Photographic)




The seemingly never-ending saga about bendy Formula One cars is back in the media spotlight, and as ever championship leader Red Bull is right in the middle.

Multiple videos depicting the front nose of the World Champions' 2012 RB8 car have emerged in the wake of last weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, showing the extreme tip of the front nose section to be apparently made of some sort of 'rubbery' material.

"Is this legal?" wondered a report by Italian magazine Autosprint, with Tuttosport adding: "Should it (the nose) not be a rigid part?"

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport journalist Tobias Gruner, however, thinks the controversy is a "false alarm," because the front 150 millimeters of the nose extremities are "always made a little softer" for the purposes of the FIA's mandatory crash tests.

But Gruner also acknowledged that engineers from rival teams are similarly analyzing the images, with "at least one team" thought to have already contacted the governing body.

As ever, right at the heart of the latest technical controversy is Red Bull's designer Adrian Newey, who was recently labelled a "genius" by McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton.

"His cars are veritable works of art," agreed British broadcaster Damon Hill, who in 1996 won the championship at the wheel of a Newey-penned Williams.

"I don't want to go too far, but he is the Michelangelo of Formula One," he added.

Bianchi Tests Ferrari Improvements For Alonso Ferrari continues work on improving car to give Fernando Alonso a crack at the title...

"With Fernando, you don't have to give him the best car," Marc Gene, another Ferrari test driver, told El Confidencial.

"You just have to give him one with which he can fight the best car, and he will do the rest.

"The team is working hard to give him the best car possible."

Mark Webber, Vettel's teammate but a better friend of Alonso's, said recently that if it rains as the championship showdown looms, punters might be wise to put money on the Spaniard.

Gene said: "The forecast for the US and Brazil suggests that they could be wet races, and we know that the Ferrari has proved a very reliable car when water appears."

The first title showdown will be at Austin's brand new Circuit of the Americas this weekend.

A local meteorologist told the Austin American Statesman newspaper: "The best rain chances come Saturday evening into Sunday, but they are still very slight, about 20 per cent."