Formula 1 General Chat & Discussion

according to Lauda they forgot to close that gap in the rules.
so they wanted to forbid but didn't write the rules that way.

Red Bulls allowed to start.
Further decisions after the race.

Absolute incredible and shocking news about the RedBulls.

Newsflash !!!! :

Red Bull's engine maps referred to German Grand Prix stewards by FIA :
The FIA has referred Red Bull to the stewards of the German Grand Prix for a suspected breach of Formula 1's technical regulations.
A statement released by FIA Formula 1 technical delegate Jo Bauer said that the matter related to the engine torque maps on both Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber's cars.
The FIA highlighted that the reduced torque in the mid rpm range on both cars was a breach of the regulations in itself, but also because it could offer an illegal aerodynamic benefit as well.
This suggests that the FIA suspects that there could be a benefit related to the exhaust blown diffuser technology that was effectively curbed at the start of the season through a package of regulations that included those covering engine mapping.
"Having examined the engine base torque map of car numbers 01 and 02 it became apparent that the maximum torque output of both engines is significantly less in the mid rpm range than previously seen at other events," said Bauer in the statement.
"In my opinion this is therefore in breach of article 5.5.3 of the 2012 Formula 1 technical regulations as the engines are able to deliver more torque at a given engine speed in the mid rpm range.
"Furthermore this new torque map will artificially alter the aerodynamic characteristics of both cars which is also in contravention of TD 036-11. I am referring this matter to the stewards."
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner sayd: "I'm not aware of any irregularities. The result was declared after qualifying."

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

Does anybody know anything of an investigation to Red Bull?
It seems that something happened in the yesterday qualification.

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Here are the results of the qualification :

1. Fernando Alonso : Ferrari : 1:40.621 -
2. Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull Racing : 1:41.026 + 0.405
3. Mark Webber : Red Bull Racing : 1:41.496 + 0.875
4. Michael Schumacher : Mercedes GP : 1:42.459 + 1.838
5. Nico Hulkenberg : Force India : 1:43.501 + 2.880
6. Pastor Maldonado : Williams : 1:43.950 + 3.329
7. Jenson Button : McLaren : 1:44.113 + 3.492
8. Lewis Hamilton : McLaren : 1:44.186 + 3.565
9. Paul di Resta : Force India : 1:44.889 + 4.268
10. Kimi Räikkönen : Lotus : 1:45.811 + 5.190

Q2
11. Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso : 1:39.789 + -0.832
12. Sergio Perez : Sauber : 1:39.933 + -0.688
13. Kamui Kobayashi : Sauber : 1:39.985 + -0.636
14. Felipe Massa : Ferrari : 1:40.212 + -0.409
15. Romain Grosjean : Lotus : 1:40.574 + -0.047
16. Bruno Senna : Williams : 1:40.752 + 0.131
17. Nico Rosberg : Mercedes GP : 1:41.551 + 0.930

Q1
18. Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso : 1:16.741 -
19. Heikki Kovalainen : Caterham : 1:17.620 + -23.001
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1:18.531 + -22.090
21. Charles Pic : Marussia F1 Team : 1:19.220 + -21.401
22. Timo Glock : Marussia F1 Team : 1:19.291 + -21.330
23. Pedro de la Rosa : HRT F1 Team : 1:19.912 + -20.709
24. Narain Karthikeyan : HRT F1 Team : 1:20.230 + -20.391

Qual: 1:40.621
Pole : Alonso
Rain : yes

So after this qualifying Grosjean will end up at the 20th place ( 5 place grid penalty ) & Rosberg on the 22nd place ( 5 place grid penalty )


