WooHoo!!! Racing’s Back
Honestly, I have on idea where to start with my thoughts after the Australian Grand Prix yesterday or Saturday night or…ok, maybe we start there.
What is with moving the start time of the race back? I know, Bernie doesn’t want all the race fans in Europe to have to lose any sleep. So, rather than getting to watch one of the few races of the year which traditionally had been broadcast at a time we on this continent could enjoy have to lose sleep. I’m thinking Bernie has given up on making any money in North America. After all, he basically told Tony George (head guy at Indy Speedway) to pay more money or just take a loss every year or he’ll pull the race…no more USGP in Indy. Montreal is gone too. So, that means more use of my DVR and watching races with a cup of coffee as the sun rises for me. I wonder if we ever do get another race over here if Bernie will demand it start before noon to cater to the viewing habits of those in Europe? If F1 is truly a global sport, then for some events, some fans will be at a disadvantage for time. But it seems Bernie just wants to write the Americas off–well, Brazil still has a race but. This week it’ll be 5 AM rather than 2 AM so I guess I shouldn’t complain.
Oh yeah, the race. Now, I really don’t pay a ton of attention to all of the politics which go on over the winter. However I had heard about the new changes. When I first saw the cars during P2 Friday morning I was a little shocked. Dang they are ugly! The huge nose wings and the tiny rear wings. Argh! At first glance they look like some of the less attractive cars from the 80’s. But, if it helps the show and we no longer have a parade of cars following the two red ones, then I’m for it. Oh yeah, Schumacher retired and the parade ended with his departure. Huh, well, I’m sure there was reason for it.
As the weekend progressed and more of the changes were explained by Steve Machette and co on Speed, I started to realize how much has actually changed. KERS sounds kinda interesting. I’m planning to read some on it this week. Having the tires with a greater difference in compound makes things interesting as well.
I don’t recall it being mentioned but the idea of a budget cap and unlimited development versus unrestricted spending but limited technology sounds interesting. I read it somewhere I think and that could go a long way to helping new teams enter the sport. (Yes, USGPE, if they managed to sign Marco Andretti as a driver, I’m a fan for life)
If Ross Brawn isn’t the best team principal in the sport right now (maybe ever) then I don’t know what you are watching. Last season Honda were crap. He arrived at Honda late in the development and once it was realized how far off they were he made the decision to focus on the ‘09 car rather than the ‘08 car. Honda are running low on money (and probably thinking their F1 team was a money pit after last season) so they sold out to Brawn and well, I wonder if Honda executives are doing a collective ass-kicking this morning? Not only does Brawn GP claim what is possibly the holy grail of F1 sponsorship (Virgin Group) but they claim the front row in qualifying and finish the race 1, 2. Not bad when you consider he’s only owned the team a little over three weeks.
The race itself was pretty exciting–besides Jenson Button, who did a good Michael Schumacher impersonation by pulling ahead at the start and just kept turning laps, staying out of trouble and taking the checkered flag without any incident. Two safety car deployments though I’m not sure I catch the logic of why they bothered. Debris was all over the track but cars were passing it slowly. Camera’s never showed it but course workers must have been removing it all. Why bring it out unless they wanted to bunch up the field like NASCAR does? Finishing under a safety car, not sure I’ve ever seen that in F1 before. Maybe there was a race in Montreal once…brain fuzzy. (Note, just looked it up. I was right, how could I forget the Wall of Champions?)
Would I be out of line suggesting it was possible that the accident (Vettel & Kubica) which lead to the late safety car was because of the poor lighting and long shadows? I still think Vettel’s penalty was crap. Could the lighting have been a problem with Trulli’s when he over took Hamilton? I dunno, but I hate it when there are that many changes after the flag. Perhaps that’s somewhere Bernie could work on. Get the stewards to actually make decent decisions in a reasonable amount of time. Lets see how the whole diffuser ruling changes things, if the lawyers ever get around to making a decision.
Okay, enough complaining. It was a good race. There are a lot of new factors teams have to deal with like lose backends (that didn’t sound right) but it adds to the development of technology. One thing it did do was shake up the grid a bit. Several racers, Hamilton, Glock and a couple others, did a great job moving up through out the race. I’m thinking that at the end of the day that’s what the rules changes were intended to do. Over all, besides the lighting being a problem, I enjoyed it. But I would have enjoyed the race under last years rules too.
Now, on to Malaysia and a 5AM start next week for me.
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