{"id":30636,"date":"2014-07-07T19:15:02","date_gmt":"2014-07-07T18:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/issue_content\/nigel-roebuck-53\/"},"modified":"2020-12-04T10:57:17","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T10:57:17","slug":"nigel-roebuck-57","status":"publish","type":"issue_content","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/article\/march-2010\/14\/nigel-roebuck-57\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigel Roebuck"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reflections<\/strong>
\n\u2013 Schumacher is returning to a very different F1<\/strong>
\n\u2013 Why Brundle has been revitalised by the Beeb<\/strong>
\n\u2013 A \u2018short-cut\u2019 to solving the lack of overtaking\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

So\u2026 he\u2019s back.<\/p>\n

You think about it now, about that Saturday afternoon at the Hungaroring, and you conclude that had Rubens Barrichello\u2019s Brawn not shed a spring, which injured Felipe Massa, we would almost certainly never have seen Michael Schumacher race a Grand Prix car again. But\u2026 events, dear boy\u2026<\/p>\n

Initially the news of Massa\u2019s condition was not good, but he came through the brief critical period, and soon the doctors were saying he would not only recover, but also \u2013 eyesight prevailing \u2013 race again.<\/p>\n

As the good word emerged about Felipe\u2019s condition there was of course enormous celebration in the paddock, most of all at Ferrari where he is dearly loved. As soon as it became clear that he would indeed be fit for the start of the 2010 season, Luca di Montezemolo announced that there would be a car for him, and that meant the exit door for Kimi R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen, for Ferrari had already committed to running Fernando Alonso.<\/p>\n

This did not, however, solve the short-term problem of finding a driver for the balance of the year, and di Montezemolo lost no time in broaching the subject with Schumacher, who was still on the Ferrari books in the role of \u2018consultant\u2019 or some such nebulous title.<\/p>\n

Initially Michael declined Luca\u2019s invitation, but within a very few minutes allowed himself to be talked around, and thus the bombshell news went out to the world: Schumacher would partner R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen at Valencia and beyond.<\/p>\n

Few had believed that Michael would accept an offer to come back, but the more one thought about it the more it made sense that he would be able to justify it to himself. For one thing, he was coming to the aid of the team with which he had been synonymous for 15 years; for another, he was standing in for his pal Massa; for another yet, it was merely temporary, in a Ferrari which could not be expected to produce miracles; last, he had been bored out of his mind for a long time.<\/p>\n

For a brief moment Formula 1<\/a> was agog, but soon there came another statement from Schumacher, sorrowful this time: after testing an obsolete Ferrari at Mugello, he had concluded that a neck injury, sustained in a Superbike test earlier in the year, made a comeback impossible. In Valencia he duly \u2013 sadly \u2013 turned up in his normal \u2018advisory\u2019 role. <\/p>\n

Into the first turn at Mugello there is a notorious bump, and Michael said that when he went over it on his very first lap he knew immediately, wincingly, he was in trouble. For the rest of the day, he had to drive round the bump, and you can\u2019t go racing like that.<\/p>\n

The maddening thing was that the neck injury was gradually coming right \u2013 but too gradually to allow him to race an F1 car at that time. If the racing world was disappointed, Michael himself was mortified, for this opportunity to return, even only temporarily, had reawakened \u2013 if such a thing were necessary \u2013 all his competitive juices. After all, he had never wanted to retire in the first place.<\/p>\n

Recently I listened again to the tape of that press conference in September 2006. A few minutes earlier, Schumacher had won the Italian Grand Prix for the umpteenth time, but now he was saying that he had raced at Monza for the last time, that he had decided at Indianapolis, two months earlier, to retire at season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

In fact, we knew what was coming, for the instant the race concluded Ferrari people dashed into the press room and began giving out releases confirming Schumacher\u2019s retirement \u2013 and R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n

As Michael spoke, we noted tears in his eyes at one point, and were bound to wonder if he were going or being pushed. While it seemed unfathomable that the best driver in the world might have been faced with a fait accompli, a situation obliging him to quit, there had been rumours to that effect for some time.<\/p>\n

Schumacher was closing on his 38th birthday, and Ferrari \u2013 in particular di Montezemolo \u2013 could hardly be blamed for considering the team\u2019s future. There would, after all, come a time when Michael would take his leave, when Ferrari would need another superstar ready to replace him. Hence, in the summer of 2005, agreement was reached for R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen to move there in \u201907. <\/p>\n

