Peter Windsor, leading F1 journalist, manager and broadcaster, was kind enough to answer some questions set by The F1 Times.
We find out what Peter’s favourite moment of the 2010 season was, what he thinks of McLaren’s chances for their 2011 campaign, what he makes of inter-team rivalry and how it will affect the teams in 2011, and what he thinks Michael Schumacher will do for Mercedes next season.
Once you’ve read the questions and answers, you can share in Peter Windsor’s F1 world on his new site, theracedriver.com.
TF1T: So, Peter, It’s been one of the best seasons in living memory. What would you say has been your favourite moment of 2010?
PW: Difficult to pick one moment but, if you insist, it would have to be Mark Webber’s win at Monaco.
TF1T: Mark Webber has had a sensational season, but not without it’s errors and problems. So many of the drivers have had a miss-match season, highs and lows, but who in your mind has driven the best this season?
PW: Again, its hard to define one driver. Given how hard it is to assert yourself in a team focussed around the other driver (particularly when the car is a race-winner and the team has a genuine chance of winning both championships) I would have to say Webber again. To beat Seb-V at places like Monaco and Silverstone he had to touch the highest peaks.
TF1T: Speaking of “asserting yourself” and in particular, Red Bull, do you think the inter-team rivalry seen at RBR this year will carry through in to 2011?
PW: At some level, yes, but not as it was in 2010. Intra-team fights only exist when the team in question is running clearly at the front. For sure RBR will be great next year, and will win races, but it’s difficult to imagine they will have the same margin with which to play. If they have less advantage – or no advantage – the fight between the drivers will be overshadowed by the basic need to beat the other teams. On top of that, I imagine Webber will just take each race as it comes and will enjoy every minute of his time in the cockpit.
TF1T: Moving down the team rankings a little, let’s talk about the new teams on the grid this year. You obviously have firsthand experience of trying to setup an F1 team, unfortunately it didn’t work out for USF1. But how do you think Lotus, Virgin and Hispania have fared in their first seasons?
PW: I hope that Tony Fernandes, having emerged best of the new team owners, is strong enough to retain his Team Lotus identity. I’d hate to see the Team Lotus name in yet more trouble.
TF1T: Recently we heard that an agreement had been made between Hispania and Toyota regarding next year’s car, and no-sooner had the press published the story, Toyota released a statement saying that the agreement had been called off. What do you think the future holds for HRT? Who will they go to for their 2011 chassis now?
PW: I’m actually far more concerned about the great facilities at Toyota GmbH and some of the wonderful people there now seemingly going to waste. I still think that F1 should have done more to keep Toyota on the grid. Particularly as the recession starts to bite, it was arrogant of our industry to deride Toyota on the basis that they couldn’t attract decent drivers or win races. Overall, Toyota were good for F1 business and we shouldn’t have let them go. I just hope that they return in some form or another – perhaps as an engine supplier.
TF1T: Still looking ahead to next season, we see the addition of India to the F1 race calendar, what features are you expecting to see on this circuit, and do you expect there will be a lot of support from Indian locals for the sport?
PW: I think Índia will be a great success. I love the sporting passion of the Indian people, as exemplified by the way they approach their cricket: like it or not, their T20 promotion has been world-changing and I suspect we’ll see the same approach to the F1 race.
Having said that, I think we must learn from the mistakes at other venues. The Indian track needs to say “Índia” much more than the Korean circuit whispers “Korea”. And the new circuit must enable more overtaking than does, say, Abu Dhabi.
In addition, F1 as an industry, needs to promote itself in Índia NOW – not on the Thursday before the first race. This also applies to China, Russia and the USA. F1 drivers should visit these venues over the winter. There should be multi-driver press conferences, F1 street displays, charity kart events, new media platforms, etc,etc.
TF1T: Getting back to the big names within the sport, this year saw the collaboration of the 2008 and 2009 champions, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, a partnership we see extended in 2011. How do you think this will help the development of McLaren’s MP4-26? Do you think it stands the Woking-based team in a better position for the start of 2011 than it did for 2010?
PW: Yes, I think VMM (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) will have a great 2011. They have a good baseline car around which they can work; Mercedes will do a good job with KERS; the Lewis/ Jenson partnership is probably the best-balanced in the pit lane; Lewis himself is getting better with every year and is already one of the all-time greats; and Martin Whitmarsh is doing an excellent management job. The only weak point, so far as I can see, is a chronic inability to consistently manage tyre temperatures.
