Valencia here we come

After a two-week break I have been reading all the comments and many of them have certainly whetted my appetite for the race in Valencia where I am heading on Wednesday. I have always loved the place. As one of you mentioned, the city has a wonderful dried up riverbed running right through it(the original course of the river was diverted, I believe, in the 1960s) which has since been turned into a "green artery" with parkland, trees and recreational areas. Just imagine if London did the same...Valencia has some ambitious and spectacular new buildings and a lovely old city with excellent food. In the the sailing press corps we always enjoyed Valencia.

Anyway, all looks set for one of the most exciting new track debuts in Formula One. This is going to be a fast street race on an imaginitive layout. I was looking through the McLaren preview and found these remarks from Norbert Haug(head of Mercedes Benz motorsport) which give a good idea of what we can expect.

"When you think about temporary street races in Formula 1, you mainly think about Monaco. However, Valencia does not have very much in common with this classic race; just that both cities are located on the Mediterranean coast and that both circuits lead along the harbour front. While the Monte Carlo race is the slowest of the year with an average speed of about 156km/h for the fastest lap, and is also the shortest with a race distance of almost 254km, we face a race distance of 310km in Valencia and a track on which the cars will reach 300km/h or more five times per lap. Three times per lap the drivers also have to brake to about 80km/h which will be as extremely demanding for the brakes as the Montreal circuit. The longest full throttle section will be along the harbour where the drivers will drive at full throttle for 13 seconds. The front straight is 185 metres long and the shortest of all Formula 1 circuits this year. We calculated an average speed per lap of 225km/h which will be the eighth fastest of all Grand Prix tracks. This is not typical for a street race; it is more like a version of Silverstone or Monza but located in a city."

Many of you have been mulling over the competitive balance between Lewis and Felipe and Kimi and between McLaren and Ferrari. On that subject, this report on Autosport based on an interview with Hirohide Hamashima at Bridgestone struck me as being a useful insight. Tyres and track temperatures could be far more important than drivers and their strong and weak points. However, having said that, Lewis looks more "complete"(as JYS would say) at the moment than either of the boys in red.

Looking back on Hungary, it was strange for me to be at home over the Saturday and Sunday of a grand prix weekend for the first time since I started covering Formula One in July 2006. I was absolutely stunned(and delighted) by Felipe's driving at the start. What a star he was in those critical first few seconds when he out-drove Lewis, much as Lewis has done to him in the past. Obviously Felipe deserved to win that race and did not put a foot wrong. I have always regarded him as world champion material and get a lot of stick for that in the press room. He is erratic but he has huge talent and more desire than Kimi and, for my money, it will be either him or Lewis this year. (Just before the inevitable jibes about what a "rubbish" driver he is in the wet, just remember Monaco where Felipe drove respectably in difficult conditions and made only one fairly small error).

Being at home reminds you that, for the vast majority of casual sports fans, Formula One is nothing more than a fortnightly TV programming option, possibly interrupted terminally by lunch, something better on the other side, or maybe something to do outside. Inside the sport, we get so wrapped up we forget this. Most people barely know which car is which and their boredom threshold is very low. I suppose this is why the commentators are so important. I thought James Allen did a good job in Hungary ably assisted by Damon(despite referring to the McLarens as Williams - ah those were the days!) Also impressive was the BBC Radio Five Live team led by David Croft and Maurice Hamilton who put on a great pre-race show on Friday evening and then had me riveted during quali on Saturday. I was supposed to be doing errands in the car but found myself sitting glued to the radio after parking, unable to get out until a gap between the sessions. The Five Live stuff was usefully un-Lewis-centric which is all to the good.

Finally I would like to thank Tom Dart for so ably standing in for me at the last minute. I read his stuff in the paper and it seemed like he had been doing the job for years. Can I also thank many of you for your kind thoughts which were very much appreciated. The main thing now, however, is that we are back on track and the roar of V8s around the America's Cup harbour is just a few days away.      

