The Japanese Grand Prix
The Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka has always been the race to look forward to. As if Suzuka's pre-eminence as being, like Spa, a true driver's circuit, is not enough, the Japanese Grand Prix has found itself to be the championship decider event on no fewer than ten occasions. There have been so many spectacular races at Suzuka that it is difficult to recall any that wasn't. It is that good. Suzuka is almost a metaphor for Japan itself. Having been humiliated by defeat in the Second World War (and no one takes humiliation with greater difficulty than a member of the proud Japanese race), the Japanese set about conquering the world with technological innovation. Suzuka demonstrates this more charmingly than could ever have been dreamed about by its designers.
Despite all of this, infuriatingly and inexplicably, the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix will be the last to be held at Suzuka, the world's only figure-of-eight circuit. The circuit does not fail to draw the crowds (not by any measure), it is technically up to all of the modern requirements set by the FIA, all the drivers love driving round it and the fans love being there. So what in the name of anything sacred are the FIA playing at? How can they justify taking the Japanese Grand Prix away from Suzuka? Well, to my mind at least, they can't. This smacks of the murky world of money politics that has dominated Formula One for way too long. Suzuka is owned by Honda and Fuji, the track to which the Japanese Grand Prix will migrate next year, belongs to Toyota. It looks to me as though Toyota dug more deeply into its coffers than Honda. Fuji has its merits as a circuit but it is no Suzuka. From next year, Formula One will be a good deal poorer as a consequence of this woefully bad decision. Shame on the FIA.
Enough of the moaning. It is still 2006 and we are going to Suzuka this weekend. We do so at a time when the world championship is at a knife-edge. Rarely have we seen a championship pendulum swing so dramatically away from a driver and decisively in favour of another. I cannot remember the last time - if ever - a situation like this arose. From a seemingly unbeatable margin of 25 points, Fernando Alonso is now level-pegged with Michael Schumacher at 116 points. It is advantage Schumacher, though, because he has more wins. A win for Schumacher at Suzuka and a retirement for Alonso means it will be world championship number eight for the German. If this happens it will be Schumacher's last and most eloquent championship victory.
All of this is rattling Alonso remarkably. When I watched his composure on his way to winning the title in 2005, I often felt like reaching out for Miles Davis's classic "Birth of the Cool". If I was interviewed on American television about Alonso at the time, I would have donned my darkest shades, nodded slowly and in my huskiest possible voice said "the guy hangs loose, man; he's one cool cat." Fast forward to October 2006. Now, I would probably pull off the shades irritably, purse my lips and yell "that stupid kid needs a good spanking!" What a difference a year makes. Losing to Schumacher in Shanghai so upset Alonso that he went berserk. This week he gave interviews to the Spanish media blaming everybody but himself for his failure to win in Shanghai (conveniently forgetting that salvaging second place in a fractious, incident-packed race, was a significant achievement in itself). According to Alonso there is some sort of conspiracy against him at Renault. He is convinced that the team do not want him to "take car number 1 to their rivals, McLaren, next season". To do this they are prepared to do anything to sabotage his chances of winning the title this year. Thus, the sticky wheel nut that cost him precious seconds in the pits in Shanghai was deliberate; the overtaking manoeuvre performed on him by his team-mate in Shanghai was done so as to "block" him ("In the same situation I don't believe that Massa would have driven past Schumacher," said Alonso); and more mischief lies ahead.
Why on earth is Alonso behaving like this at this crucial time? Why oh why would anyone make this kind of noise now when he desperately needs his team to cooperate if he is to win the next two races? Why antagonise everybody now when there is absolutely nothing to be gained by it? Surely he could have waited until the end of the season and then slagged off Renault for all he was worth - after all he is leaving them for an arch rival (Flavio Briatore and Ron Dennis hate each others guts). This is not the way world champions are meant to behave. Champions aren't whingers. They keep their opinions to themselves and never bad-mouth fellow drivers. The ease of last year's title victory and the commanding start to 2006 went to the youngster's head. He began to think of himself as a superstar worthy of nothing but the most doting attention. Michael Schumacher has never made that mistake. It is why he is still the hardest working driver in Formula One.
