Sidepodcast

Martin Brundle has stepped up to the plate and showed he’s not willing to sit quietly while the FIA take yet more liberties as motorsport’s governing body.

Following on from the FIA’s plans to begin libel action against The Sunday Times, Martin responded in his column with this declaration:

I’m tired of what I perceive as the “spin” and tactics of the FIA press office, as are many other journalists.

It’s been rumoured for a while that accredited F1 writers have felt unable to voice their opinions on key decisions, for fear that their paddock passes (and by association, their livelihoods) will be revoked or denied. This issue stems from the fact that the federation have control over who qualifies for passes and who doesn’t. You can read the official accreditation guidelines on their web site, but what the guidelines won’t tell you is who gets the final say on approvals.

Common sense suggests that in the interest of democracy, the process of allocating such passes should be handled by an autonomous body, one without any vested interests or axes to grind.

Going back to Martin’s column, one further quote that really concerned me was this nugget of information (emphasis mine):

I expect my accreditation pass for next year will be hindered in some way to make my coverage of F1 more difficult and to punish me. Or they will write to ITV again to say that my commentary is not up to standard.

For me, that line is the most revealing part of the article because it hints that the FIA’s desire to control and filter the way F1 is reported goes far beyond this simple lawsuit. Suggestions that the motorsport federation directly contact media outlets to deride their staff is bloody frightening.

For years we’ve assumed that ITV commentator James Allen managed to survive in his position because he’s the perfect foil to calm unhappy housewives when another minor-crisis-soap-opera gets delayed due to “those noisy racing cars”. It had never crossed our minds that the sports governing body may actually be encouraging ITV to keep the guy, because he poses no threat, has no opinion and offers no criticism. He is a safe pair of hands to paper over the political shenanigans and underhand tactics the world need not see.

Let me ask any ITV viewers out there, when was the last time that you thought Martin Brundle’s commentary was not up to standard? Think about it for a bit, because in a year that has been dominated by British media obsessing over Hamilton’s debut, Martin has for me remained the only person worth listening to on a Sunday afternoon. The only voice of reason in a sea of overbearing and suffocating obsession.

Earlier this year Sidepodcast was afforded the opportunity of Martin’s company at the GPLive event, where we were treated to almost an hours worth of racing anecdotes, knowledge and insight. If you have any doubt about the commitment that this man has to Formula 1, and the quality of his journalism then please listen to him and watch him in action. I defy anyone to question that man’s ability.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation owns the Times of London, who, let’s not forget, are now the world’s largest media organisation. They, more than anyone, are used to doing battle with rogue states and authoritarian dictators who are keen to restrict democracy by manipulating the media to push their own propaganda. Some two-bit motorsport federation will be no problem for Newscorp.

I do however think it will be an issue for ITV.

The British broadcaster have, on more than one occasion, shown themselves to have the backbone of an anaconda. They will likely freak at the idea of employing a potentially libellous commentator and we will all suffer as a result.

The ‘FIA sues newspaper’ story isn’t just about free speech, it’s not even about exercising media control any more. It is about a supposedly neutral organisation actively trying to manipulate how the sport over which they preside gets covered by the media.

That it got this far is troublesome. That it should continue is unthinkable.

Yesterday was a bit of a busy day for the FIA. Firstly, there was the release of a document explaining Renault’s non-penalty for unauthorised possesion. This was swiftly followed by the announcement that McLaren will have to wait until February for a conclusion regarding their 2008 entry. At the same time, a raft of proposals relating to next year’s aero restrictions were listed, and then the FIA casually mentioned a plan to sue the backside off The Sunday Times newspaper.

Finally to wrap the day up, awards were handed out at the annual gala to Kimi and Ferrari for the 2007 drivers and constructors championships. Not your average day by any stretch.

The Renault Decision

Reading through the text of the descision it would appear that there are a lot of similarities with McLaren’s July hearing (where they too were found guilty, but received no punishment). Experience tells us that the full transcripts will be more revealing than words contained in a carefully selected summary, so we’ll come back to this subject once they become available.

The McLaren Decision

I am baffled by the reasons for deferring the status of McLaren’s 2008 entry until February next year. One has to assume all is not well if there’s a need to call an extraordinary general meeting.

Inviting members of McLaren, Ferrari and ‘other competitors’ to make representations based on the FIA Technical Department’s report, suggests that all teams will have the opportunity read the details, which in turn inevitably means certain content will leak. We can expect more ‘media campaigns’ and ‘clarifications’ well into 2008, as teams battle for off-track supremacy as well as on.

Aero Rules

The new aero regulations need more analysis, but I think it’s pretty obvious that the teams need to find a way of renewing the Concorde agreement (that expires at the end of December) pretty damn quick. Otherwise, pretty soon they’ll find themselves committed to a World Championship they have no interest in competing in.

That Legal Thing

Right at the bottom of the F1-related information contained within the FIA press release was the following sentence:

The WMSC has authorised the FIA to issue libel proceedings against English newspaper The Sunday Times, which ran an article claiming that the FIA was engaged in a witch-hunt against the McLaren-Mercedes team.

The article in question was penned by some commentator chap called Martin Brundle, and if you care to read it you’ll note that it’s not particularly damning. In fact, compared to a lot of things said about the FIA in recent months, it’s positively benign. So why the case and why now?

My guess is the FIA are keen to exert yet more control on the way the media report on F1. Not content with deciding who gets paddock passes and who misses out, the Federation are now wielding the big libel stick, and casually waving it in the direction of anyone who dares raise objections to their rulings.

There’s next to no chance that this case will succeed, but by picking a high-profile and very public target, it’ll force anyone with a negative opinion to think twice before publishing anything. If paddock insiders weren’t paranoid before, it’s a safe bet they are now. Expect many more off-the-record comments as all and sundry watch their backs.

Awards and Stuff

The day did end on a positive note though, as all good stories should, with Kimi picking up his WDC gong and Jean Todt getting his mitts on the Constructors trophy. The top three drivers were in attendance (as they are legally obliged to be), and Fernando Alonso had some suspiciously nice things to say about Team Macca:

This has been another exciting season because my car was competitive from start to finish. From this perspective the team did a fantastic job.

I’d love to know what the terms of his split with McLaren were, because he didn’t pay them that many compliments when he was part of the team.

Conclusion

A hell of day in Monaco by all accounts. Formula 1 still isn’t free from spying controversies and how McLaren go about preparing for the coming season is anyone’s guess. The team have thus far remained silent regarding Thursday’s hearing. The Italian motorsport authority managed to stir up enough media coverage to force an appeal back in July, we’ll have to see if Ron and the boys fancy playing that particular hand.