Final thoughts on 2014: Slings and Silver Arrows

Some years ago Frank Williams was asked during one of this game's periodic rounds of introspection whether he still considered F1 a sport. 'Between two and four on a Sunday afternoon this is a sport' he said, 'the rest of the time, quite honestly, it's just commerce.'

Whizzing forward to today this may evoke a pang of recognition. In this 2014 season just passed, on the track F1 just about got it right. The problem was that in virtually everything else it got it wrong. And would that it were merely commerce - instead outside of the two hours on Sunday afternoons what we got was politicking, intrigue, dispute, selfishness and the sport drifting unaltered in its grotesque and deformed state, seemingly unable to resolve on a remedy. Its future unclear, and eliciting rather a lot of trepidation. Too many people have been harmed by F1's warped ways already. The risk of many more joining them is real.

F1 threatened to be very different in 2014
Photo: Octane Photography

Yet heading in no one really knew what to expect from this season. In no small part because F1 in 2014 hit the reset button. We've had engine regulation changes before of course; we've also had chassis changes. But rarely have they arrived together. They certainly haven't to this extent. Never before had 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 (even the name changed - 'power unit' rather than 'engine' being the parlance) - and were told curtly to get on with it. Moreover, as Adrian Newey pointed out, 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. The teams had but 12 days of track testing to get it right.

Why, despite everything, there's reason for optimism at Ferrari

His departure was a lot like the man. Unorthodox, dramatic, no doubt rubbing a few up the wrong way. After a summer wherein rumours that he was about to quit, perhaps already had done, lingered throughout. A matter of days after requiring the world's media to gather outside the Ferrari motorhome for Lord-knows-how-long in the midday heat of the Monza paddock amid much anticipation only to tell them there was nothing to see here. It was confirmed: Luca Montezemolo was on his way out of Ferrari.

Luca Montezemolo was a man in much demand at Monza
Photo: Octane Photography

Such a step is not to be underestimated, and not just because Montezemolo's current stretch at the team extends to 23 years. He wasn't loved universally, indeed his interventions more latterly were treated by a few as the mad ramblings of an embarrassing elderly relative. As if Mrs Rochester had been let out of the attic. And such is the way of these things it took his departure for exactly what his contribution was to be expressed. His place at the very centre of Ferrari's lengthy history, indeed as one of the most central figures in modern-day Italian public life more generally, is incontestable. Bernie wasn't too far off in placing him somewhere within the bastion of the Commendatore.

There probably was justification for Montezemolo's dividing of opinion. But his effectiveness and achievements are absolutely not to be belittled. First of all as Sporting Director - team manager at the F1 team's coalface - in the early-to-mid 1970s, where he turned an outfit that appeared to the outsider to be slipping from the sport and causing the most minor of ripples as it did so to being F1's pace setters within six months; champions within 18. Only Jean Todt can be said to have been as successful in the role. You could make a case that not even he was.

New F1Plus.com article: The wrong person, the wrong time, but the right idea

Photo: Octane Photography

You're probably aware that Ferrari President Luca Montezemolo has had a lot to say for himself latterly. And the most recent example of this was his call for a round table discussion on F1's future - as well as that in among it all another Ferrari threat to quit the sport lingered in the air one way or another.

Over at F1Plus.com in my latest article there I outline that while Montezemolo's words incited a lot of derision, and that the derision is understandable, perhaps in among it all somewhere he had a point?

You can have a read by clicking on this link: http://www.f1plus.com/en/news/item/6096-the-wrong-person-the-wrong-time-but-the-right-idea

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.

F1 teams have had plenty to be getting on with in 2014
Credit:  J.H. Sohn / CC

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.

New Vital F1 article: More to Luca Montezemolo than you might think

Photo: Octane Photography

I don't know about you, but I often get the impression that Ferrari President Luca Montezemolo doesn't get a great deal of respect from some F1 fans.

But these people may not be aware that he's got a previous at the coalface, running an F1 team on a day-to-day basis. And what's more he was very good at it.

Over at Vital F1 I tell the story of Montezemolo's highly successful time as Ferrari's team chief. You can read the article here: http://www.vitalf1.com/sitepage.asp?a=2284

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.

Jean-Eric Vergne has admitted to being hospitalised before
the Malaysian race
Photo: Octane Photography

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.

Fears for Ferrari

All in, it's hard to see how last Sunday could have gone worse for Ferrari.

Much of the Scuderia's royalty was in attendance for the Bahrain Grand Prix; Luca Montezemolo, Piero Lardi Ferrari, Claudio Lombardi, in a region that is a highly important market for the organisation's road cars. An F1 race has its uses as a shop window.

