New Motorsport Week article: When Jordan and Heinz-Harald Frentzen partied like it’s 1999

By Paul Lannuier from Sussex, NJ, USA -
Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Jordan Mugen-Honda), CC BY-SA 2.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4296965

Almost exactly 20 years ago something extraordinary, ever so briefly, looked a genuine possibility. A Formula 1 world championship for Jordan and Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

This from a proper independent squad with a customer engine - and one routinely dismissed as a 'party team'. And from a driver who'd arrived washed up and derided.

Of course, for the title to be on it needed extraordinary circumstances as well as an extraordinary effort. The 1999 campaign provided both.

And with but a few cards falling another way they would indeed have scaled F1's ultimate peak.

For Motorsport Week I tell the tale. You can have a read here: https://www.motorsportweek.com/news/id/24229

Inside Line F1 Podcast - Ferrari's Most Crucial Race Of 2017 Yet?

Ferrari arrive under pressure at the Red Bull Ring - one of the most beautiful circuits on the Formula 1 calendar. Has the FIA evened out the supposed bias towards Ferrari? On one hand, it's let go Sebastian Vettel fairly leniently (says the public!) and on the other hand, it's clamped down 'oil burn' which most rivals believe has slowed down Ferrari. The general perception is that Ferrari is back to chasing Mercedes; so is the 2017 Austrian Grand Prix Ferrari's most crucial race of the season yet?

In this week's episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast, we applaud the FIA's humour on the serious investigation of Vettel's transgressions in Baku and we wonder whose word we trust more - Toto Wolff's or Eddie Jordan's? With nearly a quarter of a million pounds after his McLaren exit, should Ron Dennis buy-out Force India - or the to-be-named Force One Formula One Team? Finally, Robert Kubica's heroic comeback will be granted super-heroic status if it is with the scarlet red Ferrari instead of the taxi-coloured Renault. Tune in!

Subscribe to the Inside Line F1 Podcast on iTunes and audioBoom for your weekly dose of Formula 1 humour.

(Season 2017, Episode 25)

New Grand Prix Times article: Why F1 did not see Michael Schumacher's stunning Spa debut coming

We are 25 years on from an F1 watershed. Michael Schumacher's stunning debut in the Jordan 191 at Spa. That which we know so well. Almost overnight the sport knew pretty much for certain who the next generation's standard-bearer would be.

By OlliFoolish - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://
commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31638871

But perhaps not even that in itself is the most remarkable part of the story. And no, I'm not talking either about the curious story of how the Jordan vacancy opened up in the first place, involving altercations with taxi drivers and pepper spray...

No, the most amazing part is that prior to Michael turning F1 on its head in Belgium a quarter of a century ago almost no one in the paddock knew the first thing about him. Somehow he had operated off the radar.

In my latest article for Grand Prix Times I tell this amazing story. You can have a read here: http://www.grandprixtimes.com/news/id/12686

Formula 1 Is First On the Chopping Board for BBC, by Joshua Mason

Formula 1's TV contract with the BBC has been cancelled three years before the end. It has left those in and around the sport scratching their heads and looking for answers as to the reason behind the decision and where to go now. Channel 4 has answered one of those questions already swiftly swooping in to pick up the remaining contract. Has the BBC got off the ride just in time? Was the decision really money motivated? What does it mean for Formula 1?

The Facts

The BBC has cancelled its contract to cover F1
Photo: Octane Photography

Bernie Ecclestone has admitted that since the move to pay TV the amount of viewers in the UK of F1 has diminished. In 2009 the BBC's bringing the world's premium race back to the masses was seen as a coup. It was able to offer non-interrupted ad-free races and extended highlights to a greater audience. On top of these the world famous Fleetwood Mac song 'The Chain' would return, to the delight of fans everywhere. But less than six years later the BBC has cut all ties.

