Bob Barnard Track Engineering

For the last few years we have seen the Red Bull/Vettel Dynasty rule F1, and now it appears we are to have a Mercedes period. A few people are probably already saying that this is going to be boring, but I for one welcome the change and applaud the engineering behind the car.

At least it is about the car. No one is suggesting that Lewis is suddenly a superman, above all other drivers like we had with Vettel. When he kept winning a few of us were unkind enough to suggest that put any one of the top drivers in that car and they would dominate. But no we were told, it is Sebastian, he is so much better than the rest. Well this year the Emperor has no clothes.

Despite being told that this complex new formula would suit his intelligent driving what do we see. "Struggling with set up." A four time World Champion struggling with set up while his novice team mate is "faster than you are." We are also told Daniel is faster because he is more used to cars with less downforce than Vettel. Didn't Ricciardo race a F1 car with diffusers for the last couple of years? Hasn't most of the field raced cars with diffusers, including Hamilton, Rosberg and Alonso etc? No, now he no longer has a dominant car we are seeing what we suspected, he is very good but no better than them with a  spoilt brat attitude and he is a sore loser. As Mark Webber used to say, "the toys are coming out of the pram."

In contrast we see other top drivers just getting on with it. Lewis is totally focussed, not god like, and while Nico hates coming second to him there is no whining to be heard. Alonso is arguably doing the best job in a second class car, as he has for some years now. Yes he occasionally has a moan, but who wouldn't driving your guts out with little or no reward.

So another good race in China, not quite Bahrain, but Nico made it interesting with a bad start, and Massa with a too good one. Pretty stout suspension on these cars. What is interesting is how Lewis is using so much less fuel while running away from the pack. We have seen before that getting out in front allows you to run your own race and choose the ideal race lines, part of Vettel's secret.

Interesting WEC race at Silverstone. Pity I did not have access to live streaming and of course a World Championship does not warrant coverage here in the US. Still, with Radio Le Mans who needs pictures. They paint the scene extremely well, and actually provide far more information as to what is happening throughout the field than TV does. Well done Toyota, and Porsche. Audi uncharacteristically had both cars DNF. Crashed out through what appeared to be driver error. We have seen this before at Le Mans a couple of years ago. I am not saying they are not great drivers, but perhaps the pressure put on them by Toyota is part of the story. Of course there could have been something involving the car that led to Treluyer spearing right at Copse and hitting the inside barrier, which in a way is worse if there is an issue with the car. Both tubs damaged and Audi working against the clock to have them ready for Spa. 

Interesting discussion on Radio Le Mans about a WEC round in Oz, and where to stage it. Adelaide and Phillip Island were the two first choices, both a Barnard track, so very chuffed.

We have other dynasties going on with the Brabhams and the Gardners. Grandsons of Sir Jack Brabham and sons of David are both continuing the family tradition. Mathew Brabham is a rookie in Indy Lights here in the US, and doing OK, and Sam is racing in British Formula Ford with some success over the weekend. Watch out for these two.

Then there are Luca and Remy Gardner, both racing in the Spanish National Championship, the CEV, which is the proving ground for young hopefuls making it into MotoGP. Both learning their craft amongst tough opposition and stepping up each year under Dad's guidance. I hope to see something of them in Spain later this year. Pity Australia cannot produce the kind of racing that would develop talent to make the top tier in the world.

A big weekend of racing. MotoGP turned on their usual good show, but Turn 1 at COTA? Tilke missed a great opportunity to make that a really good corner. Instead we have a crash site. But the commentators were at it again. "The most competitive field we have ever seen." Seriously? Where were you in the late 80's and early nineties when Gardner, Doohan, Magee, Rainey, Lawson, Mamola, Koscinski, Sarron, Schwantz and co. were around?

Indycar at Long Beach had its usual accidents at the usual locations. How anyone thinks this can be an F1 track is beyond me. If they left out some of the petunias around the base of the fountain we might have a track wide enough to race on. The Tudor Sports car race was a yawn. Time was when an LMP2 car could beat an LMP1 car around here, but now it cannot even beat a DP.

