Jun.7 (GMM) One year ago, the boss of the country’s motor racing sanctioning body said it would not be “easy” to come to a new agreement with F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

The track, actually operated by 79-year-old Ecclestone’s company, is liked by the drivers but always very poorly attended.  Attendance was better in 2010, but only because the price of tickets had been dramatically reduced.

It emerged earlier this year that Ecclestone was threatening to almost double the promoter’s sanctioning fee to $26 million per year after 2011.

The Briton played down the rumours at Istanbul Park last month, insisting he is in talks about a new ten-year deal.

But a report in the local Zaman newspaper said Ecclestone is still pushing for the heavily inflated sanctioning fee increase.

He reportedly met with officials on the Saturday of the recent Turkish GP, and is quoted as telling them: “I leave it up to you.  India and Arab countries are all ready to take your place.”

One Turkish official said the situation will be clearer in two months.

“Turkey is definitely fond of hosting these races, and all this haggling is taking place for this,” said youth and sports director Yunus Akgul.

“However, paying $26m for this organisation every year is a big burden.  The figure is very high.

“We’ve approached the deal from a different angle.  Our last offer was that he relinquish the operating rights to Istanbul Park, and we guaranteed that the track would be reserved for the organisation for three weeks before and during the races.

“In return, we wanted him to come up with a new offer,” he added, admitting that if Ecclestone does not propose a lower fee, Turkey will cease to appear on the F1 calendars.

Apr.30 (GMM)  The extension of China’s formula one contract beyond 2010 may not be as simple as was recently suggested by Bernie Ecclestone.

The F1 chief executive had been asked in Shanghai about rumours that the race could now drop off the calendar, despite it being a crucial market for carmakers and sponsors.

“The contract is ongoing here.  We renew every five years.  It will go on,” said the Briton, blaming poor attendances on the local promoters but insisting that the government is “fully supportive”.

Earlier, a government official had warned that an “assessment” of whether China should renew its F1 deal was taking place.

And a Reuters media report on Friday predicted that contract negotiations will be “fierce”, after the event recorded “huge losses” over the last seven years.

But race promoter Juss Events’ Leon Sun sounded confident that a deal will be struck.

“It hasn’t been announced because there are still a few technical issues to be sorted out but we’re in good shape.

“It looks good at the moment,” he said.  “We’ve got until October this year to sort it out but I’m confident that we’ll have something before that.”

On January and being at NASCAR’s Research and Development Center north of Charlotte, Brian France became annoyed at the implication that he has not been a good leader in his more than six years as NASCAR’s chief executive.  Truth is, many of the stakeholders in the sport feel much the same way about the CEO wondering if he wants to do the job, and why he did not adjust his managerial approach to leading the sport sooner as NASCAR began to have economic difficulties.  This problems included drops in attendance and TV ratings, both of which were falling before the recession hit.

Brain France has only been NASCAR’s leader since 2003, but many changes have taken place since then.  ”I’ve known Brian a long time, and I know he can do it.  But he’s got to stand up and say, ‘I’m in charge, we’re doing this. We’re on the same page, and we’re going to get this done,’” said Ray Evernham, former crew chief for Jeff Gordon.

In a brief interview -just before he ran from one meeting to another, talking to NASCAR owners and drivers, crew chiefs and marketers, track presidents and TV executives, as the start of a new season was just around the corner-,  France stated, “I have to lead in a way that fits my style and approach.  Not everybody is going to agree with that.”

The thing is he has been compared to his father, Bill Jr. and to his grandfather, Big Bill.  “If you’re going to compare me to somebody else, my father or whoever, I’m not going to be somebody else,” said a Brian, who has never been more active than in the months following the end of last season.  France’s offseason mission: meet with every track operator, broadcast partner and team by his self-imposed deadline of this week’s Daytona 500.

The first official tests of MotoGP started together with the presentation of the motorcycles for the 2010 World Championship.  The Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki and Ducati test pilots have started the first session of the pre-season testing without official times.

The stars were the Japanese, Norihiko Fujiwara and Wataru Yoshikawa (Yamaha Factory), Kosuke Akiyoshi (Repsol Honda Team), Nobuatsu Aoki (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) and Vittoriano Guareschi (Ducati Marlboro Team).  Their activity in the tracks was followed with much attention by many official riders who already where in ‘boxes’, among them: Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Loris Capirossi, Nicky Hayden, as well as the debutants, Héctor Barberá, Álvaro Bautista and Hiroshi Aoyama.

During this first day, no official times have been announced.  Some said that in the Yamaha ‘box’ they assured their two pilots marked a better time of 2:07.34.

The Honda test rider, Kosuke Akiyoshi, rode both, Andrea Dovizioso’s motorcycle and Dani Pedrosa’s to be sure of the good operation of the basic standards and that the new evolutions that the official riders will try out tomorrow are also ready.

