Helmut Marko has denied being in talks with Mick Schumacher to join the Red Bull Junior Driver program. Could this actually be a hint that Red Bull are already in talks with the young Schumacher? There's going to be a race to sign him - who will win this one?
In this week’s episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast, we have Ashley give us a brief summary of the Singapore Grand Prix and her experiences from the Marina Bay Circuit. Also, we discuss the ‘mini race’ in Miami, how Ferrari may have beaten Red Bull and Mercedes to the ‘junior driver’ game, if Formula E is already using the ‘concept 3’ Formula 1 car and if a certain Flavio could be the ambassador for Formula 1’s newly announced betting partnership. Tune in!
Here's what is in store for you this week:
2:00-5:00 - HAM seeking a new challenger in his title battle, LEC could be one?
5:00-8:00 - RBR has seats, but no drivers. Mercedes have drivers, but no seats. Can RBR give KUB’s Formula 1 dreams wings?
8:00-10:00 - Ferrari ahead of the ‘junior driver’ game. We tell you WHY RBR could be talking to Mick Schumacher…
10:00-13:00 - Todt vs. Brawn when it comes to new teams joining Formula 1? And of course, a ‘universal engine’ for Motorsport? Btw, Todt said ’23 Grands Prix’ calendar, yay or nay?
13:00-15:00 - Just how many manufacturers has ALO pissed off? IndyCar vs. Formula 1 at COTA in 2019
15:00-17:00 - Formula E using Formula 1’s Concept-3 already?
17:00-20:00 - Let’s make VAN have some fun; c’mon. Hats off to SIR - fantastic defences in Singapore!
20:00-23:00 - Are RBR and VER talking down Renault way too much? Did you know that VJM is RT’ing Force India’s tweets? Miami to host a ‘mini race’; what does that even mean? Turkey to make a comeback?
25:00-28:00 - What Wolff Said This Week section
28:00-end - Flavio to be the ambassador for Formula 1 Betting?
(Season 2018, Episode 32)
Subscribe to the Inside Line F1 Podcast on iTunes and on audioBoom (RSS feed) for your weekly dose of Formula 1 humour
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Showing posts with label Todt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Todt. Show all posts
Friday, 21 September 2018
Sunday, 17 December 2017
Final thoughts on 2017: Plus ca change...
It's easy to forget now, but in 2017's early weeks F1 changed almost unthinkably. Bernie Ecclestone, who bestrode F1 for the best part of half a century, was moved on, or rather up (so far up that he couldn't see what was going on, as he liked to quip). The one man band was replaced by America's Liberty Media and its cast of thousands.
And even though plenty in the paddock had for years given genuine impression this wouldn't be the case post-Bernie, the sun still rose in the same place. F1, initially at least, continued with barely a ripple.
For a while furthermore it was glad confident morning - hosting deals for circuits would become reasonable; prestige races would return; there would be more money for everyone... Liberty appeared full of ideas particularly in areas that F1 had been left behind in such as promotion and the digital age. The possibilities seemed endless.
And Liberty heralded some specific immediate change. From Melbourne teams and drivers shared more from the pit and paddock on social media; F1 social media accounts were much more active generally; larger numbers on the cars - something wrestled with for years - came in for Spain and hardly caused a problem; the circuits generally had more going on at them for Grand Prix visits; more were invited into the paddock; more events to promote Grands Prix locally, such as London Live, were laid on; the eSports championship was a welcome extension; F1 even seemed to develop a sense of humour with for example the return of the Montreal raft race. All was not before time.
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| Changed, changed utterly - new F1 chairman Chase Carey of Liberty cleared Bernie Ecclestone aside Photo: Octane Photography |
For a while furthermore it was glad confident morning - hosting deals for circuits would become reasonable; prestige races would return; there would be more money for everyone... Liberty appeared full of ideas particularly in areas that F1 had been left behind in such as promotion and the digital age. The possibilities seemed endless.
