A1 Grand Prix began at Brands Hatch, 23-25 September 2005. To celebrate the series not turning 5, over these three days, I’m looking back at what seemed like such a good idea.

“Firstly, I would like to thank each and every person who is attending this race meeting, to see history in the making. Here at Brands Hatch, where the past meets the future, the first World Cup of Motorsport will begin.

“Thank you for believing in a dream and coming here this weekend to see that dream turn into a reality. I hope that we can provide you with lasting memories of a historical day that will add value to your lives.

“Please be ready to hear the words that will start this momentous day. You will hear, for the first time, in the right place, at the right time: ‘Gentlemen, for the pride of your nations, start your engines’.”

Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum
Founder, President and Chairman of A1 Grand Prix

That’s the introduction to the programme for that first meeting of A1 Grand Prix five years ago. I’m still astonished that they stuck with that “for the pride of your nations” nonsense, which really was first class toss.

But putting that aside, it’s hard not to be won over by the concept, even now. And you can’t argue with a man like Sheikh Maktoum, who got the idea after he “came second in the Middle East leg of the Land Rover G4 challenge”.

He sold the idea to some pretty impressive people too: the programme proudly carries a photo of Nelson Mandela – who “lent his support to A1 Grand Prix” – with football stars Ronaldo and Luis Figo, seat holders of A1 Team Brazil and A1 Team Portugal respectively.

It’s easy to point out that, by the final 2008-09 season, those famous footballing names had departed as seat holders. So had the likes of Niki Lauda, Willi Weber and John Surtees. But Alan Jones, Emerson Fittipaldi and Jan Lammers remained, and had been joined by Michael Andretti.

Maybe it all started to go wrong when Sheikh Maktoum left the series, after the first season. The series came under the control of Tony Teixeira, who later went ahead with the apparently advised-against ‘Powered by Ferrari’ car, which was involved in the whole mess in Australia a year ago, which in rapid fashion led to the death of A1GP. There were rumours earlier this year that the series may yet make a comeback.

We’ll see, but I want to concentrate on happier things, so back to the programme.

Flicking through the entry lists of the support races – Ferrari Formula Classic, FIA Thoroughbred Grand Prix Championship, MSV Formula Ford 1600, Powertrain Caterham Challenge, Tag Heuer GT250, AVO Ginetta Championship, Formula Palmer Audi – there are some familiar names: Steven Kane, Dave Pinkney and Alister McRae, for example.

There are a couple of mentions in the programme for a certain Lewis Hamilton too. But, back in 2005, they were in the context of having beaten A1 Team Great Britain driver Alex Lloyd to the 2003 Formula Renault UK title, and having dominated European F3 in 2005 with Team ASM – the team running the A1 Team Brazil car.

Back to the support races, it’s not surprising to see some MotorSport Vision series in there, given that Jonathan Palmer’s company had only 18 months earlier taken over Brands Hatch, as he pointed out in his introduction to the programme. He ended that introduction:

“Thank you for being part of history in the making.”

A1GP wasn’t scheduled to come to Britain at all in the aborted 2009-10 season, Brands Hatch having not been interested for the now obvious financial and stability reasons. Palmer’s words to Kent News in 2009 nicely sum up feelings towards A1GP:

“We hosted the very first race of the series and it was a wonderful occasion for the sport and us. It is sad that it won’t be back in 2010, but crowds have been falling and we saw a significant drop at this year’s event.”

But let’s be happy. On Friday I’ll have a look at the drivers that came through A1GP, and on Saturday I’ll remember that sunny first meeting at Brands Hatch.

Maybe it’s the warm weather of summer making people restless and irritable, but there seem to be a lot of feisty words being bandied about.

Thankfully, Ferrari have finally gone quiet about the unfortunate (for them) safety car events in Valencia. But it could flare up again, as Lewis Hamilton agreed with a journalist’s question that it was sour grapes on the part of Fernando Alonso. It’s not like Alonso needs any provoking.

Another man who needs no encouragement is Juan Pablo Montoya. His words about Jeff Gordon, following Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race, were pretty special though:

“He has it coming one day.”

Blimey, threatening at all?

