Bob Barnard Track Engineering

First day's, or should that be day and evening's, practice completed with Mercedes looking well in control of the situation. Still plenty to keep us interested though, with half a second covering the next eight cars. Fuel consumption is going to be an issue it seems for the first time this year, but as we saw in Malaysia Hamilton was very light on his fuel use. The advantage of running your own race at the front as we saw so many times for Vettel. Not much difference in tire degradation between the medium and soft compounds, so the soft is going to be the tire to use as it is way faster. Over two seconds it appears, although some of that may be down to the cooler temperatures in the second session.

The fear that these cars will be slow is unfounded, with the Mercedes basically matching the fast time from this same session a year ago. And it seems people are getting used to the noise of these cars, all except Ferrari fans that is. Montezemolo is meeting with Bernie and Todt to talk about rule changes. Really, after three races? Smacks of Red Bull and tires last year. We can't compete with these rules so let's change them. I can't believe Todt is going to go along with that after the battle to get these current cars. Then there is the conspiracy theory that Bernie is just trying to devalue the sport so he can get CVC bought out by his mates, who would not care if he is convicted or not.

On that subject Joe Saward must have had too much time on his hands and has written a very funny blog on the "zoo" that is Formula One. I don't know how he keeps his press pass.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/the-f1-jungle-book/

Jean Todt and Bernie are obviously not having a summer break. As I said Jean is gladhanding himself around South America, kissing babies and promising and reassuring, must be an election coming?

Bernie is setting a cracking pace for an 80 year old. Today there are stories all over the internet. The sale of the QPR shares, his and Briatore's, has been completed, so I guess he does not have to go to all those matches now. He is reassuring us that India will not only be ready but it will be very nice. Of course he says that F1 will have a problem getting the Indians to watch it instead of cricket, so the Indian GP and sponsors have to work very hard. How about CVC working hard for their $40m or whatever the fee is? Bernie says India is important, and it is and becoming more so, so shouldn't he work to make F1 relevant? Of course he says F1 will be good for India, and as Pit Pass says, as good as it is for Valencia, Turkey, China, and I could add Melbourne, Spa, Hockenheim and Nurburgring, not to mention France?

That's not all though. He was seen on his yacht, don't know how he found the time, and Vettel was with him apparently. They took time off to go to Paul Ricard to watch a Spanish lady racer, Maria de Villota, drive a 2 year old Renault F1 car. Now if Bernie wanted to get a women in F1 then I would have thought there were a few others in front of a 31 year old daughter of a Spanish driver who drove so well in F1 I don't even remember him. 

And it goes on, what a day he had. Commenting to Italian newspapers that it was sad to see such a superhuman driver like Michael struggling.

Last but not least come the news that the old partners in the F1 ownership, EM.TV, now called Constantin Medien, are suing Bernie, his Bambino company, partner Steven Mullens, and poor old Gribkowsky, for $100m in loss of profits due to the sale to CVC. Doesn't sound like this business is going away any time soon, but still Bernie has all that free time now he does not have to watch QPR.

Jean Todt is continuing his world tour. After telling us Mexico should have a grand prix he is now in Sao Paulo and telling us the Interlagos track is safe, it was the cars that caused the deaths not the track. So now Jean is a track design expert? He may well be right, F1 cars have become very safe for the drivers so they would probably survive a similar accident, but why not remove the cause of the accident?

Not a lot else going on today. Interesting article by Miles Geauxbye, sounds like he is from Louisiana, on The Last Turn Club about the future of ALMS. Some of us have suspected for a long time it does not have one, but it is still there.

http://lastturnclub.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=786&Itemid=51

A couple of articles in this month's Motor Sport. Mat Oxley talking about the lack of overtaking in MotoGP, sound familiar? Too many rider aids, and too much manufacturer influence, something I've said for years. I think if you asked the fans we would still be racing 500cc two strokes.

