We are now 60 days out from the event – the bridge is over the highway. Construction is starting in earnest. I believe pre-race interest is quite high which is nice to hear.

Sorry to hear about Wil Power’s accident at Senoma California, I believe he’s done two vertebrae - all of us at A1 Team Australia wish him a speedy recovery. With Wil’s determination we’ll see him back in the cockpit shortly.

John Martin is doing well overseas and I hope he continues to have success, because the extra mileage he is accumulating will put him in good stead for racing on the Gold Coast.

We are planning on having an A1 Team Australia supporter’s party before the event. I will let you know a time and place closer to the event. 

Mark Webber has been impressing people of late with his speed and consistency, whilst he didn’t have as good a run in Spain as he would have liked, the championship is far from over.

The countdown continues with 53 days to go to the SuperGP. Good to hear Will Power is out of hospital and recovering. Fellow Aussie Ryan Briscoe won the last IRL race in Chicago. Both are ex-A1 Team Australia drivers. It looks like Ryan is heading towards the IRL Championship. So obviously we all wish him the best of luck in his endeavor.

I was very sad to hear of the passing away of Frank Gardner. One of the sport’s great characters. You could always rely on Frank for some good one liners. My sympathy goes out to his family and friends.

An unusual race in Spa Belgium yesterday, a great result for Fisichella in the Force India car. Formula One continues to throw up different race winners. Unfortunately Mark Webber didn’t score any points. Fortunately with his renown tenacity he’ll be in there fighting till the end.

It’s great to see the organizers of SuperGP are honouring Sir Jack Brabham as Number 1 Ticket Holder in the manner to which he deserves.

Our A1 Team Australia ignition party continues to gather momentum and I will continue to keep you informed on time and place. Don’t forget to bring your green and gold.

Great news that NIKON are back as naming rights SPONSORS to the SuperGP.

Obviously they realise this is not just a great venue but it represents worldwide coverage especially since A1GP is involved. And we look forward to a great association with Nikon.

The interest in A1 Team Australia is certainly ramping up as we get closer. Good to hear that Casey Stoner is coming back to MotoGP sooner rather than later.

Like all Aussies I’m looking forward to watching him flying the Aussie flag on his red Ducati. At this point it’s looks very likely that we will be giving our cars a shakedown before we hit the Gold Coast at Queensland Raceway on the Monday. This is great news as this will ensure the teams and drivers to be on the Coast well before the event, and more importantly be able to attend our party with a great opportunity to meet the locals.

The track continues to take shape and as far as I know is on schedule. Congratulations to our two Emma’s at the World Triathlon Championships, Emma Moffatt on a taking Gold in a fine victory helping to fly the Aussie flag, a great win on home soil in an international triathlon event last weekend.  And to Emma Jackson taking Silver in the Junior World Triathlon Championships.  I am really happy to be able to announce our Team’s Ignition Party at Billy’s Beach House from 7pm on the 20th, with live bands, giveaways, and we’re encouraging everyone to come dressed in their green and yellow to help celebrate with the team. We’re having a test day for all A1GP drivers on the 19th at Queensland International Raceway and this will help us assure you meet the A1 drivers on the 20th at our party.

Congratulations to Will Davison and Garth Tander for the victory at Phillip Island. Some of you may be aware Will Davison was an A1 Team Australia driver as was Will Power. We are happy to announce we have taken on Make A Wish Foundation as our chosen charity for season five so we are flying the flag around the world for Make A Wish, a charity that has always been close to my heart with two young children of my own. I always enjoy having the chance to help young children and I will start with our home event, and then promote this partnership with Make A Wish both on a national and international scale.

Bad luck for Ryan Briscoe at Motegi last weekend, unfortunately hitting a cone leaving the pits, damaged the front left hand suspension handing the win to Scott Dixon who now leads the championship. With one race to go he has certainly created some work for himself to win the series.

We are making good progress with bands for our Ignition Party at Billy Beach House on the 20th from 7pm. Don’t forget to wear your green and yellow in support of your Aussie team.

We have now signed off on our new team merchandise and are expecting final samples shortly which we will have on sale at our party. Adam continues to push the boy’s in pit stop practice as we prepare to race in an anti-clockwise direction with some new exciting rules for the pit stops starting with the Nikon SuperGP.

I hope this fantastic weather is as good for the start of the Nikon SuperGP as it has for the start of the nipper season.

