The 2010 Formula 1 World Championship begins in Bahrain this Friday morning and it promises to be one of the most open in years. On the days leading up to the start of practice, I'll be taking a look at the 24 runners and riders taking part this year. In today's final part, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull.
McLAREN-MERCEDES
McLaren's MP4/24 car was one of the worst that the team had ever produced, but a magnificent effort saw them claw back a full 2.5 seconds per lap in time, finishing the season with race wins, pole positions and fastest laps. It's difficult to see them making the same mistake again with the MP4/25. Pre-season testing has shown considerable promise, but the effect of their effort to sort out the shortcomings of their car last season is yet to be seen, as is the end of their lengthy technological partnership with Mercedes. If 2009 taught us anything, however, it's that McLaren will be there or thereabouts.
Car 1: JENSON BUTTON (GB)
BIOGRAPHY: Jenson Button was born in Frome on 19th January 1980. Britain's youngest ever Grand Prix driver, Button nevertheless found time to win the 1998 British Formula Ford championship and three races in the following season's British Formula 3 series, before his elevation to the top table.
F1 PEDIGREE: Like his ertswhile teammate Rubens Barrichello, the fact Button was so young when he started in Formula 1 racing can make you forget how experienced he in fact is. Button is now a veteran of 171 Grands Prix, of which he has won seven. Six of them came last season, when he won his first World Championship.
PROSPECTS: Jenson Button came of age in 2009, finally realising all his potential at the same time, particularly in his ferocious burst at the start of the season in which it seemed like there was nobody else on the circuit. Now seeking that sportman's favourite, "a new challenge", Button finds himself in a British superteam. His super-smooth diving style could well aid him under the new fuel regulations this season. What it's important to not lose sight of, though, is that it took Button 10 seasons to reach a goal which, as late as 2008, looked to have passed him by. As such, he'll be in no hurry to give it away. Button will surely win races in 2010.
IN A IDEAL WORLD: Jenson Button will become the first British driver ever to retain the Formula 1 World Championship.
IF THE WHEELS COME OFF: All the worst fears about Button being steamrollered by Lewis Hamilton will come to pass and the reigning champion will be reduced to being a back-up man.
Car 2: LEWIS HAMILTON (GB)
BIOGRAPHY: Lewis Hamilton was born in Stevenage on 7th January 1985. Known to the motor racing world since he was 10 years old, after a deal with McLaren's boss Ron Dennis, his early single-seater career was - by his standards - a slightly stuttering one. When he found his feet, though, he simply blitzed his way to the top of the sport, winning the 2005 Formula 3 Euroseries and 2006 GP2 series, in addition to the 2005 Formula 3 Masters event.
F1 PEDIGREE: No driver since Michael Schumacher has made such an immediate impact in the sport. Lewis Hamilton moved to McLaren's race team in 2007 and promptly finished on the podium in his first nine races, winning two of them. Two more victories followed, and it was just inexperience, plus a car problem at the last race, that cost him the title in his debut season. Five more wins in 2008 saw him become the sport's youngest ever World Champion. Two more wins followed in 2009, despite an awful start, taking his tally to 11 from just 52 races.
PROSPECTS: There's no point denying that Lewis Hamilton is arguably the best racing driver in the world today. I think Fernando Alonso is a more rounded package, but no-one in the field can match Hamilton's pace over one lap. The trying time he endured in 2009 have also added a new intelligence an maturity to his approach, without tempering any of his enormous aggression and speed. If the car is good, Hamilton will win a second world champion in a blink of an eye.
IN A IDEAL WORLD: World Championship number two.
IF THE WHEELS COME OFF: There's not much that could conceivably knock Hamilton's reputation in the sport, but I think he would be deeply mortified on a personal level to be beaten by Jenson Button - be he the World Champion or not - over the course of 19 races.
MERCEDES
The return of the most successful team in the history of Grand Prix motor racing, having bought the Brawn outfit who, in terms of statistics alone, were their closest rivals. The MGP W01 car looks to be a decent machine, with a high fallutin' super-diffuser promised for the start of the race meeting tomorrow. At the moment, they look to be the fourth best of the big four teams, but neither Mercedes, nor Ross Brawn or Michael Schumacher, are accustomed or willing to tolerate anything less than success.
Car 3: MICHAEL SCHUMACHER (D)
BIOGRAPHY: Michael Schumacher was born in Hürth-Hermülheim on 3rd January 1969. A product of the Mercedes junior system, he won the 1990 German Formula 3 championship, as well as that season's Macau Grand Prix, before going on to win two rounds of the Sports Car World Championship for the three-pointed star.