And Liberty heralded some specific immediate change. From Melbourne teams and drivers shared more from the pit and paddock on social media; F1 social media accounts were much more active generally; larger numbers on the cars - something wrestled with for years - came in for Spain and hardly caused a problem; the circuits generally had more going on at them for Grand Prix visits; more were invited into the paddock; more events to promote Grands Prix locally, such as London Live, were laid on; the eSports championship was a welcome extension; F1 even seemed to develop a sense of humour with for example the return of the Montreal raft race. All was not before time.
Sunday, 2 July 2017
F1's engine conundrum
Theoretically the F1 engine spec is set in stone until 2020. Yet the debate about what happens then has started early. The sport's brave new world put in place at the turn of the year coincided with a starting gun being fired for wrangling over whither, and more to the point whether, the current hybrid power units.
The resultant conundrum brings us quickly to a core debate. Does F1's technology not matter much so long as the racing is good? Or should F1, to coin the phrase, also be about 'improving the breed'? In other words, should it provide a test bed for road car manufacturers, as it virtually always has at least to some extent?
If it is the latter, then as things stand the disconnect is becoming clear. As the redoubtable Dieter Rencken observed when visiting last year's Geneva International Motor Show, while F1 references were thin on the ground any number of manufacturers were at pains to flaunt their connection with the new-ish all-electric motorsport category, Formula E.
They're voting with their feet too. "In 2016/7, the number of manufacturers represented on FE grids (Renault, DS, Audi, VW, NEXTEV, Mahindra, Jaguar, with Nissan possibly joining off the back of alliance partner Renault) could outnumber automotive brands currently in F1 by eight to five, if, that is, one views McLaren-Honda as two entities," noted Rencken.
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| F1's debate about the future of its engines has started early Photo: Octane Photography |
They're voting with their feet too. "In 2016/7, the number of manufacturers represented on FE grids (Renault, DS, Audi, VW, NEXTEV, Mahindra, Jaguar, with Nissan possibly joining off the back of alliance partner Renault) could outnumber automotive brands currently in F1 by eight to five, if, that is, one views McLaren-Honda as two entities," noted Rencken.
Sunday, 18 December 2016
Final thoughts on 2016: State of flux
"It's been strange coming here this weekend, realising that these are going to be the last practice sessions, the last qualifying sessions with this car, which has been so incredible. You never know when you're going to have a car like this ever again. I hope we have another one in the near future, maybe next year. It's been such a privilege driving this car."
It was easy to miss, what with everything else that was going on. But Lewis Hamilton after claiming yet another pole in the final qualifying session of the year, in Abu Dhabi, was correct. From a historical perspective this was the big story. Mercedes in 2016, the last year of this formula, swept the board just as it did when the formula started in 2014. The dominance therefore was complete. We know all about teams stealing a march as a new spec comes in, but the Brackley and Brixworth concerns not only did this but sustained the advantage over time, even though the rest have the theoretical advantage of being able to learn from what makes the Mercedes quick. Really it's hard to make a case that Merc's foes at any point got closer to toppling them.
The statistics pay testament - out of 59 races Mercedes won 51 of them. And 2016 was the most crushing of all - 19 from 21 race went the silver way. And of the two it missed in one the Mercs collided and in the other a Merc's engine went pop when leading easily.
Time was that the back-to-back F1 title was near enough impossible. Slackening - unconscious; by decimal points - would creep in after a success. Not so now. In roughly the mid-1980s the era of the F1 dynasty began. Perhaps showing the delicate alchemy required to prevail in the modern game.
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| In F1 in 2016, at the front it was the same story as before Photo: Octane Photography |
The statistics pay testament - out of 59 races Mercedes won 51 of them. And 2016 was the most crushing of all - 19 from 21 race went the silver way. And of the two it missed in one the Mercs collided and in the other a Merc's engine went pop when leading easily.
Time was that the back-to-back F1 title was near enough impossible. Slackening - unconscious; by decimal points - would creep in after a success. Not so now. In roughly the mid-1980s the era of the F1 dynasty began. Perhaps showing the delicate alchemy required to prevail in the modern game.