Another year has started disappointingly for Ferrari,
and things could be getting critical
Photo: Octane Photography

And in Montezemolo's case he was there also so that he could don his political hat, to circulate the place conspicuously and state his view to anyone that would listen that the new spec F1 was potentially cataclysmic to the sport's health and that urgent change was required. A reminder that Ferrari remains as willing as ever to take a holistic approach to getting results; fighting its battles both off-track and on (for all that he protested otherwise Montezemolo wouldn't have argued for change unless he thought it would benefit his team's competitiveness).

The problem was what happened where it really matters. Out on the circuit. There, the Ferraris were simply brick slow. And the problem moreover was where they were brick slow, rather unusually for the red cars it was on the straights that they were losing out; time after time it seemed the Mercedes powered machines took metres out of them in the extended sections wherein the loud pedal could be deployed on full noise. The Sakhir layout could have been designed to show such a problem up mercilessly, and it did.

Bahrain GP Report: We were never being boring

Sometimes in life you get what you deserve.

Unless you have been living a hermit's existence just lately you'll be aware that certain people have been doing their best to claim that the product being served up in F1 right now is unspeakable, and in so doing crying about the sport and the fans when for much of their time associated with F1 they haven't given much impression of caring a great deal about either. In the hours before the Bahrain race Bernie Ecclestone called the 2014-spec offering 'unacceptable'; Ferrari's Luca Montezemolo reiterated his view that it is a 'taxi driver' formula; and this followed on from Red Bull's big beast Dietrich Mateschitz threatening to walk away in disgust at it all.

Yet in an hour and 38 minutes of circulating at the Sakhir circuit the great folly of such views - and the self-serving nature of them - were laid bare. Deserved, as I said.

Lewis Hamilton took his second win in a week,
but it was a very different one
Photo: Octane Photography

What we had today in Bahrain was the grandest Grand Prix of the season so far; indeed the grandest in a good while. And unlike a few previous memorable ones it didn't rely on gumball tyres, a rain shower, or another (dare I say slightly false) variable to spice things up. Desperate battling up and down the field was witnessed throughout on a track that whatever its limitations does contain plenty of overtaking opportunities. By the end of it all you were almost relieved, in that it allowed you finally to get your breath back. That Fernando Alonso punched the air upon crossing the line having achieved only a lowly ninth place seemed highly apt.

Double Trouble - why I think double points is a bad idea

And so it survives. And does so in the teeth of about as united an opposition as can be reasonably expected in this most disputatious of sports. The world champion is against it, and has said so. As has Ferrari's President. The silence of most other drivers and teams probably is indicative. The vast majority of fans, if the content of internet forums and the like is a guide, are also vehemently opposed. So are many race hosts - feeling somewhat diminished by the move. Finding enthusiasts for it is a challenge akin to pacing a beach with a metal detector in the hope of finding valuables. But the last chance of stopping it in last Thursday's meeting of the F1 Strategy Group was passed up by all concerned. Indeed, apparently it wasn't even discussed. Joy.

This year the Abu Dhabi race will be worth
 twice as much as the other rounds
Credit: JiteshJagadish / CC

Yes, you've probably worked out by now what I'm talking about. Double points, and the fact that in the 2014 F1 season one race will be more equal than the others. In a Bernie Ecclestone-penned scheme the points on offer in the campaign's concluding round at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina track will be multiplied by two. 

Bernie's had rather madcap wheezes before of course, an Olympic-style medals system replacing points being one, shortcuts and sprinklers being two more. But, helped by the fact that none of these came to pass, most of us gave Bernie the benefit of the doubt on these. It's just Bernie being Bernie, we thought. Yanking our chain. And while he's at it getting the sport some coverage on the back pages that it wouldn't have got ordinarily. They were never actually going to happen. But Thursday's events mean that the double points one is for real. It makes you worry that he might even after all have believed in those other ones too.

Backing the wrong horse? Why I think Alonso will beat Raikkonen

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Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen could be said to be F1's equivalent of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. The two are to a large extent co-existent, almost synonymous. In Kimi and Fernando's case having karted together both made their F1 debut in the very same Grand Prix, and come 2003 were together identified firmly as the leaders of the sport's next generation (see this from the cover of F1 Racing that same year). And indeed both since have developed formidable reputations at the very pinnacle of the sport, and became world champions along the way.