Ducati was the team with less attendance in the track.  Vittoriano Guareschi, Sport Director of the official team, but also test rider of the Italian motorcycle, only rolled half of the day.  In the afternoon, he met with the people who are responsible for the satellite ‘scuderias.

The afternoon session began with comments in the paddock regarding the possibility of seeing Fernando Alonso testing the Ferrari F10.  With a warmer weather and more grip on the tracks the single-seaters started to leave the boxes heading to the Valencian Ricardo Tormo Circuit’s racetrack in Cheste.

With a lost Austrian –we say ‘lost” because we didn’t see him through all the morning (strange thing)-, Lewis Hamilton started by lowering his morning times, 1:12.256, but still far from Felipe Massa’s chronometer and his F10.  That’s how the afternoon started.

At 3:30 the pilot from Austria was seen around the box, and rumors spread with regards to his possible participation in today’s tests.

Massa carried out many tyre tests –we assumed he was testing their performance-, explaining why the Brazilian entered the box continuously.  The same as Ferrari, the rest of the ‘scuderias’ tested their performance, thus the morning times were not improved.

The Renault improved only a bit.  The Polish, Robert Kubica, wearing a completely black helmet, continued to average very high times ( 1:14 ).  The R30 seems to have very little performance evolution compared to its predecessor, last year’s R29.

Today was a hard working day for Nico Rosberg who commanding his Mercedes GP made all kinds of tests.  Yesterday, his single-seater was very fast, but today it was slower marking 1:14. high times and running 25 lap periods to try the tyres out.

The Ferrari engine Sabuer of Kobayashi, after completing a period of 30 laps started to lower its times, becoming one of the fastest of the afternoon ( 1:12.667 ).  The Sauber is giving a good impression in these first tests.

The first impressions of Barichello on his Williams FW32’s Cosworth engine, indicate less speed (point) than the rest.  Specifically, around 8-12km/h (Mercedes and Ferrari).

In a bit more than an hour the session will end.   We’re walking towards the paddock to pick up some feelings.

Today, the Valencian circuit has had around 7.000 spectators, according to the organization.  A good number of people has gotten together to see the tests, so if climate conditions permit it, a higher number is expected for tomorrow with the attendance of Fernando Alonso in the racetrack.

Best times of the day.

1º Massa (1:11.722)

2º Kobayashi (1:12.056)

3º Hamilton (1:12.056)

4º Rosberg (1:12. 899)

5º Barrichello (1:13.377)

The second day of official tests in the Valencia Ricardo Tormo Circuit have started.  Today’s surprise was the attendance of ex-champion, Lewis Hamilton.  Climate conditions are better than Monday’s.   Massa and Kobayashi are leading the time table since early this morning, confirming yesterday’s good impression of the two single-seaters (Ferrari y Sauber).

The morning session started as yesterday’s, Massa runs through the racetrack and in a little while stops the chronometer at 1:12.393, near the best time he got yesterday (1:12.547).  After him, came Hamilton with 1:13.366.

After this first period, Massa starts to ‘exploit’ his Ferrari, stopping the time at 1:11.722, and pulverizing yesterday’s times.  The Brazilian pilot seems has adapted quite well to the F10.  However, a little bit later, Kobayashi goes up to the second place in the time table with 1:12: 384, with a scarce difference of 662 from Massa.  Yesterday’s story seems to repeat itself with the battle between Ferrari and Sauber.

Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) was the third fastest of the morning with a better lap of 1:12.508, even though, one who also improved yesterday’s time was Nico Rosberg with the Mercedes GP.  The German managed a better lap of 1:12.899, almost a second faster than the one he got on the first day.  Rubens Barrichello’s Williams (1:13.377), Kubica’s Renault (1:13.659) and the Swiss, Sebastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso (1:14. 826) were behind.  The latter was the only one who improved yesterday’s times.

Better conditions

The improvement of, both weather and the asphalt atmosphere conditions, as well as the quantity of rubber in the racetrack helped to lower the times.  All the ‘Scuderias’ tested the components and as yesterday, ran with different fuel amounts.

1. Massa (56 laps)
2. Kobayashi (29 laps)
3. Hamilton (48)
4. Rosberg (41)
5. Barichello (45)
6. Kubica (59)
7. Buemi (41)

The team, whose name has yet to be officially confirmed on the FIA’s 2010 entry list, will be hoping the new machine allows them to improve on their poor 2009 season, which saw them finish a disappointing sixth in the championship. This performance, coupled with the global financial crisis, prompted German carmaker BMW to withdraw from the sport at the end of last year.

BMW Sauber have announced that they will unveil their new car in Valencia later this month. The launch will be held on January 31, the day before the first official three-day test of 2010 gets underway at the Spanish track.

Original founder Peter Sauber has since bought back the Swiss team and the returning team principal will be in attendance at the launch event, alongside technical director Willy Rampf, recently-signed driver Kamui Kobayashi and his yet-to-be-confirmed team mate.

With BMW engines no longer at their disposal, the new Sauber is expected to be powered by Ferrari.

Source: formula1.com