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Archive: Takuma Sato

Predictions for 2008: the teams

13 March 2008 17:42

Categories: Preview

Well, the teams have all now arrived in Melbourne. First practice gets under way at 11pm GMT this evening! How exciting! It also means that I have to rush to get my preview post written while there is still a point in making a prediction. I was hoping to write more predictions and hopes for the season, but a) some of my hopes have already been met!; and b) I don’t have the time to write any more just now.

This post is long enough though, as I look at the prospects of each of the 11 teams competing this season.

Ferrari

I hate to say it, but it looks like Ferrari are going to have it all their way this season. Their testing form has been monumental. Jarno Trulli’s arms even dropped off in awe. I do hope he’s managed to attach them again.

In all seriousness, I would actually be amazed if Kimi Räikkönen does not become the 2008 World Champion. I am a big fan of Räikkönen. I think he has just the right approach to racing. He keeps his foot to the floor and his head out of the politics. He never seeks to blame anyone else for his failings, even when there would be a case for him to do so.

And off the track he lives his life just the way he wants to, and doesn’t let anyone else’s criticism of that get in his way. If only the 21 other whiners would follow the Finn’s example.

If Räikkönen continues the form he showed in the second half of last season, he will be a formidable force. When his mind is focussed, Räikkönen is absolutely unbeatable.

As for Felipe Massa, I’m sorry but I still don’t get it. Massa must be Ferrari’s weakest driver in well over a decade. He is dire in the wet (as we saw at last year’s European Grand Prix). The loss of driver aids is also sure to hamper him more than most.

Okay, so Massa has won races. On his day he can do a good job. But a cynic might say that this just goes to prove that these days anyone can win so long as he is in the right car. The consistency just isn’t there for me to take Massa seriously.

BMW Sauber

Last season I had the utmost respect for what BMW had achieved. Under the expert leadership of Mario Theissen, it is impossible to believe that BMW can do anything other than improve. The team secured (moral) 3^rd place in the Constructors’ Championship with such ease that they were able to stop developing their 2007 car to concentrate on the 2008 car. Theoretically, this should have made them highly competitive for 2008.

Unfortunately, the reports from testing are not good. The design of the car is said to be radical, and some think that it is just too radical. The drivers are complaining about stability and balance issues. This is ominous. A balance problem is not easy to fix. Just ask Honda.

I would love to see BMW do well this season. Sadly, the initial signs do not look good. This could be a difficult learning season.

There is little to worry about in the driving department. I think Nick Heidfeld is the grid’s most underrated driver. The fact that he has never been given a chance in a truly decent car is an utter travesty. Can anyone give me a good reason why Massa should be at Ferrari and Heidfeld shouldn’t?

Meanwhile, Robert Kubica is a good, solid driver. He took in his relative stride an absolutely horrendous 75g crash in Montreal last year. He took just one race off and returned as strong as ever. However, I doubt he has the potential to become a great in the vein of Räikkönen or Alonso.

Renault

Renault is another team I like to see do well. But I just don’t think they can do it. A lot of people will be asking why Renault are off the pace. But I see no reason why they should be on the pace. Some people act as though 2007 was an unthinkably bad season for a team of such stature. Not so.

Okay, so they achieved back-to-back successes with Fernando Alonso. But apart from that, what? The same team, back in the days when they were called Benetton, also achieved back-to-back successes with Michael Schumacher — which was followed by a decade-long barren spell.

Renault has some very smart people working for it. Pat Symonds and Bob Bell are both experienced and highly capable senior personnel. You do not win World Championships by fluke.

But at the same time, where was this team in 1998? In 1999? 2001? Benetton / Renault has as many if not more mediocre seasons as it has good ones. It seems as though Renault is in one of its troughs and it’s not about to emerge from it any time soon.

It is just as well they have a proven driver like Fernando Alonso there, otherwise I would see no reason for optimism whatsoever. In my view, Alonso is the best driver on the grid. Michael Schumacher aside, he may even be the best driver of the past fifteen years. He does not make the same silly mistakes that Räikkönen makes from time to time, and he has an almost psychic ability in the wet.

But does Alonso want to be at Renault? Many have been tempted to paint this as a “homecoming” for Alonso, but he must have originally left Renault for some reason. He might not fit in to the team as well as some people seem to think. There is also the possibility that Alonso is simply using Renault as a stepping stone to another team (almost certainly Ferrari). He went to great lengths to attempt to secure a one-year contract, which raises suspicions. Alonso may lack motivation as much as he did at McLaren.

As for Nelsinho Piquet, I have to confess he is a bit of an unknown quantity to me. I haven’t managed to watch as much GP2 as I would have liked. However, what I have heard about him isn’t good.

He seems to rub a lot of people up the wrong way. A lot of people talk about his arrogance. These descriptions remind me of Ralf Schumacher. Does he think that championships should run through the family automatically? Ralf Schumacher found out the answer to that one as well.

Williams-Toyota

I feel certain that this is Williams’s year. A decade without a Championship win is a painfully long time for a team with the racing heritage of Williams. It’s amazing to think that the last time Williams won the Championship they were almost equal with Ferrari in terms of Championships won. Now Ferrari have nearly double the amount that Williams have.

The barren period has been long and painful. We have become accustomed to seeing Williams occupy the lower midfield of the grid. An acrimonious split with BMW came in the process, and the subsequent success of the German squad must have been like salt in the wound. As F1 has become increasingly dominated by big manufacturers (or soft drinks companies) with plenty of money to throw around, I have to admit that I thought Williams were doomed in the long term.

Now they are bouncing back, and how great it is to see. They even look set to embarrass their engine suppliers, Toyota. The Williams team of 2008 is very different to the one we saw in 1998. They have found their own golden boy in Nico Rosberg and seem desperate to hold on to him. What a change from the Williams of old which saw drivers as disposable commodities, almost even inconveniences.