Comments

[El Ponso]

Wellcome back Ed, good to see you again. Hope you enjoy Valencia, the weather, the food... and the races!
See you.

[Red 27]

Tom did an excellent job but it's still great to have you back Ed. Looking forward to Valencia very much indeed. Let's hope Felipe has the same for breakfast as he did on the morning before Hungary!

[McCheets]

I must disagree with the claim that James Allen did a “good job” in Hungary. The whole focus of his commentary, and indeed the entire ITV coverage, was on Lewis Hamilton. Every other competitor was assigned two-bit status. To Damon Hill’s credit he did at times try to counter the partiality, but did not sound entirely sure of himself.

This parochialism was beyond appalling, and it can only be hoped that the BBC provide impartial coverage –especially important when one considers that a number of viewers outside of the UK have always had the BBC/ITV commentary accompany their local broadcast. Hungary 2008 was one of those instances where I questioned whether pressing the mute button and tuning in to Radio 5 Live was the better option.

Massa took the lead at the start and built a gap because he must have been carrying a lighter fuel load than Lewis. Massa increased his gap after the first round of stops because Lewis must have taken on more fuel, and Lewis would undoubtedly claim the lead after the second round of stops. According to the (not entirely accurate) prediction made after his second stop, Lewis had taken on 28 laps worth of fuel. The true figure was probably 25-26. It is most likely that Massa would have been ahead after the second round of stops, and would have held on to the lead until his engine expired.

Lewis simply wasn’t as quick as Massa. Why was it so difficult for ITV to, at minimum, acknowledge this as a possibility?

[Tim]

Welcome back Ed. You're spot on about the tyre issue - it could well be the single biggest factor in determining the eventual champion.

From what we've seen in the last few races, the Ferrari is quicker than the McLaren - but only if the conditions allow the team to unlock its potential. The Ferrari is gentler on its tyres, which means it has problems generating sufficient heat for qualifying laps. The McLaren is more adaptable and better in sub-optimal conditions. All year long we've generally seen McLaren take the upper hand in qualifying, with Ferrari struggling to generate sufficient temperature. The Italian cars are very fast over a race stint (see Kimi Raikkonen's string of fastest laps in Hungary) but are hamstrung in qualifying, unless the weather is warm.

As with any non-permanent circuit, Valencia will be dusty and need time to properly rubber in over the weekend. This should give McLaren the upper hand in qualifying and it'd be a brave person to bet against Lewis Hamilton on pole position. The Ferrari drivers should be hoping for hot, dry weather to be in with a chance.

The way the races goes, however, is anyone's guess. The track is very much like Montreal (lots of starts, stops and concrete walls in close proximity) and there's likely to be a safety car or two. This could provide us with an unexpected result.

If I were a betting man, I'd stick my money on Lewis Hamilton - he's always pretty good around dirty street tracks, as long as he can make his tyres last.

There's no denying that Felipe Massa's drive in Hungary was very good, but Felipe's problem is that he can't seem to deliver this sort of performance consistently so it's anyone's guess how he does this weekend. Rubens Barrichello had a similar problem - on his day, he was unbeatable but otherwise he could be utterly anonymous. Part of me wonders whether Massa's driving style is simply too inflexible, meaning that he only knows one way of driving quickly and can't adapt when conditions are not quite to his liking. Michael Schumacher was always an extremely flexible and adaptable driver, with the Spanish GP of 1992 perhaps offering the best example of this. Nigel Mansell was leading in Fuji 2007-like conditions, but all of a sudden he found the young Schumacher catching him hand over fist with Mansell seemingly powerless to stabilise the gap. As Michael closed in, the Williams driver made a mistake and found there was much more grip on parts of the track off the usual racing line. Nigel said afterwards that he'd been stunned by Schumacher's driving. If Massa was able to adapt to different conditions and go as quickly as he can when everything's perfect, he'd be the best driver on the grid.

