The Blog of G

Yes indeed kiddies, the 2010 F1 season is going to be officially kicking off in just a few short hours with the first practice session of the first race. Yeah there has been testing before now but you can’t trust the lap times in testing because we don’t know if we’re seeing a lap on full fuel tanks or low-fuel etc.

With the return of no refuelling for this season, it makes trying to judge the form for the upcoming season a wildly pointless affair, at least that’s my thoughts on it anyway. Although we can see that the big names (Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, Redbull and possibly Lada sorry meant to type Renault) are looking like they will remain at the pointy end of things.

This year has got to be the most eagerly anticipated season in F1 for a long time. Why? well there are so many reasons, there have been rule changes, driver changes, new teams, new circuits and more announced and in F1 the more new things you throw into the mix the more the anticipation builds.

Will the rule changes mean that one team gets a relative jump in performance like Brawn GP did last year? will any of the new “rookie” drivers surprise and excite people the way Hamilton’s arrival did? Will the new teams be the “mobile chicanes” or “embarrassment” that some have suggested? Will the new circuits bring new excitement to the circus?

At this point, every question brings to mind another and another and another, you get the idea. There is another reason to be excited about this season as well and it’s a doozy, something that hasn’t happened in F1 in so long that I’m not sure it’s happened since I started following the sport in 1978. There are 4 (former) F1 World Champions starting the season and they’re all in cars that I’m expecting to be highly competitive and 2 of them are in the same team! I’m starting to sound like an informercial

Monza, Parabolica, Tyre wall

But wait there’s more! (yes, i went there) As if all that wasn’t enough, there’s another big story, in fact a huge story and one that is sure to dominate a lot of F1 columns this season (it certainly has taken a lot of them in the season build up) The return of the one, the only, the legendary, Micheal Schumacher.

Without question the most successful F1 driver of all time, is he going to add to the legend or destroy it, at his age (41) and with his name already on almost every page of the f1 record book I don’t think he can destroy the legend. But what is there left for him to achieve? well for one thing he’s only 9 victories away from having 100 F1 race wins to his name and that might be enough to grab him another world title.

All these questions will start to be answered on Sunday, when the lights go out and the engines roar. I can’t wait, really I can’t, I may not sleep again until the first race is over. There is one final question that only I can answer?

Who will I be supporting this year?

Well, I’ve been called a Ferrari Fan but that’s only because some of my favourite drivers have driven for them (Giles Villeneuve, Stefan Johansen, Michael Schumacher & Felipe Massa) But I was a Schumacher fan before he was a Ferrari driver and the same goes for Felipe. Am I an Alonso Fan? well no, some of my previous posts about him should make that clear.

So I have 2 drivers to choose between from that statement alone, but I’m also a fan of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, so that could make me a Red Bull fan, but then there’s, also an up and coming driver who I think has been underrated, Nico Rosberg and finally a driver whose name alone brings memories flooding back like Jacques Villenueve‘s arrival did.

That’s Bruno Senna, he like Jacques has a legendary shadow hanging over him, Uncle Ayrton, I don’t think he has a car to compete with the big boys this year but then Uncle Ayrton won in a Lotus that people didn’t rate terribly highly either.

Oh the choices, I guess I’ll just have to support them all as much as I can, I’d love to see anyone of them lift the crown at the end of the year, but there can be only one WDC 2010 and I guess when I look deep, deep down into my soul, I want to see Schumacher lift the crown again, I want to see the “old guy” (at least in F1 terms) not just beat the “young pretenders” but do it by a humiliating margin.

Why?

Oh come on do you really need me to answer that?

Schuey wins Nurburg 2006

Oh alright then, It would be the greatest comeback of all time, it would be the ultimate “never give up” story, jaysus it’d be like Rocky come to life!

And finally, here’s a thought to keep you distracted from all the other F1 goodness until sunday. I remember way back in Schuey’s early days an interview where he was asked what his ultimate goal in F1 was, his answer? to win 10 World championships, he has 7 and he’s signed to Mercedes for 3 seasons and I think he’ll need luck on his side but, I don’t see any other driver on the grid this weekend that has a chance of ever winning 10. Go Michael!

Seems I may have been premature laying all the blame on Fernando for Hungarogate ™ with the news that Lewis wasn’t following team orders at the start of the session.

As a result Fernando was a bit peeved. So he decides he can’t see whether there are white lines on his tyres or not and spends 9 or 10 seconds on the radio checking that the team put the right set on. As a result Lewis misses his opportunity to do a flying lap by 4 seconds.

Now all hell has broken loose, McLaren are once again in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, let’s not forget Lewis’s accusations of team orders in Monaco, Fernando’s accusations of favouritism, The whole spy mess and now Hungarogate ™. It seems to me what should have been a dream season for McLaren has turned into a nightmare.

Is it just me or are both drivers acting like a spoilt brats?

Eddie Irvine seems to think so and he makes some interesting points. I have to say, I agree with him when he says…

To block Lewis like that in qualifying was one of the most stupid things I’ve ever seen and it reminded me of Michael Schumacher’s move on Jacques Villeneuve at Jerez in 1997

I think Eddie managed to sum up what I found so offensive about this whole thing…

“I can’t condone cheating, but if you must do it, there’s got to be a subtler way!â€?

