Archive for category: The Point by Gian Carlo Minardi

In the USA Grand Prix, which is the last but one F.1 event of the 2013 season, we saw a great fight between Webber, Hamilton and Alonso and, above all, we saw Lotus and Grosjean delivering an excellent race.

Except the two Red Bull, or, at least RB#1, which demonstrated to be very competitive, as usual, Romain also delivered a great race, demonstrating to be a very skilled driver, finishing only 6’’ behind the World Champion. He finished between the Championship’s two most competitive cars. He definitely deserves a score of 9/10 for taking an excellent start and handling a good race. He tried to “bother” Sebastian Vettel by setting the fastest lap during the race, but he was beaten by the German driver in the following lap. The French driver can be a guarantee for his team, which demonstrated to recover in this end to the season, despite the unlucky decision to replace Kimi with Kovalainen. Probably Valsecchi would have deserved an opportunity for the job he did inside the team. Worse than that…even if the Finnish driver was excused in the post-race because of some technical issues.

Lewis Hamilton did a great job. The Englishman put up a fight against Alonso, who, maybe, overexploited his tyres. Ferrari had a hard week end, but the Italian team got a good position thanks to the Spaniard’s 5^th place finish.  Massa’s American week end was not so good. I hope that something didn’t work, even if the Brazilian driver suffered a lot throughout the week end. Despite Nando’s excellent race, during which he fought teeth and nail, a 29s gap from the race winner is too much. Fernando tried to “limit the damage” to Mercedes, which finished in the points zone with both is cars. The final challenge for the second place in the constructors championship will move to Brazil, to Felipe’s homeland, where the GP will be raced in one week. Given Lotus’s great condition, the Italian team cannot be quiet.

The dismissed Sergio Perez delivered a great race. His excellent performances demonstrated once again that he didn’t deserve to be dismissed. He’s only 22 and he’s developing. Maybe different choices would have been taken with a view to the 2015 season (McLaren-Honda). It seems to me that Jenson Button has passed his peak (he scored one point with difficulty).

Nico Hulkenberg and Sauber finished in the points zone again. Gutierrez would have deserved to finish in the points zone, too, but unfortunately he was imposed a penalty in qualifying. I was surprised by Bottas. Williams took some choices which date back to the 2012 season. Those choices paid off. Valtteri is proving to deserve to be a F.1 driver.

What else we can say…The supremacy displayed during the Indian GP is almost embarrassing and it’s even hard to comment. Once again Vettel was able to do what he wanted to. Now that the two world titles are appointed (drivers and constructors championship), Ferrari will have a thrilling end to the season. The Italian team will have to fight hard to try to get the second place. According to Rosberg and Hamilton’s performances the Italian team cannot sleep tight. The second place is within their reach, for sure, as three races are yet to be run (Abu Dhabi, Austin, Sao Paulo) and many scores are still up for grabs.

With regards to Webber and Alonso, we can say that misfortune sees very well. Once again the Red Bull’s Australian driver was forced to retire. The Australian could have fought to get high positions, while the Spaniard was involved in a car collision at the beginning, which dropped him to the 17th place. If we analyze times, we can notice that the Italian team lost a great chance to score points for the World Championship.

Except for the extra-terrestrial Seb., Grosjean’s performances were also noteworthy. The Frenchman managed tyres very well and Raikkonen did his utmost to try to turn the starting grid order upside down and managed to set the best lap time after pitting. McLaren finished fifth with Perez who finished ahead of Hamilton. It was a good racing week end for Felipe Massa who got the most of his F138, staying ahead of Lewis but he was overtaken by Nico. It’s a good omen to see Massa being so aggressive and lively despite the end of the relationship with the Maranello-based team. The Italian team will try to close the 4-point-gap with Mercedes. Toro Rosso managed to score only one point (thanks to Ricciardo’s tenth place). The Faenza-based team wasn’t able to take advantage of Sauber’s unfavorable week end.

