Bob Barnard Track Engineering

So this morning we saw the Monaco street parade, with no changes of leaders if you discount the pit stops, and Indianapolis with a record number of lead changes. Which is right? Neither. Indy was all too easy to draft past someone, and until the end was a fuel strategy race. Congratulations Dario, but can't say I enjoyed it, in fact I fell asleep on the couch for the first half of the race. I expect we will see the same multi-leader race tonight in Charlotte, although the All Star Race was pretty spread out.

Monaco may have produced the sixth winner as expected. Now Monaco is very difficult to pass on, but we hardly saw any attempt being made, it was alll about saving fuel and preserving tires. Not racing in my book. The field has certainly bunched up on performance, making passing even harder, just ask Jenson who made an un-characteristic move on Kovalianen.

So Alonso leads the drivers Championship. Not that much wrong with the Ferrari is there, even Massa managed a decent race. Perez did not cover himself in glory today, he seemed intent on hitting everyone he could. And how about Maldanado? He makes the same move on Perez in practice that he did to Lewis in Spa and Lewis was supposed to be at fault. Here Maldanado gets a ten grid place penalty for a blatant move, but Lewis gets put to the back at the last race for a team failure to fill the car. Where's the consistency?

But how is it that last race Lewis could look after his tires to do a two stop race when everyone else did a three stop, and today seemed to have to nurse them? McLaren really have not got on top of these tires or their car set up. Lewis' contract talks must be interesting, but it is hard to see where else he can go. 

Why is it that the 2012 Ferrari is seen as a dog, especially by the team? While we have had five different winners this year, including Ferrari, Alonso has been there abouts in each race. Now I am a fan of his and feel he can impact the performance of a car more than the average F1 driver, but even he cannot be doing this with a car as bad as everyone makes out. Quickest in first practice in Monaco, and right there in the second without using the super-soft tire that Jenson did. So how bad can this car really be?

On the other side McLaren were seen after the first race to be odds on to win both Chamionships, but look what's happened to them. OK, they have shot themselves in the foot a few times, but that does not tell the story of Button's bad races in China and Spain. So what's real here?

Like Ferrari the Lotus team seem to able to competitive everywhere this year, so perhaps a sixth race winner?

Nice to see the changes to the chicane on the harbor this year, much better.

While the racing goes on the fight to make money from the sport continues unabated. If $1.6bn can be raised by selling shares privately why do CVC, or is it Bernie, feel the need to float it public? A normally very private man when it come to money it is hard to understand why Bernie would want the public scrutiny that comes with a stock exchange listing. Bernie is right though, if Facebook is worth $100 bn then F1 with its returns to investors is a steal at $10 bn. I loved the comment about his replacement, comparing it to trying to find a replacement for Frank Sinatra.

F1 is only worth $10 bn though if the race promoters continue to cough up the exorbitant fees. Let's look at the current calendar. Australia is losing north of $50m on each race and the Government is under pressure. Malaysia has less attendance than Australia and by reports is not happy. China has never had a crowd, but will probably hang in there. Bahrain has plenty of money but no one wants to go. Barcelona cannot fill the seats even with Alonso and is hurting, but still wants the race. Their mates in Valencia keep reducing the number of seats and want to alternate with Barcelona. Monaco is Monaco and does not pay Bernie anyway. Then we have Canada where the students are threatening to stop the race, and Bernie wants a bunch of money spent on the track, i.e pit building, before next year. Silverstone is desperately trying to find someone to lease the facility to pay off their debts. Germany has Nurburgring and Hockenheim, neither of which can afford it. Hungary has always been an enigma, Bernie presumably promotes this race. Belgium is in trouble like Germany and was touted to share with France, except France is not playing ball with them or Bernie. In Italy the financial police have just raided Monza over dodgy accounts. Singapore will presumably continue at a lower price as their reward for floating F1. Japan is a year by year deal and could stop. Korea already wants to stop and apparently Bernie has done them a deal. India has not yet worked out what it is really going to cost them, as with Austin, which is still fighting within themselves. Abu Dhabi has spent so much money on Yas Marina they have to keep going, and then there is Brazil which is faced with building a new pit building. So, not all rosy in the F1 world.

What of the new races I hear you ask. Well we have New Jersey here in the US which no one knows who is paying for it. France is having second thoughts, and all is not smooth in Russia. Argentina is scheduled to join the Bernie supporters club, and there are always countries willing to pay Bernie what he wants it seems, but for how long?

Over at MotoGP things aren't much better with the current World Champion saying he is retiring at the end of the season as he does not like where that sport is heading, and neither do most of us.

On a final note the extensions to the track I built at Eastern Creek in Sydney back in 1989 have come in for some stick, particularly from motorcycle racers. Perhaps now I will receive some recognition for what I built originally on a difficult site. No, it was not Phillip Island, but there again, nothing else is.

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.   

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 you schedule a second GP2 race in Bahrain the week after the F1 GP? No one cared as was obvious from the crowd. It is reported as 12 on day one and 30 on day two. FOM had 20 cameras, so the TV crew was larger than the spectators, and who watched on TV anyway? All very strange. No security forces at the track, but that did not matter as the demonstrators knew the world had switched off, but still plenty of action away from the track and the capital.

So Bernie is getting married again, that explains the need for the float of F1, he needs to keep his wives in the manner to which they are accustomed, and let's not forget the daughters.

In the real world Casey Stoner overcame the problems of the first MotoGP and practice to win in Jerez, where I am sure there were a lot more than 30 people watching.

Strangely Michael Schumacher and I agree on something once more, the Pirelli tires make F1 a lottery. F1 should be won by the best drivers in the best cars, not someone who lucked in to the perfect set up for that instant in time and weather. And when will McLaren stop shooting themselves in the foot?

On other matters I was pleased to have a reason to visit the Georgia property that has my best track design laid out on it. Property and track as beautiful as I remembered, and the gentleman who accompanied me was as excitied as I am about the potential, so let's keep our fingers crossed that there is a chance to at last make this a reality.

I am also traveling this week to Mooresville, NC, home of the NASCAR Teams and drivers, on Lake Norman. My good friend and colleague Jarno Zaffelli and I are at last going to collaborate on a new kart track under construction there.