29 June 1998 |
No 19 |
|
Reflections On Magny Cours: Team Mclaren Or Team Shambles?
By Roger Horton
In Soccer terms the score ended Ferrari 4. Mclaren 0. Not quite a rout,but pretty close.This was a total Ferrari team victory and something of a humiliation for the hitherto dominant Mclaren team.
Was it only two years ago that Schumacher's Ferrari expired with a blown engine on the parade lap, and Irvine lasted just five laps ? It was the middle race in a three race horror stretch that must have tested all of Schumacher's considerable resolve,and the Ferrari management's nerve.
Sure the Ferrari team benefited from a slice of luck, with the race being restarted after Verstappen stalled. The leaders having got away in grid order from the start, Hakkinen leading from Schumacher,Coulthard and Irvine.
From the restart the Ferraris got away first and second and already it looked like a long afternoon for the Mclaren drivers.
From then on the whole Ferrari team never put a foot wrong, and came home deservedly in their first one two result since the Spanish Grand Prix in 1990.
Hakkinen threw away any chance of mounting any sort of real challenge to Schumacher with a spin on lap 20. Thereafter the best he could hope for was to muscle his way past Irvine,which he was unable to do, and he eventually came home in third place.
Coulthard's afternoon turned into a total disaster. Fourth in the early laps, he looked to have benefited from Hakkinen's spin which promoted him to third. This advantage was thrown away by a long 17 second first pit stop caused by a fault in the refuelling rig. His second stop was even worse,stationery for some 37 seconds, and without even receiving a drop of fuel at all when the hose refused to engage. Waved out he completed another lap before returning a lap later, when he at last received some fuel from Hakkinen's rig,although not enough for him to finish the race, and he made a fourth and last stop, on lap 63.
In between all this Mclaren made drama he raced hard and made it back up to sixth place,but a solitary Championship point was scant reward for his afternoon's work.
In recent years, it has usually been the Williams team that has perfected the art of messing up their driver's Championship chances with sloppy pit work and tactics.Who can forget their famous "three wheeled" pit stop in the 1991 Portuguese Grand Prix,or their misreading of the fuel meters that cost Damon Hill the 1994 European GP at Jerez. Perhaps it is something about having the fastest car that breeds that touch of complacency, which bring on afternoons like Coulthard's in France.
So with the season half over just six points separates Hakkinen from Schumacher,with Coulthard now twenty points adrift from his team mate.
What price team orders soon at Mclaren?
If the Ferrari wasn't quite a match for the Mclarens in France, it was close enough given Schumacher's ability to make up a reasonable performance disadvantage. With Ferrari now on a roll they will be hard to stop.
The 1998 French Grand Prix was all about the "big four" at the front,all the other runners were reduced to the roll of "bit players" as they were never in contention.
Villeneuve drove a steady race to finish fourth. Clearly despite all the talk about a major re-design the Wiiliams are still a long way off the pace,and although the team continues to make all the right noises, attention must soon be shifting to next years car. The FW20 is unlikely to be a race winner,and when was the last time Williams failed to win at least one race in a season?
The Benettons were off the pace all weekend, but at least both drivers finished,an achievement that seems too much for the Jordan team most race weekends. The team achieved their best overall qualifying performance,Ralf sixth and Hill seventh,showing that the car is making progress in the overall speed stakes. Yet again Hill's car failed him when he was in a potential point scoring position,and Ralf Schumacher again managed to wreck his race after yet another coming together,this time with the Benetton of Wurz.
As far back as the Spanish GP, I speculated about the future of both Ralf Schumacher and Jan Magnussen. Jan has paid the price for his lack of pace being replaced by Jos Verstappen, in a move that already looks to have paid off,he being closer in his first race to Barrichello than Magnussen managed.
I just wonder how much longer Eddie Jordan is going to put up with putting all his efforts into providing a car, for a driver who despite having undoubted raw speed, is seemingly unable to maintain control long enough to bring his car home in one piece. Perhaps Ralf Schumacher would be more at home in the "bash and barge" of Champ car racing!
Both Saubers made it to the finish,in seventh and eighth places after qualifying out of the top ten. Just a reminder how untrustworthy testing times can be as a guide to race weekend form.
The other runners pretty much made up the numbers.
As nearly always on a Grand Prix weekend, F1 politics continued apace. Most of the paddock "action" centered on the ongoing debate over driving standards,or rather the lack of them. We had Bernie Ecclestone wading in wondering what all the fuss was about,whilst Ron Dennis complained about "double standards".
When you sit back and read what they all have to say,and realize from which angle their own personal interests lie, it is indeed hard to keep a straight face, and take them at all seriously. This is a shame because one day F1's inability to properly self regulate itself may one day get someone badly hurt.
So, as the Worlds attention moved away from cars going around in circles, to men chasing a ball around playing fields,the team in Red were able to reflect on a highly satisfactory days work. Could the long wait be over, and the dream of World Championships about to become a reality?
The British Grand Prix is in two weeks time,stay tuned.
Talk to Roger |
Roger Horton |
Singapore |
Send your comments to Roger at - rmhorton@pacific.net.sg |
 |