Mercedes Grand Prix

Yet more big changes among the F1 teams for 2010! Not only do we get get a raft of new teams, the departure of BMW (who may yet come back in a new form) and Toyota, now we also have Mercedes completely restructuring their involvement after a long unbroken run with McLaren.


McLaren
Mercedes presently own 40% of the McLaren F1 team (not the group as a whole though). The problem Mercedes faced is that while they are the largest single shareholder, the others hold an agreement by which they vote as a single block, thus having the power to veto Mercedes. There is also the new supercar which is the first McLaren-built road car in years not to feature a Mercedes engine.

Plan: The 40% shareholding will be reduced gradually over the next 18 months or so and for the 2010 season (and beyond??) the team will still be called Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. The engine supply agreement remains and, for now, so does the colour scheme.


BrawnGP
After Honda departed F1 the team has had to cut back somewhat in personnel, and it still seemed to suffer the same problem as it always had under every incarnation, that of not being able to attract long-term sponsors. With benefactors like BAT and Honda it was never necessary only desired, indeed Honda effectively bankrolled the 2009 season. It was anyone's guess what would happen in 2010 and beyond. Yet amazingly the came from nowhere to dominate the first half of the season, and while it went south after that they managed to battle on to secure both championships.

Plan: Mercedes have bought 75.1% of the team in an agreement with a Middle Eastern investment company. The team will henceforth be known as Mercedes GP and the cars branded as 'Silver Arrows', harking back to the famous cars of the 1930s and 1950s. Ross Brawn remains in charge but will liaise with Norbert Haug.


Drivers:
Rubens Barrichello left Brawn last month and had already signed for Williams to replace Nico Rosberg, who was looking to leave that team. Nico had therefore been linked with the vacant Brawn seat in a straight swap and now Mercedes have a greater involvement the deal appears as good as done.

The big question is over the future of Jenson Button. There are strong reports placing him at McLaren with a pay rise, doing nothing to quell his reputation as a money-chaser. At least this time he's earned it. I am not sure what placing himself in what is Lewis Hamilton's personal team is going to acheive for Button other than damaging his career, he must be confident in his ablility to beat him. It will be interesting to see him try!
At this stage it could still be an elaborate bluff and Kimi Raikkonen could still get that seat, though you have to say that possibility is shrinking daily. In fact just this evening Kimi's manager has stated any chance with McLaren has now disappeared.

That leaves a space at MercGP. Will Kimi end up there? Are the Heidfeld rumours a ploy by the Kimi or Jenson to get more money (either take us for mega $$ or end up with Nick), and is that how he gets himself hired? What is the fate of Heikki Kovalainen?

Lots of questions still need answering. One thing's for sure, this is a much bigger deal for the ex-Brawn team than the Virgin deal suggested a while back and perhaps that's why Virgin are now hooking up with Manor.

One final point I saw mentioned:
Among entrants this makes BrawnGP the most successful team in history, in terms of strike rate.
Years entered: 1
Drivers titles: 1
Constructors titles: 1
Maximum score.

UOWWB: Hamilton & Dixon

United Open Wheel Word Butchers Question of the Week:

If Lewis Hamilton and Scott Dixon switched places for the 2009 season, how would each driver fare in the other's league? Who would be more successful in 2009?

Dixon would have a year much like Raikkonen's 2008. F1 cars are not easy to get your head around because they are much more 'knife-edge' in terms of setup and driving style than any other car. I'm not doubting he has the talent to be a successful F1 driver because he clearly does, I'm just saying it'll take time and F1 cars can be notoriously finicky things to learn. If you don't get the car right or it inherently doesn't suit your driving style you're nowhere - again see Bourdais who was driving better in the STR2 early in the season than he was in the STR3 for most of the rest of the year. And how else do you explain Kimi's lacklustre season?
So if he dials it in, and the car suits him, he would do very well. I think he'd end up on the middle road with an 'average' but respectable first season before stepping up in performance in 2010. He'd probably win a race in that first season. This assumes McLaren are still a top team in 2009!


