|
Articles by Darren Galpin
| The Best and Worst of F1 - Sun 12th Mar 2006 |
|
The Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, the first Grand Prix of the season, and a change from the usual Australia of recent years, showed what was best and worst about F1. We had closely matched teams, we had rookie drivers setting the fastest lap of the race and demonstrating that they were there on talent alone rather than name, and we had overtaking. So what was wrong? Well, we never actually saw an overtake for the lead on the track. It didn’t matter how close Alonso and Michael Schumacher got to each other, they never actually threatened to pass each other. Instead it was down to the usual tactics of fuelling slightly longer and having faster pit-stops. This is the worst of F1 – a driver winning the race without actually having to overtake someone, even if they didn’t start from the front of the grid. I still feel that a race win is an incomplete race win if you managed to win when not starting on pole and when not overtaking those in front. Overtaking is the essence of racing, and is a fundamental art, yet it wasn’t demonstrated at all by Alonso. Despite all of the changes over the winter, F1 still doesn’t change its basic problems, and I’m sure that this will become more apparent over the course of the year, especially since tyre changes have been reintroduced.
What was impressive about the race was how close the four main teams were. Ferrari, McLaren, Renault and Honda were all very closely matched, with Williams not far off either. It bodes for a great year of racing, especially given that none of the lead teams retired during the race. However, Ferrari won’t win the constructors championship this year, because new second driver Felipe Mass was, well, very Massa. He is very fast over a single lap, as demonstrated by the way he pushed Schumacher in qualifying and was only a few hundredths of a second behind, but he can’t keep this speed up consistently during a race. After only a few laps Massa had already spun out and flat spotted his tyres, and following his pit stop he never again demonstrated the same pace. He’ll surely score some points this year, but not with the same consistency as the second drivers in the other big teams, hence why Ferrari will struggle.
There were two drives in particular which stood out – those of Kimi Räikkönen and Nico Rosberg. Räikkönen had suffered a suspension failure in practice, and started from the back of the grid. Fuelled up to the gills with fuel, he looked to be in for a long afternoon, but no-one seemed to have told Räikkönen. He rapidly progressed to eleventh, but got stuck behind the BMW of Villeneuve, and there he appeared to be stuck. However, he was on a one stop strategy, and as the cars in front of him peeled off into the pits, he floated up the order, and he was no slower than the leaders. He finished an eventual third, ahead of his team-mate Montoya who was in fifth. Montoya never looked like being in the same race, and was somewhat off colour. He will need to pick up his game if he wishes to remain a McLaren driver next year, assuming that Räikkönen hasn’t already signed for Ferrari.
The other drive of note was that of Nico Rosberg, son of 1982 champion Keke Rosberg. He was involved in some first corner contact which removed his front wing, and the initial thought was that his debut grand prix was effectively over due to a rookie mistake. Instead, he turned the race into a demonstration of what he could do, and he set about getting as high up the order as he possibly could, along the way setting the fastest lap of the race, overtaking several cars, and reaching seventh place. What it also demonstrated was how good the new Cosworth engine is, and considering that it is not backed by a major manufacturer, it has to be the best value engine on the grid.
Jenson Button also had a good race, although it was marred by a slow start, and pit-stops which always seemed to place him back in traffic. What it did allow Button to do was demonstrate his prowess in overtaking. He overtook his team-mate twice, and Montoya three times, each time demonstrating exquisite timing on the brakes into turn 1. If he drives like this throughout this season, a race win should surely come his way. He also demonstrated his intent by qualifying one second faster than his team-mate Rubens Barrichello, and by being generally faster than him until Barrichello was hampered by losing third gear. Perhaps this will help lay to rest the mutterings in the British press about his ability and the fact that he hasn’t won a race despite starting 100 of them.
Curiously off the pace this weekend were the Toyota team. They are a big budget operation, and may well be the best funded team on the grid, yet they were racing outside of the top ten, never threatening, and only really racing each other. The effects of this were also seen in the mental state of Jarno Trulli, who seemingly gave up and willingly ceded his position to his team-mate. If Toyota don’t sort out their issues soon, then this could become a self-reinforcing spiral downwards, with dispirited drivers unable to dig the team out of a hole.
But as a taster for the rest of the season, it promised much, with the best three drivers finishing in the top three, and a number of others capable of being there on the right day. The technical changes over the winter have slowed the cars down, but the top teams are still the top teams, and they are still out at the front. It promises to be a great season, but please, lets have some overtaking for the lead.
|
|
Other great sites
Search
|
