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Zoom Zoom: 2009 LeMans Defeats All Contenders

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 | Author:
Peugeot and Audi were hungry from the start

Peugeot and Audi were hungry from the start

At one point on Saturday morning, two hours into the start of the 24 Hours of LeMans, I turned to my brother and said: “There’s been more entertainment bang for our buck in two hours of this than in all other auto racing so far this season combined”. He had no quarrel with that assertion.

From the moment the green flag waved (well, in fact, it was a French flag – gotta love the French!), Peugeot and Audi went at it – hard. Peugeot had won the pole position with one of its three entries in P1 (Prototype 1 class). Audi were right there with them at the front of the grid.

Flying past the Start/Finish line, Scotsman Allan McNish weaved his Audi this way and that trying to get past the No. 9 Peugeot driven by Stéphane Sarrazin, who would have none of it. On a few occasions on that first lap, the two left their audience and team members holding their breath – crashing a car on the first lap of a 24 hour race is not recommended. Peugeot stayed ahead, however, and never relinquished the lead (albeit not with the same car).

During the first pit stop, Peugeot’s No. 7 car driven by Pedro Lamy pulled in and everything was looking good. The lollypop operator (that’s the guy who tells the driver when it’s safe to pull back into the race) gave the all-clear and Lamy gassed it and turned left. Unfortunately, the car whose pit lane was directly in front of him, the 17 Pescarolo Sport, was trying to get into his pit and instead slammed into the left rear of the Peugeot. It looked like a hard nudge (video below), but it was enough to pierce a hole in the Peugeot’s tire. Lamy continued on his way with fingers surely crossed, but once he got onto the track it became clear that disaster had struck. Smoke was emanating from the tire well and within a few seconds the tire had torn itself apart, whipping the side of the car and destroying the chassis. This went on for all 14 kilometers left between he and a return to the pits. So much debris was being spewed onto the track from the Peugeot that a full course yellow had to be instituted.

When I first saw the tire explode right outside the exit of pit lane I told my brother there was no way he could make it back. Defying the odds, the Peugeot chugged along on three wheels all the way back to pit lane, got pulled into the garage and spent 35 minutes getting  the left and rear of its chassis rebuilt – a truly remarkable job by the pit crew. The No. 7′s chances of winning were now infinitesimal, but it carried on nonetheless.

One of Audi’s P1 entries also had an adventure early on. Alexandre Prémat, driving the No. 3 Audi, somehow lost control in a chicane and spun the car into the gravel trap. At LeMans the rule is that if you can keep your motor running, the stewards will come out and push you back onto the track, which is what happened here. Losing ten minutes while stationary in a gravel trap is no way to go about winning a race, mind you.

That left two Audis and two Peugeots battling out for the rest of the race. As the sun was setting in France, German Lucas Luhr lost control of the No. 2 Audi and smashed into a tire barrier, completely destroying the back end of the car and forcing it to retire (video follows). You could sense the Audi team deflate at that moment (kinda like what happens to the Blue Jays when Roy Halladay goes down with an injury). With only one competitive car left on the track (and on this day, the ability of the Audi to compete with the Peugeots was debatable), the sense of doom in the Audi pits had taken hold.

The Peugeot team, with the pride of France resting on their shoulders, had not won at LeMans in 16 years. They were favoured for the last few years but Audi, with technically inferior cars, had found a way to race the perfect race. 2009 was to be Peugeot’s year, but not without some drama near the end.

French national pride was palpable on Sunday morning

French national pride was palpable on Sunday morning

With only a few minutes left, the No. 8 of Sébastien Bourdais (yes, that Sébastien Bourdais), who was then running in 2nd place, slowed to a crawl. The announcers started going crazy, wondering what kind of mechanical issues could be arising, and whether or not the 1st place No.9 car could be experiencing the same problems.

Turns out the Peugeot team were so far ahead of the third place car that they could afford to let the No. 7 Peugeot catch up to them (albeit still many laps down) so they could all cross the finish line at the same time – the perfect Peugeot photo-op, a rare luxury for teams to indulge.

