Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Last weekend saw three major races, each with their own character, equally interesting and worth watching.

It kicked off with Lewis Hamilton taking an unlikely pole position, surprising himself and everyone else. I will admit to being tired and not getting up to watch qualifying live as it seemed from Friday practice it would be a Red Bull walk over. But we've seen this before haven't we? Just wait for the race. Now Hungaroring is not the most exciting track, we've seen races won from pole because no one could pass, but that was not likely was it? Well no it wasn't because as Lewis said, "today I was not having it." We saw a determined Lewis, but a very different one from the days when it seemed he could not overtake without running into someone, usually Massa. How good does Lauda's move to grab him for Mercedes look now? Great race, with the usual whining from Vettel, and a smooth controlled drive from Kimi to take an unexpected second. I can't see him at Red Bull playing second fiddle and putting up with Marko can you? Great crowd, nearly back to what we saw when the track first opened.

So, who is going to get the second seat at Red Bull? Not sure Ricciardo is the one, don't see Kimi, and certainly don't see Alonso. How about Hulkenburg? Good driver, another German and probably happy with Vettel winning, just to get paid for a change!

And what GP's are going to miss out in 2014? Korea seems good riddance, and New Jersey never really looked like it did it, even with Bernie's lust to have a race with the Manhattan skyline as backdrop. India is being given the Bernie treatment to bring them in to line, or else they just spent loads of money on a white elephant. Appropriate for India. Nurburgring? Is the Red Bull Ring again just something to bring the Germans into line, or is the Nurburgring so broke it is out of the game. It was reported that Bernie waived the fee this year, but that probably meant he took the gate money and the rest of the income.

What is going on at Sauber? Sad day when Peter Sauber has to sell out to a bunch of Russians. Has he looked at Marussia and how well they are doing? And of course the money has not arrived yet.

So, back to the races. Next was the Spa 24 hour. Great track and a great field of 65 GT cars, all of them top class. Who needs prototypes to get in the way? The eventual first and second separated by a lap after racing together with the two BMWs for the first few hours, nose to tail. No rain! Must be a first, but plenty of accidents, including two at Eau Rouge, which thanks to the four row tire barriers the drivers walked away from. Can't help but think what would have happened at Tetre Rouge a month ago if there were similar tires in place?

Finally we saw a very odd NASCAR race at Indianapolis. No accidents, and no one brushed the wall that I recall. The field strung out which I guess reduced the contact, but that was not to say there was no overtaking or it was boring. Well done Ryan Newman, and why does he lose his drive next year when Danica doesn't? The suits are running, or is that ruining, the sport. Nothing like the crowd they had at the early races.

Finally, well done Tony Stewart for the truck race at Eldora. He got the crowd he deserved and the plaudits. He could start it earlier next year if it is going to be mid-week, bit hard to stay up till midnight. Track prep was perfect. With that many laps you might have expected a few problems, but it slicked up just right. Again a good drive by Newman, he just had a couple of young guns that were too quick. Someone needs to sign up Kyle Larson!

It did not take BMW long to take its' first win in the DTM. Just the second race, and starting from pole. Dr. Ulrich of Audi chose to go to the DTM race rather than the WEC at Spa, so it tells you where his priorities are, or is it he knew Spa was a shoe in? It should have been expected as BMW have not exactly been away from racing, just the DTM when it got to be a tin top version of F1. Racing its' road cars across the globe all these years just meant building one to DTM specs, hiring a couple of drivers with DTM resumes, and off we go. Great to see though, three great manufacturers fighting it out and drawing huge crowds. Probably more at the first race than at the German F1 GP's.

Good to see Robert Wickens, the young Canadian, getting a drive in DTM, not your normal route to F1, but a couple have done it.  American Alexander Rossi is also getting his break and will get a Friday drive at Barcelona in his role as test driver for Caterham. That will be interesting to see.