F1 PEDIGREE: Almost too long to go into. Schumacher is by far the most statistically successful Grand Prix driver of all time. Among his records are the following: (from 250 Grands Prix) most World Championship titles (7), most consecutive World Championship titles (5), most Grand Prix wins (91), most pole positions (68), most fastest laps (76), most podium finishes (154) and most championship points (1369). Did I also mention that, aside from the numbers alone, he is a brilliant racing driver?
PROSPECTS: The key question mark surrounding the biggest-name comeback the sport has ever seen is the physical condition of Schumacher's neck, which he injured in a motorcycle racing accident trying to get his fix at the start of 2009. Other questions have included whether his skills will have dulled and whether the same desire will be there. I don't think these are particularly pressing concerns, as we are talking about Michael Schumacher. Schumacher has never driven a full season of Formula 1 without winning a race, and it's hard to see him not keeping up his record.
IN A IDEAL WORLD: Unless the Mercedes GP car finds a little more pace compared to its key rivals, it's hard to see Michael Schumacher adding title number 8. Multiple race wins.
IF THE WHEELS COME OFF: Schumacher's neck gives out and he has to meekly walk away. However, there's little that could significantly dent his standing in the history of the sport. If the driver in the current field with the second-highest number of Grand Prix wins - Fernando Alonso - wins in Bahrain and then just keeps on going, it wouldn't be until race 14 of the 2013 season until he overhauls Michael Schumacher's record.
Car 4: NICO ROSBERG (D)
BIOGRAPHY: Nico Rosberg was born in Weisbaden on 27th June 1985. Son of the 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg, Nico's path through the junior formulae was perhaps predictably impressive. Having won the 2002 German Formula BMW title and four races across two seasons in the Formula 3 Euroseries, he went on to win the inaugural GP2 series crown from Heikki Kovalainen.
F1 PEDIGREE: Rosberg made his Formula 1 debut at Bahrain in 2006 for Williams, promptly finishing 7th and becoming the youngest driver to ever turn the fastest lap of a Grand Prix into the bargain. Since then, his chances have been limited by the standard and - more usually - the reliability of his car. Last season was his most consistent yet in Formula 1, though he will be disappointed it didn't see him add to his 2 podium finishes. Second place in the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix remains his best result from 70 races.
PROSPECTS: Now moving to his second Formula 1 team, there's no doubting what Rosberg's aim must be for this season. And until he does it, doubts will always surround him, especially after a mistake cost him a sure second-place at last year's Singapore race. His pace in qualifying can also be underwhelming compared to the speed he is capable of in both practice and the races. What there is no doubting, however, is that Rosberg is fast, consistent and hugely capable. Not yet 25, it's hard to see him not winning a race sooner or later. It could well open the floodgates when he does.
IN A IDEAL WORLD: Rosberg holds his own in qualifying against Michael Schumacher and wins his first Grand Prix.
IF THE WHEELS COME OFF: Rosberg joins the growing list of drivers chewed up and spat out by Michael Schumacher's Formula 1 career. Mercedes wonder if Sebastian Vettel would be a better fit for their seat.
RED BULL RACING-RENAULT
2009's RB5 car was the class of the field, winning the last three events of the season, despite the notable disadvantage of being a late adopter of the double-diffuser concept. In designer Adrian Newey, the team have one of the all-time Formula 1 greats, and the majority of the 2010 field have honoured him by imitation with their cars for this campaign. The RB6 is yet another classically sleek and elegant Newey car, which has flown in testing. Perhaps its weakest link is the reliability of the Renault engine. Red Bull are also, of course, the only team out of the four major championship hopefuls to not boast a World Champion driver. Yet.
Car 5: SEBASTIAN VETTEL (D)
BIOGRAPHY: Sebastian Vettel was born in Heppenheim on 3rd July 1987. One of the youngest drivers to ever start a Grand Prix, Vettel has understandably limited lower-formulae experience. However, he did win the 2004 German Formula BMW crown, as well as four races in the 2006 Formula 3 Euroseries.
F1 PEDIGREE: The youngest man ever to win a World Championship Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel could still become the youngest ever World Champion if he were to go one better than last season's runner-up spot. In 43 races, he has won five times, including one bewilderingly improbable victory on pace alone in a Toro Rosso, at Monza 2008. Also searingly quick over one lap, Vettel will most likely be Lewis Hamilton's biggest challenger for the most pole positions in the 2010 season.
PROSPECTS: The sky is the limit for Sebastian Vettel, after a magnificent 2009 season. But for a little inexperience - understandable at 22 years of age - and persistent engine gripes, he could have been World Champion. As it was, he won 4 races, 4 pole positions and 3 fastest laps, as well as overhauling Rubens Barrichello's points tally in the season's final race. If Sebastian Vettel doesn't win multiple World Championships, I would be very surprised. With the right car, he's ready to start immediately.
