Andretti considering NASCAR move

IndyCar team owner Michael Andretti has confirmed that his company Andretti Autosport are seriously considering branching out from IndyCar and setting up a team in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Although IndyCar is extremely popular, NASCAR is America's premiere Motor Racing category.

Michael Andretti confirmed that they looked into setting up a team last year and for this year but they were unable to put the sponsors or engine deal in place. It would very interesting if it was to happen as Andretti would join fellow IndyCar team owners Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi who have managed to transfer their success in IndyCar to the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

It has emerged however that Dodge who are losing the Penske team to Ford next year are very keen to team up with Andretti Autosport in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Andretti has said that the scope to attract big sponsors in NASCAR is one of the reasons why he is looking to set up a team.

So here's an interesting scenerio, with Danica Patrick now racing in NASCAR full time could she leave JR Motorsport and join her old IndyCar boss in NASCAR? Danica arrival in NASCAR has proven to be a huge success for both parties and she enjoyed some great results during her five008 year stint with Michael Andretti's Anretti Green Racing and later Andretti Autosport Indy team. Their main success came at the 2008 Japan Indy 300 when Danica became the first female driver to win an open wheel race.

I believe that this would make huge commercial sense for both parties particularly for Andretti because Danica has experience of racing in NASCAR and who is driving a Dodge car. So we'll have to watch this space.

London GrandPrix could be on the cards

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has announced plans for a London GrandPrix. The announcement comes on the back of confirmation last week that one of the bids for the Olympic stadium in London was from a company who are looking to stage the London GrandPrix at the the site. When asked about the bid Ecclestone said that he was not involved in the bid but that he would back the plan.

However to the Times newspaper is reporting that Bernie plans to run a GrandPrix on the street's of London. The reports says that Mr Ecclestone is looking to spend £35 million on the project.

On Thursday Santander, the title sponsor of the British GrandPrix are hosting an event in London to promote the idea of a London GrandPrix. The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver's Jenson Button will demonstrate McLaren F1 cars around the proposed circuit map.

The proposed circuit would start at Charing Cross and head down the Mall, turning right onto St James Street where there would be a chicane and then it would fly past the Ritz before heading down Picadilly then turning left onto Wellington Street and flying past Buckingham Palace with a chicane by the Wellington Barracks, heading down towards Birdcage Walk, heading past Big Ben and back to the star finish line at Charing Cross.

I think that it is a fantastic idea to host a full blown GrandPrix in London because previously the like's of Dublin and London have only ever had demonstration's and I think that it would be great to have a fully blown Formula One race on the street's of London.

I also think that it would be great for tourism in London. Formula One is no stranger to the street's of London as in the build up to the 2004 British GrandPrix Regent Street played host to a Formula One demonstration.

In 2009, following on from his horrific crash in Valencia RedBull's Mark Webber and his mechanics performed a pitstop demo i front of Big Ben so I think that it would be a MASSIVE success if a GrandPrix was held in the centre of London.

When asked about the project the mayor of London, Boris Johnson was positive about the event provided that noise impact and air quality issues were addressed. He also stated that he wanted to make sure that any race would be economically viable.

No date has been set for any prospective event so watch this space....

German banker sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison

The former German banker who was at the centre of a corruption trial in relation to the sale of Formula One shares has been sentenced to 8 and 1/2 years in prison. Gerhard Gribkowsky, who was the chief risk officer at German bank Bayern LB.

Gribkowsky, was involved in the sale of of the bank's shares in Formula One to CVC, the commercial right's holder. I believe it is going to be extremely interesting to see what happens with Bernie Ecclestone as following the trial the German prosecutor said that he believed that Bernie Ecclestone was more involved in the case instead of just being a witness in the case.

During the trial, Ecclestone gave evidence and admitted that he had made payments to Gribkowsky however he said that this was due to the fact that he (Ecclestone) claimed he made the payments because he was being blackmailed.

The news that Gribkowsky has been convicted and sentenced comes just over a week before the British GrandPrix at Silverstone where Bernie Ecclestone is more then likely going to be asked by the media about the case and what it means for his involvement in the sport.