Sunday, 10 April 2016
1982 and all that - is history repeating?
Nineteen Eighty-Two. For the historically-minded F1 fan the rather Orwellian air isn't inappropriate. Even in a sport rarely shy of providing notoriety it was a season that has strong claim to being its most notorious of all. It was possessed of almost everything, both highs and moreover desperate and extreme lows.
And was one of a sort that perhaps is being repeated now. To an extent at least. Thankfully the worst of the 1982 season's depths look unlikely to be replicated this time; as most probably will not the scaling of the higher peaks. But the family resemblance is there.
You'll be aware that F1 right now is in a state of civil war. That some political wrangle or other is at all points it seems elbowing into view. F1 in 1982 was just the same.
It even then as now had roughly the same protagonists, and literally the same in the case of Bernie Ecclestone. Though unlike now the warring factions then were Bernie and his FOCA organisation set against the FIA (or FISA at its sporting arm was then known) and particularly against its autocratic head Jean-Marie Balestre. Now Bernie and the FIA are allies, and they are allied against the teams. Again the rather Orwellian whiff is present - three 'superstates' of the governing body, commercial rights holder and teams in perpetual war, alliances shifting like water.
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| For extreme ill and some good, the 1982 F1 season is possibly F1's most notorious By Dijk, Hans van / Anefo / neg. stroken, 1945-1989, 2.24.01. 05, item number 932-2344 - http://proxy.handle.net/10648/ ad1aa58a-d0b4-102d-bcf8-003048976d84, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23244991 |
You'll be aware that F1 right now is in a state of civil war. That some political wrangle or other is at all points it seems elbowing into view. F1 in 1982 was just the same.
It even then as now had roughly the same protagonists, and literally the same in the case of Bernie Ecclestone. Though unlike now the warring factions then were Bernie and his FOCA organisation set against the FIA (or FISA at its sporting arm was then known) and particularly against its autocratic head Jean-Marie Balestre. Now Bernie and the FIA are allies, and they are allied against the teams. Again the rather Orwellian whiff is present - three 'superstates' of the governing body, commercial rights holder and teams in perpetual war, alliances shifting like water.
Sunday, 20 December 2015
Final thoughts on 2015: Car wars
Perhaps it says something about ripple effects. That it can take a time for reverberations to make themselves felt. But there was an irony around in the 2015 F1 season.
Rewind 12 months previously to the start of the 2014 campaign, F1 was about to undertake its biggest leap in technical regulations ever particularly in its move to a hybrid-type 'efficiency' engine formula and there was no shortage of those fearing the worst. Lots of it wasn't realised then, indeed some of the fears were silly, but some of it was prescient. It just rather oddly took a year to reveal itself.
Debilitating costs; dominance of a small number of manufacturers; soporific fare.
We got all of those this time. In more ways that one F1 in 2015 became absolutely about Mercedes and Ferrari. Only they offer competitive engines - and indeed come next year it looks like as many as 16 of the 22 cars will be so powered - therefore they have huge say in the sport's effective competitive order. It manifested itself precisely too - 'Mercedes - gap - Ferrari - gap - the rest' was a common sight on Saturdays and Sundays this season just finished, the two works teams won every race and the rest didn't really get within shouting distant of the podium's top step. The pair also have huge say, it is said, over its customers politically in terms of their votes on the sport's regulations and the like. Red Bull, even the powerful entity that is Red Bull, showed this year what happens if you get on the wrong side of them. It wasn't pretty.
Therefore in F1 2015 not even the usual last resort in the face of predictable results of pointing to meritocracy had the same effect as normal.
Rewind 12 months previously to the start of the 2014 campaign, F1 was about to undertake its biggest leap in technical regulations ever particularly in its move to a hybrid-type 'efficiency' engine formula and there was no shortage of those fearing the worst. Lots of it wasn't realised then, indeed some of the fears were silly, but some of it was prescient. It just rather oddly took a year to reveal itself.
