Bob Barnard Track Engineering

With the raft of ideas coming out of the FIA lately you would think someone has been at the cool-aid. Or maybe Bernie thinks if he makes it more like NASCAR the Americans will understand and like F1. Driver's permanent numbers, compulsory pit stops, what next, yellows for debris?

Bernie has spent a long time making F1 about teams and not drivers. In his words, "drivers are like busses, another one will be along soon." He has built the teams into valuable franchises with permanent numbers except for the current driver's championship. Now he wants to change all that and give drivers permanent numbers, as if we can read the car number anyway. Good for merchandise I guess, except under the current system they get to change numbers so we all need to buy new stuff don't we? 

Then there are compulsory pit stops. Either you want to spice up the racing with short life tires and different strategies or you don't. If you don't then just make tires last the whole race, or more, like the engines and gearboxes and really start getting serious about being green.

Let's not forget double points for the last race. How about a "Chase" where the points get reset so Vettel has to start even for the last four races. Oh yes, NASCAR thought this was a great idea. How to piss off fans without really trying.

This all smacks of that old trick of floating a lot of stupid ideas wherein is the one you really want so you trade those you don't want and seem like a good guy. What is it Bernie or the FIA want? How about a real budget cap? Good luck making that work. How about giving more money to the people who make the show, the teams, so they do not need pay drivers and make it a bit more equitable. Yes the best teams should be rewarded, but the teams at the back are never going to make it if starved of cash. I am not suggesting an NFL style inverse system where the worst team gets the best players. You would see teams trying to lose to get more money, but there should be a more reasonable basis than now. I for one can't wait to be shot of CVC, and not just for another robber baron. 

Who should make the rules in F1? Bernie thinks the FIA is a joke and "we" and the teams should make the rules and the FIA just act as policemen to enforce them. Well, the last time I looked the motorists do not make the rules, Parliament does, and their employees, the Police, enforce them, just like the FIA. But is this the right way to run this sport? NASCAR does not let the teams make the rules, but perhaps Bernie is looking at the NFL where the teams own the league, make the rules, employ the refs, and basically run things the way they want. Except we now have a lockout because they do not run the players. I imagine "we" is Bernie, a sort of League Commissioner. I can only imagine what we would be watching if Bernie made the rules.

Then there is dear Max who cannot help himself. Talking about the Bahrain GP situation he said;

"Sport must be separated from politics," Mosley insisted. "If that was not so, there would only be major sporting events in half the current amount of countries.

"Moral and political evaluations do not belong in sport," he added.

Then what does Max? Money? What about the athletes oath before an Olympic Games? I suppose what Renault did in Singapore is fair game then if "Moral ...evaluations" do not belong in sport. And where would Bernie and CVC be if the politicians did not use government money to buy and stage the events to promote their own image and agenda?

F1 practice kicks off shortly under expected wet conditions. That would stop us learning much about the tire situation. Are HRT actually going to have a complete car(s), or is Australian customs going to hold up some vital part? Can it make the 107% cut off? Bernie is not there of course, but nor is he in New York it seems. Mr. Walker has been feeding misinformation, but why and on who's behalf?  His own I suspect, I think he is desperate to keep the GP in Melbourne and keep his job. It is a situation that Adelaide found itself in where the GP believes in its own importance and forgets why it is there and the people of the State that they serve.