(Editors Note: We’d like to welcome Claire Fraser to SoD – she’ll be expanding your horizons with coverage of F1. You’ll like it. And if you don’t…there will be consequences)
SoD has graciously opened its doors to a little bit of car racing. No, we won’t be discussing NASCAR, we are sticking to F1. Call it pretentious, but that’s how it is. (Quick shout out to Mark Martin! Old guys rule! Ok, done with that). Supposedly, I get to be the resident F1 expert, since I am the only one who really follows this sport. To be fair, I should point out that the Dr. does follow F1 now and is a HUGE Lewis Hamilton fan (can we say bandwagon?), but that is only because I forced him to get into it.
First, a little background on Formula 1, beyond what you learned from Talladega Nights. Generally, each season features a number of races, with a championship for both the drivers and the car builders, or “constructors.” Just like soccer, F1 is HUGE HUGE HUGE overseas, with a minor following stateside and the majority of US sports fans unaware, or at best, apathetic about it. Fans of various countries support both the car builders from their countries, and also the drivers that hail from all around the world. (In the post-race victory celebrations, the national anthem of both builder and driver are played). The team budgets in F1 are almost unbelievably huge; $500 million per year for Ferrari, and rumors of $700 million for Toyota. For comparison, remember that the much-touted payroll for the 2009 Yankees is $208,097,414 (salary only, no operations cost). Still, I doubt paying Hank Jr. and Costanza is another $300 mil.
Even George and George couldn't run up a bill to equal an F1 budget!
There are a number of teams in F1 (team names are “Constructor”-“Engine Provider” Yes, some factories provide engines to multiple teams):
Brawn-Mercedes
Red Bull Racing-Renault
Ferrari
McLaren-Mercedes
Toyota
Williams-Toyota
Renault
BMW Sauber
Force India-Mercedes
STR-Ferrari
Ferrari and McLaren are the traditional powerhouses in F1. As we’ll see, Red Bull and Brawn have had phenomenal and surprising success this year.
Somewhat like NASCAR, car design is a big deal, possibly more important than who’s driving the car. Both engine design and manufacturer matter, combining with aerodynamic design to decide who succeeds and who fails. And similarly to NASCAR, there is a constant battle between the rule-makers and the teams to push the envelope on aerodynamic design.
For those skeptics of you out there, of which I am sure there are many, who wonder why anyone would want to watch cars go around a track, I offer you some arguments: 1. F1 races are not on oval tracks, there are numerous curves both left and right, uphills, downhills, and tremendous braking and acceleration. 2. The evolution of technology in F1 is astounding; what these cars are capable of is truly incredible and it is pretty cool to see all the fancy gadgets these teams develop. 3. You get a cultural experience. F1 literally races worldwide (Brazil, Japan, Bahrain, Germany, etc.). The foreign fan base brings a certain level of class to the sport. Because, you know, America sucks. Texas, in particular. 4. The commentators are fantastic. Bob Varsha, David Hobbs, Steve Matchett, and Peter Windsor on SpeedTV are wonderfully sarcastic and informative at the same time. They make even dull races entertaining. 5. F1 has hot fans and sign girls. Italian chicks, in particular. Generally, you see quite a few attractive celebrities on the track prior to the start of the race. Whenever driver Lewis Hamilton does well (which is quite often) the broadcast often shows his girlfriend, Nicole Scherzinger of The Pussycat Dolls, jumping up and down. Need I say more?
Jump, Nicole! Jump!
In order to fully comprehend the 2009 F1 season, you need a little background on the Brawn GP Team, fka Honda Racing. Midway through a disastrous 2008 season, the only good part being the awesome looking “Earth Cars” which were essentially nothing more than a pretty shell, Honda effectively threw in the towel and began work on their 2009 car. This was not a big deal, because the 2008 Honda car sucked. Despite the work being done on their 2009 car, Honda announced its intentions to withdraw from F1 in late 2008 due to their unwillingness to continue the team’s $300 million budget. After much back and forth, Ross Brawn (we will get to him in a minute) bought the Honda team and the Brawn GP (Gran Prix) team was formed.
The 2009 F1 season began with high hopes of increased competition and passing due to new regulations. The team formerly known as Honda, Brawn GP, stunned the field with completely redesigned cars running Mercedes engines. Who would have thought that the team mocked by commentators last year would win 6 out of 7 of the first races?
