Bob Barnard Track Engineering

So Sam Michael has to move on from Williams, and where does he go? McLaren as Sporting Director. Now I call that a very good move, nice one Sam.

Someone else moving on is Stephen Mullens, long time legal advisor to Bernie. Now this story has been angled two ways. Some sites are slanting this as Stephen leaving because of the Gribkowsky affair, in which he has been implicated. He is said to have resigned from seven of Bernie's companies. Pit Pass of course has their own view. He is only involved in the family trust, and another lawyer from the same firm has taken over, so just a handover? Read it how you like, but in my experience very few people ever leave Bernie, either he looks after them too well or they know where the bodies are buried, or both. So unless Stephen has a health issue, this does have some "legs" as they say in the classics.

Bernie and the boys are not the only ones being sued, our old mate Tavo is being sued by an attorney who says he did work on the basis that he would end up with 5% of the GP deal. Tavo says he was working for free and never sent an invoice. Sounds like sweat equity to me then. Not content with having to manage the US GP and a new track Tavo has found time to advise South Africa, Mexico and Argentina on F1 GPs, despite not having staged one himself yet. The newspaper reporting all this went on to say "actual construction of the Circuit of the Americas’ infrastructure will begin "soon." What have they been doing all this time? 

Who would have thought, well I would and anyone else who has watched racing at Spa. I recall being there for bike GPs, now that was scary. They were still public roads with oil and white lines, and Blanchemont had no run off. Not quite the Isle of Man but close.

Anyway we have F1 back with us, even if at a reduced pace. The boys did get half an hour in the dry with Webber fastest, but nothing very exciting. Schumacher's 20th anniversary is getting all the attention. That's a long time to drive and I still say he and Rubens and perhaps Trulli should move over and give the young guys some options. To follow on my comments on GP2 there is an article in Autosport about how hard it is to move up from there and to keep finding the 2 m Euros budget each year when the prospect of an F1 drive is fast disappearing.

Senna is in the Renault and had a crash in the first session, but is quicker than Petrov who is very unhappy with his car. Reports are that it is a financial deal rather than Boulllier expecting Senna to be quicker than Heidfeld. Rumors of Renault's money problems continue. These are not helped by Boullier whining about the money coming to the teams from the Commercial Rights holder and how it is split up. He says that in no other sport does the rights holder keep 50% of the income. Not sure that's correct. One would suspect NASCAR keeps a chunk, although it is fairer, and I'm sure there are others. Anyway he seems to think teams should not have to raise their own money, a bit like Premier League paying everyone to play, can't see that. He goes on to suggest that the current set up that rewards success should be changed so the top four teams get nothing and the rest is shared equally. Goes against Bernie's whole rational so good luck with that one Eric. Bernie's a bit of a "law of the jungle" man, or as Trueman put it, "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." You knew the rules coming in, so don't complain now.

A lot of people are all of a lather over a girl riding a MotoGP Suzuki at Indy. No, not in the race, but doing some laps. Like F1 there have been females in racing for a long time, perhaps not in the top class, but back in the days when the 125s and 250s were real classes we had them. Let's not get all gender conscious, if a person is good enough let 'em race, but let's not get into reverse discrimination. On that note Danica has said she is leaving Indycar and going to NASCAR full time. So after never really achieving much in open wheel she has followed the money. Let's see how long that lasts.

I don't know who rattled Max Mosley's cage but he had a Bernie day yesterday, pontificating that "F1 does not always have to be exciting," "It will survive the Gribkowsky scandal," and "the Sky TV deal will be good for fans." Max apparently cannot waste an afternoon watching soccer on TV so likes just the highlights, not someone in touch with real fans I suspect.

Jean Todt and Bernie are obviously not having a summer break. As I said Jean is gladhanding himself around South America, kissing babies and promising and reassuring, must be an election coming?

Bernie is setting a cracking pace for an 80 year old. Today there are stories all over the internet. The sale of the QPR shares, his and Briatore's, has been completed, so I guess he does not have to go to all those matches now. He is reassuring us that India will not only be ready but it will be very nice. Of course he says that F1 will have a problem getting the Indians to watch it instead of cricket, so the Indian GP and sponsors have to work very hard. How about CVC working hard for their $40m or whatever the fee is? Bernie says India is important, and it is and becoming more so, so shouldn't he work to make F1 relevant? Of course he says F1 will be good for India, and as Pit Pass says, as good as it is for Valencia, Turkey, China, and I could add Melbourne, Spa, Hockenheim and Nurburgring, not to mention France?

That's not all though. He was seen on his yacht, don't know how he found the time, and Vettel was with him apparently. They took time off to go to Paul Ricard to watch a Spanish lady racer, Maria de Villota, drive a 2 year old Renault F1 car. Now if Bernie wanted to get a women in F1 then I would have thought there were a few others in front of a 31 year old daughter of a Spanish driver who drove so well in F1 I don't even remember him. 

And it goes on, what a day he had. Commenting to Italian newspapers that it was sad to see such a superhuman driver like Michael struggling.

Last but not least come the news that the old partners in the F1 ownership, EM.TV, now called Constantin Medien, are suing Bernie, his Bambino company, partner Steven Mullens, and poor old Gribkowsky, for $100m in loss of profits due to the sale to CVC. Doesn't sound like this business is going away any time soon, but still Bernie has all that free time now he does not have to watch QPR.

