At last, the silly season can finally be declared well and truly closed, and racing returns! But what is it with all these blue cars? Ligier, Tyrrell, Simtek, Sauber; they all look so alike that at times I had nearly as much trouble as Murray Walker trying to identify them. Since the FIA seems so fond of adding new rules, here's one: all cars must be a unique color. Top marks to Forti, Minardi, Footwork (ugh, sorry, Arrows), and perhaps even Benetton, Pacific, and Williams for at least being clearly recognizable.
Anyway, enough of the trivialities, on to the racing; and was it any closer? Yes... and no. Until Hill's ignominious exit, there was a very real battle between him and Schumi, with Coulthard never far behind either. Herbert's race performance was lacking but bearing in mind that he had to start in the spare car, I think his qualifying performance should silence those critics who've claimed he's burnt out.
Still, Schumi and Coulthard managed to lap everyone else; that's not very encouraging, but behind the top 2 there was plenty of overtaking going on, so perhaps things aren't so bad after all. The number of finishers was only just into double figures, but plenty of variety and on what is probably the worst track surface imaginable a lot better than it might have been.
It's hard to say whether Hill's gearbox failure was just some very bad luck, or the sign of coming reliability troubles for Williams, a team normally attributed with the ability to finish pretty much every race.
Ferrari are back. Okay, they're still streets behind the Renault-powered cars, but things are looking up for the red cars and as the season progresses I'm sure we'll see some really stunning performances from them.
After all the fuss over Mansell and that mid-wing, McLaren seem to be on the right track overall. The car may not yet have the speed to challenge Williams or Benetton, but handling is obviously uncompromized and the reliablility, so lacking last season, seems good. Hakkinen pulled off another miracle start, and Blundell's performance was nothing to be ashamed of either; I'm certainly not missing Mansell yet! I'm not going to poke too much fun at the look of the car, but would you want to sponsor that thing? No, me neither. Appears to be a case of computer aided design gone mad.
Oh woe is Sauber! The C14 and the Ford Zetec... a marriage made in hell! Let's face it, the team, who showed so much promise two years ago, really don't know what to do with a light, torquey powerplant like the V8, and as a result the team is going nowhere fast. Quite slowly. And whilst it may not be a patch on the McLaren, it would certainly be a strong contender to take second place in the "most ugly car" competition; all the wrong parts are emphasized, and they've lost that lovely black coloring and gone blue. Yuck!
Jordan, on the other hand, were disappointing. Okay, the bumpy surface didn't help, but clearly the team's performance in testing was artificially good. The team will improve, I'm sure, but talk of them joining the big four is premature; such things will have to wait, at least until the latter half of the season.
Ligier, too, weren't quite on top of things. With Panis out before a single lap was complete, any chance of a points finish was gone, and qualifying was also a little lacklustre for a team which, like Jordan, seemed to be headed for greatness. Even so, Suzuki finished well and the French team's prospects look better than they have for a while.
Tyrrell, on the other hand, can be very happy with their performance. Young Mika Salo is obviously going to dominate the team, and were it not for his spin going into the renamed Senna esses looked like he might even pick up a podium finish for the team. Clearly Tyrrell have their sights set high this season and the talent to hit the target; this "top tip" team really are fulfilling their promise.
Sadly, no showing from Larrousse this round, and the FIA is once again playing silly buggers, this time deciding to fine the team around one million dollars for missing the first two races. I realize that the FIA needs to discourage "one race" teams, but this kind of behaviour towards the French team, who clearly have every intention of competing in as many grand prix as possible, can hardly encourage any of the other smaller teams.
Pacific, I feel, did a really good job. Okay, they're hardly likely to score any points, but they must surely win the "most improved" award. If any team deserves a lucky break, Pacific, who seemed to be keeping the "Team Lotus" addition to their name pretty quite, probably because of the situation with Peter Collins, are that team.
For essentially untested cars, the Simteks seemed quite promising. The Arrows also went well given the limited testing time, although Morbidelli's fairly impressive fire indicates a few initial reliability problems, the same situation as perhaps faces Minardi. Forti Corse seemed improved over their testing form, and can at least say they got a car all the way through the race.
Before I wrap the column up for this edition, I must say something about the quality of driving I saw. There has been a lot of talk about the eligibility of certain drivers for formula one, with money talking louder than qualifications, but at Interlagos there was nothing but good clean racing. No stupid holding people up, no "mirrorless" drivers, no crazy overtaking. That's great to see, and bodes well for future races.
Overall, I reckon we're in for a great season. Hill, Coulthard, and Shumacher, can all realistically aim for the championship. If Benetton can get over their teething troubles, Johnny Herbert can also look forward to what will be his most succesful season by a big margin. I can't wait for round 2!
Postscript
Well, call me cynical, but it's funny how just as Benetton, a team who never seemed to know which side of the rules they wanted to stay last season, get Renault engines, they and Williams, normally the epitomy of integrity, both fall foul of fuel regulations. Anyway, with Hill and Shumi disqualified, Ferrari are back on top with Berger getting a well deserved win, Salo gets very well earned points, and Ligier manage to scrape a single point too. Things really are looking up, even if you can count the number of finishers on your fingers!