Rob Widdows and I sit down again to discuss the latest news from the world of motor sport. CVC may be selling the rights to Formula 1, Rupert Murdoch and others may be buying them, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo is threatening to form a breakaway series again and the Formula 1 teams want a larger slice of the action. What, if anything, is going on?

The week in motor sport

As well as putting Rob on the spot about the current political situation in F1, we chat about the forthcoming Spanish Grand Prix and the MotoGP race in France.

We hope you enjoy it. As always, let us know your thoughts.

Next week we will be taking ‘the question of the week’ on the show so anything you want to ask Rob (within reason) please post below…

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Another installment of our ‘week in motor sport’ series. We talk about the MotoGP round at Jerez, that overtaking manoeuvre by Rossi, Le Castellet 6 Hours, Aston Martin’s Le Mans effort, the current state of the British Touring Car Championship and we also look ahead to the Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend.

I apologise for the sound now – that was my fault (you should never let a journalist loose with a mixer…), but we have lapel microphones on their way.

Do let us know what you think.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Or, if you’d like to download it…

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

It has become a custom for me to offer some predictions for the season ahead. Actually, it has become a source of much amusement and derision among my colleagues, who are never shy of reminding me how unreliable my predictions are. I will, however, continue the custom for those of you who enjoy a bit of harmless amusement.

So, here’s what may happen as we move through a new season of motor racing in 2011. In no particular order:

1. Sébastien Ogier will be a lot closer to Sébastien Loeb and will challenge for the World Rally Championship title.
2. Valentino Rossi will win a race on a Ducati.
3. Audi will win Le Mans.
4. Red Bull will start the season winning Grands Prix.
5. Paul di Resta will impress in the Force India (if he actually gets to drive one of the cars Rob… Ed).
6. Dario Franchitti will win the Indycar championship.
7. Felipe Massa will be replaced at Ferrari during the year.
8. Rubens Barrichello will retire at the end of 2011.
9. Dean Stoneman will be on the podium in GP2.
10. Ferrari will threaten to leave Grand Prix racing if the rules for 2013 are not changed to accommodate a V6 turbo engine.

All nonsense? Yes, probably, but let’s be bold this year. You will have your own thoughts on the season ahead, or you may decide to keep them to yourselves, which is probably more sensible. But remember, I did predict that Vettel would win the Formula 1 title in 2010

While we’re listing things, here’s 10 events not to miss in 2011. Again, in no particular order:

1. The Monaco Grand Prix – F1 cars are as exciting as ever they were on this circuit. Pure drama, with or without overtaking.
2. Indycars on any of the ovals. Still a thrilling spectacle.
3. IRC Ypres Rally. An easy drive from the UK and a lovely town with the service area in the main square.
4. The Goodwood Revival. Simply the best.
5. MotoGP at Mugello. Take a walk around the circuit and be amazed.
6. BTCC at Brands Hatch. Audi joins the fray this year. Great circuit.
7. WRC Rally New Zealand. Breathtaking scenery.
8. Algarve Historic Festival. Sunshine, beaches and mouth-watering cars.
9. The Brazilian Grand Prix. Crackling atmosphere, always a good race.
10. Midget cars on any dirt oval. You can combine this with the Indy 500.

Go on, treat yourself. It will only be more expensive next year. Whatever you do, wherever you are, let’s look forward to another great season.

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OK, I’m back.

Apologies for the silence but it proved to be somewhat tricky to send dispatches from the Grande Festival de Classicos at Portimao, this being due to the internet service suffering from intermittent failures without any warning. We, that’s the man from Autosport and I, considered demanding our money back, but we’d had such a good time at this terrific historic event in Portugal that we struggled on in silence.

Thankfully we were able to file our stories on Sunday night. Otherwise the editor in London would not have been impressed. Suffice to say, this is one of the highlights of the historic calendar, along with Goodwood, Spa-Francorchamps and Monza. It is also a highlight for those who participate for two main reasons.

One, most racers like to play golf, and the Algarve coast appears to have more golf courses per square mile than anywhere else in the world. Two, the Portimao circuit is a modern classic. Designed by former bike and car racer Paulo Pinheiro, it is a spectacular challenge for drivers and a wonderful place to watch. There’s a full report in the next edition of the magazine but I do urge you to get to this event if you can.

All in all, quite a weekend for us racing fans. In the media centre at Portimao we could watch MotoGP in Australia, DTM in Germany and the Rally of Scotland – simultaneously on three separate screens… what a remarkable world we live in today.

And that’s not to mention all the football. Not a good weekend for my aforementioned colleague and I. He being a Liverpool fan and I being a Manchester United fan, it would have all been rather depressing had we not had to go outside and write about some great motor racing

There was much talk in the paddock about Mark Webber going to Ferrari next year and about how Valentino Rossi will struggle to get to grips with the Ducati. I’m not saying the former is true, and I’d be surprised by the latter, but both are good things to gossip about at the bar after a day’s racing.