I think Nico Rosberg is the real deal. He is very handy on the track. There have been a couple of hairy moments over the past couple of seasons, but you sense that Nico Rosberg is just the sort of person to learn from them and improve even more. And what immense maturity he has shown by remaining with Williams in the face of a “majestic” offer to race for McLaren. Clearly, the team and the driver trust each other immensely. As we have seen in the recent past with Michael Schumacher, this can be hugely important.

His team mate is Kazuki Nakajima. A lot of people scoff, but Nakajima is my dark horse for the season. He was impressive enough in his race début in Brazil last year. And his testing pace has been fairly quick on occasion as well. I see no reason why Nakajima is bound to be a failure. A cynic could say that he is only there to keep Toyota happy. But Williams can be quite a stubborn team, and I doubt they would take on a driver just to please the management bods at Toyota.

Red Bull-Renault

Along with Williams, I think Red Bull are on track to impress this season. The potential has been there for a while. You could hardly ask for a better design team than that of Adrian Newey and Geoff Willis.

The only reason Red Bull have not done so well before is really their dire reliability record. As pointed out in the post below, there were 14 mechanical DNFs last season, which is an unacceptably high figure. Word has it that the troublesome gearbox still has issues to be ironed out. Given that gearboxes are now expected to last for four races (or else drivers will be hit with a 5 place grid penalty), this must count against Red Bull.

As for the drivers, I know it is a clichéd comment to make, but I cannot resist it. For a team that is supposed to be youthful, what a couple of dinosaurs they are lumbered with.

On the other hand, this is a solid line-up of elder statesmen. David Coulthard’s career has been given a new lease of life at Red Bull Racing, and he shows no sign of stopping producing the goods. But DC’s career must be in its final one or two years now.

Mark Webber is a similar quality racing driver. But he is not a proven race winner like Coulthard, and you really have to wonder if that race win will ever come. I highly doubt it.

Looking at the line-up though, you have to ask: do Red Bull truly aspire to become a championship winning team? Is a line-up of solid but unspectacular — and ageing — drivers good enough? At the moment, this looks like a team with mid-grid aspirations. And whatever happened to the Red Bull driver programme? They are very quiet about that these days…

Toyota

Oh my goodness, are this lot still here? Will they ever take the hint and give up. Toyota reportedly have one of the biggest budgets in the pitlane, but their approach is so out of touch with the reality of running an F1 team that they might as well take the budgets away from the other teams completely — Toyota would still not win the Championship.

It is true that Honda suffer from the same problem of an ivory tower-based management who think that a car should be designed by committee. But at least Honda have won a race in the past, and BAR (although not strictly Honda) came second in 2004. And Honda have made the right move by hiring Ross Brawn to sort out their problems. Will you ever see such an action coming from Toyota? Never. We know from Ralf Schumacher’s comments that they refused even to speak to Brawn. That just says it all.

Their testing form has been inconsistent. Jarno Trulli did top the timing sheets once, but Toyota have form on running light cars to get a fast but meaningless time. I will never forget what they did at Indianapolis in 2005. That weekend had a lot of enemies, but the way the team celebrated that empty, meaningless pole position was weak. The only kind of victory that Toyota can ever win is a pyrrhic one.

Jarno Trulli is well past his sell-by date. Yes, he is a handy qualifier, but his name is also associated with the ‘Trulli train’, the phenomenon whereby Trulli falls asleep soon after the race has begun and everyone else lines up behind him, unable to overtake. Unless he can find himself in a situation similar to what Fisichella has found at Force India, I would have thought this will be Trulli’s last season in F1. Never mind; I’m sure a great career lies ahead in the vineyard.

As for Timo Glock, we will have to wait and see. This is his second chance in F1 — and not many people get that. His first stab was quite a long time ago now, so the period spent in lower formulae is suspicious. Does Glock really have what it takes?

Well, Toyota entered into a tug-of-war with BMW to secure his services, so both teams obviously think he’s worth fighting over. But Glock also played a role in GP2′s calamitous afternoon in France last year, with an embarrassing start line crash.

Toro Rosso-Ferrari

Toro Rosso have a mountain to climb if you ask me. Seemingly due to a lack of funds, they are starting the season with last year’s car, which can be and advantage as the drivers have optimistically pointed out. But their new car won’t come until around the Turkish Grand Prix, which is five races into the season. On the plus side, that Toro Rosso car had a really strong finish to the season last year, so maybe they can carry that through to this season.

Last year was quite tumultuous for Toro Rosso though, with managers and drivers falling out all over the shop, even to the extent where there were allegations of physical assault. Is that a sign of mismanagement? Do Gerhard Berger and Franz Tost have what it takes to run an F1 team? And how long will Dietrich Mateschitz be prepared to bankroll not just one but two Formula 1 teams?

Sebastian Vettel is highly rated. He impressed me a lot last season, and I am sure that will continue this season. I would say he is promising more in a Robert Kubica sense than in a Lewis Hamilton sense though!

Confusion will abound as his team mate has a similar name, Sébastien Bourdais (and that is in addition to Red Bull test driver Sébastian Buemi!). Bourdais has made the move from ChampCar to F1 just in time for the US open wheel series to be eaten up by the rival IRL series.

On the plus point, Bourdais won four ChampCar championships on the fly. On the minus, he won four ChampCar championships. Not only was ChampCar a bit of a derelict series, but US open wheel racing in general does not have a good track record of generating talented F1 stars.

On the plus side, there is Jacques Villeneuve — but was he really talented enough? On the minus, there are Alessandro Zanardi, Cristiano da Matta and Juan Pablo Montoya. All came with big hopes — all left with their tails between their legs.

Bourdais is also really late into his career to be making the switch to F1. Yet again, Red Bull isn’t exactly hiring a spring chicken. And what’s that about the Red Bull driver programme? I can’t hear anything…

Honda

My tip for the back of the grid! Seriously, given their continuing problems, I would not be surprised if Force India beat Honda on a regular basis this season. That would leave Honda at the back with… Super Aguri.