But one big plus for Felipe is that he certainly seems to have the measure of Kimi Raikkonen at the moment. It is, of course, possible, that we'll see the old Kimi return for a big push towards the title. But he seems to be getting increasingly disenchanted by the whole F1 circus.

[J. Perez]

It's great to have you back!!!!

[A Parker]

Ed, can't believe your comments about Five Live being thankfully "un-Lewis-centric". It seems it is acceptable to be rabid about Brit sports stars (like Andy Murray, Tom Daley, Rebecca Adlington et al) except when it's Lewis. I wonder why that is??? What a shame.

[Victor]

I hope all your familiar problems were solved. Welcome back.

[McCheets]

A PARKER

Presumably Ed didn't comment on Murray-centric, Daley-centric, Adlington-centric, etc. coverage because this is a forum for discussing Formula One, not tennis, diving, swimming, etc.

[CHIUNDA]

Hey Ed welcome back and fire Anon for passing flying time across the pond by single handedly writing a rather substandard book on "F1 half way the 2008 Season" on your blog without appropriate copyright settlements.

Don't you think you are being a bit generous with politeness when you call Massa's Monaco detour off the track a "fairly small error".

Nonetheless i look forward to you filling up IDRs "An Idiot's Guide to Valencia" with some photographs of some of the landmarks noted on this blog.

Not, of course, to forget validating MCCHEETs elementary physics on the KERS which was most likely ridden with errors but impressive for most on this blog whose brainiest mathematical endeavour in the year had been to count the prostitutes in the company of your favorite whipping boy the President of the FIA at the Chelsea apartment.

[D]

^
Welcome home, Ed.

Your second family's missed you and we're glad to have you back. :-)

Hope all's well now and that you have a great time for the rest of the season.

[IDR]

Welcome back, Ed. I hope all your family issues were ok.

I can't wait for Valencia. A new circuit and slightly different to the rest.

If McLaren estimations are ok, is going to be the fastest track up to now.

The fastest lap this year was setted by Kimi at Istanbul Park (222,144 Kmph)

It's seems to me Valencia will be like Hockemheinring... but between walls of concrete!

[RichyS]

Welcome back Ed. I'm glad you'll be enjoying the GP this weekend. I foolishly forgot to set the Sky+, so will be missing it -- stuck in Bellagio on Lake Como, as I am.

@McCheets: it's difficult to take you seriously, when you're blatantly as biased as one Mr J Allen. I also wonder at what amazing insight you have to know the exact fuel quantities Hamilton was running. I think we'll put down the Hungary result (Hamilton or Massa) as one of the great unknowns. Personally, I think either could have won it, and I still don't know which was more likely.

As to the Massa debate. I don't think it's an issue of whether Massa can drive in the wet; I think it's a case of Massa being unable to drive around problems (as, I think, someone alludes to above). We've seen the greatest drivers in the sport be able to hop in pretty much any car and make it go quick. MS could certainly do it, as can Kimi when he can be bothered. Hamilton certainly can, but Massa seems to need all his ducks in a row (and preferably be on pole too) before he can really show his potential. A god driver yes, a great driver? Never.

Pip-pip from Italy,

RichyS

[Derek Smith]

Glad to have you back, Ed. And at such an exciting time.

I find Valencia a difficult circuit to read in order to judge which of the two top teams it favours. I reckon the McLaren's should be able to run less wing than the Ferrari so overtaking opportunities on the long straits should be there. Brakes might be the decisive factor. It's certainly not the place to have to cope with a long pedal. But I have no real idea who will win.

Isn't that the best type of race to watch, though?

It should be a really exciting race and the result will be interesting whatever it is.

[Anon]

About Massa: I think we tend to forget the amount of races he has had coming from the back of the field to score points. In australia last year he started 22nd, and finished sixth. In britain last year he was 22nd and finished fifth. So he can overtake and all. His first win not from pole was well mastered off the line. And of course Hunagry should have been his.