It was further confirmed that most of the second-tier teams’ performance level is almost the same. The second-tier teams’ championship was good. That is alarming, especially if we consider that there is a short time between the Championship’s last event (November 24th) and the beginning of the next F.1 season. I think it’s such a short time to try to close such a huge gap. According to rumors, Newey seems to be ready to shake the cars building philosophy. Despite a radical technical upgrade, the Austrian team is still the one rivals will have to try to beat.

In six days drivers will be behind the wheel of their single-seaters again. Vettel is determined not to give rivals anything. The challenge for the second place will light up the F.1 championship again.

Sorry for the delay but, despite a comfortable and quick journey back to Italy, I landed yesterday in the morning, so I didn’t have time to talk about the GP immediately after the race. Before analyzing the Singapore GP, I’d like to talk about my experience in Singapore. It’s been fabulous to live a one-of-a-kind experience, which is completely different from any other F.1 racing week ends both for the night background and for the Paddock opening hours. The circuit opens at 3pm and closes at late night, so race enthusiasts have the time to visit the city, which is full of modern buildings. Me too, I had the chance to live that city as a tourist. What is more, it’s an honor for Italian people to see an Italian company (DZ Engineering) taking over the management of the whole track lighting system, all the audiovisual and safety control equipment. It’s a huge circuit, even bigger than the Montecarlo’s.

As far as the race is concerned, I had the chance to see cars and drivers in action from two different perspectives.  In particular, I had the chance to appreciate all drivers in action on the first hairpin after the finish line, especially Alonso’s amazing start. It was a breathtaking manoeuvre. He analyzed the video of the past season and arbitrarily planned to do that manoeuvre. He managed to do that the best way. We don’t have to forget that he Spaniard was able to do that with a 180 kg- gas- load on board…..It was also very impressive to see how easily Sebastian Vettel tackled that stretch of the track; it was like he still had room for improvement. Unless something unordinary happens (which is unlikely), the situation won’t easily change. Beyond his predominance from the technical point of view, I would like to applaud Vettel also because he is always able to handle his Red Bull the best way, unlike Webber (even if I think he’s a fast driver).

Despite an unlucky Saturday for Ferrari, Alonso and Massa scored some points which placed the Italian team ahead of Mercedes. Once again the Spaniard didn’t resign himself to the Red Bull’s predominance, displaying all his determination until the end. Felipe delivered a good performance; the Brazilian scored important points for the team. It was his first race after his official departure from the Italian team. Despite the strategy he carried out was different, he managed to recover. It’s a great result…Kimi Raikkonen drove an excellent race; despite he had a backache, he was author of a great recovery, confirming Ferrari’s excellent choice.

Once again Nico Rosberg gave troubles to his teammate. I liked his way of driving very much and his performance level was higher than Hamilton’s throughout the week end. Mercedes goes on delivering good performances in qualifying; for what concerning the race, the fact the team has two drivers of the same level, is an added value in terms of points. That should make us think about Ferrari’s choice, even because Mercedes will be a very competitive rival next year.

McLaren improved its performance level a little bit, but this is an unlucky season for the English team. The two drivers’ confirmation for the next season is a symptom of continuity, the project will gain substance starting from 2015, which is the year Honda will become the official engine supplier.

Hulkenberg and Sutil close the top 10. Despite Sauber’s encouraging results over the last races, I don’t think the Austrian team will bother the Toro Rosso’s seventh place as, except for some unordinary event to happen, the two teams’ gap is 12 points and each GP only one or two points are made available (9^th and 10^th place). What is more, the Faenza-based team proved to be very competitive in qualifying, even if a mistake made by Ricciardo during the race frustrated all the work done until that moment.