Despite their proximity, Alonso and Raikkonen
have never before worn the same colours
Photo: Octane Photography

Yet just like De Niro and Pacino somehow for years they avoided a direct face-off. This is despite a few near misses: as De Niro and Pacino both starred in The Godfather Part II, and yet thanks to series of shifts between different periods of history never appeared in the same scene, twice Alonso has signed for a new team with the potential of partnering Raikkonen and twice it didn't happen. At McLaren Kimi was busy making his own arrangements to join Ferrari instead; at Ferrari the Scuderia faced with a three-into-two-doesn't-go situation chose to stick with Felipe Massa and drop the Finn. Next year, following years of waiting and anticipation during which time many had reached the conclusion that it would never happen, at Ferrari we'll have F1's equivalent of Heat's sit-down scene in the diner. The two titans will at last will cross paths.

Further thoughts on the Italian Grand Prix

Ice flee?
So the phoney war is over. The first shots in the 'who drives where in 2014' battle have been fired. Daniel Ricciardo last week was been confirmed for the Red Bull gig. And, if the word of the street at Monza and since is to be believed, we're about to have a major scud land, with Kimi Raikkonen's red return to Ferrari apparently to be finalised imminently.

Kimi Raikkonen - waving goodbye to Lotus?
Photo: Octane Photography

Like a lot of people, I met the initial rumours of Kimi's return to Maranello with general incredulity. After all, it comes just four years on from the Scuderia paying him rather handsomely not to drive for them. His disdain for PR and other legwork - which Lotus it seemed were uniquely able to tolerate - is well known. And he hardly seemed to fit with the Alonso-Santander plan for supremacy either.

More broadly, the move seemed against history. Ferrari has only signed four world champions to join its driving staff ever; it apparently hasn't had two world champions on the books since 1953. But by now, and with incumbent Felipe Massa today confirming that he is indeed looking for alternative employment for 2014, the momentum behind the Kimi transfer seems unstoppable.

Further thoughts on the Hungarian Grand Prix

Trouble at t'mill
At least the Alonso to Red Bull business served some tangible purpose, in that it smoked out confirmation of something that had been rumoured for a while: that not all is well right now in the Fernando Alonso-Ferrari relationship.

Luca Montezemolo - much to say
Photo: Octane Photography

And in case the subtlety was lost on anyone, Ferrari President Luca Montezemolo made sure no one missed it. His statement of the following day, telling us that when wishing Alonso a happy birthday he also 'tweaked his ear' on the matter of loyalty, in response to what is referred to as 'rash outbursts' and 'comments from Fernando Alonso, which did not go down well'. Not one for party hats and balloons, clearly.

Looking through Alonso's public comments after the Hungary race it's difficult to see what got the boss's back up. Beyond the sort of stuff from Alonso on needing to improve the car that he's been saying for about the last three years, the only thing was something he said to Italian journalists in response to a question on what he'd like for his birthday, something that loosely translated to 'the car of the others'. But even so, and particularly given Alonso rather has a right to feel frustrated at the moment, the reaction from Montezemolo seems utterly disproportionate. And one that you suspect reacted, a little too much, to the Alonso to Red Bull rumour. To respond in such a prickly fashion apparently to Alonso's 'comments' seems a classic case of displacement.

Hungarian GP Report: Lewis's command and control

We really are seeing a new and improved Lewis Hamilton in 2012. In previous years we knew what to expect from him: astounding pace, freakish car control, bravery and aggression reminiscent of the great Gilles Villeneuve. All this remains, but this year he's harnessed it with a control and intelligence to manage his race, and in particular to manage the finite resource of the Pirelli tyres. The errors seem to have gone; last year's clumsiness when wheel-to-wheel is now like it was from another driver. And the difference in the positivity of his demeanour out of the car is also palpable. All of this was on display in Lewis's masterful Hungarian Grand Prix win today.

Lewis Hamilton was masterful in
winning the Hungarian Grand Prix
Credit: Ryan Bayona / CC

Lewis was the quickest thing around the Hungaroring from the moment a wheel was turned in Friday practice. Yet, his race today was no cruise and collect. Against expectations the rain stayed away today, which helped Lewis, but in line with some people's expectations the Lotuses showed their prodigious race pace - Lewis had one of them breathing down his neck all afternoon. Further, tyre life was marginal and the McLaren pitwall seriously considered bringing Lewis in for a third change late on, which no doubt would have lost him the win. But while all this was going on Lewis never put a wheel wrong that I saw, carefully looked after his boots, and the thought occurred as the race went on that despite the Lotuses' proximity Lewis had the thing well under control. Sure enough, he was able respond to any threat as necessary and tick off the laps, still out front at the end.

And today's win meant more than 25 points for Lewis, it was a declaration of intent heading into the five-week summer break and the subsequent final part of the season: Lewis fully intends to win the drivers' title this year. Yes, the road back will be a long one, mainly because before today he'd scored but four points in the three preceding races. But the McLaren looks bang on the money right now, and neither championship leader Fernando Alonso nor his team will be even close to disregarding Lewis's threat. Indeed, they may well now see Lewis as their primary rival.

