Bob Barnard Track Engineering

No not that great piece of British engineering, the City in Texas, where three individuals are suing the State Comptroller to stop the $25m payout to the F1 promoters. The basis of the suit is that the comptroller approved the payout before receiving official approval. As my contacts in Texas tell me, this is far from a done deal despite all the earthmoving going on.

In an amazing piece of self delusion or wishful thinking, not sure which, the Chief Executive of the Bahrain Circuit said that the cancellation of this year's race "was nothing to do with Bahrain, but there was an internal battle between Bernie and the FIA." He stated that he expected the demand for tickets for next years race will be much higher due to the disappointment of not having a race this year and intends to add more grandstands. Good luck, if you keep trying Shiites and putting them in jail then next year may also be a disappointment.

Over in Holland one of the consequences of going to four strokes made itself evident with the second three practice sessions for the MotoGP cancelled due to one Moto2 engine blowing up. IRTA were always very nervous about me running Superbike races for local competitors as part of our race program and made very sure I understood it was on my head if this happened. I wonder how they feel now, especially as it seems Assen cannot clean up an oil spill in an afternoon!

News is in that Eric Lux has filed suit against Sutil over the incident in China, and Sutil says he will fight it in court and should have nothing to do with his driving. It is interesting to me that the action is a criminal complaint for GBH in a German court when the "crime" was committed in China. Lawyers out there explain this? Both German citizens?

Tony Fernandes is having a good day in court with Justice Smith refusing Group Lotus the right to appeal, and granting Tony costs.

One of the suggestions now the engines for 2014 have been set is that McLaren will build its' own, now that it is building engines for its' road car. Martin Whitmarsh played this down as being too costly for a company producing 4500 cars a year, but what of Ferrari?

Does anyone else find Sergio Perez's illness in Canada odd? Now he is saying he will see how he feels in practice in Valencia. He is either fit or not, and the Doctors say he is, but how about mentally? Pedrosa seems to be having the same issues over in MotoGP with his shoulder, which despite being seen bowling, and riding supermotard, won't let him race in GP. This when Colin Edwards finishes third with a plate in his shoulder in the rain!

Jensen Button looks set to reap the rewards of his strong driving and good team spirit with a renewed contract for more money and better terms. This comes after a bit of a dance between him and McLaren, Ferrari and his management. A few weeks ago Martin Whitmarsh is praising Button and saying he wants him to stay for as long as he wants to keep driving. Button had been making noises about how happy he was there, and it all seemed set for a quick long term deal. The Jensen comes out and says he wants to keep his options open, a short term deal will be fine with him. In come Ferrari looking to replace Massa, and who's on the short list, Jensen. A smart choice, but who approached who? Did Jensen's management approach Ferrari? I don't see Jensen as one of those "I always wanted to drive for Ferrari" guys. So was it a negotiating ploy? If so it worked as all of a sudden here's Whitmarsh with a better contract for him to sign, and Jensen seems happy to sign it. And why not? The way Lewis is talking and driving Jensen could end up the number one driver there.

Then we have Silverstone, who went from a profit in 2009 to a loss in 2010. Silverstone was unusual in that it made a profit. It is only one of two non-government backed races on the calendar, so this is a major feat. Chris Pook told me a long time ago when he ran Long Beach that if Bernie thought you were making money he increase the fee, and lo and behold Silverstone's fee for the renewed 17 year contract is it's highest ever fee at around 11.6 million pounds. Bernie did cut them a break though as the escalator is only 5% and not the usual 10%. This still means that in the next ten years the fee is going to top 20 million pounds. Admission fees are now 195 pounds for the cheapest tickets to 475 pounds. $1000 to see a GP! You'd better not take the family. Does anyone think this is sustainable?

Lastly the poor old BBC, the State owned broadcasting service in the UK, is reportedly going to relinquish the rights to F1 as part of the British Governments austerity package. Bernie and the boys are up in arms as they want the races to remain "free to air." Well who is charging the BBC an exorbitant fee for showing them? Bernie, so you would think the answer is simple, if it is that important then just drop the fee. Now I have not lived in the UK for 40 years, so feel free to correct me, but ITV is also free to air is it not? Just those pesky ads to interrupt the broadcast like the rest of us have to put up with, and that is after we pay the cable fee, so what's free? I fail to see what is in it for the BBC anyway? Who cares if your ratings go up, you're not selling the airtime. So it is all "prestige", just another way for a Government to subsidize Bernie to feel good, but without any actual benefit such as hotel and restaurant income for race fans.

That's the big news of the day, Lewis Hamilton and Tony Stewart were both out on the Watkins Glen circuit and did not hit each other! That must be the first time for a long time for both Lewis and Tony. Personally I do not see much value in these swaps for us fans, but a great promotion for the sponsors.

