The Game Changer

Alonso celebrates in parc ferme
James Moy Photography

I loved the Spanish Grand Prix. Every lap of it.

I jest not. I loved. Every. Single Lap.

You may ask why, with the world at large seemingly set on berating another race in which tyre strategy played too large a role. I hope I can go some way to explaining myself.

Earlier in the weekend I had a fabulous conversation with a driver in the paddock. I didn’t record it as it was just two friends chewing the fat, and he probably wouldn’t want me to quote him anyway. So please forgive the paraphrasing.

“Mate, everyone is complaining about the tyres. But the guy who wins… does he complain? No. You should ask them why they don’t complain when they do well, when the day before they were saying it was the end of the world. The only one who understands it is Kimi. He says it’s the same for everyone. If you don’t like it, fuck off, do something else. He’s right. If you make the tyres more durable and you only have three stops in a race everyone will still try to make only two stops. It’s the same now as it was with Bridgestone. You always try to do one less stop. By complaining you only damage the sport. It’s the same for everyone. Get on with it and race.”

I loved the opinion. I loved the candor.

There’s nothing more depressing than standing in the pen at the end of the race and asking a driver how his day went, and how happy he must be with his result, only to get an answer that racing to a delta is boring and gone are the days of pushing during a race.

So ask yourself. What did Ferrari do on Sunday?

Did they drive to a delta? Did they try and make one fewer stop than their rivals? Did they hell. They went out and they pushed. Every. Single. Lap.

Fernando Alonso’s opening stint was mesmerising. He was running quali laps on full fuel. It was an absolute joy to behold. And while he might not have been putting in quali laps all day, he certainly wasn’t hanging around.

Four pitstops for Fernando
James Moy Photography

What Ferrari did in Spain was to completely flip the script. Rather than going into the race and telling their drivers to hold back, they told them to push with everything they had. Four stops was always their intention and it caught everyone else off guard.

Red Bull realised what was going on too late and switched from three stops to four, but by then the race had already been won.

Formula 1 loves a villain and this year Pirelli has been cast into this pantomime role. But, as I explained at the end of the Spanish Grand Prix in my final thought on the NBC Sports Network, the job of a Formula 1 team is to design a car around the variables which are unchangeable. Hermann Tilke used to get the blame for ruining the show for his apparently dreadful circuit design. But is it not the job of the teams to design a car for the circuits on which the championship races? Of course it is. Just as it is the job of the teams to design a car that maximizes the tyres on which it runs.

The problem we’ve had of late is this unfortunate trend towards the creation of a formula based upon the misheld belief that preservation is a better mode of attack than consumption.

What Ferrari showed in Barcelona was that yes you may have to make more pitstops than we’ve seen in the past, but that it is possible to push from the moment the lights go out to the moment that the flag falls. That so much of the press is decrying the race shows, I believe, a disappointing cynicism. Pirelli has become too easy a target.

But should we blame Pirelli for simply doing what they’ve been asked to do and make the tyres less durable? Or should we blame the teams who have seemingly got themselves into the rut of a blame culture that hides the true fact that some have not designed a car capable of maximizing one of the unchangeable variables that has defined the history of the sport?

Because this is nothing new.

Pirelli has become the F1 villain in 2013
James Moy Photography

I remember with great fondness an interview I conducted with Sir Stirling Moss about a decade ago about his greatest races. And the one that always sticks in my mind is his explanation of how he won the 1958 Argentine Grand Prix. He lined up in a privately entered Cooper and against the might of Ferrari he won, taking the first F1 victory for a mid-engined car in the process. How he did it holds as much relevance today as it did back then.

The tyres were only good for 30 laps. 40 tops. The race was 80 laps long. You couldn’t finish without stopping for new tyres. The Cooper’s tyres were fixed with studs, rather than the quick hammer release nuts on the Ferraris. Moss couldn’t win with such a long pitstop delta to change a studded wheel.

He pulled into the lead but nobody paid it any attention. He’d have to stop and all would be lost. But he didn’t stop. He carried on. And by the time Ferrari figured out he wasn’t going to stop, it was too late. The pack gave chase, but Moss won… by 2.7 seconds from Luigi Musso. His tyres were down to the canvas. He’d been driving on the grass for the last few laps to try and cool them down.

“Was I brave that day or stupid?” Moss confided in me. “To this day I don’t know as the two were very closely related. I did everything you shouldn’t normally do to win that race.”

Ferrari rewrote the script in Spain
James Moy Photography

In a way, and although actually completely the opposite of Moss’ fabulous Argentine win in that Ferrari made more stops than expected, that’s precisely what the Scuderia did on Sunday. Because they did everything that, apparently, you shouldn’t normally do on Pirelli tyres to win the race.

They actually raced.

As the Moss story highlights, trying to make fewer pitstops has always been a part of F1. It is nothing even vaguely new.

But, for me, the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix was a game changer. Ferrari’s victory was the perfect riposte to those who claimed that Pirelli’s tyres could not be raced on. Does anybody now have the excuse of saying that it is impossible to push in a race on these tyres, when Ferrari showed that for 66 laps you could… and that by doing so you could win?

With the exception of Lotus the other teams have every reason to feel frustrated after the Grand Prix, as do their fans. Ferrari showed what was possible. It is now up to everyone else to react. For while it might not be achievable for everyone at every race to do what Ferrari did today, what they proved is that Formula 1’s greatest misconception is that doing so at all was impossible.

That’s why I loved the Spanish Grand Prix.

Think about it for a minute.

It’s why you should have loved it too.

Alonso celebrates his win
James Moy Photography

Racing “DNA”… Diversity Needs Acceptance.

With the motorsport world still seemingly debating the issue of women racers, it was heartening to see two female friends achieving success at the weekend. Vicky Piria recorded her first F3 podium at Paul Ricard, while Alice Powell romped to yet another F3 victory at her home circuit of Silverstone. It was further proof, if it was needed, that women do, of course, have the requisite mental aptitude not only to race but to race fast, hard and successfully.

I’ve been thinking about the topic quite a lot recently. Why haven’t we seen more women racing in F1? And it has led me down many paths. Paths based not simply upon gender, but upon nationality, race and, latterly, paths based upon sexuality.

Jason Collins comes out on the cover of Sports Illustrated

Today, my attention was drawn to a tweet to an article from NBC Sports, announcing that an active NBA star had come out as homosexual. Jason Collins has made his admission via the front cover of the American sporting bible that is Sports Illustrated, and to the American sports world it is a very big deal.

The issue of sexuality in sports remains a taboo topic. Think about it. How many sportsmen and women can you think of who are openly gay? Actually, it isn’t too hard to think of a few in almost each major sporting discipline, be they active in the present day or having long since hung up their training shoes. But if we are discussing why there haven’t been more women racers in F1, I started to wonder why we haven’t yet, at least to my knowledge, encountered many, if any openly gay racing drivers in our field?

Motorsport is a male dominated world. It is still inherently sexist. From the grid girls and the post race “tunnel of totty,” even in this politically correct era, motor racing and particularly Formula 1 remains defiantly stuck in the past. Oh how we tittered when grid boys first appeared in Valencia. It remains, despite the world having seemingly moved on, unflinchingly macho.

In the UK, Gareth Thomas, the third most capped Welsh International rugby player in history came out in 2009, but even such an admission from such a huge star in a sport usually deemed to be so macho, has seemingly not served to open the floodgates.

British football (soccer) still struggles hugely with the subject of homosexuality. The BBC ran a fascinating investigation into the subject by Amal Fashanu, whose Uncle Justin was the first and thus far only openly gay English footballer in the UK, and who tragically committed suicide over non-footballing issues in 1998. The findings of this documentary were that there are numerous players within the sport who are homosexual, but that almost all still feel incapable of admitting it.

One notable exception to this is Robbie Rogers, the US International footballer (Soccer star) who until recently played for Leeds United. Having revealed his sexuality, he walked away from the game.

