Bob Barnard Track Engineering

We saw plenty of fireworks on and off the track in Spain. Unusually the Barcelona race was a cracker, with Williams, everybody's sentimental favorite, winning at last, and deservedly. Maldonado may bring a bag of cash, but he also obviously brings skill and guts. I admit I for one thought him good, but only there for the money, but he proved us all wrong yesterday. Hanging on under great pressure from Alonso showed nerve and courage. How sad that their celebration was spoiled by the pit fire, and how great to see Pastor rescuing his brother, again the courage.

In my discussions with fire marshals the world over, who always get carried away with the risk of fire in a pit building, I usually ask them when was the last fire in a garage, as opposed to the pit lane. They cannot answer as it was so long ago, but now I can't use that argument. What I also say is still valid though, if you are going to have a fire it is as good a place as any as it has a lot of fire fighting equipment and people who know how to use it. Pity the same cannot be said for the track's fire fighting force it seems. In my expert witness work we always ask about manuals and procedures, and what training staff have had, and this just confirms the importance of not just having procedures, but practicing them. The other thing I have learned running events is that it is not over just because the race or whatever action is going on, has finished. The event ends when everyone has gone home, so don't knock off the staff.

It was impressive to see the pictures of the team members fighting the fire, knowing what to do and doing it calmly. As Pit Pass said, they are a community, even if they fight all the time, but what family doesn't? When the chips are down they pull together, great to see.

So what of the race? McLaren shot Lewis in the foot again, how many ways can they do that, and how long can he put up with it? Amazing to see him still passing and attacking while preserving his tires for a two stop race, and beating Button at his own game. What would we have seen had he started on Pole? And why did he start from the back? He set a time in Q2, so why did he not start based on that time down with Vettel? Very strange goings on with Red Bull and the noses, and how did Vettel still run 6th after his nose problem and drive through? Alonso continues to flatter the Ferrari, what would he do if the car was sorted? Massa is an embarrassment and should have been pinged for blocking, and HRT are an ongoing embarrassment and should just go away.

Alexander Rossi did OK in his Friday session, kept it off the wall and wasn't too far off Petrov's time. Let's hope for some more sessions for him. Sauber continues to impress, as does Lotus, both of whom you would expect to win a race sometime this year. Almost anybody's race this year.

Over at Donnington for the WSBK there were fireworks of a different kind, with BMW repeating their DTM achievement and winning for the first time. 1-2 in the first race, and should have been in the second until Rae knocked them out at the last turn. How do you do that and still win the race? We see Schumacher given a penalty for punting out Senna, and rightly so whatever Michael says, and Rae wins the race. Still, both races were a cracker, which is more than can be said for our two home grown Sports Car series who have to make up for lack of racing by interviewing anybody they can find. I've said it before, but why do we have to listen to Scott Atherton during every ALMS race and hear the same BS about how great everything is? Two LMP1 cars does not make a race. Thank goodness for the GT's, and very good to see the Aston on pole, but what happened to its' pace in the race? Over at Grand-Am it seemed impossible for anyone to pass another car without hitting it in the process, but I guess it is owned by NASCAR. 

On the F1 commercial side the change in Government in France has made the French GP more complicated and certainly more expensive. Red Bull and Ferrari are to get seats on the Board of the floated company, as apparently will McLaren, although having Ron Dennis at the meetings could be exciting. Some doubt though over whether they will get the float done this summer as the markets are not cooperating.   

Oscar McIntyre, a 17 year old Queensland rider, died at Phillip Island on Saturday during a support event to the WSBK. Any death on a racetrack is tragic, and is more so to me if it happens at a track which I built. I have not seen the accident, but a friend who was there, Herod Lowery, e-mailed me to say Oscar went straight on at Turn One and crossed the track between Turns 2-3. Oscar was hit by two other riders who fortunately survived.

