War Of Words

Over the past few weeks, Lewis Hamilton has faced an opponent the likes of which he has never encountered – the media.

Now, as regular readers would gauge, I’m not Hamilton’s biggest fan. It’s nothing to do with his outstanding racing craft, something I respect. It is more to do with the ITV literally plastering his face and his name over everything in their coverage, basically making the F1 race the ‘Lewis Hamilton Show – featuring a grand prix.’

It was always inevitable. Hamilton is the first Brit since Damon Hill with a realistic shot at winning the title. In terms of marketing, he ticks all the right boxes. He’s talented, good looking and well spoken. Last year it was a match made in heaven.

With James Allen shovelling the name down people’s throats even before he stepped into a race car in the back half of 2006, he justified the hype. Lewis stormed onto the scene with a fantastic debut season. Not since Villeneuve back in 1996 has a rookie made such an impact. Of course, it helps to have a winning car, but that is beside the point.

After his success of 2007, it was only a matter of time before the media got on his back when things went awry. While it is not his fault, Hamilton had a too perfect first year. His sophomore year has been more difficult and suddenly, the press are on his back. I think this is wrong.
People from every walk of life have their ups and downs. International sports people are no different. Sure, Lewis has had some bad races, some silly mistakes. But this is all part of the learning process of life. How is one to learn from mistakes if they are not made?

The British press see things differently. This is hardly a surprise. After building him up on his pedestal high into the clouds, they feel it is there right to chop him down. As I said, it was only a matter of time. You only have to look at the way they lynch the international football side and other sporting stars when things take a bad turn. In a time where solidarity and support is needed, they are nowhere to be found. The sad truth is, controversy sells papers.

That’s not to say that Hamilton is completely blameless in this. His confidence, or arrogance, depends which you view it is a double edged sword in the media. The way he has gone about dealing with the press is not helpful. But, he’s young. This is only his second year in the sport and under the microscope of the British press, who wouldn’t feel the heat. It’s attention like this that reinforces Hamilton’s decision to move to Switzerland in the off season.

This whole situation has been a year in the making. Lewis would do well to heed the advice of veteran David Coulthard, who warned him about spending too much time in public’s eye. As the new British hope, it will be hard for him, but surely not impossible.

Right now, what Lewis needs to do is to focus on what he does best - driving.

Better Late Than Never

As we approach the half distance mark in the season, one man who has impressed is Red Bull ace Mark Webber.

I’ve never been a massive Mark Webber fan. Over the years he has been continuously pumped as a great drive, something I never bought into it. I’ve always seen a loudmouth who failed to do the job in the equipment given to him. My case in point was his attack on Williams last year, where the Aussie labelled them as nothing more than a Toyota ‘B’. Of course, Red Bull also receives customer engines, something conveniently forgotten.

The joke ended up been on him at the end of the season, with Williams finishing above Red Bull in the constructors championship. Red Bull finished nine points behind the ‘Toyota ‘B’ team’ in 2007. Of course, what shouldn’t be overlooked is Red Bull’s horrid reliability. Only on two occasions did both cars make it home to the flag.

Since his points scoring debut, Webber has been touted as a potential champion. But like many, he failed to bring consistency to his raw speed. On occasion he has found himself in the upper echelons of the Formula One grid in qualifying but never brought it home.

It took him until Monaco in 2005 for him take his first podium, his fourth year in Formula One. The 2005 season was a breakthrough year for the Australian. He finished with a career high 36 point, with five top-five finishes. In his first few seasons, he was bringing home the car in sixth, seventh and eight positions.

It’s easy to point and say he was in a poor Jaguar and that he regularly trounced his team-mates. But to be fair, up until he teamed up with David Coulthard in 2007, he hasn’t really had a driver to properly test him. There is always the old adage that a great driver can always draw more out of a bad car to consider as well.

In similar machinery to Coulthard, he found himself beaten by the experienced Scotsman in the championship. It didn’t help his credibility. While Webber is no spring chicken, many see Coulthard in the final ebbs of his Formula One career. Losing to him didn’t help to reinforce the idea that this was a potential new champion in the midst.

The 2008 season has seen Mark bring all the elements of his package together. He is regularly putting his Red Bull car in the final session of qualifying. In race trim, Webber has put together a string of five consecutive points finishes. After a blip at the chaotic Canadian Grand Prix, the Australian got straight back on the horse with another impressive run at France.