Ever since I first became a Formula 1 journalist a decade ago there have been rumours, hushed whispers, over whether certain drivers are gay. It’s nothing new. The rumours have always existed. Nelson Piquet reportedly once insinuated Ayrton Senna was gay… but this was around the same time that Senna had insinuated he’d been a naughty boy with Piquet’s wife.

There are openly homosexual members of the F1 paddock. Matt Bishop, former Editor of F1 Racing and now Group Head of Communications and PR at McLaren came out to friends and family when he was in his teens. He has worked with some of the sport’s biggest names over the past two decades. His civil partner Angel Bautista attends many races with him. Matt’s sexuality is not an issue in the paddock. It never has been.

But of our sport’s greatest stars, in spite of swirling whispers that some have wanted to, nobody has yet felt comfortable enough to come out.

If true, if there are now or have ever been drivers who felt incapable of being honest about their sexuality, isn’t that an incredibly sad indictment of our sport?

It is tough to find examples anywhere of openly gay men or women racing drivers. But there are a few.

Mike Beuttler
via RichardsF1.com

Mike Beuttler was perhaps the only openly gay racer in the 70s and his story is a truly tragic one. A talented F3 star, he graduated to race in one of Formula 1’s most dangerous eras, and survived it, only to succumb to complications arising from AIDS shortly after his retirement from racing at the age of 48.

Evan Darling raced in the US in a world of closed wheel racing and NASCAR where, perhaps even more so than Formula 1, perceptions of masculinity rule the roost. He was openly homosexual from the age of 18, but said he found it tough to find sponsors owing to his sexuality. I know too little of him to debate his talents as a racer and whether that had more to do with it, but it is alarming that, certainly in the modern era, his is the only name upon which I can stumble.

Fascinatingly, however, NASCAR now operates a “Drive for Diversity” program which is intended to see a wider range of racer than your average white male. Danica Patrick, of course, is evidence of this program at work inspite of her history in single seaters, but reigning champion Brad Keseolowski has already spoken out openly in favour of welcoming homosexual drivers to NASCAR.

“I don’t think anyone cares (if a driver is gay)” he told Queers4Gears. “If you can win, you’ll have a ride in NASCAR. I can’t speak for the fans, I can only speak for myself, but in this garage, if you can win, people will want to be a part of what you can do.”

It’s a tough business. But incredibly, one example crosses the lines between our quest to find an openly gay racer and a female one. Robert Cowell, a successful pre-war racer, went through gender reassignment surgery and continued to race post war as Roberta. She won the 1957 Shelsey Walsh Speed Hill Climb.

I understand why we are having the debate about female racing drivers reaching the top level, but as Edd Straw pointed out in his fabulous article on the subject, we must not give undue attention to average performance simply because it has been achieved by a woman. The only way to get a woman to an F1 race seat is on merit.

For me, it’s the same argument as race or nationality. Did Lewis Hamilton get to Formula 1 because of the colour of his skin? No. He got there because he is one of the finest talents of his generation. Talent must win over every other consideration. Will we see a Chinese F1 driver? Will we see a Russian F1 race winner? A Qatari World Champion? In generations to come, as grass roots racing is established in these new F1 heartlands, there is an increasing chance that we will.

It is tough to get to the top, just ask any karter who never made it into single seaters. And there are enough boys out there, let alone girls, with their own stories of what might have been.

Women will make it on merit, when one who truly has the talent emerges. Just look at the results at the weekend. Piria on the podium. Powell on the top step… again. Women have the talent. It’s only a matter of time.

But women are making their way and forging their paths in plain view. Yes they will face hurdles, but they will face them head on and overcome them.

What my recent musings have left heavy on my mind however, is how many drivers have made it to F1, but have never been able to admit to who they really are. It is more than statistically likely that somewhere in the motorsports ladder today there are boys and girls, men and women, who are fighting not just against their rivals on track, but against prejudice off track. Because of their sexuality and a life they have to keep hidden.

While NASCAR’s “Drive for Diversity” is not without its detractors that it will promote diversity for diversity’s sake over and above the most talented out there, to have the reigning champion speak out openly in favour of welcoming homosexual drivers to NASCAR is a huge leap.

In this most masculine of sports, while we must not lose focus on the talented female racers out there struggling to make it to the top, perhaps it is also time to take a closer look at the hundreds of boys and men racing around the world and to realise that they may not fit the 1970s macho mold that this sport seems to exist upon. Perhaps it is time to become more accepting of those who make up our current grids and to allow them the same respect that we are offering to women.

To judge them on their merits as racers, and on these merits alone.

Crumpet-gate

A lot of people are going out of their way to have a dig at Sir Stirling Moss for comments he made in a BBC interview about women drivers.

I’m a little upset, to be honest. Stirling is one of the most decent people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. He is a true Gentleman, a legend and a hero. He is, however, 83 years old and harks from a very different time to the modern era. He doesn’t call F1 races Grands Prix. He calls them Grand Epreuves. He carries a shooting stick with him so he always has somewhere to sit.

He still calls women “crumpet.”

It should come as little surprise that his feelings on the matter of female racing drivers should be somewhat out of touch. OK, they’re not out of touch. They’re plain wrong.

But in all honesty, I must say I don’t really know why he was even asked for his opinion on the matter. Unless, of course, it is because those asking for his opinon knew precisely what they’d get…

Did he really blow a kiss to Maria Teresa de Filippis when he lapped her? Or is that still a bit of the old Moss bravado?

This is, lest we forget, a man who managed to get a date DURING the Monaco Grand Prix. The story goes that he noticed an attractive young lady watching the race and waved at her. The next lap she waved back. The next lap he signaled to her to meet him after the race. Rumour has it she did.

You can embrace that part of Stirling’s nature or you can deride it. To many, it’s all part of the legend.

The fact remains however, that while I have the utmost respect for Sir Stirling Moss and all that he has achieved, his opinions on the suitability of women to drive Formula 1 cars in the modern era is really rather inconsequential.

Far more relevant, in my eyes, is what the modern generation of drivers think about the matter. Jenson Button grew up racing alongside Danica Patrick. Why don’t we hear from someone in NASCAR, or Indycar who Danica’s been racing against these last few years? And in today’s junior formulas, there are numerous girls (for many are not yet women) racing alongside boys. Are their opinions not more relevant here than those of a man who last raced an F1 car over 50 years ago?

Last year in Barcelona, I spoke with the now Red Bull Racing reserve driver Antonio Felix da Costa about the GP3 season which lay ahead of him. We talked about the drivers he expected to challenge.

“Don’t forget Alice Powell either,” he said at the end of the conversation. “She’s won a championship, and not many people can claim to have done that. She’s a proper racer. We’re all aware of that.”

The dated opinions of the past generations on topics such as this should be left where they belong: in the past. Dragging them up for a quick headline surely stands to do the issue of gender equality in racing more harm than good, merely serving to remind people of an antiquated view which is no longer representative of the modern face of racing, whilst also serving to take a cheap shot at a legend of this sport.

A bit of perspective is needed here. Stirling’s was not it. And it was never going to be.

Shanghai Memories

I was going through some old photos this morning. Yes. Real photos. Real actual printed photographs. How very retro.

Amongst some very random and slightly embarrassing windows into my youth, I found a lovely little selection taken 10 years ago, on my very first trip to Shanghai, for Formula 1 Magazine. And given that we’re flying off to China early next week, I thought I’d share them with you.

The Yu Garden, Shanghai was one of the earliest places we visited. We spent a long time in the area and I’m sad to say that I haven’t been back in many years. The problem is that Shanghai itself is so far from the track and so over the past 5 years I have stopped staying in the town as more and more of us have moved to Jiading. Back in 2003, however, Jiading barely even existed.

