MOTORSPORT: Classic moments await Aussies

Two thirds of a triple crown in one weekend
Apart from Bathurst, this is the best weekend of the motorsport year. The Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 -- two of the world's great races.

And this year Australians are in with a real shot in both -- Mark Webber at Monaco and Ryan Briscoe and Will Power at The Brickyard.

Oh, and Marcos Ambrose will be going around in one of NASCAR's biggest races at Charlotte, North Carolina, but not with much chance of winning.

There may be better F1 and Indy racing during the year, but it won't have the meaning of the Monaco and Indianapolis classics.

NASCAR's Daytona 500 is already well behind us for this year, and the Le Mans 24-hour sports car race is coming up next month, but to us Bathurst, Monaco and Indianapolis are the triple crown for an Australian car racing fan.

We'll come back to these events later, but to other matters -- largely off-track -- now.

Ferrari court out, but it's still early days
In all the Formula 1 politicking it seems, just at the minute, that Ferrari may be snookered, or have snookered itself.

It lost a court case in Paris mid-week seeking to stop the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) introducing its F1 rules planned for next year, especially an A$80 million budget cap on teams -- which big, established teams would be allowed to exceed, provided they succumb to stricter technical limits (although we thought there was agreement several days ago on avoiding just such a two-tier system).

The crux of the court decision was that Ferrari had had the chance to veto the rules at meetings in March and April and hadn't.

Fresh talks will be held in Monaco today (Friday) between the FIA, F1 commercial chief Bernie Ecclestone and the F1 teams, ahead of the May 29 deadline for entries in the 2010 world championship.

Ecclestone has conceded there is a very strong chance several existing teams won't enter, certainly on time. That is no big deal for now.

Ferrari, undoubtedly F1's greatest team, has not covered itself in glory in the past couple of days.

Clearly unhappy with the outcome of the Paris court hearing, and still threatening to withdraw from F1 at the end of this season, it has publicly mocked the outfits mentioned as potential new entrants next year -- Lola, USF1, Wirth Research (run by Nick Wirth, who headed the Simtek team for which David Brabham raced in the early 1990s), Epsilon Euskadi, RML, Formtech, Campos and iSport.

"Can a world championship with teams like them -- with due respect -- have the same value as today's Formula 1, where Ferrari, the big car manufacturers and teams, who created the history of this sport, compete? Wouldn't it be more appropriate to call it Formula GP3?"

So much is great about Ferrari, but such statements don't reflect well on it. Clearly it likes everything going its way.

Indeed, something occurred to us this week in this whole F1 imbroglio -- that Ferrari is so opposed to a two-tier F1 technical and budgetary scenario, yet it has happily enjoyed a two-tier financial system in recent years that has allowed it to pocket many millions dollars more for winning the constructors' championship than any other team.

The situation is too complex to go into in great detail here, but for those interested we can steer you to more reading material -- some of it a little dated now, but containing excellent background material.

Firstly, a news feature by wire service Agence France Presse, here

A feature from The Times on Ferrari's secret sweetheart deal, here

And a report by an academic of how F1's direction could endanger innovation, here

Something else now occurs to us about this whole F1 picture ... the FIA may have won one battle in court, but Ferrari always has access to the best legal advice and representation, so it may well have tricks up its sleeve yet.

However, Mosley -- in disgrace at this time last year after the revelation of his sexual activities -- is displaying his brilliant legal, political and manipulative skills, so it could become a multi-round "heavyweight" fight.

Most disturbing is that the drivers, existing teams and now fans are tiring of the over-abundance of politics.

Thankfully there's a race, and the crown jewel of F1, on Sunday to distract from most of that.

Opportunity knocks loudly for Webber
For Australian fans, the most important on-track development in F1 is that red Bull Racing now has double-decker diffusers on the rear of the RB5 cars of Aussie Mark Webber and his German teammate Sebastian Vettel.

Red Bull technical director Adrian Newey says that the new diffusers, squeezed around the pullrod rear suspension, should give Webber and Vettel the chance to close the gap on the Brawn GP cars of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello.

"It is a misconception that Monaco is a very low-speed circuit," Newey said. "Obviously in lap speed it is, but there are some reasonably quick corners, so downforce is important."

Qualifying well is crucial on the famous street circuit, even though the driver on pole position has only won four times in the past decade.

McLaren has won five of the past nine Monaco GPs, including the last two. Over the past 25 years McLaren has won 15 times and Ferrari three. And Ferrari has not won in Monaco since Michael Schumacher's victory in 2001, although it has set the fastest lap in four of the past five races in the principality.

There have been indications this week that Red Bull will nominate Vettel as its No. 1 -- or preferred -- driver if he consistently outpaces Webber, although team boss Christian Horner continues to talk up the Aussie as "one of the most underestimated drivers" in F1.

However, Horner told Germany's Sports Bild publication that Vettel, "despite his unbelievable speed, drivers very economically, using less fuel" than Webber.

While Vettel is clearly a potential world champion, Webber is now in a wonderful position.

He won at Monaco in his Formula 3000 days, he now has the best car he's had in his GP career, Newey has already (quietly) reckoned it to be the fastest in F1, and if he can qualify on the first two rows this weekend and drive a faultless race that fairytale victory may just come his way.

