Red Bull floor not legal!

The FIA on Saturday deemed the Red Bull RB8 illegal, due to the much debated holes in the floor, located in front of the rear tyres.

The decision from the FIA leaves the team with only one week to sort out the fix before the Canadian GP, but lucky for the team it is a relatively easy thing to change.

Red Bull used the floor, and the holes, since Bahrain where Sebastian Vettel won the race and again in Monaco, who had Mark Webber as the winner. Neither of those victories will be affected.

Several teams had raised concerns over the floor, another genius design-feature from Adrian Newey and in Monaco race director Charlie Whiting had declared it within the rules. Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes considered launching an official protest but was advised not to, as it could damage the image of the sport even further, as there have been several incidents between teams and FIA, where a certain part has been deemed legal at first and then illegal the next week. Instead a clarification was called for, and as mentioned, the floor is illegal.

Mere hours before the decision, team principal Christian Horner said:

“The rules are written in such a way that they are open to interpretation and our interpretation of that particular rule was accepted. We were always confident that our car complied fully with the regulations.”

The Guardian reports:

‘However, the FIA statement, which referred to “discussions in Monaco, during which it became clear that certain misunderstandings existed”, was unequivocal, stating, in reference to the location, that “fully enclosed holes may not be located there”.’

Ferrari and Sauber uses very similar holes under their cars, but has a small gap at the edge of the floor, this defines them as ‘slots’, not holes.

Yes, I know…

To learn more about the floor used in Monaco, do make a habit of visiting the excellent ScarbsF1, run by Craig Scarborough. Click here

F1 flotation delayed

The owners behind F1 has decided to delay the Singapore IPO, Initial Public Offering, worth up to $3bn, a report said on Friday.

Citing a weak and unpredictable market, both the owners of F1 and Bernie Ecclestone, is waiting until the time is more appropriate. The decision comes amidst growing concerns over the unstable market, where as much as five IPO´s have been delayed or cancelled in the past week alone. With the global IPO´s down 46% this year so far, a delay comes with both good and bad effects.

It´s bad news for CVC Capital Partners, as Joe Saward writes on his blog on friday.

“The downside of this is that there will be less transparency than would be the case with a floated company. Transparency is a good thing when one is trying to deal with big global companies.”

On Thursday, Graff Diamonds, a London jeweller, cancelled their plans for a $1bn IPO, as the global markets hesitated due to concerns over the Euro Zone crisis, and the slowing down of the Chinese economy. In Europe, Greece is bankrupt partly due to enormous greed from having the most corrupt system in the European Union, and tax dodging has become something of a sport. It is believed that Greece has an underground economy at as much as half of the entire economy.

Bernie Ecclestone:

“We’re going through all the normal motions …,” said Eccoestone on Thursday. “We are getting prepared so all these things are done and then whenever we want to go, we can go.”

In Asia, the biggest financial market these days, the MSCI index, excluding Japan, has dropped 11% in one month, and investors were already putting on the brakes, as the Facebook share lost 22% in just 10 trading sessions.

Last month, CVC Capital Partners sold off about 21% of their stake in F1, to investment groups Waddell & Reed and BlackRock, as well as Norway´s Norges Bank Investment Management. CVC remains the major shareholder with 42%.

Official review of Micro F1 iPad App and game by TOTAL F1

Do you remember playing Micro Machines on the NES in the 90´s? Well, WareWolf certainly did and the new Micro F1 iPad App and Facebook game by TOTAL F1, yes quite the title there, has been reviewed.

It´s the third official review from WareWolf, location and real name is still un-disclosed, and the second app related to the Lotus team. While their link with Emo-soft rockers Linkin Park, didn´t turn out brilliantly, this could prove to be a much better app/game. To read the review, just follow the link here.