Comment of the qualification :
Fernando Alonso secured his second straight pole position as German Grand Prix qualifying at Hockenheim became a last-minute scramble on a wet track. The 10 drivers in the pole shoot-out were all delivering quicker and quicker times as they acclimatised to the circuit conditions in the final moments, and it was Alonso who handled it best, putting in a 1m40.621s to take pole for Ferrari. World champion and local hero Sebastian Vettel was Alonso's nearest challenger, lapping 0.4 seconds slower than the current points leader as he took second ahead of his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, who will drop five places due to a penalty for a gearbox change. That will move Michael Schumacher into the top three on the grid on home ground. The German legend was on provisional pole for a while before ending up fourth quickest for Mercedes.
Three of the top four places on the grid will go to German drivers, as Force India's Nico Hulkenberg delivered a spectacular fifth-fastest time to give himself a season-best starting spot on row two. His team-mate Paul di Resta also reached Q3 and was ninth. Pastor Maldonado completed the top six in his Williams, ahead of the two McLarens. Jenson Button was quicker than Lewis Hamilton, as the 2009 champion delivered his best qualifying performance since Bahrain in April. Kimi Raikkonen was the final Q3 qualifier and rounds off the top 10 for Lotus. The rain had arrived just before Q2 began, leading to a scramble to get a quick time in on the one or two laps that were always going to be the fastest of the segment. Among those who missed out were two of the men with five-place gearbox change penalties: Romain Grosjean (Lotus) and Nico Rosberg (Mercedes). They were 15th and 17th respectively. Felipe Massa slithered off the road on his first Q2 lap and rejoined in Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso's path. Being blocked did not stop Alonso reaching Q3, but Massa's error consigned him to 14th. Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo almost made it into the top 10 as the rain he wanted arrived, missing the Q3 cut by just 0.06s. Also out in the middle segment were the two Saubers and Bruno Senna's Williams. Q1 was fully dry and relatively predictable, although Schumacher, Button and Webber all cut it a little fine in either timing or pace terms. In the event, the eliminated midfielder was Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne, for the sixth time in his nine grands prix.
Heikki Kovalainen was nearly a second quicker than Caterham team-mate Vitaly Petrov, while Timo Glock found himself outqualified on home ground by Marussia stablemate Charles Pic, despite the rookie's lack of practice mileage.


Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

Rain again! Again Alonso!

Here are the times of the 2nd practice session :

1. Pastor Maldonado: Williams : 1:27.476 -
2. Nico Rosberg : Mercedes GP : 1:27.564 + 0.088
3. Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull Racing : 1:27.902 + 0.426
4. Sergio Perez : Sauber : 1:28.402 + 0.926
5. Romain Grosjean : Lotus : 1:28.420 : + 0.944
6. Nico Hulkenberg : Force India : 1:28.495 + 1.019
7. Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso : 1:28.513 + 1.037
8. Jenson Button : McLaren : 1:28.516 + 1.040
9. Mark Webber : Red Bull Racing : 1:28.877 + 1.401
10. Kimi Räikkönen : Lotus : 1:29.327 + 1.851
11. Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso : 1:29.364 + 1.888
12. Felipe Massa : Ferrari : 1:29.719 + 2.243
13. Kamui Kobayashi : Sauber : 1:29.785 + 2.309
14. Charles Pic : Marussia F1 Team : 1:30.090 + 2.614
15. Timo Glock : Marussia F1 Team : 1:30.220 + 2.744
16. Bruno Senna : Williams 1:30.291 + 2.815
17. Heikki Kovalainen : Caterham : 1:30.331 + 2.855
18. Paul di Resta : Force India : 1:30.437 + 2.961
19. Lewis Hamilton : McLaren : 1:30.617 + 3.141
20. Fernando Alonso : Ferrari : 1:31.207 + 3.731
21. Vitaly Petrov : Caterham : 1:32.241 + 4.765
22. Narain Karthikeyan : HRT F1 Team : 1:32.349 + 4.873
23. Michael Schumacher : Mercedes GP : 1:32.777 + 5.301
24. Pedro de la Rosa : HRT F1 Team : 1:42.566 + 15.090

Info : Nico RosBerg & Romain Grosjean will be put 5 places back on the grid after qualifying because of changing gearbox !!!!