IN A IDEAL WORLD: World Champion.
IF THE WHEELS COME OFF: Vettel loses out to Mark Webber due to a series of niggling mistakes and car problems.
Car 6: MARK WEBBER (AUS)
BIOGRAPHY: Mark Webber was born in Queanbeyan on 27th August 1976. The only driver in the big four teams without a championship title to his name, Webber has nevertheless been a consistently successful driver throughout his career, having variously won the 1996 Formula Ford Festival, four races in International Formula 3000 (as well as being the series runner-up in 2001) and five wins towards being the season runner-up in the 1998 FIA GT Championship.
F1 PEDIGREE: A veteran of 139 Grands Prix, Webber finally broke his duck in Germany last season with a typically bullish drive from his first ever F1 pole position. An effortlessly smooth triumph in Brazil followed, as well as 3 fastest laps. But for a spell of mediocre races in mid-summer, Webber looked the more likely of the two Red Bull drivers to take the fight to the Brawn GP team. Such a series of non-races was very much uncharacteristic of Webber, as reliable a driver as there is in Formula 1.
PROSPECTS: Webber was excellent in 2009. His first win was a masterpiece of heads-down Aussie aggression and raw speed, his second a masterclass from a driver who looked as though he'd been winning Grands Prix his whole life. His biggest problem is the bloke in the other car. Webber is one of the sport's greatest qualifiers, but last season saw Vettel blitz him 18-1, Webber's sole qualifying success being a pole position. Webber now looks like a driver capable of winning on a consistent basis and, by extension, is a potential World Champion. The thing is, can he really beat Sebastian Vettel over 19 rounds in the same car?
IN A IDEAL WORLD: Mark Webber becomes the most popular World Champion since Jesse Owens.
IF THE WHEELS COME OFF: Kimi Räikkönen ends his WRC adventure after one season.
Showing posts with label McLaren. Show all posts
Showing posts with label McLaren. Show all posts
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Two world champions
If, as it is widely anticipated will be announced some time this week, Jenson Button joins Lewis Hamilton at McLaren for the 2010 season, it will be the first time in 21 years that two past world champions have driven in Formula 1 as teammates. In fact it was 23 years ago, in 1986, since two previous world champions joined one another in a single teams lineup; in 1989 Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost had been together already for one season, in which Senna won his first world title.
So, whilst it's relatively common for history and hindsight to show us examples of champion teammates - the most recent examples being Alonso and Hamilton at McLaren in 2007, Alonso and Jacques Villeneuve briefly at Renault in 2004 and Damon Hill and Villeneuve at Williams in 1996 - having two men who have already accomplished the feat joining one another is a much rarer prospect. In fact, in 60 seasons of the Formula 1 World Championship, it's so far only occurred three times. Today on +1 lap, we're going to look at those occasions and, more importantly, how they went.
1967: Graham Hill (1962) joins Jim Clark (1963, 1965) at Lotus
The story: Such significant driver moves happen maybe once in a lifetime. For the previous 5 seasons, Formula 1 had been largely the preserve of Hill and Clark. Only unreliability prevented the two men from winning all the titles on offer in that time. As it was, they had won three, Graham Hill's disciplined, self-taught determination in the BRM scoring first in 1962 and Jim Clark's fingertip natural brilliance in the Lotus bringing him success in 1963 and 1965. All things being equal, went the paradigm of the era, Jim Clark would win with Graham Hill second. So when Hill tired of his surroundings at BRM after a poor season in 1966, Lotus - Formula 1's fastest and most innovative team - were the obvious choice. However, Lotus was the home of Jim Clark, and the stage was therefore set for a monumental battle. Imagine Mika Häkkinen joining Michael Schumacher at Ferrari in 2000 and you'd have a fair idea of the situation.
The result: Lotus' 1967 season was all about the debut season for the epoch-making Ford DFV engine. Its power was far above and beyond anything ever seen before in the sport, but early teething troubles and compatability issues with the drivetrain of the car made for an unpredictable season. If the car held together, Clark or Hill would walk the event. However, the story of the year is that it never did so with enough frequency to make either man champion of the world - that title went to Denny Hulme in the slightly slower but hugely reliable Brabham-Repco car. Lotus nevertheless won 4 times in 1967, Clark enjoying the better of the mechanical luck and taking all four victories. For 1968, the team started as firm favourites. Jim Clark won the season opener in South Africa with Hill second. However, between then and the next race, he was killed in a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim. Hill carried a devastated Lotus team to the 1968 drivers and team titles, with three wins and a further three 2nd place finishes.