Peugeot weren’t the only ones to take advantage of a huge lead at the end to partake in some photogenic posturing. Corvette, in their final race in GT1, brought their car into the garage, polished it up and made it all pretty for the finish. It was quite a risk to take, as rules state that cars in the pits have to be turned off and then restart on their own before heading back out onto the track. After 23 1/2 hours racing, you’re tempting fate by playing such esthetic games, but fortunately for them the good ol’ C6.R powered up without a problem. A high point for General Motors this year, wouldn’t you agree?

ALMS got a shot in the arm from its Ferrari entry dominating the GT2 class

ALMS got a shot in the arm from its Ferrari entry dominating the GT2 class

In GT2, what was billed as an epic battle between Porsche and Ferrari turned into a Maranello whitewash, as the F430 took the first four spots in class. Of note, the two Ferrari teams that came over from the American LeMans series ended up on the podium. The Risi Competizione team out of Houston beat all European contenders to take the top step on the podium. Well done, and it has me pondering a trip to Lime Rock, Connecticut on July 16th so I can see these cars for myself. Only a 6 hour drive and free camping with your race ticket. My girlfriend and I had planned a trip to Mosport the weekend of August 21st to do so, but with a good friend getting married, well…Lime Rock you lookin’ good right now, baby!

All in all I was completely satisfied with this year’s LeMans. Thrills, and spills, great battles and drama, the teams I was cheering for won and I was left looking forward with great anticipation to next year’s edition. If anything was lacking it was the company of both my brothers to watch it with me – I’ll have to twist some arms between now and next year’s race to make it happen.

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Zoom Zoom: LeMans On Deck

Tuesday, June 09th, 2009 | Author:
Looking for something new to watch? Check out the 24 Hours of LeMans this weekend,  

Looking for something new to watch? Check out the 24 Hours of LeMans this weekend,

Last week, my lovely companion asked me if I had any plans on Saturday, June 13th. Unable to think that far ahead, I turned to the trusty planner in my iPod Touch. “Saturday, June 13th. Let’s see here… Sorry Sweetie, LeMans is on that day.” Thankfully I have the best girlfriend in the world and that was the end of the conversation.

Committing to an event like LeMans is unlike any other sporting event – because it lasts 24 straight hours. I’m not hardcore enough to sit through 24 hours of racing, but I will probably watch at least 10 hours; the pre-race and start on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. until noon, the finish Sunday when I get up at around 8:00 a.m., and a few hours of coverage here and there Saturday. Not that I could watch all 24 hours even if I wanted to because Speed TV is throwing in coverage of other automotive events throughout the day Saturday.

I have fond memories of watching my first LeMans a few years ago. I was back at my parent’s place on account of the passing of my grandfather, and my brothers and I decided to watch coverage of LeMans when we could during that weekend. It was a welcome diversion from the other serious issues we had to deal with, and it was a rare moment of bonding for all three of us together (there’s a major age difference between all three of us. It was also the first year in which Jacques Villeneuve participated as a driver for Peugeot, which gave us extra incentive to tune in.

Part of the magic of LeMans is the track on which it takes place: Circuit de la Sarthe is almost 14 kilometers long with long straightaways and dangerous curves. A lap in a GT2 car takes 13 minutes, so if something breaks down just after you passed the pits, your chances of making it back there and fix the problem are minimal, and even if you do you lose an incredible amount of time.

Compelling pit action helps define LeMans

Compelling pit action helps define LeMans

As in the American LeMans Series, four classes of cars participate; two prototypes classes (who go as fast as F1 cars) and two Grand Touring classes (GT classes are modified street cars, like Ferrari F430′s and Porsche 911′s). The slower GT cars create moving obstacles for the prototype cars, which means the drivers must be alert at all times – no small feat when you’re racing two and three hours at a time (known as a stint, every car has three drivers who alternate between racing and resting).

Another alluring part of LeMans is that the pit stops act more like your neighbourhood service garage than what you see in an F1 or NASCAR pit. Cars often have to stay in the pits for minutes at a time, repairing bodywork, replacing worn brakes, clearing debris from ventilation ducts, etc. Coverage of the pits is often as compelling as what’s happening on track, especially during the nighttime hours where it’s difficult to work out who’s doing what on track due to limited lighting.

The men in the pits often go 40 straight hours without sleep, and as much as drivers try to sleep between stints, I can’t imagine trying to catch some shuteye after having just spent 3 hours driving as fast as 300 km/h. My buddy Jr. Forester could, but he’s no mere mortal (come to think of it, neither are these drivers). Heck even the commentators take shifts – there’s really no other event like it.

