Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Not if you are Jean Todt it isn't, the British press are having a field day over the FIA's lack of leadership and direction during the Bahrain saga. The FIA are in a rock and a hard place as while they are a signatory to the Concorde Agreement, the real commercial problems of canceling a race are between Bernie, the teams and the promoter. Having the Crown Prince cancel makes Bernie's life easier. The big losers are the TV companies who have paid for 20 races and now have 19. It is very hard to see where a rescheduled race is going to fit in for 2011, the calendar was already the most crowded in F1 history. It will be an interesting sort out after this between all these parties, and the teams sponsors and insurance companies.

From comments made today it would appear that Valencia has not paid the fee for last years race. No comment. Melbourne's City Councillors have been polled and most are in favor of keeping the GP, but then again they are not paying for it.

F1 testing is over for a week or so, but MotoGP and WSBK are both in action. Stoner is fastest in Malaysia on the Honda with Lorenzo third on the unsponsored Yamaha factory team. What does that tell you about the state of MotoGP? A Japanese factory team could usually be relied upon to lean on one of its' fellow Japanese corporations to put something on the machine, but not this year. Of course it is done to allow Yamaha to celebrate its 50th year with the team in Yamaha blue, right. Rossi is still a second off the pace but at least in front of Hayden. Still not time to rule him out. Colin Edwards on the second string bike is in front of his old team mate Ben Spies who has the works machine, nice going Colin, let's see you stay up there this season.

Down at the Island Carlos Checa leads the way from the usual suspects and a high number of falls. It seems that despite no factory Ducati team the marque is still the one to beat. The debate on the GP date next year has gone quiet for a while.

Vettel has raised an interesting issue with Pirelli's and overtaking. I think it was Sir Isaac Newton who said "that for every action there was an equal and opposite reaction." So we add KERS and movable wings to make overtaking easier, and ask Pirelli to spice up the tires, and now Vettel says the amount of "marbles" coming off the Pirelli's will make overtaking impossible by half race distance.

Nice to hear that Kubica has started rehab. Best wishes Robert for a complete recovery.

Renault with its forward exhaust is fastest on the last day at Valencia, so obviously they have something working. So much for Helmut Marko's assertion after day two that "If we had run a race today we would have lapped the field." Helmut also vehemently denies they overspent, but even if they did the fines should go to charity, not the smaller teams who came in expecting some equality in spending. Not so fast Helmut, and why don't you just shut up and go away. A friend sent me a link to an F1 technical blog which showed how Newey has used a different way to use the exhaust gas through the diffuser, through a loophole in the rules. You have to love these guys. Apparently this did not show up until the second day. Here is the link.

So Kubica was quickest over the three days, and Lotus are back to having hydraulic problems, this time with the power steering. How does that happen, surely you buy this stuff from a specialist? Glock in the Virgin was well up, but Force India still continued to shine with Sutil second fast. Now, it is all very early days, but it is still interesting. McLaren are to unveil their car tomorrow in Berlin, and Lewis says it looks different to the other teams and is not sure if that is good or bad. The Mercedes is having teething troubles, with the HRT faster at this point. Ross Brawn says he is encouraged though, but is sitting on another payout from Mercedes for his remaining shares, so is probably feeling pretty good about life at the moment. So it is all over the place. Next test Jerez in a week.

The FIA have set the rules for the movable wing for the first three races. A line will be painted on the track at the entrance to the last corner onto the straight where the car following will have to be within one second to allow the wing to be triggered, and another line 600 m from the corner at the end of the straight to show is plebs where the wing can be used by the driver. Ferrari have suggested that 600 m may not be enough, but the FIA say they will tweak it once we see how it works. As I said, are we going to see processions waiting to get to that point?

Mike Gascoyne blames the tracks, as he should, especially the boring desert tracks, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. As Mike says, they had a clean sheet and as much money as they wanted and still got it wrong. Let's include Korea in that, and wait to see how India works out, if they can sort out their corruption problems. Apparently the first layer of asphalt started being laid yesterday.

In Malaysia Simoncelli on a non-works Honda ended the last day fastest, with Stoner a hair's breadth behind. The Hondas all populated the top of the time sheet with Lorenzo and Spies mixing it with them. The Ducatis improved to 8th and 10th, with Hayden again the quicker, but Valentino thinks his shoulder is costing him 7 tenths or more, so he feels they are closer than it seems. Nice to see that a second string Honda is not too shabby, could make the racing more interesting this year. Some of us can recall when there were several "works" teams out there, especially Yamaha, which definitely made it more fun.

