The IndyCar Series has confirmed that it is delaying the introduction of its much-discussed aero kits for the new Dallara Indycar until 2013. The organisation made the decision after team owners told IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard that they couldn’t afford to develop their own aero kits.

Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon and Bryan Herta Motorsports began testing the 2012 Dallara Indycar a couple of weeks ago. Fifteen days of testing are scheduled through to the end of the September, but the new car will make its debut as a spec car with everyone running the same aerodynamic configuration.

“No one is more disappointed than I am that we’re not going to do [the aero kits],” said Bernard (below). “But we need to look at the long-term future of the sport and it’s important that we listen to the team owners on this one. We don’t want to see our car counts go from 26 and 27 down to 16 because of an aero kit. The manufacturers and team owners have told us it’s very expensive.”

IndyCar hopes that the addition of two new engine suppliers – Ilmor/Chevrolet and Judd/Lotus – to compete against Honda as well as the improved performance of the new car will attract much-needed fan and media interest in the flagging series.

“The simulations we’ve seen on road and street courses are that lap times will be three seconds quicker, up to 15mph faster,” said Bernard. “I think [the new car and engines] are all great stories that we need to get out, that this car is going to be fast and that the aero kit is going to be a great addition. But we don’t want to [introduce the aero kit] until it’s right. It will happen in 2013, I promise.”

Bernard expects that the new car will break Arie Luyendyk’s long-standing track record of 236.986mph set at Indianapolis in 1996. “We’ve made no secrets that speed is going to be important in this car,” he said. “We want to see it break the record at some point. Fans love to see track records. They want to see something that has never been done before. We’re about relevance, innovation and speed – three of our biggest brand attributes. It’s important for us to go back to that.”

Will Phillips, IndyCar’s vice-president of technology, said initial testing of the Dallara had gone well. “We proved that some of the base functions of the car – oil and water systems, clutch, interface with the gearbox, the brakes and all of that – went really well. It was a shakedown – we didn’t try to set a lap time. We only ran one set of tyres, for example. It was [about] proving the systems work.”

Phillips is convinced that the new Dallara will be considerably safer than the current car. “The incident that poor Justin [Wilson] had at Mid-Ohio [when he broke a bone in his back] we would not expect to happen with the new car. We can’t guarantee it, but the fact that [the driver] will be sitting on safety foam and have three inches of foam behind his back should prevent that sort of injury. The Xylon panels that are on either side of the car are more extensive. All those features should make the car safer.”

Thus begins IndyCar’s slow but steady attempt to recreate itself.

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Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar announced at the Los Angeles Auto Show on Thursday that Lotus would build engines for the IZOD IndyCar Series’ new 2012 formula. Few details were revealed at the announcement, including who will design and build the engine, although Bahar’s comments suggest Lotus would do the work on its own without a partner like Cosworth.

“What we’re trying to do with the Lotus brand is leverage our heritage, which is all about motor racing,” he said. “We’re taking racing seriously. We don’t just want to put a sticker on a car that we did not have an interest in building. We want to fight with the big guys.

“We started this year with a very small activity with Takuma Sato in the KV Technology team. It was just one car to understand Indycar racing. It was an opportunity for us to become a real contender. The series is developing well and I think it fits perfectly with our abilities and strategy in the US, which is our biggest market.

“So we took the decision to build our own engine. By doing that we are going to be the underdogs fighting Chevy and Honda. But that’s fine. It’s all about competition.”

Bahar confirmed that Lotus would develop its own ‘aero kit’ for 2012. “We will be designing our own chassis and own aero kit,” he said. “We want to compete by designing our own cars and hope other teams can profit from our design. We’ve started already investing in developing the right aero kit and engine for 2012.”

Bahar also said that as many as four Indycars will run in Lotus colours next year. “We’ll be expanding our activities in IndyCar with our partner KV Technology. There will probably be three or even more cars in our livery.”

Kevin Kalkhoven owns the KV team with former driver Jimmy Vasser. He also owns Cosworth in partnership with Jerry Forsythe. Kalkhoven was conspicuous by his absence from Thursday’s Lotus engine announcement and did not respond to requests to comment on the news. So we await further details with interest.

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General Motors has confirmed that Chevrolet will indeed return to Indycar racing in 2012. As suggested last week, Chevrolet has revived its partnership with Ilmor Engineering to build and maintain a fleet of direct injection 2.4-litre twin turbo V6s. Chevy’s engines will be available to at least half the field. Of course, Honda has been IndyCar’s exclusive engine supplier since 2005, so Chevrolet’s announcement should provide a big boost for American open-wheel racing.

Chevrolet and Ilmor teamed up to produce the Chevy Indy V8 from 1986-93, which won seven Indy 500s, six driver championships and 104 races. Chevy celebrates its centennial next year and the company’s roots at Indianapolis go back to the beginning. Louis Chevrolet raced at the track in 1909, and competed in four Indy 500s. His brother Gaston posthumously won the 1920 AAA championship.

Tom Stephens (below), GM’s vice-president of global product operations, made Friday’s announcement at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “We’re proud to once again partner Ilmor Engineering, for over two decades one of the world’s best racing engine developers,” he said. “Our partnership will help us push the state of the art with these technologies and we’ll apply the knowledge we gain to our production engines. It will also help us accelerate our advanced propulsion strategy.”

Roger Penske then added his thoughts on the deal: “To have a global leader like Tom come here today shows the impact this decision has on Chevrolet, ” he said. “The goal of the [Indy Racing] League is to have engines from the two manufacturers distributed throughout the field. In the past when we’ve had multiple engine manufacturers each team has had the opportunity to pick one. Like in the past when we provided engines they will be available to anybody.”

Penske confirmed that Chevrolet and his team would collaborate to produce ‘aero kits’. “The same thing will be the case with the aero kit,” he said. “This will give Chevrolet and General Motors the benefit of [supplying] not just one team but multiple teams through the field, which I think is what the League wants.”

Jim Campbell, Chevrolet’s US vice-president of performance products and motorsports, confirmed: “We’re working with the League to finalise the rules. We have a lot of capability and technology in our shop and we expect to be working with Roger Penske and others on an aero package.”

Penske hopes Chevrolet’s return to Indy racing will attract Ford or some other global manufacturers. “Hopefully, this will bring in other Big Three manufacturers,” said Roger. “But we also need this to become a series with competition from around the world, and this is the first step. When someone makes that step people are going to open their eyes and say, this is a real opportunity.”

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As the 2010 Grand Prix season beckons, most of my acquaintance are agreed that it’s been a very long time since we anticipated a year with such relish. Schumacher back… Alonso at Ferrari… Button with Hamilton at McLaren… four World Champions in the pack… the prospect of four highly competitive teams… All right, we have lost BMW and Toyota (after Honda), and one or two of the new teams look more than a little flaky, but overall the prospects are indeed enticing.

It’s interesting that, when forecasting the likely World Champion, most seem to be choosing between Schumacher, Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel – to be focusing, in other words, on one driver in each of the four top teams.

There’s no denying that, in the normal course of events, within a team one driver tends to assert his superiority over the group, to become the de facto number one, even if this is not officially acknowledged. And it’s a fact, too, that Michael, Lewis, Fernando and Sebastian have all shown themselves to be very keen on this thing of having the team revolve primarily around them. But I wonder if it’s going to be as clear-cut as some imagine.

Consider the ‘other’ driver in each team: Rosberg (Mercedes), Button (McLaren), Massa (Ferrari) and Webber (Red Bull). Of these only Nico has yet to win a Grand Prix, but then he has never – until now – had the car to enable him to do so. Shout me down if you will, but I have a suspicion that he will show a great deal better against Schuey than most appear to believe. Although Ross Brawn presided over a Ferrari team that for years clearly favoured Michael, he has publicly said that such will not be the situation at Mercedes.

Over at McLaren, Martin Whitmarsh has said the same about Hamilton and Button – and, again, I expect the performance gap between them to be far less than some suggest.

On to Ferrari. While I believe Alonso to be the best driver in the world, don’t forget that Massa – fully recovered – largely dominated Kimi Räikkönen, and came within a Toyota dry tyre of winning the 2008 World Championship. Felipe is cowed by no one these days, and quite right, too.

Finally, there is Red Bull: Bernie Ecclestone has predicted that Vettel will win the championship this year, and that’s not the silliest thing he has ever said, for Sebastian is prodigiously talented, with ambition to match.

I do, however, think it would be a great mistake to underestimate Webber. Because he’s in his thirties, and has been around a while, Mark is sometimes overlooked, but remember that last year he won twice – and that included a sound defeat of Vettel in Germany. Webber is Trulli-quick over one lap, and in a race no one fights harder. Twelve months ago he began the season with virtually no testing behind him, legacy of the badly broken leg sustained the previous autumn, but he never moaned about the discomfort, put up with his team-mate’s occasional tantrums, and simply put his head down and got on with it. I’m sure he will do the same in 2010.

