The CRH in the Dock

When I think of racing and endurance, it's usually Le Mans, Spa (the 24 hour race, not the GP) and Nürburgring (ditto) that come to mind.

But this week, a racing event starts that could run for two weeks or more. The Commercial Rights Holder (aka CRH, aka Bernie) is in court in London over the allegations of corruption relating to the sale of, essentially, the Commercial Rights to F1, which Bernie had acquired at a very suspiscious price a few years earlier from his good friend Max.

Bernie did a great job as a team owner at Brabham, and with Max Mosley, he managed to get a lot more cash for the teams. But that was last century. This century, the focus has been on maintaining his power and wealth.

So I'm kind of torn. Without Bernie, we wouldn't have so much F1 on TV, or at least, it would have taken a lot longer. So I'm grateful to him for that.

But now there is so much money flowing out of the sport, at a time when only four teams can comfortably afford to pay their suppliers, and young drivers are having to find so much money to get anywhere. It is simply wrong.

And it's the latter view that is fuelling my desire to see change, any change. I'm hoping he is found guilty, and that doesn't feel good.