The same would be true of Hamilton in the Dallara, he'd have the same kind of year as Dixon in F1. But he wouldn't be properly up to a Ganassi-level of performance until after the huge mileage they do at Indy over those few weeks. Jumping directly into two street fights at St Pete and Long Beach is going to be a challenge for all the newcomers this year! And then on to the ovals. There isn't what he'd know as a 'normal' track until the Glen in July, so he'd have to completely relearn how to race. And I include the street races on purpose here, American street tracks are not like Monaco, Melbourne or even Montreal, they have to be treated differently.
Again he's with a top team so a win isn't out of the question. Ganassi's guys certainly know how to use strategy to get him there and you have to assume they and Penske will remain top dogs in '09.


I do think the Dallara would be the easier car to learn but the tracks the IRL races on are a lot tougher, more rough and ready, more physical. F1 drivers are quite pampered when it comes to race track surfaces and run-off areas, so Hamilton would have to mentally adjust himself. Meanwhile Dixon could let it all hang out without fear of hitting much of anything.

There are so many variables which could affect the performances, not least of which is how much pre-season testing they do. There isn't any doubt though - they'd both get there eventually.

Lewis Hamilton , World Champion

Congratulations once again to Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 FIA Formula One World Champion.

In Britain an audience of 8.75 million watched this race (average taken over the 3 hours of coverage), that's 41.3% of the total viewing audience during that period. It reached a peak of 13.05 million (50.9%) although the article doesn't state when this was (I think we can guess!).

These percentage figures are absolutely brilliant! Brazil always gets good figures due to it being one of only a few prime time races and it being the season closer - yet this is unheard of. It usually gets 6 mil and the afternoon European races get 3.5m. This race recorded the highest figures of ITV's entire 12-year tenure as broadcaster of F1 in this country.

A few other notables, and this is where I go unashamedly patriotic since we don't often get the chance in sport.. Hamilton is:

- the youngest ever F1 champion at 23 years, 9 months and 26 days. This beats the record set in 2005 by Fernando Alonso at 24 years, 2 months and 17 days, I seem to recall Alonso beat Emerson Fittipaldi's long-standing record which had held firm for thirty years or so.

- I believe he is the first black champion of any major motorsport series globally.

- the 30th F1 champion.

- the 9th British champion, and this is the 13th championship won by a British driver.
- the 7th English champion, the 8th won by an Englishman (okay so he's only half-English).
(for completeness the other 5 titles were won by Stewart and Clark, both Scotsmen)

- the 6th champion to win it in a McLaren (others: Hunt, Lauda, Prost (x3), Senna (x3), Hakkinen (x2)).

- the 8th champion to win it by a single point (others: Hawthorn 1958, P.Hill 1961, Surtees 1964, Hunt 1976, Piquet (Sr) 1981, M.Schumacher 1994, Raikkonen 2007). The 1984 title was decided by 0.5 points which is the smallest margin in F1 history, it came about after a race was aborted and half the available points were awarded.

- the 2nd driver to win the title in only his 2nd season, the other was Jacques Villeneuve.

- this was the lowest winning total since 2003, which was the last time it was won with less than 100 points.

This was Ferrari's 16th Constructors title, their 8th in the last decade! That's how dominant they were with Schumacher. Note that this title has 'only' been awarded since 1958, eight years after the Drivers title.

With thanks to Michele Merlino's stats review at Autosport.com. Check it out, although you may need a subscription, I'm not sure as I get the full website free as a subscriber to the print mag.

Ping America
Make sure you vote tomorrow! Stand in line all day if you have to. I've heard forecasts of a 90% turnout in some places which is just crazy. They are worried about getting everyone done before closing time so don't leave it late unless you have to. Take it from someone who's just had Tony Blair's replacement foisted upon him with no election - VOTE! I might have voted for Brown if I'd had the chance, I'd just like the chance. Our system sucks sometimes.

I'm not going to tell you which way to vote, or which way I would vote if were American. I'd love to but can't and won't.

Good Luck. I'm convinced this is closer than the media is making out - anything can happen.

EDIT - yay :-)