Undoubtedly Honda will begin to go in the right direction soon. Unless everyone has completely overestimated Ross Brawn’s ability, the only way is up. But until his influence seeps through, it is still a case of a chronically slow car (albeit one which apparently isn’t as unstable as last year’s shitbox). And who could forget that terrible livery? Okay, it’s an improvement on last year’s, but not by much.

If anyone can squeeze a result out of a terrible car, it is Jenson Button. We saw that last year. I never rated Jenson Button all that much, but I have to take my hat off to him for coping with that terrible car. He didn’t let himself get depressed by the situation and managed to score a fair few points by the end of the season, essentially saving Honda’s face.

Rubens Barrichello was not so impressive. He did allow himself to get depressed about the situation. By the end of the season, he and Honda were exchanging frosty comments through the press. Barrichello is on course to become the most experienced driver of all time this season — but if the Sword of Damocles is hanging over any driver, it is Barrichello.

Super Aguri-Honda

They have replaced Minardi as the small team that everyone wants to see do well. But while they pulled some impressive results out of the bag last season, I don’t see them replicating that form this season. Their financial troubles have been particularly acute this winter, and although they have now found backing they have had precious little time on the test track. I don’t even know what car they will be using this year. Plus, the management overhaul is bound to disorient the team slightly.

Takuma Sato is a much maligned driver; the butt of all kinds of jokes. But I rate Sato. Who could forget his amazing overtaking manoeuvre on Fernando Alonso at Canada last year?

It is fair to say, though, that Sato has probably had longer in F1 than he truly deserves. It is incredible that Honda even went to the trouble of setting up an entire F1 team for him, just to placate the Japanese public. Sato is one lucky man.

As for Anthony Davidson, no-one has had as rough a deal as he has. Years of graft as a test driver for Honda have culminated in a poorly-supported second-hand drive where he plays a secondary role to Sato. Surely Davidson deserves more than this.

Force India-Ferrari

When I was younger, I was a fan of the Jordan team. The heady days of success in the late 1990s were sweet. But the decline was depressing to watch. Then as the team changed hands on an annual basis, any hope of a return to the glory days faded fast. All of the energy from the Jordan team has been sucked out by a succession of cynical businessmen who didn’t realise what they were getting themselves into and just how much money they had to commit.

But at last, the Jordan team appears to be in good hands. Vijay Mallya has deep pockets and seems to be a genuine F1 fan. He appears determined to succeed for the love of the sport, not just to push his brand.

As I have said before, initially I thought Force India should have hired Vitantonio Liuzzi as their race driver. As it is Liuzzi is their test / reserve driver, which makes sense. Giancarlo Fisichella does deserve another chance at F1 glory. When most teams at the back of the grid rely on dodgy pay drivers, it is good for Force India to be able to use an experienced driver like Fisichella to push forward development. I hope it pays dividends.

Adrian Sutil is still a bit of an unknown. He is highly rated, but his on-track performances are still sporadic. How sick must he feel though — apparently he came close to clinching that McLaren drive. As it is, he has to slog for another season at the rear of the pack.

McLaren-Mercedes

This is the big question mark. How will the turmoil of last season — and, to an extent, the off season — affect the McLaren team’s preparation? Undoubtedly, the team will have been distracted. It has also had to halt development on three areas of the car, which is also have a small adverse effect.

On the other hand, they may be more determined than ever to win this season’s Championship. I don’t think they are quite there with Ferrari yet. But they are undoubtedly the red team’s biggest rivals, so you can’t write them off.

Lewis Hamilton has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders this year. The British media spotlight will be glaring on him more intensely than ever. The hungry media doesn’t forgive losers easily. It’s a cliché to say that the British media builds people up to knock them down, but it’s true. Hamilton will have to perform this year to prevent this from happening.

Hamilton also has more responsibility because he is team leader for McLaren after just one season. He is spearheading McLaren’s title campaign but he is still relatively inexperienced.

However, Lewis Hamilton is a supremely talented driver. His overtaking manoeuvres and starts last year were often unbelievable. But there is still a question mark in my mind over his tyre management, which appears to be his weakest area. Hamilton will have to learn to be more patient before he can win the Championship.

There are a lot of expectations for Heikki Kovalainen as well. He has made a name for himself by the fact that “if he was at McLaren and Hamilton was at Renault, all the hype could be surrounding Kovy.” Well, this year we will find out. Kovalainen is also relatively inexperienced. With two drivers lacking experience, that could harm McLaren this season in terms of development — although they still have wise head Pedro de la Rosa as a test driver.

I have written previously about Hamilton and Kovalainen over at BlogF1.

2 comments

F1 season review: the frontrunners

18 November 2007 16:24

Categories: Formula 1

2007 F1 season review

A series of posts

F1 season review: the backmarkers
F1 season review: the frontrunners
F1 season review: the constructors (11th–6th)
F1 season review: the constructors (top 5)
F1 season review: broadcasts
F1 season review: podcasts
F1 season review: websites

This is part two of my series of posts reviewing the F1 season gone by. Last week I wrote about F1′s backmarkers. This week: my top 13 drivers.

13 — Alexander Wurz

When Alexander Wurz burst onto the scene in 1997, he was talked about as a hot prospect. I’d say he was the Nico Rosberg of his day. So the way his career panned out must be seen as a disappointment. He was unfortunate enough to fall into the trap of becoming a test driver, then becoming too good at being a test driver to be considered for a long-term drive.

His occasional races with McLaren were typical. He came across as a bit rusty, as though he had forgotten how to race as opposed to just drive the car. However, when he was on form he shone brightly.

