Like it? Share it!
| Back to the Balkans |
 |
 |
| Written by Kate Walker | |||
| Monday, 01 March 2010 18:00 | |||
|
Maybe most of the world’s F1 media were too busy covering the final days of testing to spend Saturday trawling the net for gossip, but I was nowhere near Barcelona. Nor was Will Buxton, editor of GPWeek and author of The Buxton Blog. In Bahrain to cover last weekend’s GP2 Asia race, Buxton made a few interesting discoveries about everyone’s favourite Serbian F1 team. In his own words: “Officials at the track confirmed to me that Stefan GP’s containers, which the team stated on February 2nd it had sent to Bahrain, have not arrived at the circuit. Of course the containers may still be at customs awaiting their signing out, but the firmly held belief that the team’s containers of spare parts for their ex-Toyota racers were already at the Bahrain International Circuit are false. They are not here.” Buxton continues: “But perhaps the firmest nail in the coffin of the team’s hopes that they would be permitted to race should one of the new teams fail to make it, was an admission from another official at the BIC that they have received word from the FIA informing them to take Stefan GP’s team profile, which had been prepared by the BIC on the off chance of the team’s participation, out of the media kits for the season-opening Grand Prix. According to this official, the FIA’s reasoning for this was that Stefan GP ‘will not be racing in Bahrain.’” I’m sure you’re as confused as I am. Not only has this not been widely reported elsewhere – and while it could all be rumour, when has that ever stopped the F1 chatter? – but a range of news outlets have instead been reporting on the Serbian team’s seat fittings with WDC Jacques Villeneuve, and the planned launch later this week. According to Buxton, the FIA emailed the Bahrain International Circuit on Saturday to request that Stefan GP’s details were removed from the media packs, so this looks to have been a pretty recent decision. It looks to me like until Friday, the FIA were prepared to allow Stefan to race in Bahrain, but that their minds were changed at some point on Saturday. The question is, what caused that change? The way I see it, there are three possible reasons. First, the FIA were so impressed by all that Charlie Whiting saw during his visit last week to USF1’s Charlotte headquarters that all doubts surrounding the American outfit have now been removed, meaning the team’s grid slot will no longer be vacant in Bahrain. (I’m not entirely sold on that one either.) Second, there will be no need for a Stefan GP because the team will be buying the USF1 entry and race as USF1 until a name change can be agreed. This is entirely possible, and would tie in with reports that the Serbian outfit are fitting former champions in seats and planning launches. Please note, though, that this is just me working out what’s possible – I have no concrete evidence that Stefan GP have bought or will buy the US entry, or even whether USF1’s slot is officially on the market. The final reason is the one I think is most likely. Zoran Stefanovic has angered the powers that be and shot himself in the foot. At the end of last week, an aggressive message turned up on Stefan GP’s website: "Stefan GP would like to inform the public that the containers we sent on the beginning of February arrived in Bahrain. During next week we will show our Stefan Formula One car to the press as the final evidence that should put us on the grid in Bahrain. In case we don't receive the chance to compete in Bahrain, and also when some of the teams fail to show up, somebody should have trouble explaining what has happened to all of us. And the dreamers from the USA will have to explain their actions, because they are deliberately weakening F1, dreaming about a perfect world and fairytales of success. And success doesn't come by talking but with hard work and a lot of guts." That sounds like fighting talk to me. And I would be surprised if the message sounded any different on Place de la Concorde. Funnily enough, that message is no longer on Stefan GP’s site. Instead, it has been replaced with the much more saccharine "SGP would like to re-confirm its desire and, importantly, its ability to compete in the whole of the FIA 2010 Formula One World Championship. It recognises that this can only happen with the consent of the FIA and the FOM, but has faith that the Formula One 'family' will make the correct decision in the end. There will be no more press releases on this subject and we look forward to being allowed to show everyone our team in Bahrain." So have Stefan GP excommunicated themselves by being too aggressive yet again? After all, this is the team that hired Spygate conspirator Mike Coughlan, which was never going to be a popular move with Ferrari or the FIA. Stefanovic lodged a complaint over the FIA selection process with the European Commission, and as per EU law an investigation is still underway. And while their decision to ship containers to the races on the off-chance of getting a slot might have been described as ‘bullish’, rather than aggressive, the lack of containers now makes the enterprise look like a bad PR job. Keep an eye on the boys from the Balkans. If Will Buxton is right – and he seems to have a stronger case than Stefan do for racing – this may be the end of Stefanovic’s 2010 Formula 1 hopes. Kate Walker for Girlracer Magazine http://www.girlracer.co.uk
Comments (3)
Powered by !JoomlaComment 4.0 beta1
!joomlacomment 4.0 Copyright (C) 2009 Compojoom.com . All rights reserved."
|
|||
| Last Updated on Monday, 01 March 2010 18:03 |
by the way, nice job on the net, I read five languages but I was unable to find that information...that means again you're the best