Brawn feels the pressure of a charging Red Bull
Two things became clear yesterday. The first was the underscoring of the principal message of Formula One 2009: patience pays. After 130 Grand Prix starts, the amiable Australian, Mark Webber, emerged victorious after the somewhat chaotic beginning of yesterday’s German Grand Prix. It was the perfect end to his weekend after surprisingly outqualifying everybody to take pole position on Saturday and somewhat harsh drive through penalty demanded by the race stewards for overly aggressive driving at the start of the race. As Jenson Button has demonstrated with his early form this season, F1 has room for late developers as well as sensational rookies. Webber may yet be a championship contender in the future, if not this year.
The second lesson learned at the Nürburgring ring was that the Latin temperament is never tamed, no matter how much influence of a less excitable nature you expose it to. Rubens Barrichello finished yesterday’s race exhaling fire and ash. As a Brazilian driving in an English team with an English team-mate leading the world championship, Barrichello was convinced he had been set up when he finished sixth and Jenson Button finished fifth. After outqualifying Button and taking the lead at the start of yesterday’s race, Barrichello could think of nothing but skulduggery when speaking to the press after the race was over. As far as he was concerned, the perfidious English were saying one thing to his face while doing the opposite when he was not looking. “I am terribly upset with the way things have gone today,” he said, “because it was a very good show of how to lose a race…they made me lose the race basically.”
We have been here before. Spanish driver Fernando Alonso left McLaren because he was convinced the team was favouring his English team-mate, Lewis Hamilton. Before that Juan Pablo Montoya had bitter disputes with the McLaren management because he couldn’t stand the favouritism of his team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen. Probably the most mercurial man F1 has ever seen, Ayrton Senna da Silva, spent his racing career flying into fits of rage at the slightest provocation.
The facts do not bear out Barrichello’s version of events. He was convinced that an alteration in pit-stop strategy was required after he emerged from his second of three scheduled stops in an awkward position and could be overheard demanding this on the radio to his team. What he was not aware of at the time and during his press interview was that no fuel had gone into his car during his pit-stop because of a faulty fuel rig which forced the team to call him back to the pits (he thought at the time that this was deliberate sabotage for the benefit of Jenson Button). Barrichello really ought to know better. At 37 and having raced in F1since 1993, he is the oldest and by far the most experienced F1 driver in this year’s paddock. He knows – or should know – that Ross Brawn will not sacrifice valuable team points in a shabby favouritism exercise, especially with so much of the season still to go. He also knows his age is a massive disadvantage – there are lots of young, eager drivers who would kill for his seat at Brawn. Barrichello should count his lucky stars that he works for Ross Brawn – a man with whom he worked for many years while Michael Schumacher’s sidekick at Ferrari – and not a more irascible team principal like, say, Sir Frank Williams. True to form, Williams described Barrichello’s outburst as a “red card offence”.
Sometimes these excitable Latins accept their punishments – for, surely, Barrichello is in for one even if it is just a severe bollocking - and correct their behaviour. Other times the Latin blood is at too high a temperature to be cooled. A good recent example is Juan Pablo Montoya who got himself sacked by two English teams – Williams and McLaren – and eventually had to leave the pinnacle of motor racing for a much less dignified existence as a stock car racing driver in the redneck American NASCAR series.
What is now clear from the last two races is that the world championship is not going to be an easy waltz for Button and Brawn. Red Bull Racing has turned the corner and means business. Button’s championship lead over Sebastian Vettel is now 21 points but the advantage the Red Bull cars seem to be enjoying could see dwindling to nothing.
With eight races still to go, one can begin to see that the bookmakers who paid out early on a wager on Button for the championship must now be contemplating defenestrating themselves.
Meanwhile, Bernie Ecclestone spent the weekend denying allegations that the Jewish chairman of CVC wants his scalp. However much he may protest in public, I am sure the 78 year old trickster knows that he has finally run out of road.
Gitau
13 July 2009
The second lesson learned at the Nürburgring ring was that the Latin temperament is never tamed, no matter how much influence of a less excitable nature you expose it to. Rubens Barrichello finished yesterday’s race exhaling fire and ash. As a Brazilian driving in an English team with an English team-mate leading the world championship, Barrichello was convinced he had been set up when he finished sixth and Jenson Button finished fifth. After outqualifying Button and taking the lead at the start of yesterday’s race, Barrichello could think of nothing but skulduggery when speaking to the press after the race was over. As far as he was concerned, the perfidious English were saying one thing to his face while doing the opposite when he was not looking. “I am terribly upset with the way things have gone today,” he said, “because it was a very good show of how to lose a race…they made me lose the race basically.”
We have been here before. Spanish driver Fernando Alonso left McLaren because he was convinced the team was favouring his English team-mate, Lewis Hamilton. Before that Juan Pablo Montoya had bitter disputes with the McLaren management because he couldn’t stand the favouritism of his team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen. Probably the most mercurial man F1 has ever seen, Ayrton Senna da Silva, spent his racing career flying into fits of rage at the slightest provocation.
The facts do not bear out Barrichello’s version of events. He was convinced that an alteration in pit-stop strategy was required after he emerged from his second of three scheduled stops in an awkward position and could be overheard demanding this on the radio to his team. What he was not aware of at the time and during his press interview was that no fuel had gone into his car during his pit-stop because of a faulty fuel rig which forced the team to call him back to the pits (he thought at the time that this was deliberate sabotage for the benefit of Jenson Button). Barrichello really ought to know better. At 37 and having raced in F1since 1993, he is the oldest and by far the most experienced F1 driver in this year’s paddock. He knows – or should know – that Ross Brawn will not sacrifice valuable team points in a shabby favouritism exercise, especially with so much of the season still to go. He also knows his age is a massive disadvantage – there are lots of young, eager drivers who would kill for his seat at Brawn. Barrichello should count his lucky stars that he works for Ross Brawn – a man with whom he worked for many years while Michael Schumacher’s sidekick at Ferrari – and not a more irascible team principal like, say, Sir Frank Williams. True to form, Williams described Barrichello’s outburst as a “red card offence”.
Sometimes these excitable Latins accept their punishments – for, surely, Barrichello is in for one even if it is just a severe bollocking - and correct their behaviour. Other times the Latin blood is at too high a temperature to be cooled. A good recent example is Juan Pablo Montoya who got himself sacked by two English teams – Williams and McLaren – and eventually had to leave the pinnacle of motor racing for a much less dignified existence as a stock car racing driver in the redneck American NASCAR series.
What is now clear from the last two races is that the world championship is not going to be an easy waltz for Button and Brawn. Red Bull Racing has turned the corner and means business. Button’s championship lead over Sebastian Vettel is now 21 points but the advantage the Red Bull cars seem to be enjoying could see dwindling to nothing.
With eight races still to go, one can begin to see that the bookmakers who paid out early on a wager on Button for the championship must now be contemplating defenestrating themselves.
Meanwhile, Bernie Ecclestone spent the weekend denying allegations that the Jewish chairman of CVC wants his scalp. However much he may protest in public, I am sure the 78 year old trickster knows that he has finally run out of road.
Gitau
13 July 2009
posted by Gitau at 5:26 pm
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