The story was much the same this year with Williams — his first full-term drive with a team since 2000. Most of the time he looked off the pace, and was outclassed by team mate Nico Rosberg. But he had two or three stunning drives, which is why I have placed him so far up the list.

His drive in Canada led to a well-deserved third place. Of course, an element of luck was involved as the multiple safety car periods probably worked to his advantage. But even with luck playing a role, to have qualified 19^th and finish on the podium is good going.

More impressive in my view, though, was Wurz’s drive at the Nürburgring. He adapted to the fiercely changeable conditions better than most. Some said this was in part due to his knowledge of the local microclimate, as he used to live just opposite the circuit. But his immense experience was also at play as he got his Williams ahead of better cars.

12 — Sebastian Vettel

In a year of excellent rookie performances, Sebastian Vettel has been overshadowed a little bit. Drafted in at short notice to deputise for Robert Kubica at Indianapolis, Vettel got a little bit spooked at the first corner, but held his nerve for the rest of the race to grab a point.

It was to be his sole race for BMW. But a few races later a vacancy appeared at Toro Rosso, and Vettel took it. Some joked that, while Vettel scored a point in his F1 début, by signing for Toro Rosso he ensured that he wouldn’t score another point until at least 2009.

Those wags turned out to be wrong. On the one hand, he did not comprehensively outperform team mate Vitantonio Liuzzi, although it looked to me as though he did a bit better than Scott Speed. But undoubtedly the Toro Rosso was handy at some circuits towards the end of the season (perhaps sometimes due to rainy conditions) which helped Vettel.

Liuzzi as well as Vettel looked good towards the end of the season, but Vettel was able to capitalise on the opportunities more. He was running in third at Fuji until his infamous collision with Mark Webber, who was effectively his team mate. It was an unforgivable mistake, no matter what the mitigating circumstances were and Vettel obviously knew it. However, he went a long way to burying the memory of that incident by finishing an incredible fourth place at the next race in China.

A lot will hinge on the competitiveness of next year’s Toro Rosso. But given a semi-decent car, Vettel will have the capability to grab highly impressive results from time to time.

11 — David Coulthard

The thing that impresses me about David Coulthard is not so much his driving ability, but the fact that he shows no sign of running out of steam. He is F1′s oldest driver, and of the current crop only Rubens Barrichello has more experience. Usually that would be a sure sign that you’re off — even if you are Michael Schumacher. But DC just keeps on going.

Results this year were mixed, but mostly impressive. He started the year badly with a ludicrously over-ambitious move on Alexander Wurz which almost decapitated the Austrian. As accidents go, it was probably even more shocking than Robert Kubica’s because it demonstrated just how vulnerable drivers still are in that open cockpit.

Coulthard also other race-ending accidents, and of course he was also often the victim of the Red Bull’s dire reliability. But when he was able to finish, it was often in an impressive position. The end of the season was particularly strong, topped by a fourth place in Japan. No podiums like in 2006, but you can’t win them all.

10 — Mark Webber

What has Mark Webber done to deserve such terrible luck? While David Coulthard had his reliability problems from time to time, Mark Webber seemed to suffer all the time. Formula1.com reports that all but one of his seven retirements was caused by either gearbox, transmission or hydraulics.

When he managed to finish a race, though, it was more often than not in a high position. He was particularly impressive in the wet, as he grabbed a podium at the Nürburgring and was lining himself up for a win at Fuji until Vettel smashed into him.

Webber was also excellent at qualifying. He is a surprisingly high seventh on this year’s ‘supergrid’ (where drivers are arranged according to average grid position).

9 — Robert Kubica

In a lot of ways Robert Kubica was a disappointment this season. There were a lot of good results — a slew of fourths and fifths. But his BMW car was handy and he was comprehensively outperformed by Nick Heidfeld.

Unfortunately, Robert Kubica’s 2007 season will mainly be remembered for that shocking accident in Montreal. For me, it was the lowest point of the season as there was a period of time where I feared the worst. It was a truly sickening accident to watch, and at one point Kubica experienced a force of 75g. Kubica was lucky to escape without any major injury (particularly since, by the end of the accident, his feet and ankles were completely exposed).

Kubica did not let the accident deter him. He was eager to take part at Indianapolis, but was ordered to take the week off by doctors. He bounced back at Magny-Cours, though, to finish fourth and went on to score in all but two of the remaining races. That is what makes people like Robert Kubica different to the likes of you and me.

8 — Nico Rosberg

I get the impression that people weren’t really sure what to make of Nico Rosberg at the end of 2006. This year he really cemented his reputation as a solid, reliable driver. Overall, he outperformed Alexander Wurz and Frank Williams seems rather keen on retaining his services. This is odd for Mr. Williams, who usually sees his drivers as disposable commodities.

Despite this, we are yet to see any real result from him. Yes, he is in the Williams which is not the best car. But even Wurz was seen towards the front of the field once or twice this year. Rosberg seems more comfortable in the midfield, and his best result is a solitary fourth (at Brazil, an awesome drive), although you’d be most likely to see him finish seventh.

Nico Rosberg is one of those drivers who is on the borderline for me. A lot will hinge on next year and how he adapts to the removal of traction control.

7 — Jenson Button

Okay, hear me out. A lot of people mocked Nick Fry when he said that this was Jenson Button’s best ever year. Indeed, Nick Fry’s unflappable optimism is often rather laughable, but I think he had a point on this matter.

Let us face facts. We all know that the Honda car was awful. And yet, Jenson Button has six points to his name this year. That is six more than Rubens Barrichello scored. In fact, Button largely outperformed Barrichello in every area this year. Button fought hard to wring results out of that car — and he managed it, particularly towards the end of the season.

I am not usually a fan of Jenson Button. However, this year has made me really appreciate how good he is in the wet. He put in an amazing qualifying performance at Fuji and was really unlucky to walk away from that race with nothing to show for it after getting involved in an accident during the race. Still, he came back in China to score an amazing fifth position.

