Toyota, as usual for the biggest spenders in F1, are nowhere. Two DNFs.

Nakajima. There's a name to conjure with. Anyone remember Sartorial Nakajima? I thought not.

erm..., soubs, this is his son no?

Satoru Nakjima that is.

Sartoru Nakajima. I've no idea if they are related, but Nakajima is right there with Yamada and Ishigawa for family names.

Believe it. It's his son and doing a lot better than his conservative father.

Which quite nicely explains why BE is pushing so bl00dy hard for the Oz GP to be a night race - he gets daytime TV in Europe! and therefore a great wad more cash!

On a brighter note, there is, at least a small, glimmer of hope for Melbourne. The twilight meet seems to have been a roaring success, even though there was a huge rate of attrition. (7 finishers only!)

The removal of traction control meant that the drivers actually had to drive (OMG! fancy that!) and some of them cannot hack it without the computer controlled technology. Bring back the days of zero telemetry, pit boards and drivers who actually controlled everything in the vehicle, from gear selection to braking. That was REAL driving!

It seems Max has been caught with his pants down. Spanking 5 prostitutes in a fascist bsdm session.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/UK_MOTORSPORT/idUKL0173826120080401?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

The son should not be blamed for the sins of his father (Oswald Mosley), but the young chip did choose to represent his father as his political agent.

What consenting adults do to each other in the bedroom is up to themselves, but I think this shows bad judgement from the leader of an international sporting organisation. I wonder how many politicians will want to shake his hand. I wonder how welcome he will be in the boardroom at Mercedes or BMW?

Almost couldn't make it up....

I saw that on Sunday. What a fool.

"Spanking 5 prostitutes in a fascist bsdm session". Is that fun I wonder?!

why 5?

kind of remind me of the question: 'why do dogs lick their #### ?'
You know the answer to that one.

4 is obviously not enough.

there are always 5 poach ninjas in the photographs, so is this really a coincidence?

It's interesting what seems to happen to lots of people when they get madly rich and famous..

Here's the joint statement by BMW and Mercedes.

http://www.autosport.com/

"The content of the publications is disgraceful. As a company, we strongly distance ourselves from it.

This incident concerns Max Mosley both personally and as President of the FIA, the global umbrella organisation for motoring clubs. Its consequences therefore extend far beyond the motor sport industry. We await a response from the relevant FIA bodies."

And Max's response.

"Given the history of BMW and Mercedes Benz, particularly before and during the Second World War, I fully understand why they would wish to strongly distance themselves from what they rightly describe as the disgraceful content of these publications.

Unfortunately, they did not contact me before putting out their statement to ask whether the content was in fact true.

No doubt the FIA will respond to them in due course as I am about to respond to the newspaper in question."

Nice one Max, especially for bringing up WWII. The German car companies aren't too impressed that he requires them to clear press statements with him either.

Mario Theissen (BMW) stands by its statement - and claimed that the controversy spreads well beyond just Formula One.

"We had no intention nor have we announced that we will back down from anything," said Theissen when asked about rumours that BMW was poised to retract the statement in light of Mosley's response.

"We have put out a statement this morning. We have asked for a reaction of the relevant FIA bodies and we have the answer from Max Mosley that we will get a reaction from the FIA. We will not make any further comments until we have this reaction."

He added: "I am a bit surprised that this whole thing is mainly seen as a Formula One issue. In my view, it is not. The FIA is the governing body, or the umbrella body, of the worldwide motoring clubs so it is not even the auto industry that is affected, it is the clubs. That is why we expect a reaction from the FIA first."

When asked why neither BMW nor Mercedes-Benz communicated with Mosley before issuing their statement, Theissen said: "For two reasons. First we haven't had an explanation from Max or the FIA.

"He has sent a letter to the FIA but not to the auto manufacturers, and that also shows that the FIA is affected in the first instance, and not us. We haven't had an explanation.

"And secondly we have not commented on the substance and the question of whether it is true or not. We have commented on the public perception of the situation. And that doesn't need any discussion or explanation. The purpose of our statement is to make clear where our company stands."

Theissen believes, however, that it would take some time to judge whether or not the affair has damaged F1's reputation.

"I think it is too early to say," he said. "We have to see what happens in the coming weeks."

Theissen said he was not surprised that Mosley has bucked all calls to resign and fully intends to remain in his role as FIA president.

"Having been in F1 for nine years now, I am not surprised about anything any more," said Theissen. "But let me add one other thing.

"This entire issue is in focus now, but what shouldn't be neglected is it certainly looks like a trap. And that is something which in our view is not acceptable either."

Honda and Toyota are also extremely pished off. The FIA is leaking like a sieve. His days are numbered. You couldn't script this, it's far more entertaining than the racing

You're right soubs, it is quite entertaining.

I think there's a race this weekend. Perhaps we could have a 15 minute Mosley spot at the beginning of each race to give us an update.

Mosley

As I wrote above, what he gets up to in a brothel with five other consenting adults is entirely his affair. I find it distasteful, but that's just my opinion. It's not illegal in the UK (but it is illegal in Sweden).

As the President of the FIA he represents a sport where some very serious companies are spending some very serious money developing their brands and image. The stakeholders have the right to expect Max to behave with dignity. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of the invasion of his privacy, Max is mortally wounded.

Leaving aside his parentage and youthful indiscretions, Max is also carrying a lot of F1 baggage. When he ran March, there was some very sharp practice. The FIA sold the marketing rights to Bernie for a mess of pottage. Last year he described Jackie Stewart as "a certified halfwit", and sued Martin Brundle for defamation for criticism of the the FIA's pursuit of McLaren. He is an authoritarian who has no hesitation about using his wealth and position to silence opposition. He has no friends, and a lot of very powerful enemies. I'm enjoying this.

There's a race this weekend. The grid:

1. Kubica BMW Sauber
2. Massa Ferrari
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
4. Raikkonen Ferrari
5. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes
6. Heidfeld BMW Sauber
7. Trulli Toyota
8. Rosberg Williams-Toyota
9. Button Honda
10. Alonso Renault

My guess is Kubica is short fuelled. Massa needs points or he will be de facto Ferrari No2 for the rest of the season. Toyota and Honda finally making progress. Alonso nowhere in the Renault. Rumour has him replacing Massa at Ferrari next season, but I doubt he'd want Raikkonen as a team mate.

I just watched a torrent of qualifying this morning, Massa was blindingly fast all day except in Q3, he blamed traffic, excuses excuses, that's called choking.
He was 2 full seconds slower than his Q2 time! Q2 is always quicker, but not 2 secs quicker, he threw away pole to a Pole!