17 March 1998
17 March 1998 |
Mercedes' return to F1 after the Second World War.
Mercedes returned to F1 in 1954 for the first time after the Second World War. The boss of Mercedes, Alfred Neubauer signed Fangio. He joined Hans Herrmann and Karl Kling in 1954.
Mercedes delayed the launch of the W196, a car with more technical advantages than any other. They managed to launch the car just before the third race during the season.
Fangio won the world title for Mercedes for the first time.
Best Grand Prix driver never to win a race
When people talk about Chris Amon it is probably to mention that he runs a 600 cow diary farm, and not about his other great passion in life. His unofficial title "the best grand prix driver never to have won a race" was bestowed upon him for his track record of more failures than anything else. As far as talent was concerned, Amon had more than enough to rate him as one of the best, one could even compare him with Jackie Stewart.
His career started with a bang in 1963 when he was only 19, driving for Lola at Goodwood. Unlike most drivers nowadays, Amon didn't have to prove himself in other formulas, but started directly in Formula One. According to Amon he wasn't use to the lack of power and found himself not ideally suited for F1 racing.
This is the reason why Amon felt himself more at home in the Le Mans of 1966 where they had a won for Ford. As a result of this race, Ferrari offered Amon a drive for the following year. In his first F1 race for Ferrari he managed third place. By the end of 1967 he was Ferrari's number one driver and geared for 1968.
In 1968 Amon had numerous pole positions, but never managed to win the actual races because of mechanical problems. In 1970 he raced for March and in 1971 for Matra.
During the 1972 season, Amon felt some of his commitment slide. Some people even suggested that Amon wasn't committed, but as far as he is concerned, you have to reach some form of success in order to stay committed. He lead numerous GP's by a long way, only to have to retire because of car trouble! This was beginning to get the better of one of the best grand prix drivers.
In 1976, 33 years old, he decided to hang up his helmet, because he got frustrated with never achieving the success he felt he deserved. At the point of retiring he also had to make peace with the idea that he probably would never have achieved all that he aimed for in F1. This was also a good time for retiring, still being young enough to set out on another career.
He still keeps a few faded sets of overalls and admits that he only manages to watch a few of the GP's on television, because most of the races are in the middle of the night.
He sees himself as out of the circus of F1, with new interest keeping him busy, but that still doesn't keep him from having opinions...
Top team decided to switch to Bridgestone almost one year ago.
Top teams switching from Goodyear to Bridgestone started almost one year ago. In 1997 after the Australian Grand Prix one of the top teams decided to switch, but after legal advice, decided that they would not be able to do so.
The unnamed team had to wait until the end of the 1997, and insiders belief that it was McLaren. McLaren was the first top team to make the move, but was followed by Benetton soon after.
Brigestone's first win at the 1998 Australian Grand Prix came one year after it entered the sport.
Journalists are now hard at work compiling Bernie Ecclestone's biography. F1's supremo gave the go ahead to the book according sources.
Sources say the book should be available before Christmas this year. The journalists assigned to work on the book are unknown.
Newey makes his mark at McLaren.
Adrian Newey, former Williams designer made his mark at McLaren when he joined them in 1998. He forced Mercedes to produce a smaller engine, because the engine was too big to fit into the new, smaller car.
Newey must be worth the 2 million pounds after the team steam rolled its rivals at the season opening race at Australia.