But it was not just rainy conditions that allowed Button to score points. He broke his duck this year at the bone-dry Magny-Cours circuit. This year, Button has gone up in my estimation a great deal.

6 — Heikki Kovalainen

Kovalainen didn’t start the season too well. His Australian Grand Prix was so disastrous that Flavio Briatore said it couldn’t have been Heikki — it must have been his brother. Ouch!

But as Kovalainen got comfortable in the Renault, he began to put Giancarlo Fisichella in the shadow. His first truly great moment was in Canada. There he survived a race of attrition to finish fourth, leaving Kimi Räikkönen’s Ferrari behind, having started plum last.

Arguably better was his race in treacherous conditions in Fuji. He was helped out a bit by the collision between Webber and Vettel, but you wouldn’t begrudge Kovalainen the second position.

It really was a year of excellent rookie performances! Kovalainen came within a whisker of beating Tiago Monteiro’s record of most rookie race finishes in a row. Kovalainen finished every single race of the season bar Brazil, so the record — finishing his first sixteen races in a row — must be shared with Monteiro.

It is difficult to believe that Kovalainen is still uncertain to get a drive next season. He is undoubtedly talented, but it looks as though only McLaren would be willing to hire him next season — but would they want two relatively inexperienced drivers? Renault are too busy trying to woo Alonso, and reading between the lines it seems as though Kovalainen does not want to be team mates with Alonso.

5 — Felipe Massa

I still find it difficult to understand where Felipe Massa is at. He does have the ability to pull the rabbit out of the hat. He is a proven race winner, a deserved race winner indeed. And let us not forget that for the majority of the season he was McLaren’s closest rival in the Championship.

It is possible to say that the only reason he fell behind Räikkönen was because of an unlucky patch where the team messed up his qualifying chance in Hungary and a DNF in Italy due to suspension troubles. For a long time, Felipe Massa was being seriously considered as a potential World Champion.

But Massa yet again revealed himself to be far from the complete driver. He was made to look rather silly by Lewis Hamilton at Sepang. And his performance in the changeable conditions at the Nürburgring was embarrassingly bad.

You could also say that the only reason Massa was able to seize the initiative in the first place was due to the teething problems Räikkönen had at the beginning of the season. Two of his three wins were during this phase.

A lot of people were astonished that Felipe Massa had managed to extended his contract with Ferrari until 2010. I have heard that the tifosi prefer Massa to Räikkönen, but I cannot fathom why. Massa is just the sort of driver who I’d imagine would struggle without traction control, so next year will be very interesting indeed.

4 — Nick Heidfeld

It is amazing to think that a few years ago Quick Nick was almost finished in F1 terms. His lifeline came in the form of the Jordan team, which was by then deep into a trough. He impressed enough in that dire car for Williams to pick him up, and ever since he been associated with BMW.

Those years of perseverance have really paid off as he is now in a great car, with a team on the ascendancy and he has comfortably outperformed his head-turning team mate, Kubica. Who would have thought back in 2004 that Nick Heidfeld would ever rake in a points haul of 61? This is about twenty times what he got at Jordan!

Heidfeld had a slew of excellent results. He finished fourth five times, but he also scored two podiums. One was an impressive drive at Hungary where he fended off the threat from Fernando Alonso. Indeed, in Bahrain he made an amazing pass on the outside of Alonso. But he went one better at Canada to finish second in that hectic race. Nick Heidfeld comfortably established himself as the ‘best of the rest’.

3 — Lewis Hamilton

Undoubtedly the surprise of the year. Even those who raved about Hamilton’s GP2 performances were flabbergasted at just how well he was able to cope this season.

For me, his trademark is his audacious overtaking manoeuvres. At the start of the year his lightning starts were fearless as he made his way round the Alonsos and Räikkönens of this world as though they were little kids. Rivals ran wide as Hamilton drove the corners as though he were in a slot car. He psyched out Felipe Massa in Malaysia. He surprised Räikkönen at Monza with perhaps the move of the year.

Some have criticised Hamilton for being over-ambitious when overtaking. His move on Barrichello at Brazil, for instance, was derided as dangerous and stupid. But part of the art of overtaking is trying to work out if the other guy is risk-averse enough to get out of your way. If Hamilton had tried the same move on, say, Nakajima, it would be a legitimate criticism. But you have to look at the situation and say that Hamilton’s audacious overtaking moves have never yet resulted in an accident.

Lewis Hamilton’s other major strong point is his qualifying, particularly towards the end of the season. I could scarcely believe some of the lap times he managed to put in. Alonso was definitely put in the shade several times by Hamilton this season.

However, there is the bad side of Hamilton’s driving. He took several questionable actions throughout the season. His driving behind the Safety Car in Fuji was widely criticised, and was a contributory factor in the famous smash between Webber and Vettel. The employment of a crane to get his European Grand Prix going again was arguably illegal.

But his lowest moment came during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. His refusal to follow team orders and give Alonso his legitimate chance during qualifying (as per internal McLaren rules) set off a chain of events that essentially resulted in the breakdown of the relationship between Alonso and the rest of the McLaren team. Most sickeningly, the whole situation subsequently worked in Hamilton’s favour, so he felt no real punishment for his actions.

On track, too, Hamilton disappointed at the end of the season. To lose a 17 point lead in just two races when there were no mechanical problems, in a car as fast as the McLaren, just beggars belief. Hamilton’s cool head impressed at the start of the season, but clearly by the end the pressure was just too much for him.

Many will point out the fact that McLaren should not have left Hamilton out on shot tyres for so long at Shanghai. This is true, but it also ignores some important points. First of all, Hamilton was the only driver whose tyres were so badly worn out in the first place. This was due to his impatient start and his desperation to win at all costs (when he only needed fourth). Secondly, if Hamilton knew he needed new tyres he could have just pitted anyway (we all know how Hamilton likes to ignore team orders anyway!). Thirdly, it was Hamilton’s fault for entering the pits too quickly and spinning off.

