There is only one item of news of any importance today but it’s a doozey: Mighty Max Mosley’s proposals for rule changes in 2011. I won’t detail them here as there are plenty of sites that give the whole press release (Pitpass dot com has the best article so far, I think) but essentially, you can look foward to an F1 world of 2.2 liter turbo-diesels with traction control and standardized bodies.

Before I begin, let me say that I resent being forced into the position of appearing to be an extreme anti-environmentalist. When the lunacies of the greenies begin to affect the sport I love, however, I have no option but to emerge from my preferred stance of keeping my own counsel to call for a brake on this drive back to the caves. Regular readers will have read me on the subject before and I have already had a good rant on the forum I use, but it is not enough; I apologize, but I have to raise my voice once again in the cause of balance and common sense.

Surely every F1 fan must be horrified by Max’s proposals. Already the calls for his resignation are rising from the ranks of those who truly care about the sport. This is not sufficient, however, as there is no guarantee of who would succeed him in that unlikely event; we need to attack this disease at its root, not its effect.

For F1, that root is the surrender of the FIA to the car manufacturers. That results in the two motivating factors behind Max’s brave new world: that F1 must become relevant to the advance of road car technology and that the sport must be seen as being eco-friendly. Both motivations are diametrically opposed to the prime reason for the existence of F1 - fun, entertainment, a sport indeed.

Those involved in F1 do so because we are a competitive species and love to pit our wits and skills against each other - there is no great benefit to humanity in ascertaining who is the fastest, the cleverest or the best; it’s fun and interesting, that’s all. The fans watch because they too are competitive and want to see humanity’s finest competing against each other and to root for their heroes; it is entertainment, no more and no less.

This is what we call sport and, naturally, F1 fans feel that it is the best sport there is. Take away that reason for doing it and suddenly F1 becomes meaningless beyond an extension of the motor industry’s R&D departments. Watching it would be like taking a tour of a car factory - interesting for the technically-minded but deathly boring for anyone who wants to become involved in a competition to see who is the best. It is the human factor that is being excised from F1 and with it will go all reason for watching it.

I have pointed out before that the manufacturers do not need F1 as a test bed - they have plenty of such facilities already. They should recognize that, if they insist on being involved, they are there only to provide the machinery that enables drivers to compete. Somehow F1 must be wrested from the grasp of the manufacturers and placed back in the hands of those who understand that it is a sport and therefore has nothing to do with practical, everyday things - it is about competition between flesh and blood above anything else.

What really galls me about all this is that Max is doing it in lip service to a theory that is fundamentally flawed and exposed several times over as just plain wrong: the idea that mankind is causing the warming of the atmosphere and that this will soon make the planet uninhabitable. This is not the place to enter the debate that rages over the theory; if you are interested, my website, Global Warming Latest is a quick and easy introduction to the arguments against the theory. But anyone as old as I am must surely remember that, before the global warming hysteria, we were subjected to assurances that we were causing the onset of another Ice Age and, before that, we were confidently advised that overpopulation would bring on worldwide famine before the year 2000.

These are fads picked up by politicians and exaggerated for their own nefarious purposes. Even those scientists who think that global warming is taking place admit that it will have no discernible effect on climate for another hundred years at least. There is no mad hurry to reduce society to some sort of hunter/gatherer paradise just yet, even in the worst scenarios imaginable. The haste is caused because the politicians who encourage the hysteria cannot afford to wait a hundred years - they want power now.

And for this mess of potage, Max wants to destroy F1 as a sport. How dare he propose such ridiculous changes to something that belongs to us, the fans who ensure that F1 continues? It is no longer sufficient for us to bow to the diktats of the greenies by some humble admission that we should be more eco-friendly, as is done by those who want to avoid a fight. The fight is upon us and it is time for us to stand up and demand that our sport remain as such.

I know that attempting to get some sense into the minds of the money men who run the FIA has as much hope of success as starting a search for the fountain of youth. But I have to try. If F1 fans do not raise a shout of protest that is heard even in the hallowed corridors of the FIA, we will see our sport reduced to ruins. We stop the rot now or never.

I have written before about the pressure the arrival of new and talented young drivers puts on the old guard of F1. Even recent arrivals like Mark Webber must be looking at the hype surrounding such hotshoes as Kubica, Kovalainen, Sutil and Hamilton and wondering where their next drive is coming from.

The first few races have put some of this into perspective, with Kovalainen and Kubica struggling to make an impact at first, but Hamilton’s amazing form has upped the ante for everyone, including the young ones. Suddenly every team owner wants another Hamilton and the pressure transfers to the new arrivals to prove that they, too, can work miracles.

No doubt reality will break through eventually and everyone will breathe a sigh of relief as Hamilton makes the occasional mistake or suffers a run of bad luck (he had both in GP2 - it will happen in F1 too). But the benchmark for new drivers has moved higher than ever before and will stay there.

Like him or loathe him, Michael Schumacher has become the model for drivers to be measured against now. The extreme levels of fitness, commitment, technical ability, tactical astuteness, public persona and speed he demonstrated are now expected of all drivers and we may have seen the last of the drivers who rely only on a God-given talent to see them through.

Hence the pressure on Raikkonen at the moment; he is seen as supremely talented but uncommitted to his task and his early departure from the Barcelona GP is cited as evidence of this. Rumors abound that Scott Speed is about to be replaced at Toro Rosso (by Vettel, of all people) and the denials by Berger and Tost do little to quell speculation. The pressure on drivers mounts to the point where the message becomes “deliver the goods by mid-season or you’re history”.

