Spa-Francorchamps. The very words have a sense of excitement, of anticipation, don’t they? Grand Prix cars howling and wailing through the Ardennes, swooping up and down across the valley. Oh yeah, Eau Rouge may be easy flat in a modern car, but Spa is Spa, and it’s good.

And another thing. It is five hours by road from the south of England, the Channel Tunnel making this trip the simplest it’s ever been. Lots of Brits will be there, waving their flags and banners every time ‘our Lewis’ or ‘our Jenson’ go screaming by on another lap of what is still a magnificent racing circuit, even if it’s not the spooky challenge it was in days gone by.

This year the teams go to Belgium after a month’s holiday, an enforced shutdown when – for two weeks – no work may be done on the cars. The drivers will be chomping at the bit, the mechanics will be refreshed and the engineers will have been dreaming up yet more tweaks in the quest to beat those pesky Red Bulls. Just as McLaren, and possibly Ferrari, began to catch up along came a month’s break in the season. It is now or never if anyone is to have the faintest hope of catching Herr Vettel before they go to Brazil in November.

So what makes Spa-Francorchamps one of the great circuits, one of the races you always anticipate with pleasure? Many things, really, but above all it’s the chance to see Formula 1 cars let loose at full chat around a naturally flowing piece of asphalt that dips, dives, climbs and snakes through a valley in the dark green forests of the Ardennes.

Arriving is good. As you wind your way through the woods you can tune in to the circuit radio station, start to get excited. Then you hear the cars, like wild beasts rampaging around beyond the trees that encircle the car parks. These days, sadly, you can’t tell which car is which from the engine noise like you could when Ferraris made their own music and Matras, or Cosworths, sang another kind of song. But despite the homogeny of modern times, this is still a wonderful place to watch an F1 driver at work.

I go in, not to the paddock or pits, but to the top of the hill at Eau Rouge, known as Raidillon, where the cars appear as if about to fly into the sky. Then it’s up into sixth, seventh and flat out down the long straight to Les Combes where Mika Häkkinen so famously outfoxed Michael Schumacher in 2000 when faced with a backmarker at nearly 200mph. From here you may walk as far as you please, pausing to goggle at the sheer grip and grunt of these machines, the commitment of the drivers, and the ridiculous speed with which they change direction. Or walk the other way to Blanchimont where the raw speed beggars belief.

I first saw Jenson Button in a Grand Prix car here in 2000, in a competitive Williams, in tricky weather conditions. He qualified a superb third and finished fifth. It was clear to me and countless others that – given the right opportunities – here was a very talented driver who had earned his rapid rise through Formula 3 to the top level. Took him nine years to get his title… no wonder he looks so much more at ease these days.

So, once you’ve had your fill of the skills on display at a proper circuit, you return – ears ringing – to your hostelry, study the times over a good Belgian beer, eat too many chips with mayonnaise and wonder how we ever ended up in places like Abu Dhabi or Sepang. All Grand Prix racing is good, and fascinating, but European races remain the best.

And Monza is next. Joy. Pure joy. Racing cars, pasta, Parmesan and Chianti. But that’s another story for another day.

Who will win at Spa on Sunday? I have no idea. A month is a long time in modern F1 racing. But, forced to predict, I reckon it’ll be a McLaren.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

The British Grand Prix is fast approaching and this week Damien Smith and I discuss the race and the new pit and paddock complex at Silverstone. We also talk about Williams’ decision to use Renault engines next year and the new partnership between Virgin Racing and McLaren. We also have a brief look at the Imola 6 Hours and the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

As always, let us know what you think about the news.

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Do you remember where you were the day Ayrton Senna died? I bet you do. For motor racing fans, May 1 1994 is a ‘JFK moment’. Older readers vividly recall where they were on April 7 1968 and how they heard Jimmy Clark was gone. For younger generations, Senna’s death reverberated to the same shattering degree.

That May Day, I’d returned home from university for a family function. We had to leave the house during the race, but I knew there’d be time to watch the opening laps from Imola before I’d be dragged away.

In the wake of Roland Ratzenberger’s death the day before, not to mention Rubens Barrichello’s lucky escape on Friday, the tension of that weekend transported itself over the airwaves. You didn’t have to be in Imola to sense the unease felt by everyone in the Formula 1 world.

Images of the startline shunt, when Pedro Lamy’s Lotus slammed into the back of JJ Lehto’s stalled Benetton, remain vivid. It was immediately clear that spectators must have been hurt as debris landed in the grandstand. The weekend was turning into F1’s worst nightmare, but none of us could have guessed at the seismic shock that was to come.

The laps under the safety car, the aggressive attitude of Senna’s Williams as he tore away at the restart – and then the moment he hit the wall. I’d sat in the same living room five years earlier when Gerhard Berger’s Ferrari burst into flames at Tamburello, and apart from some burns to his hands, he’d been all right. Senna would be too – wouldn’t he?

The shots from the chopper hovering over the wreck live with all of us who love this sport. ‘Damn, a third win on the bounce for that bloody Schumacher’ – that was my first thought. Senna would really have his work cut out to claw back the championship now. And then the moment of realisation, as the camera panned in on the yellow helmet slumped in the cockpit.

Thankfully, the BBC cut away from the scene – and I had to cut away from the TV to join my family function. But I couldn’t really focus on anything on that sunny afternoon. From those helicopter images, I feared the worst. So this is what it was like to be a racing fan in the 1960s and ’70s…

I heard the news from Radio 5 Live later that evening. This was strange. Of course, apart from getting his autograph when I was 10 and watching him among the masses at various British GPs, I’d never had any personal contact with this man. So what right did I have to be experiencing symptoms of grief? On my return to uni the next day, I found my friends treated with me kid gloves for a while. I wasn’t even what you’d describe as a Senna fan – but the manner of his loss, and that of Ratzenberger too, shook those of us not old enough to remember the days of Clark, Rindt, Cevert, Williamson – and so on…

Today, Senna is far from forgotten. His legacy still looms large over Formula 1, which is why the release of the new Senna movie is such a major event. It helps that the film also happens to be breathtaking.

As Adam Cooper describes in his ‘making of’ story in the August issue of Motor Sport, the movie is so much more than the sort of TV documentary that pops up on BBC2 from time to time. Senna, which is released in the UK on June 3, is a stunning cinematic experience and I’d urge you to catch it on a big screen rather than wait for the DVD.

As Nigel Roebuck describes in our issue, those lucky enough to gain first-hand experience of the man discovered a character so much more complex than any film could hope to show. It does not – and cannot – tell the whole story, and Alain Prost fans might feel it is unfair. Yes, it is solely made up of fabulous archive footage, much of it never seen before – but this isn’t supposed to be a documentary, retelling history to the letter. It is a pure movie, and it’s a monumental achievement.

David Coulthard had the daunting task of taking Senna’s place at Williams. He meets Simon Taylor for lunch in the August issue and describes the experiences of 1994 from his unique perspective. In his early days in F1, Coulthard earned a reputation for being something of a PR robot in interviews. It was always an unfair tag. Coulthard took his job seriously and was the professional archetype, but he was – as he remains – frank, honest and very funny. And there were moments in his career of extreme bravery, too: surviving an air crash on a Tuesday and finishing second in the Spanish Grand Prix the following Sunday will always be my personal stand-out memory of his long career. His poise and stoicism that weekend was deeply remarkable.

Elsewhere in the issue, Eoin Young changes the pace with his entertaining diary tales of his first season in Europe, lived through 50 years ago this summer, and we’re particularly delighted to print some rare colour photographs of Le Mans in 1959 and ’60. They took our breath away when we first saw them. I hope they’ll have the same impact on you.

Enjoy the issue.

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Nigel Roebuck, Damien Smith, Rob Widdows and Ed Foster discuss the Formula 1 season so far – the DRS, the KERS, the Pirelli tyres and whether or not it’s proper Grand Prix racing.

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We hope you enjoy it and of course, if you don’t agree with what we’re saying… let us know!

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Another installment of the ‘week in motor sport’ series. In this episode, I talk to editor Damien Smith about the staff changes at Williams F1, the Le Mans test and also cover the latest news from the DTM, MotoGP and IndyCar series.

The week in motor sport

As always, let us know what you think about all the news and don’t worry… my neck brace is explained at the end!

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There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Really? Like many correspondents I have, over the decades, enjoyed a fair few free lunches. Only last month I dined at Williams in Grove, the food prepared by two-star Michelin chef Michael Caines. Very Formula 1. There, now you know, this is the world in which I am privileged to live.

The word ‘free’ is, however, easily misunderstood. As you will know to your cost if you’ve been seduced by those dishonest bits of junk that come through the letter box.

Why am I going through this preamble? Because I am concerned about both KERS (kinetic energy recovery system) and DRS (downforce reduction system) in Grand Prix racing. These two devices, or systems, are seen by many as some kind of key to a puzzle – the magical answer to a lack of overtaking. But they are not and never have been the gift of free power, or the gift of a free passing manoeuvre.