This is me and Cristiano da Matta, who was racing for Toyota at the time. He was to be our cover star for the magazine and we spent a lot of time together that week, caught up in traffic, getting lost en route to a track that didn’t exist, eating weird and wonderful food, buying fake watches, discussing Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles… and getting tremendously annoyed with a photographer and artistic director whose combined efforts were so poor, Bernie requested the cover be photoshopped. And so we ended up with one of the most mocked front covers of any motorsport magazine ever, in which poor Cris had his head superimposed onto a stock photo of someone on a rickshaw. This photo was taken shortly after Cris had bought a knock off Bolex, and then been most upset that I’d bartered a Mont Plonk pen and a Jag Heuer for the same price.

This is all that existed of the grandstands at the track. These are the two that enclose the braking zone at the end of the long back straight, which now have the famous discs adorning the top of them. As you can see, we are absolutely in the middle of nowhere. It took us almost half a day to find the track. Jiading itself was nothing. A dirt track with a few industrial units. Seeing how fast this district has developed over the past decade has been possibly the biggest lesson in what an F1 track can bring to an area, but also in just how fast the Chinese economy has grown in that time. This is how it looks now…

Copyright James Moy Photography

The start-finish straight. We talk almost every year about how bumby the China track is and about the boggy land on which it was built. Hopefully these photos will give you an idea of just how deep into the ground they had to dig to find something resembling solid earth. It was still awfully soft, and that is why the track’s bumpiness continues to evolve year on year.

Again… here’s how it looks now.

Copyright James Moy Photography

And these are the team buildings… the one thing that sticks in my mind the most about this photo was the large piles of human faeces all over the place. There were no portloos, you see, so the poor workers just had to go wherever they could. It was a wasteland. In numerous ways.

Jiading itself is an undiscovered gem. A historic little place with beautiful old architecture and a Confuscious temple. But 10 years ago it was not the bustling, ever expanding city it is becoming today. It was a small industrial town. Finding these old photos again has given me much to reflect upon. I’d forgotten just what a desolate location the track was placed in. When I say there was nothing there, I mean there was nothing there… just an endless expanse of flat nothingness. I remember falling asleep in the car and waking up an hour later and still being no further towards finding the location of the track. Nobody had a clue that a track was even being built, or what for. Now it is a source of great pride.

Perhaps it is important to remember that when we see the grandstands fail to fill, grands prix in the modern era aren’t just about putting bums on seats. In the case of China, its been about breathing new life into an area and giving investors a reason to put their money into it.

The small desolate town of Jiading I saw in 2003 and the bustling metropolis I’m flying to in 2013, are proof that it works.

The Smiling Assassin

Sebastian Vettel
© James Moy Photography

Yep, you guessed it. It’s another opinion on the fallout from the Malaysian Grand Prix. I’ll be honest, I didn’t want to just blast something out in the immediate aftermath. I wanted to take the flights home to think about it.

I barely slept last night. Jetlag accounted for part of that. The rest was the final ten laps in Malaysia and, in particular, the podium ceremony, press conference and interviews that followed.

It was all just such a load of self-deprecating “woe is me” crap. Wasn’t it?

Three drivers, supposedly three of the greatest in the world, all looking genuinely miserable at the thought of being ranked as the best on their day, in their arena.

For me, none of them had any reason to be ashamed of their days or their results. But for the pantomime they played out post race in front of a global television audience of hundreds of millions they should be embarrassed. For themselves and for the sport.

The only person who had any legitimate reason to be slightly upset was Mark Webber. But more on that later.

Vettel fights Webber for the lead in Malaysia
© James Moy Photography

Let’s start with the focal point of all this, Sebastian Vettel. I will say simply this: one does not become a triple world champion by being a nice guy. The smiles, the laughter, the little jokes, the knowing winks to the press… it’s a game, a façade: a beautifully played one, but a front all the same. What we saw on Sunday was the clearest indication yet that Sebastian Vettel is a cold, calculated, ruthless operator. And brilliantly so.

It’s funny isn’t it? We laud Senna. We clapped and cheered and said “Bloody right, too,” when he fired back at an inquisitorial Jackie Stewart the immortal lines, “We are competing to win. And if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver.”

Is this not the attitude that all the greats possess? To take advantage of every opportunity they see?

“Multi 21” was the call, turn down the engine and bring the cars home. Webber dutifully obeyed. Vettel did not. He saw his opportunity. He saw the gap. And he took it.

Cold. Calculated. Ruthless.

Why? Because winning is his nature. It is what he lives for. It is all he knows. All he can accept. Because on a day when Fernando Alonso was not scoring, he’d be damned if he was going to play the backup man and lose seven potentially crucial world championship points.

But most of all, because he sniffed blood. And like the brutal, brilliant, beautiful racing animal he is, he pounced and struck a killer blow.

In his mind, he is the number one. He does the winning. Not Mark Webber. In a 1-2 situation, Vettel saw the win as his right. In his mind he is the only one fighting for the drivers’ championship, Mark can collect the scraps for the constructors’ crown.

Christian Horner and Helmut Marko
© James Moy Photography

I guess ultimately we have Helmut Marko to blame for all this. The Red Bull junior programme was established to create such a perfect monster: an unflinching, focused, machine. And in Vettel it has its perfect product.

My colleague and friend David Tremayne often recounts the story of how Helmut Marko became this way, how he became so cold and seemingly uncaring. He and his childhood counterpart Jochen Rindt would secretly take their parent’s cars out at night, racing around frozen Austrian country lanes. The rules were that if you got into trouble, if you crashed or broke down, you were on your own. Simple as that.

It is with this mindset that Marko has run the Red Bull drivers programme. And it is this mindset he has instilled in Vettel. This, coupled with the the political safety net and protection of the team and of being constantly told he is number one, can lead to only one ethos: to win at all costs. To take every weakness in a rival and exploit it. No emotion. No remorse.

Christian Horner has his share of the blame in all this too, of course. Red Bull Racing is his team, is it not? He is the General. And yet on Sunday he completely lost control of his troops. He gave an order which was ignored. When it became obvious his demand had fallen on deaf ears, did he transmit the severity of his feelings and that his orders were to be followed? No. He weakly asked his driver to stop being silly. He treated him like a naughty child.

And after this point there were still ten laps to reverse the change in position. At any point he could have made the call to Vettel to give the position back. But the call never came. Why? Because, as Horner stated afterwards, Vettel had already made his decision.

I do wonder if Mr Mateschitz is questioning whether Mr Horner is still the right man to lead his team. Afterall, if Vettel was acting like a child, then treat him as such. If you ask your child not to do something, and they continue to act up, what do you as a responsible parent do? Say, “Oh well they’ve made their decision?” or do you reinforce your point, send them to their room, to the naughty step, dock their pocket money, take away their toys, or whatever you as a parent have decided is a suitable punishment? You do the latter. Because you are their parent. You are their guide. You are in charge. You are the boss.

In this case, Horner lost control. Right now, it isn’t his team. It is Sebastian Vettel’s. Horner has to grapple that control back, if he can. Because Sunday was an embarrassment.

He now has a lead driver who is, essentially, lawless. He has a number two who will no longer be willing to trust his team-mate, nor to help him in his title assault. He has a very real division on his hands and one which will not be easy to fix.

Of course, Horner has been in this position before. Many times in fact. From Turkey 2010 to Silverstone 2011… Brazil 2012. He has managed his drivers and their conflicts before. And brought home three consecutive championships. But the very public show of discontent in Malaysia may be his sternest test yet.

And for it to happen so early in the championship season too… we’ve got 17 races to go. Vettel has drawn a very clear line in the sand. Why he chose to do so this early is anyone’s guess. Perhaps he really is off to Ferrari at the end of the year and no longer cares how things with Red Bull pan out. Whatever the case, how his team and team-mate respond to his actions will be fascinating.

