Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Is it just me or is Silverstone getting to be like Spa? Rain and more rain. I watched the practices on the fromsportcom.com web site so was saved the Varsha commentary. First practice at least had cars on track thank goodness, I would have been very annoyed to wake up at 1 am to watch went on during the second practice where we had an empty track for all but about 20 minutes. If I were a fan sitting or standing in the rain having paid a lot of money to watch practice I would be really annoyed, asking for a refund. How can FOTA have fan forums and say they care about the fans when they let this happen? The message to me is they do not give a toss. You budgeted to run this session, so get out there and run even if at a pace that avoids accidents and does not give you data. The show must go on as they say. Apparently there are not enough wet tires and intermediates if it is wet the whole three days. Trying to be green by limiting the number of tires. Well then make the tires last so you bring less if that is what is driving this, otherwise it is BS, let the teams have as many as they need to run, as Pirelli is suggesting for qualifying. I thought Friday tires did not count anyway, but I guess wets are different as they do not expect to use that many.

Does anyone else out there think the new and expensive pit building looks weird the way it is set up? Never mind the funky "wing" how about the golf course as Rubens called it between pit lane and the pit wall? Only an architect could have dreamed this up. And what is with all the standing water? Is there no crossfall on the track.

Due to the wet conditions it was a lottery who ended up where on times. Red Bull are well down in the second practice, but they only did about four laps and the track obviously got drier right at the end. McLaren must have been pretty desperate to get some data on the revised wing and diffuser to send Lewis out on slicks in the first practice, I can't imagine you get much information tip toeing around like that, but I guess that is why I do not design and build cars. So we know no more about the impact of the blown diffuser ban, except that as I foreshadowed yesterday, not everyone is playing by the same set of rules. It seems the Renault engine users have convinced the FIA they need a 50% throttle opening instead of the 10% that the rules appear to require. This was after the Mercedes engine was given some leeway, so all is not sweetness and light between the main players. Martin Whitmarsh said the rules were "cloudy, ambiguous, and changing," while Horner said they were "right, fair, and equitable." I guess it depends on where you are  coming from. Tony Fernandes summed it up as "a bit of a shambles."You said it Tony!

Daniel Ricciardo had a very good debut, kept it on the island and ended up faster than his much more experienced team mate Luizzi, while Kovalainen out paced Webber, Alonso and Vettel! But as I said, that was the lottery. The current top ten would make for an interesting race though. 

Over in Brno normal service was resumed with Carlos Checa topping the first qualifying. Good to see Aussie Mark Aitchison moving up the time sheet to 15th with experience.