quantumofsport.com

DEAR BERNIE: re Turkish GP 2010 – playing for the team

Dear Bernie,

Ooh, that was tasty – tension, tactics and scream-at-the-telly, wheel-to-wheel action. Good on Turkey and good on the drivers who served up the drama. I just wonder though what this means for the rest of the season – could this perhaps be the last time that we see team-mates going at it hammer-and-tongs...? No doubt team bosses like Histian Chrorner and Whartin Mitmarsh will be reluctant from here on in to see their own drivers barging into each other like they did at Istanbul Park, after the Energy Drink boys collided and the Team GBs came precious close to taking each other out. These incidents should have interesting consequences for intra-team dynamics and team-mate battles. In general I would see various possible responses in such situations. I don’t know about you Bernie, but I know which scenario I’d prefer...

- After you: Team principals allow their drivers to race each other while ‘giving each other enough room’, as in, ‘No, please, I insist, after you!’ A recipe for further disaster methinks.
- Iron discipline: Team principals decide they have had enough shenanigans, read the riot act to their drivers and introduce iron, team-above-all-else discipline. This would raise the anti-competitive spectre of – dare I use the term – Team Orders. Or at least tacit understandings between team-mates of the ‘He Who Is Ahead On The Grid Finishes Ahead’ or ‘He Is Team Number One’ sort. Not great entertainment value.
- Open warfare: Team principals seek to introduce iron, team-above-all-else discipline, but it fails – drivers calculate that winning the title is more important than avoiding any acrimony within the team; the gloves come off, there is open warfare, and a classic F1 dogfight ensues...

Wim Entertained

DEAR BERNIE: re The case for fastest-lap points in F1, part II

Dear Bernie,

I just wanted to come back to you about that idea I mentioned before of offering points for fastest laps in Formula 1. I could be wrong, but I don’t think anyone else has proposed the idea in the form I am suggesting: namely, to create two five-lap windows, one mid-way through the race and one at the end, in which drivers could try to score points for being among the fastest lap-setters in each window, along with the usual ‘core’ points for final race position come the chequered flag. I reckon this could really improve the spectacle, if a decent chunk of points were made available. And it would be a true test of what F1 is all about: driving fast without taking undue risk; a question of ‘getting the balance right’. There could be some fascinating tactical nuances: To what extent would front-runners risk pushing for bonus points during the fastest-lap windows at the possible expense of bigger points for the race finish? Would some drivers be prepared to sacrifice track position for what might be ‘irregular’ tyre stops designed to give them fresh rubber for the windows? The thing is, there are many different ways this could be implemented, with all sorts of intriguing permutations for points-scoring and tactics. I do think this should be looked at – see attached for a selection of the main scenarios.

Wim for Innovation

Enc: Fastest-lap scenarios

DEAR BERNIE: re Monaco GP 2010 – good old Schumi

Dear Bernie,

As the umpteenth safety car of the day was poised to pull off the track just before the finish line in Monaco, I found myself hoping – praying even – that one of the drivers would liven up proceedings by going for a daring last-corner overtaking manoeuvre. One man did so. That man was Schumi mkII. While the Great One’s brilliant pass on Ernando Falonso for 6th position was rather controversially penalised, the incident confirmed that Schumi still has the competitive instinct of the true racer. ‘Schumi up to his old tricks’ you might say – and in a way that is precisely the point. The ruthlessness of old. In catching Falonso napping, the Great One evidently had no qualms about putting one over on his former Prancing Horse stable. This was the Schumi we know and – I use the word advisedly – love. For Falonso, it was a case of ‘the biter bit’ after the Spaniard’s own outrageous overtake move on team-mate Melipe Fassa earlier in the season. And being overtaken on the final bend today was not Falonso’s first mistake of 2010 by any means. With the Energy Drinks now threatening to run away with it this season after a Monaco one-two, the pressure on Falonso (et al) mounts. Meanwhile the Schumi comeback might just be turning a corner...

Passing observations, from Wim.

DEAR BERNIE: re Spanish GP 2010 – what a yawn

Dear Bernie,

I am feeling quite depressed. Today’s processional Spanish GP was a tedious affair, putting the boring back into Formula 1. Overtaking being virtually impossible at this track, you’re relying on pit-stop permutations, reliability issues or a mishap to create some ‘drama’ (Hewis Lamilton being the big loser on this score courtesy of a late tyre failure). The emphasis placed on the various supposed technical upgrades that the teams brought to this race for the start of the European campaign served to remind us just how reliant the drivers are on their machinery for performance – whatever your skill there’s a limit to what you can achieve if you’re not in the fastest car (which at the moment, reliability concerns aside, means one of the Energy Drinks). Meanwhile, the Great One showed signs of improvement but – again emphasising the primacy of the equipment – this was down to the fact that the car had been made more to his liking. (“The 41-year-old prefers a car that changes direction quickly”, according to one account). No romantic ‘he could make a golf cart look competitive’ here. Next stop Monaco – a circuit where overtaking really is impossible. Still, it will be worth tuning in just to see how much carnage will be caused by the mobile chicanes formed by the current band of snail-paced F1 backmarkers...

Wim deflated

DEAR BERNIE: re The geography of Formula 1

Dear Bernie,

With the 2010 Formula 1 season about to enter its European phase, I am left wondering on this Grand Prix-less afternoon: How many races will be on the F1 calendar in future? Where are they going to be held? How many will be staged in F1’s European heartland? There is always a certain amount of to-and-fro over the circuit line-up, as tracks come and go over time and as the geo-political overtones evolve. Yet recently the speculation around F1 venues has been particularly pronounced, giving F1 fans much to ponder as they reflect on tantalising possibilities for treating themselves in the years ahead to an occasional bit of motorsport tourism. So what is the geography of Formula 1 going to look like...?