Firstly, we cannot possibly judge the effectiveness, or otherwise, of these devices from what we saw in Melbourne. Nor will we be able to make a sensible judgement after Sepang. It will be mid-season before we can talk about how wonderful they are – or how they should be immediately banned. Or, more likely, how they have suddenly disappeared from the headlines.

KERS is painfully expensive. And DRS is horribly complicated, fraught with software glitches and electronic bugs that, for example, would not let Williams open the gap in the rear wings for some laps in Albert Park. Remember, the FIA is in charge of when they may be used, and Charlie Whiting makes the call, not the man in the cockpit. There are going to be toys hurled from prams before too long…

The expense of KERS is universally unpopular, up and down the pitlane, whether you’re Red Bull or Virgin. Some have designed and built their own systems rather than buy one in ready-made. This saves money but, for many teams, has disrupted pre-season testing and therefore reliability. So much time was spent on making KERS work that other areas like durability, efficiency and outright performance were compromised.

Red Bull didn’t use KERS at Albert Park, at least not in any meaningful way. That team, too, has had problems with the device and only got away without using it because the rest of the car is so incredibly good. The installation of this system is not only complex but also involves just about the whole of the rest of the design – because the weight has to be accounted for, and space made for battery packs. And, as we know, weight distribution is God.

Don’t be too surprised if, mid-season, KERS is the subject of robust debate. The teams don’t like it, the costs are hideous and the benefit remains open to question. As for DRS, we wait to see how it works on a circuit with a very long straight and a sharp corner at the end – like Malaysia. But the truth is that neither of these devices will solve the problem of overtaking. Only major changes to the rules governing aerodynamics – and a return to circuits designed for actual racing – will achieve an increase in overtaking.

I am simply concerned that Grand Prix racing has gone one step further into a technological labyrinth, and it should back out again before it gets completely mired in gizmos and post-race arguments. The vast majority of spectators are not bothered about when the KERS battery is charging, or when the rear wing is open or closed. They are there, and in their millions in front of the TV, to be entertained by Grand Prix racing that is worthy of its name, that justifies it being the pinnacle of motor racing.

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Testing, testing, one-two-three. We are now in the midst of the fourth and final pre-season Formula 1 test at the Catalunya circuit in southern Spain, where it has been unusually grey and chilly. This is the test that should have been in hot and dusty Bahrain…

Pre-season testing can, as we have so often seen over the years, be not only inconclusive but also misleading. This is because there is always a certain amount of smoke and mirrors, some deliberate sandbagging and insufficient accurate information forthcoming on fuel loads and set-ups.

And this year, we should remember, we are dealing with totally new tyre compounds from Pirelli, which has not yet got a race under its belt in any kind of climate. Rubber is likely to be a major factor in early 2011.

Popular opinion – and many engineers agree – is that we are going to see a lot more tyre degradation in the early races than we have previously been used to. Three pitstops are predicted, some saying more, especially if the weather is hot, the surface abrasive. Added to this unknown we have KERS, moveable rear wings and new cars to consider.

Logic says that Red Bull will the early pacesetters, and so it proved on Tuesday in Spain, with Mark Webber (above) top of the timesheets from Jenson Button – by some margin. This does not mean Red Bull is going to disappear into the distance at Melbourne on March 27, but simply that on March 8 the new Red Bull was more sorted than the new McLaren. And that’s no surprise at this stage. In an era when aerodynamics is key, you can expect an Adrian Newey-designed car to be at or near the top of the times.

What will be in many ways more interesting to see is how the two most radical cars shape up against the rest. These are the Williams (below), with its radical rear end and new transmission, and the Lotus-Renault, with its forward-facing exhaust system. If either of these two risky design ideas prove to be the way to go, then the others will have to follow suit, just as we saw two years ago with the Brawn’s double diffuser, when Button’s pre-season testing pace had alarm bells ringing right down the pitlane.

This year we have seen no such clear advantage, although Red Bull is predictably fast. Not far behind is Ferrari, smarting from its title defeat in Abu Dhabi. All Grand Prix teams of any stature play their cards close to their chests, saving their best until the first afternoon of qualifying. And, just to complicate matters, testing is not what it used to be.

In days gone by there was virtually unlimited mileage, the teams under no pressure to get it all sorted in just four short sessions in February and March. And there’s another difference. Test drivers, or reserve drivers as they are now known, have to get some mileage now or never, whereas before they could do their testing while the teams were away racing. And this means – as we have seen in Spain – lots of new, young drivers being given time in the cars when, in a perfect world, they’d be waiting until the race drivers went away to race.

So, we should not be surprised if Red Bull, Ferrari – and possibly McLaren – are at the front of the grid in Melbourne. Button (above) says we should not expect too much, that the car is not the equal of Red Bull or Ferrari, and they don’t have time to catch up before the end of the month. Bad news for McLaren fans.

Oh yes, and we also know that Mercedes-Benz has a great deal of work to do if Schumacher and Rosberg are to be anywhere near the podium. Unless, of course, Mr Brawn has been keeping something up his sleeve…

So end the ifs, buts and maybes. Soon it will be time to race…

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

There is much to like about the Williams Formula 1 team. Fondly remembered as Williams Grand Prix Engineering, known affectionately as Team Willy, now called Williams F1 and soon to be known as Williams Grand Prix Holdings plc, this is a quintessentially British team. And long may that last.

The Williams folk are big-hearted racers, and that comes from the very top, Frank and Patrick setting the tone and staying true to their values.

This week, at its headquarters at Grove in Oxfordshire, the team held its ‘livery launch’ for 2011, the car itself having already been seen and examined at Valencia, Jerez and Barcelona.

Underneath a smart navy blue livery, boldly featuring new sponsor PDVSA (the Venezuelan state oil company), FW33 is the most radical Williams for a long time. These days, explained technical director Sam Michael, you have to take risks to get ahead.

There was much talk of ‘tight rear ends’, stirring not a little mirth and banter among the assembled British journalists. “Let’s face it,” said the eloquent Sam, “everyone likes a tight rear end.” He is referring, of course, to the back of FW33 which is notably compact, low and neat.

This has meant designing and building a new gearbox (the smallest the team has ever produced) and angling the driveshafts upwards towards the wheels, that being a radical move and entailing use of a recently developed technology. Like all teams, Williams is searching for downforce in the wake of a ban on double diffusers. The success of the new gearbox will be important because this year it must be used for five races rather than four as in 2010.

Rubens Barrichello did not come to Grove, the date clashing with his 14^th wedding anniversary. Sir Frank missed it too, not yet back from Qatar where he’d been helping Prime Minister David Cameron to promote British engineering excellence in the Gulf, while co-founder Patrick Head, we were told, was away on a ‘secret mission’ in the USA. But F1 rookie Pastor Maldonado was there (above) and heard Sam Michael tell the assembled company how well he’s shown in testing thus far. The GP2 champion brought much-needed sponsorship to Williams, hence PDVSA writ large on the car, and it is clear that the Venezuelan has every intention of proving that he is there because of his talent and not simply because of what he brings from his homeland.

“It’s not so different from GP2,” he told me, “but everything is bigger – more people, more technology, more buttons on the steering wheel. At first it was difficult, being faced with all the functions controlled from the car, but now it’s no problem. It’s a new season, new rules, so anything is possible and I will compete as hard as I can. I am focused, I’m not worried.” It will be intriguing to see how he fares against the speed and experience of Barrichello.

There was, naturally, plenty of talk about tyres. And yes, Michael confirmed, they have seen far more degradation with the Pirellis than with Bridgestone, and he predicts three pitstops in the early races. There was also mention of Michelin. Why? Because a five-course lunch was provided by two-star Michelin chef Michael Caines MBE, with whom Williams has forged an official partnership for 2011. VIP guests and sponsors will eat extremely well this year. Though perhaps it’s not such good news for Barrichello, who has lost a lot of weight over the winter in his efforts to stay ahead of the game.

As I said, there is much to like about Williams. All the photos on the walls of the bar in the Conference Centre at Grove feature Alan Jones. There’s one of him and Frank on a training run at the old factory in nearby Didcot. Happy days. Certainly the team has pinned its hopes on FW33, quietly confident that this car can take it another step back towards the front of the grid where many fans around the world would like the team to be.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Robert Kubica’s accident, in a small Italian rally, came only days after he had set the fastest time in the Valencia test session, and as soon as it became clear that Robert was going to survive, Renault – something of a misnomer these days, given that the company has no financial involvement with the team beyond supplying engines – had to give serious thought to a replacement. Everyone assumes that Kubica will one day return to Formula 1, but no one knows when that will be, and the likelihood is that it will not be in 2011.

