As the owners fight to keep Hockenheim on the F1 calendar, perhaps in rotation with the Nurburgring, is there no-one who sees the irony in the fact that they have just emasculated the circuit in true modern fashion? It was never the most exciting circuit in the world, but at least it had those long blasts into the atmospheric German forests; now they are gone in the interests of safety and we are left with the usual twiddly bits surrounded by grandstands.

Did I say “safety”? Hasn’t anyone noticed that accidents are not caused by going fast in a straight line? They happen in corners, exactly those things that we sprinkle in abundance into modern circuits. But it’s too late for Hockenheim to point this out; the deed is done and now the FIA comes with the axe. Never mind that the organizers were probably counting on the proceeds from future GPs to help pay for the “improvements”.

It was inevitable that one of the two German races would have to go, however (and Imola, of course). With countries lining up with wads of cash in their hands, desperate to have a GP, those countries with two GPs were always going to be the ones to lose. And no-one was ever fooled by talk of the “European” and “San Marino” GPs; we knew it was just a way of giving more than one to the favored nations.

And now it seems that European countries have dropped off the favored list. Whoever bids highest can have a race and, increasingly, that means the Far East. If we lose some of the most famous and best loved circuits in the world to be replaced by more sterile and “safe” chicane-fests, who cares as long as the FIA gets richer still?

Surely there has to be a limit somewhere. It’s all very well taking the money for new races in Asian countries but can it last? They may be huge markets but surely not for the stuff F1 is selling (especially with the ban on cigarette advertising). China still gets around on a bicycle and India walks. How many extra BMWs, Renaults and Toyotas are going to sell in those countries thanks to their having GPs? The races there are PR exercises only and, as such, can be guaranteed not to last for long.

I can only presume that the FIA doesn’t care. Now that they have the habit, they can shut down any GP and sell a new one as and when they please. And the sport becomes a mobile circus without tradition or soul, for sale to whoever bids the most.

Sometimes I think Montoya was right – that F1 will end up racing on ovals so we might as well go straight to NASCAR. The only bright spot on the horizon is the return of Spa next year. For how long, I wonder.

The war of words continues in the run up to the German Grand Prix this weekend. Both Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso remain bullish in their public statements, talking of winning races and the championship. Yet I detect a change in the air.

There are signs of nerves in the Renault camp. Alonso has been muttering about the need for his teammate to provide more assistance and Flavio Briatore talks of tires and urges Michelin to provide the goods. Meanwhile all seems well at Ferrari, with Massa enjoying the approval of the team after his defense of second place in the first stint in France, and Lauda asserting that Schumacher’s determination will result in his being champion again this year.

Renault have been through this movie before. In 1983, they were so sure that Prost had done enough to be champion that they concentrated their development efforts on next year’s car (which turned out to be a dog anyway). This allowed Piquet in the Brabham BT52 to sneak through and steal the championship at the last. It’s no wonder that sweat is beginning to break out on the Renault forehead.

The most galling thing for the team must be that, to a large extent, their fate is not in their hands; as Flavio has hinted at, much depends upon Michelin continuing the development of their tires right up until the final race of the season. Although they deny it emphatically, there remains the thought that they might ease up now, knowing that they will no longer be in F1 next year. Renault must hope that Michelin’s desire to leave on a high note remains strong.

The performance of Fisichella also depends on the tires. In races where the Michelins have been competitive, Fizzy has been equal to the task of assisting Alonso’s drive to the championship, usually finishing ahead of Massa. But, when Bridgestone get the upper hand, Fisichella seems to suffer more than Alonso and he can end up fighting with the Toyotas rather than the Ferraris.

So all eyes are upon Michelin this weekend. Will they be able to catch Bridgestone or even pass them? It remains to be seen. But in the meantime, some words of comfort for Renault: if disaster happens and Alonso has to retire from a race that Michael wins, he will still be in the hunt for the championship; if Michael fails to finish a race, he can forget being champion this year. Fernando remains the best bet.

