The British Formula One Grand Prix qualifying was superb with my old team Williams taking seventh place on the start grid by Argentine driver Pastor Maldonado.

He finished 14th during an action-packed Grand Prix with a few errors made by the more experienced drivers like Michael Schumacher who was involved in another shunt, to the well trained pit crew of McLaren who failed to secure the right front wheel of Jenson Button’s car after a pit stop. His race was over at that moment.

At the top of the grid was Australian Mark Webber who, in the end, finished third with some controversy over team orders to ‘maintain the gap’ to his team mate so they didn’t collide one lap to the end of the race.

And at the bottom of the pack was Australian F1 debutant Daniel Ricciardo of Western Australia, driving his first ever Formula One Grand Prix. He finished 19th out of 24 cars in the HRTF1 and gained valuable experience for his F1 future.

Ferrari played their cards close to their chest and won the Grand Prix with Fernando Alonso with his team mate, Felipe Massa, battling it out with McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton for fifth on the last corner before the chequered flag.

There will be ongoing media coverage of the team orders from Red Bull to Webber with 1,6oo Facebook fans vetting their feelings online as the drivers walked up to the podium for their trophies. Some colourful words were written, majority not happy with the Red Bull management – fewer in defence of the outcome.

Nurburgring is next on 24 July, a place you should visit to drive a lap or two of the old circuit, 22.5kms of it, known as the Green Hell. From Wikipedia: “The original Nurburgring was meant to be a showcase for German automotive engineering and racing talent, and was built with both purposes in mind. Construction of the track, designed by the Eichler Architekturburo from Ravensburg (led by Architect Gustav Eichler), began in September 1925. A Nurburgring circuit map photo taken at German Grand Prix 1964; the legend advises “No driving in the Eifel (mountains) without a lap on the Nurburgring”.

Enjoy your week, try not to miss a social outing for you and the family when the Senna movie screenings open in July and August, check it out.

After leaving Montreal Canada the Formula One season returned to Europe in Valencia Spain.

The circuit has been designed around a docklands type area where yachts can berth parallel to the racing track and the apartment suites overlook the best part of the straight making great party atmosphere venues for this unique race.

The Red Bull team continue to dominate with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber qualifying on the front row of the racing grid for Sunday’s race just gone. A good start was had by all, with all 24 cars to finish a race. The young German taking the win with Mark Webber gambling on the use of the medium tyre losing second place to Ferrari rival Fernando Alonso on his last pit stop.

Mark was in third behind Alonso on his new medium tyres as Alonso stayed out longer on used soft tyres. Webber’s gearbox started playing up and Mark was short-shifting to keep the revs and pace up as his team informed him to stay safe, not push any harder, and try to finish the race. He held on to finish third.

Mercedes were perplexed with Nico Rosberg finishing seventh and his team mate, seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher, one lap down, ended his race in 17th place.

Sebastian Vettel leads the world championship on 186 points, with Mark Webber and Jenson Button second with 109 points each.

The constructor’s championship is led by Red Bull Renault, then McLaren Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault, Mercedes, Sauber-Ferrari, Toro Rosso-Ferrari, Force India-Mercedes and Williams-Cosworth.

Latest news on my old team Williams is that they may re-enter a new agreement and change to Renault engine power for 2013, perhaps 2012.

Mugello hosts the next round of MotoGP on July 3 where Casey Stoner will look to increase his championship lead, also welcome his injured team mate Dani Pedrosa back after collar bone surgery.

No doubt Valentino Rossi who lives nearby, will be looking to improve his season ride on Ducati and perhaps go for a win.

Keep an eye on it at One.

Anything you need on F1 or MotoGP contact me at my website www.alanjones.com.au.

Enjoy the rest of your week and the weekend coming up.

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.

Italians bring an atmosphere like no other when you race in front of them and Monza is certainly the best place to do it in a Formula One car, especially if you have a Ferrari.

Of course to go on and win the race weekend in a Ferrari tops the list of things to do in motorsport. That’s what Fernando Alonso did last Sunday with his win as the team try harder every race to be victorious in their championship.

Mark Webber started better than the race before in Spa though his race strategy for the lead was diminishing as at one stage he was in ninth position. It was a concern for championship points until the McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton on lap one lost control after a shunt with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in turn leaving Webber to make sure he improved his position to take back the overall lead in the world championship. Webber’s team mate Sebastian Vettel left his pit stop to the second last lap in order to return to the track on optimum tyres and finish fourth, ahead of Mark by two places at the finish.

The lead of the Formula One World Championship is back in Mark’s hands as we wish him well for the next race in a fortnight at night around the streets of Singapore where the car is suited to the track conditions.

Our Casey Stoner will tackle the Aragon circuit in MotoGP this weekend and take on Valentino Rossi off-track as the banter continues between them both over the Ducati performance so far this season. Stoner sees Rossi as one opponent who has his own team mate beating him week after week where Rossi sees Stoner as a poor bike developer and blames the season Ducati performance on the shoulders of Stoner, nobody else. In 2011 Rossi will change from Yamaha and race on Ducati to try and take them to a championship and Rossi’s tenth, Stoner remains with the 2007 season championship to his credit and will change to race on a Honda for 2011…..watch this space.

Don’t forget we have one place left for the 2010 Malaysian MotoGP tour, contact Patrick@gpshop.net or visit www.gpshop.net

We flew with Sir Jack and Lady Brabham to Bahrain for the opening round of the Formula One Grand Prix and happened to catch up with some of the older and more recent world champions. It was good to see Niki Lauda again, Emerson Fittipaldi, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell, Mika Hakkinen and Keke Rosberg, all of us as guests of the Crown Prince.

The gathering of cars from the sixties right through to the current day was a real spectacle for the fans and a few of the world champions drove their old cars for some exhibition laps before the main event.

The actual Formula One race start was exciting to see the cars all pushing their way into the first corner just as we saw a plume of smoke from Mark Webber’s car, at that point it looked like his race was over. Fortunately not and he continued on to finish in the points in 8th place with the two Ferrari of Alonso then Massa taking first and second. Michael Schumacher raced his new Mercedes to 6th place on his return from retirement back in 2006.

Round two in Melbourne was good being reunited with Williams F1 Engineering once again, reflecting back on my 1980 World Championship and this year being our 30th Anniversary when I won the world championship in 1980 in the Williams FW07. Sotheby’s will auction a 1980 Williams FW07 on April 18 so check the online updates for the latest memorabilia prices on Formula One cars.

We have released my full scale helmet replica as a limited edition, only to 30 individually and selling worldwide. Each helmet is signed and they come with a photo of me signing to accompany them for each one sold. Any more information contact The Motorsport Shop at www.gpshop.net or phone Patrick on 0418 356 789

Mark Webber was the focal point of the media and fans all weekend being at home. He was excellent all weekend with the amount of extra work he had to do over and above his racing duties. He managed to score points finishing 9th from a possible 6th after he pushed a little too hard on the second last lap and collide with Lewis Hamilton. Jenson Button took victory in his McLaren with Renault’s Robert Kubica taking second place and Felipe Massa third for Ferrari.

A good crowd attended the event and next we go to Sepang Circuit in Malaysia over the Easter weekend and then Qatar for the Bikes.

In saying that, we wish you all a Happy and Safe Easter.