Rumours are rumours until they come to pass. Back in reality, Skoda did another great job in Scotland with yet another win for the talented Juha Hanninen who’s had a fantastic year in the highly effective Fabia. Guy Wilks was fast too, but failed to get to the finish. Only nine cars got to the end of this extremely tough rally. And what about Casey Stoner? A much-needed boost for Ducati and certainly Mr Rossi will have taken note of Stoner’s pace. Not one of the greatest MotoGP events but nonetheless an interesting result, Stoner and Ducati having been much stronger in the last two races. And the win moves the Aussie into third in the championship with two races to go, just eight points ahead of you-know-who…

We move on this weekend to what will be a very intriguing Grand Prix in Korea. The fascination is partly because nobody’s been there before, so all the pre-race data will have come from simulators, and partly because it will be interesting to see just who works best under the mounting pressure. The wire is fast approaching and this season will go all the way. Now is the time to see who can handle what is a very tense situation. Will the Red Bulls get tangled up in internal strife and allow Fernando Alonso to come through? Will the McLarens come good just in time?

These and other questions will be answered by Sunday night. But we won’t have all the answers for another few weeks. Ah, the anticipation… just how racing should be, and has been all season long.

Back soon with more ramblings as winter lurks on the edges of autumn here in England. And it could be an interesting winter. Will F1 testing be restored? Possibly. Will F2 champion Dean Stoneman get a drive at Williams? Will Webber go to Ferrari? Will Michael Schumacher be sufficiently impressed with the new Pirellis and his new Mercedes-Benz?

I’m not making any predictions. Not yet, anyway.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

We are fast approaching mid-season. Yes, I know, time flies. And the older you get the faster it flies. As a lad, my elders would tell me that the days and weeks rush by when you get beyond a certain age. They were right. I simply mention this for the benefit of our more youthful contributors.

Anyway, I thought it might be useful, amusing, or vaguely interesting to look back on my predictions for the season to assess the accuracy, or otherwise, of how things might go this year. You may remember that I suggested 10 things which might happen during, or by the close of, the 2010 season. I will take them in their original order, as I laid out the magic cards on January 4.

1. Hamilton and Alonso will tangle with each other – well, not yet they haven’t. Alonso has been too busy making mistakes on his own.

2.  Rossi will win the MotoGP title – no, he won’t, not after his horrendous crash at Mugello last Saturday. Although badly injured, Valentino has – according to the reliable Rick Broadbent in The Times – “discovered a great rapport with morphine”. Blimey.

3. Schumacher will win a race – not yet he hasn’t, but he still can. If only Mercedes could recapture the magic of Brawn GP.

4. Audi will win Le Mans – this time next week we’ll know.

5. Bernie Ecclestone will prepare to retire – no comment.

6. The Renault F1 team will be a shadow of its former self – just plain wrong.

7. Räikkönen will come back to F1 – still think he might. However Red Bull, which had been linked to Kimi, has now signed Webber for another year alongside Vettel.

8. Vettel will move to Mercedes – I think he will eventually.

9. Lotus F1 will be best newcomer – correct so far.

10. Somebody will run out of fuel before the end of a race – well, not yet, but it’s been extremely close on occasion. Virgin should have paid attention here.

OK, not a great result at this juncture you will no doubt be thinking. And you’d be right. But now we’re off to Montréal where anything can happen, and often does. The walls are very close and the grid will be very tight. And then there’s Le Mans  – a close-run thing between Peugeot and Audi for sure.

So, while we’re all stunned by the Rossi accident at Mugello and are suddenly acutely aware – by his absence on Sunday – just what a huge amount of excitement he brings to MotoGP, we have lots of other racing to look forward to.

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A few days ago I was fortunate to watch a truly enthralling sporting spectacle. Now, I’ve seen my share of great events, so I have comparisons. Yet, in my view, little currently compares with MotoGP.

On Sunday at Jerez de la Frontera, we saw why. The Gran Premio de Espana was always going to be a thriller, this race invariably producing a nail-biting finish. This is partly to do with the nature of the circuit and partly because MotoGP racing is just so damn close.

A huge crowd didn’t know whether to cheer for Dani Pedrosa or Jorge Lorenzo, both Spaniards and both in with a chance of beating Valentino Rossi who had hurt his shoulder falling off a Motocross bike. But everybody loves a legend, so they screamed and waved their flags for all three. And boy, were they entertained.

Pedrosa took a surprising pole on the Honda though he didn’t look very happy about it, complaining of inconsistent handling. Breathing down his neck were arch-rival Lorenzo in second (they don’t much like each other) and Rossi in fourth. Away from the line it was Pedrosa who got the jump followed by Rossi, who somehow managed to squeeze his way past team-mate Lorenzo. There is no quarter given or taken at Yamaha, where both men want the title – a first for Lorenzo and a tenth for Rossi.

