The first grand prix and this is my view, where I will try to comment and
give my opinion on every race trying to analyse the various elements that
characterize the weekend F1 And now, we begin…
March 16, 2008, GP in Melbourne: Formula 1 rekindled its engines after a
winter of hard work where all the teams have worked to get ready for this
first round of the season, where everyone had to discover their cards and
were they stand in the field.
I think we were all a bit 'tired of the criticism on "Formula boredom",
which has not seen overtaking and all machines come to a finish without the
slightest technical problem. And so, the 2008 first surprise of this new F1
already arrived Saturday with a grid starting unpredictable, which is seen a
BMW in the first row, a Ferrari in difficulty due to some problems with
reliability, Toyota and Honda great recovery compared to the last season and
a Renault behind, with Nelson Piquet even in the twenty-first position.
Frankly, I was expecting something more from some stables: first of all the
Ferrari, which has suffered reliability problems related to its "Heart" that
was their strong point in recent seasons: the engine. Woe that, among other
things, focused on three teams: note that the Ferrari provides its thrusters
to Scuderia Toro Rosso and note Sebastien Bourdais saw his chance vanish
three laps from the end all his great work, losing the ability to cut the
line in fourth position. There was however confirm the growth of
Williams-Toyota team with the third place of Nico Rosberg, a result much
heard by the pilot himself who, having crossed the finish line, he began to
rejoice inside the cockpit. In my opinion this will be the team revelation
of this year.
The BMW confirms results already brought to light in last season, gaining
second place and the McLaren Mercedes is already on top both in reliability
and balance, with Lewis Hamilton they are able to dominate the
race. I believe that the Grand Prix of Malaysia is too close to remedy and
allow some teams to recover the gap against others.
It has been a long time, however, we only saw seven cars finish. This
means that the new regulations are sorely testing not only the drivers but
also the mechanics of cars we have seen many overtaking, accidents and
errors of the drivers, who have done so that the race was very lively and
spectacular. Alonso has shown what it means to be a former world champion
taking home with a single-seater decidedly lower fourth place on the eve
unexpected forever to his ex-partner team Kovalainen. Despite this Fernando
has optimized his car, certainly not at first, without mistakes. The proof
is that his team mate started in the last row and in the race practically
not have seen, very early exit from the games. Ever since we saw that Alonso
was forced to always limit the machine to be attacked his opponents.
Among the best this weekend was certainly Toro Rosso, which has been
very strong since qualifications. Only one problem has prevented
Sebastian Vettel to bring his car up to the seventh position, as he had
done in Q2. Sebastien Bourdais has done an excellent debut, managing to
keep Fernando Alonso and Kovalainen behind him, and still was able to
bring home two points. In fact, just as I am writing this column, came
the news of disqualification of Rubens Barrichello: a disqualification
just because the only stop and go was a very soft punishment for the
irregularity of removal from the box with the red traffic light. Already
in recent seasons had experienced a similar situation when Montoya and
Massa for the same error, they were exposed black flags.
Positive the race wasToyota and its two Drivers. Over the last twenty
days the team was able to improve his car lot bringing numerous new
techniques. Unfortunately Trulli, the issue of the battery was unlucky
while Timo Glock, with the crash that has compromised the weekend. I
feel, however, give a positive vote because it was his first time on
this track,
Nakajima is a pilot that I will speak highly of this season. He has done
very well in GP2, has had no fear and scored important points on his
debut for his team, cutting the line in sixth position ahead of Bourdais
and Raikkonen. This makes me think that after McLaren and Ferrari
(which, I am sure,will be able to recover the points lost), the fight
for the third place will be between Williams and BMW.
As for Nelson Piquet Jr. As I mentioned a few lines above, his was
certainly not a good weekend. Right now, Renault has limits and he has
stressed with his lack of experience. Unfortunately, the last year has
done only a few tests without even take too many miles and this, in my
opinion, might be the explanation. I think that he is a very good driver
and fast, even though this race was not good.
Among the teams that have struck me in a positive manner I
should say that Honda, apart of the strategy with Rubens, is growing and
as I said before Toyota benches that perhaps they found the right way
forward to get results that are needed push to to stay competitive in
the big circus of F1. Among the negative notes obviously have not put
this reliability of cars from Maranello, The positive aspect is
that the engineers should know how to intervene, as the problem was
accused on three engines (toro Rosso of Bourdais) at the same number of
miles. Ferrari return to fight with McLaren for victory, because as we
saw Raikkonen could safely keep pace early, and this suggests that the
frame of "red" is excellent.
The performance of the Toro Rosso in both qualifying and in the
race were very pleasing but I think that during the season it will be very
difficult for them to keep up with the larger teams. These two points are
important for the morale of the team to give him the strength to continue to
work hard.
The Super Aguri was able to resolve its financial problems due to new
sponsors. However, the machine has not tested and so is distant from the
rest of the field. Force India I think have all the tools to express
their feelings. They have managed to pull off the last row and now it will
be important to continue to make progress. Good qualification by Gianfranco
Fisichella although it was unfortunate the way, like his companion Sutil the
way the race ended
To conclude my memory I am particularly happy that the Minardi Team tied to
this great race with the two points won by Mark Webber, on his debut with us
in 2001. A fantastic result obtained on the track fighting against Toyota's
Mika Salo and remains one of the best grand prizes that we remember!
Greetings and I thank all readers
Gian Carlo Minardi
