The Lotus Position

The new Lotus Renault in black and gold retro JPS livery is looking great! Of course that is Lotus Renault formally Renault as opposed to Team Lotus Renault which was formally Lotus Racing. Lotus Racing Renault who want to be Team Lotus Renault even though they are not linked to Lotus cars, as Lotus cars are actually involved with Lotus Renault.

Lotus Racing who are currently the operating name of 1Malaysia Racing have already taken part in a seasons worth of GPs with those points being added collectively to those of Team Lotus. So if Lotus Racing cannot continue as Lotus Racing and Lotus Renault takes on the mantel of true successor, then do those figures switch to the team formally known as Renault or stay with 1Malaysia Racing? Will Lotus Renault be a continuation of the historic Team Lotus or will they keep the History of Benetton/Renault?

Did Lotus Racing ever really exist, and if not then where's Jarno Trulli been this year?

God it's too early i the morning for this, I need a lie down

The Calm Before The Storm

As I write there are about 12 hours left in the 2010 Formula One World Championship, a season which promised so much and delivered even more!

In recent years it has seemed that if this highest echelon of motor racing had been a Hollywood production, it’s writers would have swept the Oscars time and again.

In 2007 the World Champion Fernando Alonso found himself alongside a talented young protégé, Lewis Hamilton. As the relationship soured the on-track action intensified, Along the way their McLaren team would find itself up before the governing body accused of dirty tricks and espionage. As they headed into the final race of the year the title was surely going to either the old master or the young charger, of course nobody had mentioned this to Kimi Raikkonen.

12 months later and with Alonso back in the safety of his Renault and Raikkonen fading into the scenery, it was to be a showdown in Brazil between Hamilton and Felipe Massa. Massa did everything he had to do leading a wet-dry-wet race from lights to flag in front of his adoring home crowd. He took a brilliant win and crossed the line as the new World Champion - of course the race was not over yet! As the Ferrari team danced in jubilation Lewis Hamilton passed a struggling Toyota on the last corner of the last lap to steal the Brazilians glory and win a historic victory.

If anyone had thought the drama of that Interlagos race was as exciting as it could possibly get then they had not factored in the 3 B’s from Brackley (Brawn, Button & Barrichello)

In a season turned upside by new rules and technical innovations the little team Honda didn’t want leapt from tail-end-Charlie's to World Champions. With the old guard of McLaren & Ferrari struggling it was to be the Red Bull’s of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel who would emerge as the team to beat as the season wore on. With Jenson off to Join Lewis in a McLaren Super team and the return of the legendary Michael Schumacher to fill his void, the seeds where sewn for an epic 2010 season.

It didn’t start well of course. Even to a hardcore fan like myself the opening GP of the year on an strangely extended Bahrain circuit was to prove a testing experience. Vettel showed the Red Bull’s pace but after he suffered (and not for last time) mechanical problems it was to be a processional victory for Fernando Alonso.

This was of course to be a false dawn as by the time the European season kicked off the battle was well and truly on between the McLarens and the Red Bull’s.

There have been technical troubles, team mate crashes, brilliant drives and moments of madness. with 2 races to go any one of Button, Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso or Webber could win. Button fell out of contention in Brazil and Lewis Hamilton’s hopes may be more of a mathematical possibility but one thing is for certain that tomorrows Grand Prix is going to be something Very Special.

Will Fernando Alonso perform one of the greatest comebacks to secure a Third world championship, moving him into same league as Ayrton Senna, Jack Brabham and Jackie Stewart; Will Sebastian Vettel mark out the place in the history books as the youngest ever World Champion; Will Mark Webber prove that grit and determination are all you need to overcome all obstacles; or can Lewis Hamilton once again prove that the championship isn’t over until the final race is won

As a great man once said – “anything can happen in Formula One, and it usually does”

Tomorrow is going to be quite a day!

Tail End Charlies

In the 1980’s and early 90’s it was still possible for anyone with a spanner and a little ambition to set up a Grand Prix team. The result was some of the most legendary rejects of our time.

There was Coloni who turned up to but failed to qualify for an incredible 67 Grands Prix. The legendary Andrea Moda who to save money once sent out Perry McCarthy to qualify on wets at a bone dry Silverstone. There was Forti Course who went from being a rich team with a bad car to a broke team with a great one. And does anyone remember Life? Somewhere in the world that car is still on it’s flying lap!

Of course this had to end, and changes in the rules stopped these notorious teams from taking up garage space at GP weekends… until now!

We have 4 (and a bit) new teams and the chances for some tail end inepititude are much increased. Especially as the need for cash injections is seeing the return of the backmarker's best friend, the pay driver! I wonder what Giovanni Lavaggi is up to these days?

