Car Body Language

It's all change at Ferrari.

Alonso is out and Vettel is in.

But, more significantly, di Montezemolo is out and Marchionne is in.

Both these changes seem to be F1 related.

Well, obviously the first one is!  It is covered in this week's news from many sources including The BBC who also covered the news last month about Sergio Marchionne taking over the chairman's chair from Luca di Montezemolo.  As can be seen in that article, there is speculation that Luca's departure is him being pushed out due to disagreements with Marchionne.  These will be partly down to the very poor recent performance of the Ferrari F1 team.  I don't see swapping Alonso for Vettel altering things there - the problem is the car not the driver - I reckon Alonso is the better of the two albeit not by a lot.

Anyway, as boss of Fiat-Chrysler, the parent company of Ferrari, Marchionne has the power to take over and that is what is happening - on October 13th to be precise.

Which leaves things a little awkward for them at the Paris Motor Show this week.  Paris saw the last ever Ferrari press conference for Luca with Sergio there to "support" him.  Andrew Frankel of Autocar covered it in two articles first factually, then artistically.

The first article reports the usual corporate press-conferencey stuff - the future direction of the company etc. and does have the little dig where Marchionne claimed his most important priority was to return Scuderia Ferrari to the top of Formula 1, a goal he described as a "non-negotiable objective."

The second article looks at how the two men appeared at the press-conference:

The outgoing boss is enthusiastic and open while his successor looks bored off his trolley and decidely uncomfortable.

 

It makes an interesting read.

 

And I know who will be the happier man on October 13th.

Abu Doubley

Bahrain don't like The Flintstones.

But Abu Dhabi do!

It's six months since I last commented on F1.  It's about two years since I gave up watching F1.

I still follow the odd F1 story though.

Today's from the BBC is about the sport's attempts to make itself more popular again.  They think that it is losing popularity because it is becoming more boring with Red Bull/Vettel winning all of the time.  A bit like the '90s when Ferrari/Schumacher were winning everything.

The FIA have come up three changes:

1. A spending cap for all teams
2. Double points for the last race of the Season (Abu Dhabi)
3. Drivers get to chose a number and stick with it for their careers

The first of these is basically a good idea although the richer teams won't like it very much.  I've always been of the opinion that if people don't like the dominance of a team - it isn't that team's fault - it is up to the other teams to improve.  However, if the other teams don't have as much money to play with, they will never improve enough.  I speak here as a fan of a Premiership football club that cannot compete financially with the likes of Manchester City or Chelsea.

The second change is the one that has really set the cat amongst the proverbial pigeons.  I love reading the readers' comments at the end of such articles and, in this case, the fans are almost unanimous in their condemnation making some very good points along the way - some teams and drivers perform better at certain tracks - Abu Dhabi is not an exciting circuit - a driver with a 49 point advantage could lose the title.

The third change seemed pointless to me until I read on and saw the commercial/marketing angle - think Nigel Mansell and "Red 5".

I think the commercial/marketing angle must also be coming into play with change 2 since Abu Dhabi is where the money is but not a lot of fan interest.

And, of course, there may be more instances of the championship going to the last race of the Season - hence less boring.

The boring-ness is only one aspect of the dwindling popularity though - another is the sport disappearing behind paywalls in more and more countries - sorry to bring back my reason for giving up on it.  Andrew Benson, the BBC Chief F1 writer, believes that the same arrogance that existed among the teams then is still there - he states,

"Inside F1 teams, though, senior figures are more phlegmatic. They are not that worried about the purists - they reckon they will watch anyway. And if this new idea, gimmicky though it is, attracts more casual fans, all the better. "

 

I have to disagree with them if they really do believe that.  They thought that about the BBC/Sky deal and seem to have been proved wrong there.

 

My favourite comments though come from someone calling himself (or herself) Abu Lincon - a play on Abe Lincoln perhaps?  First he (or she) posted,

 

"Abu has good suggestion to all F1 fans...switch over to the far superior NASCAR...better cars, faster cars, better drivers ( some women too as they are better driver than the man ) and legandary circuits like Daytona, Indianopolis and Sazuka."