Short Comment of 2nd session :
Pastor Maldonado emerged fastest from the second Friday practice session for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, as rain showers meant the order was largely decided by who was on track at the right moment.
Heavy rain before the session meant a distinct lack of Formula 1 cars on track at first, bar Bruno Senna doing an installation lap in the Williams that Valtteri Bottas had crashed in the morning.
It was 20 minutes in before Jean-Eric Vergne, Charles Pic and Nico Rosberg came out and got the afternoon underway in earnest. Conditions were steadily improving at this stage, and a quarter of an hour later Rosberg switched from full wets to intermediates on his Mercedes, a move everyone else soon followed.
With the track getting quicker by the moment, the top spot then changed hands constantly after the next 25 minutes before the rain returned, ending the run of relatively quick times. Maldonado put his Williams on top with a 1m27.476s just before then, and that stood as the fastest of the session.
Most drivers came back out after the second shower passed, but found the track too wet to improve their times. There was still time for some incident though, as Michael Schumacher crashed the other Mercedes on the way into the stadium section, prompting a red flag with four minutes left that effectively ended the session. Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo also hit trouble late on, sliding into the gravel at the Sachs Kurve and getting beached.Rosberg ended up classified second, ahead of Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull, Sergio Perez's Sauber and Romain Grosjean's Lotus. Everyone managed a reasonable amount of running despite the conditions, with the exception of Pedro de la Rosa, who spent a long time in the garage while HRT worked on his car's brakes, meaning he missed the best of the weather.

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

ps: sorry for the delay ...but i have some private stuff at home to do....so it could be that i'm going to post tomorrow's result also a bit later

FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS SANTANDER VON DEUTSCHLAND 2012
free practice1
Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired Gap Laps
1 3 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.595 27
2 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.093 0.498 22
3 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:17.370 0.775 21
4 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:17.382 0.787 20
5 15 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:17.413 0.818 28
6 12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:17.599 1.004 17
7 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:17.915 1.320 27
8 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:17.995 1.400 22
9 18 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:18.020 1.425 20
10 10 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:18.130 1.535 21
11 14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:18.226 1.631 22
12 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:18.339 1.744 21
13 19 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1:18.422 1.827 28
14 16 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 1:18.709 2.114 30
15 9 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1:18.831 2.236 14
16 11 Jules Bianchi Force India-Mercedes 1:18.972 2.377 21
17 17 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 1:19.039 2.444 34
18 21 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1:19.674 3.079 24
19 20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:19.963 3.368 24
20 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:20.122 3.527 27
21 25 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1:20.169 3.574 20
22 24 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1:20.539 3.944 18
23 22 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1:21.138 4.543 24
24 23 Dani Clos HRT-Cosworth 1:21.740 5.145 27

Alex Yoong 20th July 1976
(Former Minardi Driver in 2001/2002)
[Versteckter Link - Registrierung notwendig]
Happy Birthday to your 36th anniversary

The German Grand Prix alternates between two famous circuits, Hockenheimring and Nürburgring. This year the race takes place in Hockenheim. In the past the old circuit was characterised by long high speed straights followed by slow chicanes. Unfortunately, ten years ago the track was redesigned and lost much of its character. In the old circuit, the aerodynamic downforce was very low, because was necessary to be very fast on the long straights through the forest. But with that set-up was very difficult to drive in the slow "Motodrom" sector. In this way you could see the skill of pilots. Now instead of long straights, there is a new sector, rather anonymous and not very interesting. The current configuration is shorter(4.5 km instead of 6.8 km), but remain unchanged the Motodrom stadium section and the start-finish straight. In the last one edition(2010) the result was a one-two for Ferrari and in the last three editions of the Grand Prix of Germany, held at Hockenheim (2006-2008-2010) Massa has always been on the podium. This week end the Pirelli tyres will be Soft (option, yellow) and Medium(prime, white). DRS: only one zone, but very long.
A step back, Silverstone Circuit(two weeks ago). Saturday's qualifying: the current Formula One cars are not drivable in heavy rain conditions; it would be necessary a rule to increase the ride height of the cars. Of course even in dry conditions. Sunday's race: strangely the hard tyres proved to be faster than the soft tires. Maybe they were convinced it would be a wet race, with cold temperatures. For that reason the teams have chosen a set up to warm the tyres early, but the race remained dry, with temperatures higher than expected. So, the hard tires (with their higher working temperature) have been more efficient than soft tires. The problem was not the degradation, but the loss of performance, maybe there was an excessive overheating on soft tires. In the last stint Alonso(soft tyres) was 0,5 - 0.6 sec. slower than Webber on used hard tyres.
Podium 2010: Alonso – Massa – Vettel – fastest lap on race: Vettel – pole position : Vettel 1'13''791
Last year the race took place at the Nürburgring
2012 wins: Webber Alonso (2), Button, Rosberg, Maldonado, Vettel, and Hamilton.
2012 second place: Alonso and Raikkonen(2), Rosberg, Vettel, Button, Perez and Grosjean(1)
2012 third place: Hamilton(3) Alonso, Vettel, Raikkonen, Schumacher, Perez and Grosjean(1)
2012 pole: Vettel(3) Hamilton(2), Rosberg, Maldonado, Alonso and Webber(1)
2012 fastest lap: Raikkonen Vettel(2), Button, Rosberg, Perez, Grosjean and Kobayashi(1)

