Bob Barnard Track Engineering

It is a bit sad when the news includes items like "Santander ups Ferrari presence with a cap deal." A salary cap perhaps? No, they now have their logo on the front of the Ferrari Official Cap. Now I guess they paid a lot of money for that privilege, but personally I don't give a toss. The front of a Ferrari cap should say "Ferrari" or better still the prancing horse.  Santander are certainly throwing their money around at a time when I heard the Spanish banks are not doing so swell.

Is anyone else fed up with the non-stop nonsense about HRT, horrible racing team. They have left or been thrown out of FOTA, they do or do not have more money coming, they are suing Chandook, and they are going to run an "updated version" of the 2010 car this year, i.e. we have no money to make a new one. They need to just go away, as Bernie said, they are an embarrassment. If they were the real deal surely Santander would throw a few caps their way?

According to Helmut Marko every man and his dog are trying to steal Vettel away. This is another man who just needs to shut up and go away. After the Turkey affair who cares what he thinks anymore.

One of my friends commented on the Rossi photo from "Wrooom" that he looks like a clown. Certainly an odd combination of colors, and he has always played the fool to his adoring crowd, perhaps that is part of his attraction. Apparently his shoulder is taking longer to heal than expected. More games, who knows anymore. No I am not a Rossi fan any more than I am a Schumacher fan. There are some people who may be excellent at what they do, but I just do not like who they are. Watching the BSC Bowl game last night I can admire Farley for his ability, but with so much ability he does not need the attitude.

Kimi Raikkonen has been entered in the WRC by Citroen so that ends the "will he or won't he" that has been going on about returns to F1, driving for Ford, or not driving at all. Now I know people say Kimi has no personality, and on occasion may not "turn up" but I still miss him. When he wanted he could really put on a show and F1 is poorer for not having him.

The "Great Leap Forward," sorry that was Chairman Mao not Vice Chairman Atherton, for ALMS coverage this year has met with mainly negative reactions. This I guess is indicative of how the die hard fans feel about it, so whether it really is the way we watch sport in future we will have to wait and see. The Last Turn Club has a nice thoughtful piece on the pros and cons, http://lastturnclub.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

I've watched Le Mans and Sebring and Petit on the web the last couple of years and actually prefer it as I can tune in to Radio Le Mans and be spared the TV commentators. The Radio Le Mans guys are passionate fans, and always seem to know exactly what is going on, not being distracted by an infomercial. I guess I will have to buy an HDMI connection to my flat screen.

HRT have either left FOTA or been thrown out for non-payment of dues depending on who you listen to. HRT are complaining that FOTA only looks after the interests of big teams, and that the distribution of the money is not fair. Who ever said F1 was fair? It has ever been so that the successful teams get more money. This is not the USA where the draft system tries to even up the competition, this is Bernie's world, and in Bernie's world you sink or swim. Aside from Ferrari think about where the other teams have come from. Sir Frank used to do business from a public phone box. These guys paid their dues and made it, they are not about giving the sucker an even break. F1 is merciless competition, on and off track. Having said that it seems Red Bull over spent by 60m Euros! That's more than the small teams spent, let alone overspent. That's probably HRT's real concern. They were lured into F1 with promises of resource limitation, and the RRA is certainly more "enabling" than restrictive.

Even if the 2013 engines do not make a lot of noise the decision to go to a four cylinder turbo certainly is. Bernie is the latest one to chime in on the possible lack of an F1 sound and how that would hurt the sport. It's OK though because Jean Todt has said it will be, " the smaller engine is very important to the manufacturer."  Number one it should be what is important to the fans, without them there is no F1, and since when is the FIA a department of the MIA, the Motor Industry Association? It is there to promote and regulate the sport, it is time to bring FISA back to look after it. Who are these manufacturers? The ones who left F1 or have never been in it? We currently have Ferrari, who yes are owned by Fiat who make a lot of 1.6 lite engines, but Ferrari are the most vehement in their opposition. Then there is Mercedes who probably make a small engine but that is hardly their brand image, and Renault who does build small engines, but are in the process of downsizing their interest to an engine supplier. Cosworth will build whatever someone will pay for and don't care about road cars. So who are these manufacturers? VW? Or maybe Tony Fernandes' Toyotas and Hyundais? Todt clearly has an agenda, it would be nice if he let us in on it, or better yet ask us if that's what we want to watch. He should look over the wall to his mates at the FIM and see what the manufacturers have done to that sport.

