Something missing...

It's weird. I have been away from the Formula One circus for a few weeks and I come back to it at Valencia and feel something is missing.

It has been bugging me for a while but this morning I suddenly realised what it was when one of my colleagues reminded me that Max Mosley is on holiday. Not only that, for the first race in a long time, his eyes, ears and voice in the paddock - aka Richard Woods - is not present this weekend and has gone seriously off message(must be on holiday as well). Result: no politics, no intrigue, no machinations, no Machiavellian manoeuvring, no talk of crisis, no debates on the ethics of people in leadership roles. Instead we are concentrating on racing...

Of course nothing happens in Formula One without someone planning it. Could it be that the absence of Woods is a strategic move by Mosley's kitchen cabinet? Have they decided that Woods's presence at circuits is helping to keep the debate about Mosley in the headlines and that it might be better to lie low? Or is this just what might be called a "vacation issue?" No doubt we will find out more as we head ever closer towards Mosley's reappearance which is being planned for Monza.

Initially this second coming was supposed to be in Germany, then Hungary; neither Valencia nor Spa were ever mentioned but Monza is now the target. No doubt on that weekend the racing will be fighting for airtime once again...   

PS I love this quote running on Autosport from Sebastian Vettel about his future team Red Bull which comes in the course of a piece in which Vettel denies that Toro Rosso's superior performance here is not all about the Ferrari engine.

"I think at Red Bull they were trying some stuff on Friday and they maybe got confused a bit. And then it is difficult to come back straight away. If you are lost and then you think you are lost, then maybe you get even more lost. In the end, sometimes it is better not to touch too much."

Ouch...

Pic is of the inside of the old dockside warehouse on race morning, right behind the Ferrari garage. Ed Gorman/The Times
 

Comments

[IDR]

Nice Ouch!

There is another one from Giorgio Ascanelli (Toro Rosso):

"We must be doing something right but I'm not sure what it is!

There is a typical quote that says:

THEORY: “Everybody knows why, when something goes wrong.”

PRACTICE: “Everything goes right despite nobody knows why.”

For Red Bull, Theory and Practice have been joined today:

“Everything goes wrong… and nobody knows why”

And for Renault also, btw.

[D]

^
Now we know what he likes to do for a bit of recreation on a Friday afternoon (thanks to the News of the World) I shudder to think what his idea of a fun holiday would be.

And maybe Richard Woods is away being fitted for a new uniform? The other lot got their stripes wrong last time.

Still, enjoy it while you can; and look forward to the day when Formula One is finally rid of the flogging ****** forever.

[Keith Collantine]

Well I for one am not missing the politics. Good riddance. And good riddance to Mosley too, hopefully, soon.

[Derek Smith]

Mosley is yesterday's man. His influence in the FiA has taken a hit from the large car clubs marginlised in the farcical confidence vote. He's said he will retire next year so, with the apparent fall from grace of Todt, the supposed crow prince and Mosley's little me, the important person is the one who is to replace him.

His plans for a formula for all don't seem to be moving (there's a suprise) so all in all Mosley might as well stay on holiday until we know who (or what system?) is to replace him.

[Anon]

Wooohoo! Felipe avenges himself! And I at least got one pred right: he won!

The pit-lane controversy is ridiculous. Putting a penalty on Felipe for something he did not do would be stupid. They should outlaw the lighting system at most. (and Adrian was stupid. He should have let him go by and then have fun crashingfor the umpteenth time. I never was a big Adrian fan, but right now he's totally dominated by Fisico.)

Kaz: did you really have to pick the on SPanish driver at the Spanish GP? Fernando's first first lap incident had to happen now. Great. You have to give Fernando credt for asking the team to repair his wing so he could go back out again and finish seventeenth, but guess it couldn't happen. Nice Kaz.

Kimi? Kimi is lucky becasuse at least his engine failure happened in the middle of the race when he like sixth, unlike Felipe's which happened when he was two laps from victory.

How embarassed should Kimi be however? Felipe pits and comes out in front of him when Kimi hasn't pitted either! And then there was the pit incident.

It was a weird race decidedi the weird pitlane incidents.

Felipe- ahhh. The sweet taste of victory. I've always suspected people had a bias against Felipe because he has less of a distinct personality and physique as Lewis, Fernando, and Kimi. But Felipe is turning into what Rbens never managed to. ANd fort he first time as he was on podium, Felipe looked powerful and a genuine title threat.

