08/02/2005
FEATURE BY MIKE LAWRENCE
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What an eventful time we've had since the last Grand Prix. Two teams have changed hands and there are still seats for the taking or, rather, for the buying. We must remember that, these days, a Formula One seat does not necessarily involve any actual racing.
Luca Badoer, Alexander Wurz, Pedro de la Rosa and Anthony Davidson are all paid more than some drivers on the grid in real terms they are straight employees and do not have to bring the sponsorship out of which their wages will be paid. They each receive the salary of a CEO of a medium sized company and they each have one of the greatest chat up lines on earth.
Luca Badoer is one of the best paid racing drivers on the planet, but he does not actually race. I believe he last raced in 1999, before Kimi Raikkonen first raced a car.
It seems that we have our first Israeli Formula One driver in Chanoch Nissany who, at the age of 41, has signed to undertake testing for Minardi. If Nissany is called up to drive in a race, he will become the oldest debutant in the World Championship. I am not, of course, counting established Grand Prix drivers who were older than that when the World Championship began in 1950.
Meanwhile there is Max Mosley call for a maximum age for Number Two drivers. Oi, Max, leave it out, you Ageist. There are laws forbidding discrimination against refusing to employ someone on account of their age. We wrinklies have our rights, don't trample on our dreams. Take away from Editor, Chris Balfe, the fantasy that one day he may get an urgent call from Maranello or Woking and what do you leave the poor old boy with? (Woking? White Hart Lane! - Ed)
Chanoch Nissany knows that it is unlikely that he will do more than a few dozen laps over the season, Minardi is not known for an extensive test programme save in the sense that anyone with the right licence and a bag of cash can 'test' a Minardi. Paul Stoddart was once quoted as saying he bought Minardi because he was buying into the world's greatest franchise. He is right, he can sell 'testing' to any mug, I mean driver, with the dosh. It sounds like it should be a nice little earner, but is there an equivalent in any other sport? Other professional sports actually pay people.
Regardless of that, Nissany will go down in history as the first Israeli F1 driver and nobody will ever be able to take that away from him as, no doubt, his grandchildren will discover. It also gives him rare distinction in Israel, a country not normally associated with sporting achievement, not since the David vs Goliath bout.
All the statements about Nissany's contract make the point that it should raise the profile of Formula One in Israel, but there is nothing about actually racing, let alone winning. It is, however, surely right that Nissany will raise the profile of F1 in Israel, even though he lives in Budapest. You need human interest in order to generate interest in a sport. No doubt Nissany is already signed up to sections of the Israeli media. He is the one local man who has actually driven Formula One cars, the guy with the pass to the paddock. There is nothing like the local lad or lass to stir interest.
Even in the UK, which has won more drivers' and constructors' championships than any other country, media interest in F1 tends to be linked to particular drivers. When Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean were winning everything in ice dancing in the early 1980s, the British media was besotted by ice dancing, you would have thought that ice dancing was the pinnacle of sporting achievement. I cannot remember the last time I heard about this so called sport, but then there has been no local interest for twenty years.
No matter how Narain Karthikeyan performs, he will always be the first Indian Grand Prix driver. His form in the lower formulae suggests that he is competent, but not a must have talent. As I have often said before, however, you can never tell how good a driver will be in Formula One until he is there. Neither Niki Lauda nor Nigel Mansell were that brilliant in the learning categories, but it was a different matter when they were in Formula One.
Perhaps Midland's other signing, Tiago Monteiro, will also prove to be a revelation, but I doubt it. I doubt it not because I doubt his ability, which has yet to be seen in Formula One, I have doubts because I have to ask who will develop the car? There is a good reason why Ferrari pays Luca Badoer more money than I will ever earn and that is because he is good at what he does, which is to develop the cars with which Schumacher and Barrichello can win.