Some also ask why McLaren put Hamilton on a three-stop strategy in Brazil. But the reality is that Hamilton blew his chances himself by going on the grass on the first lap. Once again, this was down to his impatience, and a desperation to take a position that he simply did not need to take.

Even leaving aside the question of whether or not Hamilton pressed the wrong button on the steering wheel, his chances were blown at that moment on the first lap. Even after that, his entire Brazilian Grand Prix performance was, in my view, quite nervy.

Overall, I would define Hamilton’s style this year as ‘impatient’. Sometimes this has worked to his advantage, as it did with his great overtaking manoeuvres at the start of the season. Sometimes it worked against him, as it did in China and Brazil. To become World Champion, Hamilton needs time to mature a bit in this respect. Perhaps he will tone down the exciting nature of his driving in order to do this.

2 — Fernando Alonso

Off the track, 2007 was a bit of a nightmare for Fernando Alonso. Even on the track it was quite bad, as his rookie team mate got the better of him on several occasions.

However, overall, Alonso’s performances were more consistent and demonstrated his extra experience. He had a few bad races. In Bahrain he was unable to fend off Nick Heidfeld, although seemingly Alonso’s car was damaged in transit, compromising grip levels. In Canada he was overtaken by Takuma Sato of all people (although Alonso was disadvantaged badly by the new Safety Car rules).

Alonso was also unusually off colour at Fuji. He spun off in the wet. It was a far cry from the Alonso we saw at Hungary in 2006.

By the end of the year it seemed clear that Alonso did not particularly want to win the Championship with McLaren. This was most obvious in Brazil. So we won’t know what he was capable of.

This year has damaged Alonso’s reputation because of certain off-track events. But on the track, Fernando Alonso is still, for my money, the best driver on the grid. However, this year he was outperformed by one driver in particular.

1 — Kimi Räikkönen

When Kimi Räikkönen burst onto the scene in 2001, who would have thought it would have taken him eight season to win his first World Championship? Räikkönen is the most experienced first time World Champion since Nigel Mansell. The debate will rage on about whether Räikkönen was unlucky with reliability at McLaren or he is a ‘car breaker’.

There are also constant question marks and innuendos about Räikkönen’s commitment to winning the World Championship and off-track antics of a different sort to what Alonso got up to. Let us not forget, though, that Räikkönen came unbearably close to winning the World Championship twice when he was at McLaren. So Räikkönen’s ability and willpower can not be in doubt.

A lot of people love Räikkönen for his cool attitude. He doesn’t give a hoot. He just gets in the car and drives the wheels off it. Meanwhile, he likes to have fun off the track. He is the closest contemporary racing drivers get to the ‘playboy’ model of the stereotypical 1970s grand prix driver.

But on race weekend his approach is laid back, not reckless. At Brazil in 2006 he famously told Martin Brundle that he couldn’t be bothered watching Pelé present Michael Schumacher with a special trophy because he was taking a shit. You really can’t get much more relaxed than that, and I’m sure he was every bit as relaxed at this year’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

In this context, it is easy to see how Räikkönen just capitalised on the spat between Hamilton and Alonso. Räikkönen was not being put off, so he just drove ahead of them, pulled back a 17 point deficit and waved goodbye to the McLarens. Brilliant.

Räikkönen has the right attitude, and when he gets in the car nothing deters him. He won six races this year, more than anyone else.

However, even Räikkönen’s season was not perfect. He had a very bad patch at the beginning of the season. The blame was put on the transition to Bridgestones and the new Ferrari car, although if this was the case then it doesn’t explain why he won so easily at the very first race in Australia.

Luca di Montezemolo had to give Räikkönen a kick up the arse via the press. It worked — and from the French Grand Prix onwards it is impossible to find fault in Räikkönen’s season. A well-deserved Championship win.

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F1 season review: the backmarkers

11 November 2007 20:36

Categories: Formula 1

2007 F1 season review

A series of posts

F1 season review: the backmarkers
F1 season review: the frontrunners
F1 season review: the constructors (11th–6th)
F1 season review: the constructors (top 5)
F1 season review: broadcasts
F1 season review: podcasts
F1 season review: websites

At last! I have got round to starting on my review of the Formula 1 season. Because it has taken so long for me to get round to it, I have had enough ideas gestating around for me to write several posts on this. So I will write one post every Sunday for a few weeks. Hey, somebody has to provide some F1 action on a Sunday!

Each post will focus on a different aspect of the season. Future posts will look at the performances of teams. I will also assess the various F1 media outlets — ITV, FOM, websites, blogs and podcasts.

But today I’ll start with a look at the drivers. This is the first of a two-part run-down.

It’s not easy to rank drivers. As I said a few weeks ago, they are all heroes really. But we all know that some drivers are better than others. No doubt there will be plenty of disagreements, but that is what it’s all about, huh?

26 — Sakon Yamamoto

I have seen some people say that Yamamoto compares favourably to Adrian Sutil. I just don’t get it. Why is he even in F1? He was rubbish last year at Super Aguri, and he didn’t do very much interesting this year at Spyker. Perhaps part of this is the fact that he is tootling round at the back pretty anonymously, and has therefore been overlooked.

But looking at the figures, Yamamoto was outqualified by Sutil in every single race. The books will say that Yamamoto started ahead of Sutil in Brazil, but only because Sutil started in the pitlane, presumably due to mechanical problems. In fact, looking at the qualifying times, Yamamoto set the 22^nd-”quickest” time in every single qualifying session. His blushes were only ever spared by other people’s mechanical failures.

He must have some really good sponsors.

