NASCAR Tickets - Kyle Busch Takes Checker Flag

Kyle Busch knows he is fast and fearless on the track. When this bad boy gets a chance to burn rubber watch out NASCAR fans, he is heading towards victory lane. That exactly what happened on Sunday when Busch won his second Sprint Cup Series race of the season in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. He led a pretty impressive race with 378 of 503 laps before taking the checkered flag. After the race, many compared number 18 to another driver who happens to be a legend, Dale Earnhardt. However, the Bristol Motor Speedway Champion doesn't want to be compared to one of the most revered drivers in history. He believes he's his own man in his own time. Get NASCAR tickets and see Kyle Busch on the track.

Number 18 received his customary chorus of boos both before the race and during his victory lane celebration. But with 14 career Cup wins (47 spanning all three of NASCAR'S to series) he's grown comfortable with the discord. There are spectators who say Kyle enjoys the dissension. After the race, the Las Vegas native told reporters he doesn't care about the hecklers from the stands and being labeled as number one, he's out on the racetrack to win races. So those who wish him ill, the bad boy from the sin city wishes ill right back at them. What really drives the crowd mad is when Kyle wins his races and then gives a sarcastic celebratory bow.

Kyle Busch doesn't care what people think and doesn't censor himself before he speaks. The speed demon is not Earnhardt and that is a good thing for NASCAR. Whether fans love him or hate him Kyle is one of the best faces for the sport. Sure, he is confident and cocky, but in an era where the drivers are too watered down and politically conservative, Busch keeps things interesting. He never holds back on his raw emotions, which tends to hurt plenty of feelings. On Saturday, his racing crew fumbled away a tire during the final pit stop of the Nationwide Series race. The bad boy would have had another victory underneath his belt; however, the carelessness drew a NASCAR penalty that took him out of contention after he'd led a race 157 laps.

So what was Kyle's reaction? The man parked his car in Turn 3 near the pedestrian tunnel and walked to his motorhome. The crew ended up collecting the car, which was a reminder that they blew a sure victory. You would think the Las Vegas native would have apologized to his crew for his actions on Sunday, but the driver didn't bother to make nice before he took on the track. On this day, number 18's crew made no mistakes. It was critical that Busch be the first car off the pit road on the final stop because the track position would play heavily into the outcome. Runner-up Denny Hamlin and third-place finisher Jimmie Johnson both acknowledged that the race was won on the pit road during that final stop. NASCAR really hasn't seen a person like Busch.

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NASCAR Tickets - Danica Patrick Jumping Ships to NASCAR?

A year ago, Danica Patrick was in Japan, recording the first victory by a woman in an Indy Racing League event. This weekend, she will be outside of Los Angeles, driving in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Her contract with Andretti Green is about to expire and many American's are often scratching their heads, wondering where the beautiful woman will be in a year from now? Many will recall Patrick turned the esteemed Indianapolis 500 upside down in 2005, by leading the race for 19 laps and finishing in fourth place. It was the first time a woman had accomplished such a feat and to do so at the age of 23 was remarkable. Get NASCAR tickets and see Patrick burning rubber on the tracks.

Since then, she has been one of the most recognizable faces for the I.R.L. But many are wondering if she will remain in the open-wheel world of I.R.L. or will the young lady change her scenery and move on to NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series? Moving to NASCAR certainly sounds interesting, especially since a woman has never won a cup race. No woman has ever completed a full season. Humpy Wheeler, the chairman of the Wheeler Company consulting firm and former president of Lowe's Motor Speedway in North Carolina believes Patrick would have a huge impact on the sport. The Chairman added that since sixty percent of the NASCAR crowd is male and once they find out a pretty woman owns the track, she will be a ticket-selling machine.

Can you picture Patrick zooming alongside NASCAR superstars Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.? That alone would increase the sport's popularity by a wide margin. That combined with the fact that she is well known and well liked would certainly provide the sport with a deep level of marketing impact. If Danica decides to pursues NASCAR there is no question that it will be one of the biggest stories of the year, producing a ton of media coverage, which will generate consumer and fan engagement as well as corporate attention. However, appeal does not guarantee success. Juan Pablo, Sam Hornish, and Dario Franchitti were top drivers in the I.R.L. who struggled once they made the move to NASCAR.