Four top teams, then – but there are more than four drivers in the mix, and that’s what makes the forthcoming season so mouth-watering. And I’d add a final thought: if Renault comes up with competitive package, expect Robert Kubica – as talented as there is – to be in the thick of it.

If pushed, my money would be on Alonso for the title – but I’m not sure I’d bet very much…

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Renault – in more ways than one – has had a poor time of it in Formula 1 over the last couple of years. True, Fernando Alonso returned to the team, after a single season with McLaren, but even the world’s best driver can do little with a fundamentally uncompetitive car, and although Alonso invariably gave 100 per cent (for that is his way), he won only two races in two seasons – and one of those was the controversial affair at Singapore in 2008. His victory in the next race, at Fuji, was from the top drawer, but there were to be no more, and in ’09 Fernando really struggled, his Renault frankly nowhere near the pace.

As he left for Ferrari, so Robert Kubica – on the market following BMW’s withdrawal – took his place, but through the late months of last year rumours abounded that Renault, too, might follow the lead of Honda, Toyota and BMW, and disappear from F1. Theoretically, therefore, Kubica might have been on the street once more – and, frankly, I was surprised that during that period any team signed any driver before being certain of Robert’s situation.

For my money, he is one of the top four drivers in F1, and some go further than that. His close pal Alonso has said he considers him the best, while even Lewis Hamilton has – privately – admitted that Kubica is the driver he most fears.

When Renault announced that, while the team would be continuing under the same name, a considerable chunk of it had been sold, Kubica declared that he now considered himself free to walk, should he choose to do so. After being reassured that it would remain a serious F1 operation, he said he would remain – but his original contract was for one season only, and there has been speculation that he could well join Alonso at Ferrari in 2011.

It could be that Kubica will have a frustrating time of it – again – this year, but still it astonishes me that when pundits consider the prospects for the coming season, frequently they omit to mention him. In all probability, this is because they do not expect very much from Renault, but if the car is even half-decent expect to see Robert in there, pitching. He might not look the part as much as some, but potentially this is a great Grand Prix driver.

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On Sunday afternoon I saw Valentino Rossi fall off his motorcycle.

I will repeat that.

On Sunday afternoon I saw Valentino Rossi tumble from his Yamaha. He was under no pressure and not in close company with any other rider. He wobbled under braking, turned in and fell to the Tarmac. I blinked.
The BBC repeated this occurrence several times, just in case we all thought we had imagined what we saw on the Bugatti circuit at Le Mans.

Yes, the track was damp, and Rossi had just changed from a wet bike to a dry bike, but you simply don’t expect to see him make a slip in these conditions. The man is human after all. As was Michael Schumacher in his pomp. They all have their days.

Rossi was the first of many surprises in a gripping French Grand Prix.

As with all motor sport, the weather made the whole thing more exciting. Clever tyre strategy helped Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo disappear into a huge lead while the recently underrated Marco Melandri came home second for Kawasaki. A tremendous battle for third between Honda team-mates Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso was settled in Pedrosa’s favour on the last lap, the Spaniard pipping the young Italian by less than a second.

Rossi finished 16th and last, two laps behind, after no less than four pitstops to change tyres. Well, they change bikes, but you know what I mean. The battle for the World Championship is, to say the least, very tight as a result of this race on a grey day in northern France. Lorenzo leads by a single point from Rossi and Stoner. This MotoGP racing is so damn thrilling.

I mention all this because I was interested to see how the BBC covers MotoGP in comparison to its new coverage of Formula 1 racing. I was impressed, just as I have been by the corporation’s treatment of the Grand Prix season thus far.

I know little about MotoGP other than it is extremely exciting and makes good TV. I therefore rely on the commentary and the ‘expert’ observers. In both cases they are excellent, Charlie Cox and Steve Parrish helping me to get a very good grip on what was unfolding on the screen. Cox has a nice turn of phrase while ‘Stavros’ is typically pithy and informative. It’s a good team. The Beeb also has the race build-up sewn up nicely. Suzi Perry is just so right for the job, and she seems to be enjoying herself, excited to be in there among it all. In the pitlane Matt Roberts has got it under control – plenty of useful information and in the right place at the right time.

We don’t have a BBC red button, but those with red buttons can watch the qualifying and the post-race chat as well as all the other races for the smaller bikes.

Well done the BBC I say. They’ve taken MotoGP from Eurosport and – for casual viewers such as myself – have done a superb job. They’ve taken F1 from ITV and made it just that little bit better. The Jordan/Coulthard duo was an inspired decision. I mean no disrespect to ITV who handed over an already excellent show. But thus far this season, both F1 and MotoGP have made for great viewing. For me, the bikes edge it on sheer excitement. How do those guys do what they do? Are they mad? Or brave? Or just skilful?

So, The Doctor has fallen from his perch, but only by a single point. The greats always fight back, faster and stronger than before. I wonder how long it will be before Jenson Button is nudged from the podium? He must be due a retirement. And a mistake at Monaco is always costly. Even Ayrton Senna made one of those.

That’s what makes sport so gripping. Ronaldo shoots wide, Rossi falls off, and Button will falter en route to what I hope is his World Championship.

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Finally we have news on Honda Racing. It’s taken a fair bit of time, with rumours of various buyouts including a Richard Branson/Virgin takeover, but finally Ross Brawn released a statement at midnight last night to say that the team has reached an agreement to secure its future.

The former Honda team principal has now received full ownership of Honda Racing F1 and has renamed the squad as the Brawn GP Formula One Team. What’s more, both Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello will return as drivers – which has put an end to Bruno Senna’s dreams of racing in F1 in 2009 – and the team has agreed a partnership with Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines to supply the power plant for the first ever Brawn GP car, whose colours are rumoured to be yellow, black and white.

“I am delighted that Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello will form our race driver line-up for the 2009 season,” said Brawn. “The vast experience and knowledge that both drivers bring to our team will prove invaluable as we aim to get up to speed to be ready for the first race of the season in Melbourne on March 29. In what will be their fourth season together, their experience with our team in Brackley, our systems and our engineers will prove a real asset.

“The past few months have been extremely challenging for the team,” Brawn continued. “But today’s announcement is a very pleasing conclusion to the strenuous efforts that have been made to secure its future.”

It certainly is a welcome announcement, not just for Formula 1 fans, but also for the likes of Bernie Ecclestone who was perilously close to the minimum number of cars that contractually he has to field. The fact that Brawn thanked so many people and organisations in the statement goes to show just how much help he has had in getting the Brackley-based team back on the track. “I would like to express particular appreciation for the support we have received from Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, the FIA, FOM, FOTA, (UK business organisation) BERR, Bridgestone, our other team partners and our many fans the world over.”

A very heartfelt congratulations to everyone involved from Motor Sport, and especially myself, as only a matter of six months ago I placed a rather optimistic bet that Honda would be fighting for the World Championship in 2009…

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I am told that proper grown-up journalists do not waste time prognosticating about what may, or may not, happen in the future.

Tough. It is harmless, it is vaguely amusing, and it gives us all something to rabbit on about before we get down to business in Melbourne next month. Of course, there is much to interest us apart from the forthcoming Grand Prix season, but we are approaching what may well be a most intriguing year. In motor racing, and in the real world.

My smart friends tell me that, if we think the global banking sector is buried in the barriers right now, we ain’t seen nothing yet. Well, I don’t want to think about that, especially as I am now a reluctant shareholder in both Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland. If I wanted to be a shareholder, I would choose companies that make things we can eat, drink or smoke.

But I digress. This week I want to rejoice in two new rumours.

One: it is said that Bruno Senna will join Jenson Button at the former Honda Grand Prix team this year.

Two: it is said that Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is crunching numbers to assess the wisdom of purchasing the Honda team

I like Bruno Senna and I think he is a very competent racing driver. Not in the same stratosphere as his uncle perhaps, but quick and tidy nonetheless. About a year ago I spent a most interesting week in São Paulo, looking at the work of the Ayrton Senna Foundation.

This is a charity set up by Ayrton with the determined purpose of helping the less privileged children of Brazil. And there are a great many of them. The foundation, forcefully led by Bruno’s mother and Ayrton’s sister Vivienne, has saved literally tens of thousands of children from the scrapheap.

In the course of this job I spoke at length to Bruno about his decision to take up motor racing and about his results to date. A harder act to follow is hard to imagine but Bruno has proved himself to have the family talent, if not yet the supreme edge enjoyed by his uncle. When they raced karts against each other, Bruno often got the better of Ayrton, and the latter was emphatically not a man to give an inch to anyone, let alone his little nephew.

If Senna goes to Honda, I hope he gets the job done. It would be great for Brazil and great for motor racing. Should this come to pass, Rubens Barrichello will be a very sad and frustrated man. And he will be much missed.