Various names came up. Kimi Räikkönen, vaguely mentioned in connection with Renault last autumn, was not seriously considered, and has anyway said that he no longer has any interest in F1 (something already apparent, let’s face it, in the last two of his three years with Ferrari).

Then there was Tonio Liuzzi, highly rated by some, and on the street following Force India’s decision to sign Paul di Resta. Come to that, there was also Force India’s new test driver, Nico Hulkenberg, late of Williams, where he has been replaced by Pastor Maldonado and a good many Venezuelan bank notes. As 2010 – his rookie season – wore on, Hulkenberg impressed more and more, and no one doubts his innate talent and speed.

However, given that Renault’s other driver, Vitaly Petrov, has also but one season behind him, the likelihood was always that Eric Boullier and his colleagues would go for an experienced man to stand in for Kubica, and on that basis the logical choice was Robert’s erstwhile team-mate at BMW, Nick Heidfeld. Renault put him in the car for a day at Jerez – and he set the quickest time. To no one’s great surprise, Boullier swiftly announced that Heidfeld had got the job.

A very easy man to underestimate, Nick. He may not have the blinding speed of a Vettel, but in the BMW days he had a habit of finishing in the top six in the World Championship, and his talents were highly rated not only by Mario Theissen but also – after a single season, 2005, with Williams – by Patrick Head, no less.

At the beginning of ’06 I asked Patrick if he had been sorry to lose Heidfeld to BMW. “Very much so,” he said. “We were very impressed with him, and not just in the car, but also in the way he conducts himself generally. As you know, he doesn’t ‘high profile’ himself, but he’s a very tough character. His interaction with the engineers – with the team in general – was extremely professional at all times.

“All right, most of the time Mark [Webber] was able to out-qualify him, but in racing conditions Nick was outstanding – over the season I think he made up 20 places between the start and end of the first lap, whereas Mark was actually in the negatives. Now you could say that was because Mark over-qualified the car’s rightful position – which undoubtedly he did on occasion – but what you could also see was that Nick always seemed able to work out where to be on the track at the first corner, so that he would get through OK. Equally, he was sometimes quite forceful on the opening lap, going round the outside of people, and so on.

“A good lad, Nick, and a very good driver, I think. We didn’t blame him for accepting the offer from BMW, but we were sad to lose him…”

Quite an endorsement from a man not given to hyperbole when discussing racing drivers. It goes without saying that Renault will desperately miss Kubica – in every sense – this season, but Heidfeld, unequivocally leading an F1 team for the first time, will be far more of a factor than many expect.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Ahead of our Hall of Fame event next Tuesday (February 15), the Motor Sport team sent out a survey to everyone registered on our website.

Usually these things are well beyond my pay grade, but this time I managed to get a quick glimpse of the results. Some were quite predictable – Jim Clark was voted the greatest Formula 1 driver of all time ahead of Ayrton Senna and Juan Manuel Fangio – but others weren’t.

Here are some of the results…

Which is the most memorable F1 car of all time?

1)    Lotus 72
2)    Maserati 250F
3)    1988 McLaren MP4-4

What was the best ever rivalry between F1 drivers?

1)    Alain Prost vs Ayrton Senna (with a staggering 68.5 per cent of the vote)
2)    James Hunt vs Niki Lauda
3)    Juan Manuel Fangio vs Sir Stirling Moss

Which circuit in 2011 do you expect to produce the most exciting F1 race?

1)    Spa-Francorchamps
2)    Silverstone
3)    Montréal

Which will be the most improved team on the F1 grid in 2011?

1)    Mercedes
2)    Williams
3)    Lotus (quite a good call, although even if its cars are comparatively three seconds a lap faster than they were at the end of last season they’ll still be a second off the pace)

Out of the rookie drivers new to F1 for 2011, who do you think will excel?
1)    Paul di Resta (should be right on the pace)
2)    Pastor Maldonado
3)    Sergio Pérez

Which team do you think will be the main contender for the constructors’ title in 2011?

1)    Red Bull
2)    McLaren
3)    Ferrari

Which driver would you tip to win the 2011 drivers’ championship?

1)    Fernando Alonso (with the above answer in mind, it doesn’t say much for everyone’s view on Massa!)
2)    Lewis Hamilton
3)    Sebastian Vettel

So there you have it. What are your thoughts? Do these answers really represent what you think?

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

When it comes to trying something new, uncovering the latest trick, getting an edge on the opposition, there are few examples in Formula 1 as visually striking and obviously unusual as the year Tyrrell decided to add two more wheels to its Grand Prix cars. As the February edition of Motor Sport celebrates, innovation is at the heart of F1 – it always has been, it always will be. And Tyrrell was brave enough to stick its neck out and run the risk of ridicule. That the P34 six-wheeler became a GP winner vindicated Derek Gardner’s decision to aggressively chase the ‘unfair advantage’.

The car that appears on our front cover this month is a museum piece from the Donington Collection. It’s Patrick Depailler’s car just as he left it at the end of 1977, and our man Andrew Frankel was lucky enough to get the chance to drive it. Meanwhile, editor-in-chief Nigel Roebuck revisits a period interview with Gardner and looks back at the shockwaves the P34 created when it was unveiled in ’76. As is often the case in Motor Sport, it’s a story of what might have been because, even though Jody Scheckter won the Swedish GP in its first season, the car never fulfilled the potential Gardner saw in it. Both March and Williams experimented with two extra wheels at the back, but six-wheeled F1 cars proved to be a cul de sac rather than the road to the future. Such is the way with innovation. Even when it works it doesn’t always stick. And when it does it’s usually banned.

That is certainly true in today’s F1, as former Renault technical director Pat Symonds discusses in his first feature for Motor Sport. We’re delighted to welcome him to our pages because, as you might have noticed in our recent audio podcast with the man, he is brilliant at explaining the complexities of our sport. A restrictive rule book stymies the modern designer, but forward thinking still allows them to gain an edge – as McLaren’s F-duct proved last season. And like all great innovations, it is now outlawed. Nothing really changes.

The theme of innovation in the February issue focused our minds on the big breakthroughs in history. I asked former editor Paul Fearnley to look back at some of the ‘epoch’ moments from the past, which was a gigantic task. His vast research distilled to a clear conclusion: the 1970s and early ’80s – the ‘analogue’ era – was an intense time for experimentation and high-reaching concepts. It was a time that directly shaped today’s ‘digital’ age, which is why Paul talked to five men – Tony Southgate, Robin Herd, John Barnard, Gordon Murray and Peter Wright – who all pushed the boundaries of what could be achieved.

Our snapshot of 40 years of F1 innovation is completed by Nick Wirth, who argues the case for designing an F1 car purely by computer. Like Gardner back in the mid-70s, he is putting his reputation on the line by bucking the trend with what he is trying to achieve at Marussia Virgin Racing. Grand thinking and ambitious pioneers – whether they fail or succeed – still give F1 its edge in the modern age.

It’s fitting that in an issue that is themed around innovative thinking one of the great racing car designers should join our team. Williams co-founder Patrick Head has signed up as our new columnist for the next 12 months, and is sure to bring us great tales from the past, as well as personal insight into life in F1 today. We’re delighted to welcome him on board.

The February issue also marks the 10th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt’s passing, US editor Gordon Kirby putting into true perspective the giant legacy of NASCAR’s Man in Black. Meanwhile, Simon Taylor travels to Spain to meet John Webb for lunch. For 30 years the man who ran Brands Hatch was perhaps the most influential, forward-thinking figure in British motor sport. In his own way, Webb was as innovative as the great designers who shaped the races he promoted.

A happy new year to you. Enjoy the issue.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

As Fernando Alonso chased Nico Hulkenberg in the early stages of the Brazilian Grand Prix, it was apparent that on the long climb at the end of the lap the Ferrari was making little impression on the Williams, and you had to be impressed by what Cosworth has achieved this season. Rubens Barrichello suggests that ‘driveability’ isn’t all it might be, but on horsepower – so long as the engine is reasonably fresh, anyway – it apparently lacks for little. Pretty impressive, you’d have to say, for what is supposedly a ‘customer’ engine, supplied to four teams: whatever else Lotus, Virgin and HRT have been short of in their debut season, it hasn’t been grunt.

Alonso found himself in the unusual position of chasing Hulkenberg because the young German – although swiftly dispensed with by the Red Bulls – had succeeded in putting his Williams on pole, and it was pleasing that this should have occurred at Interlagos, where the team’s last victory – by Juan Pablo Montoya – was scored six long years ago.

The manner in which Hulkenberg achieved his pole position reminded me rather of qualifying for the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch in 1975, when Jody Scheckter – in freezing conditions – threw his Tyrrell around with such vigour that he alone got decent temperature into his tyres, and achieved a time no one else could approach. In the case of Hulkenberg, a wet Interlagos was drying out by the end of qualifying, and he – one of the first out on slicks – drove as quick an out-lap as he dared, got his tyres up to temperature, and went for it, setting a time more than a second faster even than the Red Bulls.

