2004-11-18 Thursday
There's new photos to look at from my trip to Brazil.
 

2004-09-28 Tuesday
BAR boss David Richards believes Jacques Villeneuve is too old. 
In slamming his 11th place at Shanghai - where Vileneuve somehow placed ahead of Michael Schumacher - DR said: "Youth is the great new thing in Formula 1 and we plan to continue investing in young drivers.”
Well, who else is he going to vent at?  The world is falling around Mr Richards... his team is #2 in the Constructors yet his #1 driver leaving, believing the team has peaked and it's all downhill from now on.  DR's got to get the pressure off of himself and onto his biggest nemesis: Jacques.
The problem is, David Richards' bigger nemesis is Frank Williams, not JV.  Perhaps he's scared of him?  Richards should pick on the owners, not the drivers.  Shooting off about a driver is not going to endear him with any others.  Maybe Jenson was right?
Villeneuve simply had no speed to catch the Jaguar in the straights.  Webber was just faster for whatever reason.  Fault seemed to lie more with the car than the driver in JV's race.  Lucky for him.
Finally, Coulthard's not going into any BAR unless it's his own at his Columbus hotel in Monaco.

2004-09-23 Thursday
Bernie Ecclestone: 'Ayrton Senna was better than Michael Schumacher is now.'
Bernie Ecclestone said in Shanghai today that "the manner in which Michael Schumacher has won his seven world titles is not as glorious as the way Ayrton Senna won his three." (ITV-F1.com)
He said: "Don't get me wrong, I'm a Schumacher fan. But would he have won as many championships as he has done if Senna had not left us? I very much doubt it."
"Of course Ayrton never had the luxuries Michael has had. Michael has never had anybody in his team who has been able, or been in a position, to challenge him, and he's certainly in the best team there is."
So there you have it.  I've been saying it all along.  And if someone other than Bernie Ecclestone - who has a vested financial interest in making his prime asset (Schumi) look as shiny as possible - said it, you'd be open to criticize it vehemently.  The truth always has been that Ayrton Senna's three championships and 41 victories were FAR MORE difficult than any 41 victories and three championships of Michael Schumacher.  Schumi is the best in an era he and Ferrari defined.  His 94 and 95 championships with Benetton, while somewhat controversial, were more difficult than the ones of 2000-2004 (2003 was a scare but it was completely foolish to consider Kimi Raikkonen only two points worse than Schumi, who had SIX wins to Kimi's lonely ONE!) 
But there's no Piquet, Mansell, Prost, Lauda, manual shifting, non-power steering, or real competition for most of Schumacher's 82 victories and seven championships.  He's the king of a rather barren empire.

2004-09-16 Thursday
Jacques to BAR: 'I'm gonna f*ck you guys up if I get the chance'.
Villeneuve admitted today it would be ‘great’ to see Renault pick up their game and pip BAR to second in the Constructors’ Championship ‘because of the way it ended’.
Now THAT'S more like it, JV.  Maybe you were playing the jilted lover before with your "BAR and I are talking" stuff.  Maybe it was all planned out.  Maybe not.  But we know that you're human. 
You and BAR screwed each other. 

2004-09-15 Wednesday
Jacques to Sauber: A good fit.
Now this is more like it.  Coming off his test in the Renault, it must be nice to complete the two-year deal with Peter Sauber, a far better leader when JV is your soldier.  It will work out fine.  But even though JV is now sitting with Ferrari power, he should have no expectations of results higher than those achieved by Fisichella this season, or basically what BAR had in 2003 when JV was there.  So it's 6 of one, a half-dozen of another in my opinion.
And he'll be really pissed after having driven a wonderful Renault for comparison!  I'm not certain Flavio will want JV driving his Renault when he could take the secrets to Sauber for '04.  That, I'm unsure of.  But if JV shows Briatore due deference, he'll have the Renault through Brazil.
Everyone should have known that the BAR possibility was not a possibility at all, as I said since mid-August.  JV's still only 33, that's not that bad for F1.  He'll be there through 2008 at least (if there's F1 beyond 2007, that is).  And it's fun to see Jacques back in the mix.  The quote-machine has returned.

2004-09-01 Wednesday
Earth to Jacques: BAR does not want you.
Montreal daily La Presse reported on Wednesday that Villeneuve has been training hard and said everyone would gain if he rejoined BAR to replace Jenson Button.  However JV was quoted as saying up to now there had been no serious talks with the team, just contact with them to let them know he was around.
"Yes, I'm speaking with people at BAR and Honda but it's just to remind them I'm still alive," said the 1997 World Champion.  Jacques, they know you're alive because you keep reminding them.  As I said on 08/18 below in my blog: Only JV's people are making this story have legs.
Jacques, in saying he's reminding them, may have just admitted that he's the one stalking Richards/BAR.  He's simply not going to drive for a big F1 team ever again.
Jacques thinks that BAR and F1 owes him something.  They do not, and they believe it.