The Midland Group has made big talk about knowing the cost, but and being prepared to spend the money. Karthikeyan, however, appears to have got the drive because of backing from Indian industry. One of his major sponsors is Tata Motor and the Midland Group owns steel mills, so one can see a synergy there. In the 1950s, the Orsi Group, which owned Maserati, had extensive interests in Argentina guess where Argentine drivers headed when they came to Europe? There is nothing new about what Midland appears to have done. What is surprising is that, despite its boasting it has the funds, it has not invested in an experienced driver even if only in a test role. The man behind the Midland Group, Alex Shnaider plans to bring in Roman Rusinov for testing. Rusinov therefore becomes Russia's first Formula One (but not Grand Prix) driver. That may win Brownie points in the Kremlin, it may smooth the way for business deals, but is it the right way to go about running an F1 team?
Midland has recruited some experienced people, but many of them do not have top grade Formula One experience. I don't care what Trevor Caring, or anyone else, has achieved in the lower formulae. That matters no more than that Luca Badoer dominated the 1992 FIA F3000 Championship. At the end of the season he had four wins, the title and 46 points. Third in the series was Rubens Barrichello, no wins, 27 points. Down in 9th place, on 11 points was David Coulthard.
Other winners that year were Jordi Gene, Jean Marc Gounon and Andrea Montermini. Montermini had three wins, Barrichello had none, but made three trips to the podium, while Coulthard took two third places. Based on that, who were going to be the future stars? With Formula One, you can tell nothing until someone has been there. There was a time when the nickname of Sir Frank was 'Wanker Williams'. There was such a time, but not during the last quarter of a century.
Nothing about the Midland project makes sense to me. Alex Shnaider has said that he wants to use Formula One to grow his business. Sorry, but Shnaider has things arse about face. For Frank Williams, racing is business.
Shnaider says that he wants to use Formula One to attract another type of client, the multi national corporation that wants to do business in Russia. Shnaider is Russian born, raised in Israel, but now a Canadian citizen. What this boils down to is that he thinks that Formula One is a corporative dating agency. It has long been used for that, but not as its main purpose. The main object of F1 is to win races.
From the point of view of the spectator, there will be no way of measuring the performances of Karthikeyan and Monteiro. We will have an adapted Jordan chassis, using a 'customer' Toyota engine and nobody has any idea how good the engine is.
Dallara is to build the replacement chassis which should arrive before the end of 2005. Dallara made 78 starts in Formula One, from an attempted 89 starts, 1988 92, and scored 15 points. This is a better record than some can claim, but is hardly the stuff of dreams.
Dallara has done wonderfully well in the production racing car market, but only after it abandoned F1. Dallara's breakthrough came in 1993 when it caught Reynard being complacent in Formula Three. Thanks to its foray into F1, Dallara had its own wind tunnel, and had the sense to copy the suspension of the Ralt RT35. The company also had the wisdom to invest it profits in tooling which is why Formula Three became Formula Dallara.
Dallara had a stab at Formula One, took two third places even, but never once did it look a likely contender. Why does anyone think that Dallara can succeed now?
Were I looking for someone to make a production racing car for a one make series, Dallara and Lola would head my shopping list. Lola has a pole position and two second places in Formula One to its credit, but that was in 1962, before even Chanoch Nissany was born.
Jaguar Racing has been sold to the maker of a fizzy drink who fell out with Peter Sauber, and sold his share in Sauber, because he reckoned that Kimi Raikkonen was not up to much. Jordan has been sold to someone who has not even grasped the idea that motor racing is not about making business introductions in Moscow, it is about winning races. Minardi is helped to keep going by selling an illusionary test drive to a man past his prime with money, but not a great deal of experience, let alone achievement.
A criminal case concerning Toyota's alleged use of Ferrari date is looming. Oh, and we have also had an announcement from Team Dubai F1. I'd say that Team Dubai F1 is the quickest press release in years. The last time I saw a press release as good, the proposed car had 12 wheels (12 wheel drive, braking and steering) and a turbine engine. I am not kidding, it was the Lion GP project of 1978 and it made a great deal more sense than Team Dubai F1.
Apart from the above, Formula One seems to be in the best possible health. We face 2005 with the twenty best drivers in the world on the grid. Would you accept nineteen? Eighteen? Ten?
We will have the most cosmopolitan field in history and that will 'raise the identity of Formula One'. I actually don't give a damn how Formula One is perceived in Jerusalem and Calcutta, I want to see racing.
To check out previous features from Mike, click here