22/08/2013
FEATURE BY MIKE LAWRENCE
There have been no Grands Prix for a spell so it's been open season on speculation, rumour and gossip. That is something I like to do down the pub with mates, but that is chat-chat, it's not something worth publishing, At noon on Thursday, 15th August, more than a dozen websites led on Kimi Raikkonen's plans for 2014. Half said he was on his way to Maranello, half had Ferrari dismissing the idea. You can hardly say that this was informative.
What gets me is the naivety of some the views expressed,
Ferrari sacked Raikkonen at the end of 2009. For two seasons Kimi had scored fewer points than his team-mate, Felipe Massa (in 2009, that was up until Felipe's accident). One possible reason for Kimi's sensational form since his return to Formula One is that he is comfortable with Fake Lotus.
Ferrari is not for everyone. Fangio secured his fourth World Championship with the Scuderia in 1956 and insisted on a personal mechanic because he believed that the team was sabotaging his efforts. One of the greatest drivers ever sought psychiatric help with his fears.
On the other hand, Lauda and Ferrari was a match arranged by Zeus himself. As with any team, there has to be an emotional fit. We are seeing that as Lewis Hamilton enmeshes with Mercedes F1.
Fernando Alonso's manager visited Christian Horner at Red Bull. Of course he did, it is his job to explore every possibility on behalf of his client. If Fernando thought he could do the job better himself, he would not be giving a percentage of his earnings to his manager.
I bet that Christian Horner has had overtures from most of the F1 grid, the whole of GP2, plus representatives of drivers in other formulae. It is what managers and agents do, so it should surprise nobody.
There has been speculation that Fernando has been trying to spur Ferrari, but he has been around long enough to know that motor racing does not work like that. There is a massive team of engineers and designers dedicated to trying to make a winning car. It is not as though the current Ferrari is a disaster, like the McLaren MP4-28. Fernando won in China and Spain, we are talking tenths rather than whole seconds.
There is no threat or incentive you can apply to anyone, especially an Italian, who works for Ferrari. It is unlike any other employment. Forget that Ferrari is the longest running team in Formula One, it goes back twenty years before the World Championship. Enzo founded Scuderia Ferrari in late 1929 to run works-related Alfa Romeos and to prepare cars for wealthy owners. Nuvolari won most of his races driving for Scuderia Ferrari.
Luca di Montezemolo has said recently, 'Drivers, we've had a lot, some very good, some great, but drivers come and go, while Ferrari remains.' In 1991, Alain Prost said something to the effect that his Ferrari 643 was like driving a truck. He was dropped for the final race and then sacked.
Prost was not only a triple World Champion at the time, in the view of many, he was the outstanding driver of his era. Senna has since emerged as the retro-favourite, but in the day, Prost had at least as many advocates, not for nothing was he nicknamed 'Professor'. He bad-mouthed Ferrari and was shown the door. Prost had to sit out 1992, or drive for a struggling team.
In 1992, Ferrari won nothing and gained just one podium (Alesi, 3rd, Canada.) It is unlikely that Prost could have made a difference to Ferrari's tally, but he might have helped another team, had he been on the market when contracts came for renewal. As it was, he was removed from the game.
Alonso has received a verbal slap on the wrist from Montezemolo, who has also said, 'I reminded everyone, including the drivers, that Ferrari comes before everything, the priority is the team.'
In the current state of things, Fernando has been warned to toe the line, but not threatened. We could interpret that as Ferrari really needing him, though it would never do to say so. Alonso is probably the only driver who can add value to their car. It is not just ability, it is fitting in.
Fernando suggesting that he could leave is not going to find those elusive tenths. He is not like the captain of a cricket team, who can make a difference. Time was when a driver's feedback could send a team in a new direction. Today, every single aspect of a car's performance is monitored, recorded, and assessed. What Fernando can do, and has been doing, is to drive the wheels off the equipment he is given.
For the past few years, Red Bull has produced a string of brilliant cars, as Adrian Newey has done for every team for which he has worked. I can understand Alonso wanting part of that action. The career of an F1 driver is short and they all want to win. He must feel that he should have more than two world titles to his name.
Red Bull has a very desirable seat to fill, but in Sebastian Vettel it has a race winner and does not need Alonso, it needs a reliable driver who can score points and win on occasion. This has been Ferrari's policy in recent years, with Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa.
Quite apart from the salary Fernando would expect, which can be spent on other things, it makes sense to keep him at Ferrari because Ferrari has lost its edge since Ross Brawn left. It took time because Ross had systems in place, but Ferrari dropping down the order was predictable.
A promising youngster, with a long-term future, must be Red Bull's best bet. While Ferrari is struggling to find those elusive tenths, it could be in Red Bull's best interest to keep Alonso there.
Meanwhile the rumourmongers are again speculating about Felipe Massa's future at Ferrari. Felipe has won 11 Grands Prix, been on the podium 36 times and has set pole on 15 occasions. During 2013 he has outqualified Fernando Alonso more than once. His boots are not easy to fill.
Massa missed qualifying at Monaco due to suspension failure and had a repeat during the race. Ferrari has admitted the mistake and structural failures are most unlike Ferrari, I cannot think of a precedent in Ferrari's long history. I do not recall equal prominence given to the team's failure as was given, by some, to Felipe's 'mistakes'.
I bet there was blood on the walls at Maranello.
Ferrari has enjoyed spells of success, but overall has never been as successful as it should have been, given its resources. The Brawn, Byrne, Schumacher and Todt era is too recent to be easily erased from the memory, but it was actually an aberration. Consider what a brilliant driver Jean Alesi was and remember that he won only one race with Ferrari in five seasons. Between 1991 and 1995, Ferrari won just two Grands Prix and then it bought the main talent in Benetton.
Gilles Villeneuve is on most people's list of great drivers and his entire F1 career, save for one race, was at Ferrari yet he won only six Grands Prix. He loved being a Ferrari driver, but the team did not supply him with the equipment that his genius deserved,
There have been times when driving for Ferrari has been the best job in the world. There have been other occasions, by far the majority, when the position has not been so hot.
A driver has to be with the right team at the right time. Phil Hill was the 1961 World Champion because Ferrari had an engine advantage. The T156 'Sharknose' has become iconic, but its chassis was mediocre. Ferrari won no World Championship race in 1962 and only one in 1963. That one win was due to John Surtees joining the team and bringing not just his skill as a driver, but as an engineer.
Let us remind ourselves why Ferrari was able to buy Benetton's talent for 1996. Shell was taking a North Sea oil rig out of commission and eco-weanies spread ill-informed horror stories about how sinking it in the ocean was going to kill all the little fishes.
Germany is more susceptible to such tall tales than most countries, there was actually no foundation in fact and no little fishy was harmed. Sales of Shell petrol dropped by a quarter in Germany and so Shell gave a huge amount of money to Ferrari to secure a German driver (Michael Schumacher) and the guys (Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne) who were responsible for his success.
Rory Byrne was thinking about chucking in motor racing and bumming around the world on a yacht, but the offer from Shell, via Ferrari, was such that he could not refuse. Ferrari was able to buy its way out of the doldrums and Shell acquired a German hero to boost its sales in Germany.
Sorry if that sounds like a tawdry tale of corporate manipulation, but how else do you think that Formula One gets its money?
Alonso has found himself at Maranello when the team is operating behind the opposition which, since 1947, has been its default position. Ferrari has often spent long years in the wilderness, ask Jean Alesi.
Mike Lawrence
mike.lawrence@pitpass.com
Check out previous features from Mike, here