Who knows, maybe Hungary was a revelation for him. It is often in F1 that we see a driver who feels deprived at one race to win the next. Think of Lewis after Monaco last year or Robert after Moanco this year.

On Kimi: I guess the conventional wisdom is that if Kimi wins the title, he feels content with his F1 career and moves over for Fernando. But it is true he just is so bored., he might just leave.

Lewis- the only thing that should stop him in Valencia is the tires. Don't think he will have a puncture, but he might need to change driving style a bit which could slow him down. Or maybe a three-stopper? And by the way, his car has ahd zero mechanical failures all season. Isn't it time for a good ole gearbox failure in the midst of Q3? Who knows.

I was surprised by Lauda's comments that he sees Kimi as being the most inconsistent diver of the top three. I think the blog has agreed that they are iether Lewis or Felipe- depending on how you see it.

Fernando- will he try to seize pole? I don't know if it's a smart idea- I ean, he shouldn't take the whole Spanish crowd as idiots...

I have difficulty seein gLewis win this one. For one, a bad race is usaully followed by another in his ook. Sure, it's a pattern and it's not like he is a robot, so that can change. But I have the feeling Felipe has got it, and that he will do his best. I expect McLaren pace to be up again, but Ferrari do so too so they wil go faster as well. Anyway, if the track is overwhelmingly Ferrari, then

Felipe
Lewis
Kimi

Otherwise,

Lewis
Kimi
Felipe

Great! Two preds, watch both of them turn out to be wrong!

Mr. GOrman, nice to have you back, and thank you Tom Dart for your great posts.

Chiunda- errr, don't really get the joke, am I supposed to be offensed or should I just laugh???

[jordi]

Wellcome back Ed.

McCheets, 100% with you.

Anon, Thank you for keeping the blog going during the break (yes, some of us have been reading you ;-)

A Parker, why don't you set up Lewis Hamilton Blog, TV, fan, church and Radio station club?

And Chiunda, you just crack me up!!
I'm one of those who... "whose brainiest mathematical endeavour in the year had been to count the prostitutes in the company of your favorite whipping boy the President of the FIA at the Chelsea apartment". Beauty!

[Anon]

Glad to see that Mr. GOrman brought back D and Tim.

About the comentators: for me, I think the ultimate commentator would be Michael Schumacher. He fits what I think is the three most important categories: 1.) smart, 2.) has ddone enough to prove he knows what he's talking about, and 3.) has won enough so that he doesn't try to criticize others in order to make himself look good.
It's not that he is easily the best F1 driver alive today, it's that he isalso bright enough. Mansell was a great driver, but he proabbly isn't as intellectual as Schumi.

but who knows, I'm stuck in the US with three commentators who have zero F1 experience. And then there is the bumbling Peter Windsor, who is always fun to watch.

A Parker: nobody should be given more coverage than anybody else, regardless of color or nationality. I go nuts when Eurosport gives me in depth coverage of Bourdais all of the time.

[Anon]

I just spent a really intereting few mintues looking at this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKKgrMROP7s&feature=related

It is so interesting how the Prost-Senna rivalry was so much more complex than the Aonso-hamilton one. In comparison, Alonso-Hamilton is like a shchoolyard fight. Prost-Senna was more of a love-hate relationship between two drivers who were both smart and intelligent. Could you ever imagine Fernando or Lewis say anything deep about each other? Probably not.

[IDR]

@CHIUNDA

“Nonetheless i look forward to you filling up IDRs "An Idiot's Guide to Valencia" with some photographs of some of the landmarks noted on this blog.”

Oh! That was not really my intention, but I’m glad to see the post has been useful for you!

Anyhow, if you want some pics, check this link:

http://sponsoring.allianz.com/nopi_downloads/files/12_Europe_eng-rgb_0808.jpg

It will give you a race chart with no so much complex description of circuit characteristics.