Lewis- solid drive, picked upt he points. GFood operation, and hurts my inconsistency claims as bit. I thought that this circuit was meant to be his thogh. Is Ferrari pace simply getting better? He also said he was sick, and looked like it a bit. Cheeks seemed a lil less rosy. but he has time to recoop for Belgium.

Robert- we need more pace. He is sorta fun to listen to. Never happy. I think he will be champion next year.

Heikki- seemed like an also-ran. Got Kimi at start.

Jarno- manages to keep roaring Timo Glock at bay fo this one.

Sebastian- the guy has more points than DC who is in a surperior car. An interesting F1-Live article suggests DC will be fired (he deserves it) before the end of the season and than Buemi or Senna will get to try out the STR seat while Vettel tries out the RBR (I think he'll pulverize Mark).

Timo- yay! He gets it!

Nico- back from the dead.

Nick- morew heat! More heat in the tires! He needs a flmaethrower!

Ferrari- I can't help but think that of the Brawn-Schumacher-TOdt trio, TOdt was the most important. This woul never happen under TOdt. In the pitlane Ferrari looked like they were putting on a spoof called "Albers in the SPyker pits, but funnier". THeir engines? I think Richard and Derek SMith were talking aboutthis before, and they were right. Ferrari have changed their engine somehow, and they should not have. There was a funny moment in the press conference where Felipe said something like Ferrari may have to use their joker. What's that? Michael replaces Kimi? Spy affair 2 (Return of the Legal Writs Aginst Ron Dennis)?

McLaren- doing good work. THey are cataching up fast in the constructor's. Ferrari need a crushing one-two, and Belgium is the perfect pace. In '07 they were untouchable. Maybe Felipe will be able to beat Kimi on his favouite track. If he does, he should become Ferrari's number 1. His ace n the hole is not only the seemingly important advice from Michael, but the fact he has Brazil in his pocket (and I guess he holds the lap record for Valencia now).

BMW- sout work for a team who are busy electrocuting their mechanics with KERS (muhahahaha!).

Toyota- my father thinks the Toyota progress is going to continue in '09. He thinks that ss the world's leading manufacturer, they can't let themselves not be good in F1.

STR- woohoo!

Williams- a point! Pretty tough times for the team when you think of their '92 results.

Come on Belgium!

[F1-Insider]

What a rubbish race, I expected far more or at least some overtaking.
The McLaren looked a little off form and their strategy didn't help and what on earth is Kimi doing, he just seems to be in his own zone at the moment. Unless he can find the Kimi of old again he would be better to resign for his own well being if nothing else.
What's going on at Honda, we all know their car is not a match for the top teams teams but come on I thought they had a decent driver pairing both will be lucky to keep their drives as there just isn't any hunger there, this isn't doing Button any good (is he any good)?
There are not many races where I feel totally deflated but this was one.
Ed, ref Mosley he does nothing by chance, whatever I or others think of his perversions he is quiet a politician if politician is the correct word.
The key to the future of F1 is for the top teams to stick together as they are F1, not Mosley and not Ecclestone, let's hope that they do, maybe even sacrificing a few of their own wants if need be.
I really do hope we will see better track racing in 2009 with the revised car designs as races like this will certainly no0t draw more fans into F1.

[brendan stallard]

I hope someone makes some comments about the lack of penalty on Ferrari.

We all know what the result would have been if McClaren had been the offending team.

Safety, Safety, Max.......Unless its Ferrari sin!

Its a crock.

brendan (atlanta)

[Dangerous Mike]

I am confused. The stewards admitted that Ferrari/Massa were at fault, by giving them a punishment - the fine. Nobody is questioning if they broke the regulations. But the regulations say that the sanctions available to the stewards are a 10 second stop/go, a drive through penalty or a 10 place grid penalty at the next race. If the penalty is to be applied after the race, a 25 second race time penalty can be used instead of the first two. I could not find anything in the regulations about a fine.

There is precedent: Ralf Schumacher was penalised for being released into the path of another driver at Imola in 2005. He had 25 seconds added to his total race time.

I don't understand the steward's inconsistency here.

[Richard]

What a let down. We were expecting the glamour of Monaco with good racing but we got neither. The fact that the debut for this track didn't even produce a sellout crowd doesn't bode well.

