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Ferrari did right by Alonso

Nigel Roebuck — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 09:36:58 +0000

Dear Nigel,

I have long picked Fernando Alonso for this year’s Formula 1 World Championship and still think it can happen, but I am growing more displeased with the thought that I might be right.

Would you agree that it will leave a bad taste – and confirm a poor precedent – if Alonso were to win given how he is demanding (and being granted) undisputed first-driver status so far in advance of it being necessary?

Pat Kenny

Dear Pat,

Personally, I am growing rather weary of the anti-Alonso sentiment which seems rife in this country. It stems, I guess, in part from his season as Lewis Hamilton’s team-mate at McLaren, and in part from the ‘team orders’ imposed by Ferrari at Hockenheim this year, which obliged Felipe Massa to allow Alonso through into the lead.

What I find staggering, I must say, is that for countless years Michael Schumacher demanded – and got – absolute number one status at Ferrari, and I don’t recall anything like the criticism of him that Alonso has lately received. In those years if you signed for Ferrari as Schumacher’s team-mate, you accepted that you were there to work for him, like a domestique in the Tour de France, and it was implicit from the first race on.

Such has not been the situation at Ferrari this season – and neither was it during the three years in which Kimi Räikkönen partnered Massa.

At Hockenheim, if you recall, Alonso comfortably out-qualified Massa, but at the start poleman Sebastian Vettel chopped him so abruptly that both lost time, and Massa had the opportunity to nick past both and lead into the first corner. Thereafter it was Massa-Alonso-Vettel, and if the aerodynamic rules were different and did not render overtaking an equal car nigh impossible, I don’t doubt that Fernando would got past Felipe, for he is a quicker driver, and that’s the end of it. As it was, he was stuck there in Massa’s ‘dirty air’, and unable to find a way by.

Yes, I was hard on Felipe, I grant you, for he made no mistakes and deserved to win the race. As I have written before, though, at the time Ferrari had recently been through a bad period, and was being left behind by Red Bull and McLaren. Like any other team they wished to see one of their drivers win the World Championship, and here they were finally, running 1-2 in a Grand Prix.

Going into that race, the points situation was this: Hamilton 145, Button 133, Webber 128, Vettel 121, Alonso 98, Rosberg 90, Kubica 83, Massa 67. If Ferrari was to catch McLaren and Red Bull, Alonso, with 31 more points than Massa, was obviously far better placed to do it – and a quicker driver, to boot.

Like everyone else, I didn’t like to see the two red cars change positions in the ‘ordered’ way they did – there was nothing subtle about it, and they would have brought far less opprobrium down on themselves if they’d done it in the time-honoured tradition of telling Massa to ‘save fuel’, or taking a little longer on his tyre stop. As it was, they cack-handedly got the message across – ‘Felipe, Fernando is quicker than you – have you understood?’ – in a manner which fooled no one. As David Coulthard said, though, “Every team in pitlane imposes team orders, and anyone who says they don’t is a liar…”

As I pointed out in my last column, it is only for the last eight years that ‘team orders’ have been against the rules. Prior to that, they had been a standard feature of Grand Prix racing since Job was a lad: remember McLaren’s ordering Ayrton Senna to let Gerhard Berger through on the last lap at Suzuka in 1991?

In the last few weeks Ferrari has really come on strong, and Alonso – with victories at Monza and Singapore – now lies second in the championship, 11 points behind Webber. He may win it, he may not, but if he should win it by fewer than seven points – the difference between first and second at Hockenheim – Ferrari’s decision will be fully vindicated. Put it another way, if it had not told Massa to let Alonso through, and Fernando then went on to lose the championship by seven points or fewer, I doubt that Luca di Montezemolo would see the funny side.

The fact is that Red Bull and McLaren each have two World Championship contenders in their cars, and Ferrari does not, as was the case in 1958 when Phil Hill was ordered to let Mike Hawthorn through in Casablanca, and in 1964 when Lorenzo Bandini was ordered to do the same for John Surtees in Mexico City. Without team orders, neither Hawthorn nor Surtees would have won the World Championship…

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My essential reads

Nigel Roebuck — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 09:36:36 +0000

My essential reads

Dear Nigel,

I have just started to put together a modest library of motor racing books. As someone who seems to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the sport, and whose opinions I respect hugely, I would be fascinated to learn your five favourite motor racing books so that I can ensure they are included in my next Amazon order…

Hugo Pring

Dear Hugo,

Not sure I can keep it to five! I think there’s a small core of ‘must-have’ books on motor racing, but of course everyone’s choice is very personal and depends on enthusiasm for the writer’s work, and his choice of subject.

In my own case, I must start with Denis Jenkinson, and I would have both The Racing Driver and also A Story Of Formula 1. What next? I would have the first volume of BRM by Doug Nye for its wealth of detail and anecdote, and For The Record by Niki Lauda because it so truly reflects the man and his irreverence and sublime lack of political correctness.

I would also have All But My Life by Stirling Moss and Ken Purdy, which changed the way the motor racing biography was written, and It Beats Working by my friend Eoin Young, because it’s funny and reads in part like a diary of much of my own professional life. Essential, too, is The Chequered Year by Ted Simon, a brilliant warts-and-all dissection of a Grand Prix season (1970) by a man who was leaving the sport, and knew he wouldn’t have to face anyone afterwards…

Given my passion for American racing in the 1950s and ’60s, I would also need Fabulous Fifties – American Championship Racing by Dick Wallen, a labour of love if ever I saw one; and Stand On The Gas which is by Joe Scalzo, and deals with the golden era of sprint car racing.