Quite when Schumacher became aware of this is not known. What is known, however, is that for some little time di Montezemolo had resented his influence in the vetting of potential team-mates. Throughout his career, Michael had been happy to have good drivers alongside him, but never any who might be considered a potential threat.<\/p>\n

It always struck me as oddly insecure, and Bernie Ecclestone concurred. \u201cThe cars were so good,\u201d Bernie said, \u201cthat the only person who could beat Michael was someone else in a Ferrari, and when that person wasn\u2019t allowed to beat him \u2013 and, worse than that, was riding shotgun in case somebody could get near him \u2013 people didn\u2019t have the respect for him that they might have done. I\u2019d say to him, \u2018It wouldn\u2019t matter who was in the other car \u2013 you\u2019d beat him\u2019, but we\u2019ll never know, will we?\u201d<\/p>\n

At all events, Schumacher was not prepared to have R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen as his team-mate, which is ironic, because the evidence is that he would have dominated him \u2013 as, more often than not, did Massa. Most of all, perhaps, Michael was upset because he had not been consulted.<\/p>\n

Whatever, if he duly left the stage, he remained in the wings. Part of his \u2018consultancy\u2019 role involved testing, and whenever asked to drive he accepted with alacrity \u2013 and invariably at least matched the times of the regular drivers. The spirit still burned bright.<\/p>\n

At the races, though, it was a different thing. He gave an informal press conference at Barcelona in \u201907, and the tone of it was disinterested, even faintly bad-tempered. This was not the role for which life had prepared him.<\/p>\n

He continued to come to the races, doing what he could to help Massa, but rarely seemed to smile. I remember walking through a paddock somewhere at the end of a practice session, noting a figure in Ferrari clothing walking back to the motorhome, quite alone, not a photographer in sight. Life had changed a very great deal for the seven-time World Champion.<\/p>\n

All the way through his \u2018retirement\u2019, Schumacher continued to compete in whatever events came his way \u2013 the Race of Champions, German Superbikes, karting \u2013 so very clearly the need to race had not been quenched. Hence, should we have been surprised that he acceded to di Montezemolo\u2019s request that he stand in for Massa?<\/p>\n

Even by normal F1 driver standards, Michael\u2019s level of competitiveness is extreme. Long ago, during his Benetton years, he drove me round Silverstone in an Escort Cosworth on a monsoon day, and reminded me that ordinary mortals have no clue as to what a car can be made to do. Out at the same time, also in a Cosworth, was Johnny Herbert, his team-mate of the time, and what struck me was Michael\u2019s need to catch and pass him, even in these playful circumstances. Once he\u2019d done it, he started chatting again.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you enjoy that?\u201d he grinned, as we came in. I nodded assent. \u201cWell,\u201d he said, \u201cimagine what it\u2019s like in F1 cars \u2013 when we mean it\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n

Quite.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward to the autumn of 2009, and we find Schumacher ever more mindful of the way of life he had left behind. The opportunity to compete again may have arisen by chance, but it awakened in Michael something that had never been truly dormant, anyway.<\/p>\n

Ferrari, with Alonso and Massa signed for 2010, asked the FIA about the possibility of running a third car (entered under a different team), but got a firm no, and that looked to be that for Schumacher \u2013 until Jenson Button visited McLaren, and decided he very much liked what he saw. As soon as his signing was announced, we began to speculate about his replacement at Mercedes, n\u00e9e Brawn. Be in no doubt about the overwhelming significance of Ross Brawn, perhaps the only man Michael has ever revered.<\/p>\n

Schumacher, too, had been a Mercedes man before, a member of the sports car team almost 20 years earlier. Once he was into F1, competing against them, Mercedes people would routinely say they weren\u2019t greatly concerned, suggesting that in Germany a win by Schumacher was a win by Schumacher, a loss the fault of his team. But while that may have been true, to a point, no one doubted they would have killed to have the Three-Pointed Star on Michael\u2019s helmet. Of such things are marketing dreams made.<\/p>\n

Soon after the deal was announced, I called Mario Andretti, and began by reminding him that long ago he\u2019d told me of his belief that comebacks were a mistake.<\/p>\n