I have met and spoken to Mr Branson too, in the course of my work. He seems like a pretty canny fellow with a remarkably quick mind. He is not, to my knowledge, a motor racing fan. But he is an accomplished entrepreneur, and let’s remember that Virgin is, among other things, in the business of travel, holidays and what is known as “lifestyle” products. It is, in turn, a popular perception that Grand Prix racing provides an unparalleled global marketing platform for this type of business.

No, I do not know if these rumours are based on accountable fact. But I do know that both make a lot of sense. There must surely be an announcement soon, as the former Honda team will not want to start a new season without any testing.

While many of the F1 teams struggle to prepare a competitive car for 2009, the likes of Ferrari, BMW and Toyota have been thrashing around in Bahrain. They now know that their cars are not very stable in a sandstorm.

The desert is a mysterious and rather wonderful place.

When the cars aren’t running at Sakhir, you may be lucky enough to see an Arab horseman galloping home through the storm, a dramatic exhibition of another kind of horsepower.

I wonder how things will have shaken out by the time we reach Abu Dhabi in November.

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The Formula 1 grid as it stands is down to only 10 teams, which isn’t a particularly impressive number however you look at it. First Super Aguri and then Honda were either forced out or bailed out due to economical reasons.

So where does Honda’s Formula 1 team stand at the moment? Well an article in the Guardian newspaper suggested that the team is in talks with the government about a possible bailout as part of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform’s £2.3m rescue of the British car industry.

Apparently there was a Honda Racing statement that admitted to various meetings the two parties had had over the past few weeks. However, when asked the Japanese manufacturer is neither denying or admitting to the rumours.

As for buyers? It’s clear that there could well be a management buyout and they claim there is no shortage of interested parties. This is all very well but in my opinion this saga should have been resolved by now. Firstly Honda had a realistic chance of having a very quick car in 2009. The team gave up on 2008’s racer almost as soon as it left the factory floor; instead of spending millions on developing a ‘dog’ (something which Honda has become rather good at) they decided that it would put all of its efforts into the 2009 machine. With this delay in a buyout surely much of that advantage has been lost? I doubt there is a huge amount of work going on at the factory still.

Almost all the other teams have started testing and whether it is bought by Tom, Dick or Harry, Honda and its prospective buyers need to get on with things if they stand any chance this year.

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The FIA has recently announced major cost-cutting plans for the Formula 1 World Championship.

As it stands the Formula 1 grid is another team down for next season. First Super Aguri, and now Honda. If anything, it has given everyone involved a proverbial kick up the backside. The result? Some of the most drastic changes in the sport in its 58-year history.

Having previously written about ways of reducing the costs of one of the most expensive sports on the planet, the FOTA and FIA have agreed on, and announced major costcutting measures for the 2009 season and beyond. See below for the full statement from the FIA.

The discussion in the comments is regarding a budget for each team, however, see below for the direction that Formula 1 is headed.

FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

The following measures to reduce costs in Formula One have been agreed by the World Motor Sport Council.

These proposed changes have the unanimous agreement of the Formula One teams, who have played a major role in their development. The FIA is grateful to the Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) and its Chairman Luca di Montezemolo for their incisive contribution.

2009

Engine

• Engine life to be doubled. Each driver will use a maximum of eight engines for the season plus four for testing (thus 20 per team).

• Limit of 18,000 rpm.

• No internal re-tuning. Adjustment to trumpets and injectors only.

• The three-race rule voted on 5 November remains in force.

• Cost of engines to independent teams will be approximately 50% of 2008 prices.

• Unanimous agreement was reached on a list of proposed changes to the Renault engine for 2009; all other engines will remain unchanged. Comparative testing will not be necessary.

Testing

• No in-season testing except during race weekend during scheduled practice.

Aerodynamic research

• No wind tunnel exceeding 60% scale and 50 metres/sec to be used after 1 January 2009.

• A formula to balance wind tunnel-based research against CFD research, if agreed between the teams, will be proposed to the FIA.

Factory activity

• Factory closures for six weeks per year, to accord with local laws.

Race weekend

• Manpower to be reduced by means of a number of measures, including sharing information on tyres and fuel to eliminate the need for “spotters”.

Sporting spectacle

• Market research is being conducted to gauge the public reaction to a number of new ideas, including possible changes to qualifying and a proposal for the substitution of medals for points for the drivers. Proposals will be submitted to the FIA when the results of the market research are known.

Note: It is estimated that these changes for 2009 will save the manufacturer teams approximately 30% of their budgets compared to 2008, while the savings for independent teams will be even greater.

2010

Power train

• Engines will be available to the independent teams for less than €5 million per team per season. These will either come from an independent supplier or be supplied by the manufacturer teams backed by guarantees of continuity. If an independent supplier, the deal will be signed no later than 20 December 2008.

• This same engine will continue to be used in 2011 and 2012 (thus no new engine for 2011).

• Subject to confirmation of practicability, the same transmission will be used by all teams.

Chassis

• A list of all elements of the chassis will be prepared and a decision taken in respect of each element as to whether or not it will remain a performance differentiator (competitive element).

• Some elements which remain performance differentiators will be homologated for the season.

• Some elements will remain performance differentiators, but use inexpensive materials.

• Elements which are not performance differentiators will be prescriptive and be obtained or manufactured in the most economical possible way.

Race weekend

• Standardised radio and telemetry systems.

• Ban on tyre warmers.

• Ban on mechanical purging of tyres.

• Ban on refueling.

• Possible reduction in race distance or duration (proposal to follow market research).

Factory activity

• Further restrictions on aerodynamic research.

• Ban on tyre force rigs (other than vertical force rigs).

• Full analysis of factory facilities with a view to proposing further restrictions on facilities.

Longer term

The FIA and FOTA will study the possibility of an entirely new power train for 2013 based on energy efficiency (obtaining more work from less energy consumed). Rules to be framed so as to ensure that research and development of such a power train would make a real contribution to energy-efficient road transport.

An enhanced Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) system is likely to be a very significant element of an energy-efficient power train in the future. In the short term, KERS is part of the 2009 regulations, but is not compulsory. For 2010 FOTA is considering proposals for a standard KERS system. The FIA awaits proposals.

A number of further amendments were adopted for the 2009 and 2010 Sporting and Technical Regulations. Full details will be available shortly on www.fia.com.

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Just back from a few days in Wales. The trip was an eye-opener.

There were two main topics of conversation in the service areas, and around the bars, during the course of what is now known as Wales Rally GB. That’s the RAC Rally of Great Britain to you and me, except that the event is now staged entirely in Wales. Anyway.

Everybody wanted to talk about Honda’s withdrawal from Grand Prix racing and everybody was talking about the weather. These were not related but in their own ways were equally important.

Last Friday morning, very early last Friday morning (this is rallying, remember) we crawled out of our beds in the Marriott Hotel and stumbled to the door to grab our free copies of the Times newspaper. And there it was, right across the back page. Honda can no longer afford to stay in Formula One, the company is suffering from a slump in sales and so, sayonara Honda. Not a huge surprise, possibly, but a shock nonetheless when it came. Had the Japanese manufacturer just won the World Championship then no doubt it would be staying put.

But, clearly, the Grand Prix team has been going nowhere, and this despite the recruitment of Ross Brawn, oodles of cash and state-of-the-art technical facilities which are the envy of many a smaller team. It was inevitable, considering the slowdown in car sales worldwide, that something had to give, and it gave. Poor old Jenson Button, I thought, as I headed out to the service park in Swansea, he really hasn’t been in the right place at the right time, for a long time. But then, if he’d stayed at Williams, or at Renault, he probably wouldn’t have fared much better. Jenson’s a damn good racing driver and he deserves better. But, in Formula One timing is everything, just as in the real world.

David Richards, Team Principal at the Subaru World Rally Team and formerly the same at BAR Honda, expressed his disappointment and his sympathy for the staff facing an uncertain future. “I gather the team has been given three months to find a buyer,” said DR, wrapped up against the Welsh winter, “and they will probably find one, be on the grid next year. I don’t think this is the last we’ll see of Honda but it might not be the only team to pull out as a result of the global slowdown.” Would he be interested in dipping into his pockets one more time? “I won’t be rushing into anything,” he said, “ their overheads are huge, there are certain problems, and I will be watching to see what happens over the next few days and weeks.” Right then and there, the blue Subarus of Solberg and Atkinson were his primary concern – that and flying Japanese executives to the rally stages in his helicopter.

Then there was the weather. Why would that be a problem for rally drivers, you might ask? Surely they dance on ice, plough through snow and thrash through fog? Not now they don’t. New regulations drawn up by the FIA mean that gravel note crews are banned and only one type of tyre may be used throughout the rally. This in turn means that the stages have not been noted immediately before the start and that –if there is ice – the Pirelli Scorpion gravel tyre will not be as effective as it otherwise might be.