There is always the quote that "it's a long race" by drivers, even if it is the same length as all the rest, but Saturday evening we really did have a long race. 500 miles around Darlington took forever. I wondered why it started so early. It was all I could do to stay awake.

Which brings me to the point. I come from a European back ground with a spell in Oz, so I am used to watching a sport event without it being turned into a continuous commercial. Sky manages to show an entire F1 race without ads, so why can't Fox or NBC? I know Sky is subscription, but all the sport here in the US is basically on cable which I pay for anyway. NASCAR is by far the worst, a race being one long ad, even when the race is being shown with every opportunity taken to show a sponsor logo for Kentucky Fried, Sprint, Progressive Insurance etc. Then there are the "infomercials" during the sports car races, and Indycar has to go off and interview anyone they can find that they think is a star of anything. 

There has to be a template for showing sport in this country that includes three old farts in suits and ties blabbing on, and usually a female studio anchor and pit lane or side line reporter. With an average age of probably sixty the boys on NBC for F1 have about as much chance of bringing in a younger fan than I have of being knighted. Take a look at the Sky guys. They are at a race track and dressed like you would expect at a race. NASCAR and Indycar and even the NFL are all the same. Is this just me or is it that the TV guys know what the average American sports fan wants. A blonde bimbo with big tits.

Now that's off my chest, so to speak, let's look at F1 goings on. Domenicali has fallen on his sword, or was he pushed, and his obvious replacement is a car salesman. First guy I would have picked, not. Perhaps Montezemolo is actually the problem. Bernie's problems are about to get worse with the prosecution dismissing his blackmail defense. But the judge is going to give him days off it seems to run F1. Red Bull lost the appeal, as they should. Whining that they could not keep second place if they obeyed the rules is a strange defence. There are probably twenty other cars out there who feel they could win if allowed to cheat a bit. Or is that just me?

Another early morning start today to watch the Malaysian F1 race. Thankfully the rain stayed away and we were treated to a good race. Yes we saw Hamilton with what seemed a comfortable win from the flag, but behind him there was plenty to keep me awake. It is interesting that Lewis used less fuel than his closest rivals and made his tires last longer. So much for Rosberg being the more thinking driver easier on his equipment. If Lewis did not have to fit the hard compound he could have finished the race as a two stopper. Hulkenburg again showed his class and ran a two stop race, almost stealing fourth.

Ricciardo showed his is not overawed by his champion teammate, muscling his way to third at the start before having a nightmare race, capped off with a ten place grid penalty for Bahrain. Problems with a loose front wheel at a pit stop, and then his front wing mounting broke, not good. Shades of Mark Webber. Rosberg, Vettel and Alonso were all close at times before Rosberg ended up a comfortable second for the first Mercedes One-Two for 60 years. How smart does Lauda look now.

Ricciardo lost his fuel flow meter again, very careless. Apparently 4 other teams experienced failures, but is there something about how Red Bull mounts this that is different? This week they worked with the FIA to monitor fuel flow, so how do they defend what they did in Australia?

Williams and McLaren both seemed off the pace compared to Australia. Massa was one of the few drivers that matched Hamilton on fuel usage. That was a nice graphic to have for this race. I waited for him to speed up at the end to use what he had kept in reserve, but he never did. He was given the move over flag by the team to let Bottas by so he could chase Button down. Apparently the team thought Bottas was faster, but he never got close enough to push Massa, so Massa did not move over. An interesting debriefing session. They finally told Bottas he was racing Massa, but still could not pass him.

Magnussen hit Kimi from behind into Turn 1 and cut Kimi's tire and ruined his race. Interesting that at one point during his drive back the Ferrari had a hard time passing a Caterham, which seems to have found some pace and reliability. Magnussen recovered from the front wing damage and a drive through to finish ninth.

Lotus had a mixed day with Maldanado involved in an early collision with Bianchi and an early retirement, but Grosjean finished the race in eleventh which should give them some hope for the season not being a total loss.

