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As erudite as my co-correspondent Arthur Beattie may be, he is completely wrong in his insinuation that I was in hiding after the Bahrain GP as a result of my prediction of total Honda domination. I was, in fact, down under enjoying some Commonwealth Games corporate hospitality and somehow managed to miss the Grand Prix but I am now back on duty. With Button second on the grid and finishing third in the race I was only slightly wrong, even if he still doesn't seem to deliver that killing pace which wins races, especially around the pit-stops. Barrichello worries me more in that he is just not getting to grips with his new car. He spent so many years at Ferrari, driving a car built for the super-sharp Schumacher style that the more gentle Button Honda continues to perplex him. Nothing wrong with the car at all, it's just that it is very Jenson-friendly and a bit of a gentleman’s carriage. The new qualifying format entertained enormously but the TV graphics still needed a lot of work before us viewers had a chance of following what was going on. The teams were also still learning about the new format and one or two nearly got caught out by the fast-changing scenarios within each of the three qualifying sessions, all crammed into one short hour. At one time Michael Schumacher himself was threatened with not being part of the final ten and even the two Renaults were only sent out at the very last minute to set a quick time. Some pundits complained about the 15 minutes worth of fuel guzzling that went on in the final session and I suspect that this.phpect of qualifying will at some stage be changed by the FIA. The final shootout, the last five minutes, was just superb as each driver not only had to go flat out but also use some intelligence in looking for an open track position. Fisichella emerged on top for Renault after Alonso was handicapped by being filled up with fuel twice. Apparently the gauge didn't work the first time, but believers in conspiracy theory might well argue that if Renault knew they were on top, wouldn't they rather have Fisi win as Alonso's off to McLaren at the end of the season? The Ferraris were in various technical troubles over the weekend. Massa used no less than three engines, Schuey two and this put them way down the grid with the ten place penalty applied. Coulthard's Red Bull also had a Ferrari engine change and the whole lot has been ascribed by rival teams to piston ring problems. Apparently they sent a recording of the Ferrari engine noise to a sound laboratory in Italy who provided the analysis; F1 never ceases to amaze. Although normally when Coulthud starts complaining everyone runs for cover, he does increasingly have a point about the confusion effect of the automatic ten-place penalty for an engine change. It leads to all kinds on nonesenses, like drivers not bothering to qualify, grids being artificially distorted, and the final qualifying not necessarily being the starting order. If it confuses the public, never mind the commentators, then it can’t be right. The bendy wing issue re-surfaced again after a few years [actually seven, but mine bent on my fibreglass 308 years before that - Ed.] and indeed, the rearward over-the-wing shot of the Ferraris showed quite clearly the gap between the two top planes closing markedly at high speed. And the front wing didn't half move around around as well, but as Ross Brawn said, you need to get as close to the rules as possible. Ferrari were told to get their wings sorted out before Australia, but several other teams are using the same interpretation of flexibility and now McLaren and BMW-Sauber have been told to sort their rear wings out too. The race itself was not one of the most exciting. Fisichella made good use of his pole position and, in a rare achievement for him, kept outstanding pace throughout the race to out-drive and out-fox the normally superior Alonso. Button never quite had the measure of them and simply was not fast enough to get beyond his third place. The McLarens had a dismal weekend, with Raikkonen being tagged by Klien into a crash right at the beginning and Montoya cruising around in a desultory fashion to finish fourth, just ahead of the two Fazzas. Both Michael Schumacher, who started 14th, and Felipe Massa, who was
right at the back of the grid, gave workmanlike performances as they came
through the field, but finished a lack-lustre fifth and sixth, with Massa,
thanks to his single pit stop, finishing just ahead of his team leader.
Both seemed reasonably satisfied with at least gaining some points over
the weekend and seemed to agree that Sepang was going to be their worst
circuit. Of the others Nico Rosberg impressed enormously, just as in Bahrain,
and again gets my Man of the Race award. He does seem to be able to drive
the car flat out for as long as it lasts and aren't the Williams Cosworths
going well! To an old Cossie fan (you should have seen my Sierra) it is
nice to see them handing it to their estranged engine partners BMW in
qualifying, although sadly both went bang during the race. Maybe 20,000+
rpm in a hot, second race, was not ideal; though they were by no means
alone in suffering problems and only 14 cars came home. As a final thought, what has got into Volvo and Saab with their daft
mid-race advertisements? As Alexi Sayle once pointed out, only a fascist
dictator looks good in the back of a 4-seater cabriolet. This seems to
limit their potential marketplace somewhat...
Click here to return to the Ferrari Happenings page.
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