F1’s problems. We know them all too well by now. The flailing, the politicking, the very public wrangles. That the pecking order seems frozen, that those at the top are lavished in money while those at the back are locked in a desperate struggle to survive. The Christmas tree-like front wings that make it near-impossible to follow a car ahead. That all the while the sport’s governance appears dysfunctional – no one seems willing or able to make the small sensible changes required to sort these. That self-interest creates deadlock. That the commercial rights holder appears at war with the manufacturers. That the commercial rights holder appears at war with the sport’s public image… You no doubt can come up with a few others too.
I’m totally with you. But perhaps amid it all we forget what’s good about this game. It’s easily done, but there’s never harm in stopping every so often to remind ourselves. Here are a few, and by no means exhaustive, things.
The season’s opening qualifying session
As Sir Frank Williams once noted, in the brief spells that cars circulate on track this remains a sport still, even though precious little of the rest of the time is. And surely whatever happens there are few things as exciting as the opening qualifying session of the season, the latest of which sits tantalisingly ahead of us. Where, as Warren Buffet might have had it, the tide goes out and we find out who’s been swimming without trunks. In other words, the bluster of testing suddenly counts for nothing and the stopwatch will be hard to deny.
Lewis vs Nico
The early rounds of 2016 can hardly not tell us a few definitive things about the persistently enigmatic Rosberg.
Now this may not be the best way to entice you in, given it no doubts sounds achingly business as usual. Also that Mercedes last year chose to throw a wet blanket over their battles much more than before. Many think too that Lewis Hamilton can be expected to prevail fairly comfortably.
But let us not forget that Nico Rosberg won the final three rounds of last season, and claimed the final six pole positions. Did Lewis relent with the title won or effectively won? Did Nico only perform as the pressure was off? Or did, as some theorised, he actually find something, perhaps a eureka moment with the braking and turn in? Presumably we’ll get our answer shortly.
If nothing else the early rounds of 2016 can hardly not tell us a few definitive things about the persistently enigmatic Rosberg. One way or another. And if Lewis and Nico are squabbling we’ve seen that the Mercedes team hasn’t always kept its eyes fully on the road – it’s possibly the one thing the imperious squad hasn’t shown a particularly sure hand in dealing with.
Merc vs Ferrari
For much of Barcelona testing it looked like a case of as you were – Mercedes in a class of one. Yet it was only come testing’s conclusion and those number-crunching analyses and extrapolations started to land that the picture looked, perhaps, a little different. Many of them suggested that Ferrari could be much closer than before, perhaps even something like neck and neck. Then we remembered too that at the end of the second test Rosberg let out a cryptic comment that he didn’t know whether Merc was ahead of Ferrari or not.
Of course, it could be healthy paranoia, or deliberate misdirection. Who knows what Mercedes, or Ferrari for that matter, have in hand? But even a worst case scenario is promising. Whatever is the case virtually no one denies that the gap between silver and red has decreased since last year, and in 2015 with a much larger deficit Sebastian Vettel was able to irritate the Mercs plenty and sometimes beat them. So if it’s closer this time… Furthermore for Ferrari it might not all be about Seb.
Kimi
An increasing number of us have been concluding over the past year or two that Kimi simply doesn’t have it anymore, but this season he could just prove us wrong.
What of Kimi Raikkonen? His retention at Ferrari was a surprise, but might he finally get the responsive front end of a car that he craves? The SF16-H appears to have eliminated much of the understeer of its predecessor, a combined consequence it seems of its shorter nose and ditching the pullrod front suspension. And Kimi noticed the difference, confirmed by his words and perhaps also by his driving in Barcelona, which looked strong and confident throughout. And for all that Vettel left him last year, there were times that if Kimi was happy with the car underneath him not even Seb could live with him, such as through Silverstone’s fast turns. An increasing number of us have been concluding over the past year or two that Kimi simply doesn’t have it anymore, but this season he could just prove us wrong.
Plus even if he doesn’t Kimi’s always good for entertainment value in and out of the car.
Toro Rosso
Last year’s Toro Rosso was an excellent one, to the point that its drivers thought early season it could be the second best out there. Sadly though just like its A team it was stymied by the underpowered Renault power unit (albeit was much quieter on the subject than was its sibling). This year its year-old Ferrari unit will give it a boost, one that Christian Horner estimates at 0.8sec a lap. And its chassis looks even better than before, full of impressive sculpting and detail and observers in testing reckon it’s all working too. “I’ve got to say I think Toro Rosso look magnificent” said Will Buxton in Barcelona, “the car looks bolted on track, medium to fast stuff it looks great; slow speed stuff, traction looks fantastic”. He could have added that its reliability looks solid as a rock too. Mark Hughes even said a Melbourne podium could be a possibility. Then there are its very exciting drivers.
Max Verstappen
This one should be obvious. Also Carlos Sainz is about as good, and hopefully his wretched luck of last season will turn at last.
Daniel Ricciardo
It’s hard to think of too many in any sport right now with such a combination [of skill and personality]. F1 really should be making as much of him as possible.
We know by now that Daniel Ricciardo is a driver with near enough everything, and capable of championships if only his car could meet him halfway. Sadly though it seems the Renault unit while improved won’t do this, not right away anyway, although some of the Red Bull’s longer runs in testing looked good. Renault’s return as a manufacturer team can only mean good things for the progress of its maligned power unit in time too. Yet on top of his driving talent Ricciardo’s is an effervescent and infectious personality, never better demonstrated than by his video diary done at the Russian race last season for French TV station Canal+. It’s hard to think of too many in any sport right now with such a combination. F1 really should be making as much of him as possible.
