In the past few days there has been considerable debate about whether
the V8 Supercar races at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix should be
part of our championship.

Various opinions have been expressed by drivers, teams, and fans, but I
believe the television rights could be a crucial factor in the current
non-championship status of the V8 Supercar races at Albert Park.

All events in our championship are televised exclusively on the Seven
Network, and have been since the start of the 2008 season.

However, the grand prix at Albert Park is televised by the Ten Network,
and that could be a major reason why the V8 Supercars have
non-championship races at this event.

For anything to change all parties involved would have to sort out a
compromise. This is something best left to those who decide these
matters.

Regardless of the non-championship races, I think there is still good
value for V8 Supercars to compete at the grand prix meeting.

The category and particularly team sponsors secured excellent exposure
from the V8 Supercar races on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. More than
280,000 spectators attended the grand prix, and there was national
television coverage.

Unfortunately, Albert Park was a difficult event for me because I was
driving an 'old' BF Falcon.

The car was fitted with an H-pattern gearbox and had been raced by Grant
Denyer in the Fujitsu Series in Adelaide the previous weekend.

I had to race this car because my new Jim Beam Racing FG Falcon was
transported back to our team's workshop in Queensland immediately after
the Clipsal 500 for repairs after my crash in Adelaide.

I did the best I could with what I had at Albert Park, but finishing
15th in the first race, 21st in race two, and retiring from race three
with a gearbox issue was not what I wanted.

However, a positive for Jim Beam Racing at the grand prix was my
team-mate Steve Johnson finished fourth in the opening two races, and
sixth in race three.

These results show our Triple Eight Engineering-built FG Falcons have
good speed and our team is moving in the right direction.

Obviously I'm keen to get back into my FG Falcon in the next
championship round at Hamilton in New Zealand later this month (April
17-19).

We raced on the 3.4km Hamilton street circuit for the first time in
2008.

I have some good memories from that trip after qualifying fourth and
finishing fourth in race one, and third in races two and three. Those
results left me third overall for the round, the first of my four
podiums that year.

I'm told some changes have been made to the track at Hamilton this year.
Qualifying will be important, as with all street circuit events because
it is usually difficult to make passing moves.

This year's event will also be different with two 200km races, instead
of three races in 2008.

Since the Clipsal 500 a couple of weeks ago several drivers and teams
have criticised the new qualifying format introduced this year.

In Adelaide we had one qualifying session, followed by a Top 10 Shoot
Out, to determine the grid for both 250km races.

This is different from previous years where we qualified for race one
and results from that event decided starting positions for the second
race.

Some drivers claim they are disadvantaged by the new format if they
qualify poorly and work their way forward in race one, but then have to
revert to the same grid position for race two.

At the same time, if you show good qualifying pace you are rewarded with
excellent starting positions for both races.

My view is there is no point getting upset about the qualifying changes,
because over a full season there will be times the new rules work in
your favour, and other times they may work against you.

Keep smiling.

JC