A stitch-up
For once I have some sympathy with Ron Dennis, the McLaren boss. He was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea on Sunday. His protégé, young Lewis Hamilton, was clearly in a position to take his maiden victory but had he been allowed to do so this would have so upset Fernando Alonso as to ruin his whole season and possibly jeopardise his relationship with McLaren. It was a very tough call to make. Hamilton was on a single stop strategy while Alonso, who had done a marginally quicker lap on Saturday and was therefore on pole, was on a two-stopper. When it looked as though Hamilton was going to beat the world champion, McLaren switched strategies and called him in for a second stop. For this they have earned themselves an unwelcome investigation by the FIA about dodgy team tactics.
No surprise then that Hamilton was less than enthusiastic about coming second. His body language on the podium and in the press conference later was indicative of him being very displeased indeed. It is clear to me why McLaren did it. It is simply a matter of time before Hamilton wins a race. He joined McLaren as a precocious, pre-pubescent boy and has been with them since. The lad has been such an insider at McLaren for so long now that it feels like family to him. For Alonso, who is in his first season at McLaren, this must be daunting to say the least. To then have the inexperienced youngster beat him to the win of the most prestigious race on the calendar would, in all probability, have led to Alonso handing in his chips at the end of the season and moving to another team.
The decision must have been deeply resented by Hamilton. It did him absolutely no favours. You could argue that Alonso had beaten Hamilton to pole position and, therefore, earned himself a win at a circuit where it is virtually impossible to overtake but I would disagree. Alonso was 0.2 seconds quicker than Hamilton at the very last moment but he had been fuelled a lot lighter than Hamilton. Notwithstanding this, the lad in the heavier of the two McLarens pretty much dominated qualifying. In all my years of watching races I have never seen a lap driven like Hamilton's flying lap on Saturday. It was absolutely phenomenal. At one point his car was almost sideways - he was pushing it that hard - as he exited a chicane and came up to a left and then quick right turn thereafter. Hamilton's car control is extraordinary.
McLaren is the most regimented of Formula One teams. Ron Dennis and co run the outfit like an army. You do exactly as you are told at McLaren, no questions or arguments. It is why a maverick individual like Juan Pablo Montoya was simply not suited to the team. Both he and the team should have thought better before embarking upon a relationship that ended as disastrously as it did last season. Both Hamilton and Alonso will know this only too well and will be aware that on occasion they may be forced to reign in their personal ambitions for the good of the team. But, understanding as Ron Dennis's actions were, they are not in keeping with the whole point of a Grand Prix: racing. This is something that his counterpart at Williams understands perfectly. If you drive for Williams the rule is don't take your team-mate out but race him for all you are worth; that's the name of the game.
Hamilton's press conference remarks made it clear how sickened he felt: "At the end of the day, I am a rookie...But it is something I have to live with. I’ve got number two on my car. I am the number two driver."
So, once again, an engineered result leaves everyone with a bad taste in their mouth. Since the shenanigans in Austria in 2002 when Rubens Barrichello was shamelessly ordered to move over for Michael Schumacher, I ceased to support Ferrari. I found it impossible to accept that a team could so blatantly attempt to "fix" a race result. People don't like being stitched up. Well, Sunday was a right royal stitch-up. Consequently, I cannot bring myself to support a team that does not allow its drivers to race each other. That's just not on - it is not why we watch F1. I used to respect McLaren but not any more. My loyalties lie with young Lewis Hamilton, not his team. In seeking to keep one driver happy, McLaren have seriously pissed off their second one. What could have been a long term driver-team combination (like the phenomenally successful Schumacher-Ferrari combination) now looks like not having a long term future. It would not surprise me if Hamilton left McLaren at the end of this or next season. Watch this space.
Meanwhile, over at Ferrari, things are not going terribly well. Felipe Massa did a good job of damage limitation but Kimi Raikkonen seems to have gone off the boil. So much so that Ferrari may have to demote Raikkonen from number one status before long. With each racing weekend he slips further and further away from the leaders at the top of the points table. Smacking a barrier and breaking his suspension on Saturday did him no qualifying favours and he was thus relegated to the wrong end of the Monaco grid. Points aren't awarded for sixteenth place, so a pretty grim day for Raikkonen all in all. The pace disadvantage to the McLarens is now so great that Massa finished a whole minute behind the leader - something that shocked Alonso considerably. The reason is becoming clearer: whereas, like Schumacher, Alonso understands a great deal about car development, Raikkonen has no interest. It may cost him the opportunity to challenge the world champion for the title.
