The F1 season 2004

Smelling the coffee? I thought you hated management speak Michael

Since Cosworth are up for sale, wouldn't it be logical to assume that someone will buy them and carry on supplying to Jordan and Minardi and possibly others? I wonder if the smaller F1 teams can jointly afford to buy Cosworth? Can you imagine the politics if Ecclestone or Moseley were to buy Cosworth?

BTW, I agree with you Michael that the costs need to be cut but how can it be done whilst ensuring that F1 remains the technological pinnacle of motor racing? I mean if electronic, engine, tyre and aerodynamic developments are slowed down, isn't there a danger that other formulas such as Indycar might catch up or overtake F1(forgive the pun)?

 

Hi Julian,

"if only the races were as exciting...."

I would prefer the terms "interesting and challenging" as there are quite a few people liable to lose their jobs here!

It is a big mess and hopefully somebody, probably Bernie, had better get it sorted out.

Ian

 

Hi Michael,

"F1 has been through a few crises but this one is the first one where I think it could all go really pear shaped. Everyone's had their head in the sand for too long regarding cost-cutting and everyone was playing political games instead of smelling the coffee "

As an insider I don't think it will go pear shaped.

The issue really is whether companies want to market themselves through F1. There has been an increase in the amount of money spent in this area during my 14 years working in F1. This suggests that F1 is viable from this point of view, i.e. companies make a good return on investment.

The issue of banning tobacco sponsorship is the big issue for F1 to deal with but as it seems to be happening okay it shoud only cause a blip and not kill the sport.

As to smaller teams coming and going. I think that is a shame that this seems to be happening but ultimately most people watch the bigger and more successfull teams and often aren't worried about who is being lapped for the 2nd or 3rd time. Of course for the real fans this is more of an issue.

Ian

 

Well, well, it looks loke Michael Schumacher must be reading this website. Just a few days ago I suggested a rule change to make him always start from the back of the field and he complies without any pressure from Bernie or Max. 18th!

Interesting results in Shanghai; RSC qualifying ahead of MOY, and JV putting in a very respectable qualifying, I have to say.

 

A great track and a great race - on the strength of this Grand Prix, maybe F1 really should ditch a few races in Europe and go to pastures new.

And a great result for BAR, who should now be well on their way to 2nd place in the constructors' championship. A good race by Button and an even better one by Sato. Firing Trulli and and bringing in JV hasn't paid off for Renault, so far. Congrats to Ian and all at BAR.

Button seemed pleased with the team; given Williams' performance, if I was in his shoes I'd have doubts over my decision to go there.

And why does Michael S. have days like this one only after he has clinched the championship?

 

A great race indeed and a superb track for overtaking and seeing different lines. My congrats too for BAR. I doubt that Renault can snatch 2nd place now, especially if JV's much hyped "comeback" continues in the same vein as yesterday. Overrated and over the hill IMO, but we shall see.

Ralf's "pitstop" for a puncture was a comedy of errors for Williams, a shame too as he'd been running well up to that point.

Markus, MS had 3 races like this one to start off the 2003 season...and then he had Hungary and Hockenheim, all before the championship was won . Something didn't add up for me though. It's stretching credibility that MS could make such an elementary driver error in qualifying and then a similar error (albeit at a different corner) during the race. He's the master of car control so it's incredible how he got caught out twice like that. Maybe something in the setup that weekend made the car exceptionally twitchy. On RTL Nikki Lauda was speculating after qualifying that it might even have been a deliberate error (allthough I find that hard to believe).

Michael.

 

Nicki Lauda is so in love with MSC that he can't even entertain the thought that he made a driving error. He comes across sometimes like a 13 year old school girl at the back stage door of some boy group.

My somewhat cynical view of this is that RTL hypes Schumania to increase their ratings, and Nicki's comments are part of the hype. If he was more critical of Schumacher and Ferrari, I doubt he'd be given so much prominence in the proceedings.

IMHO Schumacher's relaxed a little since winning his title; if he'd be pushing as hard as usual, it would have been counterproductive for Rubens' chances of clinching 2nd place as a driver. So why should ge give it the maximum.

For the next race, however, I predict a Schumacher win. His competitiveness will come to the fore again.

 

I confess to wondering whether the practice spin was deliberate. After all, he finished second in Italy from the back. Was this a move to give the new Chinese fans something for their money and entice them back again?

On the other hand, can't see the race spin as being deliberate and the tyre business certainly didn't help. Perhaps even the Schumachers have their off-days.

Great to see Rubens B. get some credit for a change and come out from the shadow of Schumacher.