I suspect that Mr Ecclestone will try and dodge the questions that will be asked. So we will just have to watch this space.

Feature: 3 podium's in 8 race's for Kimi

So I have been doing this blog since January and so far I haven't done a feature. So as the European GrandPrix was on today I thought that I would take the opportunity to reflect on the performance so far of a certain Kimi Raikkonen who is back in the sport after two year's away from the sport.

I am a huge Kimi Raikkonen fan and was over the moon when Kimi announced his return with Lotus at the start of the year. And he has really hit the ground running. Both he and Romain Grosjean showed during the preseason testing period that the Lotus E20 was an extremely quick car.

So far this season Kimi has scored points in 7 out the 8 races we've had and has finished all races this season. he results have been very consistent, to date he has finished 7th, 5th, 14th, 2nd, 3rd, 9th, 8th and 2nd and where you compare that with Romain Grosjean who has finished DNF, DNF, 6th, 3rd, 4th, DNF, 2nd and DNF. However Romain has been fantastic in qualifying but has just been unfortunate in the races.

After eight races the team are third in the Constructor's championship on 126 points, just 9 points behind McLaren. Some sections of the media have questioned Lotus' decision to sign Kimi but in my opinion he has certainly answered his critics with three podiums in 8 races and he has achieved more podium's in eight races then Michael Schumacher did in the three year's since he came back

EPIC European GrandPrix as Alonso becomes first repeat winner

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso came through from 11th on the grid to win an EPIC European GrandPrix in Valencia. Sebastian Vettel failed to finish the race. The German started the race from pole position but his RedBull car stopped on track. Meanwhile his teammate Mark Webber fared better as he started the race from 19th and finished in 4th just behind Michael Schumacher who took his first podium since his return to F1 in 2010.

It was a frustrating race for Romain Grosjean who was in second for a large part of the race but failed to finish due to a failed alternator. Despite Ferrari's win the Lotus team are still in third in the Constructors championship thanks to Kimi Raikkonen’s 2nd place finish.

It was an epic GrandPrix and who said that the European GrandPrix in Valencia was a boring race. Lewis Hamilton had a terrible day as he failed to finish the race following an incident with Williams Pastor Maldonado who went on to finish in 10th place.

Up until his retirement from the race Sebastian Vettel was dominating the race. Meanwhile the Sahara Force India team had a great race as Nico Hulkenberg managed his best result of the season as he finished in 5^th place just behind Mark Webber. His teammate Paul Di Resta continued his good form by finishing the race in 7^th place.

After two race’s out of the points in Monaco and Canada McLaren’s Jenson Button managed to bring his car home in 8^th place to salvage 4 points for the team in their battle with RedBull for the constructor’s championship.

It was another good weekend for Sauber’s Sergio Perez following on from his third place finish in Montreal the Mexican driver finished in 9^th place just ahead of the Williams of Bruno Senna.

Meanwhile Kamui Kobayashi in the other Sauber was handed a 5 - place grid penalty for the British GrandPrix following an incident with Felipe Massa.

Toro Rosso’s Jean Eric Vergne was also handed a penalty for causing an avoidable accident. He received a ten-place penalty for the British GrandPrix due to the severity of the incident with Caterham’s Heikki Kovalainen. He was also fined €25,000.

So as the team’s head to Silverstone for round nine of the championship Fernando Alonso tops the driver’s championship on 11 points, 20 points ahead of RedBull’s Mark Webber in 2^nd place.  Meanwhile in the constructor’s championship RedBull have a 39-point lead over McLaren.

Despite Fernando Alonso’s win at the weekend Ferrari are in 4^th in the constructor’s championship 4 points behind the Lotus – Renault team.

Vettel on pole as Lotus fly

Sebastian Vettel will start tomorrow's European GrandPrix from pole position. The RedBull driver was 4 tenthes of a second ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber had a terrible session, the Aussie will start the race from 19th on the grid.