Barbara Slater of the BBC said "A significant chunk of BBC Sport's savings target will be delivered through the immediate termination of our TV rights agreement for Formula 1". It is true that the Beeb has been under pressure from the government to cut spending, and with a total saving of £150m to be made this year, there were always going to be big names getting the chop. Most notably The Voice was sold off to ITV. In sport the BBC has said it would like to concentrate on flagship events that have a national relevance such as Wimbledon or the World Cup. The cost of Match of the Day rose to £204m with the new TV deal too and therefore more 'niche' sports like F1 would have their budgets shrink (in this case all of it!).

Quitting the boos

You don't need me to tell you about Nico, Lewis, Mercedes, Spa, collisions, punctures, fallout, yada yada.

The resultant wrangling, sometimes invective, has since been plentiful and shown little signs of abating. But within the shrieking prose there was something of a footnote, that on the podium after having later finished second in the Spa race Nico Rosberg was booed by many of the assembled fans. And in case you managed to miss somehow what the motivation was, a few chanted Lewis Hamilton's name as Nico spoke during his podium interview.

Nico Rosberg reception on the Spa podium wasn't all positive
Photo: Octane Photography

You'll also likely recall that booing of drivers on the podium (or rather, booing of a driver - one Sebastian Vettel) was a lingering presence for much of last season too, and led to a bit of agonising about it all. My own view on the matter hasn't altered with the change of target. Booing of F1 drivers is not something that I care to hear.

Of course, the stock defence of booing is that it is one's right, and I suppose to an extent it is, in that to my knowledge it doesn't break any laws nor any terms and conditions on the back of the ticket (not explicitly anyway). And due to this I wouldn't support any sort of coercive measures against those partaking in it. But all rights must be counterbalanced with responsibilities, and it is in this that in my view booing of F1 drivers falls down, and why I'd prefer that people didn't do it.

Looking back: 20 years ago - the calm before the storm

1994. In F1 terms it even twenty years on is a campaign considered barely to have a redeeming feature; a rancid low point. It is viewed as a season of rancour, bitterness, tragedy.

It was a year of persistent and acidic controversy, both technical and sporting; race bans were frequent and the success of the champion Benetton team - the target of much of the contention - even today from many perspectives still festers rather like an uncleansed old wound. It was a year of sickening violence. Most traumatically two drivers, Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger, did not survive the campaign, others had their careers at the top in effect ended by injury, and there were plenty of near misses besides in which widespread injury and death was avoided only by chance. It was also a season lacking in competitiveness, featuring several soporific races in which the cars at the back, indeed in the midfield, barely belonged in the same formula as the cars at the front. And, almost appropriately in the perverse sense, in the final round the destination of the drivers' title was resolved in the most unsatisfactory manner, with Michael Schumacher's stricken Benetton via whatever explanation coming into contact with the Williams of title rival Damon Hill, thus ending both of their races and settling the championship in the German's favour. In many ways, in comparison with the 1994 season start by the climax of the harrowing campaign the sport appeared rather more than a year older.

But less well-remembered is that, fleetingly, the season promised rather different. Roughly twenty years ago at that very campaign start, the opening round in Interlagos in Brazil, it appeared that just maybe 1994 was instead to be the scene of the sport's renaissance, however laughable that concept seems to hindsight.

Ayrton Senna was expected to dominate the year
Credit: Instituto Ayrton Senna / CC

It appeared so unexpectedly too, as in advance not many looked forward to the season with a great deal of relish. For one thing the world championship looked bought and paid for before anyone had turned a wheel. The Williams cars had been insultingly dominant for the previous two years and now for 1994 it had triangulated much of the opposition that remained by seizing as its own its main, perhaps its only, irritant in this time. Ayrton Senna despite battling against much superior Williams machinery throughout 1992 and 1993 had won eight races (one in four) in that time somehow, and a few of these drives were of sufficient quality so to go into folklore. Now for 1994 Williams had Senna signed up all for itself and the logic seemed irrefutable: best driver, best car, best engine should equal sweeping all before them. Most foresaw a year of demonstration runs.

Looking back: 2002 - F1 goes bad

Whatever you think about F1 now - indeed whatever you think about F1 for as long as the sport continues to exist - you can likely be thankful that it wasn't 2002. Then we had an F1 in crisis, one that was wrestling with itself. The sport perhaps wasn't quite dying, but it was certainly experiencing unpleasant symptoms of illness, and increasingly was staring at its deformed self in the mirror with rather a lot of disgust. As the year progressed more and more felt that radical and immediate surgery was not only desirable but essential to ensure F1’s renewed health.

