Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Are you kidding? Ford is suing Ferrari over the use of the F150 name. Is this a publicity stunt? I know protecting your logos and trade names are serious business but this is just making Ford look foolish. They would be better off making a commercial with an F1 Ferrari morphing into a fast red pick up.

The new Ferrari 458 made it's debut at the Sebring test yesterday prepared by the Risi team who arguably ran the best 430, at least of the ones allowed to race. Most of the big hitters are absent from the test, but there are still enough interesting cars out there with the Muscle Milk Aston quickest at the moment. Duncan Dayton seems likely to finalise the deal to run the HPD LMP1 both here at Sebring and at Le Mans and so give David Brabham a ride for this year. The 24 hour entry list was published yesterday and a great field it is too, quality all the way through.

There is actually a fair bit going on this weekend with Sebring, Jerez, and GP2 Asia kicking off in Abu Dhabi. Renault reserve driver Roman Grosjean is on pole for that event with another strong field of drivers. His compatriot at Renault, Fauzy, is not doing so well though down in 23rd. It is a very even grid though with the top 14 separated by less than a second, and the field by less than 1.7 seconds. Should make for good racing and a lot of action given the desperadoes in the field.

Meanwhile at the F1 test at Jerez it is still way too early to judge anything. Massa is fastest, with Perez in the Sauber next quickest. So it is not just the Mexican sponsorship, he can drive. Meanwhile Maldonado is way off the pace in the Williams, but he did have problems with the movable wing, and as I said it is early days. Hamilton has the new McLaren out and yes it has forward exiting exhausts. Lewis is presumably just doing shake down laps but is fifth so far behind Webber and young Australian Daniel Ricciardo in the Torro Rosso. If I were Buemi or Alguersuari I would be looking over my shoulder right now. How long since Australia had two drivers in F1, if ever? Schenken and Jones? No. I'm sure one of my readers knows the answer.

Petrov dumped the Renault in the gravel trap, not enhancing his claim to the number one seat, which seems to be headed Heidfeld's way. Despite saying they had plenty of time to fill the seat they have Heidfeld testing later this weekend. Nick has had a lot of experience and is a good driver, but is he really good enough? As someone pointed out the other day, when the two Williams drivers both retired in the early eighties a guy called Rosberg filled in after a less than stellar career, and we know how that worked out, so let's see if Nick can do the same.

It now seems that the money from the Williams float is not going to keep the team afloat but to the Patrick Head retirement fund, and presumably Sir Frank's. Not sure I would buy shares on that basis. Not saying they are not entitled to a return on all their years of hard work, but if I buy shares then I would want to know the business I have a piece of is going to survive. It also seems that the float was part of the agreement when the other partner, Toto Wolffe, bought his 10%, so is he looking to get out at some stage?

I talked before about headline writers and today there is a classic. Not sure if it is meant to be funny but judge for yourself. "Mosley refuses to be beaten over quirk." What's funny about that you say? His "quirk" is he likes to be beaten! It reminds me of an old and bad joke. Masochist: "Beat me, beat me!" Sadist: "NO." The article is about Mosley's push to have private lives made sacred from media exposure following his little episode with a few young ladies in a cellar.

You can't keep Briatore down can you, now he is a medical expert. "Briatore visits Kubica, predicts recovery." Well I'm sure we all feel better for that Flavio. It is safer to ask who has not been mentioned as a replacement for Robert, I even saw a comment that Mark Webber could consider taking the seat. Now that is an idea even my fertile brain had not considered.

Of course the whole "he should not be doing this" saga rolls on. Kimi has wrecked his car in just about every rally since he left F1 and still gets away with it. Mark Webber goes mountain bike riding and breaks his leg etc, so leave it out.

The other big news is that HRT unveiled an graphic image of the new car. Not the new car you note, just the great new graphics by the Hollywood designer. And yes it looks nice, but does it exist and will it be any better? We have 32 days now to the first race and two test sessions left, one of which starts this week, and they still have only one driver. In a further statement HRT has decided to skip the Jerez test and "support Pirelli" at a filming session in Monza. With the new graphics? What are these people thinking?

In other news, the German weekly, Der Spiegel, has picked up where Stern left off with a story about how much CVC paid for the F1 rights and how much the bank received, which apparently were not the same. Guess where they say the rest went? I have to ask, is this uncovering of information the result of ongoing research, or do they know the whole story and they are teasing it out like a serial to get us to buy the paper?

The winter wait is over as F1 cars and MotoGP bikes hit the track today for their first test sessions. New cars and drivers, and some old faces for both, so it is going to be hard to make anything of this first test. Alonso and Vettel both near the top of the timesheet, with Hulkenburg in the Force India putting in some surprising times to be right there with them.  Just showing Williams they should not have let him go? The Lotus Renault and Williams have followed Red Bull with the pull rod rear suspension, but the biggest surprise so far is the lack of exhaust outlets on the Renault. They obviously have them, they just do not come out of the top or the sides, so must be underneath. This is the team that promised to be "at the brave end of brave," and it seems they are trying something here. At the end of last season, when we had the diffusers, most teams were feeding the exhaust gas out through them to increase downforce, so we can only presume they are doing something with this gas flow to generate downforce under the car. I read an article a few years ago that said an F1 engine is just a huge air pump, so the volume of gas coming out of the exhaust must be massive. In fact at 18,000 rpm that is 2.4 liters by 18,000, or if my math is correct, 43,200 liters per minute. Imagine if your local gas pump ran at that speed?

