Looking back: the Austrian Grand Prix of 1986

Now 30 years on we presumably can expect a few retro features. There is a consensus that the 1986 F1 season is an all-time classic, and it brings many familiar things to mind to even the fan who was not around at the time to witness it.

This includes not least its extraordinary finale, encapsulated by the oft-repeated footage of Nigel Mansell's exploding Goodyear - the vast shower of sparks and all - on Adelaide's Brabham Straight which helped Alain Prost to a long shot drivers' championship. A title that, still three decades on, is arguably the last claimed not in the best car. Whatever, it was an achievement about as extraordinary for The Professor as the finale that delivered it.

The McLaren team, seen here at Brands Hatch,
was one of the major players in 1986
"McLaren pit 1986 Britain" by Phil - mclaren in
brands hatch pits. Licensed under CC BY 2.0
via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.
wikimedia.org/wiki/File:McLaren_pit_1986_
Britain.jpg#/media/File:McLaren_pit_1986_Britain.jpg

It's also viewed more broadly as a golden age: rip-snorting turbos and a stellar cast of drivers to tame them. Mansell and Prost we've mentioned, but you can add to it Nelson Piquet and a young Ayrton Senna. It also was a season with a strict in-race fuel limit and many resultant economy runs - some comical last gasps of races too as various cars ran dry - but best not spoil the moment.

One could argue also that competitiveness or variation at the front beyond these names weren't the season's strongest boasts either. That year many spoke of a 'Gang of Five' with Prost's McLaren team mate Keke Rosberg variously added to the quartet mentioned, though perhaps 'Gang of Four' would have been more fitting as Rosberg was the least regular presence among them at the sharp end by a way. Almost never would anyone else beyond this five get a look-in. Yet in among the 1986 rounds was an extraordinary outlying weekend on this front. That in Austria.

Even compared with the later round in Mexico where alone that year one of the usual suspects didn't win, even compared with that finale in Adelaide, this was the weekend of the season that really turned the order onto its head. Though you wouldn't necessarily know it from the result, which in its victor at least looked slightly ordinary. Perhaps that's therefore led to it being forgotten. And a winner whom you'd have got long odds on at the weekend's outset was denied, cruelly, as well as by an unlikely (perhaps absurd) source. Someone would have to remember to purchase a new car battery

The Arrows A2, and why it's in my F1 Dream Team

For how long did we all bemoan that F1 - as in the sport centrally - simply didn't get the new media? Or 'didn't get' it as in it almost totally ignored it? But in recent months it seems that F1, even F1, has learned, with it partaking in much greater activity on Twitter and the like.

And that isn't a dream. Although, in a certain particular recent sense, it is. With considerable novelty the F1 official Twitter account asked a few of the sport's luminaries, along with the rest of us, to name their own 'F1 Dream Team'. That is their dream car, team principal and driver pairing combination from the sport's history. And no, I couldn't resist it either. Dutifully I rattled the team of my dreams off. And whatever else you might think of it surely it gets something for originality.

The striking Arrows A2
"Arrows A2 1" by MPW57 - Own work. Licensed under CC
BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.
org/wiki/File:Arrows_A2_1.jpg#/media/File:Arrows_A2_1.jpg

For me the starting point, the car for my dream team, was the Arrows A2. Now if you have a blank expression at this I can offer you the reassurance that you probably wouldn't be the only one. It's not a car that can be described as a classic by any of the standard measures. Not on the grounds of results - it only scored two points ever from two rather distant sixth place finishes. Nor on the grounds of longevity - it only was around for half a season, and in almost all of that period was merely serving time in a sort of F1 purgatory as the team, who'd long since lost faith, worked on its replacement. But is a car that has always fascinated me.

Mainly on the grounds of its striking looks. I think it first got my attention when watching the footage of that famous last-race scrap between Gilles Villeneuve and Rene Arnoux in the 1979 French GP at Dijon. Of course it takes rather a lot to crowbar your attention away from that frenzied battle but on the final lap two cars can be seen up the track from them. As all head downhill to Dijon's first turn our viewpoint is of them at their full width, looking scarcely like any F1 machine as we know it. Indeed they may bring to mind instead some kind of unknown sea creature descending upon us. Really, even in an era known for its distinctive designs the Arrows A2 cannot be mistaken for anything else seen at the time, prior or since.