Meanwhile the two Lotus driver's had a fantastic session as Romain Grosjean will start 4th and Kimi Raikkonen will start from 5th place putting the team in a fantastic position to pick up a big haul of points. Ferrari had a terrible session as Alonso will start 11th while Felipe Massa will start 13th on the grid. with Michael Schumacher starting from 12th.

I think it is going to a be a fantastic race and we may very well see an eighth winner but I have a sneaking feeling that we may have our first repeat winner. Of course Fernando Alonso will make his way through the field and of course Mark Webber will also make his way through the field.

Maldonado fastest in opening practice as Jenson recovers

Williams Pastor Maldonado set the fastest time in opening practise for this weekend's European GrandPrix in Valencia. The Venezuelan completed 22 laps and set a fastest time of 1m 40.890. Reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel was second with team-mate Mark Webber 3rd for RedBull who go into this weekend's race leading the Constructors championship. McLaren's Jenson Button began his fight back in impressive fashion with the 4th fastest time, The Brit has endured a difficult couple of races so we'll see what happens on Sunday.

Meanwhile Canadian GrandPrix winner Lewis Hamilton was in 8th place just ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean who finsihed the morning session in 10th and 11th place. It was a very productive first session for Force India's Paul Di Resta who set the 6th fastest time just ahead of Micheal Schumacher and behind Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

So I think this weekend's GrandPrix is going to be another cracker and I think we are going to get an 8th winner from 8 racing. It would be one of a number of driver's Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen, Romain Grosjean, Sergio Perez, Kamui Kobayashi, Paul Di Resta and Nico Hulkenborg all have cars that could potentially win a race. Ok so maybe we can take Force India out of the equation for the moment but both Sauber and Lotus have certainly shown that they have the pace to challenge for victories.

Whereas with Mercedes AMG have proven race winning pace as Nico Rosberg dominated the weekend taking pole and victory. So it will be interesting to see if Schumacher can win this weekend. His boss Ross Brawn reckons that Schu and the Lotus driver's will be competing for the win on Sunday so we'll just have to watch this space.

Very interesting noises coming from Ferrari

So there was a very interesting interview held at the Canadian GrandPrix last weekend that featured Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali and Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone. Over the course of the interview Domenicali was asked about the team's driver line -up as there is currently speculation about Felipe Maasa's future at the team as he is in the final year of his deal with the team and has had until recenlty endured a very tough start to the 2012 F1 season.

When asked directly if an Alonso/Vettel Ferrari line-up was on the cards it is reported that Domenicali replied 'Never Say Never' And there are reports that Mark Webber could be lined up to replace Massa at Ferrari next year with Mark making room for Vettel in 2014. In my opinion it would like throwing fuel on the fire if Ferrari opted for Vettel because he is too unpredictable and I think that as Fernando has made Ferrari his team they would have a situation like McLaren did in 2007 when Alonso partnered Lewis Hamilton which was a PR disaster for the team.

I think that Ferrari would extremely foolish to take Vettel on. I could see a situation similar to the Prost/Senna partnership.

In relation to Mark, he said that his decision on what to do next year will be purely based on his results so we'll just have to watch this space

Big weekend for Kimi and Lotus

Yje Lotus F1 Team and Kimi Raikkonen will be looking for a strong performance at this weekend's European GrandPrix. The Finn has been having issues with the steering on the E20 and he will be looking to regain his seniority in the team. He was outperformed by his team-mate Romain Grosjean in Montreal two week's ago as Grosjean finished 2nd just 2.5 seconds behind race winner Lewis Hamilton. Kimi finished the race in 8th place and is now just two points ahead of Grosjean in the championship.

Kimi's last podium came in Barcelona when he finished in third place. I fully expect him to be back up to speed this weekend and hopefully the team will have a strong qualifying session.

Kimi has been in the points in 6 out of the first seven races and it is expected that if there is to be an eight winner this weekend that he and Lotus will be right up there challenging for the win.

European GrandPrix Preview: Round 8 - Valencia

The weekend sees F1 return to Europe after traveling to North America for the Canadian GrandPrix. The team's will be arriving in Valencia for round eight of the season in what is turning out to be the most sensational start to the championship in the sports history that has seen seven different winners in the first seven races.