Let us deal with Alonso's arguments. Do Renault not want Alonso to win the title? That has got to be pure balderdash. What's in it for Renault? The more points Alonso scores the better it is for the constructors' championship and the crucial financial and psychological advantages winning it provides.
Was Alonso sabotaged in the pits in Shangai? Bollocks! Mistakes happen in pit-lanes all the time. We have seen more dramatic things happening in pit-lanes without the drivers involved crying foul. Did Michael Schumacher accuse Ferrari of sabotage when his car caught fire in the pit lane during refuelling a couple of year's ago? Did Kimi Raikkonen claim that there were deliberate moves against him when he exited the pits and promptly spun out with suspension failure last season? Of course not. Incidents happen - that's motor racing.
Did Fisichella try to block Alonso? The suggestion that Fisichella's manoeuvre was inappropriate is just plain daft. If he hadn't done it, Schumacher would have overtaken them both - Alonso simply did not have the speed at that point. In the same situation Massa would have been ordered to overtake Schumacher so as to protect him from Alonso - which is exactly what Fisichella was doing. Fisichella's later attempt at resisting being overtaken by Schumacher shows that he was not in any way seeking to assist Ferrari. In typical Schumacher style, the German saw a slight opportunity and grabbed it with both hands - even if it meant putting his wheels on the grass to achieve it.
Are Renault determined to prevent No 1 going to McLaren? Well, this is just stupid. Renault cannot have car No 1 next season - it is impossible - so this cannot be an issue for them. If they win the constructors’ championship – even if Schumacher becomes champion – they will have Nos 3 and 4. That’s pretty damn good if you ask me!
A word about the all-important No 1. It is true that Fernando Alonso would take No 1 to a new team if he won the championship. This has happened relatively few times. In 1987 Nelson Piquet won the title with Williams and took it with him to Lotus. Alain Prost did the same when he moved to Ferrari from McLaren in 1990. Similarly, Michael Schumacher took No1 from Benetton to Ferrari after winning in 1995 and Damon Hill matched this by taking No1 from Williams to Arrows after winning it for Williams in 1996. What is more interesting is what would happen to the number if Schumacher won the title. Since it is such a coveted number, if the world champion is not racing in any season, the tradition has been that the number lapses. Accordingly, as a consequence of Alain Prost retiring from Williams as world champion at the end of 1993, Damon Hill drove for the whole of the 1994 season in car number 0. I fully expect the same for Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari next season. If this happens, the best Alonso can hope to achieve is car No 5 (a massive climb-down from No 1, you will, doubtless, agree!). I have set out my thoughts for next year's line-up at the bottom of this posting.
As you can see, I am firmly in the camp that believes Schumacher is going to win the title this year. It may not be the end I had hoped for but after a championship as exhilarating as this one has been and a drive as astoundingly brilliant as Schumacher's last weekend in Shanghai, I believe it to be a fitting one.
The great thing about Suzuka is that one knows it is going to be a good race (who will ever forget Raikkonen's daredevil performance from seventeenth to first last year?). Stock up on some Kirin or Asahi and make the most of the last outing at a sterling circuit for, without a doubt, I am sure you will,
Enjoy Suzuka!
