The last two weeks of Formula One have produced some so so action on the track but it did garner up some great talking points off the track.  Last week in Germany was the scene of Ferrari’s attempt to skirt the team order rules.  This week was the flexible front wings of Red Bull and Ferrari and Michael Schumacher’s attempt to drive Rubens Barrichello into the wall on the front stretch.  Plus we can’t forget the Safety Car this week and how it caused mass chaos in the pits and then mass hysteria on the track.

The Horse:

Last week, the German Grand Prix was really nothing to write about. Ferrari jumped to the front at the start and showed the world that they were back on form.  The race overall had some decent battles in the mid pack and back of the pack areas didn’t really have a lot of action.  Felipe Massa led his teammate, Fernando Alonso, for most of the race.  Until around lap 50, when Massa’s race engineer (similar to a crew chief in NASCAR) came on the radio to inform poor Massa that ‘Fernando is faster than you’.  For most drivers this would mean that it is time to get the lead out and start making hay around the track, especially since, Team Orders have been banned ever since the last time Ferrari blatantly executed it in 2002 with Schumacher passing Barrichello to take a win.

The ban was enacted to force the teams to let the drivers battle it out on the track.  Well, that doesn’t always work when the cars are driven more by ego than by heart.  We only have to go back a few races to see how this can end badly. Just ask Red Bull and the mishap between their drivers.  Vettle, while trying to pass Webber on a not so great piece of track to do so, ended his race and dropped Webber out of the lead and into third.  Massa, being the team player that he is, let Alonso by and on to the win.  Poor Felipe was second fiddle yet again.

For Ferrari, as a team, this made sense.  Alonso had more total points and would have a much greater chance at the Driver’s Championship.  To us fans, it was a slap in the face.  Team orders are still carried out every weekend and done so with great skill.  This was not.  Massa looked as if he came to a stop to let Alonso by, then all of a sudden picked up speed and carried on to second place.  It was 2002 all over again.  Ferrari has denied that the maneuvering by the drivers was any sort of team order and that Felipe made the choice on his own.  A five year old would have been able to read Felipe’s body language after the race to see that it wasn’t his choice but that of the team.  It would have been one thing if Massa was significantly slower than Alonso but overall he was not. There were times that Alonso got close but Massa would pick up the pace and pull away.  It was another case of Alonso showing his true colors on the track. While a good guy off the track, he is an over inflated ego on the track.   For this debacle on the track, Ferrari escaped with a $100,000 fine, which is similar to a $2 fine to us commoners.  Though it is still under investigation by the World Motor Sports Council, don’t expect much to happen. The battle between the sides of this rule is just as great as the battle of what came first, the chicken or the egg.

The Bull and the Wing:

This past week was the Hungarian Grand Prix, often referred to as Monaco without the flare. The ability to pass is minimal and everything comes down to pit stop strategy. The talk of the weekend was the flexible front wings used by Red Bull and Ferrari. By rule, the front wings have to maintain a certain gap from the pavement. Teams typically keep the wing stiff to ensure that the gap is kept. Ferrari and Red Bull have seemed to find a way to skirt this rule. Similar to the double diffusers used last year.  The wings of Ferrari and Red Bull flex towards the edges, bending towards the pavement, allowing greater downforce, hence greater speed though the turns where it is needed most. This allowed both teams free will of the track.

Things were going great for Vettle, who had pitted during a Safety Car period for debris on the track.  Vettle was able to avoid the mass chaos that saw Nico Rosberg’s wheel get airborne and a collision between Renualt driver Robert Kubica and Force India driver Andrian Sutil.  During a Safety Car period, drivers are not allowed to leave anymore than ten car lengths between themselves and the car in front of them. Vettle left much more. This would bring a drive thru penalty, ultimately giving the win to teammates Mark Webber, who almost managed to lap the entire field. Vettle was very lucky to not garner further penalties for his behavior in the pit lane. He showed us once again, that there is still plenty of growing up to do. The big surprise on this run was the ability of Webber to go over almost half the race distance on tires meant to be very fast but at the same time be spent within ten to fifteen laps.
To close out the race, Michael Schumacher was back to his old bag of tricks. This time it was blocking. A much faster Williams, piloted by old teammate Rubens Barrichello was attempting to pass when he was almost run into the wall by his old ‘pal’. There is no love loss between these two since they were teammates at Ferrari.  It also did’nt help that Barrichello was reminded all week of the incidents of 2002.  Schumi was eventually handed a ten grid spot penalty for the next race and has reached out to apologize to Rubens.

Now comes the summer break. Teams are off until the last week of August where the Belgium Grand Prix awaits them at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, or better know as Spa. One of the best tracks on the calendar. To quote: ‘A circuit both spectacular and emotive; La Source hairpin, the downhill plunge to Eau Rouge, the forest setting and the longest lap distance in the World Championship.’  This is a massive track that can have rain on one edge and sun on the other. Well worth the wait of a three week break, especially now that there are only seven races left and the championship is mathematically open for almost the entire field. Granted it is truly just a five horse race at this point. If McLaren does not pull it together, it will be a three horse race with the Red Bull duo and Ferrari’s Alonso.

Filed under: Editorial, Industry News

blog comments powered by Disqus