F1KateWalker

Looks like the fighting between Tavo Hellmund and the Circuit of the Americas is about to be kicked up another notch. Reports of the involvement of a spice weasel have yet to be confirmed.

The Austin Statesman requested last week that court records in the battle between the former US Grand Prix promoter and those currently running the project be unsealed in the public interest. This week, a Texan judge agreed to the unsealing.

But while the documents have a certain amount of interest, the real story is in the post-hearing comments made by the various legal and PR teams representing Hellmund and COTA.

Eric Wetzel, of Hellmund's legal team, released a statement that said: "If Bobby Epstein truly desires an efficient resolution of his dispute with Tavo Hellmund, as he now claims, he can simply honor the $18 million buyout agreement that he signed in September of 2011. If not, Tavo is prepared to amend his pleadings to include charges of fraud and other misdeeds, based on newly discovered evidence. We believe this evidence demonstrates that Mr. Epstein intended to force Tavo out of the F1 project from the beginning."

But COTA's lawyers are arguing that the whole suit is a nasty piece of spin generated by Hellmund in order to damage the race and increase the size of his settlement.

Because that makes so much sense.

"We believe the tactics Mr. Hellmund and his legal team have employed to date are meant to purposely generate negative public sentiment about Circuit of the Americas in hopes of extracting a large settlement," said COTA attorney Michael Whellan.

According to the Statesman, Red McCombs - the billionaire backer of the Texan GP project - may be little more than  figurehead. Details of McCombs' involvement can be found in the Statesman's article on the hearing.

"These are two major documents that are foundations to this project," Hellmund's lawyer Austin Tighe told the Statesman. "We have him (McCombs) being the financial face in press conferences and roof toppings, but based on what was presented today, he has very little, if any, involvement in this project."

Former Williams title sponsors AT&T are back in the paddock thanks to a new technical partnership with Red Bull.

Red Bull have been customers of AT&T for the past year; this new partnership will see an improvement in the team's high-speed connectivity at every track on the calendar.

From AT&T's point of view, this is an excellent arrangement: the telecommunications firm will be able to brag about its F1 associations for significantly less money than the Williams title sponsorship cost them.

But it's not all about bragging rights.

The amount of data F1 teams send back and forth between the circuit and their home base over the race weekend is significantly higher than that of a standard business user.

By providing Red Bull with a fast and reliable service, AT&T will be able to reassure future and existing companies of their ability to deliver comms in unusual environments, much as Dell's partnership with Caterham enables them to stress-test their technology in F1 - and use the results to lure new clients into the fold.

According to BBC Look East, Dany Bahar has been suspended from his position as CEO of Group Lotus.

Since taking over the helm of Group Lotus, Bahar has come under frequent criticism for his grandiose plans to turn the British marque into a Ferrari-beater. The much-lauded range of new cars has been pushed further and further back, with new models now expected around twenty past never.

Ownership of Group Lotus has become somewhat complex of late, following the takeover of Proton (GL's owners since 1994) by DRB-Hicom. As tends to be the case with changes in corporate ownership, there has been all manner of accounts auditing to be done, which has affected the company's ability to invest in its own projects.

More news will come on Bahar's suspension as soon as it has been confirmed.

[UPDATE]: According to the Norwich Evening News 24 website, Bahar was suspended pending the outcome of an investigation into his conduct as CEO.

A statement from Group Lotus read: "As a result of a number of media inquiries, Group Lotus plc (“Lotus”) can today confirm that, following an operational review, chief executive Dany Bahar has been temporarily suspended from his role to facilitate an investigation into a complaint about his conduct made by Lotus’ penultimate parent company, DRB-HICOM Berhad."

Ah, the Monaco Grand Prix.

It's the jewel in F1's crown, the highlight on the calendar, and everyone's idea of the perfect motor race. Yadda yadda yadda.

You still awake?

Turns out, not everything in Monaco is as perfect as you might think. Two British fans fell off a grandstand yesterday morning (grandstand K, behind Piscine) when one of the slats broke.

One of the fans was able to hang on to the grandstand in that cliffhanger pose we're all familiar with from the movies, while the other fell to the ground and injured his back.

The injuries were minor, and both fans are said to be okay, if a little rattled.

The AMC has yet to establish why the grandstand broke, but are currently conducting an investigation.

How many of you are opposed to Formula One's presence in Canada?

Anyone? Not even when the police are arresting peaceful protesters left, right, and centre? How about now that we've got protesters threatening to disrupt Formula One?

Yeah, thought not. Hypocrisy is alive and well, as usual.

Just as my glib approach is also alive and well. There's not much of a link between the ethics of racing in Bahrain and the ethics of racing in Canada, even if the Quebecois do have a long-lived separatist movement that has proved to be largely ineffective.

But there's no joking about the student protest movement in Montreal.

