Bob Barnard Track Engineering

McLaren "launched" their MP4-26 today in Berlin and immediately started telling us that what we saw was not the real deal, so what is the point? Launches are for sponsors, that is why the launch was in Berlin, for Vodafone. Still, there was enough interesting pieces to see on the new bodywork, and they have gone to the pull rod rear suspension revisited by Newey in the RB5. Forward exhausts are not ruled out, the exhaust and engine were plastic at the launch so we learned nothing. Bargeboards are back despite the rules supposedly being written to eliminate them. Why not write a rule that says "no bargeboards" instead of trying to do it by proscribing an envelope for the body work as I understand they did. So, make the body work narrower and there is room for bargeboards. It is like when they tried to ban ground effects and we saw the cars elevate themselves at the end of the race.

I think it was Ross Brawn who commented on the front exhaust and talked about the value of hot gas sealing the sides, like a skirt, and cold air running up the center. Can anyone expand on this, sounds like the sort of thing our whiz bang aerodynamicists would dream up.

As I said yesterday there seems no consensus coming out of Valencia about who was really the fastest car. Kubica was not very happy despite being quickest, too many problems with the car. As Vettel will tell him, being quick is OK as long as it keeps going. It will be interesting to hear any times from the Lotus test today, hopefully they will have fixed the power steering. Let us hope that they do not have these ongoing hydraulic problems like last year, I thought that was why they went to the Red Bull package. Apparently Tony Fernandes was offered $10m to settle the Lotus name dispute but turned it down. He must be pretty sure of the outcome of the court case, or else is a good gambler.

The Pirelli tires came in for some criticism, "like driving on ice" said Michael, for whom these tires were seen as the saviour of his comeback. They degrade pretty fast by all accounts, which it seems is what Bernie wanted, but he is not driving is he? Jenson thinks they will suit him, and with his style he may be right. There is a very clever Vodafone ad with Jenson and Lewis, let's hope their relationship is actually this good as it will be great for the team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6706Xz6xYPY

The Australian GP is to keep it's 5pm start time, despite the drivers complaining it was too dark at the end of the race last year and the FIA agreeing. What Bernie wants he gets, well almost, he wants it under lights. Add that to the deficit. Geelong, a city near Melbourne, has been suggested as an alternative to Albert Park. Now Geelong has wanted a street race since I was building Adelaide, but it is hard to see why building it in Geelong is any cheaper than in Albert Park? And it is still in Victoria with the same government footing the bill. More suckers for Bernie's show, the world is full of them.

Just to confuse us, or maybe so we are not confused, Peugeot has kept the 908 name for their latest Le Mans contender, and have retained the diesel engine without hybrid, but in V8 format similar to Audi. So now we have two very similar cars, and presumably the same close racing. Let's hope that the petrol cars really are equalized this year.

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.

So Mother Russia is taking a bigger role in Virgin. Ian Phillips comes in as COO and brings many years of experience with him, but the new Technical Director is Nikolay Fomenko, President of MaRussia, who has no experience, despite the claim that "MaRussia's wealth of knowledge and experience provide us with a solid foundation with which to enter the second season." Wealth of knowledge and experience? They were only formed in 2007 and most of us had never heard of them until they bought into Virgin. I've heard some spin, but this is a good one. Maybe I am missing something here, did Nikolay work in F1 before starting MaRussia?

So Melbourne GP has the Government's full support? As has been said before, that is sometimes the last sound anyone hears before being fired. I have questioned before the benefit to sponsors of being in Australia, and The Mayor of Melbourne might just have given Bernie the opening he wants. Bernie has also come out and said that having two races in Spain is a problem, so which one is going? Meanwhile the Indian GP is having further management changes as the head of the company promoting it has stepped down over corruption allegations. Don't you just love going to these new and exciting places?

The Renault exhaust is directed to come out in front of the sidepods to increase the airflow under the car to the single diffuser as I suggested, and apparently McLaren has a similar arrangement, with Mercedes considering it. This must take some plumbing to get it there. Does not seem to be doing Renault that much good in testing, but it is very early days. Force India are still sitting around the top of the timesheets with Di Resta and Hulkenburg third and fourth.

Over in Malaysia Danny Pedrosa laid down a lap two thirds of a second quicker than team mate, make that rival, Casey Stoner. Ben Spies was third fast amongst a gaggle of Hondas. Nicky Hayden and Rossi were 11th and 13th respectively, but not respectably, not even being the quickest Ducati's. It would seem that test times in the world of MotoGP are more representative of what to expect for the season than F1, or am I wrong?

Down in Sebring Audi have been testing both the R18 and the old R15, but no details seem to have emerged. Anyone out there get a whiff of times or other goings on?

