Last year's changes, intended to slow Ferrari down some, added up to
an ass whuppin all over Ferrari and a PR disaster at Indy. In stark
contrast, the changes in F1 this year look like they're going to make
racing better for the teams and for the fans.
The tire situation that put Michelin on lots of people's "never buy
again" lists is history. Now teams can change tires during the race.
The switch to V8s means momentum is going to play a huge role, which
means *lots* of passing in store.
The rules for starting position will surely add some drama to
qualifying, as they already did Saturday. Normally I just watched
qualifying to catch up on the news and gossip. Now there's something
to watch. And the qualifying rules even come close to making sense.
Team and driver changes look excellent so far. Frank Williams is
much happier without BMW. The new factory teams of Honda and BMW
seem to be happy (and with a real touch of class, the BMW team
retained Peter Sauber's name for this year).
And the Red Bull acquisition of one of the most beloved teams in
motorsports seems to be continuing the quirky Mindardi tradition
startng with its name, Scuderia Toro Rosso, and continuing through
its drivers, who seem to be just a little crazy, including an actual
American driver, Scott Speed.
Spoilers follow, so if you've tivoed it and haven't seen it, you
might want to come back later.
The best reason to believe these changes are for the better is that
the class is at the top. Michael was milliseconds away from taking a
victory instead of a second -- in theory anyway: his Bridgestones
still take a long time to heat up, so had he made it out of the pit a
little earlier, he'd have had a fight on his hands. Alonso looked
like he was continuing last year's season. Kimi put in an
intimidating performance, moving up from 22nd to 3rd. And Button was
right behind him.
Speed didn't embarrass himself, and, though Massa's results were
disappointing, he showed with a 2nd place starting position and good
driving during the race that he belongs on the team. It is by no
means certain that he'll be the one to go when Kimi comes over to
Ferrari next year. Ide looks strange. Rossberg and Liuzzi are
looking good. Fisi's car broke again, and the perennial question,
why is Velleneuve still driving, is no closer to an answer this year
than it was in the past couple of years. The only real mystery is
why Kovalainen is testing instead of racing.
So for folks who. like Brock Yates, can't stand to watch another
boring roundandroundandround, F1 is looking good.
--
Rev. Bob "Bob" Crispen
bob at crispen dot org
Ex Cathedra weblog: http://blog.crispen.org/
"FREE THE DOBBSTOWN 2.71828!!!" - Batrix
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