San Marino Grand Prix Review

Points of interest had been few and far between going into Imola anyway. Ferrari were taking F2002s now for both Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello; Jaguar were trying to bring in aerodynamic staff nowhere near the calibre of Adrian Newey whom they couldn't snare last year; and Phoenix/DART seemed to be going nowhere pending court action. And, while Friday free practice is generally unindicative of anything in any event, the fact that it was wet meant there was even less to talk about.

While the Bridgestone wets did seem to have it over the Michelins, the fact that by second free practice on Saturday conditions had cleared up meant that it was all academic at any rate. With only one 45-minute dry session for the teams to perfect set-ups for qualifying, one might have expected a more topsy-turvy grid, which made the Noah's ark appearance of the final starting order all the more incredible. Is it THAT easy at Imola for all the teams to find the limits of their performance?

Things were not looking so rosy for McLaren. Ron Dennis must be pulling what's left of his hair out as the McLarens failed to get within a second of Schumi's time. Kimi Raikkonen has been the most consistent qualifier of 2002 so far, starting each race from 5th, while David Coulthard would have been bitterly disappointed to be almost 0.4s slower than the Finn. Compared to last year's grid, Schumacher had found an amazing extra 2.5 seconds; in contrast, DC had gone just 0.5s faster than in 2001.

Two Ferraris, followed by two Williams and two McLarens. Should have been two Renaults after that as well, except Nick Heidfeld spoiled the party in Sauber's 150th race by qualifying a fine 7th, less than 0.3s off Coulthard, leaving team-mate Felipe Massa in his wake in 11th. Jacques Villeneuve and Olivier Panis made it a clear top six teams in the top 12 spots by taking 10th and 12th spot in an impressive improvement over earlier results this season.

That was because there would only be one Minardi on the grid. Mark Webber had once again provided heroics by out-qualifying both Enrique Bernoldi and de la Rosa, but the hapless Alex Yoong never got to grips with the kerb-hopping requirements of Imola. All weekend he was off the pace in a manner that we haven't seen before, and when it all mattered he was an astonishing 6.15s off pole, 2.4s off de la Rosa, 2.45s off Webber, and well outside the 107% cut-off. Rightfully, he was too slow to be allowed to start.

Last year, Ralf Schumacher managed to sneak under both McLarens off the line going into Tamburello for the first time, and this year he tried to do the same thing to the Ferraris. He took advantage of Barrichello's slow start but found that his brother had closed off the gap. Not that this stopped Ralf from thinking about a late-braking move; his long brake lock-up testified to that. But quite rightly, he had to let his older brother go, and Michael was off into the distance.

Ferrari have been making it clear that, should Barrichello be heading for a race win, even if Michael is in 2nd Rubens would not be asked to move over. Rubinho must surely have sensed that if only he could beat Michael off the line, then the win might well have been his. As it was, he found himself back in 3rd, which would have been a disappointment as Ralf held him up and as Michael streaked away, but to his credit he kept his head and aimed to pass the Williams in the pits - as you do these days.

Rubens' plan almost came unstuck when the battle for 2nd came up to lap Irvine, who allowed Ralf by going into Tamburello, but held his line in front of the Ferrari, and promptly held the Brazilian up all the way until Tosa. Perhaps an all-too-obvious venting of frustration against the team he left to join the Jaguar quagmire, but completely inexcusable all the same. It seemed just a bit too coincidental that he decided to baulk a Ferrari at Imola, and to be honest, F1 could do without that kind of mindless vitriol. If it was accidental, it wasn't a display worthy of the self-professed 2nd best driver in F1...

Towards the end of the race, though, it was clear that both Ferraris were visibly slowing. On the run uphill out of Tosa they were noticeably dragging. Ross Brawn maintained a concerned look on the pit wall and a replacement steering wheel was ready for Michael. Although the official Ferrari line was that both drivers were merely conserving the cars - a sign in itself that there isn't quite complete confidence in the F2002's reliability - only they will know if both were actually suffering gremlins with the new titanium gearbox.

Ralf was forced to settle for 3rd, although why and how he managed to wait until the last tour before setting his fastest lap of the race remains a mystery which Sir Frank Williams himself might want an answer to. All in all, a quiet weekend too from Montoya, who wasn't impressive at Imola last year and who still maybe hasn't got the hang of the place yet. For all the talk about taking the fight up to Michael, he was horribly subdued this weekend, and for various reasons it's also Ralf who has more points on the board.

To put it mildly, it was a weekend Eddie Jordan would love to forget. The BARs were quicker, his rookie driver beat the experienced local hero, they were way back in 14th and 15th on the grid, the Honda engines are gutless, both his cars were out before one-third distance, he is facing sponsorship problems plus Frentzen's lawsuit, he has been forced to choose his technical director over his star aerodynamicist, his drivers ran into each other at Sepang, Fisichella can't finish a race, his team have no points and look like slipping out of the top 6 teams.

In a race weekend devoid of many major stuff-ups, Jordan's inept showing was enough to earn them the 'Reject of the Race' award this time around, although Yoong's non-qualification, and Heidfeld's string of unscheduled pit-stops including a drive-through penalty provided some mild competition. So too did the Jaguars, both of which retired with sheared driveshafts accelerating out of the pits. Their aero kits are bad enough; but it also appears they have flimsy mechanicals that can't handle a bit of kerb-hopping.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Jordan-Honda
Dismal 14th and 15th on grid, and they were 2 of the first 3 retirements!

In qualifying, he was only 0.024s slower than team-mate Jarno Trulli, the qualifying specialist on home soil. Not only that, but in previous years Button had made a meal of Imola but this year, in a car in which he obviously feels comfortable and which he finds easy to set up, he is driving with confidence and credit goes where credit's due. In the race he trounced Trulli (who faded dismally, as we have sadly begun to expect), and he drove quicker than DC when it counted and was able to get by in the pits.

There must be a lot of soul searching at Woking at the moment. The Mercedes engine has been as much a letdown as the Honda, and for all the wonders Newey has worked into the MP4/17, it matters little when car doesn't have the grunt. Perhaps the whole business of building Paragon, the departure of Mika Hakkinen and the long partnership with Mercedes have had more of an effect than they would admit. Against all our pre-season predictions, we think we can sadly already write off McLaren for either title this year.

In terms of deservedness, Villeneuve ought to have scored the last point in front of Coulthard. The Canadian and his BAR team made a welcome return to some sort of form this weekend, and Jacques drove a fine on-the-limit race that should have been rewarded with BAR's first points of the year. Other than that, Toyota still have reliability issues as expected, Arrows remain totally under-prepared for race distances, while Webber drove a reasonable, steady race to come home 11th.

Unfortunately, if San Marino was a bit of a snore, then the next race in Spain could be even worse. Teams test so much at Barcelona that it's ludicrous, and we will be amazed if teams haven't already finalised their set-ups by the time they park their transporters. It should be yet another Ferrari-Bridgestone versus Williams-Michelin battle, with no-one else getting a look in, although we will be very glad to be proven wrong.