25 — Christijan Albers

It’s a shame for Christijan Albers. He seemed like a really nice guy. Unfortunately, he simply caused too many embarrassing incidents. He was warned midway through the season by the Spyker team to clean up his act. Not long afterwards, he dangerously drove out of the pitlane with the fuel hose still attached. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

24 — Ralf Schumacher

Oh my goodness. What an awful season Ralf Schumacher had. Seemingly everyone had it in for him this year. The Toyota team finally lost patience with him and he appears to be out of a drive for next season.

Ralf Schumacher himself is going around telling everybody that he will be in F1 next season. If he’ll be in F1 next season, it will be driving in the Safety Car, although I’m sure the FIA would rather find someone faster.

Part of the problem with Ralf Schumacher is the fact that he is just so damn deluded. At the start of the season he declared himself to be one of the top three drivers (!) and the Toyota the fourth fastest car (!). So where were the results to back it up? Only five points all season.

And all too often he failed to cross the psychological barrier of Q1. For a team with such a huge budget and a driver with such a huge pay packet, that is simply unforgivable. Tragic. Once upon a time Ralf Schumacher was a steady pair of hands, and a proven race winner. That feels like a very long time ago now.

23 — Anthony Davidson

At last, Anthony Davidson finally got a full season in F1. What did he do? I can’t remember. A couple of impressive moments. I seem to remember one particularly unlucky qualifying session. Bad luck dogged him actually, most notably when he hit a groundhog while running 3^rd in Canada.

But he also had bad moments of his own making, like spinning during qualifying at Silverstone. Otherwise, Davidson was too anonymous for me to place him any higher.

22 — Markus Winkelhock

Markus Winkelhock’s début grand prix will surely go down in history as one of the most eventful débuts ever. The son of Manfred Winkelhock made his début where his father made his exit from F1, at the Nürburgring. It looks as though it will be Markus’s last F1 race too.

Were it not for Lewis Hamilton, Markus Winkelhock would have been the only person to lead in his début this year. In a way, Winkelhock’s achievement is all the more impressive given that he did it in the Spyker (the worst car) rather than the McLaren.

Of course, in reality luck played a huge part in Winkelhock’s race. A risky strategy was employed by Spyker as weather conditions worsened, and luck played straight into their hands. At one point, Winkelhock led by over 30 seconds and had made Kimi Räikkönen look rather silly. But it was all because of that risky strategy to put Winkelhock on extreme wets.

It was a decision that only Spyker — at the back — could afford to take. In the end, it wasn’t much more than good PR. The race was stopped because the conditions were so atrocious, and at the restart Winkelhock was swamped by faster cars. In the end, he was in the sort of position you’d expect a Spyker to be. Then in another position where you’d expect a Spyker to be — in the grass, smoking.

Still, it’s a neat thing to put on your CV. Winkelhock is the only driver in history to have started the same race at the back of the grid and at the front!

21 — Kazuki Nakajima

Another F1 son, Kazuki is the son of Satoru Nakajima. Drafted in at the last minute to replace Alexander Wurz, who went on early retirement, Nakajima had a pretty mixed Brazilian Grand Prix.

Most notably, he was involved in a horrendous accident in the pitlane where he basically crashed into two of his mechanics. Fortunately, nobody was seriously injured. Perhaps it can partly be explained by nerves and the fact that it was his first ever F1 pitstop. But it was nevertheless an unforgivable accident. He didn’t shine too much in qualifying either.

However, his race driving was pretty hot. He set the fifth fastest lap of the race, ahead of Fernando Alonso and fancied team mate Nico Rosberg. He powered through the field to finish 10^th. This has been a year of notable rookie performances, and for me, Nakajima’s Brazilian Grand Prix is up there.

20 — Rubens Barrichello

I know that the Honda was a shockingly bad car. But let’s face facts here. Jenson Button outperformed Barrichello all year. Whereas Button fought to get fast, Barrichello let the car’s poor performance get him down. It’s a far cry from his heroic days at Stewart. If he’s not over the hill, he’s certainly given up climbing it.

19 — Scott Speed

An F1 career wasted. Either Scott Speed simply wasn’t fast enough, or his career was ruined by Red Bull / Toro Rosso bosses. He had a few good drives, making a particularly good attempt at Monaco where the Toro Rosso car worked well. But of his retirements, more were down to accidents and driver error than mechanical failure.

It’s all water under the bridge now though as Scott Speed heads off to forge a new career in stock cars in the USA.

18 — Vitantonio Liuzzi

As Scott Speed, but with some points. Liuzzi also shone at Monaco. At one point in qualifying he was running among the front-runners — setting the fourth-fastest time in Q1 — until a set-up change ruined it all. He eventually qualified 13^th and had an unlucky race, being crashed out by Coulthard.

Things looked up a bit towards the end of the season. It became clear that the Toro Rosso was pretty handy in the wet, and Liuzzi was able to wring out some respectable results — almost scoring in Japan and finishing 6^th in China. However, he was still outperformed by team mate Sebastian Vettel towards the end of the season. Overall though, Liuzzi’s qualifying performances tended to outshine those of his team mate, whether it was Speed or Vettel.

Midway through the season it was clear that, as with Scott Speed, Liuzzi’s relationship with the management at Toro Rosso had broken down. So he won’t remain at Toro Rosso. Is this the last we’ve seen of Liuzzi? I feel as though he’s had a lot of bad luck in his career. It is only a few years ago that the F3000 champion was being talked about as a future Ferrari driver.

17 — Jarno Trulli

Toyota is like an old folk’s home. But a one where they pay you to stay there. I guess this was just like 2006 for Jarno Trulli, but with fewer jibes about the “Trulli train”, the phenomenon whereby everybody gets stuck behind Jarno Trulli and the leaders disappear off into the distance. I give him one more year in F1.

16 — Giancarlo Fisichella

It’s much the same with Giancarlo Fisichella. In fact, when you look at it, the careers of Trulli and Fisichella have followed extraordinarily similar paths. The broke onto the scene with Minardi, then had some promising stints at Benetton / Renault and some wilderness years at Jordan.