Now when I rebuilt the track I had an earth berm at the rear of the Turn One run off to prevent this, and somehow it has been removed. I would be very interested to know by who and why. Presumably the FIM Inspector OK'd this? It is hard to imagine the Turn One run off is not long enough if you saw Kevin Schwantz get off in 1990 due to a rear brake seizure at close to 200 mph and brush himself off and walk away. Large open run offs are a two edged sword, riders tend to try and "save it" rather than lay it down. I don't know if this is what happened, but if you can get hold of the video from 1989, first lap you will see some great on-board footage of Malcolm Campbell trying to ride out an off at Turn one, not successfully.

Oh, and the race? Checa crashed out of the first leg leaving his mate Biaggi to win it, but stayed on the bike to win the second with Biaggi recovering from a Turn One first lap incident to come through the field and finish second. Biaggi is leading the Championship, but it looks like a Checa/Biaggi veterans Championship. The bright note was the race form of the BMW.

Daytona 500 postponed for the first time in its history. That is amazing in itself given Florida's weather, and today does not look good apparently.

VJ Mallya looks to be getting further and further into trouble with his Airline, just when his F1 team is starting to fly.

The Gribkoswky trial has gone quiet, but Pit Pass has information that the lawyers are looking to do a deal and drop the bribery charges for lack of any real evidence. Gribkowsky still has a problem with the German tax man though. Where does that leave Bernie? Well it leaves him a lot poorer, and if Her Majesty's tax men want to know more about his trust then he could be even poorer. Still, always another would be F1 GP promoter to donate to the cause.  

Sebring Twelve Hour will be here in a couple of weeks. It should be an Audi benefit in the absence of Peugeot. Risi's Ferrari will also be absent for the first time in a long time. Sign of the times, economically, or a move to Grand Am? They managed to field a car at Daytona remember.

Our patience usually. Here we are with withdrawal symptoms from a cold and dark winter with no racing and needing something to stir the blood. What do we get? Testing. Just to show how irrelevant testing is, yesterday Hulkenburg in the Force India is fastest, and Senna in the Williams is among the slowest. Today Maldanado sets the fastest time of the week, in the Williams, and Di Resta in the Force India is way off the pace!

While testing does not show us who is really quick, it does throw up who is in trouble. HRT are not here at all and Marussia are running last year's car. Nothing much changing there. Lotus have a real problem with their chassis design and called off this week's test after seven laps when Grosjean said the car felt strange. Back to the factory. Ferrari are not on the pace and Alonso is saying the car is hard to understand. Sound familiar?

Indycar is testing the "Car of Today", the DW12, on ovals, and the drivers believe the problems have been solved with the handling. Pity there will not be many ovals left for them to drive on.

Over in Jerez di Puniet on the Aprilia powered CRT is putting in some good times, about 0.3 secs a lap off the Ducatti of Hector Barbera, which is better than the 5 seconds Colin Edwards managed, but it is a Ducatti and not the Honda, so let's not get too excited. The Duke is better this year by the sound of it, but still not on the pace of the Hondas.

World Superbike kicks off its season at Phillip Island, and testing there has seen a fair share of injuries. Leon Haslam for one has had surgery and may not start. Let's wait and see if Checa can keep it going from last year. He has been quick in testing so far.

NASCAR has its Dual 125's today, so I guess you can say the season has started.

30 days to go for the F1 season to start, and Australia loses its major sponsor, DHL! Of course good old QANTAS will step in, for a lot less I bet, but the CEO says sponsorship, corporate, ticket sales are all up! And they forecast to only lose $56m this year! But it is better value for money than the tennis.

Bahrain continues to be a political "bun fight" with British politicians and peers of the realm taking opposing sides of "should we go or not." Joe Saward has booked his ticket so it sounds as though it is on. Bernie had better be right "that it is only a couple of kids in trouble with the police." Nice one as always Bernie.  Like the guys in Sao Paulo just wanting to sell Jenson Button a hat. 

David Coulthard is a busy boy, not only driving his Red Bull at Austin he also visited Willow Springs out there in the Mojave Desert to coach Tom Cruise on how to drive an F1 car. What's next on his tour of rocky race tracks? And why Tom Cruise? This is of course the Red Bull marketing circus and not a test team, so I guess why not.