[Tim]

Anon - well, that and the end of my holiday. F1 has been almost completely silent over the last few weeks so I timed it well this year.

[McCheets]

RICHY S

I guess that if you know how long the fuel hose was attached to Hamilton's car at the first stop, then you can gain a fair idea of how much fuel was added during that stop. With basic knowledge of fuel consumption rates, you can have some idea of when his second stop was due.

As for being biased, I have been complimentary about Hamilton on numerous occasions.

It is difficult to take somebody as blatantly ignorant as yourself seriously.

[CHIUNDA]

Anon - it was just a light comment - definitely not meant to offend - the kind u politely smile to and move on.

[Pinaster]

Wellcome back, Ed.
Here we go again with the endless idiocy. Why some people insist on spoiling this blog to feed their own complexes?
OK, folks, we must admit that we arent Lewis-centric, only because he is black.
Please, Parker, why dont you give us a brake?

[MCCHEETS writes a load of rubbish]

MCCHEETS,

Are you for real? You sit there at home with your Casio stopwatch and think you can calculate how many laps worth of fuel people are taking on? Are you some sort of Armchair Team Principal?

With your screenname (as opposed to your real name) you can't expect anyone to take you seriously.

I'm now going to fall off my chair because I'm laughing so hard.

[LAK]

Welcome back Ed! Thank you for the useful info about Valencia, I've loved the venue since watching America's Cup. About the Lewis-centric remark, maybe he means that by being "un-Lewis-centric" they were able to be less biased and gave every driver equal attention, which gives the viewer a more general, realistic picture of what's going on..

[RichyS]

@McCheets,

McLaren have a recent history of bringing in drivers early to cover for safety car incidents. They'd covered Massa's stop by coming in a lap later. Who's to say that Lewis' car didn't have 2-3 laps of fuel in when he refilled.

I doubt either of us can say for certain what strategy McLaren were running.

[Richard]

Welcome back Ed, it's great that you're back for possibly the most exciting race of the year.

A high speed street circuit, lined with concrete barriers, where no team has any previous race data should be a recipe for plenty of action on Sunday. Possibly the highest rate of attrition all season?

My only prediction is that this blog will be very lively next week!

[F1crazy]

I think too many people are writing Kimi off and even more people are questioning his motivation. His last 3 races haven't been as bad as people make them to be.

1. Silverstone rubbish tyre strategy cost him vital time and places. (yes he spun but so did everyone else)

2. Hockenheim 4 laps heavier than the leaders...safety car ruined his race put him in 12th position. I think he overtook about 6 cars or more to recover. Talk about damage limitation.

3. Poor qualifying plus being four laps heavier plus being stuck behind alonso. Once Alonso was out of the way he banged fastest lap after fastest lap and was very close to catching Timo in the end had it not been for the reliability problem.

Valencia should suit him. And Spa, well, need I say more?

Last year people wrote him off. Including Hamilton.

[Felipe]

Welcome back Ed, hope everything has been resolved. Looking forward to your entries... and good you can appreciate how we plebs see the sport... I would like to get a look at the other side like you dis

[Matthew]

Firstly, welcome back Ed.
Secondly, can't wait for this weekend! It's great to have such a cool new track on the calendar.
And finally, well said McCheets - Hamilton is very very good and my money is on LH to win this weekend, but when he drops out of a race James Allen just doesn't know what to say!

[Ben]

Excellent to have the blog back Ed. We've had to look elsewhere for a regular fix of quality analysis - but there ain't none.

[gfehr]

As one of my (typically) tardy and severely off-topic comments from the semi-arid Texas badlands, I would point out that mad-hatter racing in Spain is about as old as, well, mad-hatter racing. Risk-taking is rather important there. Ask any proper Spanish bull.

