French Grand Prix Review

In so doing, Schumi equals the record of Juan Mañuel Fangio, although we hasten to add that comparisons between eras seems fruitless. No-one has ever won the championship with six rounds still to go. There were still five rounds left when Nigel Mansell sealed it in 1992, but this year's Schumacher domination leaves that in the shade. With a record-breaking 16th consecutive points finish, and 8 wins and 96 points already, Michael seems certain to smash the existing records of 9 wins and 123 points in a season.

At Magny-Cours, for Schumi to seal the 2002 title he needed to pull six points on team-mate Rubens Barrichello, five over Juan-Pablo Montoya, and four over Ralf Schumacher. If on paper that appeared difficult enough, then free practice on the Michelin-friendly track in the Michelin-friendly hot French weather suggested that the title may still have been mathematically alive at Hockenheim. On Friday, Michelin runners filled 9 of the top 11 positions, and 8 of the top 11 in Saturday free practice.

The other team surprisingly mixing it in the upper midfield was Jaguar, in what was pretty much the first positive bit of news they have received all season. Perhaps the R3B really is a step up from the horrible R3, and if so then that would have come as welcome relief. Eddie Irvine was 6th on Friday and 8th on Saturday, with Pedro de la Rosa 8th and 11th respectively. They then backed it up in qualifying, with Irvine 9th and de la Rosa 15th after both Pedro's car and the spare broke down.

Montoya once again seized pole by a slender margin over Michael, the Colombian's fifth pole in a row, but having failed to capitalise on the previous four, no-one would have read too much into this. Behind the Ferraris in 2nd and 3rd, Kimi Räikkönen took a superb 4th, breaking his 10-race run of qualifying either 5th or 6th, and continuing McLaren's top form, although David Coulthard may have been a touch disappointed in 6th, with Ralf's Williams having a low-key weekend and only starting 5th.

Both Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Enrique Bernoldi did one single flying lap each in qualifying. Both of them slowed down in the third sector to ensure that they did not qualify, so that they could claim to have taken part in the meeting and therefore not incur the wrath of the FIA, whilst sitting out the race to save a few precious dollars to pay off their debts. Strictly speaking they had indeed participated in the weekend, but the deliberate DNQ seemed a bit too obvious. In short, a farce.

But in truth, what choice did Arrows have? Frentzen missed the 107% by 1.5 seconds, Bernoldi by 2.8s. I doubt they would have wanted to cut it any finer than that. They could, of course, have set a time that got them onto the grid, only to withdraw afterwards before the race, but unlike Minardi's withdrawals based on wing failures in Spain, the FIA (and in particular Concorde Agreement) may not have taken kindly to Arrows' deliberate withdrawal on all-too-clear financial grounds.

Jordan could well have asked for special dispensation for Fisi to start the race from the back of the grid, and the stewards would in all likelihood have given them permission to do so. But with head injuries causing so much concern these days, Jordan would have been mad to ask, and Professor Sid Watkins did the right thing by not allowing Fisi to race anyway. However, taking the exceptional circumstances into account, Jordan still could have put another driver in the car to start from last place.

That driver need not have taken part in qualifying - Jordan could well have put a test driver in the car. Except that they don't have a test driver. Which led to the sensational press release on Saturday afternoon that Frentzen was going to take over the car, virtually a year after he had been controversially sacked by Eddie Jordan. This was even more amazing considering that the two parties were still engaged in legal action! If ever there was a conciliatory peace offering (or a mindless piece of stunt-PR work), this was it.

Those circumstances could only have been the fact that Arrows were in such financial straits that they fobbed it in qualifying, which in turn would have been an admission on Arrows' part that they did not in fact make a serious attempt at qualifying. Secondly, if the one-off switch was to be made, the consent of all the other teams, including Arrows, would have been required. Had Arrows given its consent, that then would have been an admission that they had not made a serious attempt.

Therefore, the fact that the lawyers stepped in and barred the move in a small way gave Arrows a reprieve. Meanwhile, elsewhere in pit lane Renault revealed the worst kept secret in F1 when it announced that Fernando Alonso would partner Jarno Trulli next year. Despite Jenson Button's horrific 2001, F1 Rejects has always been of the opinion that Trulli should have been the man released rather than Button, but we don't run Renault, nor are we Trulli's management, and nor is our name Flavio Briatore!

Come race day, only 18 cars watched the lights go out at Magny-Cours though. Apart from the missing Arrows and Jordan, Barrichello failed to leave the dummy grid for the second race in succession, and the third time this year. Indeed the Brazilian's Ferrari never fired up, and the conspiracy theorists will no doubt be out in force suggesting that it was a sure way for Schumi to pull the six points he needed over his team-mate. Just a touch fallacious though, to say the least.