Head-to-Head: Jim Clark and Graham Hill spent 12 Grands Prix as teammates. Their head-to-head qualifying perfomance was 9-3 in Clark's favour. The breakdown of their results together are as follows:
JIM CLARK: 5 wins, 7 pole positions, 6 fastest laps, 50 world championship points; GRAHAM HILL: 0 wins (best result: two 2nd places), 3 pole positions, 2 fastest laps, 21 world championship points.
The verdict: It's impossible to call this for anyone other than Jim Clark. Certainly, Graham Hill suffered more than his teammate with Lotus' and Ford's mechanical failures... he and Clark agreed to share wins in the final two races, with Hill (literally) winning the toss at Watkins Glen, only to have his engine run out of oil with 4 laps left. But there's no denying the brilliance of Clark, perhaps the greatest and best Grand Prix driver of them all, making Hill's relative failure no cause for shame. The simple fact is, though, that when both men finished, Clark was always the car ahead.
1974: Emerson Fittipaldi (1972) joins Denny Hulme (1967) at McLaren
The story: Fittipaldi was very much the hotshoe of the time. In 1972 he had become the youngest ever man to win the World Championship, and much of the previous 3 years had been taken up with his thrilling battle for superiority in the Lotus against Jackie Stewart's Tyrrell. Stewart's retirement at the end of 1973, though, saw a 2010-style shake-up in the driver market. Fittipaldi had enjoyed a reasonably successful year in 1973, finishing second in the championship. However, the Lotus 72 car was now four years old and approaching the end of its useful life. McLaren's new M23 - like so many of its rivals, based on the brilliant Lotus car - was showing great promise and had won three races in its debut season. Fittipaldi joined 1967 champion Denny Hulme, who had been with McLaren - established by his fellow Kiwi and rival Bruce McLaren - since his title defence year of 1968. He had won five races in that time, but 1974 was to be his final season in Formula 1.
The result: It was Hulme who made his mark first, winning the season-opening Argentinian Grand Prix. However, this was to be the last of his eight career wins. From then on it was a Fittipaldi benefit. Aside from a second place in Austria, Hulme could do not better than five 6th places in 1974, whilst Fittipaldi took three wins and a further four podium finishes on his way to winning the 1974 World Championship. The two had also combined to give McLaren their first ever Constructors' Cup.
Head-to-Head: Emerson Fittipaldi and Denny Hulme spent 15 Grands Prix as teammates. Their head-to-head qualifying perfomance was 14-1 in Fittipaldi's favour. The breakdown of their results together are as follows:
EMERSON FITTIPALDI: 3 wins, 2 pole positions, 55 world championship points (World Champion); DENNY HULME:1 win, 1 fastest lap, 20 world championship points.
The verdict: Perhaps predictably, Fittipaldi easily had the measure of Hulme. The New Zealander was 38-years old and in his last year of Grand Prix racing, whilst the Brazilian was 28 and in a tearing hurry. However, the blend of youth and experience paid dividends for the team in the Constructors' Championship.
1986: Keke Rosberg (1982) joins Alain Prost (1985) at McLaren
The story: Keke Rosberg was the late bloomer, who had come from relative obscurity in 1981 to win a richly-merited title in the furiously competitive 1982 season, aged 34. Now 38, in what would turn out to be his last Grand Prix season, he left Williams - his home for the past 4 seasons to join the new World Champion, Alain Prost. Prost had narrowly missed out on the world title in each of the previous 4 years and was widely regarded as the best driver in the sport. The pairing also created a real clash of styles - Rosberg was swashbuckling, thrilling to watch on his own or in traffic. Prost was calmer, his more cerebral and measured approach in stark contrast, it seemed, to the speed he achieved. Both intelligent and amiable men, the pair nevertheless made it work for the good of all involved.
The result: Struggling with the handling of his new mount (as well as the demands put on driving style by the strict fuel limits of the time), Rosberg had an adequate, but little else, season. He scored points on seven occasions, took one pole position and had one podium finish. He also notably led much of the season's finale, also his last race in Formula 1. However, Alain Prost was a class apart from the rest, regardless of team. The McLaren-TAG Porsche was technologically inferior to the Williams-Honda of Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell, but with huge discipline Prost stayed with them, finishing just behind when he could do no better but never letting go once a chance presented itself. Benefitting from the infighting at Williams, as well as his own skill, Prost won the World Title in the thrilling decider in Adelaide. Rosberg came away from the year telling anyone who would listen that Prost was the greatest driver he had ever seen.
