7.7.06

I’m amazed at the resilience of Formula One. It seems to be constantly tearing itself apart in disputes whilst actually getting bigger. The latest argument is, of course, whether there should be continuous engine development or it should be frozen. Max Moseley’s assertion that more power and revs were irrelevant in the real world must have jarred with several manufacturers, not least Ferrari. As for his suggestion that the money saved on engine development could be spent promoting US Grand Prix, I can clearly hear the spirit of Enzo asking “and exactly how will that help my cars win Grand Prix?”

However, it will all be resolved and the series will strengthen still further. Just think back to the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s when US CART racing was put forward as the rival to F1. F1 went on to its biggest growth ever while internal rifts split the US series. The whole US big single-seater scene is now just a backwater. When the Editor asked me to cover this race, I realised with a shock that I had no idea who won the Indy 500, once one of the three classics with Monaco and Le Mans. It was Sam Hornish Jnr., I bet you knew that, but do you know in what car built to what formula? (it was a Dallara Honda built to Indy Racing League regulations). [Actually it was a pretty good race, see pic - Ed.]

Now we had real cars and real drivers at Indianapolis, where Schuey had won four times already. Wouldn't you just love to see an F1 car do a few laps of the real circuit? After last year's farce the teams wanted to put on a good show. From TV it looked as though this year the fans had voted with their feet. Team personnel seemed to outnumber the spectators with vast banks of empty seats, but the powers say there were 130,000 there, so it must have just been a trick of the light.

Qualifying
When I last reported (Monaco), the Scuderia caused us a few worries. This wasn’t the case this time as Michael easily ruled all the sessions, with Massa ending up 0.6 second behind, though 0.7 second ahead of Fisichella. His Renault teammate Alonso only showed occasional flashes of his brilliance e.g. setting the first really fast time in final qualifying, but was generally all at sea and was overshadowed by his team-mate for once.

Lap record holder Barrichello took fourth in his Honda. Much was made of whether Ferrari’s Bridgestones gave them an advantage. One would imagine after last year that Michelin would be super-prudent but I wonder whether this was really the case. The second Bridgestone team was Toyota in eighth (Ralf Schumacher), so that’s hardly monopolising the top ten. I suspect the reality was that Ferrari were for once on a level playing field with tyres, which allowed the natural superiority of Ferrari engineering and drivers to shine through.

Qualifying held a few surprises. Crazy Dave isn’t used to being bumped out in the first 15 minutes and nor is Nico Rosberg but they were at Indy; as they were on different makes of tyre, Driver Excuse No.1 could not be used. Conversely the MFIs had a great day in 14th and 15th. Nico did not take his car to weighbridge scrutineering after his 19th place, so was bumped to the back of the grid; he says he just missed the signal whilst concentrating on his pit-lane entry speed.

Some of us older fans had nostalgic hopes that the "back to grass roots" Williams-Cossie might give some of the bigger teams a bloody nose, but this now looks like a forlorn hope as they fall steadily back and have now sunk to bottom-but-one in the constructor's table (neither MFI and Super Aguri have scored). One suspects that they have simply been overwhelmed by the sheer weight of resources of those above them.

McLaren languished in ninth (Raikkonen) and 11th (Montoya). A friend suggested that maybe Montoya had found good odds at the bookies on Lewis Hamilton replacing him next year and decided to make his investment secure….but then withdrew the joke after contacting his lawyers.

The Race
Alonso made a good start, moving from fifth to third, which was his best move of the race. Schuey, on the other hand, made a "relaxed" start and Massa got into the lead, but at least he kept ahead of the pack. This was a Good Thing because in the pack there was virtually a destruction derby at turns 1 and 2. Watching the TV recording several times showed about 6 cars coming together at the back of the field in turn 1, and close inspection revealed a bit more flying than was at first apparent. It’s a tribute to the strength of modern F1 cars that no-one was hurt and “only” Klein, Webber and Montagny were out. Meanwhile, at turn 2, the narrow track with an even narrower grippy line was taking its toll. Contrary to a number of observers, and in particular Mercedes’ Norbert Haug, I cannot blame Montoya (sorry, Winston.)