 

I wondered if this was a wind-up mentioning Suzuka but apparently they have raced Nascar there.  It was a bit of harmless trolling though because it was followed with this,

 

"Abu has read your comments again and u all seem sad about rule change, so as Abu good friends with F1 supremo Christoper Ecclestone, i have text him telling him the fans are not happy and he should scrap this rule. He text back sayin "who is this?" and i txt him it his good friend Abu. He hasnt replied back so Chris is obviously thinkin things over so hopefully he change mind and Abu save the day"

I wonder if Abu is British given his mis-spelling of Lincoln and his reference to Christopher Eccleston.

 










Anyway, I know who I'd rather have running F1.

And his name isn't Bernie.

Indycarn't

Saw this F1 story yesterday in my new favourite car news site, Autoguide.com. It claims that "many companies associated with the commercial side of the sport are very concerned about a decline in popularity" possibly as a result of rule changes such as reducing the number of engine cylinders and the max rpm.

I don't see these changes affecting the popularity of the sport - maybe the engine notes won't be quite as roary - but that won't affect the majority of spectators - ie viewers at home. Those at the circuits may survive longer before deafness kicks in as well.

As for the reduction in engine revs, it's already having a positive impact with considerably more cars finishing races. Mind you, the cameras do enjoy a big engine blow-out and cars skidding on dropped oil.

The biggest threat to the popularity of F1 at the moment is Sebastian Vettel winning every race. Last year was much more exciting.

The promoters are considering moving over to Indycars.

This may be fine if they are American-based but the rest of the world is not interested in Indycars. It's a bit like the sport Americans call "Football" and the rest of the world calls "American Football".

Looking at the official Indycar Website, they have a lot of drivers, currently led by Britain's own (OK Scotland's own) Dario Franchitti but the only other ones I've heard of are Danica Patrick and Takuma Sato. They do, rarely, travel outside of the US but only as far as Brazil, Canada and Japan.

I don't ever see Indycar rivalling F1. A1GP tried and failed to do so - they will never have the magic of Monaco or Silverstone or the personalities or the glamour.

They've managed to find an awful picture of Bernie for the article - nearly as bad as his black-eye pics. He seems to have some sympathy for the argument. I don't.

I think I generally like Bernie - he is a ruthless businessman - but not a Rupert Murdoch. He was good fun on Top Gear last week directing Jeremy around the Monaco circuit. I don't even hold it against him that he is a co-owner of Queens Park Rangers Football Club - although some QPR fans might! He also sometimes gets it wrong like when he was reluctant to postpone or cancel the Bahrain GP - as time goes on, it still looks very wrong to go there.

There is one thing that Indycars has over F1 though...

I bring you back to one of the three drivers I'd actually heard of, Danica Patrick.

It's the Pits for Alonso...

...but good news for Sebastien Vettel! Good news for Sébastien Loeb as well but that's another story. It looks to me like Alonso was effectively scuppered by a mistake by Vettel's Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber.The story is covered by BBC News here so I'll not go into too much detail. Suffice it to say that Mark Webber clipping the barrier with his offside-right-rear wheel and causing a significant spark was not planned but it probably led to him being concerned enough about his tyres and wheel to pit earlier than planned.

This then spooked Ferrari into bringing in their drivers for fresh rubber.

This brought Webber (and the Ferraris) back into the race among traffic they would have been well clear of if they'd waited. Webber got stuck for a lap behind Jaime Alguesari who would have been in a bit of a dilemma due to the incestuous nature of F1 with his Red Bull sponsorship and Ferrari engine and no obligation to let Webber past since they were fighting for track position.

This left Vettel and the Mclarens of Hamilton and Button to take the podium positions and Vettel to take the Championship.

My prediction last November that Jenson Button will not be World Champion in 2010 came true last week when his mathematical chances were destroyed although he did finish up a creditable fifth including a couple of good race wins.

To my question last December, "Could 2010 be the best Formula 1 Season Ever?" I would say, "Despite a poor season for Schumacher, it's certainly been the best in a very long time."

2011 could be even better though.

I feel pleased for Mark Webber

I should feel a bit sorry for Christian Horner since I actually have some sympathies for what the team did this weekend - but then again I don't because of what happened in Turkey and also the abysmal way the team handled the situation.

Mark Webber a fortnight ago

Anyway, last week, Red Bull decided to try out a new front wing design that seemed to gain them 0.1seconds a lap which is a huge amount in Formula One these days. Unfortunately for everyone, the one fitted to Vettel's car failed and this is where Horner and Co. made the decision to take the one off Webber's car and give it to Vettel - this looked remarkably like favouritism - something the team were accused of after Turkey. All commentators saw it this way, especially when the team announced that this had been done for "Championship reasons". And, importantly, Webber saw it this way as well and was seriously angry.

