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Pass the salt Alain

FEATURE BY MAX NOBLE
25/07/2024

Team mates! Some share helicopters, some swap girlfriends, some drop briefcases out of helicopters. Thankfully no one has yet (and may they never) dropped one another out of a helicopter... but they might have day-dreamed about it!

You broke the chassis. You've got the new front wing. You've got the smarter engineer. You've got the call on first pit stop. Sigh. Anyone would think they were racing... Oh hang on a moment.

In a rowing eight, or a running relay team, you win or lose as a team. In a soccer team you mostly win and lose as a team, mostly... In a cycle team, or an F1 team it all gets a touch more complex. Equipment, team orders, tactical and strategic moves. All play out over a race day, a race week, a season. And friends, what other friends do you have in the field?

Cyclists in particular have an order of merit and friendships which cross team boundaries. Bernard Hinault is still regarded (the tragic Lance years aside...) as the most forceful patron of the peloton. Stand fast, slow pedal today. Punch a farmer tomorrow. Race as if the devil will truly eat the hindmost. Yet in a professional cycle team it is usually agreed who the team lead is, the one who will have the other riders sacrifice their personal result in order to raise the result of the team lead.

It used to be the case in F1. Fangio and many other team leads would take their teammate's car in the event that theirs broke during the race. That's about as far as a racing driver can possibly go for his team mate! (Let's never forget Peter Collins selfless act at Monza in 1956 - Ed).

For some reason the two drivers demanding to be seen as equals is a relatively new phenomenon. Gilles and Didier simply fell out. They became furious over behaviours rather than a perceived number one status issue. Which leads us to the best on-paper pairing of a generation, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. Two legends in the same team, what could possibly go wrong?

Both World Champions, both capable of sublime drives, especially in wet conditions, both able to produce a magic lap, finding time where others only found trouble, until that fateful corner where they found each other. Two into one did not go... Twice, two years running at the same corner. Surely a lesson for every team principal to be so very careful what they wish for?

Which brings us to V. Max and the developing situation at McLaren. Lando and V. Max are friends off the track... for now. It used to be the same with Gilles and Didier. Likewise while Oscar and Lando might not be total besties, they do mostly get on and act civil... for now.

The evolving championship situation could well change all that. George Russell and Lewis are frequently at differing phases of their race weekend, and as a result rarely get the opportunity to trip over one another. Plus, George knows Lewis is off in the New Year, so no harm in keeping it civil.

V. Max is destroying Perez again this season, so again the chance for tensions are minimal. So instead a highly testy V. Max berated half the team during an uncharacteristically grumpy race in Hungary. Stupid timing, strategy, tyres, information, thinking... you name it, V. Max hated it. To be publically told straight-up by his race engineer to "stop being childish", was, hopefully, a wake-up call to take a deep breath and get on with driving the car... and be a team player in a very large team, not a sulking teenager in a legendary driver's body.

Likewise Sainz and Leclerc are frequently nowhere near each other on track, so few chances to get grumpy. Whereas the recent Oscar and Lando to-do was one of the few times they have been wheel-to-wheel with a podium, indeed a possible win, at stake. And it was not pretty. If the team continues throwing strategy curveballs like that we can expect more tension and possibly some on-track biffo. Could any of our modern, currently amicable drivers end-up as salty as Alain and Senna, or Gilles and Didier?

Gerhard Berger tells the story of throwing Senna's briefcase out of a helicopter just after take-off, with the contents scattering far and wide. Senna was furious. Gerhard was breathless with laughter. So it was that Senna sat back, didn't react further and took to causing mayhem in Berger's life as payback. Each knew what they could achieve on track, and left their racing on the circuit to become improbable friends. I think this is the friendship stage that Daniel and V. Max have reached. I think after many tough seasons Daniel is possibly reasoning that being a close, but definite, second to V. Max is not the worst thing in F1. Oscar and Lando are yet to reach any such conclusion.

