Ok, some F1 news...
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Kimi is the 3rd richest man under 30 years old in the world right after Michael Owen and the founder of Facebook.
The reigning Formula One world champion is a man of few words and even fewer smiles, yet he has something to smile about with that sum in the bank. Having snatched the 2007 title from former champion Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in the last race of the season, he has a lot of earning potential ahead of him. Deals and tie-ups should see him lift his bank balance considerably. And if he can go on to hold on to title this season he’ll be even more bankable. Come on Kimi, give us a smile.
http://money.uk.msn.com/guides/sala...documentid=7260461&dub-gallery-photo-number=8
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Raikkonen rules out a Ferrari win in Germany
With just 26 points and one podium after eight races, Ferrari have endured a difficult first half of the season and are 65 points shy of where they were this time last year. For driver Kimi Raikkonen the time has come to admit a win will be highly unlikely at this weekend's German Grand Prix and a podium finish will be his real target.
“Realistically this year our objective can’t be a win,” said Raikkonen on Ferrari’s official website. “We still have to make up ground compared to the leaders as far as performance is concerned. It’s always difficult making predictions and promising something to the fans, but for us today a place on the podium is already a good result, considering that we’ve been there just once this year.
“There are still nine races until the end of this extremely difficult season for us. Our objective has to be to give it our all race after race, without thinking that the leaders are so many points ahead of us. I really trust the team’s work and its capacity to close the gap between us and the leaders.”
At the previous round, June’s British Grand Prix, the Finn qualified in ninth and finished one place higher in eighth to score a point. But after crossing the line over a minute down on the victorious Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel, the Italian team had little reason to celebrate and have been back at their Maranello factory seeking to improve the errant F60 ahead of this weekend’s German event.
“The team has continued to work very hard over the last weeks to bring some new solutions to this race,” Raikkonen continued. “The track should be better for the F60’s characteristics than Silverstone, but we’ll get a clearer picture during Friday’s free practice sessions. To be competitive you need a car with good traction, which is very stable while braking.”
While his faith in his car’s suitability for the Nurburgring may prove well founded, Raikkonen’s record in Germany leaves a lot to be desired. Despite scoring pole on four occasions, he has never won on German soil, and with his declared objectives for this weekend's race, it doesn't look like he will remedy this in 2009.
http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2009/7/9577.html
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Teams walk out of FIA meeting
Today the Formula One Teams' Association, alongside Force India, Williams, Campos, Manor and US F1, met officials from the FIA governing body in the hope of signing off the rules and regulations for participation in next year's FIA Formula One World Championship.
A short time ago however the FIA announced that 'unfortunately no discussion was possible because FOTA walked out of the meeting.'
FOTA claim that they are not currently entered into next year's championship, despite the FIA publishing an entry list on June 24th listing all eight members, and hence the decision to walk out.
"During the course of this meeting, the team managers were informed by Mr Charlie Whiting of the FIA that, contrary to previous agreements, the eight FOTA teams are not currently entered into the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship and have no voting rights in relation to the technical and sporting regulations thereof," a statement began.
"It will be remembered that all eight active FOTA members were included on the 'accepted' entry list as endorsed by the FIA World Motor Sport Council and communicated by FIA press statement on June 24.
"In light of these claims, the FOTA representatives requested a postponement of today’s meetings. This was rejected on the grounds that no new Concorde Agreement would be permitted before a unanimous approval of the 2010 regulations was achieved.
"However, it is clear to the FOTA teams that the basis of the 2010 technical and sporting regulations was already established in Paris.
"As endorsed by the WMSC and clearly stated in the FIA press statement of 24 June 'the rules for 2010 onwards will be the 2009 regulations as well as further regulations agreed prior to 29 April 2009'. At no point in the Paris discussions was any requirement for unanimous agreement on regulations change expressed. To subsequently go against the will of the WMSC and the detail of the Paris agreement puts the future of Formula One in jeopardy.
"As a result of these statements, the FOTA representatives at the subsequent Technical Working Group were not able to exercise their rights and therefore had no option other than to terminate their participation.
"The FOTA members undertook the Paris agreement and the subsequent discussions in good faith and with a desire to engage with all new and existing teams on the future of Formula One."
Quite where FOTA, the FIA and Formula One Administration - the commercial rights holders - can go from here is far from clear. If, as FOTA claim, the team alliance does not have entries into next year's championship, then the World Motor Sport Council meeting of last month is effectively null and void.
As it stands, FOTA has no agreement regarding governance of the sport, no new commercial agreement and at the same time has managed to put itself in a situation where they have no real power for negotiation...
Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International
http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/090708194255.shtml