Lastly, Amanda my wife and I would like to congratulate her grandmother in celebrating her 100th birthday at the BMD Northcliffe Lifesaving Club last Sunday.

The dust storm certainly arrived with gusto. Let’s hope we don’t have anything like that during the SuperGP event.

It was certainly good to be told Mr Tony Teixeira has secured enough funding for the next three to four years for A1GP.

And to see the photo of John Martin sitting on our car at Heathrow Airport ready to air freight to compete has certainly got the adrenalin running before the SuperGP.

Sorry to see Mark Webber crash out of the Singapore F1 GP through no fault of his own. This coupled with Monza has certainly made it quite difficult to win the championship –if I know Mark he will not give up regardless.

Big congratulations to Daniel Ricciardo for clinching the British Formula 3 championship. Daniel was one of the guys we tested at Silverstone in the A1GP car, where he showed signs of being a future champion.

Before I go don’t forget Billy’s Beach House Party on the 20th October from 7pm, live music with plenty of giveaways, wear your green and yellow to support A1 Team Australia.

It was great to see Casey Stoner come back after a three race layoff and finish second at Estoril yesterday. Obviously Ducati has proven he is the best to tame their MotoGP contender.

Mark Webber’s bad luck continues with his accident in practice before qualifying and starting the race from pit lane. Not much consolation but he set the fastest lap of the race taking that away from race winner and team mate Sebastian Vettel. 

Lots of F1 driver changes on the horizon as we see Rubens Barrichello being considered to race for Williams, Nico Rosberg to Brawn, Alonso to Ferrari, Raikkonen to either McLaren or Toyota, Trulli unknown as is Glock and Kovalanien possibly to Force India. 

The weather here continues to be excellent and hope it continues through to the Nikon SuperGP. We should be able to announce our Party Bands this week for the 20th at 7pm down at Billy’s Beach House.

If anybody wants to see what our new team retail collection will look like click on www.A1teamaus.com. We’re certainly gaining a lot of interest with the team party.

Yesterday was a BIG DAY OUT with sport taking in the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix followed by the NRL Grand Final, then Imola Superbikes and to close the day off with MotoGP in Estoril. I was a tired boy by the end of Sunday.

AJ

Well it was certainly an entertaining Bathurst as the weather can instil plenty of drama into races. Congratulations to Garth Tander and Will Davison, who is an ex A1 Team Australia driver and to see him on the podium again was excellent. More congratulations to an ex A1 Team Australia driver in Ryan Briscoe for finishing second in the IRL Championship over the weekend. I believe Wil Power continues to make good progress in his fitness campaign. Rumours continue to gather about Mark Webber moving to the Toro Rosso F1 team making way for the arrival of Kimi Raikkonen in 2010. Troy Bayliss certainly learnt the power of the mountain at Bathurst yesterday racing cars but I am sure he will continue to improve.

Great to see Gold Coast United break the drought with their success over beating the Brisbane Roar yesterday 1 nil at Suncorp and I wish Clive Palmer a speedy recovery after news of his collapse just after the game finished.

The countdown is well and truly on to our party at Billy’s Beach House on the 20th, and tickets are available at the door from 7pm.

That’s it for now; look forward to seeing you at our party. Cheer us on; wear your green and yellow, cheer on the Australian team.

AJ

A1 Team Australia is preparing for the event, our driver has arrived into Australia from Europe.

The party is still on at Billy’s Beach House on the 20th from 7 pm. I have been informed there will be 19 teams here to race.

I am well aware of all of the rumours going around. Yes I admit there is a modification that needs to be made to the car and I am informed by Adam Gotch our team manager this is a 6 – 7 hour job and can be done anywhere.

I’ve seen photos of our new team collection for the new season and they look great.

It is with great sadness when it was announced that A1 global pulled the pin on sending the cars to Australia denying the team a chance to showcase their new car and talents on home soil. Our driver had flown to Australia for plenty of PR activity before the event. Our new team collection was flown in for sale at the track now a collector’s item.  I am upset and disappointed like everyone else, extremely angry. Families are arriving to see their sons in the team, same for relatives and friends.

As you can imagine there have been a lot of things put into place for this event. We have formed a great media relationship with Hot Tomato, a technical partnership with MGL, our chosen charity Make A Wish just to name a few. Obviously I apologise from the team for them not being able to participate through this event at no fault of their own or ours.

