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.

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.