Gone was that “horrible Honda chassis” (as referred to by commentator Steve Matchett – as a Brit, its “shassis”), thanks to Ross Brawn. Here’s a little summary of his career:
- Technical Director of Benneton from 1991 – 1996, during which time Benetton driver Michael Schumacher won back-to-back World Drivers’ Championships in ’94 and ’95 and the World Constructors’ Championship in ’95.
- Followed Schumacher to Ferrari in 1996. Under Brawn’s Technical Direction Ferrari won 6 consecutive Constructors’ Championships from 1999-2004 and Michael Schumacher won 5 consecutive Drivers’ Championships from 2000-2004.
- Left Ferrari in 2006.
- Joined Honda as Technical Director and then named Team Principal in 2007.
- Bought the Honda F1 team in 2009 and formed Brawn GP.
All that success, and he's dreamy, too!
Brawn GP’s domination sparked a huge controversy about the legality of the Brawn car’s diffuser, a previously-unknown component hanging off the back of the car. If you really want to know more about this diffuser controversy, the internet is full of technical articles. In very basic terms, most of the teams, with the exception of Brawn and Williams and Toyota to a lesser extent, interpreted the new aerodynamic regulations one way, and created a small diffuser which provided less downforce for the car. Brawn and Williams essentially created a “double diffuser” thus allowing the cars to have significantly more downforce. Downforce equals grip, and grip equals more speed through turns.
All that hubub and bitching over that little black thing!
The legality of the “double diffuser” used by Brawn, Williams, and Toyota in the first 2 races was challenged by the other teams. This ultimately led to F1’s International Court of Appeal ruling that the “double diffuser” was fully compliant with the regulations. Basically, Brawn, Williams, and Toyota were rewarded for their guts and the other teams were left scrambling to quickly design and manufacture “double diffusers” of their own.
To explain how incredible it is that the traditional powerhouse teams of Ferrari and McLaren are on the outside looking in at the 2009 championship, let me quickly take you back to 2008. The Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship came down to the final race, the Brazilian GP, with Felipe Massa of Ferrari v. Lewis Hamilton of McLaren. It is no secret that I prefer that a driver get to win his home GP, so I was rooting for Massa the entire time (it didn’t hurt that I am also a Massa and Ferrari fan). Heading into the race Hamilton had 94 points and Massa had 87. If Hamilton finished in 5th place or better he would win no matter how Massa finished.
On the final lap, Massa was in 1st, Hamilton in 6th; it looked like Massa would get his championship. Massa finished and won the race, with Hamilton still 6th, stuck behind Toyota driver Timo Glock. Ferrari and Massa began celebrating what they believed was their World Championship victory. What happened next can be interpreted many ways, but as a Ferrari fan the interpretation is this: Timo Glock basically pulled over and letsHamilton pass on the final curve of that final lap. Hamilton finished in 5th, winning the Drivers’ Championship by a single point.
Ferrari winning the Constructors’ Championship did not soften that blow or dry Massa’s tears. So in 2008, these two teams were battling up to the last corner of the last lap of the final race of the season. Of course, this meant they were putting their energy week in and week out into their 2008 cars, not the 2009 car under the next year’s aerodynamics rules. The teams, such as Honda (Brawn) had long thrown in the towel on the 2008 season and were already hard at work on their 2009 cars. Ferrari and McLaren have been playing catch up this whole season.
So, Brawn dominated the first 7 races of the year, with driver Jenson Button winning all but 1 of them. Then, some of the other teams started to get their acts together and other teams have come storming back to give Brawn some competition. What looked to be a season where the Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships would be decided midway through has at least come down to the 2nd to last race, and might, fingers crossed, actually be decided by the final race.
3 Drivers are still in contention for the Drivers’ Championship, with just two races left: Jenson Button (85 points), Rubens Barrichello (71), and Sebastian Vettel (69).
Drivers can score a maximum of 10 points per race, so the odds of Vettel winning are unfortunately slim at this point. Especially given the fact that Vettel has run out of new engines (teams are limited to 8 per car per season). Vettel won the Japanese GP with a reused engine and will reuse other engines for the final 2 races. This means less practice and qualifying laps for Vettel as he desperately attempts to conserve these engines and avoid a 10-place grid penalty for having to go above the 8 engine limit.
More to come with the Brazil GP Preview post…I know you can’t wait.
Wait what was all that? Something about driving cars?
It’s good to see technology has improved since my days of driving the 78 Dodge van with “three on the tree.”
BTW, NASCAR still uses carburetors. No fuel injection for America’s #2 sport!