On a brighter note congratulations to a double Aussie win in motorsport over the weekend with Casey Stoner’s victory at Phillip Island in the MotoGP, making it three in a row for Casey at the Island. And Mark Webber winning the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix ahead of a tough race flying the Aussie flag on the international motorsport stage. It makes you think if Mark didn’t have that bad run through the middle of the season he could have been a championship title contender. Same for Casey if he hadn’t had those three races off, same scenario.

It was great to see Gold Coast United beat Perth Glory 2-1 to regain top spot on the A-League ladder.

I am determined to go ahead with the party at Billy’s Beach House, as too many arrangements have already been put in place. There are some good gifts to hand out so you won’t be forgotten.
And our band is guess who “the accidents”. So come and join us all and have some fun together.

To end this blog I do hope you all enjoy the festivities of the SuperGP which will be a great event as it has been for the past eighteen years.

AJ

We have a lot to talk through this season delivering you a weekly blog on Formula One and MotoGP. We see the Formula One season coming close to a start with Bahrain on March 12-14 WHEN NEW TEAMS WILL FOR THE FIRST TIME RACE, early confirmation appears to be Lotus Racing with Virgin Racing. What is quite interesting is THREE airlines being involved, Virgin and Air Asia as team owners with Etihad as a major sponsor to Ferrari. Going are the days where the airlines were worried about their association with motorsport. The Lotus name will return after it’s last F1 RACE being in Adelaide 1994.

Michael Schumacher returns after a three year retirement, driving for Mercedes-Benz after spending 1996 to 2006 with Ferrari taking 5 world championships with the Italian team. He was quick in the first test, the second started this week with new teams joining them, and Mark Webber for Red Bull lined up to get ready for a challenge to the title like many of his rivals. Valentino Rossi was fastest in Sepang last week with our Casey Stoner a close second. It is early days so Ducati will have time before the next test there in two weeks to do some improvements to the bike.

To celebrate Formula One's 60th anniversary, the King has invited all of the living F1 world champions to attend and I will be driving my original race car for some exhibition laps.

Patrick Wedes whom I work with on motorsport projects will take care of a special group of enthusiasts for the same event, and then follow it on with Australia, Malaysia then Monaco. So if you want some fun at the Formula One send us an email patrick@gpshop.net

Well, a subject not on motorsport but the road itself is the ongoing loss of lives on the roads today. It seems to be a daily news bulletin thesedays somewhere in Australia. If anyone is interested to email us please do, as I am now offering any licenced driver the chance to drive the world champion. Here are the details:

OUR OFFER: TO HELP IMPROVE YOUR CHANCE OF SURVIVAL ON THE ROAD THIS EXCLUSIVE ONE ON ONE EXPERIENCE DRIVING WITH ME.

YOUR INVESTMENT: Your safety on the road is priority 1. ONE HOUR exclusive $750.

Starting from YOUR HOME or OFFICE  A SIGNED PHOTO CERTIFICATE from myself on completion. Give your children the best start to their driving future and help save lives Phone 0418 356 789, email patrick@gpshop.net to book in!

Well a second official week of testing for the Formula One teams has revealed a fast Ferrari package, with good times from McLaren and BMW. The Lotus made it’s track debut with reasonable times and a small shunt from their Finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen damaging an expensive nosecone.

My old team Williams with their driver Rubens Barrichello of Brazil topping the times in Jerez this week with 12 drivers present completing a total of 668 testing laps in wet weather conditions. I remember on days like this you wanted to get back to the hotel as soon as possible after the day had finished to dry out and get into a warm room for dinner. It was at times a lonely place when you try to get the best out of your race car with the engineers, trying different parts and setups.

Michael Schumacher left this week to his team mate Nico Rosberg, the son of a racing friend of mine, Keke Rosberg. Nico was fourth fastest making good progress. The Richard Branson team, Virgin Racing is not far off the pace as are Air Asia’s Lotus Racing team. Barcelona next week for some longer runs with hopes for better weather.

There is some concern over USF1 making the grid this season, so we should know more on that over the next few weeks whilst the Serbian based Stefan GP ship parts to several race destinations without a team licence to race. Maybe they know something we don’t?