I would also point out that, given the toy-like nature of the Formula 1 monster cars and their world (as I see it, at least), it's fitting that the town of Ibi is not far south of Valencia, back in the hills. Many decades ago its local tradition of tin-smithing recreated itself as the toy manufacturing capital of Spain. The two main companies were Hermanos Paya and Rico, S.A.. They enjoyed a somewhat incestuous rivalry for several decades turning out quirky little tin toys even long after the rest of the non-Franco world had succumbed to plastic.

Many of these toys were flat-out copies of German standards. Reputedly, representatives of Paya (for instance) would attend the annual toy fair in Nuremberg posing as buyers for a distributor. They would collect two examples of each German toy of interest and bring them back to Ibi. One example was then stripped down to see how it was made. The other was kept as a "control" to compare to the Spanish copy. As a consequence, the toy museum in Valencia (or perhaps it's in Ibi itself, I'm not sure) has a most invaluable collection of pristine German tin toys from the early 20th century, as well as a fine sampling of Spanish "juguetes" of that era.

I think it is the tradition in Spain to call a racing car a "bolido". The literal meaning is "meteor", "fireball", or simply "hot and fast". Both Rico and Paya resorted to originality when it came to their bolidos. I have three in my modest collection. Rico, for instance, produced a monstrously long, open-wheeled "Hispano-Suiza" in a color somewhere between midnight blue and aubergine. It is an "Hispano-Suiza" because of the immense swan in flight gracing the bodywork, el cisne being as recognizable an ensignia for H-S in its day as the "prancing horse" was and is for Ferrari.

The pilote of this particular bolido, interestingly, is the same farmer (or "campesino") Rico used on its toy farm tractors. Whether this is an economy or a wry political statement is unclear. But the heyday of Paya and Rico (when this toy bolido was first produced) coincided with the decline of the Spanish monarchy and the brief ascendency of the Republican era of the early 1930s. At the very least, the joke of uno campesino at the wheel of a most fabulously rich man's toy would not have been overlooked by the Spanish public during that time. To reprise a recent discussion: they would have seen the "sport" in it.

An Hermanos Paya bolido, produced as a factory original from the 1920s well into the 1960s (there have been more recent attempts at "collectible" reproductions), has both a driver and a mechanic. Because of its wedge-shaped radiator it is usually assumed that this toy is very loosely based on the formidable Mercedes SSK (or one of its cousins) of the 1920s. But the overall shape suggests to me it is a fair attempt at the short-lived but equally smashing and far more correctly Mediterranean Alfa Romeo "RLSS" of the mid-1920s.

I can well imagine such a real-life bolido being mad-hatted about the streets of Valencia -- at speeds approaching one mile to the minute -- by some dissolute son-of-a-son-of-a Valenciano orange-growing magnate, back when the rather dense Alfonso XIII was still El Rey, and life as a serious prospect could safely be damned.

[IDR]

@GFEHR

Great post!!!!!

Please spend more time in this "severely off topics comments" from the semi-arid Texas badlands!

Me, many other spanish readers elder enough to remember Paya and Rico toys, and those Spanish brave bulls still waiting for a sure dead in a "Corrida" will be grateful, no doubt.

Tons of thanks.

[Jorge Martinez]

Organization of GP Europe in Valencia is being quite bad... Look at some news being published in Spain...

http://meneame.net/story/valmor-sport-lamentable-gestion-valencia-street-circuit

http://www.elperiodico.com/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=46&idioma=CAS&idnoticia_PK=537797&idseccio_PK=1011&h=

[IDR]

@GFEHR

Check this link:

http://es.geocities.com/juguetesantiguos/

I hope you like it.

[paul L]

Unfortunately i dont think i will bother watching future races at the Valencia track. Very dull racing, poor camera positions / veiws, and surroundings. Certainly would not go to watch live, as, as far as i could make out, the crowd would have hardly seen a thing over the safety fencing.

What a let down!