Today’s (un)surprising fact
It’s been announced today that Fernando Alonso and McLaren-Mercedes are to part company, two years before end of their contract. Apparently it’s a mutual decision based on the fact that Alonso was not a happy bunny for most of the season. Neither side will be liable for any financial penalties.
It’s not a shock that Alonso is moving on; everyone expected it after the comments that were made to the media before, during and after the Ferrari-McLaren spying scandal. Alonso, I think rightly, expected to be top-dog at McLaren for 2007, and he was rather unprepared for the Hamilton factor. Not only was this rookie being given at least equal and possibly better support by the team but he could also drive a lot better than anyone had any right to expect. As result of all the in-fighting and background shenanigans, Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari came in at the last minute and stole Alonso’s crown.
It’s expected that in a year or two, Alonso will be driving for Ferrari but no-one yet knows where he’ll be going for 2008. Wherever it is, he’s going to be hard-pressed to win back his Championship crown without a red or silver car underneath him.
It’s all about the maths
This weekend is the final race of the Formula One season. Rookie Lewis Hamilton leads the championship by four points from team-mate Fernando Alonso, and seven points from Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. All should be plain sailing, but with Lewis’ DNF in China a couple of weeks ago nerves are a little frayed.
Ideally, Lewis will keep it simple and win the race. That way he takes the championship - and becomes the youngest winner ever (a record he’ll take away from reigning champion Alonso), as well as the first driver to ever win the championship in his rookie season. But Alonso and Raikkonen are both determined to win as well, and both have been more consistent than Lewis recently.
So, it’s likely to come down to the maths; I can hear James Allen and Martin Brundle now as they try to keep on top of the points changes as the race progresses. Today, the official F1 site has posted details of who needs to finish where for the three possible outcomes to the championship, but I’m going to summarise them here.
For Kimi to win the championship
He must win the race, but also Alonso must finish no higher than third and Hamilton no higher than sixth. It’s asking a lot, but this is Formula One - and at Interlagos, which can be tricky - so anything could happen.
For Fernando to win the championship
He must win the race, but Hamilton must finish no higher than third. If that happens, it will not matter where Kimi finishes.
For Lewis to win the championship
Ideally he should make it easy and win. Failing that, he just has to finish in front of Alonso and Raikonnen. If he can’t do that, and Raikkonen wins, he needs to finish better than sixth. Alternatively, if Alonso wins Hamilton must come second. Save us all the tension, Lewis, and win the race.
Of course, both Fernando or Kimi could win the championship without winning the race (Fernando could go as low as fourth, but Kimi can only afford second), but that would rely on the other two contenders having DNF’s or finishing way down the order and if you are going to start factoring in all those connotations we could be here all night!
In the UK, race coverage starts on ITV1, Sunday 4pm - I know where I’m going to be! Come on Lewis!!
Time to do a Schumacher?
Now, I’m not one to suggest that the FIA might be biased towards a certain red-coloured make of Italian car (oh hang on, yes I am), but it is beginning to look somewhat less than fine and dandy if you happen to be driving a silver-coloured make of Anglo-German car.
After a superb effort at the rain-soaked Japanese GP, Lewis Hamilton, champion-elect and Fernando’s besh-mate (really), is now under investigation for erratic driving behind the safety car. Seems a couple of others weren’t paying proper attention and had a crash that ended both their races and now they reckon it’s all Lewis’ fault.
The particular move they are complaining about seems to have been to take a different line into a corner - perhaps to feel for grip - which may have been unexpected but hardly erratic. Lewis is now threatened with losing the points he gained in the race and suffering a 10 place penalty on the grid for this weekend’s Chinese GP.
Who has the most to gain from that? Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari’s number one driver - who has closed to within five points of Alonso and would be only seven behind Lewis if Lewis was penalised.
