Category: Motorsport

One might wonder indeed. It was an unbelievable sight: after the formation lap, all the cars using Michelin tyres headed to the pits. Only six that were supplied for by Bridgestone remained on track and ran the race: 2 Ferraris, 2 Minardis and 2 Jordans.
How was such a situation made possible? First, last Friday, Ralf Schumacher crashed his car in Turn 13, a fast banked curve, presumably because of a faulty tyre. Given the violence of the shock, his doctor advised him not to run the GP two days after. On Saturday, replacing Ralf in the Toyota team, Ricardo Zonta met the same problem and had an accident too. Soon, Michelin agreed to say their tyres were not safe on this track and stated teams using them should not race unless they were allowed to use brand new tyres coming from Franceovernight. Arguing it was against the rules, the FIA said, no.
Then, Michelin claimed that speed should be reduced, by means of a chicane laid before Turn 13, to ensure certain level of safety. 9 teams agreed on this proposal, but once again, the FIA turned it down, say it’d be unfair for the teams running on Bridgestone tyres.
What was to happen happened: Michelin runners did not take part in the race. 14 cars quit the track and then, to the woos of the crowd, began the most ridiculous Formula 1 grand-prix in all times. Schumacher won, Barrichello came a close second. So close that the Ferrari drivers nearly had an accident. The next four are, by order of arrival, Monteiro, Karthikeyan, Albers and Friesachier. Bridgestone and these 3 teams got the job done: was it that difficult? There’s one positive element though: Jordan and Minardi scored points, which will ensure them a financial income.
Speaking of money, will the 150,000 spectators be given theirs back? They widely incriminated Michelin and remarked they had not made it to Indianapolis just to see Ferrari testing their cars.
Formula 1 was already struggling for a good image in America, now, what shifted from a safety to a political issue made it look contemptible even in Europe.

Last Friday, during a practice session, Ralf Schumacher violently hit a wall, because of his tyres as it seems. Replacing him, Ricardo Zonta met the same problem and crashed his car too. Fortunately, they were not injured. Nevertheless, Michelin confess they don’t exactly know what happened and thus, want to be allowed to fit new tyres on all the cars they provide – as a precaution–, which is prohibited by F1 rules. The authorities have yet to take a decision concerning Michelin. They are under a very high pressure for the teams provided by Michelin have threatened to pull out the race if the French tyre manufacturer advised them to. In this case, the race would be cancelled, which remains unlikely given all the money involved.

All the pilots pushed very hard to be in pole position and eventually, Italian driver Jarno Trulli turned out to be the quickest on track, in spite of what happened to his team mate, posting an impressive 1m10.625 in his Toyota.
In his McLaren, Kimi Raikkonen is very close behind, only 0.069 slower. Then we find Button (BAR), Fisichella (Renault), Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), Alonso (Renault), Barrichello (Ferrari), Sato (BAR), Webber (Williams), Massa (Sauber), Montoya (McLaren), Villeneuve (Sauber), Zonta (Toyota), Klien (Red Bull), Heidfeld (Williams), Coulthard (Red Bull), Monteiro (Jordan), Albers (Minardi), Karthikeyan (Jordan) and Friesachier (Minardi).

McLaren, Renault and Ferrari did not meet many problems during the session and say they feel confident. On the contrary, WilliamsGP were not satisfied at all but they hope their strategy wil help them.

Of course, strategies will be a big concern: in a same team, 2 pilots may have different ones, which explains why Raikkonen is second while Montoya is only eleventh. Many pilots complained about the lack of grip, so tyres will play a key-role. How will Bridgestone react if Michelin is allowed to bring new tyres in?

Last Friday, the FIA issued a proposal for new F1 rules to come to application in 2008. Max Mosley wants to reduce manufacturers’ costs by 90% so as to reduce the gap between top teams and less performing ones he’s afraid to see leave the championship. Moreover, he takes it for granted there’s no need of advanced and costly technology to ensure a good show. “It may fascinate the relevant engineers that by spending millions of euros they can build a new gearbox with ratios that are 0.25mm thinner, but no-one else knows or cares. There is no additional value for the watching public who, ultimately, pay for the whole thing” Mosley says. Besides, to him, the cars go too fast, which endangers pilots and marshals and compels race organizers to spend more and more money upgrading the safety of the circuits.

As a consequence, cars should lose power (engines should receive an FIA-made ECU), downforces be reduced by 10%, electronic helps almost suppressed and all the cars be fitted with a clutch pedal and a fully manual gearbox. There would be only one tyre manufacturer appointed by the FIA while wheels could become wider and slicks tyres be allowed again. Besides, gear ratios, differentials, and brakes should be provided by an FIA-approved supplier. No more spare cars, no more telemetry between pits and cars. Eventually, tests should be reduced to 30,000kms over a year.

The new rules must be finalized by the end of September.

Back to Fangio’s time…

The grand-prix of Canada did not betray its reputation: it was enthralling from start to finish. It began at the beginning of this 70-lap race: Fisichella jumped from the fourth to the first position while Alonso stole the second position from M.Schumacher, who completely missed his start. He was also passed by Montoya and Raikkonen. Button was third then.
Villeneuve probably hit Takuma Sato and was soon obliged to have the front wing of his car replaced. This cost him 50 seconds and definitively pushed him to the back of the race.
Barrichello decided to start from the pits.