Since then they have diverged a bit, with Trulli going to the Panasonic Toyota Retirement Home and Fisichella constantly being given the benefit of the doubt by Renault. It is clear that Fisichella is not as fast as some people once thought. Outclassed entirely by Alonso and now by rookie Heikki Kovalainen, it is obvious that Fisi is on the wane, big time.

He lucked in to an extension of his Renault contract with the departure of Alonso. Now it might happen again if Kovalainen moves. Expect Nelsinho Piquet to give him a pasting in 2008.

15 — Adrian Sutil

I am not sure if my placing of Adrian Sutil is a little on the high side. It is difficult to tell when a driver is in the worst car. But in a way, it is this very fact that makes me place him so high.

Sutil is a bit of a question mark. Some people seem to be quite impressed with him, while others think he is nothing special. But for me, the facts speak for themselves. He was only outqualified twice all year, and three different drivers were up against him in that Spyker.

It would be fascinating to see how he measures up in a better car. My gut feeling is that Sutil is a competent driver like, say, Button rather than a truly fast driver like Alonso.

14 — Takuma Sato

Takuma Sato has further cemented his reputation as the greatest driver ever to come out of Japan. He has outshone Anthony Davidson for most of the year, if not in qualifying then certainly in the races. Who could forget the moment when Sato overtook Alonso in Canada? I was jumping with joy. Certainly one of the best moments of the year.

That’s my view on the back half of the field. Next week I’ll post my thoughts on the other 13 drivers who competed this year.

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I am fed up with the power-crazy FIA’s interfering

19 October 2007 20:13

Categories: Formula 1, Max Must Go

I have really had enough. Formula 1 is being ruined by a ridiculously Byzantine rule book, political in-fighting, inconsistent penalty decisions, nonsensical posturing and the power-crazy FIA President responsible for it all.

It seems to me as though the FIA is increasingly determined to stick its nose in everything, constantly bossing the teams and bosses around for no good reason, and ruining the sporting spectacle for the fans at home. All too often the race result is changed hours after the chequered flag is waved. And with the multitude of almost-random grid penalties being handed out race-in race-out they really might as well draw lots to determine the grid order.

There is no need for McLaren to be given a special scrutineer to ensure that Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso are given equal treatment throughout the weekend. Even Fernando Alonso — whose complaints set off the chain of events that led to McLaren getting the extra scrutineer — says that it is completely unnecessary.

There is surely no-one who seriously considers that McLaren would do anything but offer their drivers complete equality — as far as they possibly can — this weekend. For a start, if anything goes wrong with Alonso’s car, there will be no shortage of people ready to suspect the worst and waiting to throw stones at Ron Dennis for it.

But even if McLaren were to ditch their long-standing (and contractually-binding) policy of equality between their two drivers, what business is it of the FIA’s? None whatsoever. McLaren are a private team, and they should be allowed to run their team in whatever way they see fit. Of course, Max Mosley sees it differently.

How interesting, though, that the FIA turned a blind eye to Ferrari’s policy of explicitly favouring one driver over another during the years that Michael Schumacher drove for them. Not only was this Ferrari’s well-known policy, but Ferrari were proud of it. Many today see it as the model by which all modern F1 teams should be run. If the FIA are so worried about equality, why are they not intervene when Michael Schumacher was competing for any of the five World Championships that he won for Ferrari, or for Ferrari’s own six Constructors’ Championships?

As if that wasn’t bad enough, on Friday at Interlagos came news that three drivers had broken a rule that nobody had heard of. Why on earth is there a rule concerning the number of sets of wet tyres a team can use during a practice session?

Quick, fire up the FIA Random Penalty Generator. Because we don’t know where Takuma Sato, Jenson Button or Lewis Hamilton will be on the grid. That’s right, Lewis Hamilton. Given all the criticism the FIA have faced this season, you would think they would be sensible enough to keep their grubby mitts off the championship battle and let the drivers decide the outcome on the track, the way sport should be.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am not the biggest fan of Lewis Hamilton. But I must sympathise with him and the McLaren team here. Of course, it is fair enough if Lewis Hamilton and the McLaren team have broken a rule. To be frank, it baffles me why Lewis Hamilton needed two sets of tyres when he only did a dozen or so laps. And McLaren (and Honda and Super Aguri) should not be in the sort of situation where they find themselves not knowing the rules.

But this is quite a silly rule that I can’t understand the point of. This probably comes under the FIA’s catch-all “cost cutting” heading, the excuse they give for introducing all of their silliest rules. It is on days like this when I wonder if Formula 1 would not be better just re-writing the rules from scratch.

A good government needs to learn when to leave things alone and treat people as mature adults who can sort things out for themselves. Of course, most governments rather prefer to grab as much power as they can, and the FIA is no different.

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Japanese F1 coverage is brilliant!

27 June 2007 00:18

Categories: Entertainment, Formula 1, Television

I love this video which is an example of how F1 is broadcast in Japan. The commentators are describing a great moment for their nation’s only F1 driver.

Towards the end of the Canadian Grand Prix, Takuma Sato, in a vastly inferior Super Aguri car (even the name of the team is shit), is catching up with back-to-back World Champion Fernando Alonso who is driving the best car in the field, the McLaren. At the end of the lap, Sato takes the place.

The best moments to watch out for during the video. The first is just after the hairpin, as the commentators become excited as they realise that Sato is lining up for a pass. The second is once the move has been made, when a bemused silence falls on the commentary box, presumably as the reality of what has just happened sinks in.

I also particularly love the Mortal Kombat-style “ALONSO vs. SATO” captions.

F1 Canada 2007 Sato vs Alonso
Uploaded by Stockii

Note to James Allen: This is how to get excited without sounding like a sugar-high child.

Via Somefool.

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