Brains or Brawn?

After weeks of haggling and false reports that a deal was done, a solution is finally official. Brawn GP is born.

I am shaking my head at this one and as to why Ross Brawn is jumping into the deep end. No doubt, the man is intelligence. But this decision is anything but. I get the feeling that all his years of fine work with Schumacher are going to go down the drain, leaving his reputation in tatters.

This new team have all the hallmarks of being the ‘Super Aguri’ of 2009. All that time and money spent on developing a ‘contender’ for 2009 is out the window. They have zero testing done. I’m sure there are going to be design issues with switching out a Honda power plant for a Mercedes. Sponsors are needed. In short, it is going to be another year of struggle.

The whole situation has disaster written all over it. Many may be lamenting that Bruno Senna has been given the short shift, losing out to Barrichello for the second seat. It may be a blessing in disguise for the nephew of the legendary Ayrton. His reputation and confidence won’t plummet by driving for an ailing team.

Logically, it would have made more sense for a big time investor to come in. Short term, the team will struggle but long term, there is potential. The biggest question that will be answered in time is whether Brawn can survive short-term to reap any benefits.

Checkbook Drivers? No Thanks!

Toro Rosso boss Gerhard Berger signalled that he would not turn to pay drivers in 2009.

The future of STR is shrouded in doubt with Red Bull supremo, Dietrich Mateschitz, planning to sell his half of the team. Mateschitz plans to pull Red Bull’s involvement with its junior team due to end of the customer cars ‘era’. I use the term ‘era’ lightly, given that it has only lasted a couple of years.

Red Bull have no intention of trying to finance too teams. Although, they have gone about it in a much better way than Honda did with Super Aguri. That leaves co-owner and former race winner Berger looking to stabilize the teams future. So far there hasn’t been much talk about an investor. On-track results have hardly helped the situation either.

I have to say, I have a load of respect for Berger in his desire not to touch pay drivers. The idea of people paying their way into Formula One has always gotten underneath my skin. It just isn’t right. Formula One is the pinnacle of single-seater racing. That means we should have the best drivers in the world. Why should someone be able to buy in to that?

Minnow teams have been filled with this sort. Luckily, the past few years have seen this breed of driver die out. Not in its entirety of course. Nakajima to an extent is a pay driver, helping to shave numbers off the Toyota engine bill at Williams. Sakon Yamamoto is another example of a driver who somehow found his way back onto the grid last year with Spyker after a year with Super Aguri. Did he get there because of his brilliant driving talents or the size of his wallet? Pretty much a no brainer there!

In the cut-throat world where money seems to be everything, Berger’s stance is something to be admired. Hopefully come the end of the year he doesn’t find himself having to change his mind.

...And Past It They Go.

Well that didn’t take long. After having their trucks barred from entering the paddock, Aguri Suzuki announced today that the team would shut up shop. Hardly surprising for the team trying to be the little team that could.

Three years is a short lifespan for a team, but to their credit Super Aguri made a mark in the sport. The 2007 saw the team humble their works counterparts during the early part of the season that eventually saw the team score points. The Japanese team finished ninth in the constructors table.
Aguri gave a rightfully deserved parting shot to Honda team boss Nick Fry. As I stated earlier, Fry had no right sticking his nose into the affair. It was between the Honda company and Aguri.

What next for Sato and Davidson?

Taku is likely to find some capacity with Honda. They sanctioned Super Aguri for him after he was ousted from the main squad. Perhaps a move for the Honda backed IRL series is a second option for the driver. I would be surprised to see him on the grid again. While he has raw pace within him, he is too erratic for a team to take a gamble on.
As for Davidson, to be honest I have never been as impressed with him as the ITV commentary team. While he has began to beat Sato consistently, he failed to take advantage of the early part of the 2007 season when the car was capable of nicking a point.
Nick Fry is likely to have a place for him in the short-term given that he is a big fan of the Brit. Fry even went as far to say that Aguri had no choice but to use him this year when other names were been mentioned with the second seat. Should Barrichello decide to retire at the end of the year it could provide Davidson with a final chance at Formula One.

