MOTORSPORT: Action attraction without traction

Monday motorsport reportMarch 17, 2008

Made so largely by the removal of traction control from the cars this year.

And there's a huge irony in that.

We're all for entertaining racing, especially when temperatures are as high as yesterday, and long may it continue.

But isn't it odd that, when five of the world's biggest car manufacturers -- Toyota, Honda, Renault, Mercedes-Benz and BMW -- and the world's most worshipped sports car maker -- Ferrari -- are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to compete in F1, that they have to be ordered to remove the traction control technology for the sake of the racing?

Surely the development and improvement of traction control is something that has great potential for the motor industry generally in terms of safer road cars.

Anyway, for the sake of the fans -- 108,000 on race day the organisers claimed, and the media seems to have pretty much accepted that number without question but perhaps a little muttered cynicism -- the track action was considerably better than in most GPs run at Albert Park.

The two most memorable races have been the two with the least finishers -- 2002 and this year, with just seven running at the chequered flag (and then one of them, the Honda of Rubens Barrichello, excluded because he drove through a red light exiting the pits).

We don't bother here with race reports as such, especially of events that have had a major public exposure through television, but we offer a few perspectives.

Lewis Hamilton's victory was a totally professional performance from a 23-year-old well on the way to becoming a world champion.

His McLaren team, too, was close to its clinical best, giving Hamilton a superb car to start the season, when reliability is often an issue.

With just an ounce more luck, Heikki Kovalainen would have been second in the other McLaren-Mercedes. Instead, he had to accept fifth.

Nick Heidfeld ought be the next GP winner though, unless Kovalainen beats him to that chequered flag in what at the moment is a better car than Heidfeld's BMW-Sauber.

German Heidfeld was outshone in qualifying by his younger Polish teammate, Robert Kubica, who would have been on pole position except for getting on the track verge on his hot lap.

While Kubica still made the front row, Heidfeld demonstrated again that he is a brilliant racer.

He now has vast experience, a cool temperament and is with the manufacturer most likely to catch McLaren and Ferrari first.

Everything points to a victory not being far away for Heidfeld -- and it will be thoroughly deserved.

The GP started so promisingly for Australia's hope, Mark Webber.

Pre-season testing pointed to Red Bull having overcome its reliability issues and in Friday's practice Webber looked good, although he was the first to admit that his best lap -- second only to Hamilton, albeit 0.9 seconds slower -- was flattered by a low fuel load.

Then came Saturday's horror with his car's failure in the right front end, prompting what may become the most memorable quote of Webber's careeer -- "it's a good thing we (Red Bull Racing) don't make aeroplanes".

Then in the almost inevitable bumping on the first lap of the race he was out in an instant.

Webber's misfortune has again brought out the knockers who seem to think that his poor finishing record is all his fault.

It's not, but the reality is that -- whether through better luck, better driving or better management -- Webber needs to chalk up several podiums this season to retain his place in F1.

Amid all the doom and gloom, remember that once before Webber went from Melbourne to Malaysia, where the "circus" now heads for the secound round of the championship this coming Sunday, and put a Jaguar on the front row of the grid.

That kind of performance alone won't yield him points or podiums, but qualifying up front will give him a much better chance of staying out of the kind of argy-bargy in which he has found himself so often caught up.

The other positive for Webber is that, as disappointing as Melbourne turned out to be for him yet again, it's not like a footballer copping an injury that keeps him out for four or eight weeks.

He has the opportunity to get his season underway properly in less than a week now.

The downside of Webber's bad luck in Melbourne is that -- despite the general excitement about a better event yesterday -- it makes it hard for F1 in Australia to ride on him throughout this season and heading into next season.

Indeed, if the results don't come for him this year there may be no next season.

We heard one F1 commentator whose opinion we hold in high regard -- the Brit Tim Collings -- question very vigorously at the weekend whether Red Bull should not be looking at a talented youngster than persist with two such experienced drivers as David Coulthard and Webber.

The 20-year-old German Sebastien Vettel is already in the Red Bull fold, "parked" for the meantime at Scuderia Toro Rosso, but is the obvious man if there is a change of thinking.

Vettel again displayed his promise by making the top 10 in qualifying, and his teammate -- Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, the four-time Champ Car champion and a Formula 3000 champion -- was cruelly unlucky not to finish fourth on his F1 debut.

Just back on Webber for a moment, our advice to Australian fans is to keep the faith for now.