Head-to-Head: Alain Prost and Keke Rosberg spent 16 Grands Prix as teammates. Their head-to-head qualifying perfomance was 12-4 in Prost's favour. The breakdown of their results together are as follows:
ALAIN PROST: 4 wins, 1 pole position, 2 fastest laps, 72 world championship points (World Champion); KEKE ROSBERG: 0 wins (best result: one 2nd place), 1 pole position, 22 world championship points.
The verdict: Like Clark and Hill, this result was never in question due to the era-defining abilities of one of the participants. Like Fittipaldi and Hulme, it was a match of youth and experience where the absolute motivation to run at the top level was starting to wane for one of the rivals. Like both of the above, however, Prost and Rosberg's relationship was notable for its good spirit and mutual respect, qualities one would always anticipate from champion drivers. It's not all about using your right foot, that game.
2010: Jenson Button (2009) to join Lewis Hamilton (2008) at McLaren?
And so we return to the present day. On paper, this is an explosive driver line-up, the two most recent World Champions. It is also a line-up I expect to work as a pair. There will, no doubt be tension, and no doubt it will be stoked up by a frenzied media interest. However, both men are intelligent enough to know that cooperation and respect will get them far further in the long run, even if deep down there is resentment. Both drivers, too, have experience of life within a team with an uncooperative teammate, and will be keen to avoid that path again.
The verdict: Lewis Hamilton is too good to be beaten over a full season by Jenson Button in identical cars. However, as Button is not yet even 30-years old and nowhere near ready to contemplate life outside Formula 1 racing, I expect this pairing of champions to be the most keenly fought battle yet.
So, whilst it's relatively common for history and hindsight to show us examples of champion teammates - the most recent examples being Alonso and Hamilton at McLaren in 2007, Alonso and Jacques Villeneuve briefly at Renault in 2004 and Damon Hill and Villeneuve at Williams in 1996 - having two men who have already accomplished the feat joining one another is a much rarer prospect. In fact, in 60 seasons of the Formula 1 World Championship, it's so far only occurred three times. Today on +1 lap, we're going to look at those occasions and, more importantly, how they went.
1967: Graham Hill (1962) joins Jim Clark (1963, 1965) at Lotus
The story: Such significant driver moves happen maybe once in a lifetime. For the previous 5 seasons, Formula 1 had been largely the preserve of Hill and Clark. Only unreliability prevented the two men from winning all the titles on offer in that time. As it was, they had won three, Graham Hill's disciplined, self-taught determination in the BRM scoring first in 1962 and Jim Clark's fingertip natural brilliance in the Lotus bringing him success in 1963 and 1965. All things being equal, went the paradigm of the era, Jim Clark would win with Graham Hill second. So when Hill tired of his surroundings at BRM after a poor season in 1966, Lotus - Formula 1's fastest and most innovative team - were the obvious choice. However, Lotus was the home of Jim Clark, and the stage was therefore set for a monumental battle. Imagine Mika Häkkinen joining Michael Schumacher at Ferrari in 2000 and you'd have a fair idea of the situation.
The result: Lotus' 1967 season was all about the debut season for the epoch-making Ford DFV engine. Its power was far above and beyond anything ever seen before in the sport, but early teething troubles and compatability issues with the drivetrain of the car made for an unpredictable season. If the car held together, Clark or Hill would walk the event. However, the story of the year is that it never did so with enough frequency to make either man champion of the world - that title went to Denny Hulme in the slightly slower but hugely reliable Brabham-Repco car. Lotus nevertheless won 4 times in 1967, Clark enjoying the better of the mechanical luck and taking all four victories. For 1968, the team started as firm favourites. Jim Clark won the season opener in South Africa with Hill second. However, between then and the next race, he was killed in a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim. Hill carried a devastated Lotus team to the 1968 drivers and team titles, with three wins and a further three 2nd place finishes.
Head-to-Head: Jim Clark and Graham Hill spent 12 Grands Prix as teammates. Their head-to-head qualifying perfomance was 9-3 in Clark's favour. The breakdown of their results together are as follows:
JIM CLARK: 5 wins, 7 pole positions, 6 fastest laps, 50 world championship points; GRAHAM HILL: 0 wins (best result: two 2nd places), 3 pole positions, 2 fastest laps, 21 world championship points.
The verdict: It's impossible to call this for anyone other than Jim Clark. Certainly, Graham Hill suffered more than his teammate with Lotus' and Ford's mechanical failures... he and Clark agreed to share wins in the final two races, with Hill (literally) winning the toss at Watkins Glen, only to have his engine run out of oil with 4 laps left. But there's no denying the brilliance of Clark, perhaps the greatest and best Grand Prix driver of them all, making Hill's relative failure no cause for shame. The simple fact is, though, that when both men finished, Clark was always the car ahead.