Anyway, who are this new generation of tail end charlies and what are their chances for success/hilarity?

*Virgin*

Neé Manor Motorsport. An Impressive motorsport pedigree and a car designed by Nick “Simtek” Wirth, completely on an etch-a-sketch. Not only are they the first team since Lola in 1997 to arrive on the scene without a car having seen a wind tunnel (and we know which way that went) but their name is certain to provide many opportunities for commentary hilarity! “And he’s coming inside the Virgin”. Still the car looks good and I’d expect lots of Branson-esque publicity stunts throughout the season

*USF1*

USF1 have been in a wind tunnel, but if internet rumour is to be believed they don’t actually have anything close to a working car, which is a handicap in qualifying (Just ask Perry McCarthy). Making the brave move to be based outside the F1 Heartland, USF1 will commute for every race. Not a plan that worked for Michael Andretti and he had the Concorde. It's also now looking increasingly like if they do ever appear it won't be until China/Silverstone/The Post Season Party. With the news of Campos Meta being saved, USF1 unfortunately remains the best chance for a “Lola 2010”

*Campos Meta*

Have seemingly been struggling since they were first announced. Apparently new investment has improved their chances of making the grid. The car is built by Dallara and they have a Senna on their books, not to mention an impressive record in junior catagories. I’m hoping they pull through and can become the 21st century’s Minardi.

*Lotus*

“Lot’s of trouble, usually serious!” The grand old name is back, shame it’s not actually the grand old team. Will probably suffer the “Wimbledon” syndrome of being touted as the British Ferrari when they do well, otherwise they’re that Malaysian team. Probably will be the best of the noobs and might give the STR’s and Force India’s a run for their money. Two GP winners on the books can’t hurt, even if one of them is Jarno Trulli
.
*BMW Sauber Ferrari*

OK, not technically a “new” team but possibly the greatest oxymoron in motorsport. (I’m not sure Honda’s "Earthcar" ever did run in the “fuel burning” session of qualifying). After BMW cut their losses and ran, it's just a great thing that they have pulled through and i wish them every success. In Pedro de la Rosa they have an experienced but aging test driver who hasn’t raced in years. (If that doesn’t work I hear Luca Badoer is available). Young Kamakazi could be fun though. Have been seen to top the time sheets in testing. Anyone who points out that they also have zero sponsors is just being cynical.

*Stefan GP*

One of my favourite GP Stories took place In 1977. A German driver called Hans Heymar missed the cut for his first (and only) Grand Prix, in Germany at Hockenheim. Not wanting his weekend to be over too soon, Heymar turned up anyway on race day and thought “sod it!” While no-one was looking he snuck his car out of the pits and lined up to take the start, much to the amusement of the crowd. In the end Heymar’s GP "career" was over after 9 laps and he was expunged from the records. In 2010 and the spirit of Hans lives on in Stefan GP. Amazingly they are possibly the best prepared of any of the new teams having basically bought Toyota, and their stillborn 2010 car. They have two cars, engines and bizarrely they seem to have Jacques Villeneuve. What they don’t have is a grid slot, but hey ho. Maybe nobody will notice! The cars are on route to Bahrain anyway, which is more than USF1 can boast.


So far Lotus and Virgin are the only cars to hit the track, with Lotus seeming to have the upper hand. There is, however, a month to go and as Murray Walker once said:

"Anything can happen in Formula One, and it usually does!"

GP and Me

If the bookies are to be believed then this Sunday evening Jenson Button's Fairytale Grand Prix season will be capped off with the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year Award. I shall, of course, be picking up the phone to register my vote for the Frome flyer. Admittedly as a motor racing fan I am of course more a little biased. I do not mean to belittle the achievements of the other nominees, it's just that when it come to sport, I'm afraid there can only ever be one.

My love affair with racing began when, as a child, I watched the fierce battles between Mansell, Piquet, Senna & Prost on television before recreating them over and over on my living room floor. (A pleasure think is probably denied to the kids of today - The last time I looked in a toy shop the only model racing cars I could find where of Roary the Racing Car or from Disney's Cars.) My Matchbox grids of old may well have been an mismatch of contemporary and historic machines but in my adolecent mind all that mattered was that they were racing cars - and where racing cars went, drama and excitement were never far away.

It was of course a feeling that could never leave me. I will never forget the feeling that shot through me when I first heard the scream of a Grand Prix car driven in anger. The anticipation that builds in you as you walk into a quiet circuit at some ungodly hour in the morning to stake your claim on some dusty or mud soaked vantage point overlooking these hallowed strips of tarmac.