There was ice and the tyre wasn’t happy. Nor was multiple world champion Sebastien Loeb, first man out on the initial stages in the early morning frost. “There is no recce from the gravel crew any more,” he said, “and you just don’t know where the ice is, where the mud is, or what is round the next corner. I’d rather go home.” He didn’t go home of course – he won the rally with a sensational drive on the final two stages. It was frosty, it was sunny, the sky was blue and the Brecon Beacons looked more beautiful than ever. I hope those sheep know how lucky they are.

You can read lots more about the extraordinary Monsieur Loeb in the next edition of the magazine. Five times WRC champion, mighty quick in a Red Bull Grand Prix car, right on the pace in the Peugeot 908 HDi – this is a truly gifted racing driver.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Monte Carlo, Monaco, May 18 1958. Roy Salvadori, Cooper T45-Climax, retired, and Jack Brabham, Cooper T45-Climax, 4th position, talk to a mechanic.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will know that I am writing a series of stories for the magazine called ‘Mechanics’ Tales’, which is exactly what the title suggests. These are tales from either retired or working mechanics and good fun they are to do because mechanics tend to be down-to-earth types and they almost invariably have a great sense of humour. They need to.

USA Grand Prix – Saturday Qualifying Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, June 16 2007. A Williams mechanic gets some much needed rest.

According to Kevin Eason, who used to be the F1 correspondent of The Times and is now the Insider columnist on the sports pages, there are mechanics in F1 today who are alleged to be paid as much as 100,000 a year. No, I have not made a mistake with the noughts.

This may come as something of a surprise to those who long ago packed away their spanners. You don’t often see such thing as a spanner in the pitlane these days and I hear that some of the old McLaren mechanics started up the Red Toolbox Club, meeting once a year to swap memories and stories. It is said that when the new McLaren Technology Centre was being drawn up Mr Dennis made no allowances for toolboxes in the workshop bays. Knowing Ron, he probably thought they’d make a mess of the place. Well, it is the smartest, cleanest race shop you’re ever likely to see.

Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia, March 29 – April 2 2006. Honda Chief Mechanic Alistair Gibson, Jenson Button, Honda RA106, celebrates pole position.

Anyway, back to the point. The Insider gave the example of Alistair Gibson who until recently was the Chief Mechanic at Honda. He is now retired from the sport and has been producing sculptures made from carbon fibre. Reckon he must know a thing or two about this virtually indestructible material by now. I cannot tell you if Alistair really was picking up that kind of salary but I do know he couldn’t have been making much in the way of bonuses, either at BAR or latterly at Honda. I knew him many years ago when he worked for Robert Synge at Madgwick Motorsport and he’s an excellent team player as well as a first rate mechanic. But a hundred grand a year? Well, good for him I guess, but it seems a huge amount of money compared to some of the older guys I’ve been talking to lately. They did it pretty much for the love of it, and most of their loot came from bonuses when their cars won the races. Still, life moves on, and I’d be interested to see Alistair’s sculptures, which are on show in London.

Mechanics are a certain type of person, they have to be, always on the road and living out of a suitcase. It gets to a lot of them after a while and they often return to the factory for a more regular way of life. Sir Jackie Stewart(above) was one of the few drivers to recognise the efforts of his mechanics and when he retired himself he set up the Grand Prix Mechanics Trust, a charitable organisation that looks after guys who get hurt, or who are going through hard times for whatever reason. This is a great idea and the GPMT has helped a great many mechanics to get back on their feet and to enjoy a comfortable retirement. As you would imagine, Jackie puts a lot of time and energy into this, as he does with all his many interests and organisations.

Nurburgring, Germany, August 4 1968. A mechanic drives the car of Jackie Stewart, Matra MS10-Ford, 1st position, in the paddock.

Why am I going on about mechanics this week? Well, I’m hoping that some of the guys will see this and will be tempted to respond with their stories. Motor Sport is devoting a page every month to the people who are often described as the unsung heroes of motor racing and we’ve had some great stories so far this year.

So, if you are one, or you know one, let me know. There are so many wonderful tales out there.

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So here we are in Istanbul, Turkey. The sun isn’t quite shining, but it certainly looks like we’ll be in for a good race on Sunday – this being one of the Formula 1 tracks where it is actually possible to overtake.

As expected the Ferraris seem to be roughly half a second quicker than the McLarens. Although the times are much closer than that, the long runs suggest that the Scuderia’s cars do hold a clear advantage. As for Hamilton‘s time in P2, well… he went out right at the end and completed just the one flying lap so who knows how much fuel he had in.

The Renaults showed that their pace in Barcelona wasn’t a one-off with two strong sessions from Alonso and it’s good to see Red Bull up in the top 5. Webber clipped the grass early on in the second session which sent his car spinning into the barrier. The Australian was unhurt but the armco certainly did a pretty good job of short-wheel basing the car.

As for the rest, Kovalainen seemed to have left his sense of self-preservation in the hospital, as he was straight back on the pace. A quite remarkable feat considering he suffered a 26G crash less than two weeks ago. The BMWs don’t seem to be as close to McLaren as they have been promising but, as I said before, the practice times can be a little misleading.

So predictions for the Grand Prix on Sunday? Short of a breakdown or moment of madness from Raikkonen or Massa, the Ferraris look as though they could take another 1-2. As for the last place on the podium, I would have thought that both Hamilton and Kovalainen have the pace to take it.

Having bad mouthed the ITV F1 live feed the other week, I am pleased to say that it is vastly improved. Last time I watched something on there I spent an hour and a half staring at a frozen screen with snippets of flying laps sped up a hundred times so that the ‘feed’ could catch up again. However, its gremlins seem to be cured and you can now sit back and soak up the sound of the V8s. Whether this was down to me and my blog, I very much doubt, but it is now a pretty good place to catch the practice sessions.

Practice 1

Practice 2

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Parnelli Jones is one of the living legends of American racing, up there in the pantheon with Mario Andretti, AJ Foyt and Dan Gurney. Jones dominated three of the seven Indy 500s he started and won the race in 1963, beating Jim Clark. He looked to be a clear winner again in ’67 with Andy Granatelli’s STP turbine car, but a driveshaft bearing broke with only four laps to go and after the race Parnelli retired from driving open cockpit cars.

Indianapolis, USA. 30th May 1966. Parnelli Jones (Shrike-Offenhauser).

Parnelli continued to race in Trans-Am, Can-Am and off-road cars and trucks. He won the 1970 Trans-Am championship with a Bud Moore Ford Mustang, beating Mark Donohue and Penske Racing by a single point when Trans-Am was one of the USA’s top racing series, brimming with manufacturer-backed teams.

Can-Am race. Riverside, California, United States. 29 October 1967. Parnelli Jones (Lola T70-Chevrolet), 4th position.

He also won the Baja 1,000 in 1971 and ’72, and his resume includes a second career as a team owner in partnership with Vel Miletich. Vel’s Parnelli Jones racing won the Indy 500 with Al Unser in 1970 and ’71, three consecutive USAC championships in 1970-72 with Unser and Joe Leonard and a total of 40 USAC races between 1968-77. VPJ also produced the first Cosworth-powered Indycar, developed by John Barnard and driven successfully by Unser, and a similar F1 car raced by Andretti from late 1974 to early ’76. VPJ’s cars were usually beautiful and often revolutionary.

Ontario, California, USA. 3rd-10th March 1974. Al Unser (Eagle-Offenhauser), 2nd position, with Parnelli Jones.

Jones became a very successful Firestone tyre distributor and property developer in Southern California, and today, at 74, he remains as sharp as ever, and as knowledgeable a man about racing as anyone alive. Parnelli is delighted to see a unified IndyCar series emerge from the sport’s long civil war, but he emphasizes that the real work begins now.

“We need to build respect for Indycar racing again and the only way we’re ever going to get there is to make some dramatic changes,” Jones observes. “It’s a great start that the two series have merged, but it’s not the answer. When you’ve got 50 cars like NASCAR, then you’ve got something. It’s been embarrassing to go watch qualifying at Indianapolis in recent years. There’s nobody there. We used to have 250,000 people show up for the first day of qualifying. But today, we don’t have the respect for the Indy winners that we used to.”

Like many of us, Parnelli believes the most important factor is for the sanctioning body to take control and devise a new formula that will create plenty of competition among engine and car builders.

“Before we go forward they’ve got to step back and take a long look,” he says. “You can’t let the manufacturer run the series. What made all the series in the world in the first place, even NASCAR, is having all those different types of cars for people to root for. But it’s easier said than done.

“They’ve got to get more than one manufacturer. I have nothing against Honda, but right now Honda is calling the shots. NASCAR controls not only the drivers and teams but also the manufacturers, and that’s what Indycar racing needs to get back to.

Parnelli Jones brings the 1968 Lotus Turbine Indy Car back to the pits after taking a ceremonial lap of the track prior to the start of qualifying. 84th Indianapolis 500, Indy Racing Northern Light Series, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 28 May, 2000

“We need to have competition and we need to look at it not just from a technical, Formula 1-type mentality. We need to look at it from an entertainment value because we have to compete against so many other entertainments in this country. It’s not about going out and seeing who’s the best racer and how many laps he can lead or how quick he can lap the field. Those days are gone.

