My first live Grand Prix

My first live Grand Prix

and some thoughts about the rules of F1.

I wrote this for a young journo who was looking for ideas for articles
for his column. He never used it so I posted it to a forum, I've since
seen it regurgitated in other posts and by a well known journo who
rewrote it for a very slick article so it may be worth reading. I
should fix it up a lot but I like the informal way I wrote it, hope
you find it worth the read.

F1 is not about instant gratification.

2002, a season of unprecedented domination by Michael Schumacher and
Ferrari, giving Schumacher his fifth world championship. Equaling the
record of the late great Juan Manuel Fangio. Schumacher won a record
11 of the 17 races amassing a record 144 points. His team mate Rubens
Barrichello won four giving Ferrari victory in all bar two races! And
more championship points than all the other teams put together giving
them a record equalling fourth consecutive constructors championship.
A lot of records, huh? Well there were more, many more during the
season too many to bore you with. WOW! what a year for Grands Prix
racing. The fans must have enjoyed that! Nope, the viewers turned off
in droves, even the fanatical tifosi stayed away from the Italian
Grand Prix. F1 was in trouble. The Prost Team went belly up, the
Arrows Team were close behind and Jordan and Minardi were feeling the
pinch and even the major teams were laying off staff. Sponsors were
dropping out left and right, Bernies digital TV channel was wound up
due to insufficient subscriber numbers.

Why? Was it Ferrari's domination? surly not after all that is not
unusual in Formula 1. Even back in the Thirties the Silver Arrows then
the Auto Unions dominated year after year and the gaps were measured
in minutes not seconds! This has continued right through with in
recent times both Williams and McLaren having had consecutive years at
the helm. While some fans winged (usually the opposing teams fans),
most revelled in the spectacle.

I can't really comment on the early years, I wasn't around till the
early eighties when channel nine started their Grands Prix coverage in
Australia thanks to the great Alan Jones's championship year in 1980.
The telecasts were scheduled very early Monday or Tuesday morning
usually around 3am and without the luxury of Video recorders the only
way to view them was to set your alarm clock (Thank god the VCR became
affordable a few years later). And boy was it worth the effort, my
first decade of Grand Prix racing was exceptional, of coarse I had no
idea at the time while watching Lauda, Piquet, Roseberg, Prost,
Mansell and later Senna that these were to be my golden years of Grand
Prix racing. Not only were these blokes world champions but all were
great characters with great humour and even occasionally outspoken and
controversial god forbid, something you don't see in this day and age
of politically correct everything. And they were racing against great
characters like Villeneuve (Gilles), Watson, Laffite, Tambay, de
Angelis, Johansson, Alboreto, Patrese, Arnoux, Berger and Reutemann.
No wonder I was hooked by Grand Prix racing it was immensely exciting,
colourful and very entertaining. We even had "Murray and James", while
I'm still a big fan of Murray Walker somehow it's not the same without
James's rye alcohol induced humour. James was an opinionated ass who
wasn't afraid to express those opinions and I miss his commentry
dearly.

In 1985 Grand Prix racing came to Australia,
WooooooooHooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! While I'd seen F1 cars at
Calder in the hands of the greats Alan Jones, Niki Lauda and Jaques
Laffite we Aussies were about to see the REAL thing! You cannot
imagine how excited I was. Hotels were booked out a year ahead,
fortunately my wifes Aunty owned a home directly opposite the circuit
and through contacts and grafting I procured seats (including one for
our television) and even a Marlboro dinner invitation. Despite the
championship being decided we arrived the week before the Grand Prix
and managed to not only walk but drive the circuit in it's entirity on
the Wednesday. To top things off Jacques Laffite (one of the nicest,
no THE nicest Frenchman of all time) recognised me from Calder and
arranged pit passes, I was in seventh heaven. Thurday and Friday we
watched practice in total awe and on Saturday with our TV on the seat
in front, stop watches at the ready we watched Lauda, Prost, Rosberg,
Mansell, Senna, de Angelis, Johansson, Alboreto, Piquet and Berger
fight it out for pole position. Boutsen in the surprising Arrows had
the early running before Berger put in a quick one. I suppose I
shouldn't have been but I was surprised at the lack of knowledge of
Grand Prix racing in the Grandstand around us. Fans were craning their
necks to see our monitor and after the umteenth "Senna's on a quick
one" asked "How do you know ?", "Listen" I said and they did. With 5
minutes to spare Mansell put in a "quick one" over a second quicker
than anyone else, it was a magic lap and looked unbeatable as the
minutes ticked down they came closer but could not beat it then with
seconds to spare Ayrton turned onto the straight to a chorus of
"Senna's on a quick one" (yes, they were listening) from those around
us and indeed he was, he took pole. Following the support races we
dashed home to Aunties for a shower and off to dinner with Jaques,
Patrick Tambay (a real gentleman) and the most entertaining of all
Stephan (Gid'die) Johansson WOW, what a day!

