American Grand Prix Review

There were few talking points coming out of practice and qualifying - the most Noah's Ark grid for a long time saw to that. No surprise that a Ferrari was dominating proceedings, but it was Rubens Barrichello and not the World Champion on top of the timesheets. Though it was refreshing that Michael's team-mate was taking the fight to him, the unanswered question was whether this signified a genuine long-term threat, or if it was just another one-off awakening that Rubens has, a la Silverstone last year.

Come Sunday, and the drama began at the start of the formation lap, when Juan-Pablo Montoya's Williams would not fire. He leapt from his car, stuttered, looked for a hole in the pit wall fence, and jumped into his spare - a few crucial seconds after the grid was meant to be totally cleared. A problem getting the car started is just one of those things, but why did Williams cut it so fine to order the Colombian to take the spare? Apparently, it was only about 20 seconds before the green flag lap that they told him to bail out.

Another operational error from Williams, then, on the back of their engineering mistake that led to the double-disqualification in Canada. JPM commendably drove his heart out in an imperfect car, as any spare must be, and it was not until the last quarter of the race that he was black flagged. It seems incredible that it took that long for the stewards to decide, but given the other events of the day, and the very fine margin by which Juan-Pablo missed the grid-clearing deadline, it was understandable.

Still, a two DQs in a row must be very hard to swallow for Montoya, this coming at a track where last year a potentially-dubious drive-through penalty (though we agreed with it) arguably cost him the World Championship. But a rule is a rule, and the grid-clearing rule is a very good one in the interests of safety, given the acceleration of a modern Formula One car. That Williams broke it narrowly is irrelevant - allowing margins of tolerance opens up huge cans of worms, and F1 has enough red tape as it is.

The start of the race proper was notable not only for Fernando Alonso making - and here's a big call - one of the best starts of all time by vaulting from 9th to 3rd, swerving around his rivals like it was a computer game before taking Takuma Sato's BAR for 3rd on the outside of turn 1. Breathtaking stuff. The start of course also saw a concertina effect, triggered by Cristiano da Matta, which took out Christian Klien, Giorgio Pantano, Felipe Massa and Gianmaria Bruni.

This may just be coincidence, given that they were all near the tail-end of the grid, but the incident took out all three of this year's rookies, all of whom could not stop in time and rammed a car in front. Perhaps a little bit of inexperience and hot-headedness showing through, then, especially from Klien and Pantano who had both made excellent starts. A second consecutive first-corner incident for the Austrian as well, although here he was less at fault as he was in Montreal.

Though we will never know for sure, the irony was that this incident also caused the demise of super-starting Alonso, who crashed at the end of the front straight after his right rear tyre punctured under braking. That crash was frightening enough; slow motion replays did not do justice to the horror of the Renault snapping nose-first into the wall, but the incident was a testimony to the strength of modern F1 nosecones. Fernando's feet never came close to being crushed against the concrete wall.

There were some questions surrounding the handling of the incident by the race directors though. It was clear that Ralf, though not grievously injured, needed to be helped out of his car. It seemed to take an eternity for medics to reach him, and in the end it was apparently 18 minutes before he was extricated from his broken FW26. Such was the debris strewn across the track as well, at a section hemmed in on both sides by walls making access and clean-up difficult, that perhaps it was better to stop the race.

Admittedly, this was a situation like Melbourne in 2001, when the safety car was deployed because that is the default option these days, only for the medical attention required to take longer than expected. If the officials had the foresight to know how long it was going to take, then maybe they would have shown the red flag. But it is perhaps understandable that once the safety car is sent, the issue of what to do with the race is deemed to have been dealt with; stopping a race does cause logistical nightmares.

Martin Brundle in the ITV commentary box also suggested that, instead of taking the cars past the scene and over the debris, the safety car should have gone through the pit lane. For once, I disagree with him. The pit lane has a speed limit on safety grounds; would that have been enforced? Also, what if someone at the front of the queue dived into their pit box for a quick stop? Where would they emerge? Would the teams themselves have to hold the car until the whole queue passed?

From there, how did the final results come about? By this stage, of course, Michael was already in the lead, having snatched it from Rubens at the restart after the first safety car period. It was such a millimetre-perfect move that he was dead even with his team-mate without illegally passing him before crossing the line. For all of Michael's skill, cutting it that fine surely owed more to luck than good judgment, but it was ironic considering what had happened at the finish in 2002.

Then, of course, Michael had tried to orchestrate a form finish, only to misjudge it and gift Barrichello the victory. It seems as though he can do it better at full throttle than at reduced speed! But it remained to be asked why Rubens had been so asleep on that first restart. In his post-race excuse-a-thon, he put it down to too much wheelspin and reduced tyre pressures causing his car to bottom out over turn 13. That may have been true, but it didn't affect Michael, did it?

In all likelihood, Michael simply did a better job of keeping up his tyre pressures during the first safety car stint. The cynic in me also wonders why Rubens, knowing he had been caught napping, didn't momentarily lift off such that Michael would have been ahead before the start-finish line, incurring a penalty? OK, he would have done himself no favours within his team, but if he's that desperate to be a serious race winner in his own right, then he needs that kind of ruthless presence of mind.

