Bob Barnard Track Engineering

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.

It is said that in F1 one great pass can be enough in a season. Hakkinen on Schumacher at Spa. Webber on Alonso at Spa. But yesterday we saw a non-pass that made a race. That half a lap, a series of silly 2nd gear corners where it is supposed to be impossible to pass, showed two great drivers at the top of their game. Webber as I said has shown it a couple of times this season, and Hamilton forgot all those silly incidents when trying to pass Massa to join him in a masterful display of courage, strength of mind and respect for the other guy. Which other two drivers would race so close, no pushing the other wide on the grass, always giving him just enough room, and no sudden swerves or chops? Button and Alonso probably, but few others. Made it worth stopping up past midnight for.

Then we were treated to twenty or so laps of Hamilton holding off Webber, shades of Villeneuve senior at Jarama. Lewis seems to have been in a different place this weekend, subdued but determined. Martin Whitmarsh explained the strange starts and races of Lewis and Jensen by saying they "lost" 10 pts of downforce on that first lap. One web site suggested rubber build up lodging in the front wing, but that would have been spotted and removed at the pit stop. Lewis had more and more front wing added at each stop, and half way through that last fraught stint asked over the radio if he had all there was. The answer was that the wing was maxed out. The lack of dry running on Friday was blamed by some, but Red Bull did not have the same problem. Just to rub it in Vettel threw in the fastest lap of the race by a second on the last lap!

You know I do not like the DRS. It is a false solution, created by Alonso's problem of getting past a slow car at Abu Dhabi. No question it works in those situations, so far so good. It does not work with two equal cars, and nor should it. We saw Lewis driving away from Webber through the twisty bits, but not quite getting the 1 second he needed to prevent Mark from wiping that out by no more technique and skill than pressing a button on the straight. If Lewis could have kept his 0.7 seconds he made each lap after 20 laps he would have a nice cushion. As it was he stressed himself to the limit of the car's performance each lap just to stay ahead. Made for good viewing, but I'm not convinced it is fair. Let's get rid of it and leave it to the drivers.

Strange to hear Alonso say near the end "I give up, I give up." After putting in 20 laps at qualifying pace he still could not get to Button, who in turn could not get to Webber. I think neither Lewis or Alonso are very happy with their cars at the moment.

Someone who is is Kovalainen. He finished a genuine 14th in the Lotus and mixed it with the back end of the mid-field on pace, beating both Saubers. He was ready to do it again straight away he said. Good to see. 

Congratulations to Casey Stoner on clinching the MotoGP crown at Phillip Island, that must have felt great, but I'm sure he would rather have done it by beating Lorenzo who did not start after losing part of a finger in a warm-up crash. So both Yamaha riders out of the race made for a sparse field, made sparser by race crashes including Rossi. Only ten bikes finished, very sad for the top level of Motorcycle racing. In Moto2 Bradl was pipped at the end by De Angelis which allowed Bradl to retake the title lead from third finishing Marquez by three points. With a return to form by Bradl the last two races could be fun.

In NASCAR land perpetual champ Jimmie Johnson crashed out of last night's Charlotte race and is last in the "Chase." So a new champ this year, if anyone cares. Not many at Charlotte to show they did.

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.

Well I think the Stewards wimped out on that one. Five grid places for deliberately driving into someone? Joe Saward said it well, "less than severe given what happened." He should be excluded for at least this race. And Sir Frank should have the guts to fire him, deliberately damaging his car. I know he brings a lot of sponsorship, but also disrepute. How is Hamilton reprimanded? Why would he deliberately move right to hit Maldanado, or was it for the pass at the bus stop? That to me was clear cut, Maldanado was wallying around, slow, stayed right as if to give Lewis room and then when Lewis is alongside cuts back left, no problem for me. Has Maldanado been watching "Days of Thunder" too much? I can just see Sir Frank, "now I want you to go out and hit the safety car."

