2000s: Greatest impacts on F1 part 2

 Circuits: Bernie Ecclestone/ Hermann Tilke

This is my second part on the largest impacts on F1 this decade.

With Bernie believing in there being a demolition derby off track instead of on track, lots of old circuits have faced the axe with number of new circuits (courtesy Hermann Tilke) coming up.

Good circuits such as Imola, A1-Ring have been removed, and great circuits such as Spa and Montreal have been on and off the calendar thanks to Bernie and co’s bambling. 

Wanting to generate more revenue (for himself), he has forced all circuits to cough up improbable amounts of money, but due to their inability to do so, has started circuits at places such as Bahrain and Abu Dhabi where prolonged interest cannot be expected. Circuits such as Malaysia, Turkey hardly get any spectators watching the races and hence are having astronomical losses.

It is not just the lack of fans that is being a downfall for these new generation circuits, it is the circuits itself which lack uniqueness.

It even came to the point where Silverstone was axed from the F1 calendar from 2010 onwards, but luckily Donington weren’t able to obtain the desired funds, and hence Silverstone has got its traditional slot back (which is great news for F1).

Circuits such as nurburgring and hockenheim are now being forced to alternate due to losses being generated by the millions. The only way out of it in this recession based climate is for Bernie to start accepting lower amounts from those circuits and keeping less for himself.

In short: Less overtaking and on- track action, less crowd and less revenue are all the major factors plaguing these new venues.

It is a harsh reality that F1 is facing, and with no solution close in sight, F1 is facing an uncertain future.

Presently: With the advent of the Indian grand prix, lot of the criticism has died down with the circuit coming in for lot of praise both in terms of on track challenge as well as region interest in sport. Will it last though?

2000s: Greatest impacts on F1 part 1

I thought I will write certain things which I feel impacted F1 the most this decade. Feel free to comment

 Ferrari

They had arguably one of the largest impacts on F1 this decade both on and off the track. Here are some of the important moments

      a)      Lows:

1.       Austria 2001/ 2002

Action:  They supposedly ended what was and will always be a very controversial aspect in Formula 1 racing. It began in Austria 2001 with Barrichello allowing Schumacher to go ahead in order to take second place.

There was not much noise made about this as this had been seen various times before. But when the same was repeated the next year on the same track and between the same two, but for the victory, the crowd could not take it anymore. Michael Schumacher was left highly embarrassed by the move and he got Rubens to come onto the top step of the podium leading to him being fined due to interfering in the podium ceremony.

Repercussion: Ferrari was forced to apologize to the crowds and symbolically “team orders “were banned from the sport.

There is still no confirmation as to whether team orders still exist or not with drivers and teams diplomatically avoiding any direct acceptance.

Presently: Team orders were reinstated into Formula 1 as per 2011 regulations.

2.       Spy-gate scandal 2007:

Action: This got the sport into large disrepute with reports coming out that Ferrari man “Nigel Stepney” had been caught having given confidential information to Mclaren through Mike Coughlan.

This is the only thing that is widely known, but there is no denying that those two were actually made scapegoats of this scandal. Renault too might have been involved along with other teams possible, and even other employees in Mclaren.

Repercussions: Mclaren were handed a large fine along with exclusion from that year’s constructors championship. But were Ferrari totally innocent??

Presently: Mike Coughlan has been announced as Williams F1’s chief Engineer on May 2011, whereas Nigel Stepney is currently the head of Sumo Power. McLaren offered Ferrari compensation for above scandal in 2009.

      b)      Highs:

Champions from 2000 to 2004:

Being the oldest team existing in F1, they are the most popular F1 team with clearly the largest fan following. But being the oldest team alone doesn’t make them the most popular, it is also their ability to build competitive cars, and in this decade they were at their competitive best winning back to back championships between 2000 (2001 in case of constructors) and 2004. In the following years too they regularly challenged for wins with Raikonnen winning the 2007 WDC and Ferrari the 2007 (due to Mclaren’s exclusion) and 2008 WCC.

      Repercussions:

F12002 and 2004: While their consecutive championships made them popular. The 2002 and 2004 seasons stand out with their dominance taking them to about 30 races in those two years. This made them more loved among their fans but caused critics much irritation with many telling that such dominance was making F1 “boring”.

So views vary based on the eyes of the beholder. With doubts (by Luca Di Montezemolo) being cast on their future participation, one thing that will always be true is Ferrari has had the largest impact on F1 since its inception, and if Ferrari does eventually leave the sport, it will leave the sport in tatters.

Presently: Though Ferrari havent been the dominant force they used to be since then, but by frequently fighting for the titles or wins, they have lept their own and all their fans hopes alive.

d)  Reliability

Action: This has been the least talked about aspect but is equally important. While in the previous decades completing 75% of races was considered nominal, Ferrari largely achieved their dominance thanks to their reliability.