\u201cMmm, well, hang on Nigel, that depends on when you leave and why. I was 54 when I left Indycars, and once I\u2019d quit it would have been stupid and non-productive for me to come back. But look at Niki [Lauda], and what he did \u2013 came back at 33 or whatever, and won another championship. Now you think about Michael, retiring at the age that he did \u2013 not even 40, still in splendid physical condition, and so on. To come back in those circumstances\u2026 I mean, all day! You\u2019d be itching to do it, right?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s more, he\u2019s coming back with Ross, who\u2019s been so instrumental in the success of his career \u2013 I mean, why wouldn\u2019t you do it? OK, the naysayers will say he has so much to lose, but you know what? He knows the potential negatives \u2013 but, most of all, he loves racing, loves driving, just like I did. Remember the emotion in the guy\u2019s face whenever he won a race?<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re right that he never seemed happy just coming to the races with Ferrari \u2013 he was bored, he had too much energy left, too much still to give, and I understand that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn motor racing the only thing that ever stimulated me was driving. I was a team owner for one year, 1968, and I didn\u2019t like it \u2013 at all! It just tied me down. I never looked at Colin Chapman or Roger Penske or any of those guys and thought, \u2018I want to be like him\u2019. Never. I just wanted to be a driver, and I think Michael\u2019s exactly the same. I hope he goes out there and kicks butt \u2013 and I\u2019ve no doubt that he will. Apart from anything else, his coming back will be phenomenal for Formula 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackie Stewart I expected to be more circumspect than Andretti. I was wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can only compare Michael with myself,\u201d Jackie said. \u201cThat\u2019s the only way you can do it. And since I retired, I\u2019ve not had one day of regret \u2013 not one. In April 1973 I decided I was going to retire, come what may. I took Ken [Tyrrell] and Walter Hayes to lunch, and told them, but said I would finish that season. I wanted them to know so they could plan ahead, but only them \u2013 I never even told [my wife] Helen, because I didn\u2019t want her mentally counting down the races through the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it was unquestionably the right decision, and it didn\u2019t take any edge off my driving at all \u2013 I won my third World Championship. The end of the season was sad, obviously, because Fran\u00e7ois [Cevert] was killed, but that had nothing to do with my decision, although a lot of people believed it had.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was absolutely ready to retire, that\u2019s my point \u2013 and I don\u2019t think Michael was. Something was going on at Ferrari at that time \u2013 they thought they had to move him on, and they convinced him it would be a good time to retire. It was clearly wrong \u2013 why the hell would he have gone racing Superbikes in Germany? It just wasn\u2019t out of his system \u2013 it\u2019s still in his blood, in the way that it\u2019s still in Stirling\u2019s blood. Stirling never wanted to retire \u2013 it was forced on him by the consequences of his accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Michael made the wrong decision in 2006, and was not really ready for retirement. Yes, he\u2019s 41, but the bug is still there, and I think he can still do it \u2013 I don\u2019t think the age thing will be a problem. Whether he can do it for 70-odd laps, and for race after race, with the Alonsos and the Vettels and the Hamiltons and the Buttons and Massas and Webbers\u2026 that\u2019s perhaps another thing. There\u2019s a very good group in F1 right now, the best for a long time, and certainly the most competitive pack Michael has ever faced. <\/p>\n

\u201cI personally don\u2019t rate him with some of the great drivers from the past, because he made far too many mistakes, and because he had this flaw we all know about \u2013 parking the car at Rascasse at the end of Monaco qualifying, the Villeneuve thing at Jerez, the Hill thing at Adelaide\u2026 But he had an absolutely magnificent career first time round, and I think his comeback is a huge shot in the arm for F1.\u201d<\/p>\n

Be in no doubt. In Italy, perhaps not surprisingly, the tifosi are not too thrilled about it \u2013 on the Ferrari website many erstwhile fans branded Michael a \u2018traitor\u2019, and he may well face a hostile reception when he gets to Monza in September. But everywhere else the news has been rapturously received, and many, myself included, are savouring the prospects for the coming season more than for a long time. As JYS points out, there are many really good F1 drivers at the moment.<\/p>\n

One of them, of course, is Sebastian Vettel, and that raises an interesting point in itself, for Schumacher has never before had to confront another superstar from his own country.<\/p>\n