Further thoughts on the Japanese Grand Prix

Webber's parting gift
Let's end this round of Further Thoughts... back where we started it, with Mark Webber.

The F1 community doesn't agree on many things, but one matter on which there is something close to consensus (or as close to consensus as you'll likely find herein) is that they'd like Webber to win a race before he bids F1 farewell at the year's end. It would be a fitting finish for the popular, hard-charging Australian, especially as he hasn't yet topped the podium this campaign. Even Christian Horner got in on the act after the Suzuka race: 'Mark got pretty close (to a win) today, it would be great to see Mark win a race before the end of the year as well.'

Many hope that Webber gets a win
before the end of the year
Photo: Octane Photography

Some have gone further to speculate that the Red Bull team might indeed engineer this outcome, given four races remain and the two championships effectively are bought and paid for. Perhaps even, a few say, it would be a form of pay back for Malaysia and all that. But whatever is the case, while I too hope sincerely that Webber can squeeze another win out of his F1 career, I hope just as sincerely that it is not one conspicuously handed to him. Webber is a proud man, and such a 'gesture' - however well-intended - would be the final insult.

I'm put in mind of a couple of instances of such from years past. In one, Ayrton Senna on the day that he clinched title number three in Suzuka in 1991 when leading comfortably on the last lap came almost to a stop on the run to the flag out of the final chicane, to allow his team mate Gerhard Berger to win. Seemingly it was a 'thank you' for Berger's support, and indeed the Austrian hadn't won a race for McLaren at that point. But however benignly it was meant, for Berger it wasn't a great deal like winning anything.

Criminal records? Why just about all F1 records are problematic

The Japanese Grand Prix of 2013 was an important one. Or at least it was for the statisticians, as an all-time F1 record dropped. One that for much of history has been considered a highly valued mark.

Fernando Alonso, as has been anticipated for a while, beat the haughty Michael Schumacher's record for most points scored in F1 ever, now having a total of 1,571 compared with Schumi's 1,566. And yet with it has come a conspicuous round of guffawing. The points total doesn't mean anything, they said; the systems have changed so much over time so as to make comparisons meaningless. Alonso himself however - albeit with something of a glint in his eye - declared it 'great' to set the new mark.

Fernando Alonso claimed F1's
all-time points record in Japan
Photo: Octane Photography

But really, is it so unreasonable for Alonso to be pleased with this one? Or, to flip the question around, could such charges of non-comparability be laid before just about any F1 record? Don't they all at least somewhere involve imperfect comparisons? Is it not the case that they all require qualification?

All sports evolve over time of course, so just about any sporting record necessarily involves an element of imperfect comparison. But I struggle to think of another activity that has changed as much as F1 has from generation to generation, and therefore is so apt for the numbers and historical marks to be taken with not so much a pinch of salt but rather a trailer-load of it.

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).

Further thoughts on the European Grand Prix

The real story from Valencia?
What was the biggest story from the European Grand Prix in Valencia just passed? Fernando Alonso's victory was as unexpected as it was brilliant, and only a curmudgeon will have been left unmoved by his emotional home win, all of which leaves him a clear 20 points clear in the drivers' table.

Are Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull set to dominate?
Credit: Morio / CC

But in the midst of all this was the real story of the weekend, at least in the longer term, missed? Before his alternator failed him at mid distance Sebastian Vettel had routed the field. With Red Bull having turned up with a technical upgrade so extensive that one team member quipped that it was not so much a B-Spec as a D-Spec, no one could live with Seb. From pole position (acquired comfortably) at the start of the race his lap-on-lap lead went like this: 1.9 seconds, 4.0, 5.3, 6.8, 7.6, 8.5, 9.2. And by lap 22 he had upwards of 20 seconds in his pocket over the next guy, more than enough to make an additional pitstop and still be leading, before first the safety car and then, definitively, a dud alternator destroyed his advantage. It was an astonishing show of supremacy, the like of which we've almost never seen in F1 2012-style, but that we saw repeatedly last season.

