Well the Formula One season has encountered one of its most historic events in Canada a fortnight ago with the race taking 4 hours to complete instead of the regulated 2 hours. The delays came from wet weather, plenty of accidents and errors by some top name drivers – one in particular, Lewis Hamilton who watched the second half of his race with Rihanna and some NFL legends at McLaren VIP team hospitality.

Jenson Button was given a drive through pit lane penalty for speeding in pit lane; pitted four times for new tyres; then from the back of the grid – chased leader at the time Sebastian Vettel down, to force an error two corners to the chequered flag and won the race.

As the rain bucketed down, spectators left after 30 mins hoping, in torrential rain, for a quick re-start that took longer than expected and for those who stayed it was another hour and three quarters before wheels turned again in race mode and they would witness one of the historic races ever seen.

The circuit brings back great memories for me as I won the 1980 world championship there with a great crowd in the stands and the party atmosphere outside never stops.

In 2012 we are taking a tour there as the following week, USA’s Austin Texas will host their first ever Formula One Grand Prix. So it’s an F1 FEST ‘back-to-back’ for two weeks and includes Canada and North America. More info contact me at www.alanjones.com.au or via www.thatsgold.net.

This weekend we are in Valencia, Spain with some ECU engine mapping changes made by the governing body FIA to ’spice-up the show’ as well as a new medium tyre introduced by Pirelli.

Valencia is a good looking venue though a relatively safe track for everyone so if you get a good run on the others the chances of winning are good, of course mistake-free is the key ingredient.

Casey Stoner continues to dominate MotoGP in Assen. Three races back we saw Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda break his other collarbone and Cal Crutchlow two weeks ago at Silverstone break his collarbone in five places to put his bike into 6th place for the Saturday race, a fanatical event on the MotoGP calendar for the Dutch fans.

Valentino Rossi ordered the 2012 chassis for Assen to try and grab back some points to recover in a season that may since 1996 be his worse one ever now riding the Italian Ducati. Rossi is the guy to count on who from any position always moves forward, the team of course hope he does it with points faster and faster before they get to the backend of their racing season together. Stoner won a world title on the Ducati so we are all sure at the moment the king on a Ducati is Stoner, who now races a Honda and again looks good for another world title.

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.

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.

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.