Great article on Superbike Planet today about Lorenzo's visit to the Kenny Roberts school of hard knocks at his ranch in Hickman. I included the training school in my book, and my frequent visits to the local urgent care with would-be racers, and how Kenny will stop the race as soon as he is leading. Lorenzo is reportedly shocked a guy 30 years older can beat him. Silly boy, he needs to realize Kenny can still beat anyone over a short race, say a lap! Here is the link.

http://superbikeplanet.com/2011/Jan/110117krlorenzo.htm

Sir Frank Williams, a gentleman of a similar age and will to win, is considering floating the Williams team. This could relate to Joe Saward's story yesterday about Qatar Holdings being interested in a connection with Williams. More power to Sir Frank, who is emphasising that this does not mean he is stepping back from his role in the team.

Now we hear today that Boullier is considering Grosjean as the "third driver" for the Lotus Renault team. Surely he means fourth? Or is it a tie for third with Fauzy? Strange doings. And Peter Collins is now saying his driver Luizzi  may not drive in F1 this year, so can we finally sort out who is driving Force India before the test starts in 12 days time? Sutil and Di Resta with Hulkenburg as the third presumably.

Terrible to hear about Dean Stoneman's illness, and I'm sure we all wish him a recovery to rival Lance Armstrong's.

Sounds like an interesting evening at the Sydney Speedway a week ago with Tony Stewart getting into an altercation with one of the track owners and the police getting involved. My old mate Garry Rush is also an owner of that speedway, and I could sell tickets if he and Tony got into it. Another dynamite old racer who can still do it when required, and I'm sure he will not mind the "old." They used to say "there are old racers and bold racers, but there are no old, bold, racers." Not sure that applies anymore. Perhaps he and Tony could have sorted it all out with a match race?

Martin Whitmarsh has stated that the FIA and FOTA will not let the movable wing "fail." They will "tweak" the rules, which as I have been saying, remain unclear, but here is perhaps the best explanation from his interview with Autosport.

"Drivers will have the system primed in the race when FIA-monitored GPS technology tells them they are less than one-second behind the car in front at a certain point of the circuit. This only becomes valid two laps after the start of a safety car restart.

However, to ensure that the wing boost advantage is not over-egged, the FIA will only allow use of the wing's speed boost at a single zone on the track. This will be carefully monitored and controlled to ensure that overtaking still remains a challenge - and this area may not even be on the main start-finish straight."

So, only in one spot, and the boys will know which zone that is and hopefully so will we. Drivers can use the KERS system either to defend or to help with the wing's reduced drag. So is this going to be better or not? Are they all going to drive around behind another car waiting for that spot, and not try anywhere else? Is that better than no overtaking? I'm sorry, this all seems contrived, like Bernie's "short cut" idea. Let them move the wing whenever they want. What happens though when to overtake at the end of the straight the driver leaves the wing in low downforce too long? His braking is compromised so he will lose out at the corner, or worse go off. Is the FIA going to have another "trigger" to turn it off at a safe distance from the corner?

Bernie is doing his bit to alleviate the GFC and restore the property market in London by spending 101 million pounds for two houses, one for each of his daughters. What must it be like to have that sort of money? Not that I begrudge him one dollar, he grew up not far from me in London and earned every one. There are many great lessons from Bernie's life we could all learn. Like Bill Gates, it is not inventing the product, it is knowing its potential and how to exploit it that is the genius.

We heard a few days ago about the HPD LMP1 car, and the rejigged LMP2, but now David Brabham is saying he is looking for a ride as the Highcroft team of Duncan Dayton is not a certainty to compete in ALMS. So who is going to run an HPD LMP1?

