Malaysia Review: An Emotional F1 Finish

Is that a "Hook 'Em" sign he's throwing up? Image courtesy of Sauber Motorsport AGSunday's Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepand International Circuit was exciting and filled with endless complications, making it stressful and thrilling at the same time. Rain plagued the event from the beginning to the end, pushing some behind while opening gaps for others. Fernando Alonso of Ferrari took the lead with Mexico's Sergio Perez of Sauber F1 Team racing just seconds behind. A fight to the bitter end, the potential of Perez to take the podium over Alonso seemed inevitable, with Sergio gaining almost half a second a lap on Alonso consistently.

While pushing the limit to fight with Alonso, Perez made a costly error with just 5 laps to go, ending his chances to take the lead. In post-race interviews, Perez asserted he could have taken the win, and with the exception of his error near the end, his argument was well justified.

Ferrari's return to the podium for first position marks the end of a difficult streak lasting since the British GP last summer, their last race win. With a lackluster pre-season testing session and a significant difference so far this year between Alonso and his teammate Felipe Massa, Ferrari is not firing on all cylinders so to speak. Felipe Massa managed a lackluster 15th place, showing a stark contrast between him and Alonso and putting himself in a vulnerable position for future replacement.

Rumors have been developing over the last several months of Ferrari replacing Massa with Perez.  Ferrari are of course keen to retake their dominance, but as the Red Bull/McLaren threat remains very, very real, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Ferrari looking to replace Felipe Massa with another talented young driver.

Sergio's second place finish just seconds behind Alonso was certainly a harsh dose of reality to the Maranello, Italy based team. Massa, like Perez, got his start in F1 with Peter Sauber's team before making his move to Ferrari in 2005 after a three year stint and two 4th place positions under his belt.

Rumors of a Perez move to Ferrari are still just rumors at this point, but while watching Sergio this weekend, it's clear he's auditioning for a better seat in F1, and that may not be that far off.

Not only are the eyes of the F1 club all over Sergio right now, but his home country is beginning to embrace their future star. Following Sergio's second place finish on Sunday, social networks were full of congratulatory messages, including a tweet from Mexican President, Felipe Calderon.  

Loosely translated: Congratulations to Sergio Perez for second place prize at the Malaysian Grand Prix. Extraordinary race!

Sergio's finish is the first time a Mexican driver has stood on the podium since Pedro Rodriguez in 1971. Seeing Perez with a big smile on his face on the podium brought joy and thrill to his loyal fans and fellow countrymen and women. This position was his best in F1 and hopefully the first of many for the young Mexican.

Perez and the Sauber team took a trip to Mexico last year to put on a street demo at an enthusiastic and well attended event. Though his impact on the culture of Central America is largely under-represented by the European dominated sport of F1, this story deserves far more attention, especially considering the construction of Circuit of The Americas, just a few hundred miles away from the US-Mexico border.

Here's Sergio doing the street demo in his home town of Guadalajara:

The Year via the Rearview Mirror

As many of us look back on 2011, what stands out as your favorite memory?

From time to time I take a look at what we were writing about on this site at the same time last year. Imagine my surprise to discover it was the aerial photos of the racetrack site, before any construction had begun. From my window seat on a flight into Austin, I was surprised how many times I had flown over the land before and never really noticed it, but honestly, there wasn't too much to stare at in Elroy from an airplane window. However, just a day after our photo release, first signs of work appeared on site as a construction crew met with Tavo Hellmund for a photo-op and official ground-breaking of the site. It wasn't quite the gold shovel event we were hoping it would be, but naysayers and 'boondoggle' speculators were hushed as Tavo showed the world that construction was underway.

Since this announcment, looking back at 2011 has revealed a truth, it's been a fantastic year, both as fans of motorsports and as a team here at AGP, we have constantly been surprised with each of this year's exciting happenings. From early on in the year, the connection we made with Asif Kapadia facilitated the introduction of SENNA at the SXSW film festival, opening up the life of Ayrton Senna for fans and non-fans of motorsports. From my point of view, it truly changed my life, not only seeing the immense technical and competitive war within the sport, but personalities that extended far beyond the track. It opened up the sport to me in a way that even Kevin couldn't explain, and many we talked with as well, were also just so surprised with the way the movie effected them.

Following the SXSW festival, the formal announcment of Circuit of The Americas at the press conference in April came quicker than expected, with the added bonus of MotoGP and growing evidence of major site construction and heavy equipment at the track. The summer's city council meetings along with the MAKE IT HAPPEN campaign we started, helped drive the community to rally to support COTA and the City of Austin to move forward.

During the one month Formula 1 break, the SENNA movie returned to Austin as the hype for Formula 1 grew and getting a chance to speak with viewers of the film just following their experience at Violet Crown Cinema was a real treat. To add icing on the cake, Red Bull Racing and former F1 driver David Coulthard visited Austin for a commercial shoot which roared throught the streets of downtown and the county roads outside. This was a great chance for many to get their first glimpse at an F1 car in person. It was quite a treat and undoubtibly was a great sucess in opening the eyes (and ears) of many curious Austinites.