He is putting his team-mate in the shade, something he should have done last year. Outside of the Ferrari, McLaren and BMW drivers, Webber has taken the mantle as ‘best of the rest’. Just shy of the halfway mark, he has already accumulated 18 points in the drivers’ championship. If he continues his current form there is no reason why he can’t set a career high points total.

There is already talking of where he might land in 2009. He has left the door open for what options might be out there. In my view, he is best to stay at Red Bull. The team has serious backing and after overcoming the mechanical woes of last year, have a package that rivals the likes of Toyota and Renault. No mean feat against two motoring giants. There is no much better options out there for him. At his age, the top teams maybe a bit reticent to take him on now. Currently he’s in the best of the rest, so it’s all rosy for him.

One concern for him may be the arrival of Sebastian Vettel has his team-mate next year. If rumours are true, it will require him to raise his game. Unlike previous team-mates, Vettel is regarding as a rising star. If Webber could beat him, it would be quiet a feather in his cap.
Until then, Webber just needs to keep his head down and continue his fantastic 2008 season.

Busch Title Challenge Back On The Road

Kyle Busch gave us an indication of how complete a racer he is with victory at the Sonoma road course.

The last few weeks have left question marks over Busch’s championship challenge. His attempt at the Triple Crown two weeks ago saw him come home last at Pocono. He followed that up with a top-15 at Michigan. After last week’s event, Busch announced he would give up his pursuit of the three championships.
If this is Kyle Busch focused on one championship, the rest of the field better beware!

I’ve never hidden my admiration for Kyle’s racing this year. When we have seen him, the Las Vegas native has given us a bucketful of excitement. People have criticized him for his pursuit of three championships. Why do that? Here is a guy who wants the race. It wasn’t about the money; it was about that winning feeling. That sort of attitude is waning these days in international motorsport.

When was the last time you saw a drive compete in four races in five days, all in different parts of the country? Sure, it didn’t work out, but his attempt was something to behold. His attention firmly back on the Sprint Cup, Busch made his way up from 30th on the grid to take the lead, cashing in on pitting at the right time. The yellow mixed the field up, pushing the early front-runners down the pack. It was a position that Busch would not relinquish for the rest of the day.

Behind him saw a number of great drives on the day. Australian Marcus Ambrose, who runs in the Nationwide series, took over the #21. He former V8 racer qualified seventh and ran strongly all day long. A move late in the race on McMurray into the turn 11 saw him out-brake the #26 and tag the rear end of Montoya. The Columbian was less than impressed with Ambrose afterwards. Maybe Juan should take it with a grain of salt. He nerfed his team-mate out of the way at Mexico in the Busch series last year.

The last section of the race saw a spate of yellow flags as cars jockeyed for position. David Gilliland came out smiling from it all, finishing second. It’s a fantastic result for the Yates team, who are still out looking for long term sponsorship. Sonoma native Jeff Gordon, who struggled with the car all day, came away with third. Casey Mears brought the #5 Hendricks car home in fifth. It was a strong day for Mears, but according to rumours his good run has come too late. He is expected to vacate the #5 at the end of the year

The race for the Chase is heating up. Matt Kenseth continues his impressive drive to the Chase. His eight place finish saw him slide into the coveted 12th spot. Kevin Harvick slips out, but finds himself only two points outside it. From 12th to 17th, there is just over 100 points separating those who want in the championship challenge.

Massa Leads Home Dominant One-Two

The Brazilian didn’t have it all his own way however. Team-mate Raikkonen looked odds on for a second victory in a row at the French circuit before a loose exhaust hampered him. Despite a blackened and charred side-pod, the world champion still brought his car home in second for eight valuable points. It is Raikkonen’s first point’s finish since Turkey.

Behind saw a great jostle for position with unfamiliar names up the front due to BMW and McLaren woes. Jarno Trulli survived a late scare to bring his Toyota home in third. After seemingly losing ground after the first Barcelona test, the Japanese team have turned the car around at the recent test. Both cars made the top-ten in qualifying and Trulli received his just reward for a solid race. Heikki Kovalviaen, who had to deal with a five place penalty for blocking in qualifying chased the Italian home. It took nearly half a race for Heikki to come alive, but his finish ends a recent run of poor results for the Finn.

