Dodgy Business 1
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The Weekly Journal: Dodgy Business 1 The Weekly Journal - Volume 12, Issue 31 - August 2nd 2006 Dodgy Business The latest round of political turbulence has highlighted Formula One's highs and lows, according to Tony Dodgins By Tony Dodgins autosport.com columnist The "mass damper" issue that shaped last weekend's German Grand Prix characterises, simultaneously, F1's fascination and its failings. Suffice to say that the matter could be crucial to the outcome of the championship. The politicking and the timing are suspiciously smelly. Typically F1, in fact. It's sport, yes, but it's also soap. The ingenuity of the systems and the background to the whole story is fascinating if you're into the nitty-gritty but I felt sympathy for a Fleet St colleague on the phone to his sports editor in Hockenheim. "What have you got for us?" his desk wanted to know. "Well, there's a row kicking off about something on the Renault that's been banned and looks like screwing it. It could mean the championship battle swinging towards Ferrari." "Oh, right, what's going on?" http://www.autosport.com/journal/article.php/id/688 © 2006 autosport.com The Weekly Journal: Dodgy Business 2 "Well, the Renault has this mass damper system and the governing body has suddenly decided it's illegal, despite it being on the car since last September. They aren't running it here and some people are saying it's going to cost them 0.3s per lap. So Alonso's up against it." "What did you call it?" "A mass damper system." "And only Renault has it?" "No, actually, seven teams have got it." "So why has it hurt Renault so badly." "Because the whole car's been conceptualised around it I think, while the others have just copied it." "What does it do?" "It"s to do with suspension and maximising the tyre contact patch." Silence. "Hello? You still there?" "Yes. Just... Listen, the winner of the Tour de France has just been disqualified, there's a test match going on and you're offering me mass dampers? Ring me back if Michael Schumacher is caught shagging a German hooker or Jenson Button lands on Mars..." http://www.autosport.com/journal/article.php/id/688 © 2006 autosport.com The Weekly Journal: Dodgy Business 3 If you're an F1 anorak, of course, all this sort of stuff is great and you'll soak all the insight you can get your hands on. But if, as has been much discussed recently, the idea is to expand the reach and popularity of F1, you're probably not going to do it with a championship decided by politics and dampers. People want to know who's quicker - Alonso or Schumacher. You've actually got to feel a bit sorry for both Fernando and Michael in all of this. Fernando suddenly finds himself starting seventh and, if things continue as they are, and Bridgestone continues sticking it to Michelin on the tyre front, the Spaniard hasn't a hope in hell of stemming the red tide. Sympathy for Schumacher? Well, yes, actually. You might not have much of it left in the locker after Monte Carlo but that, for me, was funny as much as anything else, although not if you were Alonso, Raikkonen or Webber. It was gauche, entirely predictable and hardly the ground-breaking stuff suggested by the huge over-reaction. It used to be common practice to set a quick qualifying lap at Monte Carlo, come in, "top up" with oil and then smear it all over the streets to stop anyone going quicker. I could be wrong, but I've even a vague recollection of Martin Brundle's Brabham adopting just such a tactic while being run by a couple of current top-ranking FIA officials. Monaco, as well, told you all about Schuey's mental state. At 37, with two kids - although assuredly not a mortgage - and seven championships under his belt, he still wanted number eight that badly. And that's kind of endearing. If he drives his wotsits off over the next couple of months and achieves it, he's not going to be thrilled when everyone starts saying it's all down to damper politics. This is where F1 does itself a mischief. http://www.autosport.com/journal/article.php/id/688 © 2006 autosport.com The Weekly Journal: Dodgy Business 4 Schuey's no angel, I know, but people do tend to be a bit blinkered. In Germany Kimi Raikkonen unexpectedly set the quickest first run time in Q3. And, lo and behold, there he was flying off the road on the entry to the Stadium on his second run, knowing that he was down in sector one. Of course, when he came back on, he dragged a load of dust with him. Opinions varied. Some said it was irrelevant, that he came back onto the opposite side of the road to the ideal line for Sachs Kurve. But a photographer at the corner said there was dust on the track just where you'd want traction between turn-in and apex. Raikkonen had previous form at Hockenheim of course, from the days of one-at-a-time qualifying when Alonso was next to go and Kimi dropped a wheel off in Turn 1 on his slowdown lap, threw dust up and cost the furious Fernando 0.3s in sector one. What happened to Kimi? Nothing. Was it a professional foul this time? Probably not. But if it was, he made a much better job of it than Michael at Monaco. I remember standing with some Ferrari personnel waiting to find out what was going to happen in the aftermath of all that. Nigel Stepney was looking a bit sheepish. "That was a pathetic effort," I said. "Would've been much more believable if he'd creamed it into the wall out of Tabac..." "Bugger off," Nigel laughed, "Felipe's done enough damage for one day, thank you very much!" Michael was very po-faced about not getting pole at Hockenheim but said nothing. Well he couldn't really, could he? Probably, Kimi's was a genuine mistake but the point is, nobody even asked the question! One quick final thought for you. Wonder how Flavio Briatore's feeling at the moment? He gets his boss, Alain Dassas, to massage the manufacturers into agreeing a commercial agreement, then he does the FIA proud over the engine freeze business. And what do they do? They go and nick his dampers! There's gratitude for you... http://www.autosport.com/journal/article.php/id/688 © 2006 autosport.com.