Round 5 of the 2002 season took place at Catalunya, a track more famous on the motorcycle GP circuit. Even though it is still early in the season, some of the tea leaves are becoming legible.
Ferrari
Michael Schumacher keeps putting exclamation points on his domination of the sport. Not only was he more than a second faster in qualifying than any other car (that isn't red), he was two seconds faster than the pole time of last year. He is well on his way to clinching his 5th driver's title before the season is over. Hopefully, he won't retire after the season, but stay on for a record 6th title and solidify his position of "best driver ever".
Rubens on the other hand, has been rudely surprised that the Ferrari mechanics know that each team has an allotment of bad luck and they have figured out how to channel it into the Brazilian's car. If he doesn't start finishing races (or at least knocking wings off of BMW's) soon, Ferrari will have its work cut out for it in the constructor's championship.
Williams BMW
The only serious competitor to Ferrari had a mixed bag weekend. Juan Pablo's second place finish was good, but a quick rundown of the time sheets showed him more than 40 seconds back for the second half of the race. He's quick (reminds me of Villeneuve in the Williams in the mid-90's), but he's not that quick. Highlight of his race was running over the chief mechanic. Fortunately, he stopped in time to not take the fuel line with him. Ralf made a couple of mistakes and was rewarded with a blown engine.
McLaren Mercedes
Everyone knows that McLaren has some of the top designers and engineers. The question is are they in a funk, unmotivated or just had their brains knocked in. Funny to see this team as one of the "best of the rests" this season. DC put in a lackadaisical performance and was rewarded with the last spot on the podium. Kimi's day ended on lap four with a catastrophic failure of his rear wing. Looks like Minardi and the McLaren were using the same structural text book.
Sauber
Peter's boys are actually doing quite well for a lower budget team. 4th and 5th in anything isn't all that bad. Both cars managed to stay on the lead lap and had a respectable day. Some collectors have said something about the team trying to buy Ferrari F2001 chassis that are in private hands...
Arrows
Tom Walkinshaw's team is getting better further into the season (remember both cars being left on the grid earlier this year?). HHF got one of his few career breaks and managed the last points paying position, and kept it on the lead lap. More importantly, he was ahead of his former world champion teammate. Bernoldi was out with hydraulics.
BAR Honda/Jordan Honda
Boy, there are some pissed off Japanese engineers out there. For all of the millions that Honda is throwing at its F1 effort, it still has yet to get a point from either team that it is supporting. With Toyota putting numbers on the board, is it only a mater of time for them to buy out a team and try and do it on their own? Villeneuve finished out of the points, but is still considered to be a one hit wonder. Loose the attitude, go to McLaren with your hat in your hand and beg for a ride if you want to be world champion again. Everyone else with a Honda lump in the back managed to break something. Not looking good for any of them.
Toyota
After a sever dose of reality two weeks ago, a humble team came back and finished 8th and 9th. McNish managed to get ahead of his teammate and show that he too can run with the big boys. While they still have tons of work to do, they seem to be doing a lot of things right.
Renault
Renault looked like they had their merde together, but proved the old race proverb "to finish first, one must first finish". Both cars failed with mechanical problems (in a French car? Never!!), with Button's lump giving out close to the end. Stop working on radical head designs and focus more on the reliability side.
Jaguar
I know I'll catch hate mail for this, but I've got thick skin. THEY SUCK!!! Next.
Minardi
For the aerodynamic surfaces on an F1 car to work, they must stay attached to the car. After Webber's wing let go in the warm up session, Paul Stoddart did the right thing and put the driver's safety ahead of any sponsorship concerns. He should be commended for his actions.
Well, with 5 races in the history books, things are starting to look more and more certain. Time will tell, but the odds on the safe bets are getting smaller and smaller. The next installment, Austria, is two weeks.
Race Results
April 30, 2002