It’s that time of the year! Formula 1 fans are low on high speed dope, and high on anxiety – not just for car launches, but also for the start of the season. Unfortunately, this year the A1 Grand Prix is not around to supply us with whatever little action it has in the past. Amen, A1!
It’s the usual stories that have been doing the rounds. Michael Schumacher’s back. Jenson Button could have just made his worst move! Kimi is testing for Citroen. Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa are shaking hands at the annual Ferrari event in Italy. There are more bits on Michael, and how most motor-heads think that he’ll win right away, and a few cynics who’ve already written him off! All of this, and I was still hunting for my story for this column.
Thankfully, this season didn’t kick off with any team withdrawals. In fact, there are three new teams on the grid this year, but whether or not they make it to the start line in Bahrain is yet to be seen. At least the start has been an optimistic one! Ditto with Michael Schumacher’s return – yet another positive move for Formula 1. The brand which has taken a beating over the last 24 months is slowly starting to revive, or at least it seems so.
Personally, I’m extremely excited for the start of the 2010 season. New rules, regulations, points system et al aside, this is possibly the strongest F1 grid in recent years. Four world champions will line up on the grid in Bahrain – Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso and, of course, Michael Schumacher. What’s even better is that they line up in three different teams!
2010 has already seen an interesting strategy in terms of the teams’ driver selection. While the top teams have opted for drivers of the same nationality, the bottom rung teams have done exactly the opposite. Ferrari have two Latino drivers (although I wonder if Latin America is a big market for them). Similarly, German car manufacturer, Mercedes Benz, has opted for two drivers of German nationality – Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher, and, interestingly, McLaren, being British, also have two British drivers in their respective cockpits – Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. I do expect USF1 too to follow suit! Conversely, Force India, yet again, has chosen not to have an Indian in their driver line up. It’s a similar story with Lotus F1. Despite the name, the team owners are Malaysian, but the drivers are not.
Much to A1 GP’s credit, the F1 teams too are looking to cash in on some national fervour. The Nation vs. Nation concept, though not offered by the current Formula 1 format, is surely what 2010 might just pan out to be! Will Germany beat England, or be beaten by Latin America? Whether this concept will work on track is not known, but for a change it might help the teams off-track. Formula 1 has probably witnessed the worst of the global recession in the past few years, and this pseudo nation concept might just be the power boost it needs. A German car, driven by a German driver, attempting to conquer a world championship, battling it out with 12 teams and 18 drivers from different parts of the world – all of which will be broadcast live at a convenient time for German viewers, is too sweet a deal for a German sponsor not to bite! Hopefully, this will bring the big bucks back to Formula 1.
Speaking of teams and their driver selection, the one team to closely watch in 2010 will, of course, be McLaren. They are the only team with two world champions, and both are British. Lewis and Jenson will both be gunning for their second Formula 1 world championship. It’ll be an interesting duel for the team – both internally and externally. While Mclaren is known to not favour any one driver in his quest for the F1 title – their choices for 2010 will be extremely critical if any F1 title is to come their way. 2008 clearly was McLaren’s to lose, and they did just that!
2010 will also be a very critical year for the current
Formula 1 champ Jenson Button. While he won his first title in 2009, credit was given more to the car than the driver. A little unfair I would say! However, Jenson, in a bold move, left the Brawn stable to join the more fiercely competitive Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren camp for 2010. That Lewis is a McLaren prodigy, and has been their star for the past two seasons, will only make Button’s title defense more difficult. But if defend he does, he’ll not only banish his critics, but do
so with typical Brit arrogance. Game on boys!
Last but not least – while one F1 star has decided to leave the tarmac for the dirt tracks, there are at least two other champions who are keen to give F1 a serious shot! After being ousted from Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen has shifted to the much more exciting World Rally Championship (at least he thinks it is). However, we have Valentino Rossi and Sebastian Loeb, both multiple champions in MotoGP and WRC respectively, eying a serious career in Formula 1. This makes me think – is Formula 1 really the pinnacle of motorsport? Do motor-racers really believe that the F1 title is the most coveted in the world of motorsport? While the answers are debatable, if Valentino Rossi does manage to switch to four wheels and win, John Surtees would finally have a name alongside his, which is to say another world champion on both two wheels and four! If talent is not latent, ‘The Doctor’ could just make it happen.
All this and more is in store for 2010. And lastly, if the Nation vs. Nation concept does work for Formula 1 – you have to wonder, why didn’t it for A1?
