Bob Barnard Track Engineering

We were treated to a very good race today in Melbourne, much better than most of us expected. All the cars started, albeit three from pit lane, and some got only as far as the first corner thanks to Kobayashi. We can only surmise where Massa would have finished if not taken out after the showing of his young team mate Bottas. Indeed where Bottas may have finished if he had not fallen victim to that wide exit I have spoken of and kissed the wall and broken a wheel. Recovering to finish 7th was a great effort and must give Williams cause for hope. Hamilton and Vettel both demonstrated what a fine line there is between winning and not really starting with this complex car, and Ricciardo after a stellar performance has also found out the hard way. I hope the Stewards get out of Australia OK.

I am glad I waited to write this blog as it took 5 hours for them to decide to exclude him from the results due to exceeding the fuel flow rate. This was not hard as the race finished at 4 am my time, so back to sleep. This fuel flow rule is so complex it does not bear thinking about. How do you have a maximum flow rate of 100kg an hour when you only have 100kg for a whole race? Mercedes are reported as exceeding it in practice, but then the rule was "clarified?" Red Bull are adamant that they did not exceed it, so wait for the appeal. Whatever the outcome Daniel showed he is well worthy to succeed Mark and we can only look forward to more of the same. A very cool drive under a lot of pressure.

Magnussen the younger also showed what we can look forward to, with Jan now being referred to as "Kevin's Dad" by the Corvette team. McLaren have to be well pleased, especially if the Red Bull exclusion holds up.

Mercedes confirmed what we all expected and dominated the race. You had the feeling that Rosberg could have won this by a lot more, but did not need to. He was pulling away from Ricciardo at a second a lap at one point, and even after the safety car closed it all back up just drove off into the sunset, even with the clouds. Hamilton must be gutted, but there again looking forward to the future with positive expectations.

So winners and losers. Clearly Mercedes with Red Bull, Mclaren and Williams all there abouts, Force India with good pace, Toro Rosso not so bad. Ferrari finished both cars in the points, but struggled to really challenge. apparently both cars had electrical issues, but managed them, and Kimi clearly not happy with brake by wire. Still, something to be confident about for the future. Lotus did get both cars to start and ran for more than half the race, with Grosjean getting within 12 laps of finishing. They were ecstatic just to be out there. Marrussia had both cars finish 13th and 14th, but Bianchi lost a lot of laps. Sauber did not look good, but Sutil did the race on one stop, so still tire friendly. Caterham had a race to forget with that first corner brain fade of Kobayashi, for which he escaped punishment, and Ericson stopping with a power problem.

What no commentator, either on TV or in print has mentioned is the sheer fact that the race was run succesfully at a very good pace, and no cars ran out of fuel, despite having 33% less! So the real winner will be us. Can you imagine the impact on our fuel usage globally if we can improve efficiency by 33%! That is huge, and I'm sure that if not racing our vehicles can achieve even more. It now points the way for the foreseeable future that vehicles will be powered by multi-system power plants. Not just electric, we barely have enough of that now let alone powering all those cars, but a mix of carbon based fuels with waste energy being recovered in the form of heat and kinetic energy recovery through braking. Congratulations to the powers that be that forced this change. I must admit to being a doubter, but we have better racing and a strong path forward. Wait till Honda come on board. Congratulations too to the engine manufacturers who have unravelled this complex specification and made cars we will still enjoy to watch. And at the same time giving us purists cars that again require drivers to drive, and be seen to be doing it. 

Also not mentioned was that tires were not an issue for anyone, and there was a considerable reduction in the marbles, which allows more overtaking by itself. DRS did not seem a big factor in most overtaking, and perhaps we can do away with this gimmick.

I cannot finish without mentioning the wonderful NBC coverage. I watch Sky on the computer, but have the TV on just in case the streaming stops, which it does now and again. I do not listen to the NBC commentators of course, and if I relied on seeing the race on NBC I would probably not watch. There must be a sense in the US that viewers cannot concentrate for more than a few minutes, so we have to have lots of ad breaks, and in between cameo pieces about Ricciardo racing a jet on take off, or photos of the new noses etc, etc. Absolute nonsense.

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.   

If my French is correct, very doubtful, Concorde means agreement, peace and all that. Bernie announced yesterday to the world that he has Concorde with "most" of the F1 Teams for beyond 2012, i.e. after the current peace agreement runs out. Of course it is not a peace agreement, it is a way to divide up the spoils of the rape and pillage of promoters. Bernie names Ferrari and Red Bull as expected, and McLaren, which was not. Joe Saward suggests McLaren are just trying to outlast Bernie, which some of us may not get to see on Bernie's current form.

So, now Bernie has most of what he needs to float all or part of F1. Again Joe Saward suggests that the lack of a clear successor to Bernie would put off investors, but I think greed wins every time over common sense.

Meanwhile, out on track in the real world, McLaren are beating Red Bull and Ferrari, and everyone else as they did in Melbourne. An interesting few sessions with different teams being fast at different times, so hard to tell who was doing what. In the end McLaren are fastest, but looked very nervous at the back end under braking with Lewis losing it in Q1. Mercedes look fast, with the car suiting Michael a bit more than Nico it seems. Lotus have speed and it will be interesting to see what Kimi can do from his five grid place penalty, could be fun. You can't help thinking Jenson will have the measure of Lewis over a race distance, but let's see, if Lewis can win the start he might just drive away. There again Michael might just drive the pair of them into the pit wall. 