It was only after the first wave of pit stops, initiated by Michael Schumacher on lap 12, that the story met new developments. Fisichella was caught back by misfortune on lap 32: a hydraulic failure on his car forced him to resign, after managing to drive his car back to the pits. Alonso became an uncomfortable leader for he was being hunted by 2 McLarens. After M.Schumacher and Jenson button’s second stop, Alonso hit a wall, not harshly but strongly enough to leave the race.
At that moment the 2 McLarens began leading the race. Shortly after, Heidfleld’s engine exploded, and on lap 46, Button brushed against the tyres in front of the champions’ wall. He stopped his BAR-Honda in the middle of the track, which caused the Safety Car to neutralize the race. Then, confusion invaded the race. Raikkonen, Barrichello, Coulthard, Michael Schumacher, Klien, Villeneuve, Massa, Webber, and Trulli seized the occasion to stop for refuelling. Montoya had to wait the following lap to refuel, but, he made 2 fatal mistakes. First, he quit the pits despite the red light an then he passed a Redbull while the Safety Car was still on track. He was blackflagged and disqualified a few laps later.
Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher kept their respective 1^st and 2^nd positions, ahead of Trulli and Barrichello.
On lap 63, Trulli resigned, because of his brakes, and Rubens took over the third position. This was not to change until the end of the race.

This race was a mere deception for both Renault and Williams-BMW, while Ferrari could hardly expect to put 2 pilots on the podium.
With his deserved victory, Raikkonen has given the championship a new start, now only 22 points behind Alonso.
Who said Formula 1 had become boring and predictable?

GP results:

1. Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, McLaren-Mercedes, 70 laps, 1 hour, 32 minutes, 9.290 seconds.

2. Michael Schumacher, Germany, Ferrari, 70, 1:32:10.427.

3. Rubens Barrichello, Brazil, Ferrari, 70, 1:32:49.773.

4. Felipe Massa, Brésil, Sauber Petronas, 70, 1:33:04.429.

5. Mark Webber, Australia, BMW-Williams, 70, 1:33:05.069.

6. Ralf Schumacher, Germany, Toyota, 69.

7. David Coulthard, GB, Red Bull, 69.

8. Christian Klien, Austria, Red Bull, 69.

9. Jacques Villeneuve, Canada, Sauber Petronas, 69.

10. Tiago Monteiro, Portugal, Jordan, 67.

11. Christijan Albers, The Netherlands, Minardi, 67

After a rough qualifying session, Button has taken the first position in his BAR, on the overheated dusty Canadian track of Montreal, in 1:15,217. 2 tenths behind, we find Michael Schumacher, who didn’t expect such a good position after his slow practice sessions. Some had forgotten how talented and experienced he is, which helped him make a good time on the patchy track. In 3^rd and 4^th position there are the 2 Renaults, driven by Alonso and Fisichella. The former, even if a little disappointed, remains thrilled to see Raikkonen, his closest rival, back on the seventh position, for he seeks to extend his championship advantage. Nevertheless, he’ll have to be even luckier than at the end of the last race, on the Nurburgring track if he wants to score a 5^th victory.
Behind them, on the 5^th position, the McLaren driven by Montoya arrives before the second BAR, driven by Takuma Sato, who didn’t manage to remain faster than his team mate when it was important to.

Raikkonen did not manage to get better than a seventh position for his McLaren, with a revved-up Villeneuve in his Sauber-Petronas right behind him, boosted by the public’s cheers.
9^th and 10^th are the 2 Toyota drivers, Trulli and Ralf Schumacher.
Felipe Massa qualified his Sauber in 11^th position, just ahead of David Coulthard in his Redbull.

13^th and 14^th positions go for…the 2 Williams-BMWs, respectively driven by Heidfeld and Webber, who committed a few mistakes on the tricky track.
A solid 15^th is Albers in his Minardi-Cosworth, who did a good job to keep Kline, driving the 2^nd Redbull, behind him. 17^th and 18^th are the Indian pilot Karthikeyan and Monteiro, both driving a Jordan Toyota.

Patrick Friesachier comes 19^th on the second Minardi, while the last pilot to start on the grid will be Rubens Barichello, who was unable to finish a full qualifying lap because of technical problems.

2 unexpected pilot on the fist 2 positions, varied strategies in terms of fuel load and a rough track: all this show that Formula I is now really unpredictable. We can expect a enthralling race tomorrow.

Nick Heidfeld who was once Ron Dennis’ star of the futre has had a tough time in F1 compared to his previous days in F3000. A podium in Monaco was a good sign of better times coming, a pole position in Hungary is certainly showing he won’t be a pushover with the right car in hand. Heidfeld made the most of the new rules of one qualifying session on saturday after a morning session dominated by Alonso and Räikkönen. The little guy who is almost a local did not take any prisoners, whilst everyone there had their eyes on Schumacher and a 10th position on the grid, Germany may have found its new star… After the pope’s election, its definitely Germany’s year…