Webber leads Vettel in Malaysia
© James Moy Photography

Of course, Webber could have fought back in the race. He could have turned his engine back up and said, “Sod it. If the gloves are off, they’re off.” But he didn’t. And in so doing he unwittingly reinforced his position as the number two driver in the team. Perhaps that is why he looked so glum at the end of the race. The realization that Vettel has the cold, killer instinct that creates champions, whereas he played the game to a different set of rules and lost out. Mark hadn’t just been betrayed, he’d been publically emasculated.

Webber’s disgust stemmed from the fact there had been a pre-race promise and so he had been taken by surprise by Vettel’s duplicity. A piecrust promise if you will… easily made, easily broken. That’s why people are coming down so hard on the German. If we use a boxing analogy, it isn’t as simple as Mark dropping his guard and being caught with a knock-out uppercut. What happened in Malaysia was tantamount to his rival delivering a brutal blow to the back of his head as he walked to his corner after the bell had sounded.

But do we not race from lights to flag? Is this not motor racing? Where in the rules does it say “After the final pitstops thou shalt hold position until the chequered flag?”

So had the bell sounded? Was the fight over?

You don’t get boxers going up to each other three quarters of the way through a bout and saying, “Fella I’m knackered, let’s just hug the last two rounds out.” You don’t see Brazil and Argentina playing keepie uppie for the last 10 minutes of the world cup soccer final.

If we are to now expect the last ten laps of a Grand Prix to be all about holding station, then perhaps Red Bull or whoever can give the fans 1/5 of their ticket price back.

The teams will say they have to look after the tyres and conserve fuel. I say fill the car up with more fuel and don’t design a car that’s so heavy on its tyres. The race starts at the lights and ends at the flag. If Raikkonen had been in first and Vettel in second, would Red Bull have asked him to look after the car? Hell no. I say race. Race from lights to flag.

Part of the issue in all this is that team orders are legal; the first act of an FIA President who had, in his former life, been so held to task for his application of the concept that Formula 1 was a team venture above all other purely sporting considerations, who had been so vexed by the illegality of a right he saw as natural, that it was his overriding priority to reverse it on reaching office. Team orders could never effectively be policed, but is this alternative any better? The neutering of a race and of competition between team-mates and the defiance of the core principal of the sport: that one exists to race…

Mercedes has a rivalry of its own
© James Moy Photography

Of course, it isn’t just Red Bull who faced a dilemma in Malaysia. The same problems befell Mercedes. It is fair to say that Nico Rosberg had the raw pace advantage over Lewis Hamilton in the first two races of 2013, and in Malaysia probably should have been on the podium. But he dutifully played the game, he accepted the team’s orders not to pass. And in so doing, just as with Mark Webber at Red Bull, he inadvertently cast himself into the number two driver role. Had he passed Hamilton against the wishes of his team, it would have been a marker. “This is my team Lewis, you’re the newboy.”

As it is, he sat in Hamilton’s wake and accepted the team’s orders despite holding the pace advantage. And when the Englishman took to the podium and pointed to his crew below him, it wasn’t just as a means of saying thank you. It was Hamilton telling his team, and his new team-mate, that he was number one. So don’t believe the faux platitudes and the deprecation in the post race comments. Nobody was happier to be on that podium than Lewis Hamilton.

But, interestingly, nobody was more unhappy than Niki Lauda. Mercedes F1’s new bossman was furious at Ross Brawn’s orders to hold station. As old school as it gets, Niki wanted to see his drivers racing to the flag. To hell with the cars. We’re here to race.

That fight for the win, and the fact we were robbed of it, is ultimately what leaves a bitter aftertaste.

Webber unimpressed. Vettel under scrutiny.
© James Moy Photography

It’s funny isn’t it? Mark Webber has been so downtrodden in his Red Bull career, that if the roles had been reversed and it had been Mark who had ignored team orders, kept his engine fully juiced and passed Vettel, I don’t think we’d be having this discussion. We’d be praising him for sticking two fingers up at Helmut Marko and Red Bull’s love-in with Sebastian Vettel. He’d be a hero.

For once though, the team was in his corner. And he still lost out.

What Sebastian Vettel did was not illegal. It was downright sneaky and ungallant, it was morally questionable and duplicitous, but it wasn’t the hanging offence many are making out. After all, wasn’t his decision what we all, as fans, want? To see these great talents live up to their billing not simply as drivers, but as racing drivers?

What upset me most on Sunday was the way in which Sebastian Vettel dealt with the post race reaction to his win. And it showed that in many ways, he is still a child and not yet an adult comfortable enough with the man he truly is to take responsibility for his actions.

The crocodile tears. The faux resentment. The claims he’d made a mistake, that he was sorry, that he’d “fucked up.”

Rubbish.

He knew exactly what he was doing, and I’d wager he’d do it again in a heartbeat. Because that’s what he does. That’s his nature. That’s why he is one of the greatest drivers of his or any generation.

He exists solely to race and to win.

Ironically enough, on Sunday afternoon Sebastian Vettel gave the fans what they wanted to see. He said, “To hell with team orders. You can shove them. I’m here to win, not to finish second and I’m not turning down my engine until I know I can’t be beaten.”

I only wish he’d been man enough to admit it.

A defining moment in Vettel’s career?
© James Moy Photography

NB: Folks I’m loving hearing your opinions. But if you stoop to personal insults of any of the players in this I will not approve your comment. We can debate without sinking to that level.

Four races to define the future

Mark Webber
Australian GP 2012
© James Moy Photography

This time next week I’ll be somewhere over the Indian Ocean on one of Emirates’ finest, en route to Melbourne for the start of what promises to be a fascinating Formula 1 season. With stability in the technical regulations we have a situation where the gaps between the top teams should, theoretically, be decreasing. Competitiveness should be even higher than last season. And 2012 was hardly boring.

Of course it is futile to try and read too much into testing, but even the teams themselves are predicting that the opening rounds of the 2013 season are going to be wide open.

With that in mind, the teams are going to find themselves with a tough decision to make come Barcelona.

You see, Barcelona and the start of the European season is usually the time at which the teams bring their first major upgrades of the season. It’s the time when the big push towards the championship begins. But in 2013 Barcelona will also signify another, far larger juncture. This year, Barcelona will mark the cut off point at which the vast majority of teams decide that they will either keep pushing on with their 2013 programs and fight for the title, or switch the vast majority of their attention to their 2014 designs.

Charles Pic – Caterham
Barcelona Testing 2013
© James Moy Photography

Some of the smaller teams have made it clear that their development schedule for 2013 has already been established. They will have specific developments introduced periodically throughout the season. These developments have already been agreed and there will be little deviation from this path. The story of their 2013 season has already, to a large extent, been written. They will focus fully on 2014.

If one remembers back to the last big technical shift in 2009, Super Aguri did much the same. They’d been focused and working on the design of their 2009 challenger, which was to be their first from scratch, from the moment the 09 regs were published. Of course, destiny was to see the team collapse mid way through 2008, the design of the car shift over to the parent Honda team at Brackley and, in turn, form the basis of the Brawn BGP001 that went on to take the 2009 world championships.

It is clear, then, that getting a head start can be of huge benefit. One wonders what Caterham might achieve with a full 2014 focus in 2013… afterall, they’re in Super Aguri’s old base at Leafield. Perhaps that place still has a bit of magic left in it.

Anyway, I’m getting off the point,

The point is, when we get to Barcelona we may begin to see a two tier Formula 1 of those teams who have shifted their focus onto next season and will be bringing small developments for the rest of the season, and those teams who are still throwing everything at 2013 in an attempt to take the title.

What we don’t yet know is which teams will fall into which group. But we can hazard a guess.