In qualifying, the wing helped Vettel get to pole position with Webber in second place. However, when the race started, Vettel had a very poor start allowing Webber to get ahead with Lewis Hamilton right on his tail. Vettel cut across the track to try and stop them and quickly backed off when he realised they were on for another collision but did manage to touch Hamilton's car slightly. Only slightly but enough to cause a puncture which took Vettel out of the battle and eventually put him back to last place after he pitted.

A few times this Season, commentators have reported that people were saying that "Vettel can't overtake" - I don't know who these people are, but they were well and truly proved wrong as Vettel, admittedly with the help of a safety car, fought his way right back up to seventh. Meanwhile, Webber ran the perfect race, leading to the end with Hamilton chasing hard but not having the legs to keep up.

As he crossed the line, the BBC viewers were treated to the radio feed with Webber saying to his boss, "Not bad for a number 2 driver!" with Horner responding something along the lines of "You're allowed to smile now!"

The result was poetic justice - karma - call it what you will but Horner was then treated to an embarassing interview with Humphrey, Coulthard and the brilliantly acerbic Eddie Jordan - very entertaining. Horner made the point that should have been made clear to his drivers at the start of the season and should have been emphasised when the decision to take the wing was made - that if they only have one component that both drivers want, it should go to the one with the most championship points at that time. It is a sensible rule, employed by F1 teams since F1 was invented and Horner did point out that at the next race, since Webber now has more points, he would get any disputed component.

Vettel was interviewed after the race and I believe that he had seen the error of his ways in Turkey and was a bit embarassed himself at the furore at Silverstone which was not, after all, his fault - although the crappy start was. He said, "Obviously I focus on myself and so does he I guess. Especially after what happened in the past people have different opinions, I have opinion, I have my experiences and sometimes, good and bad, you get to know people a little better and see their true faces. So I think I have learned my lesson and focus on myself."

I feel sorry for Mark Webber

At lap 41, the Turkish Grand Prix yesterday turned into one of best in a very long time. It had been quite processional up until then - a little mild overtaking at the very start then it took pit stops for anyone else to gain advantage on the track. However, I do think the Istanbul circuit is one of the better ones for no other reason than there are good overtaking opportunities available providing you are close enough to the car in front. Any road up, on the 41st lap, the man on the right here, Sebastian Vettel, was running second behind his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber with the McLarens of Hamilton and Button in third and fourth.

Webber had slowed slightly to conserve fuel and Vettel decided to nip up the inside. He then decided to turn in early, while still alongside Webber - this caused a collision taking Vettel straight out and causing Webber to have to pit conceding the lead and falling back to third. The BBC reported the post-race fallout here.

I wouldn't normally have bothered commenting except for the reaction of team-boss Christian Horner who seems to be siding with Vettel and blaming Webber. This goes against not only my view, but also that of Martin Brundle, David Coulthard, Martin Whitmarsh and common sense. Even Eddie Jordan, while defending Vettel's desire to win and need to get ahead, did reluctantly admit that it was probably a mistake. After all, rule number one in Motor Racing is "Don't crash into your team-mate!"

This indicates that although Webber was (and still is) leading the Drivers Championship, he is viewed by Horner as a second driver. I am a very big fan of Vettel's but he clearly made a big error of judgement yesterday and should take the rap accordingly. Webber has been around for ages and would be viewed by many in the same way Button was up until last year - an OK driver who is generally outpaced by his team-mate. But this season, given the right car, he has proved that he can mix it up with the best of them and should, therefore, be treated as at least an equal.

Not too long after this incident, with Button chasing Hamilton for the lead, he launched an audacious move on his team-mate and successfully got past. Hamilton being Hamilton wasn't going to settle for that and soon fought his way back. During both of these moves, the cars came so close to "doing a Red Bull" but the McLaren drivers obviously had a little more sense and gave way when necessary. It must have been heart-stopping for the team but it was very entertaining and showed what could be done and what should have been done.

Incidentally, it was nice to see Schuey come in fourth. Albeit well off the pace, he will be particularly pleased at beating his own team-mate into fifth.

Who knows, maybe Formula 1 could become exciting again - just needs more good overtaking circuits and more evenly matched cars to get into positions to overtake.

Bit like BTCC.