Mercedes should be applauded for helping out a young man who did not have a hand. In a wonderful piece of PC he is described as having "a lower arm deficiency that means his left arm stops at his wrist." You can read the whole story on ESPNF1, and it is certainly one of the best things F1 has done lately. Thanks to Ross Brawn and the team they have arranged for a new bionic hand to be supplied free as part of a deal for technical cooperation with the manufacturers, Touch Electronics. It seems when Ross started making enquiries both parties realised how much technology they had in common. A nice feel warm story, and again displays the incredible technology in an F1 car that most of us do not see.

I watched the Indycar race from New Hampshire yesterday and I hope a few more did than were at the track. I've seen bigger crowds at an SCCA race at Texas Motor Speedway. Of course the track's General Manager said how pleased he was at the attendance, I bet Bruton Smith wasn't. Dario had the race won until he and Sato managed to run into each other on a restart, and it looked to me like Dario moved down on him, but that was not how he saw it. Rain was a factor, bringing the race time forward to try and beat it, but the boys did not need rain to crash, Conway taking out Rahal at the first corner, and the Castroneves losing it there the next lap. Nice tire wall there made of used race tires! Could barely hold themselves up let alone stop a car, and in the wrong place. Will Power got all hot and bothered at the last restart after being taken out when he had a chance of closing the gap on Dario in the Championship. Lots of talk about the track being too damp to restart it, but in reality only one driver spun and caused the rest of the carnage, all the other drivers managed to keep it straight. Now that's not to say they would not have spun later, but in racing someone has to make a decision and live with it, it is not a democracy. Have the ratings really improved so much that ABC will now carry the races and not Versus, or did they work out the ratings would never improve on Versus?  

Missed the MotoGP race but was fortunate to see a great Moto2 race, just like the 250cc days. I like the Brno track and it has aged well. Great use of the topography. A little repetitive in the corners, but produces some good races, and a lot of spectators. Interesting Honda are saying they will limit bikes for next year in MotoGP, but one has Bradl's name on it already. Northern European market must need a boost, but well deserved. Great news that Gardner Senior and Junior, and Mick Doohan are to ride at Phillip Island this year, nice touch, and Remy is to have the Moto3 bike for 2012 to ride.

No blog would be complete without a reference to Bernie. News today that he is going to sell his shares in QPR soccer team to Tony Fernandes. Good time to sell as they have just been promoted to the Premier League, so sell at the top, it probably will not last. Apparently he cannot get on with the other shareholder, Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. Now Lakshmi has in the past shown an interest in F1, and it is a shame he does not have a team because then we really could have had a driver "put the pedal to the Mitall."

One person not on vacation is Bernie, he continues to speak out on topics and is obviously still hard at it making deals. That is what he loves to do, so I guess that is as good as a vacation.

Turkey are desperate to get themselves back on the calendar and their negotiating ploy is a bit unusual." The Sports Minister is "ready to do everything" to keep the race. Music to Bernie's ears I would think. The "everything" includes "publicity and promotional campaigns to raise attendance and earnings." Well there's a novel idea, pity they did not think of this for the last 6 or 7 years, they might not be in this position.

Bernie is back talking about next year's calendar and giving a hint that Turkey could get back on. He is suggesting that the calendar could grow, and says that the teams would accept it if one of the ones to be dropped were to be Monaco or another team favorite. Nice one. The last seven races next year take place on four continents over ten weeks, the worst back-to-back being Sao Paolo and Austin, no direct flights. All this to be nice to Bahrain he says, "They" didn't want it up front apparently. Now the article seems to suggest that "they" were the Bahraini Gov't, but they seem happy just to have the race back as long as it is not in summer. From my recollection it was the teams who did not want to risk another embarrassing fiasco at the start of the season if the situation in Bahrain was not settled, but obviously felt that a race at the end could quietly be dropped. Now the teams are complaining about the logistics of those last seven races. Can't have your cake and eat it too. 

There was an odd reference as a footnote to this story about Austin and the State of Texas approving the funds. The State funds can only be distributed a year in advance, so presumably within twelve months, not a calendar year. So that $25m is not available until November, and presumably someone has read the contract to find out when Bernie's fee has to be paid. The writer suggests that this will delay the construction of the circuit, but this is not construction money so I don't get that.

On a positive note Robert Kubica's thumb has regained full movement, very necessary to push all those buttons. In similar news the likelihood of seeing Barrichello in a Williams next year is diminishing fast. I think Rubens is very disenchanted with the way the team is run.

The Renault chassis involved in the fire in Hungary has been written off, and the explosion explained as the air bottle that drives the valves getting too hot. The fire was caused by a cracked exhaust as a result of a "slightly different engine mapping in qualifying." Now I thought engine mapping had to be the same for qualifying and the race since Valencia, so are they saying they changed the engine mapping for both qualifying and the race? Strange way of saying it. No one noticed the crack which then got worse in the race and finally caused the fire after raw fuel was being burnt in the exhaust while it sat at the pit stop. No word on the marshal though.

Stating the obvious the Virgin CEO said that the fans will decide the success of the Sky TV deal. "From the point of view of the commercial model there are potential mismatches between a broadcasting that maximises viewers and one that maximises revenue." And we all know which one is more important don't we? He goes on to say that 90% of his income comes from sponsors and partners, which could be hurt if the audience goes down, but we are only talking of Britain here, so why is this getting so much play from the teams? Is the British market so dominant to the sponsors? Hard to imagine.