1974: Emerson Fittipaldi (1972) joins Denny Hulme (1967) at McLaren
The story: Fittipaldi was very much the hotshoe of the time. In 1972 he had become the youngest ever man to win the World Championship, and much of the previous 3 years had been taken up with his thrilling battle for superiority in the Lotus against Jackie Stewart's Tyrrell. Stewart's retirement at the end of 1973, though, saw a 2010-style shake-up in the driver market. Fittipaldi had enjoyed a reasonably successful year in 1973, finishing second in the championship. However, the Lotus 72 car was now four years old and approaching the end of its useful life. McLaren's new M23 - like so many of its rivals, based on the brilliant Lotus car - was showing great promise and had won three races in its debut season. Fittipaldi joined 1967 champion Denny Hulme, who had been with McLaren - established by his fellow Kiwi and rival Bruce McLaren - since his title defence year of 1968. He had won five races in that time, but 1974 was to be his final season in Formula 1.
The result: It was Hulme who made his mark first, winning the season-opening Argentinian Grand Prix. However, this was to be the last of his eight career wins. From then on it was a Fittipaldi benefit. Aside from a second place in Austria, Hulme could do not better than five 6th places in 1974, whilst Fittipaldi took three wins and a further four podium finishes on his way to winning the 1974 World Championship. The two had also combined to give McLaren their first ever Constructors' Cup.
Head-to-Head: Emerson Fittipaldi and Denny Hulme spent 15 Grands Prix as teammates. Their head-to-head qualifying perfomance was 14-1 in Fittipaldi's favour. The breakdown of their results together are as follows:
EMERSON FITTIPALDI: 3 wins, 2 pole positions, 55 world championship points (World Champion); DENNY HULME:1 win, 1 fastest lap, 20 world championship points.
The verdict: Perhaps predictably, Fittipaldi easily had the measure of Hulme. The New Zealander was 38-years old and in his last year of Grand Prix racing, whilst the Brazilian was 28 and in a tearing hurry. However, the blend of youth and experience paid dividends for the team in the Constructors' Championship.
1986: Keke Rosberg (1982) joins Alain Prost (1985) at McLaren
The story: Keke Rosberg was the late bloomer, who had come from relative obscurity in 1981 to win a richly-merited title in the furiously competitive 1982 season, aged 34. Now 38, in what would turn out to be his last Grand Prix season, he left Williams - his home for the past 4 seasons to join the new World Champion, Alain Prost. Prost had narrowly missed out on the world title in each of the previous 4 years and was widely regarded as the best driver in the sport. The pairing also created a real clash of styles - Rosberg was swashbuckling, thrilling to watch on his own or in traffic. Prost was calmer, his more cerebral and measured approach in stark contrast, it seemed, to the speed he achieved. Both intelligent and amiable men, the pair nevertheless made it work for the good of all involved.
The result: Struggling with the handling of his new mount (as well as the demands put on driving style by the strict fuel limits of the time), Rosberg had an adequate, but little else, season. He scored points on seven occasions, took one pole position and had one podium finish. He also notably led much of the season's finale, also his last race in Formula 1. However, Alain Prost was a class apart from the rest, regardless of team. The McLaren-TAG Porsche was technologically inferior to the Williams-Honda of Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell, but with huge discipline Prost stayed with them, finishing just behind when he could do no better but never letting go once a chance presented itself. Benefitting from the infighting at Williams, as well as his own skill, Prost won the World Title in the thrilling decider in Adelaide. Rosberg came away from the year telling anyone who would listen that Prost was the greatest driver he had ever seen.
Head-to-Head: Alain Prost and Keke Rosberg spent 16 Grands Prix as teammates. Their head-to-head qualifying perfomance was 12-4 in Prost's favour. The breakdown of their results together are as follows:
ALAIN PROST: 4 wins, 1 pole position, 2 fastest laps, 72 world championship points (World Champion); KEKE ROSBERG: 0 wins (best result: one 2nd place), 1 pole position, 22 world championship points.
The verdict: Like Clark and Hill, this result was never in question due to the era-defining abilities of one of the participants. Like Fittipaldi and Hulme, it was a match of youth and experience where the absolute motivation to run at the top level was starting to wane for one of the rivals. Like both of the above, however, Prost and Rosberg's relationship was notable for its good spirit and mutual respect, qualities one would always anticipate from champion drivers. It's not all about using your right foot, that game.
2010: Jenson Button (2009) to join Lewis Hamilton (2008) at McLaren?
