Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Great morning! Cadel Evans continued to show his guts and strength today by blitzing the Schleck brothers in the time trial to take the yellow jersey by over a minute and win Australia its' first Tour de France! Right up there with the Americas Cup and Gardner's 500cc Championship! Well deserved after his showing in the Alps where his team seemed to go missing on him. Where was George Hincapie? He always seemed to be there for Lance, but I guess in his 16th Tour he might be losing it a bit.

That other Aussie Mark Webber took pole in Germany, but Hamilton was the real surprise, only missing pole by 6/100ths of a second. This is the guy who said yesterday that pole was out of the question, and the McLarens certainly looked that way in practice. Lewis and the team somehow dialed in a lap to knock Vettel off the front row for the first time this season. Let's see how Seb deals with it. Forecast is for rain tomorrow, what else in that region, so all bets might be off. Ferraris filled the next two spots with Button struggling down in 7th behind Rosberg. The usual suspects were in the last six places with Ricciardo avoiding the cut just 2/100ths behind Luizzi, and surprisingly Kobayashi in the 7th elimination spot. Chandook qualified less than a second behind his Lotus team mate, and it was interesting that the commentators could not work out what was going on there any more than I could. They did ask the pointed question about how he liked the power steering that Trulli keeps complaining about and Chandook said it was OK for him.

The rumors persist around Bernie and Gribkowsky with comments that "Bernie does not get blackmailed." It does seem out of character for Bernie to succumb to threats, but he says his lawyers told him to. That seems out of character too. There are suggestions that he could take a sabbatical while it gets sorted with his mate Max saying it might happen, but then he again he said it was not Bernie's style. Bernie is talking nice about cutting Nurburgring a break with their fees for the new agreement. Maybe he is getting soft hearted, or is it the six German drivers on the grid? 

Domenicalli says that the "electric" cars in pit lane is still to be agreed by the teams, lots of technical issues, not the least of which is getting run over because you can't hear them coming! Still no explanation of what is driving this, except that it is to be seen "green." How? They cannot be saving that much fuel, and if they do they will just dial it up on the track, and noise can be the only other issue. But how does that work with cars going by on the track? Perhaps it is so the Paddock Club people can talk business?

The closed cockpit for F1 cars continues to be discussed despite the fact I thought I read it had gone away on safety grounds, too hard to get a driver out after a crash. Maybe they are not only going to fit aircraft style canopies they are also fitting ejector seats? They'll need windshield wipers too, in fact why don't we just borrow some LMP1 cars from Le Mans? Maybe this is why Audi are interested? Seriously, are they really trying to alienate the F1 fans? Has anyone got an answer for the single set of gears for a season? Can't be a cost deal surely, how much do a few extra gears cost? Do they think that with eight ratios they can cover all the tracks? Are they really trying to remove the technology? We have spec tires and ECU's, severe limits on the engines, now gear ratios, and Max did suggest once we go to a spec chassis. Formula Ford anyone? Oops, they allow more than one chassis.

In other news the Indycar race was washed out in Edmonton yesterday, so much for flat airfield tracks, and Lorenzo took fastest time at Laguna in the second practice. He could sneak the Championship from under Hondas nose if they do not put all their effort into Stoner. Not team orders, but focus. Poor Ben Bostrum, why did they bother with a wild card when he has had no testing or practice? Just makes him look bad and I can't believe it made any difference to the crowd. Spies, Hayden and Edwards are much more likely to get American fans to go. Rossi continues to struggle on the Duke, but that's hardly news. Following my comments on when SPEED is showing qualifying it seems our friends in England will get to see it earlier than those of you on the East Coast. I will be watching on fromsportcom.com live, just as I am now watching the practice. 

 

The FIA have published the rules for F1 for 2014, the year of the V6 engine. There are some very interesting rules here that make you wonder what they are trying to achieve. KERS can now use waste heat from the exhaust, about time, but the cars must use that electrical energy to run in pit lane, no gasoline allowed. Also required is an on-board starter. So, presumably the car must exit the pit box on the KERS energy, and when the driver gets to the end of pit lane start the engine? Now having seen how complex it is to start one of these engines how is that going to work, or is that the real point? The running on electric power follows on from the ACO requiring hybrid cars to be able to run the length of the pit lane on the electric power, but presumably this is a safety reason, they do not actually require it during the race. So what is the FIA trying to achieve here, reducing the fire risk?