Great race by Felipe, even his biggest critics must now concede he's Ferrari's main title contender. I do agree with Brendan though - the stewards have agreed that Felipe was guilty of unsafe driving in the pits, yet they didn't give him the standard penalty because he didn't gain any advantage. What does that have to do with safety? Had McLaren done it, I'm sure they would have received a drive-through penalty at least. I'm glad that he didn't get a penalty that affected the result because he deserved the win, but the lack of consistency by the stewards does concern me.

[Anon]

Brendan Stallard: in Hockenheim Vettel almost crashed into Alonso in the pitlane just like Felipe almost crashed into Adrian (the only notable difference is that Vettel got past with some push and shove). Vettel was not penalized (maybe cuz its the German('s) GP.

I think it would have been ridiculous to have given Felipe a stop-go.

1.) There is absolutely NOTHING he could have done.

2.) Adrian should have left him by, it would have helped them both.

Mr. Gorman, you shouldn't bring up Max Mosley. THat's the point of your thread: "yay, he's not here". Leave it like tat.

THe race- the Valencia circui is bizarre. I know a lot of work went into it but maybe they should have done things differently. FIrst, the way the circuit is built is strange. THe huge walls hurt overtaking and the view.

But you have to admit that they did this in difficult conditions. The local hero gets taken out in Lap 1 (not even, Lap 0). It rains (almost) on Saturday. The country is in mourning. THe media really builds up what should happen during the race but is wrong.

So really, the only thing they could have done better is redesign the trophy.

But hey, congratulations to Valencia. Putting on a GP is tough. They did it and they will probably keep it. I'm sure the next Valencia GP will be more dramatic.

But will the Belgian GP be as well?

[Derek Smith]

That was one of the most processional races this season. The only overtaking appeared to be when drivers messed it up.

That Ferrari pit exit system should be banned: both cars were a danger to others. I hope the mechanic is ok.

Ah, well. Next it's Spa. That should be good.

[Anon]

I have a suggestion for you, Mr. Gorman.

once you have written your post-race analysis, I think it would be a good idea to write a thread titled along the lines of "What would you do if you were in charge of Ferrari?" Because as things are going, Ferrari are going to lose both championships.

After, France, it was inconceivable that McLaren strike back. They were humiliated in the championship, having only scored five points in two races and coming off of scoring no points in Canada. Lewis Hamilton was reducing to groveling about how indestructible he was and was ten points off the championship lead. Heikki Kovalainen was nowhere.

And all of the sudden, it all changed at the British Grand Prix. Lewis stormed the field and won in a very dramatic, emotional, and beautiful way. Ever since then, it has all been downhill for Ferrari. Here are the problems that are besettnig them:

1.) The Departure of Jean Todt. With Todt, nothing like this would have happened. kimi would have been flogged to death (no pun intended) and made understood that there was a guy at Renault who would BUY his seat if he could. THe engine issue would have been sorted out easily.

2.) The Many Failures of Kimi Raikkonen: The Iceman has now officially turn into the Big IceBlock. He is simply lethargic, uninteresting, and more importantly, uninterestED. He apparently is happy with one championship under his belt and a beautiful wife. Who wouldn't? But unfortunately he is being paid tons, and I doubt few on this blog would disagree with the idea that Fernando would do much more to help the Scuderia than Kimi (at least he would try). Fernando used to hope Kimi would win the chamionship and retire. Now he hopes he keeps on retiring- from races.

3.) The Engines: who was it who had the great idea to let Ross Brawn "dream" (now there's a pun!) about future Honda plans? How could Ferrari be making sucha monumental error? FOUR engine failures in one season! Not to count the one that affected Bourdais in the Australian GP. This is catastrophic, and they need to fix it faster than an F1 car can go. I think it was Richard and Derek Smith you were talking about the Ferrari engine. I paid no attention to that at first, but they seem to be right that it is not a simple manufacturing error that is making them so bad. Well, it doesn't help the guys at Maranello that they have lost the charismatic leader thay had in Schumacher. Now they are torn apart, much like McLaren was last year.

That is not to say McLaren have been opportunistic this year. They made a few great decisions.

