Todt says that preliminary calendar has at least one error. 21 races is 1 too many but which one will be dropped? Todt stresses: 20 races next year too (gpupdate.com)
If you set your machine to record the race today you may miss the end. Avoiding spoilers in case you're not watching, the race might go long by quite a bit...
Sorry for a very slight spoiler but the issue is a rain delay that apparently just passed the 90 minute mark. They haven't called it yet and still aren't predicting when it might resume so there's still time to reset your DVR to catch the end...that is, assuming they resume.
£420m cost of Red Bull's F1 success The Austrian energy drinks company Red Bull isn't renowned for being one of the biggest spending brands in the history of F1 but that doesn't mean that its teams have been scraping to get by in the sport. Far from it in fact as a report in the Independent by Pitpass' business editor Chris Sylt reveals that Red Bull has spent a total of £422.4m on F1 since buying its flagship team from Ford at the end of 2004. It may sound like a lot but it propelled its driver Sebastian Vettel to world championship success last year so some would say it is a bargain. In 2005, its first full year as owner of Red Bull Racing, the Austrian energy drinks company poured £58.3m into its parent company Red Bull Technology. A further £85.6m flowed in from Red Bull the following year and in 2007 it invested £89.2m with £78.2m of that going to Red Bull Racing, the company which directly runs the team. In 2008 the total paid by Red Bull dipped slightly to £82.5m with £79m of it going directly to Red Bull Racing. The big boost came in 2009 when Red Bull Racing received £96.9m out of a total £106.8m paid by its owner. This was nearly double the investment it made just five years earlier and it came at the right time. To maximise lead time, development work on F1 cars is done the year before they are introduced and in 2009 Red Bull's spending on research and development increased 18.8% to £57.2m. It was far from the only focus of the team's investment drive as it also spent £4.9m on improving its engineering facilities and although staff numbers remained stable at 592 their total pay increased 21.9% to £45.9m. Vettel, who leads this year's standings, is believed to be paid £9.8m with his partner Mark Webber getting around £3.7m. Red Bull has been accused of breaching the resource restriction which all the teams have agreed to. It remains to be seen whether there is any truth in these accusations and it would be hard for anyone external to tell since the resource restriction is patchy in the areas it applies to. As Sylt reported earlier this year Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner wants the agreement to be more restrictive and one would imagine that he would not be in favour of this if his team had been in breach so, if anything, this indicates that the allegations are false. Red Bull wholly owns the team and provides the funding in return for its logos being emblazoned almost all over its livery. The team made a pre-tax profit of £3.9m on revenue of £160.8m in 2009 but according to data from F1's industry monitor Formula Money, factoring in the value of Red Bull's on-screen exposure gives a big boost to its return. Red Bull has the most prominent logos on its team's livery and its on-track success made it the most visible brand in the sport for the past two years running. Red Bull's Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE) - the price it would have to pay to buy a similar amount of on-screen exposure - came to an estimated £136.9m in 2009 and £219.9m in 2010 when it received almost a quarter of the total received by all the teams. Although it took victory last year, Red Bull was not the most cost effective team in F1. That accolade went to McLaren which came second and narrowly missed out on the title despite having a much smaller budget than Red Bull. McLaren's budget is estimated at £158.9m compared to the £185.2m available to Red Bull. It led to McLaren's spending coming to around £350,000 per point it scored compared to £374,000 at Red Bull. Source - pitpass - £420m cost of Red Bull's F1 success
Ken Block to test Pirelli F1 car at Monza Ken Block is set to get his first taste of Formula 1 machinery when he drives Pirelli's Toyota test car at Monza in August. Wait, does this mean we'll see Block racing Formula 1? Nope. It's mainly just the marketing-mad shoe magnate having some fun. The WRC driver, who is famous for his online Gymkhana videos, has tied up with the Italian tyre manufacturer for the run that is scheduled to take place on August 5 - the final day of a three-day test for Pirelli. The test will be Block's first proper run in a top-spec single seater. But fear not, we're told by Block's folks ""it's for fun. Ken Block doesn't have intentions to pursue a career in F1." But what about other F1 hoonery? On that, Block seems a bit more mischievous. When asked if this was a precursor to a future F1-based Gymkhana video, Block said: "I am going to see what I can talk them in to. Obviously it is a very expensive car, but I have asked a few questions and they have given me some funny looks. I will see what is possible." Source - Ken Block to test Pirelli F1 car at Monza
Totally unexpected finish! Edited out the spoiler (NF) A big "well done" to all the competitors on a very difficult day under extremely trying conditions.
Aargh! I switched to Speed to catch the RSR MINIs in the Watkins Glen Conti race and it's just been interrupted by the F1 post-race crap switched over from Fox! rrr: The Conti race is pre-recorded so I hope they resume back where they cut in.
Why Nathan? It's not going to be rebroadcast later..... My main criticism of Fox is that after showing umpteen billion commercials during the rain delay, they still broke for commercials about ever 4 minutes during the last part of the race, when the most action was happening. You'd think they'd met their sponsor obligations already and could stick with the race.......
It will be rebroadcast on Tue Jun 14 @ 12:00pm ET on Speed. The thing to do if you had set the DVR for today is to set it for the Tuesday rebroadcast. I'm sure it will be cut to fit and all the red flag stuff for the rain will be left out.
Did I say WOW?! Heck it may still not be over with the possibility of penalties.... LOL Best final 5 laps of F1 racing in a long, long time!!