As we saw so often in the season past, Adrian Newey’s wonder cars duly waltzed it in the race, but Alonso wasn’t very far behind Webber at the flag, and might have been able to exert a little more pressure had he not lost a significant amount of time behind Hulkenberg in the early laps. The importance of qualifying is perhaps even greater today than at any point in the past.
Most would agree, I think, that on many occasions in this era of Formula 1 the highlight of the weekend – in terms of excitement – is Q3, that final 10-minute period when only the 10 fastest cars are out, and the track is relatively uncluttered. Since refuelling was dropped, thank God, so the need to ‘qualify with fuel for the first stint of the race’ has gone with it, and thus the cars are in pure, ultra-light ‘qualifying spec’.

Think of Singapore. Alonso stole that race from the faster Red Bull of Vettel because he drove a perfect qualifying lap, and Sebastian, heading for pole on his final run, lightly clipped a guardrail. That meant starting second, and although he pressured Fernando for the entire race, second was where he finished, too. Saturday, in other words, decided Sunday, and often it has been that way because overtaking, as we know, is extremely difficult with F1 cars of the contemporary era.

The top six drivers in the 2010 World Championship represented three teams. At Red Bull, Vettel out-qualified Webber 12-7, at McLaren Hamilton beat Button 14-5, and at Ferrari Alonso was ahead of Massa 15-4. Ten times Vettel started from pole, followed by Webber (five), Alonso (two) and Hamilton and Hulkenberg (one apiece).

No wonder the young man looked so gratified in Brazil. It’s a tragedy that financial considerations – Hulkenberg isn’t loaded down with personal sponsorship – have obliged Williams to part with him, but Nico will surely get a drive elsewhere for 2011. Most drivers, after all, go through an entire F1 career without once starting from the front.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

OK, I’m back.

Apologies for the silence but it proved to be somewhat tricky to send dispatches from the Grande Festival de Classicos at Portimao, this being due to the internet service suffering from intermittent failures without any warning. We, that’s the man from Autosport and I, considered demanding our money back, but we’d had such a good time at this terrific historic event in Portugal that we struggled on in silence.

Thankfully we were able to file our stories on Sunday night. Otherwise the editor in London would not have been impressed. Suffice to say, this is one of the highlights of the historic calendar, along with Goodwood, Spa-Francorchamps and Monza. It is also a highlight for those who participate for two main reasons.

One, most racers like to play golf, and the Algarve coast appears to have more golf courses per square mile than anywhere else in the world. Two, the Portimao circuit is a modern classic. Designed by former bike and car racer Paulo Pinheiro, it is a spectacular challenge for drivers and a wonderful place to watch. There’s a full report in the next edition of the magazine but I do urge you to get to this event if you can.

All in all, quite a weekend for us racing fans. In the media centre at Portimao we could watch MotoGP in Australia, DTM in Germany and the Rally of Scotland – simultaneously on three separate screens… what a remarkable world we live in today.

And that’s not to mention all the football. Not a good weekend for my aforementioned colleague and I. He being a Liverpool fan and I being a Manchester United fan, it would have all been rather depressing had we not had to go outside and write about some great motor racing

There was much talk in the paddock about Mark Webber going to Ferrari next year and about how Valentino Rossi will struggle to get to grips with the Ducati. I’m not saying the former is true, and I’d be surprised by the latter, but both are good things to gossip about at the bar after a day’s racing.

Rumours are rumours until they come to pass. Back in reality, Skoda did another great job in Scotland with yet another win for the talented Juha Hanninen who’s had a fantastic year in the highly effective Fabia. Guy Wilks was fast too, but failed to get to the finish. Only nine cars got to the end of this extremely tough rally. And what about Casey Stoner? A much-needed boost for Ducati and certainly Mr Rossi will have taken note of Stoner’s pace. Not one of the greatest MotoGP events but nonetheless an interesting result, Stoner and Ducati having been much stronger in the last two races. And the win moves the Aussie into third in the championship with two races to go, just eight points ahead of you-know-who…

We move on this weekend to what will be a very intriguing Grand Prix in Korea. The fascination is partly because nobody’s been there before, so all the pre-race data will have come from simulators, and partly because it will be interesting to see just who works best under the mounting pressure. The wire is fast approaching and this season will go all the way. Now is the time to see who can handle what is a very tense situation. Will the Red Bulls get tangled up in internal strife and allow Fernando Alonso to come through? Will the McLarens come good just in time?

These and other questions will be answered by Sunday night. But we won’t have all the answers for another few weeks. Ah, the anticipation… just how racing should be, and has been all season long.

Back soon with more ramblings as winter lurks on the edges of autumn here in England. And it could be an interesting winter. Will F1 testing be restored? Possibly. Will F2 champion Dean Stoneman get a drive at Williams? Will Webber go to Ferrari? Will Michael Schumacher be sufficiently impressed with the new Pirellis and his new Mercedes-Benz?

I’m not making any predictions. Not yet, anyway.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

As I write, there is some uncertainty that the Korean Grand Prix – a race no one within the sport, save Bernie Ecclestone, seems to want – will actually take place. Deadlines for track inspections and signings-off have been missed (and not by just a few weeks, either), and for reasons not immediately clear the Korean organisers appear to be cut far more slack than is normal for Formula 1’s powers-that-be.

Given that there has always been minimal enthusiasm for this race in the paddock, many will be only too glad not to have to schlep to the Far East for the third time in a month. But the five World Championship contenders – or some of them, anyway – necessarily feel differently, for if Korea evaporates, only three Grands Prix will remain on the 2010 schedule.

If you’re Mark Webber, that won’t cause you too much concern, for you lead the World Championship by 11 points, and one fewer race means one fewer opportunity for the rest to catch you; if, on the other hand, you are Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel or Jenson Button, you want as many chances as possible to do just that.

Be it three races or four, we are now into the red meat of the World Championship, and usually by this point in the season we are down to two, rarely three, protagonists. The fact that five drivers still have a shot is testimony to the extraordinary year F1 has had: three teams have produced cars good enough to win several Grands Prix: Red Bull has six, McLaren five, Ferrari four.

Whereas both Red Bull and both McLaren drivers have won races, however, only Alonso has won for Ferrari – yes, I know you can argue reasonably enough that Felipe Massa would have won in Germany, were it not for the ‘team orders’ imposed that day. But the fact is that, although Massa drove a fine race, only circumstances at the start – poleman Vettel delaying both himself and Alonso – put him in a position to win. Hockenheim apart, Felipe has not looked like a potential winner this year.

That being so, Ferrari some time ago opted to concentrate – in terms of the World Championship – on Alonso, and rival teams have criticised it for so doing. Never at Ferrari – even in the autocratic days of Michael Schumacher – is there an official number one driver, but usually someone, simply by being clearly quicker, becomes the de facto team leader, and the situation with Alonso and Massa reminds me rather of that in the mid-70s with Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni.

Going into these crucial end-of-season races, therefore, Alonso has one clear advantage over his rivals for the championship, in that he does not have to fight his own team-mate. His team’s decision is already taken, whereas Red Bull and McLaren still have both drivers in contention, and the time awaits when they have to put their emphasis on one, and require the other to play a supporting role. Red Bull has suggested that that time has not yet come, and McLaren has been even more bullish, suggesting that it would never favour one of its drivers over the other (even though this has not always been the case in the past).

Of course it may not come to that: while unlikely, it is not impossible that Webber and Vettel, Hamilton and Button will go off to Abu Dhabi still with at least a mathematical chance of lifting the 2010 World Championship.

In Singapore Massa, thanks to a gearbox problem in qualifying, started stone last, and therefore was never in a position to be of assistance to Alonso. As we know, Fernando’s superb drive brought him 25 points, but had Felipe started from a normal grid position he might well have been able to steal points from some of his team-mate’s rivals – if not Vettel, then certainly the hobbled Webber, who finished third.

Alonso has no real need to worry about Massa’s points tally, for Felipe is too far behind to become a factor in the title race, but of course he would appreciate it deeply if Felipe could keep a rival out of third or fourth place or whatever. Webber, on the other hand, has to worry about Vettel, and Hamilton has to worry about Button.

In 1973 Lotus won the constructors’ championship with seven victories in the 15 races, four to Ronnie Peterson, three to Emerson Fittipaldi. Tyrrell was runner-up with five wins – but all of them went to Jackie Stewart, who won the World Championship.

In 1986 Williams easily won the constructors’ championship with nine victories in the 16 Grands Prix, six to Nigel Mansell, three to Nelson Piquet. McLaren was runner-up with four wins – but all of them (together with a great many second places) went to Alain Prost, who won the World Championship.

Only three years ago McLaren drivers Hamilton and Alonso finished the season with 109 points apiece – but finished second and third in the World Championship behind Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen, who had 110.