Fernando Alonso – Ferrari
Barcelona Testing 2013
© James Moy Photography

Ferrari is desperate for glory. It came so close last season, and this year starts with a car in the F138 that is light years ahead of where the F2012 was at the same point of the campaign. But… Ferrari is a manufacturer. It has all the resources to get fully ahead of the game for 2014 if it puts all its eggs into that particular basket. If it isn’t leading the charge by the time we return to Europe, was does it do? Rory Byrne is back on board for the 2014 car which already should give you some impression of how important that season is for them… so do they keep their powder dry in an attempt to launch a new era of Ferrari domination in 2014 or take the fight to their rivals for 2013?

Mercedes is in a similar position. After the first four races last season you’d have thought the team was in a fairly good place to record multiple wins. Already a pole and a win under its belt in China, a double DRS system which was the talk of the paddock… but the train came off the rails. So what does Mercedes do if it finds itself in a similar position? The car has looked quick in testing. But is it good enough to mount a championship challenge? Does the Brackley team look back to 2009 and take inspiration from the head start it got on its rivals back then to rise to the challenge of the new V6 era?

With the two factory teams able to throw all their resources at 2014, could we see a 2013 battle between the likes of Lotus, Red Bull and McLaren?

Lotus has looked good in testing, just as it did last year. The team was probably the most consistent over the course of last season. If they can maintain that consistency as rivals allow their attention to switch elsewhere, could the championships return to Enstone in 2013? It could be their best shot and one they’d be unlikely to let slip if they felt it was within reach.

Red Bull is a strange one. The prospect of four titles in row has surely got to be too glittery and grand to ignore and the RB9 is clearly not going to be an easily beatable car. But if they put everything into 2013 then they might lose out in 2014 and be thoroughly on the back foot and fighting to regain their position at the front of the field. Christian Horner has already admitted that with such a huge shift in regulations between this year and next, there is the scope for someone to get it spectacularly wrong. You wouldn’t put a dime on that person being Adrian Newey, but stranger things have happened.

Jenson Button – McLaren
Barcelona Testing 2013
© James Moy Photography

McLaren, meanwhile, is struggling to get on top of its new car. They had developed the MP4-27 as far as it could go last season, and so out of all the top teams have had to make the biggest shift in design philosophy between last year and this. But despite feeling confused about where they stand with the MP4-28, Jenson Button in particular has faith that the potential of the car is even greater than last season. As such, if that potential is realized through season-long development, can McLaren afford not to fight for their first constructors’ championship of the 21st Century?

With rumours that McLaren is on the verge of signing a deal to run Honda V6 Turbos in 2015, you’ve also got to ask yourself… just how much is 2014 actually going to matter to McLaren? If, and it is a big if, but IF Honda does return as an engine supplier, and IF it is with McLaren in 2015, then does it make sense to pour too much into 2014 and a car designed around a Mercedes power unit which will not be forming the basis of their future designs?

This is why the Honda story is fascinating. Sure, the rumoured link up is two years away, but if it is true it could have a very real effect on the 2013 world championship.

But all of this means nothing until we know the lay of the land, and who stands a chance of fighting for the title in 2013. And this is why the first four races of 2013 could provide us with the most incredible spectacle.

Think about it. A wide open playing field which the teams are already describing as being one of the most competitive starts to a Formula 1 season we’ve ever seen. And just four races to determine whether they put everything into this season or throw everything at the next.

The first four races of 2013 stand to be not only a window into the competitiveness of the teams and the likely season-long championship battle, but a mini championship in their own right.

And imagine this… what happens if we get four different race winners from four different teams over those four races as we did last season?

There are going to be some big decisions to make come Barcelona. By the time we leave Bahrain, the cards will have been dealt. There’s no going back.

These four fly-away races will determine not just the outcome of this season but, potentially, the competitive landscape for 2014 and beyond.

Pretty awesome, right?

No Time For Tears – Racing, Romanticism and Revolution

Jules Bianchi
Force India F1 Team
© James Moy Photography

Let’s start off with a statistic or two. Since the inception of GP2 in 2005, only one non-Red Bull backed driver has graduated from Formula Renault 3.5 (World Series Renault) to a Formula 1 race seat. That man was the 2005 champion, Robert Kubica.

In that same period, 20 drivers have graduated from GP2 to F1, with a further four being added to the list in 2013 (Gutierrez, van der Garde, Chilton and Razia) and one from GP3 (BOTTAS.)

Red Bull has, in the same period, promoted four drivers direct from World Series: Vettel, Alguersuari, Ricciardo and Vergne. It has not placed a fully backed driver into GP2 since Sebastien Buemi finished sixth in the 2008 championship.

Since the inception of GP2, the two championships have both provided one Formula 1 world champion – Hamilton for GP2 and Vettel for WSR.

So, why the sudden fetish for stats?

As yesterday’s news started to filter through that Adrian Sutil had landed the final seat in F1, alongside Paul di Resta at Force India, I actually started to feel bad for Jules Bianchi whom had also stood a chance at the seat. Jules, you see, would have been the first World Series driver to graduate to F1 without Red Bull backing since Kubica. And the fact that he won’t be leaves the whole junior championship ladder in an odd state of flux.

Jules seemed to be a dream package. Young, hungry, talented and fast… and a Ferrari Academy driver, managed by Nicolas Todt. It is little wonder that talk soon surfaced that Force India was hoping to switch engine suppliers from Mercedes to Ferrari for 2014, and that any deal with Jules would require some form of a sweetener from the Scuderia on the figure proposed for an engine supply. It is simple enough business.

Nicolas Todt
© James Moy Photography

Nicolas Todt is as close to the Messiah of young driver managers as you could hope to find in the modern era. And Jules is his shining light. I interviewed Nicolas a few years ago about his career and I asked him what would make him proudest. His answer came straight from the heart. He wanted to see Jules in Formula 1. You see, all of Nicolas’ other drivers had come to him either when they were already in Formula 1 or when they were just on the cusp of getting there. But Nicolas had discovered Jules in karting and had guided him all the way through his career.

With that in mind, you will have some idea of how hard Nicolas will have worked to get that Force India deal done.

Ultimately this whole thing will have come down to finances. The money off deal proposed by Ferrari for their 2014 engines will have been less than Adrian Sutil was able to bring to the table. Factor in also that the team knows how reliable Sutil can be in a racing car while Bianchi remains the untried and often hot headed youngster, and one can see how the decision was reached.

But if Jules Bianchi, with the might of Ferrari and arguably the best driver manager in the business, can’t get a leg up from WSR to F1, what chance does anyone else in the category have?

The logical next step after WSR, if F1 isn’t happening, must therefore be GP2. But for Bianchi and his one-time team-mate Sam Bird, they’ve gone in the opposite direction. After a few years spent winning races in the F1 feeder, they moved sideways to World Series and arguably had their best, most complete seasons as racing drivers ever. But now they find themselves in limbo.

Alexander Rossi on the other hand, along with 2012 WSR champion Robin Frijns looks set to do the opposite and join the GP2 fold for 2013. Rossi’s story is an interesting one. He was partnered with Esteban Gutierrez at ART in GP3 in 2010. But while the Mexican moved to GP2 in 2011, the American moved to WSR. After two years a piece in their respective championships, Esteban Gutierrez is a Formula 1 driver, and Alexander Rossi is looking at making his GP2 debut.

So what was the point in those two seasons in World Series? Was it a huge waste of money and time? If only those backed by Red Bull have any chance of making it out of World Series and straight into F1, what do young drivers do? Racing in a championship that holds no hopes of providing that stepping stone to F1, if that is a driver’s ambition, is surely a waste of time. But simply stepping up to GP2 is not that simple. And again, the reason is money.

Nico Rosberg
ART Grand Prix
© GP2 Media Service

When GP2 was created for the 2005 season, the top line budget was around €750,000. The championship contested 11 rounds, 10 in Europe with a season finale at the Bahrain International Circuit at which Nico Rosberg recorded the first ever back to back weekend set of wins to beat Heikki Kovalainen to the crown.