Other pairings? Alonso and Lance have been getting along fine, but recently Lance has been finishing ahead of Alonso. That sort of thing usually irritates the Spaniard in the end. Let's wait and see. The Haas and Stake pairings are so invisible one would reach for the salt, and jump when your hand hit one of these see-through drivers. "Sorry didn't see you there!" would be your shocked apology. Williams? Well Alex is so far ahead of what's-his-name (another invisible man...) that there is no reason for friction over anything other than the window seat on the flight home.

Next season? Well if Oscar, and Lando are still in the mix for wins, and have not fallen out prior to the end of this year's campaign, it will be an edgy fight. They are very well matched on track. Daniel with V. Max? I think that will work like a quality Swiss watch. George with, well who? It looks like it will be a car capable of winning races, so there is a chance for tension. Then Lewis and Leclerc? I fully expect that to have the potential to combust much as Lewis and Alonso did. Each will very much make the other reach for their own condiments.

Maintaining relationships in a team sport that has so much focus on the individual will always be a challenge. I'm sure Alain and Senna went through a stage of ensuring they did not arrive at the same restaurant at the same time (or indeed at the same restaurant in the same month...), let alone be close enough to pass the salt.

So if they wish for seasoning this season, I wonder which drivers might end-up having to grab it for themselves, unless of course it is abruptly required for the glee of rubbing it into fresh wounds.

Max Noble

Learn more about Max and check out his previous features, here

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READERS COMMENTS

 

1. Posted by Max Noble, 03/08/2024 3:40

"@dejan - Yes, a clear example of friendship done sour. The post-race (tarmac) interview by Nico of Sir Lewis was painful to watch the other week. Fascinating the Nico admitted he knew what it would take to beat Lewis a second time, and he wasn’t interested. Wow… A strong lesson in self awareness there.

Lewis is a machine. I’m fascinated to see what happens at Ferrari…
"

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2. Posted by dejan, 02/08/2024 17:34

"One recent example of team rivalry was Nico vs Lewis for a few years in the 2010s culminating with Nico's title clinching race and quick retirement after that - just shows that these are so bruising that some of the drivers don't have the mental strength to keep doing it for long.

Lewis looked to be the same when he started (even when he won his first title) however by the time he moved to Mercedes he looked like a different person - by the way he behaved and talked on and off the track."

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3. Posted by Spindoctor, 30/07/2024 7:19

"@Max Noble Yesss!"

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4. Posted by Max Noble, 29/07/2024 9:01

"@spindoctor - well Spa just served up all of that! What a cracker. One wonders if Sir Lewis had a “gut feel” on the impact of no cool down tyre pick-ups… We will never know…
"

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5. Posted by Spindoctor, 27/07/2024 8:18

"@Max Noble
Just so. Speaking for myself & I'm sure many others I love the uncertainty & excitement of the obsessed maverick. That, really is the contradiction between what us old-time F1 fans want\expect & the interests of Corporate sponsors & Media. "

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6. Posted by Max Noble, 27/07/2024 4:47

"@ Ricardo_sanchez - Quite so! Same track, more or less the same section of the track, but two differing corners… if only by a fraction of a lap! It is good to see how respectfully Prost now talks about Senna. As to teh radio messages… A bit like DTS, often they are taken out of context, or sequence (or both) and as a result understanding the true flow of communications becomes impossible. On the feed I saw here in Australia (I use Kayo) I believe it is taken from the UK Sky feed. It presented as a reprimand to V. Max. Who knows…!

@Kenji - glad you enjoyed. Yes the “Multi-21” episode should go down in infamy! Vettel was clearly out of line, and it set the scene for a rather bitter relationship from there on. Still not sure if they are talking to this day… Sad as they are both great racers, and appear to be mostly reasonable humans.

Very excited for Spa. V. Max getting a ten place grid drop will put him right around Perez, Lewis, and a pile of mid-field madmen… Then we just need rain on race day and it will be perfect!

