14/04/2014
FEATURE BY MIKE LAWRENCE
Make no mistake, the duel between Lewis and Nico in the closing stages of the Bahrain GP will go down in history as one of the greatest ever. Two drivers on top of their game and in identical cars, though on different tyres.
Where it rates compared to other duels will need some serious pub debate; it cannot be settled over half a pint of lager. This calls for barrels of Old Gruntfuttock's or, in the case of my local which has a microbrewery, Pheasant Plucker's. One race which will have to be considered is the 1953 French GP at Reims when Mike Hawthorn (Ferrari) and Juan Fangio (Maserati) constantly swapped the lead with Hawthorn taking the flag by 20 yards.
They had different cars, but Gonzales (Maserati) was mere feet behind in third which suggests the machinery was closely matched. Then again, Rosberg had pitted for the softer tyre and was assisted by the safety car.
There is plenty to debate, but what is beyond discussion is that we saw one of the best duels ever. A couple of seasons ago, Lewis seemed to have gone off the boil, in Bahrain he was mighty.
Let us not forget either, other battles, like Massa and Bottas and Ricciardo showing that he is not in awe of Vettel. Teams allowed their drivers to race against each other and nobody took his team-mate out.
We saw some great racing because teams trusted their drivers. If there were team orders at Ferrari, nobody noticed. One World Champion led home another and both scored points, three in all. It makes me wonder about the time when Ferrari was able to fix races.
Some hacks have been quick to hail the race as a vindication of the new formula, but one swallow does not a summer make. If Bahrain is a harbinger of a new of a new era of wheel to wheel racing, then all criticism of the formula must be reassessed. Time alone will tell.
The fact is that every formula has produced its great races and these have come about through circumstance, the circuit, the weather and, more latterly, the safety car. It is circumstance, not the formula, which produces great races.
Mercedes F1 is clearly in a class of its own and I think that Paddy Lowe is right to dismiss calls from those who would substantially alter the rules. Teams had a say in framing them and they all had the same time to prepare. Mercedes is superior to other teams which use its engines and that is because the team has got it right.
Current manufacturing methods mean all the engines are identical unlike the days when, say, the works BRMs had superior engines to the customers.
Luca di Montezemolo has been vocal in his criticism, yet Ferrari played its part in framing the rules. It is nonsense, a myth, that Ferrari is somehow essential to Formula One. Unless you are a tifoso, or dedicated to either Fernando or Kimi, you did not notice where they finished in Bahrain, there was so much else to grab attention.
Ferrari sells road cars and is being squeezed by other makers. Lamborghini has taken sales because Audi has ensured that the cars are more than male jewellery, they actually work. Porsche and McLaren have both made hybrids which redefine performance. A problem Ferrari faces is that the more cars it sells, so exclusivity suffers.
There are some things that can be fixed, like raising the overall minimum weight limit for car and driver combined. Marcus Ericsson reckons that he is losing half a second a lap to his team-mate because he weighs 10 kg more. When Mansell and Prost were both at Ferrari Nigel complained that speed traps showed the team was favouring Alain, he did not take account of their different weights.
Combining the weight of driver and car was meant to emphasise skill and the principle holds true. One of the most exciting drivers on the grid is Nico Hulkenberg and it is believed he was passed over for drives because he is of normal size. Nico was blamed because some teams could not get the weight of their cars down.
There are stories of drivers pushing themselves to lose weight. Sky TV commentator, Ted Kravitz, has spoken of a driver who simply fainted, probably from dehydration. This is a safety issue, a driver should come to the grid in the best physical condition he can achieve.
Some teams may bridle at giving up a weight advantage, but motor racing is a sport and not just a technical exercise. Some cars may need a little extra ballast, but teams are used to placing ballast in order to gain a performance advantage.
Remember traction control, active suspension and anti-lock braking? These were all condemned as driver aids (along with four-wheel steering) and banned. The FIA wanted to emphasise driver skill, but the new rules emphasise driver size. Do we want a grid of PORGs (Persons of Restricted Growth) or do we want a formula that can accommodate a Nigel Mansell or Dan Gurney?
One story which is worrying, if true, is that Mercedes-Benz threatened to withdraw unless the new formula went ahead. M-B is in Formula One for commercial reasons and F1 has benefited by its willingness to supply engines. I do not see the company's attitude as a threat or, even, blackmail. It is a statement of why it spends a lot of money which it could employ elsewhere.
What is a cause for concern is that one engine supplier could have so much influence and that is down to the FIA. The financial crisis of 2008 caused some companies to withdraw from F1, yet BMW, Honda and Toyota could have continued as engine suppliers were it not for the fact that freezing the specifications robbed them of any incentive.
BMW and Honda were both happy to supply only engines in the past, but that was when the rules permitted development. On the current grid there are only three engine suppliers and that is not healthy. It is, however, the fault of the FIA.
Honda is to return next year because the new formula gives its engineers a fresh challenge. The two presidents of the company who succeeded Mr Honda were both engineers who had designed racing units.
Rumours have been posted on some of the F1 para-sites of a possible return by BMW and Ford, but anyone can speculate about anything. Want a story, contact the Vatican's press office. You can run the headline: Pope To Marry? Official Denial!
Companies are capable of making their own announcements. It is possible that Ford and BMW have been speaking to teams, but testing the temperature of the water does not mean you are going to dive in; the financial structure has changed since either was involved.
The one certainty is that Honda will supply McLaren in 2015 and there is no way of knowing whether it will supply other teams beyond that. We can speculate all we want, but Formula One is about the hard fact of drivers on the grid using actual equipment and not some rumoured engine.
Learn more about Mike and check out his previous features, here