Vettel took pole from Lewis in his repaired McLaren at the last gasp, but tomorrow's race should be interesting. Button starting from 13th, Michael from the back after his loose wheel incident, lucky that was not at Eau Rouge, and Alonso down in 8th after an unhappy qualifying session. Senna drove well for his first drive on Pirelli's after a long absence and outqualified his team mate Petrov by over a second. Ricciardo needs to lift his game, over a second slower than Luizzi is not going to get him into Webber's seat. Mark has predictably re-signed for Red Bull for next year, so Daniel has another year to prove himself, but where? The new owners at HRT will want a Spaniard in at least one of the cars. Fortunately the Stewards waived the 107% rule and all cars will start, including Michael's three wheeler. Not sure what the point of having a 107% rule is if you are not going to enforce it. I can understand Michael, but the conditions were the same for everyone in that Q1 session.

Roman Grosjean predictably wrapped up the GP2 title after finishing third in the Saturday rain affected race, now let us see where he goes next year.

At Indianapolis for the MotoGP Casey Stoner is dominating practice despite being highly critical of the new track surface. It started out very slippery Friday morning and has improved as it cleaned up and has some rubber, but there are comments it is wearing tires very fast. "Most" of the bumps have gone, and Casey has this morning run the fastest lap around here, but still considers it his least liked track. Ben Spies is flying the Americans flag with second fastest, and Colin Edwards is inspired by home soil to be the quickest non-works bike. Lorenzo is not happy in seventh behind Colin, while the Ducati boys continue to struggle, Rossi being the quickest in eighth but over a second off the pace. Let's see what qualifying brings, although of course here in the US SPEED would rather show off-road racing or a chopper show than an actual MotoGP, so we won't see it.

Stories today that the BRDC, owners of Silverstone, are looking to lease the place out now they have spent all that money on it. A one hundred year lease term is suggested, although how anyone can predict what will happen in the next decade I don't know, let alone the next century. $400m is the asking price, so they can then spend all that on their grand scheme of hotels etc. So what does the lessee get, the track? And how does he make any money? I know it is only $4m a year, but then there is the interest or opportunity cost. The BRDC is not making money on the F1 GP at the moment, and I know the place runs all year, but then it costs money to run it all year. It was suggested Bernie might want it, but he know better than most that owning tracks and running races is not where the money is at, he makes his from the poor track owner, just ask him about how well Turkey is going. As I said before, do they not learn from history? Octagon went down this road and bought their way out of the deal, and the Nurburgring is currently in all sorts of trouble with their hotel/theme park/conference center development. Donnington should still be burned in everyone's memory, what a farce that was. Now Silverstone is not so remote as the Nurburgring, but it is not in the middle of Europe either. 

This soap opera is going to run for a while, and keeps getting stranger by the day. Today it seems there are to be six more people charged over this, but no names. Gribkowsky's original lawyer looks set to go in the frame though. Bernie has told Pit Pass, who I have suspected of being Bernie's back door mouthpiece, but that is not consistent, that he did not give Gribkowsky 27m pounds, only 14 m. Now that begs the question, where did the rest of Mr G's money come from? Bernie goes on to say he did not "launder" it through the offshore companies, but paid it into a bank account, the number of which Mr. G gave him on a piece of paper. Wait for it. The payment "bounced." What, Bernie was overdrawn! So Bernie then said he gave the money to the lawyer, who is then presumed to have washed the money through the offshore companies and  therefore becomes entangled and likely to be charged. But I thought it was reported that those offshore companies could be traced to Bernie, or are they just sounding that way? It is confusing, and probably designed to be. 

What of CVC in all this I hear you ask? Well they have been talking to London's Financial Times complaining about the lack of communication. They are not complaining too hard though as it seems they are prepared to put up with anything as CVC "has simply shown such great returns." Oh well that's OK then.

Back to real life, or almost. Sauber has as expected announced it is keeping Kobayashi and Perez. Webber has yet to sign on at Red Bull but Horner says that is a formality. Well yes it is, and an important one too. VW have announced they "could" enter F1 in 2018! So why is everyone running this story? And what is so magical about 2018? Who knows what the regs will be by then, or the world come to that. Look at the last seven years. "We have enough good brands that could do that," the story goes. Well yes they do, they do right now, so what? Is this corporate planning in the extreme, and are we so desperate for news, or for another manufacturer to come and go that we need to get in a lather about it? 

Just for fun, you have to love headline writers. "Hamilton to race in BTCC." No Lewis is not quitting F1, This is Matt Hamilton, but it made me look. Then there is, "V8's stick with Dunlop tires." Let's hope they do.