“We need to be entertaining but you’re not going to get there with one manufacturer supplying the same thing to everybody because there’s no entertainment value.”
Jones believes the best way forward is to design a rocker arm engine formula, and that in the long run this would bring manufacturers back into Indycar racing in the best possible way.

“They ought to go to rocker arm engines because you can buy all the parts in the US,” he explains. “Get rid of the manufacturers. Let them go by the wayside and you would have the Childresses and Hendricks building engines for Indy. Make them 260 or 270 cubic inches and you can buy all those parts. Not everyone could build a Hendrick engine but they could grow into that.

“Don’t call them stock-blocks. Call them rocker arm engines and you could have guys building Chevies, Fords, Dodges and Toyotas. Then the manufacturers would come back and start supporting the teams that are running their product. But this time the sanctioning body controls it.”

Tony George (below) and the IRL might do well to consider Parnelli Jones’s ideas of how to secure a healthy future for Indycar racing.

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So the European season has begun. Almost all 22 cars completed the two Friday practices without incident and the Ferraris look like they are the pace setters at the moment. The Scuderia occupied the top two spots in the opening practice and were just under half a second quicker than Hamilton. Massa managed (after I had said that his ‘moments’ would become less frequent from Bahrain onwards) to spin twice, once at the chicane on his flying lap and then on the exit of turn 8 later on in the first practice.

The most interesting part of the two opening practice sessions? Well in the first, a second covered the first 4 cars and in the second, it covered a quite remarkable 12 cars. Indeed, if you ignore the Super Aguris, all the cars were within two seconds of Räikkönen’s fastest time. It may surprise you even more that in the second Friday practice in the French Grand Prix last year, the top 15 cars set times within 1 second of each other. And they say Formula 1 isn’t interesting…

On the subject of Super Aguris, it is great to see them on track as up until today they were still in talks with Honda over whether or not they could actually compete this weekend. With the rule changes next year, the Japanese manufacturer has made it quite clear that they aren’t prepared to keep shelling out inordinate amounts of money to keep Aguri Suzuki afloat. After one possible backer dropped out at the last minute the team is again looking for a sponsor. Let’s hope that they find one otherwise this may well be one of the last times we see them on the Grand Prix circuit.

I was actually quite surprised to see them leave the garage this morning as competing over a race weekend amounts to what us mere mortals would consider a cash bonfire. Of course, they don’t want to miss out on the money they receive for competing in a Grand Prix.

As for the rest… The Renaults certainly looked quick in the second session but watching the onboard footage it looked as though both drivers were pushing pretty hard. Whether they can keep that sort of pace up over the whole weekend, I doubt. Force India, after saying mid-week that they are ready to get into Q3, have taken another step forward with strong finishes in the second session.

Whether all the teams were actually trying to set quick times, I am not convinced. I suggest that the Ferraris are going to be hard to beat come Sunday and the McLarens seem to have the edge over the BMWs for the time being.

The good news for all of you is that Nigel Roebuck is getting ready to write his first www.motorsportmagazine.co.uk Grand Prix Report and will share his views with us, here, after the race on Sunday. For a far more insightful and interesting read… log back on, Sunday evening and go via the ‘Grand Prix Reports’ link on the homepage to read it.

Practice 1

Practice 2

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The inaugural Formula 5000 race in 1975 at Long Beach.

I’ve enjoyed the pleasure of covering all thirty-four Long Beach Grands Prix, from the inaugural Formula 5000 race back in 1975 through eight Formula One races from 1976-’83 and twenty-five CART or Champ Car races from 1984-2008. This year’s race was Champ Car’s swansong in the beachside California city as the defunct organisation’s Panoz DP01-Cosworth turbos raced for one last time before the unified Indy Racing League arrives in town next year. So Long Beach ‘08 marked the end of a quarter century of the sweet sound of turbocharged engines wailing through the sunny California air and as the drivers cruised into the pits at the end of the race and the turbocharged engines – the signature song of Indy car racing – fell silent, the moment brought tears to some eyes.

For the next year or two, the familiar whine of Cosworth’s turbo V8 will be replaced by the harsh, coarse noise from Honda’s much less powerful, naturally-aspirated V8 IRL engine and there’s no doubt that the vast majority of fans and competitors would love to see the IRL adopt a more powerful, turbocharged engine formula as part of its new formula for 2010 or 2011.

1976 Grand Prix of Long Beach, California, USA. March 26 – 28 1976. Niki Lauda (Ferrari 312T), 2nd position.

Like Mario Andretti, I’m among those who believe the new IRL formula must create spectacularly fast and demanding cars to drive. We think there must be a much greater difference between straightaway and cornering speeds. We also believe the new formula must inspire competition between engine and chassis manufacturers as well as adopting some serious elements of green technology. Over the upcoming month of May at Indianapolis I will discuss these issues with many people in the sport and will write about these conversations in the pages of Motor Sport later this year.

And as I reminded many people at Long Beach this year, back in 1975 at the inaugural Formula 5000 race – won by Brian Redman in a Haas/Hall Lola T332C-Chevrole – the garage area boasted no fewer than forty-two cars built by eight different car constructors. Thirty-nine of those cars started the two qualifying heats and because Bill Simpson’s Berta didn’t make it the first Long Beach race featured seven different car builders making this year’s race pale in comparison.

Brian Redman with the trophy from the Formula 5000 race in 1975.

If American open-wheel racing is to enjoy a resurgence under the IRL’s unified banner it must rediscover this essential nature of the sport. The IRL’s new formula for 2010 or 2011 must dispel the banalities of spec-car racing and attract a trove of competitive engine and chassis builders. That’s the only way Indy car racing and Long Beach will thrive again.

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I set out, the other day, to talk to two of the Fat Cats of Formula 1. It was only a partial success.

I wanted to talk to Nick Fry (above) from the Honda team and to Christian Horner (below) from Red Bull Racing. I succeeded in the former and dismally failed in the latter.
Nick Fry because I wanted to know more about the arrival of Ross Brawn in the team and Christian Horner because of the progress that Adrian Newey is clearly making with the 2008 car.

By the time I’d got myself organised and had an interesting chat with Fry, I had missed Horner. Quite understandably he’d given up waiting and probably had far better things to do with his time just ahead of the European season. Problem is, will he ever speak to me again? Have I gone into the black book of people who wasted his time? Hope not, as he’s an articulate bloke and his team is showing all the signs of moving up the order. Anyway, I apologised, and will wait a decent interval before knocking on his door again.

I like Nick Fry because, it seems to me, he has taken a lot of flak over the disappointing performance of the Honda Grand Prix team and yet he always seems so positive and upbeat about life. He came to Formula 1 from the motor industry, not an easy move, as things change a lot more rapidly in racing than ever they do in industry. He climbed the corporate ladder at Ford with almost indecent haste but his move to the whirlwind of F1 coincided with a dreadful time for the Honda team and somebody had to take the blame. The wacky ‘earth dream’ livery for the cars hardly helped the team’s predicament.

Things are looking up, however, for Fry and some of this is undoubtedly down to his recruitment of the highly respected Brawn. Will he be the miracle cure for all their woes?

“The effect Ross has had on the team is nothing, and everything, depending which way you look at it,” says Fry. “Over the past year or so we’d been building up a very good engineering team so we had already made progress and let’s not forget that this year’s car was designed before Ross joined us. However, and this is a very, very big however, when Ross arrived he gave us all huge confidence, and that is so important. Without him, we might have begun to panic, but he is turning our natural optimism into a reality. He has helped us to focus on getting the basics working properly, he has laid a steady hand on the tiller, and – because of his past achievements – he has instilled more confidence into the people who work for him. I was absolutely singular in pursuing, and then hiring, Ross – he can definitely do for us what he did for Ferrari. We’re not there yet, but we will be in the top 10 in the next few races.”

So the much publicised recruitment drive of last year was worth all the stress and controversy?

“I interviewed more people from other teams than I can possibly tell you,” he smiles, “including a couple that became very public. If our dining room walls had ears then they would have a great story to tell, with the number of people who passed through there, but I’d made up my mind that Ross was the right person to get the job done. Given time, I have no doubt at all that we can be competing for the world championship. We’ve already seen what he can do, we have new aero packages, and there is no fallback plan. We are on our way, and I am absolutely convinced we will build from here.”

Nick Fry also has a feeling for the history of Grand Prix racing. He’s read Motor Sport since he was a teenager and says he always will. That’s good. And he likes Spa and Monza. “Yes, the sport has to retain some of its heritage,” he says, “and I can still get misty-eyed at Monza, even on a wet Wednesday. Formula 1 would be much the poorer for losing those European circuits and I can never see that happening.” Let’s hope he’s right.