Those who never caught the bug can never understand those magic nights you crawl of out a barely disturbed bed as the world a round you sleeps, to tune into live footage from a distant continent. You know the race will be repeated at sensible o'clock tomorrow afternoon but that's not the point. When it's live you are part of the action in a way that replay can never possibly equal. It's just a mirage, an echo of a moment long since past in which fate has already dealt his cards.

It has only been a month since the curtain fell on the 2009 Season but it already seems an eternity. Each day the countdown clock on the Autosport homepage ticks away the seconds until the action resumes again. The articles provide teasers and conversation points as I try to fill the winter void with speculation of things to come. To predict the next chapter of story not yet written, but one which you know will be packed with a familiar drama & excitement... and of course a little controversy.

So I apologise to Beth Tweddle, Ryan Giggs et al, my vote will be going to Jenson. Because although I'll never be a part of Formula One, I know that Formula One will always be a part of me.

Coulthard calls it a day

It may not be the biggest shock of the F1 season so far - Max in his y-fronts probably steals that honour - but David Coulthard has today confirmed that this will be his last season of Grand Prix racing.

With Red Bull keen to promote Vettel and Mark Webber being consistantly fast in the sister car, DC's chances of a Red Bull Reprieve for 2009 were always looking slim.

David Coulthard won 13 Grands Prix in a career that began in the turmoil of May 1994. By Portugal 1995 he had won his first race, and could have won the final race in Melbourne had he not misjudged the pit-lane entry and parked in a wall.

1996 saw a switch from Williams to McLaren who after several difficult years with uncompetitive cars were starting to turn the corner. It would be another season though before they were finally on the pace. Coulthard took that long awaited win for McLaren - the first in partnership with Mercedes - at Melbourne in 1997 and would go on to win again at Monza.

12 Months later Coulthard should have repeated his Melbourne success, however a "Gentleman's Agreement" saw him slow to a near standstill to allow Mika Hakkinen through to take the win. It would perhaps prove a pivotal moment in the balance of power within the team and Mika would go on to take the next two World Championships.

2000 was a dramatic year for DC. In April he would join the list of British Drivers to have won their home Grand prix in a famous race at a Mud-Covered Sliverstone. In May he was lucky to escape with his life when a plane he was on crashed killing it's two pilots. Just a month after this tragedy Coulthard proved his was just as focused as ever by winning on the streets of Monte-Carlo.

In his post McLaren years DC changed from the company controlled McLaren Driver into an outspoken elder statesman of Grand Prix racing. He is always ready to throw in an inspired quip when the moment suits - as his McLaren sucessor Juan Pablo Montoya discovered the weekend he "Fell off his Tennis Raquet". Hopefully the rumours will prove true and he will take up a microphone next to Martin Brundle at the BBC next year!

It is worthy of note that during his career David Coulthard has scored more World Championship points than any other British Driver in F1 history - his all time tally is beaten only by Schumacher, Senna and Prost

F1 - Generation Games

Few F1 Teams just disappear into oblivion these days. usually they are bought out, cars repainted and it's business as usual. I decided to have a look at this seasons protagonists and to explore the Bloodlines of the modern F1 grid.



1: Scuderia Ferrari / Alfa Romeo - Enzo began his racing team to run cars for Alpha Romeo before WW2. Post War the agreement was not to be renewed and the rest as they say, is history!

2: McLaren - Although the cars bear the same name as the Orange cars first entered into a GP by Bruce McLaren in 1966 this is a very different team. Following the James Hunt title of 1976 McLaren stuggled to remain competitive. The tide was turning and the days of steel frame monocoques, off the shelf DFVs and Hewland gearboxes were coming to an end. Renault had spoilt the party with their Turbo and soon others would follow suit. Ron Dennis was a successful F2 boss backed by Marlboro and in 1980 his Project 4 group acquired McLaren and a new company called McLaren International was born. The reference to this take over can still be seen in the cars MP4 Prefix.

3: Renault / Benetton / Toleman - The little Toleman team arrived in F1 in 1980 and struggled to make the grid. their two cars could managed just one start each in an era of Qualifying & Pre-Qualifying. By the end of 1983 however things were looking better with Derek Warwick taking two 4th place finishes. It was the arrival of the young Ayrton Senna de Silva which would write the Toleman name in History. That 2nd place finish at Monaco in 1984 along with two more podiums at Silverstone & Estoril began the Senna legend and attracted new sponsors for the team. The Benetton family would eventually go beyond sponsorship and by 1986 owned the team outright. by 1990 they had placed Flavio Briatore at the helm and by the mid 90's 2 World Titles had been won. Eventually Flavio would be moved aside and the team fell into decline until Renaults take-over. Ironically Renaults success owes much to the reappointment of Flav!