The sport had faced crises before of course, but unlike those, such as in 1955 and 1994, this wasn't about safety. It was about the sport simply not delivering. No one wanted to watch the 'show' that it was serving up; reflecting this viewing numbers both at the track and on TV dwindled.

Dominant Michael Schumacher won the title as he liked
Credit: Mathieu Felten / CC

In 2002 the sport endured a year of soporific races wherein the Ferraris were simply on another level, particularly so that of its lead driver Michael Schumacher. The potency Ferrari 'dream team' of this era, with the great Schumi backed by Jean Todt, Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne, engine man Paolo Martinelli and others, is well-documented. This was right in the middle of its scarcely credible run of five drivers' and constructors' championship doubles, and perhaps appropriately it was by far the most crushing among those. There were 17 races in 2002, and Ferrari won 15 of them. Only in five races at most did even a token challenge to the red cars last beyond a few laps, quite literally. Moreover, for Schumacher the 17 rounds divided up as 11 won, five second places and a single third place - a day on which his front wing was knocked off at the first corner thus sending him to the back. Never once did he fail to finish, nor indeed did he fail to finish on the podium. And his record could have been even more towering: of those five second places he probably would have won in Monaco had passing been remotely possible there, and the remaining instances of being a runner-up were to his stable mate Rubens Barrichello and at least some of them appeared rather ceded.

Again, single car domination in F1 was nothing new by 2002. We'd seen similar, most notably in 1988 with the McLaren MP4-4s sweeping the board. But then at least we had the intrigue of the two drivers Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost facing off; now Schumi was on an intra-team pedestal. And moreover even with its domination, and with two drivers' and three constructors' title in the preceding three years, to ensure that it was Schumacher that prevailed with the drivers' title Ferrari managed races from the pit wall with a caution and micro-management that often entered the realms of the absurd. As a result the two red cars routinely cruised around at the front apparently at half throttle, its drivers under strict orders from their masters. Even the mathematical tying up of the drivers' title altered little, as focus then switched onto ensuring Rubens Barrichello's second place in the table, meaning we had the same again expect with Rubinho ahead and Schumi sitting dutifully behind. Almost nothing was left to chance; it’s no exaggeration to say that in 2002 one knew far in advance with almost complete certainty how a Grand Prix would unfold.

The curious case of the F1 pay driver

Pay driver. Few other terms inspire as much ire in the average F1 fan. It seems little else causes such disgusted self-reflection, such frenzied moral wrestling about the sport they follow.

And it's easy to see why. The concept of buying an opportunity at an F1 drive, of money brought by the candidate being the chief discriminator in the team's driver selection, seems to strike a the very sanctity of sport itself. The underpinning of any honest competitive endeavour is that it is a meritocracy, that the most talented prevail. To take an extreme analogy, were a rich but mediocre sprinter to buy his way into a place in the Olympic 100m final at the expense of a more worthy athlete it would not only be viewed as highly unfair but also as corrupt. Yet that is what happens in F1: drivers are discarded routinely in favour of those apparently less talented and qualified, but crucially who do come with a pot of gold.

And the debate has taken on particular resonance in the recent times, with each of the four driving debutants due to be on the F1 starting grid in Melbourne in March bringing finance, and the finance brought seeming by varying degrees a key differentiator for all of them getting their gig (and there is possibly yet more to come if Luiz Razia gets the Marussia drive as rumoured, and Jules Bianchi's pitch for the vacant Force India drive is thought to involve cheap Ferrari engines for the team from 2014). And of course for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, with popular pilots such as Heikki Kovalainen, Kamui Kobayashi and Timo Glock finding themselves brusquely discarded as a direct consequence (indeed Marussia made no bones about there being 'commercial' reasons for its driver switch). These follow on from other talents like Rubens Barrichello and (briefly) Nico Hulkenberg being cast to one side to make way for drivers who bring cash with them in the past three seasons.

