Bob Barnard Track Engineering

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. 

So the race was not quite the procession we expected, but Alonso in the Ferrari being lapped was something no one expected! I want to be a fly on the wall when Montezemolo talks to the team. Yes the race was exciting at times, but we are back to the days of refuelling and sprints between pit stops to decide who leads. Think about it, how many actual passes were there between competitive cars? Alonso passed Webber at Turn Ten, only to be re-passed. The DRS zone did not work. Even with Vettel struggling with KERS Lewis could not get close enough to trouble him using the DRS. The Mercedes underperformed again, with Michael beating Nico, for the first time? Nico blamed the lack of the DRS system that quit on him for not being able to overtake Michael. Sad. The highlight of the race for me was Michael getting out of the way for Vettel and Hamilton when being lapped, not what I expected at all, but well done Michael. Keep that up and I might become a fan.

I commented at the time about a fastest lap being set while the yellow flag was out for Kovalainen's accident, and it is nice to see that the Stewards took note, even though they only gave a warning this time. We've seen guys lose their qualifying times for this sort of thing.

The pace of the McLarens was surprising given the practice times, and Red Bull may as well take the KERS off the car, they can win without it and would be even quicker if they took it off and lightened the car, or at least moved the ballast where it does most good. The other surprising thing was the empty grandstands. If it wasn't for the people on the grass banks it would look like Turkey, not a good omen for keeping the race here.

I don't know if Pirelli are just paying SPEED a lot of money or Bernie is leaning on the TV to talk them up, but Paul Hembery, their chief, is getting more airtime than the drivers and there are "infomercials" during each broadcast. In a time when the FIA is trying to appear green, how can you justify the waste of resources on tires? Give them one set for the race and let's see who can manage their tires.

Is anyone else tired of this nonsense with bad tyres? One of Bernie's best ideas was the three stage knockout qualifying to make teams put cars on track. Now we have the situation where they are once again sitting in the garage during qualifying to save tires. Of course it is made worse by the domination of Red Bull and to some extent McLaren. Why not just give them one or two more sets? In the race they are still going to have to use both compounds, and gamble on a two or three or four stop race. Better still make the tires better. As the editorial in this month's Motor Sport says the current gimmicks are a band aid to cover up the basic problem with the current car specs.

Then we have Lewis Hamilton admitting in the post qualifying press conference that he will not be able to challenge the Red Bulls tomorrow as he has to look after his tyres! Great racing this is. We also have Vettel admitting his KERS did not work in Q2 & 3. Good, can you imagine how much more than the one second advantage they would have? Let's hope Mark can put on a show, otherwise it will not matter how many DRS, KERS and bad tires there are, it will be very boring.

You all know I am no fan of KERS and the whole green racing deal on the basis that racing is about efficiency anyway. It is nice to read the piece, again in Motor Sport, about the new Audi for Le Mans. Dr. Baretzky, the Audi engine Chief, puts it nicely. Talking of hybrids and why they are not planning to use it he said that at the moment the extra weight on the car would need more fuel to propel it than you are gaining from its use. "The system should pay for itself...Motor Sport should be about the truth: the more efficient, quicker, better car should win, and the rules should be made according to that. The ACO says we have to encourage this technology. Why? If this technology is a better solution, it will come. If we have to encourage it and it turns out to be the wrong route, it is a waste of energy and time." Here here.

The FIA has announced that DRS is so successful we are to get two zones of it at Canada and Valencia! Personally I never saw that Canada has a problem with overtaking with Turn 1, the hairpin and the last corner being full of action in the past. Valencia now is different, it needs all the help it can get. They have also decreed that the DRS cannot be used in the tunnel at Monaco, or Eau Rouge.  It would be a very brave, and stupid, man to try it through Eau Rouge. The tunnel might entice some to try. Why all this manipulation of where and when? If it is so good then rely on the drivers common sense and self preservation to decide when to use it. Or are we protecting the drivers from themselves?

So who watched Kimi at Charlotte? I did, and was very impressed. He kept it going in the right direction unlike some of the much more experienced drivers out there, including his team owner Kyle Bush. Kimi never saw Charlotte until Friday morning and raced there that night! He certainly was not intimidated by running in close company, and the other drivers did not seem to have a problem racing around him. Great job, not that I expected anything less. So now what, Nationwide?

