Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Now many of us "unlearn" most what we are taught in school or college, just stop using a computer program and see how fast you forget what to do. Not so with F1 engineers. Remember the F-Duct, banned, or so it seemed. No, only the way it was operated was banned with drivers using knees or hands to turn it on. So those clever chaps at Mercedes have worked out how to make it happen with no movable parts and nothing to do with the driver. It is somehow connected to the DRS system, although whether that is literally how it works or is it airflow induced I have yet to see defined. Anyway, they have it, stalling the rear wing and reducing drag, and Charlie Whiting has given it the thumbs up, so watch all the rest of the teams scramble to follow. Of course there is still that odd opening in the nose of the Mercedes, and the even larger one in the Red Bull "to cool the drivers feet." Oh yeh, designed by Newey? Don't think so.

Not long now until we get some answers. The Australian politician who called Bernie's daughter a "bogan," look it up, got an answer from Bernie. It seems that after seeing her on TV in all her indulgence and offering the opinion that if that's where their $50m is going that they spend on the race they had better things to do with it.  That's OK with Bernie, just don't renew the contract, he has plenty more mugs to pay like Argentina who are saying they will have a race in 2013. Someone has to miss out for that to happen, so one race in Spain for sure.

HRT say they are on the way up. From what I saw they are, up on stands trying to get the second car built in time for practice. They have already postponed scrutineering the car.

Over in Sebring the Audis are having it all their own way, with the Muscle Milk HRD LMP1 car and the Dyson Lola next. In GTE the 458 Ferrari is quickest, but expect the usual close race here, the one to really watch.

I settled down yesterday afternoon for a motorsport marathon with Bathurst live for seven hours followed by the Japanese F1 GP. Bottle of red, some cheese and salami and hamburgers for dinner, does it get much better?

Well unfortunately it did not thanks to SPEED and Channel Seven in Australia. It was the worst, or close to, race coverage I have ever been subjected to. If you read yesterday's blog you know I love this race, so it has to be bad if I give up at lap 67 and watch a movie! My Aussie friends were posting on Facebook their annoyance at the number of ads Channel Seven were putting in, about every two to three laps it seemed. To add insult to injury SPEED felt it necessary to go and interview anyone they could find in pit lane even when the race was back on. What on earth were SPEED trying to do? I know you build a following for a sport based on the heroes, but you actually have to watch the sport! I know they pander to the lowest common denominator when it comes to an audience, but this was insulting. Are they trying to capture NASCAR fans?

Now an endurance race is hard to follow at the best of times as strategies unfold over the course of hours, so only seeing snippets made it impossible to follow, so I gave up.

So at 11 pm we turned to Fromsportcom.com to watch the Japanese GP. We actually do put SPEED's coverage on in case the computer stream locks up, but they were still at Bathurst, and stayed long after the GP started. I think it was about lap fifteen by they time they started the race, so if you looked on a web site you knew who won long before you saw it. And no sense of urgency even when they went to the GP, they did the grid walk and all the intro graphics as if there was all day to see this. 

Fromsport did not have the usual BBC feed for some reason so we watched German Sky, and lo and behold their commentators did not feel the need to talk non-stop. We had periods when we could just watch and listen to the cars, please note SPEED.

So to the race. Vettel has been to the Schumacher school of racing with the move he made on Button at the start, and of course got away with it. He says he did not see Button. Well the pit exit lane is not the normal line for taking turn one so I can only presume he expected someone to come up the inside and moved to block him. In that event do you not think he should be looking up the inside instead of driving Button onto the grass? Vettel joked afterwards that having two wheels on the grass did not stop him passing Alonso in Monza, very funny. He said he was looking for Hamilton who started third and behind Vettel. If that was the case why move over and give him the race line? Sorry cannot buy this.

Hamilton and Massa had their by now required coming together at the chicane. Lewis said he did not see him, and was actually taking the normal race line from 130R to the chicane, so he did not purposely move over on him, and presumably the Stewards saw it that way too. Hamilton had a bad race while his team mate drove his usual calm and controlled race and jumped Vettel at the second pit stop and hung on despite pressure from Alonso at the end, but ran out of fuel as he went over the finish line. So he was in fuel save mode for a while there which let Alonso close on him, and then threw in the fastest race lap at the end just to show he could.

Anyway Vettel score enough points running third to close out the Drivers Championship, and Red Bull must win the Team prize if they have not already, although I saw no announcement of this. I'm afraid Vettel is one of those drivers I respect but do not like. It is hard to fathom how he can drive away from some of the best drivers in the world at the start of a race, is the car that good? If so how come he ends up third? It seems from the radio transmissions that Vettel and Webber were told near the end not to take any risks. I presume that means Seb do not risk passing Alonso, and Mark do try and not pass Vettel.