The final leg of the season segwayed into a downtown watch party location at SIX Lounge, and started a new venue for fans and non-fans to get together and watch, learn, and relax on a Sunday afternoon. Opening up an additional location was critical in our mind to help expand the reach of motorsport to new fans.

As the one year countdown to the innagural race approached, things began to shake up a bit between Bernie Ecclestone and the officals of COTA. Things finally were ironed out just a few weeks later, and on December 7th, the official placement of the Formula 1 race in Austin was secured, along with a revised contract with the officials of COTA and F1. It was an early holiday treat, but a very welcome one as the fate of Austin's race was surely going to effect the fans in the US.

So where are we today? Looking back at this past year and the magnificent things that have happened, it's hard to not be so anxious for 2012 to begin. Only a few hours away and we'll be counting down the days to the first race at COTA and the return of Formula 1 to the U.S. after several years. It should be no surprise that more and more attention will be paid to what's happening here, likely to cause some headaches, but nontheless, we are proud to welcome everything that will be happening in 2012. It's likely to get 300% more exciting, and we at AGP are ready for 2012! Are you?

"Formula 1 and Circuit of The Americas Ready to Roll"

Adding to the positive news from the FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting earlier this morning, Circuit of The Americas has issued a press release confirming:

COTA has reached an agreement with F1 Management, ensuring the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix remains on the FIA Formula 1 World Championship race calendar.

Bernie Ecclestone "received his check today" (Joe Saward believes the price tag to now be $35MM).

Construction will resume immediately, ensuring completion for the 2012 race date.

Tavo's vision is referenced but as reported earlier, we do not see his information on the COTA website any longer.

You can read the full release here.

Congratulations to our friends at Circuit of The Americas! We are hopeful that the Texas weather will continue to cooperate so construction can progress at full steam ahead.

We are already reading your mind. You're thinking: "When do tickets go on sale!?" You should sign up for their official email list by clicking HERE.

//UPDATE

Formula 1 adds the news to their front page

Austin Remains on 2012 F1 Calendar

More official reports are emerging that the 2012 F1 calendar has been ratified by the FIA World Motor Sport Council at their meeting in New Delhi. This means the Austin Formula One race scheduled for November 16-18, 2012 officially remains on the calendar. This is also an opportune time to mention that it was never officially removed from the F1 calendar, despite rumors and gossip over the past month amidst what we believe to be heavy negotiations.

Official Press Release from the December 7, 2011 World Motor Sport Council meeting is here.

While we share in the excitement and relief of this announcement, it will be interesting to continue to see what announcements are made over the next 12 hours; it is 5 o'clock in the morning in Austin, Texas and we expect further details to emerge from Circuit of The Americas. What sort of deal was reached with COTA and F1? Was Tavo Hellmund involved? Will construction resume immediately? Is it feasible to complete the Circuit in time for inspection ahead of November 16, 2012? Have local hotel rooms been released for anxious travelers to book up?

As you've come to expect...stay tuned!

Nick Craw meets with Formula 1 United States team members as well as local, city and state officials and gave the project development plan his approval and a strong “thumbs up”. Nick Craw, ACCUS President for the US, Senate President of the FIA; Tavo Hellmund, Chairman of the Formula 1 United States; Peter Wahl, Managing Partner of Tilke GmbH. Taken 21 October 2010.

Circuit of The Americas Ready to Deliver $25 Million

Special Delivery for Mr. EcclestoneCircuit of The Americas has issued a bold statement on this Thanksgiving holiday: we have the cash to pay Formula One Management's 2012 race sanctioning fee and we've met the contractual requirements to proceed with our race. Now, it appears that the ball is in Bernie's court to countersign the contract. Here is the release:

Circuit of The Americas Ready to Pay Sanctioning Fee and Offering More

Proposal Satisfies 2012 Request, Accelerates Payments for Subsequent Years

AUSTIN, Texas - November 24, 2011 - Circuit of The Americas has responded to Formula One Management's contract requirements by agreeing to an immediate cash payment of the sanctioning fee for the 2012 United States Grand Prix (USGP). In addition, Circuit of The Americas has offered to establish an advance payment schedule for USGP races beyond 2012. The offer comes after several weeks of talks, and once accepted, will secure the USGP on the Formula 1 race calendar.

 "We have been ready to send Mr. Ecclestone a sanctioning fee check for some time now," said Bobby Epstein, founding partner of Circuit of The Americas. "He hasn't received it yet because the new contract presented to us two weeks ago contained unrealistic and unfeasible demands. We have signed and returned a contract similar to what we anticipated receiving. This race should be a reality, but if we are going to make the 2012 race date, we must receive a countersignature in the coming few days. We believe the teams, fans, sponsors and local business share our enthusiasm and hope that their voices will be heard."