I slept like a baby but hey when that alarm rang at 6:00am I was up
like a shot, showered and dressed ready to go by 6:15am. "C'mon we'll
be late", "But it doesn't start for 8 hours!" replied my wife.
"Practice is at 10:00" was my reply, with coaxing and after breakfast
we were in the Ligier pit by 8.00 Jacques arrived much later but we
had a chance to talk with his affiable team mate Philippe Streiff.
Practice was confusing (we had a lot to learn) the wrong blokes were
quick, eeck our favourites looked positively slow! A visit to our
mates in the support paddock and a few support races including the new
to us and hilarious celebrity challenge and we were back in our seats,
TV tuned in and ready for "the race". If you weren't there you cannot
imagine the anticipation in the grandstand, it was electrifying
everybody half on their bums and half on the balls of their toes no
wonder the entire track rose to it's feet a second before the turbos
exploded forward. MEEEOOOOOOwww www www W, they were off Mansell (a
favourite of mine) was in the lead then that bloody young Senna took
him off (insert rye smile, I know millions would disagree). The great
Rosberg took the lead with young Senna chasing hard then Prost moved
to third, that's a danger (I'm also a Rosberg and Williams fan).
Piquet moved up with the great Aussie Alan Jones in the pathetic Lola
in SIXTH! from a lowly nineteen on the grid, WOW Go Alan! but we were
dreaming and AJ's Lola's engine expired. Prost's McLaren expired too
and Lauda moved to fourth, now that's a real danger he's won from
there many times. We now had Rosberg, Senna, Surer (who's he) and Mr
Lauda. Then Rosberg pits and the inexperienced young Senna clips the
rear of the Williams losing his front wing BUT he presses on (Oh NO!
more inexperience). Rosberg passes Senna and finally he (Senna) pits.
Surer disappears (OK, I can't remember everything) and Lauda is
SECOND! Damn how does he do it? just when you reckon your blokes got
the win the great Niki appears and snatches it away :-( ... but then
Senna charges past Niki jeeze he's quick! Keke pits, it goes wrong Oh
NO! Lauda is looking terribly good, what a finish to a great career in
F1 but we were dreaming again Niki's brakes were toast and he expires
dramatically into the wall when his disc explodes at the end of
Brabham straight giving Senna the lead with Keke second and Alboreto
third, no Alboreto pits, it's a long stop, oh no he's out ... Who's
third? YeeeHawww w it's Jacques. At this point perhaps I'd better
explain my extasism, the nicest bloke in F1 was third, my fellow
smoking mate Keke, the only bloke in pit lane allowed to light a fag
had stood next to me on Friday so I wasn't thrown out AND who drives
for Williams was second, and the new boy an undisputed future champion
was leading, what more could you ask for? Then sadly the new prodogy
experienced the sadest of retirements when his Lotus engine expired
almost within site of that chequered flag. Never mind, Keke is
LEADING! Keke stopped again for tyres but only because his lead was
unasailable and then when we thought the drama was all done the third
placed man (Jacques team mate) ran straight up his (Jacques) backside,
Jacques continued relatively undamaged but Phillipe Streiffe suffered
the indignity of driving the last lap minus his front wheel, luckily
he retained third place and celebrations continued well into the next
day, I can reassure you a great time was had by all. OK, I was pretty
sloshed and don't recall much but hey can you blame me?

So that was my first real GP!