Other things will be different, too. A few years ago, during their Ferrari days, Brawn attributed much of Schumacher\u2019s success to the fact that he worked harder than his rivals: \u201cYou can say to him, \u2018Have a couple of weeks off, Michael\u2019, between the races, and you\u2019ll get a phone call after a few days: \u2018How\u2019s the testing going? Any chance of trying it?\u2019 And he\u2019ll be down immediately! With some drivers, you\u2019ve got to give them a schedule for the whole year, and pick out the days they\u2019re going to go testing \u2013 and then if you change it, it\u2019s, \u2018Oh, I\u2019ve made my holiday plans\u2019 or whatever. My reaction to that sort of thing has always been, \u2018Look, mate, this is your job\u2019, but there\u2019s never any need for it with Michael. He never gets tired of testing \u2013 in fact, he loves it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, though, we are into the age of austerity, and testing is confined to eight days, all before the start of the season. This is something Schumacher will regret more than most. <\/p>\n

I have to admit, too, to a certain curiosity as to how Michael, with his\u2026 muscular attitude towards anyone presuming to try and pass him, will get along with the authorities in this day and age. It may be only three and a half years since he last raced a Grand Prix car, but in that time the \u2018nanny state\u2019 mentality has greatly intensified \u2013 in F1, as in life. Over time race stewards were generally given to looking the other way when it came to Schumacher and his excesses, but this time around it might be different \u2013 and if it isn\u2019t, such as Alonso and Hamilton and Webber are going to want to know why.<\/p>\n

*******<\/p>\n

To Knightsbridge for lunch with Martin Brundle in a favourite Italian restaurant, where every member of the staff is \u2013 of course \u2013 an F1 fan. Almost before we had taken our seats, the ma\u00eetre d\u2019 wanted to know what Brundle thought about Michael Schumacher\u2019s comeback: he himself was delighted, he said. \u201cEven though he won\u2019t be in a Ferrari?\u201d enquired Martin, surprised. \u201cI don\u2019t care!\u201d came the retort. \u201cMaybe Ferrari won too much, anyway. All that matters is that Schumacher\u2019s coming back to F1 \u2013 we need some more excitement\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

A bottle of Amarone was ordered, and we chatted about Michael. \u201cEveryone\u2019s saying he\u2019s going to wreck his reputation,\u201d Brundle said, \u201cbut will he? I don\u2019t think he will, actually. If he isn\u2019t quite what he was, I think he\u2019ll be forgiven. He\u2019s been away for a bit, he\u2019s 41 years old, and he\u2019s coming back mainly because he misses motor racing \u2013 not for the big dollar.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps he\u2019s changed a bit,\u201d Martin mused. \u201cDid you see that the other day he said he regretted the Villeneuve thing at Jerez? All the strokes and tricks he pulled\u2026 But then that\u2019s part of him, and you can\u2019t have one without the other, can you?\u201d<\/p>\n

I thought of Schumacher\u2019s role at Indianapolis in 2005, when Michelin got it disastrously wrong for once, its tyres proving incapable of coping with the final, banked \u2018oval\u2019 turn. Various solutions were sought, the most sensible being the insertion of a chicane before the corner; all the drivers signed their agreement \u2013 save Michael, who was unwilling to upset Max Mosley, knowing the FIA president to be agin the idea.<\/p>\n

Thus, only six cars \u2013 the Ferraris, the Jordans, the Minardis, all on Bridgestones \u2013 started the race, and Schumacher duly won it after a scrap with team-mate Barrichello. Swathes of race fans left the Speedway vowing never to attend another F1 race.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat really was one of the blackest days in the sport\u2019s recent history, wasn\u2019t it?\u201d said Brundle. \u201cThe night before the race I remember asking David [Coulthard] what was happening. \u2018We\u2019re racing,\u2019 he said. The drivers all left the track on Saturday night, thinking they were going to race, and even on Sunday morning some of them still weren\u2019t prepared to accept that they couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cJean [Todt] was a major mover in not agreeing to a chicane, too \u2013 but I can forgive him that, because he had his Ferrari hat on, and Ferrari were fine with their Bridgestones. Still, though, it was one of the most dreadful days for F1 that I\u2019ve ever seen. And it was completely self-inflicted.<\/p>\n