1.) Signing Heikki: It is amazing how fast Heikki has turned into a secondary driver moving aside for Lewis at any opportunity and being as compliant as Fernando was rebellious. As a Fernando fan, I think e is being duped and contrary to what Heikki thinks, he will never defeat Lewis while being at McLaren (nor will he ever get a fair chance either). Now I'm not saying the team is overtly biased, but Lewis certainly has the better engineers and strategies. What Ron did right, however, was understand Heikki would not pull the team in the Samson-esque way Fernando did last year.

2.) Lewis's Performancs: I don't think Lewis as half as impressive last year as he is this year. Last year was nice, but he lacked overtaking and could not win other than from pole. This year he has developed so much it is incredible. Lewis will triumph in Brazil not only because of Ferrari's multiple weaknesses, but also he has given us fantastic drives and has destroyed the field. He simply needs to win a few more races and get himself out of harm's way for Brazil.

3.) The Engines! It may not be the fastest, but it is consistent. While the Ferrari guys must be quaking in their boots everytime they approach the chekered flag, McLaren can gun their Mercedes engines as fast as they want.

Indeed, Ferrari will lose the constructor's and the driver's. If I were them, this is what I would do.

1.) Beg TOdt and Schumacher to be there at every race. I think the effects of Schumi on Felipe are becoming evident.

2.) Tell Kimi that if he does not win Belgium he will be number 2 to Felipe.

3.) Fix the engines very fast.

4.) Cut the ridiculous pit stop mistakes. The lighting system just proved it isn't so bright (another pun!) ad that the good old mechanic with the lollipop is better.

Luca di Montezemolo must be furious, and he ought do. Indeed, as I watched the legions of Ferrari supporters in Germany, it was evident how smart Ferrari were to have brought Schumi on board. now, as Lewis storms this championship, they must be regretting they didn't get him as his successor.

Ferrari have two things going in their favor: 1.) If Felipe brings the championship down to Brazil, he has good chances of winnning on a circuit he owns at, and 2.) sadly, if they make Felipe the number 1 driver, Kimi probably won't even care.

[Anon]

Two things:

1.) Valencia was not as bad as everybody claims. Monaco is a procession every year and everybody likes it. Valencia may be the same thing, but in a different setting. And when it rains in Valencia, it'll be a lot better than in Monaco. They should makes some corners more spread out, that's all.

2.) The stewards are inconsistent: wow, since when was that news? Since the stewards are different at each race (right?) of course they are inconsistent. I think each team should ave on spokesperson to attend each race and who applies decisions. Aided by five stewards appointed by thie FIA, who attend every race.

3.) Adrian was not cool this race. First he is behind Fisi and yells at the radio to be let past because he is faster (oh, he is so cool, isn't he? Really trying to be Lewis Hamilton here. Let me past my teammate cuz I'm faster. Tisk tisk.) Then the pit incident- why didn't he let Massa by? Planet F1 can rail all they want, but it would have been better for both of them if he just tapped the brakes.
And his let me past Fisi stuff would have been OK if he didn't crash afterwards. What a sore loser who realizes his teammate is simply better than him and is desperate.

4.) Rock on Felipe. I like him, and he replaces Kimi in my top five.

[Derek Smith]

There is a rather delicious irony about Kimi missing the red light after pointing out the same to LH in Canada.

[IDR]

GONE WITH THE ENGINE (And the team... and the driver)

First of all, the race has been really annoying! I was expecting an exciting new track and we saw a processional race.

Looking at the first 8 places, have been almost the same cars/drivers from the starting grid (adjusting Kimi’s DNF of course).

Kimi is almost out of the race for the WDC. Even in the case he could win the next 6 races, if Lewis just finish second, he will take the title. I know both cases are almost impossible, looking at the figures of this season.

But the point is Kimi doesn’t depend only on himself for winning the title. And having a team-mate that still is a title contender, I would like to know if Kimi would help Felipe BEFORE the last race.

I think Spa will be the “last beach” for Raikkonen. Another poor race and he will have to act as “Felipe’s escudero”.

At the end, good news for McLaren. I think they just concentrate themselves in a “non risks taken” strategy and Lewis will be WDC. In fact this is what R Dennis said in the post-race analysis:

“In my view it's pretty clear that if Lewis had qualified with the same level of fuel as Felipe, he'd probably have been able to control the race from the front. But the nature of the circuit dictated that it was always going to be difficult for him to overtake today - and, that being the case, we opted fairly early on to take the championship-strategic option of settling for second place.”

