2004 British Grand Prix
First off, it is hard to imagine a Formula One season without the British race, I do not know what needs to e done, but I certainly hope that the powers that be clean up their act and once and for all put down the rumors that manage to surface almost every year (in the last three or four) that 'next year the British Grand Prix will be no more'.
In spite of its age and its several face lifts, Silverstone continues to be a superb race track, -the only improvement it needs is to give the circuit some 'water-flow' as n case of rain, which in England, this is no rare event, the flow of the water -or lack thereof- can create truly dangerous spots along the circuit. Having said that, this circuit offers tremendous features not seen even on the modern ones, best examples are:
* First corner (Copse) is capable of handling without trouble the always hectic first turn traffic allowing most competitors a chance to fight for position without undue and unrealistic risk that presents a tight corner after a long straight, creating the perfect environment for crazy melees, which most times end up in crashes taking 2 or more cars out of the race on turn one.
* It offers both incredibly fast speeds with flat out corners (or nearly so) and the tight series of turns that a good driver with a good chassis can enjoy, giving him -within reason- a fighting chance against faster engines.
* It also offers more than one spot where a good driver can pass slower ones... then again, based on F-1 speeds and the importance of aerodynamic design, such eventuality is becoming a rarity. This being the result of the super-fast speeds these cars can reach, combined with the fact that when a car tucks in behind another, to take advantage of the 'slip stream tow' the aerodynamic advantage of the airflow pushing the air to the ground is lost, therefore, making the eventual corner almost impossible to take. This adds to the case of the ongoing battle to slow down the speed of the cars by the organizers, against the always faster approach by the designers, engineers and drivers...
Today's race saw the first sign of real threat to Ferrari's and Michaels Schumacher's dominance at the wheel of Mclaren driver Kimi Raikkonen.
Kimi's blistering pole position time was re-enforced by his start, pulling better than 3.5 seconds IN THE FIRST LAP alone. It seemed, today was the day in which finally one of the 'other' competitors would rise to the challenge Ferrari has given everyone in F-1. Yet, once again and quite incredibly so... Michael and Ferrari did it again.
Quite frankly I was surprised that Michael was able to pull it off, this time, however, he had to fight for his victory... a combination of a little luck, superb team effort by the mechanics, great strategy (once again), and of course, that incredible skill from Michael to turn on super fast laps just precisely -and consistently- when it is needed from him...managed.. Just by a little better than 2 seconds to beat Kimi's super fast pace.
Towards the last part of the race (20 laps left) Jarno Truli in his Renault had a terrible accident (more of that below), apparently caused by a failure in the rear suspension, caused the safety car to come out... allowing Kimi Raikkonen to come in for his final stop... unfortunately for him, when he came out, he had two cars between him and Schumacher's Ferrari... his opportunity to pass Michael was nearly gone, as the Michelin tires can perform better under colder conditions than the Bridgestones, which need more time to warm up... if there was a time to pass the Ferrari, it would have been on the re-start right after the safety car would come out of the track...
Kimi had to deal with two cars before reaching Michael's, by the time he did... the Ferrari's Bridgestone tires were already warmed up, not to mention the fact that the Ferrari's engine is still more powerful than Kimi's Mercedes.
However... this new McLaren seems to be a home run, the car was clearly faster than the Ferrari in the tighter turns... all this means that between now and the 2005 championship -if not the rest of the 2004 may yield a great competition, unfortunately Michael's 10 wins will make it nearly impossible for anyone to challenge his 7th championship. But 2005 may turn to be a superb season, it certainly has all the makings for it... soon we shall see.
Jarno's accident today was, without a doubt an indirect compliment to the safety of both the track design and -most of all- the strength of a Formula One chassis, which says a lot about the engineering involved in its design. This is the reason, Jarno was able to walk away unscratched from an accident involving a 240 kph impact, rolling over -completely destroying his car.
atlasf1.com
Poor Fernando Alonso drove his heart out (while qualifying sixth, however, due to the stupid rule that if a driver changes an engine before the race, he starts at the very end of the grid)... he just finished out of the points in 10th place. Clearly, not the best race for the Renault team.
Next... Hockenheim for the German Grand Prix.
Ah... what some will do to get close to Schumi... (Or was it the other way around -g)... no doubt Australian beer is quite healthy.
grandprix.com |