At least when Michael and Ayrton were caught they were trying to make it look like an ‘accident’

I can see where he’s coming from, I am starting to think that Lewis has been manipulating things when speaking to the press, but then what driver hasn’t at some point in his career. Still that bit of arrogance that’s starting to show is a sign of what’s happening at the moment and I’m surprised we haven’t seen more of it. He’s the most successful rookie of all time by a long long way and it must be so hard to resist being arrogant when you are in a class of your own.

Last Saturday, when this all went off, I thought that maybe there was a culture of cheating starting to build in McLaren, I now think it’s more to do with 2 giant egos battling to be number 1 in a team that will not publicly condone such a thing and despite the success they have had in the past they have mostly come when there has been a ‘natural’ number 1 in the team (sorry DC I love your attitude these days but you were never a match for Hakkinen, except maybe the day Ron ordered you to let him pass). Remember Senna and Prost? That ended well for McLaren didn’t it

I feel myself, it’s only a matter of time before one of the brats throws the toys out of the pram and does something even more stoopid (and probably dangerous) than what we saw this weekend. I really hope it doesn’t come to that but barring Ron actually names a number 1 driver I can’t see this ending any other way. The question is which one will it be, the young gifted rookie or the 2 time world champ?

I’m disgusted, Fernando Alonso, a two times world Champion, ignored his pit crew and sat in the pit box as Lewis Hamilton waited for a change of tyres and have one last crack at pole position. Fernando delayed Lewis long enough that he wasn’t able to attempt his last flying lap before the qualifying ended and took pole position from Lewis.

Shame on you Fernando, you have often criticised other drivers for tactics such as these and now you do the same! To your own Teammate? of course your counting on Ron Dennis not lodging a formal complaint, as it would compromise the team, your counting on Ron Dennis not feeling the need to ‘change your engine’ or ‘start you from the pit lane’ or even firing you. It was obvious from the coverage that this was not planned and approved by the team.

I’m reminded of ‘Rascassegate’ at last years Monaco GP and Flavio Briatore’s comments in particular.

“Someone who was seven times a world champion wants us to believe that he didn’t do it on purpose – it’s fairyland.”

At least there could be some debate over Schumacher’s intentions, but, in my opinion, there can be no denying that Fernando sat still despite being ordered out of the pits by the team.

This all comes right in the middle of the whole Stepneygate affair and I have to say thing’s look bad for McLaren, they were found guilty of cheating, yet not penalised as ‘they gained no benefit’ from the information. I’m sorry, but cheating is cheating and unless some punishment is applied to McLaren even as a token gesture, I believe it calls in to question the impartiality of the FIA and it almost legitimises cheating maybe that’s why Fernando did it.

I’m sure there will be a lot of comment in the next few days/weeks regardless of what the outcome this weekend and in the whole spy thing, at the end of the day, it would be easy to say the only ones losing out are the stakeholders in the sport, as they are making a mockery of what has been an incredibly entertaining season in F1 for all the right reasons.

But I love F1, have done since I were a nipper and I’m a stakeholder in the sport, granted as a spectator only but it’s the spectators that the sponsors want to entice and it’s the sponsors that provide the funds for the teams and drivers to go racing. I’m glad I’m not a vodafone customer because I would now have to change phone companies, I’m glad I don’t drive a Mercedes because I would have to change it.

OMG! This is simultaneously the greatest and worst thing ever!

Greatest because I’ve wondered for a long time just what a modern F1 car could do on the old Ring. I mean it’s nearly 30 years since the last F1 car had a lap. The current lap record is held by a Radical, for those who don’t know that basically a Rollerskate with a very well tuned motorbike engine.

Worst because, well lets face it Nick Heidfield ain’t exactly renowned for pushing limits, hell his change of teammate midway through last season saw him improve dramatically, because his new team mate was pushing him harder than Jaques Villeneuve ever did. That and the rather disappointing quote at the end of the article are making me think that Nicky ain’t gonna even try. I really hope I’m wrong.

In fact if I were in Nick’s shoes I’d be thinking “well I’m never gonna beat Schuey’s records but I could be the last F1 driver to set a Lap record around the Nordschleife.” I’m calling you out Nick, if you’ve got a pair, to hell with doing a demo lap for the masses, make a mark on history and go for it. Go on, I dare you!

It’s been a while since I had an F1 post, but then the off season is never terribly interesting there is always some rumour or other, not a huge amount of news and the odd award. So here’s a quick round up.

First off the pre-season rumours of Silverstone’s demise from the calendar are back, (did they ever go away?) this time in some sort of weird Grand Prix swap with the French??? and shure lets fire in the threat of Donnington for good measure

David Richards is a busy man, what with running prodrive, Aston Martin’s racing program, getting his Formula 1 team on it’s feet and now, apparently, he’s trying to buy Aston Martin? hmmm here’s a thought Aston Martin F1 Vantage 2008.

Over in Ferrari land, well they are not missing Michael or both there drivers would like us to believe. It’s only fair to wonder is the ould fella is maybe over staying his welcome but then who could blame him, it’s Ferrari for gods sake Still it must be nice to know the books are all good, they look good in testing and Massa is picking up the Bandini Trophy in recognition of his impressive performances for Ferrari last season. Well deserved if you ask me. It’s not all perfect though, their recent TV commercial shoot went a bit pear shaped in Australia, hopefully though it’ll be the only bad luck for Ferrari down under in 2007.

Roll on March 18th