2004-08-30 Monday
Spa - the finest track in the world returns.
Kimi got a well-deserved victory.  He was the 1st star of the show, even bigger than Michael who was pre-ordained to win.  My 2nd star was Felipe Massa, he kept the bullying Montoya at bay on Eau Rouge of all places.  JPM may say that he had cold tires and lifted, but that didn't stop him when he caused the accident on lap 1 to Sato and the others.  I believed he gained his position by going off the track to the right at the summit.  If that runoff area was not there, the pass would not have happened.  His move on Trulli was no better.  His spirit is good most times, but in this instance Montoya was Bull in the Belgina china shop.  Someone could have been seriously hurt.
My 3rd star is Antonio Pizzonia.  He was running for a podium with a few laps to go when his tranny went.  He is making amends for his Jaguar times and deserves more.  Honourable mention to Christian Klien.  Great place to get your first points, Spa.

2004-08-26 Thursday
Formula 1 as we know it is going to be a lot different soon.
The Economist, my favourite newspaper, has written a great backgrounder into the ownership of F1. The link is here:   http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3127517 .
First off, it explains that Bernie Ecclestone does not own F1.  It is owned 75% by three Euro banks.  But these banks do not have control commensurate to their ownership of shares.  A trust company out of Liechtenstein called Bambino does.  The beneficiaries of this trust are the Ecclestone family.  Anyway, the article will break it down perfectly.
What is most interesting is that The Economist estimates that F1 generates US$800 million annually.  I thought it was more than that, but they're usually right.  Considering the teams are believed to have spent at least 4 times that amount this year (see my posting below "2004-08-16 (part 2)") I'm still trying to figure out why they'd lay so much cash out there for so little back proportionally.
Anyway, with the Concorde Agreement expiring in 2007, it makes sense that Max Mosley is suggesting lower speeds and different regulations... it forces the teams to spend a lot of new money meeting these specs before they try to break away, costing them a lot of capital otherwise spent in promoting a new series.  Ah, politics.

2004-08-18 Wednesday
Jacques still thinks BAR would take him back.
David Richards cannot be willing to bury the hatchet, and the team cannot be willing to take him back.  Jacques criticized these boys to no end!  And Richards was no better in taunting Jacques.  Here's what Eddie Irvine said in March 2003 to the Sun newspaper in the UK:

Eddie Irvine has slammed David Richards for his handling of the BAR driver-spat. Ever since 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve welcomed Jenson Button to the team with a rhetoric of hostility, the pair have been at each others' throats with insults like 'weak', 'pathetic', and 'unintelligent'. 'The bickering is all down to one man,' wrote the outspoken Ulsterman in his latest Sun column. 'David Richards'.
Eddie says the relatively-new team boss has made no secret of the fact that he feels Villeneuve's £14m per year [in 2003] contract is too high. He adds, 'It grates on him and I am in no doubt he would be the happiest man in pitlane if Villeneuve was to suddenly quit the team.'

Does this sound like it could be resolved with a hug-and-kissy-kissy??  Villeneuve is still the same guy whose pride made him abandon his team and fans in Japan last year before the race.  Richards is still the same guy who made Villeneuve damaged goods to any F1 boss who would listen! 
Richards and the BAR team will want Coulthard before Villeneuve.  They'll want Jarno Trulli before Villeneuve.  Richards is letting JV beg and plead through their usual avenue of communication (the press) for his old job back.  Remember, Jacques last won a race in 1997... eight seasons and 56 Schumacher wins ago.  BAR should go after Vitantonio Liuzzi. 
JV back at BAR would make Richards look weak because he will have made a bad decision in letting him go in the first place.  It cannot happen as long as Richards is there.  Only JV's people are making this story have legs.