Anyway, the on-board starter should reduce the number of problems with stalled cars out on the circuit, so better for the spectators. The other odd requirement is the eight speed gearbox ratios must now be declared and set for the season. In 2014 a driver can change these once, but cannot change back. Now given the variety of tracks from Monaco to Silverstone can anyone explain what this is about? Some of this seems just plain bizarre.

Over at Team Lotus there are also some mixed messages being sent. Chandook is to drive Trulli's car this weekend, which Trulli says it is not a problem. Yeh right. Fernandes says he looks forward to extending Trulli's contract, yet Chandook is saying he hopes to have a full time drive next year. So, is Tony being a good guy and providing the Indian GP with some PR here, preparing Chandok for a drive at that GP, or are they just trying to see if Trulli really does have a power steering problem. Kovalainen does not seem to be complaining about it, and I can't see that he will lose his drive next year as he has out driven Jarno all season. All very strange. 

In other news Abu Dhabi has sacked 61 staff, makes you wonder how many they have to start with? Staff costs must be one of the biggest components of running a track, and I am continually amazed just how many people tracks have. VP's and Directors for everything. Big weekend of racing coming up with the German GP at Nurburgring, last one? ALMS at Mosport, how much longer is that going on, and Grand-Am at New Jersey. MotoGP, or one third of it, at Laguna, with still rooms available in the area. King Kenny will probably be the biggest draw. 

Unusually for Melbourne the weather has been the same for the last three days, cool and grey, if not downright cold for late summer. It did not slow Vettel down though and we must hope he cannot repeat this in the race or it will be him and daylight. Lewis vows to take the race to him, but he needs to find something extra to do that, but who knows what role the tires are going to have on race day. McLaren really performed a minor miracle to put themselves second and fourth, splitting the Red Bulls, with poor old Mark Webber wondering how his team mate can be that much quicker.

Lots of drivers reported KERS problems during practice, and the strangest thing is the report that Vettel did not use it, despite being under last years pole time. So much for slowing the cars down, but I guess they have the DRS, or movable wing, to use everywhere during qualifying. Rumor has it that Red Bull have a very small and light KERS system that is charged in the garage and only used during the start launch. Are they that confident that as long as they are not jumped at the start they are so fast they can stay in front? If the rumor is true obviously they are, but you have to ask why carry any extra weight and added cost and complication for just the start?

Heidfeld in the Renault is one of those that said his missing Q2 was down to no KERS and being balked by traffic, but given the testing form that is really surprising, especially as his young team mate is sixth just behind Alonso in the Ferrari who looked to be driving the wheels of it to even be there. Massa had an awful qualifying and you have to wonder is this the end? His head has obviously been messed with by Alonso and the team and despite all Rob Smedley's encouragement he has just lost it, spinning on his last run as he exited the pits, even Chandook made it to Turn Three.

Thank goodness the HRT cars have been excluded under the 107% rule. I don't care how hard the mechanics worked to get two cars out there, they are slower than GP2 cars and do not deserve to be there. At ten or eleven seconds a lap slower than Vettel they would be lapped every eight laps, and the closing speed is frightening. Colin Kolles says that they will be "even better" in Malaysia. Hard to see how they could be much worse. Can you imagine the cost of transporting the cars and team around the world, and for what?

Virgin and Lotus just snuck in but are six seconds off Vettel's pace which for Lotus must be a huge disappointment. As my Wife said, perhaps they need to concentrate on the car and not court cases over names. The midfield will be tight with a second covering eighth to seventeenth. Perez disappointed in Q2 as he has been quick all weekend, but Kobayashi put his Sauber in ninth with a display of uncontrolled aggression that had you wondering if he could keep it off the wall.

In all an interesting session, and Mercedes are expecting a better showing in the race with Michael missing out on Q3 and out qualified by Rosberg yet again.

Elsewhere Checa took WSBK pole again from Leon Haslam. It's time the BMW had some reward for their investment so this may be their best chance with Leon on home soil and Checa not having the best record at Donnington.

Well done Montoya for taking pole at Fontana, let's see if he can convert that into a speedway win. Congratulations to the Marc VDS squad for winning the first race of the FIA GT1 championship in the Ford GT. Always had a soft spot for that car from the GT40 days. Will Power is leading practice at St Petersburg Indycar race, but ask me if I care. Champion Franchitti is last, but you cannot imagine he is going to stay there.