There are plenty of fans who believe Danica would be best served taking the best I.R.L. deal. Eddie Gossage, the president of Texas Motor Speedway, which hosts NASCAR and I.R.L. events expressed concern over Patrick moving to NASCAR. He added that he would love to hand her the winner's trophy at an I.R.L. race. Gossage believes she is arguably one of the two or three best-known female athletes in the world. So what does Danica want? She has reported to the media that business considerations would play a part in where she drives in 2010. The driver also ruled out Formula One as an unlikely option for her since she doesn't want to travel the world. The one main concern about going to NASCAR that worries her is that the Sprint Cup schedule is a grueling 36 races while the I.R.L.'s is only 18.

This article was sponsored by StubHub. StubHub sells NASCAR tickets, as well as many other kinds of sports tickets, concert tickets, special events tickets and theater tickets.

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Power play over new F1 rules

A major revolution in Formula 1 engine and car design scheduled for the 2013 season is under threat.

The plan is to replace the current 2.4-litre V8 engines with 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbos fitted with extensive environmental technology and for the cars to be made more efficient.

The idea is to help popularise sustainable technologies, which are already being used in road cars, and therefore to insulate F1 from any accusations that it is profligate with resources. As a result, it is hoped F1 will become more attractive to other car companies.

Except that the changes, which we have discussed extensively on this blog over the last year or so, might not happen - at least not in two years' time.

They are already formally part of the regulations for 2013. But F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone has recently given voice to a view within the sport that the changes should either be postponed or abandoned. And he has a powerful ally in the shape of Ferrari.

Publicly, Ecclestone's objections to the new engine focus on three fundamental areas:

  • Spectacle - he believes the new engines will sound flatter, quieter and less dramatic than the current ones, reducing an important part of the sport's appeal

  • Money - he is worried the sport cannot afford the cost of developing the engines, which will be between 40-100 million Euros (£36-89m) depending on which estimate you believe.
  • Ferrari - the Italian legend runs F1's most famous and therefore most important team and its views need to be taken seriously. It is opposed to the new engine formula because it feels it has no synergy with its road cars and because it feels there are cheaper and more effective ways of making F1 more fuel-efficient.
  • Ferrari is as aware of the need to market energy-efficient technologies as anyone. It is embracing environmental technology on its road cars - it has, for example, released a version of its California GT car with a version of the stop-start systems that are becoming increasingly common in road cars, and it has developed a hybrid version of its monster 599 supercar.

    It has objected specifically to the size of the engine - why restrict it to four cylinders, president Luca di Montezemolo has asked, branding the current rule "pathetic"?

    Felipe Massa's Ferrari suffers an engine problem during winter testing

    Will Ferrari's opposition mean the 2013 engine changes go up in smoke? Photo: Getty

    Ferrari is also pushing to ensure the 2013 chassis rules reflect its belief that the importance of aerodynamics is out of all proportion in F1. It wants them to be reined in so other aspects such as the mechanical and suspension set-up have more relevance, as is the case with road cars

    But it is not just Ecclestone and Ferrari. Although the teams approved these rules, which they worked on with Jean Todt, president of governing body the FIA, other team principals have reservations, too.

    One told me the arguments put forward for introducing the new engines do not stand up, in his view.

    One of those arguments was that F1's use of increasingly outmoded engine technology was a barrier not only to attracting new sponsors of the kind that want to be associated with sustainability, but also to new car manufacturers entering the sport.

    The engine change was proposed after German giant Volkswagen Audi indicated that it could be interested in F1 if the engine formula mirrored the future direction of road cars.

    Doubters point out that not only have no new sponsors obviously been attracted, but that VW has since decided not to enter F1 for the foreseeable future.

    As a result, the critics say, all the new rules will do is increase the cost for the existing participants. That is a major concern at a time when, according to one team boss, "there are a few teams on the breadline".

    Equally, it seems that, among the current engine manufacturers, not only Ferrari is getting cold feet.

    Mercedes would prefer not to change the rules; it is concerned about the expense and questions whether it is necessary, although I understand it has told fellow stakeholders it will go along with what everyone else agrees. Independent Cosworth is said to be not that keen either, although it told BBC Sport it was "neutral" and dismissed suggestions that it could not afford to build the engines. Only Renault will publicly say it is in favour.

    The environmental argument is getting a bit of kicking, too.

    The emissions created by an entire season of F1 races are less than those produced by one Boeing 747 flying to Japan. Road car manufacturers are already developing these engines. So why, some say, is F1 bothering? F1, the argument goes, should be about escapism, and the sport should be focusing on delivering more races like the recent thrilling Chinese Grand Prix.

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    So why not abandon or postpone the plan? Well, it is not as simple as that.

