Reflections on Catalunya
		by Roger Horton, England

The Mclaren team continued their return to winning form with another emphatic one-two victory in the Spanish Grand Prix. They now have a 100 percent finishing record in their last three races, and have also outscored their main rivals Ferrari by 42 points to 23 since Imola, two races ago. The championship titles that looked to be at Ferrari's mercy just a month ago, now look to be firmly up for grabs as the Maranello outfit again dropped the ball under the pressure of another tight race. The fractional misjudgment by the Ferrari 'lollipop' man, Federico Uguzzoni, allowing Schumacher to power away from his first pit stop before the refueller was totally clear of the car, would have cost them the race win even without Schumacher's later tire related problems. With Ferrari's chief mechanic, Nigel Stepney, injured as a result, it was left to the unfortunate Andrea Vaccari to handle the high-pressure job of refueling Schumacher's car during his second visit to the pits. A long 17.5-second stationary stop saw him rejoining the track well after Mika Hakkinen had surged by. As it was, a third stop to change tires again would cost the double world champion any chance of even a Podium finish. The brotherly love between Michael Schumacher and his brother Ralf, so evident on the opening lap at Silverstone two weeks ago when Michael yielded to his brother's overtaking move, well and truly disappeared on the 50th lap of the Spanish Grand Prix. In a piece of drama so often missing from the current F1 scene, Michael, already struggling for grip with a deflating tire, forced his brother wide through the Banc Sabadell corner as Ralf attempted an overtaking maneuver. With his brother's speed controlled by their interlocking wheels, Michael allowed his closely following teammate Rubens Barrichello through for an easy pass on the inside of both of them. These were strange tactics indeed from the elder Schumacher, who, just after Brazilian GP, was quoted criticizing the FIA over their lack of action in not introducing tire protection systems. "If you get tire contact, you get cars airborne," he then stated. "I remember Fittipaldi in 1993 in Monza. I see this as the most significant danger for both driver and spectator." Had Michael Schumacher not widened his line, his tires and Ralf's car would not have even touch, much less interlocked! A clearly unimpressed Ralf Schumacher left the circuit refusing to comment on his brother's tactics, but perhaps this is a sign that Michael Schumacher now fully appreciates Ralf's coming of age as a Grand Prix driver and is no longer prepared to treat his brother any differently from his other rivals. Earlier Michael Schumacher had been his usual forceful self in protecting his position at the start against Hakkinen, and again later in the race against David Coulthard. Neither move could be objectively criticized under the modern rules of Formula One where practically any passing move becomes a talking point, but drivers keep count of these incidents and there is always a payback time. David Coulthard won enormous respect for the way he conducted himself through what must have been a difficult week. To suggest to the cloistered world in the F1 paddock that there is more to life than the next pole position or another million squeezed from a sponsor is practically heresy. But the realisation that life, even away from the risks associated with driving a racing car on the limit, can hang by a thread even when just flying from A to B, perhaps helped some put F1 into clearer perspective, at least for a short while. Coulthard has shown all season that he can drive as fast as anyone in the races and there was more evidence on show here at Barcelona. If only he could find a way to match Hakkinen in the qualifying contest, where the score is now 31 to 6 in Hakkinen's favour since the start of the '98 season, he could perhaps mount a serious championship challenge. As it is, he too often gets caught up behind slower car/driver combinations for half the race, and by the time he gets himself in clear air the issue is all too often settled. The BMW-WilliamsF1 team continues to impress. Although BMW have without question surprised the F1 world by the competitive nature of their new engine, the Williams share of the equation has more than answered their critics who were suggesting that the team were on the downward slide. The FW22 chassis has already shown that it is not far away in terms of outright performance from the 'big two', and the arrival of Jenson Button has caused Ralf Schumacher to raise his driving to another level. The 24-year-old German went into this race equal to Button in the qualifying honours after four events, and he was determined to stamp his authority on his precocious young teammate. The result was a brilliant fifth place on the grid, further enhanced with another great start to run third in the race. Button, seemingly determined not to be outdone, also improved his place on the grid by two places to run ninth in the race's early stages. So far, only engine failures have stopped the Briton from finishing four out of his first five races in the points in his first season in F1. The hard luck story of the race was the first lap exit of Pedro de la Rosa in his Arrows. After being demoted from a brilliant ninth on the grid to 22nd due to fuel irregularity, the Spaniard was involved in a first lap collision with the Prost of Jean Alesi. It was a tough break for all concerned and left the Arrows team still looking for their first points of the year. Mika Hakkinen's first win of the season and was greeted by huge relief from the McLaren-Mercedes team. He is still without question their main man, and the only driver with a proven record of being able to beat Schumacher over an entire season. If there is a performance difference between the Ferrari and McLaren teams it is only marginal, and it appears that the advantage will change from race to race depending on just who does the best job at each individual event. The fact that Hakkinen can be relied upon to deliver as he did in Spain, more often than not, will be a crucial factor as the season progresses. But with the Mclarens now running with ominous reliability Ferrari may yet live to rue the points given away here. This Spanish race provided more entertainment and interest than others in recent years, and as always there was one winner and twenty-one losers. But for David Coulthard, along with his fiance Heidi Wichlinski and personal trainer Andy Matthews, survivors of the air crash that took the lives of their two pilots just eleven days ago, second place will have never felt so good.

Roger Horton	© 2000 Kaizar.Com, Incorporated.
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