But for me, the best quotes of all come from Casey Stoner. I’m not sure who exactly has been talking to him, and whether they were prodding him with a pointy stick at the same time, but he called Yamaha’s decision to put Wataru Yoshikawa on Valentino Rossi’s bike “atrocious”, and had plenty to say about the number of bikes on the grid:

“They’re talking about a maximum of 22, and that being a big grid – it’s pathetic, it’s a joke.”

His solution? A couple more Suzuki machines, and year-old bikes for new small teams. Presumably he’d be sponsoring all the new entries personally.

Sources linked to above: Ferrari, Sporting Life, autosport.com

It’s in France, obviously. What I really mean is: why isn’t the Le Mans 24 Hours on Freeview properly?

The best we can hope for, from my searching, is a fleeting glimpse of it on Mobil 1 The Grid or something, at an unpalatable time of day on Channel 4.

It was on ITV4 last year, sort of, when the end of the race was inserted into the BTCC broadcast. It was a bit of a waste of time though.

What I’d like to see is something more like ITV4′s excellent Isle of Man TT coverage. They’re similar events, in a way – massively prestigious, heaps of history, and hugely enthusiastic fans. All of that comes across in the TT coverage, and in an accessible way. It’s an achievement befitting the event, and Le Mans deserves similar.

By my reckoning it could be done in three hour-long programs: preview, qualifying, and the race. Scheduled at 9pm the Thursday and Friday before, and the Monday after the event, surely it would have an appeal similar in magnitude to that of the nightly TT shows.

But anyway, it doesn’t look like that’s happening. Shame.

It’s a funny old time for A1GP. The series sort of horribly fell apart, just before the first race of what should have been the current season. Now more rounds have been cancelled, it would be surprising if any of this season takes place, and the website is down.

But A1GP boss Tony Teixeira seems to think that things are just dandy, and is one of the parties talking to new Formula 1 team Campos Meta about potentially stepping in as an investor. He told Reuters:

“It’s all for A1. My ambition is to bring A1 into F1.”

Which is what he’s been saying for at least a year or so. But as it stands, there is no A1 to bring into F1. Would it not perhaps be wise to fix that first? One thing at a time, surely.

The BBC’s Andrew Benson points out that Formula 1 teams are becoming increasingly nation-specific: from the obvious Force India and USF1 (though now with Argentinian backing), and the the Malaysian-owned Lotus team, to the less intentionally British McLaren and German Mercedes teams.

So we could have the curious situation of an A1GP team in the minority as a non-national team in Formula 1, when A1GP itself is all about national teams. If things keep going in the direction they seem to be, anyway. How galling would that be for Teixeira?

Rumours are that Adam Carroll – who won the last A1GP championship for Ireland – could be lined up in the second Campos Meta seat if Teixeira buys into the team. That would be excellent. Formula Two champion Andy Soucek is reportedly another option, and fittingly he would be a Spaniard in a Spanish team. That would also be excellent. So it’s A1GP vs Formula Two, and also A1GP up against its own principles of favouring nationality.

Confusing, isn’t it?

Meanwhile, Superleague Formula has been quietly getting on with it. I was hugely sceptical about the whole concept, but now it seems like Sebastien Bourdais has been proven right: it probably is the best option for drivers outside Formula 1 in Europe.

It could of course suffer a huge A1GP-style collapse, but from the outside things look pretty great: the season is extending to 12 rounds, and the prize fund is over €5 million. Perhaps most importantly, it’s had a title sponsor – Sonangol – since last season.

Which all just proves, once again, that I know absolutely nothing.

The Formula 1 circus has mainly arrived in Abu Dhabi for the final race of the season, and judging by the activity on Twitter, it’s pretty spectacular. I’m very jealous.

It’s going to be the end in a number of respects, but the one I’m interested in is refuelling, which is due to be banned next season.

Refuelling was behind a lot of the action at Brazilian Grand Prix a couple of weeks ago, starting with the fireball caused by Kimi Raikkonen’s exhaust igniting the fuel hose Heikki Kovalainen had torn from his fuel rig and driven off with. That would presumably be rather on the dangerous – and if not dangerous, then certainly spectacular – side if it happened in the unique Yas Marina pit lane exit tunnel, so this year will be the only time that will be a risk, however small.