Elsewhere normal service resumed with Stoner winning in Portugal, but Rossi continues to struggle with the Duke, and whatever happened to Spies? A long chain of discussion on Facebook recently about Ben, but it is hard to understand how his team mate Lorenzo can be challenging for the win, and the Tech 3 pair can be beating him easily on non-works equipment. Ben was the only team mate to get the best of Mat Mladin when they raced in the US, but that was Mat's retirement year, so not a good yardstick? Something has obviously disappeared from Ben's arsenal, perhaps his confidence?

I was able to watch the Spa 6 Hour round of the WEC courtesy of Audi TV on the internet. Had the radio Le Mans boys commentating and picture was great, and no commercials. Despite the obvious outcome of an Audi win we saw an intriguing race, with the Diesels beating the Hybrids, who have some issues to resolve around the four wheel drive. Interesting that Toyota has not followed this path after having tried it. Of course Audi has long had a "Quatro" so marketing may drive the racing, so to speak. Nice to see that did not influence the outcome of the race though with the diesels being allowed to win on merit. Le Mans may be a stretch though. Good races in the LMP2 and GTE classes, with the GTE being won by less than a second after six hours! 

Oh yes, we had in-season testing once again with all the F1 teams except HRT going to Mugello. A very nice track, but much more a MotoGP track than F1 with all those sweeping corners. Grosjean in the Lotus was quick with Kimi declining the opportunity to run, as did the two McLaren boys. Not really much to tell as usual with testing and not all the top drivers. We will have to wait for Barcelona.

The "who is going to replace Massa" game continues with Mark Webber being the flavor this week, although it seems Red Bull are keen to keep him after the recent race form. In a similar vein the new Chairman of CVC has said he needs to be able to replace Bernie "within 24 hours." Presumably not the next 24 hours, but the ones after they carry him out of his office in a wooden box as he has always insisted they will have to do for him to relinquish control of F1.

Why would HRT, a team desperately trying to be Spanish, hire a Chinese reserve driver with no record? Does he bring a big bag of money? HRT are certainly not selling anything in China to warrant trying to gain exposure there. They now have a 30+ Spanish lady driver and a 24 year old Chinese guy, neither with any obvious credentials. Sounds like a great test and back up team. Come to think of it why would we expect anything else. As we would say in Oz, all they need is a tent and elephants and they would have a circus.

Argentina look pretty certain to have a F1 race in 2013, on yet another Tilke masterpiece, while one of his other gems, Korea, is likely to be dropped as they cannot pay the fee. That was a great investment wasn't it? Anyone in Texas watching this?

Meanwhile Magny Cours is asking why no one is looking at their track to stage a revived French GP? It is said that it is too remote, but I have been to both Magny Cours and Paul Ricard, and let me tell you Paul Ricard is not exactly downtown anywhere either. Maybe Bernie's involvement at Paul Ricard has something to do with it, or the politics of the Magny Cours Department?

Spa is supposed to be alternating with a French GP, but the Belgian locals are not much in favor of that and have a petition going. If, like me, you think only seeing a race at Spa every other year while suffering Bahrain each year is too much to bear, please go on to the web site and sign the petition.

http://www.grandprixf1.be/home.html

On a last note, unsurprisingly, Lotus, the car maker, can no longer afford the sponsorship for the F1 team that carries its name, nor will it be able to buy into the team. The real team owners say they are happy to continue with the Lotus name anyway. Thank goodness after all that wrangling.

Hot on the heels of one of the best races we've seen comes the news that the track that produces such events is only going to be seen every other year. It is reported that Bernie is OK with Spa and a track in France, presumably Paul Ricard, alternating GP's after 2013. Now I don't mind Paul Ricard, but Spa it is not, and it is a travesty to lose the wolrd's best track from the calendar every other year. Let them alternate with Valencia! The Mediterranean GP. I know your tired of hearing it but why does it make sense to only lose money every other year?