\u201cOddly enough, it then turned out to be a great race between the Ferraris \u2013 and even on a day like that Michael still had to f*** Rubens! In normal circumstances Bridgestone couldn\u2019t get near Michelin that year, so that was the only possible victory he was going to have \u2013 and there was no way he was going to lose it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Most in the paddock had long felt that Michelin was appallingly treated by the powers-that-be. As Brundle said, \u201cIt really wasn\u2019t very smart to humiliate Michelin on a global stage like that \u2013 especially if we get to the middle of this year, and we still haven\u2019t found a replacement for Bridgestone. If a new supplier hasn\u2019t been found by then, the teams won\u2019t have the data for the tyre they\u2019ll be using \u2013 so how the hell are they going to design their 2011 cars? To me that\u2019s the biggest peril F1 faces right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four new teams arrive this year, and there have been suggestions of a two-tier F1, but Brundle suspects that at least one of the debutants will cause a surprise or two.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I\u2019ve learned is never to underestimate anybody in this business \u2013 and I learned that from Mario [Andretti], believe it or not. He will have no idea of that \u2013 he hardly knows me.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I did the IROC thing, I won races and I was going really well \u2013 and Carl Haas started talking to me about going Indycar racing. We were in the paddock at Michigan \u2013 and Mario was sitting nearby, listening. I thought, \u2018Why would Mario Andretti give a toss about me talking to Haas?\u2019 He was right onto it \u2013 of course this was 1990, when both he and his son were driving for Newman\/Haas. I thought, \u2018That\u2019s interesting. I\u2019m a nobody \u2013 yet Mario is still plugged in\u2026\u2019 He wasn\u2019t going to miss a trick \u2013 he wanted to know exactly what was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brundle reckoned he should have been more like that in his driving career \u2013 should have been more assertive, not least with senior figures among the sponsors. \u201cI always used to think, \u2018Oh, he\u2019s a bit famous \u2013 I\u2019ll stay away from him, I\u2019ll speak when I\u2019m spoken to\u2019, and that was completely the wrong thing to do. Gerhard [Berger] was the best at that \u2013 man, did he work the system! I should have learned that a long time ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know we all laugh about Kimi [R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen], about how he doesn\u2019t talk and all that, but if he was winning every race we\u2019d forgive him for it. If he wasn\u2019t, though, and he wasn\u2019t ticking the other boxes either, then it\u2019s a different matter. Racing purists may hate that, but I\u2019m afraid that\u2019s the way it is. And that\u2019s why Kimi\u2019s out of it. What a waste\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Good for rallying, though, I said. Martin agreed, adding that he considered the top rally drivers to be the most complete drivers in motor sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I did Rally GB, in 1999, I was testing in Wales, and Sainz and Auriol were in the other two works Toyotas. We were practising on a special stage, maybe 15 miles long, and by the end of the day I was within half a second a mile of the other two \u2013 and I was bloody impressed with myself! [Co-driver] Arne Hertz was impressed, everyone was impressed. But that\u2019s what I do \u2013 I go over the same bit of ground and make it better, find the limits, that sort of thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyway, we got to the first stage, where it was misty and raining hard \u2013 and I was 15 seconds a mile slower! OK, the other two had done it a few times in earlier years, and this was my first time, but\u2026 Jesus! They\u2019re talking about \u2018flat here\u2019 and \u2018flat there\u2019 \u2013 120mph over a blind crest in fog sort of thing \u2013 and I\u2019m thinking, \u2018I can\u2019t see where I\u2019m going\u2026\u2019 And it was then that I realised those guys have a skill that we \u2013 racing drivers \u2013 don\u2019t have to employ any more. You might recce the stage in daylight and run it in the dark, or recce it in snow and run it on ice \u2013 and then you\u2019ve got one shot, whatever the conditions\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever S\u00e9bastien Loeb wins the Race of Champions thing, or jumps in a Toro Rosso or a Le Mans car and goes quickly, I am not surprised in the slightest, believe me. Those guys have a talent we just don\u2019t know about \u2013 like the MotoGP riders in the wet. And it feels a lot faster than it looks on TV, I can tell you\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking of TV, I wanted to know, how had Brundle enjoyed his first season of working with the BBC?<\/p>\n

