Bob Barnard Track Engineering

Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz has come out in defence of Mark Webber and said he will have a seat at Red Bull next year despite ignoring Horner last weekend. Where else is he going to go, and who else could be as good for the team, was his prescient comment. I'm sure Mark is very annoyed by the team orders, he is continuing to talk to the press about it saying he understands the team wants points, but so does he, and is confident that he and Seb can race each other without crashing. They managed to pass their other rivals so what's the problem? The problem for Mark is that a number one seat is not available at any team likely to give him a competitive car, so what do you do?

Rupert Murdoch's woes continue to mount and he has now been forced to withdraw his bid for the rest of BSkyB. This gives him a bunch of available cash, but the latest revelations are unlikely to persuade Jean Todt that he is a fit and proper person to own F1.

On the basis that any news coverage is good news Adam Parr has come out and said that the weekend's shambles over the blown diffusers is good for the sport. Not totally sure I agree, but as he said the fact that the press were all over it only reinforces how important F1 is. As he said to a journo, "you're not off in Wales covering darts are you." 

On the same basis the "Circuit of the Americas" aka Austin, must be important. Following on yesterday's news it seems the approval for the buildings is imminent. Let's hope so, it is now eleven months to the scheduled race, and therefore eight months before the FIA inspection. Now that is still time, we did the work in Daytona in less than six, but there was a greater sense of urgency than I am getting out of Austin. 

As was predictable the Indycar series has come out and poured cold water on Ron Walker's threat that the F1 tracks would go to Indycar if they did not get their way on the new for 2014 engine. Why would Indycar suddenly abandon their base and go trotting off around the world until the tracks got their way and dumped them? Yes we have seen that Long Beach did well by ditching F1 and going to CART, but that's here in the US. Surfers Paradise tried to take on the F1 GP with a CART/Indycar race, but gave up and are running their home grown V8Supercars series. Japan has not exactly embraced the Indycars even though they have Honda engines, and CART tried Europe a long time ago and failed. A far better threat from Ron would be to say they will all go with a breakaway series by the Teams, but I'm sure Bernie's contracts are all over that. Basically the tracks have no clout, there are always others waiting to take their place, that is why Bernie can get away with his outrageous fees. 

 

The head of the Bahrain circuit was in Silverstone and was not happy with the "temperamental" F1 Teams. They loved us one month and then did not want to come the next. Well perhaps that's because you were not shooting people before? He particularly took exception to Webber's comments and said Australia had a problem with it's Aborigines so why did they have a GP? Well, the last time we shot one was quite a while ago, and while I know there are still issues they do enjoy equal opportunity despite being a minority, unlike the majority Shiites. The outcome of all this is that their place on the 2012 calendar is by no means safe, and the teams apparently want it moved to a later date so as not to be so conspicuous.

He also had a swipe at the US over Guantanamo, but Austin still has it's own problems. It sounds as if Building Approval has yet to be given for the structures, pits and grandstands. Now there is still plenty of time, but why is this taking so long? A scheduled meeting of the Government Liaison Committee was postponed so a vote required for the Texas State Funds has yet to take place.

Following on from Mark Webber's reluctance to accept team orders the rumors have resurfaced that he will not be in a Red Bull next season. Even Kimi's name has been reported by a German newspaper as the man to replace him despite Horner earlier laughing off of the suggestion. Ricciardo's sudden elevation to a F1 drive also prompted stories that he will replace Mark, but that seems a bit far fetched as good as he is. Even Vettel did not make that jump. So is this the start of the silly season? Williams seem set to keep their two, Ferrari are always reported to be replacing Massa, and Michael slated to retire again. Hamilton may or may not jump ship, but where to? You can't see Lewis "maintaining the gap" however many times Horner tells him.

Curious report about Mercedes being happy with their new exhaust diffuser system they fitted for Silverstone. Didn't we ban these for Silverstone and beyond, so why would you come out with a new system if you did not know you were going to be able to use it?

 

Mark Webber has come out and said what I did yesterday, he could race Seb without crashing so they should be allowed to race. Maybe it is not Mark that Horner is worried about after Turkey? Whatever he thought I cannot help but be reminded of why team orders were introduced in the first place when Ferrari with a huge lead in the Championship cynically manipulated the Austrian GP finish. Seb and Mark both lead the Championship by a huge margin, as Red Bull does in the Team Trophy, so I'm sorry, but being scared about both cars crashing out is a bit rich. Both drivers had managed to avoid everyone else during the race till then.

I also said yesterday that Martin Whitmarsh needed to circle the wagons, but there is word today that it is "friendly fire" from inside that he should be worried about. I must say I always assumed he was a fixture, he fits the McLaren mould so perfectly, but perhaps the current level of mistakes is too much for perfectionist Ron.

So Ferrari and Sauber agreed to sign off on the blown exhausts "for the good of the sport." There has to be a good story in all this when someone can sort it out. Paddy Lowe from McLaren says it is not possible to police, but I thought that was what the common ECU was for?

I commented on the stories that Bernie had to be charged in the Gribkowsky case by last Wednesday, but it now seems that an extension of that time has been allowed under a loophole because additional charges were laid against Gribkowsky in May. Rumors are that Gribkowsky is now ready to tell all, should make for interesting reading.