Repercussions: With seasons coming and going, there has been an ever increasing focus on reliability which has lead to season results dependent largely on the performance, hence making many races a procession, which has lead to frustration for fans.

Presently: With the world moving towards green, it id=s becoming more and more important to conserve engines and machinery with engines expected to last 4-6 weekends together, disputing which drivers face grid penalties.

Brazilian GP 2003: a fan's perspective

I am a fan of Giancarlo Fisichella and this was one report I had roughly written after the race. I have edited it but tried to stick to my original to see it through a fan’s perspective. Enjoy:

Review:

It was raining very heavily before and during the start of the race. Frentzen’s car had a problem so he started from the pit lane. A few others- Pizzonia, Firman and Verstappen visited the pits as well for minor changes. Due to the extreme heavy rain, the race was started behind the safety car. It lasted for quite a few laps with many drivers visiting the pits in between in rider to fill up so as to stay on track as long as possible once the race actually began. The SC finally went in once the rain had reduced and track had become drier.

Very soon Heidfeld (Sauber) was the first retirement thanks to an engine failure. David Coulthard (Mclaren) took the lead from Barrichello (Ferrari). Barrichello was fading away at that point. Coulthard was under pressure from teammate Raikonnen who sliced ahead. Ralf Schumacher (Williams) and Jarno Trulli (Renault) were the first 2 casualties to the conditions, spinning but luckily saving the car at curva do sol. Ralph Firman’s (Jordan) front suspension broke and he smashed into Monaco 96 GP winner Oliver Panis (Toyota), hence ending both their races. This resulted with another SC period but things were not over for Maylander yet as he was called upon 2 more times as Justin Wilson (Minardi), JPM Montoya (Williams), Antonio Pizzonia (Jaguar), wet weather maestro Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), Jos Verstappen (Minardi), Jenson Button (BAR) spun and crashed at the later badged “most expensive junkyard in the world” curva do sol falling foul to the treacherous track conditions. 

Mark Webber (Jaguar) and few other drivers had scares but saved their car on time at the same turn. The wet track had been suiting the Michelin shod runners, but now the drying track played into the hands of the Bridgestone shod runners (Ferrari, Jordan, Minardi and Sauber). Barrichello who had fallen down the order soon started catching up with the leaders and was back in the lead ahead of David Coulthard on lap 44. Dreams of a home win for Barrichello were in everyone’s mind only to see him retiring having run out of fuel (fuel system issue). That continued a tearful Barrichello’s horrific home run. By this time Fisichella (Jordan- had pitted a few laps before SC had returned to pits) had worked himself up to fourth place, only to move up to third position after Ralf Schumacher pitted. Ralf came out ninth as Fernando Alonso (Renault) served a drive through penalty for overtaking under yellow flags. 

The order was Coulthard, Raikonnen, Fisichella, Alonso, Frentzen, Trulli, Villeneuve, Webber, R. Schumacher and Da Matta with all others out of the race. Coulthard then pitted handing the lead to Raikonnen. Trulli (apparently struggling) pitted and came out eight while Coulthard had rejoined in fourth place. Fisichella began to challenge Raikonnen and finally overtook him to the extreme joy of Jordan (who were celebrating their 200^th GP in F1). Seventh place Webber crashed on the start-finish curved straight hence bringing out the SC once again immediately. As the drivers were passing the debris (tyre), an over-enthusiastic (3^rd placed) Alonso ended up hitting it and spiraled into the barrier, thus bringing the race to a premature end. Due to a lapse by the officials, it wasn’t sure as to whom the actual winner was.  All thought Fisichella was the winner, and there were celebrations in the Jordan pit as Fisichella came into the pits (with his car partly on fire). While they were celebrating, the news came in that Raikonnen was the winner based on a 2 lap count back from when the red flag had been shown. Fisichella and the Jordan team were devastated, but they sportingly agreed to the result, but it was nice to see Raikonnen invite him to the top step of the podium.

Within 2 weeks there was the Imola GP to be held, but before that, things were cleared and Jordan sufficiently proved that Fisichella had started the new lap due to which a 2 lap count back would mean that Fisichella had been in the lead on the lap 2. Hence Fisichella was rightly declared the winner on the eve of the Imola GP and the trophies were exchanged. This was Giancarlo’s first and most special GP victory in my opinion

Historical facts:

-          This was Jordan’s 200^th GP

-          This was Formula 1’s 700^th GP

-          This was the first race wherein a driver (Alonso) was missing from the podium due to injury (as he was stretchered off to the medical center).

-          This was the first race wherein the victor didn’t get the trophy during that event.

-          15 out of first 34 laps were behind SC (21 SC laps overall)
      This was Giancarlo Fisichella's first win in F1
      This was Jordan Gp's last win in Formula 1.