So, has Red Bull put a massive stride on the opposition which will be decisive for where honours go this year? Well, I wouldn't put it past them; Adrian Newey and his team are perfectly capable of such a eureka moment. And, something that's under-commented on, Red Bull's record of in-season development is an excellent one. Try to remember one of its upgrades that didn't work and it's genuinely difficult to cite many (or any) examples. Of course, on the flip side it's been such an unpredictable season so far with such a multitude of variables that it may be foolish to base too much on one race; Vettel qualified only seventh in the Spanish round which followed his win in Bahrain earlier this year, and while Nico Rosberg trounced all in China he's barely been seen at the front since. And at least some of Seb's Valencia dominance owed to his closest potential rivals on pace being tucked up behind slower cars. Silverstone next up, which is a very different circuit to Valencia, should give us a clearer sense of how the land really lies.

But without wishing to play the bad fairy at the christening, do you ever suspect that the close and unpreditable 2012 we've been enjoying may be about to come to an end?

Retro F1: Gilles Villeneuve tribute - the 1981 Monaco Grand Prix

Hey y’all. The latest Retro F1 took place today. And given that this week marks the 30th anniversary of the passing of the legend that is Gilles Villeneuve, I decided this one should double as a tribute to the great man.

We therefore watched the 1981 Monaco Grand Prix, one of Villeneuve’s best ever drives, using the YouTube link below. The only drawback was that the commentary is in German, but we managed to work around that.



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!

Highlights of the Twitter chat are below.

Welcome all to the latest Retro F1, which is a Gilles Villeneuve tribute special, watching the 1981 Monaco GP. Here’s the link to the Monaco GP '81 race footage, I’m clicking play now :)

@CamillaKristel Should be interesting.
@kanemelegatti Ready guys?
@mario_eb Fuel in for Retro F1 :)
Hi Mario. Glad you could join us. Should be a good one :)
@mario_eb Hi Graham. Surely it'll be fun. Although my server's a little slow now I'll be following Retro F1 maybe I'll need my KERS ;)
Or your DRS.

@mario_eb Haha :D Ok, let me activate it :D

Retro F1: the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix

The latest Retro F1 was held yesterday, watching the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in Italy.

For those who don't know, Retro F1 is watching a classic F1 race in full on YouTube and chatting on Twitter with like-minded F1 people as we go. This race was memorable and controversial, featured Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, as well as other great drivers, and was run in the classic turbocharged machines of the mid-1980s.

The YouTube footage that we watched is below (or you can click here) as are the highlights of our Twitter chat.



Right, ready, let’s do this. I’m clicking play now. Everyone else please do the same.

@mario_eb Of course. I couldn't miss this one :) All systems checked over here :) -O=O'
@DavidHer228 And here we go, 1985 Imola GP live Twitter commentary :)
...with the legendary Murray Walker and James Hunt :)
@kanemelegatti Here we go!
@djtrickster77 Never seen this one before so looking forward to it...
@mario_eb You'll have fun :)

Hordes of tifosi at Imola as you’d expect. After a difficult 1984 Ferrari was showing signs of returning to form in this early part of 1985.

Some scene-setting: this is race three of 1985. McLaren had dominated 1984 (Niki Lauda pipping Alain Prost for the title, despite Prost usually being the quicker of the two) and were expected to dominate again. Prost indeed won round one in Rio, but in round two Senna announced himself properly with his debut win in the pouring rain in Estoril. And he’s on pole again here at Imola...

@djtrickster77 Ayrton Senna on pole with the JPS lotus...Legendary.
@DavidHer228 Senna on pole position more than one second ahead...
@mario_eb Those names, those cars, Turbo Era, those races. GREAT!!!

@SartoMutiny Where is Gerhard! I MUST KNOW.
Gerhard (Berger) qualified 10th :)

Off we go... Senna leads team mate Elio de Angelis, with Michele Alboreto's Ferrari 3rd. The roar of the tifosi can be heard above the engines.
@ElenaF1 Clean start and Senna running away!

Looking back: the time F1 drivers banned one of their own

In the build up to last week's Japanese Grand Prix the Italian magazine Autosprint reported that some F1 drivers wanted Lewis Hamilton's driving to be raised as a matter for discussion at that event's drivers' briefing.

