Jaguar have taken some extreme steps to improve the performance of their car. Prior to this week's race, driver Christian Klein sliced off the top of his index finger on a brake cooling fan. Jaguar believes that the resulting weight reduction will improve the acceleration of their car by 0.00002% and as an added benefit there will be a similar aerodynamic improvement to the car when holding full lock in a left hand turn. Klien has been asked by management to find another tenth of a second by next weekend.

F1 GOES ALL NASCAR-ISH

The FIA announced this weekend that they have blocked out 19 dates for races next weekend. Although no races or dates have been confirmed and there is no certainty that all available dates will be used, you can already hear the screaming from the VIP boxes as team principals the length and breadth of the pitlane complain about the exhausting schedule, working two weekends in a row, blah blah blah.

When reminded that it has been suggested repeatedly that they reduce the amount of testing and increase the amount of racing, nine out of ten owners stick their fingers in their ears and say: “La la la la la, I can't hear you." (The tenth said that his cat prefers Whiskers).

Clearly, if F1 is to make any inroads into the motor racing market of the US, they need to cater to a market which is completely driven by TV. Given the geographic size of the country, which makes it difficult for 90% of the population to attend a race at any given location, it is imperative to have constant TV coverage and/or multiple races.

The Insider contacted several NASCAR owners to get their reaction to the possibility of as many as 19 Formula One races next year, possibly two in the US, and the impact that this would have on their fans. Five couldn't be bothered to speak to somebody without a drawl, seven couldn't stop laughing when asked about the threat posed by Formula One and the other 64 were at a race. (It was Wednesday afternoon after all).

MICHELIN OFFER TO MAKE SLOWER TYRES

Williams, McLaren, BAR et al thought the French were doing that anyway. Actually, I kid because I care. Fearing more draconian action by the FIA (such as going to one tyre supplier whose name begins with B and ends in ridgestone), Michelin has suggested some ways that they can help to reduce speeds as part of the effort to improve safety. I've got to say that I love their ideas and do you want to know why? Because about 10 years ago they were my ideas!

Michelin has suggested that the cars will have to run on one set of tyres for qualifying and for the entire race. This is brilliant. This will reduce the marbles offline as the manufacturers are forced to use harder compounds in order to last a full race distance and will also add an extra element to the race. Drivers will now be required to demonstrate an extra skill in managing their tyre wear. You could have one driver race off into the distance as he pushes his tyres to the limit but then later in the race, the ‘hares' who had been looking after their tyres will start to catch up. There could be a pass for the lead. There could even be (dare I hope for it) less pitstops as there will now only be one good reason to stop instead of two. Perhaps a four-stopper will come to mean, once again, the thing that keeps the portal open. (Oops. Sorry. That's a door-stopper).

MOSLEY QUITS WITH NO APPARENT WITHDRAWL SYMPTOMS

FIA President Max Mosley announced that he will step down this year, one year before his term expires. I must admit that I was never a big Max fan but now that he's handed in his notice, I can only wish that he had quit earlier and worked a longer notice period. It seems that now he doesn't have to worry about job security any more he's going to be the life and soul of the party. In a press conference this weekend he described one of the F1 team principals as “not the sharpest knife in the box" (Ron Dennis later admitted that this was probably a reference to him). A couple of other quotes from the press conference:

"Some of them have been made rich despite themselves because they have been given so much money they couldn't actually manage to spend it."

"I am not a Formula One team principal so I don't change my mind every few minutes."

Incidentally, at the same time that Ron was admitting to being the dull blade, he also claimed that everything that Max said was wrong. Apparently the changes that Max said the owners did not want were in fact changes that the owners wanted that Max didn't want. He also suggested that there might be another reason for leaving that Max didn't reveal and suggested that the press should review what happened in a secret meeting to find out the real reason behind his departure. Makes you wonder how Max put up with them for this long.

Max has clearly reached the end of his tether with the pampered prima donnas of the pitlane and is going to take a few potshots on his way out the door. If he keeps this up he could come and write this column with some of the insights he could give us into the inner workings (or not) of the minds of Ron, Eddie, Flavio et al.

Don't go, Max. We need you!

AND FINALLY