We have been anticipating Bernie to make an announcement about our Austin Grand Prix this weekend, during the last race of the 2011 season from the Brazilian Grand Prix.

What is most interesting to us is that COTA has confirmed the viability to pay the 2012 race sanctioning fee immediately with $25 million in cash. You will recall, that the Comptroller of the State of Texas, Susan Combs, recently retracted her offer to pay Formula One Management its $25 million sanctioning fee in advance of the race. She explains the change of events in an interview with local Austin news channel KVUE; you can watch the unedited version of the video by clicking here.

How will Bernie respond? What role is Tavo playing going forward? With the recent halt in construction, is it feasible for us to finish the track in time for our slated November 18, 2012 race date? These are still real questions that will be answered in due time, but we feel reassured that our investors have answered Bernie's recent demands by committing the payment and contract.

As Will Buxton told us all back in June, we all want the 2012 race to happen, so let's MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Don't forget, we have our last downtown watch party of the 2011 season back at Six Lounge this Sunday. We'll kick things off at 1:30 PM with food from Pluckers Wing Bar and drink specials from Red Bull and Pepe Z Tequila. Come ready to race because Robert DeGroff will have his ever popular iRacing simulator on hand for guests to take for a spin.

Sunday, November 27, 1:30 PM

Six Lounge, 117 W. 4th Street, Austin

Free and open to adults over the age of 21

Facebook Event Invitation here

Hope to see you all this Sunday, and Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends!

Tavo Hellmund Speaks About Future of F1 in Austin

 /// Audio Recording of Tavo Hellmund Press Conference

/// Overview of Press Conference

Just a few hours ago, Tavo Hellmund called a press conference to address the growing concern about the future of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix to take place at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas next November.  In this conference, he explained the complicated situation that has lead to increased scrutiny by Formula 1 head Bernie Ecclestone and spoke more about his own relationship with Circuit of The Americas.

In a tiny room packed to capacity in downtown Austin, Tavo and his attorney, Casey Dobson, began by calming the waters which have lead to a full scale media assault on the future of Formula 1 in Austin. Tavo was confident in his belief that this will be sorted out, but conveyed a sense of frustration with his partners in order to get FOM (Formula One Managment) their sanctioning fee for the upcoming race.

Unlike the speculation by many media outlets that Tavo has been solely to blame and responsible for the events leading up to this situation, Tavo enlightened us on the past several months leading up to this day.  Most notably that the race was always supposed to be post-Montreal (in June), and due to concerns about circuit completion schedule, Bernie was helpful in accomodating the move to November on the calendar.

However, this schedule change did not effect the initial $25million payment to Bernie which was still due in late July, and though Bernie was very patient, the investors have been unable to provide these funds even several months afterward.  Thus, the contract Tavo had with Bernie is now considered breached and Bernie has still not been paid.

At this point in the press conference, Tavo expressed several times that the money just isn't there, and the Circuit of The Americas has put him in a difficult situation.  He conveyed several times that he is not a money man, and though his expertise in motorsports and promotions are very, very valuable to the success of Formula 1 in the US, he has been sidelined by his own partners due to a "difference in vision for the project."  Tavo did not elaborate on what this difference is, or what portion of the project has caused this conflict, but it's clear that Tavo is confident he has gone above and beyond his duties to his partners and is the primary man pushing for this work work out.

Many of the other reporters asked Tavo questions about his status with the team and whether he had been 'pushed out' of the project.  Tavo did respond with a simple statement that he had been offered a buyout but he did not disclose any details.

/// Conjecture

Today Tavo spoke more about the internal conflicts involving a "difference in vision for the project" which fall in line with Bernie's claims a few weeks ago.  Whether the nature of these conflicts have made solidifying the funding for the project difficult has not yet been proven but it's likely that the other partners are looking to solidify their race contracts before investing any more money into the project.  What remains to be seen is if COTA is willing and ready to work with Tavo to make it happen, assuming of course that they aren't trying to get their own race contract on their own.

All statements from COTA the past week have indicated they are ready to do so.

Of course all anyone really cares about is if this race is going to happen, and at this point there are still some things that we need to see before we know for sure.  The first would be the funding for the race contract to be secured and sent to Bernie ASAP, this would solidify the race on the calendar and cast the doubt aside.  The second is for the Circuit and Tavo to iron out the details of their relationship to ensure a positive outcome for all parties.

As Tavo said in the conference, no one has put more blood, sweat and tears into this project than him, and his background combined with his connections within the industry make him THE person to ensure the Grand Prix is a success.  When I first met Tavo in July 2010, following inital F1USGP Press Conference, I immediately felt confident that he was the man with the vision and determination to see this project through and it would be a severe tragedy to see Tavo left behind on this project for problems that can be worked out.

You can read our live tweets from the press conference by clicking here.

Given the gravity of today's press conference, we expect more developments from all parties involved and will continue to bring them to you for the latest updates.