 

Certainly an entertaining race, (for a change) nice track I hope we keep coming back there, its not one of Shumie's favorates so that is good in my book!

Ya he certainly had a off day, in fact I think we should have stayed in bed all weekend, but then we wouldn't have seen some classic "rookie" moments, I mean what was he thinking when he attempted to over take that Jag? Anyone else would have had a driver through for that, it was more than oppertunistic, it was taking the p1ss.

Rubens had a good drive and a well deserved win, but I would have prefered to see Button or Kimi win.

What is going to happen next seasion then? Loosing Jag, the Ford Cosy engines are going we could loose 3 teams, what is going on? Something has to be done to save F1 or we could be down to 14 cars next year!

 

Maybe he needs a new challenge (ie starting from the back), after all he doesn't seem to have much trouble winning from the front

And as a trivial ps... anyone know what the champagne they spray at the end is?? Seems a waste of decent bubbly if of course it's anything good (accordingto my G/F)

 

Hi Markus,

"Button seemed pleased with the team; given Williams' performance, if I was in his shoes I'd have doubts over my decision to go there."

Out of the last 13 races we (B.A.R) have either outscored Williams or got the same number of points as them. They have matched us on points scored only twice out of those 13!

Williams made their choice of RSC and MOY and have had a very strong driver line up for many years. And yet their overall performance has been poor. They need to make some changes to their engineering team to turn round their car design if they want to compete at the front again.

Their battle is for 4th place in the championship, not first where we are used to seeing them.

Ian

 

Used to be Moët & Chandon, but now I think Mumm's the word.

P.S. It was when this was written:

http://www.mumm.com/eng/celebra/ce_communik4.htm

 

It's Mumm champagne. Looks like Di Montezemolo got his eyes full of it on the podium as for a while he looked genuinely in pain!

Markus, I think it's only normal that RTL should be a Schumi fan. They don't hide their impartiality towards the other German drivers either but I don't have a problem with that. ITV do the same for British drivers. When in Portugal I have a choice of the Portuguese (RTP1) coverage or RTL (on cable) and RTL is far superior. The Portuguese commentators just watch the race on a studio in Lisbon and commentate from there with the live timings web screen on a laptop next to them. Also, coverage starts about 30 seconds before the parade lap and usually ends before the press conference.

I like the RTL commentators Heiko Wasser and Christian Danner, they're certainly a lot better than James Allen on ITV allthough I do like Brundle's input there.

Incidentally, I just looked at the RTL site and their headline article is Lauda: Bin von Schumi enttäuscht

Michael.

 

I love their heading "Schumi so schlecht wie nie zuvor", plus other mentions of the "Schumi-Debakel". We do not like our Götter to fall off their pedestals, do we?

 

LOL.

Probably the most important thing to have happened in Shanghai was the meeting between Bernie and DaimlerChrysler's Jürgen Hubbert. The German media are picking up on Bernie's comment that a man his age can't do much forward-planning and speculate on whether this is a first sign of Bernie getting tired.

A question to the audience: if you were Bernie, what would you try to do to ensure F1's continued viability? And profitability, of course?

 

A question for all you (remaining) F1 fans out there:
Do you think the axing (as now seems more rather than less likely to happen) of the British GP would have an adverse effect on F1?
From my point of view, should the Brit GP go F1 would lose one of the final vestiges of soul it has retained.
OTOH, F1 is wholly monotonous non-sport now anyway, so possibly it would make very little difference.

 

No way is the British Grand Prix going to die. The Silverstone brouhaha is just another instance of Bernie being greedy.

It's more likely that one of the German races will be axed, or even one of the Italian ones.

 

I wouldn't be that bothered about losing the British GP allthough it would be a shame as most F1 teams are largely based in the UK or staffed with Brits and Silverstone was the first ever track to host a world championship Grand Prix of the modern era.

I'd be far more upset though about losing either Monaco, Spa or Monza. Those are the tracks where the soul of GP racing lies IMO.

Michael.

 

Agree with you about Monza and Spa, but Monaco? The only thing special about Monaco is the atmosphere, created by all that wealth & posers I guess. The racing's a procession more often than not so the race is won or lost in qualifying.

Perhaps I'm a bit harsh here .

 

Yes Dev, but Monaco is more than that. It's part of the history of F1 (and GP racing before that) and it's the only track that has remained substantially the same since it was first used (before WWII at least). It's a drivers track which presents a challenge unlike any other. Millimetric precision is required - one touch of the barrier and you're history. It's a track that tends to favour the greats such as Senna and Schumacher allthough he hasn't had much luck there recently.

It's also the only track where spectators can get close to the action.

Michael.