Gitau
5 October 2006
The 2007 Line-up
0
Raikkonen K
Ferrari
2
Massa F
Ferrari
3
Fisichella G
Renault
4
Kovalainen H
Renault
5
Alonso F
McLaren
6
Hamilton L/De La Rosa P
McLaren
7
Button J
Honda
8
Barrichello R
Honda
9
Heidfeld N
BMW
10
Kubica R
BMW
11
Schumacher R
Toyota
12
Trulli J
Toyota
14
Coulthard D
Red Bull
15
Webber M
Red Bull
16
Rosberg N
Williams
17
Wurz A
Williams
18
Liuzzi V
Toro Rosso
19
Speed S
Toro Rosso
20
Klien C/Monteiro T
Spyker
21
Albers C
Spyker
22
Sato T
Super Aguri
23
Yamamoto S/Davidson A
Super Aguri
Despite all of this, infuriatingly and inexplicably, the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix will be the last to be held at Suzuka, the world's only figure-of-eight circuit. The circuit does not fail to draw the crowds (not by any measure), it is technically up to all of the modern requirements set by the FIA, all the drivers love driving round it and the fans love being there. So what in the name of anything sacred are the FIA playing at? How can they justify taking the Japanese Grand Prix away from Suzuka? Well, to my mind at least, they can't. This smacks of the murky world of money politics that has dominated Formula One for way too long. Suzuka is owned by Honda and Fuji, the track to which the Japanese Grand Prix will migrate next year, belongs to Toyota. It looks to me as though Toyota dug more deeply into its coffers than Honda. Fuji has its merits as a circuit but it is no Suzuka. From next year, Formula One will be a good deal poorer as a consequence of this woefully bad decision. Shame on the FIA.
Enough of the moaning. It is still 2006 and we are going to Suzuka this weekend. We do so at a time when the world championship is at a knife-edge. Rarely have we seen a championship pendulum swing so dramatically away from a driver and decisively in favour of another. I cannot remember the last time - if ever - a situation like this arose. From a seemingly unbeatable margin of 25 points, Fernando Alonso is now level-pegged with Michael Schumacher at 116 points. It is advantage Schumacher, though, because he has more wins. A win for Schumacher at Suzuka and a retirement for Alonso means it will be world championship number eight for the German. If this happens it will be Schumacher's last and most eloquent championship victory.
All of this is rattling Alonso remarkably. When I watched his composure on his way to winning the title in 2005, I often felt like reaching out for Miles Davis's classic "Birth of the Cool". If I was interviewed on American television about Alonso at the time, I would have donned my darkest shades, nodded slowly and in my huskiest possible voice said "the guy hangs loose, man; he's one cool cat." Fast forward to October 2006. Now, I would probably pull off the shades irritably, purse my lips and yell "that stupid kid needs a good spanking!" What a difference a year makes. Losing to Schumacher in Shanghai so upset Alonso that he went berserk. This week he gave interviews to the Spanish media blaming everybody but himself for his failure to win in Shanghai (conveniently forgetting that salvaging second place in a fractious, incident-packed race, was a significant achievement in itself). According to Alonso there is some sort of conspiracy against him at Renault. He is convinced that the team do not want him to "take car number 1 to their rivals, McLaren, next season". To do this they are prepared to do anything to sabotage his chances of winning the title this year. Thus, the sticky wheel nut that cost him precious seconds in the pits in Shanghai was deliberate; the overtaking manoeuvre performed on him by his team-mate in Shanghai was done so as to "block" him ("In the same situation I don't believe that Massa would have driven past Schumacher," said Alonso); and more mischief lies ahead.
Why on earth is Alonso behaving like this at this crucial time? Why oh why would anyone make this kind of noise now when he desperately needs his team to cooperate if he is to win the next two races? Why antagonise everybody now when there is absolutely nothing to be gained by it? Surely he could have waited until the end of the season and then slagged off Renault for all he was worth - after all he is leaving them for an arch rival (Flavio Briatore and Ron Dennis hate each others guts). This is not the way world champions are meant to behave. Champions aren't whingers. They keep their opinions to themselves and never bad-mouth fellow drivers. The ease of last year's title victory and the commanding start to 2006 went to the youngster's head. He began to think of himself as a superstar worthy of nothing but the most doting attention. Michael Schumacher has never made that mistake. It is why he is still the hardest working driver in Formula One.
Let us deal with Alonso's arguments. Do Renault not want Alonso to win the title? That has got to be pure balderdash. What's in it for Renault? The more points Alonso scores the better it is for the constructors' championship and the crucial financial and psychological advantages winning it provides.