Debilitating costs; dominance of a small number of manufacturers; soporific fare.
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| For more reason than one, the year in F1 was all about Mercedes and Ferrari Photo: Octane Photography |
Therefore in F1 2015 not even the usual last resort in the face of predictable results of pointing to meritocracy had the same effect as normal.
Saturday, 7 June 2014
New Vital F1 article: Friday I'm In Limbo - why reducing Friday practice to one session is a bad idea
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| Photo: Octane Photography |
Over at Vital F1 I've outlined why I think this is a bad idea, as well as is one that doesn't reflect well on the sport's decision-makers.
You can have a read via this link: http://www.vitalf1.com/article.asp?a=2361
Tuesday, 6 May 2014
Slings and Silver Arrows: Thoughts on F1 in 2014
In F1 not much is new. In a sport that prides itself on never standing still that may seem a dubious claim. But such is the expanse of its past that usually some parallel can be found therein whatever happens now. Some things are new however. And it doesn't seem exaggeration to say that more so than at any other time in the sport's long history, F1 in 2014 hit the reset button.
We've had engine regulation changes before. We've also had chassis changes. But rarely have they arrived together. They certainly haven't to this seismic extent. Never before has there been such a leap between F1 seasons; such a leap into the unknown.
In effect all teams had a new and highly complex technology thrown at them - a 1.6 litre turbo internal combustion unit plus greatly increased energy recovery, combined with a 100kg fuel limit, as well as a limit to the flow - and were told curtly to get on with it. Moreover, as Adrian Newey pointed out to Gary Anderson, a new hybrid car on the road will have five years' testing and development behind it, and the F1 equivalent of now is 20 times more complicated than even the most complicated road hybrid. Those in this game had but 12 days of track testing to get it right.
And there was plenty of doom mongering in advance about what could be expected in F1 2014-style. The cars would be hideously slow (perhaps lap times would slip over those of GP2); the races would be conspicuous fuel economy cruises; someone even - and with a straight face - in the early part of the round one weekend in Melbourne asked Race Director Charlie Whiting what would happen if no one finished...
We should have known better - compared with such expectations things instead in the opening four rounds have gone rather swimmingly.
We've had engine regulation changes before. We've also had chassis changes. But rarely have they arrived together. They certainly haven't to this seismic extent. Never before has there been such a leap between F1 seasons; such a leap into the unknown.
In effect all teams had a new and highly complex technology thrown at them - a 1.6 litre turbo internal combustion unit plus greatly increased energy recovery, combined with a 100kg fuel limit, as well as a limit to the flow - and were told curtly to get on with it. Moreover, as Adrian Newey pointed out to Gary Anderson, a new hybrid car on the road will have five years' testing and development behind it, and the F1 equivalent of now is 20 times more complicated than even the most complicated road hybrid. Those in this game had but 12 days of track testing to get it right.
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| F1 teams have had plenty to be getting on with in 2014 Credit: J.H. Sohn / CC |
We should have known better - compared with such expectations things instead in the opening four rounds have gone rather swimmingly.
Tuesday, 15 April 2014
Shanghai Preview: Things that happen for a reason
We all know that everything happens for a reason. Well, in F1 it does anyway.
China. A nation of 1.3 billion people and by common consent the coming force of the world economy. Bernard Charles Ecclestone didn't require much encouragement to get right in there.
Indeed he was in there earlier than you might think, with the country's Zhuhai circuit nominated as reserve race on the F1 calendar as early as 1998. Its facilities though never quite came up to snuff.
But by 2004 everything was in place, with a gleaming new Herman Tilke designed facility completed for F1 to do its thing on. Reflecting the considerations of the start of the preview it was likely no coincidence that the track was cited just outside the country's economic centre of Shanghai rather than near the capital Beijing. And that year when everyone pitched up for the first ever Chinese Grand Prix its importance, and the reasons for its importance, was lost on few, as reflected by these words from Jean Todt: 'This has been a historic day for Formula 1, making its first appearance in the world's most heavily populated country which for the past few years has been experiencing a period of amazing economic growth'.
