From PlanetF1.com A Few Conclusions From Mental Monza Monday 14th September 2009 The title-chasing racing has been mediocre but F1 needn't worry about its latest crsis... And The Winner Of A Championship Of Mediocrity Will Be... And then there were two. With four races remaining, the World Championship has become a two-horse race to be contested by two drivers from the Brawn stable. Perhaps we should be grateful that Jenson Button has not already rode off into the distance like he was threatening in the spring, but there's no denying that this has been a less-than-vintage year. The inevitability of the World Champion being one of the two Brawn drivers underlines that this year - more than most - has all been about the car. Just how many drivers in the 2009 field would not be a title contender if they were employed by Brawn? While Rubens Barrichello has driven superbly in recent weeks, there is nobody in the paddock who regards the Brazilian as part of the elite. Spirited, experienced, capable? Absolutely. But top class? Not even close. As for Button, whose late-summer slump plunged such depths that a resounding defeat to his team-mate around the Noah's Ark circuit of Monza was treated as a cause for celebration, his reputation seems likely to be bolstered by barely a jot even if he staggers over the line ahead of the veteran. It is a telling insight into just where the paddock places him in the drivers' pecking order that, according to reports, Nico Rosberg is determined to avoid a switch to McLaren by replacing Barrichello at Brawn instead. He may not want to go wheel to wheel with Lewis Hamilton but he has no such qualms, it would seem, about tackling World Champion-elect Button. And Mediocrity Mattered Most In Monza Mediocre driving was also central to the Brawn 1-2 on Sunday. In theory, Heikki Kovalainen was well-placed for victory on Saturday night having qualified his heavily-fuelled and KERS-carrying McLaren in fourth place but Sunday witnessed a familiar addition to his racing CV. He went backwards off the line, backwards in the race but his inability, even with the extra horsepower of McLaren's awesome KERS system at his disposal, to fend off Button's first-lap aggression was pivotal. Had he kept Button behind, even for a couple more laps, then Lewis Hamilton would have been able to stay ahead of his compatriot and put a meaningful dent in his title chances. Sutil Or Raikkonen Alongside Hamilton? With the low-rate Kovalainen sure to be dropped and Rosberg apparently unwilling to measure up against Hamilton, the second seat at McLaren is another great unknown for 2010. If it's the case that Mercedes are pressurising the team to appoint a German driver then Adrian Sutil must be in the frame. He's a decent driver, superior to Kovalainen, and held his own against Giancarlo Fisichella this season - it was 6-6 between the two Force India drivers before Fisi thought with heart rather than head and jumped ship for Ferrari. A more enticing and exciting prospect is a return to McLaren for Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn had been expected to join Renault in a straight swap for Fernando Alonso but if Nelsongate blocks that route out of Ferrari then it's not inconceivable that Raikkonen could end up back at Woking. With Ron Dennis now focused on road cars, Raikkonen would be joining a significantly different team to the one he left, while Hamilton would have the competitive team-mate he is reputedly craving. Raikkonen has been terrific of late - superb in Belgium and faultless in Monza. Yet his face just doesn't seem to fit at Ferrari and it's not his race performances that are causing Ferrari to pursue Fernando Alonso despite the estimated £50m cost of jettisoning the under-contract Raikkonen and hiring the Spaniard as his replacement. Two revealing asides in the running commentary for the aborted Schumacher comeback were Ferrari twice referring to Raikkonen's 'character' as explanation for why he did not personally contact Felipe Massa and president Luca di Montezemolo pointedly thanking Schumacher 'in the name of Ferrari and all the fans for the attachment to the team he has shown in these circumstances'. It hardly took a leap of the imagination to read into that statement a message to Raikkonen. One final point: In the ever-superior Winners&Losers column, Andrew Davies remarks that 'Watching Kimi Raikkonen at the press conference after the race you couldn't help wonder how much faster he'd be if he adopted the Robert Kubica diet. We're always being told how crucial each extra kg is in an F1 car and it looks like Kimi has decided to add his own personal ballast just above the driver's seat.' To add some further weight to that point, it was speculated that Fisichella was called up as Massa's latest stand-in ahead of Kubica because the KERS-carrying Ferrari needed a light driver. However, it was revealed in the BBC's red button commentary for Friday practice that Kubica, despite standing six foot tall, weighs just a few pounds more than the 5'9 Raikkonen. Quite literally, he needs to smooth off some rough edges. Fisi Suffers Another Weighty KERS Fault The much-maligned KERS system did not have an impressive weekend though. It failed to stop Button overtaking Kovalainen while Hamilton himself made a sluggish start. It was also interesting to note that while Tonio Luzzi immediately got to grips with the Force India car upon his first competitive drive in almost two years, the in-form Fisichella struggled with the balance of his Ferrari under braking. While its value has been questioned because of the extra weight it burdens, perhaps the biggest problem with the system is the handling difficulties it can cause. There is no other obvious reason for Fisichella's difficulties: he might have inherited Massa's engineer but he also worked alongside Rob Smedley during his time at Jordan. Crisis What Crisis?... But, as has been the case on too many occasions this season, the racing was not the main talking point in Monza. The accusations levelled against Renault threaten to overshadow the rest of the season and the repercussions of any sort of guilty verdict will still be apparent at the start of the 2010 season. Renault are, of course, innocent until proven guilty. But let's just speculate for a moment on the impact of a damning verdict next Monday: a substantial blow to the image and credibility of F1, the end of several careers, the likely withdrawal or ban of a leading manufacturer from the sport, a massive hole in the projected 2010 driver line-up with the ripples reaching every corner of the grid. Although Kubica and Raikkonen would be the direct losers if Renault are not on the grid next March, there would also be plenty of indirect sufferers. Yet F1 has coped with bad publicity before and will do so again regardless of what is determined in Paris next Monday. For instance, while Renault's exit is the worst-possible outcome, one possibility is that if F1 lost one of its marquee names then certain teams will be allowed to run three cars next season (presumably on the proviso that any 'points' the third-car driver scores will not count towards either championship). If, and it's a mighty big if at present, Nelsongate thus results in the return of Michael Schumacher then who will argue next March that F1 has suffered for its latest crisis? The pursuits will argue otherwise but F1 has long been synonymous with cheating and intrigue. It's a soap opera as much as a sport. Appalling as the alleged details of Piquet's crash are, the furore is unlikely to stop anybody watching F1 again but is likely to attract a new wave of followers fascinated by the latest chapter in F1's bestselling story. One day the monopolies commission will investigate just why it is that F1 has exclusive rights to sport's best stories but until that day, reports of its impending demise will remain naively exaggerated. Pete Gill More will follow once we've studied a few numbers...
