The 2009 Formula One season has truly come to life. For anyone wondering if Formula One has been affected by the current financial crisis that has hit so many of its sponsors, and everyone else in the world (practically), the first day of life in the paddock, I am pleased to report, was like all the others. That, of course, means some good things, and some bad.
First the good. Well, naturally, there are 10 teams, and a great deal of excitement surrounds the new Brawn GP (although that’s also part of the bad news). Second, virtually nothing felt different about the day to last year’s Thursday in the paddock in Melbourne. The paddock just buzzed with life, with its denizens meeting up and asking how things went over the winter and what the year will bring. It was a full, crowded paddock - none of this business about lost interest in a sport of glitz and glamor in hard times. In fact, I was stunned to find even the press room was overflowing with reporters from around the world - even more than I found here last year, I’m sure.
The drivers were in particularly good moods as they gave their first interviews to the hungry media - and Kimi Raikkonen, in particular, seemed very relaxed and optimistic about the coming season. Although he denied that there was any difference in his approach now from last year - that his motivation had never changed.
The bad news, of course, is that the skeptics who do not believe the new rules will suddenly turn around and produce an unexpected winner and a change in the hierarchy of the powerful teams, well, I’m afraid they may be right. Why is it that Formula One must always have the same winners? Brawn GP may be a surprise pre-season favorite, but several teams have made official complaints to the FIA over the car’s diffuser - and that of Williams and Toyota - and this could mean that those cars will be declared illegal at worst, or be obliged to change the design of the diffuser. If that is indeed what has made the Brawn so fast, and if it is declared illegal, then the Brawn will most likely have to change its design, and get back in its place. The dream of an underdog suddenly rising up to challenge for victories and the title will be finished and the status quo will return.
In a talk with the media, Mario Theissen, the director of BMW Sauber, said the problem with the diffuser was that it would lead to a ground effect that they’re trying to steer away from. The other problem, he also said, was that his team and the others would have a lot of catching up to do if the diffuser was not outlawed….
The stewards’ decision is expected for later today. Any way you look at it, though, F1 has its first scandal of the season at the very first race - and so, as I said, everything seemed perfectly normal in the first day of paddock life today.
Good news for the interest of the championship, bad news for several of the teams that now have to redesign their diffusers: The race stewards late Thursday evening declared that the rear diffusers of the Toyota, Williams and Brawn cars are legal. This could really mean a change in the balance of power between the teams - at least for the moment. It may also not yet be the end of the controversy; depending on how the other seven teams react.
Comente