In 2013, at the end of the third three year cycle of the championship, GP2 will once again contest 11 rounds. But budgets this year have hit such levels that even 2007 champions iSport International have had to miss the first test of the season and are hoping to sell their team. As referenced by Autosport.com in an article on iSport’s sad demise, the budget the team was looking for, per driver, was €1.8 million.

Paul Jackson has never sold his seats at a premium. He has always sold his seats at the same price to both drivers, so that both would be assured equal status within the team. If that’s the price he was quoting, you can be assured that was about as low as it could go. So GP2 budgets, in 2013, are one million Euros higher than they were when the championship was launched.

Of course, the F1 calendar itself is partially to blame for this. There aren’t 10 European races anymore to make a 2005 style GP2 calendar possible. With the folly that was GP2 Asia now consigned to history, the venues which that championship called home have been absorbed into the main championship. So we have Malaysia, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and now Singapore on the list.

On the one hand this makes the championship very attractive as it prepares drivers for F1 on F1 race tracks and in front of F1 teams. On the other hand, it means that unless you can get around €2million of personal backing a year, you aren’t going to be competing.

2012 saw arguably the weakest field in GP2 history. 2013 has some outstanding talent in the field, but questions are already being asked of whether the line-up across the board is of the level we have come to expect from what remains, to my mind, one of the most exciting single-seater championships in the world, and a championship which has always sold itself on being THE Formula 1 feeder series.

Perhaps, then, we shouldn’t be so surprised that GP2 should be so successful in seeing its drivers promoted to F1. Afterall, in an era when talent alone is not enough to grant a driver his break at the bigtime in F1, money really does talk. If you can’t afford to race in GP2, then how are you going to scrape together the backing to buy yourself a run at the F1 rookie test, let alone put together a package that is enticing enough for an F1 team to stick your sponsor’s logos on the side of their car and allow you to go racing?

Timo Glock
© James Moy Photography

Think of the last driver that you can recall making it to F1 on talent alone? Who genuinely made it without a cent to his name in personal backing? Wracking my brains, and really wracking them, I’d probably say Timo Glock. I mean even Timo had some funding, but nowhere near enough to be able to get himself a gig in F1.

How sad that in the year when Timo’s F1 dream comes to an end, the team with whom he took the GP2 title in 2007 should also be seeing their GP2 dream come to a premature conclusion.

The problem stems, in my mind, from the top. F1 budgets remain stupidly high. And for as long as the concept of a budget cap is pushed to the side they will remain prohibitively ludicrous. For as long as this is so, all but the very top few teams will have a budget shortfall from sponsorship and will need to find the fastest driver available with the biggest raft of personal backing to make up the numbers.

This, then, filters down to F1’s direct feeder categories.

The whole question of Europe’s junior formulas is one which needs seriously addressing. Whether you prescribe to the Formula Renault 2.0, World Series route, or the GP3, GP2 route, the struggles of the once fertile Formula 3 championships and the death of Formula BMW should have us all worried. Formula E is coming along, so too Formula 4… but where is the budget for yet more new championships when the ones that exist are struggling to stay alive?

World Series and GP2 are both very fine championships. It is arguable at the moment as not all seats have been filled, but for the first time in many a year, WSR is looking as though it may just have the edge on GP2 in terms of the overall level of the field this season. Red Bull has another hotshot on its hands in Antonio Felix da Costa, who was so devastatingly impressive in GP3 and WSR last season. I have said before that if he isn’t racing in F1 by mid-season, I’ll be shocked. But what chance do his WSR rivals have? And in GP2, who can mix results with budget and make themselves a viable proposition for F1 2014?

The fact remains, there is a logjam. There are so many talented drivers who do not have anywhere to race where they can make a living. With Formula 1 closed to all but those with the richest benefactors, and a season of GP2 costing almost as much as a half decent ride in Indycar (seriously), World Series is, of course, a cost effective championship consideration for almost every driver at this level. It’s still not cheap, but comes in at about the same levels a GP2 season was costing back when it was launched in 2005. But, as we have already discussed, if you can’t afford GP2 then you can’t afford F1.

The GP2 paddock
2012 testing, Jerez
© GP2 Media Service

GP2 is coming to the end of its third three year cycle. And with that in mind, it will soon become time for the teams to re-apply for the next generation. How many will do so is a very real question. With the demise of iSport, Ocean falling by the wayside and rumours of other race and championship winning teams struggling to find full budget, there are very serious issues facing the fourth generation of the championship. The problem has always been one of rewards. The teams have always felt spare parts are too expensive, that travel needs to be heavily subsidised, and that a fair distribution of the money accrued from television rights should be established.

Perhaps it is time for the GP2 teams to form their own version of FOTA, and to form a united front to create a new constitution. Times have changed, and the junior formulas must change with it or see themselves collapse along with those once mighty bastions of grass roots racing which now lie either in intensive care, or a shallow grave.

I have, for many years now, believed that GP2 has the capacity to become a professional championship. If the teams were allotted a fairer distribution of the money the championship makes, it would allow them a stable platform and the ability to sign drivers based on quality rather than wallet size. GP2 could become a viable racing alternative to F1, and a holding pen for the hugely talented drivers for whom there is no place at the top table.

The GP1 trademark was, a long time ago, registered and is held by one Bernard Charles Ecclestone. Could the launch of GP1 be the answer? F1 teams use, let’s say, 2 year old cars with rev limited engines and put their test and reserve drivers in to give them track time and experience. Or perhaps we take a two year old F1 car, clone it and put the 20 best drivers outside F1 in the bad boy and go racing.

But wasn’t that what GP2 was supposed to be in the first place? And if we’re talking about budget shortfalls for GP2, the last thing we need is another tier between it and F1.

Jules Bianchi’s failure to land an F1 seat, however, coupled with the utterly depressing financial woes at iSport International are just the latest pieces of evidence that we stand at a crossroads.

Now is the time, I feel, for GP2 to take its place as a professional championship, and to give a deserving home to the 20 most talented single seater drivers in the world not racing in F1, where they can make a living, make names for themselves, and carry on giving the fans the most incredible racing spectacle. It needs to be a place where the teams can make a genuine business rather than simply existing. Where they can give the best drivers the best chances, rather than pimp the best rides to the highest bidders. Let GP3 and WSR be the feeders for this championship. Let the championship bosses work together to create a structure for the greater good of the sport.

There’s no reason why it couldn’t work. All it requires is a slight shift in philosophy from those at the top, and a bit of a wider perspective that without change in a quickly evolving world currently living through one of the deepest financial crises in generations, every business no matter how large or small, is doomed to failure.

I’ve been accused in the past of being a bit too much of an idealist, an optimist… a romanticist. And I guess to a large degree I am.

I hate that the very suggestions of change seem so impractical. But they probably are.

Aren’t they?

EDIT – March 1st 2013: With Marussia’s termination of its contract with Luiz Razia, Jules Bianchi has been announced as the team’s second F1 race driver for 2013. I’m so sad for Luiz, but delighted for Jules. Of course, that makes the stats at the start of this piece slightly different, as Jules now does indeed become the first non-RB boy since Kubica to gain promotion to F1 from WSR. The issue, as outlined in this article however, remains. Marussia’s own reasoning for the late switch in drivers hinged on assuring their fiscal stability into the future. Jules brings that and, so we believe, the prospect of a Ferrari engine deal for 2014, as Cosworth will not be producing a V6 Turbo next season. To get your break in F1, you still need to bring a large slice of financial pie. Until we see a meaningful budget cap that will cut budget shortfalls, only the richest will get their break and the junior formulae will continue to struggle in F1′s wake.

GRID’s back… and better than ever

Codemasters’ base

I’ve been lucky enough to do some pretty cool things as part of my job over the years and last week afforded me another such unique experience, as I took a step out of my usual comfort zone and into something completely new.

