French Grand Prix Review

Some may suggest that the best tonic for the Indianapolis fiasco would have been for F1 to put on a dramatic lights-to-flag overtaking-fest, and they would lament that this race turned out to be almost as tedious as watching six cars circulate two weeks ago. That's fair enough, but at the same time, there was a surreal sense in which it was good to have a quiet one, almost as if F1 needed to lie low after weeks of endless things to talk about and just get on with it, have an uncontroversial race, and move on.

Of course there was still some fall-out from Indianapolis lingering in the Magny-Cours paddock. The FIA World Motorsport Council had found the Michelin teams guilty of bringing the sport into disrepute, but had intriguingly postponed handing down the penalty until September. It was either a decision of surprisingly sensible tact from the otherwise-recently-prickly Max Mosley, or, according to the conspiracy theorists, it was designed to rig the championship later in the piece. One hopes it is not the latter.

The point is, the whole sport was damaged enough as it was at Indy, and there was no need for further draconian penalties that would only have raised blood pressures even more, or for further bans and more depleted grids in races to come. Michelin had already started doing the noble thing of footing the bill for the refund of Indy tickets, and the Michelin teams were talking, albeit in vain, about a further non-championship race. In those circumstances, not handing down penalties now seemed a wise thing to do.

Oh well. That was about as interesting as the off-track action got, and on the circuit things weren't much more exciting. It was Alonso's first domination since Bahrain, even if Kimi Raikkonen was probably slightly faster over one lap. But unlike races such as Spain or the Nurburgring, at least the Renault was pretty much evenly matched with the McLaren, showing that the blue and yellows had indeed clawed back some of the advantage that the rampant McLaren had gained in the second quarter of the season.

Fernando's consistent speed, sheer relentlessness and complete control of the race was second to none, and there was not much more to say on top of that. What's more, the reliability of his R25 continues to hold. The same can't be said for Giancarlo Fisichella, whose bad luck remains, firstly with his malfunctioning fuel rig and then a stall at his last stop. But the truth was that he had not been as fast as Alonso here, he had always been stuck in the pack, and as they say in this business, you make your own luck ...

McLaren's generally blistering speed and friendliness on tyres is still there, but so is their other recurrent theme: they just can't consistently rack up the results and points. Raikkonen's qualifying lap, within a split second of Alonso's but on a heavy 2-stop fuel load, was staggeringly brilliant. But apart from Fernando's Canada mishap and the USA no-show, Fernando keeps piling up the points. Compare that to the tortuous course that Kimi's season has taken so far.

Yes, there have been some catch-me-if-you-can victories, but the points gap to Alonso reflects that McLaren simply haven't perfected 100% of the job enough of the time. There's been too much of two steps forward, one step back in his bid to chase down his rival, and for all the speed that the MP4/20 has shown, real momentum has been lacking. Barring a spate of retirements for Alonso, one doesn't get the impression that Raikkonen will be able to haul down the Spaniard.

Norbert Haug and Ron Dennis both had a go at the ten-spot grid penalty for engine changes, but it sounded like sore whingeing from people who had let their star driver down. Not only did Kimi drop down the grid, but the engine he lost was also a new spec motor, and he will now have to race on with the old spec at Silverstone as well, given the two-race rule. But the point is, the rules are the same for everyone. If McLaren want to beat it, try Renault's method on Alonso's car: make an engine that doesn't blow.

Juan-Pablo Montoya continues to be in a similar situation to Fisichella at Renault though. He neither has the pace of his team-mate at the moment, not does he have the fortune or the best of the results, as evidenced by his retirement with hydraulic failure. But from starting ahead of Raikkonen, after the first stops the Colombian was already soundly beaten by his team-mate. The truth is, at this stage JPM is still not The Man at Woking, and while that's the case things just won't fall his way.

Even once clear of the Toyota, the F2005 did not have that kind of 'charge at will' pace that some of the dominant red machines did - notably the F2004 at Magny-Cours last year, where Michael beat Alonso with that incredible switch to a four-stop strategy. Neither does the F2005 have Ferrari's usual reliability, after Rubens Barrichello suffered brake problems that meant he fell behind all the key two-stoppers, including Jenson Button, Ralf Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve, and out of the points.

BAR showed a mildly promising return to form, and finally in the tenth race of the season they are legitimately on the points table, thanks to Button's eventual 4th place. But in reality, the 007s did not show any earth-shattering pace. In fact, it was Takuma Sato who had the speed advantage on Button for the first time this year in qualifying and the race, but he squandered that with his two wild off-track moments at the Adelaide hairpin and at the Estoril sweeper.

It was reminiscent of Taku's efforts from the first half of last year - speed to burn, but a bit untamed as well. It has been one of the most unfortunate and neglected aspects of BAR's fall from grace this year, that Sato's development as a driver has been scuppered as a result, and he has largely become a forgotten man. In fact, he is the only regular driver yet to score a point this year. It is to be hoped that more steady, competitive speed from the BAR will bring Sato back to his best.