Eric Brandon
[Versteckter Link - Registrierung notwendig]
Born : 18th July 1920 - Died : 8th August 1982

Short News :

Marussia rules out car failure in Maria de Villota's accident :
Marussia has ruled out a problem with its car as the cause of Maria de Villota's recent testing accident, after concluding its own investigation into what happened. De Villota lost her right eye and suffered facial and head injuries in the incident at Duxford, when she crashed at slow speed in to the back of a truck as she conducted straight-line aerodynamic work. Alongside an investigation being conducted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and another commissioned by Marussia for an independent forensic body, the team has also completed its own in-depth look at what happened. And although the specifics of what caused the accident have not been confirmed yet, Marussia issued a statement on Monday revealing that the crash was not caused by a failure on the car.
Team principal John Booth said: "We are satisfied that the findings of our internal investigation exclude the car as a factor in the accident. We have shared and discussed our findings with the HSE for their consideration as part of their ongoing investigation.
"This has been a necessarily thorough process in order to understand the cause of the accident. We have now concluded our investigatory work and can again focus on the priority, which continues to be Maria's wellbeing. In that regard, we continue to support Maria and the De Villota family in any way we can."
De Villota is now out of sedation in hospital and able to talk to her family as she continues her recovery.

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

News Round Up Part 4 :

Grosjean to get grid penalty in Germany :
Romain Grosjean will have a five-place grid penalty for the German Grand Prix. The Lotus driver suffered a gearbox problem on the final lap of the previous race at Silverstone. Lotus technical director James Allison said: “It was a gearbox problem and we are very fortunate that Romain didn’t have the problem earlier in the race.
“Unfortunately for Romain it means he’ll take a five place grid penalty at Hockenheim, but he certainly showed at Silverstone that dropping down the order won’t stop him challenging at the sharp end.”
Grosjean also had a technical problem in the previous race, retiring from second in Valencia with an alternator failure. Allison confirmed the team had changed how they ran the car at Silverstone in order to alleviate the strain on the alternator.

Mercedes will not consider other options until Schumacher decides on F1 future :
Mercedes insists it will not consider any other options on the grid until it has sorted out whether or not Michael Schumacher is staying with it for next year.