At the end of the day, winners are determined by the car in each class that has completed the most laps. It’s a war of attrition, with retired cars littering the side of the track, and exhausted drivers and crew members biting their nails for the last few hours, hoping the car makes it to the finish. 

If you’ve got Speed TV, check in a couple times on Saturday or Sunday morning if you have a chance. I’m a big fan of expanding one’s sporting horizons, and this great article brought to my attention by StephD elaborates on this point (don’t ask me to explain cricket to you, though, I have yet to decipher what it is they’re trying to accomplish out there!).

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Zoom Zoom: The Oval Trumps Monaco

Monday, May 25th, 2009 | Author:
Could the gear shift and clutch save F1?

Could the gear shift and clutch save F1?

The competitive situation in Formula 1 is so dire right now that a bunch of open-wheel cars turning left 1000 times was more exciting than Monaco. A few weeks ago when I started noting that F1 races were boring, I thought it was an anomaly that would correct itself upon the return to more traditional courses like Barcelona and Monaco. Sadly, that has not materialized.

The most exciting moment of the weekend was once again the qualifying sessions on Saturday. When the purpose of the session is running hot laps it’s exciting to watch the times as they’re posted, wondering if someone can best the top time, checking to see if a perennial favourite will somehow be dropped in one of the first two sessions, and who will get the pole position. We know and accept the covenant and for that reason the sessions are exciting. The covenant also states, however, that Sunday is for racing. What we’re seeing instead is just a bunch of cars running hot laps, with nary a chance of passing their opponents.

Part of this is due to driver skill. F1 has been extremely proactive in trying to make the cars less easy to drive in the face of technology that is trying to make the cars practically automated. The removal of ABS, traction control and automated starts over the years was meant to give drivers a bigger challenge. Unfortunately, these drivers are so skilled that they are up to the task and barely ever make any mistakes. Let me be clear that by “mistakes” I don’t mean “crashes”: what I would like to see a little more is brakes locking, spin-outs and cars bumping without exploding into a million tiny pieces of carbon fiber, all of which would increase the possibility of passes. Unfortunately, when you’re dealing with cars that go over 300 km/h, asking for more driver mistakes might be condemning more drivers to their death, and clearly that’s not what I’m shooting for here.

Perhaps something that should be brought back is the clutch and stick shift. The paddles the drivers use make shifting way too automatic, as confirmed by analyst and former driver Gerhard Berger pointing out on Sunday morning that the cars can shift gears 65x faster than you can blink your eye. Something tells me that he wasn’t exaggerating (he never does). Making the driver have to reach for the clutch with his foot, switch gears and release the clutch adds a “safe” element that could lead to many more mistakes, which in turn could increase the passing opportunities. The drivers might be up this task as well, however.

Best race of the weekend came from an oval

Best race of the weekend came from an oval

In Indianapolis, which I caught while flipping between it and the Blue Jays telecast, a race was definitely on, with actual passing! Sure they were going in circles, but I can’t fault them for the excitement it generated. Helio Castroneves was the winner, only a month after he was cleared of tax evasion in Florida (for which he would have served jail time had he been found guilty).

It was a perfect story (I heard “Hollywood” a few too many times during the afternoon, mind you), only diminished by the heavy religious angle taken by the broadcasters. As it was becoming clear towards the end that Helio would win the race barring a cataclysm, the pit camera focused on his sister holding a crucifix and praying. That’s fine with me, no harm done there. Where it became a little much was how every time they cut back to that scene, a new family member had joined in the prayer. The tipping point for me was when Eddie Cheever quipped “that’ll get you 10 extra horsepower right there”. No Mr. Cheever, it won’t, as any telemetry readout will indicate.

Anyhow, after the race was won the shots of an overwhelmed Castroneves were very touching. Rarely do you see an athlete (don’t go there, not today) display so much emotion, and it was very welcome. He could barely compose himself to speak with pit reporter Jack Arute. Another positive was Danica Patrick’s post-race interview, in which she came off as well as I’ve ever seen her; modest, cheerful, congratulatory – and it all seemed genuine. Hopefully it’s a sign of her finally maturing, because it’s clear she can race with the boys.

