Although I would never profess to be a Schumacher fan, I would much rather see him back in F1 than losing the most statistically successful driver of all time to an accident in a low-level motorcycle race. Remember that champions often lose their lives doing other things (Graham Hill, Colin McRae, Jim Clark, Mike Hawthorn etc). Indeed, Ayrton Senna was one of the few former champions to lose his life in an F1 car. So from that point of view, I’d much rather see Michael getting his fix in a series that befits him and (when compared to motor cycle racing anyway) is relatively safe.

I am sure however that, commercial decisions aside, it is a pairing that can only go badly in some way for either Schumacher, Mercedes, or Nico Rosberg.

If Schumacher comes back and struggles, particularly against Rosberg, he will look like and idiot and his legacy will be devalued, much like Nigel Mansell, who after winning the ’94 Austrailian GP should have retired, rather than persisting with an short-lived and unfortunate streak with McLaren in 1995. If Schumacher comes back with even only 60% of his previous skill in and out of the car, he may well destroy Rosberg, which will seriously limit Rosberg’s career prospects (I am a Rosberg fan but I fear its true nonetheless). Finally, if Schumacher lives the dream and wins many races and/or the championship, his genius will be (rightly) credited for the win – Mercedes’ efforts will be devalued.

Whichever way you look at it, someone is going to be disgruntled at the end of the year, and I fear it may be Michael…

* * *

A knock on effect of the shenanigans of Brawn/Mercedes/Mclaren/Button/Schumacher, is that Kimi Raikkonen was left without a drive befitting of his status. I think he has shown immense balls by giving the Word Rally Championship a go with Citroen. I will support his efforts to the hilt and after a difficult first few months, I think he will do better than a lot of people are expecting. Kimi is first and foremost an amazingly talented natural, precise and devastatingly fast driver of a car. This sounds like a daft thing to say, but I think where he lacks is out of the car – dealing with politics, engineers, media, leading a team etc. This is what blunts his package as a driver. When it comes to wheel and pedals though, I am convinced there is no one faster in recent F1 history.

Those skills are innate and are transferrable. He will just need to learn how to harness that in a WRC car (as Marcus Gronholm has mentioned).

To me, it seemed that simply, his motivation waned after snatching the 2007 championship from under the noses of Hamilton and Alonso. Since then, he has rarely turned it on and really excelled. However it’s still there, has his wonderful drive in Spa this year proved, in a car that was most likely a midfield contender.

Good luck Kimi, I hope you get your mojo back on the special stages!

First of all – Button to McLaren. There has been a lot of negativity in the press about this, but the only downside I can see for Jenson is the fact that Lewis Hamilton is bloody fast, and has a certain amount of leverage within the McLaren team. This is due i’m sure to his history with the team, his success, the awe of his talents, and his sickly sweet demeanor when it suits him. That combined with the raw speed and his overall competitive spirit will be a tough nut to crack.

However, you could argue that Jenson is the perfect foil for Lewis. When Hamiton’s gung-ho style leads him to destroy his tyres, throw the car off the track, or use his car’s performance up too quickly (could be a factor in 2010), Jenson will be there, calmly calculating what needs to be done to finish the job. He could be the Prost – Lewis the Senna…just hopefully without the animosity.

I would like to make the point that while I think Lewis will beat Jenson more often than not, I don’t think it will be by as much as many are predicting. I think Jenson is seriously underrated, due to his smooth style in and out of the car, and is way cannier than people give him credit for. People rave about Lewis first year, but Jenson’s was equally impressive, with a lot less testing, and a far inferior car at his disposal (sorry Williams I am still a fan – honest)! I expect it to be more like Hamilton versus Alonso – except that Jenson may not be so freaked out by being beaten, and I doubt he will turn the team against him. That was Alonso’s problem – he just couldn’t get his head straight.

Regardless of which side of the fence you are on, it will be enthralling viewing!

Mercedes.

As far as I’m concerned, Ross Brawn is now the smartest guy who ever walked down a pitlane. And I include Colin Chapman in that. This man has, in order, had a years holiday after turning around the most famous team in racing and having nothing more to prove, got employed by a struggling manufacturer team, take the team from one end of the grid to the other in less than a year without changing many of the staff involved, saved a team and most of its staff from going under, overseen the creation of a last-minute “mongrel” of a car, and ran that car with savvy to win both championships, on a shoestring budget. At the same time, with his team around him, he has managed to sell the team to another manufacturer, for over £100million, making himself and his directors Rich beyond their wildest dreams and at the same time secure his staff’s jobs, sign a title sponsor and hand the team over to said manufacturer with running costs that make it a “no-brainer” for the manufacturer to commit.

