MOTORSPORT: F1's radical future takes shape

Friday motorsport report

June 28, 2007

>> The greening of F1 speeds up
The initiative that Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) president Max Mosley launched late last year to make Formula 1 more road-relevant, environmentally-friendly and cost-effective stepped up a gear this week.

The FIA's World Motor Sport Council issued a list of proposals  (go to www.fia.com for more info), which it hopes can be worked through in the next few months so that F1's direction can be firmed up – perhaps by September, and certainly by the end of the year.

Another of the FIA's goals is to improve the F1 spectacle by encouraging overtaking and a major plank of the latest proposals is the introduction of electronically-controlled moveable wings.

These are intended to reduce the amount of drag generated by a car's wings on the straights while maximising downforce during cornering.

Winglets and barge boards will be banned.

The FIA was already looking at reducing engine capacity from the existing 2.4-litre V8s to turbocharged six-cylinder motors of perhaps 2.2 litres but is now talking about engines of only 1.3 to 1.5 litres and  four cylinders – but with no rev or boost limits.

While some changes are already foreshadowed over the next four years, the real revolution in F1 technology is due to kick in from 2011.

After years of wrangling that threatened a breakaway series by the car companies involved in F1, the FIA has given an assurance that the regulations for the future will be drafted "in close collaboration with the teams and manufacturers".

Here's the gist of what the FIA now proposes:

The FIA foreshadows framing regulation for:

To contain costs, the FIA is proposing standardisation of components; homologation of components and assemblies; material restrictions; extended life of assemblies; restrictions on personnel and work at races; and restrictions on the use of certain facilities such as wind tunnels.

The standardisation could include chassis and fuel cells that last a season, wheels, brakes and suspension uprights.

Now let's see where things get to by September or even the end of the year.

As one F1 insider often says, the powerbrokers in F1 have trouble even agreeing on the time of day.

>> Au revoir to Magny-Cours
It's the French Grand Prix this weekend – in all probability the last at the Magny-Cours circuit at Nevers in western Burgundy.

France, the country where the first Grand Prix was held 101 years ago (at Le Mans), is unlikely to have a GP next year, although many in the F1 paddock reckon the Monaco GP could suffice as the French round of the world championship.

The 76-year-old F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone's one remaining burning wish seems to be for a GP in Paris, perhaps around the Palace of Versailles or at the city's Disneyland.

He would want to make a better fist of it though than the return of F1 to the US this century at Indianapolis – a grand plan that has largely fallen flat.

There are no French drivers in Sunday's race.

The closest France comes to having a GP driver these days is Franck Montagny testing for the Toyota team, although we anticipate the country's triple Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais to be in F1 next year with Scuderia Toro Rosso.

Olivier Panis was the last of the 67 French F1 drivers to win a GP – at Monte Carlo in 1996.

Alain Prost is the only world champion France has produced.

Prost won the last of his four world titles in 1993.

What a pity the demise of his own team in 2002 has tarnished the name of perhaps the smoothest driver F1 has seen.

Had not Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher come along, history might have regarded "The Professor" as the greatest of all time.

>> Hamilton battling history in France
Rookie Lewis Hamilton, leading the F1 world championship by 10 points, is chasing a hat-trick of wins this Sunday.

The last Brit to win three GPs in a row was Damon Hill with Williams in his world title year -- 1996.

Hamilton, still only 22, has already been on the podium at each of his seven GP starts and the only Brit to have had eight successive podium finishes was Jim Clark with nine in 1963.

Even if Hamilton moves a step closer to that feat this weekend, he's a long way short of Michael Schumacher's record 19 consecutive podiums in 2001-2002.

The McLaren-Mercedes team is seeking its fourth consecutive victory this Sunday and its fifth of the season.

The last time McLaren won at Magny-Cours was in 2000, with David Coulthard its victorious driver that year.

Its last pole position at the circuit was with Mika Hakkinen in 1998.

While Magny-Cours has not been a McLaren circuit in recent times, Mercedes motor sport boss Norbert Haug points out that 2007 is different -- the team has finished in the points with both cars at all seven races so far this season, taken 12 of a possible 14 podium positions and averaged more than 15 of a possible 18 points at each race.

While few will lament the passing of Magny-Cours from the F1 calendar, Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard who McLaren recruited after two world titles with Renault, says the two high-speed chicanes at the back of the circuit are "very special".

The media continues to do its utmost to promote the idea of friction between Alonso and the rookie who has often outpaced him this year (pictured).

German tabloid newspaper Bild has claimed that Alonso was furious that McLaren chief Ron Dennis' wife Lisa cheered loudly when Hamilton eclipsed his lap time to take pole position for the Canadian GP in Montreal.

Haug vigorously denies McLaren-Mercedes has now decided which of its drivers should be world champion this year.

"Ron (Dennis), myself, and every other team member would welcome any world champion as long as his car has a (Mercedes-Benz) star on its nose," Haug says.

Spanish newspaper Marca has reported that Australia's Red Bull Racing driver, Mark Webber, "would rather Fernando won".

Early this week it was Sydney that was supposed to be making a play for the race.

Now it's Geelong.

A front-page report in the Geelong Advertiser newspaper claims plans are being made for a $200 million motorsport development near the Victorian city – and near Avalon Airport where the F1 jumbo jets arrive each year for the Melbourne race.

The Geelong consortium claims to have access to a big pot of foreign money for the project – and to have its sights set on becoming the new home of the GP.

It says it is preparing details for the Victorian government and Geelong council and had not intended to go public yet but felt compelled by the talk of a Sydney play for the GP with, supposedly, a chunk of the new NSW major events company's $85 million-a-year budget.

Among the people involved in the Geelong proposal are Paul and Andrew Hallam, sons of Frank Hallam – who was a key engineer on the Repco engine that powered Sir Jack Brabham to his third world title in 1966.

Among the various circuits and facilities the development is intended to comprise is the world's most advanced kart track.

We always admire the optimism and enthusiasm of the people in these projects, but history tells us they rarely come to fruition.

As with the bold proposals for Norwell between Brisbane and the Gold Coast and Bunbury in south-west Western Australia, we shall eagerly await signs of progress.

For Ambrose it's the 18th round of NASCAR's Busch Series at "The Magic Mile" in Loudon, New Hampshire.

"The track at Loudon is similar to Milwaukee (where the Busch Series ran last weekend) in that it's fairly flat through the corners, so you are depending on good car set-up to get you through the corner as the banking is minimal," says Ambrose, seventh in the points and second among the series rookies.

"I thought when I first came over here to the US that the flat tracks would be where I was going to be good and the banking would be where I would struggle, but it's been the opposite way around."

Ambrose will be hosting one of the strongest supporters of his American mission, Ford Australia president Tom Gorman, at Loudon.

Meanwhile the Champ Car series is at Mont Tremblant in Quebec, Canada, this weekend with Power keen to repeat his opening round victory at Las Vegas after dropping behind Robert Doornbos – the Dutch driver in Paul Stoddart's Team Minardi USA -- at Cleveland last weekend.

Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, with three wins this year, heads the series on 117 points from Doornbos on 114 and Power on 105.

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