    Renault's backing is rooted in marketing - it does not, unlike Mercedes and Ferrari, run its own F1 team and, unlike Cosworth, racing engines are not its core business.

    Renault's F1 managing director Jean-Francois Caubet says the fact the sport is changing to a new more sustainable engine formula is one of three reasons for staying involved.

    "The proposed rules are road-relevant and completely in line with Renault's road car strategy," he says. "We have already started design concepts on the 2013 engine, as this dovetails with our plans in road cars."

    The French company plans for such engines - let's call them small capacity turbo-hybrid - to make up at least 70% of its road-car portfolio by 2015. It accepts the new F1 rules will cost money, but believes that is a price worth paying.

    Caubet says Renault's presence in F1 is not "dependent on any future engine regulations", but does add the company is "very supportive of any regulations that make F1 more relevant to the overall aims of the Renault group".

    Equally, proponents of the new engines point out that it is unfair to say no new manufacturers or sponsors have come in as a result of the new rules.

    The change is still two years away, so how is it possible to know whether new sponsors will be attracted?

    And just because no new car manufacturers have entered yet does not mean they will not. VW got cold feet, it is believed, because F1 took so long to agree the rules. Either way, the only sure thing is that new companies will not enter F1 if the engine rules stay the same.

    As for Ecclestone, cynics in F1 - and there are many - believe his objections are at least as much about a couple of other issues he has not mentioned publicly.

    One is that he and Todt simply do not get along. As someone who knows Ecclestone well said: "He's against it because Todt is for it."

    FIA president Jean Todt and F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone

    Todt and Ecclestone do not see eye to eye on the new rules. Photo: Getty

    There is also the fact that the sport's stakeholders are embarking on what will be tough and protracted negotiations aimed at extending the Concorde Agreement, the document that binds together the teams, the FIA and the commercial rights holders.

    Ecclestone - representing the commercial rights holders, CVC - knows that both the teams and the FIA are unhappy with their financial arrangements and are asking for an improvement.

    The teams are a potentially major headache for him. Currently, they get 47% of F1's revenues divided between them - and they are angling for as much as 80%. The teams are united under the umbrella group Fota, and have resisted all attempts to break them up over the last few years. Some believe Ecclestone sees the argument over engines as a chance to annex Ferrari and split Fota.

    Of Ecclestone's public concerns, the least plausible is over the sound of the engines.

    F1 used 1.5-litre turbo engines - and a formula restricting fuel usage, which is also part of the new rules - in the mid-1980s. Far from driving fans away, this is looked back on as one of the most exciting eras in the sport's history.

    Insiders point out that only a handful of die-hard aficionados care about the sound of the engines - and that these people will watch anyway. The wider TV audience - which is of far more critical importance to the financial health of the sport - would probably not even notice the difference.

    Equally, even if the sound of the engines is a concern, this can be addressed at least to some degree by tuning the exhaust.

    As for affordability, the argument that the smaller teams will not be able to afford the new engines is easy to resolve - the manufacturers simply have to agree not to pass on the cost of development, and to keep the sale price of the engines the same as it is now.

    In such situations, F1 usually finds a compromise - although that would mean Todt being seen to publicly back down, which is far from an easy sell when this is the first big change in F1 rules under his presidency.

    But what would the compromise be?

    An influential figure has recently proposed that the new rules could be postponed for a year until 2014. This would coincide with the fact that Pirelli's contract as tyre supplier runs out at the end of 2013 and allow the planned change of wheel-rim diameter from 13 to 15 inches to coincide with the new chassis rules, on which the wheel change has a significant impact.

    Perhaps the current engines could be retained but with their Kers systems increased in power, and used to promote efficiency - such as running the cars purely on electric power in the pit lane. Perhaps a fuel restriction - part of the new rules anyway - could be introduced but not the new engines. Or a combination of some or all of the above.

    The problem is that while all these arguments are going on, 2013 is getting ever closer, and engines have a long lead time. Manufacturers have already started work on the new designs, because that's what the rules say will be required.

    Insiders say that, realistically, any decision will have to be made by the end of the summer. Any longer than that, and any objections will be academic - enough money will have been spent on the new engines that they might as well be adopted.

    So if Ecclestone and Ferrari are going to spike the 2013 engine rules, they are going to have to get on with it.

    Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/04/power_play_over_new_f1_rules.html

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    Nick Heidfeld - classic F1 2011

    Renault's Nick Heidfeld is the latest driver to choose his five favourite all-time grands prix for our new-look classic Formula 1 series.