And so we return to the present day. On paper, this is an explosive driver line-up, the two most recent World Champions. It is also a line-up I expect to work as a pair. There will, no doubt be tension, and no doubt it will be stoked up by a frenzied media interest. However, both men are intelligent enough to know that cooperation and respect will get them far further in the long run, even if deep down there is resentment. Both drivers, too, have experience of life within a team with an uncooperative teammate, and will be keen to avoid that path again.
The verdict: Lewis Hamilton is too good to be beaten over a full season by Jenson Button in identical cars. However, as Button is not yet even 30-years old and nowhere near ready to contemplate life outside Formula 1 racing, I expect this pairing of champions to be the most keenly fought battle yet.
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Mercedes Benz
It's rare that the big news in Formula 1 is actually big news, but that was the situation that arose yesterday when Mercedes announced that they were selling their 40% share in McLaren and buying into a controlling interest in the Brawn team, which will be rebranded as Mercedes in 2010. As well as it being pleasing from the point of view of a major manufacturer increasing their involvement in the sport whilst many of their fellows distance themselves, it is also of huge historical significance. In fact, it represents the most successful Grand Prix team of all time purchasing their closest rivals for that title.
It's a fittingly stellar end to what has turned out to be Brawn's only season as a constructor, a fairytale which has only ever been equalled by the Stuttgart marque's brief foray into the World Championship in the mid-1950s. Indeed, for all of their famous pre-war exploits, their World Championship record remains amongst the proudest boasts in motorsport.
Both Mercedes and Benz took part in the first ever motor race, the Paris to Rouen event of 1894. But Mercedes Benz first really made their mark on European motor racing in 1914 with a 1-2-3 finish in the French Grand Prix, Christian Lautenschlager's D35 emerging victorious from an epic and politically-charged battle with Georges Boillot's Peugeot in Lyon, less than a week after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. After the resumption of the sport following the Great War, Mercedes once again rose to prominence, in no small part due to the positive propaganda of such engineering excellence gave to Hitler's Germany. During the 1930s, the Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows were the benchmark, along with their countrymen from Auto Union. Only the brilliant Tazio Nuvolari, frequently driving for Alfa Romeo, could ever really offer any consistent opposition to the German teams' dominance. In the end, such was the overwhelming superiority of the German machinery, even Nuvolari switched camps. Only the outbreak of the Second World War could put a stop to their towering achievements.
Mercedes' return to the sport, now formalised into the Formula 1 World Championship, was nothing short of spectactular. The team arrived half-way through the 1954 season and pulled out again at the end of 1955, after one of their cars was involved in the infamous Le Mans crash of that year, in which 81 spectators died. During that time, they contested 12 Grand Prix races, winning 9 of them. Also taking 8 pole positions and nine fastest laps, the team's 139.14 points were scored at an alarming rate of 11.595 per race. Naturally enough, they won both of the championships they contested, Juan Manuel Fangio winning the 1954 and 1955 drivers titles with a personal total of 8 wins from 12 starts.
Nobody, for all the technological innovations and performance increases in the 54 intervening years, was able to touch that record until Brawn this past year. Even Ferrari, hugely boosted by their stranglehold on the sport throughout much of the past decade, can only boast a points-per-start average of 6.299. However, in 2009 Brawn scored 8 wins, 5 poles and 4 fastest laps from their 17 starts, with 172 points scored at a rate of 10.118. It is perhaps a fitting monument to Ross Brawn's magnificent career in the sport that this record will now be set in stone next to his name. Of course, as the team principal of Mercedes Grand Prix, he is now concerned with making sure it remains the second best mark in the history of the sport.
That could be hard to do. In Mercedes' first spell in the championship, they had the distinct advantage of the pick of the drivers - only Alberto Ascari of that era's true greats never drove for the three-pointed star in a Grand Prix, and their beautiful W196 car enjoyed enormous technological superiority over a weaker field of cars than you would encounter in modern-day Grand Prix motor racing. However, what should also be remembered is that it was also an era before the institution of the Constructors' Cup. For all of their dominance, Mercedes have never been the Constructors' Champions of Formula 1. Indeed, despite the fruitfulness of their 15-year partnership with McLaren, even their engines have done relatively poorly, with just two titles to their name, the last of them being with the team they have now taken over.
For all this, it's hard to see Mercedes not being a success once more in their own right. They have bought into an experienced team with a growing appetite for excellence, and managed by one of the all-time great pit lane operators. Their drivers, likely to be Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld, are also more than capable of getting the job done, with the added incentive that neither has so far done so in their F1 career. Finally, they are extensively experienced at this level, having been providing engines to the top levels of motorsport in some form or other for almost twenty years, before you even consider their role as a technical partner has played in the life of the McLaren team for a generation.