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Aguri Suzuki (above) has released a statement saying that the “Super Aguri F1 Team confirms that it has been informed by Magma Group, the potential purchasers of the team, that its investors no longer wish to fund the intended acquisition.

“It is with deep regret that Aguri Suzuki is now forced to consider the future of the team, however negotiations with other parties continue.”

As dilemmas that face a Formula 1 team go, this must be about the most energy sapping and depressing. Super Aguri missed pre-season testing and has been roughly 3 or 4 seconds off the pace in the opening rounds of the season.

With investment from Dubai International Capital via the Magma group on the horizon many of their worst worries would have been over. However, the light at the end of the tunnel has turned out to be the oncoming train.

Where do they go from here? Aguri Suzuki is in talks with Honda to see if they can continue supplying parts and funding but in my view, this certainly isn’t going to tie them over for the rest of the season. The longer the team goes without any serious backing, the harder it is going to become to catch up with their ‘rivals’. And the longer that goes on, the less attractive they will be to potential sponsors.

We can see from Force India how quickly a team can improve with the right direction and appropriate amount of backing but can you see this happening with Super Aguri? I certainly can’t at the moment.

On an relatively unrelated note, someone in the office commented that Vijay Mallya looks a lot like Jeff Lynne. Yes, the same Jeff Lynne that did the song Mr Blue Sky. Which none of us can now get out of our heads.

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Well, Massa needed a win, or at the very least a strong performance with all four wheels staying firmly on the Tarmac, and he delivered. From when the red lights went out he dominated a fairly uneventful race for the two Ferrari cars and finished over three seconds ahead of his Finnish team-mate.

He has a good record in Bahrain, having won there last year ahead of Hamilton and Raikkonen, but the fact that he managed to drive such a dominant race after so much criticism was a testament to his mental and driving ability. I am not saying he is cured of his moments – but if he can drive like this for the rest of the reason, they will be forgotten by many.

As for the McLarens, Hamilton had yet another disastrous race. He was extremely slow off the line, his car looking as though he tried to draw away in 3rd, and dropped back to 10th place. He then slammed into the back of Alonso and consequently had to pit for a new nose cone. With the rest of his race hampered by a heavy fuel load and traffic he came home a disappointing 13th.

His team-mate, however, drove an undramatic race to finish 5th. It is obvious that the BMWs are quicker than the McLarens now (or at least in Bahrain) and hopefully for the Woking-based squad they will have found more speed from somewhere, come the European season. If not, they will be the ‘BMWs of 2008′ – the team that is relying on others not to finish in order to score good points and finish on the podium. Something that none of them would accept.
But well done Kovalainen, he may not have the raw pace of Hamilton but his lows are much higher than Hamilton’s when things go wrong. Something that, come Australia, may well count towards beating his team-mate in the Championship standings.

The BMWs both looked strong with Kubica finishing 3rd, and Heidfeld only three and a half seconds behind him. They have had a remarkable start to the season – lets hope they can continue competing for the podium. They certainly have one of the strongest driver line-ups on the grid.

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Massa looked very much the strongest driver all weekend until Robert Kubica took the first pole of his career in Q3. Whether he was carrying a much lighter fuel load or not, we won’t know until tomorrow. If this is the case or not – he drove a remarkably good lap.

At the front of the grid, it was business as usual. The Ferraris still seem to have the measure of the McLarens and, as predicted, Hamilton managed to qualify ahead of Raikkonen, (I have to point this out as all my other predictions are so far off I have promised myself never to bet on Formula 1).

Again, the ‘Don’ of one lap pace – Trulli – finished well in 7th and for the first time this season Button made it into the third session. Having been bold enough to say that the Toyotas just don’t have the race pace to finish in the points earlier this season, I stand corrected. Having been the only team that started with a clean sheet of paper for their 2008 car they seem to be consistently capable of scoring points. Add to that the fact that they are one of only two teams to test in Bahrain – expect more of the same tomorrow.

It was good to see Button finish the day 9th on the grid. The Honda is improving and I suggest it will continue to do so. Brawn has made it clear that he has the ability to make on-the-spot decisions which before had to go through days of committees. With the capacity to move forward unhindered by delays (in the right direction) they really should be scoring points sooner rather than later.

However, if there was one driver with ‘less luck’ than Webber – you’d probably have to say Button was up there with the ‘best’ of them. Lets just hope that’s not the case on race day.

Predictions for tomorrow? Well, if Massa stays on the track and his Ferrari engine doesn’t decide to pack-up then I am sure he will finish on the podium. Whether he can keep Raikkonen behind him or whether Kubica has the pace to challenge the Scuderia over a long distance I am not sure, but the Pole is certainly in the right position to fight for his best finish yet. I don’t think the McLarens have the speed to trouble the two teams on the front row so I doubt whether they’ll be on the podium. Who knows… knowing my predictions, the podium will consist of McLarens and Red Bulls.

Qualifying

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For the first time I decided to watch the two practice sessions on the ITV site with their ‘live feed’. This was, without a doubt, my worst Formula 1 viewing session ever. The fact that there isn’t any commentary is brilliant. An hour and a half of unrelenting, unmolested noise is wonderful.

However, as soon as it lulls you into a V8-induced slumber the sound is taken over by what can only be described as ET on speed. The picture then decides to pack up its bags and go home, leaving you in a suspended state, watching… well… nothing. Everyone in the office thought that I had finally lost the plot and was lost in a photo of the F1 ITV logo.

At first I thought it was something our end but with the latest Macs, this is utter rubbish. I understand that a ‘live stream’ is never going to be perfect but this was an utter waste of time. Raikkonen lost it at one point, and someone else did but I can’t for the life of me tell you who. They were using Bridgestones though. That was what the screen decided to freeze on anyway.

There is something quite eerie about the Bahrain circuit. There are no landmarks to speak of on track and the tarmac is so wide it looks like the cars have all been bought by Corgi. A fascinating place as Rob Widdows will tell you in the next issue of the magazine.

As for the racing, the Ferraris look like the ones to beat with Massa finishing the second practice nearly a second quicker than his team-mate Raikkonen. However, the Ferrari garage isn’t all sunshine and smiles as Raikkonen lost it in both practice sessions, needing to return to the pits in the first to get sand removed from his car. The dusty nature of the circuit does seem to be causing problems as many drivers were struggling for grip in the opening laps of the first session. If Massa can keep his pace throughout the weekend and stay on track it will certainly silence a few of his critics.

Hamilton ran well but lost it at turn 7 late in the second practice sending him sideways into the barrier. His car is badly damaged but we have heard that he is fine. As he said on Top Gear, he does occasionally enjoy a “good shunt”.

The Williams are back on form after Malaysia and the McLarens are biting at the heals of the Ferraris. What will happen in qualifying? Well, as long as everything goes according to plan, I suggest Massa will get pole, with Raikkonen making up the front row. Hamilton may well be able to beat Raikkonen to it but looking at the speed of the Scuderia’s cars he will have to carry much less fuel. Time will tell.

The rest? Well, the Toyotas don’t seem to be as fast here as they were in Malaysia. And five teams have finished with times that put their drivers next to each other on the time sheets. You may well ask; how much difference does the driver make? Quite a bit I think and that’s why I am sure that Kimi is going to push Massa all the way, even if his time sheet does look as good as the Brazilian’s so far.

Practice 1

Practice 2

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Firstly, the news that the BBC has captured the TV contract for Grand Prix racing inspired the biggest response to any of my Motor Sport blogs so far this year. Thanks to everyone who contributed some intelligent and pertinent debate.

As I write this latest contribution to our platform for debate, I have half my mind on preparing to travel to Bahrain for the F1 Business Forum. The what? Do I hear some yawning out there? I hope not because it’s not as bad as it sounds. Yes, we all dread going to conferences, or ‘forums’, don’t we? Whatever job we may be doing. They are always held in some horrible hotel near Heathrow airport, or in some Holiday Inn in the middle of several unnavigable roundabouts, at least that’s the way it’s always been for me. Too much central heating, no air and piles of files and notepads, jugs of water and cheap ballpoint pens to take away and never use. And have you ever come away from a conference feeling a better person, better empowered to do your job? Probably not.

Anyway, in Bahrain next week – as the teams prepare for the third Grand Prix of the season – many of the F1 fat cats will be taking time to speak at the Motorsport Business Forum. I went to the last one in Monte Carlo at the end of last year and it was good, even very interesting. Max Mosley spoke about his master plan for Formula 1 and Jackie Stewart responded with some carefully worded criticism of the president of the FIA. All good stuff and nice to see someone, especially Stewart, putting the case for the opposition.