So the first day of the 2011 season has come and gone and what did we learn? The usual suspects are at the top of the time sheet, surprisingly perhaps in the shape of McLaren. They obviously did something special in the second practice as they found around two seconds. It is still a lot like testing, we won't really know I fear until the race who has the best race set up. The tires did not seem to give up as quickly as I expected, with drivers setting fast times after three laps on them. There is still an unpredictability about what to expect every time you go out on a new set, and the Stewards authorised the use of additional tires after there were problems with mounting some. Does not sound like good quality control, more like a lottery.

Chandook said he was glad to be back in F1, all 50 seconds of it. That's how far he got in the Lotus, Turn Three to be exact before plonking it against the inside wall courtesy of a heavy right foot, cold tires and damp track. Lotus must have regretted that decision. They are strangely off the pace they showed in testing where it seemed they had dragged themselves to within two or so seconds of the fast guys, but here they are back where they were last season. Gascoyne says there is a lot more left. Let's hope so, they are barely in front of the 107% rule.

Not so lucky are Virgin who are still 6 seconds adrift, only faster than HRT because that mobile, sorry bad choice, embarrasment only managed one lap with one car right at the end of the second practice. They are due an "early bath" as they say in soccer, barring a miracle. Aussies love a battler, but this is way beyond that now.

The good news for McLaren is not so much the pace they are now showing, it is the reliability that was sorely missing in testing. All the top runners looked good in that respect, and Mercedes seem to have resolved their problems. Rosberg looked like setting the morning's fastest time on a couple of laps, only to run wide and lose time, and Michael is sixth fastest on the day. Massa seems to be struggling, and Alonso did not appear until very late in the morning session for some reason, but was right on the pace immediately, impressive. Renault were strangely off the pace they threatened in testing, but new boy Perez  was an impressive eighth, a second faster than his more experienced team mate.

Adrian Newey says he is confident that they are still up to half a second faster than the pack, and if anyone knows he does. Still tires are going to play a part. Vettel had a large chunk out of a front tire that Red Bull say was due to running over debris on the track. Let's hope so. Domenicali from Ferrari is concerned about the amount of traffic in pit lane if each team is making three stops, and the new pit entry is really tight to accommodate the V8Supercar garage brought over from Homebush. I guess Tony Cochrane did not want his series to look like second class citizens.

It was interesting watching the movable wing in operation during practice, but the FIA are still playing with the rules so it is hard to keep up. The overtaking zone in Melbourne will now start BEFORE the last corner, not sure how that helps, you need the downforce to get through the corner I would have thought, and as soon as you bolt on intermediates you can no longer use the wing. They tried a race simulation during the last half hour of second practice just to totally confuse the crowd. And there are suggestions Red Bull did not use it in practice, so who knows where the times are.

The WSBK is at Donnington Park this weekend and Carlos Checa continued where he left off at Phillip Island topping the first free practice.

Le Mans Series cars tested at Paul Ricard yesterday, with the Aston Martin still to turn a wheel. The first race is next weekend. I did see a piece about the FIA talking to Peugeot about another flip by their new car. It has  had more than few big accidents during testing, although it ran faultlessly at Sebring, and the FIA are concerned about the aero on the car.

I am a little concerned about a report from the Portugese Rally special stage where a wheel came off a car and struck a spectator, and all the driver was reported to say afterward was "I can't believe I have been that stupid." To have crashed I suppose, but I would have thought he might have asked about the condition of the spectator and expressed some regret, or is rallying a sport where the spectator takes their chances?

So Paul Di Resta survived the Shanghai track to win the DTM for 2010, well done. Pity the race had to start behind the safety car for three laps and then have yellow flags at the first three corners to try and make it safe at the start. DTM needs to have a serious look why it is racing at such venues when there are perfectly good permanent tracks to go to, even in Shanghai.

The GP2 musical chairs ended today with the results being mixed up again. Alexander Rossi ran 4th in the last session after an 8th place in the morning. Surprising to see Karun Chandook so low down in the timesheet, and Joylon Palmer struggled to repeat his form of yesterday. This is the end of the testing until next February, by when I guess we will know who has taken their checkbook where.

Bernie said  that the muggers went over the top, he would have given them the money, watch and the jewelry without the agro. One of my friends was bad enough to suggest that the muggers were a promoter trying to get some of his money back.