MOTORSPORT: Year of extraordinary highs – and lows

Above all in 2011 stood a design genius – Adrian Newey?
Every year in motorsport has its highs and lows. In 2011 they have been more extreme.

A year ago we commented here that 2010 had seen lots of stars but not many truly great races. It’s been a very different story in 2011… An abundance of stars again, but also a banquet of fantastic races, and a plethora of overtaking – even in Formula One, especially in NASCAR, and in V8 Supercars too.

On Australian soil most memorable was the Saturday race in the wet at Sandown in November. Rick Kelly won it but Craig Lowndes’ drive from the back of the field was one for the ages. An absolute classic.

Other great V8 Supercar races, too: Sandown on the Sunday; both days at Homebush in Sydney; the Bathurst finish, as so often; and the Gold Coast too.

Most of the best was saved until the last few rounds, although there was young New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen’s breakthrough victory on home soil in April.

All up it was an excellent season of V8 Supercar racing in the year that 60 per cent of the show was sold to a private equity company, Archer Capital, although there was still no sign of a third manufacturer.

Overseas the greatest races were in North America.

The Canadian Grand Prix was the longest in F1 history because of torrential rain but had everything. The safety car was out six times and McLaren’s Jenson Button was dead last on lap 40. Yet, after a puncture, a collision with teammate Lewis Hamilton, a drive-through penalty, five pitstops and a clash with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso – he won. In the process he overtook Sebastian Vettel on the final lap after the German made a now uncharacteristic mistake under the pressure.

NASCAR’S Sprint Cup began at Daytona with amazing double drafting (that authorities are now trying to eliminate in restrictor plate races on the superspeedways), 22 race leaders and the most unlikely victors (driver and team, and more of that later).

At Talladega in May the lead changed 88 times and the first eight finishers were separated by 0.145 seconds. Jimmie Johnson’s margin of victory was 0.002 seconds.

There were 18 winners in 36 Sprint Cup rounds, including five first-time victors. Australia’s Marcos Ambrose was among them, notching his first Cup win -- at Watkins Glen, America’s famous road course.

The season ended in a showdown at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida between Tony Stewart in a Chevrolet and Carl Edwards in a Ford. In one of the mast amazing drives in history, Stewart overtook 118 times in 400 miles (640km) and won the race.

Edwards was second and they were tied on points but Stewart took the title on a countback. He joins Darrel Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson and Lee Petty as a triple NASCAR champion, ending Johnson’s five-year reign.

For Stewart it was a long, long way from a dust-up with a promoter at Parramatta City Raceway in January!

At the Indianapolis 500 rookie J R Hildebrand took the lead three laps from the chequered flag but crashed at the final, 800th turn in the race, allowing Englishman Dan Wheldon to flash by for his second victory in the open-wheeler classic.

Which brings us to the terrible lows.

Little more than four months later Wheldon was killed in a horror crash at Las Vegas Speedway involving 15 cars… And at home, Jason Richards lost his fight with a rare form of cancer 10 days before Christmas, leaving a wife and two young girls.

Before the F1 season even began Robert Kubica was badly injured in a rally crash. The Polish star missed all of what was a stellar season that produced the youngest dual world champion – Sebastian Vettel at 24 years and 98 days – in a romp against a field that included four other world champions.

Australia had not only Mark Webber in that field but 22-year-old Daniel Ricciardo from midyear.

New tyre supplier Pirelli’s rubber, DRS (standing for drag reduction system, but meaning driver-adjustable rear wings) and the return of KERS (kinetic energy recovery systems that provide a power boost for passing) added even more spice.

It was largely a disappointing year for Webber after four wins in 2010, and six in two years, but there was the satisfaction of three brilliant overtakes of Fernando Alonso – at Spa and twice in Singapore.

By winning in Brazil, his second success at the great Interlagos circuit, Webber nudged Alonso out of third place in the championship by a point – but was 12 behind Button and 134 behind Vettel! Webber reckons -- after just one grand prix in ’11, when Vettel had a gearbox problem, supposedly -- he can get back to competitiveness against his brilliant young teammate in 2012.

Ricciardo began 2011 driving Friday morning practice sessions at GPs for Scuderia Toro Rosso and won the World Series by Renault support race at the Monaco GP for the second straight time – arguably the international highlight of the year by Aussie racers.

In July he was placed by backer Red Bull in lowly Spanish team HRT (earlier called Hispania Racing Team and not to be mistaken for Holden Racing Team) but steps up in 2012 to a full-time seat with Toro Rosso, which should see him in the midfield.

Making six world champions on the grid, Kimi Raikkonen returns from two years in the world rally championship at what will be Lotus Renault in the seat that was Kubica’s – and was occupied by Nick Heidfeld and then Bruno Senna in 2011.

Kubica’s career may be over. Had he been fully recovered and fit it is doubtful the four top teams would be going into 2012 with unchanged line-ups. Had Kubica been able to continue his 2010 form a seat may well have opened up for him at either Ferrari or Red Bull.

What a pity we won’t get to see the Pole next season against six world champions, two Aussies and others including young hopes Paul Di Resta, Nico Hulkenberg (in place of Adrian Sutil at Force India), and Jean-Eric Vergne, Ricciardo’s French teammate at Toro Rosso.

Force India scored 69 points to Sauber’s 44, Toro Rosso’s 41 and Williams’ woeful five. This advance was welcome with India F1’s latest frontier in 2011. Force India’s drivers Adrian Sutil and rookie Paul Di Resta scored 42 and 27 points respectively, although Sutil finds himself replaced for 2012 by Nico Hulkenberg.

NASCAR and V8 Supercar machinery is not considered great by this author, although the best teams in those categories build and prepare their cars excellently – particularly Triple Eight in the Australian case.

The temptation is to opt for Red Bull Racing, having won the constructors’ and drivers’ titles so comprehensively, although there should have been more one-two finishes with the RB7.

Stewart-Haas Racing in NASCAR was not without problems, with Tony Stewart admitting before the Sprint Cup Chase that he didn’t deserve to be in it and crew chief Darian Grubb given early notice he wasn’t wanted for 2012, but the withering burst with which it came to win the Cup – five wins in the final 10 races – was mesmerising. The man called “Smoke” was on fire, and so was the team around him.

Stewart gave up his place at Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008 for the offer of half-ownership of an inconsequential outfit owned by Gene Haas and Joe Custer. When it counted in the 2011 Sprint Cup they somehow aligned the planets and pulled off a miracle. Stewart became NASCAR’s first owner-driver champion since Alan Kulwicki in 1992.

There will be lessons from it for the likes of V8 Supercar’s Kelly Brothers to learn, but too late for Mark Skaife at Holden Racing Team. Stewart has mastered the art of concentrating on driving, impressing sponsors shortly and sharply, and delegating other responsibilities.

Bayne started 32nd and only got to the front in the final six laps. He became the youngest winner of American stock car racing’s biggest event, while it was the fifth victory there for Wood Brothers after the long drought since the fourth.

Disappointment of 2011?The state of the V8 Supercar round in New Zealand. The Hamilton City Council has lost five or six times more money than its street race was supposed to cost it. The 2012 round will be the last at Hamilton – and perhaps the last in NZ, although we doubt it will come to that.

How can such a mess have been made of the V8 Supercar “product” in such a natural market? The alarm bells were rung in advance about the risks of street races, but the mess in Hamilton is atrocious.

Or we could nominate Craig Lowndes for his biggest tilt at a fourth V8 Supercar title in 12 years. Or Jenson Button for becoming the first teammate to better Lewis Hamilton in F1. Even Carl Edwards, who led NASCAR’s Sprint Cup for 21 rounds, only missed out on a countback and was a most gracious runner-up. Or Yvan Muller for a world touring car championship record that matches Whincup’s in V8 Supercars (three titles and twice runner-up in five years. Muller had eight wins in 2011 on his way to his second straight title in a Chevrolet Cruze (although it’s a pity the telecasts make it look as though spectators are banned from events).

But the Man of the Year has to be Adrian Newey, the creator of eight cars to have won F1 constructors’ world championships now – for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull. That tally puts Newey ahead of Lotus founder Colin Chapman and Rory Bryne, the South African who designed all seven cars in which Michael Schumacher won his F1 titles at Benetton and Ferrari.

It is said that aerodynamics maestro Newey can visualise air flowing; that he sees the invisible waves and currents, the areas of low and high pressure. The pity is that, exacerbated by rules that dictate modern F1 cars look so alike, his genius is not as visible to fans as the radical creations of Chapman.

What an honour it will be for Mark Webber to recount in later life that he raced Newey cars. And perhaps Ricciardo will get to say the same.

Silvestro finished the year only 20th, while Danica Patrick was tenth – but Patrick is six years older and vastly more experienced.

Patrick is now off to NASCAR full-time with just one IndyCar victory behind her. Racing almost exclusively on ovals might work in her favour, but – despite her high profile – she will be a small fish in a much bigger pond (although NASCAR fans worship Dale Earnhardt Junior despite him not winning races).

Motorsport needs a woman to make an impact like Rachelle Splatt did on Australian drag racing 15 years ago. Sadly racing success remains very much the exclusive domain of men.

Sebastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala repeatedly adhered to instructions to assist Sebastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen this season. Ugly. Such things, and inflated crowd figures at events, especially V8 Supercars, only diminish motorsport more in the eyes of its detractors.

1. A new V8 Supercar Championship contender arise (perhaps Lee Holdsworth, now at Stone Brothers Racing) and Ford going a long way to squaring the ledger with Holden, winning once in every two or three races instead of once every seven.

2. Factory teams Ford Performance Racing and Holden Racing Team more consistently beat Triple Eight.

3. If Triple Eight remains on top, Craig Lowndes beat Jamie Whincup. Nothing against Whincup, but the sport seems more vibrant and to engage the broader public more when Lowndes does well.

4. Success for Australia’s new Sports Utility Vehicle rally series, created to reflect the greatly changed Australian car market.

5. Safer IndyCar racing (which there ought to be with the new, fared Dallara chassis); an Australian win the Indianapolis 500 (either Will Power or Ryan Briscoe); and third time lucky for Power (5½ wins in 2011) against Dario Franchitti in the championship.

6. Marcos Ambrose win a NASCAR Sprint Cup oval race, preferably a big one – like the Daytona 500, World 600 at Charlotte or Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis… But we’d settle for any.

7. Australians Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo both finish in the top six of a Grand Prix. Anything more too wishful for the next 12 months.

8. Bathurst 12-hour gain genuine traction. The Audis are coming again and a couple of Mercs too.

9. Mark Skaife concentrate on fewer roles. He should never have retired from race driving. There would have been plenty of time for the off-track activities in his 50s.

10. New excitement in rallying, at home (with more manufacturers joining Honda in the two-wheel-drive era) and internationally, with MINI challenging Citroen and Ford… Plus Sebastian Loeb toppled from his perch, preferably by Petter Solberg now that he’s in a factory Ford and so that we don’t have to wait for Ogier and VW to click instantly in 2013.