MotoGP will test again for the second time this year in Malaysia at Sepang before their first round in Qatar at night for the opening race in April. Ducati are working in the factory to set the bike up for Stoner hoping to be the faster team ahead of the legendary Valentino Rossi on his new Yamaha. Lorenzo, his team mate prepares for more surgery on his right hand after a motocross fall last week and may also miss the last test in Qatar as he recovers and the governing body remove a Jerez test scheduled for next month. Honda’s riders Pedrosa and Dovizioso are happy with their first outing and expect a new step to gain some pace on their rivals next week. Not to forget the new Moto2 class of 24 riders tested in Catalunya this week with a mix of 125cc and former 250cc riders getting to learn the new bikes before their season opener with the MotoGP boys.

We have a competition now live on the website for YOU TO DRIVE THE WORLD CHAMPION. I am concerned over the carnage and loss of life on our roads. If anyone is interested I am now offering any licenced driver the chance to drive the world champion. Here are the details: HELP IMPROVE YOUR CHANCE OF SURVIVAL ON THE ROAD THIS EXCLUSIVE ONE ON ONE EXPERIENCE DRIVING WITH ME. Your safety on the road is priority 1. ONE HOUR exclusive $750. Starting from YOUR HOME or OFFICE  A SIGNED PHOTO CERTIFICATE from myself on completion. Give your children the best start to their driving future and help sav e lives Phone 0418 356 789, goto www.gpshop.net or email patrick@gpshop.net to book in!

At least til one of us turn 40 anyway.

This week the Formula One teams were in Barcelona testing low fuel loads with new aerodynamic parts before the first round starts on March 14.
 
Fernando Alonso has raced a Minardi, Renault, McLaren and now Ferrari, and has stated it is the best Formula One car he has ever driven. A big statement to make, not unusual in a new team, we will see how it all goes come raceday in a few weekends. Mark Webber had his Red Bull F1 car top of the timesheets on Thursday with his German team mate Vettel going a little faster, overall good signs for the team this season to challenge the title.

Lotus and Virgin Racing are still four seconds off the pace of the other cars, whilst the teams are happy, they do have a lot of work to do to close the gap. In Formula One, a second on another driver at times is worth hundreds of thousands to a million euros in extra development. Budgets are tight so we can only see over time how they bridge the gap.

Korea is 60% done on its construction of their first new Formula One purpose built international racing complex before the teams arrive mid September this year. The Far East is the new emerging market for international motorsport and all we need to do is help develop their driving academies. We are doing exactly that with The Motorsport Shop’s CEO Patrick Wedes. In Australia I am for the first time ever by a world champion, taking the time with a small investment from the public, to meet at your home or office and for an hour, go driving with you in your car to help you pick up on some vital driving tips to help save lives on our roads. There is more information at www.gpshop.net. I want to make sure together we can help save our children’s lives from all of the carnage on them today.

Young Italian hopeful Marco Simoncelli had a terrible crash yesterday in Sepang Malaysia during their second season official MotoGP test. He ‘high-sided’ and fortunately the air bag inside his racing leathers saved him from any critical damage. When he was found by the emergency crews, he was dazed and unsure of what had happened. There was some memory loss so he was flown immediately to hospital for a CAT scan than returned no damage to the brain. Simoncelli will return to the track today for more testing as he enters the MotoGP class for the first time. Valentino Rossi topped the time sheets once again on his Yamaha.

Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden are happy with their big leap forward on the Ducati while the new Moto 2 class continue to impress everyone with their natural talent moving from 250 cc to 600 cc four-stroke power revving up to 16,000 RPM.

With air bags inside their racing suits and helmets being made of Kevlar composite the motorbike racers today have a few extra safety devices over our good buddies from the past where Doohan and Gardiner managed it all with the specially manufactured racing helmets and normal leather racing suits with some spinal protection. It’s still fantastic racing to watch live. Comparing Formula One the G-force is a factor the Formula One drivers today have to deal with, going around corners and having your own body weight multiplied by three times on your neck is a job for the gym every day let me tell you.

Speak to you next week and remember, lets save our children’s lives on the road, call The Motorsport Shop today for more details on 02 95462654 or email patrick@gpshop.net
AJ

Well the hairdo on Marco Simoncelli in the MotoGP series riding the Gresini Honda brings back good memories of Jimmy Hendrix in rock and roll. The Italian is looking to chase down Valentino Rossi over the season who is in 2010 himself looking for his 10th world title. With a gap of 3 seconds to Rossi in testing last week Simoncelli has a lot of work to do before the season opens in Qatar under lights on 11 April.