I thought the ESPN on ABC coverage was very good, especially Scott Goodyear (CANADA!). As noted elsewhere on the web (sorry, can’t find the link), the only problem with the coverage was the gear-head stuff was a little too much. Perhaps that was due to the fact that there were four pit reporters competing for something relevent to say.

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Zoom Zoom: More Upheaval

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 | Author:
My only shot at owning a Ferrari (Laura wont let me)

My only shot at owning a Ferrari (Laura won't let me)

Here’s an interesting question: Would F1 without the drama off the track be interesting all? I ask the question because the past three races have been complete snoozefests, only made interesting by the drama not involving cars racing on the track. During the Spanish GP last weekend, my brother and I counted two passes during the entire race. Two. It’s come to the point where the qualifying on Saturday is more exciting than the actual race on Sunday.

Off the track, however, the manoeuvres are coming fast and furious. The latest in the never-ending political hemming and hawing at the FIA involves some pretty serious threats: Ferrari, Renault, Toyota and Red Bull are all threatening to pull out of F1 if new regulations being imposed on the series for next season are not revoked. The regulations in question are huge in their implications. What the FIA has proposed (and in fact has put into effect for next season) is an “optional” budget cap on race teams. Those that adhere to the cap will be allowed greater technical freedom, and those that spend past the cap will have technical restrictions.

I’m of two minds on this. First, F1 is the peak of automobile racing. This is where car companies come to research and develop their leading-edge automotive technologies. When you limit the amount that a company can research and develop for their cars you are hindering their capabilities not only as a racing team, but as a car company. On the other hand, spending has become so obscene in F1 that only a few teams could realistically compete. Bringing a cap in would level the playing field and theoretically improve the on-track product, which has admittedly become quite stale.

As with most F1 political tussles these days, it comes down to a battle of wills between Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone. Mosley, the embattled FIA supremo is digging trenches and preparing for a pitched battle, according to this snippet from a Reuters article:

“Mosley said recently that he was locked in a power struggle that he intended to win.

‘The sport could survive without Ferrari,’ he said. ‘It would be very, very sad to lose Ferrari. It is the Italian national team.’”

In the same Reuters piece Bernie Ecclestone confirmed what we had all suspected for a long time, that he is totally in bed with Ferrari: “Formula One is Ferrari and Ferrari is Formula One, it’s just a marriage made in heaven”. Thanks for clearing that up, Bernie. Maybe he could set up a Middle-Eastern auto racing series featuring only Ferraris: that would be the natural conclusion of his every move in the past few years.

As an F1 fan, these types of battles are the only compelling storylines to watch. Getting up early on Sunday mornings sure isn’t doing it for me these days. Let’s keep a close eye on this one.

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Zoom Zoom: Remembering a Hero

Friday, May 01st, 2009 | Author:
      

Ayrton Senna: 1960-1994

 

 

 

 

 

Ayrton Senna: 1960-1994

It was 15 years ago today that Ayrton Senna died at the wheel of his Williams-Renault on lap six of the San Marino Grand Prix. Senna is considered one of the greatest race car drivers of all-time: the only other driver who belongs in this debate is Michael Schumacher.  As a boy Senna was one of my heroes, right alongside Mats Naslund, Tim Wallach and Dan Marino. No one ever got me into Formula One – it’s just something I must have caught on TV one day and it completely captivated me. 

Senna was a larger than life character. His talent was clearly superior to his contemporaries, and he had the swagger to go along with it. He was a reckless driver who always brought his car right to the edge of its capabilities, in the mold of Gilles Villeneuve. He had a rivaly with Alain Prost which dwarfs anything that currently exists in any sport, if only because theirs was a rivalry which could end in one of them dying.

They genuinely hated each other: Prost hated Senna for being cast aside as the top dog in F1, and Senna hated Prost for not accepting what was evident to all – that he was The Man. For years this went on. After spending a few years impressing the racing world by driving inferior cars to unexpected success, Senna finally got a good car in 1988 by joining McLaren as a teammate to Prost, and it was on like Donkey Kong. 

Senna won the World Championship that first season as Prost’s teammate, but Prost came back and won the title the next year before leaving for Ferrari. The poisonous atmosphere between the two had become too much to bear. In fact, when Senna signed on to join Williams in 1994, effectively becoming Prost’s teammate again, Prost would have none of it and retired a year before his contract expired. Over the course of Senna’s career, he and Prost bumped, crashed and collided into one another countless times (most of them when they were teammates!). I can’t see another rivalry ever ascending into the Senna-Prost stratosphere. 

