Brazilian Grand Prix Review

Qualifying showed us just how far the McLarens and Ferraris are in front of the rest, with the McLarens just a touch faster perhaps. Mika Hakkinen was 1.7 seconds faster than his best on the Friday, and his pole time was 2.5 seconds under last year's fastest. But behind the top four, the F1 midfield has never been as close. Here are some quick stats:

• roughly 3 seconds cover the top 20 (from Hakkinen to Diniz)
• 2 seconds cover the top 16 (from Hakkinen to De la Rosa)
• 0.1s covers 5th to 10th (from Fisichella to Villeneuve)
• 0.1s covers 12th to 15th (from Trulli to Alesi)
• roughly 1 second covers 5th to 18th (from Fisichella to Gene)
• Trulli's Saturday morning time (0.5s faster) would have put him 5th, instead he's 12th
• Herbert is 0.8s behind Irvine but 11 places lower on the grid

Admittedly Interlagos is a relatively short lap, but I'd like to point out two interesting comparisons. At Monaco in 1989, Ayrton Senna was on pole by 1.1 seconds over Alain Prost in 2nd, and 2 seconds over Thierry Boutsen in 3rd ­ those were the days. On the other hand, 1997 was the last really close year, and 2.7 seconds covered the top 20 at Interlagos, but essentially the times were evenly spread out. What we're seeing in 2000 is an entirely new phenomenon, with the top four cars followed by a massively congested scrap where anyone can take the last two points-scoring positions, providing the top four stay on the track.

That they did not do. Mika Hakkinen's retirement must have come as a shock to the McLaren people after massive tests tried to rectify their engine problems. It seems like it came as a shock to Mika too, seeing how he stormed from the track in a rage. It goes without saying that, had Mika and Michael race unabated to the end, it would have been a cracker, thanks to Ross Brawn's tactics which certainly livened the race up.

But Ferrari will have worries as well. Barrichello's retirement was unexpected, considering that it was his second mechanical failure of the weekend. And of course Schumacher had a problem which delayed him for a few laps, and about which both Brawn and Schumi were incredibly tight-lipped. It seems like Ferrari's speed has been at the expense of some reliability, and that could be a dilemma.

Though not as big a dilemma as McLaren's current problems. Coulthard lost third gear, and then almost fourth as well. And if his appeal is not successful, that leaves McLaren with no points, while Ferrari already has 26. That's one huge gap to bridge. Personally, I don't think McLaren's appeal will get up. While the cynics will say that McLaren won't get up because they're Ferrari's opponents, I simply think that if the bumpiness of the track knocked Coulthard's front wing about, why didn't it affect anyone else? The wear on the wooden planks seemed pretty universal, but Coulthard was the only one with a front wing infringement.

What about the rest of the field? Well, full marks to Giancarlo Fisichella. Great qualifying, controlled early stint, and excellent stamina to do 50 laps before coming in. The Renault involvement is having an effect at once, and I think Fisi deserves it. After the highlights of 1997 with Jordan, he's been very quiet. On the other hand, Alexander Wurz is still very quiet. His situation is simple ­ if he doesn't start matching Fisichella soon, he'll be a forgotten man.

Eddie Irvine did OK I guess to qualify 6th and run 5th, but you could see he was trying desperately hard to stay up there, and ended up trying too hard. Other teams are improving rapidly, and Jaguar will need to do the same. Johnny Herbert is another in the Wurz category ­ he saved his skin late last year with some good results, but he's started 2000 as slowly and as unimpressively as he started 1999, and I'm not sure how long Ford will tolerate that.

Quick wrap of the other teams. I've still got positive vibes about BAR, but Melbourne does seem a bit of a flash in the pan. Prost still have heaps of work to do, though Jean Alesi did show flashes of pace. Sauber ­ well, they'll be back. As for Arrows, once again their pace was fantastic, but as I hinted at after Melbourne, their drivers seem a little raw and underprepared for such a competitive car. And finally, Minardi really does need a proper engine. Marc Gene was keeping up with Herbert, and Martin Brundle on air gave the chassis a huge plug. The Spaniard will definitely cause surprises this year.