4. Honda/ BAR / British American Racing / Tyrrell - The once mighty Tyrrell team's last stand came with Jean Alesi's storming Second Place finish at Monaco in 1991. As the gap between the "have's" and the "have nots" grew ever bigger during the 90's Tyrrell fell increasingly into the "have nots". For their Final GP in 1998 Ricardo Rosset could not even qualify! A sad end for the team of Cevert and Stewart. The team was sold to British American Tobacco as part of Craig Pollock's Masterplan for a "Team Villeneuve". Unfortunately the team was Pollocks and JV's "Big One" at Eau Rouge that year pretty much summed up the year. By the time of Ken Tyrrells death in 2001 Villeneuve had made the podium but it still wasn't good enough. Pollock was ousted from his own team and Dave Richards began turning things around. The Arrival of Jenson Button would show up Villeneuve and he would be replaced before the end of the 2003 season. As BAR gave way to Honda Jenson would score that first win. but 10 years after the Tyrrell team's demise, it's successor still cannot live up to it's own lofty ambitions.

5. BMW Sauber / Sauber - After huge successes in Sports Car racing running the Mercedes superteam of Schumacher, Frenzen & Wendlinger. Peter Sauber was viewed by Mercedes as the perfect platform upon which to return to Grand Prix Racing for the first time since 1955. At the 1994 Monaco GP Karl Wendlinger suffered horrific injurys which lead Sauber to pioneer the now standard cockpit head protection. Mercedes support ended suddenly with a switch to McLaren for 1995. and stints with Ford and Ferrari power would follow. In 2001 the team took a huge gamble by bringing in a vastly inexperianced Kimi Raikkonen despite huge protests. he would of course be a revelation. Eventually the works support first envisaged from Mercedes arrived in the form of rivals BMW and the team goes from strength to strength.

6. Toyota - A brand new team in a brand new factory... well just a Brand really!!

7. Red Bull Racing / Jaguar / Stewart - Stewart showed the world how to start a formula one team. Works support from Ford, title sponsorship from one of the worlds biggest banks, two highly rated drivers and a car built by one of the best designers in the business - oh and a new tartan. 1997 was the year Bridgestone returned to take on Goodyears tyre monopoly and Jackie was one of the first to sign up to the new Japanese rubber. It all came to fruition at the Nurburgring in 1999 when Jonny Herbert took a fantastic win. Ford took notice and upped their involvement. Stewart left with his tartan and in came British Racing Green and World Champsionship runner-up Eddie Irivine. A constant rotation of the management staff though probably helped the project stall and a slump in Fords worldwide sales lead to the plug being pulled on Motorsport

8. Williams - Although the Williams team as we know it today is a born from scratch by Frank Williams & Patrick Head, the teams roots go back even further. In the late 1960's Frank Williams set up Frank Willliams Racing cars using customer chassis for drivers such as Piers Courage. Later with backing from a fridge company and Marlboro Cigarettes he began to build cars under the ISO Marlboro banner with little success. When his sponsors pulled out Canadian Millionaire Walter Wolf acquired a stake in the team. Williams became increasingly unhappy and left in 1976 to form the Williams we know today. His Old team became Wolf Racing and would go on to win a Grand Prix with Jody Schecketer before being would up after the 1979 season. A year later Alan Jones would take Williams first title.

9. Scuderia Toro Rosso / European Minardi / Minardi Course. Gian Carlo Minardi's team didn't build bad cars, they just never had the budget to build amazing ones. Where as some would be tempted to go down the pay driver route for extra money, Minardi resisted. The result is that Minardi's list of Drivers includes names such as Alonso, Trulli, Fisichella, Zanardi, Fittipaldi & Nannini. Winners all! Stoddart eventually took the name to ChampCar and the Minardi name lives on. I live in hope that one day it will return to Formula One... perhaps if we all stop buying Red Bull?

10. Force India / Spyker / Midland / Jordan - ...and of course the busiest paint shop in Formula One. Major backing from B&H helped Eddies team move from midfield maestros to championship contenders. Unfortunately when the money stopped so did the success and Jordan slid back down the grid at an alarming rate. Eventually there was an offer from an investment firm which was too good to refuse. they got the return on that investment and a year later made a sizable profit by offloading to the Spyker car company. Unfortunately people weren't buying enough Spykers to justify having an F1 programme so they were sold again to a Beer company. Well everyone drinks beer!!

11. Super Aguri - Used Honda's backing to make 5 year old Arrows Chassis go better than they ever did new. Rumours of a takeover were in the air but we all secretly hoped for the suvival of everyones favourite little team