But, as many had predicted, Senna lost his life at the wheel of his car. Unpredictably, however, the end came due to mechanical failure as he was rounding a high-speed corner and the car refused to turn. He smashed into the concrete wall at 217 km/h. The following video shows the crash, so if you don’t want to see it don’t click.

Ayrton was the last driver to die in F1. He was not the only one to die that weekend. In qualifying on Saturday, Roland Ratzenberger died. The drivers voted to go on with the race, but Senna was shaken by the incident and rounded up the drivers, vowing to re-establish the F1 Driver’s Safety Committee that Saturday night. After his death the committee was brought back and has made a big difference (Mark Webber is its current President). Incidents that would have killed drivers in the past, like the following Robert Kubica crash in Montreal in 2007, give the driver a much better chance to survive:

If you can believe it, because driver safety is now a priority due to tragedies to people like Senna, all Kubica suffered in that crash was a sprained ankle. I believe that’s one of the most important legacies Ayrton Senna left behind.

Ayrton Senna was laid to rest in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Among his pallbearers were teammate Damon Hill, fellow Brazilian driver Emerson Fittipaldi and, yes, Alain Prost. There is a fantastic Prost  interview available here which explains the difficulty Prost must have experienced with the sudden death of his rival. I will end with a few snippets I found fascinating:
   

Senna and Prost: Greatest rivalry of all time

Senna and Prost: Greatest rivalry of all time

“When he died, I said, that I felt a part of me had died also, because our careers had been so bound together. And I really meant it, but I know some people thought it was not sincere. Well, all I can do is try to be as honest as possible.” 

(snip)

“I look back on those days now and think to myself, ‘Jesus, what was that all about? Why did we put ourselves through all of that?’ Sometimes it seemed like a bad dream. Maybe because usually we were so much in front, it was inevitable that there would be problems between us, but why did it have to get so venomous – why did we have to live like that? I used to say to people, ‘You’re a fan of Ayrton Senna? Good, that’s fine – but please don’t hate me!’ It was the same with the press.”

“The pressure was so high, so high… If we had to do it all again, I think I’d say to Ayrton, ‘Listen, we’re the best, we can screw all the others!’ With a lot of intelligence, it could have been such good dream. Still, even as it turned out, it was a fantastic story, don’t you think? And I think, in a way, we’re missing a little of that today.”

 

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Zoom Zoom: Bah-rain Boh-ring

Monday, April 27th, 2009 | Author:

The Bahrain GP got off to one of the most exciting starts I can remember. There was passing, jostling, and more passing. Drivers jockeyed for position over the first couple of laps, highlighted by Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton trading 3rd place a few times. For a few moments, it looked like were going to witness a race for the ages – then it got as bland as the desert backdrop.

It’s still refreshing to see Ferrari struggle and a new team dominate, as Brawn is doing by winning three of the first four races. But please allow me to indulge on getting a little something off my chest. Fuck You Bahrain. Fuck you and your desert track with 50,000 spectators being preferred for its petro-dollars over Montreal’s lush scenery and feverish fans. Fuck you for painting cutesy little colours onto the SAND that lines the track. You’re not fooling anyone. Buffalo N.Y., Joan Rivers and the Bahrain Grand Prix: three things you cannot “pretty up”, no matter how much money you throw at it. Fuck you Bahrain.

I really have nothing against Bahrain and its desert. I’m just bitter about Montreal having its F1 race revoked after 44 of the past 46 years because of unpaid ransom demands by Bernie the Pirate, only to be replaced by locales that have no F1 tradition or even much interest. Sometimes I cannot contain it. As Zach de la Rocha once so eloquently put it: “I’ll give you a dose but it could never come close to the rage built up inside of me”.

Congrats to Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel and Jarno Trulli on their podium finishes. Word is that Ferrari will be upgrading their car significantly for the next race, two weeks from now in Barcelona. Can’t wait to see if they can pull it off. It will also be a great opportunity to wish Fernando Alonso as little luck as possible on his home track (Lola is going to go apeshit when she reads that last part).

