Luca di Montezemolo didn’t make the trip to Bahrain, but back home in Italia he will have been in a very fine mood on Sunday afternoon. A Ferrari 1-2 – and on the day Michael Schumacher began his comeback… it hardly gets better than this.
Three days earlier, as he toyed with his somewhat ascetic breakfast – porridge with honey, accompanied by a cup of hot water – Jackie Stewart talked animatedly about the race, the season, to come. He discussed the McLaren situation, the pairing of Britain’s two World Champions, Hamilton and Button, and said he expected Red Bull to be a mighty force this year: “First, it’s an Adrian Newey car – and second, it’s an evolutionary car, rather than a revolutionary one. Evolutionary cars tend to be more reliable, and if you put together a string of good scores in the first few races, you can get yourself into a situation where you can’t be caught in the World Championship. We saw that last year with Jenson, didn’t we?”
Then Stewart got on to the subject of Ferrari. “They’ve got a very strong pair of drivers. I mean, Massa’s back to full health, and quite a while ago he lost that ‘peak and valley’ tendency that used to be there, and became a lot more consistent. I hope he keeps it that way – I think the boy is hugely talented, and he deserved to be World Champion in 2008.” Jackie paused; “Having said all that, I think Fernando Alonso is absolutely a man on a mission – I watched him yesterday walking to the Ferrari garage, and it was like he was on a route march! He’s had two poor years with Renault, and boy, is he ready to come back strong. I have enormous respect for Fernando – a truly great racing driver, absolutely as good as they come…”
A ringing endorsement of the man considered by many to be the best, the most complete, driver in the world. In Bahrain he raced a Ferrari for the first time, and – like Mario Andretti – won. “A very special day,” he said. “To be back on the top of the podium is great – to do it in a Ferrari is fantastic…”
Unlike Kimi Raikkonen, the man he replaced in the team, Alonso is a Latin, a man who really ‘gets’ the whole Ferrari thing. Ever since his signing was announced, he has spoken almost mystically of what it means to him to be where he always dreamed of being: there will no further teams after this, he has said.
Alonso had his hopes of pole position, having set the fastest lap on Saturday morning, but nothing could live with the one-lap pace of Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull, and right at the end of qualifying Massa, too, nipped ahead. “Not ideal,” said Fernando, “but not bad, either – and I’m on the clean side of the track…” At the start he could do nothing about Vettel, but following a poor start by Massa, he was able to squeeze into second place at turn two.
Much has changed in Formula 1 this year, and we are adapting to a break from the sprint-stop-sprint syndrome which was the hallmark of the refuelling era. Now that refuelling has been banned, the cars are necessarily bigger (with tanks big enough to handle a 200-mile race), and a major consideration, of course, is looking after your tyres during the first, fuel-heavy, portion of the race.
Both Bridgestone compounds on offer at each Grand Prix must be used in the course of the race, and the 10 drivers who make it through to Q3, the final segment of qualifying, are obligated to start the race on the tyres on which they set their fastest lap. Inevitably, the great majority of drivers will choose the softer tyre for shooting at pole position – but that does, of course, mean that they are stuck with it for the first – heavy – part of the race. Tricky. A single tyre stop (to switch to the harder compound) looks set to become the norm.
Alonso admitted that he could do nothing about Vettel in the early laps, but said that he was confident, once everyone was on to the harder tyres, of being able to challenge in the last 10 laps. As it was, though, Fernando had no need to charge, for after 30 of the 49 laps Vettel radioed his pit to report a loss of power. The Red Bull had a cracked exhaust, and in no time both Ferraris were past him; before the end Hamilton’s McLaren, too, got by.
“I had quite a good race,” said Lewis, “and actually third place is better than we expected – I think we lack a bit of downforce compared with Ferrari, and, particularly, Red Bull. I got passed by Rosberg at the start, and then got held up behind him until the pit stops…”
Rosberg was one of the big stories of the weekend – not surprisingly, given that he was the fastest Mercedes driver of the weekend, and the other one was Michael Schumacher. Having set the quickest time in both the Friday sessions, Nico then out-qualified Michael, and ran ahead of him throughout the race.