China. A nation of 1.3 billion people and by common consent the coming force of the world economy. Bernard Charles Ecclestone didn't require much encouragement to get right in there.
Indeed he was in there earlier than you might think, with the country's Zhuhai circuit nominated as reserve race on the F1 calendar as early as 1998. Its facilities though never quite came up to snuff.
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| The architecture at the Shanghai International Circuit is stunning Credit: Emily Walker / CC |
Monday, 14 April 2014
A weighty issue
I'm going to say something that may surprise you. Bernie Eccelstone has been right in saying the current formula is absurd and that urgent change is required. Luca Montezemolo too.
No, really. The only problem however was that they both have been saying it for the wrong reasons. Forget the fuel limit and flow regulations, the engine noise, the apparent complexity of the new formula or (before Bahrain at least) the supposedly tepid action served up on-track. The matter really requiring urgent action is what the 2014 F1 driver apparently is required to do to keep their weight down.
From an already extreme situation in previous years drivers now appear to feel obliged this season to reduce their weight even further, and - aside from no doubt making their lives highly unpleasant - to unhealthy and potentially dangerous levels.
For a good few years it's been the case that upon laying eyes on an incumbent F1 driver it strikes that there isn't an ounce of fat on them; that they seem made up of bone and not a lot else. But many of the breed in the 2014 campaign have looked even by previous comparison conspicuously gaunt and pale, redolent of one in the process of recovering from a serious illness.
No, really. The only problem however was that they both have been saying it for the wrong reasons. Forget the fuel limit and flow regulations, the engine noise, the apparent complexity of the new formula or (before Bahrain at least) the supposedly tepid action served up on-track. The matter really requiring urgent action is what the 2014 F1 driver apparently is required to do to keep their weight down.
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| Jean-Eric Vergne has admitted to being hospitalised before the Malaysian race Photo: Octane Photography |
For a good few years it's been the case that upon laying eyes on an incumbent F1 driver it strikes that there isn't an ounce of fat on them; that they seem made up of bone and not a lot else. But many of the breed in the 2014 campaign have looked even by previous comparison conspicuously gaunt and pale, redolent of one in the process of recovering from a serious illness.
Saturday, 21 April 2012
Sakhir Preview: No Gods and Precious Few Heroes
I love F1, but boy does it make it difficult sometimes. Primarily, this is because those who run F1 often struggle to pass up good opportunities to make themselves and the sport look foolish. But what's going on right now is way above and beyond even what has gone before.
Yes, the fact that I am writing this preview will tell you that F1 is marching on unperturbed into the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, despite all of the security and moral concerns of holding the event which were fully documented and well in advance. In so doing, there is reason to think that those who work in and around F1 are being put at serious, unnecessary risk, as well as that general escalation of Bahraini tensions and violence will be incited (given the race is so closely associated with the incumbent Bahraini regime, who further transparently seem to be using this race to legitimise themselves), which in turn puts many ordinary Bahrainis at increased risk. And as far as much of the world watching on is concerned, F1 is at best ambivalent and at worst doing the PR of a regime accused of oppression - and is so doing intoxicated by the love of money. The common wider perception is that F1 is amoral, greedy, intransigent, asinine, even a touch callous. Some are even talking of the race alongside the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Like it or not, and even if this weekend goes off without a hitch from now on, F1 will be seriously diminished in the eyes of many.
And some of what was feared in advance has indeed happened. F1 has been all over the mainstream media for entirely the wrong reasons in recent days. The staging of the F1 race does indeed appear to have coincided with a ratcheting up of local tensions. Pro-democracy and anti-Government demonstrations and clashes with police are being cut interchangeably with F1 imagery in various media outlets. And the Bahrain unrest has found some of those involved in F1, most notably in the case of the Force India team, a number of whose mechanics were caught up incidentally with protesters on Wednesday night and which involved a Molotov cocktail exploding close to their hire car. Understandably, two of its team members have gone home and its cars didn't run in the second Friday practice session so to ensure personnel would be back at their hotel before nightfall. Further, some journalists are accusing the regime of stopping them reporting the anti-Government protests.