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Zoom Zoom: Play With Water, You Get Wet?

Monday, April 06th, 2009 | Author:

NASCAR fans who read this column will be forgiven for feeling smug this morning as I write of an F1 race that had to be stopped because of rain; only a month ago I took a shot at NASCAR for ending their crown jewel race due to a rainshower. What goes around…

The Malaysian GP was stopped with 32 of 56 scheduled laps to go. What made this particular red flag situation unacceptable is that F1′s brain trust had decided to push the start time of the race an hour later to better accommodate European television viewership. This was done despite the objections of local officials, who argued that at this time of year, at that time of day, Kuala Lumpur almost always receives a torrential downpour. I guess we notch this up as another feather in Bernie Ecclestone’s cap.

What we were left with was another win for Jenson Button, followed by Nick Heidfeld of BMW and Timo Glock of Toyota. If you don’t follow F1 closely, those are not household names. Ferrari once again was left pointless, and Lewis Hamilton of McLaren finished 7th (I wonder what rule FIA will invoke to strip of his points this week?). Because the race was stopped with less than 3/4 of the race finished, only half the usual points were awarded.

The saddest part of the whole situation is we had a great race going. There was a number of exciting battles on the circuit, notably a fight between Lewis Hamilton and Mark Weber that saw them switch position four or five times within a few laps. The threat of rain was making some teams lose their minds, as when Ferrari sent Kimi Raikonnen out on the track on “extreme wet” tires, even though not a drop had yet fallen. Three laps later, when the rain finally started coming down, the tires were shredded and he had to pit again. Good times.

Two races down in the calendar, and trends are starting to develop:

- Brawn GP is for real. Button qualified on the pole again, and Barrichello was fourth. Two straight wins for the team means they are the ones to beat until other teams find a way to improve their front wing, which is generally being credited for their quick start.

- Ferrari are hurting. Yes, I know they generally get out to a slow start, but this is different. They look terrible out there. If things don’t shape up soon, I predict heads are gonna roll.

- Williams-Toyota are fast (in practice). It looks like the car is quick, and Niko Rosberg is putting down some really fast times in practice and qualifying, but they don’t see to have the car where it needs to be to compete for the Championship. Don’t be surprised if they pull off a couple of wins, though.

- Lewis Hamilton is one of the best drivers in the world. That much is becoming clear this season. Sure he won a Championship last season, but this year he doesn’t have a car. Kovalainen isn’t even in the same galaxy when you look at what each driver is getting out of that “bagnole”.

The next stop is the Chinese GP on the weekend of April 17-19. Judging by the first two races, you don’t wat to miss it.

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Zoom Zoom: Update on Hamilton Incident

Thursday, April 02nd, 2009 | Author:

Here’s what the report from the stewards says:

The FIA have revealed details of the new evidence that prompted stewards to strip McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton of this third place in the Australian Grand Prix and hand the place back to Toyota’s Jarno Trulli, who had originally been penalized for passing Hamilton under the safety car.

According to the FIA, in the original enquiry into the incident, both Hamilton and McLaren stated that they had not deliberately let Trulli pass. However, in interview footage recorded immediately after the race – and not originally seen by stewards – Hamilton says he was instructed to move over for the Italian.

Furthermore, the FIA say that McLaren radio recordings contain ‘two explicit orders’ given to Hamilton to let the Toyota pass. Based on this new evidence the stewards ‘felt strongly that they had been misled’ by the driver and team, resulting in their decision to disqualify the world champion.

Full statement from the FIA:

PENALTY IMPOSED ON DRIVER NO 1 LEWIS HAMILTON AND COMPETITOR VODAFONE MCLAREN MERCEDES

SUMMARY OF KEY CONSIDERATIONS

At the first hearing following the Australian Grand Prix the Stewards did not have the benefit of the radio exchanges between driver No 1 Lewis Hamilton and his Team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes nor did they have access to the comments to the Media given by Lewis Hamilton immediately after the end of the race.

From the video recordings available to the Stewards during the hearing it appeared that Jarno Trulli’s car left the track and car No 1 moved into third place. It then appeared that Trulli overtook Hamilton to regain third place, which at the time was prohibited as it was during the Safety Car period.