    For those unfamiliar with the format, BBC Sport has asked all the F1 drivers to select their five favourite races and we are serialising their choices before every race this season to whet your appetites for the action to come. Highlights will be shown on this website and the red button on BBC television in the UK.

    So far, we have had world champion Sebastian Vettel, F1 legend Michael Schumacher, Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi, Williams veteran Rubens Barrichello and, for his home grand prix in Spain last weekend, double champion Fernando Alonso.

    Ahead of this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix, we have the man who is standing in this season for Robert Kubica, who was injured in a rally crash in February and who will be watching the race from his apartment in the principality.

    Heidfeld, a 34-year-old German, is one of the most experienced drivers on the grid and his selection is an interesting mix of races from his career and before his time in F1.

    In chronological order, they are as follows:

    The 1988 Monaco Grand Prix, which Heidfeld says he has chosen as it was the first F1 race he attended. Most people, though, remember it as one of the defining moments in the career of Ayrton Senna, who dominated the weekend in his McLaren until crashing out of the lead with a handful of laps remaining, handing victory to his team-mate Alain Prost.

    Heidfeld's second pick is the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix, which Heidfeld calls a "classic F1 moment", and which is proving popular among the current drivers - both Alonso and Buemi also chose this race.

    It was also a key event in the careers of Senna and Prost. As many will recall, Senna drove into the back of his arch-rival, who was now at Ferrari, at the first corner at 160mph.

    Senna's actions were in revenge for pole position, which he had won, being moved to the 'wrong' side of the track - which he felt was part of a conspiracy against him by then-FIA president Jean-Marie Balestre against him.

    Next is the 2001 Brazilian Grand Prix. This was Heidfeld's first appearance on an F1 podium, and came at the end of a thrilling grand prix famous for two stunning overtaking manoeuvres on Ferrari's Michael Schumacher by Juan Pablo Montoya, who should have won the race in his Williams, and McLaren's David Coulthard, who did.

    It was an incident-packed race throughout and one in which Heidfeld's sure touch in changing conditions - a feature of his career - was in evidence.

    The 2001 US Grand Prix was won brilliantly by Mika Hakkinen, who was to retire following the next race, the season finale in Japan, after winning a tactical battle with team-mate Coulthard and the Ferraris of Schumacher and Barrichello.

    It was a fascinating race, typical of F1's refuelling era, but that is not why Heidfeld has chosen it. The event has special memories for him because he finished sixth, scoring points for Sauber, despite the lack of first, second and seventh gears. This race was broadcast during the era when ITV had the rights to F1 in the UK, and unfortunately technical problems mean we cannot broadcast highlights for you.

    Finally, Heidfeld has chosen Brazil 2008, not because of anything special he did (he finished 10th for BMW Sauber), but because of its famous finish that saw McLaren's Lewis Hamilton regaining the fifth place he needed to win the title from Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who won the race, on the last corner of the last lap.

    As always, we pick one race to highlight to help whet your appetites for the action at the forthcoming grand prix.

    Heidfeld has made five excellent choices, but as Monaco is the next race, we have plumped for that event in 1988.

    It is worth a bit of back story. Senna was on pole by an astonishing 1.4 seconds from Prost - and was later famously to talk about having what felt like an out-of-body experience while he went faster and faster around the principality.

    The Brazilian's utter domination continued in the race, helped by Prost being beaten away from the start by the slower Ferrari of Gerhard Berger.

    The Frenchman finally got past on lap 54, by which time Senna had a 46-second lead and was totally in control. But this was only the third race of the 1988 season, for which the Brazilian had joined McLaren, where his main aim was to establish himself as better than Prost, then regarded as the finest driver in the world.

    The result was a battle of wills, for pride, between the two finest drivers of their generation - and two of the greatest ever. And in Monaco, this was to lead to Senna's downfall.

    Free of Berger, Prost started trading fastest laps with Senna. McLaren boss Ron Dennis, concerned that the team might lose a one-two, assured Senna his lead was safe and he backed off.

    But when Prost then gained six seconds in one lap on his team-mate, Senna responded by setting two fastest laps - and then crashed at Portier after losing concentration.

    Shell-shocked, and in tears, he returned to his nearby apartment, refusing to speak to his team or answer calls. It was the first of many twists in a drama that was to grip sporting fans the world over for the next five years.

    The full 'Grand Prix' programme broadcast that evening on the BBC is embedded below, with links below it to shorter highlights and long and short highlights of Mark Webber's dominant win for Red Bull in Monaco in 2010.

