American Grand Prix Review

It had been so different on Saturday night in Indianapolis. What looked set to be an amazing upset for pole, after Jarno Trulli topped all of Friday and placed 2nd in Saturday free practice, came to naught when the Italian stuffed his Renault into a wall in the pre-qualifying warm-up, and a hasty rebuild was not enough to get the car right for anything better than 10th on the grid. That left the door open for the championship contenders and their spoiler team-mates to assert their authority on proceedings.

Despite Juan-Pablo Montoya, Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen only placing 5th, 8th and 9th respectively after Friday, it was the Finn who once again excelled on Saturday, snatching his second career pole. Montoya used his low-downforce setting which gave him at least a 10kph advantage down the front straight to claim 4th, ahead of team-mate Ralf Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, but behind Rubens Barrichello in the other Ferrari and the surprising Olivier Panis in the Toyota in a glorious 3rd.

Another seemingly dismal Saturday qualifying for Michael - of which he has perhaps had more than he would have wanted this year - saw him down in 7th, but it created a tasty title prospect. With Michael leading JPM by 3 points, and another 4 back to Kimi, now Kimi was 3 spots ahead of JPM, who was another 3 ahead of Michael. It would not be the only irony of the weekend. For the German to seal the title, he needed to win with Montoya 6th and Raikkonen 3rd at best, but at this stage that seemed like a pipe dream.

Further around lap one, towards the back of the field, Ralph Firman marked his return to the Jordan by ramming Jos Verstappen's Minardi and having to come in for a new nosecone. Whilst the Dutchman must be wondering "Why me?" after also being rammed by Alonso at Monza, it was the second time Firman had foolishly clouted the rear of someone, having given Heinz-Harald Frentzen the same treatment at Hockenheim. Is questionable spatial judgment caused by inner ear problems? Maybe so.

Coulthard passed Barrichello around the outside of turn one on lap two, and the next lap Montoya attempted the same move. Only this time he had not succeeded in getting fully alongside the Ferrari to oblige Rubens to give way into turn two. Indeed, JPM was only a third of the way inside the Brazilian, and to the cautious that should have been a sign to back off. But, possibly still rattled from his poor start that had seen him swap positions with Schumi, he clumsily nerfed Barrichello into the gravel trap.

It had been a second vital mistake from a driver under pressure to close the title gap. That Juan-Pablo was under investigation was no surprise, let alone the fact that the drive-through penalty was duly handed out. In Australian V8 supercar racing, it is a given that such unsporting behaviour is met with a drive-through, and there is no reason why the standard in Formula One, the highest echelon of all where the drivers are meant to be the crème de la crème, should be any different.

The only grounds on which the conspiracy theorists who decry Schumi's victory as the ill-gotten spoils of a cheat might have a point, would be if they accuse the German of not properly obeying the yellow flag. The regulations state: "Yellow flag: This is a signal of danger and should be shown to drivers in two ways with the following meanings: Single waved: Reduce your speed, do not overtake and be prepared to change direction." Presumably the driver should react to the flag as soon as they see it.

Assuming Schumacher saw the yellow waving at the end of the straight as soon as he moved out to pass Panis, he certainly didn't reduce speed, or discontinue his overtaking manoeuvre. But considering the pass was complete as soon as his Ferrari nosed ahead of the Toyota, it was all over in less than a split second, anyway. It would be drawing an extremely long bow to expect a significant penalty for such a minor, and dubious at best, infraction of the rules.

Panis lost out even more when the first shower hit, and prematurely went for rain tyres along with team-mate Cristiano da Matta, Jacques Villeneuve and Nicolas Kiesa. It was a brain explosion that never paid off, for the rain was at no stage heavy enough to warrant wets. But the dries to have were Michelins; the Bridgestones gave up grip like a surrendering army, Michael was forced to back off around the banked turn 13, and Coulthard, Montoya and Alonso all blasted past with frightening closing speed.

However the race crucially turned again when both McLarens, both Williams, and Alonso all pitted significantly earlier than Schumacher, explaining the gap in Saturday qualifying times. Had the first shower not hit, Michael was now looking exceptionally strong, and even with the additional deficit he was still very definitely in with a shout. Plus he had made up his place on Montoya, the Williams having been delayed by around 7 seconds when his first refuelling rig failed and the team had to resort to the reserve rig.

Once again fingers were being pointed at Intertechnique, although in the context of other events on this day those seven seconds didn't matter. And the fact of the matter is that these things happen in racing; glitches and problems will always be there. What the best in the game realise is that the only thing you can do is to ensure that you don't compound those with your own mistakes and errors. It was a lesson that Montoya would learn the hard way on this day, at the expense of his championship chances.

What McLaren, Williams and Renault didn't realise was that their early first stops were about to cause a double-disadvantage, for the second heavier shower was just about to arrive ... at just the time Schumacher was due to pit. And just like those such as Jenson Button, Frentzen and Justin Wilson, here was the opportunity for Michael to change onto wets - in his case, the superlative Bridgestone intermediates - and effectively gain a whole pit stop on his rivals.

Such was the changeability of the conditions that almost as soon as Michael pitted, the rain was intense enough to switch to wets. As a sign of his experience, the German at once corrected his initial error and came back in the next lap, a lap earlier than anyone else, in the move that won the race. And suddenly Michael had the bonus of knowing that his inters could lap within 3 seconds of a dry tyre, whereas the Michelin runners had to choose between a poor inter and a full wet that was too extreme for these conditions.

In the past three months or so, when the major talking point in the championship has been tyres and the superiority of the Michelin dry over the Bridgestone, it had been convenient for all and sundry to forget that the Michelin wet options were still far from the mark set by the Bridgestone intermediate. Perhaps, for all their superiority in the midsummer European heat, Pierre Dupasquier and his men had complacently rested on their laurels and ignored that any wet conditions were bound to snare their teams.