I’ve always loved computer games, and so I was pretty giddy when I arrived at Codemasters’ base in Warwickshire for a press preview of a new racing game. “Codies”, as they’re known, have for the last three seasons produced the official and BAFTA winning Formula 1 computer game, and last year added the hugely enjoyable F1 Racestars to the mix.

The fact that Codemasters won the deal to create the F1 games had come as no surprise to me when the deal was announced. I was a huge fan of their Racedriver GRID game, which had its genesis in the TOCA touring car games, and I had always been very impressed with the attention to detail that they had put into every element of the racetracks on the game that I knew well. Istanbul Park, Spa, Nurburgring, Donington, Le Mans… they were pretty much close to perfect. Even manhole covers in grass run off were present at the right point. Every little detail was right. It was the sort of attention to detail that won them the F1 gig.

I loved that game. So I was pretty thrilled that Codemasters should invite me down to trial the sequel… GRID 2.

© Codemasters

The original game was released in 2008, but the follow up has taken so long because Codemasters had to wait for technology to mature so that the team could meet their aspirations and make a sequel befitting the original. The racing experience remains at the heart of the game, and just as in the original the concept of a career progression on a season-by-season basis remains.

The original wasn’t without its detractors, however. Twitter poured out bile when I announced I was off to trial GRID 2. Many felt it was too much of an arcade game, and not much of a sim. Frankly, that’s never really bothered me too much. Computer games should be fun, shouldn’t they? And besides, how many of the armchair detractors have ever driven the full array of cars available in these type of games to be able to say with any clarity whether the driving experience is truly realistic? Perhaps only the likes of a Jeremy Clarkson would be suitably positioned, but I doubt you’d get him on a PS3 to find out.

Did Guitar Hero provide a realistic experience of playing lead guitar? No. It had five buttons, not six strings. Call of Duty may be all well and good, but until your TV starts firing bullets at you, it’s not actually realistic, is it? So having people complain that a racing game is too much fun and isn’t realistic enough just rubs me up the wrong way.

That said, Codemasters clearly took the complaints to heart and in their development of GRID 2 have created what they term as TRUEFEEL™. This handling system has taken years of work in order to provide the most realistic car handling experience possible, and for each car featured in the game weeks have been spent with representatives of the car companies to ensure that the handling and feel of each vehicle is as close to reality as possible.

Damage has been altered and advanced, with car specific damage now playing a key role. The notion of “pre-baked” damage is a thing of the past, with each incident resulting in unique damage specific to the collision experienced, differing depending on what car you’re driving and what you’ve driven into.

Or, should we say, depending on who has driven into you. The AI on GRID 2 has also been developed to create a more ruthless opponent. And they really are bastards. Swerving around in the braking zone, edging you onto the grass, into walls… its like they’ve been to the Michael Schumacher school of dirty tricks.

Racing around the Red Bull Ring
© Codemasters

The concept of the game, in terms of the narrative, also sounds pretty exciting. It is all based around one simple concept… Who is the Greatest?

It’s a question we’ve asked ourselves in motor racing time and time again. Just who is the best driver in the world? With so many championships, so many disciplines, across so many continents, how can you ever figure out who really is the best of the best?

That’s the concept of the game.

A crazy old billionaire has decided he wants to answer this very question. He has set up a tournament to find out who is the best racing driver in the world, and you, as the player, are to be the poster boy of this new championship.

You start off in Year one in the US. Year two sees the tournament cross over to Europe. The success of the championship grows along with your fame as it moves to Asia in season three.

The original ability to design your own car livery and choose which sponsors come on board remains, and you can spec your cars to your own choice, even though some vehicles are provided by the championship itself.

And the name of this championship? World Series Racing. Yep. WSR.

I did ask the question. And yes, its been cleared by the legal department. Seems a little odd they didn’t try to come up with an original name. The International Racing Championship? IRC. Ah, no that’s already taken too.

But you see what I mean. Seems a needless oversight. But that’s a small detail.

The game itself features street racing (even around Paris… awesome!), drifting, and a very clever system where you will be on regular roads, blasting down the Californian coast for example, and the route will not be made available in advance. The computer will decide, on the fly. You’ll never race the same route twice. I quite like the sound of that.

There’s also circuit racing, of course. And it really is excellent.

Can I take this home with me please?
© Andy Gray / Codemasters

I had a go around the Red Bull Ring in a BAC Mono. I strapped myself into the £12,000 D rig, and blasted around the track. And I’ve got to say it looks perfect and drives beautifully. Responsive, realistic… and FUN!

But I don’t own a £12,000 simulator type thing. I own a PS3 and one of those handheld controllers that shakes when something is supposed to have happened. And that’s the litmus test. Does it still work on a controller?

Yes. It does. And it is brilliant.

The list of cars and tracks were not made fully available, but unfortunately there was an admission from Codemasters that rallying is not to be part of the game. If you’re looking at finding the best driver in the world, across multiple styles of racing, it does seem a pretty large omission.

The guys wouldn’t be drawn on endurance racing. In the original GRID, each season would see you compete at Le Mans. But the fact they didn’t say no when asked if it would still feature in the game, when they did say no to the rally question, means that we can read between the lines and expect endurance racing and LMP cars to be part of the experience.

The Merc McLaren SLS
© Codemasters

A McLaren MP4-12C GT? Oh go on then…
© Codemasters

There remain different tiers of cars to race, from BMW E30s to Mustangs and Camaros, from Pagani Huayras to the McLaren MP4-12C GT, the Mercedes -Benz SLR McLaren 722 GT, the Ariel Atom and the aforementioned BAC Mono.

But what about the race cars? Well, Codemasters are staying pretty tight lipped on what we can expect in terms of single seaters, but there will definitely be an Indycar pack available for pre-order and once the game is released that will feature both the Dallara DW12 Indycar, and the Indy pace car.

Yes, that is Indianapolis.
© Codemasters

And you’ll be able to race at Indianapolis. We’ve already touched on the fact that the Red Bull Ring is in, but so too is Brands Hatch and Yas Marina. Again, Codemasters are keeping the others close to their chest.

I’m not a game reviewer. I’m a motorsport journalist who enjoys the occasional bit of fun on his PS3. But I’ve played my share of games, and driven my share of decent cars and a few race cars.

I loved GRID. And after just the shortest amount of time playing the sequel, I already know I’m going to love it even more.

Why? Because GRID 2, more than any game I’ve ever played, has paid an almost obsessive, compulsive attention to detail whilst somehow maintaining that most important of elements… fun.

In short, it promises to be absolutely mega.

GRID 2 is out on May 28th in the US and one week later on May 31st in the UK.

I’ve seen the future… and it is awesome

Mercedes AMG – Brixworth
© Mercedes AMG

Formula 1 is a fairly secretive world. But when you’re asked to seal your iPhone and anything that can take a picture in a lockable bag, and requested not to use a Dictaphone because you’ll be hearing something that nobody outside the factory walls has been privy to, you know you’re in for something very special.

Such was the fashion in which today started, as Mercedes AMG welcomed a select gathering of Formula 1 journalists to its Brixworth base, on the outskirts of Northampton, England.

It’s all change for F1’s engine regulations next year, as normally aspirated V8s make way for V6 turbos. The naysayers, one Mr Ecclestone included, have said the new regulations will do more harm than good to the sport. The new units will be too expensive and they’ll sound awful. The regs have been delayed once, from 2013 to 2014, and for a while it looked like they might be delayed again… even shelved entirely.

But after a truly eye-opening morning in Brixworth, it is clear to see why the engine manufacturers have stuck to their guns on this one. Not only will the new technology create great power units and potentially some very exciting racing, but they will be cheaper, they will have direct road relevance which could convince even more manufacturers to get involved with the sport… and above all, they’re going to sound great!

