Archive for the ‘The Y Series’ Category
Thursday, November 16th, 2006
The center of media coverage of F1 resides mostly in Europe, and in England to be specific. As a result, we have up to the second coverage of anything remotely related to the British Grand Prix. We’ve all heard the annual calls for Silverstone to be fully revamped and secure a long term contract. Personally, I couldn’t care less if the race was at Silverstone. The track bores me, frankly. Some of my British comrades feel the GP needs to go somewhere else. The thinking probably goes something like this, “Well A1GP has Brands Hatch. BTCC has Thuxton. MotoGP and LMS have Donnington. I know! We’ll have it in London!” No. No. No. That will never happen.
That kind of optimism is fueled by open-ended comments made by the likes of Ecclestone and London mayor Ken Livingstone. After some F1 teams did a demonstration in July of 2004, he said that the success of the showcase proved London could stage a fully fledged Grand Prix very soon. Neehhhh! Wrong answer. Setting up water-filled plastic barriers on a street doesn’t mean you can host a GP. You need to: A) Get permits to close the streets (and that’s no small feat in London), B) Assemble and construct the circuit out of concrete blocks and fencing, and C) Set up stands. As a result, people probably won’t be able to go to local businesses. You think they’re gonna like that? Dream on.
Think if NASCAR wanted a street race through Times Square. Traffic is already a nightmare. Think what it would be like with a couple extra miles of closed streets. Then think of the stores. They’re gonna fight hard to make sure they don’t lose business. The amount of legal and political hurdles wouldn’t be worth it. That is why I want the British media to shut the hell up. Unless the race is held in the subway, there is never going to be a GP in London. Never. Put your efforts into something more constructive, like trying to get an overhaul for Silverstone. That’d be a start.
Posted in Op-ed, The Y Series | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, November 7th, 2006
In the history of F1, a total of 791 drivers have entered at least one GP. Fernando Alonso has done what only 13 other drivers have ever done - win 2 World Driver Championships. In mathematical terms, he’s better than about 98% of the drivers ever to attempt to race. But to get to the stratosphere, where Michael Schumacher resides, Alonso needs to do with McLaren what Michael did with Ferrari. Michael made Ferrari. He turned a team that was frankly, crap into a team so dominant, the FIA started to change rules so as to curb their success. To illustrate my point, in the 11 seasons prior to Schumacher’s arrival, Ferrari had 16 wins, 87 podiums, 12 poles, and no Constructors of Drivers Championships. In the 11 seasons Michael was at Ferrari, they had 87 wins, 203 podiums, 74 poles, 6 Constructors titles, and 5 Drivers titles. Also, bear in mind that Ferrari had the likes of Prost and Mansell during the lean years.
Alonso is quick, there’s no doubt about it. When he was at Minardi in 2001, it was clear he had pace. But he scored no points thanks to the fact that he was, well, in a Minardi. He showed what he could do with a good car at Renault. But he didn’t make Renault better, they made him better. Renault themselves decided to put forth the money and effort required to win the Drivers title. Specifically, it was the supreme aero package Renault had during the last 2 seasons.
But now he is doing what Michael did. After 2 titles, he’s moving to a lesser team. This year, McLaren didn’t win at least 1 race for the first time since the 1996 season. That, in part is why Kimi Raikkonen decided to just ship to Ferrari. In terms of reliability, Ferrari is to McLaren what Michael Jordan is to Manute Bol. There was always something wrong with Kimi’s car. He couldn’t finish a race to save his life. He retired 29 times in 5 seasons. Ferrari had 23 as a team during that time. Michael had the same problems as Kimi when he went to Ferrari in 1996. Engines blew left and right, suspensions broke, the pit crew made mistakes, etc. Michael put his foot down. He grabbed the team by the collective scruff of the neck and made them step up their game. He would not tolerate failure. Yet he would not throw the team under the bus, unlike Alonso, should trouble arise. He always propped them up in victory, and in defeat. Look no further than Japan. After having an engine failure that effectively costs him the championship, he walks back to the garage, and proceeds to give handshakes and hugs to all the mechanics. Had that happened to Alonso, he probably would have accused them of trying to sabotage his chances of winning the title.
When Alonso retires and we look back on his career, we will look at his years at McLaren as his definitive ones. Either he will do for McLaren what Michael did for Ferrari, or he will become the next Jacques Villeneuve; a champion solely because he was in the right car at the right time. Unfortunatly for Alonso, he already lives up to Villeneuve’s hallmark of shooting his mouth off. After the Italian GP, he had this to say about Michael, “Michael is the most unsporting driver F1 has ever seen. Zidane retired with more glory than Schumacher.” Alonso also needs to work on his celebrations. No more retarded dancing (Spain), no more imitating a crane (Japan), and definitely no more reminding us how many wins you have after the race with your fingers. We don’t care. Be humble. That is what makes a true champion. Take a cue from Michael. Win the race, look happy, thank the team, go home. That’s how you win like a champion. Act like you’ve been there before. Let’s hope the McLaren professionalism will sink in. If not, the only place his career can go from here is down. And it’s a pretty long fall from the top. Just ask Jacques.
