We've got interest now!

According to Bloomberg, Daimler and Aabar are paying around $184.2m for 75.1% of Brawn GP making the saviors of Honda's F1 team an immense chunk of coin. You do the math. How amazing it was that a sub-par team called Honda decided to quit F1 after spending a great amount of time and money developing what would end up being the strongest car for pretty much the first half of the season.

Instead of putting all those people who worked so hard for the team out on their asses they sold the team to Ross Brawn and company for a British pound sterling and THEN financed that season for them with the understanding that "You get one free year and then it is up to you to make this work and if you don't then it is your conscience that has to deal with making all these people jobless"

This ultimately led to the newly named/birthed Brawn GP who went on to sew up the constructors championship AND the drivers race as well in only their first year, something that had never happened before and to top it all off it was the team's only year... and on somebody else's dime!!!

If that wasn't a good enough of a story now they've gone and flipped the frotting team for $184.2 million dollars because Mercedes wanted to have more say in how an F1 team was run as well as not having much interest in financing a team that will soon be producing supercars that will challenge their own works?

I do recall an earlier entry at the end of March where I proclaimed "Ross Brawn may be Jesus Christ" and I'm beginning to think I was right. Making crappy bloated teams into dual, lean championship winners and then selling the team for a tidy pile of money... a lot like turning water in to wine if you think about it, but with a capitalistic lean.

Brawny Mercedes

Norb Haug is apparently hinting at some sort of "surprise" in the form of driver line up and thus people are talking about Michael Schumacher coming back to drive for the silver arrows as he has purportedly given up F1 counseling duties with Ferrari and is supposedly just working with the development of road cars. However, I always thought the reason Ferrari was giving Schumacher these contracts over the past three years was to keep him legally bound to the team till he was too old to go driving any more and thus not any kind of competition threat to them any more, which is when he would really be allowed to fully retire.

Don't get me wrong, that would be awesome if Schumacher ditched Ferrari and hooked up with his old mate Ross Brawn and drove a Nazi rocket sleigh around F1 tracks. That would be gold. Especially if he won!

In the end it would be far more than a simple surprise if M. Schumacher came back to F1 driving a Mercedes. I have a feeling Haug's surprise is Kimi Raikkonen. Now that WOULD be a surprise. Getting rid of a cheap Button for an expensive Kimi.

Whatever. I wish them all the best in their new teams... and surprise me with a Schumacher of the non Ralf variety.

They only care about Jenson Button and Nick Heidfeld's fucking stupid beards...

Ok... Button & Heidfeld's stupid shit beards and poor old Tom Pryce's viscous demise. Those three things are what drive traffic to this fine, proud, and often times humorous Formula One blog. I will go down in the annals of Formula One history as the guy that analyzed the facial hair trends of F1. I'm not even finished yet. For the past year or two I've been wanting to put together a somewhat definitive piece on facial hair through out F1's years I just have not had the time to compile it the way I would like.

It is unfortunate that as soon as the season ends I have time to write about the sport. I don't quite get it other than the fact that my life as a whole quiets down during the late fall and that as soon as Formula One is over and done with I start to pine for it and feel the need to speak about it in an effort to quench my thirst for F1 action.

I sit here with my autographed picture of the late Ronnie Peterson's beautiful Lotus looking down upon me proud of the fact that I may never find the means and the way to become a "proper" Formula One journalist but at least I can amuse people from time to time and that they know where to go when curious about Jenson Button or Nick Heidfeld's facial hair.

Toyodor

Well, it is 2am round about now and I keep reading very loud whispers about Toyota pulling out of F1 with immediate effect and just closing the team down. Not selling it. No nothin'. Just game over.

I'm bummed in a sense since Toyota looked like they were making some progress. I had always hoped they'd secure at least one win... but doesn't look like that is going to happen now.

Honestly, I probably wouldn't even really give a fiddler's fart about it all had stupid Timo Glock not skinned his knee and vertebrae and opened the door for that loveable and adorable ragamuffin Kamui Kobayashi to go racing.

I have absolutely no 100% solid reason as to why this guy amuses me as much as he does, other than the fact that he's pissed off Button and driven hard in his two races and managed to pick up some points quite quick. I just hope the guy has found a few supporters inside the F1 circle and can hopefully land a ride with one of the new teams.

Hell... Sauber's probably got a seat open now that they are a team again saying they had a provisional spot and now that Toyota's about to call it a day. Come on Peter Sauber. Kamui Kobayashi is worth a shot. This incarnation of Sauber wouldn't even be stepping up to go racing had Toyota not just pulled out.

However, for all I know the management at Toyota were just saying Kobayashi would get the drive next year since they knew their team was toast. Trying to do The Kob a favor, raising his stock.

Either way, I hope Mr. Kobayashi finds a ride next year. Obviously the guy has made a good impression on me and I am very suspicious of Japanese F1 drivers in general. They never seem to deliver... yet this guy has my attention for some reason.

Lastly, I'm glad Max Mosley's prediction of the manufacturers making a semi mass exodus is finally coming true. As crazy and stupid as some folks thought Mad Max was, you can't say the guy didn't know what he was talking about even if the reason the manufacturers are leaving are for different reasons than Mosley predicted. Or not.

Max probably didn't expect to be on his way out with the manufacturers however I am glad he had the foresight to get the costs lowered and get Cosworth back.

The Kob

I like Kamui Kobayashi. He is goofy looking. He smiles a lot. He gives entertaining and candid interviews and most important he is a balsy, aggressive driver... but doesn't appear to be a "crazy" or "wild" driver like I always felt Takuma Sato was. Hopefully he will get a drive with Toyota next year. Hopefully Toyota will still be in F1 next year.

Earlier today I was reading some articles about who goes where next year. The topic of USF1 was brought up, how they want to promote American drivers yet there are no Americans currently holding a superlicense. I figure Scott Speed probably still has a superlicense. Do they expire? I mean he only got shitcanned from Toro Rosso a year and a half ago. However, maybe the article I was reading meant that any American that USF1 is mildly interested in does not have a superlicense. I suppose that is fine considering old Scott Speed says "I hardly even follow Formula One any more". He's content to keep driving those big old NASCAR shitboxes around ovals while Red Balls foots the bill. I can't say I completely blame him I suppose... though I'd still follow F1.