Esteban Guiterrez - making his debut for Sauber
in Melbourne, and who brings finance to his team
Credit: Lutz H / CC

But is the issue as simple as much of the debate on the issue suggests? Of course, in a perfect world there would be no pay drivers. But this is not a perfect world, and because of this it is difficult to see how the pay driver can be stopped definitively. We live in a market economy, teams must balance their books and find money for technical development, and there is absolutely nothing to stop a driver bringing a briefcase full of money as part of their offering. And this money will always be factored into a team's decision on who to give the keys to, it cannot be decoupled. And for all of F1's self-disgust at the concept similar things aren't completely unheard of in other sports. When Arsenal some years ago signed Japanese midfielder Junichi Inamoto it was a move which seemed transparently more about commerce than footballing ability (indeed, he hardly experienced any first team minutes), and he was quickly given the nickname 'T-Shirt'. Football clubs signing players primarily in the hope of selling more merchandise is more common than you might think.

And right now F1 is experiencing something of an (im)perfect storm in which the pay driver can more readily prevail. Much of the world is in the depths on an economic slump, money is hard to come by for F1 teams as much as anyone and it's not clear when the outlook is going to improve. Compared with 10 years ago there are few manufacturers in F1, and therefore there is much less of the bounty that they bring. Many recent attempts to control the sport's spiralling costs were first watered down, and latterly have showed signs of floundering. And let's also not forget that when Caterham and Marussia - teams likely to have two pay drivers each in 2013 and seen as among the biggest 'culprits' on the pay driver - signed up to the sport initially they did so on the understanding of a £30m budget cap, which was reneged on subsequently. And of course it doesn't help at all that 40% of F1's revenues goes straight off to CVC, never to be seen again.

Further, a driver can be useful in raising finance for their employers, after all a CEO is much more likely to pick up the phone when a driver calls than when a team principal does. Perhaps the expectations of drivers raising budget is also, rightly or wrongly, the new reality that drivers have to learn to adapt to. Kobayashi for one seemed slow in realising the impending danger to his career prospects from not having a budget, which is odd given the rising importance of driver-accrued finance was hardly a secret. His belated attempts to raise some finance seemed, almost literally, a day late and a dollar short. While Kovalainen suggested towards the end of last season that he refuses to raise finance, which is either fine principle or bloody-mindedness which ensured the signing of his own death warrant, depending on your perspective. To be brutal about it, if the likes of Kovalainen and Kobayashi assumed that their levels of talent alone would make them immune from the shifting sands then they were at very least naive. Neither of them is an Alonso, after all.

Heikki Kovalainen - admirable or
signing his own death warrant?
Credit: ph-stop / CC

And compare the cases of those two drivers with that of Bruno Senna, who has clearly worked hard to develop sponsors in order to give himself the best and most enduring chance in the sport's pinnacle. I doubt that someone like Senna will have been thrilled that knocking on the doors of company CEOs had achieved such exalted importance. Yet he was sensible enough to understand that, in Jimmy Durante's words, 'dese are da conditions dat prevail', and thus he played the house rules as best he could to advance his career.

It's also worth reflecting that the truth of the pay driver vs. the paid driver conundrum is not quite as pure or simple as sometimes is assumed. Contrary to many claims, pay driver does not necessarily equate to untalented. In some ways it's easy to see why some assume that it does, as the pay driver landscape of 10 or 20 years ago was very different. Then the pay driver would be associated primarily with those such as Andrea de Cesaris who brought Daddy's money with him via Marlboro, and was someone who would show flashes of inspiration but far more crashes, and would leave you to seriously doubt that he would ever have got into F1 without the cash. Then there were the likes of Hideki Noda and Giovanni Lavaggi who to be blunt hardly seemed competent and made all wonder what the minimum requirements of an F1 superlicence actually were.