An entertaining race if not dramatic. Ricciardo beat his team mate, so job done for him. His companions in FR3.5 finished off their season by Robert Wickens taking the Championship despite being taken out on the first lap as his rival Vergne also failed to finish. Alexander Rossi ended up third in the Championship, so another big step for him. Someone in the States needs to get behind Alexander and make sure he has the right rides to make it all the way to F1, then we might see some interest here. Magnussen the younger followed up yesterday's win with a close second in the final British F3 race.

A not so little field is contesting the Petit Le Mans this year, with 58 cars on track. As Tom Kristensen said, "It's like being under a yellow except you can overtake!" The Peugeots lead the practice by around a second from the Audis, with the Dyson car leading the gasoline brigade over some fancied European teams, so well done, but I suspect it is the knowledge of the track that is responsible. The GT's are typically going to be the show with the Risi Ferrari leading the pack, but with a whole bunch of Porsches, BMWs and Corvettes hot on their heals. The Jaguars continue to embarrass the marque and the team.

Stories continue to circulate if this is going to be a round of the WEC next year, but I guess only the ACO knows that. If so Road Atlanta is going to need an FIA level 2 license and will be subject to a limit on track density, so this could be the year to watch. Qualifying on ESPN3 tomorrow at 2.35pm EDT, and the race is live streamed starting at 11.15 EDT Saturday, with a "highlight show" on ABC Sunday. Good luck condensing ten hours of what should be non stop action.

The MotoGP teams are taking no chances. They have reportedly taken their own food and water to Motegi. A bit extreme and expensive. Aoyama said he thought he was in with a chance of winning his home GP when the stars said they would not be going. A 29 year old Australian, Damian Cudlin, has got the chance to shine by taking over the Ducati of injured Loris Capirossi. Damian is a somewhat unlikely choice, having been an endurance rider for most of his career, but good luck to him, although he will have his work cut out on the Duke. Perhaps he can still beat Rossi though?

Magnussen Jnr is testing for British F3 where he spent this season while dad is peddling a Corvette at the Petit. Kevin is leading the way amongst a group of returning drivers including this year's Champion, Nasr. Over in Jerez the would-be GP2 drivers are showing their paces with GP2 fixture Fabio Leimer topping the times. Alexander Rossi did not disgrace himself with 18th in the morning and 8th in the slower afternoon session, amongst some illustrious company. Missing is Robert Wickens who you would have thought would have earned a test. Maybe he does not have the sponsorship?

Kubica is making excellent progress and his doctor has no hesitation to say he will be able to return to F1. Whether he will have a seat is the next question. Apparently Lotus Renault, or whatever they are or will be, need an answer in the next two weeks. The team continue to be plagued by speculation about their financial stability and who will eventually own it, if anyone can work out who owns it now.

The Rescource Restriction Agreement,RRA, is the subject of rumblings again, with Red Bull once more accused of exceeding this "gentlemen's agreement," which as heard on a movie lately, assumes there are gentlemen involved. Mercedes is not happy, having downsized themselves, but probably out of necessity after the Honda pull out rather than the adherence to some vague constraint. Ross Brawn is calling for more tighter controls and independent audits, much as how the cars are scrutinised. When you have a system that is designed to reward the successful it is inevitable that if they have the money the top teams will find something to spend it on. Very few answer to shareholders, so it is not as if they have to give it to anyone but the owners, and Sir Frank for one would probably have a winning car than be rich.

Well despite all the suggestions that Red Bull had it wrong with gear selection Vettel won again. There seemed nothing wrong with his top end speed, driving passed Alonso to reclaim first place in a very ballsy move around the outside of the Curva Grande, two wheels on the grass. Alonso and Schumacher did Vettel a huge favor by firstly Alonso jumping past Hamilton and Vettel off the line, and then Lewis falling asleep at the restart after the safety car and letting Michael past. Lewis was probably the only one with the pace to bother Vettel today, but was trapped forever behind a vintage Schumacher who had to be told by Ross Brawn to stop weaving around before Charlie and the FIA did. I know he is fighting for position, but he goes beyond what is reasonable. Always has and gets away with it, whereas other unnamed drivers get called up to the Stewards. 

Lewis showed incredible patience during all this, to his detriment, while Button showed again that he has some grit this year. Mark Webber can't take a trick. You cannot believe his team did not tell him his wing was stuck under the car during the time it took to drive from the first chicane to the Parabolica, and how did he actually make it that far? So a good race which at times made me think the boys had all gone a little bit crazy with some of the moves, especially the first few laps. Luizzi's excursion down the grass was like watching a bowling alley, but he only made a spare. Team mate Riccardo's weekend carried on as it started, the car going into anti-stall at the start and taking 18 minutes to get right before joining the race. Daniel finished by so far back he did not complete enough laps to qualify.