Montreal winner Robert Kubica and and Nick Heidfeld looked in a different class than two weeks ago. The BMW struggled around the Magny Cours circuit. It took a massive effort from the Pole to keep the BMW competitive and will be happy with his fifth position.
After him came the gaggle of cars lead by Mark Webber. After a poor Canadian grand prix, Webber returned to his points scoring ways. I’ll be writing more about Mark Webber’s season later in the week. Nelson Piquet scored his first points of the year with seventh. The icing on the cake was nailing team leader Alonso as he ran wide at the Adelaide hairpin in the closing laps. Despite a great qualifying effort, Alonso looked hampered by having to run heavy later in the race.

And of course, there is Hamilton. The Brit endured a scrappy race that saw him struggle at times behind other cars. His race was compounded by straight-lining it over the kerbs to maintain a pass over Vettel in the first few laps. Common sense would dictate that he should just let Vettel by. Around McLaren as of late, common sense seems to be lacking. Even if they thought it was marginal, they should’ve told him to let off and nail him again.
It was easy to see from the vantage point that he couldn’t maintain the manoeuvre without going through the chicane. ITV’s commentary team made enough noise yesterday about Raikkonen going four wheels off the track on his qualifying effort that he would have to do it again. Of course, when Hamilton does it, it’s suspect. The white boundaries of the track are there for a reason!

I had to laugh at the post-Montreal talk from McLaren. All that was coming out was how great the car was; how they were going to mastermind a great strategy to get him into play and so forth. Yet, come Friday practice the line ‘This is a Ferrari circuit came to play.’ Why bother toot your horn before you get to the track?
Hamilton looked scrappy throughout the weekend. His race was no different. He again found his nose into the rear of a car, this time his team-mate. No damage was sustained in his incident. He followed this up later on with banging wheels through turn three with Alonso. Hamilton needs to stop focusing on the negative media attention he’s getting. (Which is a given with the British press – just ask the English football team.) Next race is his home race, enough motivation to get his championship challenge back on track.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Jarno Trulli. It could have easily gone to Massa for keeping his nose clean or Raikkonen for managing the car as he did. But, Ferrari was so dominant that nobody had an answer for them. Given Toyota’s recent woes on and off the track, it was the perfect tonic.

Junior Breaks His Duck

Dale Earnhardt Junior finally took a long awaited victory at Michigan.

It may have been via a fuel strategy, but given Junior’s form in 2008 it is no less deserved. On a number of occasions, the sport’s most popular driver has challenged for the victory but fell short. However, Sunday saw a change in luck for Junior.

It was day where he didn’t necessarily have the best car, but a daring strategy saw him come up trumps. It isn’t the first time that Hendricks have taken the gamble with fuel. The team which dominated 2007 has struggled to replicate its form. This has led the teams to go an unorthodox direction with fuel strategies. It worked for champion Jimmie Johnson earlier in the year. Up to this point it was Hendricks’s only win of the year. Since, Junior and Gordon have scored top-10’s because of their ability to stretch their fuel.

Junior finally broke his duck when the race finished under yellow. The situation looked dire for the #88 a few laps before. Whilst coasting to save fuel, a yellow came out. The race distance would go over the 200 laps to allow a final attempt at a green flag finish. Earnhardt Nation held its breath while their man saved fuel. Half way into the final lap a spin brought out the yellow leaving Junior to cruise home to a popular win.

Championship leader Kyle Busch recovered from a torrid weekend at Pocono to finish 13^th. It could’ve been so much more for the #18 who led early on. Matt Kenseth and Brian Vickers were another two driver’s left rueing what might have been. Both drivers are making a late push for the Chase. Former champion Kenseth, who at one stage looked out of it, now stands just 14 points out of the coveted final spot.

This weekend the Sprint Cup heads to Infineon for the first of two road courses on the calendar. Last year F1 convert Juan Montoya took his maiden Nascar victory. The road courses always see a strong showing from the former single-seaters and will also see a host of a road-course ringers show up, adding more pressure to the go or go-homers.

On A Roll

Kasey Kahne continues to rise like the Phoenix from the ashes with his second points victory of the season.

Since earning a spot in the All-Star race due to popular vote, a race he went on to win, Kahne has been a driver reborn. The #9 team are looking more like the team that took six victories and a Chase berth in 2006. The struggles of 2007 seem to be behind the GEM squad. Whilst Elliott Sadler hasn’t replicated Kahne’s form, he too has shown a marked improvement.
GEM’s third driver, rookie Carpentier, has shown glimpses of what he is capable of in the #10 Dodge. Despite been outside the top-35 in owner points he has consistently gotten the car into the show. If Carpentier can start to hook up with solid race drives there is no reason why he can’t replicate Montoya in becoming a steady stock car driver.

