Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Seeing as how we are in the middle of a break for F1, and about midway through the championship, I thought I would give you my score card on the teams and drivers.

Clearly the best car is the Red Bull, and should be where Brawn was last year. Two great drivers, so what's gone wrong? Poor management of the drivers and some reliability issues have cost them, and Vettel is either accident prone or has bad luck, but I think he does not have his head in the right place. They could wrap this whole thing up if they decided who they want to win the championship, and I would back Webber, and no, not because he is an Australian. He has the focus right now, and Vettel has time on his side.

Ferrari are a bit of an enigma, great one week and off the pace another. Alonso is driving up to his usual standard but his Latin temperament gets in the way sometimes, but you can't have one without the other. Massa is even more up and down. He obviously still has it, but it does not always show up this year. There is obviously something about the car that it is not consistent. Alonso and Ferrari could still pull this off, but they need to sort out team orders, did I really say that, before they get on track.

McLaren have been behind the eight ball all season. As always they never give up and their development pace is the best in the business, but they are playing catch up every race. They are managing their two drivers better than anyone else, with Hamilton for me the best driver out there. He makes the car do more than it should, while Button seems always to be waiting for his chance, for the car to be right, for the tires to be right, etc. Don't get me wrong, he has had some great drives this year, and is the reason McLaren even have a shot at the Constructors title.

Mercedes have to be the disappointment of the season. You take a Championship team and back it with Mercedes money, bring in a young hot driver, and Michael, and you would expect them to be competing at the front. Compared to Red Bull these three teams missed the basic car design. As Nico Rosberg said, the basic car is not right, and trying to start from that base with development does not get you there. Nico is driving better than he did at Williams, and once he has the right car he will be a force. The less said about Michael the better.

Renault and Williams are for me the teams doing most for less. Renault have Kubica which is flattering the car I think, but Petrov is also putting in some good drives like Hungary, so the car cannot be that bad, and considering last years problems and the new ownership they are punching above their weight. So too is Williams, the best of the Cosworth brigade by a country mile. It is not consistent, but who is except Red Bull, and Rubens continues to put in some very good drives and shows no signs of getting stale or just driving for the money. Hulkenburg is having a good rookie season, so Williams are probably going to retain both. If Williams bring in some investment money then they can hopefully return to the force they were.

Sauber is also doing well considering the last minute pull out by BMW and Peter carrying the team. Again inconsistent, and both drivers have had bad days, but we have also seen some good ones. I doubt Pedro will be back next year, and maybe Kobayashi may not be back. Depends on what happens with the team ownership, Peter cannot keep funding this thing, and there is an obvious lack of sponsors on the car.

Force India showed a burst of performance late last year that surprised everyone. Unfortunately that does not seem to have carried over to this season, and losing a lot of their Tech people cannot help. Not sure what is going on here as there are ongoing rumors about their finances. They do continue to develop the car with the latest innovations, so can't be all bad. Sutil is wasted in this car, but not sure there is a seat available anywhere else. Luizi is up and down, and seems to have had bad luck with his chassis, but who else would you pit in the car at the moment?

Torro Rosso are actually doing well for a driver development team that has to design and build it's own car these days. Buemi and Alguersuari seem on a par and at times putting in good drives, apart from running into each other at times, but even the best teams do that don't they?

That brings us to the new boys. Lotus is clearly the class of the rear of the field, and I agree with Bernie that they are the one likely to survive. They all have surprising reliability problems which is really hurting their development. With no testing then if you do not run race weekend you can never move forward. Seems Lotus is moving to the Renault engine, which I am not sure is a good move, but Williams and Renault seem evenly matched so who knows? I'm sure Mike Gascoyne does. Maybe it will solve his hydraulic problems. Trulli and Hekki are doing the best they can with what they have as you would expect.

Virgin is not quite as bad as HRT, but it is a close run thing. Cannot imagine Sir Richard putting up with this situation next year, so he needs to get out or fund this properly. At the moment it is money that is worse than wasted, it is very negative exposure. What can you say about HRT? The situation is not poor Colin Kolles' fault, but not sure if he is the one to solve it. He has been with a few teams now, and none are what you would say really successful. Having a "renter driver" shows how desperate they are for money, and Dallara did them no favors with the car, but who knows what the real story is as far as payment went for what they did.

Let's hope the rest of the season is as entertaining as most of the first half has been, provided Red Bull do not finally get their act together.

Over at the ALMS we are already down on prototype cars and we have lost the CytoSport Porsche before the weekend started. The Drayson Lola is on pole by a comfortable margin. I suppose Lord Drayson is fit again, so we will see what happens in the race. Highcroft is slowest of the three front runners, but somehow they find ways to win.