In every case two ‘number one’ drivers won a lot of races – while another driver, in a slower car, nicked the title. If Christian Horner and Martin Whitmarsh stick to the bitter end with their policy of allowing their drivers to race each other, I will admire them for it. But then I’m not a sponsor…

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

In the fourth part of our special Jochen Rindt tribute, we hear from three more of his rivals who were due to race against him at the fateful 1970 Italian Grand Prix, where the Austrian was killed in practice before becoming Formula 1’s only posthumous World Champion. Fifteen of the 26 drivers entered for that race survive, and we’ve spoken to all but one of them.

There are more recollections to come tomorrow, as we count down to this weekend’s Grand Prix at Monza.

Tim Schenken

AUS, Williams

“I remember that weekend well. It was only my second Grand Prix. I’d been doing Formula 2 up to then, so I’d already raced against Jochen and he was a bit of a hero of mine. It’s funny how you have heroes and then suddenly you’re racing against them. Jochen was a special sort of person. Some people have something about them – Ayrton Senna, Enzo Ferrari – and Jochen was that kind of guy. When you were with him you knew you were in the presence of someone special.

“Jochen’s accident, and his death… It’s hard to explain how it affects you as a driver. You get to F1 and you’re doing something that you desperately want to do, so you’re there and suddenly someone who you look up to is killed and you feel very confused. Today a driver would probably have people around them, a manager maybe who they could talk to. But I was on my own. I was 27, and I’d come up through the ranks as you had to back then. So when Jochen died, it was certainly something you were never going to forget.

“A racing driver’s mind is really strange. You really think you’re never going to be hurt, otherwise you’d never do it. So somehow you put another driver’s death out of your mind. I didn’t reflect on it, which seems quite harsh, and in the next race it was as if he had been forgotten, which was quite odd and sad.”

Nanni Galli

IT, Ecurie Bonnier

“To understand something about Jochen, it’s enough to remember that he is the only posthumous World Champion in the history of Formula 1. He was that good and we were firm friends, although not everybody understood him. Above all, Jochen was a decisive man who knew his own mind.

“I don’t actually remember much about the Monza weekend now: maybe to some extent the sadness blocked it out. But I recall feeling shocked when I heard that he had died: I hadn’t seen any fire, so at first I thought the accident was not too serious. Back then, though, we measured things by different standards. Racing was dangerous: we were driving around in thin metal tubes protected only by 220 or 230 litres of petrol. This meant that fatalities were just a fact of life, but it also meant that the relationships between people were closer and that driving standards were more correct. In 1970, you would never have found drivers doing to each other what Michael Schumacher did to Jacques Villeneuve in 1997. It was too risky and everyone knew it.”

Chris Amon

NZ, March

“I talked to Jochen in the pitlane in Monza just before he went out for his last practice lap. I don’t remember what we talked about, but it was obvious his confidence levels were very high. He was on his way to winning the World Championship and he was confident of a good result at Monza. A few minutes later he got in the car and never came back.

“I didn’t see him crash. I didn’t even see the aftermath. I was having some problems with my car and by the time I got on the track it had all been cleaned up. We were all a bit shell-shocked because there had been a number of fatalities that year. But you block it out. He wasn’t wearing a full six-point harness belt but that is not quite as surprising as it sounds, because seat belts hadn’t been around that long. One of the reasons drivers didn’t like them is they were terrified of fire, and the thinking was you were almost better to get pitched out than stay in the car.

“Jochen was a very forthright character with a wicked sense of humour, and as a driver he was right up there. I don’t know if we ever fully saw the best of him. He drove some fairly ordinary cars up until the last few years of his career and I think there was a lot more to come from him. Around that time the two guys I really rated were Jochen and Jackie (Stewart). For me he will always be one of the best.”

Anthony Rowlinson

Anthony Rowlinson is executive editor of The Red Bulletin

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Sun, sea, sand and… motor racing. Sound good? It is. And there’s more. What does the Algarve mean to you, as a racing fan? Golf courses, holiday villas, waterside bars and lots of friendly people. Probably. There’s also a magnificent motor racing circuit near to all of these things and in a few weeks from now the Circuito de Portimão will stage the Algarve Historic Festival. It’s the perfect way to combine some autumn sunshine and some glorious racing cars.

If you race a historic car you may have entered already. If not, don’t delay, because the grids are already looking pretty special.

This year, for the first time, there will be a race for the Formula 500 cars – the little single-seaters powered by 500cc motorcycle engines that launched the careers of so many Grand Prix stars in the 1950s. This will be great racing and a big field is expected, with 34 entries thus far.

There’s also an FIA Historic F1 race which is perfectly suited to this magnificent circuit with its long, undulating straight and fast, wide-open corners. There’s room to overtake too, which is rare on a modern track. This is the first time the Formula 1 cars will have been to Portimão, a challenge that their drivers will relish. So will the spectators.

The historic calendar gets better every year and the standards are now high, with promoters inspired and encouraged by events like the Goodwood Revival, which have proved there is potentially a huge audience for racing cars that look – and sound – so different from each other.

Masters Series ringmaster Christopher Tate was understandably enthusiastic about the appearance of Williams F1 business development executive Kirsty Andrew at the Silverstone Classic. This lady has the enviable task of further exploiting the richly evocative history of the Williams Grand Prix team, which has kept and restored many of its winning cars over the four decades since it won its first Grand Prix at Silverstone. There is already a great deal of interest from wealthy enthusiasts keen to race a Williams.

There are now so many great historic events vying for both spectators and sponsors that poorly supported grids are no longer acceptable. And spectators now expect some kind of TV coverage of the events so that they can more easily follow the races from wherever they choose to watch. At Silverstone the grids were impressive, the racing was exciting and there were ‘sideshows’ to entertain the family. But the absence of trackside cameras made following the action on the Grand Prix circuit that much more difficult.

Even today’s F1 ‘superstars’ appreciate a racing car that has breathtaking horsepower, very little downforce and slick tyres. Motor racing will always be a dramatic spectacle, but the best historic events bring back the four-wheel drift, the power slide and the sight of hands and arms moving in the cockpit.

A visit to Portimão on October 15-17 will be a feast for the eyes and ears. For those who wish to relax a little there is a golf course or vineyard around every corner in this part of the world.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

I have been asked to get back to the blogging, from which I have been absent these past weeks. So here I am. Where have I been hiding? All over the place actually, as is my wont. I was set to take a holiday – my usual lolling around on the Ionian island of Corfu – when I became embroiled in an event called Vintage at Goodwood.

This has little to do with cars and a lot to do with music, although there were some lovely cars there including spectacular 1950s hot rods and Ford Mustangs. I have long coveted a good, genuine Mustang. This new event was a huge success and, as Bob Marley famously said, “one good thing about music is that when it hits you, you feel no pain”. Not like motor racing.

Now I am preparing for the Barum Rally in the Czech Republic and a visit to the Skoda Museum. Then it’s back here for the Goodwood Revival, which has little to do with music but a lot to do with some wonderful racing cars. And between these two, I’ll be going to the World Championship finals of the F1 stock cars to understand a bit more about why people go blasting round ovals in the dark in close company with some very high-powered, very dented cars. This season the championship is as close as it gets, as close as the championship for Grand Prix cars. But they’re spending thousands, not millions.

After an enforced (by the FIA) two-week shutdown, invented to cut costs, we are now approaching Spa and the second half of the Formula 1 season. Who will come back on top? Red Bull surely, or will they? McLaren is well equipped to take the title, both technically and financially. Ferrari is very cross with itself, and everybody else, and will return with Alonso firmly favoured. It can’t get worse for Mercedes, can it? It can, but it probably won’t because they’ll be terrified of further shame. My prediction? Hamilton will be World Champion – just – with Vettel very large in his silver mirrors.

On the subject of Grand Prix racing, the paddock will be well represented at the Revival, where Adrian Newey will share his rapid E-type Jaguar with Bobby Rahal in the TT Celebration race. Also out on this demanding circuit will be Christian Horner in the St Mary’s saloon car race, an encounter guaranteed to loud cheers from the grandstands. Red Bull boss Dieter Mateschitz is clearly a generous and spirited man, allowing two of his key people to take part in this spectacular meeting. Both Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna are determined to get in on the act as well, possibly relishing the prospect of racing further up the field. And I hear Gerhard Berger will be there this year. Stand by for mischievous humour and impressive lap times. They don’t forget how to do it.

Finally, keep a close eye on the Formula 2 series. There is a distinctly feisty battle being fought out between Jolyon Palmer and Dean Stoneman, a fierce rivalry which will see one of them win not only the title but also a test drive in the 2010 Williams F1 car. Let’s hope it’s a fair and sporting contest.