I'm very glad that nothing came of that. Such a move would have been shameful, with the strong stench of a witch hunt. Furthermore, it would have been absolutely unnecessary. Yes, it can't be denied that Lewis Hamilton has been making contact with other cars too often over the last 12 months or so, but we're not talking about someone new on the scene, or someone unproven. Lewis Hamilton has been in F1 for close to to five years, and in that time proven beyond doubt that he's one of the sport's most accomplished performers. And up until the Italian race of last year (when his habit of tagging other cars began) he didn't make contact with other cars that often. It's very hard to think of occasions before that wherein he was involved in an incident with another car that was unequivocally his own fault. Hitting Kimi Raikkonen in the pitlane in Canada in 2008 is arguably the only one, and he's far from the only one to be caught out by that pit exit. Not bad for someone who in that time firmed himself up as F1's most exciting and willing racer and overtaker.

F1 does have a previous when it comes to egregious behaviour by some drivers towards one of their own. One time before a few 'senior' drivers effectively banned one of their fellow number from a Grand Prix. This they did by coercing the organisers of a race, on pain of them withdrawing and forcing the event to be cancelled, not to accept that driver's race entry. The year was 1978 and the banned driver was Riccardo Patrese.

Looking back: Alfa Romeo's return to F1 - always leave them wanting more

Manufacturers have a tendency to come and go in F1 with remarkable frequency, appearing in a blaze of optimism and budget, only to disappear just as rapidly, usually when the board, no racing passion there, decides that the F1 programme can no longer be 'justified'.

Alfa Romeo have a typically sporadic presence in F1's history, though unlike many manufacturers they do have a famous legacy in the sport, having claimed the first two drivers' world championships, for Nino Farina in 1950 and for Juan Manual Fangio in 1951. However, in 1951 the Alfas were increasingly challenged by the burgeoning Scuderia Ferrari concern. Alfa concluded that it would require major investment to meet this, by replacing their long in the tooth 158 model (designed in the 1930s!), so they quit while they were ahead and withdrew from the sport.

Rolf Stommelen wrestles the the 1976 Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT45

Broadly, that's the way it stayed for Alfa for the next quarter century. Despite the odd appearance in F1 as an engine supplier, for McLaren in 1970 and March in 1971, the Alfa name remained as a revered and successful one from the sport's early days. Alfa Romeo did however have a second effort at a factory F1 team, between 1979 and 1985, which was altogether less successful than their first.

Looking back: 1981 - F1's strangest season

The recently ended 2010 season is commonly accepted as a great one. When thinking of great F1 seasons some readily spring to mind, such as the dramatic championship finishes of 1964, 1986 and 2008, or the competitiveness of 1974, 1997 and 2003, or even the drama and controversy of 1976 and 1989. The season of 1982 however tends to rise above others in such debates. It after all can boast no fewer than 11 different winners (for seven different constructors) in 16 races, no individual winning more than two of them. This all was alongside multiple acts of drama on and off the track, conducted in an atmosphere of extreme acrimony. Such is the myth that surrounds 1982 that it even had a specialist book about it written and published a quarter of a century later, by the sadly recently-departed Christopher Hilton.

However I feel that the season which preceded 1982, 1981, is somewhat forgotten about, and has a strong claim as a memorable and dramatic season. It can certainly match 1982 for controversy and acidity. Indeed, much of the 1982 politics were simply a continuation of those in 1981! The 1981 championship battle was tighter and went to the wire to a much greater extent than 1982's did. Plus the on track racing action (easy to forget in all of this) was generally much more diverting in 1981. It seems to have been lost in time somewhat that most of the races in 1982, i.e. the hour and a half on a Sunday, were soporific spectacles. And 1981 isn't far off 1982 in terms of variation of winners, no driver won more more than three races, the world champion totalled but 50 points, and in the final drivers' table no fewer than five drivers were within seven points of the top of the table. Eat your heart out 2010.

Even if one maintains that 1981 was not among the sport's greatest seasons, it certainly has a claim to being one the sport's strangest. It started with a race that never was in South Africa, attended by only 19 cars, the races were participated in by a field of cars, for the most part, in flagrant breach of the rule makers' flagship regulations, and it ended in a car park in Las Vegas, wherein the three contenders stumbled disastrously over the line, and Nelson Piquet claimed his first World Championship by a point, almost in spite of himself.

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.