Recent weeks have seen an increase in protests and marches, and a linked increase in the number of arrests - 400 were arrested last night, and 100 the night before.

And now F1's in the firing line, with one of the leaders of the protests telling Canada's National Post: "Rich douchebags are going to be disrupted by night demos."

The Canadian protests started out as a reaction to tuition fee increases, but have taken on something of an Occupy Wall Street flavour, with the students now protesting under the mantle of economic justice for all.

Italians have a reputation for having something of a laissez-faire approach to paying tax.

The recent European financial crisis has seen the central government crack down on tax as part of a concerted effort to improve the country's finances and its standing in the Transparency International Corruption Index. It's a slow process, as it involves more than just collecting money - attitudes must also be changed.

As part of the initiative, the Guardia di Finanza has made a number of high-profile arrests following investigations and raids.

The latest institution to receive a visit from the Guardia? Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, also known as the Monza Circuit.

Early this morning, the offices of plant manager Enrico Ferrari and technical manager George Beghella Bartoli were raided following an investigation into false receipts for ticket sales and irregularities in the circuit catering contract, which it is believed was given to a preferred bidder, and not the best-qualified candidate.

There are believed to be more charges to come, all relating to the non-payment of tax and other bookkeeping offenses.

Much like those rusting shopping trolleys that grace riverbeds throughout the British Isles, the French Grand Prix is dead in the water.

But - much like those shopping trolleys - with a little cash and some concerted effort, there is the chance of bringing the French Grand Prix back into service. The dodo this ain't.

Following Francois Hollande's victory in the French presidential election at the beginning of May, the vast majority of F1 observers assumed that the race was off. After all, France is on an austerity drive, grands prix are generally considered frivolous, and no contracts had been signed.

Bernie Ecclestone was initially confident the outcome of the election would not have a negative effect on the French race, but the F1 supremo has now said it's off.

"The French have had enough opportunity to make it happen and didn't," Ecclestone said. "They promised all these things like the streets of Paris and Disney. It's very political. I don't know if would have been different if Sarkozy had been re-elected. I have no idea. Whilst he was in power they could have signed.

"They have had a contract and all they had to do is sign. They never reached an agreement with Ricard anyway but it would need investment to build up grandstands and the Paddock Club isn't big enough."

There were rumours the Formula One Initial Public Offering would be happening sooner than expected, but this is just silly.

According to Reuters, the Singapore city stock exchanged has approved the F1 IPO, and pre-marketing for the sale will begin on 22 May. Pricing is due to take place before the end of June.

The powers that be are moving quickly to get this flotation off the ground. The concept of an F1 IPO first made the news the week of the Malaysian Grand Prix - one week after it emerged that the Lehman Brothers' stake in the sport needed to be sold by 30 June 2014 - and a lot of work is being done behind the scenes to ensure it goes off without a hitch.

There are those who think that part of the hurry is Mercedes' possible anti-competition lawsuit against FOM over the Concorde Agreement negotiations. If a suit goes ahead, the ensuing instability will have a negative impact on the F1 share price, so if the markets can be mobilised more quickly than the lawyers, the IPO might just go ahead unaffected.

It seems a logical enough theory to me, but I know next to nothing about the markets and so am not in the best place to comment.

Further to last week's news that the FIA's Women in Motorsport Commission would be supporting a young female karter on her way up through the ranks comes the announcement that the Commission will be hosting an international seminar designed to increase female participation in motorsport.

Th two-day seminar, which will take place in Paris in mid June, is "aimed at exchanging ideas and initiatives to promote and encourage women into the sport".

The Women in Motorsport Commission was set up in 2010 with a view to increasing female participation in what has traditionally been perceived as a sport for the boys. And while some might say that the Commission initially got off to a slow start, I would argue that their efforts have been more reasoned than anything else.

To genuinely improve access to motorsport for women from around the world is a slow process, and one that will involve careful nurturing from the grassroots upwards. Rather than making headlines by parachuting an ill-prepared female racer into the upper echelons of global motorsport with a view to making headlines, the Commission has put together a series of carefully considered programmes which are only beginning to be made public.

To me, this shows that the Commission are taking their brief seriously, not slapping on a quick-fix solution that garners good publicity while serving no real purpose.

The press release has been copied in full below the jump.

Ufortunately, clicking on the above video to watch footage of the Vintage Sports Car Clun's 1958 Silverstone meet takes you to the British Pathe website.

But if you have a bit of spare time on your hands that could be no bad thing.

British Pathe's online archives cover the gamut of human interest in newsreel style, and pre-war grand prix racing is particularly well catered-for. Of note are films of Brooklands races complete with plummy voiceovers and dated slang about the exploits of the dashing heroes of the empire.

There might be a better way to while away a weekend afternoon, but I don't know what it is...