Autumn may be on the horizon, but there’s a huge amount for us fans to look forward to. Back soon.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Another Grand Prix and another win for Button. He may have lost a place to team-mate Barrichello at the start, but the Brit got his head down and gave us another remarkable display of driving and getting the most out of the car and tyres. A large shunt at the beginning finished Trulli’s, Fisichella’s, Sutil’s, Bourdais’ and Buemi’s race but the other talking point of the afternoon was just how wrong it all went for Ferrari. Again.

Here’s how they all stacked up…

Jenson Button (1^st)
On finishing the race, just before going onto the podium Button asks “sorry, where do I go”? A sign of just how many times the Brit has visited the podium in Barcelona. Another great day, even though he lost first place to Barrichello at the start, he proved that when a driver is at the top of their game nothing can stop them. Or indeed go wrong – he crossed the start/finish line 1.6secs before the end of the Q3 session to start his flying lap that got him pole. Changing to a two-stop strategy in the race (rather than three) certainly helped. 9.5/10

Rubens Barrichello (2^nd)
“I don’t know how I lost that race man.” He was quicker than Button throughout the weekend (bar Button’s stunning qualifying lap) and humbled the Brit at the start. However, he couldn’t get his tyres to work in the second and third stints meaning that almost certain victory slipped through his hands. A good sign for Brawn though when one of their drivers is disappointed with second. If he can’t pin Button back in the next few GPs it’ll be like Ferrari all over again where he had to play second fiddle to Schumacher for so long. 7/10

Mark Webber (3^rd)
He’s so far been outclassed by his team-mate Vettel this year and this weekend looked to be going along the same depressing lines for the Australian. As soon as he tussled with Alonso in the opening stint though we knew we were watching a man on a mission. A great drive and one which heralded receiving the ‘Drive of the Day’ award from Coulthard. Anyone else notice how he always backs the Red Bull drivers? Funny old world… 9/10

Sebastian Vettel (4^th)
Tipped by Coulthard to win the race. The German’s afternoon effectively ended when Massa ‘KERSed’ him off the line. If Red Bull need any information on the Ferrari rear-end though, I’m sure Vettel will be able to tell them exactly what it looks like after staring at it for an hour and a half. 6/10

Fernando Alonso (5^th)
All he had to do was overtake a back marker and the crowd would erupt. Which is exactly what they did when he fortuitously took fifth in the dying laps when Massa had to slow because of a lack of fuel. Probably would have won if he was being powered by the support for him during the weekend. As luck would have it, he was in a Renault and was lucky just to get points. Solid drive. But that’s the least we expect from him… 7/10

Felipe Massa (6^th)
Ferrari has certainly improved ­– the car that is rather than their general running of the team – but I suggest Massa flattered them somewhat today. A catastrophic error in the final pitstop meant that he didn’t have enough fuel to finish the race, so had to give up fourth to Vettel and then fifth to Alonso. Only managed to keep Vettel behind him for that long though thanks to KERS. At least his car didn’t come to a grinding halt. Ah, of course it did, it ran out of fuel just before the end. 7/10

Nick Heidfeld (7^th)
A pretty quiet race for Heidfeld although he did well to keep Räikkönen behind him in the opening stages. The BMW is faster, but definitely not fast enough. Had the measure of Kubica though. When you drive reasonably well, only 14 cars finish, you’re in a car that was fighting for the World Championship up until the last few races the season before and you don’t even get a point you’ve got to struggle to see the point of it all. 6/10

Nico Rosberg (8^th)
Continues to excel in Friday practice, but that doesn’t really help a team get points on the board. Could be worse, he could have a team-mate who pushed him more… Good, long first stint though after punting Trulli off on the first lap. 6/10

Lewis Hamilton (9^th)
“What did you feel when Jenson Button lapped you near the end of the Grand Prix?” Hamilton, deadpan face: “nothing”. I very much doubt that Mr Hamilton. It must have felt like one last kick in the tender area after another weekend of having no grip whatsoever. This season is going to feel as long as 2008 was exciting for the current World Champion. 5.5/10

Timo Glock (10^th)
Qualified well but just slipped further and further back in the race. He out-drove Trulli, but only because his team-mate’s race ended on the first lap. An afternoon Glock will want to forget. If Hamilton is as unhappy as he is with ninth then Glock in a Toyota – which, lest we forget, is supposed to be one of the fastest cars in 2009 ­– finishing behind him must be as painful as being stuck with a Toyota Prius as a courtesy road car (I’m sure he has something a lot more interesting). 4.5/10

Robert Kubica (11^th)
He’s never sought out the limelight and even when he was battling for the World Championship last year he was quiet. Now though, he looks positively rock star noisy last year compared to how he is now. We know he’s one of the most naturally quick drivers on the grid, but you might as well put him in a soapbox at the moment judging by how fast the BMW is. An improvement, but an improvement to 11^th can’t put his mind too much at ease. 5/10

Nelson Piquet (12^th)
Crasher Piquet didn’t crash, and drove a solid – if uninspiring race – to finish where he did. However, it does look as though he’s happy to just coast round the track, but with Alonso – one of the most exciting and aggressive F1 drivers around – as team-mate, he isn’t going to look like Senna is he? The last two races haven’t been bad, but his likely replacement, Romain Grosjean, only went and took pole, a race victory and a second place in the GP2 round this weekend. News about as welcome as a kick to the head you feel. 5/10

Kazuki Nakajima (13^th)
‘Copy’ and ‘paste’ first sentence of Piquet’s report here. Pitted early after contact at the start, rejoined at the back, but drove a long, solid second stint to move up the order. End of the day though, he finished in 13^th. With only 14 runners at the end of the race. 4/10

Giancarlo Fisichella (14^th)
Qualified last, and was last in the race (out of the finishers). The Force India is not the fastest car out on the track at the moment – quite the opposite in fact – but you have to ask yourself whether the Italian is the right man to push this team forward. Personally, I think this is his last season. Here’s hoping he can go out with a bang. I.e. points, not an explosion. 3/10

Kimi Räikkönen (15^th – RET)
Some say he lacks motivation, but how can you have any motivation when your team doesn’t persuade you to set another time in Q1, to make sure you make it into Q2? Out he went in Q1, and then started the race complaining that his KERS wasn’t working. He seemed to be all the better for it though after making up six places in the opening racing laps. Oh, and he also couldn’t see the lights at the start because the new rear wings are so big. All this then his car came to a grinding halt on lap 18. You could argue that he should have made the call to go back out in Q1 but when you have this much bad luck on race day it doesn’t really matter at all. A sentiment I am sure Raikkonen shares. 6/10 (for making up places at the start) 1/10 (Ferrari’s management of the Finn) 10/10 (for bad luck)

Heikki Kovalainen (16^th – RET)
It wasn’t a day for the Finns was it? A lacklustre qualifying performance followed by gearbox failure. He seems very relaxed for a man that has been completely outperformed by his team-mate this season, even if he has admittedly only finished two races thanks to a healthy dose of bad luck. 3/10

Jarno Trulli (17^th – RET)
Nudged off by Rosberg at the start and then rejoined the track, facing sideways. Cue a pile up that took out all the drivers below. A racing incident but not what Toyota need. 1/10

Sébastien Buemi (18^th – RET)
Taken out on lap one. 1/10

Sébastien Bourdais (19^th – RET)
Taken out on lap one. 1/10 (Level of anguish at Toro Rosso after both cars need collecting on a truck after not even completing one lap? 10/10)

Adrian Sutil (20^th – RET)
Went wide at turn one, only to rejoin the track at turn two, into Trulli. Not really his fault but when you don’t even make it round one turn successfully… 0/10

On an unrelated note, did anyone notice that the podium looked quite, umm, ‘old’ this weekend? Button, Barrichello, Webber… A combined age of 97 must be some sort of a record in recent years.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

The Chinese Grand Prix was another soaking affair, yet this weekend it wasn’t Brawn GP scoring a one-two but Red Bull. Sebastian Vettel, who proved his prowess in the wet at last year’s Italian Grand Prix, once again drove faultlessly to score a maiden victory for the team.