I’m surprised he doesn’t wear his pants on the outside of his trousers with a matching cape!

Mercedes are now in control however, and it seems that in true manufacturer style, they are laying waste to all of this hard work.

They have let the reigning World Champion (and the kudos he brings) slip through their fingers, due mainly through their zeal to have a German megastar. I am a confirmed fan of Nico Rosberg, but even I am unsure whether he is truly top drawer material. He is yet to prove himself. They now seem certain to sign Nick Heidfeld, who is an excellent driver. However I fear his best years are behind him. Ross Brawn has made a commitment to manage the new team for a while, but I wonder what he is thinking…

I honestly which the team formally known as TYRRELL (and we shouldn’t forget that) the best – I really do. But I fear for their future. BMW got annoyed with their partner (Williams), bought a team (Sauber), then somehow managed to screw up a good thing and then ultimately leave all concerned much the poorer (Williams are still struggling to get back to the front). I hope Mercedes don’t pull the same trick.

Meanwhile, McLaren have free engines for quite a few years, have their total independence back, and two World Champions on their books. I think they’ve come out a difficult situation amazingly well placed. It’s just a shame that when these things happen, the independent teams always take the hit. They will always survive though, as they have no other option.

Frank Williams will be seeing the McLaren/Mercedes situation unfolding and thinking “Yep, Been There. Being independent isn’t so bad after all”!

As NASCAR proves, simple overtaking is boring. This also became an issue in CART when, after complaints about boring oval races, the “Handford Wing” was devised. It worked by creating a big tow for a following car to help overtaking. Following on from this, overtaking on ovals became easy and, in my estimation, wasnt much fun thereafter (though , admittedly more fun than many F1 races).

The most impressive and fun overtaking incidents in modern F1 are always when daring and talent is combines with a fingertips, limit-of-adhesion, near-death move after a prolonged period of stalking, or some on track barging. If a car was to simply cruise up behind another, pass, and continue on unabated, I for one would find that just as boring as the near-impossible overtaking races we have now.

Much has been made of the tracks recently, and I think its a good point. There’s no lack of overtaking at Interlagos, and its possible at Hockenheim, Montreal, Monza, Sepang (despite critics of Tilke tracks), Spa and others. The rules need to help promote this – for instance I cannot understand why the FIA won’t allow tightly controlled sculpting of the underbody to create ground effect – this is what helps overtaking in GP2 – but the tracks need to do their part too.

All tracks need to do is provide a layout that can allow cars to get side-by side somehow. The cars need to inspire confidence (through consistent mechanical grip)

The drivers will see to the rest…

Much like Honda at this time last year, they will have been secretly looking for an exit strategy, and the worldwide recession gives them the perfect opportunity. Mind, at least they gave it a final go in 2009, rather than giving up straight away like Honda did (although I’m sure Messers Brawn and Button have no problem with how it turned out!). One big difference between the two was the effect of corporate management. In Honda’s case, management realised the Honda “way” wasn’t working and they needed someone to instill and manage a true F1 culture – cue Ross Brawn. Toyota however, blindly continued with the Toyota “way”, firing anyone who got too big for their boots and questioned the strategy’s effect on the team’s success (Mike Gascoyne). All the Toyota “way” ensured was mid-field mediocrity. Not what is required in the dog-eat dog world of Formula One.

Driver’s were often blamed; Rightly I think in the case of Ralf Schumacher, but very wrongly in the case of Mika Salo, Allan McNish, Olivier Panis and Christiano Da Matta. Jarno Trulli, though sometimes only a journeyman, has largely done a good job, and Timo Glock has quietly done a very good job. It’s a shame that when the team eventually finds a fighter and a talent to boost the team (Kamui Kobayashi), they shut their doors!

As usual its mis-management from Japan with decisions coming to conservatively, too late.

***

Bridgestone’s withdrawal from F1 as sole tyre manufacturer is much more of a surprise, but completely understandable. In a single tyre era, Bridgestone may win every race but any comments about their product could be taken as negative (how many times have we heard “tyre issues” causing underperformance for teams in ’09), however unintended that may be. Bridgestone pay a lot to provide this service and why bother when all you get is bad publicity and the best you can hope for is not to be mentioned for another victory? I don’t blame them at all.

