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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: 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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Zoom Zoom: Another Day, Another Blunder

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 | Author:

Fresh off yesterday’s post announcing my tepid enthusiasm regarding the upcoming Formula 1 season, Bernie Ecclestone dropped another bomb on racing fans.

It appears Bernie thought that a points system didn’t work. It appears he somehow thought that of all the things ailing F1, the way a champion is determined is what deserved his attention. Now, whichever driver wins the most races wins the Championship.

I wonder if it’s just a coincidence that a Ferrari driver would have won the Championship had this rule been in effect last year? Having failed in all his attempts to foil Lewis Hamilton and McLaren last season, he will try to re-write the record books going forward. Of note: 13 past champions would not have won the championship if these rules had been in effect.

How are we to measure their accomplishments now? Have we empowered revisionists to claim: “Oh, he wasn’t really a Champion, that’s from the old era’s rules”? Bernie has essentially opened the door to a “win at all costs” mentality that could lead to erratic teams and drivers winning the Championship in a best case scenario. Worst-case scenario? Drivers become dangerous to protect their place at the front of the pack.
Since there are 17 races this season, it is now a first past the poll system where 9 wins guarantees the Championship. And so if we get to round 13, the Italian GP, with a driver winning his 9th race – the season is over. No need to get up on Sunday morning anymore. And do you think teams will compete as hard as they can once a Champion is crowned in mid-season? Fat chance. Teams, including the Champion’s team, will protect their assets, save on costs and start preparing for the following season.
One thing sports fans demand is consistency. Consistency in rules is the bedrock on which we can evaluate our current heroes against the annals of history. Is Lewis Hamilton as good as Ayrton Senna? Michael Schumacher or Jackie Stewart? It just got tougher to tell. You can change the rules governing the size of your rear wing and substitute slicks for grooved tires, but once you start messing with the barometer with which we crown our Champions, that’s where we get ourselves in trouble.
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