The sparse grid at last year’s race.
The F1 World Championship is facing a double dilemma as 10 tired teams arrive at Indianapolis for the breathless back to back US GP, just days after being thrashed yet again by Renault, the eleventh team on the grid.
For ten teams, especially Ferrari and McLaren, it is now proving to be a dilemma - how to stop Renault? How to beat the team who seem to be getting everything right?
Top teams will have been working overtime back at their European bases, producing new parts to tweek their machines, new strategies for the part oval, part infield circuit, simulations and set up sheets from last year to help them try to halt the Renault steamroller which has now won four on the bounce after Alonso’s easy victory in Canada.
At a track where testing is not possible, and after last year’s fiasco when Michelin runners did very few laps in practice, and no racing at all, because of safety issues with their tyres, the likes of Renault and McLaren may be at a disadvantage compared to Ferrari, who will use their reliable Bridgestone tyres as they did last year to win, despite the depleted field.
Bridgestone have a record of success at Indianapolis, but they also have deep oval and banked track knowledge through their other tyre brand, Firestone, who race in numerous categories in the USA.
Michelin may not want to take any risks in terms of their tyre choice given the furore surrounding last year’s event when just six cars raced and angry scenes developed.
Fans asked for explanations and their money back after Michelin pulled all their runners due to safety issues with their tyres, which had already caused accidents.
The company took a correct and brave decision to withdraw, but F1 collectively faces a second dilemma, as the future running of the all-important US GP could be called into question after this weekend when the current contract expires.
F1 will be revisiting the infamous ‘Brickyard’, America’s racing backyard and home of the famed Indianapolis 500, one of the most famous races in the world.
The Grand Prix fraternity have the dilemma of facing those fans and media who turn up - although many vowed never to return - explaining the problems faced in 2005, while assuring everyone that they will put on a great show, when there is a distinct possibility that Fernando Alonso’s Renault will make a cake walk of Indianapolis’ famous bricks.
The teams’ situation is set against the back drop of poor relations between F1 and Indianapolis owner Tony George, who was distraught after last year’s pull out - especially as they had to deal directly with the subsequent fall out. There will be some anti-F1 feeling but it will not have been helped by Grand Prix supremo Bernie Ecclestone’s comments prior to his departure for the US, where he is to discuss the renewal of contracts and the race’s future: "It does not matter to F1 if there is no Grand Prix in the US.
"What do we get from America? Aggravation, that’s about all. If they want to continue having a race over there I am happy to talk to them but I am not prepared to subsidise a race in America."
Many of the teams, drivers, manufacturers and sponsors think differently.
They see the US Grand Prix as being vital to the F1 World Championship.
For many corporations involved in Formula One the US market exists as either a big playing field, or one they would like to play in.
Many believe the championship is not truly global unless the United States has a race on the calendar, but they are at odds with the man who effectively controls the sport.
Mark Webber summed up the drivers feelings: "It will be good to be back in the USA and I really hope we can put on a good show for the fans, because they deserve it and F1 needs this race."
In truth, the spectators who have turned up at this race since it’s inception at Indy in 2001 are, in the main, from out of town.
The locals aren’t interested, but the Canadians, South Americans, and even a large European contingent all enjoy the speedway spectacle.
For the State of Indiana the event is a good money spinner, but spectator figures have dwindled from the original 100,000 five years ago and it remains to be seen what affect last year’s six car parade will have on the figures for 2006.
To a degree it is a dilemma of F1’s making. They have never really played the US razamataz game that big sport demands in the States, and the Grand Prix circus is still looked at with some cynicism after the 2005 exit by all seven Michelin teams on safety grounds.
My issue is not the facility but the location. I believe F1 must have a US round for it to be a credible championship but Indianapolis was never the place.
The US is splintered in terms of its motor racing tastes. In the south there is only NASCAR, the stock saloon cars that go around the ovals bumper to bumper at 190 mph.
Even in the mid-west and Indianapolis itself they have the Brickyard 400 for NASCAR stock cars which is successful. Indy Racing League single seaters blast around the full oval of Indy at over 200 mph and, while fans understand and follow single seater racing to a degree in mid America, they don’t like following F1 half way around the oval before it disappears into the infield.
We should be back in California at Long Beach. The Californians follow Ferrari; they know what a BMW is; or a McLaren; or even a Renault. Long Beach became a big European festival of chique - a big street party that enjoyed a fantastic following year after year.
It was California’s version of Monte Carlo. When the price of hosting a G.P. became too high, the organisers brought in Indycar to replace it, and the crowds kept on coming because the event had been established.
F1 built up a similar following, breathing new life into downtown Detroit. There was huge relevance happening, as it did, in the motor city of the US but it attracted great crowds and brought the people into the city to peek at Ferraris and Renault’s before going to the Grand Pizza eating contest after a day’s spectating from one of the many rooftop hospitality venues.
The Detroit G.P. was a happening event, it was also like Long Beach - a very tough street circuit for the drivers.
It would be nice to keep more of the tracks with a rough edge, providing a stark contrast to Hermann Tilke’s homogenised palaces of speed, such as China and Bahrain.
Whilst F1 faces its US dilemma, spare a thought for the handling dilemmas facing Jenson Button and Honda.
Only time and patience will help them overcome their current problems as they hopefully avoid a further slip down the grid.
Source: www.sportinglife.com 27-07-2006
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Tags: f1, jenson button, honda
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