Any chances Goodyear could return to F1? If not then who will take up the challenge? The mind boggles!

It was interesting to see the yo-yo between Hamilton and Vettel, seeing the McLaren drop the Red Bull on the straight (with KERS assistance), only for the superior  chassis of the Red Bull to claw it all back in the technical sectors later on in the lap.

I thought, once again, Kamui Kobayashi did a good job. He’s proved he fears no-one and can handle the task of driving an F1 car quite easily. I think thats an important point. The best F1 drivers have always been able to handle the car from day 1 (see the debuts of Button, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Alonso, Webber etc). In the cases where drivers struggle, they will never, in my estimation, become great. If they need so much capacity to drive the car itself, how are they expected to do all of the other tasks (in and out of the car) as well as actually race wheel-to-wheel. If you have all that to handle, actually piloting the car around the track should be second nature. That is why I’m impressed for Kamui and (regrettably) fear for poor Romain Grosjean.

Button and Webber had an excellent race at the end, Jenson proving his wheel-to-wheel prowess once again. Webber didn’t seem quite as aware of how close it was than Button, but that’s not suprising – as Martin Brundle has noted, Mark doesn’t always have the best sense of what’s going on around him. That mixed with his no-nonsense car placement makes him a bit of a danger magnet.

I think Hamilton’s performance in Qualifying was particularly impressive. I am beginning to see shades of the Senna/McLaren relationship in the early-90s. During this period, McLaren had lost some of their design flair and were producing average cars, letting Senna’s ability do the rest. A lot of that has been happening with Hamilton this year, I’ll be interested to see if it continues next year. And in that vein, I wonder who will be “Berger” there next year!?

It’s clear to me that Trulli was at fault as:

A. He was on the outside, hence Sutil has “the line”

B. He lost control and hit Sutil

C. Sutil cannot be expected to move over and prevent Trulli crashing. It was Trulli’s decision to be there, he has to live with the consequences.

D. It’s the first lap and Sutil can be forgiven for thinking all was well when he saw Trulli appear on his outside, and continued to resist him as is the point of motorsport.

I think Trulli should be annoyed but thats about it. His histrionics are hard to comprehend! Alonso is the only one who should have been truly angry, being ravaged out of the race by Sutil’s out of control Car. Alonso sat through the press conference laughing at the schoolboy’s fight breaking out behind him!

This led me to a passion for Ferrari – I was a confirmed tifoso for several years. Being a Mansell fan too, I had many of his Videos covering his successful second period at Williams. The look into the inner workings of the team familiarised myself with figures such as Sir Frank Williams and the alarmingly honest Patrick Head, as well as other Key members of the team at thetime.

I grew to respect their comments, approach and team as a result of these insights. As Jean Alesi moved to Benetton in late 1995, I began to see Williams as rivals to the success of my driver and as Williams and Benetton (together with Ferrari) were often fighting over the sam bit of track in 1996/7 my interest in Williams cooled, but my respect for them remained intact. Especially as they were winning everything in sight!

I began to get more interested again following the hiring of Jenson Button (in 2000), then the next year, Juan Pablo Montoya, the highly rated test driver for Williams and CART and Indy 500 Champion. Montoya was another driver in the Alesi/Mansell mould and I became a confirmed fan of the team yet again. I was sorry to see Juan Pablo leave for McLaren in 2005 but had no problems with the hiring of Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld, both drivers who I like and respect.

However I became a confirmed Williams “nut” again following the arrival of Nico Rosberg at the team. Rosberg, a former GP2 champion had left an indelible mark on my mind. I saw a TV program documenting the testing of a few young drivers by Williams in the early 2000′s. Rosberg’s first corner in an F1 car was caught in this program and I was amazed and impressed by how much confidence the young driver had. He bolted straight out of the pits and through the first corner at Barcelona like he had being doing it all his life. I decided to keep an eye on him.

Rosberg’s arrival coincided with Williams parting ways with BMW. Williams’ tenacity and “British Bulldog” spirit in the difficult times that have followed has endeared me to the team no end, and I now count myself as a die-hard fan.

To this end, I (eventually) get to the point that there is an excellent forum at HERE for Williams F1 supporters, with lots of dedicated fans finding snippets of information from all over the net.

So please, watch this space!