In fact, they only have to concentrate in not making big errors, and let Ferrari fail with their own problems:

1) The most serious title contender will not be performing consistently enough to beat Lewis in the rest of the races. (Yes I don’t see Massa winning the WDC)
2) Ferrari is having internal problems: Engine reliability and Team management... and nobody to fix it.
3) Kimi is practically out of the title but he will still fight for it distracting team resources to solve 1) and 2) issues.

So, unless McLaren starts doing stupid things, LH will be the new WDC.

In fact this is what the bet market is paying now:

L Hamilton 1,74
F Massa 3,7
K Raikkonen 6,6

Finally, I would like to know what Felipe means in his answer during the post race conference press:

Felipe, your thoughts on the championship. How do you see the next few races going?


FM: “Well, we need first of all to look at what had happened as I have no idea why Kimi blew an engine. We need to work very hard for the next race and we will see when it is important TO USE OR NOT TO USE THE JOKER if we really have a problem now”

Maybe he said this because he watched the new Batman’s film and was impressed with Head Ledger’s performance…

[CHIUNDA]

Interesting Anon about your comments regarding Michael's effect over Massa - it would appear Michael's race craft was actually scientific - though it is clear only the German Guru knows how to implement it properly.

But what is more admirable is that Michael understood his race craft so well that he is able to guide somebody else to such consistently tremendous performances. I have to say that i now have deeper respect for the 7 time world champion than when he was racing - to realize that it was skill that won him those titles rather than team bias as has always been touted in the past.

[Stelmara]

I fear many have missed the point reference the unsafe release of Massa in the pits.
The stewards should have removed the teams points (not Massa's as it was not his fault)or at the very least recalculated the result taking 25 seconds of Massa's time and awarding the points for the new position.
To do nothing (the fine is nothing of ant consequence) for a clearly unsafe procedure is wrong.
I agree with others that are saying this was a boring race and the lack of any glamour was very disappointing.
If we all voted, how many would choose that race over any at Silverstone? That includes teams, drivers, sponsors and fan.

[Anon]

IDR: I thought the same thing, it was weird.

What he means is the ngine change. They can use one free one per year. An engine has to last 2 races. So far, the Ferraris have gone on the second race (I don't get what happened in Australia...)

He's saynig that if the Scuderia don't get the engine mess before Belgium, he'll get a new one and hope they understand after Italy.

Chiunda: yup, perfectly agreed.

[IDR]

@ANON

Thanks Anon, sounds very reasonable.

[McCheets]

CHIUNDA

Further to your comments, Michael was one of the few drivers in the history of F1 to comprehend the theoretical physics associated with vehicle dynamics. He didn't just drive the car, he was involved with pretty much every aspect of Ferrari. That is why he is often referred to as the most complete F1 driver ever.

[Derek Smith]

Ed, I wonder if you could help clarify a couple of points which confuse me.

Now this Alan Donnelly, who I believe has absolutely no motor sport experience, was brought in to be "Mosley's official representative" in order "to manage the decision making more efficiently."

Is this the same Donnelly who made the decision regarding Massa's pit escapade that, from what I can understand, it is alright to drive dangerously as long as no one gains an advantage. My summary could well be over simplified, but then again . . .

Now is this the same Donnelly whose PR company has Ferrari on its client list? The reason I ask, and the reason that this confuses me, is that up until 17 Jan this year, Ferrari was shown on the internet on Donnelly's company's list as a client. It then strangely went awol. And then, just a coincidence I'm sure, Donnelly gained his present appointment on 24 Jan.

So I suppose my original statement was incorrect: the one that suggested he had no motor racing experience. Perhaps I should have said, no experience other than as a representative of Ferrari.

Two main questions arise from this. Do you think it is a sensible decision to appoint a man to make important decisions efficiently who has major connections with one team in the pit lane?

And the second question. Do you feel that not only should all decisions be impartial but they should appear to be impartial as well?

[McCheets]

Decisions regarding pit-lane release incidents need to be consistent. On how many occasions has punishment been meted out for dangerous actions?

Some people seem to enjoy playing the role of McVictim. May the McMoaning continue!

[Derek Smith]

If there is a pro Ferrari bias in such decision making then everyone but Ferrari, including the spectators, is a victim.