Despite Mark Webber's new Red Bull Racing deal meaning that Mercedes is left in a strong position to lure Lewis Hamilton if the Briton elects to leave McLaren, the Brackley-based team says its priority instead is to work out Schumacher's next step.
Team principal Ross Brawn said ahead of the British Grand Prix that he wanted to make progress on Schumacher's situation by the end of the summer break - and he has now made it clear that he will not think about any other drivers until that matter is finalised.
"We are focused on Michael for as long as it takes - and for whatever it takes," explained Brawn. "Then we will see where we are elsewhere." Schumacher is driving at his best since he returned to F1 at the start of 2010, and he delivered the first podium finish since his comeback in the European Grand Prix.
Brawn reckons that there was every indication Schumacher was enjoying his time in F1, which would point towards the German electing to sort out a contract extension when his current deal comes to an end this year.
"We haven't discussed it, but he enjoys himself and, if he enjoys himself, why not?" said Brawn about the prospects of Schumacher's continuing.
Although Brawn has said he is happy to wait, he does concede that matters will have to start moving fairly soon – because of the length of time it can take for contracts to be sorted out.
"Inevitably you come to a point where you have to say: let's have the discussions because these things can sometimes take some time, and you have to have the discussion and you have to reach a conclusion in order to plan for the future.
"But there is no deadline or critical point where he or we have said that we must have a decision by then. It must be the right decision: that is the most important thing.
"It will be a mutual decision, I think when the time is appropriate we will sit down and we will go through all the considerations and come to a conclusion," he said. "I think knowing Michael as I do, it will be a logical and sensible conclusion, driven by passion of course because he enjoys what he does."
Should Schumacher elect not to continue, then Mercedes' options appear to be either making a big-money swoop for Lewis Hamilton – whose contract with McLaren runs out later this year – or opting for a promising youngster like Paul di Resta or Nico Hulkenberg.

Caterham sure it is closing the gap to the cars in front :
Caterham technical director Mark Smith is confident the team is making the progress it needs to if it is to secure that elusive first point, even though a big upgrade package at the British Grand Prix did not deliver all that was expected. The team had high hopes that aerodynamic developments introduced at Silverstone could help it challenge the outfits ahead - but the mixed weather conditions over the weekend meant its full potential could not be seen. Even so, Smith believes that the team has been making more progress than it has been given credit for – which leaves him optimistic for the second half of the campaign.
"The gap between the guys behind us and the guys in front has been quite a big gap," Smith sayd . "Everyone has bunched up at the front, and there is this big gap, and that makes it difficult to demonstrate that you have made progress because people see progress by position, and it hasn't translated in to that yet.
"But we are fairly confident that we are closing the gap, and that is statistically a fact. I think we have quite a lot of momentum behind us now, so we feel that Toro Rosso are right within our sights.
"But we cannot control how they develop and I have no idea what they are doing or what they are planning to bring to races. I think we are closing the gap and I think the things that we have in mind going through to the second half of the season will keep us going in the right direction.
"We want to get one or more points this season, and we want to race with people like Toro Rosso and maybe one or two others on merit consistently. I think then we will have established ourselves at least as part of the tail end of that group."
Analysis of the Caterham qualifying times shows that the team has improved its performance compared to the fastest time in Q1 at every venue other than Malaysia and Britain this year.

Sauber: No excuses for not scoring in every race given car's potential :
Sauber says there are no excuses for its car not to be delivering points at every race, after it left the British Grand Prix with neither of its drivers in the top ten.
The Swiss-team's C31 has proved to be quick at most circuits, but Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi have struggled at times to capitalise on that performance - either through poor form in qualifying or getting involved in incidents in the race.
And although Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn says there is little point ruing over what might have been in previous races, she suggests that there is no reason why the team should not deliver on all occasions going forward.
"We have failed to score points this season several times and for a variety of reasons," she said. "In hindsight it doesn't help to pine for those points, as now we have to move forward.
"The Sauber C31 has proved to be quick on all types of circuits. Plus we've got two strong drivers – Sergio has been on the podium twice this year, and Kamui has been able to shine with a fourth in qualifying and a fifth in a race. Both have a fastest race lap to their names.
"We have everything it takes to wind up the first half of the season in a positive way, and that's our aim for Hockenheim."
Sauber introduced a car update at the British Grand Prix, but the team does not know how much of an improvement it is because bad weather at Silverstone hampered running.
Kobayashi said: "We are not totally sure how the updates we took to Silverstone work, as we haven't really been able to confirm these in practice in dry conditions. Maybe we need to do some more fine-tuning on these, so it will be interesting to see how this happens in Hockenheim."

