Joe Saward pointed me (and everyone else) to this site, I haven't been all over it, only looked so far at Ben Edwards showing what a nice bloke he is but it looks like an interesting place to visit.

Just had look on Wikipedia about the 2014 season at it seems someone is having a bit fun with drivers lineup - it saying Hulkenberg at Ferrari and Petrov is with Sauber it was up dated about 2 hours ago

Wikipedia != Fact

Hmmm,

I guess now we know Hulk' uses wikipedia.

Good news everbody air temperature for hungary said to hit 40C.

Said by whom?

More breaking news Lewis Hamilton wants his girlfriend back. Going to the playboy mansion to make her jealous didn't work so now he's making mysterious tweets about holding on to that somebody special and has written her a love song.

Could be a horror GP coming up for Hamilton hes terrible when he's distracted.

http://m.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/297...-hungarian-gp/

And most others.

Austria is back on the calendar!!!!!

The A1 Ring (or Red Bull Ring) is back for 2014. What excellent news

http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/...lendar-in-2014

The comment by 'arc' is a bit drastic!! Bet he walks around with a tin foil hat on his head.

With Russia also joining next year - what tracks have lost a spot on the calendar?

Wow!

If this is true it'll have a serious influence on several teams.

(I use "The Weather Channel" and they're usually fairly accurate, they say Fri. 31c, Sat. 32c and Sun. 35c.)

Interesting, I was watching a re-run of the recent European Le Mans Series race from there last night and reminiscing about what a great track the Osterreichring was before they neutered it into the abomination that is the A1 or Red Bull Ring as it is now known.

I presume F1 is going back purely because it's now owned by Mateschitz. And they say Red Bull do not have undue influence in F1!? At least it's sort of a historic European race being re-instated although I don't doubt it will take the place of another European race. My guess is either Germany or Belgium.

I would say it has nothing to do with Red Bull, and all to do with money. If Red Bull didnt offer the fee Bernie was after, they wouldnt have got the race.

I cant see Germany losing a spot, due to Vettel and Mercedes being German. I have since read, that Korea is under threat.

Even 35C would mean a track temp over 40C.

The question is, what was the fee Bernie was asking for? There are countries all over the world queuing up to 'buy' a GP, most backed by their governments. GP's in Europe struggle to make money and cannot compete with the fly-away circuits. An Austrian GP is not going to make Red Bull a lot of money and Mateschitz has not made Red Bull the global success by throwing money away. Therefore he's got this on the cheap.

As for the German GP... both circuits in Germany are in dire financial situations. As you said it's all about money so unless Mercedes buys a circuit to ensure there's a German GP there's every chance it'll fall off the calendar at some point, just as there was the very real possibility of the British GP doing the same a few years ago. None of the historic European races is safe with the exception of Monaco. That is what makes the addition of Austria so suspicious.

I dont agree with your conclusion he got it on the cheap. He may well have, but we dont know as yet. The track is currently used for DTM, so will just add F1 to its calendar. So if they werent making money in the past, then the amount of loss may be reduced (or profits increased) with bringing F1 to the circuit. Now that the track has an F1 race, this kudos can be used to attract other races (from other series) to the track. Also the Red Bull adverts will be everywhere - how much would that advertising cost?

As you say Mateschitz is a smart man, he would have thought long and hard about paying Bernie his fee. Bernie is also a smart man. He has more races, than he has room for. There isnt much chance of him letting Mateschitz have it on the cheap. Especially when there are circuits throwing cash at Bernie to join the F1 season.

Teams only want 20 races per season. With Russia, Austria, New Jersey all set to join the 2014 calendar. That will mean a total 22 races next season. So the demand is there, with Thailand and Mexico also wanting a race. The demand outstrips supply, thus Bernie can name his price. At the moment the cheapest race is Canada, who pay $15million. With America now having two races, I can see Canada also dropping of the calendar in the near future.

As Meteschitz, got it on the cheap, its possible, but I doubt it.


I though it was only the Nurburgring that had financial problems. Hockenheim was ok?

Possible 42c for the race!

Will the tyres last till the end of the pit lane?

The chances of it hitting 40c are a bit exaggerated - paper talk essentially. Saturday is 28c and Sunday is 27c. There is a 40% chance of rain on both days, with scattered thunder storms a possibility. If there was rain during quali and the race, that would certainly make for interesting viewing.

There haven't been many decent wet races for some time.

Looks like Red Bull are romping it. I thought they would. From last year their car was the best at switching on in a nondestructive manner and using the soft tyre.

I think it advantage Red Bull for the rest of the season and championship four for Vettel.

What do you guys think of the suggestion the Austrian GP is going to return after a 10 year gap..

Don't remember too many races there apart from one where I think Ferrari instructed Barrichello to let Schumacher pass...

I didn't like the A1 ring only four actual corners and they were mickey mouse 90 degree jobs. Would have been better to make an oval.

Matechitz financing it himself I don't see that as a sustainable model so it could be back and then gone again.

And what a controversy that caused. With Schumacher relinquishing the top of the podium, at the prize giving cermony, was tantamount to an admission that team orders were imposed (illegal at the time).

Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think team orders were illegal at the time. I think Ferrari were fined for the podium debacle rather than the swapping of the cars. The team orders rule was introduced as a result of that and the US GP (Schumacher returning the favour).

Brilliant from Hamilton to take pole. I still can't see past Vettel for the win but I hope I am wrong again.