Hopefully we will see our eight winner of season which would be completed unprecedented. RedBull Racing and McLaren-Mercedes are so far the only team's whose driver pairing have each won a race. I believe that if another team wins this weekend's race it will be the Lotus team as Romain Grsjean came very close to winning the Canadian GrandPrix last weekend but was just beaten by Lewis Hamilton.

Kimi Raikkonen is also a very strong contender for the win this weekend. The Finn is enjoying an exceptional comeback season after two season's away from the sport, so far he has been on the podium twice this season a feat that Michael Schumacher has failed to do in the three years that have passed since his comeback with Mercedes in 2010. Kimi has also be very consistent scoring points in 6 out of the first 7 races.

The last time Kimi raced in Valencia was with Ferrari in 2009 where he finished 3rd.

This weekend is a massive weekend for McLaren's Jenson Button who needs an extremely strong race in order to get his championship challenge back on track. He has endured a horrible season since he won the opening race of the year down under in Australia. There are nine points separating the top 4 in the Driver's Championship.

So there could be a new championship leader following this weekend's race. We'll have to wait and see what happens this weekend.

Audi 1-2-3 as Brundle finishes 15th overall

The 2012 LeMan 24 Hour was a huge success for the Audi team who filled all three spots on the podium. Scotland's Allen McNish had been leading towards the end of the race but suffered a crash. Despite the crash the Scot and his team managed to finish second.

It was a great race for former F1 driver Giancarlo Fisichella who won his class driving a Ferrai. Sky Sports F1 HD commentator and 1990 LeMan winner Martin Brundle who was racing alongside his son in a Nissan Zytec car had a great race as they finished 15th overall and 7th in the LMP2 class.

There was also an update on Anthony Davidson's condition, The 33 year old has broken two vertebrae in his back and has been told that he will be out of racing for up to three months. I fully expect him to make a full recovery and with just a week to go until the European GrandPrix in Valencia I'm sure that Sky F1 will announce a replacement for him in the next few day's.

Davidson injured in massive LeMans crash

LeMan 24 Hour driver and former F1 driver Anthony Davidson suffered a broken back during yesterday's leg of the LeMan 24 hour. The Toyota driver who was challenging the leaders of the race made contact with a Ferrari car and flipped his car. The car was hurled into the air and fortunately landed right side up but was a horrific crash.

After the crash Davidson tweeted that he was lying in a French hospital bed with a broken back. It is not yet known the extent of his injuries so we shall see what happens. The Sky Sports F1 commentator will be out of action from his duties with Sky and it will mean that he will not race.

IndyCar admit to Dixon mistake

IndyCar official's have admitted that they made a huge mistake when they gave Chip Ganassi's Scott Dixon a drive trough penalty for jumping the restart following a caution period. Dixon had a disasterous race and eventually finished the race in 11th place.

When Scott received his penalty he had made his way up to 5th place in the race and could have gone on to challenge for the win. IndyCar said that the penalty was given as a result of both human error and and a computer glitch. That certainly won't be any consolation to Dixon who is locked in a very tight battle for the championship with Penske's Will Power.

I watched the race last night and felt that the penalty handed to Dixon was extremely harsh and unnecessary.

Andretti Autosport win as Franchitti's title chances fade

Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter Reay won tonight's rain delayed race at the Milwaukee Mile oval circuit taking his first race win of the 2012 season. It was a very disappointing race for pole sitter Dario Franchitti and the Target team as the Scot crashed out of the race following the slightest contact with Penske's Ryan Briscoe.

The only consolation for Dario and Team Target was the fact that championship leader Will Power had a very poor race. Dario's team mate Scott Dixon endured a race to forget too after a grid penalty left him starting the race from 21st place. He managed to make his way up to 5th but was handed a drive threw penalty for an apparent jump start following a yellow flag period restart.

Having watched the race myself, there was absolutely no way Scott should have beend handed a penalty, it was a very harsh decision. Scott eventually finished just outside the top ten.