But these days the matter is not nearly as clear cut. In the current field both Pastor Maldonado and Sergio Perez brought money which was highly influential to them getting their F1 break, but despite their flaws both have shown enough since to suggest that there is sufficient driving talent there too. Santander may not be at Ferrari were it not for Fernando Alonso. And taking each of the four debut drivers for the 2013 season - Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Gutiérrez, Giedo van der Garde and Max Chilton, plus Luiz Razia and Jules Bianchi who may be filling the final two vacant seats - all come in with racing pedigrees that are at least solid, and in some cases are highly promising. All aside from Bottas have won races in GP2, and Bottas has a GP3 title on his CV as well as impressed the Williams team with his spells in its F1 car last season. I expect them all to do a solid job, and some of them may become very good F1 drivers. After all, their junior formulae records are no worse than Sebastian Vettel's - in F1, as in many things, no one knows anything.

Niki Lauda - an early pay driver?
Credit: Lothar Spurzem / CC

Indeed, the correlation between bringing money and showing talent never has been simple. Max Mosley could tell you the story of a young, buck-toothed Austrian driver, without much of stellar record in the lower ranks, whom he gave his F1 debut in a March in 1972, in return for £40,000 brought by the driver which would be vital in keeping the team afloat for another year. That driver went by the name of Niki Lauda. A major reason Eddie Jordan gave Michael Schumacher his F1 debut in Spa in 1991 in preference to other candidates for the drive was the $200,000 of Mercedes cash that Schumi brought with him. As recently noted even Juan Manuel Fangio likely would never have made it to Europe to race without financial backing from Argentina's Peron Government.

But even with all of this the balance between sponsors' finance accrued by drivers and accrued elsewhere seems all wrong right now. Very few things are black and white, more are matters of degree, so while the pay driver always has and always will be on the landscape, the weight of importance currently afforded to driver finance in balancing a team's budget and in deciding who is getting the available drives is way too much. And when you look at the cars on an F1 grid and see most of them with hardly a sponsor on them, and that many sponsors that are there are brought by drivers or associated with the team ownership, you wonder if the teams are doing enough themselves? Is it at least possible that teams are relying too much on finance from its drivers, and subconsciously or otherwise are not quite doing everything that they could on the sponsor front?

And equally, can we point the finger at the sport more broadly? While the recession will of course have been a contributor to the lean spell on sponsorship is F1's ability to make a fool of itself and show at least dubious morality at regular intervals (Bahrain, Crashgate, Maxgate etc etc) also impeding its ability to attract sponsors? I often look at the handsome sponsorship on cars in Indycar and NASCAR and surmise that F1 itself, over and above market conditions, was getting something very wrong - particularly given it has a global reach that few other entities can match. As Joe Saward noted recently: 'The...question that F1 never seems to ask itself is why sponsors do not want the be involved in F1, if it is clear that the sport is a very good way to deliver a message in the world’s developing markets. It is easier to say that these are difficult times, rather than perhaps have to face up to the reality that F1 could present a better image to the world. There is not enough work done on improving F1 demographics to make the sport attractive to mass market consumer companies that one sees in other racing championships. The brands involved are often global but F1 is not chosen by the likes of McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway or M&Ms. Why are chains such as Office Depot, Target and Walmart not using the sport? Or UPS, Black & Decker and other such products that one might expect to see with F1's demographic?'

Further, as Andrew Benson noted recently, F1's entire global TV rights income is only roughly the same as for the Turkish Premier League in football, at around $490m. And I've long got the impression that while F1 has set up camp in many new countries latterly, its promotion of the sport in these countries (and in existing markets) in terms of putting drivers on chat shows, doing car demonstrations within cities and the like has been rather feeble. It all adds up to a feeling the sport is being undersold somewhat, and is to a large extent complacent about growing its fan base. Greater focus on these would reduce the necessity of driver-raised finance.

Perhaps there are signs of a pulse here. F1, for the first time in a while, had some good news regarding sponsors recently with no less than the Coca Cola Corporation coming into F1 with its Burn brand sponsoring Lotus. This was followed quickly by confirmation that Infiniti is to become Red Bull's title sponsor. Perhaps the quality of the racing and the sport's growing association with 'green' technology, which like it or not is an increasing expectation of wider stakeholders and thus alleviating F1's possibly outmoded 'gas gussling' image, has also assisted the F1 brand. It may also, in time, attract more manufacturing investment (manufacturers in F1 aren't perfect of course, but at least they rarely rely on pay drivers). It's all encouraging, a step in the right direction, yet to borrow from Winston Churchill it all rather feels much more like the end of the beginning than the beginning of the end. Renewing cost control would help too.

