French Grand Prix Review

It wouldn't be fair to say that Michael did it because he was bored with easy results, but it is true to say that he relished setting himself a challenge. And he succeeded too, in so doing winning a jaw-dropping 9th race in 10 starts this year, with another 8 races still to go. On a day when the Greek football team proved that a champion team is better than a team of champions, Ferrari showed that it is a champion team that's filled to the brim with champions as well. Currently, they are peerless.

This stunning, in-your-face display of superiority took the attention off what had been an otherwise staid weekend, in which the news of Max Mosley's decision to step down as FIA President a year early had been the focus of attention. The timing of Mosley's bombshell was perhaps a little strange, given the massive fight the FIA is sure to have with the teams in the coming weeks as the rules for 2005 and beyond take shape, rules behind which Mosley had been the main driving force.

Love him or hate him, in all his years in the sport Mosley has never stepped away from a fight, always ready to put his gift of the gab into action. But undoubtedly he has his reasons for walking away; perhaps this upcoming battle was just one too many. And fair enough too - but who will replace him? Jean Todt, perhaps, as has been widely touted? Would that be a catalyst for the dissolution of the Ferrari dream team? Could Mosley's departure also spell the unexpectedly early end of the Ferrari golden era?

That could be a double-edged sword; whilst great for the sake of competition, it will mean the end of one of the sport's greatest and most potent juggernauts. And however much dominance creates boredom, it has to be admired as well. Like Schumi's drive this weekend; it will surely go down next to Hungary '98, when he pulled the same trick, stopped an extra time, and amazingly trumped the faster McLarens. Like Hungary '98, France '04 will be remembered as one of his best strategic, on-the-limit victories.

But it was a sign of the times, perhaps, that what was undoubtedly an awesome drive by the maestro was one in which he never actually passed his opponent on the track; it was in the pits that Schumi disposed of Fernando Alonso. That is not necessarily a criticism, for nothing can take away from the greatness of what Michael managed to do on Sunday afternoon, plus a fair few great drives to victory in the past have been ones where the winner did not have to overtake his rivals.

It was also a fine performance from Rubens Barrichello, who came back from the drama of missing pre-qualifying with a hydraulics problem and only qualifying 10th to end up on the podium. There is no doubt that when the mood takes him he can be one of the most competitive and 'racy' drivers on the grid, like at Silverstone last year. Unlike his team-mate, he did have to pass his opponents, and his first move on Jenson Button into the Adelaide hairpin was opportunist and special enough.

But his move on Jarno Trulli into the Lycée on the last lap was simply special. It was not just a brilliant last-gasp move, it was gutsy as well, especially since Trulli was starting to lean into the corner. To my mind, it joins Takuma Sato's move on David Coulthard in Bahrain, as well as Button's pass also on DC at the Nurburgring, as the overtaking manoeuvres of the year so far. Rubens was ecstatic at making it onto the podium, and with a pass like that, so he should have been.

It may be asked, did Fernando and his team throw the win away by not coming in soon enough for his second stop and struggling for several laps on rubbished tyres, thereby giving Michael the all-important track position that won him the race by allowing the German to sprint in clear air? That is arguable, but nevertheless unlikely. Ferrari's strategy-switch was always going to be premised on getting Schumi ahead of Alonso at the second stop; Renault could not have seen it coming, nor do anything about it.

For one of the first times this year, Trulli found himself the bridesmaid behind his Spanish team-mate, and his lame last-corner defence against Barrichello was straight out of his 'bad old days' as a weak racer. But let's not forget that he remains 13 points ahead of Alonso, and he is the only man other than Michael to have won a race this year. There has been a lot of good work from the Italian this year, enough to overlook this relatively minor last-lap lapse in concentration.

So, that's Ferrari and Renault dealt with. But what about the rest of the field? Well, we're lucky we can answer this question, because one gets the sense that if the French TV Director had gotten his way, we would have seen nothing BUT Schumacher and Alonso all day. As it turned out, we did get fleeting glimpses of other cars and drivers ­ some of whom looked to be having absorbing scraps! Pity we didn't linger long, and quickly headed back to Todt, Schumi and Fernando. 'Reject of the Race' goes to the French TV Director in a race otherwise devoid of truly reject-worthy behaviour.

Nevertheless, he still picked up 4 points for his team, and it shows just what a seachange has occurred for David Richards' men, that now a score of 'only' 4 points is considered to be disappointing. One reason BAR didn't pick up more was, of course, because Sato's engine blew up again. BAR and Honda deny that it has anything to do with Taku's driving style, but it has happened too many times, especially after pit stops, to be coincidental.