Meanwhile it was a great day for Tony Kanaan and KVRacing Technology as the Brazilian finished the race in second. His team mate and former F1 driver Rubens Barrichello had a great day and finished
the race in 10th place, a fantastic result for a driver who has very little oval racing experience. However his performance in Indianapolis and in Milwaukee this week in my opinion the F1 veteran is a shoe in to win IndyCar's coveted Rookie of the Year Title.

So I believe it is going to be a huge ask for Dario to make it 4 drivers championships in 4 years. However I fully expect him to come back and finish the season strongly after a tough start. However he has a huge mountain to climb to close the 67 point gap seperating him from series leader Will Power.

FIA give teams until the end of the month to come up with cost cutting measures

The FIA has issued Formula One team's with a deadline of the end of this month to come up with a sensible budget cap for next years world championship in relation to the Resource Restriction Agreement. I think this is a good idea in a way as it will help to level the playing field in a way. However I feel that the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone wield far too much power in the sport and how it is run.

That is why I believe that Formula One's flotation on the Singapore stock exchange is a great idea because it will mean that the team's will have a bigger say in how the sport is run as each team will be allowed to appoint a team member to the new Formula One board.

Austin on track to meet completion date

Formula One's eagerly anticipated return to US shores is well on track pardon the pun haha, that is according to FIA race director Charlie Whiting who visited the track following last weekend's Canadian GrandPrix to check the progress and his report was two thumbs up for the circuit. The inspection came as ticket's for November's race went on sale on 10th June.

I can't wait for F1 to return to the US, and I believe that the race will be a HUGE success as Circuit of the Americas, the race organizers have done a fantastic job promoting the race. There had been problems with the circuit a couple of months ago as a dispute between the promoters and their former director threatened to derail the race. However the race is set to go ahead from 16th - 18th November and is the second last race of the 2012 season.

I have seen photo's of the circuit and through Codemasters Facebook page and Youtube, I followed a track guide of the Tilke designed circuit and it looks like a fantastic venue. I am a looking into attending next year's race.

Audi 1-2-3 as Brundle clock's 23rd fastest time

It was an Audi 1-2-3 in the first qualifying session for this weekend's LeMans 24 Hours. Former F1 and LeMans veteran Allan McNish was second fastest in his Audi e-tron with a time of 3m 26.536s. Meanwhile former F1 driver and SKY F1 commentator Martin Brundle alongside his son Alex were 23rd fastest in their privately entered Zytec Nissan. Martin won the the Leman 24 hours in 1990 driving a works Jaguar XJ220.

It will be extremely interesting to see how Martin and his son do in the race. Alex Brundle is very quickly becoming a driver to watch having performed extremely well in Sports car racing. I met them both at the Autosport International show in 2010 and they were really friendly I hope they do really well.

Meanwhile, Dario Franchitti's brother Mareno is 26th so far. So we'll see how he gets on. There are a total of 22 ex F1 drivers taking part in this years LeMans 24 hours.

BBC ahead in the battle with Sky

Following on from my last entry it would appear that F1 fan's prefer the BBC to Sky. For the Canadian GrandPrix on Sunday an average of 1.63 million people tuned in to watch the race live on Sky Sports F1HD, that figure peaked at 1.77 million. This compares to an average of 2.3 million who tuned into watch the BBC'S 2 hour highlight show which started at 10.30pm, 15 minute's after Sky's coverage ended.

The BBC's coverage peaked at 3.1 million, but for a highlight's show that in my opinion is fantastic. Of course I reckon that the majority of people who watched the race live with Sky switched over to the BBC for their show, but it is still great to see people tuning in to the BBC for their coverage.

As I said I will be watching the BBC for Valencia and Britain as both those races are live on the Beeb. It is my belief that the only reason people watch the coverage on Sky is firstly because the races are live but also for the races that the Beeb are also showing live they tune into Sky for Martin Brundle's commentary.