2004-08-16 Monday
Michael Schumacher wins in Hungary.
Didn't really see that coming, what a surprise.  I've been living under this rock here and never would have suspected that Ferrari could win a race.  What?  He's won every race this year but one?  And he's got HOW many wins?  Oh, Senna's still got the career pole position record. 
Yippee.
Seriously, do I think it's bad for F1 for a guy to dominate?  No, it's gotta be good.  C'mon.  It's great!  Think about this perspective... If some F1 superfan fell into a coma in 2000 and woke up right this moment, nothing would have changed!
Conversely, it's been coma-inducing just watching the races these days.  So, depending on your perspective, you're comatose if you like today's F1 and comatose if you don't like it.
Those who say "10 years from now, you'll be privileged to have witness Schumacher create F1 history" stuff are the same people who think that McDonald's, in moderation, is good for you.
It's not at all good.  It's artery-clogging, brain-numbing bunk.
I can't begrudge Ferrari and Michael their success because they work damn hard.  It's the other teams' collective fault for not learning what makes Ferrari tick at Maranello.  I've been there a dozen times in the past 8 years and seen it myself.   I've also visited McLaren, which was like visiting an advanced medical research facility, only there the lackeys mop up the still-spotless floors just as you've walked over them.  Ron Dennis demands it.  You can eat off the floors, but why should you? 
At Ferrari, they prefer their people to eat at the team restaurant, which is as good as the finest Michelin star-rated Italian restaurant in any top city.  They work with smiles and pride.  They have for 8+ years, ever since Michael Schumacher, Ross Brawn et al swept in and became part of a family.
Good for them.  Now get spending caps in Formula 1.

2004-08-16 (part 2)
Spending Caps in F1 - a proposal
The powers that be have been proposing different things to limit the speeds the F1 cars currently do.  If something needs to be limited, it is budgetary spending by top teams.
My proposal is this: Limit each team to 105% of the average spending of all teams in the previous season.
The numbers: According to F1 Racing magazine the ten teams spent a total of C$3.4 billion during the 2003 Championship, with Ferrari the biggest spenders. The reigning World Champions were estimated to have spent C$570 million in 2003, with C$94 million alone going towards testing.
So my proposal woud do the following: Based on the 2003 total for all teams, the spending limit per team of the ten teams in F1 would become C$340 million. Minardi may never spend that but Ferrari's budget would be cut by about 40%, Toyota, McLaren, BAR and Williams would also be cut pretty substantially.
It'd be up to Bernie and FOCA/FIA to check the books on spending. Revenues would be little changed.
Of course they can still earn what percentage of TV revenues they currently have under the formula in the Concorde Agreement. Spending on advertising would not go down too much and sponsors wouldn't have to shell out as much as they are now.
Slowing the cars down to make them bloody F3 cars circa 1997 is unbelievably short-sighted. Making spending caps a la NFL would bring parity, in a more just and paced manner. It's still serious money but it would not take the advances the incredible F1 engineers have made in the past decade, advances that make F1 the plateau of racing.

2004-08-12
David Coulthard is fighting with his past
DC is quite good with the sound bite.  He's hungry for the BAR seat.  Someone else is too.
"I don't have a wife, I don't have children, I don't have any commitments in my diary other than racing, testing and training... [The] motivation and commitment is absolute."  DC, commenting today.
So, is that comment directed at Mika or Erja Hakkinen?
DC has played second fiddle to a Finn since 1998.  If this is the most blunt and vocal he can get about his Finnish frustrations, he should be at the UN.

2004-08-06
Jenson screws BAR - Who's next?
Below you'll see that I complimented Williams for getting Webber and making the team "ego-free", like Jenson did for BAR.  So much for that.  Some of my pals have said that Jacques getting screwed by Dave Richards last year made the karma police get BAR this year.  Perhaps.  But one thing I am absolutely sure of: JV will NEVER race in a Dave Richards car again.  Richards would sooner be penetrated by Jacques than have him be seen in one of his cars ever again.
Then there's Mika Hakkinen.  He's suggesting that the rumours are true "where there's smoke, there's fire" and he is looking to come back.  If so, great.  But it's not likely.
The Bottom Line is always the bottom line.  Jenson saw the money.  He deposed of JV at BAR through charm and his British heritage.  The mechs love(d) him because he was not an ego.  But from now on, everyone who ever works for him will know he's doing it only for himself, not for the team. 
Not coincidentally, that is what separates Michael Schumacher from many others.  The boys love him because he loves them.
I think Mark Webber will blow Jense away in a Williams.  He's already got Williams' mechanics onside before a pedal has been pushed.

2004-07-28
Mark Webber joining Williams
Both Williams and Mark Webber made the correct decision. In much the same way Jenson brought great spirit to a BAR team desperate for an ego-free environment, Mark will do the same for Williams. He's a class act through and through. The boys in the garage will want to work harder for Mark than they ever did for the current guys. Ralf and Juan were simply not the people for Frank Williams and his quintessentially British environment. The only way is up for BMW-Williams.