Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Apparently Silvio is not doing so well with the Italian people, not for the first time. This leads me to ask, if it is OK for Silvio with all his media interests to run a country, why is it a conflict of interest for Rupert to run F1. Just a question.

Montezemolo says he is "married" to Ferrari and is not looking to move into politics. Being married to Ferrari one would think would be enough politics to last a lifetime.

I'm still intrigued as to where Eric Lux is going to sue Sutil as the event happened in China. I am no lawyer, but do you not have to have some standing before a court, so is he suing in China? Not easy one would think. Any lawyer out there care to comment?

As you can see the news is thin today, but the biggest story for me is Highcroft pulling out of Le Mans. Given that they were the only petrol car to stay with the diesels at Sebring, this is a sad loss. Due to Honda Japan's problems after the quake they say. Duncan is now looking for a new partner. With his track record and driving team I would think manufacturers would be falling over themselves to talk to him.

There is a video posted of work continuing in Austin. One would only hope so, are they so paranoid they have to do this stuff? The main feature is the nice sign and a lot of equipment seemingly going back and forth in the same spot.

In a replay of F1 the V8Supercar Series in Oz has been sold off to a venture capital group, but Tony Cochrane has learned from Bernie and has stayed as Chairman.

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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?