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| Credit: Al Jazeera English / CC |
And some of what was feared in advance has indeed happened. F1 has been all over the mainstream media for entirely the wrong reasons in recent days. The staging of the F1 race does indeed appear to have coincided with a ratcheting up of local tensions. Pro-democracy and anti-Government demonstrations and clashes with police are being cut interchangeably with F1 imagery in various media outlets. And the Bahrain unrest has found some of those involved in F1, most notably in the case of the Force India team, a number of whose mechanics were caught up incidentally with protesters on Wednesday night and which involved a Molotov cocktail exploding close to their hire car. Understandably, two of its team members have gone home and its cars didn't run in the second Friday practice session so to ensure personnel would be back at their hotel before nightfall. Further, some journalists are accusing the regime of stopping them reporting the anti-Government protests.
Saturday, 2 July 2011
Why F1 needs a turbo charge: New engine regulations for 2014
F1's blueprint for the future is in place, finally.
On Wednesday last week the FIA rubber-stamped new engine regulations to be introduced for the 2014 season, previously hammered out by the teams. This means that the current 2.4 litre V8 units are on the way out, and will be replaced by 1.6 litre V6 turbos with more liberalised energy-recovery systems and using around 35% less fuel, while generating the same level of power as now. I'm going to don my tin hat and say that it's about time too.
The changes have been criticised widely, right from their initial suggestion, and this will no doubt continue until the things are used in anger in the opening round of the 2014 season. Bernie Ecclestone has been particularly vocal, many F1 circuits are apparently threatening to decamp to the Indycar series, and F1 fans' forums also invariably betray extensive hostility to the new regulations. The main concerns are the loss of the high-revving scream of the current F1 engines which has an appeal in itself, as well as that the concentration on conservation and efficiency instead of excess is against what F1 'should be about'.
But no man is an island entirely of itself, and such a view I feel disregards that F1 does not and cannot exist inside a bubble. F1, like everything, can only proceed with the permission of the society around it. Its ticket sales, support, investment, sponsorship and regulatory framework in which it can operate all come from society more widely, and without these F1 could not survive.
On Wednesday last week the FIA rubber-stamped new engine regulations to be introduced for the 2014 season, previously hammered out by the teams. This means that the current 2.4 litre V8 units are on the way out, and will be replaced by 1.6 litre V6 turbos with more liberalised energy-recovery systems and using around 35% less fuel, while generating the same level of power as now. I'm going to don my tin hat and say that it's about time too.
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| Renault's V6 turbo engine from 1980 Credit: m duchesne |
But no man is an island entirely of itself, and such a view I feel disregards that F1 does not and cannot exist inside a bubble. F1, like everything, can only proceed with the permission of the society around it. Its ticket sales, support, investment, sponsorship and regulatory framework in which it can operate all come from society more widely, and without these F1 could not survive.
Sunday, 30 January 2011
A message to you, Schumi
The F1 cars of 2011 hit the track for the first time on Tuesday next week, at Valencia, with the Mercedes, like many cars, being launched that morning. It's very easy to forget in the passage of time that, winding back 12 months, the Merc squad were the centre of attention, and not just because they were a new team or (effectively) the defending world champion constructor. No, the attention was because Michael Schumacher, returning from a three-year 'retirement', was to be one of their pilots.
Such talk now seems a million miles away given how the year panned out, but the return of the seven-time champion was the talk of last year's season previews. As an example, Motor Sport magazine, with the front cover headline 'Return of the King', commented in their preview that: 'The big news, of course, is that he is back...Double World Champion Fernando Alonso moves to Ferrari, the two most recent champions are paired at the same team and still Michael sweeps the headlines just by turning up again'.