@spindoctor - fully agree the teams need “bankable” and “brisk” over “Maverick”, and “First or DNF”. Yet… if the driver does not have a touch of the obsessed maverick in them they will never make the top step…

Let’s hope Spa is a cracker!
"

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7. Posted by Spindoctor, 26/07/2024 8:49

"Another good read on that most sensitive of topics!
Currently, as you point-out, the only really combustible relationship, except perhaps at Alpine (just plain punch-up) is McLaren.
There's an aspect of the McLaren pairing, which maybe adds a bit more "spice". Lando, having been uncontested fastest driver\team leader, now has a "junior" who looks quite capable of beating him in a fair "fight". This is qualitively different to (say) Prost\Senna & more like Hamilton\Alonso. The big difference is the temperament of the drivers. Even if Piastri gets faster than him on a regular basis, I can't see Lando ex-perambulating his toys a la Alonso, but it must be on his mind....

There's a widespread distaste of many for Team orders.
A factor that's relatively recent is the influence of huge media players like Netflix in addition to Teams' sponsors. In the halcyon days of the "garageists" sponsors (& Ferrari!) could decide the livery, but little else, the general media interest F1 was a circus minimus, whereas today its definitely Maximus.

In today's corporatized and "enshitified" F1 the interests of the "stakeholders", punters excepted, come first. Wealthy patrons & media moguls don't invest billions of dollars to have some car-jockey doing their own thang, even if it makes for good TV. Daddy, not the kids, knows best.
If push comes to shove even the fastest drivers will be ruthlessly pruned from the faster cars if they look like risking the paymasters' interests & choose to ignore corporate instructions. As we have recently seen even 3 & 7 times world champions can't win consistently in slower cars, though some do a better job than others.

"

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8. Posted by kenji, 26/07/2024 1:22

"@Max N.....Very good read and food for thought. I very much doubt that the Lambiase comments were directed anywhere else other than clearly at Verstappen. IMO Max was just having a dirty day and as things deteriorated around him he lashed out. Nothing unusual there. Back onto the whole team mate business though. Ruthless aggression can sometimes carry the day but unless handled with extreme caution and finesse can, quite frequently, set the stage for a healthy dose of payback further down the track.

There are some parallels with the Webber/Vettel Malaysian fiasco though insofar as Vettel outright refused to honour a pre race agreement. That a 'big dog' act and an event that crystalised Webber's decision to leave the team. What sort of person agrees to a post race strategy that was equal amongst the protagonists then when required to be put into play refuses to honour and ultimately threatens the Principal/Team with legal action if reprimands are put into place? The team owed Webber more support.

As for the current situation..there have been other instances where Piastri has moved over in support of the Norris/Team principles without making a public display of his possible dissatisfaction and he has re iterated that he is a team player once again. Both drivers are something special insofar as they are both extremely fast but Norris is still immature and out of his depth. His flip flop comments post race are proof of that. Oscar on the other hand is a cool calculating competitor and a quick learner. He will now place less trust in pre race negotiations as well he should. I tend to look at driver pairings through a results prism as usually the overall race performances sometimes mask the reality when race results are manipulated or appear that way. McLaren are making some painful decisions and this will continue if they are seen to be weak, as is the case here. There should've been no hesitation on the decision to swap and Stella fumbled, for all the world to see...and hear!

Throughout F1 history there have been many drivers who think, and are encouraged to be, ruthlessly aggressive amongst their fellow drivers. Knowing how far they can go is what spoils the racing which for some is unacceptable. Parallels would be MaxV / Senna, Piastri/Prost and Norris/?....roll on Spa."

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9. Posted by Ricardo_sanchez, 25/07/2024 23:35

"Great article, as ever, Mr Noble! Very entertaining and informative.

If your Senna and Prost collisions were those at the Japanese GP in 1989 and 1990 then those were at different corners—the chicane and the first corner, respectively.

According to Christian Horner, the "childish" comment made by Gianpiero Lambiase in Hungary was referring to radio traffic from other teams and drivers, not to Verstappen himself. This seems a credible explanation as it would be very surprising for Lambiase to have been quite so blunt, no matter how tempting that might have been! "

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