Just as we thought it was going to stay this way till the end Lorenzo made his move, catching and passing Rossi before attaching himself to the back of Pedrosa, who could get no more from the Honda’s tyres. One of the great things about Jerez is that you have slow corners at the end of very fast straights, while one of the great things about MotoGP is that you have overtaking, and lots of it. The fun was about to begin.

As is so often the way, a superb duel between the two Spaniards – watched closely by Rossi – was decided by a breathtaking manoeuvre on the last lap. As they came down to the Dry Sack Corner, braking from 180mph to less than 50mph, Pedrosa ran wide and Lorenzo slipped through to win by half a second. He’d tried this move before, the bikes touching, Rossi ready to pounce, but this time he made it stick. Afterwards Lorenzo stopped out on the circuit to soak up the adulation, got going again, stopped again and jumped in a lake. By the time he made it to the podium, water streaming from his helmet, the crowd was hysterical.

I mention this because this weekend we return to Spain for a different kind of Grand Prix, this time at the Catalunya circuit outside Barcelona, a much less exciting track that does not encourage overtaking. Especially in a modern Formula 1 car. Sadly, we don’t go to Jerez any more. In recent years this race has been a procession, by the end of which you can’t wait to get to Monte Carlo where at least the procession is highly unpredictable.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. Sport has to be dramatic, it has to enthral, excite and surprise the audience. MotoGP does this in bucketfuls and I urge you to make the trek to Silverstone next month for the race there. I fear that the only surprise in store at Barcelona will be a close finish, never mind the cars involved. A brighter note on which to close is that, later in the year, things may get very spicy indeed between Messrs Button and Hamilton and between McLaren and Red Bull. Let’s hope so.

Whoever wins, however, he won’t be leaping into a lake. He will park neatly in parc ferme, hug his mechanics and step quickly to the weighing machine. Bring back laps of honour, flags flying and crowds yelling their approval. Much more fun.

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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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Some of you may remember that a couple of weeks ago my esteemed colleague Rob Widdows, wrote a blog about his predictions for the 2009 Grand prix season.

Well, I decided that it’s all very well making predictions but what are the odds of any of these happening? I annoyingly agree with almost every point Rob made, but others have different views and I decided that the only way to sort it – apart from waiting for a year – was to find out the odds of everything happening.

So here you go, Rob did say that he wasn’t taking any bets but Blue Square are apparently…

Robert Kubica to win the 2009 Drivers’ Championship: 6/1

McLaren to win the 2009 Constructors’ Championship: 15/8

The BMW F1.09 will win in Melbourne: 3/1

Giancarlo Fisichella will retire at the end of 2009: 10/3

Jarno Truilli will retire at the end of 2009: 7/2

Kimi Raikkonen will retire at the end of 2009: 11/4

Toyota will stop participating in Formula 1 at the end of 2009: 10/3

KERS will be stopped at the end of the season: 5/1

Williams will score over 50 points in the season: 2/3

Fernando Alonso will move to Ferrari in 2010: 11/4

Sir Fred Goodwin will be the next FIA president: 12/1

And a couple of others that I couldn’t resist while I was there…

Sebastien Loeb will win every rally this season: 7/1

Valentino Rossi to win the 2009 Championship: evens

James Toseland to win the 2009 Championship: 80/1

One of the most surprising ones? Loeb winning every rally this season at only 7/1. It appears that we aren’t the only ones that think the Frenchman is nigh on invincible.

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Having dropped his Ducati for the third race in a row yesterday during the Grand Prix at Misano, Casey Stoner was running out of excuses. After the race he explained that they “took the decision to put one lap on the race tyre in warm-up this morning to get it scrubbed in.”

Apparently they had done this before and never had a problem, but Stoner complained of a major lack of grip early on in the race (that must be why he disappeared into the distance and built up a 3-4 second gap after only a couple of laps). However, he went on to say: “after a few laps it started to feel better and I was gaining confidence but it let go.” So what’s going on?

If you want my opinion Stoner panicked. Like he had done at Laguna Seca, and at Brno. It’s all very well saying that he is always on the limit and therefore more likely to stack it. But isn’t it a little more than a coincidence that the moment that he has lost it, in the last three races, was when Rossi started closing the gap?

The ever-humorous Italian did admit after the race at Misano that he may not have been able to catch the Australian, but crasher Casey wasn’t to know that was he?

So Rossi leaves his home Grand Prix with a 75-point advantage and is set, without any major mishaps, to take the 2008, and possibly his greatest Championship.

Stoner’s quick, as is Rossi. The Ducati is hard to ride right (you only have to look at poor Marco Melandri to see how difficult), but at the end of the day is blisteringly quick. The Yamaha is getting faster, especially with Rossi leading the development, which is only helped by the fact that he is now using Bridgestone rubber, which is so much better than Michelin that at times it’s almost embarassing for the French tyre manufacturer. But the main difference is that Vale has years of experience and in my eyes is just a better rider. And Stoner knows it.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine