Where’d the crowd go?

So. How was it for you? With the Spanish Grand Prix number two (or as it was referred to, the European Grand Prix) over, what was your initial impression? I know that the Spaniards who turned up went away unhappy as Mr. Bad Personality, Fernando Alonso, was out on lap uno. Oh well, I wasn’t unhappy to see his retirement. But that’s not the point. The fact of the matter is that this track turned into just another street circuit. There was very little passing, and very little excitement. In fact, the only real excitement came from the normally Mr. No Excitement, Kimi Raikonnen. First he went on to not pay attention to the light system in the pits and run over three of his pit crew, and on the very next lap, went and spectacularly destroyed his engine.

            The race was a big grand slam for winner Felipe Massa though. I’m sure his 10,000 euro fine won’t even phase his happy mood. That will be one check he will write out with a grin on his face. He completed the Grand Prix Grand Slam by winning pole on Saturday and then setting fast lap and winning the race on Sunday. He is now only six points behind title leader Lewis Hamilton heading into Spa-Francorchamps in two weeks, and as we all know, anything can happen there.

            The race itself, though was fairly predictable. There was very little passing, and it seemed like the crowd was almost non-existent after Fred left the building. I like how the race turned out, of course, but I am not sure that this is the way forward for F1. Having two F1 venues in one country is not a good idea. But that is the subject for another day. Back to the race. It seemed like a big processional out there behind Massa. He led from the start and was only relegated to as far back as fourth following his pit stops. He dominated the race just like he did three weeks ago and should, hopefully, continue to dominate until the end of the season in Brazil. Now wouldn’t that be a party!

            The street race in Valencia will be a fixture on the calendar for a couple more years I’m sure, but I believe that the track holds no lasting value. It is too boring. Even most of the European Press agrees with me (and yes, I wrote this before that story was published). I was very excited before the weekend began, but after watching the race, it really left me feeling cold. The race track has no personality, and there was nothing to hold me glued to the TV except for Massa. If this is the way that this circuit is going to be, then I say ditch it, lick your wounds and bring some F1 back to the States, so everyone here can show Bernie what he is missing out on.

            I’m sorry Valencia, but I am not the biggest fan of your Grand Prix. My mind has moved on and I am ready for the classic speed and unpredictability that only a true Old Style Grand Prix Circuit like Spa can provide.

European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain

Well, I found some time to write a new entry and it is all about the excitement that is preceding this new European Grand Prix venue in Spain. The twists and turns of the Valencia street circuit should be one of the highlights of the season simply due to the fact that no one has raced here before. If you have not seen the layout of the circuit, a couple of track maps are provided below. Trust me, from what it looks like there could be some big action and bigger wrecks if people aren’t careful.

Essentially the teams are saying that this is going to be a fast track, like a Monza, and not slow like most street circuits are. I wasn’t too excited about this at the beginning of the season, I have to admit. Mostly this was down to the fact that I have watched other street races on television and have been less than impressed. But this one could be different. For starters it features a very high speed section along the harbor front and contains no less than 23 corners! Most tracks feature 12 to 15, but this is almost double. And this is why it will be exciting, not just on Sunday either. Friday practice will be something to watch for once because everyone will be scrambling to get out right away and see what the track it like.

At least I hope they do. With so much traffic out there on Friday we could see a mix of fast and slow people all running around and creating all sorts of trouble. This could also really shuffle the board up some, though not too much. Whoever adapts to the track the fastest (usually Lewis unfortunately) will be the one to watch. But there may be other surprises too. Many of the teams have been scouting the locations for many months already and may be fairly familiar with the way that the turns go at least. Other teams have even launched their cars on the track (McLaren in 2007) and have probably had time to get a better look than others. Some teams have also programmed the track into their computer systems and loaded the data into simulators (Williams) for the drivers to try their hand at a game version of the same track. Will any of this make any real difference? I would say some, but there is nothing like seeing the actual track for yourself and knowing definitively how much runoff there is and where all the bumps are.

I really don’t know what to expect from this track, but I will say again, that I am excited. After seeing the layout and watching a preliminary run around the track in a slower car, I can tell you that it may get a little hairy out there at some point. Driving an F1 car around a fast track with 20+ odd corners on any day is a daunting task; doing it on a track that on one has ever driven before, should add up to a monumental challenge.

Here’s to the Valencia street circuit and the European Grand Prix. Hopefully this three week break will have energized a tiny red team from Maranello into doing something great (like a nice 1-2 finish). Hopefully it will be a great weekend.

New Content to Come Soon…I Hope

Sorry about the lack of content on the site here as of late. I have been really busy at work, but I hope to start writing about the upcoming F1 race in Valencia, Spain. Finally the three week summer break is over!!!