Grand Am is at Watkins Glen again as a support to the NASCAR race, so watch for that tomorrow.

Elliott Sadler's massive crash at Pocono yesterday brings home the danger built in to some tracks. The answer will undoubtedly be, "no one has crashed there in ...years." That changes nothing, it was sitting there for someone to hit, and eventually they will. He was a lucky boy to walk away from that, and obviously NASCAR have made strides in their car safety, but this should not have happened. Someone from NASCAR must approve their tracks, so why was this there?

Following yesterday's Hungarian GP and my comments on Vettel, I read my latest edition of Motorsport. Nigel Roebuck writes a great opinion piece each month called "Reflections," and this month he reflected on the situation at Red Bull and young master Vettel. I like his quote from film maker Sam Spiegel, "You make a star, you make a monster." Reminds me of comments from Gary Howard who runs International Racers and manages most of the American motorcycle stars of the last few decades who talked about how you find great young talent, and you only have yourself to blame for what you create.

Nigel goes on to say that "while Vettel is hardly that (a monster), still it's been clear for a while that the impish schoolboy is receding swiftly into the memory. When things go wrong for Sebastian, I'm told, it's as well to stand well back as the toys come flying out of the pram." Not a great basis for winning Championships. Now as most people who know me well will attest, I have been known to throw the odd thing, especially hats. But I am not racing in F1. Lewis Hamilton has also been known to wear his heart on his sleeve at times, as has Mark Webber as recently as Silverstone, but there is something different about their response. They grit their teeth and get on with it, while Seb hangs his head and loses focus. There is also the denial thing, "I had radio problems." Lights are visual for a reason, he did not need the radio to tell them they had gone out. If you screw up say so and get on with it.

Hope you have had a chance to visit the Sol Real web site. This will update regularly, and there will be new renderings of the site layout and details of some of the buildings being added in the next couple of days.

How sweet it must have been for Mark Webber to win the British F1 GP  yesterday. "Methinks they protesteth too much" is how I would treat Red Bull's continual assurances that Vettel is not getting preferential treatment. Team Principal Christian Horner insisted that the differences between the two wing versions were minor, and only affected driving characteristics. If that was true why risk having a problem with Mark by changing it over to Vettel's car after Vettel's wing had broken in practice? Sources have revealed that there was both a lap time and a weight difference between the two versions. Mark commented that the car felt better with it on. Horner saying that they gave the wing to Vettel because he was ahead in points makes more sense than "there were minor differences." It's like the Turkey deal all over again, they cannot stick to a story. So, if Mark wins the World Championship are we going to see a Champion walk from his team again? You have to love him for his honesty and lack of PC!

Not that winning the Championship is going to be easy. They said that Jim Clark could just drive around a car's problems, as did Senna. Now I am not yet saying that Hamilton is in that illustrious company, but you have to admire his ability to take a car that is not well set up and putting it fourth on the grid when  his World Champion team mate can only manage 14th and says it is undriveable. Then he runs a strong second in the race, setting fastest times. Cudos to Button to take that ill handling car and get it up to fourth, he has a different style to Lewis but is still very effective. You do not really see how he does it. McLaren have a great team with these two and of course the engineers and mechanics, and yes I am biased.

Ferrari are again exercising their selective memory and "the rules do not apply to us" mentality. Do they not recall Spa three years ago and that great duel between Raikkonen and Hamilton? When Kimi pushed Lewis wide at the "bus stop" and Lewis did pass Kimi, let Kimi back past him again, and then overtook him, only to be penalized for not letting Kimi by far enough! Lost the race and the Championship. So why was Alonso's pass on Kubica any different?

Nice to see Williams up there again, and the Cosworth is obviously not too shabby. Yamamoto ran around last, must have been weighed down by his wallet! Well done Nico Rosberg, beat your elderly team mate again. Michael is not driving well and cannot be enjoying his time back in the car. Even the TV commentators are now comparing his age with every other driver he gets passed by.

Did not get to see the ALMS at Miller, but well done Highcroft, and it seems that the Drayson car ran well. Keep Emmanuele in the car so we have some competition for Brabham and co.

Did not see WSBK either, but it is turning into a Biaggi benefit. Pity about Corser and the BMW's. Did anyone see the accident in practice? Brno is a safe track so I am surprised at his injuries, was it just a high speed get off?

Congratulations Spain for the World Cup. I lived in Spain for a year and love the people and the Country, so if England could not win I am glad Spain did. Hard to believe it was their first final and win.

Sad to see Lance Armstrong having such a tough time on the Tour, but I guess when your luck runs out. He is still amazing, but in a way he is finding out what Michael is finding out, the current crop of riders are pretty damn good! I know I am an Aussie, but I think Andy Schleck is who I would like to win.