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Season
in the Red?
The Australian Grand Prix Wrap-up
By Brian Stovall
By every
indication, pre-season testing had pointed toward the Ferraris
owning the 2001-year. And with round one already under their
belt, the 1st and 3rd place victory of Michael Schumacher
and Rubens Barrichello show who the dominating force could
be this season. It may seem a bit premature to make this assumption,
but the cars are almost guaranteed a points finish each race
unless there's a driver error. Ferrari has constructed a new
sleek design combined with an even stronger engine than last
year's, that should show Mclaren that they have an uphill
battle to fight all season long.
The first
evidence of this came Saturday when Schumacher and Barrichello
took first and second during qualifications. Every time another
driver took pole, Schumi would come out and lower the time
by half a second without even blinking. It seemed like there
was even more power in the car that he didn't want to use…yet.
Another sign of Ferrari/Schumacher dominance may be the incident-free
start of the race where he took off from the rest of the pack
and ran flawless the whole event.
© 2001 Formula One |
We may
be looking at the season where Schumacher is at the absolute
top of his game. The past couple of years have given him a
bit of trouble even though he's the 2000 Champion. A broken
ankle he suffered from a wall collision in 1999 completely
took him out of a promising run for the Championship, and
last year he started to slip up mid-season and take himself
(and others) out on the first lap in a series of careless
moves.
This may
be the year of invincibility though. A rejuvenated Ferrari
team and passion to dominate could make him untouchable. And
with his main competition, Mika Hakkinen, appearing to be
distracted or unfocused (not that I'd do any better!) the
task could be that much easier. Mika was taken out of the
Australian Grand Prix from an accident he suffered after his
suspension collapsed. He was running in second but couldn't
gain any ground on Schumacher's fast laps. Critics might say
Mika's sub-par performance could be due to the birth of his
son, Hugo, in the off-season. But then again, some press was
trying to use that same excuse during his wife's pregnancy
in the heat of last year's championship. I feel it's just
a small matter of focus combined with sketchy vehicle performance.
Reports claim Mclaren had some gearbox and miscellaneous engine
trouble while testing the past couple months. This is the
sort of scenario that time will sort out. Engine problems
are usually worked out through the season, but hopefully they're
not serious enough to hamper his attempts at the Championship.
His teammate,
David Coulthard, turned in a solid performance, passing Rubens
Barrichello at a key moment to keep Ferrari from achieving
a season opening 1 & 2 finish, and placing Mclaren on the
points board despite the DNF from Hakkinen. I would love to
see him step up and lead the team given that he's had to forfeit
his attempts the past couple seasons on team orders, to help
Mika strive for the Championship.
The Australian
Grand Prix took a grim turn when on lap five, 1997 World Champion,
Jacques Villeneuve made tire-to-tire contact with Ralf Schumacher,
sending him flying into the air and parts of his car spraying
all around. The debris injured seven people, and a tire from
Villeneuve's car killed a Track Marshal. This comes in the
wake of the FIA requiring tethering wires, connected to the
frame and the wheel in an effort to keep this kind of an incident
from happening. The same thing occurred at Monza last year
when a first lap, multiple-car accident sent a tire flying
which fatally injured another Marshal. The big question now
is why this heavy-duty cable can't withstand the effects and
forces of a real crash vs. its success in the created, controlled
environment of testing. Considering how and what it's made
of, could there even be any other possibilities or is this
realistically impossible? Here's my idea: How about not letting
the Marshals stand in the rescue entrance? It eliminates the
odds. I'll draw the comparison to when I worked for the local
professional hockey team. You see I figured I'd be a bit smarter
if I didn't lean against the outside of the boards while the
action was in my area. And I definitely made it a habit to
stand to the side of the ice entrance, since I had seen a
few people taken out by the door when a hard check was made
against it. It's similar voluntary precautions the track workers
should take. What's the difference if they step back about
ten feet? So they might have an obstructed view! I just don't
want the blamed to be placed on the racing league. These cars
are designed to break and scatter upon impact to protect the
driver. I'm thinking that a wheel flipping around on a tether
may not be the safest idea. We'll see where all this leads.
As far
as other race action, a few new faces made their mark during
this first race of the season. This years young hype, Kimi
Raikkonen (sounds like it's spelled?), scored a point in the
first Formula One race of his career, for the Sauber/Red Bull
team. His participation in Formula One comes with a bit of
controversy, which has also cost Sauber its Red Bull sponsorship
at the end of this season. You see young Mr. Raikkonen had
participated in only 24 races his whole life! But being some
sort of prodigy, the FIA council voted to grant him his Super-License
and there was only one "nay." Anyone see a strange parallel
to Star Wars? But he put on a great show and finished in 6th
place, with his teammate and last year's rookie, Nick Heidfeld,
taking a surprising 4th. It's not as if Nick lacks the talent
to pull off 4th place, or even a victory for that matter,
but everyone was used to seeing him go out of the race with
a DNF as part of Team Prost. He was also in the shadow of
fellow rookie Jenson Button, the 19-year-old sensation who
put up a very impressive performance last season.
This year
may be a bit more difficult for Button with his move from
Williams/BMW to Benetton, depending on the car's performance.
He takes the seat of Alexander Wurz who left a rocky relationship
with Benetton to test for Mclaren. The other teammate Giancarlo
Fisichella turned in a poor performance after his car seemed
to be suffering from a power problem (or lack thereof).
The BARs
and Jordans turned in their usual split performance; one in
the points, one out. The "backmarkers" of last year, Jaguar,
Minardi, Arrows and Prost, turned in big surprises…Actually
they didn't. I just wanted you to know where they stood; at
least one lap down or DNF.
So as
it stands, Ferrari is taking names and the rest should be
taking notes. And on a personal note, I would love to see
a team such as Benetton or Sauber come out of nowhere and
shake things up a little, as Stewart did a couple years ago
(before they were Jaguar). I would also like to thank Speedvision
for picking up Formula One for another season, and their maximum
coverage and minimum commercials. This would've been the opposite
if ABCsucks had landed the deal. They probably would've pre-empted
a race for their Sunday morning religious programming and
info-mercials. We all remember what they did to "Clerks: the
Animated Series."
Brian
Stovall's email address is brianstovall@hotmail.com.
He braved sunburn (Day 1), windburn (Day 2) and frostbite
(Day 3) to see his favorite sport, Formula One, make its debut
in his hometown of Indy.
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