\u201cI love working for the BBC,\u201d he said immediately. \u201cIt\u2019s rejuvenated me. When it changed from ITV to the BBC, I really wasn\u2019t sure I was going to do it. But now, looking back, I can\u2019t understand why. Maybe it\u2019s because I\u2019m a Norfolk boy \u2013 I don\u2019t like change. I\u2019d had a dozen years at ITV, and thought that perhaps this was a chance to have a third career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t hear a word said against my old ITV crew, but the BBC has a multi-media platform that\u2019s impressive beyond belief \u2013 I mean, some of our audience figures are 90 per cent up! Nine zero. There are no adverts, so it\u2019s an open goal to beat that, isn\u2019t it? And when you think about radio, digital terrestrial TV, the website, the iPlayer, the forums, the news channels\u2026 I\u2019ve done F1 features on radio stations that I didn\u2019t even know existed!\u201d<\/p>\n

What has impressed Brundle perhaps more than anything else about working for the Beeb is the time and energy and creativity put into promoting its F1 programmes. More than at ITV?<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, 10 times more. I\u2019m deeply impressed by the BBC and how they do their sport. They just go for it \u2013 the red button is another example of it, the post-race chat when the normal broadcast has finished. We get three times more people watching on the red button than football or rugby do. We\u2019ll get to talk to Rubens or Jenson \u2013 whoever turns up \u2013 for five or seven minutes. The pressure\u2019s off, and we can really chat.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve had much more interaction with the bosses at the BBC in one year than I had with the ITV guys in 12 years. I was kind of ready to give it up, and head off to do something else, but I\u2019m so glad I didn\u2019t \u2013 I\u2019m really enjoying it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still there were times last season, I said, when Brundle seemed to be far from enjoying it. On one particular occasion, indeed, when we were having lunch at McLaren, Martin appeared disenchanted with the whole sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I remember that,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was the middle of the Mosley-FOTA thing, and I was depressed \u2013 that\u2019s the word. Guys like us have a passion for racing, don\u2019t we? We have a responsibility to tell the truth, to be honest. If I sugar-coated everything the audience would switch off, just dismiss me \u2013 and rightly so. You\u2019ve got to tell it the way it is, and that means that sometimes you piss off Bernie or a team or a driver, and then they won\u2019t talk to you \u2013 won\u2019t even look you in the eye. You must have had that countless times, and so have I.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve noticed that, unfortunately, only the negative stuff ever seems to get back to them, and that\u2019s one thing I really hate about this business. The good things you say are just glossed over \u2013 they\u2019re expected. But say something spiky \u2013 and they hate you for it!<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is something I\u2019m coping with better these days. I have an immense understanding of and respect for what the drivers do \u2013 I know how hard it is, and I know how I would be if someone like me rocked up on the grid with a camera crew just as I\u2019m getting ready to race.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to work with these guys, and they\u2019re very sensitive and I understand that. So you\u2019ve got this juggling act of being true and honest about what\u2019s going on, and how you feel about it, and yet maintaining relationships to a point where you can go and talk to them on the grid or in the paddock.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll admit I\u2019ve no idea where I\u2019m at with Lewis. I think I\u2019ve been a great supporter of his, but I feel like Dracula turning up at a blood donor session when I walk up to him on the grid \u2013 and I think, \u2018Why is that?\u2019. I mean, it\u2019s only lately I\u2019ve been allowed to approach him on the grid! It\u2019s really weird, and I find the whole thing massively uncomfortable, to be honest. <\/p>\n

I know what it\u2019s like on the other side of the fence, so it is necessary to juggle it a bit \u2013 but in the end my primary responsibility is to the fans watching on TV. If they ever think I\u2019m bullshitting, I\u2019m done for, and I need to stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a strong opinion about something doesn\u2019t always sit comfortably with some people. Bernie tolerates it, but Max couldn\u2019t. But if I resent the way all the positive things you say are glossed over, taken for granted, and only the negative stuff gets mentioned, I\u2019m not crying about how hard it is for me, or anything like that, because it\u2019s the best job in the world\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

*******<\/p>\n

Formula 1 ventured to the United States for the first time in December 1959, and it\u2019s fair to say that the drivers were unimpressed by the circuit \u2013 Sebring \u2013 chosen for the settling of a World Championship between Jack Brabham, Tony Brooks and Stirling Moss.<\/p>\n

I have an LP of the race, originally released by the long-defunct Riverside Records, and it stands as a remarkable document of the period, unlikely, I would venture, to get an airing at a GPDA meeting any time soon.<\/p>\n