More importantly, refuelling created a lot of the interest on track. Much of Jenson Button’s overtaking was to get ahead of those on longer fuel strategies, and later in the race there was the question of where Button would end up after everyone had taken their final pit stop. Part of that was Lewis Hamilton’s excellent drive on a long strategy from 17th on the grid to finish 3rd.

How much of that would have been missing from the race without variable fuel strategies? Quite a lot, I reckon. To my mind, there’s a serious risk that F1 could be more of a procession than ever next year.

The move to low fuel qualification contributes to that risk. I’m generally in favour of the fastest combination of car and driver being on pole position, and in past seasons I found it frustrating that fuel strategies were kept secret after qualifying. But this year, with the disclosure of qualifying weights, it’s just given us another variable to follow, speculate on and create interest. Next year, with the drivers largely in order of speed, the pack could just spread out over the course of the race.

Refuelling provides interest elsewhere too. After the Brazilian Grand Prix, I caught up with highlights of the IndyCar Series finale. Dario Franchitti secured the title by gambling on there being no yellow flag periods, saving fuel, and making one less stop than his championship rivals. It was tense – even though I knew the outcome – and made for a great story.

But F1 is dropping refuelling for good reasons, chiefly cost – of transporting the many fuel rigs to every venue, and so on.

However, it also comes as the FIA is moving towards making motorsport about getting the best performance from a limited amount of fuel, rather than a certain capacity of engine. Which is, undoubtedly, a good thing.

So I suppose it’s not the lack of refuelling that I’m worried about. It’s that refuelling contributes to the entertainment, and I’m not sure that there’s anything coming in to replace that contribution. And I guess we’ll only find out the magnitude of that contribution next season.

In the meantime, let’s hope the Abu Dhabu Grand Prix is as impressive as the facility seems to be.

Casey Stoner‘s return to MotoGP from sort of illness only gets better, having qualified on pole for his home race in Australia. He should win, and my God it’s good to be back up to three riders who can beat Valentino Rossi once in a while. Rossi starts 2nd, Dani Pedrosa – who crashed in qualifying – 3rd, and Jorge Lorenzo 4th. Colin Edwards starts 5th, as always.

The most remarkable event from Phillip Island so far wasn’t in qualifying though, but in second practice on Friday. Marco Melandri hit a seagull full on, and pretty much destroyed the poor thing. You can see it here on the MotoGP Facebook page.

Then there was Formula 1 qualifying. Q1 went pretty much as planned, apart from a red flag caused by a Giancarlo Fisichello spin, and finished about 15 minutes late, albeit in rather wet conditions.

Q2 was delayed, but eventually got going about an hour after the start of qualifying. Not too bad. The weather wasn’t much better though, and it was quickly red flagged by Vitantonio Liuzzi crashing.

The restart came more than an hour later. The wait was a whole lot of fun though – for the BBC team especially, who moved from BBC One to Two during the mammoth delay, and had to put together a whole lot of padding. Note: it wasn’t actually fun.

Sebastian Vettel had already gone out in Q1, and Jenson Button followed him when Q2 eventually concluded, having been on the wrong tyres for the drying track. No dramas for Q3, just lots of trading of fastest laps, ending up with Rubens Barrichello on pole at home. He was quite happy about that. Fuel weights yet to be released, so we’ll see how things look when we know those.

But if that was an unconventional build up to a race, it’s been far worse for the A1GP season opener in Australia next weekend, which has mainly not prepared at all, and so has been cancelled. Series boss Tony Teixeira is characteristically defiant:

“A1GP may be down, but I do not accept we are out. We have had four exciting seasons that have proved we are a force in the sport and now we shall consolidate on what we have achieved to date. My efforts will be on finding a way forward with the support of some very loyal people.”

I do hope he succeeds. I like A1GP.

A1GP returns the weekend after next, as part of the Nikon SuperGP on Australia’s Gold Coast, which has the V8 Supercars Championship as its main event. It’s been a complicated summer for A1GP though.

The cars have been held by a freight company in a dispute over payment; the operating company went bust; there were rumours that Ferrari would withdraw its supply of engines.

The operating company’s holding company, however, was unaffected, and series boss Tony Teixeira announced a refinancing package late last month. So, in theory, all the debts should be settled, and everyone should be happy. We just have to hope that that’s the case.