The fact that Sato only has 14 points on the board because of his luckless reliability record means that BAR are in danger of slipping out of touch with Renault for 2nd in the constructors' championship, although Williams and McLaren behind them pose little threat. In a race where 18 of the 20 cars were classified finishers, and Sato's engine failure was the only mechanically-induced retirement (not counting Gianmaria Bruni's late race gearbox problem), this is an issue Honda desperately needs to resolve.

But if we're talking about teams slipping out of touch, then it's all going wrong at Williams at the moment. It's making for a very difficult beginning to Sam Michael's tenure as technical director. Juan-Pablo Montoya suffered a dramatic accident in the wet Friday free practice, and then afterwards complained of a sore back and engaged in a very animated discussion with Michael, at the same track where their falling-out over the radio last year drove JPM to sign for McLaren on the rebound.

REJECT OF THE RACE
French TV Director
Schumi and Alonso weren't the only cars on track, mate!

Marc Gené was the right man to replace Ralf Schumacher, for this race at least, but it has to be said that his race performance too was disappointing. A mediocre start saw him drop behind Mark Webber's Jaguar - ironic, that - and from there he never recovered, finishing a nondescript 10th. There were some rumours that Williams' other tester, Antonio Pizzonia, would have got the nod ahead of Gené. After Jungle Boy's woes with Jaguar last year, that would have been an intriguing if risky option.

Currently, they're keeping Gené in suspense as to whether he will drive at Silverstone. Now, unlike McLaren earlier this year, Williams do not have the look of a team in crisis. But they do have the feel of a team that's run out of steam. They need new blood fast; Webber would be the perfect man if he jumped from Jaguar now to substitute for Ralf, but given his ties to Flavio Briatore, his commendable loyalty to Jaguar, and the difficulty of mid-season moves, it's an unlikely prospect even if attractive.

McLaren debuted their long-awaited Renault-lookalike MP4/19B, and it was everything everyone expected it to be; that is, a quantum leap in terms of reliability and speed, with the potential to nibble at a podium finish or two, but still not up to challenging for wins just yet. It was a refreshingly assured and consistent weekend from David Coulthard, whose 3rd on the grid was his best starting position since Brazil last year, and who backed it up with a really solid drive to 6th place.

As for the remaining teams, Toyota and Jaguar were evenly matched, although the red and white cars faded badly in the race. Cristiano da Matta had the pleasure of being fastest on Friday, and he also qualified strongly on Saturday, but after a slow start he was a nonentity for the rest of Sunday afternoon. Not the way to impress team bosses, if it is to be believed that his position is under threat. Cristiano is not doing enough, nor is he young enough, to convince Toyota that he is a long-term prospect.

But that was nothing compared to Olivier Panis' weekend, the Frenchman hoping for a strong home race after his excellent showing at Indianapolis, only to qualify a poor 14th, semi-stall at the start, and then almost as much time off the track as on it. Olivier may have been hoping that his two years at Toyota as the team climbed up the grid would be the perfect swansong to his career of unfulfilled talent. But Toyota have not improved as rapidly as expected, and now Panis' career is petering to an end as a result.

Christian Klien reverted to less-reckless ways and brought his car home again, but if Webber can't crack the points, then Klien is destined not to score any. Meanwhile, both Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa proved to be midfield nuisances by running two-stop strategies in their Saubers which seem - surprise, surprise - to have reached the end of their development by mid-season. The two-stop tactic may have worked well at, say, the Nurburgring, but there's no reason to stick to it all the time.

The Jordans of Nick Heidfeld and Giorgio Pantano made no impression whatsoever, although the paddock gossip was that Eddie Jordan may finally have buckled to the team's financial pressure and sold the controlling stake in his team, possibly to Middle Eastern consortia. If so, it is proof positive that, apart from merely visiting more non-European tracks, the epicentre of Formula One is shifting away from its traditional European financial base.

Paul Stoddart may well have taken a look at F1 Rejects' USA Grand Prix review, coming out afterwards in less-than-subtle criticism of Gianmaria Bruni, accusing him of parking a healthy car at Indianapolis and not taking a leaf out of Zsolt Baumgartner's book and learning how to keep his car on the road and finish races. In France, the Hungarian continued his steady improvement; although his pace was still shy of his team-mate's, he was under 4.6s away from pole position, instead of over 5s behind.

However, in the wake of Stoddy's post-Indy blast, the irony was that it was Zsolt who threw his car into the scenery, becoming the second and last retirement, although Bruni's car also stopped with gearbox failure a few laps from the flag. Though the points-scoring finish at Indy was undoubtedly a morale-booster, if 18 cars out of 20 starters keep being classified from hereon in, then Minardi will be waiting a very long time before their next celebratory drink.