Lotus plans 'interesting' updates for the German Grand Prix :
Lotus will try out what it calls some 'interesting' developments at the German Grand Prix next weekend, as it bids to find that extra element to help it deliver a victory.
The Enstone-based team has challenged near the front of the field several times this year, but has never quite put together all it needed to come out on top. However, with the Hockenheim layout and weather set to play to the strengths of the E20, the team has revealed that some updates could boost its chances.
Technical director James Allison said: "I'm quite excited about it. The season seems to be getting stronger for us race-by-race. We should see pretty warm weather conditions in Germany, and nothing about that track should do anything other than fill us with confidence, so I'm feeling positive in that regard.
"I'm excited too because we've got some interesting new updates for Germany and we're looking forward to see how they work out." With Romain Grosjean facing a five-place grid penalty for the weekend because of a gearbox change, the team's best hope of getting a car near the front of the grid will rest with Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn is upbeat about being able to produce good form there - even though he has never won in Germany during his career.
"We've got a good car, we understand the tyres quite well, we've shown that we can be fast and race well... there's no reason why we shouldn't be fighting for another podium," he said.
"Some hot weather would be good. Usually in Hockenheim it has been very hot and everybody has had problems with the tyres going off. Obviously, for us, the hot weather suits the car fine. Our car prefers the hot temperatures and in the long runs it's not that hard on tyres. Let's have some real summer weather in Hockenheim."

Jenson Button admits next two races crucial for McLaren F1 team :
Jenson Button thinks it vital that McLaren makes the most of the next two races as it bids to get itself back to the front of the grid. The Woking-based team has endured frustrating weekends in Valencia and Silverstone, and is keen to ensure that it delivers in Germany and Hungary so it does not lose any further ground in the title battle. With F1 teams facing a summer shutdown after Hungary, Button says there is added significance to the next two grands prix.
"The final back-to-back before we head into the summer break will be important for the whole team: coming off the back of a couple of disappointing weekends," explained Button. "It's important that we capitalise on the opportunities available in Germany and Hungary." With the team convinced that recent difficulties owe more to set-up issues that a performance deficit with the car, Button too thinks that a clearer picture of where McLaren stands should emerge.
"Performance-wise, I still think it's difficult to accurately predict where we stand in the competitive order - Valencia and Silverstone were certainly difficult races for us, but I don't think they were truly representative of our pace," he said.
"This year, you really need a problem-free build-up to the race if you're going to maximise the car's potential – and that's exactly what we'll be hoping for in Germany next weekend."
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh claimed that everyone at the outfit was focused on ensuring the team delivered better performance in Germany.
"There is a huge resolve within the operation to ensure that our aggressive development strategy is upheld across the summer," he said. "We are determined to narrow the gap to the championship leaders before the start of the summer break."
Lewis Hamilton will celebrate his 100th grand prix in Germany.

'Belgian Grand Prix secure until 2015 season' :
Jean-Claude Marcourt, Minister of Economy of Wallonia, says the Belgian Grand Prix has secured its place on the Formula 1 calendar for the next three seasons. Following talk of the circuit losing its permanent slot and signing a biennial deal with Paul Ricard, the 45-year-old explained the situation to local media.
"We were able to negotiate a contract extension for the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 where there will be a race at Spa-Francorchamps," Marcourt told broadcaster RTBF.
"What we really want is for the Grand Prix to play a part in the economic development of the region. We want to increase the exposure of Wallonia (mainly French-speaking area of Belgium). What I wanted to do was reduce the size of the expenditure in the budget of the Walloon region, and when comparing what was taken in the previous contract and the new, I would say it is a mission accomplished."
"There was no way we could continue to lose as much money as we lost in previous years. This is the mandate I gave to Étienne Davignon (Belgian Grand Prix Chairman). This circuit is an expense but it is not as much. What we will do is increase the attractiveness of Belgium."
Marcourt went on to talk about the extensive negotiations that took place, admitting that it was a fairly straightforward process after a deal with France was abandoned.
"The negotiations were not difficult," he added. "We had one for a while when France wanted an alternation. They said they were open because it was an opportunity. The negotiations were long. (Bernie) Ecclestone is someone who is extremely difficult to deal with, but was very respectful of the commitments made to us."


Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi