Bob Barnard Track Engineering

It is said that in F1 one great pass can be enough in a season. Hakkinen on Schumacher at Spa. Webber on Alonso at Spa. But yesterday we saw a non-pass that made a race. That half a lap, a series of silly 2nd gear corners where it is supposed to be impossible to pass, showed two great drivers at the top of their game. Webber as I said has shown it a couple of times this season, and Hamilton forgot all those silly incidents when trying to pass Massa to join him in a masterful display of courage, strength of mind and respect for the other guy. Which other two drivers would race so close, no pushing the other wide on the grass, always giving him just enough room, and no sudden swerves or chops? Button and Alonso probably, but few others. Made it worth stopping up past midnight for.

Then we were treated to twenty or so laps of Hamilton holding off Webber, shades of Villeneuve senior at Jarama. Lewis seems to have been in a different place this weekend, subdued but determined. Martin Whitmarsh explained the strange starts and races of Lewis and Jensen by saying they "lost" 10 pts of downforce on that first lap. One web site suggested rubber build up lodging in the front wing, but that would have been spotted and removed at the pit stop. Lewis had more and more front wing added at each stop, and half way through that last fraught stint asked over the radio if he had all there was. The answer was that the wing was maxed out. The lack of dry running on Friday was blamed by some, but Red Bull did not have the same problem. Just to rub it in Vettel threw in the fastest lap of the race by a second on the last lap!

You know I do not like the DRS. It is a false solution, created by Alonso's problem of getting past a slow car at Abu Dhabi. No question it works in those situations, so far so good. It does not work with two equal cars, and nor should it. We saw Lewis driving away from Webber through the twisty bits, but not quite getting the 1 second he needed to prevent Mark from wiping that out by no more technique and skill than pressing a button on the straight. If Lewis could have kept his 0.7 seconds he made each lap after 20 laps he would have a nice cushion. As it was he stressed himself to the limit of the car's performance each lap just to stay ahead. Made for good viewing, but I'm not convinced it is fair. Let's get rid of it and leave it to the drivers.

Strange to hear Alonso say near the end "I give up, I give up." After putting in 20 laps at qualifying pace he still could not get to Button, who in turn could not get to Webber. I think neither Lewis or Alonso are very happy with their cars at the moment.

Someone who is is Kovalainen. He finished a genuine 14th in the Lotus and mixed it with the back end of the mid-field on pace, beating both Saubers. He was ready to do it again straight away he said. Good to see. 

Congratulations to Casey Stoner on clinching the MotoGP crown at Phillip Island, that must have felt great, but I'm sure he would rather have done it by beating Lorenzo who did not start after losing part of a finger in a warm-up crash. So both Yamaha riders out of the race made for a sparse field, made sparser by race crashes including Rossi. Only ten bikes finished, very sad for the top level of Motorcycle racing. In Moto2 Bradl was pipped at the end by De Angelis which allowed Bradl to retake the title lead from third finishing Marquez by three points. With a return to form by Bradl the last two races could be fun.

In NASCAR land perpetual champ Jimmie Johnson crashed out of last night's Charlotte race and is last in the "Chase." So a new champ this year, if anyone cares. Not many at Charlotte to show they did.

Well, either the Renault is very good this year or Nick Heidfeld has never shown us his best, but here he is, first day sitting in the car and sets fast time of the day and is currently second on the overall time sheet behind Michael Schumacher. So much for just settling himself in as he said. It is perhaps a bit of both, so I'd say he has won himself the seat. Times are actually closing up today, with Kovalainen only 1.36 seconds off the fast time, but Williams have to be a bit concerned with their lack of pace, unless they are having ongoing issues with the car, which is just as worrying. Apparently the Mercedes set the quick time yesterday on the super soft compounds, but it is still up there today, so they must be doing something right.  Ferrari continue with their consistent fast pace and McLaren is around the place, but Red Bull seem to be not quite up to speed, both Vettel and Webber slower than Kobayashi in the Sauber, but who really knows?

The second GP2 Asia race has been run and won. The inversion of the front of the grid for the second race makes for different winners, which shows just how close these cars and drivers are on performance.

NASCAR has announced that McLaren Electronics has won the bid to supply the common ECU and fuel injection to be used from 2012. Welcome to the 20th Century. It is no secret McLaren have been pursuing this bigger role in racing, with Ron Dennis visiting a race last year, but what about Steve Hallam? Steve came over a few years ago to work for Toyota and Michael Waltrip's team. My suspicious mind wondered back then if there were some ulterior motive. A Trojan Horse?

The IMS Commentator Tom Carnegie has just passed away at the age of 91, and his passing earned him many accolades for being responsible for the growth of the Indy 500. On a similar note British commentator Chris Carter has lost his regular job running a radio show at the Daytona 200 Motorcycle event, much to the dismay of riders and spectators. Isn't it interesting how someone who has no actual involvement in the event can make such a difference to how we fans enjoy it. You know if you read this regularly that I am not a fan of certain commentators, and will actually turn the sound off rather than listen to them. Who can forget Murray Walker who commentated for many, many years on F1, and his legendary "If I'm not very much mistaken," and he usually was, but we loved him for being human and his passion. More TV channels need to take the time to find that special person who can bring their sport to life, without the need to self promote or prattle on for the sake of it. What would the Tour de France be without Phil Ligget?