My advice to Lewis? Follow the example of another Ferrari driver - a certain Mr Schumacher - and if you can’t beat ‘em fair and square (and let’s face it, the FIA don’t seem to be being even-handed with penalties at the moment) run ‘em off the road!
Update: the FIA decided - rightly - not to penalise Lewis for his driving behind the safety car. Not really sure how they could have made that sound plausible, and I think someone must have made that point to them. So now we can go into this Sunday’s race knowing that all Lewis has to do is finish in front of Fernando and Kimi to win the championship. Go Lewis!
FIA loves Ferrari, hates McLaren
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/6991147.stm
http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2007/9/6767.html
It’s been obvious for a few years that the FIA - the governing body of Formula One motor racing - are big fans of Ferrari. Today it’s been shown that they will do all they can to bring Ferrari back to the top when Ferrari’s cars and drivers aren’t doing the job. In the “spying”row that still hasn’t been adequately explained to the viewing public, McLaren have now been found guilty, excluded from the constructors championship and fined $100m.
Isn’t it about time the farce that Formula One has become was put out to grass?
Update: the FIA has published it’s full decision on the issue (read it here); looks like - despite what they’ve said in public - McLaren were a bit more involved in the whole thing, and that there was a regular throughput of information from Stepney (Ferrari) to Coughlan (McLaren) rather than just the one document. What the FIA has not been able to do, though, is to prove conclusively that the leaked information was used to make changes to the McLaren cars.
I suppose, really, that no-one should be surprised by this level of industrial espionage in Formula One. There is a lot of money at stake, which makes the actual racing almost a secondary consideration.
Go Lewis!
Formula 1 has this year welcomed a young British driver to the grid, Lewis Hamilton. Driving for McLaren, who have been nurturing his talent for the last ten years or so, Hamilton has made the best start to the season of any rookie ever; one third place and four seconds in the first five races of the season. [edit: make that one 3rd, four 2nd and two wins in his first seven races, to be 10 points clear at the top of the championship, ahead of reigning champion Alonso]
A stand-out aspect of this young star’s driving is his ability to gain places at the start of the race, one of the most important over-taking opportunities in what is, largely, a very processional motorsport with only limited over-taking opportunities.
He also has the ability to drive very maturely under pressure - whether that pressure is coming from his team-mate (current world champion Fernando Alonso) or his Ferrari rivals Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa. All-in-all he exhibits driving ability of someone with much greater top-flight experience, as well as being the current top British driver, ahead of veterans like David Coulthard and Jenson Button.
Which makes Jacques Villeneuve’s comments in Autosport magazine all the more difficult to understand. Villeneuve, lest we forget, is a former world champion who is not currently racing in Formula 1 since he became too expensive for the poor results that he was getting.
An more unkind observer than I might think that Villeneuve is jealous because he was only champion in the year when he happened to be driving the best car, or that by the standards of Formula 1 he is only an average driver, or that he only got where he did by trading on the name of his more flamboyant, exciting father.
What I would take issue with is when Villeneuve says that Lewis make “aggressive defensive moves away from the grid”. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? It’s a race, for goodness sake, not a politeness competition: “Oh please, after you..”
He also criticises “chopping moves” that Lewis has made; from what I’ve seen, Lewis makes determined and definite advances. He has not caused any accidents, he has not caused any damage to an other drivers car; he just goes past them. Again, isn’t that what he’s supposed to do?
Finally, in another criticism, Villeneuve says that Lewis has “started to look the way Michael Schumacher used to”. That’s Michael Schumacher, seven times world champion, the most successful Formula 1 driver ever. That Michael Schumacher. I think that if I was in my first season in my sport and someone compared me to the greatest exponent of that sport that ever lived, I’d take that as a compliment not a criticism. I certainly wouldn’t want to be compared to a nearly-man like Villeneuve!
It seems to me that there’s a certain amount of sour grapes attached to Villeneuve’s comments and I’d say to Lewis Hamilton: keep it up son, you’re doing great, don’t change it.
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