There, that’s nine, and I haven’t really made a start on it…

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A milestone in F1 history

Damien Smith — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:04:19 +0000

A milestone in F1 history

Sixty years ago, the world was still recovering from the ravages of a world war. But it’s always remarkable how quickly people return to normal life after such devastation. By 1950, Grand Prix racing was already very well re-established, even if the cars (and most of the drivers) dated back to the immediate pre-war era. As a new decade began, the time was right to launch the first World Championship.

At the Bahrain Grand Prix last month Formula 1 acknowledged its heritage by celebrating the diamond anniversary of the World Championship in fitting style. All the living World Champions bar two (Kimi Räikkönen and Nelson Piquet) congregated at the desert circuit, along with a collection of fabulous cars from the past 60 years. Such a gathering is unlikely to ever happen again.

As F1 marks the anniversary, we at Motor Sport have decided to do the same. We’ve chosen this, the May issue, because it was on May 13 1950 that Silverstone hosted that landmark Grand Prix, the first to carry the weight of World Championship status.

To celebrate, we pooled some of the best motor racing writers to tell the story of 60 glorious years of GP action.

Doug Nye kicks things off with an overview of the 1950s. Now, as he says in his article, Doug was only a young child when the World Championship was born, but he was always a “good listener”. There is no better authority alive to look back at the decade of Fangio, Hawthorn, Moss, Mercedes and so on.

Into the 1960s, and Eoin Young takes up the story. The Kiwi was smack in the middle of it all back then, working with his mate Bruce McLaren and as a respected journalist, among other things.

We chose Alan Henry to tell the story of the 1970s. AH built his formidable reputation in the decade of flares and fuel shortages, enjoying friendships with the likes of Ronnie Peterson and Niki Lauda.

Our own editor-in-chief Nigel Roebuck covers the 1980s, an era as volatile as any he has known in the sport. It was the decade of the ‘superpowers’ – Villeneuve, Prost, Senna, Mansell and those magnificent turbos. For Nigel, the memories are recalled with a clarity as if they were yesterday.

Seasoned newspaper journalist Maurice Hamilton steps up for the 1990s and regular Motor Sport man Adam Cooper brings the story right up to date with the most recent decade. The ‘magnificent six’ put 60 years of F1 history into context just perfectly.

To complement the story of the decades, Simon Taylor lunched with the man who has started more Grands Prix than any other (except Rubens Barrichello, who took the lead in the longevity stakes two years ago). Yes, it’s Riccardo Patrese. He’s a true Italian gent, who tells us of his racing life, from enfant terrible to respected veteran. Former editor Simon Arron also makes his first appearance in our pages since 1996 to bring us the story of those Bahrain 60th anniversary celebrations.

It’s been a pleasure and a treat putting this issue together. There was a palpable sense of excitement in the office as each of the decade features landed and we began to build the pages. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed making it.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Lewis: the new Jim Clark?

Damien Smith — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:00:08 +0000

Lewis: the new Jim Clark?

Few people would be taken seriously after making such a statement. Comparing Lewis Hamilton to Jim Clark? Dangerous territory. But if anyone has a right to mention both in the same breath it’s Sir Jackie Stewart. It’s fair to say he knows what he’s talking about.

The three-time World Champion joins Nigel Roebuck in the April issue of Motor Sport to preview the forthcoming Grand Prix season, and does not shy away from bold claims, particularly about Hamilton’s potential. As ever, Stewart chooses his words carefully. He doesn’t state that the reigning World Champion is the equal, and certainly not better than his much-loved old friend. But he has no hesitation in making it clear what Lewis might become – that he “could be another Jim Clark”. Wow.

That’s a great deal for Hamilton to live up to. Clark is revered for good reason. But if Hamilton continues to perform as he has in his first two years as a Grand Prix driver, in time he will be too. Stewart’s words ring true.

No surprise there. Stewart might be 36 years retired as a racing driver, but his love for the sport remains undiminished – and despite what certain high-ranking officials in the sport might say, so does his instinctive understanding of racing in the modern era. Which is exactly why Nigel chose to preview the season with him once again. In our experience, Sir Jackie’s thoughts have always proved uncannily prescient.

The car on the cover of the April issue is one that will stir the blood of any sports car fan of the 1980s. The gorgeous Martini Lancia LC2 Group C car took the fight to Porsche and Jaguar during a wonderful era of endurance racing. We travelled to Germany, to Jan B Leuhn’s dealership, to photograph the car, while Gary Watkins tells the story of a fast but fragile beauty.

Simon Taylor’s ‘Lunch with’ series is always a treat, and this month is no exception. Eddie Jordan isn’t to everyone’s tastes, but he sure brought a lot of colour and excitement to Formula 1 during his time as a team owner. Now he is back as a BBC pundit and talks to Simon about his incredible past and his enthusiasm for the sport today.

All this, plus the introduction of a new irregular series by Doug Nye, Andrew Frankel’s test of the stunning Audi R8 V10 and the usual eclectic mix of the past and present, makes up what I hope you’ll agree is another great issue of the fastest growing car magazine in the UK (it’s been confirmed our readership figures for 2008 were up by 12.6 per cent – as usual, Motor Sport bucks the trend!).

Happy reading.

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