The potential storm over the FIA’s choice of manufacturer for a standardized engine control unit, as mentioned in my post Microsoft to Enter Formula One?, is brewing nicely.

Ever the diplomat, Jean Todt has played down suggestions that McLaren will have an unfair advantage since their subsidiary, McLaren Electronic Systems, will be working on the units. Whilst admitting that MES will have experience of the Mercedes engines that power the McLaren cars, he says that the FIA have been clear in their specifications and this should prevent any conflict of interest arising.

That seems a bit hopeful to me. If we are talking “conflict of interest”, it is obvious that the possibility should be avoided entirely by awarding the contract to a company unattached to any of the teams competing in F1. Without casting any aspersions on the good faith of the McLaren organization, the fact remains that the opportunity is there for a bit of tweaking to favor a particular team. Computer programming is an arcane science and Microsoft have already proved experts at sneaking unexpected and dubious nuances into their software.

Magneti Marelli, one of the major suppliers of electronics to F1, are surprised at the news that their services will no longer be required after 2007. Their Managing Director has wondered at the logic used by the FIA in coming to their decision. Clearly, he feels that the choice was made on grounds other than technical excellence and my cynicism leads me to the conclusion that money has once again been the deciding factor.

If F1 has to have a standardized ECU (and I can’t see that it does), should we not expect that any contract for such a device be awarded to the best system offered by a company without any conflict of interest? Magneti Marelli must have tendered for the contract since they are surprised not to have won it; yet they have a long history of supplying electronics to F1 teams and their current customers include Ferrari and Renault. I find it difficult to believe that their system was not as good as that offered by a company that has nothing like their track record.

So it has to be money that decided the issue. Either Microsoft MES tendered their system at a much lower price than Magneti Marelli’s or sweeteners were offered. And that brings the whole question of the FIA’s decision-making into doubt. Do we really want the sport to be governed by a body that considers its own income the most important factor in designing the regulations?

Maybe I am wrong. It is just possible that the FIA made this decision after careful consideration of all sorts of technical matters. But it would be helpful to know just why they opted for the Microsoft MES system. Do you think they’ll tell us if the storm gets big enough?

On a lighter note, we can hear what Microsoft says on the subject of F1. On one of their support pages, MS announces:

When you press F1 after a Web page dialog appears, Microsoft Internet Explorer may unexpectedly quit, and you may receive the following access violation error message:

Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

I really don’t know what to say…

It is rare these days for a brand new team to enter F1; far more common is it for a fading team to sell out to some hopeful and monied owner, thereby bringing a new name into the sport. If we look at the teams on the grid this year, Sauber are metamorphosing into BMW while four other teams were once known by other names:

Midland F1 were Jordan
Toro Rosso were Minardi
Super Aguri were Arrows

But, hold on, that’s only three – which is the fourth team? Now that’s a long story…

Way back in 1981, a successful Formula 2 team, Toleman, decided to make the step up to F1. They arrived with the TG181 which, frankly, proved to be a dog. But they had a gifted designer working for them, one Rory Byrne, and later he produced the TG183 which was both innovative and competitive. In the hands of Derek Warwick, it scored ten points in 1983.

The team developed the car for the following year and gave a young Ayrton Senna his first chance in F1. He rewarded them by nearly winning in Monaco (that was the year it rained and the race was stopped with Prost in the lead but Senna closing swiftly) and a third in the British GP.

Thereafter, the team ran into problems and, at the end of 1985, they sold out to Benetton. Rory Byrne stayed with the new outfit and the cars became better and better, eventually winning the driver’s championship with Michael Schumacher in 1994 and both titles the following year. Then Michael left to join Ferrari and, at his insistence, Rory Byrne too was persuaded to head for Maranello a year later.

The Benetton team’s fortunes declined after that and, in 2001, they were bought by Renault. Which brings us up to the present – a long story with a surprising ending. How strange is it to reflect that the car to beat this year could actually be called a Toleman?