What did Brabham think of the track? Jack was dry as you like: \u201cWell, it\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve raced at Sebring. I heard a lot of stories about it before I came here \u2013 but it\u2019s not as bad as all that\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooks, who had more than once competed in the 12 Hours, knew what to expect. \u201cI\u2019m glad to see the United States come into European-style Grand Prix racing,\u201d he said, \u201cbut Sebring is an airfield circuit, and therefore a bit artificial. I prefer the road-type circuits.\u201d What \u2013 with trees and brick walls? \u201cYes, that\u2019s right\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Moss, who had also many times raced a sports car at Sebring, was rather more overt in his comments. \u201cI like it here, because it\u2019s another World Championship race, but as a circuit it lacks a little character, because it\u2019s an aerodrome circuit, and this is a general feeling among the Grand Prix drivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve cut down a lot of trees at the Esses,\u201d Stirling went on, \u201cand I\u2019m sorry to see it, because, let\u2019s face it, this is a World Championship race, and it would be better if it were run on a proper road circuit. The nearer we can keep it to looking like a road the better it is \u2013 and to us roads signify trees and telegraph poles and ditches and banks and houses and brick walls and kerbstones. We haven\u2019t got any of those here\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Not testing enough, then. Or dangerous. And there were other snippets, too, indicative of a somewhat different time. Four Ferraris were entered, and Phil Hill was asked if they were identical. \u201cTwo are,\u201d replied Hill, \u201cbut another one has a longer wheelbase, and the fourth car is 42 kilos lighter\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Just a bit of paring here and there.<\/p>\n

It had been confidently expected that the title protagonists would line up first, second and third on the grid, and Moss duly took pole position with Brabham alongside him. As for Brooks, it looked as if his Ferrari would also be on the front row \u2013 but then the organisers discovered a time for Harry Schell which they found difficult to believe, it being several seconds faster than any of his other laps and third quickest overall.<\/p>\n

This really did seem\u2026 unlikely. Through 1959 Schell had driven for BRM, but the team declined to make the trip across the water, and the Franco-American journeyman therefore privately entered a Cooper-Climax under the banner of Ecurie Bleue.<\/p>\n

How had his miraculous time been achieved? Well, it went like this. In the course of practice \u2013 they didn\u2019t call it \u2018qualifying\u2019 in those days \u2013 Schell came up behind the tardy Connaught of Bob Said, who failed to notice the Cooper in his mirrors and chopped across its bows. That being so, Schell took to the grass, continued straight on and then rejoined the track, having omitted to go through a corner or two. Taken a short-cut, in other words, admittedly by force of circumstance.<\/p>\n

Now, 50 years on, it is proposed that short-cuts become an intrinsic feature of Grand Prix racing. Moreover, it is January 20 as I write, and not April 1.<\/p>\n

One never quite knows, when it comes to Bernie Ecclestone and radical ideas about F1, what to take seriously and what not. As history shows, Bernie is not above floating provocative opinions during still periods in our sport, simply to get racing into the papers, but on occasion he apparently means what he says. <\/p>\n

Twelve months ago he was obsessed with the awarding of Olympic-style medals to the first three finishers in a Grand Prix; at the end of the season, the driver with the most gold medals would automatically be named as World Champion.<\/p>\n

In a perfect world one would always wish to see the World Champion win more races than anyone else, but to eliminate all else from the reckoning seemed a touch over the top, and most in the paddock thought Ecclestone\u2019s plan more than a touch loopy. Not long before the opening race, the FIA announced that it would not, after all, be adopted in 2009 \u2013 but added that it had merely been postponed.<\/p>\n

That, of course, was during the latter stages of Max Mosley\u2019s protracted presidency; one trusts that Jean Todt will be less inclined automatically to do Bernie\u2019s bidding, and that the medals idea, for one, will remain quietly at rest.<\/p>\n

So to the latest madcap scheme. During a visit to the annual Ferrari\/Ducati media event in Madonna di Campiglio, Ecclestone declared that he would like to introduce a short-cut at each circuit, with each driver allowed to use it five times in the course of a race.<\/p>\n

This, Bernie suggested, would mean that a car wouldn\u2019t get stuck behind a slower one, and the idea had come up, he said, because the FIA\u2019s Overtaking Working Group seemed not to be getting very far in its efforts to facilitate passing.<\/p>\n