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    CLICK HERE FOR SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 MONACO GRAND PRIX
    CLICK HERE FOR EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 MONACO GRAND PRIX

    A selection of classic races will be shown on the BBC red button on satellite and cable digital television in the UK from 1500 BST on Wednesday 25 May until 1030 BST on Friday 27 May. The races selected are extended highlights of Monaco 1988, short highlights of Brazill 2001 and Brazil 2008 and extended highlights of Monaco 2010.

    Unfortunately, because of a lack of bandwidth caused by our coverage of the French Open tennis, we are unable to broadcast these highlights on Freeview.

    Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/05/nick_heidfeld_-_classic_f1_201.html

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    Why the NASCAR Foundation Organization Supports Charity

    A good organization supports charity and NASCAR does just that through its NASCAR foundation. The foundation has a program where for a 30 dollar donation you can join in on the NASCAR track walk. The Home Depot, one of the nations largest retail home improvement centers, is a major sponsor of the promotions and holds charitable events with proceeds going to the Foundation. But who does the Foundation support and what kinds of events do they hold to raise funds?

    One thing they do is sponsor auctions where the proceeds go to one of the foundations supported by the foundation. For example, on September 17, 2007, they announced bidding on Jeff Gordon full-sized and autographed fiberglass auto body. The proceeds from this auction go to the Jeff Gordon Foundation which supports pediatric medical care of children with serious and life-threatening disease.

    The NASCAR foundation holds the Blood and Marrow Drives at different tracks each year. The donations help out the Jimmie Johnson Foundation and the Hendrick Marrow Program. Other charities of the Foundation are:

    The Dale Earnhardt Foundation,This is a foundation run by the wife of the racing great who died in a race car crash in 2001. Dale Earnhardt was concerned about education, children, and wildlife and his commitment lives on through this foundation.

    The Kyle Petty Charity Ride,Kyle Petty is the son of the King of NASCAR Richard Petty and he sponsors a motorcycle ride across the USA for the Victory Junction Gang Camp as well as other childrens charities.

    Victory Junction Gang Camp,This is an organization with the mission of helping to enrich the lives of children with serious illnesses by providing them a camping experience in a medically-safe environment. It was founded by Kyle Petty and his wife Pattie in June 2004. The couple also donated the land that the camp stands on today. The camp is interesting because it was built with a racing theme and all the look of a race track. The camp takes cash donations and there are volunteer opportunities. It is also gives a quilt and a teddy bear to each child who stays there so they are always looking for donations of these two items to replenish their supply.

    There are many ways to donate to the foundation. One way is through the NASCARs Auto Donation program. Here, you can donate a vehicle and then any of the proceeds that the Auto Donation program gets from the proceeds in an auction are given to charity. All donations are fully tax deductible.

    The Day Telethon,This was a telethon held on May 18, 2007 across from Lowes Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Speed Channel, NASCAR, and Sirius radio broadcasted this telethon event through the end of the Craftsman Truck Series Race.

    There are many other charitable organizations supported by the Foundation but it is obvious that they care about contributing to the community which is probably one of the reasons why this sport is becoming increasingly popular.

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    Article Source: Why the NASCAR Foundation Organization Supports Charity

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    Michael Stephen Wallace Russell William Wallace Jr Michael Curtis Waltrip Scott Alan Wimmer

    Power play over new F1 rules

    A major revolution in Formula 1 engine and car design scheduled for the 2013 season is under threat.

    The plan is to replace the current 2.4-litre V8 engines with 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbos fitted with extensive environmental technology and for the cars to be made more efficient.

    The idea is to help popularise sustainable technologies, which are already being used in road cars, and therefore to insulate F1 from any accusations that it is profligate with resources. As a result, it is hoped F1 will become more attractive to other car companies.

    Except that the changes, which we have discussed extensively on this blog over the last year or so, might not happen - at least not in two years' time.

    They are already formally part of the regulations for 2013. But F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone has recently given voice to a view within the sport that the changes should either be postponed or abandoned. And he has a powerful ally in the shape of Ferrari.

    Publicly, Ecclestone's objections to the new engine focus on three fundamental areas:

    • Spectacle - he believes the new engines will sound flatter, quieter and less dramatic than the current ones, reducing an important part of the sport's appeal

  • Money - he is worried the sport cannot afford the cost of developing the engines, which will be between 40-100 million Euros (£36-89m) depending on which estimate you believe.
  • Ferrari - the Italian legend runs F1's most famous and therefore most important team and its views need to be taken seriously. It is opposed to the new engine formula because it feels it has no synergy with its road cars and because it feels there are cheaper and more effective ways of making F1 more fuel-efficient.
  • Ferrari is as aware of the need to market energy-efficient technologies as anyone. It is embracing environmental technology on its road cars - it has, for example, released a version of its California GT car with a version of the stop-start systems that are becoming increasingly common in road cars, and it has developed a hybrid version of its monster 599 supercar.