Talking of losing tracks, do we think Laguna or Indy will miss out on the MotoGP when Austin has a race? Or does Dorna seriously think the US can maintain three GPs? The attendance at Indy was reported as 64,000 on race day, but it looked pretty sparse Friday and Saturday. It's hard to see Laguna missing out as the manufacturers are all in LA, but who knows, Dorna might like the bigger pay day from three classes.

Anyway, Casey Stoner won the MotoGP race by a country mile despite saying this was his least liked track, and added he could have gone quicker. Is it me or were there more "marbles" on that track than I have ever seen for a motorcycle race? At the end the "line" was about 6 feet wide. Interesting to see riders stopping due to what looked like tire problems, and mostly Ducatis. The headline writers were at it again stating the obvious, "Ducati Boss says they have to improve." Rossi had a terrible time of it and Hayden stopped with about four laps to go and then got on the bike and went out again, what was all that about? Spies recovered from a bad start to take third in front of Lorenzo, nice to see no team orders in MotoGP.

Nice to hear Robert Kubica has had his last operation, so let's hope all is as good as his management is saying and we will see him back on track.

Spa did not disappoint and the world's best track turned on a world class race. DRS worked a bit too easily on the run up to Les Combes, but we saw some amazing passes all around the track, Rivage and Poohon, and even Blanchimont! The pass Webber made on Alonso on the entry to Eau Rouge has to rate as one of the best and bravest we have ever seen, certainly up there with Haikenen and Schumacher at this same track, but probably braver. How did Alonso make his car disappear? One nano-second his front wing is in shot with Webber's, the next it is gone, saving a huge accident. David Coulthard said he had to turn away from the screen! Pity Kobayashi could not show the same sense. Views will differ on who did what to who here, but Lewis's hands did not move on that wheel. Yes he was moving left relative to the track edge but he took a straight shot from the exit of Raidillon to the turn in at Les Combes. Kobayashi had been passed and it's OK he tried to come back, but he was never going to make that move, just back off and attack again. Spoiled a good race for us.

Button showed us that Hamilton is not the only McLaren driver who can pull off some great passes, quite out of character at times but great to watch. His pass on Massa at the last chicane should be watched by Maldanado as how two great drivers can run hard and close without taking each other out. As I predicted the odd qualifying made for some great racing with Michael coming through to 5th ahead of team mate Rosberg for once. Rosberg looked like running away with it in the first couple of laps, as did Alonso at one point, but the Ferrari and Mercedes fade at the end of races. The Ferrari still does not like the hard tires, but there has to be more to it than just that. 

It would be interesting to know what went on with Vettel's read out on the steering wheel on that last lap, along with that and the tire issues they had from the very start of the race they definitely not only dodged a bullet(s) but came up smelling of roses. Andrian Newey was almost crying with relief.

Pity about Ricciardo's HRT stopping, he was having a great race and running 16th. Not sure if this was due to good fortune in avoiding the crashes at La Source on the first lap, but even if it was he hung on to it until something failed. This is the sort of drive he needs. Senna was a prime suspect in the first lap crashes but at least he owned up to it unlike some other drivers out there, and actually ran a good race in the end, only finishing twenty seconds behind Petrov despite the stops for a new nose and a drive through penalty. Both Lotus cars and the Virgins finished the race, with the Lotus cars both beating the Williams of Barrichello.

And all this and it did not rain! Amazing. Looks like nothing is going to stop Vettel and Red Bull now, but let us hope for some more races like this.

The reported potential lessee of the Silverstone Circuit is the Qatar's Sovereign Wealth Fund, why not, it owns everything else?  Still does not make any sense, the BRDC lost nearly 2m pounds last year despite running the F1GP, MotoGP and WSBK rounds with crowds that many others would envy.

Stoner on pole for the US MotoGP from Indy, with Spies and Lorenzo snapping at his heals, so should be a good race, except for poor old Valentino.