The F1 pay driver will never die. Not for as long as F1 teams are private enterprises that eat money, in any case. But perhaps even in these tough times, much more can be done to ensure that they can be contained.

Hamilton to flee the nest?

'Silly season' hasn't really been living up to its name in recent times. That the likes of Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes haven't changed their driving line-ups in the past three seasons has ensured this. And for much of this summer it's looked not beyond the realms that all of those teams would have a fourth straight year with pilots unchanged. But silly season has had the last word: one heck of an F1 story has been sprung on us. One that almost none of us saw coming.

Eddie Jordan on Wednesday commented that 'I believe Hamilton and Mercedes have already agreed personal terms and a deal (for Lewis to drive there next year) could be imminent'. A heck of a story as I said.

Lewis Hamilton - waving goodbye to McLaren?
Credit: ph-stop / CC

So, how much traction does this idea have? That the rumour’s come from Eddie Jordan has led to some dismissing it out of hand. But for all of Eddie’s capacity for buffoonery I wouldn’t have thought that he’s just pulled this idea out of the air. Plus, Eddie's close to Bernie Ecclestone and it's been known for Bernie, who tends to know more than most, to use EJ as a vehicle to get stories out there. Also, conspicuously, no one's denying anything (not Lewis, nor his management, nor Mercedes). And as if by magic in the last 24 hours or so since the story first broke we've had subsequent stories that give the Lewis to Mercedes idea additional credence, such as more positive noises on Merc's long-term commitment as an F1 constructor, as well as talk of Michael Schumacher being offered a team role at Mercedes once he stops driving (and thus creates a space in the driver line up).

Of course, there are the usual disclaimers: in F1 there’s always the possibility of double-motives, for example someone in the Hamilton camp might have put this rumour around to try to cajole McLaren into giving Lewis more favourable terms in his new contract, or something similar.

There may also be nothing to see here. Unlike in football say, dialogue between drivers/their representatives and other teams is pretty much an ongoing process in F1, and with Lewis Hamilton's contract up at the end of the year it makes absolute sense for his management to have been in discussions with Mercedes as well as with McLaren. If nothing else it strengthens Lewis's bargaining position. Though EJ did go a little beyond this to say that Lewis signing for Mercedes 'could be imminent'.

Retro F1: 1991 Belgian Grand Prix

With a full four weeks now until our next F1 race I thought it would be jolly nice to hold the latest Retro F1.

And given that the next race on the F1 calendar is at the magisterial Spa-Francorchamps, I decided to make this Retro F1 a Spa race. We therefore watched the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix. It was a great topsy-turvey affair, and stars no less than Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell, as well as one Michael Schumacher making his F1 debut in the beautiful Jordan 191.

Retro F1 is when we watch a classic F1 race in full online, and chat about it on Twitter as we go, using the #RetroF1 hashtag. All are welcome!

The link to the race on YouTube is here, and can also be watched below.



Highlights of the Twitter chat follow:

Hey y’all, welcome to the latest instalment of Retro F1. Watching 1991 Belgian GP at magnificent Spa, starring such titans as Senna, Prost, Mansell, and one Michael Schumacher making his F1 debut. I would love to hear your thoughts as we go. Remember to use the #RetroF1 hashtag!

Now holding aloft the 5 minute board for Retro F1.
@F1isP1 Just left the pits on my formation lap...
Quality, just about to form on the grid :)

Right-o, clicking play now.

Click ‘Skip Ad’ :)

Some scene setting: the year is 1991 and Ayrton Senna has been on top of the pile all year. He won the opening four rounds of the season. But since then he has faced a strong challenge from the Williams FW14 (designed by one A. Newey), especially in hands of Nigel Mansell. 'Our Nige' got within 8 points of Senna by mid-season, but in the last round at Hungary Senna struck back by winning (with Mansell 2nd).