At the other end of the timesheet Rosberg is slowest, then Barrichello, with the HRT quicker, go figure.

Over in Sepang Casey Stoner is fastest on day one 0.4 seconds faster than Lorenzo. Did not take Casey long to adjust to the Honda. Now Valentino is down in 12th trying to find a position on the Ducati that is comfortable. Someone suggested he is still sand bagging, but team mate Hayden is behind him, and what use is it to sand bag? Can you really set up the bike if you are running around off the pace? And I would have thought that the "head games" would dictate that you would want to put your stamp of authority on from the beginning? Maybe someone out there can enlighten me? Good to see the Suzuki somewhere on the pace unlike last year, and Ben Spies going OK, but then so is Colin Edwards on the second team Yamaha.

In other news, Bernie is not talking about bribes on the advice of his lawyers, and Mark Webber says he is up for another crack at the title and I'm sure he is given how close he was last year. What Bernie is talking about is new races, "If we have some new races, some others will fall out — we don’t need Australia, for instance." Nice one Bernie.

So NASCAR were more than thinking about changing the point system, they have done it, and what a major change it is, not! Last still gets a point, and it is a straight 43 for a win down to 1 for 43rd. But they want to make winning more valuable, so you get three bonus points for winning. Doesn't that mean you get 46 points for winning? And this is simpler? Then there is a point for leading a lap, which I always thought was there anyway, and one more for leading the most laps. Now the news report says that "it is also expected to to keep gaps tighter than in the past." So where's the reward for winning? Then there is the wonderful "Chase" where the last two spots will be decided on who has won the most races out of the next ten drivers, and this is simpler? As I said the other day, deckchairs on the Titanic. Oh yes, and to bring them into the modern world they are going to use vented gas cans to do away with the vent guy. How about a proper fuel rig like any other professional motor sport, and while you are at it centre lock wheels and pneumatic jacks? The only good idea I read was to move away from the CoT and for "the season ahead the cars will have new front ends." Is that this year or next year?  Then "within two years the cars are expected to more closely models being sold." What a concept, isn't that where we came in?

Poor old Flavio, first his yacht, now his bank account with 1.5 million Euros. Italian police have seized the money for tax evasion. This is the guy who is supposedly banned from F1 but still manages two drivers and wants back in. He presumably took the news well at HIS resort in Kenya. One has to ask, how did he amass so much money from being a team manager and driver agent? It's one thing being rich, but he seems like Bernie to have a bottomless pit of the stuff.

So Red Bull say they have a clause in Vettel's contract that if he wins races and finishes within the top three this year they have a contract for 2012. Isn't that the same as many driver contracts that say if I do not win then I can leave? I still have a problem with Vettel going to Ferrari while Alonso is there. If he thinks Mark Webber was a difficult team mate he should ask Lewis about Alonso. I would have thought as a driver I would be happy with the best car of whatever make, so what is it with Ferrari? I mean, I get the history and mystique, but not quite sure why it is assumed every driver wants to go there. Not every Ferrari driver has good memories of the place.

Is there any significance that Ducati chose to debut this years superbike with Rossi on board the same day as the official WSBK test started? There are 21 riders entered for the WSBK, but it looks like the usual suspects. What is the average age does anyone know? Cycle World had this piece on Facebook, "World Superbike CEO Paolo Flammini said on age limits, "The age limits present in 600 and 1000 Superstock classes have been made more generous for two main reasons: The first is that 40 year olds can now become World Champions, so why stop 24 year olds from racing?" Is anyone else confused, and if not can you explain? The Ducati test? It seems Mr. Rossi's shoulder is hurting more than anyone thought. Let's see when the season starts.

Tires are in the news today with Pirelli saying their tire will mean two or three stops during a GP. Hardly green is it, and I am not convinced it is good for the show, we are back to sprint races. Some of the best races last year were when someone made their tires last much longer than the opposition thought. In fact you could argue Ferrari lost the Championship because they did not expect Vettel et al's tires to last. We know Button can extend the life, and didn't Webber win in Hungary by making the softs last and Vettel ran the whole race in Italy to finish fourth. Now we are back to "wait for the pit stop" to overtake.

Hankook have been announced as the official tire of DTM. It is not long ago that the idea of a South Korean tire manufacturer supplying race tires to the DTM would have been laughable, but not anymore. I am actually having Hankook fitted to my street car, before hearing of the DTM deal. The reports from other users are great and the price is certainly right. Falken have been running a car in GT2 in ALMS and are stepping up with Derek Walker taking over the team for 2011. They put in some good performances last year that tended to fade away as the race progressed, so it will be interesting to see what they learned and what Walker can do. All adds to the interest of the GT2 class.

Well we are nearly at the end of the winter wait, with the first F1 test due in 15 days. Not that the tests are always a good indication, but it will be great to have some action on track again. The Rolex is due to run the weekend before that, so we can get our sportscar fix starting in just over a week. The "Lotus" court action is due to start next Monday, but this is not the sort of action I think we wanted to see. Can't Bernie bang their heads together?

It seems the Tobacco Police in Canada are not happy with the new (old) Lotus Renault paint job. JPS fags are still sold in Canada, so any likeness to a cigarette packet is against the law. This is just the sort of nonsense I went through at Phillip Island twenty years ago. I doubt anyone else would have noticed if they had not raised it, and since when has a driver been used to promote smoking? What other color schemes are suggestive of cigarette packets? Are they to be banned too? This is just what the Victorian Government wanted, a "white out."  But I suppose there is a white fag packet somewhere in the world.