The Belgian GP was very strained. Three world champions scored a podium finish and Fernando Alonso delivered excellent performances. That is the Alonso everyone is willing to see, the one who speaks with actions and gets results instead of speaking with a microphone. He has to demonstrate all his talent through results, even if his main rival, Red Bull, is an unbeatable team. The Spaniard was excellent in the first laps, as he was able to exploit all his car’s potential and got a good result, which was unexpected until Saturday night. He managed to make it up for the mistakes made by him and the technicians during qualifying.

Even if the slue round hadn’t happened on Saturday, his final result would not have changed, but that episode made us have more fun. His second place was a very good result, since he is now ahead of Hamilton. Unfortunately the gap with Vettel is still so far to be reduced, but 8 GP are yet to be raced, so anything can happen. Vettel outdistanced the Spaniard by 17 sec., while Massa was outdistanced by the German by 50 sec. That is a clear proof of how a driver can really make a difference on technical tracks like Spa. He really pushed hard to get a podium finish between the German and Hamilton. This result has to bring back a little peace of mind to the Maranello’s team. I’d like to see Fernando to be less gloomy, especially after achieving such a great result. He doesn’t have to fuel anxiety.

Mercedes set off on a bare foot, but managed to get the pole thanks to Hamilton who was expected to deliver better performances on Sunday. Anyway, the English team is still a title contender and it’s second in the constructors’ championship. It will be an exciting run-up to Vettel and Red Bull till the end, what’s important is not to waste points as much as possible. It will be a hard fight against aliens such as Vettel and Red Bull.

For what concerning Lotus, Grosjean was overtaken by Massa in the last laps. Unfortunately Raikkonen had a front brake issue because of which he was forced to abandon the race after achieving 27 good results. He could have scored important points for the Championship. The room left vacant by the Finn was achieved by a very performing Ricciardo who got the better of Perez, scoring one point for Toro Rosso.

Thanks to Button’s 6th place, McLaren got the better of Force India in the constructors’ championship (the Indian team is now 9th with Sutil), jumping up to 5th. The McLaren’s Englishman hasn’t signed any contract for the next season yet; he had previously stated that he was thinking about taking a sabbatical year. Ferrari will hold the balance of power of the drivers’ market. As soon as the Italian team puts the driver “matter” right, we’ll have some news about the drivers’ market. Next season McLaren will experience a phase of transition before switching to the new Honda engine. The two world champions Raikkonen and Button will have the possibility to continue to race alongside two competitive teams such as Lotus and McLaren, however they will wait for Ferrari’s decision, too.

Next GP will be raced at Monza; the good results achieved by Ferrari in the Belgian GP could be an incentive for Ferrari’s fans to go to the circuit and support the Italian team. Ferrari’s goal at Monza is to score a win, given the fact the Italian track doesn’t suit Red Bull very much.

Once again the GP was spectacular, even though it was affected by tyre behaviour. Some teams disappear too quickly and reappear in the following GP. Sometimes their performance changes as the temperature of the asphalt changes within the same race week end. Now, I wonder why  teams have to spend so much money in car development and wind tunnel testing if it only takes the slightest mistake to ruin their work.

That being said, I don’t want to devalue Red Bull’s great performance in any way. The team recovered from the technical failure it was victim of during the British GP. They have the best car which id driven by a racer who can manage it in an excellent way. Webber was very good, as well. The Australian was finely able to manage the pit-stop issue and entered the top 10, scoring important points for his team.

Unfortunately at the Nurburgring the Ferrari, which tried to reverse an unlucky situation into a good result, was not so performing. The Italian team finished fourth with Alonso at the Nurburgring, which is a very good result if we consider the bad start of the race weekend. Doing that, the team gives way to rivals. If they go on like this it will be difficult to preserve the third position in the constructors’ championship, as the Lotus will be very performing also in Hungary. If Kimi gets one more good result, he will probably reach Alonso’s points. It will be important to understand what’s happening to Massa. To be honest, what happened to him on Sunday is very strange. If he had come lengthwise, the car would have headed for the right side, but the tyres of the Brazilian’s car jammed and it headed for the left side. I don’t feel like blaming him for the matter, but unfortunately the Scuderia lost points with a view to the constructors’ championship. Unlike his main rivals, Alonso is not covered in an efficient way.

