Bob Barnard Track Engineering

So the silence is broken on F1 and Sochi by someone in F1. Niki Lauda has pronounced "All those responsible have decided that we are racing there," he told German television RTL, "so in this case we have an obligation, and that extends to Bernie Ecclestone and the FIA." Sound familiar? Exactly what we heard over Bahrain. The powers that be know what they are doing and we have a contract. As I recall the Ukraine has a contract with Russia that gives it control of the Crimea. What happened to ethics, morality and humanity? Just a thought, but how many Mercedes are sold in Russia.

Even that wimp Jimmy Carter organized a boycott of the Moscow Olympics in 1980, and JFK called Khrushchev's bluff over Cuba. So what does the world do now Russia is supposed to no longer be a threat? Nothing. This is no different to Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

So Bernie has finally come out and said what most of us suspected. India has not paid up, so no GP. It had nothing to do with timing, and perhaps some to do with tax, but in the end if Bernie is not paid in advance then no GP. The Indian promoter has found out what most of us already know, you can't make money on an F1 race if you are not the Government.

NASCAR has tweaked qualifying, as predicted here. Cooling the engines is a big issue, and dealt with by running the cooling water through a separate ice filled bath once they are back in the garage. That system was not allowed during qualifying when the cars are parked out on pit lane, so after a run the cars would go back out with all the tape off the grill to run around slowly on the inside lane of the track. Not a big issue on a large oval, but a half mile? So they are now going to be able to bring a unit out to pit lane and slow laps are not allowed. Still not improving the show, but an important safety measure.

Joe Saward, an F1 journalist I have followed assiduously for many years, has a post on today's blog about an ethical challenge facing the FIA. Now I presumed he was talking of Sochi, about which there is still no comment from anyone. But no, he is talking about Bahrain.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/

So it has taken two years for someone to actually raise the F1 race in Bahrain with the FIA as an ethical issue. Now as bad as the situation is there, they have not invaded their next door neighbor. I personally find it disturbing that Joe has not even mentioned the issue, but there again who has among the media, FIA and FOM. Are Gary Hartstien and I the only ones to care. I suppose they all think this will blow over by the time the Sochi race comes around. I would not bet on it. Putin will want East Ukraine soon to protect the Russians there. And then what, the Baltic States?

The purported sale of the Nurburgring raises more questions than it has answered. What was actually sold, and to who? In anybody's money the price paid of around 80m Euros seems very cheap for an F1 racetrack, but I suppose it does not matter how cheap it is if it only loses money. So why buy it?

That was the title of a piece on the ESPN blog about Bahrain a year or so ago, and we are hearing the same about Sochi. Has the FIA or FOM nothing to say? Not even "this is sport and not politics," as lame as that is? Ask Putin if the Olympics or F1 are about sport.

So India is not going to be on the 2015 calendar, what a surprise. They fell for that one. Now what are they going to do with that white elephant of a racetrack? The fate of Turkey, Valencia and Korea in recent times does not stop would be promoters it seems, with Azerbaijan getting a race according to Bernie. What with Long Beach still trying to decide, and a raft of others waiting in the wings there are plenty of people and countries who think they are smarter than Bernie and all the other F1 race promoters.

To assist those people I have recently connected with a group called Meet The Crowd, MTC, who specialise in strategies for would be and existing race promoters, and economic impact assessment, to assist with analysing whether to bid for an event or to renegotiate an existing contract. Our combined experience of organizing and promoting such events is now available. Check out their web site:

http://www.meetthecrowd.com/

In two wheeled matters it seems that Dorna is making up the rules as it goes along. Not a good basis for keeping teams in a sport. As soon as Ducati decided to do what Dorna wants and go to the open class they make up a new class for "works" teams in the open category, a class of one so far. Nice one. I bet Ducati are well pleased with that. Dorna has managed to upset both Ducati and the rest of the open teams, and is annoying Honda about them using the common ECU. If they keep this up they will be as popular as the FIM was in the early 90's.

So The City of Long Beach is looking for someone the take over the race on their streets. And who do we think is sending them letters of interest. None other than Bernie and his mate Chris Pook, the man who dropped F1 nearly thirty years ago in favor of CART. Why? Simple, even back then he could not make money on F1 when the fee was around $2m a year. Now it is at least ten times that F1 wants to come back. Yes FOM will be running the event, but you can bet Bernie will get his payday from somewhere. The track as it is now is never going to meet F1 standard, so who is paying for the upgrade? No sitting out in the sun like Indycar, these guys are going to want a pit building. Or is this just a Bernie ploy to stick it to existing promoters? 

And then there is Sochi. With Russia invading Ukraine are we seriously going to race in Sochi? I guess some will argue that it is no worse than going to Bahrain, but we should not be going there either. There is not a word being said about Sochi and F1 in any press I have seen, but someone at the FIA and FOM has to be thinking hard about this. Of course, with so much Russian money in F1 now perhaps no one cares to rock the boat. I wonder what it is like to be a Chelsea supporter at the moment. If the UK freezes Russian assets as the US is threatening to do what happens then?

On a better note, testing is over and Australia beckons. Mercedes powered cars seem to have the edge, but it is testing. Well it was for some. The Renault powered cars seem to be in crisis management mode. Still, even Mercedes have their concerns on reliability, so can we see a repeat of Adelaide 85 when four cars finished?

The Petit Le Mans is now on the Intercontinental Cup Calendar for 2011 on October 1st. So, was that just a negotiating ploy? I am personally glad to see it included as I was very much involved in the inaugural race when there was no ALMS, and it deserves to be on the calendar. To me it is a better race than Sebring.

Luca di Montezemolo, Mr. Ferrari, is concerned that the rules for 2011 are still somewhat open to interpretation, particularly in respect to the movable rear wing. Patrick Head warned recently that the latter innovation is "not set in stone," and that is my understanding, so when is that going to be clarified?

It seems the Olympic Commission is concerned about the planned staging of the first Russian F1 race the same year as the Winter Games in Sochi. They question whether you can run two such events in one city in the same year, but I would have thought that many of the facilities, especially temporary stands for instance, could work for both and save money.