FIA won’t punish Sebastien Vettel

The Red Bull Ring will host the Austrian Grand Prix this Sunday. It should continue this year’s exciting title chase.

That was ensured by a findings of the FIA. Let me explain: After the Lewis Hamilton and Sebastien Vettel incident in Baku we have had cries for a harsher penalty for the current championship leader.

This was discussed at a meeting of the governing body. Many saw it as unfair that after Vettel served his penalty he returned to the track ahead of Hamilton.

I understand the thinking but let us not forget that Hamilton had to pit to repair his car’s loose head restraint. Was that problem a result of the collision? Mercedes have not claimed it was and have gone about redesigning the catch.

Perhaps it was not fitted correctly when Hamilton was reseated in the pit lane before the restart. If you remove that unscheduled stop for the Englishman he would have comfortably led the race and been ahead of Vettel by at least 30 seconds.

In my eyes the real issue was the clash of wheels when the German drove alongside the leader and not their finishing positions.

I do not condone that action but like many others far better qualified than yours truly, including F1 drivers current and past, the penalty was issued along with three more points on Vettel’s super licence and it is time to move on.

And that was exactly the way the FIA saw it, ruling earlier this week that no further action would be taken against Vettel.

So, the fight for the 2017 title will be resumed at full throttle this weekend. The news that yet another of the “old guard” of motor racing had now stepped away from the sport is always a sad moment. This man’s involvement with one specific F1 team has made him a legend.

The team McLaren, the man Ronald Dennis CBE. Love him or hate him no one can doubt that after a successful 37-year career with the team based in his home town of Woking, Ron Dennis is a man of vision and business acumen.

He controlled a team that was to win 158 Grand Prix and 17 World Championships with drivers such as Alain Prost, Niki Lauda, Mika Hakkinen, Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton.

Designers John Barnard and Gordon Murray played a significant role in the team’s success. In 1995 McLaren made its debut at the Le Mans 24-Hour race with the Murray designed F1 GTR and shocked the world by taking 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th positions.

This year their team leader finally sells his shares of the McLaren Technology Group and McLaren Automotive. Dennis will relinquish his position as Chairman with both companies on completion of the transaction.

Both divisions will continue within the newly formed holding company McLaren Group, with the Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company and TAG Group continuing as the major shareholders.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa has been appointed as the McLaren Group’s Executive Chairman.

After 51 years involvement in motorsport the 70-year-old Dennis has earned his place in the annals of the sport, but his record years with the iconic McLaren team will be those most fondly remembered by fans worldwide. Another McLaren man is on the move – this time to another team, with the appointment of Dave Redding as team manager at Williams.

Redding held the same position with the Woking concern, joining as a systems engineer in 2001.

He subsequently filled many roles until becoming team manager in 2009. His former F1 career includes stints with Jaguar, Stewart and Benetton. He will take up his appointment one day after the British Grand Prix on July 17 this year.

The future of the British race is in the news again with rumours that the owners of Silverstone, the British Racing Driver’s Club, are almost certain to use a clause in the FOM contract that allows them to terminate that contract early.

If this happens it will mean goodbye to Silverstone’s hosting of the race in 2019. The reasons are simple economics. It is not making the money that justifies the investment every year – and let us not forget that the hosting fee escalates annually.

F1 owners, Liberty Media, have already confirmed that as much as they want to retain the circuit, they are not prepared to drop the fee. Stalemate.