It’s early days, of course, and racing folk are not rushing to judge Schumacher’s return on the strength of one race, but it’s fair to say that it fell somewhat short of expectations – perhaps life is bound to be like that when you won seven championships and 91 races first time round. Michael qualified seventh, and finished sixth, so his weekend was hardly a total loss, but at the same time… for the moment let us say that the jury is out.
The new teams – Lotus, Virgin, HRT – duly appeared, and, to no one’s great surprise, were significantly off the pace, to the tune of six and seven seconds a lap, but although Lotus did well to get both cars through to the finish, drivers of the calibre of Trulli and Kovalainen will struggle to keep their motivation alive.
If Alonso was ecstatic after the race, so, in his own way, was Massa, and not surprisingly so, for this was his comeback race, following the life-threatening injury suffered in Hungary last year. Because of the very high temperature – over 100 degrees – fuel consumption was a little higher than expected, and it was necessary – particularly on Felipe’s car – to take a conservative approach.
“They kept telling me to save fuel wherever I could,” he said, “and I did, but even so I could keep a good pace, and it was no problem to be second. It wasn’t an easy race, but this is a fantastic result for the team. Actually, thanks to God, it’s fantastic for me just to be here…”
This race didn’t seem anymore boring than the majority of F1 races in the last 20+ years. For the 1,000th time, F1 must get rid of the “aero downforce grip”.
Bahrain 2010! The best racing lets have more of it, cannot see why so many people are moaning, edge of the seat stuff from the start, please lets have more.
Big disappointment then ?.My wife asked me who was driving what and I tried to look for the car numbers ,Hey where are they ?.If I were at a local clubbie then all numbers would be legible .Are all the teams so self obsessed that nobody needs to read the numbers?.
With the rules as they are I have to concur with my fellow
respondees that it does not look bright for this season.
However there was one bright note to my sunday afternoon The showing of a 2 hour BENNY HILL SPECIAL ! Just at the right time with bits of gp during the advert breaks.Good of you ITV !
It’s showbiz (and poor showbiz at that ) Rotten circuits,idiotic rules, manipulation of the championship (via “timely” disqualifications and the odd umpteen million pound fine) to ensure that the championship is decided only at the final round. A car should get as many engines/gearboxes as it needs.Compulsory tyre stops are just more tedious trickery. i will concede,though, that the Bahrain Grand Prix was a first-class remedy for insomnia. Jenson Button knew what he was doing all right. No.2 to The Blessed Michael at Mercedes? Not a good place to be.
Jack,if Jenson had stayed at Brawn/Mercedes with Nico who had signed earlier in the year, Schumacher would not have made a comeback. In much the same way that Patrese left Williams on the basis that the 93 team looked like it would be Mansell and Prost before Mansell decided to go elsewhere, and then couldn’t get back into the team, I wonder if Barrichello feels the same? He obviously thought with Rosberg coming in he would have to go. If he’d known Jenson was off he might have stayed at Mercedes, again, no Schumacher comeback. The Schumacher effect was in evidence on the grid though-6 German drivers, 7 if Heidfeld had a race drive. A bit like all those French drivers in the 70s and 80s after the Elf input.
Almost spot on Steve.
But check out the indy site – last race – they wings and bags of overtaking (some of it requiring wings!)
Dear Ian, Have you ever seen Indy Car or NASCAR, a Formula Ford Festival, Super Sports or WSB etc?
So what happened to the aerodynamically superior “Odd Number” ’3′ which ‘Schumi’ annexed from young Nico?
Wasn’t it (the “Odd Number” 3) fast enough?
Surely Schumacher was *more* ‘motivated’ at Bahrain at the weekend than he was, say, in 2005?
Non?
I have said it before in these threads/blogs and I will say it again:
Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso and Co. will make a mockery of the weak driver era which exsisted following Senna’s death…the era in which ‘Shuey’ won his championships.
The current crop is in the midst of dismantling the old German and it (the current crop) is going to highlight just how shallow the F1 gene pool rally was between May 1994 and, say, 2002/3 (when Raikkonen/Alonso got into proper cars.)
If Schumacher can’t beat Rosberg, he might as well pack up because Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso are in a league more than a touch beyond Nico!
It’s one thing to memorise lots of information R Tanveer, but that does not necessarily make you wise.
To suggest that Schumacher, age 41, three years away, limited testing, should pack it in because in his first race back he can’t beat Rosberg – off by 4 sec over the race distance – is breathtaking.