Was Alonso sabotaged in the pits in Shangai? Bollocks! Mistakes happen in pit-lanes all the time. We have seen more dramatic things happening in pit-lanes without the drivers involved crying foul. Did Michael Schumacher accuse Ferrari of sabotage when his car caught fire in the pit lane during refuelling a couple of year's ago? Did Kimi Raikkonen claim that there were deliberate moves against him when he exited the pits and promptly spun out with suspension failure last season? Of course not. Incidents happen - that's motor racing.
Did Fisichella try to block Alonso? The suggestion that Fisichella's manoeuvre was inappropriate is just plain daft. If he hadn't done it, Schumacher would have overtaken them both - Alonso simply did not have the speed at that point. In the same situation Massa would have been ordered to overtake Schumacher so as to protect him from Alonso - which is exactly what Fisichella was doing. Fisichella's later attempt at resisting being overtaken by Schumacher shows that he was not in any way seeking to assist Ferrari. In typical Schumacher style, the German saw a slight opportunity and grabbed it with both hands - even if it meant putting his wheels on the grass to achieve it.
Are Renault determined to prevent No 1 going to McLaren? Well, this is just stupid. Renault cannot have car No 1 next season - it is impossible - so this cannot be an issue for them. If they win the constructors’ championship – even if Schumacher becomes champion – they will have Nos 3 and 4. That’s pretty damn good if you ask me!
A word about the all-important No 1. It is true that Fernando Alonso would take No 1 to a new team if he won the championship. This has happened relatively few times. In 1987 Nelson Piquet won the title with Williams and took it with him to Lotus. Alain Prost did the same when he moved to Ferrari from McLaren in 1990. Similarly, Michael Schumacher took No1 from Benetton to Ferrari after winning in 1995 and Damon Hill matched this by taking No1 from Williams to Arrows after winning it for Williams in 1996. What is more interesting is what would happen to the number if Schumacher won the title. Since it is such a coveted number, if the world champion is not racing in any season, the tradition has been that the number lapses. Accordingly, as a consequence of Alain Prost retiring from Williams as world champion at the end of 1993, Damon Hill drove for the whole of the 1994 season in car number 0. I fully expect the same for Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari next season. If this happens, the best Alonso can hope to achieve is car No 5 (a massive climb-down from No 1, you will, doubtless, agree!). I have set out my thoughts for next year's line-up at the bottom of this posting.
As you can see, I am firmly in the camp that believes Schumacher is going to win the title this year. It may not be the end I had hoped for but after a championship as exhilarating as this one has been and a drive as astoundingly brilliant as Schumacher's last weekend in Shanghai, I believe it to be a fitting one.
The great thing about Suzuka is that one knows it is going to be a good race (who will ever forget Raikkonen's daredevil performance from seventeenth to first last year?). Stock up on some Kirin or Asahi and make the most of the last outing at a sterling circuit for, without a doubt, I am sure you will,
Enjoy Suzuka!
Gitau
5 October 2006
The 2007 Line-up
0
Raikkonen K
Ferrari
2
Massa F
Ferrari
3
Fisichella G
Renault
4
Kovalainen H
Renault
5
Alonso F
McLaren
6
Hamilton L/De La Rosa P
McLaren
7
Button J
Honda
8
Barrichello R
Honda
9
Heidfeld N
BMW
10
Kubica R
BMW
11
Schumacher R
Toyota
12
Trulli J
Toyota
14
Coulthard D
Red Bull
15
Webber M
Red Bull
16
Rosberg N
Williams
17
Wurz A
Williams
18
Liuzzi V
Toro Rosso
19
Speed S
Toro Rosso
20
Klien C/Monteiro T
Spyker
21
Albers C
Spyker
22
Sato T
Super Aguri
23
Yamamoto S/Davidson A
Super Aguri
posted by Gitau at 2:48 pm
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