McLaren penalty and other news

A few quick news and notes on Formula One for today.

 

First off, the “lie-gate” scandal has come to a sort of close today when the WMSC (World Motor Sport Council) handed down their ruling on McLaren. Essentially, they can continue to race without penalty as long as no new information comes up about what they did after the Australian Grand Prix. If some new information does surface, the team will be forced to sit out three races. What I would like to know is how this actually does anything? Of course it’s a harsh punishment, but that is only if new information comes to light – which it probably won’t. In essence, the team gets off with a warning, and that is actually fine by me. I don’t want to see a team have to sit out for three races when their parent company (Mercedes) is having a hell of a time trying to make money to keep on financing the racing operations. The company posted a huge loss and is looking into ways to save money. Much like Honda already did, this means that the Formula One team is going to come under heavy speculation. But for now, all is safe in Woking.

What isn’t safe, though, is this swine flu scare. Sure it will probably amount to nothing, but so will the Spanish Grand Prix grandstands. This is because the Grand Prix organizers are looking into running the entire Grand Prix without any spectators. They feel that a bunch of people together during this “outbreak” is a bad thing. In this economy though, I wonder how much money the sport, the teams and the actual venue (not to mention the city) will lose if there are no fans in the stands? Of course, TV broadcasters and advertisers will be all for this as their ratings will soar because all those people will have to watch at home, but this really isn’t a good situation. It will be eerily quiet out there and the whole thing will look like a big joke. I guess this is what we get for letting pigs sneeze on us though.*

And the final bit of news is also troubling. In 2010, the British Grand Prix is supposed to move from Silverstone to the Donnington Circuit. I am not a big fan of this move, but of course, Mr. Ecclestone is behind it. However, it seems that there are many problems brewing for the circuit including actually getting the finances in order to make the renovations needed for the track. Bernie does not want to deal with the owners of the Silverstone Circuit (they being the BRDC or British Racing Drivers Club) but he has now been forced to look up their number again because he can’t see his precious country lose their Grand Prix. By the way, this is the same guy who said Nuts to North America and France. Oh yeah and he even actually mentioned that if Donnington wasn’t ready, there would be no Grand Prix in Britain at one point. I guess he is going to have to go back on his word though, huh?

The next race in Spain should be an interesting one so look for it on May 8^th.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*This is not the actual cause of swine flu.

Race Four: Bahrain Grand Prix

With two Toyotas firmly on pole, and their first win in Formula One within their grasp, they faltered. In the end, it was the Brawn of Jenson Button who came through to clinch victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

At the beginning of the race though, it looked as if the Toyotas had the full advantage. They were running faster than the rest of the field and had pulled out a fairly nice gap by the time their pit stops came around. Then they messed up and put on the harder of the two compound tires. This led to the cars running much slower than the rest of the front runners and neither Jarno Trulli nor Timo Glock could make up any ground. Jarno held on to score a respectable third place but was outpaced in the end by both Jenson Button (who ended up running away with the victory) and Sebastian Vettel. The rest of the points scorers consisted of Lewis Hamilton in fourth, Rubens Barrichello in fifth, Kimi Raikkonen in sixth, Timo Glock in seventh and Fernando Alonso in eighth.

As the teams return to the Europe this week, we have learned that the speed from the Brawn GP car is for real. Jenson Button has walked away from the first four rounds of the Championship with three wins under his belt – and historically, 100% of the drivers to do that previously went on to win the World Championship. Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull is the other race winner and we know that that car is also very quick. We have also learned that both McLaren and Ferrari are desperately slow for the budgets and knowledge that they have and that the BMWs are flat out horrible.

Will we see a shift in the Championship once the other teams figure out the rear diffuser problem or will the dominating season of Brawn GP continue unabated? Only time will tell and there are still 13 races left for the other teams to get their acts together.

Race Three: Chinese Grand Prix

In a rain soaked and windy Chinese Grand Prix, it was the Red Bull team that came out on top. In fact, they secured a one-two finish with Sebastian Vettel leading Mark Webber home. Of course, it was not just another Sunday drive for the two Red Bull drivers, as they both got into scraps and scrapes throughout the race.

            Right off the bat, the race started with the always boring, though completely necessary, laps behind the safety car. This was due to the amount of standing water on the track that would eventually let up about halfway through the race, but then come on strong at the end. Vettel led away at the start, followed by Mark Webber and Jenson Button, as the other front row sitter, Fernando Alonso, dived into the pits under the safety car to refuel. This killed his entire race, and so he was effectively out.

            After a few parade laps, the safety car pulled into the pits and the actual racing began. To be honest, not a whole lot happened in the first third of the race with the exception of a few people going off at the last corner before the front straight, until – at that very same corner – Robert Kubica forgot to slow down for the corner and ran smack into the back of Jarno Trulli. In fact, Kubica’s car fully mounted the back of Trulli’s and almost flew over the top of his whole car. Needless to say that it ended Trulli’s race, though he was becoming slower as the race wore on anyway. The second victim to fall in the race was Felipe Massa, whose car made some grating noises and then ground to a halt on the back straight. Around this same time (as Trulli was still creeping around to get back to the pits) Sebastian Vettel swung wide to miss Trulli and was run into by Sebastian Buemi. (So many Sebastians). While Buemi’s front end plate was completely destroyed, Vettel continued to run with no damage to his Red Bull to take the victory. In the final few laps of the race, both Button and Webber had a great dice that resulted in both men missing braking points and passing each other multiple times. In the end though, it was Webber who prevailed and took second place.

            With this win, Red Bull firmly comes into second place, though Brawn GP has a stranglehold on the Constructor’s Championship right now. It seems that if anyone has the pace to match or beat the Brawn’s it is going to be Red Bull. Oh and by the way, Red Bull doesn’t even have one of those fancy double-deck rear diffusers. How fast will that car be when it does get one installed? Only time will tell.

            I have always contended that a wet race makes for a good race, and although there wasn’t a whole lot of spectacular action in this one, there was certainly a lot more passing and much more bravery and bravado on the drivers’ parts. Wet races are a good thing, but I highly doubt we will be seeing one next week in Bahrain – a track that Felipe Massa has completely owned the last few years. One can only assume that with Ferrari in such a funk, that a new victor will surely arise this year.