Although Toyota's race pace is much improved this year compared to previously, they still qualify better than they race. Trulli no doubt did his stellar best in a car that was not working quite as well in race trim, and which was slow enough on three-stop fuel levels, let alone two-stop fuel after his crew changed tactics. But the point is, he was lapped by Alonso, with whom he had shared the front row, after 49 laps out of 70. The TF105 does seem a bit incapable of hanging onto McLaren and Renault's coat-tails any more.

Ralf continued what has really been a most nondescript year so far by sneaking into the points almost unnoticed. By far the most interesting part of his weekend was the story of how his family chihuahua got dognapped, apparently, and that says it all really. Ralf's middle part of the season from around Nurburgring to Hockenheim tends to be quite strong, but there are no signs of him getting the better of his team-mate at the moment. Surely Toyota management ought to be asking why Ralf's getting the bigger salary!

Olivier Panis made a fleeting return to race meet action by driving the third car in place of Ricardo Zonta. Although the purpose was so that there could be a French driver somewhere during the weekend, one had to feel sorry for Olly. All career he never got his hands on a truly competitive car, except in 1997 for Prost, only for him to break his legs in Canada that year. Now that he's left the Toyota race driver line-up, the TF105 becomes a regular points-scorer and potential podium finisher ...

Since their withdrawal from Brabham at the end of 1987, consider their history with regards to F1. They first considered running their own team in the early 1990s, and commissioned a design from Simtek. The project never went anywhere, so the Simtek design became the execrable 1992 Andrea Moda. BMW returned as engine supplier with Williams in 2000, and almost won the title in 2003, only for both Williams but also BMW to lose their way since.

Everyone knows and recognises that BMW will not transform Sauber into race winners overnight. But there is also a feeling that, not only will it take time, but there's no certainty that BMW will get the job done eventually. Unlike, say, Toyota, which has succeeded in every other category they have entered by their own efforts, BMW's touring car and sports car efforts have relied upon super-organised outfits like Schnitzer. How will Mario Theissen and co handle having to do things off their own bat?

If Frank Williams and Patrick Head are to be believed in relation to their recent scathing comments about Theissen (and there certainly seems to be more sympathy for Frank and Patrick), then the picture of Theissen that emerges is of someone whose confidence in himself and in BMW verges on arrogance. Although the purchase of Sauber does further increase the manufacturer involvement in F1 at the expense of another 'private' team, might it prove ill-founded on that high degree of confidence?

REJECT OF THE RACE
Williams
Had an absolute Barry Crocker

The French GP marked the exact halfway point in this year's championship, and it is time for Williams to make some decisions. Will they stay with BMW next year or seek out a new engine supplier? Should they still aim to improve for the rest of this year or do they already start pinning their hopes on 2006? In some ways, the answer to the second question depends on the answer to the first. If Williams continues with BMW next year, then any progress made on this year's package can be carried over into next season.

Over the last few races Red Bull also seem to have lost their way pace-wise, especially compared to Sauber, which may be a reflection of the fact that Sauber have their state-of-the-art windtunnel and Red Bull hasn't. It was a feisty effort from David Coulthard in the race for very little gain, while since Canada Christian Klien has returned to find that the car is uncompetitive and, as a result, his performances have slipped somewhat, although he remains impressively close to DC.

On the back of his fortunate podium finish in the US, Tiago Monteiro continues his amazing finishing streak. His race pace advantage over Narain Karthikeyan and his ability to bring the car home is starting to make him a more attractive proposition than the Indian. Whereas Karthikeyan, Patrick Friesacher and Christijan Albers have all had blinding flashes of one-lap speed, which looks good when determining who's the rookie of the year, Monteiro's finishing record is increasingly turning heads.

Is it just me or was there some delicious irony in both Minardis retiring with rear-left Bridgestone failures? Not only that tyre failures should happen to Bridgestone as well as to Michelin, but that it should happen to the only Bridgestone team-owner in Paul Stoddart who has openly and clearly sided with the Michelin teams over the Indy debacle. In all seriousness though, accidents at the Estoril sweeper are never pleasant, and it was good that Albers walked away from his shunt unharmed.

On a more frivolous note, a close 2nd in the 'Reject of the Race' this time must have been the guy responsible for putting up the flags for the podium. In sixteen years of watching F1 it was the first time I'd seen someone get the flags wrong, when the Finnish and German flags for Raikkonen and Schumacher were swapped around in the wrong order. Even more amusing was the hurried way in which the said red-faced official lowered the flags during 'La Marseillaise' to hide his mistake!

It is the busiest stretch in the history of Formula One, with four Grands Prix in the five Sundays of July. One down, three to go. Now that F1 has returned to some semblance of normality, we can't wait to see what Silverstone, Hockenheim and the Hungaroring will bring. Can Alonso keep his gap over Raikkonen at an unassailable level? Does Ferrari really have anything extra in store? Can Williams bounce back to competitiveness? Let's hope that it stays racing first, politics second in the next four weeks.