excuse me , but the car is made up of : Car Designer Engineer Wind Tunnel Pit Crew Tires Motor Manager the driver is made up of : one egotistical, talented bastard now look at the driver standings and put the team next to him .... pretty simple, the only difference a driver makes is in his own team, end of story and no amount of BS will change that take FA and LH and put them in Spykers, KR and FM and put them in TRs , all will be at the tail end of the field ergo, it's the cars !!
Bernie interferes with the show all the time, and yes sometimes he cannot solve everything, but I can tell you this one he can "affect". BTW you over state the USA as an important market for F1. Time and time again it has been proved that it's not worth the expense of evening taking the cars to America. Even Bernie cannot change the history of the American auto industry and motorsport scene that came from it ... that is why F1 does not work in America. Even if GM/Ford USA finally got involved it would take 50 years before that move really made an impact to their customers, so it is not going to happen. Look how Toyota, who apparently have raced for 50 years, had to start at a much lower level, move up the ladder creating interest and markets, finally to Le Mans and then to F1. You can't just turn up at F1 ... like the stupid rebranding of the Stewart team to Jaguar proved. Compare that mistake to the success of Bentley appearing at Le Mans again, where they already had a history. As others have said, MS and Ferrari won because Bernie allowed them to. MS and Ferrari's revival meant $'s for Bernie. Infact I imagine that every single driver movement has a "Bernie chat" in there somewhere. Unfortunately most drivers find seats due to money ... and who controls the money?. This is why some have had massive battles, like Weber and others have just walked in. Weber faces basically similar struggles to an American driver, ie. Australia is not really that interested in F1, especially it's auto industry. None of the companies that make cars in Australia even sponsor the race we have here, because it does not relate to the product (er cr@p) they sell. Compare that to European and British manufacturers that crave the continuing connection to the supposed top flight of motorsport. Heck if you are a good French driver getting to F1 is a piece of cake. Infact Renault support drivers from all ages I believe, and have for many years (not like the current McLaren robot generating technique) ... I think Prost was involved in this process, etc. Anyway conclusion is: More people will be upset with the FIA if they take LH out of the WDC equation than people will be happy for the fair play rule being played. Heck McLaren might as well just steal a 2007 F1 Ferrari and track test it ... nothing will take points of Mr money man: LH. Pete
FEATURES Editorial | Off On F1 | Letters | Race Features Hungarian GP: Winners And Losers Monday 6th August 2007 Fantasy F1 - Win a trip to Monaco! It's not too late, point scoring starts at the Bahrain GP. Click here. A McLaren driver won the race but McLaren won nothing and may lose their World Champion and Chairman as a result... Star of the Race Lewis Hamilton, McLaren 1st A lovely, measured drive from Lewis that once again made a mockery of his rookie status. In spite of a handling glitch, and all the other problems that besmirched McLaren this weekend, the World Championship leader never put a wheel offline and remained unperturbed by Raikkonen's relentless pursuit. The boy doesn't feel pressure - even the self-inflicted kind. Overtaking Move of the Race Lap 2, Fernando Alonso on Robert Kubica Other than Kimi Raikkonen out-starting Nick Heidfeld, Alonso's two-corner move was the only pass of significance. Without rain, the Hungaroring is a desert of overtaking. It was strange, though, that Alonso was able to overtake Kubica - who set the fourth-fastest lap of the race - without any undue fuss and yet never got close to the ninth-fastest Ralf Schumacher. Winners Ferrari With their rivals shooting themselves in the foot, Ferrari dodged a bullet in Budapest. Temporarily handicapped by their long wheelbase, both Ferraris struggled - relative to their recent superiority, that is - around the Hungaroring's twisty, slow corners. Nonetheless, the team left Hungary eight points closer to McLaren in the Constructors' Championship and with Kimi just two scores further adrift of Lewis. They probably couldn't believe their luck. That said, if they are to bounce further back in Turkey, it might be a good idea if they remember to put fuel into Felipe Massa's car. Even a bit of detergent would have been preferable to an empty tank. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 2nd Pushed Hamilton all the way without ever quite being near enough to launch a serious challenge for victory. Or, as Lewis put it, "he was up my tail all the way". No wonder Nick Heidfeld sported such a startled look throughout the press conference. Raikkonen may have lost two points to Hamilton but he is now ahead of team-mate Massa and finally settled at Ferrari. If the Italians can reproduce their race pace in qualifying then Raikkonen will soon be up Hamilton's tail in the Drivers' Championship as well. Nick Heidfeld, BMW, 3rd 'Startled' was being kind. Heidfeld actually looks faintly psychotic in press conferences. The beard doesn't help but it's the goggle-eyed routine that really does it. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 4th Unfairly cast as the villain of Saturday's piece, Alonso responded in typically feisty fashion on Sunday afternoon. In the circumstances, both on and off the road, fourth was a reasonable result, but the raggedness of his display provided yet more reason to suspect that Alonso is unable to channel his road rage to his advantage. Compare and contrast his hot-headed drive to Schumacher's icy-cool performance at Monaco last year after the stewards also judged him a qualifying cheat. Alonso has a tendency to let his emotions get the better of him and a whole new rash of 'Alonso to leave McLaren' stories will inevitably keep the F1 world running during the three-week break. Ron Dennis will be aware of the danger more than anyone else: the McLaren boss famously convinced Juan-Pablo Montoya, another hot-headed driver, to leave Williams in the stormy days that followed his rumpus with Sam Michael at Magny-Cours in 2003. Robert Kubica, BMW, 5th Marked his first anniversary in F1 with another solid drive. Probably had the pace to edge out team-mate Heidfeld in a clean fight but paid the price for being unable to hold up Alonso. Ralf Schumacher, Toyota, 6th Revitalised. Amazing what the threat of being sacked can do, isn't it? Nico Rosberg, Williams, 7th It was about time that Rosberg finally turned his pace into points. Young Nico has been quicker than Alex Wurz throughout the year but had less than half the number of points before this weekend. Heikki Kovalainen, Renault, 8th A point and a wonderful pre-race riposte to Ted Kravitz after ITV's interrogator-in-chief sycophantically congratulated the Finn on his team's exploits in qualifying: "What do you mean a 'strong' qualifying? I am 12th and Fisi is further back. It was a disaster." Losers Ron Dennis You only had to see Ron's pained expression during his post-race interview on ITV to realise that McLaren had been badly beaten this weekend despite one of their drivers actually winning the race. Unable to collect any points due to the qualifying rumpus, Dennis was also unable to take any consolation from Lewis' tainted victory. He looked crushed. Although the British press have absolved 'our Lewis' of all blame, Hamilton's conduct on Saturday must have particularly hurt Dennis. After ten years of schooling in the McLaren ethos of putting the team first and foremost, it was Dennis' protégé who disregarded the direct order of his team boss, setting in motion a dismal train of events that ended at 11pm that night with the stewards effectively branding the team liars. For Ron, this must have been the ultimate betrayal. If Lewis wasn't prepared to play fair, then how could Fernando? And as a man who prides himself on both his personal and organisation's integrity, the stewards' ruling will have been deeply wounding. Nor will his mood have been brightened by Hamilton's request that he "go f**king swivel". It was that advice, and not Alonso's tardy exit from his pit-stop, that prompted Dennis to throw down his headset in disgust at the end of qualifying. The youngster is deluding himself if he believes that "something as small as this is definitely not going to affect our relationship". In hindsight, this may be regarded as a seismic weekend in the history of McLaren in three respects. First, it has probably damaged Alonso and Hamilton's relationship to such an extent that Fernando will prefer to take a year out of the sport than continue at McLaren. Second, events in Budapest shattered the illusion that the team can come first in F1 - the very principle on which McLaren is founded. "I really want everybody at McLaren to share the responsibility of being part of this team," Dennis declared last year. "I also think it is very important for all of us to realise that McLaren was there before we arrived and will be there after we've gone. We're simply custodians of the company, writing our own chapter in its history." It is a laudable ethos yet one which crumbled during the era of Senna v Prost - rather than Senna and Prost - and again on Saturday when two drivers fell into the temptation of driving for a World Championship rather than for the McLaren team. It is ironic that they were both permitted to collect World Championship points and McLaren were not because the qualifying debacle was caused by Alonso and Hamilton prioritising individual ambition over team glory. Third, it may hasten the retirement of its chairman, CEO and founder member. Dennis turned 60 in June and could not disguise his exhaustion at Budapest. Over the next few weeks, he could be forgiven for concluding that if winning provides so little relief then he might as well step out of the firing line. It is an open secret that Martin Whitmarsh has been groomed as his successor and that he has already assumed many of Dennis' day-to-day responsibilities. "Martin has spent the last 10 years trying to convince me to retire," he told the Guardian in January. "Most people's perception of retirement is that you stop working. My perception is completely different. It's just a systematic back-off. It will be a slow process of disengagement but not a switch. I don't want to quit as a loser." Perversely, at the end of 2007 it may be the bitter taste of victory which causes him to quit as a winner. Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and McLaren Every relationship of significance within the confines of McLaren - Dennis and Alonso's, Alonso and Hamilton's, Hamilton and Dennis' - was damaged this weekend. At least one has probably been irrevocably weakened beyond pair. It is worth dwelling on Lewis Hamilton's role in the debacle because his guilt has largely passed without comment by the fawning British media. Even The Guardian's old sage Alan Henry fell into the trap, assuring readers that the qualifying rumpus 'all started when Alonso appeared to deliberately hold up his team-mate'. Not so; it all started when Hamilton deliberately ignored a direct order from Dennis to let Alonso past on the track during the early stages of qualifying three. It was a defining moment for driver, team and, very possibly, the 2007 season. In that moment, Hamilton revealed that he was only willing to respect McLaren's belief in equality so long as it suited him, and thus a hitherto-concealed ruthless streak. Comparisons with Ayrton Senna suddenly seem even more appropriate. Like the Brazilian, Hamilton is prepared to play dirty. And like Senna, he has the happy knack of dodging the crossfire whilst his unfairly-maligned team-mate takes the flak. