The Pitlane Publication – F1 News 11/4/08

This is The Pitlane Publication, my F1 news feature, giving you the important stories from F1 and also my thoughts and POV on them. This will be a blog updated every Friday and will also be joined by an preview of an upcoming race whenever one is taking place.

OK, let’s get cracking!

First all, a quick look back to the Bahrain incident between Hamilton and Alonso. McLaren have revealed that Hamilton’ front wing was already broken before his collision with Fernando, and also said that 2 seconds before the impact, the wing broke completely. This meant NO downforce on the front of the McLaren and therefore a sudden increase in speed which caught Hamilton off-guard. I must take this opportunity to apologise to Lewis for claiming he just decided to have a go at driving over Alonso. Now we know the full story, this wasn’t a deliberate collision. This did make me wonder though – I distinctly remember watching the first lap and seeing some small pieces of bodywork flying across the track in the background. Me thinks this could have been the McLaren’s front wing. There was also 100% proof of the break, with a picture of Hamilton’s car, clearly showing almost all of the bridge wing broken off. I did notice throughout the weekend, whilst watching some onboard shots of the McLaren on the front wing, it was shaking and moving quite a lot. This was discussed on the Sidepodcast Live Comment thread (www.sidepodcast.com), with some people mentioning it was excessively flexing. Maybe that or their front wing is more fragile than other teams’.

There has been a mass of people and organisations calling for Max Mosley to step down as FIA president following his scandal. I won’t go into detail with it, but Niki Lauda, Jacky Ickx, Motorsport New Zealand and the Canadian Automobile Association have all said that they was Mosley to go before the June 3rd hearing, but he’s not got all enemies - he does have a supporter! It’s Mohammed ben Sulayem, president of the Automobile and Touring Club of the United Arab Emirates. autosport.com quoted him saying “I think it has been used for the wrong reasons. Surely he did not break the law. This is something that is allowed there. I am a full supporter. If someone wants to use this for the wrong reasons, it is not acceptable.”

The first mid-season test of the year will take place next week in Barcelona, but not everyone will be attending. Predictably, in some ways, it’s Super Aguri who won’t be with the other teams. This is due to Magma Group, the consituancy who bought the team, not finalising the agreement. So let me get this straight: Magma and Aguri Suzuki have signed a bit of paper to confirm the former will buy the team, yet they haven’t actually got the deal 100% done. Riiiiiiight. Takuma Sato was reported on gpupdate.net saying “The final agreement is not yet finished with the Magma Group, but hopefully it will happen very soon, and then we can press the button to start development. So the next time I will drive will be in Friday practice for the Spanish Grand Prix.” So essentially that means that there’s a chance the deal could all fall through, meaning Super Aguri would be essentially screwed. I really don’t mean to be rude to them, but I can see in some ways why Honda don’t want anything to do with Aguri. Too many money problems and staying afloat with “hand-outs” from Honda has probably meant they’ve just said “Enough is enough. You’re going to have to sort things out on your own more.” Sorry…

Staying with the testing, the wiley old fox that is Michael Schumacher will be back behind the wheel of the F2008, this time helping Ferrari testing slicks for a day after being invited. Isn’t that nice? A spokesperson from Ferrari said “Michael Schumacher will be testing with our team on Wednesday. He will mainly focus on the development of slick tyres – the tyres that will be used in 2009. Felipe Massa will be testing on Monday and Tuesday while Kimi Raikkonen will be in the car on Thursday.” Now is it me, or could Schuey have “jumped at the chance” to get back in the F1 car? I know he’s in charge of motorsport development, but I still don’t think he’s fully over racing.

Some news about BMW now. First, ex-team principal Peter Sauber has expressed his happiness at seeing the team move forward, saying “I was delighted for the team. I reached straight for my mobile phone and sent a text to congratulate all those involved. Robert’s fastest time in qualifying showed that our car can even compete with Ferrari over one lap. That was impressive, as Ferrari was the benchmark in Bahrain.” How thoughtful that not only is he still thinking of the team, he’s decided to make use of modern technology as well! Also, their two drivers have been in the news as well. Nick Heidfeld has said even thought teammate Robert Kubica has been more successful so far this season and the huge rate of development, the two are still friends. Nick was quoted saying “We get on very well, both on the track and away from it at PR appointments,” said Heidfeld. “We have fun together. Robert is chilled out.” Personally I didn’t think there was anything wrong with the relationship of BMW’s drivers, even though Heidfeld didn’t look particularly quick. But I guess this just clarifies it.

