Bob Barnard Track Engineering

This soap opera is going to run for a while, and keeps getting stranger by the day. Today it seems there are to be six more people charged over this, but no names. Gribkowsky's original lawyer looks set to go in the frame though. Bernie has told Pit Pass, who I have suspected of being Bernie's back door mouthpiece, but that is not consistent, that he did not give Gribkowsky 27m pounds, only 14 m. Now that begs the question, where did the rest of Mr G's money come from? Bernie goes on to say he did not "launder" it through the offshore companies, but paid it into a bank account, the number of which Mr. G gave him on a piece of paper. Wait for it. The payment "bounced." What, Bernie was overdrawn! So Bernie then said he gave the money to the lawyer, who is then presumed to have washed the money through the offshore companies and  therefore becomes entangled and likely to be charged. But I thought it was reported that those offshore companies could be traced to Bernie, or are they just sounding that way? It is confusing, and probably designed to be. 

What of CVC in all this I hear you ask? Well they have been talking to London's Financial Times complaining about the lack of communication. They are not complaining too hard though as it seems they are prepared to put up with anything as CVC "has simply shown such great returns." Oh well that's OK then.

Back to real life, or almost. Sauber has as expected announced it is keeping Kobayashi and Perez. Webber has yet to sign on at Red Bull but Horner says that is a formality. Well yes it is, and an important one too. VW have announced they "could" enter F1 in 2018! So why is everyone running this story? And what is so magical about 2018? Who knows what the regs will be by then, or the world come to that. Look at the last seven years. "We have enough good brands that could do that," the story goes. Well yes they do, they do right now, so what? Is this corporate planning in the extreme, and are we so desperate for news, or for another manufacturer to come and go that we need to get in a lather about it? 

Just for fun, you have to love headline writers. "Hamilton to race in BTCC." No Lewis is not quitting F1, This is Matt Hamilton, but it made me look. Then there is, "V8's stick with Dunlop tires." Let's hope they do.