Race is on for F1 crown
BOOKIES ARE PIPPING HAMILTON AFTER RECENT WIN – BUT DON’T BE SO SURE Don’t write off the excellent drivers of Mercedes, Ferrari.
With the gap in the 2017 drivers’ title chase down to 12 points, this weekend’s race at Baku will certainly be interesting. The British media are convinced that Lewis Hamilton’s victory and his Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas’ second place in Canada was the turning point of the season and it will now be Hamilton’s year.
I personally feel that the bookmakers are jumping the gun.
Mercedes had certainly found the pace and the performances from both drivers were excellent.
But let us not forget that Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel had qualified second ahead of Bottas and his race was compromised by contact with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in turn one.
This damaged the Ferrari’s front wing, forcing an early pit stop and moving the German to the back of the field.
His subsequent recovery to fourth at the finish and his lap times demonstrated that the fight for 2017 honours is by no means over.
This will be the first Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Last year it was the European Grand Prix, and it is a difficult one that can create havoc for the drivers, with the narrow streets taking their toll,
Since the takeover of F1 the new owners have established teams of specialists to investigate the existing system and its inherent problems, always attributed to the Ecclestone era, in the search of a more marketable product.
Thus far we have not exactly been blown away with ideas but then it is early days, and of course not much can change until a new Concorde Agreement comes into force in 2020.
One aspect is the need to reduce the costs of F1, an old chestnut that has been with us for many seasons, but one that is supported by many of which the new man at Williams Paddy Lowe is one.
He was questioned whether restrictive regulations or a cost cap was his preferred solution in the search to prevent the ridiculous expenditure that the sport has witnessed in the last few years.
He said: “I prefer a cost cap, or some sort of cost constraint, a constraint on the input side.
“We have done many experiments over the last 10 or 15 years by trying to control the output side. For instance the elimination of routine track testing has allowed us to not need whole test teams and cars to support those and people to sort those. That has been effective.
“The control of aerodynamic testing, restricting the number of wind tunnels you can use, has all been good. But I think the problem with continuing down that road is that if you really want to reduce the leverage of your spend in terms of lap time, significantly you end up having to make the cars too similar,” Lowe said.
“You end up with a lot of standardisation and effectively dumb down the cars.
“So I think the only way to solve it is to control the spending at the input end of things, for which one of the solutions would be a cost cap.”
Wise words, echoing the call of the new Formula One Management, who also suggest a reduction in expenditure, but then the confusion sets in.
FOM have suggested that they wish to increase the number of Grands Prix per annum to 25 and this has upset a number of teams and individuals.
Fernando Alonso said that if the number of races increases he will leave F1 as he needs time to have a life as well.
Haas team boss Guenther Steiner believes he could accept an increase providing a replanned schedule lessens the travel for the teams.
Niki Lauda, Mercedes team chair, does not agree: “Twenty one races is the maximum. More would be nonsense, as F1 would become like the Ski world cup where people are overloaded.”
I have to agree with Lauda – the work load is high already and the increase would be more than most teams could cope with.
One must remember that the people in a team pit are also involved with the rebuilding of the cars prior to the next race, along with a dedicated team at the factory.
If you want to try and comprehend the stresses on pit crews I suggest reading a wonderful book by Steve Matchett, Life in the Fast Lane.
Matchett was pit crew in the Schumacher Benetton days and ably describes the incredible pressures suffered both at work and socially by these dedicated individuals.
This was way back when there were only 16 races per season.
It can be overcome by having extra personnel to relieve the already hard worked team members but that of course would mean extra costs, as would the transportation to more circuits around the world.
Perhaps I am missing the point but I cannot see how a move towards reducing costs can be implemented if the ever present requirement of increasing revenue for shareholders means greater expenditure for the teams.