Back at Barcelona we potentially have the situation where the Cosworth teams could protest the engine mapped exhaust blown diffusers. This the off and then on again ruling by the FIA, which leaves the door open as they did not say its use was legal, just that the teams had a stay of when they needed to undo it. That would be a nice mess at the end of the race wouldn't it?

As reported a few months ago the success of the greens in recent German elections has made the support for the German GP unlikely to continue past 2015, two more races at the Nurburgring as it alternates with Hockenheim so that track only loses half as much!

The buy out of CVC continues to be the main story with some interesting side bars. The timing of these cannot be a coincidence. Ferrari has come out with a statement that "Ferrari believes that big decisions need to be made soon about the future direction of Formula 1 - as it suggested more needs to be invested by its chiefs to promote the sport." They say that they are impartial on ownership, but if CVC stays then they must invest in promoting the sport. Clearly the teams think that News Corp with their media muscle will do a better job on this score, and I have first hand experience of what they can do when they worked with me on promoting the Australian Motorcycle GP back in '89. Domenicali has made a number of statements in the past few days, continuing the push about F1 being too dominated by aerodynamics and not about engines, which is inversely proportional to the road car business. There are reports that "teams are indeed setting out plans for simple and stable rules post 2012, the revival of key European venues, reduced ticket prices and the modernizing of media platforms for the younger audience." Admirable goals for true enthusiasts I would think.

There are some clear messages being coordinated here, more promotion, stable rules with more emphasis on other components of the car, keeping the current engine, and reviewing where they are racing. There is a meeting scheduled in Stuttgart of Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull to discuss the buy-out, and it is suggested to join it. And at last an un-named team boss has come out and said what I have been saying, KERS as it is used now, is not "green." Only used for acceleration, increases the car's weight so uses more fuel, and then you have to dispose of the batteries. Someone had to say it. KERS is like the DRS, there to spice up the show, so stop pretending it's green. Capturing wasted energy is a worthwhile objective, but not like this.

Meanwhile, there is some real racing going on at Spa with the Audi fastest on the first day. It is all very close among the diesels, but the best petrol car, the Rebellion Toyota is 5 secs off the pace. In the GT class it is all Ferrari.

Virgin says it hopes to "turn the corner" in Turkey. I hope so, there are lot of them.

A bit of silliness to start the day, not much else going on. Teams in China for the F1 GP, and Glock is worried that the Virgin may not qualify here. He is even suggesting that the quick teams might use the softs in Q1 just to make sure. He obviously is not feeling the love.

Red Bull reportedly not sure about using KERS here, again, and there is even a suggestion that the radio message to Vettel in Malaysia to turn his off was just mischief as he did not slow down. Not that he was really trying being a second a lap slower than the fastest lap set by team mate Webber. Mark shared some Australian vernacular with reporters in China who dared to suggest he was playing Eddie Irvine to Schumacher. Nice one Mark.

Pirelli are defending the amount of "marbles" on the track from their tires, saying it is normal for tires to wear and put rubber on the track. Yes but it usually goes on the surface to help grip, not roll up in big balls to be thrown around. There is no evidence of tracks "rubbering in" as they used to. There is a piece in Motor Sport this week where Franchiti went to the F1 test to see his cousin Paul di Resta and witnessed a trial start. Loads of wheelspin and tire smoke, but when the car had gone no black marks on the road!

In the same edition Nigel Roebuck has a great article on politics in sport and the Bahrain situation. As I said Bernie cannot say F1 has nothing to do with politics when politicians are voting to pay most of his fees. Despite mutterings from the Crown Prince that things have settled down there and we can think about a new date, read Pit Pass web site,

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=43353

This makes for salutary reading.

Rumors circulating that all is not well at Williams, how can it be, share price dropping with their finishing places. Sam Michael is nominated as the scapegoat. There are also mutterings about Mercedes, and Montezemolo cannot be happy over at Ferrari. Jean Todt apparently paid a visit to Ferrari Wednesday, trying to shut them up about the engine I would guess.

This weekend we have the F1 race from China and the World Superbike from the "cathedral," Assen, ALMS and Indycar at Long Beach, although the lack of news on that is deafening. Remember when Long Beach was as big as Indy?