Now we have Mallorca wanting an F1 GP, presumably Valencia's. If Valencia is having trouble filling seats then why would Mallorca, an island, do any better? I can hardly imagine it needs promoting as a tourist destination. Still Bernie says to go ahead with their plans, he just loves to have promoters waiting so he can squeeze the existing ones. His mate Phillipe Gurdjian is involved, the guy who planned that white elephant at Abu Dhabi.

Looks like Chris Dyer is the scapegoat for the Ferrari screw up at Abu Dhabi, despite years of great calls he is to be punished for one bad one. As someone asked about me once, "do you think he forgot how to do it?" Maybe time and circumstance played a big part.

There are signs that McLaren might be dropping the silver paint job now Mercedes are not a big part of their team other than an engine supplier. So, what will the colors be? I think I mentioned a great article about watching paint dry, about McLaren and how they paint the cars. Still worth a read. http://en.espnf1.com/mclaren/motorsport/story/27211.html?wrapperetype=print

As you may have gathered by the absence of a posting yesterday there was "nothing stirring" as they say in the Christmas poem. Very little going on except Bernie and his mate Luca exchanging pleasant shots across the bows. Luca is clearly upset about the engine changes, "Ferrari does not make a four cylinder," and about CVC and the money they take out. He is quick to reassure Bernie that it is not a criticism of him personally, in fact he would need him to lead the new order, what ever it is called. He does not see the problem if it is not "F1," presumably as long as Ferrari are in it people will know they should be watching it. Ferrari did not seem to have a problem last time we went to 1.5 liter turbo cars when they ran V6's, but I see his point, it does not relate to the road cars Ferrari make, which is what this is supposed to be about, not that I agree with it.

The boss of the Russian GP says they are not behind schedule. Good, seeing as how they only just started it is hard to see how they could be late. Especially for a race in 2014, personally I have never had more than a year to design and build a track.

Joe Saward picks up on the hypocrisy of the French Sports Minister in respect of F1 compared to the Tour de France. Not sure if it is great minds thinking alike or Joe liked my blog, either way it is correct.

Disappointing to see the Piquets involved in another scandal, this time tax evasion. Thought more of Nelson Snr. than that.

Nice to see Sir Frank Williams being honored by the BBC Sports Awards for "outstanding courage and achievement in the face of adversity." I'll second that. He threw his mate Patrick Head under the bus though. "In those days he really made the world's best racing cars." My italics. Pity about these days Patrick.

So Sir Stirling Moss thinks Michael Schumacher needs to clean up his act? Bit late now don't you think? Where have you been Stirling? He thinks the new rules on dirty driving will cramp his style. I would hope so, and why did we need a rule, the Stewards should have done something about this years ago, and maybe not just to Michael.

The media is having a field day with Montezemolo's comments about the future arrangements for F1 after the current Concorde Agreement runs out. Joe Saward again has a great piece on what he actually said, which was really no more than laying out possible alternative paths. I think it is just early maneuvering to improve the team's cut of the pie in the next go round. He likens the current regime as "like being in prison."

Looking forward to seeing the McLaren in GT3, that is getting to be the best racing with so many closely matched makes and top drivers.

The biggest motor racing story of the day seems to be Briatore selling his shares in QPR to Bernie. That's sad. You would think with all Bernie's millions QPR would be up with Chelsea by now. Maybe this is his fun and not his business.

The newly repaved Daytona track got the thumbs up from the drivers, but the combination of a new surface and a smaller restrictor plate may make for some boring races. Jamie McMurray said, "You're not really having to turn the steering wheel because the car has so much grip,"  while Jeff Burton said "You don't even think about having to lift unless you're trying to keep from wrecking. In the past it was quite a bit of throttle control to keep your car going around the racetrack." What else is left for the driver to do?