Anarchy in F1?

A secret meeting of the team bosses, negotiations taking place in the dark reaches of un-disclosed locations and plenty of cloak and dagger to cover it up.Welcome the F1 in 2013.

So what is all this about then? Apparently several journalists have spotted Christian Horner, the Red Bull team boss, heading into the Ferrari factory recently, and rumours started to circulate immediately, that either he or Adrian Newey, the wizz behind the Red Bull car´s design success, was contemplating a move to Maranello. However, this is not the case.

A German journalist, Michael Schmidt, was also at the meeting and reported that Horner, Martin Whitmarsh, Niki Lauda and Bernie Ecclestone was having a talk with Ferrari supremo Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, regarding the 2013 Concorde Agreement, which has still not been signed by the FIA.

The only deal already signed is a financial package, which gives the teams 60% of the revenue for the season. Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes receives a bigger slices than the rest of the teams. The FIA is yet to sign and the governing body is reportedly asking for $40m slice of the pie. But until then, the “processes for agreeing and enforcing rules are currently up in the air,” as one website said.

Ecclestone was heard mention, that he did not think it was necessary to sign the Concorde Agreement…

McLaren boss agrees this season is hard!

“It is so close and so tricky when you have tyres that can swing any way. You see in qualifying it is bloody difficult to get through conserving your tyres.”

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh is the first to aknowledge that the 2012 season is in no way just a season like the rest. This campaign has thrown up seven different winners from as many races and despite having one of his drivers leading the championship, it´s far too early to be cruising.

The European Grand Prix and the British Grand Prix are up next, and Whitmarsh is keeping a realistic approach to those two races, but admits it can go the opposite way very quickly.

“You have to make the right engineering and operational decisions every step of the weekend now, and being error-free is massively tough. But that is how it should be isn’t it? It is great for Formula One.

“I’d love to be walking away with another championship, but it’s not going to be that way because this is an abnormal season and I think it is going to be like it to the end.

“Although Lewis is leading the championship, we don’t think we are now in cruise mode and we’re going to win. It could go horribly wrong in the next race and that is how it should be.

“So the optimist in me says here come Valencia and Silverstone – yes please! But it could be a disaster.”

Horribly wrong is a polite version of saying how the campaign for at least Jenson Button has been so far. The season started in the best possible way, with a 1-2 lock out of the front in Melbourne and a win for Button. Then a 14th place, then 2nd in China, then 18th, 9th and twice finishing in 16th place. Button has only gathered about half the points of Hamilton, and Whitmarsh admits it´s the team´s fault.

“His rear tyres were completely shot because we didn’t long-run with his suspension set-up on Friday. That was our fault. We didn’t give him a car he could perform in. He is capable of coming back, and I hope he does. He could be the first driver to repeat a win this season.

“Jenson is a great racing driver, but we served him badly over the weekend.”

Whitmarsh to leave McLaren?

After the disappointing performance from the McLaren-Mercedes team on Sunday, where Jenson Button retired and Lewis Hamilton ended outside the podium, rumours are now stronger than ever, suggesting the departure of team principal Martin Whitmarsh.

The chatter started in the background at Saturdays meet the press at the McLaren media center, when Martin Whitmarsh basically offered an apology to the many fans of the team, saying that the performance of the team was not as expected and that essentially it was his fault. Now, how often do you hear that?

Then fast-forward to the race on Sunday, which saw two McLaren´s going really fast around the track, both were in the top and Hamilton were in third place, but had to concede the position to Mark Webber, becase his car was one liter short of fuel. And Jenson Button, who ran in second at the time of his last pit-stop, had to retire because a wheelnut couldn´t be fastened in time and he was released in an unsafe manor, with the right front wheel hanging lose. Eventually Hamilton finished in fourth, picking up 12 points for his efforts.

This is by far the only time this season the McLaren-Mercedes team have made mistakes. Before the season started, they were boasting a very complex exhaust-system, but it proved unreliable and only a last-minute copy of the Red Bull exhaust saved them embarassment. In Malaysia the wrong tyres went on Hamilton´s car, and a slow third stop made Button passing him. In Monaco McLaren takes just one run on the final shoot-out session, causing Hamilton to end in seventh, and then being relegated to ninth, after cutting a corner. Qualifying in Canada with a too long seventh gear-ratio and too much downforce on the rearwing, they qualify fifth and seventh. And then in Britain, where Button retires and Hamilton is told the worst news a driver can hear; to save fuel.

Looking at scoring points, McLaren are doing great. Both drivers have scored points in eight of the nine races, before Sunday they were the only drivers to record a win, but Hamilton retiring in Canada and Button at the teams home-race, is costing a lot of points. And with the development rate of the Ferrari´s, and a very strong looking Fernando Alonso, the McLaren-Mercedes team could be facing an even harder second half of the season.

According to rumours inside the paddock, there are growing concerns about the leadership of Whitmarsh, some reports say he is without a proper direction and is shooting blanks in terms of where to go in development, and this is causing a lot of grey hairs for engineers and designers.

Surely it would take a lot for the powers at be to get rid of Martin Whitmarsh, they are comfortably in second place in the constructors championship, but the board might weigh that even with eight constructors titles and 12 drivers titles, that is just not good enough. Personally, I dno´t see anyone right now able to take on the reigns of the team.When Ron Dennis left to focus on the roadcar programme and Whitmarsh took over, the team transformed form being very rigid and cold, to a place where engineers, designers, mechanics and drivers are having a relaxed atmosphere about the day-to-day operation, and giving the drivers a little more time to relax between races, could have transpired into better performances on the track.

That said, Lewis Hamilton recently complained about his many PR tasks, one meant that he needed to fly from Britain to India for one session and then go back, just one day before the team needed to be in place for the British Grand Prix. Only a last minute cancellation of the event saved Hamilton the jetlag and inconvenience. In fact, Whitmarsh gave Hamilton a couple of days off, until the German Grand Prix and when the summer break hits, between Hungary and Belgium, he will get some more days off to prevent a burn-out.