And suddenly it’s convenient to forget that while young Rosberg has faced criticisms, lack of one lap speed is not among them.
Zealotry is entertaining, but hardly illuminating.
First of all, apologies about the typos: It should have been “existed” and “really” instead of the words I typed.
Secondly, with all due respect, I have NOT “memorise(d) lots of information”.
I have been following Grand Prix racing religiously since Villeneuve started winning in Ferraris in the late 1970s and I saw ALL of Schumacher’s carrer and remember it well. And, I can make a case for all the drivers he beat to titles – other than HAKKINEN – being INFERIOR to Senna-Prost-Mansell AND to the current crop of Vettel-Hamilton-Alonso (including Raikkonen (who is still being paid by Ferrari NOT to race against them in a Red Bull in 2010)).
Schumacher won titles in a VERY WEAK driver era and nothing any of his fans say will change that glaring fact.
Thirdly, It’s quite embarrasing for Mercedes to tell everyone:
“We’re NOT an ALL GERMAN team; we’re an INTERNATIONAL team”…and then sign Schumacher and Heidfelfd. It may have been a PR boon in December and January…but I can tell you I won’t be trading in my current (German) car for a Mercedes-Benz anytime soon.
Mercedes, in my humble opinion, NEED to sew up Vettel long term because Vettel is the BEST German driver on the grid WITHOUT question…and if Mercedes doesn’t lock him up for the rest of the decade then Ferrari will.
Vettel, in my view, is the ONLY driver who can beat Hamilton in an identical car. Everyone else needs a SUPERIOR car to beat Hamilton – including Alonso.
For Vettel to STUN the fleet Ferraris and their two Aces in both Qually and the Grand Prix is, in my view, VERY SPECIAL, especially in light of Webber being invisible in Bahrain in comparison.
With all due respect to all, PR is one thing but Performance is entirely another…and, quite frankly, Schumacher isn’t good enough. There’s no way he’ll beat Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso in a straight fight. NO WAY!
I doubt, for instance, Kubica or Raikkonen would have allowed themselves to be consistently out-paced by a winless driver by 4-tenths!!!
Lastly, If Mercedes want to beat the the other three top Constructors, then they need to DUMP Schumacher and poach KUBICA from ‘Renault’.
PS
I think Red Bull need to partner up Vettel with RAIKONNEN starting at the next GP if they want to challenge for the lucrative Constructors Championship.
They (Red Bull) aren’t going to pick up big points and wins if Vettel falters…not with Webber in the other car. The competition from Ferrari and Hamilton is way too stiff for Red Bull to waste the 2nd car with anyone other than Raikkonen.
Cheers all.
Bravo Fernando!
Last Sunday those who anticipated a wonderful start to the GP season were bored to death. After 10 laps I went to the potting shed
.Bahrain may have spent a fortune on facilities but we saw hardly any spectators. This is a country with money but no motor racing culture. We fans want mountainous circuits with the stands heaving with enthusiasts.
Come back Monza, Spa, Nurburgring, On your bike Berny. And the new circuit at Portimao is incredible. It needs to be on the F1 calender.
Yes. It’s nice to see Fernando relying on the fastest, most reliable car to take victory instead of banking on his team-mate to bring the safety car out at an opportune moment by crashing the car!
Bravo Santander for bailing Fernando out of Renault one year ahead of schedule!
Bravo Aldo Costa and Nicholas Tombazis for designing a winner!
Bravo Ferrari for stoping development on the Pig KERS F60 in June of 2009 and for concentrating on this year’s car – months before anyone else!
Yeah it was a boring race. We will have to see how this season progresses to see if there is more overtaking. I still think that getting rid of refuelling was a good idea! I didn’t like the fact that it was the guys in the pits who worked out when to stop for the driver!
Dear Mr or Ms Tanveer,
I am not a fan of MS for all the well known reasons, and I will be barracking for Nico to beat him all year, but I think your views are verging on the extreme, and becoming a little bit tedious. For you to suggest that MS and Webber are markedly inferior to others on the grid defies belief. I do agree that Vettel may be something special because Webber has towelled-up each of his previous team mates however I think we all need to see a few more races this year before drawing lines in the sand. You may end up with egg on your face.