Force India in its third season will look for a mid pack position early in the season and of course hunt for a podium as the new HRT F1 team have announced Karun Chandhok from India as the partner driver to Ayrton Senna’s nephew Bruno Senna. India has made a great leap forward into Formula One and now a driver will help their plans to host an F1 race in the not too far distant future.

Lewis Hamilton has just revealed his thought on quitting F1 after the scandal in Australia last year when the McLaren team manager convinced him to change his version of events at the stewards meeting. Hamilton felt he let the team down and the fans, but time helped heal his wounds as he stepped onto the podium a few more times.

Mark Webber tested well again in Barcelona and believes he has a good fast reliable car to start the season this weekend in Bahrain, I will be there as a guest of the King and Crown Prince of Bahrain, in the company of all living Formula One World Champions. A bonus will be driving my Williams FW07, the same car from my 1980 World Championship doing exhibition laps over the weekend.

We flew with Sir Jack and Lady Brabham to Bahrain for the opening round of the Formula One Grand Prix and happened to catch up with some of the older and more recent world champions. It was good to see Niki Lauda again, Emerson Fittipaldi, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell, Mika Hakkinen and Keke Rosberg, all of us as guests of the Crown Prince.

The gathering of cars from the sixties right through to the current day was a real spectacle for the fans and a few of the world champions drove their old cars for some exhibition laps before the main event.

The actual Formula One race start was exciting to see the cars all pushing their way into the first corner just as we saw a plume of smoke from Mark Webber’s car, at that point it looked like his race was over. Fortunately not and he continued on to finish in the points in 8th place with the two Ferrari of Alonso then Massa taking first and second. Michael Schumacher raced his new Mercedes to 6th place on his return from retirement back in 2006.

Round two in Melbourne was good being reunited with Williams F1 Engineering once again, reflecting back on my 1980 World Championship and this year being our 30th Anniversary when I won the world championship in 1980 in the Williams FW07. Sotheby’s will auction a 1980 Williams FW07 on April 18 so check the online updates for the latest memorabilia prices on Formula One cars.

We have released my full scale helmet replica as a limited edition, only to 30 individually and selling worldwide. Each helmet is signed and they come with a photo of me signing to accompany them for each one sold. Any more information contact The Motorsport Shop at www.gpshop.net or phone Patrick on 0418 356 789

Mark Webber was the focal point of the media and fans all weekend being at home. He was excellent all weekend with the amount of extra work he had to do over and above his racing duties. He managed to score points finishing 9th from a possible 6th after he pushed a little too hard on the second last lap and collide with Lewis Hamilton. Jenson Button took victory in his McLaren with Renault’s Robert Kubica taking second place and Felipe Massa third for Ferrari.

A good crowd attended the event and next we go to Sepang Circuit in Malaysia over the Easter weekend and then Qatar for the Bikes.

In saying that, we wish you all a Happy and Safe Easter.

Qatar delivered another good night race though an 11pm start at night for the riders is a bit different to the normal schedule of a MotoGP rider.

On lap six Casey Stoner made an error and lost the bike to bring a close to his race far too early. That played into the golden gloves of Valentino Rossi who took victory with Casey’s Ducati team mate Nicky Hayden in fourth making it the first 1-2 for Yamaha to open their season of MotoGP.

There was talk of starting the race earlier after a lot of night dew fell on Saturday night prior to raceday, but a warmer day on Sunday kept the race organisers to their original time.

This weekend we are in Shanghai for the fourth round of Formula One where Mark Webber would like the victory to get back up towards the top of the points ladder. Red Bull F1 is quick and reliable team, THE target for Mercedes, McLaren Mercedes and Ferrari as they add a new step to their cars chasing valuable championship points.

Shanghai has several fast long straights that make passing quite difficult when the top three teams are close to each other on straight line speed. The driver taking a tow behind another lead car is always at risk right at the end of a straight when they break the tow and brake at the same time, anything can happen.

There is a lot of car development going on in Formula One at this time of the season as teams try to jump others with new design upgrades. The F-Duct that McLaren designed is now a design other teams are working to design and add to their cars. There is a valve inside the driver’s cockpit that he closes off on a straightline so it helps stall the rear wing, reducing drag on his car’s rear wing allowing him to go faster. Once the sport’s governing body the FIA rule on the legality of this design, if it’s given the approval, then teams watch and push their engineers and designers back at their factory to step up a design change so they can also go faster.