Watched a lot of racing over the weekend on two and four wheels. The British GP was by far the most interesting, with the Tour de France a close second. Grand Am from Laguna didn't do much for me, and judging by the size of the crowd, it didn't do much for others either. I am still at a loss how a Mazda can outperform Porsches, Corvettes and Camaros, and BMWs. Some serious performance levelling here. Not my idea of a GT. Lime Rock ALMS wasn't much better, with effectively two LMP1 cars, and for once the GT's failed to put on a show. At least Grand Am has a field of Prototypes whatever I think of them.

Now I know team orders are OK now, but the decision by Red Bull not to let their drivers race robbed the fans of an even better finish than we saw between Lewis and Massa. Mark seems likely to be offered a new contract, but he obviously is not happy about being told to "maintain the gap" and it took a few messages before he complied. OK, so no team wants to see their drivers take each other out, but McLaren has a lot more confidence in the ability of their drivers to race each other and not crash than Red Bull. So does Mark want a new contract?

McLaren shot themselves in the foot again this weekend with Lewis not having enough fuel in the car and Button being released without the wheel nut on. Now you could argue that Lewis would not have been where he was if he carried that extra fuel, but we won't know will we? The old Lewis turned up for this race, the one we got to admire and love. Great drive from tenth on the grid and fourth was a poor reward. Now Lewis is saying he will not continue to do the excessive amount of PR required by McLaren, especially in the lead up to this race. Martin Whitmarsh needs to circle the wagons and refire the troops.

It would seem from the performance this weekend that McLaren were hit hardest by the diffuser shambles. The problems with the car in testing were masked by their ability to get the blown diffuser working, and now they are stuck with a poor car, but have been given a reprieve. As I said Ferrari were strangely silent and it is suggested they were the ones driving this all along. Somehow Bernie twisted enough arms to get the unanimous vote needed to return to the pre-Silverstone situation where the changes in the ECU from qualifying to the race are banned, but blown diffusers can still be used. Initially it was reported that Ferrari and Sauber, who run Ferrari engines, were not agreeing to the reinstatement, but then Bernie came out and said they all agreed. What did that cost? Presumably now they have all agreed there is no basis for a protest.

Engine reliability did not seem to be a problem for anyone other than Kobayashi in the Sauber, so perhaps it is a longer term issue over several races, or not really an issue at all. Pity to see the two Lotuses drop out so early, reliability is still an issue for them despite improvements in performance. HRT seem to have got on top of it with both cars finishing, albeit last, but Ricciardo gained valuable experience and stayed out of trouble.

Great drive by Alonso, you had the feeling that he had the measure of the Red Bulls even if Vettel did not have that wheel problem, it will be interesting to see if Ferrari can maintain this or if they were lucky and did not have to use the hard tires today due to the wet conditions at the start.

Interesting the amount of overtaking that went on away from the DRS zone, and how little impact it had when the front runners tried to use it.

Adding to the oddities of the new pit complex is the location of the winners rostrum. Looked like the US where they never face the crowd and it is a made for TV event. Pit Pass web site has a piece on the BRDC finances, the owners of Silverstone, which does not make for pleasant reading.

http://www.pitpass.com/44171-Exclusive-BRDC-depends-on-bank-funding-to-continue-as-a-going-concern

Speaking of oddities I received the June 23 rd issue of Autosport yesterday, takes a while to get here. Lo and behold there is a two page center spread in the middle advertising the Laguna Seca Historic Races. But what did they use for the centerpiece photo? Silverstone from the 60's. Go figure. 

Over in Brno Melandri and Biaggi shared the WSBK wins, with Checa in third and his points lead now down to 30. No time to panic, but it does not look as easy as it did at the start of the season.

Daniel Ricciardo is on the fast track to an F1 drive, if driving an HRT can be called fast. Be careful what you wish for Daniel. Red Bull have bought Daniel a ride in the HRT Team to replace Karthikeyan, who will presumably get the ride back at the Indian GP later this year. So Helmut Marko wants Daniel to get more F1 seat time, but is not yet ready to ditch either of the Toro Rosso drivers. Who does Helmut want to groom Daniel to replace, that is the big question? I did ask a while ago when was the last time we had two Australians in a GP, if ever, and the answer was we have, but I think only once about thirty years ago in the Alan Jones era. I think the other driver would be Larry Perkins, but I am ready to be corrected.

Following the Red Bull pull out from NASCAR we now hear of another drinks company doing the same. Crown Royal has pulled the plug on the Roush Fenway team. Rats leaving a sinking ship?

A ship that certainly is not sinking is Le Mans and the ACO, with the announcement of the new World Endurance Championship, and now Porsche committing to build an LMP1 car for 2014. Not sure how you design a car for that far in the future the way the rules change, or why it is going to take so long? Porsche must have some information from the ACO on what those rules are going to be. Do we know? Is there some change that will take effect then? Anyway, presuming Peugeot and Audi are still running, and running diesels, we may see of the first time if what they have been saying is true, that a properly funded and designed car can compete with them without all the "equalization."

Talking of engines, no surprise here, the WMC ratified the V6 engine for F1 from 2014.