We were treated to over two hours of fascinating insight by Mercedes AMG’s two newest and most influential bosses: Engineering Director Hywel Thomas and Managing Director Andy Cowell, not to mention a tour of the engine facility and an exclusive peek at the relevance all this has to the parent company.

Brixworth is a hive of activity
© Mercedes AMG

Work is going on in secret at all of Formula 1’s engine manufacturers on the 2014 units. The new power units are set to be homologated on March 1st 2014, and although the topic of extra winter testing is in discussion at present, thus far it appears that only the three standard pre-season tests will be used to track test the new units before this date arrives next year.

And that’s the first major change… we will no longer talk about engines. Instead, we will refer to “power units.” The reason for this is actually quite simple. The engine, as it exists now, will cease to do so. While each car currently has a limit of eight engines for the season, in 2014 this limit will drop to five “power units,” to include not just the traditional block we know as the engine but “all ancilliaries, any energy recovery systems and all actuation systems.” So, for the avoidance of doubt, a failure on any element of the “power unit” which requires a change, means that’s one of your allocation of five.

So what are the other big changes for 2014?

Mercedes Benz 2014 V6 Power Unit
© Mercedes AMG

First of all, the tech specs. The Internal Combustion Engine (ICU) at the heart of the power unit will be a 1.6 litre V6 turbo, running to 15,000rpm (Current V8s run to 18,000rpm.) The turbo will feature a sole single-stage compressor and single stage exhaust turbine, and will run at a max of 125,000rpm.

KERS will no longer exist, replaced instead by ERS (Energy Recovery System) which will harvest both kinetic and thermal energy. And here’s where it gets very cool indeed. ERS will produce approximately twice the horsepower and will be available for five times as long as KERS. So while KERS currently only provides 80hp for 5.7 seconds, ERS in 2014 will deliver 161hp for 33.3 seconds.

The maximum output of an ERS unit will be 4MJ. That’s 10 times what is available in 2013. In addition, while in 2013 only one journey is available for energy recovery, in 2014 there will be 7 different paths by which energy is recovered.

As Cowell himself admitted, racing without ERS in 2014 will be impossible.

Andy Cowell
© Mercedes AMG

There must, therefore, be a shift in the weight allowances. While in 2013 the engine is a minimum of 95kg, in 2014 the power unit must come in at 145kg, including the exhaust. These units are expected to last 4000km, which is double the distance expected from a 2013 engine.

And then there’s fuel. The maximum quantity of fuel will drop to 100kg, or around 140 litres. As such, the concept of “performance” as we know it now will cease to exist. In its place, we will deal with the term, “energy efficiency.”

The 2014 technical regulations contain over 40 new in-built cost controls, too.

So we’re looking at fewer units, in-built cost controls, direct road relevance, more reused energy availability for a longer period… see why we’re getting excited?

Ahh, but what about the sound?

Cowell hits the play button on his presentation, and we are treated to a simulator lap of Monza… but the audio is a recording taken straight from the dyno of the 2014 V6 power unit. It does sound “sweet” as Cowell promised it would. It perhaps isn’t quite as high pitched as we’re used to, but we’re not talking octaves here… we’re talking a third… i.e. drop down three tones / notes on a scale… tops. Cowell, however, insists the pitch will be higher than at present. The sound is somewhat muffled, but having seen the unit on the dyno it is obvious why. The exhaust on the bench unit is shooting straight into an extractor.

The exhaust will also be a six in one. Right now we have two four in one exhausts, creating an eight in two configuration. If you imagine that a GP2 engine features an 8 in 1 exhaust, albeit from a naturally aspirated V8, then you’ll get an idea of what to expect. Thankfully, any fears we’d had that it would sound like a first generation GP3 engine, i.e. the flight of the bumblebees, have been well and truly left behind.

One exhaust exit, straight out the back of the engine cover does mean that, at first appearance, the ability to play around with exhaust plumes will also be limited. Cowell raises a cocked eye when it is suggested that a single exhaust exit will eradicate the importance of plume direction. We all know that what has been learned in F1 can never be unlearned. Work, it seems, will simply switch to figuring out how and where best to direct the plume from one exit, rather than the current two.

Mercedes Benz 2014 V6 Power Unit
© Mercedes AMG

Then there’s thoughts about the power available from these new units. More torque, especially on corner exit will be the order of the day. Cars in 2014 will have more power than grip. The quickest strategy for a race distance may therefore fly completely at odds with what will produce one quick qualifying lap. Cowell states that the sport will become a true thinking man’s game, and that only the drivers who can get the most out of the car and from the fuel’s energy, will prosper.

So we’re looking at advanced technology, the encouragement of technical innovation, and Formula 1 back on the cutting edge once again.

And in a small building external to the main F1 engine facility, an extra element of all this is coming together; the Mercedes SLS AMG Coupe – Electric Drive. When Mercedes bosses came up with the idea of a high performance electrical car, they asked for concepts from external and internal sources. The winning concept came from the F1 boys. Using the amassed knowledge of working on KERS in F1, the boys at Brixworth have created a car which is set to become the new benchmark in terms of energy density. Featuring 12 battery modules and 864 individual cells, the SLS AMG Electric Drive is a purely electric car with a 250km range, 1000Nm of torque and 740hp… that’s just 10hp less than an F1 car.

SLS AMG Electric Drive
© Mercedes AMG

This is why the technology matters. And it is why the sport cannot afford to ignore it.

Couple in the fact that a change in ACO regulations means that F1 power units will be eligible for Le Mans and could we see a return of Mercedes to Le Mans? Cowell won’t be drawn.

With all engine manufacturers working in private, despite the regulations being fairly tight there really is the prospect of one manufacturer getting it more right than the others. And despite homologation kicking in early, Cowell is convinced that development will be possible, particularly in terms of efficiency, just as it has been under the current homologation. And that, coupled with engines actually making a difference again, should convince other manufacturers to enter the mix.

As Cowell perfectly summises, the 2014 regulations are all about putting the “motor” back into “motorsport.”

I can’t wait.

A Christmas Carol

So I know I haven’t blogged in ages and I’m sorry for that. You know me. I post very infrequently, and as you might have seen… the last month or so has been fairly frantic what with a few fairly important trips to the USofA.

Anyway, as the Christmas turkey settled in my belly, and the hangover begins to wear off, I thought I’d post something I knocked up over the past few days.

It’s all thanks to a tweet from Harry Agapidis @harryagapidis, which arrived on Christmas Eve and refused to remove itself from my brain as we started singing the very tune to which he had provided an alternative opening gambit. It seemed only right I try and finish it off…

So thank you Harry, and Merry Christmas everyone.

Hark, Heinz Harald Frentzen sings
Christmas on the Nurburgring
Adenau and Karussell
Helmets by Arai and Bell
Greatest win to crushing low
Stirling Moss and Fangio
Jackie Stewart, Jochen Rindt
Top ten team or end up skint
Hark, Heinz Harald Frentzen sings
Christmas on the Nurburgring

Seven crowns for Micky Schu
Fred Alonso’s stuck on two
Lewis, Jenson, just the one
Tabloids papped Max Mosley’s bum
Newey, Chapman, awesome cars
Hunt and Irvine whipped off bras
Monaco and Silverstone
Back to back or stand alone
Hark, Heinz Harald Frentzen sings
Christmas on the Nurburgring

Bernie runs the F1 show
Doing deals for massive dough
For this sport we owe him thanks
In ten years we’ll be run by banks
Red Bull, Lotus, Mercedes, which
Almost rhymes with Ferrari
F1’s greatest dynasties
Villeneuve, Hill and Andretti
Hark, Heinz Harald Frentzen sings
Christmas on the Nurburgring

So we start another year
Testing’s very nearly here
Freezing mornings spent in Spain
In Melbourne we’ll be bloody drained
Who will win the championship?
Who will end up in the shit?
19 races maybe more
Italy to Singapore
Chuck Korea in the bin
We’d rather race at Nurburgring