It is all faintly ridiculous and ignores the fact that many champions have taken time to find their feet in F1. Nigel Mansell was one and it took Keke Rosberg years to be offered a competitive drive. We need to face the fact that not every potential champion is a Schumacher, that many great talents of the future will have other approaches to their task.

All of which is leading up to another plea for Speed not to be dismissed. I have already pointed out his excellent performance at Barcelona, in spite of bad luck preventing any fulfillment of the promise. Here now are the midday practice times from today’s testing session at Paul Ricard:

1. Webber - Red Bull - 1:29.687
2. Raikkonen - Ferrari - 1:30.051
3. Speed - Toro Rosso - 1:30.053
4. Barrichello - Honda - 1:30.108
5. de la Rosa - McLaren - 1:30.457
6. Montagny - Toyota - 1:30.478
7. Rossiter - Super Aguri - 1:30.575
8. Kovalainen - Renault - 1:30.917
9. Kubica - BMW - 1:30.931
10. Wurz - Williams - 1:31.324
11. Winkelhock - Spyker - 1:32.756
12. Albers - Spyker - 1:32.960

Enough said.

Update - Final Times from Paul Ricard, 3rd Day:

Raikkonen, Ferrari - 1:28.833
Speed, Toro Rosso - 1:29.039
Kovalainen, Renault - 1:29.070
Kubica, BMW - 1:29.157
Webber, Red Bull - 1:29.179
Montagny, Toyota - 1:29.205
Wurz, Williams - 1:29.359
de la Rosa, McLaren - 1:29.528
Barrichello, Honda - 1:30.108
Klien, Honda - 1:30.235
Rossiter, Super Aguri - 1:30.286
Albers, Spyker - 1:32.245
Winkelhock, Spyker - 1:32.756

When it comes to giving the fans what they want, some teams are better than others. Renault have long led the way in reaching F1 fanatics, with an active team club, excellent information on the website and an openness that puts other teams to shame.

Now they have re-instated their podcast in a new format and it is well worth a listen. You can hear it by clicking on this link. This time round Pat Symonds, Steve Nielsen, the Sporting Manager, and Jeff Fullerton, Machine Shop Manager, are interviewed on such subjects as the car’s performance, the rise of young drivers in F1 and the quality of TV coverage. They pull no punches, giving their views frankly and without avoiding sensitive issues.

Full marks to Renault for such an excellent innovation.

When I started this site, I knew that I could not compete with the news sites. They have access to information much earlier than I do, some info sources only release news to “the accredited press”, and there are lots of writers working on most sites whereas I am just lil ol’ me.

So I had to offer something different and, cheekily enough, that had to be the only other thing I have to offer - my opinion. F1 fans love to debate the finer points of the sport, however, and so my approach has been to say what I think but allow plenty of room for others to disagree. At times we have had lively debates in the comments system as a result (and yes, I do drop everything else and hurry over to F1 Latest when I see a comment arrive).

The fact remains that I am still only one person, however, and Dan M has asked that I post more often. At times I do come across more than one item of interest in a day but time constraints usually prevent me writing more than one post daily. So I am going to continue with the regular posts but add snippets with perhaps a brief comment as they occur.

There are other sites that offer news and comment on F1, food for the ever-hungry fan, and I have my own list that I visit daily. Since I believe that we all offer something slightly different and are not in competition therefore, here’s a sneak peek at the ones I consider the best:

F1 Fanatic dot co dot uk. In my opinion, easily the best F1 blog on the net (with the possible exception of F1 Latest of course!), Keith Collantine does most of the articles but Ben Evans contributes his own occasional insights as well. More newsy than my own blog, it still offers plenty of scope for comment and discussion and the writers are extremely knowledgeable and fair. Lots of extra goodies available too.

Pitpass dot com. A really quirky but entertaining site, not really a blog since it has no comments system but has a forum (which I have never visited - I don’t usually “do” forums but more on that in a moment) where views can be expressed. The mix of news and humor is unique and highly effective, the writers well informed and authoritative. Again, there are plenty of extras provided.

Autosport. The best of the news magazine sites. If it’s not in Autosport, it’s usually not worth reading. Their format is the best, too - straightforward design, not too many graphics to slow down loading yet plenty to interest.

F1-Live dot com. Pretty much the same news as Autosport but occasionally they get something that’s been missed. Very comprehensive site but they come second in the news stakes because the heavy loading with graphics, animated advertising and inducements to other parts of the site make it slower to get where you want to be.

Grand Prix dot com. A news site with a difference. They pick and choose as to which stories they’ll run and often have stuff that the other sites don’t reach. Mike Doodson does occasional articles for them and he’s very good. And then there’s the Mole - very wry British humor but not updated often enough.

The Pitlane Club Forums. My first foray into forums. I picked this one because (a) they invited me, (b) it was new and looked to have potential and (c) the owner is doing everything he can to keep out the trolls. So far it has been very good with interesting topics and not too much silly invective thrown around. If you want to chat about F1, it’s worth a try.

Finally, there’s Patrick. His site is a straightforward blog, Motorsports Ramblings, and he doesn’t update nearly often enough. But when he does, he’s worth reading - writes well and very knowledgeable. I recommend taking a look and then going back occasionally to see if there’s anything new…