Bob Barnard Track Engineering

When I first arrived in Australia the Premier of Queensland was one Joh Bjelke Petersen. If that sounds like he should have been running South Africa then you get an idea of his politics. Joh loved to have press conferences, "feeding the chooks" as he called it, or feeding the media a line of misleading information more like it. Bernie seems to have gone to the same school of media management. He is famous for putting ideas out there to get a reaction or put pressure on someone.

This week we have seen him question the New Jersey F1 race, saying they are behind in some of the contract requirements, presumably a payment. Now we all know Bernie has been waiting for a race with a view of Manhattan for years, so I doubt he is serious, so what's his game? He played the boys in Texas well too to the extent of a reported increase in race fees of $10m, and he is dangling the Mexican GP as a stick to beat anyone not living up to his standards.

We also have Bernie blaming KERS for the Williams pit fire, without any reports to back that up. Now, that is a possible cause, but why say that now? Bernie does not like KERS or the other energy recovery systems, electric motors in pit lane etc, and is presumably putting pressure on the FIA to back off on these.

We also see reports today that the float is to be delayed due to market unrest. But I thought this was a golden goose that anyone would want to invest in? Didn't they just sell $1.6 bn of shares without floating? As Joe Saward says today, we have seen this before, a delay becomes a change of mind. I've asked before why Bernie would want to have the books open to public gaze. Was this just another ruse to get the big teams into line on the next Concorde Agreement? Or was Mercedes too big to fight? One thing is for sure, Bernie will come out smelling of roses.

In other matters the opposition to the Canadian GP looks more serious than Bahrain. Perhaps people are waking up to how much these ego boosts are costing the country. How many university places would a race fee pay for each year?

Over in Barcelona Casey Stoner has shown impending retirement has not dulled his competitive spirit. How about Bradl and Marquez on Hondas next year?

Finally, it is June 1, and I hope you are well rested. We have the Euros kicking off in a week's time, Le Mans test day this weekend and the race on June 16, Five F1 races and the Tour de France all before the end of July, not to mention MotoGP and WSBK. Phew!

Why is it that the 2012 Ferrari is seen as a dog, especially by the team? While we have had five different winners this year, including Ferrari, Alonso has been there abouts in each race. Now I am a fan of his and feel he can impact the performance of a car more than the average F1 driver, but even he cannot be doing this with a car as bad as everyone makes out. Quickest in first practice in Monaco, and right there in the second without using the super-soft tire that Jenson did. So how bad can this car really be?

On the other side McLaren were seen after the first race to be odds on to win both Chamionships, but look what's happened to them. OK, they have shot themselves in the foot a few times, but that does not tell the story of Button's bad races in China and Spain. So what's real here?

Like Ferrari the Lotus team seem to able to competitive everywhere this year, so perhaps a sixth race winner?

Nice to see the changes to the chicane on the harbor this year, much better.

While the racing goes on the fight to make money from the sport continues unabated. If $1.6bn can be raised by selling shares privately why do CVC, or is it Bernie, feel the need to float it public? A normally very private man when it come to money it is hard to understand why Bernie would want the public scrutiny that comes with a stock exchange listing. Bernie is right though, if Facebook is worth $100 bn then F1 with its returns to investors is a steal at $10 bn. I loved the comment about his replacement, comparing it to trying to find a replacement for Frank Sinatra.

F1 is only worth $10 bn though if the race promoters continue to cough up the exorbitant fees. Let's look at the current calendar. Australia is losing north of $50m on each race and the Government is under pressure. Malaysia has less attendance than Australia and by reports is not happy. China has never had a crowd, but will probably hang in there. Bahrain has plenty of money but no one wants to go. Barcelona cannot fill the seats even with Alonso and is hurting, but still wants the race. Their mates in Valencia keep reducing the number of seats and want to alternate with Barcelona. Monaco is Monaco and does not pay Bernie anyway. Then we have Canada where the students are threatening to stop the race, and Bernie wants a bunch of money spent on the track, i.e pit building, before next year. Silverstone is desperately trying to find someone to lease the facility to pay off their debts. Germany has Nurburgring and Hockenheim, neither of which can afford it. Hungary has always been an enigma, Bernie presumably promotes this race. Belgium is in trouble like Germany and was touted to share with France, except France is not playing ball with them or Bernie. In Italy the financial police have just raided Monza over dodgy accounts. Singapore will presumably continue at a lower price as their reward for floating F1. Japan is a year by year deal and could stop. Korea already wants to stop and apparently Bernie has done them a deal. India has not yet worked out what it is really going to cost them, as with Austin, which is still fighting within themselves. Abu Dhabi has spent so much money on Yas Marina they have to keep going, and then there is Brazil which is faced with building a new pit building. So, not all rosy in the F1 world.

What of the new races I hear you ask. Well we have New Jersey here in the US which no one knows who is paying for it. France is having second thoughts, and all is not smooth in Russia. Argentina is scheduled to join the Bernie supporters club, and there are always countries willing to pay Bernie what he wants it seems, but for how long?

Over at MotoGP things aren't much better with the current World Champion saying he is retiring at the end of the season as he does not like where that sport is heading, and neither do most of us.

On a final note the extensions to the track I built at Eastern Creek in Sydney back in 1989 have come in for some stick, particularly from motorcycle racers. Perhaps now I will receive some recognition for what I built originally on a difficult site. No, it was not Phillip Island, but there again, nothing else is.

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.

Ferrari are to give Massa a new chassis for this weekend's Malaysian F1 GP to see if it is him that is the problem, or the car. There are no shortage of opinions on who should take his place at Ferrari, so I guess most of us have made up our minds already. Perez, Trulli and Sutil are three named this morning, and there has to be others like Bianchi who could step in. Given the form of Vergne and Ricciardo in their first race for Toro Rosso it could be a good idea to give a young turk a go. Alonso is not going to be around for ever. 

Martin Whitmarsh says he his happy Lewis was so annoyed after the Melbourne race, and so he should be. I think I told you the story of my mistake on congratulating Wayne Rainey on a good second place at Assen, and receiving an ear full of abuse. Champions never, ever, want to lose.

The stories continue to come out about floating F1, and Singapore seems to be the favored stock exchange. Bernie has looked at Britain and the US before, but it seems they want a bit too much information about your business for Bernie's taste. Ferrari and Red Bull are not denying they are doing a special deal, and one commentator suggested that Bernie's recent opinion about letting new teams use old cars from the top teams could be targeting filling the grid if teams like McLaren don't want to play anymore. It was also suggested that some teams, like McLaren, have other revenue streams, so sitting out for a few years from F1 would not be the end of the world.