[EDIT] A note for my mates. After the grand prix Jaques was asked
about Streifs collision with him, he puffed his cheeks and blew
through his lips and in his typical way said "What can I say ... " The
interviewer was disappointed but those around understood that what he
said meant "hey Philip made a mistake, he is young ... It is no big
deal, life goes on." Some would say that's the only reason why he
never won a championship and they might be right but when ever his
name comes up around F1 circles, even today, people smile and you can
often see a remembered incident or familiar affection for the man, I
wonder if that is not worth more than all the world championships put
together?[/EDIT]

Now what was I writing about?

Oh yeah, boring grand prix. Grands Prix of the eighties, just like my
school days of the 60's are not the same today, or, are they? We all
remember the good times, history glosses over events enhancing their
appeal and items even creep in that maybe just never happened. Go on
admit it, we all do it. Reality says Keke probably endured my company
till he finished his fag, Malboro drivers are paid to endure our
company and Jaques, well he's still a great bloke. and apart from
blokes trying to knock each other off the track there wasn't much
overtaking, so what was so damn great about it? and why was the Aussie
public so captivated by it?

[EDIT]
For one I'd say they were reasonably well educated about F1. Sprinkled
through the grand stands were blokes like us who helped those around
us identify the cars and drivers etc, it was the Australian way. The
local TV broadcaster did a great job of educating viewers even
slotting in a late night replay of the action. Showing viewers how to
identify each car. Mansell has a red nose, Roseberg a white one etc.
So viewers knew who they were looking at. Articles on tyres, pit
stops, speed comparisons etc. The local papers and magazines were full
of similar stuff.

I don't think I've seen anything like it since, even dedicated F1
magazines rarely run educational articles instead they are full of
dumbed down insights into the color of Fernandos eyes. Hey, who cares
about the colour of his eyes or the size of his bank account? We want
to hear about Renaults failure to match Ferrari's flexi-wing, why
their strategy at Imola failed etc.
[/EDIT]

And looking further back, who's to say that the old blokes that I know
are not polishing the Fangio years? Was it really enthralling watching
the same bloke move from the best team to the next years best team and
so on (which he definitely did), totally dominating every second Grand
prix? I doubt it! That said, I envy them.

I could go on about Grands Prix I've seen before and since Aust in '85
like the Mansell Senna battle in Spain, etc etc but quite often a
great race to one man is boring to another. Take the recent GP at
Imola, I saw a bloke describe it as "uneventful"! was he watching the
cricket? A car barrel rolled on the first lap putting the driver in
dire peril. Button worried about his strategy tried to take his fuel
rig onto the track (in case he needed a top up) and in the process
took down half his pit crew. The leaders (FA and MS) diced for the
lead lap after lap. Hmmmm, uneventful? No it wasn't but some viewers
will never be satisfied unless there's an incident every second lap.
OK we can't expect to satisfy them but what about the rest?

In recent years I've become more absorbed by team strategy to the
stage where I've developed a little application to predict the final
placings, for instance Kimi while running ninth (from memory) was
actually leading the Malaysian GP this year allbeit on elapsed and
predicted times and sure enough he ran second due to Alonsos stunning
laps before his fuel stop, fascinating stuff (kept me enthralled
anyway). But, how many viewers are motivated enough to go to those
lengths to understand and follow the sport? Not many and in this day
and age of instant gratification a decreasing number too. Yet as the
sport of Grand Prix racing progresses so too does the complexity. Take
the new qualifying format, while it has solved the main problems with
the old format it has also introduced a quite complex set of rules.
How many of you know (or care) about the 110% rule for the final
segment? [The FIA replaces fuel used up in the final session but only
for laps within 110% of the fastest time for that car] One? Two? ...
Not many and yet this has already caught out the Ferrari team costing
them valuable fuel and at least one championship point.

So what's my point?

To understand and enjoy a Formula One race you need to understand an
increasingly complex set of rules. Now over the broad spectrum of
viewers that is just not going to happen. In the eighties they may
have been willing to learn a simpler set of rules but in the 21st
century even the most harden fan would be hard pressed to know all the
rules and most want *Instant Gratification* they want to see what is
going on without reading an encyclopedic rule book. Viewers just want
to see a group of blokes line up and race (with dicing and overtaking)
to the finish with the best driver winning. We don't want F1 dumbed
down to the level of a control formula like Formula Ford or artificial
results introduced as with Indy Cars this is and should be the
pinnacle of Motor Sport but F1 needs a set of rules that at least
ostensibly can be understood by the average viewer so they can follow,
understand and enjoy a race. However don't expect instant
gratification! F1 will always (and should) require a certain amount of
knowledge of the rules.

