Bob Barnard Track Engineering

So Bernie is going to let the Crown Prince decide whether it is safe to stage the Bahrain GP. At least he is not asking the opinion of a cameraman. Maybe Bernie is playing the politics and "letting" the Prince look like he made the decision, or hoping the Prince will cancel so he does not sue Bernie for breach of contract. There are suggestions that the teams have agreed not to go, but do not want to say so for fear of breaching the Concorde Agreement. Insurance is apparently a problem when there are travel advisories by the UK Foreign Office and other like bodies, so there is a "force majeur" situation there that could resolve the teams issue. It looks like a situation where no one wants to make a decision in case they are held in breach of contract, they are all dancing around the subject. The FIA, apart from a couple of inane comments a week ago, are missing in action on this one, afraid of upsetting the Arab voting block I guess. The only people with the courage of their convictions are the demonstrators.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the teams are continuing their Barcelona test. It is hard to read anything into fast laps, especially between different drivers on seperate days, but AT&T Williams keeps a running tally of all drivers on all days, which is interesting if nothing else. Check out http://www.attwilliams.com/test-timings

Rosberg is quickest overall with Vettel, Petrov, Alguersuari, Hamilton and Alonso and Barrichello within one second. Trulli in the Lotus is 2 plus seconds off the pace, which is much better than last year, with HRT and Virgin both over 3 seconds off thanks to Luizzi. Without Luizzi HRT would have been nowhere so they had better sign him up. The consensus is still Red Bull in race trim, but it is still any one's guess.

For those who like to see pairs of cars run around nose to tail for 4 or five hours then Daytona is on today, and yes they changed the rules again making the radiator slot bigger this time, just so they can last 500 miles? Can you imagine F1 doing this, or Le Mans? Just cut a bigger hole in a piece of tin plate boys, all sounds like amateur hour.

Bahrain and Bernie. It is not Bernie's finest hour. He is getting his news from one of his cameramen in a hotel there. What's wrong with watching Al-Jazeera, or better yet consult the British Embassy? Just because it is quiet for five minutes does not mean it is safe to go there. OK, there is a lot riding on an F1 GP commercially, but how can you balance that against a human life. Last year Bernie laughed off the attack on Jenson Button in Sao Paulo as "someone trying to sell him a hat." Insensitive is not quite right, tone deaf might be better. He lives in a different world. He has a history of odd statements, didn't he once say that Hitler got things organised? The Chairman of CVC stepped in then as I recall, and maybe he needs to again.

The UK Foreign Office has issued a warning against travel to Bahrain, so you would expect that as most of the teams are based there with UK personnel that this would make the decision not to go obvious. We seem to be back where we were with Korea, for different reasons. Do we send freight, book flights and hotels or not? If we send the freight it may then not get to Australia. Pirelli are saying just changing the test location to stay in Barcelona is a problem as they have those tires headed to Bahrain. How can you continue to run a world series that cannot guarantee that events will go on? It sends a bad message to your sponsors and fans, and the TV. Some common sense has to prevail here, money cannot be the only consideration.

In a letter to the Editor in this month's Motor Sport a fan decries the need to go to all these "sand races." As he rightly says, if race times are adjusted to make it prime time in Europe then that is where the fans are, so why not keep the races there? Because the European Governments won't  foot the bill. The writer suggest a fans association to pressure for a say in where races go. We already have that. It's an association of us fans that tune in to watch. If we had the courage not to watch those races, and only Spa or Monza or Silverstone, how long do you think the TV companies or these Governments would continue to pay Bernie for the rights? A year should be enough.

The photos of tanks in the streets of Bahrain reminded me of the Tiananmen Square situation, why do soldiers carry out such orders against unarmed civilians? Joe Saward rightly says that all the investment by Bahrain in presenting itself as a good place to visit and do business has probably been lost. Joe also suggests it is not a place that F1 should be associated with, but then again we just extended the deal with China, and I'm sure business will go on. Ever since the Munich Olympics the question of sport and politics has been raised. Still, if sponsors are concerned about their "green" image, I'm sure they are just as concerned about their humanitarian one. I've learned in my travels that there are very different cultures around the world, and we ignore them at our peril when doing business in them.

It seems Bernie's week is not getting any better with his comments on the situation in Bahrain being treated at best as "insensitive." One twitter post says Bernie thinks things are calmer now, (now they have shot a few people.) Not Bernie's words, but you see how they are being taken. He writes off the GP2 race as "only being the Asia series," "not terribly important." For the full piece go the ESPN F1, http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/41200.html

With some spare time yesterday I watched the twin 125's from Daytona, and have to announce that if that is what is going to happen on Sunday over 500 miles I will not be watching. A boring, bizarre pair of races. OK, the drivers are doing what they need to to be competitive, two cars hooked up are close to 10 mph faster than one, and by the second race they had worked out how to keep the car behind cool without having to waste time swapping over. So young Trevor Bayne pushed Jeff Gordon for the whole race. What was going to be his reward? They are not the same team? TV air time? Jeff Burton the winner of race two was pushed by Bowyer his Childress team mate for the whole race  so what did they do, flip a coin to see who pushed who? So what now NASCAR? The reduced restrictor plate slowed them down to about 199 mph, but we still have the strangest racing I've ever seen.

