Schumacher’s condition casts pall over upcoming F1 season
Racing icon symbolized commitment and fitness
It is possibly the most unpredictable start to a Formula One season ever. It might also be the saddest. Let’s start with that. As F1 returns to the track this weekend, in Australia, Michael Schumacher continues to lie in a coma in France.
Seventy- seven days have passed since we first got word the racing titan had hurt himself in what was described as a low- speed accident on the ski slopes.
If those initial reports seemed to downplay the accident, it was probably because no one wanted to imagine the worst.
After all, this was Schumacher, who suffered nothing more than a broken leg during his two decades in the dangerous world of top- tier racing.
He was known not only for rewriting the record books, but also for his high level of fitness, his commitment to hard work and his calculated approach to every challenge he undertook.
Schumacher, in many minds, moved mountains; he did not succumb to them.
Sometimes, though, we confuse strength and stature with immortality.
At the end of January, doctors revealed they had begun the “waking- up process.” Since then, there have been few updates about Schumacher’s condition. “If they’re not releasing good news because there is none, then that’s very bad news indeed,” Gary Hartstein, the former head of F1’ s medical unit, told the New York Times.
“After eight weeks, if there’s no sign of waking, what most people would do is unplug.” Tragic. This week, after a long silence, Schumacher’s agent issued a more hopeful statement:
“There sometimes are small, encouraging signs,” it read. “We are and remain confident that Michael will pull through and will wake up.”
It is against this sombre backdrop that 11 F1 teams have come to Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix, the first of 19 races on the 2014 calendar.
No doubt, Schumacher will be on the minds of many this weekend and beyond, in the paddocks and in the grandstands wherever F1 visits.
At the same time, teams and drivers must focus on the task at hand, which is to be first to the chequered flag in pursuit of championship glory. This season brings the biggest set of rule changes in the history of F1, making the task more challenging and the results more unpredictable than ever.
The changes reflect a major shift toward a more energy- efficient series, with cars required to run on 35 per cent less fuel than last year.
That means smaller engines, down to 1.6- litre, six- cylinder turbo- charged units from the 2.4- litre, normally aspirated V8s of before.
It also means greater use of hybrid technology. KERS — for kinetic energy recovery systems — is now just ERS, with cars featuring two forms of energy harvesting instead of one.
Contrary to predictions, the cars are just as quick as they were last year, at least in a straight line. Expect speeds of 350 km/ h or more at less- circuitous tracks like Monza.
The twists and turns are where the pace drops off, and this is because of new aerodynamic specifications that reduce the cars’ downforce, or adherence to the pavement.
The new aero rules also explain some odd- looking bodywork, particularly at the front of the cars — from the aardvark nose of Ferrari to the twin tusks of Lotus. The smaller engines sound less angry than before, to the dismay of purists, while drivers now have eight gears to play with instead of seven.
In a controversial move, the last race of the season, in Abu Dhabi, will award double the points, meaning 50 for a win, in a contrived bid to keep the title fight alive till the final stop.
More controversy, given world events. For the first time, Russia will host a Grand Prix, on Oct. 12 in Sochi.
Austria is back on the calendar for the first time in a decade, on June 22. It will follow the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on June 8.
With all these changes, F1 has “a new look, a new sound and a new style of racing,” to quote Autosport magazine.
But will it have a new champion?
Too early to tell, of course, but all signs point to a difficult start for Sebastian Vettel and his Red Bull squad.
During winter testing, all teams struggled with the complexity of the new cars, but none suffered more than those powered by Renault engines — most notably, Red Bull.
Still, if there’s a team with the talent, experience and brainpower to turn things around, this is the one.
“There’s no reason to paint everything black,” Vettel, targeting his fifth straight drivers’ title, told reporters this month.
“It’s a difficult time, but everyone is aware of that and motivated to get out of it.”
Overall, the Mercedes team fared best during the 12 days of tests, and squads running Mercedes engines — Williams, McLaren and Force India — impressed, as well.
Ferrari looks set to assume its usual place among the front runners, but offers no evidence of the leap forward tifosi have been waiting for since 2007. That year marked the last time Ferrari took home the drivers’ title, courtesy of Kimi Raikkonen, who returns to the Italian stable this season after his move from Lotus.
The intra- squad rivalry between two former champs — Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso — is among the big stories to watch.
So is the battle at Mercedes between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, the early favourites based on their team’s preseason performance.
There can be only one winner at the Albert Park Circuit on Sunday, and no one can predict with confidence who that might be — not with all the uncertainty of the new formula. Rosberg, though, is a good guess. His smooth driving style is well suited to this new era of conserving fuel and tires, more so than the heavy- footed Hamilton.
As it happens, Rosberg drove alongside Schumacher at Mercedes before the seven- time champion retired from F1 at the end of the 2012 season. Here’s praying that Schumi, before long and against the odds, will waken from his deep sleep to cheer on his old teammate.