Alonso and Massa made some comments about to many buttons on the steering wheel this year.Alonso said "we are losing focus on the driving," and Massa " we have so many things to do...but we still have to drive the car." Thankfully. I'm still confused about where and when the movable rear wing can be used by the driver. Anthony Davidson said at the Autosport Show "You are pretty much going to be able to use it wherever you want [in practice and qualifying] and it is going to gain you anything up to 15km/h on the straights - so there is going to be a huge discrepancy of speed." But as I have read the rules it will only function when the car following is one second behind, so is it only the car following? Not much point if both can do it. And is this only in the race and it can be used when you like for the rest of the weekend as Ant suggests? Then I saw a piece that said there will be a predetermined point at the end of the main straight where a signal from Race Control will allow it to be used, which lead to a comment that you do not want to be leading going into the last lap. The comment also said this would lead to some strange strategies. Now this is nothing new, there are several tracks where that is the case anyway, Monza and Phillip Island to name two, but can anyone provide a comment to explain how this is going to really work, preferably before the season starts?

Does anyone else think Mr. Lorenzo needs some better advice on his self promotion? It is one thing to try and be a bit zany for the fans, and quite another to look totally wacko. There is no question he can ride the bike, he should let that do the talking. Nothing like this happened in the old days, riders just did normal stuff like putting rental cars in swimming pools. Rossi in the meantime did not seem to be having too many problems with that shoulder at Wroom.

It seems a day for comings and goings or coming back. Eric Boullier tells how he "shook off the ghost of Briatore," but wants Grosjean back in F1. Then you should have hired him I would have thought? Mr. Chung wants back in at KAVO and is going to sue, and Pat Symonds wants back in and is looking for a job. Massa is hoping the Pirelli's will save his seat at Ferrari, while Alonso announced he has a new press secretary, Roberta Vallorosi, who has worked for Rossi apparently.

Talking of comings and goings, the Professional Circuit Forum that was to be held in LA this April will now be staged in November on the east coast and will include a trade expo. The organizers are making the change to have one Forum a year and here in the US at a location to be determined, but south rather than north at that time of year.

So Daniel Ricciardo topped the tests in Abu Dhabi and one second under Vettel's pole time! Someone sign this guy up. He did very well in FR3.5 this year so he is not just a flash in the pan, winning Championships on the way up. As I said let's hope he gets the financial backing to keep moving up, and if Red Bull let him go they must be mad. Place him in GP2 next year and let him take Mark's seat when he retires. Or maybe Vettel's seeing as how he has would prefer Mercedes or Ferrari. How can you come out and say that after Red Bull have just made you World Champion, or are you so egotistical to think it was the other way around? What an ass. Is Sebastian going to be another of those drivers that you respect their driving but not them as a human being?

Great week away in Cologne, but nice to be home in some sunshine. How do those Europeans put up with that long, grey winter? Excellent Forum with tracks and speakers from 5 continents and top people Like Salman Al Khalifa, CEO of Bahrain Circuit, and Sharmila Nadrajah, COO of Sepang Circuit in Malaysia. Add to this the new track in Moscow, NRing, a new country club in Germany, all the top track designers and suppliers then you have the best and latest information being made freely available. Not to mention kart circuit operators and local tracks like Oregon Raceway Park who all learn vital information on how to operate successfully. This forum should be a must do for anyone involved in or planning to be operating tracks. Derek Muldowney, the head of ISC's facility development group, gave us some great insights into planning and developing a major speedway and repaving Daytona, and we had attorneys giving us good advice on sponsorship contracts and branding. The next forum is in Los Angeles in April, so book your time to attend.

I was appreciative of the reception to my presentation and the session on track engineering that I put together. The session on the future of track design went well, but as an open forum it covered a wide range of topics not necessarily about the future. It seems that we are going back to the future with the old tracks like Spa and Nurburgring providing the basis. To make tracks more interesting to drivers it seems we need to go outside of the FIA guidelines in respect of maximum grades and cross fall to match these great old tracks, without jeopardising safety of course.

While I have been away it seems CAMS and Australian GP have kissed and made up, at least for this year. Sad to say as an Australian but I cannot see they will have a F1 GP for long, there are too many other countries with far larger markets wanting races so someone has to go. The political backlash on the ongoing losses is growing and will result in what happened to Adelaide, Bernie will see the writing on the wall and move it.

Seems the Pirelli tires met with approval from the drivers so now we can get on and finish next years cars, which could be quite different without the F-duct and diffuser. Are they really going to use a moveable rear wing? Perhaps we will see who is finally driving for who next year.

On a final note, does anyone else think it is weird for a team to put a solid wall between their two riders? I can understand Rossi and Lorenzo this year, but Spies and Lorenzo? Just tells me there are two teams at Yamaha again next year. As much as Senna and Prost did not get along, and Vettel and Webber this year, they were still one team.