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 13th Yes, he was heavy on fuel. And yes, the Hungaroring doesn't exactly invite overtaking. But that doesn't excuse Massa's fastest lap time being over a second slower than Raikkonen's in identical machinery. 13th was a pretty pathetic effort. Giancarlo Fisichella, Renault, There can be few more humiliating embarrassments to befall at F1 race driver than being found guilty of blocking Sakon Yamamoto. Sakon Yamamoto for heavens' sake. Perhaps Fisi was testing reverse gear? Jenson Button, Honda, DNF What a difference a year makes. Unfortunately for Jenson, there is little reason to believe that next year will bring a more favourable reversal. The modified car that Honda introduced at the start of the European leg is as bad, if not worse, as its slow-running forerunner. The best that can be hoped for next year is respectability. However, one ray of light did emerge this weekend. If Alonso does quit McLaren then a route out of Honda may become available. The Hungarian GP Quite how or why Budapest remains on the F1 calendar is one of life's little mysteries. The circuit is unsuitable to host a grand prix in the same way that I am deemed unsuitable to date supermodels. 2006 proved an exception, but only because of unseasonal rainfall. Otherwise, year after year, Hungary provides soporific, tedious racing. Even Kimi Raikkonen admitted he was "bored" this weekend as he chased Hamilton with little or no hope of overtaking the race leader. It says everything about the fare that the go-kart circuit generally provides that Martin Brundle refuses to attend the event. Officially, of course, Brundle is on holiday this weekend. Oh really? The last grand prix was two weeks ago. The next is a full three weeks away. And Brundle, ITV's pundit-in-chief, only has to work 19 weekends a year in any case. He isn't on holiday; he just didn't fancy being bored to tears by a procession for two hours. Oh, and if you are wondering why this column is under a new by-line this weekend it is because Frank Hopkinson is away. On holiday. Pete Gill
Thanks for that last post Phil, I was out in the wilderness for the week and I missed the whole weekend. Sounds like I missed a lot of action and whatnot and that the season is getting a bit crazy.
The Hungarian GP Quite how or why Budapest remains on the F1 calendar is one of life's little mysteries. The circuit is unsuitable to host a grand prix in the same way that I am deemed unsuitable to date supermodels. It can only be your wallet size look at Flavio, same with Hungary There's lots of money if Bernies wallet at the end of it.
I think Mercedes, BMW, Toyota, Honda, and most of the other major F1 spnsors would disagree with you. The US market is absolutely critical for most of them. Race-day attendace at the USGP may have been less than that of the Indy 500 or the Brickyard 400 but it dwarfs that of most other GPs. I don't see how you think it is not worth the expense.
Why would you say that? Ron Dennis is one of the best F1 Team Principals there has ever been...I love the way he has always given both of his drivers an equal shot at the WDC . Ferrari could use a great man like Mr. Dennis on their team...
That's sacrilege in these parts. But I agree with you, especially about letting both drivers have equal shots.
..and have the team fall apart because the drivers egos are too big to be #2's? Two number 1 drivers on a team don't work and its a proven fact.
The teams fall apart? McLaren won two straight WDCs and two straight WCCs with Senna/Prost and they are 1 and 2 with Alonso/Hamilton. Take a look at the average tenure of an F1 drivr with one team, most drivers move around from team to team. Dennis' job is to win and it seems that their policy of joint #1s works. And that, sir, is a proven fact.
IMO, RD has alaways played both drivers against each other, rather than trying to have them work together.
Because it's only one race ... compared to 16 (?) in Europe. Thus Mercedes, BMW, Toyota and Honda are not racing F1 for the American market. They would not care much if the race was dropped. Mercedes made a Indy engine and Toyota a CART (I think, or is it Indy?) engine for that very reason ... to have a foot in in the American racing market. Toyota are also in NASCAR now ... They would not have done that if F1 did it for them. Pete
Enzo was by far the worst at this ... a few deaths were the result. RD is a great team principal. This time though Bernie has pressured him to run a driver that he (rightly ... maybe?) said was not ready for F1. And before the LH supporters have a heart attack, there is more to F1 than being fast (unfortunately) ... and RD wants team players, etc. Pete
That is not what has been reported, the manufacturers and major sponsors are the ones pushing for a USGP.
+1 Those manufacturers are some of the largest sellers in the US market. Ford and GM are being abused by Toyota and Honda in particular. BMW and Mercedes buyers are folks to who tend to watch F1 in the US. Consider the SIZE of the US market. That alone makes it a tempting one for any large auto manufacturer. F1 matters in the US. That market DEFINITELY matters to ALL those manufacturers and they will use F1 along with all the other marketing tools they have to gain share and profits.
After all, I am sure that BMW and Mercedes are not as concerned with raising their profile in Turkey or Malaysia as they are in the US...
Thus I say again, F1 is NOT doing the marketing that Mercedes and Toyota want otherwise why are they: Thus if they dropped the US GP, Mercedes and Toyota would still have a racing presence in the USA ... thus the USGP is not important to their marketing. NASCAR is doing more for Toyota than F1 surely. Pete