Word today is that work at the Austin track is stopped, and not just to let David drive around. Here is the story:

http://motorsport.nextgen-auto.com/Work-currently-stopped-at-2012-US-GP-venue,28472.html

Now I don't know about you but there looked like plenty to do around that track and I've never known a contractor to stop work because he is ahead of schedule, you never know what's coming tomorrow to delay you. Being ahead is money in the bank, which apparently is what Tavo does not have.

Honda is suggesting that the Japanese MotoGP could go to Suzuki for this year to avoid the situation of teams and riders not wanting to go to Motegi. It would suit me, Suzuka is a way better track, and as they said the 8 Hour is run there so what's the problem? This comes as it seems that not only is Rossi not wanting to go, the team doesn't either. As I already said, they can stay home and lose badly.

News that Bradley Smith is going to get a start with Tech 3 in MotoGP next year, so who is leaving? Colin Edwards is the obvious choice and he and Capirossi are looking for a ride in WSBK for next year. So instead of WSBK being a stepping stone to MotoGP, or an equal series, it is now the retirement league.

They are not the only ones likely looking for a ride. Nick Heidfeld looks like he will lose his to Bruno Senna as early as this weekend, and he is threatening to sue someone if that is the case, but he can hardly argue his performance justifies his retaining it. Not sure Bruno is the right choice though.

Talking of this weekend, the FIA has banned the use of DRS through Eau Rouge during practice and qualifying. Several drivers raised the potential risk, but why does it need the FIA to say don't use it? Surely the drivers can elect not to use it, or will some silly person try it like Luizzi? Eau Rouge is scary enough without trying without downforce.

Here we are, Monday morning after a GP, Spa 24 hour and WSBK and not much to stir the blood.

A couple of things caught the eye. Yamaha is withdrawing its WSBK factory team. This is despite currently running third and fourth in the Championship. They have obviously taken notice that Ducati are leading the Championship with Checa despite the works team dropping out for the first time this year. Yamaha say they are going to support private teams, which clearly works. I think back to what I see were the good days of GP when Yamaha had several "private" teams running their equipment, Kenny, Ago, Sonauto with Sarron, and all were "works" bikes and we had good racing. Honda had a works team, but also Kanemoto, HB and Cabin, and Garry Taylor ran Suzuki for Schwantz. This to me is the right way for series to run, not just one "works" team for each and really only three or four guys likely to win. Not a bad model for four wheel racing either, like we saw at Spa, six Audis in three private teams racing each other, which is how McLaren are going with the GT.

The other is the ongoing Gribkowsky deal, with the six others being named, and behold there is Bernie's friend Briatore, the man banned from F1 helping Bernie out.

The furore over the Sky TV deal continues, with Pit Pass suggesting it is not poor Bernie's fault, nothing to do with the high cost of TV rights and everything else to do with F1, no it is the Teams' fault. They should do something, but what? He suggests that the teams subsidise the Sky fee for F1 fans. And how are you going to identify them? And 10 m households at 475 pounds apiece is a rather big ask. Why not the teams accept less TV money, say $20m, and reduce the cost of the rights to BBC? But that won't work either as then you set a precedent for all the other broadcasters. But if "free-to-air" is so important for the sponsors? If that were the case then F1 would be on Network TV here in the States and we might get a few people interested in it, and cheaper than building a track and running a race. How about funding Alexander Rossi in to a good seat as Red Bull are doing, then you might see some interest. But no, all these spend money, and of course the poor teams just need more and more. As Adam Parr said it is expensive for them to go racing, you can't just buy a tennis racquet and some shoes. I thought that was what sponsors were for. So are we really interested in building a sport or making money? If the Sky deal loses audience then we will see. This whole series is run on unrealistic income streams that if one or two start to fall by the wayside could fold up like a house of cards. If Bernie cuts a deal for Germany what does he do for Oz and Valencia, Barcelona, Spa etc?