I’m not a Schumacher fan but to arrive at any conclusion about his ability this year based on what we saw on Sunday would seem premature.
In the three years away he’s been racing karts and motorcycles. The nearest he’s been to the carnival floats we saw on Sunday was dodging car dealers in Kent from behind the wheel of a Fiat Ducato van.
Mr Read, Sir:
Fair enough. But at least i’m taking a view and trying to predict using some degree of sensible analysis.
In addition, and with all due respect, I didn’t say they were “markedly inferior” at all.
Regardless, so far you’ve agreed with me that Vettel IS ‘special’.
If so, that means the Red Bull *shouldn’t* have qualified ahead of the Ferraris because Webber certainly wasn’t anywhere near them in both qually and the race.
If, however, the Red Bull is superior to the McLaren and the Mercedes, then Webber *ought* to have qualified the car well up the grid…to, say, 4th.
That didn’t happen and my one conclusion (based also on the fact that Webber was out-qualified 15-2 last year (if memory serves))is IF Red Bull want to challenge the might of Ferrari for the lucrative FOM prize money in the WCC, then they need to get Raikkonen in to partner Vettel.
I, sadly, don’t think Webber is an Ace…and if Red Bull want victories in case Vettel falters – for whatever reason – than they need a Raikkonen in the other car.
That’s my view. You may not agree with me but at least I am willing to have a view!
If you think Webber is faster than Raikkonen, then so be it…but, if you recall, Webber was in danger of losing 4th place in the WDC last year to Raikkonen (who was in an inferior car) with two GPs left to run…until the Aussie finally pulled himself together and chopped across the Finn on lap 1 at Interlagos.
Best wishes, Mr Read.
Re Schumacher:
1. Schumacher didn’t have it in him to get in the F60 against Raikkonen for Monza last year and figured he’d let poor old Fisi fall on the sword; then
2. He got beaten by Indy Lights girls in the karting tournament in Las Vegas; then
3. He set a best time 4-10ths off Kobayashi’s 2008 GP2 time at Jerez…in a GP2 car which was one year NEWER than Koba-san’s!
Now, I don’t know too much about Koba-san, but the young Japanese driver was certainly flattered by a Toyota which was there-or-thereabouts towards the end of the year (should have won Spa, 2nd at Singapore with Glock, 2nd at Suzuka with Trulli, could have finished 2nd at Interlagos.)
So, with all due respect, I don’t see Kobayashi as an Ace in the making, proven so him being out-qualified by a driver who hasn’t seen Grand Prix action since Montoya broke a bone playing ‘tennis’ for McLaren!
None of it bodes very well for Schumacher, in my view.
Holy crap, Tanveer, did Schumacher marry your girlfriend or something? Talk about hate….
Kimi has been a bit hot and cold.
When he was hot, terrific, but to recommend he replaces Webber at short notice is ridiculous. The ‘chop’ by Webber on Kimi in Brazil reminds me to comment once again on the ‘special button’ that some had last year , and some did not.
I doubt that it was Kimi’s superior race craft at that point to be looming up on Webber. I think while it is not nice to manouver like that, it was totally OK to ‘chop’ anyone using a KERS button. Remenber what happened to Fisi at Spa when Kimi got in front and pushed his special button as necessary?
Not at all!
The facts – and the time clocks over the past few months – speak for themselves.
Schumacher did indeed get beaten by Indy Lights girls, was indeed 4-10ths of Kobayashi’s older GP2 time and now indeed has been consistently been slower than Rosberg.
Facts.
Does anyone here think Schumacher can beat Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso in a straight fight?
Yes but Mr Read, Raikkonen was in an F60 Ferrari which had fallen behind – relatively speaking – most cars because they were no longer developing the car beyond mid-season whereas the Red Bulls over-hauled everyone else by that jucture because they were bringing upgrades upon upgrades in an effort to help Vettel gain on Button in the championship.
The Ferrar by Interlagos was no where near the Red Bull! Look at how Vettel came from towards the back of the grid to finish well in the points whilst Fisichella went nowhere!
Kimi, if you recall, went through a fireball and drove with petrol stings to his eyes to finish 6th (if memory serves) after restarting from the tail of the field following Webber’s chop.
Coming out of Suzuka/going into Interlagos, Raikkonen was within a few points of Webber for 4th in the championship.
