Bob Barnard Track Engineering

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.

 

Reports of Robert Kubica's progress are encouraging, but the injuries sound pretty dreadful. Reminds me of Mick Doohan's problem with blood flow to his foot and Alex Zanardi's loss of blood following his accident in Germany. We all hope for a full recovery. He is too good a driver to lose from F1.

Boullier is saying it is too soon to talk of his replacement. Honorable sentiments, but sentiment does not play much part in F1, ask Liuzzi and Hulkenburg. Boullier needs to find a replacement and fast, Bahrain is just 33 days away.

Elsewhere MaRussia Virgin launched their 2011 car with Nick Worth saying it is better in every way. It had better be after finishing last in the constructor's championship in 2010. One can only hope it is better, it is hard to see it could be worse. The most obvious feature to an untrained eye is the profile of the nose which is quite different to any we've seen this year. Perhaps CFD "nose" something Adrian Newey does not? Sorry, could not avoid that.

Anyway, all quiet other than Ferrari defending their less than aggressive approach to this year's car. Let us hope for continuing good news from Kubica. And oh yes, I cannot believe that a "well known British photographer" called Kubica irresponsible. Have you seen where photographers will stand to get a shot? No offense to my many photographer friends, but that is a bit rich, and who asked his opinion anyway?

All the news today is about Kubica's accident in a rally in Italy. I'm sure there will be a lot of people saying he should not be doing it anyway, but he is a racer in the old mould and like Kimi wants to do what he enjoys. Let's all hope he makes a good and complete recovery, but the hand sounds bad and with the complexity of modern F1 steering wheels that could be a long term problem. This does not sound like a short recovery, so Renault have a problem. It seems they have a competitive car that can win races, but who do they have to drive it that can do that for them. They have a raft of "third drivers" including Bruno Senna and Grosjean, but neither of these would float my boat if I were Boullier. I would be round Kimi's place with a big fat contract right now. Kimi is racing his own team, so he can put someone else in the rally car and come back where he belongs. Maybe all the "will he, won't he" go to Renault late last year may have soured the relationship, but the chance to come back in a potentially winning car has to be tempting for someone as driven as Kimi.

Heidfeld and Hulkenburg are also mentioned, as is Luizzi, and they could do well. I would pick Hulkenburg out of those three, but VJ may not want to let him go with the form he has shown at the first test. Whatever the final decision is it makes for an interesting if unfortunate pre-season. Whoever ends up at Renault you can be sure there is a clause about other activities in it, but you can hurt yourself playing tennis, just ask Montoya.

In other news Tony Fernandes of the Team Lotus camp has been awarded a CBE by the Queen for services to industry. Will the judge in the name game case look upon Tony now more favourably he has the Queens' blessing?

Will the real Lotus please stand up? This situation over the use of "Lotus" would be silly if it were not for the history behind that name. This is a fight between two Malaysian groups that both use the Lotus name. One is Proton, the Malaysian car maker, owned by the Government I think, that owns the rights to make Lotus road cars, and has obviously decided to go racing in a big way. They sponsor a car in IRL for Kato to drive, and have just extended that deal, and have just announced an LMP2 Prototype for 2012. In between they have announced they are sponsoring the ART GP2 team next year. So, despite licensing Tony Fernandes, another Malaysian, to use the Lotus name this year in F1, I guess they have woken up that this is a great name to have if you are going racing and have decided not to renew the agreement, or rescind it, depending on what you read.

The plot thickens, as "Team Lotus," the original F1 Team, was presumably run as a separate entity to the Lotus road cars, and that name is apparently owned by David Hunt, relation of James Hunt F1 Champion. Tony Fernandes says he has acquired the rights from David to use the Team Lotus name next year. It is all headed to the courts to resolve this mess. As nice as it is to see Lotus racing again, some of us would probably have been just as happy to remember them as they were and save us all this. How about "Force Malaysia" Tony?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, or paddock. It seems FOTA met at Singapore and agreed a "Resource Restriction Agreement" RRA, to run through 2017. Reading between the lines it sounds as if they have just extended the time for the existing "Resource Restriction" out to 2017. Quoting Renault Team Principle, Eric Boullier, "The decision taken last year [with the original RRA] was maybe in a special context with manufacturers threatening to break away for another championship. The RRA in its old version could even have damaged the sport by being too radical and I was keen to change the slope and extending it – and why not? We know we have to enter into a transition period. Everyone has done a reasonable job and I am happy we have signed this agreement."

So, it is business as usual, find as much money as you can and find a way to spend it. Martin Whitmarsh said that a number of loopholes have been closed and the RRA should be harder to fudge in future. Let us remember that this is basically a "Gentlemen's Agreement" between the teams, and there are few gentlemen in that paddock. You just have to look at the ludicrous amounts of money spent on the "motorhomes," McLaren being the biggest offender, to see where it goes. How is that making the racing better? Yes the drivers and engineers need somewhere to work and debrief, but that is a mobile Taj Mahal used for only half the races anyway. Never mind a test team, how big a team and how many trucks does that take to cart around and assemble, let alone run. Can you imagine the kitchen?

Just look at the musical drivers going on. A contract is not worth much apparently. Heidfeld did bring a sponsor to HRT as I suggested, but his drive to the end of the season seems to have lasted one race. Let's see who gets in that hot seat for Japan. Ask Petrov how his contract is going, with Boullier now saying he wants to meet Kimi face-to-face to see how serious he is about returning? Luizzi is confident his contract and good relations with the team will save his seat for next year. Let us know how that works out for you Tonio.