It’s written to sound easy, but in real life, it is hard work because you have to make sure it can be applied on your car design. This is where a big portion of the team financial budget is consumed. The teams strive for perfection and over time pass this on to improve normal road cars.

Enjoy your weekend, please remember The Motorsport Shop at www.gpshop.net can be contacted on 0418 356 789 if you are keen for one of my signed prints or a perfect replica 1980 helmet specially prepared and released for my 30th Anniversary of the 1980 Formula One World Championship.

I wish all of our Anzac diggers and all returned service men and women a great Anzac Day on Sunday, we thank you.

Formula One’s round 4 at Shanghai delivered as expected with mixed weather, good and bad.

The guys who were on the front row didn’t finish in the same place let me tell you, it was a classic race with multiple pit stops for wet then intermediate then wet then dry tyres. The drivers in fourth through to sixth took the podium away from Webber, Vettel and Ferrari’s Alonso.

It was almost a swap from qualifying to the race result except Mark Webber finished in eighth. Those drivers who failed to finish had a run of issues to deal with, like some hydraulics and clutch failures, engines expired and a few had accidents on track. Everyone is ok, just a few repair bills mounting up for teams like HRTF1, Lotus, Sauber and Toro Rosso.

The volcanic ash forced the FIM [MotoGP’s governing body] to defer Motegi from this Anzac weekend to be the first of three in a row starting the first weekend in October, where we go to Japan, then Malaysia and Australia. We have a tour going to Malaysia if you are keen to join us leaving Australia on 5 October for six nights staying in the city and at the rider’s hotel, returning to Australia on 12 October. For more details go to www.gpshop.net or email info@gpshop.net

Since the China GP all of the teams spent most of their weekend chasing down the best way home for their crew, the race gear and how best to get ready for the next race as the series returns to Europe. A big contingent took the Trans Siberian railway into Russia and then another rail link to London via Paris. One photographer made a journey to Malaysia, Egypt and then into southern Europe to get home. It took him three days instead of one, ended well after he paid three times the normal cost to get there. And he certainly was not on his own!

Over the last fortnight we saw two Aussies take a win in Monaco in Formula One and Formula Renault. Then in Le Mans France, again another Aussie doing well until an early fall in MotoGP.

First to Mark Webber, the winner of the 2010 Monaco Formula One Grand Prix who after surviving four safety cars won the race to eclipse his team mate Sebastian Vettel and take the lead in this year’s F1 world championship.

The race had a few shunts, with a large round water access lid coming loose from the road taking out one of my old teams’ cars, that was Ruben Barrichello. When Rubens jumped out of his car he threw his steering wheel a few metres from his car only to see another driver come racing through into Casino Square and run over it. That ended up being a 20000 euro trashed piece of F1 car.

Mark drove a superb race, with the last Aussie winner in Monaco being our own Sir Jack Brabham back in 1959, who I might add, went on to win the world championship that same year.

Another young Australian whom I had the privilege to work with briefly in A1GP, was Daniel Ricciardo. We had Daniel contracted to drive later that season with A1 Team Australia, the same time Red Bull Junior tested him. His Red Bull season started months earlier than ours, and when they saw his talent, asked us to let him sign with them. We would not want to hold any talent back, and the proof is in his results. He won his Monaco Formula Renault race and is now the reserve driver for the Red Bull F1 team.

Whilst in France we had Casey Stoner ready to chase down Valentino Rossi’s current points lead in MotoGP, as they raced in Le Mans. This is the Michelin official test track and early in the race, Casey’s left foot slipped off the foot pedal, his balance shifted to the right and the rear of his bike let go. That was the end of his race, leaving him in 11th place on the title leader board, quite a long shot at this year’s title.

Let’s hope we can see some better results for Casey and GO WEBBER!

If you are keen to attend the British Grand Prix in July contact Patrick Wedes on 0418 356 789 or go to www.gpshop.net and email him from The Motorsport Shop. We are looking at a special event there and would be happy to have a few people join us on a very special Formula One Tour into the UK.

Our two Aussies competed in the Indy 500 on the weekend, with Will Power coming home in 8th place, a DNF for Ryan Briscoe unfortunately.

In the world of Formula One, at the Istanbul Circuit yesterday, Mark Webber was on his way to a trifecta of victories only to have his team mate on lap 40 take control of what he only saw on the track, expecting Mark Webber to just move aside with no warning whatsoever. In these circumstances, you often hear over the radio by the chief or driver engineer, to move over, well prior with some notice to help keep both cars on the track. In this case, there was no reason for that directive, because both were racing to win on the day.