The story of the season so far is the pace and reliability of the Mercedes, and the speed with which Red Bull has recovered from the debacle of testing. If Renault can lift their game we could have good season ahead of us, but who knows how much Mercedes have in hand. As Stirling Moss used to say, win at the slowest speed.

So Dietrich Mateschitz does not like the new F1 cars, not real F1. How would he know, he's only been around a few years. Last year it was the tires, so we had to change. Ask Force India how that worked for them? We all know how it worked for Red Bull. Boring. Now he wants the rules changed again, after one race. He now has an F1 race in Austria, when the rest of Europe is losing races. France who invented this stuff does not have one. What next? Will he want tracks changed to suit his car, or the calendar arranged to suit his marketing program? Because this is all it is to him.

When people tell me we should go to Bahrain and Sochi because F1 is a sport I have to laugh and say open your eyes. With CVC, Bernie and guys like Dietrich Mateschitz it is about money and marketing. I believe for most of the paddock it still is about the sport. Ron Dennis and Franks Williams have been involved most of my lifetime, and yes made money, but it is still about the sport. Enzo Ferrari sold road cars to subsidize his racing, he did not race just to sell cars.

I for one believe we would all be better off without this bully and his teams, and his money. F1 existed long before he turned up, and will exist long after he has gone off to some new marketing ploy. Him and Helmut Marko, and yes take Seb with you. We would have had some good races the last few years without you.

And as I said a few days ago, if he does not like the way F1 is run then go and start your own. F1 does not exist to suit you.

Many spectators and not a few drivers equate noise with power. When asked to put on a muffler competitors complain it will cost them horse power, even though my mate Tony Dowe tells me they put mufflers on one of the Jaguars and it increased power. This is totally possible if you ask the top muffler specialists.

Anyway, when I grew up F1 cars ran around with about 200hp, and were loud. Jack Brabham suffered from a common complaint called "Coventry Climax Ear," i.e deaf on the side the single exhaust came out. Now Helmut Marko is suggesting Mercedes have around 900hp, and people are saying they are too quiet. Have they not been to a WEC race lately and heard, or not heard in this case, the Turbo Diesel Audis. Despite the whispering whistle they are mightily impressive. Yes we like race cars to sound "sexy" as the Oz GP guys are saying, but that does not mean we all have to go deaf. I drive an Infinit G35 as much for the exhaust note as anything. Like organ music, sweet, but not intrusive.

So Melbourne are saying the new cars breach the contract to stage the race. I doubt there is a clause that says that they have to have a certain noise level, or degree of sexiness. Try writing a spec for that, worse than fuel flow. Is this just a negotiating ploy to reduce fees, or get out of a major loss for the Government altogether? Or is it Bernie's mate Ron Walker just stirring it up for his old mate.

Talking of fuel flow, a lot more has come out since I wrote yesterday. Red Bull are being pinged because they did not follow FIA instructions as the other teams apparently did. There are some questions about how accurate the sensors are, so the FIA said whatever you are seeing, do as we tell you. Red Bull may have been trying to prove a point, but it just cost them 20. This could go on for a while with the appeal, but this is not about whether they exceeded the flow rate but about not following FIA directions as stated in the regulation.

It was a busy weekend for us in the US what with F1, Sebring and NASCAR. NASCAR was in Bristol, a 100,000 + seat half mile bull ring that you used to have to wait for someone to die to get a seat. Not yesterday. It was a sparse crowd last year, but Sunday there were a few thousand brave souls. It rained, and it was forecast to rain, so the "commentators" suggested most of the crowd were waiting to see if it would start. Really? These are the same folks who sat in a thunder storm and tornado warning at Daytona for six hours? Well when we did start they did not rush in, and those that stayed until nearly 10 o'clock must think twice about doing it again as the race went under caution with two 15 second laps to go. Unbelievable.

No wonder NASCAR keeps promoting itself at every ad break. Never understood that. I am already watching so why advertise to me? Same goes for the Tudor Sports Car series, but of course that is run by NASCAR too now.