Right now, after Bahrain, Webber is a miserable 2-16 on qualifying vs Vettel…and the Aussie – terrific bloke though he may be – is in the midst of being shown the door out of Formula One by his MUCH younger team-mate.
I think Red Bull should replace Algersauri at Toro Rosso with Webber and bring Raikkonen in to partner Vettel.
At least Vettel/Raikkonen seem like a combination which can do something about Alonso/Massa at Ferrari.
Don’t you think Raikkonen is a better bet than Webber for Red Bull right now?
By the way, both Vettel and Raikkonen were part of the young driver program at Red Bull before initially joining BMW and Sauber respectively.
Webber, on the other hand, was part of the package Briatore ‘sold’ to Red Bull as part of the Renault engine deal he (Flabbio) did with them (RBR) back in 2006.
Whereas both Vettel and Raikkonen are very much part of the Red Bull ‘Family’ (and have been so for years and years), Webber was very much ‘Flavio’s Man’… and is on his way out of the team anyway.
Webber is out of contract at RBR at the end of this season.
OK Tanveer, here are my predictions.
Red Bull to dominate with Webber as WDC. MS to outpoint Nico and battle Vettel for 2nd place in the WDC.
Kubica to podium in Melbourne.
Reasons for the above: German rivalry will lead to accidents among them, particularly MS & Vettel. MS has form in this department.
Nico to have ‘bad-luck’ in team strategy as Mercedes marketing require MS to lead the way for them. Ross Brawn has form in this department.
Webber had one bad sector in Q3 at Bahrain. Mentally tougher than Vettel anyway.
Ferrari & McLaren drivers will pinch points from each other.
I had a bet on Kubica at good odds.
John,
Boy, you are sticking your neck out predicting Webber to be WDC. I like Webber as much as any driver but with the cars and circuits being the way they are, one needs to be able to consistently qualify on the 1st row to have any chance of winning a race these days. Vettel has that ability but Mark Webber just can’t cut it in qualifying so no WDC for him.
G’day Brian,
You are probably correct. I am guilty of taking the bait from our sparring partner R Tanveer, who will likely respond with more reasons why MS was, and is a dud.
I do not like MS but I do also appreciate that he could steer.
Mario,
You may have discovered who R Tanveer really is. I think MS married Heinz Harald Frentzens girlfriend. If R Tanveer is really HHF that may explain everything
Ha ha!
No, i’m *not* HHF!
How could I be when I started watching F1 when Villeneuve first started winning in Ferraris in the late 1970s?
I was a boy then.
Frentzen was a teen-ager already!
LOL.
Yes, in the current Formula 1 you need to qualify well up the grid in order to win or finish on the podium – unless, of course, there’s rain…OR … or your Number 2 CRASHES the car PURPOSELY while you simultaneously EMPLOY a mighty UNUSUAL pit-stop STRATEGY which EVERYONE else CAN’T COMPREHEND!
Look, it’s now 16-2 in Qualifying between Vettel and Webber.
That’s jarring!
Either that Red Bull is very good, in which case Mark Webber ought to have been there to pick up the pieces when Vettel & Massa hit problems… OR..the Red Bull isn’t as good as the Ferrari, McLaren or Mercedes, in which case Vettel is VERY special.
Imagine what Vettel could do in this years Ferrari!!!
RBR need another Ace…and they already have another one on their books in Raikkonen.
The problem is that Ferrari are paying Raikkonen MUCH MORE than they are paying Massa to NOT race against them this year. Ferrari know what a threat Kimi can be. They’re not stupid at Marannello.
You may not like Raikkonen but he did out-qualify Massa 5-4 last year and was, by all accounts, one of the top drivers of 2009. Certainly he (Kimi) got more out of the Ferrari than Alonso got out of the Renault.
Again, Vettel-Raikkonen is a more potent partnership than Vettel-Webber.
If the current Car Form Guide is true, then Raikkonen in a Red Bull would have either won or finished 2nd or, at the worst, finished 3rd in Bahrain following Vettel’s spark-plug/’exhaust’ problem.
I really like Mark – great bloke – but where was he in Bahrain?
As per Schumacher:
The old German is going to get shredded by Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso this year. Massa is also much improved since early/mid 2006 when he had to (correctly so) play a contractual Number 2 role…and, as a result, had second helpings on all the upgrades right throughout the season.