The debate over the Phillip Island MotoGP date rolls on, and the Daytona model might be a good one for Ron Walker to look at. Running the GP and World Superbike one month apart may not work, but one week could be built into a Daytona "Speedweek." If you are a fan of two and four wheels you could actually camp out at Daytona from the Rolex in late January through the Daytona 200 bike weeks in March, with non-stop action, and many do. Bike week is huge, with supercross and flat track events as well as a series of road races from pure amateur through to AMA, or is that DMG these days? In fact most motorcyclists come for the atmosphere and never go to the race. Still does not solve Ron's problem of having the F1 GP around the same time, but as I have said, that should be another "raceweek" with the Melbourne Cup in November.

It seems the Austin F1 track started again. Passers by the site report activity. What's that four starts now?

F1 testing resumes at Barcelona, which seems certain to host the final test as a result of the Bahrain problems. Track was wet this morning and no one is near last years times. Seems we are still not seeing any clear picture although the analysts are saying that from their long run times Red Bull is still the car to beat. Alonso in the Ferrari is topping the times at the moment, as they have done most days, so they must have a different strategy to these tests, or they are just quick. Hold the presses, Vettel just banged in fast time, over a second quicker than Alonso, just to show he can? Luizzi is down to test the HRT this weekend, good luck.

It has been a sad day in Bahrain with tanks being used to quell demonstrations and reported deaths. Initially the GP2 practice was postponed as the medical staff were required in the city, but the race has since been canceled. Shades of things to come? So much for "amicable" solutions. The GP is still a month away, but it is hard to see things quietening down by then.

So, one problem for Bernie, but he has had a bad day all round. Another biography is about to be released which has him hopping mad as it does not show him in a great light. Then the European court has denied his attempt to protect the use of "F1." The court recognized that there is a certain "logotype" that FOM uses that is protected, but just using F1 cannot be. That's good news for the F1 Kart track here in Phoenix, Bernie must have missed that one.

Good day for Nick Heidfeld as he is confirmed to take over Kubica's seat at Renault. Good to see someone get some reward for effort and ability, and perseverance. I'm sure he is going to grab this opportunity in both hands.

Over at Daytona NASCAR has reduced the size of the holes in the restrictor plate further in an attempt to cut speeds and presumably avoid the two- by -two racing we have seen since the track was repaved. It is interesting how a seemingly simple renovation, not that repaving Daytona was simple, but you get what I mean, should have such unintended and unforeseen consequences. A good friend was in charge of that and was given one instruction, "Don't F... it up!" I wonder if the powers that be think he succeeded or not? As engineers we do the best job we can, and a new smooth pavement is just that. I guess some people would like the bumps paved back in, now that would be an engineering feat.

On the subject of engineering, today's announcement from Barcelona that they have a "world first" bolt down curb being installed makes my blood pressure rise. I am really tired of seeing this kind of stuff, and going to Forums where guys still wet behind the ears announce their great new ideas that have been around for 25 years or more. In Cologne there was a grandstand guy from Valencia telling us how great it was to have portable stands. Did he not watch the Australian GP in 1985 when we had 50,000 of them and nothing else? And oh yes, bolt down curb, a removable pit building, a debris fence that has since become the standard for street courses, need I go on? That's my rant for the day and I make no apology for taking this stuff personally, it is my business and my passion, and my achievements should not be so lightly disregarded.

Hopefully Robert is continuing his recovery. Interesting he is apparently expressing his preference for Luizzi to take over his seat. Number one, why should he have a vote, and number two, why Luizzi? Just a good mate, or is it he thinks he might have trouble getting Nick Heidfeld out of his seat again? Loyalty is great, but if Nick is anywhere near the top of the charts at the end of the year who is going to fire him?

CVC have started their own investigation into who paid who for what in their share purchase. About time they got interested, as I have been saying, if the deal was crooked then would it stick? There must be some lawyers out there who can answer that. Who do they tell if they find anything?

The Bahrain GP Organizers are between a rock and a hard place, with Bernie and the FIA coming out expressing concerns about the safety of staging the GP. The FIA spokesman must win an award for the stupidest comment this year. "There are realities on the ground that we need to accept, but the FIA is fully confident, with the Bahrain Motor Federation, that the situation will be resolved amicably." Really? Since when did the FIA become the US State Department? Ask Mubarak how it worked out for him. You have to feel sorry for the organizers who work all year for this only to have a situation totally outside their control dictate things. I know how that feels, and usually it is the weather, but it has been politics too. This weekends GP2 Asia race will be a good indicator of events. So far so good apparently.

Talking of politics, Silvio Berlusconi is in a bundle of trouble in Italy, and I'm not just talking about Tottenham beating AC Milan. Had to rub that in. Do we really think Montezemolo will leave Ferrari to run the country?

Shanghai has re-upped for another seven years, but the Mayor of Shanghai must have been talking to his mate in Melbourne as he says he paid less for the rights this time around. Are we seeing the beginning of some common sense returning? Nah, can't happen can it?

There are stories today that suggest the McLaren is "too radical," too many things to sort out to get it to perform. Reminds me that sometimes the best cars are the simplest, like the FW07. Easy to set up, and fix. You can out- complicate yourself. Now, it is way too early to come to that conclusion, but smarter people than me who were at Jerez are suggesting  that it did not look good in the McLaren pit. People were always looking for the trick to the RB6, and perhaps that was its' strength, there wasn't one. It was just fast.

Vettel certainly does not like things to be too complicated and has reiterated that overtaking in F1 should not be too easy, and that there are too many buttons, drivers should concentrate on driving the car. Mind you, he does not mind complicating his relations with the team by again stating he would like to drive for Ferrari. Even if he does, why keep saying it? What is he trying to do, or is he just naive? Or too straightforward for most folk to believe? Interesting that Horner has come out and said Webber can stay beyond his one year contract, more mind games? Why bring that up now?