Mounting the Prancing Horse? Contenders for the 2013 Ferrari seat

If you think the faces who occupy the drives in the 'big four' F1 teams seem a bit familiar, that's because they are. We're now into the third season in a row of the same drivers in the same seats at Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes.

But before you think that F1 is losing its reputation for musical chairs, as well as its notorious 'silly season' of rumour and counter-rumour about who is going where in the future, for 2013 all of this will change. None of the teams I listed has its drivers' line up set, or even reasonably clear, for next year. This includes Ferrari: while Fernando Alonso is under contract to drive for them all the way until the end of 2016 there is an ever-increasing number of hats in the ring for who'll be partnering him.

Here I assess some of the runners and riders in the Prancing Horse seat race.

Credit: Mark McArdle / CC

Felipe Massa
First of all, let's not forget that there is an incumbent.

What does Ferrari want from the guy who'll drive alongside Alonso from 2013? Well, ideally it wants someone who can co-exist with the Spaniard, and not 'rock the boat' unduly. The Ferrari-Santander-Alonso plan for glory is a clear one. But, with this, Ferrari is an outfit that wants to win constructors' titles as much as drivers' ones. Therefore, most probably, it requires someone humble enough to accept 'the role', but also good enough to bring home big points and be close to Alonso's pace.

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).

Thoughts on Ferrari's Abu Dhabi strategy

Lots of people have had their say on Ferrari's race strategy employed in Abu Dhabi. The details of the strategy call and its consequences are well-documented, and to cut a long story short, Fernando Alonso, running in fourth place, was pitted early, on lap 15, nominally to 'cover off' Mark Webber, who pitted four laps earlier. But as it transpired it was a gross misjudgment, consigning Alonso to be held up by traffic for the rest of the day, meaning he could finish no higher than seventh, when he needed fourth place or higher to claim the title.

In an age where we are used to sharp-end F1 teams showing precision and judgment beyond our individual comprehension, such an error at the business end of the season with the championship at stake has resulted in considerable fallout. A browse around internet forums and Twitter has shown calls for various heads on plates, such as those of Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and team boss Stefano Domenicali. A particularly egregious Italian Government Minister joined in on the act, calling for di Montezemolo to step down for the team's 'demented strategy'.

I'm glad di Montezemolo treated him, and his demands, with the utter contempt they deserved. Di Montezemolo is a proven quantity, and the only people that would celebrate his resignation are Ferrari's rivals.

How do you solve a problem like Felipe?

An intriguing development of the past few days is the thickening plot surrounding Felipe Massa and his relationship with Ferrari.

It all kicked off, publically at least, in the build up to the Japanese race when Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo said: 'I have waited for Felipe with great perseverance in the last four races. I want a strong Massa who will shave points off the rivals...Those who race for Ferrari don't race for themselves, but for the Ferrari team colours. One who wants to race for himself will have to face the team'.

Curious stuff. Particularly given that, on the track at least, Felipe hadn't done an awful lot wrong in those four races. He scored a 3rd and two 4th places (in two of those races indeed taking points off championship rivals) and also came in 8th in Singapore after a mechanical failure in qualifying, absolutely not his fault, consigned him to start at the back. The inference could be taken that Massa's off track relationship with his team, particularity in regard to his his willingness to assist team mate Fernando Alonso's title bid, has become severely strained. We can also infer, going by di Montezemolo's stated chronology, that the problems are traced back to Hockenheim in July, the scene of 'team order gate' of course, wherein Felipe was required to cede a likely win to Alonso.

Japanese GP Report: Red Bull get it right

It's always nice when your predictions come true. Admittedly, I wasn't really sticking my neck out by suggesting that the Red Bulls would run and hide at Suzuka. Long fast corners, which are in bountiful supply at Suzuka, play right into their hands, and they have all season, and the result wasn't in doubt once Kubica left proceedings early. But this is the first time this campaign that the Bulls have converted one-two on the grid into one-two in the race, which says something of their maddening inability to turn pace advantage into hard results this year. It's made it more fun for us watching on though.

Fernando Alonso and the McLarens did well to at least keep the Red Bulls honest. Fred came home third, within three seconds of the Bulls, and will be glad to have limited the damage to his championship position. He and Vettel are now level pegging in the table, 14 points behind Webber (with 25 points for a win) with three rounds left. Indeed, all three of them will be pleased enough with their weekend's work: Webber will be pleased to stretch his lead ever so slightly, and Vettel will be happy to be right back in the mix, and back on form. In a weird way you wouldn't bet against any of them for the title. Webber does need to beat Vettel somewhere to be world champion, and the way Vettel's now going that won't be easy.