What else is going on? Not much. Team Lotus are reaping the benefit of the court's decision to let them keep on using the Team Lotus name it seems with the announcement that GE is to be the new team sponsor. Now this is obviously partly due to Tony's airlines and GE aircraft engines, but good to see some new blood and money in the sport. This is the first of a few new sponsors for Team Lotus so with the announcement of them using the Williams wind tunnel look for them to really start to worry the time sheets.

Lewis says he is happy at McLaren as long as they give him a winning car. There lies the problem.

The quote of the weekend was "it is a week's holiday at the end of which they run a race." And what a race we were treated to this year! Xan and I both had no trouble staying awake for the 24 hours. Fourteen seconds separated first and second, Audi and Peugeot, at the end of 24 hours. There have been closer finishes, but all staged. A slow down lap was added after the 24 hours were up as the last lap was full out racing, not the usual parade for the cameras.  You could say the race was won by the length of the pit lane, as that is what it came down to with both cars stopping with about 30 mins to go, the Peugeot just for fuel, the Audi for a dash of fuel but then new tires, so a longer stop and he got out 6 seconds in front, thanks to the Peugeot being at the opposite end of the pit and Audi being close to pit out.

All four classes saw some great tussles, most of them cleanly fought. I'm not sure I am happy about the antics of the Peugeot drivers, despite their claims they were innocent and it was down to bad visibility out of the closed cockpit cars. Davidson and Gene knew all too well where the Lotterer Audi was and being laps down on the Audi should have have had more respect for the leader. It is one thing to make things hard for the overtaking car, it is another to deliberately move over on him on a straight piece of road after you have just collided in the second chicane on the Mulsanne Straight. We had already seen all to graphically what happens when a car moves over on another at those speeds, and I for one expected better from Gene. I still have not forgotten Davidson putting the Corvette into the wall at the Porsche curves.

Yes the Audi guys were aggressive too, they had to be, and the changes to the rules had an unintended consequence. The ACO reduced engine size and air intake size to slow the LMP1 cars down, but in the usual fashion the engineers worked out how to recover some of that speed by reducing drag, and therefore downforce. So the cars were more on the limit when it came to cornering and avoiding traffic, and needed to keep up the momentum, so they took chances and had less control when they did not work out. We saw two massive accidents to the Audis which thanks to the design of modern cars both drivers survived with virtually no injuries. As I said a week or so ago, car design is where safety has improved. The walls and tires did their job too, especially for McNish's accident where there were a lot of marshals and photographers. We had two long safety car periods to repair damaged guard rail, and great job by the track to get it fixed, but it showed why I prefer concrete as the hits in the Porsche Curves with the Corvette and Ferrari required no repairs at all. Guard rail is made to give, and is probably a bit better for the drivers in that respect, but McNish almost went over the guard rail perhaps due to the fact it did give and provided a ramp?

Unlike almost any other form of racing Le Mans does not red flag a race except for exceptional rain or fog, so we saw a one hour and a two hour procession. They have three cars due to the length of the track, and this makes for some interesting strategy. The race goes on, albeit at a reduced speed, and a lot happens. Drivers make mistakes due to cold tires or boredom, teams with a slower driver take advantage of this time to put him in, therefore meeting the time requirements for drivers but not losing any time. Refuelling stops have to be made and tire changes can be done without the normal loss of time, but who is behind which safety car has to be considered, and when to stop. At the start of the period, yes if you are low on fuel, or at the end to maximise your next run and if you actually wait until the final moments you can actually make time as you can leave under green without waiting for the next safety car. Great strategy games.

The strategy between Audi and Peugeot was fascinating. This year Audi were the fast cars but used more fuel, so more pit stops. So which was better, a fast pace and more stops or a slower pace, relatively, and less stops? As it turned out there was no difference. 14 seconds in 24 hours, 0.016%! Tire wear also played a part. Audi, despite running faster could run four or five stints between tire changes, and the poor drivers did those stints too! The Peugeot although slower could only run three and sometimes four stints. Either way they ran about twice the distance on one set of tires as F1 does on three or four, so who's green?

The standards applied by the Stewards both here and at Montreal make me scratch my head. Robert Kaufman who made contact with Rockenfeller in the Audi in the dark and when taking the racing line, as the slower drivers were told, is ejected from the race. Gene who deliberately moved Lotterer over almost to the barrier in broad daylight while racing with him and on a straight does not even get called to the Stewards! Hamilton gets called to the Stewards in Montreal and Button who took him and Alonso out while winning the race does not? Now, that is probably due to the past problems of Hamilton as much as anything, but it is still inconsistent.