    It has objected specifically to the size of the engine - why restrict it to four cylinders, president Luca di Montezemolo has asked, branding the current rule "pathetic"?

    Felipe Massa's Ferrari suffers an engine problem during winter testing

    Will Ferrari's opposition mean the 2013 engine changes go up in smoke? Photo: Getty

    Ferrari is also pushing to ensure the 2013 chassis rules reflect its belief that the importance of aerodynamics is out of all proportion in F1. It wants them to be reined in so other aspects such as the mechanical and suspension set-up have more relevance, as is the case with road cars

    But it is not just Ecclestone and Ferrari. Although the teams approved these rules, which they worked on with Jean Todt, president of governing body the FIA, other team principals have reservations, too.

    One told me the arguments put forward for introducing the new engines do not stand up, in his view.

    One of those arguments was that F1's use of increasingly outmoded engine technology was a barrier not only to attracting new sponsors of the kind that want to be associated with sustainability, but also to new car manufacturers entering the sport.

    The engine change was proposed after German giant Volkswagen Audi indicated that it could be interested in F1 if the engine formula mirrored the future direction of road cars.

    Doubters point out that not only have no new sponsors obviously been attracted, but that VW has since decided not to enter F1 for the foreseeable future.

    As a result, the critics say, all the new rules will do is increase the cost for the existing participants. That is a major concern at a time when, according to one team boss, "there are a few teams on the breadline".

    Equally, it seems that, among the current engine manufacturers, not only Ferrari is getting cold feet.

    Mercedes would prefer not to change the rules; it is concerned about the expense and questions whether it is necessary, although I understand it has told fellow stakeholders it will go along with what everyone else agrees. Independent Cosworth is said to be not that keen either, although it told BBC Sport it was "neutral" and dismissed suggestions that it could not afford to build the engines. Only Renault will publicly say it is in favour.

    The environmental argument is getting a bit of kicking, too.

    The emissions created by an entire season of F1 races are less than those produced by one Boeing 747 flying to Japan. Road car manufacturers are already developing these engines. So why, some say, is F1 bothering? F1, the argument goes, should be about escapism, and the sport should be focusing on delivering more races like the recent thrilling Chinese Grand Prix.

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    So why not abandon or postpone the plan? Well, it is not as simple as that.

    Renault's backing is rooted in marketing - it does not, unlike Mercedes and Ferrari, run its own F1 team and, unlike Cosworth, racing engines are not its core business.

    Renault's F1 managing director Jean-Francois Caubet says the fact the sport is changing to a new more sustainable engine formula is one of three reasons for staying involved.

    "The proposed rules are road-relevant and completely in line with Renault's road car strategy," he says. "We have already started design concepts on the 2013 engine, as this dovetails with our plans in road cars."

    The French company plans for such engines - let's call them small capacity turbo-hybrid - to make up at least 70% of its road-car portfolio by 2015. It accepts the new F1 rules will cost money, but believes that is a price worth paying.

    Caubet says Renault's presence in F1 is not "dependent on any future engine regulations", but does add the company is "very supportive of any regulations that make F1 more relevant to the overall aims of the Renault group".

    Equally, proponents of the new engines point out that it is unfair to say no new manufacturers or sponsors have come in as a result of the new rules.

    The change is still two years away, so how is it possible to know whether new sponsors will be attracted?

    And just because no new car manufacturers have entered yet does not mean they will not. VW got cold feet, it is believed, because F1 took so long to agree the rules. Either way, the only sure thing is that new companies will not enter F1 if the engine rules stay the same.

    As for Ecclestone, cynics in F1 - and there are many - believe his objections are at least as much about a couple of other issues he has not mentioned publicly.

    One is that he and Todt simply do not get along. As someone who knows Ecclestone well said: "He's against it because Todt is for it."

    FIA president Jean Todt and F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone

    Todt and Ecclestone do not see eye to eye on the new rules. Photo: Getty

    There is also the fact that the sport's stakeholders are embarking on what will be tough and protracted negotiations aimed at extending the Concorde Agreement, the document that binds together the teams, the FIA and the commercial rights holders.

    Ecclestone - representing the commercial rights holders, CVC - knows that both the teams and the FIA are unhappy with their financial arrangements and are asking for an improvement.