There have to be some disappointed teams. Caterham looked like they made the jump to the mid-field, but now we are racing they are stuck back with Marussia and HRT, with Petrov giving Kovalainen a hard time, and Force India seems to have lost some of the "force." Williams with Maldanado continue to surprise, but Senna is doing an imitation of his Brazillian mate Massa. Ferrari are probably the most disappointed. Massa managed to get his new for Malaysia chassis within 0.3 seconds of Alonso at the end, but for most of the time he was up to a second off the pace. He cannot be long for this seat. 

Sauber are a bit of a mystery. At one point they are among the fastest, and then off the pace. Low fuel runs?

Let us hope for a dry race as I think it will be a good one. Vettel said that using the hard tire to set fast time was not a strategy for the race, and he may be right, there is not much between the compounds and some cars were quicker on the supposedly slower tire, but as he can presumably run longer than those around him on the grid he just may have made the winning move.

Elsewhere Stoner continues to be fastest in MotoGP testing, but we also have a CRT machine getting in amongst the prototypes, so maybe they will not be a complete waste of time.

Indycar kicks off in St Pete if anybody cares.

Ferrari are to give Massa a new chassis for this weekend's Malaysian F1 GP to see if it is him that is the problem, or the car. There are no shortage of opinions on who should take his place at Ferrari, so I guess most of us have made up our minds already. Perez, Trulli and Sutil are three named this morning, and there has to be others like Bianchi who could step in. Given the form of Vergne and Ricciardo in their first race for Toro Rosso it could be a good idea to give a young turk a go. Alonso is not going to be around for ever. 

Martin Whitmarsh says he his happy Lewis was so annoyed after the Melbourne race, and so he should be. I think I told you the story of my mistake on congratulating Wayne Rainey on a good second place at Assen, and receiving an ear full of abuse. Champions never, ever, want to lose.

The stories continue to come out about floating F1, and Singapore seems to be the favored stock exchange. Bernie has looked at Britain and the US before, but it seems they want a bit too much information about your business for Bernie's taste. Ferrari and Red Bull are not denying they are doing a special deal, and one commentator suggested that Bernie's recent opinion about letting new teams use old cars from the top teams could be targeting filling the grid if teams like McLaren don't want to play anymore. It was also suggested that some teams, like McLaren, have other revenue streams, so sitting out for a few years from F1 would not be the end of the world. 

Well the racing season kicked off with a marathon. F1 practice in the middle of the night Friday and Saturday, Sebring all day Saturday, and the F1 race at 2 am Sunday. Thank goodness Sunday was quiet.

Thankfully it was all worth watching. The F1 race threw up a few surprises after qualifying. McLaren looked like they would run away with it, 0.7 seconds a lap quicker than the Red Bulls who recovered from some poor practice sessions, as we knew they would. Jensen basically did, jumping Lewis at the start, and apparently both cars fueled light in anticipation of cruising to the win. Not sure what went on with Lewis unless he was conserving fuel. I can understand him not catching Jensen, but he seemed to be able to manage the gap to Vettel until the safety car deal. I know good athletes make their own luck, but Vettel sure seems to get more than his fair share. Still, I expected Lewis to go back past as the McLaren was faster in top speed anyway, and with DRS you would expect him to blow past. Not to be, struggled to stay in front of Webber and not at all happy with third.

A lot of drivers would have been, Grosjean for one, and Maldanado after a very strong drive in the Williams which looked good. Not sure what happened to Senna who could not produce the same performance. Ferrari, well Alonso, recovered from a disastrous qualifying to show that the Ferrari still seems to have trouble getting heat into the tires. I expected Montezemolo to have fired them all overnight Saturday. Let's see what Malaysia brings. Massa had another shocker, how long are they going to put up with him, and who is there to replace him? 

Great to see Kimi fighting back after mistakes in qualifying, but presumably they don't have blue flags in rallying or NASCAR. Force India were disappointing after last year and what seemed to be a good test season. HRT. What can you say? Please just go away. Marussia at least qualified, but that's the best you can say, and Caterham must be disappointed after also looking like they made a big step in pre-season. Ricciardo and Vergne acquitted themselves well and well fought Daniel after a fraught start. 

Sauber are about where they were last year, which is not so bad, and it would have been interesting if Michael's Mercedes had not broken so early. Strange how Rosberg was off the pace. The F-Duct is still creating some controversy, but on this showing is not doing a a lot for the Mercedes.

A good entertaining race though, even if Button was not really challenged, and he already seems to be the teams focus for the Championship judging by Whitmarsh's comments. On to Malaysia, and watch out if McLaren put enough fuel in the cars this time.

Much angst in the paddock apparently over the reported special deals done with Ferrari and Red Bull. My assumption that Bernie is planning to float F1 seems to be at the center of this as to float he has to secure the major assets. Why this does not include McLaren and Mercedes I don't know, unless Ron is too much of a straight shooter to agree to a deal that shuts out the rest of the teams. We all know Ferrari have done this before, and Red Bull is all about money. Mutterings of the other teams taking their bat and ball home if this is true.

Sebring produced an interesting race, even with the Audis obviously going to win and duly did. GT's put on their predictable great show, with the Ferraris being fast and fragile, and the local BMWs still capable of producing the goods. The LMP1 HPDs kept the Audis honest though, a good showing for brand new cars. The Dyson Lola was never in the hunt and the ALMS season will have to be all about the GTs on this showing, Muscle Milk will have it all their own way. Still early days. Way too many cars out there this year, we could have done without the LMPC and GTC cars to get in everyone's way. The early story was the FIA/ACO were not going to allow non-WEC cars at Sebring, and that is the word for next year. I can't see Don and the boys being happy with that. It would be nice to see some money spent on the track before then.