He's not going to be a world champion, he's not a Fernando Alonso, a Lewis Hamilton, a Kimi Raikkonen, or a Nick Heidfeld, but in the right circumstances Webber could jag a win.

He needs circumstances to conspire in his favour.

Let's just hope that last year's Japanese GP -- where he was running second to Hamilton in the wet but was bumped out by Vettel in the spray on a confused restart -- isn't as close as he comes to winning a GP.

There have been two podiums in his career of more than 100 races, and it shouldn't be forgotten or denied that -- in the circumstances -- that has been quite an achievement, but Webber needs the gods to smile on him if he is get there to the top step of the podium.

Jenson Button had to wait a long time for his one GP victory (and had a similarly early exit to Webber yesterday), and Heidfeld still hasn't broken through -- but has come closer.

Both of those guys have had better machinery in the main.

Persistence pays off, and we still believe Webber is worth supporting -- but it's fast becoming a matter of now or never.

And, in those circumstances, he needs to be calm and collected, not going doing anything desperate.

The biggest hero of the Australian GP was perhaps Nico Rosberg, another 23-year-old, entering his third season of F1, and who claimed his first podium with third place driving a Williams-Toyota.

All the promise of last year and pre-season testing came to fruition as Rosberg joined his karting contemporary Hamilton on the podium.

Rosberg's teammate Kazuki Nakajima crossed the finish line seventh, but was promoted to sixth on Barrichello's disqualification, and that meant two Toyota-engined Williams cars in the points.

That's a massive achievement for a team battling to keep up with those on much bigger budgets -- including, of course, the Toyota factory team, reputed to be spending as much as anyone in F1!

If Williams gives value for money, so too does Renault -- at least when Fernando Alonso is there, as the dual world champion is again after that unhappy year with McLaren.

Fourth place at the chequered flag for Alonso from the sixth row of the grid was another of the drives of the race.

He is not going to have machinery the equal of his arch-enemy Hamilton at his disposal in the immediate future, if at all, but for us Alonso remains the most complete of today's F1 drivers.

On the contrary, reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen again proved fallible.

Forced to start from the eighth row after a qualifying hiccup in his Ferrari, Raikkonen showed lots of what makes him great -- he was up to eighth on the first lap, although there were five retirements on that lap -- and we thought he was on target for a podium finish, perhaps even to have caught Hamilton.

Getting stuck behind Barrichello's Honda for almost 20 laps may have frustrated him into the mistakes he made before his Ferrari gave up the ghost.

Certainly he provided plenty of entertainment, but for us Alonso is more polished in such circumstances.

Hamilton we want to wait a little longer to judge.

He had a brilliant debut season, although it ended a little unfortunately for him, and he has begun this year in startling form.

We just want to see more of him when the going gets tough to make our assessment.

So too -- timewise -- with Ferrari's Felipe Massa, even though he's more experienced.

The Brazilian got left behind in the championship fight last year and didn't overly impress in Melbourne this time, although we thought it was a bit rich of David Coulthard blaming him for the crash that put both of them out.

We suspect that unless Massa sparkles soon he's going to be found to be just keeping a seat warm for Alonso to take next year.

F1 drivers' world championship after first of 18 rounds -- Lewis Hamilton 10 points, Nick Heidfeld 8, Nico Rosberg 6, Fernando Alonso 5, Heikki Kovalainen 4,  Kazuki Nakajima 3, Sebastien Bourdais 2, Kimi Raikkonen 1.  (Rubens Barrichello excluded from Melbourne results).

F1 constructors' championship -- McLaren-Mercedes 14, Williams-Toyota 9, BMW Sauber 8, Renault 5, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2, Ferrari 1.

The race day crowd, announced as 108,000 as we have mentioned, was supposedly 3000 up on last year.

However, if the GP attendance figures are as suspect as many now suspect, we reckon those of 2007 would be the most suspect of all.

We don't have all the announcements of the past in front of us as we write, but our distinct recollection is that the four-day attendance in 2007 was given as being 1000 more than in 2006 -- that despite the absence of the V8 Supercars in '07.

And if this year's race day crowd was 3000 more than that claimed last year that represents an increase of 2.85% -- with the return of the V8 Supercars.

Now if that is the extent of the increase generated by the V8 Supercars being back at the GP you would be entitled to wonder what all the fuss was about getting them back.

We suspect, though, the increase may be greater (at least in % terms), because if there's anything that's suspect in this matter we suspect it's the 2007 attendance figures.