I did not see too much of the Canadian GP. After getting up at 5:30 on Saturday and staying awake until 7:30 Sunday and being emotionally wrung out by the Le Mans race, I went to sleep and set the alarm for Montreal. Speed had given the race over to Fox who dd their usual stellar job, starting the coverage as the race started despite a paid for ad being on the half hour prior, and thankfully for them it was behind the pace car due to the rain. I got up for this? We had the usual BS from Bob Varsha and the boys. This is network so we must have a whole lot of new viewers who know nothing about F1 so we have to talk to us like we are children. Then we start, and it is all crazy, Hamilton more than most, and the outcome was all too predictable. I personally thought Button put him in the wall, but I guess his explanation stands up, that would have been out of character. Then we had the red flag, so I gave up and went back to sleep. I wrongly thought Fox would give up after the mandatory two hour broadcast but apparently no. I'm glad I did not wait up though. I have read it was an exciting race, but from what I have read it was a crap shoot. Give me Le Mans every weekend.

The coverage of Le Mans was great. I had Radio Le Mans on one computer so had all the action and information on what was happening, not a load of infomercials, FromsportCOM.com live streaming on the TV via the other computer, and SPEED if I needed it, when they were actually on and following the action. The Eurosport Director went to the same school as the SPEED guy, he would at times rather show someone asleep in the pits or media center rather than two cars racing their hearts out.

Needless to say I did not watch the MotoGP or the WSBK, both predictably won by Casey Stoner and Carlos Checa respectively. Great gutsy ride by Colin Edwards though.

Finally a word about Lewis who is reported to have met with Red Bull's Christian Horner at the weekend. A very smart man, Warren Willing, told me years ago that when a rider or driver is struggling with a slow machine one of two things will happen. Either he will get depressed and stop trying, or drive over aggressively and crash. This seems to be the consensus for Lewis' problems at the moment. The McLaren is almost there, but never quite there when it comes to beating the Red Bull, so he tries to make the difference up by driving harder. It cannot be easy to watch Vettel in that car and know you could be there too.  Something needs to change before his career will be remembered as a great talent wasted. Maybe a change of team is it?

Yes I am going to go on about this again. Mark Webber is the only driver to come out against going to Bahrain at this time, no surprise that he is the one to speak his mind, and it is a measured reasoned response. Read it at the Autosport web site:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/91981

Pity Bernie cannot follow his example. I had a comment elsewhere that the airlines are still flying so why not go? Mussolini made the trains run on time, but that was no argument to go there. On the other hand there are suggestions that the sponsors will not want to be seen on the cars, but I bet they are all doing business there anyway.

That is the point. I and others have said this has to be about something more than the money. Well here is my theory and it is about money and politics, but not race fees. In the last ten years F1 has got itself into bed with the Middle East. Daimler is part owned, and Ferrari and McLaren also have Arab investors. Look at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi and you can see the extent of the connections. There are rumors Torro Rosso is being bought, and I'm sure there are other teams with Arab interests. The FIA and the World Motorsport Council have strong political ties, how else can you explain a "unanimous" vote, and of course Bernie has profited by both the huge fees paid for races and the monuments to excess they build to race on. He has used these as a stick to beat other would-be and existing Promoters for more money and more luxurious tracks. Now they are all reaping what they have sown. They cannot be seen to insult their friends.

FOTA says it is going to meet. Let us hope they can show some guts.

There are the suggestions of course that this is all games about the contracts. No one wants to be the one to say it is off, not Bahrain, Bernie or the teams, for fear of being sued for non-performance. That is why there was all that nonsense earlier and we had to wait for Bahrain to call it off. Bernie magnanimously dropped the penalty and fee, but Bahrain are now smart enough to say everything is fine and start a new game of chicken. It is suggested Bernie will wait till close to the race and then say conditions are not safe. But then India moved for nothing?

On a much brighter note the World Motorsport Council voted to do a deal with the ACO, organizers of the Le Mans 24 Hour, to turn the Intercontinental Cup into what it actually is, The World Sportscar Championship. Nice to have you back, now to see who is on the calendar. Le Mans of course, Spa and Silverstone, Sebring and Petit, and a race in the far east? That opens the question about the cost of a World Championship Round, there was some delay in including the Petit this year, and the tracks will have to be Licensed by the FIA as a Level 2 track.

The Council also agreed to possibly delay the 2013 F1 regulations, so the 4 cylinder may not be "set in stone." A 21 race F1 calendar was approved, with Turkey as a "to be confirmed." USA pairs up with Canada as expected. Bahrain starts the season off, but we will see, won't we.

Over in Barcelona Simoncelli met with the Race Direction about his aggressive style, said he had thought long and hard about it, and then took pole. The "private" Honda is giving the works team some grief. Let's see if he can keep it going for a whole race and avoid running into someone. The replacement for the 125cc class was unveiled in Barcelona, a spec class Honda 250 cc four stroke, but a nice looking piece of kit and at a good price to. Still sad to see the two strokes go though.

Just to return to F1 and money, there is a report out that F1 income is due to double in the coming years. Part of the reason is the built in escalator for race fees, at 10% it doubles in 7 years, and it was stated that fees for new races would hit $100m. How can you say that? Tracks are baulking at fees around $25m, and there cannot be enough Middle East countries to fill the calendar at those prices. This is looking more like the housing bubble. When will it burst?