Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Jensen Button looks set to reap the rewards of his strong driving and good team spirit with a renewed contract for more money and better terms. This comes after a bit of a dance between him and McLaren, Ferrari and his management. A few weeks ago Martin Whitmarsh is praising Button and saying he wants him to stay for as long as he wants to keep driving. Button had been making noises about how happy he was there, and it all seemed set for a quick long term deal. The Jensen comes out and says he wants to keep his options open, a short term deal will be fine with him. In come Ferrari looking to replace Massa, and who's on the short list, Jensen. A smart choice, but who approached who? Did Jensen's management approach Ferrari? I don't see Jensen as one of those "I always wanted to drive for Ferrari" guys. So was it a negotiating ploy? If so it worked as all of a sudden here's Whitmarsh with a better contract for him to sign, and Jensen seems happy to sign it. And why not? The way Lewis is talking and driving Jensen could end up the number one driver there.

Then we have Silverstone, who went from a profit in 2009 to a loss in 2010. Silverstone was unusual in that it made a profit. It is only one of two non-government backed races on the calendar, so this is a major feat. Chris Pook told me a long time ago when he ran Long Beach that if Bernie thought you were making money he increase the fee, and lo and behold Silverstone's fee for the renewed 17 year contract is it's highest ever fee at around 11.6 million pounds. Bernie did cut them a break though as the escalator is only 5% and not the usual 10%. This still means that in the next ten years the fee is going to top 20 million pounds. Admission fees are now 195 pounds for the cheapest tickets to 475 pounds. $1000 to see a GP! You'd better not take the family. Does anyone think this is sustainable?

Lastly the poor old BBC, the State owned broadcasting service in the UK, is reportedly going to relinquish the rights to F1 as part of the British Governments austerity package. Bernie and the boys are up in arms as they want the races to remain "free to air." Well who is charging the BBC an exorbitant fee for showing them? Bernie, so you would think the answer is simple, if it is that important then just drop the fee. Now I have not lived in the UK for 40 years, so feel free to correct me, but ITV is also free to air is it not? Just those pesky ads to interrupt the broadcast like the rest of us have to put up with, and that is after we pay the cable fee, so what's free? I fail to see what is in it for the BBC anyway? Who cares if your ratings go up, you're not selling the airtime. So it is all "prestige", just another way for a Government to subsidize Bernie to feel good, but without any actual benefit such as hotel and restaurant income for race fans.

And there is still not much going on. Sounds like a fun FR3.5 race at the Nurburgring with Canadian Wilkins just beating Australian Ricciardo, with American Alexander Rossi going out on lap one on a damp track after qualifying on the front row. The usual suspects you might say.

British F3 at Brands Hatch looks set to be just as fraught with the top ten all within half a second between Svendsen-Cook and Magnussen. Spengler continued his domination of qualifying in the DTM for this weekends race at the Lausitz circuit.

Over in Spain the WSBK are at Aragon with Melandri on pole for a change, and Biaggi and Camier on their Aprilia's in front of Checa, I wonder if they can keep it up in the race?

With that, see you tomorrow.

See you all Saturday, absolutely nothing interesting me today!

So the FIA have come out now and limited the throttle opening for "off throttle" situations, i.e. braking, to be a maximum of 10% for Silverstone and the rest of the season. So does this rule out hot blown exhaust diffusers, or just severely restrict them , perhaps to the point that is not worth doing? For next season the whole concept is banned, told you so, and high exiting exhausts are back.

Bernie has leaped to Lewis' defence, he is in trouble now. Sunday probably saw Bernie's dream race except with sprinklers. Chicanes you can short cut and drivers biffing and barging on a skid pad. Why not just stage a demolition derby and be done with it?

It seems the Delta Wing car going to Le Mans next year has not gone down well with the sports car crowd, and why am I not surprised? I looked at the calendar to make sure it was not April 1st, but then again perhaps the French have that in June? Last time I looked sports cars had two seats, and I know they have stretched the friendship on that lately, or even for a long while, like the FISA suitcase if you are old enough to remember, but this does not even come close. Murphy the Bear had a good piece on it amongst other sports car related stories including the slow demise of the Panoz empire:

http://murphythebear.com/blog/index.php/2011/06/16/191-mottos-back-to-the-future-plying-phallus-disposing-of-an-empire-cheese/

Part of the Delta's attraction is of course it is "green," lightweight and a small turbo engine, just like F1 is supposed to have in 2013. Does not seem very likely right now, and Renault is rattling its' sabre saying it will pull out of F1 if it does not get a 4 cylinder turbo. They say it's parent, Nissan, is only there because they were promised one, and have brought in Infiniti to sponsor Red Bull because of it. Now I own and drive a great Infiniti, G35, 3.5 liter V6. I actually don't know if Infiniti make a car with a 4 cylinder, and there cannot be too many Nissans sold with one, so what's the problem? Let's do what Ferrari wants and build v6's. I do not know the numbers but here in the States it is probably the dominant configuration. Europe maybe not, and Renault is probably the driver for the 4 cylinder, not Nissan. Anyway, let them go if they want to, F1 has and will survive. Nature abhors a vacuum, so someone will fill the void and make some money.

That's the big news of the day, Lewis Hamilton and Tony Stewart were both out on the Watkins Glen circuit and did not hit each other! That must be the first time for a long time for both Lewis and Tony. Personally I do not see much value in these swaps for us fans, but a great promotion for the sponsors.

What else is going on? Not much. Team Lotus are reaping the benefit of the court's decision to let them keep on using the Team Lotus name it seems with the announcement that GE is to be the new team sponsor. Now this is obviously partly due to Tony's airlines and GE aircraft engines, but good to see some new blood and money in the sport. This is the first of a few new sponsors for Team Lotus so with the announcement of them using the Williams wind tunnel look for them to really start to worry the time sheets.

Lewis says he is happy at McLaren as long as they give him a winning car. There lies the problem.