Looking back: 1997 - an underrated classic

A F1 season in which grids and races were tight and we'd enter weekends with no idea who would be on top; it could have literally been anyone from more than half of the grid. It was also a season with a close championship battle. And one in which tyres would often fall apart quickly and would have to be nursed through a race stint.

No, it's not now. It's fifteen years ago: the year of 1997.

When classic seasons in F1 history are discussed I often think that 1997 is curiously rarely-mentioned. It was an underrated classic. While much of F1 in the 1990s was characterised by only a small number of likely winners at any given moment, and often one team dominating, 1997 represented something of a renaissance. Perhaps part of the season's not getting the credit it deserves owes something to its being poorly served by statistics. For all of its competitiveness, it can only claim to six different winners (from four teams) in 17 races. But with cards falling the other way it could easily have boasted anything up to double those numbers.

Jacques Villeneuve,
some years later
Credit: Rick Dikeman / CC

In this year Williams Renault was the dominant force, but the Schumacher-Ferrari double act, joined this year for the first time by Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne, was getting into its stride and more than capable of making a thorough pest of itself. Then there was McLaren who, with Mercedes engines, was finally emerging from its post-Senna/post-Honda trough and was an increasingly consistent front runner as the year went on. Benetton and Jordan were both credible contenders for wins on occasion.

And further was the variable brought in by the Bridgestone tyres. For the first time since 1991 Goodyear had opposition in supplying F1 teams, and it could be argued that for the first time since 1984 (when Michelin left the sport) Goodyear had a serious threat to its pedestal position. If anything the Bridgestone was the superior tyre, certainly the more durable. And in this its debut season it could only count midfield runners at best among its customers: Prost (née Ligier, just bought by Alain), Stewart (also in its debut season) and the like; but the Bridgestones could, on occasion, bring these guys right to the sharp end. Heck, even Arrows nearly won a race on them. And Goodyear in response sometimes got its sums wrong, the resultant gumball rubber meant that 'blistering' and subsequent pace variation returned to the F1 parlance with a vengeance.

Rubinho: an appreciation of Rubens Barrichello

One of the final pieces of the 2012 F1 drivers' market fell into place earlier this week. Bruno Senna was confirmed as the one who'd fill the remaining available race seat at Williams.

Credit: Morio / CC

No-one doubts that Bruno Senna is a gracious, charming guy and also has potential as a driver, so it's difficult to begrudge him this first proper chance to prove himself at the sport's top level. But the flip side is that the move almost certainly ends the F1 career of Rubens Barrichello.

Do you remember the 1992 Australian Grand Prix? Gerhard Berger won in his last race for McLaren, Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna had the last of their many altercations, putting both out, before Our Nige went off to drive Indycars and play golf. It was also the last race of the pre-Barrichello era of F1. Extraordinary to think, isn't it?

Indeed, Rubinho started a record 322 F1 races over a 19 year career, which works out as not far short of 40% of all of the F1 races since the formula's inception in 1950. His not being on the grid in Melbourne this March will indeed be something of a culture shock.

But it's not merely Rubens's longevity that ensured he left his imprint on the consciousness of the F1 aficionado. Rubens's enthusiasm for the sport and for driving was the stuff of legend. He often gave the impression of a fanatical motor sports devotee who happened to have found himself behind the wheel at the top level. And outwardly his enthusiam appeared undimmed throughout his near two decades in the sport. Allied to this Rubens, despite the odd emotional outburst (reflecting, incidentally, a genuine sensitive streak rather than a deliberately political nature), invariably displayed a ready smile and always a civility and generous nature, attributes far too rare in the F1 bubble. These all ensured that that Rubinho's popularity among the public and those the cynical paddock transcended that of almost anyone else. This was never better demonstrated when he won the 2009 European Grand Prix at Valencia. It was Rubens's first victory in getting on for five years, and as he cruised down the pit lane to parc ferme almost everyone from every team it seemed came out to greet him and applaud like it was their own driver who had won.