On a serious note our thoughts go out to my Australian mates who are suffering through Cyclone Yasi, and my American ones who are experiencing blizzards and freezing rain. It froze overnight here in Phoenix and will be colder tonight, but nothing to compare with these problems.

Sung by Dean Martin originally, but by Bernie today. He has written to the Mayor of Rome to tell him there should only be one F1 race in each country. Never mind Spain has two, don't bother me with details, and Mallorca is an Island like Singapore. So given the Mayor's commitment that he would not push Rome if it means Monza losing the race, it's arrivederci. I wonder if Flammini's  little city redevelopment scheme will go the same way?

There is a curious piece from Marussia Virgin today telling us they have doubled the computing power of their CFD, and "With the new CFD facility due for completion in the next few weeks, Wirth believes his team will be unmatched in terms of how much it uses computer simulation to design its 2011 car." With the first test a couple of weeks away I would have thought that it is a bit late to be using this new simulation power to design the 2011 car?

Ian Gow is all up beat about the British Touring Cars for 2011 with the inception of their version of the "Car of Tomorrow," the NGTC, i.e. next generation. The cars will be better looking, better looking all the same, and "We are not trying to make a race car out of a production car, it is a proper race car underneath," Oh good, it just looks like a Toyota Corolla on the outside. We will put on our X-Ray glasses to see it is a real racing car underneath. More spec racing is what this is about, and he should ask NASCAR how the CoT worked for them. Now I am not saying people will not pay to see a bunch of biffing and barging, BTCC is good fun and good TV, so maybe I'm just an old fashioned purist. I can see DTM taking over the world.

According to Auto Motor und Sport in Germany only Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes have their finances in place for this and future years. That leaves eight teams they see as struggling to survive, and given the numbers for those they are not in danger of worrying the RRA anytime soon.

Not many compliments going around about the Rossi/Ducati color scheme. Rhubarb and custard seems to be the theme.

Alonso says he is most afraid of Michael in 2011. "There will be five world champions on the track and the most dangerous champion for me is always Michael." After Michael's move on Rubens last year I'm not surprised.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about how the Rome F1 GP may not be all it seems based on some information from an Italian friend. I did not go into detail, but today there is a statement from the Promoter,"Flammini argues that a Grand Prix would revive the neighbourhood by not only drawing attention to it, but also by restoring the Tre Fontane sports grounds with a total investment of $200 million from private investors. All that the city would have to provide for the event would be construction permits for the work, which would create a new park in which there would be venues for volleyball and skating and two theatres." Now this fits with my connection who said this is more about getting hold of this property and construction permits than running a GP.

As I also wrote a couple of days ago, how are we bloggers supposed to work if every rumor turns out to be wrong? Now McLaren are saying they are not changing their silver and red livery, just the merchandise. Not that I blame them, always thought the silver jackets etc looked tacky.

Your friendly banker is now in custody as a result of his dealings over the sale of the F1 shares to CVC, a nice little earner that seems to have been. $50m seems to have been the going rate, and CVC vehemently deny any involvement or knowledge, so the question remains who else stood to gain? This has the ability to turn very ugly if true. It is hard to see Mr. Gribkowsky taking the fall for this on his own.

As noted on Superbike Planet, running a non-profit does not mean that someone is not making money. The AMA certainly pays its' Chief a bundle, which I guess is the way you avoid making a profit. There are several other examples of this if you look around. My wife worked at a track that ran five major events a year, including a very large CART event, and did it with 13 staff. Now they run three events, non of which match CART, and need 30, go figure? In a similar vein I received a press release from ALMS yesterday about their TV contract for 2011 which involved the VP of Communications, the Director, and the Manager. Now ALMS is not F1, so it is hard to see it takes three people to do this job, and I suspect the Manager is managing others. So many tracks and series cannot help themselves, they just keep creating jobs and spending money. When I ran Phillip Island, and yes it was before the Internet, aside from the GP I had a Manager, lady in the office and a security guard. No wonder there are so many "non-profits."

Speaking of ALMS and their TV, it hardly seems a giant leap forward, sorry "a game changer," if your major event the Sebring 12 hour is now shown not live but the next day and the "ABC will feature race telecast coverage." Whatever that means, but I suspect not all the 12 hours. We can watch all the races live on ESPN3.com, which I for one will probably prefer, certainly if the broadcast TV is the sort of made for TV "documentary" we saw last year. Puke!

Cytosport are to contest the LMP1 class in a new Aston Martin, which will be a welcome addition to that class, if there enough cars to call it a class. Greg Picket is down to drive it again, but hopefully not often or for long. No offence Greg but this car deserves to be driven by the other great drivers you have. Maybe Lord Paul Drayson, if he is racing in ALMS this year, and yourself can have a separate race?