1st: Sebastian Vettel
Having put his car on pole the German managed to keep the Brawns at bay and, despite atrocious conditions and safety cars, he drove brilliantly to his second career win. Escaped serious damage after Toro Rosso’s Buemi drove into the back of him, which goes to show just how much luck can play a part when it’s that wet. 9/10

2nd: Mark Webber
A career best for Webber who, although he was outdriven by his team-mate, managed to keep his car on the track – most of the time – and battled well with Button’s Brawn. 8/10

3rd: Jenson Button
Complained of severe grip problems after not getting any heat into the tyres, which meant that at some points he was weaving down the straight. Another solid race for Button, whose smooth style is just what’s needed when it’s this wet. A few mistakes, but overall a good weekend. 8/10

4th: Rubens Barrichello
Even though he has yet to outclass his team-mate in a Grand Prix this season Barrichello drove a solid, if a little uneventful, race. 7/10

5th: Heikki Kovalainen
Unlike Hamilton, Kovalainen drove a mature race and kept his car on the black stuff. Even if he didn’t have the speed that his team-mate showed on occasion, he will be satisfied with completing more than one lap of a Grand Prix, something that must have been starting to worry him a little. 7/10

6th: Lewis Hamilton
Got his car into Q3 for the first time this season and started well from ninth, storming through the field to fifth, only to spin off. He stormed through the field again, and then span off again… While he showed blistering pace his driving style means he doesn’t always conserve his tyres well. He complained of losing all grip on his front left after five laps, but he must accept some of the blame for that. Well done for pushing hard though – he had nothing to lose after all… 5/10

7th: Timo Glock
After starting 19th on the grid Glock drove smartly up the field, only for a clash with Heidfeld on lap 13 to delay him. He recovered well and despite meandering off course on a few occasions – something that you have to forgive drivers in weather like this – he clawed his way back up again. Although he is yet to do something spectacular, something tells me that he has a bright future ahead. 7/10

8th: Sebastien Buemi
The only rookie on the grid had a brilliant race, challenging Vettel for the drive of the day. He was lucky to escape after hitting the back of Vettel (who had slowed under yellow to avoid passing the car in front, which he thought was Barrichello but was in fact Trulli) but recovered well to another points-scoring finish. 8/10

9th: Fernando Alonso
Having put his car second on the grid with a light fuel load, the team decided to pull him in early after only seven laps – when the safety car was still out. He rejoined at the very back and with a full tank of fuel and zero visibility he struggled to work his way through the field. The Renault, however, was hardly the car of the day. Eventually made up ground, but a spin late meant he missed out on points when he was starting to show some real pace. 7/10

10th: Kimi Räikkönen
The Finn had real problems finding any grip at all and seemed to be going backwards at times. His team-mate had no such problems, but Räikkönen’s lack of speed was such that Hamilton overtook him on numerous occasions before spinning off again. Although he was classed fourth at one point he never worked his way back up the field after pitting. 5/10

11th: Sébastien Bourdais
His rookie team-mate showed that the Toro Rosso was one of the cars to have in the wet conditions, but Bourdais never looked like setting the world alight and spun so often that he never kept position. 5/10

12th: Nick Heidfeld
After a good start Heidfeld took over Webber’s mantel of the ‘unluckiest man of the day’, aquaplaning off the track, colliding with Glock on lap 13 and then being hit by one of Sutil’s wheels from the wreckage of his crash and losing four places as a result. 6/10

13th: Robert Kubica
Trulli was going so slowly it was inevitable that someone would drive into the back of him, and that someone was Kubica. The replacement wing fitted after that clash eventually worked loose, so he lost even more time pitting again. Kubica is a great driver but has had little to shout about so far this season – I suspect BMW will struggle to hold onto him if it can’t start to find some extra pace somewhere. 6/10

14th: Giancarlo Fisichella
Fisichella spent much of his time finding his way back onto the track and suffered severe graining problems with his tyres. Another sedate race for a man who can’t afford to keep being outdriven by his team-mate. 4/10

15th: Nico Rosberg
A day to forget for Rosberg who complained of severe visibility problems – something I would have thought most of the grid was suffering with… He did drive well, when he could see, but never really looked set to challenge. A late gamble on intermediates was a real long shot, but you’ve got to admire him for a least taking a punt. 5/10

16th: Nelsinho Piquet
Another dreadful day for Piquet. Again hugely outclassed by Alonso in qualifying and the race. He had to stop twice for a new nose after two huge spins and really doesn’t seem to have any positives to take away from the weekend. Another few races like this and his seat may not be safe for the rest of this season, let alone in 2010. 2/10

17th: Adrian Sutil
A good performance from the German, who was looking at a points finish until a spin and a big impact ended his race on lap 51. Another very disappointing outcome following a good strategy by the Force India team and a good drive. 6/10

18th: Kazuki Nakajima
Although he was unlucky to retire with transmission problems, he didn’t exactly make a huge impact when he was ‘on’ the track. Numerous spins and off-track excursions meant this was another weekend to forget. 4/10

19th: Felipe Massa
If Räikkönen’s speed was any measure of how fast the Ferrari was in these conditions, then Massa drove an absolute blinder. The Brazilian – often criticised for only being able to drive a good race from pole, or for not being able to drive in the wet (please see Silverstone 2008) – proved his critics wrong. A real shame that an electrical problem robbed him of his first points in 2009. 8/10

20th: Jarno Trulli
The Italian really struggled in the wet, complaining that he couldn’t get any grip and only lasted 13 laps before Kubica ploughed into the back of him. 5/10

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

After the whirlwind of action over the past few weeks in Formula 1 the dust is finally settling.

Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams found a loophole in the regulations regarding the rear diffuser. They took it and at the pre-season tests they were considerably quicker than the other cars. The other teams complained, the FIA provisionally said that they were legal – as did the stewards at the Australian Grand Prix – and more recently an appeal has been considered and rejected.

Forgive me for being cynical but do we really think that the other teams, if they had spotted the loophole, would have thought that it just ‘wouldn’t be cricket’ if they were to follow it up? No. That is about as likely as Mr Mosley putting a ‘Spank it to the Max’ sticker on the rear of his car (an item you may be interested to hear that can be bought at the Nürburgring).

What’s more, Ross Brawn approached the other teams before the season started asking whether they wanted to clarify that area of the new rules. They politely declined.

Formula 1 is all about (restricted) innovation. And I admire any team that can gain an advantage by legally interpreting the rules in a different way. If the FIA was to rule the other way at the appeal and claim that the diffusers were illegal then it would have been a sad, sad day for the sport. What was quite telling was the fact that certain teams started redesigning their rear diffusers as soon as they saw the Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams cars, long before they were declared legal…

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

It is truly remarkable just how many people love to watch motor racing. Almost everyone I meet knows something about the forthcoming Grand Prix season. Many have plans to go to at least one race. Many have their favourite drivers.

They all have opinions, both negative and positive, about the sport. I was queuing in a shop the other day when a man started telling me how wonderful Lewis Hamilton is. Then I was standing at a bar, having a quiet glass of wine, when a woman asked me who would win the championship this year?

I have no idea. Have you?

Lots of people ask me how Mr Ecclestone has managed to hold on to so much power. They all like to offer a wager on what will happen in 2009.

So, if we haven’t met, here are a few thoughts on the year ahead:

1.    The BMW F1.09 will be very fast in Melbourne.
2.    Robert Kubica will be in the hunt for the championship.
3.    Giancarlo Fisichella will retire.
4.    So will Jarno Trulli.
5.    And Kimi Räikkonen.
6.    Toyota will not continue into 2010.
7.    KERS will be very troublesome, and controversial.
8.    McLaren will win the constructors’ title.
9.    Williams will be revitalised and score points.
10.    Fernando Alonso will move to Ferrari in 2010.
11.    Sir Fred Goodwin will join the FIA.
12.    Rear tyre wear will be a headache.

I’m not taking any bets but some of these will come to pass.

More interestingly, David Coulthard will be the star of the new BBC TV coverage. This will reinvigorate Martin Brundle and the coverage will be warmly received.

Plans for a Grand Prix in London will be announced. Boris Johnson will support the plan and Donington will be put on hold

Aston Martin will not win Le Mans but the team will bring the race back into the headlines. The cars will look wonderful, sound terrific.

Meanwhile I have been talking to Bob Dance, chief mechanic at Team Lotus during the golden years of Colin Chapman’s innovative team. The old mechanics are simply the most colourful, entertaining and honest people you’ll ever meet in this sport. Bob has so many great stories from the Grands Prix of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s that he could fill the fattest possible book. He was a big fan of Mario Andretti, another huge character from the days when etc, etc. Mechanics tell good stories so keep an eye open for Mr Dance’s recollections of a wild night out with the 1978 World Champion in the magazine soon.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Sitting in my little office down by the sea in the south of England, it occurred to me that this is becoming a very interesting winter.

I have been watching documentaries about elephants. I was astonished to learn that a large African elephant may have up to 42,000 moving parts. Makes a Grand Prix car look like pretty simple stuff.

Winter afternoons at work have been vastly improved by the modern computer. And I am not referring to the constant stream of emails that want me to buy a cheap flight or stay at a bargain hotel. No, what I enjoy is the technology that allows me to listen to BBC radio, either ‘live’ or a repeat of a programme I have missed. Good old BBC – and now they will be sending us Grands Prix from all corners of the globe. I whinge about the licence fee, but it’s great value for money. It will be interesting to see what the Beeb brings to the party in Melbourne.

Winter in the Algarve has been interesting. The new 2009 cars were being tested at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve at Portimao where heavy rain interrupted proceedings last week. At least it wasn’t freezing cold as well. Aren’t you fed up with the doom and gloom of January? I try not to watch the news any more – just too depressing and if we weren’t going to have a recession then we certainly could have talked ourselves into one by now.