The Championship is still so long; however we can say that the Red Bull is the favorite team at the moment. Let’s hope that the three-week-break before the Hungarian GP and the sabbatical month of August will bring some changes to the Ferrari. I think that Sunday’s arrival order reflects the teams’ current technical value, with the five top-tier teams in the first nine positions. Just Massa is still missing, in his place Hulkenberg drove an excellent race and scored one point. The McLaren was able to take advantage of hot weather, getting the better over Toro Rosso and Force India which finished in the top 10 on Saturday. Talking about Webber’s accident in the pit, I had already pointed out the dangerousness of the tyre change process. Until now tyres came off while the car was on track, but this time it happened in the pit lane, where the room is so tight and luckily it didn’t happen the worst. Unfortunately a cameraman was injured so, starting from next GP, they can only stay on the wall. Although it’s not easy to try to find a solution, I think that the “fence is always closed when horses have already bolted”……Before the Hungarian GP, I would like to talk about the Mercedes’ request to take part in the tests at Silverstone. Beyond all the exceptions given to the German team, I think it’s fair that they take part in that test, as tests at Silverstone were conceived for a matter of safety. The commissioners will have to make sure that everything runs in the right way. However I think that it’s extremely fair to leave the Mercedes off the rookie tests.

As it has happened many times since the beginning of the season, last weekend was a double-faced weekend for Ferrari and a one-sided one for Red Bull. Once again the final result was influenced by weather and tyres.

It was a very difficult Saturday for Ferrari but excellent for Red Bull, especially for Vettel who achieved Sunday’s great success thanks to a very good qualifying session. He ran very fast since the beginning, taking a good advantage over rivals. They were so good at turning a difficult situation around to their benefit, but they were also so lucky, because, despite Sebastian brushed a wall and ran off the road on the first corner, he didn’t break his stride. The two driver errors are a clear symptom that even the German driver can make mistakes.

Fernando Alonso drove an excellent race; the Spaniard showed to be a crushing driver, as he ran an aggressive race. His second place tastes like a victory. There’s also a little bit of regret for losing time, being held up by Rosberg and Webber. Felipe Massa delivered a positive performance, as well. After an accident ruined his qualifying session, he was able to gain several positions and set excellent times, driving a very good race and scoring precious points.

Mercedes demonstrated to have solved tyre issues, finishing 3^rd with Hamilton after a hard struggle against Alonso.  They can play the role of Championship’s arbiters. Among the four teams Lotus could be the less dangerous, as I’m not sure the team will have enough financial resources to carry out the car development programme until the end. I hope that Sunday’s performance doesn’t sound like an alarm bell for the team. I think that track’s low temperatures had a bad influence on their performance: 28°C is a too low temperature for them. Despite that, Kimi was able to finish in the zone points, unlike his teammate.

Congrats to Vergne and Toro Rosso. They not only finished in the zone points, but also in the top 6, fighting against top teams on equal terms. In the past the top 6 limited the zone points, luckily today the zone points limit has been broadened to the top 10. Nowadays, finishing 7^th or 8^th is an important result, while in the past it meant to finish outside the zone points. This is the reason why, finishing 5^th means achieving a very good result for a second-tier team’s driver. Sunday’s result was the Faenza-based team’s best result achieved after the victory at Monza and demonstrates the team is going to the right direction. The Italian team’ drivers are very competitive.

Force India demonstrated to be an excellent outsider once again. The Indian team finished 5^th ahead of McLaren, which didn’t manage to finish in the zone points.

F.1 will be back to Europe in three weeks. Races will be run on European historical tracks; teams have two weeks to make further upgrades.