The two Ferraris' tactics differed in that Barrichello would run a long second stint, Schumacher a long third stint. The Brazilian's lack of pace in the second was compensated by Michael's struggles on graining tyres late in the race. But by being ahead, Michael had track position anyway, and when the safety car came out for Ralf's incident, it was Rubens who had to queue behind the World Champion in the pits, thereby losing precious time.

In addition, not only did Barrichello stutter as he left the pits after his first stop, dropping another second, but Michael's advantage for pitting first was magnified because Sato, who was not stopping, had to drive around the debris on the front straight so slowly that Schumacher did not even lose the lead, whereas Barrichello fell behind both BARs and Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren as well. But after the race, Rubens suggested that it was encountering debris on his in-lap before his second stop that ultimately cost him the win.

Turn it up, Rubens! Interestingly, Michael made reference to it himself ­ and a sarcastic one at that. Yes, Rubens had the pace to win this weekend. No, a piece of debris did not cost him the race. Letting Michael past, being disadvantaged in the first round of stops, not being fast enough in the second stint - that was what mattered. Rubens blew it himself, and for that, as well as for raising another boring list of pathetic excuses, he gets our 'Reject of the Race' award in an event otherwise rather devoid of mediocrity.

Even if Sato did not pit at the same time as Schumacher, which would have kept him on the Ferrari's tail with the same number of stops to go, they could have brought him in during the safety car period, in which case Takuma would have been at the back of the queue but at least still in touch with Michael instead of being around 20-30 seconds behind as he was after he pitted under green flags. Sato finished up 22 seconds behind Michael, and on average the time it took to pit was around 26-27 seconds ...

As usual, Sato had very impressive speed to burn, but as Brundle commented, for once he drove with maturity as well. Some of his passes inside the McLarens, Fisichella and later Panis as well were simply clinical, instead of some of the kamikaze, locked-brake lunges we have become accustomed to (such as in Canada or at the Nurburgring) that more often than not end in tears. On this kind of form, it seems incredible that his position may be under threat for 2005.

In 4th came Jarno Trulli, after what had been a very quiet but extremely solid one-stop drive from the back of the grid in a Renault that was not quite in its element at Indy. Gone are the days when, in a similar situation, he would drive around languishing uninterestedly. The fact is that he is now out-scoring wonder boy Alonso 41 to 25, and that's not just down to having had more finishes. Trulli is definitely becoming a genuine top-flight race driver, even if he still can't pull out THE special race lap on demand.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Rubens Barrichello
Lost the race, gave us more post-race excuses

6th and 7th were the two McLarens, Raikkonen scoring points despite a number of unscheduled pit stops for a second race in succession. But the MP4/19's race pace here, especially David Coulthard's, was still abysmal by their lofty standards. Mercedes seem to have lifted their game in terms of reliability though. But with that, the story of the MP4/19 ends, with the 19B set to debut in France. Any sort of improvement in speed and reliability will ensure that they hold 5th in the constructors' title fairly comfortably.

There was celebration at the end of the pit lane though, the high attrition meaning that Zsolt Baumgartner finished last, but 8th - enough to score Hungary's first ever World Championship points, and Minardi's first since Mark Webber's emotional 5th place in Melbourne two years ago. Whatever Zsolt's credentials (or lack thereof), whatever the credentials of the car (or lack thereof), this was a suitable reward for Baumgartner and richly deserved for this ultra hard-working team.

Baumgartner has definitely been on the improve, even if he will probably never been good enough to score a podium. He is driving more steadily, and he is adapting to tracks more quickly. His practice times are now on part with team-mate Bruni's, sometimes even faster. Bruni has had the unfair share of bad luck in terms of reliability and incidents, but maybe like Pantano he is content to excuse mediocrity as a 'settling in' period. Halfway into the season now, that will no longer do.

After a very impressive last few races, it was back to the back for Giancarlo Fisichella and Sauber. Not only were they the third-worst team in qualifying, and not only was Massa gone in the first corner contretemps, but Fisi also took a trip through the gravel and later suffered a puncture before finally dropping out. In so doing, Sauber slipped back to 6th in the manufacturers' championship, and with McLaren's new car about to debut, they will probably never steal back 5th.

Which just leaves Webber and Jaguar for us to comment on. Another retirement means that the Ford Cosworth teams are now filling the last three positions on the constructors' table. The R5's speed in qualifying and race trim has dropped, and to some extent Mark's performances likewise. The speculation over his future, with Williams, Toyota, and maybe even BAR all clambering for his signature after the British GP when most likely he will be freed from his Jaguar contract for 2005, may finally be getting to him.

After another so-so start, Mark had a very hairy moment when he did not slow enough as he slid past both Coulthard and Ralf's destroyed Williams at the same time. For a moment it looked as though the horror smash which cost Alex Zanardi his legs was about to repeat itself, and Webber may have deserved some reprimand for that. Then, an unspectacular race was followed by an oil fire whilst in the points. Once again Jaguar failed to capitalise on a good position, and that's been the story of their season so far.