Super Aguri On The Brink

The Japanese team are on the brink, with the Turkish Grand Prix just a few days away.

Since the collapse of the Magma takeover bid, the team has been scouring for a new backer. They just about made it to Spain but it looks like Turkey could be one step too far. Despite interest from another party, team trucks that have arrived on scene have been barred from entering the paddock.

Why? Apparently the reason behind it is that Nick Fry told the FIA that Super Aguri wouldn’t be racing. No official reason has yet to be mentioned for it. It’s just another bizarre twist in the story which saw the team’s cars shipped back to England after the Spanish grand prix.
Fry has made no secret of his desire to have Honda cut off support for Aguri. Actually it seems a tad out of character for someone who walks around with a dopey grin on his face all the time no matter what. Maybe he is getting worried about rumours of being moved to Super Aguri and wants to ensure that avenue is shut. I think he is sending out the wrong messages whilst talks for the team’s survival are on-going. Let them deal with it and keep your nose out of it!

I could always see this happening eventually. There was no way Honda could pay for two Formula One teams. Now maybe if Honda and their marketing department had gotten off their lazy asses and gotten a paying sponsor as opposed to this ‘Earth Dream’ whatever concept, they wouldn’t find their financial belts too tight.

Never did I see long-term viability for a team that was specifically created to keep a home-grown driver on the grid. Granted, they weren’t as bad as some teams I’ve seen over the years but they were dependent on having cars given to them by Honda. After missing so many tests earlier this year I wondered why they didn’t just bother taking a sabbatical given how far they were behind.

Days like Canada last year, where Sato found himself in the points and overtaking world champions seems an age away. Perhaps Super Aguri paid the price for showing up the works team, who at time point were being resoundly beaten by Aguri. Had their performances not shown the light even brighter on the Honda plot, perhaps Honda would be more forgiving at this stage.

For Sale: Pre-owned F1 team. No Longer Wanted Due To Impending Rule Change. Need Sold By 2010

Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz has confirmed that the Toro Rosso team is up for sale. With customer cars outlawed from 2010 with a new Concorde Agreement, the junior Red Bull squad will no longer be able to run a similar car as the main squad.

The customer car row has been rumbling for a number of years now with independent teams such as Williams and Force India (under it many previous guises) fighting tooth and nail against the customer cars. We’ve already seen its impact earlier in the year with Prodrive not making it onto the grid as expected.

I’ve never been a fan of customer cars in Formula One. When I think customer cars I think of the racing in the United States. Not that it is a bad thing mind you. But that’s the way they have done it for many year there and it has it benefits. This however is F1, the pinnacle of single-seater motorsports. F1 doesn’t have a team championship, it is a constructor’s championship – and you can’t spell ‘constructors’ without ‘construct’! The likes of Toro Rosso and Super Aguri don’t do that, rather they run with modified versions of their parent teams. ‘Synergy’ is a term that has been thrown around to cover what in layman’s term can be described as using the same car. If you copy someone’s homework in class, you don’t get away with it. Why should you in F1?

One of the draws of F1 is to see teams running cars that carry the mark and influence of the team. If I wanted to see cars that were all the same, I would watch another form of single-seaters.
Prodrive abused the entry slot they were won to make it onto the grid. At the time customers cars were a hot topic, they knew this. They held out as long as they could in the hope the rules would change that would suit their entry with a customer car. They didn’t and the series lacked a 12^th team this year. Why were they allowed to do this I ask? Perhaps one of the other bidders had ambitions or resources to make their own car if it came to it and could’ve been on the grid this year. We will never know now.

Don’t get me wrong, customer cars do have advantages. They would help with the much heralded cost-cutting that Mosley goes on about.

Should the sport be diluted that much in an attempt to save money? I think not.

2008 Season Preview - Part I

Slightly delayed but worth the wait! This is the Chequered Flag’s 2008 season preview. Like last year it will be divided into three parts covering the field. Last year I hit the nail on the head with a number of predictions, so hopefully I’ll be right again this year!