On a weekend that he made history, Kyle Busch’s weekend ended up in tatters. The youngster, who completed in all three top-tier races in three different states, failed to win any. His Cup race saw him pinned against the wall after his spotter failed to tell him about a car on his inside. Lengthy repairs saw him return to the track but he finished dead last.
It was a hollow end to a historic weekend for the youngster. Still have to give a massive amount of credit for him trying to do as many races as he can. People criticize him for it but you can’t doubt the guys racing spirit. It isn’t about the money for him. It’s about fun and racing for victory. He is a true racer.

Hamilton penalised for brain fade moment

Late into the night it’s been announced that Hamilton will take a ten place drop for his Montreal blunder.

I expected a reprimand of some sort for him. He didn’t survive long enough to get a penalty. At the rate he was going he would’ve overshot the red light and thus given a disqualification for that. Nico Rosberg, who was also involved in the incident receives the same penalty.

Kubica Takes Historic Victory

BMW’s promise of a race victory in 2008 was fulfilled at Montreal as Kubica won. The Pole took advantage of Hamilton’s pit-lane cock-up to lead home a BMW one-two.

For all the complaints about how the track was breaking it up, we had a fantastic day of racing. The day was aided by Hamilton’s mishap. Had he ran a clean race he would’ve won by a long shot. Instead he lost his championship lead by his own doing.

Brundle called it a ‘bizarre red light’. I call it a complete and utter cock-up by the Brit and I wouldn’t be surprised if he is reprimanded for his action. It’s very simple – red light means STOP! It’s one of the most basic forms of driving, let alone driving. Nobody can turn around and say it couldn’t be expected, especially after the double black flag of Massa and Montoya a couple of years ago.

I have my own view on it. Hamilton lost two places because of a bad pit-stop. Red mist descended and he was just pissed off that he had lost the ground given his vastly superior car. In that moment, he forgot about the red light and by the time he had remembered, his McLaren was into the back of Ferrari. Hold your hands up and accept it. How ironic that he laughed off his father’s crash during the week...

It was a very disappointing day for Massa and Kovalainen. This was a perfect chance for both to make head-way but they suffered from botched up strategies from their teams. Why they didn’t go on a one-stop when everyone else did is beyond me.
It was a silly decision by both teams. The right call was to go long with the possibility of further safety cars. Massa recovered best to finish fifth, going equal with Hamilton in the championship. Plenty of props to the Brazilian for some opportunistic passing on the day, especially on Barrichello and Heikki at the hairpin.

The race saw seven different leaders and apart from the BMW’s running line astern, which would be in for the final spots was a lottery. Challengers came in and went as they slipped and slid off the road. David Coulthard overcame recent woes to take a podium alongside the BMW pair. The Toyota’s ran a strong day that saw Glock in fourth and Trulli sixth. Given recent troubles for the team, it was a great result. Barrichello continued his mini-resurgence with a second points finish and Vettel, who overcame a whole host of issues on Saturday, took the final point.

Hopefully the bitching and moaning about the track condition doesn’t hurt the Canadian race. We always get a fantastic and unpredictable race that we don’t want to lose.

PC's Driver of the Day: Robert Kubica. Could it be anyone else? He kept his head down and did what he had to do. He take's his first F1 one, the first for a Pole and a first for BMW as a team. Top it off with the championship lead. What a weekend!

In Another World

That’s exactly where Lewis Hamilton was today. He was untouchable throughout the three qualifying sections and took a dominant pole position.

Judging by the timings, Lewis is making a killing in that last sector. Over the course of qualifying the Ferrari’s, Kubica and Kovalainen could match him in sectors one and two. But Lewis in sector three was something to behold. You can’t see it, but it’s there.

Sector three consists of a hairpin, the long back straight, a chicane and a short sprint to the line. By most tracks, that is nothing of a sector. So for Hamilton to pull off on average three tenths of a second advantage is something to behold. He said beforehand that he could take that chicane better than anyone else.
He proved that today. The gap he has over the rest of the field is something we haven’t seen since the days of Schumacher.

Kubica popped up out of nowhere to join him on the front row. Raikkonen and Alonso take up row two, a great effort from the Spaniard. Be interesting to see how he is on fuel tomorrow. Another star man of the day was Rosberg with fifth , with Massa beside him. Kovalainen ended up a disappointing seventh with Heidfeld eight. Barrichello kept his nose down and snuck in unawares to secure ninth whilst Webber finished out the top ten. The Aussie didn’t run in Q3 due to damage on his in-lap.