    The teams are a potentially major headache for him. Currently, they get 47% of F1's revenues divided between them - and they are angling for as much as 80%. The teams are united under the umbrella group Fota, and have resisted all attempts to break them up over the last few years. Some believe Ecclestone sees the argument over engines as a chance to annex Ferrari and split Fota.

    Of Ecclestone's public concerns, the least plausible is over the sound of the engines.

    F1 used 1.5-litre turbo engines - and a formula restricting fuel usage, which is also part of the new rules - in the mid-1980s. Far from driving fans away, this is looked back on as one of the most exciting eras in the sport's history.

    Insiders point out that only a handful of die-hard aficionados care about the sound of the engines - and that these people will watch anyway. The wider TV audience - which is of far more critical importance to the financial health of the sport - would probably not even notice the difference.

    Equally, even if the sound of the engines is a concern, this can be addressed at least to some degree by tuning the exhaust.

    As for affordability, the argument that the smaller teams will not be able to afford the new engines is easy to resolve - the manufacturers simply have to agree not to pass on the cost of development, and to keep the sale price of the engines the same as it is now.

    In such situations, F1 usually finds a compromise - although that would mean Todt being seen to publicly back down, which is far from an easy sell when this is the first big change in F1 rules under his presidency.

    But what would the compromise be?

    An influential figure has recently proposed that the new rules could be postponed for a year until 2014. This would coincide with the fact that Pirelli's contract as tyre supplier runs out at the end of 2013 and allow the planned change of wheel-rim diameter from 13 to 15 inches to coincide with the new chassis rules, on which the wheel change has a significant impact.

    Perhaps the current engines could be retained but with their Kers systems increased in power, and used to promote efficiency - such as running the cars purely on electric power in the pit lane. Perhaps a fuel restriction - part of the new rules anyway - could be introduced but not the new engines. Or a combination of some or all of the above.

    The problem is that while all these arguments are going on, 2013 is getting ever closer, and engines have a long lead time. Manufacturers have already started work on the new designs, because that's what the rules say will be required.

    Insiders say that, realistically, any decision will have to be made by the end of the summer. Any longer than that, and any objections will be academic - enough money will have been spent on the new engines that they might as well be adopted.

    So if Ecclestone and Ferrari are going to spike the 2013 engine rules, they are going to have to get on with it.

    Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/04/power_play_over_new_f1_rules.html

    Landon Cassill Morgan Shepherd Kroger Ford Kenny Wallace

    Williams seek to end cycle of decline

    If the idea was to attract attention, Williams certainly succeeded. Choosing Mike Coughlan, one of two men at the heart of 2007's 'spy-gate' scandal, to spearhead your attempt to reverse a cycle of decline is guaranteed to get you headlines.

    This, after all, is the man who, when he was employed as McLaren's chief designer, sent his wife to photocopy nearly 800 pages of Ferrari technical information in a local shop. Unsurprisingly, the assistant got suspicious, phoned Maranello, and the rest is history. McLaren were ultimately fined $100m and thrown out of that year's constructors' championship.

    Coughlan was banned from F1 for two years and has filled his time since designing a vehicle for the army, working in the US-based Nascar stock-car series and, briefly, for the still-born Stefan Grand Prix team.

    Now, though, he is back, following a decision by Williams to employ him as chief engineer in a reshuffle of their technical department aimed at recapturing the glory days of the third most successful team in F1 history.

    As part of the changes, Sam Michael, who has been technical director for seven years, and chief aerodynamicist Jon Tomlinson have both resigned, although they will stay in their current roles until the end of the year.

    And in perhaps the most significant change of all, Williams co-founder Patrick Head will retire from his role as director of engineering later this year, although he will remain involved in both the F1 team and specific other Williams sister companies as a shareholder and board member.

    Head is one of the most experienced and widely respected men in F1 so, for the many both inside and outside F1 who care about whether this iconic team can recapture at least some of their past form, his continued involvement is reassuring.

    As these changes have made clear, though, those hopes can no longer be invested in Head or even, to some degree, team founder and owner Sir Frank Williams, who formed one of the most remarkable partnerships in F1 history.

    The man who has been given the reins is the chairman Adam Parr, who was formally named as the man in charge of the day-to-day running of Williams last summer.

    A Williams returns to the pits with a shredded tyre

    The wheels have been coming off at Williams for some time. Photo: Getty

    Since then, Parr and the seven-man Williams board have certainly been ringing the changes.