Toro Rosso

Can they step out of big brothers shadow?
A slow start to last year ended with their first double points finish in China, the Red Bull Junior squad has a new line-up this season. An Achilles heel may be their late arrival of the new car which means they will start the season in the '07 car. Starting late has never been a successful formula, especially for a mid-tier team. They will be playing catch-up all season and they hardly have a driver line-up brimming with experience to develop the car along. Toro Rosso would do well to hire an experienced hand to help bring the new car on song.

Vettel is a potential starlet, so much so he was allegedly coveted for the free McLaren seat. He showed tremendous character to come back from running into the back of his team-mate at Fiji to score points at China, even if one could point to Hamilton’s excessive stop-starting weaving as a cause to it. If STR provide a good car he can bring it home in the points. How long he will be there is probably the more concerning thing for them. A talent like him risks been poached by the bigger teams at any time. I’m sure BMW have an idea for him to replace Heidfeld when he retires.

Sébastian Bourdais comes into the sport on the back of four Champ Car titles. A help or a hindrance? Well in the past a number Champ Car winners have failed to light up the show. Testing has gone okay for the Frenchman but he is in the deep end and will have to learn to swim fast. Toro Rosso have shown themselves to be brutal if a driver fails to live up to expectations. Bourdais will be looking to be on Vettel’s coat tails or will be joining Klien, Speed and Luizzi on list of former drivers.

Honda

It can’t worse than last year, could it?
That’s the question Honda fans and Jenson Button are asking. Their joke of a livery that was only superceded by their joke performances, 2008 is all about rebuilding credibility. Ross Brawn, tactical genius has been drafted in to assist the ailing team but his arrival is surely too late to provide any major impact in 2008. Testing so far has failed to show that the team has made significant improvements. In my view money that could be better spent on R&D is used to finance the running of team which otherwise would be paid by actual sponsorship. Their failure to secure a long term main sponsor after the loss of BAT has hurt them bad. Paying the expenses for the ‘B’ team don’t help the situation either. Of course having Super Aguri on the grid would make sure that Honda aren’t going to be last!

How this car goes will ultimately decide Button’s future. I don’t see him waiting around for another season, even with Ross Brawn on-board if this years car is as bad as the last. I’m sure there is clauses in his contract that would allow himself to extradite himself from the team if it came to it. In a way it’s a touch of irony that he would be wanting to ditch the team after he worked so hard to break his Williams contract seeing Honda as the future.

Along with Button, this is a make or break season for Barrichello, albeit if he doesn’t match Button it will be him out of a job. The Brazilian, who will eclipse the record for longest serving grand prix driver this year scored zero points last year and was outclassed by Button. Regardless of the car he should have at least matched his team mate. Rubens has to show he still has the hunger to succeed. After everything he’s accomplished does he really have that hunger? I doubt it.

Force India

I wonder how much it costs per year to get uniforms updated with new team logos?
Ever since Eddie Jordan sold up this team has been falling about like a drunk in search of it’s identity. Is Mallya the man to finally take the team by the hand and find it? Time will tell. Talk of progression has been big this camp with the new Indian billionaire owner but isn’t that always the case with the previous reincarnations of the Jordan team. On track results and not big words is the yardstick teams are judged by.

In Giancarlo Fisichella is a Jekyll and Hyde driver. He failed, despite his own protestations that it wasn’t his fault, to take advantage of race winning cars provided by Renault. His move to Renault a number of years ago should’ve headlined a new beginning and perhaps the first Italian Formula One champion since Ascari back in the 1950’s. It proved to be a false dawn and Fisichella takes his bruised reputation back to the tail end of the grid. Have Force India signed a washed up driver? Maybe. But the Italian’s best work has been in middle and lower tier teams. The likes of Minardi, Jordan, Sauber all benefited from the Italian and perhaps it is in this sort of environment that can get the most out of him. Failure to put aspiring Sutil away though will mean the end of his career at the end of the season.

Adrian Sutil remains with the team for his second year despite been heavily linked with Toyota. Last year saw raw pace sprinkled with inexperience that he must overcome to show himself as a star of the future. He could benefit most from Fisichella’s arrival. Look at how much Rosberg grew with Wurz alongside him at Williams. Beating his teammate must be his number on objective. In the eyes of many Fisichella is past it and if Sutil fails to beat him, then he may wish he pushed harder to get his chance at Toyota.

Super Aguri

Will they, won’t they?
That’s the question swirling around the Honda ‘B’ team at the moment. The last time I remember a team missing this much of pre-season was Lola back in 1996 and look how that turned out. Their future has always been in doubt given that they suckle from Honda’s cash flow. Remember that Super Aguri was basically founded to keep Takuma Sato in an F1 drive as outrageous as that sounds. The 2007 was a successful one by the team’s first year standards. They scored points and encroached on second qualifying at times. Their end of season slump was due to the bigger budget teams having the development money. Of course in this sport, it’s down to the bottom dollar and that is where Super Aguri are in trouble with their failure to attract a major sponsor. Honda cannot afford to run two operations, especially seeing as both are flops as it stands.

Driverwise should they make the field they will most likely remain with the same driver lineup. As previously stated, the team was built for Sato which makes him a given. Davidson was given the nod by Honda ‘A’ squad chief Nick Fry who said he would object to another driver been brought in his place. This is exactly why Aguri is failing – sentimentality. Davidson showed pace in qualifying but his races were nothing to write home about. Sato is inconsistent, at times he shows he has what it takes, others he’s off in the doldrums. Honda need to get ruthless and cut them and Super Aguri and try to salvage a waning main team.

2007 Preview - [Part Three]

Now on to the final teams that will take part this season.

Williams

In Nico Rosberg, Williams have one of the stars of the future. At the beginning of last season he showed good promise before the failing car brought him back down to earth. If Williams can give him a good car then expect him to bring home points.

Alexander Wurz has not raced since the 2000 season. That is a long time out of the cockpit. In the meantime he's been testing for McLaren and Williams. To make a comeback after this long and be successful will be quite a story if Wurz can pull it off. The Austrian is highly talented and his return to the cockpit is richly deserved.

After the worst season in their history, Williams have worked hard during the winter to improve - the most notable been the change to Toyota power. The 2007 package so far appears to have made strides and the team sits comfortable in mid-table after the winter tests. Lack of funds and the inability to make the Bahrain test show the limitations the team are already under for the coming year.


Scuderia Toro Rosso

Toro Rosso remain with an unchanged line-up but 2007 is likely to be the last chance Liuzzi and Speed have to impress. This years car looks like a modified version of the A team car, powered by the Ferrari engine. There is no excuses for STR not to make strides up the field. With a number of Red Bull backed drivers waiting for their chance, both drivers must deliver.


Spyker

Another new owner for the former Jordan team this year with the Dutch Spyker team. As was the case with the Midland guise there is a lot of optimism. Albers goes into his third year of Formula One now, his seat security helped by his Dutch ties. In Adrian Sutil they bring a young albeit unknown talent to the table. Despite the hype I expect Spyker to struggle at the tail end of the grid as has become the case from the former race-winning team.


Super Aguri

The Japanese team was one of the highlights of the last season. They went from 5 seconds off the pace in an aged car to hauling themselves up onto the tail end of the grid. With the aid of Honda and their status as a B team will undoubtedly help them make strides in terms of development. Taku Sato has improved from been erratic to a team leader to add to his pace. In Anthony Davidson they have another, like Button who has been overly hyped by the media and must earn his place on the grid. It will be difficult to properly judge Aguri as like STR, they are expected to run a modified customer chassis from their parent company.


Who wins, who loses will soon be decided. All the smokes and mirrors of winter testing will be removed come March 18th at Melbourne. The first race in the post-Schumacher era promises to be interesting.