The condition of the track could be a major concern tomorrow. While track break-up is not abnormal, it is during a qualifying session. Trulli and Webber saw the track fall away from them and on some of the on-board shots we saw around the hair-pin, drivers were taking it very tight. All eyes will be on the organisers to see how to sort it. The last thing F1 needs is another track scandal in North America. It might not come to that severity but drivers were taking it extremely easy out there today.

Mosley Survivies

Max Mosley managed to survive a vote of confidence on Tuesday. However it may turn out to be a pyrrhic victory for the FIA President as the issue refuses to go away.

Mosley won rather convincingly but the complicated setup of how the clubs and such are handled makes it hard to fathom how he survived so easy after many predicted a close vote. The future of the FIA is up in the cloud as many have voiced their disapproval of the outcome.

Already the German national governing body for motorsport, the ADAC has withdrawn from the FIA until such time that Mosley quits. They aren’t the only body considering their current involvement with the FIA. It will be interesting to see if any of the others carry through to leave. If more of the larger body’s move to withdraw support, then the FIA will find itself in an even more precarious position.

Despite the result changes nothing.

Mosley should do the right thing and stand down. Since this whole business has come to light, we’ve learned things that we really didn’t want to know. But we know them. There is no changing that now. We have seen in the past that people in positions of power, in both public and private sector, have had to resign over scandals. Despite the public not getting a say within the FIA, they are still viewed from a public standpoint. Over the past few weeks we have already seen the result of the Mosley scandal. He was asked not to come to Bahrain. Spanish and Monaco royalty would not meet with him at the respective races. Nobody wants anything to do with him now.

This is the president of the FIA, the governing body for world motorsport. How can an organisation of that stature be led by someone who is not respected. What makes the FIA different that a scandal hit leader can continue on and still believe he can make the difference. No matter what Mosley has done over his presidency, he will always be remembered for this now.

Let’s not forget the sponsors and the manufacturers. Both are pivotal to the sport. Do they really want names attached to the sport? A clean break would have allowed this to issue, with is dragging on now, to be finally swept under the carpet and all parties could move on. As it stands now, Mosley will be around until next year should he keep to his retirement date.

What happens between now and then will be most interesting.

Third Time Lucky

Kyle Busch tamed the Monster Mile to pick up his fourth win of the season. He finally took the chequered flag first after problems in the Truck and Nationwide race denied him from taking a hat-trick of victories.

‘Wild Thing’, who has won pretty much in anything he has driven this year, took the victory after a number of lightning quick green flag pits that allowed him to overhaul Carl Edwards. For much of the day it looked a given that a Roush driver would win. Greg Biffle led from the outset but his #16 Ford Fusion once more ran into mechanical difficulties. However, unlike the last number of races, the problems were manageable and he came up in third. A victory for Biffle is surely around the corner. Along with Busch, the pair have looked nigh unbeatable when out front.

An opportunity to win didn’t seem to be on the cards for Busch, but his pit crew dragged the #18 into contention. His efforts were aided by Busch, who as ever pushed the limit when it came to pit entry. Despite leading the championship and the majority of the top-12 having issues, it was refreshing to see Busch maintain that ‘always on it’ mentality. Although you get the feeling it may come back to bite him down the line.

A wreck inside the first twenty laps put a number of contenders out of contention. These Chase runners Earnhardt Junior, Stewart, Harvick, Bowyer, Kahne and Hamlin were all involved in the shunt. All except Hamlin returned to the track at some stage with their cars in various sorts of condition. It’s the fantastic thing about the COT platform; it takes a whole lot of wrecking to knock the car out of contention. The results of this have been seen when you look at the race results. There is very few retirements this season. Of course, the flip side to that is if a front runner has a bad day, in all likelihood they will finish in around the 40^th position as opposed to previous years where they could gain a number of spots.
It’s what fans like to see though! The more cars on track, the more action we get to see.

The big winner of the wreck was Matt Kenseth. The former champion is in a race against time to make it for the Chase. The wreck involving a number of the Chase contenders has allowed him to drag himself back up into a position to challenge to make it. Only six cars finished on the lead lap, with Jeff Gordon in 5^th and last year’s winner Truex Junior in 6^th.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Kyle Busch. He didn’t have the best car, but some awesome pit work saw him in the position to win. His fourth victory of the year, a season high, has already bagged the Las Vegas native 40 points in the Chase.