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Set amidst the rolling vineyards and orchards of the Emilia Romagna region of Northern Italy and just 35 mins from Maranello, the 24th San Marino Grand Prix was the starting point of the European calendar - which will see 8 races in 12 weeks The weekend was tinged with sadness as it was the 10th anniversary of the loss of Ayrton Senna – one of our sport's all time heroes, commemorated by his long time team mate and friend Gerhard Berger at the wheel of Ayrton’s Lotus 98T; banners also paid tribute to the hard-charging Austrian Roland Ratzenberger who also lost his life doing what he loved best on that terrible weekend. With the three fly-away races complete, teams were able to operate in more familiar circumstances and for the Anglo-Italian Minardi operation, their transporter hardly got chance to warm up on the 15 minute drive from their Faenza base. Prize for the most lavish new motorhome goes to Bridgestone, which had so much spacial glass that it would make a commercial tomato grower envious!! Jenson Button arrived in Italy buoyed by an impressive result in Bahrain and a successful test in Barcelona, which is the F1 circus’s next port of call. Rumour abounded that this may be the 24th and last Imola GP with Istanbul a likely replacement – Bernie Ecclestone described the Imola facility as “an old house in need of attention”. This was the latest in his continuous yet justified tirade against the circuit owners of the more established venues – Bahrain and Sepang have reset the standard for race facilities and without patience and financial intervention Silverstone could follow suit. On the race track Imola demonstrated the status quo amongst the teams and drivers, with the time sheets an accurate reflection of who’s hot and who’s not in 2004. Michael Schumacher’s peerless performance in the first three races meant that he arrived in Italy with maximum championship points and the Scuderia leads the Constructors title by a similarly healthy margin. Sadly Rubens Barrichello’s consistency and performance has dipped and his disappointing race performance in following Jarno Trulli’s Renault will have done nothing to ease the calls for his replacement – and after Valentino Rossi’s stunning performance last week, what price him joining the Scuderia at a future stage? John Surtees's record as the only man to win championships on 2 and 4 wheels has stood for 40 years – could Rossi be the man who changes that? With the superb management skills of David Richards, the entire BAR team looks like a cohesive unit that is now capable of fighting for Grand Prix victories. Jenson Button’s star shines ever brighter as the Brackley based team is able to forget the negative contribution of Craig Pollock and Jacques Villeneuve and concentrate on honing the race winning potential of Geoff Willis’s design; which enabled the team to secure it and Jenson’s first pole, in his 87th race, and his strongest podium to date. Takuma Sato continues to show significant speed, and not just because he was fined for speeding in the pitlane four times over the weekend! F1 is a fickle business and the current team in the doldrums is McLaren. Ron Dennis’s men are having a difficult ’04 and the engine problems at Ilmor have resulted in senior management changes with the arrival of Dennis’s acolyte Martin Whitmarsh in Brixworth. David Coulthard has served his team and Mercedes masters well over a prolonged period and it was sad to see yet another weekend end in a disappointing 12th place and a lap down. Similarly, the oft expressionless Kimi Raikkonen managed to get his MP 4/19 home in eighth place and with completion of McLaren’s new palace in Woking, maybe his team can now concentrate on regaining its much needed form. In a recent interview ex-World Champion Alan Jones described Frank Williams and Patrick Head as two of the most determined “racers” in F1 and it is easy to see why the men from Grove are partial to Juan Pablo Montoya (at least his racing style!) and his aggressive stance against Michael Schumacher’s “blocking tactics” was wholly justified. JPM arrived at the Tosa corner on lap one side by side with Michael and exited it with all 4 wheels on the grass and a sizeable hole in the side pod of his Williams!. The post race press conference did little to suppress Montoya’s anger – for the future we can only hope that this on track rivalry doesn’t degenerate into the Senna/ Prost clashes of old. Ralf Schumacher’s lacklustre season continued, qualifying slower than his team mate and racing to 7th overall and just 2 points. The recent publicity surrounding his high value, multi-year contract with Toyota has highlighted his current lack of form and his diffident manner will do little to ingratiate him to the Japanese manufacturer. With the aid of improved power from its V10, the Flavio Briatore led Renault team continues to make progress – as usual, both Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli drove solid races, finishing 4th and 5th respectively with Alonso demonstrating that he is definitely one to watch for the future. Overall the Grand Prix was a let down – Jenson Button converted his pole into an excellent race start that left him 2.7 secs ahead at the end of the first lap and Michael Schumacher gave a virtuouso performance to win his 74 th race from 198 starts, more wins than Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell combined. Paddock rumour continues to focus on the futures of Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso….in Imola the well founded suggestion was that Webber is close to the top of Frank Williams ‘05 shopping list - and with the likely end of year departure of the current driver lineup, Jacques Villenueve’s name has figured equally strongly. Barrichello’s performance in Italy raises concern about his long term future at Maranello – Alonso and Massa have been named as potential replacements but with Valentino Rossi’s performance ……….? The “spectacle” of F1 as the most technologically advanced motorsport category needs attention! Fellow “petrolheads” have commented at the lack of overtaking compared to other formulae – DTM, IRL, Champcar and NASCAR are spectator friendly categories that encourage racing and overtaking – witness the 54 lead changes in last weekend’s NASCAR Talladega race. F1 must address this issue far quicker than Max Moseley’s wide ranging plan for 2008!
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