This time, in Bahrain, the FIA is not to the fore, except of course that it is running the Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit. This time the speakers will be, in the main, from the teams. The ‘keynote’ speech will be given by Ron Dennis (above), a man I have always much admired and whose life has been devoted to McLaren and the sport he loves. Ron is an enthusiast, a racer and – when he has to be – a politician. What he has to say will be worth hearing and – I hope – worth reporting in the next Motor Sport. Also on the panel of big cheeses will be Nick Fry from Honda, Christian Horner (below) from Red Bull Racing and David Richards (bottom) from Prodrive/Subaru/Aston Martin/You-name-it-he’s-involved-in-it. This man is a dynamo and let’s hope he succeeds in bringing his own team into Grand Prix racing despite the misgivings that others may have about customer cars. What about an Aston Martin F1 team? There is no doubt that Richards would make a terrific job of that – doing everything Jaguar should have done with its attempt.

The point of the forum in the desert is that the Gulf means business, the Gulf is awash with cash, and a consortium of Bahrain business folk already owns a big chunk of the McLaren Group. You may have seen the London taxis bearing the message: Bahrain – Making Financial Connections. What does this mean? I have no idea, but all will become clear next week in the course of the build-up to the Grand Prix. I will be talking to Messrs Dennis, Richards, Fry and Horner about the importance of this region, the significance of new finance in the sport and – oh, yes I nearly forgot – the racing itself, the season so far and all that stuff.

Many of you may be asleep by now, not caring much for the business of sport. Well, it is here to stay, it is how Manchester United can afford Ronaldo, it is how Tiger Woods earns squillions of dollars and it is how President Sarkozy gets to kick a football on the hallowed turf of the new Emirates stadium. Personally, I preferred Highbury, but that’s all irrelevant now. You can make your own judgement in next month’s magazine when I will attempt to penetrate the fog that so often seems to hang over the business of modern motor racing. You can be assured that one of the big men will say something of real interest. If not, there’s always the cars on the track in the sunshine outside.

I’ve got my pad, I’ve got my biros and I’m sure there will be some jugs of icy water. I just need to put my towel on a seat in the front row and make sure I’m close enough to hear between the lines.

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Max Mosley recently made a speech to the International Advanced Mobility Forum (IAMF) at the Geneva Motor Show about Formula 1’s move towards an “energy efficient future”.

Whether this makes you mildly excited or sends you clean to sleep, it is certainly the right direction to go in. The sport’s carbon footprint makes driving a Range Rover look PC and the more that can be done to reduce this, the better.

Honda has been leading the race to become the ‘greenest team on the grid’ and certainly pays attention to detail – at the Monaco Grand Prix last year the team unveiled their low-emission scooters for pottering around the pits.

“The whole team is committed to reducing its impact on the environment,” said Button. “Using ultra-low emission scooters is just one way that we are doing this. On a personal level, I spend a lot of time in Monaco so it has been interesting to hear about the specific environmental issues affecting the region and what steps are being taken to protect it.”

How right he is but surely releasing a low-emissions scooter will make as much difference as a party cracker in a nuclear war. That’s probably why none of us really heard about it. Still, it’s all good PR and, as Tesco so rightly says, “every little helps”.

It’s only when you compare Formula 1’s efforts with those of NASCAR that you start to realize how advanced the sport really is. Just using the teams’ pit lane vehicles as an example, Honda has low-emission scooters; the NASCAR drivers have small golf karts. This may seem quite conservative for an obviously ‘un-green’ series, but then you learn that many of them have fitted Nitrous Oxide systems for that little extra boost on the way to their motor homes.

When Pete Spence, the technical director of Toyota Racing Development, was asked what measures NASCAR has taken to lower emissions he replied, “at the beginning of 2007 we converted leaded gasoline to unleaded gasoline. We are, however, still using what I would call a racing gasoline. I think it’s inevitable that in every walk of life, as we learn more about global warming that there will be pressures to become more green. The really interesting question is who defines what green is?”

Stark contrast to Mosley who, when asked a similar question declared, “in 2009 Formula 1 is going hybrid as the first stage of a programme to divert the vast research effort at the pinnacle of motor sport towards energy efficiency.”

The main benefit of going green is that it keeps the sport’s future safe. It is only a matter of time before certain individuals catch on to the fact that motor sport can be viewed as an un-eco friendly, politically incorrect sport.

If Formula 1 can be seen to be making an effort to change this and benefit the car industry in the process then Mr and Mrs Green may well just concentrate on other ‘more important matters’ like a 2002 headline suggested… “After 28 Hours, Greenpeace Protest against Floating Dustbin Ends.”

Don’t get me wrong, one day planet earth will come to a grinding halt, pack it’s bags and show us the middle finger – the more we can do to combat the problem now, the better. Whether that means riding an electric scooter or changing the face of Formula 1, it actually makes no difference. It’s the fact that they are trying to make a difference means that we’ll be able to enjoy spectacles, like that in Melbourne, for many years to come.

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The Formula 1 World Championship certainly got off to an action-packed start – 9 cars taken out of contention by accidents, 5 breakdowns, a disqualification and only 7 finishers.

Hamilton avoided the carnage that unravelled behind him and romped home to take the top spot on the podium. The British driver could hardly relax as his lead was constantly cut by safety car interventions, however, he kept his cool and never put a foot wrong.

As always he congratulated the team on how well the car was running and dropped a small line about the difference to last year’s McLaren, “the car was phenomenal, a complete dream to drive compared to last year.” Whether this was a loaded comment or not – it certainly made it clear that Hamilton backs himself without the ‘help’ of Alonso’s experience in car setup and development.

The real action though, took place behind the leading McLaren. The Ferraris had a dreadful day with both cars spinning and then eventually retiring with engine failures. Massa was quick to say that Ferraris shouldn’t have such problems but if I am not mistaken it was exactly this that gave Alonso a second title in 2006, when Schumacher’s car drifted to a halt.

The Scuderia will no doubt be quick to sort the problem but it must be playing on their minds having come away from a Grand Prix weekend with only 1 point. Nowadays it is rare for even a single car to break down, unless of course you were driving a Red Bull last year, so for both to come to grinding halt… well it will be about as easy to stomach as their arch rival cruising to an easy victory, especially with their record at Albert Park.

Kovalainen was one of the unlucky, fortunate drivers of the day. Fortunate because he managed to avoid the various impacts happening around him but unlucky because a third safety car period meant that his pit stop left him well down the order. Ron Dennis was clearly pleased when the Finn overtook Alonso near the end but sadly Kovalainen accidentally hit the pit lane speed limiter button while removing a tear-off from his visor, letting Alonso cruise past with 1 lap remaining. The fact that he got the fastest lap of the race will be small consolation. Still, his debut for McLaren was certainly more successful than his opening race for Renault.

Alonso showed just what a class act he is while carving through the field and pulling off great manoeuver after great manoeuver. Although the Renault was clearly off the pace, he managed to bring the car home 4th. Piquet’s debut was similar to Kovalainen’s first few races last season – the Brazilian spent much of the race running at the back and was eventually taken out of contention when his car was involved in an accident.

Honda had a similarly bad day as Button was involved in an accident at turn one on the opening lap and Barrichello, having finished in 6th was later disqualified for leaving the pit lane on a red light, giving Raikkonen the point.

Rosberg got his first podium with a solid third position and rightly so; he drove a good race and proved that this will be the first of many now that the car is competitive enough to occasionally trouble the McLarens, Ferraris, and BMWs. Heidfeld took second place and it was a shame that Kubica, after such a good qualifying, was involved in an accident which ended his race just over ten laps from the end.

I can’t believe that every Formula 1 race this season will be as chaotic as Albert Park – but it just may be that banning traction control was the sport’s best move in recent history. To see the likes of Raikkonen pushing it hard enough to spin while attempting to overtake someone was a reminder of just how difficult these cars are to keep on the straight and narrow when on the limit. The Finn shrugged off his erratic driving in typical fashion by merely saying that he “was a bit too optimistic.”

It was the unlikely face of Nakajima that summed the day up though, after bringing the second Williams home in 6th place, he concluded that “to get to the end today was great.” How right he was, and long may unpredictable Formula 1 continue.

Manufacturer standings

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I wonder if anyone else shares my fascination with this night racing thing? Or perhaps you consider it be an irrelevance, an artifice created merely to increase the television ratings in Europe?

It is an artifice, of course, but a gripping idea as well. Not a new idea, I appreciate, having watched NASCAR night races in the days when you didn’t have to pay a monthly fee for your favourite motor racing channel. Anyway, I lost patience with Eurosport, despite having been their Indycar commentator for a season. It seemed that every time I tuned in for NASCAR or Champ Car all I got was African league football, though that too became quite interesting and made a change from the Premiership. Eventually, however, the shambles of the scheduling, or at least the form in which it reached the TV listings, became too much for me. But I digress.

Night racing, as we know, is coming to Moto GP this weekend and to Grand Prix racing at Singapore in September. And I am fascinated by the challenge, both for competitors and promoters alike. And there are different problems, different challenges, for bike racers and car racers. Let’s take a look at what’s in store at Qatar this coming weekend. Moto GP is exciting enough in daylight, never mind in the middle of a floodlit night in a Middle Eastern desert. And this season looks like being a cracker, with the gifted Valentino Rossi determined to get back on terms with the precocious young Casey Stoner, with Ducati using every last nut and bolt to get back at Yamaha. The fact that the battle is to commence beneath thousands of floodlights can only add to the excitement.