That aside, GP chairman Ron Walker has been good enough to share with the public the accolades he says F1 tsar Bernie Ecclestone has showered on the weekend event.

"Mr Ecclestone congratulated all of the teams and all of our staff for putting on what is another great grand prix for the rest of the world," Walker said.

"He said the spectacle today because of the racing conditions was second-to-none, better than many, many years in the past.

"He's wished us all the best for the future, so what better endorsement could you have."

We're not sure it's Ecclestone's endorsement the public, or the Victorian government, is looking for.

We suspect it's more proof that the race is worth keeping, at the price Ecclestone wants to charge, that they're wanting.

We've always found Ecclestone, love him or loathe him, to be quite capable of speaking for himself, so just why Walker needs to be the messenger we're not quite sure.

We note that he, Walker, didn't bother telling us how many hours' sleep Ecclestone got after going to the soccer in London on Saturday to see the Queens Park Rangers he part-owns and chose to watch live (they beat Scunthorpe 3-1) rather than attend the Oz GP, which began on TV in Britain at 4.30am Sunday.

Although Ecclestone has been playing rough in recent banter over the future of the Australian GP, for many years -- both when the race was in Adelaide, and since then in Melbourne -- he's been happy enough to pee in our pockets about how terrific our race has been.

Not that that's done us any great favors, as it appears that his fees are largely the reason Victorian taxpayers had to cough up $35 million to square the ledger last year.

And this year they've been told they face a $40 million hit.

When the backslapping of the past 24 hours or so dies down, there will be that kind of bill to look forward to in the Australian Grand Prix Corporation annual report, usually released around November.

And that raises a little question.

The picture being painted for the public is that Victorian premier John Brumby will meet Ecclestone in London in Ocober to see whether they can agree an extension of Melbourne's GP contract beyond 2010.

Now wouldn't the right thing to do be to release the AGPC annual report, with the financial "damage" on this year's race, before doing any deal -- if indeed any deal can be done?

A bit of transparency may not go astray in this process.

<<<After Lewis Hamilton won the GP, McLaren boss Ron Dennis said to him over the radio something to the effect of "normal service has been resumed". It was pretty much the same in the V8 Supercar non-championship support races at Albert Park, with Garth Tander winning all three for Holden Racing Team (after Fords won the championship rounds in Adelaide and Sydney) and Will Davison following up his Eastern Creek victory the previous weekend with a bag of seconds in his Dick Johnson Racing Falcon.

<<<What on earth was the "manufacturer challenge" about in the V8 Supercars at the GP? Haven't Holden and Ford been racing each other exclusively for more than a decade now? What's the point of lining up the cars of each make on opposite sides of the grid unless the cars are predominately in the colors of the manufacturer they represent -- red for Holden, blue for Ford? It was good to see the V8s back at the GP, but instead of it being on any more elevated basis it seemed to us to be downgraded by the emphasis on it being non-championship racing and drivers and teams thinking ahead more to the new New Zealand championship round coming up next month.

<<<What on earth also was Russel Ingall on about at the weekend, calling for the V8 races at the GP to be part of the championship or not held at all? A guy of his experience ought to recognise better than anyone the situation. The V8 Supercar Championship is televised on the 7 network. The F1 race is on the 10 network. Only one Australian broadcaster is going to be allowed into the GP venue -- and that's the broadcaster showing F1. The only way the V8 races at the GP could be part of the championship would be for 7 to also become the F1 telecaster, but it's never shown any interest in doing that. Nor is it likely to. Perhaps there won't even be an F1 race in Australia beyond 2010. So, in that sense, there might not be a problem.

<<<McLaren has finally, formally and officially dismissed chief designer Mike Coughlan, who was at the centre of the spying controversy that cost it US$100 million and last year's F1 constructors' world title.

Coughlan had been suspended since the controversy broke last July, but he was kept on the staff for legal reasons.

Ferrari sacked Nigel Stepney, who was accused of passing information to Coughlan, in July.

Both still face possible legal action in Italy.

<<<A dud round for Australia in the A1 GP series in Mexico, with John Martin 21st -- i.e., second last -- in both the sprint and feature races.

New Zealand's Jonny Reid won the sprint from Britain's Oliver Jarvis and Switzerland's Neel Jani.

The feature was won by Ireland's Adam Carroll -- an early St Patrick's Day celebration -- from Jarvis and American Jonathan Summerton.

Australia is 16th in the series with 20 points. Switzerland leads with 128, from NZ on 113, France 108, Great Britain 95 and South Africa 88.

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