For everything, though, the best news of all is that their buy-out has seemingly sent Jenson Button in the direction of Woking, to form an all-British McLaren-Mercedes superteam comprised of the two most recent world champions. There are some companies who come into Formula 1 and seem to be at odds from the start to their end. Mercedes Benz are ably demonstrating that there are others who immediately fit in and are a force for positive development in the sport. Their role in the racing of the past 15 years cannot be underestimated, and it would be a spectacularly hardened and embittered person who would not wish them luck and hope to see them compete well in their own right.
It's a fittingly stellar end to what has turned out to be Brawn's only season as a constructor, a fairytale which has only ever been equalled by the Stuttgart marque's brief foray into the World Championship in the mid-1950s. Indeed, for all of their famous pre-war exploits, their World Championship record remains amongst the proudest boasts in motorsport.
Both Mercedes and Benz took part in the first ever motor race, the Paris to Rouen event of 1894. But Mercedes Benz first really made their mark on European motor racing in 1914 with a 1-2-3 finish in the French Grand Prix, Christian Lautenschlager's D35 emerging victorious from an epic and politically-charged battle with Georges Boillot's Peugeot in Lyon, less than a week after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. After the resumption of the sport following the Great War, Mercedes once again rose to prominence, in no small part due to the positive propaganda of such engineering excellence gave to Hitler's Germany. During the 1930s, the Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows were the benchmark, along with their countrymen from Auto Union. Only the brilliant Tazio Nuvolari, frequently driving for Alfa Romeo, could ever really offer any consistent opposition to the German teams' dominance. In the end, such was the overwhelming superiority of the German machinery, even Nuvolari switched camps. Only the outbreak of the Second World War could put a stop to their towering achievements.
Mercedes' return to the sport, now formalised into the Formula 1 World Championship, was nothing short of spectactular. The team arrived half-way through the 1954 season and pulled out again at the end of 1955, after one of their cars was involved in the infamous Le Mans crash of that year, in which 81 spectators died. During that time, they contested 12 Grand Prix races, winning 9 of them. Also taking 8 pole positions and nine fastest laps, the team's 139.14 points were scored at an alarming rate of 11.595 per race. Naturally enough, they won both of the championships they contested, Juan Manuel Fangio winning the 1954 and 1955 drivers titles with a personal total of 8 wins from 12 starts.
Nobody, for all the technological innovations and performance increases in the 54 intervening years, was able to touch that record until Brawn this past year. Even Ferrari, hugely boosted by their stranglehold on the sport throughout much of the past decade, can only boast a points-per-start average of 6.299. However, in 2009 Brawn scored 8 wins, 5 poles and 4 fastest laps from their 17 starts, with 172 points scored at a rate of 10.118. It is perhaps a fitting monument to Ross Brawn's magnificent career in the sport that this record will now be set in stone next to his name. Of course, as the team principal of Mercedes Grand Prix, he is now concerned with making sure it remains the second best mark in the history of the sport.
That could be hard to do. In Mercedes' first spell in the championship, they had the distinct advantage of the pick of the drivers - only Alberto Ascari of that era's true greats never drove for the three-pointed star in a Grand Prix, and their beautiful W196 car enjoyed enormous technological superiority over a weaker field of cars than you would encounter in modern-day Grand Prix motor racing. However, what should also be remembered is that it was also an era before the institution of the Constructors' Cup. For all of their dominance, Mercedes have never been the Constructors' Champions of Formula 1. Indeed, despite the fruitfulness of their 15-year partnership with McLaren, even their engines have done relatively poorly, with just two titles to their name, the last of them being with the team they have now taken over.
For all this, it's hard to see Mercedes not being a success once more in their own right. They have bought into an experienced team with a growing appetite for excellence, and managed by one of the all-time great pit lane operators. Their drivers, likely to be Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld, are also more than capable of getting the job done, with the added incentive that neither has so far done so in their F1 career. Finally, they are extensively experienced at this level, having been providing engines to the top levels of motorsport in some form or other for almost twenty years, before you even consider their role as a technical partner has played in the life of the McLaren team for a generation.
For everything, though, the best news of all is that their buy-out has seemingly sent Jenson Button in the direction of Woking, to form an all-British McLaren-Mercedes superteam comprised of the two most recent world champions. There are some companies who come into Formula 1 and seem to be at odds from the start to their end. Mercedes Benz are ably demonstrating that there are others who immediately fit in and are a force for positive development in the sport. Their role in the racing of the past 15 years cannot be underestimated, and it would be a spectacularly hardened and embittered person who would not wish them luck and hope to see them compete well in their own right.
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