And indeed, only 17 cars actually waited for the lights to go out before getting under way. Sauber's Felipe Massa, after making a bit of a fool of himself at Monaco by blocking everyone in qualifying, and at Silverstone by spinning three times, blotted his copybook even more by massively jumping the start here and receiving a drive-through penalty, after which he crossed the white line on the exit of the pits, earning yet another penalty for himself, and destroying his afternoon.

With Button running in 6th on a strange three-stop strategy for pretty much the entire race, it came down to the other five to fight it out for the race win. The Williams seemed to be clearly struggling with tyre wear, not for the first time this year, and once again flattered in qualifying only to deceive on race day, some poor pit work not helping this time around. Montoya lost out to Michael at the first stop and to the McLarens at the second, so a disappointing and championship-losing 4th was the best he could hope for.

Similarly, Ralf ran 4th until the second stops, when he dropped to 5th and confirmed it by doing a Massa and crossing the white line on the awkward pit exit, earning himself a drive-through. He was, of course, not the only big name star to fall foul of that strip of paint. His brother, who had come out at the first stops in front of JPM, had unfathomably done the same as he swept out in front of the Williams, with a great charge whilst in clean air allowing him to only drop back to 3rd once he had served his penalty.

This was getting silly. Rules are rules, and have to be enforced, but three of the top five drivers in the championship had been pinged for a simple mistake in spatial understanding. It either said a lot about just how much the drivers can see from their submerged positions in their cockpits, or about the pathetic design of the Magny-Cours pit lane. Either way, it was not exactly the best advertisement for Formula One, even if it didn't hurt the racing on the track.

Räikkönen looked set to record his maiden Grand Prix win, and for a while it looked as though Schumi was prepared to let him have it. In that case, the championship would still have been alive going into Hockenheim. But the racer that he is, in the final laps he pressured the young Finn, and it paid rich dividends, as Kimi slid wide at the Adelaide hairpin on oil dropped by Allan McNish's Toyota's blown engine. Schumi went by, held on to claim the win, and the 2002 title was his.

Räikkönen was also disadvantaged by the fact that there weren't any oil flags out at that point, even if yellow flags were being shown. Which brought up the question, had Schumacher passed him under yellows? Strictly speaking, yes he had, but since Kimi had slid wide of his own accord, that was akin to letting Schumi past, and in such circumstances, what was the German to do? Stop and let the McLaren rejoin the track in the lead? That would have been utterly ridiculous.

There is indeed precedent for such circumstances, and surprise, surprise, it involves Kimi himself. Back in the 2001 Austrian GP, Kimi's Sauber finished 4th, but BAR argued that he had passed Luciano Burti's Prost while under yellow flags for Button's abandoned Benetton. Sauber admitted the pass took place under yellow, but argued Burti had moved off the racing line and let Kimi past (the fact Burti was being lapped, as I suspect may have been the case, is irrelevant, because the whole point is other drivers competing with Kimi would have to pass that car while not under yellows). Räikkönen duly retained his position and his 4th place, just as Schumacher should and would retain his win.

Arrows for their antics, Williams for their poor race performance, Massa for his multitude of errors, and Takuma Sato in the remaining Jordan for punting off Olivier Panis' BAR at the first corner before eventually spinning off at the Lycée corner were all other contenders, but for ruining a sorely needed brilliant debut victory, and spoiling a Schumacher party in Hockenheim, in the end we decided to give the Award to McNish's Toyota engine for spreading the oil on which Räikkönen went wide. Well, we had to blame someone or something ...

Further down the field, Nick Heidfeld in the other Sauber drove another quiet race to finish 7th, ahead of Mark Webber who came home a brilliant 8th for Minardi. Yes, it had been a race of attrition, with Trulli, McNish, Jacques Villeneuve's BAR and Mika Salo in the other Toyota all blowing their motors, but the Australian once again proved that he can keep the car on the road, and by keeping ahead of de la Rosa at the end, showed that he can outrace drivers in better cars. He deserves a better ride in 2003.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Allan McNish's engine
Spoiled brilliant debut win for Kimi and title celebrations at Hockenheim

The bottom line was, though, that Jaguar had a much improved weekend, and should take much heart from the fact that the R3B is some kind of step in the right direction. Sure the Michelins flattered the team, but the all-new Hockenheim seems similar to Magny-Cours in design style, so maybe the step up the grid will continue there; certainly they won't have Arrows to worry about. Significantly, Irvine didn't put a tyre wrong all weekend, and did much to enhance his previously questionable chances of remaining an F1 driver in 2003.

So, with the 2002 drivers' World Championship decided, and the manufacturers' title not far from being sealed, the teams can go into the last six races with some of the pressure off. Having said that, from Montoya down to Coulthard there are just four points separating the four men fighting it out for 2nd in the championship, and McLaren are closing on Williams in the constructors'. There is still much to play for. If nothing else, there is still momentum into 2003 at stake.