Great to see the fans enjoying the race so much, even if Ferrari did not win. Tracks in America need to look at where they put the winners rostrum so that the fans can see it, and get near it. Too often it is tucked away in a paddock purely for TV and sponsors. Just look at Le Mans and Monza guys and see how it should be done. One of the many things Montezemolo has talked about this weekend is to make sure fans can afford to go to a race, not price it more than an around the world air fare. Of course that comes back to Bernie's promoters fees. Luca also went on again about teams running three cars or selling cars to lower teams so that we don't have the second class citizens running around 4-5 seconds off the pace. A bit like the old days in MotoGP when we had several teams with competitive bikes, and this is after all how Toro Rosso have survived and grown, so maybe not such a bad idea. He is continuing his concern that aerodynamics play too big a part in the cars these days, and how limiting testing forces too much reliance on simulation. As David Coulthard said during the BBC coverage, simulation will get you in the ball park, but you cannot simulate the real thing. That's why we run the race.

Tony Fernandes echoed Eddie Jordan's comments that the three new teams need to lift their game, no more excuses. Sounds like heads will roll at Team Lotus, or is that Caterham, if next year is not better. Having said that he has re-hired Jarno Trulli. What is that saying about doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? So the seats are being filled. Red Bull is set, McLaren is unlikely to change even if no one is rushing to sign Button's option, Ferrari are probably set, Massa doing just enough lately, Mercedes have re-signed Rosberg and Michael wants to continue, Force India might replace Sutil with Hulkenburg and keep di Resta, Williams will keep Maldanado and A.N.Other who can bring some money, Sauber are keeping their two. Toro Rosso have new investors/sponsors/owners so look for a Spanish driver there, like Alguersuari, and Ricciardo? HRT also have new owners and will want a Spanish driver, and Luizzi probably has not done enough to stay on, so an opening for two new boys. Virgin will keep Glock and perhaps D'Ambrosio, with Lotus sticking with their two. That leaves Renault, where Petrov will keep his seat and we have to wait to see what Kubica can do.

So maybe three or four seats available. Grosjean seems destined for one of them, and then we have Bianchi, Vergne and some of the other GP2 brigade of hopefulls.

Thankfully Bernie has played down the chances of an Iran F1 GP, there being others in the queue already. Notice he did not say never.

Now some of my readers have suggested that my blog is late because I went back to sleep after the F1 race. Not at all, the second half of the Silverstone 6 hour was live streaming on Audi TV so we watched that. Made for a good morning, and now we have football. Peugeot won comfortably from Audi, but only after one of their cars and one Audi were both delayed early on and fought back through the field, but could not stop a petrol car from coming in third. The petrol cars had a good race between them as predicted, with the result coming down to who needed fuel at the end. The GTE Pro and Am classes both provided great racing, with the Ferraris coming out on top in Pro, and Porsche in the Am. Porsche had a good weekend, but the BMWs failed to live up to their qualifying form, but coming back in the latter half of the race to finish fourth in Pro. Audi pulled off one of their by now expected quick change acts, replacing the rear bodywork, wing, and undertray in just over a minute!    

I like Monza. It is crazy fast with chicanes as interruptions, and some great corners we don't see too many other places. The Parabolica and Curva Grande, and I like the combination of the two Lesmos, something I have wanted to replicate. It shows you do not need a lot of corners to make a great track, in fact less is more so to speak. Too often we see corners put in for the sake of it.

Nothing seems to slow down the Red Bulls. Going on this afternoon's times they are going to dominate again, much to the Tifosi's disgust. McLaren seemed somewhere this morning, but Ferrari are trailing with Massa faster of the two again. On the option tire and low fuel the times look quite equal, but when they were out on race fuel loads the Red Bulls looked a second a lap in hand. Still, early yet and we will see what Saturday brings.

At Silverstone we have the Intercontinental Cup for Le Mans cars this weekend. Peugeot snuck in a fast lap to top the timesheet ahead of the two Audis, so not much has changed there. What is interesting is the Rebellion driven by Jani and Prost the younger are less than a second off the fast time. Given the breaks the petrol cars have in the race they could cause an upset. Again let's see if they can continue this tomorrow. Ferrari look to have it all their own way in GT Pro, with America's Tracy Krohn doing well in the GT Am ranks. There is an amateur who takes his racing very seriously.

Going back to F1, Pirelli have asked the FIA to get involved to enforce the camber limits following the issues at Spa, particularly with Red Bull. Not that they became a problem, Red Bull won, no one blew a tire, so what's the problem? How many more parameters of the car design and set up are the FIA going to proscribe? The safety of the drivers is a concern for everyone of course, no less for the team involved, so why the need for the FIA to set the limit? What else that the teams do with set up, wing size or angle, brake cooling etc, are they going to limit? And before anyone writes in I know they set parameters for most of these, but the team can still go for an extreme set up within that. The tires are just the most visible. Trulli is still going off about his steering, how about making that a standard part too! Where is the line between competition between the teams designers and engineers and spec racing? Indycar anyone?