Remember, SCH was in a title hunt-down of ALO and Ferrari had two full time test teams working flat out at Fiorano and Mugello…and he (SCH) got every single development/upgrade first…BEFORE Massa.
Every new update went on to Schumacher’s car FIRST.
That was the contractual and development/upgrade pecking order at Ferrari in 2006.
These are different times. Massa is much improved over the past 4 years and there’s no in-season testing…and he’s NOT a clear Number 2 at Ferrari like he was in 2006.
So, I expect Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso and even Massa to absolutely dismantle Schumacher this year.
I can hear the excuses now:
“The Odd Number 3 isn’t as aerodynamically as efficient as I thought…can we change it to the Odd Number 7?”
OR
“I’m still rusty!”
OR
“My neck isn’t 100%”
OR
“Kobayashi is an Ace…and the Indy Lights girls at Las Vegas were Aces…and Nico is a Total Ace…so, in realilty, i’m not doing too badly!”
Ha!
Mercedes need to POACH Kubica out of Renault immediately and get him in the car to show Nico the way!
With all due respect, the VERY BEST Grand Prix drivers aren’t in the BEST cars in 2010.
Raikkonen needs to be in a Red Bull.
Kubica needs to be in a Mercedes.
Alguersauri needs to be replaced by Webber at Toro Rosso.
We NEED to see the BEST drivers in the BEST cars this year in order to have the potential of livening up a potentially dull procession!
We NEED to have Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso and Massa and a couple of the others being joined in proper cars with Raikkonen and Kubica.
Kubica is being wasted in that ‘Renault’!!!
I thought Sebastian Vettel looked hot towards the end of last season and he would have won in Bahrain, apart from the exhaust
On the basis that Jackie Stewart rates red bull for the season then I have decided Sebastian is a good candidate for the crown.
Thats it,no need to watch now,I can do something enjoyable instead.
Well, Mr Woods:
I understand the FIA has just given Renault approval to make a number of improvements to its engines for cost and reliability reasons.
So it looks like Red Bull’s championship Achilles Heel – a potentially fallable engine – could be mended nicely.
Vettel opened at 7-1.
Perhaps someone at the FIA got long of Vettel in January?
Ha!
Just Kidding…(about bets being placed on Vettel at the FIA, that is…)
Kubica?
It the current issue of F1 Racing they have an article on Heikki joining Lotus and they have a stats table comparing his first 3 seasons with that of other drivers.
Over their first three years Kovalainen compares well against Kubica.
Yes, Alastair, but when Kovalainen had a car capable of winning (like he did during most of 2008 and then in the second half of 2009) he didn’t deliver with wins.
Kovalainen, remember, was favoured to win at Monza last year but baffled the entire paddock by going backwards!
Kubica, on the other hand, lead the Championship at the mid way point of 2008 by driving flawlessly and was rated as driver of the year by Alonso himself.
Kubica drove better than either Hamilton or Massa in 2008…but BMW scuppered the Pole and ended up with egg on their faces.
Last year – in a poor car – Kubica was in line for 2nd at Australia before getting punted-out by an over-ambitious Vettel…and then extracted an excellent 2nd in Brazil.
With all due respect to you, Alastair, (and to others), there’s no way Kovalainen is being rated in Kubica’s league.
Indeed, if you listen to one of the Podcasts, Mr Roebuck himself is very keen on Kubica.
Perhaps Kovalainen’s taken too much of a hit having been paired-up against Hamilton…but perhaps Kovy could have scored a lot more points with the McLaren than he actually did.
I agree, Kov was a disappointment last year in the McLaren. Hamilton is definately a better driver.
Kimi won’t go to Red Bull this year, I’m sure he wants to give Rally a proper go at least one full season.
Kubica is very fast and is WDC material, but not in this year’s Renault. Perhaps at Mercedes he would win. I agree, MS is past his prime and not likely to catch the 3 or 4 fastest guys. And I include Massa in there.
This year is between Alonzo, Massa, Vettel and Hamilton. I like Button too, but the others have good reliable cars this year and are faster.
I’d love to see Kimi back; maybe next year at RB.