Australia's two drivers in the great American race will start second (Ryan Briscoe) and ninth (Will Power), although -- unlike Monaco -- grid position has little relevance in such a long (500 miles, or 800km) oval event.

What Briscoe and Power have going for them most is the might of Penske Racing behind them -- and "The Captain", team owner Roger Penske, is due for his 15th victory at The Brickyard.

Helio Castroneves, the Brazilian on pole position, is Penske's main man -- he has delivered two Indy 500 wins for him already -- but Briscoe and Power will have the best of resources available to them.

The stars are well aligned for Briscoe, but we wonder whether Power has enough oval experience to pull it off.

We'll be delighted, though, if either Aussie gets to drink the milk in Victory Lane.

Storm clouds gather over Holden teams
We reeled off earlier a list of potential teams lining up to enter F1, and David Richards' Prodrive could be added to that list, under the Aston Martin banner, if it could be assured of genuine cost containment in GP racing.

It's amazing that there could be such interest at a time of such miserable global economic conditions.

It also occurs to us that the F1 queue is in stark contrast to V8 Supercars.

While there is general agreement that the Australian touring car series is holding up well in the economic environment, there is plenty of whispering that the full extent of the financial hardship won't be felt in V8 Supercars until next season -- after many existing sponsorship contracts have expired.

Holden Racing Team boss Tom Walkinshaw is quoted in this week's Auto Action magazine saying that Holden's involvement in V8 Supercars is probably dependent on the outcome of the General Motors crisis in the US -- and that it may be September before HRT's future is clear.

What that Auto Action article also points out, disturbingly, is that Holden's agreements with Kelly Racing, Paul Morris Motorsport and Brad Jones Racing "are also in their final season".

What's to say that, even in a best-case scenario, Holden won't follow Ford's lead of financially supporting only two V8 Supercar teams?

Reuss has told Wheels magazine, like Auto Action a "cousin" of ours, that "the two-brand format (Holden and Ford) is a very dangerous business model -- and I've told them (V8 Supercars Australia) that."

"I think they should open it up to other brands.

"I would love to see a Toyota Aurion in V8 Supercars, because I would love to beat them."

Yes, Mr Reuss, but there's not the slightest sign that Toyota wants to play V8 Supercars.

And, as we've raised here before, as much as the category has a solid fan base, has anybody thought seriously about whether V8 touring cars have a future three, five, seven or 10 years out?

And, if not, what's the alternative/replacement?

It seems Reuss does see a V8 Supercar future for some time, but we gather he also has told V8SA he wants to see a support class that is production-based and gives fans a sense they can afford the cars -- and that those cars have parts from Holden and Ford's original equipment manufacturers.

CAMS KO's stewards probe plea on splitters
The "Splittergate" controversy rumbles on in V8 Supercar racing.

Auto Action reports that the Confederation of Australian Motorsport (CAMS) has rejected an official request for the V8 stewards to intervene.

"CAMS ruled out an investigation initiated by the stewards, deeming it 'not appropriate'," AA editor-at-large Mark Fogarty wrote.

"The most likely next move in the escalating dispute is an official protest by a rival team at Symmons Plains (in Tasmania) next week if Team Vodafone and its customer teams revert to their shock-absorbing splitters."

A review by V8 technical director Campbell Little, formerly of Team Vodafone, ruled those splitters "not to be illegal" while pledging a rethink of the rules.

Fogarty wrote that CAMS' main objection to a stewards' investigation was that "the stewards were being asked to act on the controversy 'of their own volition'."

"(V8SA chief executive Cameron) Levick's request was denied on the basis that 'it was not appropriate' because eligibility questions can only be referred to the stewards by the IPO, a protest by another team or teams, or in 'exceptional circumstances'."

Fogarty concluded the article with: "Campbell Little's lack of action is still a major source of unrest among the other teams."

What a pleasure to see and read a fitting tribute to the country's most cherished motor sport legend -- magnificent old photos, a rundown of that 1959 season, a Fogarty interview, Mark Webber tracing his place in the F1 landscape to his father's admiration of Brabham, tracing the origins of the rear-engined Cooper Climax, and a feature on Sir Jack's karting champion grandson Matthew.

Well done, AA.

And still we shake our heads at why due honor wasn't arranged for the great man at this year's Australian Grand Prix.

Rally Australia's messages get sideways
The propaganda machine for the new Rally Australia has continued at full rpm this week, but it hasn't all been smooth going.

There's been an embarrassing backdown over the way the views of environmental scientist Dr Steven Phillips, who wrote an ecological report on the event, were projected, see here

The ABC carried a report on environmental concerns, see here and in the local press the Tweed Shire mayor was portrayed as sitting on the fence over the event, see here

For the official line, and all the reports that have been trundled out, see rallyaustralia.com

More than anything, the revival of Rally Australia -- previously held in Western Australia for almost two decades -- needs a top Australian entry.

We noted this week talk that reigning junior world rally champion Sebastien Ogier's place in the Citroen junior team is in doubt beyond mid-June.

That may open the way for Aussie Chris Atkinson to return to the WRC -- but he surely will still need to source sponsorship to do it.

Atkinson, a Subaru factory driver for four years until that team folded at the end of last year, was fifth in his one outing for the Citroen junior team early this season.

Images: Power, Briscoe - indy500.com; Webber - Martin Trenkler for markwebber.com

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