TF1T: Looking down the grid slightly, it was recently confirmed that long-serving Rubens Barrichello would continue with Williams in 2011, however Nico Hulkenberg would be leaving the squad. After his amazing pole in Brasil, surely someone will snap him up, any ideas who that could be? Who would you like to see the German with next year?
PW: Nico (and Rubens for that matter) is very talented and will clearly win F1 races. If he can’t race for a team in the Force Índia’s class in 2011, I think his best bet might be to sign a long-term Mercedes deal, starting in 2012. In the meantime he can watch and learn in F1 and expand his race-craft in other forms of the sport – perhaps DTM. The shame is that there is virtually no F1 testing these days. Not only does this hurt drivers in Nico’s situation; it also makes it absurdly difficult for drivers on the verge of F1.
TF1T: All all-time great, Michael Schumacher, made his come-back in 2010. Do you think he’ll have more to offer in 2011? Will we see the “old” Michael come back out now that he has had his “warm up” season?
PW: Definitely. Michael had a tougher 2010 than I thought he would but it was interesting to see him out-qualify Nico in the last two races. The margins were very small, of course, but still this is something good for him to take into the winter.
He did look surprisingly ragged in the closing races – lots of missed apices, lots of moments on kerbs. We didn’t see that in his Ferrari years, even when the car was bad. I think a lot of that is due to the relatively narrow front tyres this year: there’s not much a good front-end driver like Michael can do with the car if he’s always looking to make up an overall grip deficit. For most of the year he tried to work at it as the Michael he used to be.
Towards the end he just took off the gloves and threw the car all over the place. It resulted in that very uncharacteristic mistake on lap one in AD, but then it didn’t really matter. At least he had done the job in qualifying.
Michael also seemed to have a rougher time in race traffic than we’ve ever seen before. This was partly because of his mid-field qualifying positions and also because of his latent, natural aggression. The incident in Hungary with Rubens was way over the top but, more than anything, showed how frustrated Michael had become with his progress (despite his nonchalant air in front of the microphones).
Now the season’s over he will probably re-group and try to clean it up a bit. The new start on Pirellis will work well for Michael: he’ll be very good at quickly understanding the character of the tyres (in conjunction with Ross Brawn, of course!). And Michael should be very adept at managing the KERS system.
TF1T: All in all, a great season for Red Bull Racing; constructors title, and Seb took the Drivers title in Abu Dhabi. Do you ever think Mark Webber will get his title? Surely he deserves one?
PW: Mark definitely deserved to be World Champion this year for the reasons mentioned above. That isn’t to say that other drivers – Seb-V, Lewis, Fernando – were not also worthy; it’s just that it’s difficult for many people to imagine how difficult it is to beat someone as quick as Seb Vettel in a car as good as the Red Bull – particularly when the team is weighted against you in terms of its emotional and political support.
Beating the other driver in the same car (if he’s ultra-quick) is about the hardest thing in all of racing. That’s why people remember the Senna-Prost years at McLaren, or the Mansell-Rosberg/Mansell-Piquet years at Williams. And that’s why I think Mark deserved the title this year – for what he achieved in that situation, not only in terms of the points he took to Abu Dhabi but also the wins he scored at the marquee races. Can he win it in 2011? First, the Red Bull will need to be a winning car. Probably it will be. Second, he’s got to beat Seb-V over the full season. As we saw in 2010, that’s well-nigh impossible – as it would be virtually impossible for any other driver on the grid. I think Mark will win races but that the championship, if Red Bull are going to win it, will again go to Seb. Assuming nothing untoward happens, of course.
TF1T: Finally, pick a mid-field driver for your “shock” driver of the year? Maybe someone who showed something extra special from mid-field? And what would you expect from this driver in 2011?
PW: For me, Kamui Kobayashi was one of the great stories of 2010. We saw his talent in some GP2 races and then in those closing drives for Toyota 2009.
In 2010 he was not only beautifully creative and forceful in traffic but also resilient on primes when he had to make them last for very long runs; he was also ultra-consistent over race distances and very good at bringing home a battle-scarred car.
I think Kamui and the massively-funded new Mexican Sauber F1 team will be one of the significant players of 2011. Full credit to Toyota’s 2009 CEO, John Howett, for believing in Kamui and for giving him a chance. No-one else in the pit lane saw the talent, so let’s hope that John, too, receives the recognition he deserves in 2011
So, there you have it, an in-depth look into Peter Windsor’s views on the 2010 season and his expectations for 2011. A massive thank you to Peter for taking the time to answer our questions, and as we said before, make sure you check out his web blog – you can do so by clicking the banner below.
