Bob Barnard Track Engineering

The Malaysian F1 Lottery has been run and won by Alonso in the Ferrari. Hats off to him and the team for that result, but as one commentator said, they rolled the dice and it came up double six. Not my preferred way of deciding a motor race, and yes I know strategy plays its part, but this is a contest between men and machines, not weather forecasters. Team mate Massa, for how much longer is the question, had another dreadful race and finished 97 seconds behind Alonso, despite his new car. Young Ferrari driver and a nominee to replace Massa, Sergio Perez, drove the race of his life to finish second in the Ferrari powered Sauber. Who knows what he might have done if it were not for the suspicious radio message that "we need this place" when running second. In my view this was a message from their engine supplier running in front of him.

It is interesting that in all the speculation about who could replace Masssa now no one has mentioned two out of work young ex-Ferrari powered drivers, Buemi and Alguersuari. I know they lost their drives for not performing as potential champions, but as a number two to gain Manufacturer points one of these could step straight in. The next question is, if Perez goes to Ferrari, where does the Telmex sponsor money go?

An odd race really. The two supposed "rain masters," Button and Schumacher, both failed to produce the goods, with Michael being the victim of a bad start and Grosjean finding him before his solo accident put him out. Roman is looking fast but fragile, while Kimi is doing a great job. As the "Iceman" said, it will be nice to have a normal weekend so they can see where they really are at. Kimi said he had only done an installation lap on the intermediate or wet Pirelli tires so not too shabby. Rosberg faded badly again and Mercedes need to work out what is going on, it would be a better show with them competitive in the race.

Word on the street is that Mercedes is not at all happy with the way the spoils are being divided in the next Concorde Agreement and are holding out to the point of taking Bernie and the boys to the European Court for non-competitive practices. That would mess with the float methinks.

Williams had another good race, but unusually Maldanado's Renault engine let go right at the end. Don't see that often. Red Bull have lost the plot a little, which makes a change for us fans. Vettel made a mistake again, perhaps he is vulnerable to pressure, while Mark drove his now usual steady race to fourth. McLaren once again cost Lewis the race with two botched pit stops, but he took it well, and could do nothing about the two guys in front. Were McLaren set up for a dry race and the others compromised? The Sauber is soft on tires anyway, so the rain worked for them, and the Ferrari chassis also seemed happier in the wet, at least with Alonso at the wheel.

So back to Malaysia. Why do we have to run this event at the time of year, or the time of day when you know it is going to rain. Not just rain, that's OK, it is the track flooding monsoon that is the problem. Getting up at 4 am to watch is bad enough, but having to sit through a red flag is punishing. Add to that my Fromsportcom.com connection was not behaving and were forced to listen some of the time to the inane Speed commentary. I swear they get worse.

There are two related items today about the economics of staging an F1 race. Valencia it seems has had enough of subsidising Bernie with four years left to run on their contract. Bernie of course will not let them out of the contract so they are trying to find someone to take it over, which you would think would be easy with the number of countries who want one. If you cannot make it pay in an Alonso mad country like Spain where can you? It is costing them 30m euros, about $45m, to stage the race, including Bernie's fee, which must be a cut rate, and they are only recouping 10m euros from ticket sales, so they lose about $30m a year. Why could they not work this out before they did the deal?

On a similar note Alain Prost is frustrated that France does not have the political will to "buy" a GP. He knows they will lose 8m euros, even with a reduced fee from Bernie, and no government wants to spend that, on top of building a new track. Austin, are you listening? So if Alain could work it out beforehand why is Valencia surprised?

It seems there might be moves afoot to put Daniel Ricciardo into Buemi's seat at Torro Rosso. Not sure that is a great move for either party, one season in GP2 would probably be better for Daniel than being thrown in the deep end with a mid-field car. I know Vettel made the transition from Torro Rosso, but I would not like to bet my future on that happening again. Look at the Hulkenburg situation for a driver without a big personal sponsor.

Interesting that it has been announced that HKS, an architectural firm, has been added to Tilke for the Austin Track. Whatever you say about Tilke's tracks, his architecture has been good, so why bring in another architect?

Looked at the web site for the new project. Nearly ready. Going to be in tune with the Spanish heritage of the area and the climate, Sol Real (Royal Sun) Motorsport Resort. Architecture will be Spanish Mission. Project will be very stylish. Need to agree on a logo so we can finalize the website, and just a few tweaks. Really hard to find good photos of country club type tracks, but my good buddy Greg Sarni has helped out. Need to catch up with what has happened since my little detour via Louisiana.

Next week will be busy with setting up the hanger for meeting prospective members, and actually starting sessions with them to explain the project. Just heard that the nearby casino has committed to building a new $20m tower as an addition, so someone else has confidence in the local economy, and it is a great amenity for our members. They will of course prefer our clubhouse, but it is nice to have options.

On the motorsport scene it seems Red Bull management cannot learn when to shut up. After saying they are all friends again, Helmut Marko comes out and says he does not know what Mark wants, he is in a great team and winning races. Vettel should be the one complaining due to all his mechanical problems. If you do not understand what Mark wants Helmut then you should do as Hans Stuck suggested and retire. Jos Verstappen said he would have trod on the wing so neither of them could use it, Go Jos!

Ferrari say they were not told "immediately" to let Kubica back past, Charlie Whiting took a whole 1 minute and 55 seconds. Wow! And of course Charlie only told them his opinion based on what he thought the Stewards would do, and he was correct, so stop whining Ferrari. If you had taken his advice, or better still do it your self straight away, Alonso would have re-passed Kubica easily as the Renault had a problem, and he would have been in a great position.

So Yamamoto did such a great job at Silverstone that he is going to replace Chandook for the next race. I guess HRT   think that if they keep giving him rides his wallet will weigh less each time so he will get quicker? Buemi denies he has re-signed with Torro Rosso and says the transfer market is still open, but where is he going to get a better ride? Does he know something we do not? Does he think a seat is coming available at the senior Red Bull Team? On a similar note Virgin hope to retain Timo Glock, but what seats are open to Timo, as good as he is? Nico Rosberg's new team mate?

Valentino Rossi amazed everyone with his pace yesterday at the German Motorcycle GP, finishing seventh fastest. His fit team mate, Lorenzo, could only manage one place better. Medical science and the willingness of these guys to ride with pain is unbelievable. I saw it with Wayne Rainey, Wayne Gardner, and Mick Doohan, the mark of a true champion, and basically anyone in this sport.