Motorcycle racing at night has its own special demands on the lighting crew. Bikes move around a lot more than racing cars and they change direction in the blink of an eye, so the corners have to be particularly carefully lit. According to a report by Moto GP correspondent Rick Broadbent in The Times, and he should know, each of the top riders has had his own set of problems in dealing with night racing. Honda rider Dani Pedrosa told Broadbent that there were a lot of shadows and it was very tiring on the eyes while Casey Stoner spoke about the importance of confidence in his instinct in the reduced visibility. James Toseland, who impressed in testing last week, said he felt like he’d worked a night shift and the humidity of the hot nights was causing moisture on his visor. Rossi simply observed that it would be better to hold a night race when the temperatures are a little higher, when the night air is not so cold.

This is intriguing stuff. I wonder if some of the Grand Prix drivers will be watching on Sunday when the bikers venture out into the night on the Losail circuit in Doha. They will be facing similar, but not the same, challenges when they get to Singapore in the autumn. The floodlights will not, contrary to popular opinion, re-create daylight. There will be plenty of light, yes, equivalent to lighting up seventy football pitches. But it’s new territory; the first few laps will be into the unknown, the uncharted. It will be interesting to see who performs at their best under the glare of the bright lights of show business. And who is most daring in the shadows.

The whole idea, of course, is to encourage us to sit back on the sofa, at a respectable hour, and enjoy the action on television. And I’m sure many of us will do just that. It will make good telly, both Qatar and Singapore, but I’d so much rather be there. It’s a little bit of motor racing history in the making.

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It’s a small world, this motor racing.

Walking through the A1GP paddock in Durban last weekend was like going back in time, being transported back to Grand Prix racing as it was in the 1970s and ’80s.

The drivers are young, yes, some of them familiar from other formulas, but the supporting cast is from another era. And nearly all of them from Britain, still the undisputed motor racing capital of the world. They call this the World Cup of Motor Sport, not to be confused with the FIFA World Cup which comes to South Africa in two years time. The casual observer, strolling through the streets of this city by the Indian Ocean, might be puzzled by hoardings promoting the excitement of two World Cups. One, an electronic scoreboard, is counting down the days until the footballers arrive in Durban to strut their stuff in a brand new stadium. The other proclaims that South Africa is taking on the world on the streets of the city this very weekend, and features a huge picture of Adrian Zaugg in his Team South Africa racing car. World Cup fever in the heat and dust of South Africa.

But back to the paddock where, it appears, the teams are crewed by Grand Prix has-beens, should-have-beens and wannabes. Well, that’s how Peter Bellringer of Team Great Britain describes it, he the former chief mechanic at BAR Honda and now in charge at Team Great Britain. And Gary Anderson agrees, adding that engineering an A1GP car is just another challenge, another racing car to be finely tuned. “It’s not F1, of course it isn’t,” he says, “but engineering counts for a lot in a one-make formula like this.” Then along comes Rory Byrne, here to assess the A1GP set-up on behalf of Ferrari, the Italians having done a deal to supply the engines for the 2009 series. Rory will have a hand in designing the new car, a project already underway under the wing of John Travis back home in Bognor Regis.

Talking of the south coast, here’s Mike Earle, bringing his vast experience as operations chief for Team India. Everywhere a familiar face, a slap on the back from a mechanic you haven’t seen since before the days of traction control and automatic gearboxes. Over there is Martin Dixon, chief mechanic for Team Canada, back from Indycar in America and once a mechanic for David Purley’s team. Up in the commentary box is John Watson, holding forth on the skills required for a street racer. And he should know. There’s Ann Bradshaw, stalwart press officer for Williams and latterly BMW-Sauber, bustling around getting things done for journalists. And so it goes on. Small world.

New faces there are, of course, and possibly the odd star of the future. Canadian teenager Robert Wickens may well be in this category. Just 18 years old, Wickens won the sprint race around the narrow streets of Durban and was running a strong second to Neel Jani in the big race on Sunday until he touched the wall. He was trying to outfox the experienced Swiss who leads the championship. New Zealander Jonny Reid looks good too in the car the Kiwis call the Black Beauty. Then there’s Filipe Albuquerque, a late nomination by Team Portugal, and said by many to be a star in the making. Among the more established racers, Brits Oliver Jarvis and Robbie Kerr are right on the pace, challenging the series leaders Jani and the Frenchman Loïc Duval who is using A1GP to boost his career. But more of this when we write at length about the Durban event in Motor Sport next month.

The series is better than you may think, more exciting than the critics have led us to believe. Grand Prix racing it is not, and was never meant to be, the cars are too slow and the driving skills required well below the pinnacle of the sport. But when the new Ferraris arrive on the scene, with their 4.3-litre V8 engines, greater skills will be called for. “At the moment,” says Earle, “the limits of the cars are well within the drivers’ capabilities, but the Ferrari package will be more of a pure racing car, a more sophisticated chassis, and then we’ll see who the top drivers really are.”

So, my first taste of A1GP, and it’s surprisingly refreshing, relaxed and – dare I say – fun. And that’s how it should be. Full report coming soon.

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As NASCAR’s Big Show moves from Daytona to southern California, news broke this week that IRL and Champ Car are on the brink of announcing a formal merger. The great chimera of reunification of American open-wheel racing is at hand after a bitterly debilitating twelve-year civil war.

Will this desperate, eleventh-hour deal save Indy car racing and mark the beginning of a long road to a successful rebirth? Or will the damage done prove too difficult to repair?

Obviously, it would have been much healthier to have done the deal three or four months ago before both series announced their 2008 schedules with their own contracts and commitments, and there’s sure to be plenty of fall-out from stitching Champ Car’s remnants into the IRL at this late date. What of the dozen Champ Car races and their local fans and media left in the lurch, disenfranchised by reunification?

What about Panoz and Cosworth, also apparently left with the short end of the stick? And it will also be a terrible thrash to get Dallara chassis and Honda engines into the hands of Champ Car’s teams so they can do some basic testing before they start racing the cars and engines against the IRL teams. You can imagine plenty of room for grumbling from many sides.

The big challenge remains the same. Leadership is desperately needed to heal the wounds, get the series going again in the right direction and create the right formula for the future that will attract engine manufacturers, car builders, sponsors, fans and serious media coverage.

The first step appears to have been taken. The next series of steps will be even more difficult.

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The passage of time means different things to different people. For a geologist, two hundred and fifty million years is a long time. For us motor racing nuts, seven weeks is a long time. That’s how long it is until the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. And it seems more than fifteen weeks since we saw Kimi Raikkonen cross the line at Interlagos. Wonder what he’s been doing? World Champion seems to be a very low-profile achievement these days. Pictures of Kimi grinning, in public at least, are rare but perhaps they are on the walls of every bar in Helsinki. We didn’t hear much from Fernando Alonso during the previous winter did we?

What we need, to lift the general gloom that seems to be settling over Gordon Brown’s Britain, is a British world champion. Now it is a long time since we had one of those. At Silverstone the other day I bumped into the last man to do it for us while chatting with another man who could, and should, have done it for us. Both had what it takes, skill and grit, and both are great ambassadors for motor racing. Damon Hill, now President of the BRDC and no longer looking like a heavy metal star, is busy putting back some of what he took in 1996. Derek Warwick, also busy finding, and helping, young British drivers would have made a wonderful World Champion. He turned down an offer from Frank Williams in 1985, the seat went to Mr Mansell, and he became, yes, a British world champion.

It’s all about being in the right place at the right time. Even Gordon Brown knows that. And so does Lewis Hamilton. But we don’t want to go over all that again do we? I fear that ITV will have more than enough to say as we edge closer to the sunshine of south Australia. Thank goodness for Martin Brundle, always a source of knowledge and humour amidst the hysteria. I watch ITV for Brundle in the same way as I bought Autosport, until this year of course, for Roebuck. And unless Matthew Paris makes a move, I shall continue to buy The Times. I’d like to read Alan Henry in the Guardian but the rest of that newspaper makes no sense to me at all. Reading is one of life’s great pleasures, along with Grand Prix cars at Spa, or just about any of the Greek islands.

You can probably tell I am a virgin blogger, a big, fat book beating a blog any day. But we must move with the times. Wonder what Jenks would have made of blogging? It would have been tricky for him to have got himself on line, the great man’s home not being connected to a supply of electricity. But I digress.

Seven weeks, then, until we get some real clues about the new Grand Prix season. For me, Jenson Button will be the interest. If Ross Brawn does not make a material difference to the Honda team I will be surprised. It is said that Mr Capello will do the same for England. Time, probably a couple of years in both cases, will tell. And it’s time I got on with writing up my chat with Derek Warwick. You can read it in your magazine two months from now.

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