Fernando Alonso
He may well be hamstrung by the Honda this year again, but look out for him on lap one of any race, the chances are he’ll be barrelling around the outside of someone on cold tyres. Plus with the McLaren now good for the midfield this time he’ll at least have more cars around him to dice with, and his relentless hustling races are always worth savouring.
Haas
Not so much that it’s a new team, probably the first since Toyota in 2002 to get immediately into the F1 pack, nor so much that it represents the sport’s latest opportunity to establish a proper foothold in America, though these things are important. Most pointed is what Haas could mean for the sport as a whole.
Almost without meaning to we could have a major help in solving the sport’s ongoing financial problems.
Technical expert Craig Scarborough noted Haas “is the first team to make the most of the ‘listed parts’ regulations and produce only the minimum components required to be classed as an F1 constructor”. The upshot is that it could join the thick of the midfield with a budget of $100m annually, which is up only on Manor’s. If it works not only will existing independent teams likely look to do something similar, so might entrepreneurs on the outside fancying an F1 effort of their own.
With a sensible move to reduce duplication without going the whole hog to customer cars, almost without meaning to we could have a major help in solving the sport’s ongoing financial problems. Those which Sauber just reminded us in stark terms have not gone away.
Radio clampdown
We can file this one under unintended consequences too. Getting to hear team/driver radio excerpts in the TV feed is a definite improvement to our viewing experience, but in some ways it became part of the problem. In that while we might be having exciting action on track now it was supplemented by a voice – usually sounding like a speak your weight machine – telling the driver the lap time to hit, the amount of fuel to use or something equally constraining. It gave the impression, probably wrongly, that drivers were being spoon fed. All rather working against the sense of a heroic and skilled racer. As Mario Andretti noted years ago, “in the cockpit you’re pretty much alone…”.
F1 drivers are supposed to be the best drivers in the world so asking them to think for themselves isn’t a biggie. They’ll probably respond to the challenge superbly too.
But now, after some movement in this direction, finally there is a real clampdown on what the driver can be told via the radio, to the point that one team’s technical director said to James Allen that they “can’t tell the driver anything”. Some such as Toto Wolff already are talking the language of the apocalypse but heck F1 drivers coped perfectly well without radios for decades and in any case are supposed to be the best drivers in the world so asking them to think for themselves isn’t a biggie. They’ll probably respond to the challenge superbly too. Like they almost always do. It’ll also make the mentioned throwing of wet blankets over team mate battles much harder. Lewis vs Nico could get tasty again…
Williams
Those hardy no-nonsense veterans soldier on, and the team appears to have improved its car in the areas it was weak last year, namely low speed grip. There was a noticeable air of optimism from the Williams camp after testing. Rod Nelson even spoke of getting with Ferrari.
New qualifying
It will likely be exciting, ensure cars are out on track for more of the time and might even mix the grid up a little.
I know, I know. Not all of you like the idea. It had a rather excruciating birth. It might even still be vetoed. Plus I agree that qualifying was one of the few parts of F1 not really requiring change. But in of itself I quite like the sound of it. It may prove too complicated for onlookers, but the video game generation are perfectly used to the concept of the clock perpetually ticking down before a point of elimination. Plus the extent of the change perhaps is overstated, in that the drivers will be removed incrementally rather than in two swathes as before. It will likely be exciting, ensure cars are out on track for more of the time and might even mix the grid up a little. While as Ricciardo pointed out, “if it starts to rain then I think it’s going to get quite chaotic…”.
The new for 2016 wider selection of tyre compounds including softer sets should add to the unpredictability, certainly initially given these things have a tendency to settle in time, and particularly as teams selected their compounds for the opening rounds without knowing this system was to be in place. Plus if it doesn’t work we can always change back. In-season quali changes have happened before.
Engines
Thermal efficiency from the persistent level of about 30% revolutionised to nudging 50%, in just two years. And as we saw in perfect conditions in Mexico last year the engines fly in a straight line.
I appreciate that I labour this point, but it deserves reiteration. Whatever the problems of cost and complexity F1 power units are astonishing pieces of kit and the impact of their technological advance will go way beyond the F1 circuit’s perimeter. I mean come on, thermal efficiency – that is, the conversion of fuel to power – from the persistent level of about 30% revolutionised to nudging 50%, in just two years. And as we saw in perfect conditions in Mexico last year they fly in a straight line. F1 folks really are capable of amazing things. Perhaps I’ll keep banging on about it until the sport starts to promote it all properly. Or I throw my hands into the air in exasperation and decide instead to live the life of a recluse. Whichever comes first.
Pascal Wehrlein
Before we had Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber and Jules Bianchi. Now, perhaps, we have Pascal Wehrlein. That is, a promising young driver at a back-of-grid-team. And as those other names demonstrated it is possible, albeit not easy, to distinguish yourself in that situation. And while the Manor is still likely to be at the back it is vastly improved, with its first new car since 2014, smart recruits, a Williams technical tie-up and sweet sweet Merc power units, which should give Wehrlein more opportunities to mix it with cars ahead than his predecessors there had. Mercedes rates him highly, the Manor team quickly was very impressed and Wehrlein has plenty of success in his fledgling career already. Keep an eye on this one.
Manor
If F1’s order seems frozen, and if it seems terribly easy for Mercedes out front, in both cases you’re wrong.
If F1’s order seems frozen, and if it seems terribly easy for Mercedes out front, in both cases you’re wrong. Don’t believe me? Manor with its improvement as mentioned is still expected to be filling the back row in Melbourne, but its best time from Barcelona testing after correction for the tyre compounds used then and now would have been good enough for fifth place on the 2015 Spanish Grand Prix grid. Granted track conditions will not be identical, but it shows how rapidly things move on in this game. That in a very real sense if you stand still you’re going backwards.
It also shows – even though with all of the background noise it’s easy to miss – that F1 is rather an incredible sport. A sport like no other, for good as well as ill.