Have they thought of more tire, even greater cornering, for those do or die thrusts into the faster corners? Those moves take guts! Probably steel brakes would make car conservation of tires and brakes more pronounced, awarding the smooth, steady easy-on-the-car types (like Button). The ability to brake on a dime to defend makes passing impossibly hard so often.
Passing on the track will be more prevalent as the season moves to proper tracks as well.
If Webber doesn’t get his act together in Q3 vis-a-vis Vettel in the next few races then he’s history.
If Red Bull has a car capable of winning both championships, then they need someone who can take points away from Hamilton and the Ferraris and be in a position to win when a win is there for the taking!
As per Kubica:
The Pole felt he had the race pace to over-haul even Button’s McLaren for 7th (from 9th on the grid). Sadly he was hit by (amusingly) Suti under breaking for the first corner.
When is the young German going to sort out his unending propensity to be involved in so many tangles?
The weak links in their respective teams at the very sharp end definitely look like being Webber and then Button…but even they might fancy their chances of giving Schumacher a good pasting regularly!
How long before ‘Schumi’/'Schuey’ decides he simply isn’t good enough to beat the current Aces on the grid?
“Örjan Bergstedt” and “Tom”
I was writing about much longer ago than “1998″ or grooved tyre regulations, but about 1958, 1948 and 1938 cars…… by 1968 the marketing “monkeys” were already warping the Cooper/Chapman brilliant innovations.
You later posters…… rabbitting on about today’s drivers and racers, even those of 25-30 years ago, is sad. Please look at some of the footage your grandfathers drool over……. Fangio at Nurburgring, (?? the greatest Formula 1 race EVER), even saloon stuff, like Sears in a Galaxie at (narrower) Brands Hatch, Ixkx, Bell, Atwood, flatting the kink in the Masta in a 917!!!
Massa saved fuel? Then why did Smedley say over the radio’….we need it for other races…”’???
His engine was overheating, and he needed to tune it down. The whole fuel save issue was just PR-talk.
Either it was just P.R. ‘talk’ … OR … Ferrari are employing Team Orders…and Massa looks like being on the short end of the stick.
Why was it, for instance, that (using Mr Roebuck’s words) “fuel consumption was a little higher than expected, and it was necessary – particularly on Felipe’s car – to take a conservative approach.”
Why Massa’s car and not Alonso’s?
It looks as if Ferrari are under the gun to win the title and they figure they backed the wrong man in 2008 when the design team went the wrong way on the front suspension (for Raikkonen’s style) during that summer, only to correct it for Belgium (after which Raikkonen started to out-pace Massa again, begining at Spa!).
The Scuderia has a solitary Drivers title to show for all the money they’ve gotten/spent since 2004.
I imagine they’ve already decided that poor Massa will have to play 2nd fiddle to Alonso when it comes to beating Vettel and Hamilton.
Sad because I think Massa’s going to prove – already HAS proven in Round One – to be the faster.
It’s a shame Felipe started on the dirty side of an already sandy grid as he had the measure of the Spaniard.
The dye was cast as soon as Alonso’s cleaner/gripier grid slot allowed him the momentum he needed to get the decisive line out of the first corner.
From that point on Team Orders were never going to allow anything but an ALO-MAS finish for the Scuderia.
Lets not get into the team orders territory just yet. If that was the case Smedley couldv easely said something like: Massa mate, youre ******** and you need to concede to Fernando The Great. Also, Alonso was already ahead and there was no need at all to tell Massa to back down. In fact, they needed to look after Lewis pace. Ferrari would never take the risk giving Massa the wrong fuel or slowing him down too much.
And a miscalculation of a few laps i can fathom, but saving fuel 30 laps of a 49 lap race? Then either the Ferrari engineers are stupid or something else was happening. With Smedleys and the laterr statements of domenicali i think its safe to say the engine temps where getting way over the mark.
Alonso’s signed for double Massa’s retainer.
Team Order in the case of the Ferrari pairing could mean:
1. If Alonso’s ahead after everything’s been sorted out on the first corner/first lap, then Massa can’t push/challenge…unless there’s a threat from the driver(s) behind…or unless Alonso’s actually holding Massa up from challenging the driver(s) ahead of Alonso; and
2. Alonso’s “free to race” Massa if he’s behind him (Felipe’)…as long as he doesn’t risk a tangle…or there’s less than 1/4 or 1/5th (or 1/6th, etc.) of the race left.