During the hearing, held approximately one hour after the end of the race, the Stewards and the Race Director questioned Lewis Hamilton and his Team Manager David Ryan specifically about whether there had been an instruction given to Hamilton to allow Trulli to overtake. Both the driver and the Team Manager stated that no such instruction had been given. The Race Director specifically asked Hamilton whether he had consciously allowed Trulli to overtake. Hamilton insisted that he had not done so.

The new elements presented to the Stewards several days after the 2009 Australian Grand Prix which led to the reconvened Stewards Meeting clearly show that:

a. Immediately after the race and before Lewis Hamilton attended the Stewards Meeting he gave an interview to the Media where he clearly stated that the Team had told him to let Trulli pass.

b. Furthermore, the radio exchanges between the driver and the Team contain two explicit orders from the Team to let the Toyota pass.

The Stewards, having learned about the radio exchanges and the Media interview, felt strongly that they had been misled by the driver and his Team Manager which led to Jarno Trulli being unfairly penalised and Lewis Hamilton gaining third place.

Transcript of the radio transmission between Lewis Hamilton and his team:

Team: OK Lewis, you should need to make sure your delta is positive over the safety car line. After the safety car line the delta doesn’t matter but no overtaking. No overtaking.

Lewis Hamilton: The Toyota went off in a line at the second corner, …, is this OK?

Team: Understood, Lewis. We’ll confirm and get back to you.

LH: He was off the track. He went wide.

Team: Lewis, you need to allow the Toyota through. Allow the Toyota through now.

LH: OK.

LH: He’s slowed right down in front of me.

Team: OK, Lewis. Stay ahead for the time being. Stay ahead. We will get back to you. We are talking to Charlie.

LH: I let him past already.

Team: OK, Lewis. That’s fine. That’s fine. Hold position. Hold position.

LH: Tell Charlie I already overtook him. I just let him past.

Team: I understand Lewis. We are checking. Now can we go to yellow G 5, yellow Golf 5.

LH: I don’t have to let him past I should be able to take that position back, if he made a mistake.

Team: Yes, we understand Lewis. Let’s just do it by the book. We are asking Charlie now. You are in P4. If you hold this position. Just keep it together.

Team: OK Lewis, your KERS is full, your KERS is full. Just be aware. You can go back to black F2, black Foxtrott 2.

LH: Any news from Charlie whether I can take it back or not.

Team: Still waiting on a response Lewis, still waiting.

Team: Lewis, work on your brakes please. Front brakes are cold.

Team: If we are able to use one KERS that would be good. If you deploy KERS please do so now.

Team: OK, Lewis, this is the last lap of the race. At the end of the lap the safety car will come in, you just proceed over the line without overtaking, without overtaking. We are looking into the Trulli thing, but just hold position.

My questions are:

a) why was Trulli deemed allowed to pass Hamilton, if he had gone off the track?

b) knowing this, why did the team tell Hamilton let Trulli pass, then try and take it back and tell him not to let him pass?

c) why DID they lie to the stewards? Seems to me all they had to do was tell the truth and Trulli would have been punished for passing under yellow?

d) even in light of them lying, the facts remain that Trulli went off by mistake, Hamilton passed him legally, then Trulli passed Hamilton illegally. Why is Hamilton being stripped of his points (and not being awarded third position)?

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Zoom Zoom: More Politicking In F1

Thursday, April 02nd, 2009 | Author:

Let me set the stage for you on what happened at the end of the Malaysian GP: Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel are locked in a heated battle for second and third place on the podium with three laps to go. (In my view), Kubica is overly-aggressive and is at fault for causing both cars to wipe out, ending their race. A full-course yellow is then necessary and the race finishes under caution with Jensen Button coming first and Rubens Barichello coming second. Because of the crash, Jarno Trulli is now in third and Lewis Hamilton in fourth. This is where the shenanigans begin.

Depending on who you believe (shouldn’t there be video of this!?!), Trulli somehow ran off the track. Seeing this, Hamilton passed him. Not sure if he was allowed to do this, Hamilton sought advice from his team and they told him to let Trulli pass him again, which he did. After the race, McLaren Mercedes filed a protest stating that Trulli passed Lewis Hamilton under caution (a no-no), and should be awarded third place. The protest is accepted and their positions were officially swapped.