    The first was the decision to drop the promising German Nico Hulkenberg, who impressed increasingly in the course of his debut season in 2010, and replace him with Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado.

    Judging by their careers so far, Maldonado is not Hulkenberg's equal on ability, but he came with a sizeable and lengthy sponsorship deal from his country's state oil company.

    The decision to hire him, then, was an effective admission that long gone were the days of Williams being successful enough to choose their drivers on merit and let their performance on track deliver the necessary sponsorship resources. That particular equation had been reversed by the tide of declining results.

    A second controversial decision was floating the team on the Frankfurt stock exchange, making it effectively the only F1 team to be a publicly listed company - although of course Mercedes and Ferrari are indirectly listed through their parent companies.

    It has not gone especially well so far. The shares fell on their first day of trading and recently had lost a third of their value. They rebounded, though, on Tuesday following the news of the changes at the team.

    The fact that there was a resurgence is interesting in itself - it's not necessarily what you would expect in the context of a decision to employ a man at the centre of one of the two biggest scandals in F1 over the last four years.

    But while Coughlan's return was certainly a surprise to many in F1, perhaps that reflects an essential truth about his appointment, one voiced by Williams and Parr themselves. Spy-gate was a long time ago, he has served his punishment, it is probably time to move on.

    That certainly seems to be McLaren's view of the matter. "The events that led to our decision to terminate Mike's contract occurred nearly four years ago," a spokesman told BBC Sport. "He's an experienced engineer and Williams are a famous team which we would all like to see recover to better fortunes."

    The reshuffle at Williams follows the worst start to a season in the team's history, with drivers Rubens Barrichello and Maldonado failing to score points in the first three races. But unacceptable as that was, as Williams have themselves described it, what really prompted the changes was the difference between on-track performance and pre-season expectation.

    For a number of years now, Williams have started each F1 season proclaiming that their new car was the one that would deliver a return to form. The difference in 2011 was that this time they really believed it.

    The new FW33 is quite a radical design, featuring a remarkably small gearbox, the intention of which was to free up as much airflow as possible to what is now the critical area at the bottom of the rear wing.

    "This year, we really thought we'd come out fighting," said the team's head of communications, Claire Williams, Frank's daughter, on Wednesday. "We thought we had the potential for more podiums only to find the reality was we had regressed further. After however many years, that wasn't acceptable any more."

    In the short to medium term, it is Coughlan who has been charged with turning the team's fortunes around. The 52-year-old is to be considered for Michael's soon-to-be-vacant role. And even if they ultimately appoint someone else as technical director, Coughlan is responsible for next year's car and will clearly remain a key figure in the technical department for some years to come.

    He is a man of vast experience - he has been in F1 since 1984 and has worked for Lotus, Benetton, Ferrari, Arrows and McLaren. He is regarded as very bright, enthusiastic and hard-working, even if he is, as someone said to me on Wednesday, "not exactly Adrian Newey".

    That was a bit harsh. Newey, the man responsible for Red Bull's current period of domination, is a genius, one of the greatest engineers in F1 history. The problem for all the other F1 teams is that he is one of a kind. But you can see why the comparison was made - their shared history means it is Newey's shadow that hangs heaviest over Williams.

    The team's spell at the very top of F1 ended with his departure for McLaren. The final car he had an influence on, the 1997 FW19, was the last Williams to win a title. And they have never been the same since.

    Frank Williams has admitted that letting Newey go, not acceding to his demands for more involvement in the running of the team, was his biggest mistake. But expecting a return to those days, of the fastest car in F1, of seasons - entire eras - of domination, is a pipe dream, as Parr himself admits.

    When I asked him on the eve of the season why Williams had not won a race since 2004, he turned the question back at me. "Let's just switch it around," he said. "Why would you expect Williams to beat Ferrari?"

    It was a fair point. Years of lack of performance have produced a vicious circle of decline. Lack of results makes it harder to attract the best drivers and sponsors with big money. Lack of resources makes it even harder to produce a winning car. And not being able to attract a man who can transcend it - a Hamilton, an Alonso - makes the results even more elusive. So it goes on.

    Even Barrichello's vast experience and highly regarded technical ability, which was instrumental in helping Williams recover from a poor start last year, has not helped them produce a competitive car in 2011.

    Coughlan's job, then, is not to return Williams to its previous heights, but to restore respectability, get them back on an even keel. Only then can they think again about going further.

    Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/05/williams_look_for_way_out_of_c.html

    Horace Gould Jean Marc Gounon Emmanuel de Graffenried Lucas di Grassi