Next up, north America. Canada is not a circuit which particularly favours Alonso, so the young pretender - who is now level pegged on points with the world champion - may finally get his opportunity to savour the feeling of being on the top step of the podium.
Gitau
29 May 2007
No surprise then that Hamilton was less than enthusiastic about coming second. His body language on the podium and in the press conference later was indicative of him being very displeased indeed. It is clear to me why McLaren did it. It is simply a matter of time before Hamilton wins a race. He joined McLaren as a precocious, pre-pubescent boy and has been with them since. The lad has been such an insider at McLaren for so long now that it feels like family to him. For Alonso, who is in his first season at McLaren, this must be daunting to say the least. To then have the inexperienced youngster beat him to the win of the most prestigious race on the calendar would, in all probability, have led to Alonso handing in his chips at the end of the season and moving to another team.
The decision must have been deeply resented by Hamilton. It did him absolutely no favours. You could argue that Alonso had beaten Hamilton to pole position and, therefore, earned himself a win at a circuit where it is virtually impossible to overtake but I would disagree. Alonso was 0.2 seconds quicker than Hamilton at the very last moment but he had been fuelled a lot lighter than Hamilton. Notwithstanding this, the lad in the heavier of the two McLarens pretty much dominated qualifying. In all my years of watching races I have never seen a lap driven like Hamilton's flying lap on Saturday. It was absolutely phenomenal. At one point his car was almost sideways - he was pushing it that hard - as he exited a chicane and came up to a left and then quick right turn thereafter. Hamilton's car control is extraordinary.
McLaren is the most regimented of Formula One teams. Ron Dennis and co run the outfit like an army. You do exactly as you are told at McLaren, no questions or arguments. It is why a maverick individual like Juan Pablo Montoya was simply not suited to the team. Both he and the team should have thought better before embarking upon a relationship that ended as disastrously as it did last season. Both Hamilton and Alonso will know this only too well and will be aware that on occasion they may be forced to reign in their personal ambitions for the good of the team. But, understanding as Ron Dennis's actions were, they are not in keeping with the whole point of a Grand Prix: racing. This is something that his counterpart at Williams understands perfectly. If you drive for Williams the rule is don't take your team-mate out but race him for all you are worth; that's the name of the game.
Hamilton's press conference remarks made it clear how sickened he felt: "At the end of the day, I am a rookie...But it is something I have to live with. I’ve got number two on my car. I am the number two driver."
So, once again, an engineered result leaves everyone with a bad taste in their mouth. Since the shenanigans in Austria in 2002 when Rubens Barrichello was shamelessly ordered to move over for Michael Schumacher, I ceased to support Ferrari. I found it impossible to accept that a team could so blatantly attempt to "fix" a race result. People don't like being stitched up. Well, Sunday was a right royal stitch-up. Consequently, I cannot bring myself to support a team that does not allow its drivers to race each other. That's just not on - it is not why we watch F1. I used to respect McLaren but not any more. My loyalties lie with young Lewis Hamilton, not his team. In seeking to keep one driver happy, McLaren have seriously pissed off their second one. What could have been a long term driver-team combination (like the phenomenally successful Schumacher-Ferrari combination) now looks like not having a long term future. It would not surprise me if Hamilton left McLaren at the end of this or next season. Watch this space.
Meanwhile, over at Ferrari, things are not going terribly well. Felipe Massa did a good job of damage limitation but Kimi Raikkonen seems to have gone off the boil. So much so that Ferrari may have to demote Raikkonen from number one status before long. With each racing weekend he slips further and further away from the leaders at the top of the points table. Smacking a barrier and breaking his suspension on Saturday did him no qualifying favours and he was thus relegated to the wrong end of the Monaco grid. Points aren't awarded for sixteenth place, so a pretty grim day for Raikkonen all in all. The pace disadvantage to the McLarens is now so great that Massa finished a whole minute behind the leader - something that shocked Alonso considerably. The reason is becoming clearer: whereas, like Schumacher, Alonso understands a great deal about car development, Raikkonen has no interest. It may cost him the opportunity to challenge the world champion for the title.
Next up, north America. Canada is not a circuit which particularly favours Alonso, so the young pretender - who is now level pegged on points with the world champion - may finally get his opportunity to savour the feeling of being on the top step of the podium.
Gitau
29 May 2007
posted by Gitau at 5:24 pm
<< Home