Furthermore, expectations (including mine) were high - how could they not be? Sure, he was 41, and had been away for three years, but we'd long since learned to write the guy off at your peril, such was his frightening competitiveness, supreme ability and aggression, and ability to overcome just about any obstacle in his way first time around. He always had and clearly continued to have super-human levels of fitness. Further, as Motor Sport outlined: 'In prospect it is a package that could, perhaps should, dominate: the mighty Michael, back in harness with the unassailable Ross Brawn, Mercedes cash and power, a tech team that (Honda-funded) produced last year's double-world-title-winning Brawn BGP001....Nico Rosberg, almost inevitably, will be expected to play wingman' (I don't quote this to criticise or embarrass Motor Sport, most others were talking the same way).
Such talk now seems a million miles away given how the year panned out, but the return of the seven-time champion was the talk of last year's season previews. As an example, Motor Sport magazine, with the front cover headline 'Return of the King', commented in their preview that: 'The big news, of course, is that he is back...Double World Champion Fernando Alonso moves to Ferrari, the two most recent champions are paired at the same team and still Michael sweeps the headlines just by turning up again'.Furthermore, expectations (including mine) were high - how could they not be? Sure, he was 41, and had been away for three years, but we'd long since learned to write the guy off at your peril, such was his frightening competitiveness, supreme ability and aggression, and ability to overcome just about any obstacle in his way first time around. He always had and clearly continued to have super-human levels of fitness. Further, as Motor Sport outlined: 'In prospect it is a package that could, perhaps should, dominate: the mighty Michael, back in harness with the unassailable Ross Brawn, Mercedes cash and power, a tech team that (Honda-funded) produced last year's double-world-title-winning Brawn BGP001....Nico Rosberg, almost inevitably, will be expected to play wingman' (I don't quote this to criticise or embarrass Motor Sport, most others were talking the same way).
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Final thoughts on 2010: F1 mostly looking rosy
Hopefully the 2010 F1 season will be viewed in years to come as a watershed rather than a blip. It was a season wherein F1 was strangely at ease with itself, and delivered a level of on track action not seen in years, and a championship battle of a competitiveness probably not seen ever.
Given F1's capacity for false dawns and for shooting itself in the foot, I feel slightly reluctant be so positive about F1's state, but at the topline level 2010 was a great season for F1.
On the track it was the year of the Bull, with the Red Bulls continuing their almost uninterrupted upward trajectory over their six year stint in the sport, by claiming the drivers' (for Vettel) and constructors' championship titles. Indeed, their competitive advantage, particularly in aerodynamics, was compared by some to some of the Ferraris in the Schumacher/Todt/Brawn era, and to the Williams FW14s. The car's pace advantage, particularly through the quick corners, appeared to indicate a fundamentally different approach from their rivals.
That they didn't finally claim their championship crowns until the very end of the season was down to a number of well-documented factors, including unreliability (for Vettel), driver errors and having two competitive drivers taking points off each other. But it also reflected the resurgent Ferrari and McLaren teams' ability to pounce on any slight opportunity that Red Bull presented them with.
Given F1's capacity for false dawns and for shooting itself in the foot, I feel slightly reluctant be so positive about F1's state, but at the topline level 2010 was a great season for F1.
On the track it was the year of the Bull, with the Red Bulls continuing their almost uninterrupted upward trajectory over their six year stint in the sport, by claiming the drivers' (for Vettel) and constructors' championship titles. Indeed, their competitive advantage, particularly in aerodynamics, was compared by some to some of the Ferraris in the Schumacher/Todt/Brawn era, and to the Williams FW14s. The car's pace advantage, particularly through the quick corners, appeared to indicate a fundamentally different approach from their rivals.
That they didn't finally claim their championship crowns until the very end of the season was down to a number of well-documented factors, including unreliability (for Vettel), driver errors and having two competitive drivers taking points off each other. But it also reflected the resurgent Ferrari and McLaren teams' ability to pounce on any slight opportunity that Red Bull presented them with.
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