I find it funny, in a way, that the powers-that-be have lately become obsessed with the lack of overtaking in F1 \u2013 it is as if this is a recent phenomenon, of which they have only just become aware. For countless years some of us have suggested that to call F1 \u2018motor racing\u2019 bordered on a breach of the Trades Description Act, and more than once it has been murmured that I shouldn\u2019t rock the boat.<\/p>\n

During the times of plenty, when F1 was more wealthy \u2013 and perhaps more fashionable \u2013 than it is today, there was a feeling that the lack of racing didn\u2019t really matter. Look at the crowds, study the budgets, feel the width\u2026<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s a little different. Just as it is these days possible for politicians to discuss immigration without being instantly denigrated as racists, so there are increasing numbers of F1 people prepared to face up to the fact that, when it comes to exciting its fans, the sport has long come up short. Silly amounts of money were being tossed away on 24\/7 wind tunnels, whose sole aim was to improve aerodynamic efficiency \u2013 and, in turn, make overtaking even more desperate, even more likely to end in contact. Throw in a new generation of \u2018health and safety\u2019 stewards, dishing out penalties like Gordon Brown at a private pensions party, and the picture was complete.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find MotoGP exciting,\u201d Stirling Moss said not long ago, \u201cand F1 interesting\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Time and again we made this point to Mosley, and our lack of success was evident on one especially notorious occasion, when Max said he considered a Grand Prix rather in terms of a chess match \u2013 the strategy was endlessly fascinating, he thought, and perhaps the key word was \u2018endlessly\u2019.<\/p>\n

Of late, though, there has been a change in attitude, perhaps spurred by declining Grand Prix crowds. The powers-that-be have at last become aware that \u2018The Show\u2019 needs spicing up, as Flavio Briatore alone suggested for years. To that end the Overtaking Working Group was set up, and if it has so far failed to yield the desired result, its very existence is at least an acknowledgement that a problem exists.<\/p>\n

If Grand Prix racing is to remain a proud sport, though, and one true to its heritage, it is more than desirable \u2013 it is vital \u2013 that its problems should not be solved by contrived means, and this is where Briatore, by his own admission as far from a racing purist as you will find, sometimes went too far. \u201cChange it to two short races \u2013 that way you get two starts and two finishes,\u201d he said to me once. But when I said that was fine for the minor leagues, but not for something calling itself \u2018Grand Prix racing\u2019, I could see from his expression that I\u2019d lost him.<\/p>\n

So now we\u2019ve got to short-cuts on race circuits \u2013 think of the effect of that on conventional overtaking moves. \u2018I didn\u2019t want to risk trying to pass \u2013 I was waiting for the stops\u2019 has became familiar through the era of refuelling. But that, mercifully, has at last been concluded, to be replaced perhaps by, \u2018I didn\u2019t want to risk trying to pass him \u2013 I used the short-cut\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll confess that when first I heard of it I assumed the idea to be no more than a headline-grabbing scam, but an insider tells me otherwise. Apparently the idea came up first in connection with Monaco (where overtaking, in the normal course of events, is admittedly as good as impossible), and then took wings in the minds of some. It reminds me rather of Mosley\u2019s barmy notion of having every driver compete in every car in the course of a season.<\/p>\n

Whatever, the very fact that someone has even thought of something as off-the-wall as short-cuts on race tracks \u2018to allow changes of order to take place\u2019 is an indictment of the path F1 has been allowed to follow for way too long.<\/p>\n

Then again, as Mosley suggested more than once, maybe I\u2019m too much of a purist. Maybe Harry Schell was simply ahead of his time.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Don\u2019t miss our podcasts with Nigel and the team \u2013 plus special guests \u2013 on www.motorsportmagazine.co.uk<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":753,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"tags":[167,230,34089,36507,345,34320,195,34638,34088,35099,115462,37350,36505,884,594,34615,34101,34118,34532,35822,37349,34228,35085,35032,34619,346,35885,34434,34159,34640,34415,34061,115461,34628,34157,115465],"issue_decade":[121600],"issue_year":[121601],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content\/30636"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/issue_content"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/753"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30636"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content\/30636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":716374,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content\/30636\/revisions\/716374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30636"},{"taxonomy":"issue_decade","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_decade?post=30636"},{"taxonomy":"issue_year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_year?post=30636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}