It can be as subtle as that. It could be as ASYMMETRICAL as I described above…in favour of the Spaniard.
Alonso’s contract was written after Massa’s and Massa doesn’t need to know the specifics.
I think a lot of people are blowing the thing out of proportion. The race was a bit of a precession, yes, but it was no where near as boring as Singapore/Valencia/Yas Marina is. Heck, Monaco, the sports premiere location, is perhaps the most boring track of them all aside from whenever someone stuffs it.
It would be really terrific if the members of Motor Sport Magazine – “the VOICE of Motor Sport” – did a story on the extent of employment of Orders at Ferrari for 2010.
I don’t know where they could go to in order to get the research…but it seems as if Ferrari are ripe for Team Orders this year because:
1. I think Alonso / Massa are the most evenly matched pairing at the sharp end of the grid whereas Vettel and Hamilton seem like they have a clear edge on their teammates…and Mercedes are too much in the dark to actually know which of their two drivers is the faster.
2. Ferrari don’t have the luxury of being in a dominant enough position to the others to let Massa/Alonso “race” each-other OR to “lose points to the other”.
3. Ferrari have only 1 Drivers championship since 2004 and surely the pressure to win…to justify what they did in 2009 (stopping development in favour of this year, replacing an in-form Raikkonen with Alonso) is sky high.
Ferrari may believe that if they have to favour one driver over the other from the very off to beat Vettel and Hamilton to the Drivers Championship, then so be it…
R Tanveer, you should really lighten up. Team orders have been used by many teams over the years, and some with very negative effects for the public—not always by the Scuderia, either. Oz, 1998, anyone? I recall the various betting houses didn’t look too kindly on that little escapade into managed finishes from Chez Dennis…
Mr Ambroson, Sir:
I need to ‘lighten up’?
For simply suggesting that Ferrari are under enough pressure to win the Drivers Championship that they’ve reverted back to employing Orders again?
I may not like Ferrari or McLaren employing Team Orders – unless one driver is mathematically (or realistically) out – but it’s not my money to gamble.
The teams have a lot of money on the line and, in the end, they need to satisfy their primary stakeholders more than you or I.
Again, they may have a subtle, asymmetrical way of doing it this time just so they don’t have the fans turning off the TV the way they did when Barrichello was told to let Schumacher through – at only the 6th Round, no less – in Austria. Two years in a row!
And, yes. I am aware of Team Orders being around before…
…the Nazi era German teams used to employ them to make the German drivers look ‘superior’ in relation to the Dick Seamans, etc.
Enjoy Australian qualifying.
Chat soon!
interesting comments chaps, i hesitate to say, team orders – always seem to backfire on people when they do it, not totally sure about pre-war Merc and RichardSeaman but i am sure however of Lang and Varzi and the consequences of team orders onAchille’s life – for those of you with lives – he couldn’t sleep for the turmoil in his head and was given morphine and became addicted- briefly told –
as for Bahrain – well i am looking forward to Aussie and think the amazing comments made above may be worth reflecting on- i am so looking forward to the GP-
did anyone read Autosport today? very very pale of what was once a very good mag but nonetheless – a fair point was made about the levels of downforce and if wedo really want close competitive racing then another change needs to happen-
I presume a number of you have seen the modern F1 car up close and personal? the bits – pcs and undertray – double diffuser – its no wonder you cannae get close – well Nigel i don’t know if you actually follow this – not sure what to call it- communique – hows that – but perhaps you could give us some insight as to the potential of a world wide petition to rid ourselves of these aerodynamic appendages- still the best
Mr Brooke:
Yes. Team Orders can backfire in a huge way, especially if the one being favoured early in the season hits a DNF streak later in the year whether it be driver error, accidents, poor reliability or even an injury/death.
In my opinion, it would be best for Ferrari to let them “race” until the point in the Grand Prix where the possibilty of gaining or losing positions is minimal, if at all…as long as there’s only 10 laps to go AS OPPOSED TO at 1-3rd distance!
Heaven forbid if Ferrari call off Massa from challenging Alonso at the 1-3rd distance if they’re handily out in front!
In a season of no over-taking, such a situation would be absolutely pathetic and UNBEARABLE!