BBC F1 coverage far better then Sky

So I had a extremely busy Sunday as the Canadian GrandPrix was on telly. I watched the race live on Sky Sports F1HD. The only thing that I like about their coverage is the commentary team of Martin Brundle and David Croft. Everything else about their coverage in my opinion is terrible for a couple of reasons firstly and the main reason is Simon Lazenby who is the presenter of Sky's F1 coverage. Now I don't know what his background is in but I feel that he REALLY needs to brush up on his F1 history and he also needs to learn a lot more about the sport.

When Sky Sports F1HD interviewed 1978 F1 champion Mario Andretti, who has just become the official ambassador for the 2012 United State's GrandPrix in Texas he was just introduced as Mario Andretti, and it appeared that it was completely glossed over the fact that he was the champion in 1978 for Lotus.

Lazenby also asked the stupidest question in the world, Mario are you going to be at the GrandPrix in Texas? He's the circuit ambassador, of course he is going to be at the race, come on!!!!!!!!!

When you look at the BBC's coverage in comparison, it is far superior granted the BBC have been covering the sport for year's and it's the first year for SKY, but if you think of the amount of money that Sky are reportedly spending on their coverage of the sport it would be of better quality.

The BBC on the other hand did a fantastic job with their 'HIGHLIGHTS' coverage of the race with pitlane reporter Lee McKenzie taking the presenter reigns for the next few races as Jake is covering the Euros for BBC Sport. Lee was joined as usual by David Coulthard, there was no sign of EJ, however I assume that he will be back for the European GrandPrix next weekend. Lee is fantastic at doing to camera pieces and she is extremely knowledgeable about the sport and her and DC's conversations just flow and the banter back and forth between the two is great.

I love watching the BBC's coverage of F1 and that is not just because I've worked for the BBC. The BBC will show the next two race's in Europe, in Valencia and Britain live.

Seven race's seven winners

It was a fantastic Canadian GrandPrix in Montreal today as we had seven different winner's in the first seven races of the 2012 season, as Lewis Hamilton took a fantastic victory just 2.5 seconds ahead of Lotus driver Romain Grosjean and Sauber's Sergio Perez.

Lotus had a great haul of points as Kimi Raikkonen finished the race in 8th place. Fernando Alonso and Sebastien Vettel finsihed 4th and 5th respectively.

The track temperatures were extremely high but Lewis Hamilton managed the race extremely well. Meanwhile Jenson Button endured a very difficult race struggling with his tyre's.

Vettel takes Pole for the Canadian GrandPrix

RedBull came out on top in Montreal as Sebastian Vettel took pole position for tomorrow's Canadian GrandPrix. Meanwhile team-mate Mark Webber will start from 4th on the grid. Lewis Hamilton continued his great qualy performances as he will start second on the grid. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso will
start the race in 3rd place.

It was a disappointing session for Kimi Raikkonen's side of the Lotus garage as the finish will start the race from 12th on the grid while team-mate Romain Grosjean will start from 7th on the grid.

It is a very long race tomorrow so anything can happen.

Hamilton fastest in FP1 as Lotus look strong

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in Friday practice one for this weekend's Canadian GrandPrix, the Briton has been dogged about question's regarding his future as his current McLaren deal runs out at the end of the year. He has announced that he will leave a decision about his future until the end of the season.

Meanwhile the Lotus duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean set the early pace ending FP1 in 14th  and 15th place with Kimi completing 41 lap's the most of any driver on the grid.

Canadian GrandPrix Preview

This weekend the Formula One circus makes it’s first trip of 2012 to North America for the Candian GrandPrix in Montreal. Last year’s race was the best race I had ever seen. The race was rain delayed and when it eventually got underway Jenson Button drove sensationally.

Up until this year a Formula One race was time limited to 2 hours however last year the Canadian GrandPrix was an incredible four hours and eight minute’s long. Jenson had a horrible start to the race, he ended up at at the back of the pack following a drive through penalty and an incident with team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

So far this season in the first six race’s of year we have had six different winners from five different team’s and I believe that we will get our seventh winner this weekend as I fully believe that the Lotus F1 team will be competing for the win.