The other is about our friend Tavo and Austin. I think Austin is probably a great place to stage it, like Adelaide, small enough to have everyone involved but big enough to have all the restaurants and entertainment people want. The Oz GP went missing when it moved to Melbourne. Tavo had an odd statement though that "many of the circuit's details will be unfinished by next year's race." He went on to say he hoped "the fans understand that there will be some components that aren't exactly ironed out...some things will have to wait until 2013, 14 or 15." Sounds like the Indian GP, the pits are finished but sorry about the grandstand. 

It's going to be a long month at this rate. Yes there is racing going on, the ALMS at Mid-Ohio skating rink for instance. Whoever thought putting sealant on a race track was a good idea should stick to Wal Mart parking lots. This has been a problem for a while and should have been fixed. Even with full wets it was impossible to keep the car on the track. Then there is the nice curb coming on to the main straight where two cars broke their suspension. I could go on. Let's hope the new owner fixes it.

Jean Todt has been on vacation in Mexico, or a tour anyway, and thinks it is a great place to have a grand prix. Does he not read the newspapers about what goes on there, and spills over to here? And how many GP's are we going to have? We already have 21 if we think Turkey is going to "do what it takes." Then there is Sochi, France wants one back but I guess they will share, New Jersey, and now Mexico, and I know I've missed some. And just why would Jean Todt care, what's his connection to Mexico? Maybe it is the direct connections available to Austin, just trying to make it easier for the teams to fit in all these GPs. Now I like to watch a GP as well as the next guy, but are we heading to NASCAR calendar territory here? How many is enough? I guess if you are CVC there is never enough.

The silly season is alive and well. Rubens says he was misquoted and he is not about to retire, but that is not what was reported, leaving Williams was. And we have the "Hamilton to Ferrari" game on while Domenicalli says Massa must stay calm, and his replacement will be an up and coming young guy, so who and when? Bianchi? Can you imagine the pressure on an Italian in the red car? Ferrari have usually avoided putting an Italian in the car, presumably for that reason. Perez is the other suggestion, and he does drive a car with a Ferrari engine, but losing the sponsorship would really hurt Sauber. Not a bad choice though given his form this year.

And finally back to Jean Todt who says the FIA must write rules that are more specific. Well why haven't you? Because the teams employ a huge number of very smart people to "interpret the rules in such a bizarre way they break them," as Jean puts it. Exactly. It has been that way since I was born, and long may it remain. It is called ingenuity, the origin of the word engineer.  

Can it be that Jean Todt has been set up over Bahrain? It is the Bernie and Max double act in a reprise of their previous performances. Bernie has done one of the fastest U Turns in history and is now saying it is "of course not on" and reiterating Max's statement that the WMC cannot change the calendar without FOTA's agreement. He is now saying he will send his own man to go check out the situation which might have been a good idea in the first place. As I said Todt looked inept at best in the TV interview, and is now isolated. The FIA is being likened to an "old boys club, where cash - in this case the Bahraini royal family's - can buy you anything." It is now being pointed out the Todt's son's GP2 Team is co-owned by the Bahrain authorities, not that anyone is suggesting that is a factor, but as I said the other day these guys have put themselves in the Middle east money's pocket, and are now reaping the "benefits."

Gracia is trying to justify his visit and report, which smacks of an episode of a send up of the Sydney Olympics, "The Games." If you have not seen it try and find it, it is both extremely funny and extremely true. In this particular episode about Y2K, remember that, a Spanish Olympic rep is sent to make sure Sydney has the problem solved. After a brief discussion in the board room and receiving some dubious guarantees that all is well he decides to go eat.

Well I guess Bahrain has given us something to talk about for a few weeks because there is not much else going on. Le Mans free practice is on at the moment with the first qualifying late tonight France time. Remember you can listen in on the web at radiolemans.com and there is some coverage on fromsportCOM.com from 6 pm Le Mans time.