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F1 Moves From The Circuits To The Boardrooms
| Over the last month F1 news has been coming fast and furious, despite the 2009 season having finished. As they say in sports, you can't tell the players without a programme. The programmes for the 2010 Formula 1 season are sure to read markedly different from this past season. Already, new young drivers are entering the fold. More experienced drivers are changing teams. Even the teams are changing owners. The hottest news this week is the decision of Brawn GP to sell their F1 operation to Mercedes-Benz. Brawn GP won the Drivers Championship this year with Britain's Jenson Button at the wheel. They also won the Constructors Championship. When your value is at its highest, why not sell, which is what the team did. Speculation is that this transaction may see Jenson Button move to McLaren to join Lewis Hamilton. There's the potential of McLaren having a British dynamic duo on the starting grid for next year's races. Both Button and Hamilton are World Champions, winning the F1 crowns in 2009 and 2008 respectively. Mercedes-Benz will rename Brawn GP as Mercedes Grand Prix. Mercedes' parent company Daimler AG will take over a 75.1 percent stake of Brawn GP. They are doing this in partnership with an Abu Dhabi investment company. Mercedes will own 45.1 percent and Aabar Investments will own 30 percent. Ross Brawn will remain as team principal. He and chief executive Nick Fry will keep a 24.9 percent stake in the new Mercedes Formula One team. With their decision to buy Brawn, Mercedes-Benz is relinquishing their 40 percent share in the McLaren team. McLaren will reacquire this share portion over the next two years. However, Mercedes-Benz will still provide engines to McLaren, with whom they have a longstanding business relationship. McLaren will continue to use their engines until at least 2015. The 2010 F1 season is going to be notable for other new owners entering the fray. In addition, the grid is losing some teams as well. BMW Sauber previously announced their withdrawal from Formula 1. On November 4, 2009, just after the season's final race in Abu Dhabi, Toyota announced they are pulling out of Grand Prix racing. They cited current severe economic realities as the basis for their corporate decision. Campos Meta, Team US F1, the 1Malaysia F1 Team (1MF1T) and Manor Grand Prix are the new teams preparing for the 2010 Formula 1 races. All are working feverishly to test their new cars and secure drivers. Team US F1 is expecting the first test of their car come January. Their base is in Charlotte, North Carolina. They also have a logistics base in Spain. Manor Grand Prix team owner John Booth's Sheffield, England facilities are undergoing a revamp. This is to accommodate his new Formula One cars. Sheffield is their logistics and assembly base. The team's main design and manufacturing base is at Wirth Research in Bicester. Their marketing base is in London. The Campos Meta team's base is in Valencia, Spain. This team has been performing wind tunnel research on their car since July. Adrian Campos leads this new Grand Prix entry. The 1Malaysia F1 Team is operating through Lotus F1 Racing. They reported on October 30, 2009 that they are in full swing with wind tunnel testing. They are also ready to start on the layup of their first chassis. Team Principal Dato' Sri Tony Fernandes appointed Riad Asmat to lead the management of the 1Malaysia F1 Team and the racing team, Lotus F1 Racing. Teams experienced or new, are always looking for the right driver combinations to secure podium positions. The Williams team will have Rubens Barrichello and Williams tester and reigning GP2 champion Nico Hulkenberg as their drivers. Barrichello moves over from the former Brawn GP team. With the number of F1 drivers who live in Monaco at least the private banking in Monaco sector should be happy next year! Kimi Raikkonen of Finland is looking to drive with a new team next year. Fernando Alonso is taking over his seat at Ferrari in 2010. Felipe Massa, seriously injured in the Hungarian Grand Prix, is set to resume his career with Ferrari come the first race in March in Bahrain. Massa drove the 2009 version of Ferrari's car at Spain's Valencia circuit this past Sunday, completing approximately 20 laps. Bruno Senna is set to make his Formula One debut with the new Campos Meta team. Last week, the Brazilian driver visited the Dallara factory in Italy where his car is undergoing construction. He is the nephew of late three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna. This week, the Manor GP team confirmed Timo Glock as their lead driver for next season. Glock drove for Toyota this past season. Manor has been crash testing all areas of their car since May. Timo Glock made his Formula 1 debut in 2004 as a stand-in. Formula 1 is speeding along under a different paradigm right now, just two weeks removed from the end of the 2009 season. With off-track action heating up, it bodes well for on-track action for 2010. |
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Official tickets for the 2010 Monaco F1 can be found online via monacoproperty.net
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