And moreover, Rubens left his imprint on us by being a bloody good racing driver. He would likely admit as much as anyone that his was never a talent from the top drawer, such as that of a Michael Schumacher, Alonso or Vettel. But he was firmly towards the top of the 'next tier', well capable of race wins and pole positions (he won 11 and 14 of each respectively) and without significant gaps in his armoury, and he could well have won a drivers' championship with a few cards falling his way.

Retro F1: the 1993 European Grand Prix

The latest Retro F1 was held yesterday, watching the 1993 European Grand Prix at Donington Park.

For those who don't know, Retro F1 is watching a classic F1 race in full on YouTube and chatting on Twitter as we go. And this race has very much gone down as an all-time classic.

The YouTube footage that we watched is below (or you can click here):

The Twitter chat, using the #RetroF1 hastag, can be read here, and in this post I have edited highlights of the chat below.

Righty-ho, I'm clicking play on the link now :) 1993 European GP in full coming right up!

@Parnelli98 Grid forming yet for #RetroF1? 
Grid is forming right now!
@mario_eb I'm already here waiting for #RetroF1 :) 
@hellasf1 Let's have a nice wet race! 
@ElenaF1 So, we will have a wet GP. I like the idea!!

And it’s the legendary Murray Walker and James Hunt partnership providing the commentary.
@SartoMutiny Excitable starter = nutter. #talklikejameshunt 

It's Easter Sunday 1993, and the British weather is living up to its usual Easter Sunday form, it's been raining on and off.
@SartoMutiny When all this was happening, I was in Blairgowrie. I think it was raining there too.

Retro F1: the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix

Today was witness to my second ever Retro F1 event. Retro F1 is where I watch a classic F1 race in full on YouTube, tweet updates as I go and have some Twitter chat (using the hashtag #retrof1) with like-minded people!

The race in question was the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, from the 2003 season.

If you want to watch the race in full the first part is here. And you can read through the chat on Twitter here. Highlights of the updates and chat is below:

Righty-ho, I'm clicking play now. Off we go.

We're clearly getting the Australian coverage, we'll be getting the James Allen/Martin Brundle partnership in the commentary.

A little bit of scene setting. This is round 3 of the 2003 season. In 2002 Ferrari dominated, but have struggled in first two races of 2003, and McLaren have won both. Kimi Raikkonen leads the table on 16 points, David Coulthard is second on 10, then Schumi and others are on 8.

@SartoMutiny Kimi looks about eight years old.

That's because he is, I think. 

Racing between the lakes - the Interlagos circuit

There are many reasons to dislike the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, or Interlagos as it's better known (literally meaning 'between the lakes'), where the Brazilian Grand Prix takes place this weekend. Its surrounding urban sprawl is claustrophobic and not 'in keeping' with the image that the F1 fraternity likes for itself. Its pit and paddock facilities apparently belong to another age, power failures and timing screens being wiped out are common. Organisation is usually poor. In the year 2000 the qualifying session had to be stopped three times because of advertising hoardings falling onto the track, one even being hit by Jean Alesi's Prost. Then there's the track itself: for most of its existence the bumps have been treacherous and dangerous. Indeed, the Saubers had to withdraw from the 2000 race, due to the bumps accounting for the structures of their rear wings. A succession of resurfacing jobs consistently failed to solve the problem (though the surface laid in 2007 is a big improvement). Walls are close to the track, even on fast sections such as the uphill blast at 'Boxes'. Its pit entrance there has always had an outward resemblance to a death trap. Eddie Jordan in 2001 commented on Interlagos that 'They could do with doing something with the track, in terms of knocking the place down and starting again'.

The Interlagos circuit.
Some of the outline of the old track can be seen.
Credit: Marlon Hammes / CC

Yet, the Interlagos race for many who follow F1 (me included) is one of the most eagerly anticipated of the year. Why is this? Well, unusually for a modern F1 venue it is a proper racing track. Its undulating variety of fast and medium turns provide a genuine driving challenge. Further, each year it seems to prove the adage that if you give drivers a proper racing track they'll give you a proper race. The amount of overtaking in an Interlagos race, mainly under braking into the Senna 'S', seems to outnumber the rest of the season combined. This was notably seen in Button and Hamilton's drives through the field last season.