At last year’s race going into the final lap of the race, Sebastian Vettel was leading for RedBull Racing with button in second place when Vettel made a mistake that allowed Jenson to overtake him and take a fantastic win for McLaren.

In Monaco two week’s Mark Webber dominated the race weekend, taking Pole position and the race win. The top six driver’s in the championship are seperated by 25 points or a race win.

This weekend’s race will see Sauber F1’s Sergio Perez take part in his first Canadian GrandPrix as he missed last year’s race following a violant crash in Monaco.

It is going to extremely interesting to see what happens this weekend. It is intriguing to see how McLaren have only scored one race win this season in the opening race of the season in Australia. Since then the team’s race performance have fallen away. Unlike last year there will only be one DRS zone during the race.

This weekend’s race could be disrupted by student’s who plan to protest in Montreal about the hike in tuition fee’s in universities, they have said that they will disrupt the online presence of Formula One for the weekend.

Since the Monaco GrandPrix two week’s ago, Jenson Button has been extremely busy, Last Saturday he was in Athy in Co. Carlow, Ireland for a triathalon and on the Sunday he was in Dublin taking part in the hugely successful Bavaria City Racing Dublin festival demonstrating the 2011 Candian GrandPrix winning Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-26.

I went to Bavaria City Racing last weekend and it was an incredible experience. I saw Jenson do a run in Manchester last August and that was fantastic experience. However to see a Formula One car driving on the street’s of my hometown was an incredible experience.

Kubica undergoes elbow surgery

Former Renault F1 driver Robert Kubica under went further surgery last month to help improvement the mobility of his arm. The Polish driver was involved in a horrifying rally accident in Italy last January which partially severed his wrist and he suffered severe injuries that forced him to sit out the 2011 F1 season. He was then left without a drive for 2012 as the Lotus team opted to replace him with Kimi Raikkonen.

Kubica has had a horrible time with the injuries he sustained. He broke his leg in the accident and just as that healed he was out for a walk and slipped on ice reopening the fracture in his leg. It has now been revealed that he under went surgery last week to help improve the mobility in his elbow. During the surgery parts of Kubica's elbow were removed a replaced with prothesis which it is hoped will enable the Pole to fully control a car steering wheel.

The news comes just day's after the Lotus team refused to give Kimi Raikkonen permission to compete in the Finnish Rally. I believe that this was the right decision on the team's part and Kimi himself fully understands why he can't take part in the rally.

As for Kubica, do I think he'll return to Formula One? I doubt it somehow. The reason I think this is because he hasn't driven a Formula One car since the end of 2010 and the fact that he has had some major setback's in his recovery means that the likelihood of him getting a drive in a competitive car is extremely remote. Plus the fact that in season testing is banned means that there is no opportunity for him totest a current F1 car.

I think it is a great shame that a driver of Kubica's talent is not competing in Formula One. The Pole managed to take a fantastic win in Canada in 2008. So far he has not attended any GrandPrix since his accident. So we will have to wait and see what happens.

It has been reported that reigning Formula One Champion Sebastian Vettel has a 'Get Out Clause' in his RedBull contract. That is the claim of RedBull's motorsport adviser Dr Helmut Marko. His comments come on the back of rumuors in Monaco last weekend that Vettel has signed to race alongside Fernando Alonso at Ferrari in 2014.

The Times and The Independent on Sunday in England have both suggested that Vettel has a clause in his RedBull contract specifically related to 2013, that if the team does not finish above a certain position in the championship Vettel is free to leave the team. However it is also understood that the same clause is in place in relation to RedBull and if Vettel doesn't perform in 2013 the team are free to release him.

It was extremely interesting because when this story broke Vettel was very quick to pledge his future to RedBull. Now another interesting piece of info is the fact that Vettel's career is managed by RedBull and Marko and that he doesn't have a management team persay.

It was a similar situation with Lewis Hamilton at McLaren up until a last season when McLaren suggested that Hamilton get a management team in. As far as I understand it with Lewis Hamilton who is yet to sign a contract extension at McLaren it is his management team who are holding out for a more lucrative deal from McLaren this is despite speculation that he was set to sign a £100 million deal with the team.

