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Articles by Darren Galpin
| Shoot the TV director (Again!) - Sun 22nd May 2005 |
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It’s two laps to go, and there are five cars within about half a second of each other fighting for positions four down to eight. It was shaping up for an incredible few minutes of action where anything could happen. So what does the TV director do? He cuts to Kimi Räikkönen, who was busy swanning along, on his merry way to an easy victory. He had backed off, and had no-one on track around him. So we follow him around for two laps and watch him cross the finishing line. Then we wait for Heidfeld, and then Webber to cross the finishing line. Only now do we cut to the battle, to see what happened, to the only really interesting thing happening on the track. What was the TV director thinking? It really is time that Bernie insists on having the same TV director at every race so that we can have some consistent race coverage. We couldn’t even blame ITV for this one.
For the race, both Ferrari and Renault dropped the ball, and suffered as a result. For Ferrari, the problem was with the drivers. Although they didn’t qualify particularly well, they were doing reasonably well in the race until one of the Minardi’s spun at Mirabeau. Next around the corner was the Red Bull of David Coulthard, who was looking to have a good afternoon’s racing, having qualified inside the top 10 while brimmed with fuel, and was keeping up with the cars in front of him. He saw the Minardi broadside across the track, and dove to the left of the car to avoid it, slowing all the time. Following close behind was Michael Schumacher, who was unsighted behind Coulthard’s rear wing. He piled straight in to the back of the Red Bull, riding up on the rear wheel. He removed his front wing, and also removed the diffuser of Coulthard’s Red Bull, breaking his rear wing in the process. This blocked the track for Massa, Barrichello and Montoya who arrived shortly afterwards. By finding reverse, Massa managed to work his way around the blockage, and this proved to be the key to unlocking the mess. However, it took long enough to sort out that the safety car was scrambled.
Schumacher pitted immediately for repairs, and was a lap down as a result. Barrichello was in a better position, but when he next came in for fuel, he stalled his car. Having been restarted, he was in such a hurry to get away that he forgot to switch on his pit-lane limiter, and he suddenly jammed on his brakes as he realised his faux pas. However, it was all on camera, and the stewards were vigilant, and he was in a lap later for a drive-through penalty. They were very lucky indeed to come home 7th and 8th, and went some way to salvaging something from the afternoon.
Schumacher’s wing removing antics provided the opportunity for Renault to screw up royally. They took the opportunity to bring both cars in at the same time, queuing the cars up behind one another. They then filled up both cars to the brim, confident that they could last until the end. This told us some interesting information – Renault have a very large fuel tank indeed. However, they badly underestimated the effect on the tyres, and the effect of queuing the cars. Having been 2nd and 3rd ante-accident, post-accident they were 3rd and 8th, Fisichella missing out massively. But of interest was the rear tyre wear. The rear facing camera on Alonso’s car showed that they were already quite worn – the car was running with a very large amount of camber, which means that the tyres were tilted inwards a lot at the top, which stresses the inside edge of the tyre more. Thus as the race went on, the inner tread lines were the first to go. At the time of the accident, two of the five tread lines had already worn away. On full tanks and with fifty laps to go, how long would it take for the car to erase the other three?
About thirty laps, give or take. The tyres went completely slick, and lap times suffered by up to four seconds a lap. It became a matter of when something would happen, rather than if. It might be exceedingly difficult to overtake in Monaco, but it is not absolutely impossible given the right phase of the moon and the correct wind. Fischella was the first victim. Jarno Trulli was getting bored with following him around, what with Montoya, Ralf Schumacher, Barrichello and Michael Schumacher all snapping at his heels. Going into Loews hairpin, he dived down the inside and up onto the kerbs – Fisichella had to give way, and go wide. As he went wide, Montoya went inside him, and then drove past the recovering Trulli. Fisichella was still on the outside, and over the next two corners he dropped behind the lot of them, as the all aggressively dived either side of him. Given this, what would happen to Alonso?
Alonso was being hunted down by the two Williams drivers, Heidfeld in front of Webber due to pitting one lap earlier for fuel. It took a couple of laps, but he managed to dive down the inside into the chicane at the tunnel exit when Alonso’s attention was fixed on a back marker. Heidfeld then disappeared up the road at three seconds a lap, just to highlight the Renault predicament. Webber was next up, but Alonso was now wise to the mood.
The next couple of laps were exciting, if a touch controversial. Webber tried the same move as Heidfeld, and didn’t quite make the turn in for the chicane. However, he still attempted to, and near enough followed the actual path of the race track. Alonso meanwhile simply straight-lined the chicane, and continued in the lead. This meant that he hadn’t done a full complete lap, and had gained advantage for going off track. Surely he should yield the position to Webber?
Not likely, so two laps later Webber tried the same again. Webber got the chicane even more wrong, but Alonso deliberately turned off the circuit and into the middle of the tarmac area behind the chicane to accelerate around Webber, who was in his way on the track. However, this time Webber had enough acceleration to stay with Alonso and force the issue. This was aggressive stuff, but perhaps Alonso was pushing the envelope a little too much. Having lost the corner, he chose to deliberately cheat by turning off the circuit, and gained advantage by doing so, even if he ultimately lost his position. He’ll probably get away with it, but given the FIA’s stance on BAR and gaining the unfair advantage, they ought to at least have a quiet word in his ear. After all, he tried it twice.
McLaren may have demonstrated how well they can now run (Montoya’s run to fifth was also worthy of mention, given his starting position), but special mention must go to Williams, who finished second and third, Heidfeld in front of Webber. It is quite a turnaround, although the finishing order obviously irked Webber, who had a face like a yard of pump-water in the drivers interview. His demeanour and tone of voice radiated pissed-offness. However, even more pissed off has to be Coulthard. He was fuelled longer than both of the Williams, and was only six seconds behind them when he was Schumachered. A possible podium was been waved goodbye yet again. When will his luck ever change for the better?
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