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This week's Grapevine brings you
information fresh from the paddock on:
- The Pendulum Swings
- Safer than Houses
- Picked from the Bunch
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The Pendulum Swings
"Ferrari reliability" has become a by-word, setting a standard which all the other teams are striving to match. The benefits are undeniable: cars reaching the finish almost invariably improve on their grid positions. Places like Monaco regularly see less than half of the grid finish; even a backmarker has a chance to score points there.
Coming away from Monaco, despite Schumacher's dominance for Ferrari over most of the race, attitudes in the paddock reflect a chance in momentum at the front.
Mika Hakkinen's weekend was, largely, one he would rather forget. Qualifying saw two imperfect runs and lots of traffic trouble, whilst Schumacher dominated. Adding insult to injury, two Jordans and his teammate headed him on the grid. Not good news for the man with a reputation for spotless qualifying performances. The race itself saw Hakkinen suffer further, primarily from a data transmitter that came loose in the cockpit, finally jamming under the brake pedal. Without that, there would probably have been two McLarens on the podium… but that's another story.
Coulthard, at the same time, kept his car on the road and the pressure on Trulli, until the Jordan failed. He then set about closing down on Schumacher, and some would argue it was his pressure that caused Schumacher to push the Ferrari to breaking point. Closing Schumacher down, he set fastest times galore, and visibly settled right on the pace, apparently completely at ease.
And it has been well noticed in the paddock. The calm, collected nature of Coulthard's win has raised eyebrows and set tongues wagging about the Scot and his chances for this year's title.
The F1-2000 is certainly a good car, and Schumacher is making the most of it so far; however, since McLaren sorted out their reliability issues, effort has been returned to working on outright pace. The remaining tracks, if anything, favour McLaren more than Ferrari. Accordingly, the feeling in the paddock is that momentum is returning to the Woking stable.
Schumacher's Monaco performance was impressive – right up to the point where his car failed. And with it, the image of an indestructible Ferrari faded.
Safer than Houses
The irony of Monaco's safety record is certainly lost on the average spectator. It's often thought that the reason drivers survive the Monaco crashes are the relatively low speeds they are making when things go wrong – accidents occur mainly on the corners, and everyone knows that Monaco is slow, after all. But that's only a small part of the story.
The circuit is run on streets, with nothing but safety barriers to catch the unwary, and traditionally, almost every driver writes off a session in the barriers over the race weekend. In this year's race alone, Ste Devote claimed four drivers. Taken correctly, it is a second gear, 90km/h (55mph) corner, with drivers just missing the barriers on the way out. Every car that hit the armco there, did so at around that speed – or slightly over.
Considering the accident which broke Michael Schumacher's leg last year had a recorded impact speed only ten percent faster than this, most people would wonder how it is that the drivers are prepared to get into their cars on this track. Theoretically at least, their chances of coming away damaged are significant. Yet the circuit actually has one of the best safety records on the calendar.
The reasons are many-fold. Foremost, the confined circuit is excellently marshalled: the marshals are noted for their effectiveness at removing stricken cars from the track, which plays a vital role in ensuring the only hazards a driver faces are racing cars, and the circuit itself.
Then again, there is the approach to placing barriers, and managing the dissipation of crash energy. Whilst it is possible for a driver to find a barrier they can crash headlong into (the second worst scenario), or hit completely sideways on losing control completely (the worst case), they are in fact very carefully placed. Under all normal, and many abnormal, circumstances, cars touch the barriers on an oblique. This presents the car with its most effective energy dissipating impact vectors, maximising safety for the occupant.
The barriers themselves are carefully constructed, and designed to dissipate energy in an impact. Furthermore, "hotspots" are given a tyre barrier in front, or compression barriers for small placings, which further absorb the impact energies.
Monaco has always been considered an exception to the normal rules in Formula One; however, contrary to popular belief, safety really isn't experiencing the compromise that the viewing public is led to believe.
Picked from the Bunch
Michael Schumacher is being accused of playing mind games again, after implying Coulthard was not a serious title contender. McLaren's Ron Dennis promptly rejected his statements, commenting that Coulthard has seen enough of Schumacher's tactics in the past to remain unfazed.
David Coulthard's victory appears to have put his place at McLaren beyond doubt – for now. Paddock gossip rules out Villeneuve defecting to McLaren in 2001.
Juan Montoya's first CART win with Toyota has added to the pressure on Jenson Button at Williams. Current opinion holds that Montoya is favourite to take the seat in the 2001 BMW-Williams, though there are also thoughts he could remain in CART another year, postponing the decision for 12 months.
Bridgestone's Monza test included new "5 groove" tyres, and some new "soft" tyres for high speed circuits. It's believed that McLaren and Ferrari both tested other experimental tyres, intended to provide data for the forthcoming Michelin competition.
A few grapes collected by RaceFax:
Jerez, which would very much like to get the Spanish GP back, is planning a $20 million upgrade. The entire surface will be repaved, and the starting line will be moved to the back straight, between the Sito Pons and Dry Sac curves.
The French GP, expected to shift to Paul Ricard, now that Bernie Ecclestone is involved, will remain at Magny-Cours through 2005, the contract having recently been extended. Apparently there's a dispute with the lease holders at Paul Ricard.
Rumours continue that Ferrari will switch to Michelin next year. If true, don't expect an announcement before season's end. Unlike Williams, Ferrari values the benefits on being able to test Bridgestone rubber for the rest of this year
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