September 16th, 2007
Erik Nielsen is on vacation this week.
Amid the continuing spy scandal, Formula 1 stumbled forward toward the Ardennes forest. On the grid at Spa, Peter Windsor asked Bernie Ecclestone if the scandal was bad for Formula 1. Gruffly, Ecclestone said, “No, not at all”.
Whether the FIA made the right decision, fining McLaren as much as $100 million and taking away all their Constructor’s points and thus the World Constructor’s title, will be argued by many but forgotten by most.
In the meantime, neither Alonso (who had a role in the scandal and escaped punishment or loss of points) nor Hamilton have anything to worry about except who will eventually become the World Champion. Odds are that either the Spaniard or the wiz kid will take the title and that is the first of two things that will be remembered about Formula 1 in 2007.
Kimi gets ready for battle, but took the pole, lead, and win.
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The long almost perfect performance of the Ultimate Rookie is the second. Even if Lewis Hamilton doesn’t claim the title, his performance and abilities pose some interesting questions. While we were looking back at the awesome record of Michael Schumacher, by the books the greatest of the greats, along comes Hamilton, who suddenly made racing and winning in Formula 1 look like child‘s play. It appears that Lewis Hamilton is the first "Instant" Grand Prix driver and may be the first "Instant" World Champion.
A rare view of the Ferrari rear suspension that gave the team fits at Monza.
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We know that Hamilton is not just lucky. But now we have to ask, well, is Lewis really that good, meaning great, perhaps already the greatest? Our editor at large Lorenzo Marchesini thinks that comparatives are useless today.
“I think Formula 1 has changed from only a decade ago and that perhaps we can’t use the past as a basis for opinions. Watch this clip on YouTube from Silverstone in 1993. Doesn’t even look like the same game, does it? Today, more than ever, the driver’s are of lesser importance than the technological package and construction devices of the car he drives. Is Hamilton good? Sure, but what’s the baseline for greatness today?”
Kimi climbing the hill just past the pits at Spa.
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But it’s not only the technology but the training that is available today. “Hamilton had been earmarked for F1 and carefully groomed at a level that no one else had every received in F1,“ said Marchesini. “He had tremendous advantages and when he stepped into an F1 car, Hamilton was ready, even though he was perceived as a mere rookie.”
So, the “instant Formula 1 driver wasn’t so instant after all.
This and more clouded our thoughts at the unusually sunny Grand Prix of Belgium, one of the last of the real race tracks, and the track that took the mantle of drivers’ circuit when they closed the old Nurburgring. It is where drivers shine and even in this day and age, are able to put themselves above the machinery. If a driver wins as Spa, it is usually because of his talents. Many have died here, lacking a surfeit of those talents, too green to know when to go and when to slow, and two were British, Dick Seaman in 1938 and Archie Scott Brown in 1958. The young Brit Hamilton did not disappoint, for although he did not even achieve a podium finish, he drove a smart, calculated and mature race to maintain his points standing over Alonso.
Jean Todt, seemingly above all the madness.
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Hamilton benefited from changes at Spa. On the first lap, a brainless Alonso forced him off the track at the first turn. Hamilton made a return unscathed. When later he was forced off the road again, again he was able to drive back onto the track. Had he left the road in the era of Seaman and Scott-Brown, our young rookie may have been joined the ranks of the quick and the dead. So he lives to see another day, another year, another championship. Seaman and Scott-Brown were not so lucky.
And so the McLarens, shorn of their constructor’s points, finished third and fourth to Ferraris of Räikkönen and Massa. It was one of those all to many F1 races in which the pole sitter wins the race after leading a procession of the usual suspects from start to finish. The McLarens were diligent but lackluster. The reverberations of the scandal must still be echoing off the pit walls. “The points, one thing. But the MONEY!” McLaren could surely have used the extra dollars from a first and second place finish but were thoroughly trounced by the Ferrari team.
Räikkönen’s victory is his third straight at Spa, reinforcing its reputation as a driver’s circuit. The Finn may be accused of many things, and be guilty of half, but to deny his talents as a driver is faulty thinking. No one said he was consistent, lucky, or methodical. Kimi is a racer’s racer, and maybe the last of a dying breed.
The first four positions just about summed up a year when lacking Schumacher and with Hamilton still an immature driver no matter how good, Alonso, Massa, Räikkönen and Hamilton all had similar talent, luck and abilities. This made for a very close and reasonably exciting Grand Prix year. Any one of the four could win and all of them won.
The back markers provided the real racing, Kubica/Kovalainen fighting most of the race, while German rookie Sutil in the Spyker worked up to 13th and snapped at the heels of Coulthard’s Red Bull until the latter retired. The performance of the troubled Spyker was one of the highlights of the weekend.
The point positions were filled by Nick Heidfeld, who has been consistently good all year, Rosberg, talented but had a troublesome year, Weber, who has yet to see a win, and newboy Kovalainen, who must be wondering what kind of DNA has blessed the Ultimate Rookie.
On to Japan in two weeks time.
Race Results
