It's Nearly Upon Us

The first Formula One Grand Prix of the year from Melbourne was not a classic, but I still quite enjoyed it. Thank goodness Fernando Alonso walked away from his massive crash. Of course the safety car changed the shape of the race somewhat, but that happens and sometimes it makes it more exciting, sometimes it brings about tactical mistakes and even injustices, but it is part of the tapestry. I think the best team and driver combination usually wins out over  the course of the season.

Of course for most people the big talking point was the new system for qualifying which met with almost universal approbation and promptly got abandoned, with F1 teams and officials bleating about learning and flexibility. Actually I quite enjoyed that bit too. OK there was no last minute shoot-out but the race to stay in the game  throughout was quite watchable and a couple of minutes inactivity at the end isn't so much worse than five minutes inactivity at the start.

The thing is that teams will always do whatever they think gives them the best chance of winning on Sunday and quite right too. If every team wasn't looking for every scrap of advantage the whole point of the pinnacle of motorsport would be lost. In many ways that is what makes it exciting. It isn't really a driver's championship anymore, the days of a Jim Clark falling to the back with a puncture and then battling from last to first are gone. Alonso and Button are hugely talented world champions, but they cannot make up the kind of deficit their equipment currently offers.

It's a shame that only one team is really in the hunt again, so far, but Fiat group has huge resources, determination and ability. When Ferrari are closer to Mercedes in qualifying you will see a great shoot-out, old formula qualifying, or actually any formula qualifying. The Ferrari decision in Australia was appropriate, to give them the best chance in the race. If you want to see a real driver's championship then you have to look to other formulae with greater parity of equipment, one of the junior formulas, Formula E or touring cars maybe but the manufacturer battles in F1 offer another kind of fascination and changing the rules to try and increase entertainment value can be counterproductive.

The status quo, any status quo, allows teams to get to grips with a set of rules, challenges and problems, those with fewer resources may take longer. Had Ferrari or Mercedes made a huge mistake in qualifying at Melbourne we could have seen an upset and that could have had a knock on effect in the race, but really what we need is for Honda, Renault and Fiat to take the fight to Mercedes and I hope they will.

Greater tyre choice is a good thing I feel. I went to my first motor race at Crystal Palace in 1969 aged thirteen, so I've seen some changes, as well as racing myself. In terms of entertainment the biggest change was when they sacrificed mechanical grip in favour of aerodynamic grip so that cars could no longer slipstream closely without sliding and wearing their tyres. If they could do more about that, then the spectacle would be enhanced. Look at some old clips from Monza!

About the author.

Qatar Moto Gp

Intriguing night Grand Prix from Qatar. not the greatest number of passes, but three manufacturers on the podium and so much riding talent in the field. Great to see Ducati duking it out with Yamaha and Honda. World Champ Lorenzo was incredibly calm, smooth and fast, Marquez wrestled his Honda to the Podium and nearly snatched second from Dovisioso's Ducati. Bodes well for the season.

Autobiography of a racer.