My Motorsport Blog

Once again the motorsport fans are on the receiving end of bad decision making. Ok, I know this is nature but why do we have to have a night race? In Formula One we have seen what happens when not enough daylight is available when rain interferes with racing, and now, in another premier formula we have the main attraction cancelled by rain. The or powers that be knew that no racing could happen in the rain and at night, I have also heard the argument that it only rains for 6 days/nights in Qatar, but the fact remains that fans buy tickets to look at their favourite sport.  What is happening is that the Management of these formulas are gambling with the fans money.

I believe racing at these venues in the east starts at the wrong times and no contingencies made for weather or to ensure that time remains to cater for the needs of the fans in an amicable way. I think we will find that midday starts (or there about) cater for weather and accidents with enough daylight to effectively restart and complete a race. Had this Qatar race started in the daylight we would have seen a decent MotoGP race because it is not too warm during daylight hours at this stage. If the F1 Race in Malaysia started at the regular time we would have seen a complete race.

The ardent fan will rise in the early mornings to view their favourite sport or set a timer to record it at the very least. Management and event planners should not be dictated by the marketing and media “bandits” but consider the fans that support them and their formulas.

Who buys the tickets? Who looks at the TV coverage? Two questions someone in the management of these formulas should consider and quickly. Let’s face facts, who actively look at TV ads in the fist place? I walk away to make tea, coffee or get a beer depending on what time the race is on.

I hope the race will be as exiting as the Laguna Seca meeting of July 2008. The last thing I would like to see would be a season dominated by a single rider or manufacturer. Edwards appear to be at the top of his game and the Monster Yamaha could give the Fiat Yamaha team some competition. Rossi did manage to get the second best time for the day but qualifying will tell if he is sand bagging. Casey Stoner indicated that he would like to kick Rossi of the championship throne and set a very challenging time and if this is an indication of what we will see, it might just be Casey’s year to become motogp champion again.

With the Ducati fastest and three Yamaha’s snapping at the heels we should see some interesting racing, that is if practice reflects what we could see during qualifying. The one rider I would like to see in the first 6 would be Mika Kallio simply because of the new Pramac racing team with two very capable riders. James Toseland could be in the hunt if the injuries he received after his big off does not influence his performance, although it did not appear to give him problems during practise on Friday. We have some new rookies in the class and who knows, one of them might just cause a welcome upset in the ranks. I really do hope that MotoGP give the viewers and the fans the same excitement that the World Super Bike series does with some real close racing.

Ferrari Disaster: As if the qualifying strategy for Ferrari were not bad enough, the Prancing Horse Team decided to make a total hash of it with their disastrous decision to bring Kimi in for full wet tyres on a dry track. Even intermediate tyres would have lasted longer and would have made their gamble pay off. Common sense tells me that full wets would only last for about two  laps of serious racing and then turn to jelly. Ferrari will have to get another “Ross Brawn” to help with racing strategy because I do not believe Michael Schumacher’s consultations are paying off, if, that is what he is there for. I might be wrong and Michael’s only responsibility is mentoring Massa, but Ferrari will have to do something to improve this aspect of their racing. Brawn GP is showing their true colours and they are contenders for the driver and constructors championship.

McLaren Chaos; This team really have to get their act together and a reduction in media coverage might not be a bad idea. Lewis is seen as Ron Dennis’s “spoilt brat” and people blaming Dave Ryan’s suspension from the McLaren team on Lewis might not be far from wrong. I am not sure if I agree, but even the excuse that Lewis happens to be a “Young Man” is rubbish. He is the number one driver in a very high profile F1 team and should leave if he can not handle the heat at the moment.

Did Dave Ryan hold a gun to his head when they went to the stewards in Melbourne? I think not. Would he have been fired if he refused to lie in the initial hearings? Again I think not. The investment in Lewis is huge and span over many years and more money than most of us can imagine. Lewis can not claim the innocent young man attitude in a very serious and expensive sport.

Formula One is a “big boys with serious toys” fraternity and Lewis should not just threaten to walk as his camp apparently indicated in a phone call to Max Mosley but do so.  An old proverb says “Strange new experiences will add to your joy of living”, Lewis is certainly not having much of this at the moment.

While we are on turmoil aspects of F1 in 2009 I would like to add that the late start in these countries (Malaysia and Australia) really do not work due to weather and lighting aspects. The quality of the race is being influenced by these aspects and this is unfair to the local fans who attend the race at the circuit. The regulations or the start times will have to be changed to allow for weather and enough daylight conditions when things go wrong as we have seen in Malaysia. Bernie should realise that motorsport fans do have toys like DVD and video recorders, some even have access to that wonderful item called Sky Plus, to record the races. Even though it is risky I do this all the time and make sure I do not listen to the news or any broadcasting media until I have looked at the programme. Stating that he is catering for the European TV viewers must be the worst excuse he could think of. Bernie looks after number one and that would be the money in his back pocket!

Overconfidence: Ferrari made a huge error in judgement and while looking at the qualifying times I could see them drop but they remained in the pits in the first qualifying. This bad judgement from the team and engineer could cost Massa some championship points which could cost him winning a drivers championship. No doubt they could perform because Räikkönen stayed in the top 10.

Surprises: Both McLaren cars out of the final qualifying with Heidfeld and Nakajima following suit. Alonso managed to get into the final qualifying with a ear infection, now that surprised me because ear infections makes you feel off balance I thought.

The final qualifying saw me not putting a jinx on the drivers by my predicting the top 10, bar Hamilton, who dropped out in the second qualifying. Overall the biggest surprise was Massa out in the first and Alonso in the top 10. We have a race.

Dark Clouds: I have listened to all the interviews and it is clear that McLaren saw additional points and went for it. Now that it has backfired it does not matter that they regret it, Dave Ryan got “Burnt” as Martin Brundle delicately put it and McLaren will have to work hard to overcome this. With Ron Dennis out of the limelight Martin Whitmarsh has taken over and suspended Dave Ryan on this incident, but Lewis Hamilton stays even though he also lied to the stewards. While I am on in-house fighting why is it that we have so many teams with trouble and strife when they all belong to FOTA? Should these differences not be sorted at that level.

Reliability Issues: Well the first and second practise round have been completed and Brawn GP is showing small cracks in reliability with Barrichello having to change a gearbox, although it must be said that the gearboxes were suspect on the Brawn GP cars in Australia. Ferrari did not do much better and we saw Kimi performing a hasty exit from his Ferrari after what seemed like an overheated KERS system.  

Top 10:? Looking at the times in 1^st and 2^ndpractice I would say that you will see Button, Massa, Räikkönen, Vettel, Rosberg, Barrichello, Webber, Trulli, Glock and I will add a BMW will be in the top 10. Not in that order though, I hate predictions because it is as bad as a commentators curse. Enjoy the Races and thanks for reading this blog.