No doubt the other Red Bull driver, Sebastian Vettel was at fault considering the way he came through on Mark’s left and moved onto Mark’s side pod without reason. Vettel took himself out of the race and left Webber to try and grab third place after leading the race for the 40 laps prior.

Next weekend we are off to Mugello in Italy to see if Casey Stoner can win on his Ducati. Then we will see a few more Aussies competing in the annual Isle of Man TT Bike race before more Aussies compete in the 24 hours at Le Mans in France.

Mark Webber leads the Formula One World Championship by five points ahead of the McLarens with his team mate fifteen points back now fifth in the championship after starting the race equal first.

With another round of MotoGP gone last week where we saw the 9 times world champion Valentino Rossi break a leg, the season and championship looks to have been handed over to the younger guys like Pedrosa on the Honda and Lorenzo, Rossi’s Yamaha team mate.

Montreal played host to the F1 last weekend amongst a tough Soccer weekend for all of us watching the Socceroos take on Germany.

Anyway, the F1 race in Canada was good, plenty of action where tyres played the lead role. When you see 7 times world champion Michael Schumacher finish 13th, you begin to wonder if a “comeback” was a good move. Lewis Hamilton and McLaren together drove a perfect race from the Pole Position to Victory, repeating his 2007 F1 debut drive at the same venue with the exact same result.

Mark Webber had to handle the penalty of a 5 grid positions back, after qualifying 2nd. So he started from 7th place and finished 5th. His strategy as well as his team mate Vettel, was to start the race on hard compound rubber tyres, the others around them all on softer compounds. The difference is grip and wear. Warmer temperatures the soft compound has more grip than the hard, but wears quicker. The engineers perfected the strategy as Red Bull couldn’t get past them to move back onto the podium, a place they’ve been every race so far this year.

Renault F1 had dramas that brought with it track penalties for some erratic racing manoeuvres whilst only one of the two Ferrari F1 could manage a respectable finish, Alonso came third.

In two weeks we race around the dockland waterside area on the streets of Valencia Spain before heading two weeks later into the UK to race at the new revised Silverstone Circuit with 8 rounds completed and 11 to go for a November season finale in Abu Dhabi. If you want to join me on Tour email The Motorsport Shop website from www.gpshop.net, we’ll take care of you all the way.

During the Valencia F1 round, Mark Webber was involved in a big shunt with Lotus driver Heikki KOVALAINEN mid way into the race when he came onto the back of the Lotus too fast and flipped into the air taking out an ad sign above ending in the tyre barrier wall at 200+ kmh.

Webber was lucky to have his car flip back onto its wheels otherwise he would have gone straight into the barriers upside down seated in the cockpit. You can see the work FIA has put into safety in F1 today as Mark hopped out of his race car and stepped into the medical car without delay.

Later on he said “he was a bit bruised and whilst going up into mid air afraid if he had have hit a bridge that crosses over the track” as that would have made the accident a whole lot worse. Both drivers were out, and his lead in the world championship affected. McLaren pushed Webber’s team mate the best they could to finish second and third behind Red Bull.

Mark still has a chance to catch the leaders provided he wins or podiums from now on at most events, though I know he would prefer it to be at all remaining events.

Casey Stoner is in the middle of speculation he will leave Ducati for a Honda bike next season. It has been rumoured the engineers for Casey at Ducati were informed they would need to find new jobs in 2011. If this is true, it appears that we will see Valentino Rossi take a Ducati and try to win a world championship for them and himself. Doing that he would be the first rider ever to win Grand Prix Motorcycle World Championships on four different manufacturers across six categories from 125cc to MotoGP and all in between. Casey is having issues with the bike and other slower riders, a few mistakes this season has certainly hindered his title hopes.

And Will Power won his Indycar series race at Watkins Glen on Sunday with fellow Australian Ryan Briscoe second, with Power now leading the championship series in the USA.

Jump on board our Tour to the night race Singapore Formula One Grand Prix with me as your host and the Tour managed by Patrick Wedes who has 11 years in the Grand Prix travel business. For more info go to the web or call us, www.gpshop.net or 0418 356 789

The Silverstone race is on 11 July with the German MotoGP on 18 July.