The calendar for season five was released around the same time, and makes for slightly disappointing reading, in that there is no round in Great Britain for the first time. Germany is the only ‘traditional’ motorsport country included – the others being Australia, China, Malaysia, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Portugal and The Netherlands.

It’s tempting to suggest, therefore, that British circuits were perhaps unwilling to agree to less favourable financial terms, which might understandably be required by a series which has been fighting for its very survival.

Great Britain will be on the grid though, a provisional entry list for the Australian race having been published this week. What form Team GBR will take, however, is much less clear.

The previous franchise holder went into administration last year, but the team’s place on the grid was safeguarded by Teixeira himself. What’s happening this season? No-one knows.

It’s not the only question to be answered. The local paper highlights the lack of drivers, tyres, spares and so on.

I think it’s just a case of fingers crossed for now.

The weekend was quiet in terms of motorsport on terrestrial television, but it was all going on in foreign lands. And we’ll be able to catch up eventually.

First and foremost, one of Scotland’s least recognised exports – and that’s official, it says so on the BBC – Dario Franchitti took the IndyCar Series title for the second time.

It was shown on Sky Sports, but that’s no use to the likes of me, who will have to wait until 4.20am on Thursday morning, when Five will be showing highlights. Intriguingly, it was the first IRL race without a single full-course yellow. Does that make it a more interesting race, or less? You tell me. Especially if you watched it.

The other big thing was in V8 Supercars, which held the Bathurst 1000 endurance race. It’s an event of sufficient significance to even appear on the front page of the BBC News website at one point last week, albeit not for the racing.

Sticking with the theme of successful but unrecognised Brits in motorsport, Andy Priaulx – probably slightly better known to the general public than Franchitti – took part, and clearly enjoyed it. He finished 11th.

It’s Five in the middle of the night again for the highlights, but I reckon they won’t be on for about a fortnight yet. That seems to be the sort of delay we get with V8 Supercars.

Multiple Champ Car champion and Formula 1 reject Sebastien Bourdais is going to occupy himself with a bit of Superleague Formula from this weekend, racing for FC Sevilla. He’s obviously convinced by the series:

“For a driver, Superleague is the best alternative to F1. Today, it’s the only other championship in Europe to offer a driver the possibility of racing single seaters at a high, professional level.”

I think A1GP would have something to say about that. And GP2 for that matter, though to be fair that really is just a Formula 1 feeder series, and not a long term career option.

That seems to be how Giorgio Pantano saw it, anyway. Having taken the GP2 title on his fourth attempt last year, and with no way back into Formula 1 – where he raced for Jordan in 2004 – Pantano is currently representing A.C. Milan, and 4th in the standings.

Sebastian Bourdais has a lot of work to do, with Sevilla FC sitting 19th in the championship. It’s not obvious how he will do: he’s not an especially adaptable driver, but is very good when the car is as he wants it.

It’s intriguing looking at the Superleague Formula standings. There are quite a few reasonably well known drivers there, and indeed it’s Adrian Valles – who gets about a bit – in the table topping Liverpool FC car. But behind the wheel of the second place FC Basel car is the pretty anonymous Max Wissel. There are former GP2 drivers all the way down the standings, so previous form is no guarantee of success.

Whatever happens, Bourdais couldn’t resist a bit of a dig at his old team:

“I also want to have fun, which hasn’t often been the case for me during this last year.”

Well, maybe if you’d been better, you’d have had more fun.

The Le Mans 24 Hour is the big jobby this weekend. After extensive and impressive coverage of another legendary event this week – the Isle of Man TT – ITV4 has coverage of it. Sort of.

Qualifying highlights are on Saturday morning from 11.20am to 11.55am. The race gets under way on Saturday at 2pm UK time. ITV4 has race coverage only between 10.30am and 11.45am on Sunday morning.

After that Le Mans makes way for the British Touring Car Championship from Croft.

But it means that ITV4 won’t be showing the end of the race, either live or in highlights form. Unless it’s going to interrupt the BTCC programme, or highlights are going to be broadcast later than next weekend – which is when we have TV listings until. It’s all a bit odd.

In any case, Eurosport naturally has hours and hours of coverage.

And don’t forget that MotoGP is in Catalunya – for its second of three visits to Spain in 2009 – too.

Another busy weekend, then.