OK, that’s all the news I would like to share with you. As always, please feel free to leave your thoughts and comments, and be sure to be back here same time next week for another “Pitlane Publication”. Also, be sure to look forward to the second installment of “F1’s Forgotten Independants” very soon. Thank you and see you soon.

My Bahrain GP review – or is that “Bore-ain GP?”

Well this is my first ever attempt at writing a blog, so here goes.

2008’s Bahrain GP started with Lewis Hamilton deciding to put his car into the barriers at the end of Friday’s 2nd free practice session. Looking at the TV and onboard replays, it was clear he took too much kerb and lost the rear. Now, we know Lewis likes to drive fast and use all the track, but that’s not something we normally see him do. Was he spooked? Or did his obsession of trying for a quick lap get the better of him this time?

Nevertheless, the weekend produced a new pole sitter in Robert Kubica. His stunning last effort in Q3 gave him and BMW their first start from P1. Mario Thiessen claimed they weren’t expecting it. But then they all say that don’t they? “Oh, we never thought we’d get pole, we just put him light on fuel, ran soft tyres and went out for the hell of it.” You never get the winner at Wimbledon saying “Well, even though I beat the guy 3 sets to 2, I wasn’t going for the win to be honest.” Just be honest, Mario. You wanted pole and you got it. No need to hide the fact you were pushing for it.

Anyway, the “Pole on pole” (now the most annoying saying of the weekend, thanks to the papers) threw his advantage away by giving the start to the Ferraris, who swept past when the lights went out and from then couldn’t be touched. Hamilton? He made a complete hash of the start, claiming his was late pressing the correct button. Distracted, were we, Lewis? Losing 7 places all because of 1 button. Bit ironic, no?

His efforts to try and claw his way back up the field were haulted by his arch enemy – El Diablo! Oh sorry, I mean Fernando Alonso. Lewis came out of Turn 1 on lap 2 behind him, and rather than attempting to pass the Renault the usual way, the McLaren driver decided “No, I’ll go OVER his car rather than round it!” That proved to be a rather stupid decision, as it tore off his front wing and ruined his entire race. His pace was so off, at one point Button was lapping quicker than him! Looks like the “Golden Boy from Stevenage” isn’t shining so brightly right now.

From then on, the race turned out to be one big, long, dragged-on procession. Apart from Button’s Honda trying to persuade Coulthard’s Red Bull to give him a piggyback about a 1/3 of the way through, it was, without doubt, boring. B O R I N G. These new aero regs coming out for 2009 can’t come soon enough. I thought by now we’d be seeing overtaking by the bucketload. But instead, it’s another case of “follow the leader” like we used to see when Michael Schumacher was the dominant force. If I wanted to see a long train of cars for an hour and a half, I’d go sit by the roadside. Next year sees the banning of all those stupid little winglets, horns, anvil wings, etc. and I for one will be glad to see them go. An F1 car is supposed to be a thing of automotive beauty, not some thing on wheels with the odd wierdly-shaped piece of coloured carbon fibre sticking out in odd places, just because it increases the amount of air flow to the rear wheels or something. Do you really think the average F1 fan cares about that? I think not.

By the end of the race, I’d resorted to reading the latest issue of F1 Racing. The articles I found in there were much more interesting and exciting than what was going on in Bahrain. To sum up the whole race, the Ferraris ran away with the race, Hamilton ruined his race on lap 2, there was virtually no passing and no incidents of any kind after the first 2 laps.

Oh, and just for the record, it was Felipe Massa who was the better of the two Ferraris ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Kubica.

My only hope is that the 3 week break will do everyone, including the F1 teams, good and we’ll all come back ready to see some top quality racing with plenty of shunts, spins and passing. Now, where is Round 4 taking place?…….Barcelona? Oh god help us…….