I think that the driver market is going to be extremely interesting at the end of the season. With seats potentially available at Ferrari, McLaren, RedBull, Mercedes, Force India, Toro Rosso and Caterham.

So my predictions for the line - up of the grid for 2013 are

RedBull: Sebastian Vettel/ Mark Webber? / Daniel Ricciardo?

McLaren: Jenson Button / Lewis Hamilton? / Mark Webber?

Ferrari: Fernando Alonso/ Felipe Massa? / Mark Webber?

Mercedes: Nico Rosberg/ Paul Di Resta? / Michael Schumacher / Lewis Hamilton

Force India: Nico Hulkenberg / Paul Di Resta? / Jiles Bianchi?

Sauber: Sergio Perez/ Kamui Koboyashi

Lotus: Kimi Raikkonen/ Romain Grosjean

Toro Rosso: Jean Eric Vergne / Daniel Ricciardo

Caterham/ Heikki Kovalienen/ Vitaly Petrov/ Giedo Van Der Garde? / Alexander Rossi? Felipe Massa?

Marussia: Charles Pic / Timo Glock

HRT: Pedro Dela Rosa / Narain Karthikeyan

Another week, another Ganassi 1 - 2

The Indianapolis 500 was a massive success for Target Chip Ganassi Racing last weekend as they scored a 1 - 2 finish with Dario winning the race for the third time elevating him to the lead of the Indy Oval Championship. This weekend it was Dario's team-mate Scott Dixon's turn to take the honors at a chaotic race in Detroit. The race was red flagged for two hours due to the track breaking up due to the pressure of the cars.

Dixon started the race from pole position while Dario managed to work his way through the field from a poor qualifying position to finish the race in second just behind Dixon but ahead of points leader Will Power. Dario lies in third in the championship behind Dixon and Will Power.

It has been a great return to form for Honda who have really struggled to match the pace of the Chevy engine that is in the back of Will Power's Penske Racing Racing car, and now they (Honda) have won two races in a row with the Target car. I was delighted to hear that Dixon won the race yesterday as he came so close to winning to the 500 last weekend.

It is going to be interesting to see if Honda can keep up this performance level for the rest of the season. It was a disappointing race for IndyCar newcomer Rubens Barrichello after winning rookie of the year at Indy last weekend the Brazilian retired from the Detroit GrandPrix with mechanical problems.

Bavaria City Racing Dublin a MASSIVE success!!!

An estimated 110,000 spectators braved the wet weather in Dublin today for the first Bavaria City Racing Festival to hit Dublin. The main draw for the day was 2009 Formula One World Champion Jenson Button who put on a mind blowing show in his McLaren MP4 25 the car that he won last year's Canadian GrandPrix in.

I went to Bavaria City Racing and enjoyed every minute of it. McLaren weren't the only F1 team in attendance as the Caterham F1 team demoed their car with Giedo Van Der Garde behind the wheel.  The sound of F1 engine's in Dublin City Centre was amazing. One thing I found was that you didn't have to spend mega money to enjoy the show. I arrived in the city centre very early and took up my vantage point at the barrier opposite the Central Bank and had a perfect view.

As I said we had more then F1 at the event, The Monster Energy Rally team were there along with GP2 and Super Bike among others.

Bavaria put on a fantastic show and it was the first time the event was held in Dublin. Hopefully it is the first of many. It was a roaring success. Bavaria held a city racing event in Rotterdam. The Dublin circuit was very similar to Monaco in that is was very narrow however the circuit was the longest Bavaria circuit at 5.1km.

I was initially sceptical about the event but it was AMAZING and I really enjoyed it and it was fantastic for Dublin.

JB on in action in the MP4 26 

Van Der Garde in action in the Caterham F1

JB takes a lucky competition winner for a ride in the McLaewn MP4-12C

Dani Sordo's 2011 Mini WRC

Copyright 2012 Ben Johnston