To my eyes, Jenson Button pulled what at Silverstone, or any real track, would have been a good move on the outside of Raikkonen, who became boxed in and braked rather heavily. Montoya had little option but to rear-end him and the well documented chain reaction of Montoya/Raikkonen/Button and the wholely innocent Heidfeld took place. The latter rolled longitudinally 4 times by my count (but some say 5), coming out of it remarkably coolly. Scott Speed’s Toro Rosso was another innocent victim, removing some of the US interest, though I’m glad to note that much of the US enthusiasm is directed towards Ferrari; maybe they’re not so dumb, but Speed did refer to “ShooMarker” in his TV interview.... To collect the bits of seven dead cars took five Safety Car laps. During this session, Henman's Honda lost water pressure and had to be retired.

In the absence of blaming poor Juan Pablo for the turn 2 incident, I believe true responsibility for the loss of a third of the field lies not with any driver but with the circuit designer. The infield section is too narrow, lacks grip, and turn 1 is too slow after the speed of the main straight. As Montagny said, you cannot stop a car from 200kph when the car in front is 5 metres away.

So with 15 cars, we had the restart and Takuma Sato immediately had one of his kamikaze moments and took out the normally safe Monteiro, much to the latter’s fury as this was potentially MFI's best race of the year, so we were down to 13 - getting close to the 6 of last year. Felipe Massa had a great restart, pulling out a lead the length of the grid over Schuey who was really caught napping. Alonso stayed third, and visibly held up Fisichella until lap 15. Schuey stayed calm in second, seemingly making little effort, while Fisichella pursued him vigorously but unsuccessfully, though putting Alonso in the shade.

On lap 24, baggy-suited, pop singing, Canadian Villeneuve’s BMW cried enough, and unable to find a disabled parking space, he left it trackside, gently smoking with the rears locked up - Bimmer owners ignore those service lights at your peril! Michael pitted on lap 29, giving us the only nervous moment of the race as he twitched into the pitlane. The stop was 8.2 seconds compared with Massa’s 7.3 on lap 30, but as Massa’s in lap was 2 seconds slower he rejoined behind Schuey. This was later blamed on a clutch problem, but it was fortunate as it gave Schuey the lead and it's difficult to see how this would otherwise have happened as "team orders" are not allowed of course. Michael was never headed again, even on his second stop. The whole race was, for Tifosi, a welcome throwback to the heady days of dominance – was it really only two years ago? Schuey’s last 43 laps looked so controlled, stress-free and easy – if those are words one can apply to getting a fastest lap and hitting over 330kph on the straightaway.

Fisichella ran through to third, pushed hard at the end of the race by Trulli who started 19th, avoided all the troubles and was rewarded with fourth. Alonso inherited fifth when Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota died on lap 63, but spent most of the race looking lost. Maybe the greats have off days, but Alonso seemed badly hit by not having the dominant car he is used to and he just didn’t handle the pressure. Opening race understeer turning later to oversteer is often a classic sign in the lower formulae of confused driver syndrome, and his post race comments were clutching at straws. Let’s hope this confidence crisis travels well back to Europe, also the delightful prospect of driving for McLaren must be looming ever larger...

The remaining points were taken by Charibello, Coulthard and Liuzzi, who scored Toro Rosso’s first point ever. The last two had won battles with Rosberg and, it pains me to say it, Coulthud thoroughly out-drove him and out-psyched him as Rosberg emerged from his second stop. I’m beginning to think that I’ve been wooed by his aggressive (or wild?) driving style, just like his Dad’s, but after the first race he’s been a disappointment and the style that looks great in an FW07 is frankly wrong for an FW28.

On the podium, Schuey was euphoric. He tried to explain it in the press conference but I think the real reason was that the Scuderia had scored a 1-2 without moving out of the comfort zone. They move back to Europe with a massive confidence boost; Alonso should be scared, and I believe he is. Whilst Indianapolis “road” circuit is a featureless, dull and silly track which would be better either converted to a golf course or tarmac’d over for car boot sales, it may just have been the venue for the turning point of the season. Michael, keep that space free in the trophy cabinet!