Posted in Op-ed, The Y Series | 3 Comments »
Friday, November 3rd, 2006
When watching a race on TV, what do we want? The answer is that we want to either feel like we are actually there, or that we are a part of it. Having watched a wide variety of sports in my day, I know what i want in an announcer. I want them to be: A) Knowledgeable, B) Enthusiastic, C) Fun to listen to, and D) Know when to, and not to, talk.
Many people who have heard some commentary from the ITV and Speed Channel teams will probably side with the ITV crew. I think this is because they are British. Subconsciously, we associate that people in Europe know more about F1 than Americans do. By and large, that’s probably a fair assumption. But if I had a choice of listening to commentary from either ITV of Speed Channel, I’d take Speed Channel in a heartbeat. Y you ask? It’s simple really. The team of Varsha, Hobbs, Matchett, and Windsor is just that, a team. Varsha knows his stuff, knows his motorsports history, and, critically, knows when to shut up. This is most evident in two situations. The first is whenever FOM switches to an onboard, and the other is at the race start. How many times have we heard James Allen scream and the start, “…and the race starts……. NOWWWWWWW!!!!! (10-15 seconds)” Compare that to Varsha’s, “…turn up the volume… (4th light, 5th light…)?” David Hobbs adds his insight from his racing years, and a bit of odd-ball comedy every now and then. But, Matchett is the clincher. Being a mechanic at Benetton for 9 years, he is THE authority on F1 technology. He also still keeps in contact with with likes of Ross Brawn, Pat Symonds, and other big names in the paddock. If there’s anything new in the way of technology, not only does he know about it, but he can break it down in basic terms that the average person can understand.
Now about Martin Brundle, he may fulfill the knowledge requirements, but he is the most bloody boring announcer I’ve ever heard. It sounds like he’s count reporter reading back the transcript of the trial. Let’s use Schumacher’s engine failure in Japan as an example. The Speed crew reacted like I would have, “It’s Michael! Oh no! Can you believe it?!” Now I know ITV was at commercial when this happened, but i hypothesize that this would have been the transcript:
Allen: “And Micheal has blown up! Unbelievable! Where’s Button?! Is he going to win? O damn, there goes Alonso.”
Brundle: “Ya that’s a shame. I wonder if it’s going to rain? Is Button leading yet? Why is FOM showing Sato’s and Yamamoto’s pitstops?”
The problem with ITV is that Allen is annoying, a shrill for Button, and doesn’t know when to shut up, and Brundle is boring, a shrill for Button, and unenthusiastic. I want someone who gets excited when something exciting happens. I want them to express the emotions I’m expressing. Brundle sounds like John Kerry, really. Who wants to sound like him?
Posted in Op-ed, The Y Series | 5 Comments »
Sunday, October 29th, 2006
Formula 1 is an elitist sport. It features top car manufacturers, top drivers, and top locations. All this as a result of hundreds of millions of dollars trading hands, all looking to make a profit; whether that be in dollars or in points. Focusing on the drivers, it would be easy for one to say that they are quite posh. How many times have we seen driver interviews in the paddock where the driver is wearing sunglasses that practically scream expensive, trendy, and vain.
I mean, honestly, how ridiculous does he look? What’s worse, I never hear them say anything worthwhile. Unless they won the race, a typical response goes something like, “Ya it was a difficult race. I tried my hardest. We coulda done better. We’ll try to win the next one.” Oh WOW! Really? Tell me something I don’t know.
When it comes to Scott Speed, things are a bit different. No only does he not give the usual canned response, but he actually sounds like he’s enjoying what he’s doing. He is just a kid from the middle of nowhere (I drove through Manteca this summer, and believe me, it’s in the middle of nowhere) who’s doing something usually reserved for the elite. It’s hard for me to put into words how he does it. But I’ve always heard him talk with enthusiasm, and say something of substance. He’s just happy to be here and will fight like hell to stay. I hope Toro Rosso decide to keep him for 2007. They need guys like him. Hell, so does F1. Oh, he’s also a pretty damn good driver, too. If he’s not back next year, we won’t have more moments like this:
Posted in Audio/Video/Pictures, Op-ed, The Y Series | 3 Comments »