But the situation was about to dramatically worsen for Williams. Ralf never made it to the pits for wets, crashing backwards into a tyre wall. And just as the rain fell, Montoya's penalty was announced. Here, both the Colombian and his men on the pit wall made another inexcusable gaffe under pressure. JPM had three laps to serve his penalty; there was nothing to stop him from changing onto wets first, and then returning to carry out his drive-through.

Two other Michelin men stayed out on dries. One was Coulthard, although in hindsight it may be fair to suggest that he was being used as a guinea-pig for Raikkonen, the team conceding that the constructors' title was probably out of reach and that they were happy to settle for third, such that Coulthard picking up points was no longer as important, instead trying to bolster Kimi's drivers' title chances by making sure that he went back to dries at the perfect time.

The other was Mark Webber in the Jaguar. It had been a topsy-turvy weekend for the Australian, who had maintained his season-long trend of being stunning in Friday qualifying, in which he was 3rd, and dropping down as soon as anything resembling a fuel load was added on Saturday. But in the race, having stayed out longer than anyone else, by lap 21 he found himself in the lead. Switching onto the admittedly inferior Michelin wets immediately, combined with his first fuel stop, would have given him a shot of a podium finish.

But instead, for some incomprehensible reason, he hung out for an extra lap, and duly implanted his R4 into a tyre wall. It was a critical error in what has been a sensational season. For with the BARs' eventual Honda engine detonations, and Toyota's tactical stupidity, here was a chance to guarantee Jaguar's 5th place in the constructors' title. But instead, Sauber's fluke result plus the fact that Suzuka is Honda's home track and Toyota's chance to shine in front of their corporate big wigs, means that Jaguar are staring down the barrel of 7th or 8th instead.

There were some who suggested that his move on Frentzen was too easy, and the cynics wasted no time reminding everyone where Peter Sauber got his engines from. In all seriousness, though, it was a silly insinuation. Common sense dictated that if you were HHF, staring at a podium finish, your first in three years, with prospects of a drive next year fading and retirement looking more and more likely, you too would let Schumi in seriously-don't-argue mood past easily.

Despite Michael passing him relatively easily, Button was having another barnstorming drive, and had the car speed to effortlessly finish 3rd if not even 2nd on this day, thereby securing his first ever podium. But it was not to be, his Honda motor letting him down as it did to Villeneuve late in the race as well. Although understandably devastated, Jenson can find consolation in the fact that he underlined his not inconsiderable talent yet again, and by blitzing his team-mate once more he put another nail in JV's F1 career coffin.

Speaking of nails in coffins, Montoya was now so slow on his full wets, by the time he changed back to dries he was two laps adrift, which was even more humiliating for him than it was for Schumi when he was lapped by Alonso at the Hungaroring. To add further insult, such was the dry-track performance of the Bridgestone intermediate, Schumacher could afford to wait until a full seven laps after Raikkonen had gone back to dries before following suit, and still emerge with a mammoth lead.

So, after Schumacher, Frentzen and Nick Heidfeld in the other Sauber all pitted for dries, Michael sailed serenely to a decisive victory. HHF fell into the clutches of Raikkonen, who needed (and took) 2nd to keep his title hopes on life-support. Heidfeld likewise dropped within site of Trulli, Alonso having retired, although he was a full lap ahead of the emerging battle for 6th between Giancarlo Fisichella in the Jordan and Montoya, even though 6th for the Colombian would kill his title aspirations.

But there were important ramifications here for the constructors' championship as well as the drivers'. Ferrari were looking to gain an upper hand over Williams before heading to Suzuka, which supposedly is going to favour the team in red. With Wilson safe in 8th, Jaguar looked set to draw level with BAR but still behind them on count-back. But Sauber had it all to play for, a big double points-score certain to trump both BAR and Jaguar and move up to 5th.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Juan Pablo Montoya
When the going got tough - he didn't get going

Alas, Fisichella never looked a chance of holding off Montoya, who then ironically found himself eyeballing Heidfeld's rear wing. Here was the man JPM had to pass to take 5th and keep his championship challenge alive. Except that the Sauber was a full lap ahead of him. It was the irony to end all ironies. As Juan-Pablo ended his run of 8 straight podium finishes in this most inglorious manner, the title race was now back down to Kimi and Michael, but the fat lady was starting to practise her aria.

Apart from this race being decided by tyres, it was also a day to keep a cool head, which both Schumacher and Raikkonen did, but which Montoya decidedly did not. From his poor start, to punting off Barrichello, to taking his drive-through before stopping for wets, it was a triple-whammy of mistakes under pressure. And, sadly, despite that rich vein of points-scoring momentum in the second and third quarters of the season, the fact that he did crack when the stakes were high remained.

Schumacher now heads to Suzuka needing only one point to clinch the title, and with Raikkonen needing to win. It is a similar situation to 1996, when Damon Hill only needed a single point and Villeneuve needed victory. Remembering that Schumi's last mechanical failure in a race was at Hockenheim in 2001, and considering that Raikkonen has only once looked like taking victory since his maiden win in Malaysia earlier this year, Michael's unprecedented sixth title looks like a fait accompli.

Even if it is true that anything can happen in F1 and usually does, still it would take a mighty upset for Michael to lose from here. However, on the other hand the constructors' title between Ferrari and Williams is too close to call, with McLaren and Renault safe in 3rd and 4th. But there will be an almighty slug-fest between Sauber, BAR and Jaguar for 5th, with Toyota looking relatively safe in 8th and Jordan 9th, and sadly it looks as though even with the revised points system Minardi won't break their duck in 2003.