Down in Portugal young Sébastien Buemi has been fast in the Toro Rosso. Might this be yet another ‘Wonder Boy’? More interestingly the new Williams has been impressive, covering a huge number of laps without any big problems. Thank goodness that RBS, the newly nearly-nationalised bank, is not writ large all over the Williams smart dark blue livery. That would surely be horribly embarrassing for the bank that has allegedly recorded the biggest ever corporate loss in the history of such things. There has been speculation in The Times that Sir Fred Goodwin, formerly the big chief at RBS and a motor racing nut, may find himself re-employed at the FIA. Interesting, this winter break.

We want Williams to do well, don’t we? We like the team’s attitude, we like its history and we want to see some new sponsors on the car. Some decent times in the Algarve will do no harm at all.

Fernando Alonso means business this year. He’s been training hard, using regimes dreamt up by long-distance cyclists. Last week he too was pounding round in Portimao, tweaking the Renault between the rain showers.

The new McLaren looks sensational. If fast is pretty, this car is fast. Lewis Hamilton says it feels good already. Business as usual then. So far. The world champion was in Scotland as well last week, showing off his skills in the car park at Diageo in Shieldhall. The workers at the Johnnie Walker factory came out to watch, clapping and cheering as Lewis flung last year’s car around a very wet stretch of Tarmac. They loved it. All sponsors should follow this example, especially in these grim economic times when corporations like Diageo must justify their expenditure on sports sponsorship. I’m sure many Scots went back to work feeling good about some of their hard-earned profits being diverted to support a Grand Prix team in distant Woking. You can see the joy of the occasion by looking at the video on the STV website.

You can’t help but wonder where the hell all the money is coming from. From the same place as football clubs can find 100 million euros for a young man who scores goals? I don’t think so, but it’s equally mystifying when the real world appears to be in something of a crisis. Clearly, there are global brands that believe Grand Prix racing remains the most effective worldwide marketing strategy. Something like that, anyway. Long may it last.

Winter, of course, is always interesting, but this year seems more intriguing than usual. Over in Lapland this weekend the Arctic Rally starred no less than Mika Häkkinen and Kimi Räikkonen. Ferrari will no doubt had their fingers crossed that Kimi would keep it on the ice.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

The Formula 1 circus has come to Monaco and so far, apart from a few gentle brushes with the walls, the whole grid has managed to complete the opening two practice sessions.

The forecast is for rain and what better race to have it at than Monaco, when none of the drivers have raced without traction control in the wet yet. If the promised rain does arrive, the race – I fear – will be won by the most level headed and cautious driver on the day.

Hamilton seems to love the circuit through the Principality and spent much of the day at the top of the sheets. Raikkonen did respond with a flurry of quick laps at the end of the first session and nudged the Brit from 1st place; however, Hamilton was even quicker in the next session and was only briefly knocked off the top of the sheets by Rosberg, who seems to be in great form in the Williams.

Piquet still seems to be struggling with the Renault – Alonso was 1.5 seconds quicker in P1 and then a second quicker in P2. Last year Briatore was very publicly vocal about Kovalainen taking time to get up to speed yet remains silent on Piquet’s pace. I doubt he is as relaxed as he looks but I suspect it is only a matter of time before the pressure of needing to perform further hampers the young Brazilian.

The McLarens do have the measure of the Ferraris for the time being, but as speculated the Scuderia is certainly not as far back as last year. As for the race – well, thanks to the overtaking possibilities in Monaco, much of the result depends on how the drivers do in qualifying. I would have thought, bar a problem or a mistake, Hamilton will take pole, with either one of the Ferraris or Kovalainen lining up alongside him.

However, with the likes of Rosberg showing the pace he is at the moment and the BMWs going well, I will no doubt be completely wrong. (When Hamilton does get pole I’ll delete this last sentence).
Practice 1

Practice 2

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Monte Carlo, Monaco, May 18 1958. Roy Salvadori, Cooper T45-Climax, retired, and Jack Brabham, Cooper T45-Climax, 4th position, talk to a mechanic.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will know that I am writing a series of stories for the magazine called ‘Mechanics’ Tales’, which is exactly what the title suggests. These are tales from either retired or working mechanics and good fun they are to do because mechanics tend to be down-to-earth types and they almost invariably have a great sense of humour. They need to.

USA Grand Prix – Saturday Qualifying Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, June 16 2007. A Williams mechanic gets some much needed rest.

According to Kevin Eason, who used to be the F1 correspondent of The Times and is now the Insider columnist on the sports pages, there are mechanics in F1 today who are alleged to be paid as much as 100,000 a year. No, I have not made a mistake with the noughts.

This may come as something of a surprise to those who long ago packed away their spanners. You don’t often see such thing as a spanner in the pitlane these days and I hear that some of the old McLaren mechanics started up the Red Toolbox Club, meeting once a year to swap memories and stories. It is said that when the new McLaren Technology Centre was being drawn up Mr Dennis made no allowances for toolboxes in the workshop bays. Knowing Ron, he probably thought they’d make a mess of the place. Well, it is the smartest, cleanest race shop you’re ever likely to see.

Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia, March 29 – April 2 2006. Honda Chief Mechanic Alistair Gibson, Jenson Button, Honda RA106, celebrates pole position.

Anyway, back to the point. The Insider gave the example of Alistair Gibson who until recently was the Chief Mechanic at Honda. He is now retired from the sport and has been producing sculptures made from carbon fibre. Reckon he must know a thing or two about this virtually indestructible material by now. I cannot tell you if Alistair really was picking up that kind of salary but I do know he couldn’t have been making much in the way of bonuses, either at BAR or latterly at Honda. I knew him many years ago when he worked for Robert Synge at Madgwick Motorsport and he’s an excellent team player as well as a first rate mechanic. But a hundred grand a year? Well, good for him I guess, but it seems a huge amount of money compared to some of the older guys I’ve been talking to lately. They did it pretty much for the love of it, and most of their loot came from bonuses when their cars won the races. Still, life moves on, and I’d be interested to see Alistair’s sculptures, which are on show in London.

Mechanics are a certain type of person, they have to be, always on the road and living out of a suitcase. It gets to a lot of them after a while and they often return to the factory for a more regular way of life. Sir Jackie Stewart(above) was one of the few drivers to recognise the efforts of his mechanics and when he retired himself he set up the Grand Prix Mechanics Trust, a charitable organisation that looks after guys who get hurt, or who are going through hard times for whatever reason. This is a great idea and the GPMT has helped a great many mechanics to get back on their feet and to enjoy a comfortable retirement. As you would imagine, Jackie puts a lot of time and energy into this, as he does with all his many interests and organisations.

Nurburgring, Germany, August 4 1968. A mechanic drives the car of Jackie Stewart, Matra MS10-Ford, 1st position, in the paddock.

Why am I going on about mechanics this week? Well, I’m hoping that some of the guys will see this and will be tempted to respond with their stories. Motor Sport is devoting a page every month to the people who are often described as the unsung heroes of motor racing and we’ve had some great stories so far this year.

So, if you are one, or you know one, let me know. There are so many wonderful tales out there.

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

So here we are in Istanbul, Turkey. The sun isn’t quite shining, but it certainly looks like we’ll be in for a good race on Sunday – this being one of the Formula 1 tracks where it is actually possible to overtake.

As expected the Ferraris seem to be roughly half a second quicker than the McLarens. Although the times are much closer than that, the long runs suggest that the Scuderia’s cars do hold a clear advantage. As for Hamilton‘s time in P2, well… he went out right at the end and completed just the one flying lap so who knows how much fuel he had in.

The Renaults showed that their pace in Barcelona wasn’t a one-off with two strong sessions from Alonso and it’s good to see Red Bull up in the top 5. Webber clipped the grass early on in the second session which sent his car spinning into the barrier. The Australian was unhurt but the armco certainly did a pretty good job of short-wheel basing the car.

As for the rest, Kovalainen seemed to have left his sense of self-preservation in the hospital, as he was straight back on the pace. A quite remarkable feat considering he suffered a 26G crash less than two weeks ago. The BMWs don’t seem to be as close to McLaren as they have been promising but, as I said before, the practice times can be a little misleading.

So predictions for the Grand Prix on Sunday? Short of a breakdown or moment of madness from Raikkonen or Massa, the Ferraris look as though they could take another 1-2. As for the last place on the podium, I would have thought that both Hamilton and Kovalainen have the pace to take it.

Having bad mouthed the ITV F1 live feed the other week, I am pleased to say that it is vastly improved. Last time I watched something on there I spent an hour and a half staring at a frozen screen with snippets of flying laps sped up a hundred times so that the ‘feed’ could catch up again. However, its gremlins seem to be cured and you can now sit back and soak up the sound of the V8s. Whether this was down to me and my blog, I very much doubt, but it is now a pretty good place to catch the practice sessions.

Practice 1

Practice 2

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine