ATLAS F1   Volume 6, Issue 35
		The Formula One Insider

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS - where being a big Walloon goes with the territory.	by Mitchell McCann, U.S.A.

EAU ROUGE 0 : BAR 2 Unlike last year, Eau Rouge failed to become the single biggest line item on BAR's profit and loss statement although there will probably still be a lot more "and L" than there is "P" in that document. No, this years excitement was a little further up the track where Mika Hakkinen put a move on Schumacher that was so sweet they're going to come out with a caffeine-free, one calorie, diet version. I'm not going to describe the move to you because if you haven't seen it for yourself you won't believe my description. Suffice it to say that following the move, Schumacher and Zonta were wearing each other's underwear and Mika was wearing one of Michael's smiles. You know, one of those big shit-eating ones that he uses when he's just done something really clever that other people seemed to have noticed without him having to tell them how really, really clever he's just been. But back to the race. As was to be expected, Spa put on a show that relegated the Hungaroring to the furthest recesses of our Formula One consciousness even if we were denied the excitement of 22 cars arriving at the same 5 square yards of La Source within 1.5 seconds of each other. Oh well, there's always next year. I must admit that I thought the decision to use a rolling start was just a little on the wimpy side as it wasn't even raining at the time. Given the prevailing weather conditions in the Ardennes and the fact that La Source is liable to remain the first corner for some considerable time to come, this precedent may ensure that we'll see a Ferrari World Champion long before we see another standing start at Spa! But what do I know? They all got around safely and no doubt some of them went on to live happily ever after. Within a couple of laps it was obvious that the wet, slippery stuff was going away and, as luck would have it, for the first time in many moons, it was Alesi's turn to use the thinking cap this week and he was the first to dive into the pits to change onto slicks. Within 30 seconds every other team in the pit-lane had noted Alesi's first sector time and had immediately called their # 1 driver in for a pit stop. Well everybody except McLaren that is. Seems the McLaren weather forecaster who, you'll recall, wants to be an astronaut when he grows up, couldn't find a window out of which to stick his hand. Nevertheless, even Coulthard eventually changed onto slicks and the race continued until Mika found the wet spot. The wet spot wasn't where you would usually expect to find it and that goes double for Mika Hakkinen. Schumacher must have thought Xmas and his birthday had all come at once as he roared past the stationary Finn (a stationary Finn is a Scandinavian selling happy pens). As Mika sorted himself out and set off in hot pursuit, it must have occurred to him that he looked particularly stupid spinning out of the lead as Monza isn't until next week. But following the last round of pitstops, Mika redeemed himself in full as he easily caught the Ferrari and then passed it with a move that will long be remembered. FRIDAY QUALIFYING Seems Bernie had a thought that I agreed with. Fortunately, I have now managed to talk myself out of my previously held opinion so that I can safely conclude that Bernie is both stupid and wrong. The subject is Friday Qualifying as you would know if you were paying attention earlier when I said FRIDAY QUALIFYING in great big capital letters. Bernie has suggested that there be two qualifying sessions, one each on Friday and Saturday, and that the aggregate times of these two sessions should be used to determine the grid for the race. My initial reaction was that this would be a great idea because right now the Friday sessions are useless to everybody, including the teams themselves if they're on a track that they've been testing on for the last week and a half. Make it count, and then maybe somebody will televise it. That is the one real upside. One more hour of televised F1 activity per race weekend. On the downside: 1.  The surprising grid positions that we occasionally see, like Trulli and Button on the front two rows, will be even less likely if the performances have to be repeated over two sessions. 2.  Qualifying will take longer than the race. Hell, I'd rather see one qualifying session and two races. 3.  Virtually nobody, with a job and/or a spouse, will ever be able to watch the Friday session live. 4.  It does not actually make the competition any more exciting - it just takes longer to determine the outcome. David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher, dedicated workaholics that they are, immediately suggested that if Friday was too boring for the public then maybe they shouldn't do anything at all on Fridays. Thanks, guys, nice to know you care. This should be so easy to fix. At the very least, ban testing at European GP venues - that way the cars will have to take to the track on Friday and at least the live audience at the circuit will have something to watch. If you really want to beef up a three day weekend, add another race not another qualifying session. Have qualifying on Friday, a sprint race on Saturday and the main event on Sunday. As long as the drivers don't have anything else to do, that is. IN BRIEF Rumors that Frentzen and Coulthard were seeing each other this weekend were hotly denied by a spokesman for the couple who said that they were just good friends and that nothing should be read into the fact that they spent the entire qualifying session and race together. (The last two weeks in Rimini was of course a completely different subject). Jean Alesi proved that he isn't quite dead yet by throwing in a fastest lap some time before his car expired which was, of course, some time before the race ended. Jean explained this weekend that his contract is with Alain Prost and not necessarily the Prost team so it will be interesting to see what Jean will be driving next year if Prost sells the team. Maybe Alain has a Deux Chevaux he can let Jean borrow. Jos has been demoted from a watch to a brief. Outqualified Minardis, again! Only crashed a little bit. Prost is rumored to have signed a deal for old Ferrari engines. Barrichello DNFs with a blown engine again. Exactly which old engines do you think Prost is getting and how much better than a new Peugeot is a dead Ferrari?

Mitch McCann	© 2000 Kaizar.Com, Incorporated.
Send comments to: mccann@atlasf1.com	Terms & Conditions