Today, however, the decision was reversed and Hamilton was stripped of all points earned in the race because either he or the team lied to stewards about what really happened. I’m still trying to wade through the reports to figure out what truly (Trulli?) happened, but even if McLaren tried to gain an advantage by stretching the truth in their telling of the story, isn’t stripping them of all points a little harsh?

And ask yourself this question in all seriousness: If you replace Hamilton with Felipe Massa of Ferrari in this situation, is the same judgment handed down?

Not only that, but Vettel was handed a 10 place grid penalty for his involvement in the Kubica crash. I’ve heard many opinions on this from experts and fans. At best, people thought it was a 50-50 blame share, a racing incident, and at worse it was Kubica’s fault (my stance). The stewards once again saw it completely differently. Again, no explanation.

This is what disgusts me about F1. There are no legislated penalties for issues like this – the penalties are handed down subjectively and without proper explanation or justification. It leaves the door open to all kind of conspiracy talk. F1 would do itself a favour by being consistent in its rulings. Alas, Bernie and Max are the ones running this circus.

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Zoom Zoom: Australian GP

Monday, March 30th, 2009 | Author:

As I settled in yesterday morning to watch the Australian GP, as that beautiful sound of F1 cars buzzing about reached my ears, as the sights being beamed from Melbourne reached my screen, it dawned on me: F1 is not coming to Montreal this year. It just felt so wrong as that reality began the process of settling in. No Montreal F1. No Canadian GP. Heck, no North American race.

An incredibly bittersweet feeling sat in the pit of my stomach as I watched and listened. Excited that F1 was back, devastated as I realized there would be no trip to see Montreal transformed into a big car festival this summer.

But then, as I surfed the net and emerged from my week-long slumber, I found a ray of hope. Turns out money can’t buy you time, and the track being built in the United Arab Emirates is woefully behind schedule, and rumours were flying in Melbourne that Bernie would have to crawl back to the organizing committee of the Canadian GP to see if they could replace it with a race in November. This hasn’t happened yet, but how fantastic would that be? Oh, and I fully support the stance organizers in Montreal are taking, basically saying “If you want back in, you come back for the long haul”. That’s right. You wanted to pound us with your stick when you had the long end, Bernie? Time for some payback.

As usual, politics off the track were threatening to overshadow the action that actually matters. Other than the Montreal talk, there were also a number of teams lodging protests against Brawn GP, the team that replaced Honda in the field, and their interpretation of the rules governing the front wing of the car. As I previously posted, many new rules were being brought into effect this season with the hope of cutting costs and leveling the playing field. Word is, however, that Brawn’s offence is more against the “spirit” of the rule than any type of legality, so either the other teams will adapt or the FIA will clarify its rule: no sanctions are forthcoming against Brawn GP.

Whatever they did to that front wing, it worked! Brawn GP, using a Mercedes engine, were 1-2 in qualifying and 1-2 in the race. It was only the third time that a new entry to F1 has won the race. Jenson Button ended up beating Rubens Barrichello at the finish, and Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren Mercedes took third spot despite being denied his spot on the podium as the stewards tried to figure out how Jarno Trulli passed him under caution three laps from the finish. Ferrari were out of the points (sad, I know), and whatever wishes the FIA had for leveling the playing field, they achieved. We’ll just have to see how things play out over the course of the season.

One complaint I had is despite all these rule changes promising more competition and more battles on track, the latter did not materialize. Only a few times during the race did we see true battles (and unfortunately the best one was aborted when Robert Kubica foolishly tried to run Sebastian Vettel off the track with three laps to go), and if I’m not mistaken the lead never changed hands. I don’t hide my disdain for NASCAR, but they’ve got us beat in terms of leader changes and wondering who will come out on top.

But this day belonged to Ross Brawn, the architect of this new F1 team. He was the genius who teamed up with Michael Schumacher at Benetton and Ferrari, and moved to Honda once Schumi retired. Forced to build a team within a few months after Honda pulled out, he has assembled a winner. Such last minute was this endeavour that they only announced their title sponsor shortly before qualifying on Saturday. Richard Branson is getting into the F1 game by making Virgin the eye candy on these un-sexy cars (pictured, right). Call me brainwashed, but there’s just something odd about seeing a race car that isn’t plastered with sponsor liveries . Something tells me that after this weekend, sponsorship money will come rolling in. Such is the life of winners.

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