Well I've rambled on too long and run out of time so the last bit will
be short.

However the racing needs to be close and exciting with drivers
overtaking on the circuit. How can that be achieved? Simple introduce
more rules. The more rules the less the fans will understand it and
turn off. So poor old Max Mosley is caught between a rock and a hard
place. But! he is at least having a go and understands the problems.
His approach and ongoing proposals are winning over the teams and
manufacturers and drawing new competitors to the arena in the
expectation of increased viewers.


If you edit this down and expand the last bit it should make a good
article.
Hope it helps,
build

Re: My first live Grand Prix

In article
<a02ba551-e7e4-430a-b9cf-7a96a0fa39fd@v29g2000hsf.googlegroups,com >,
build <buildy@gmail,com > wrote:

> Jacques Laffite (one of the nicest, no THE nicest Frenchman of all time)

I must agree about Monsieur Lafitte. He is a marvelous human being, but
not the only wonderful Frenchman. My first "live" GP experience was Spa
in 1993. We were blessed to be staying at the same hotel as the Minardi
and Larrouse teams and we encountered Phillipe Alliot the morning of the
race as we left the hotel. In my rudimentary French, I wished him well,
and he was as charming as he could possibly be in welcoming us (my poor,
mystified wife and I) to his world. Through him, we were able to have a
Grand Prix experience we could never have hoped for. The best thing was
to have had an opportunity to talk with Ukyo Katayama about his pre-race
routine: "I sit in my car and make racing noises while fantacizing about
making love to my wife." Is that cool, or what?

Cheers!

Mudge

-- deleted messages --

-- deleted messages --

Re: My first live Grand Prix

Curmudgeon <leave@me.alone> wrote:
> I wish I had a good answer for you, but I didn't get quite that intimate
> with Mr. Katayama (who was, I must say, an absolutely delightful guy, as
> was his compatriot, Mr. Suzuki [a/k/a Aguri-san], and thus my loyalty to
> his team, notwithstanding my adoration of the Ant). Yes, I am American!
> So what!

I'm full of admiration for Ukyo, a very quick driver on his day whose
career was harmed by a painful cancerous growth on his back - and
no, that doesn't mean the Tyrrell he dragged into places it had no
right being. A brave man, and some of his extreme sports/mountaineering
exploits are quite phenomenally mad. So FORZA TINY WARRIOR!

pete
--
pete@fenelon,com "irk the purists - if you've never then you ought."

Re: My first live Grand Prix

A bloody good post - the excitement of a GP meeting well conveyed. My
first GP meeting wasn't until 1963, but I'd already seen Moss at
Goodwood, Clark et al. Even those little cigar tube 1.5 litre things
looked so fast? However, for me the greatest era was that of the CanAm
sports racers, more fun than F1 because they were unlimited.....

CJ


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Re: My first live Grand Prix

On Jan 15, 12:40 pm, mower man <nos...@f2s,com > wrote:
> A bloody good post - the excitement of a GP meeting well conveyed. My
> first GP meeting wasn't until 1963, but I'd already seen Moss at
> Goodwood, Clark et al. Even those little cigar tube 1.5 litre things
> looked so fast? However, for me the greatest era was that of the CanAm
> sports racers, more fun than F1 because they were unlimited.....
>
> CJ
>
> ---
> avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
> Virus Database (VPS): 000769-0, 27/08/2007
> Tested on: 1/15/2008 01:38:39
> avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2008 ALWIL Software. http :// www .avast,com

G'day CJ and others,
Thank you for your replies, glad you got a good feeling from my
experience.
I'm a little jealous and a little angry (kidding), you didn't mention
Black Jack! Jack was the reason I subscribed to Autosport my only link
with F1 in the seventies. I had to wait two weeks for it but even
stale news was better than none.
beers,
build