HALLMARK OF A PERFECT TEAM IN FORMULA ONE

List of Winners and Runners up from the same F1 team in a season

The F1 season of 2014 has been all about one team so far. The German automobile giant Mercedes on their own have finally made it big after four years of being in the wilderness. Barring the Canadian GP (won by Daniel Ricciardo) the rest of the seven races have been won by either of two Mercedes drivers. This season so-far has shown all the signs that Mercedes will end up gathering more wins unless the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari make tremendous progress.

MARK OF A GREAT TEAM - I believe F1 is a team sport. However, when looked at the history of driver's championships it tends to point out not all winning drivers were the best. Some had the best machinery and a lot of the drivers came through owing to their individual brilliance and of course not to forget the team work behind the scenes. To me, a great team is one - which manages to win the driver's championships, secure the constructor's championship and have your second driver placed second in the driver's championship points tally at the end of the season. Simple evaluation isn't it?

WHAT DOES HISTORY OF F1 TELLS US - In each decade, there were teams that dominated the proceedings irrespective of who drove in them. In other cases, teams hired two of the best drivers available. The first F1 world championship had the winner Giuseppe Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio lined up in one team. The team benefitted overall. The constructor's championships were awarded from 1958 and since then very few teams managed to dominate the scene continuously. The fights were often between drivers from various teams than between team-mates. In some cases, there were clear demarcation as to who's numero uno and the second driver (Ferrari of recent times) and in other cases strong rivalry between the teammates (Senna and Prost). Nevertheless, the latter scenario is not sustainable in the long run and the first case is a weak one if the driver is not efficient and quick.

HOW MANY?

From the inception of world championships in 1950 till the 2013 season, there have been only 18 seasons where teams had both their drivers finish in top two. I have made a snapshot capturing the details of these years.

SUMMARY!

The way it stands at the moment, the season might end up being the 19th such occasion and first for this decade. Red Bull Racing who dominated the championship for the past four years never managed to secure the 2nd place in the drivers championships - though they had the best machinery. Ferrari in its prime (2000-2004) managed to win five constructor's title and driver's championship in a row. Yet, only in 2002 and 2004 we saw Rubens Barrichello finishing second at the end of the season.

It isn't all about team work - drivers get paid huge sums of amount for their talent and this individual skill sets combined with enthusiasm of the team has so far managed to win more championships than compared with teams winning the constructors championship along with top two finishers in the driver's championships. In short - the best car and two of the best drivers doesn't guarantee you success. As long as humans are involved - even what seems perfect combination theoretically it is far-fetched (most times) from being one practically.

Lost Track: Circuits of the Yore XVI - Pedralbes, Spanish Grand Prix

Track Photo Courtesy - allf1.info

Last month I visited Barcelona. It was my first time in Spain and I loved it. It was a short stay of three days in one of the beautiful and happening cities of the world and this abrupt stop was memorable nevertheless. I recall the crowded street of La Rambla, the Mediterranean Sea side, the monumental Sagrada Familia, the colossal ‘Camp Nou’ – abode of FC Barcelona, Poble Espanyol and the Olympic Stadium which also was the venue for Montjuïc race track. There were many other memoirs too like the colourful water fountain in its glory at night, Arc de Triomf, random Tapas joints, introduction to Gazpachos and an unforgettable dinner at the roof top restaurant of Vila Olimpica.

Amongst all this, I also went around the streets in a relatively busy locality called ‘Pedralbes’. Famous for its monastery - ‘White stones’ as translated in Catalan also was the first place in Spain which drew the likes of Fangio, Ascari and the rest of the 50’s Formula 1 drivers. It was a street circuit, a quick one where cars could reach up to a speed in excess of 300 km/h. The roads were wide, slightly grand and featured city’s broom corners. 

With the driver’s championships hanging in balance, the final event of the 1951 season was to culminate at Pedralbes, which was making its F1 debut. Which driver would it be? Alfa-Romeo having won the previous year looked good with their driver Juan Manuel Fangio, who led the championship at the start of this race. Ferrari on the other hand had hopes on their star driver Alberto Ascari to overcome the two point deficit and win the driver’s title. The job was half done with Ascari taking the pole and Fangio coming in second.

Crowd gathered in good number to watch this thriller unfold. Both drivers were pumped up to win their maiden F1 driver’s title. And so, the race started. Engine wise both Alfa-Romeo and Ferrari were evenly matched for speed. But it was the tyre choice that was going to be decisive. Ferrari opted for 16 inch rear tyres while Alfa Romeo went for 18 inch. This difference of 2 inches turned out to be a big disadvantage for Ferrari. They soon found their cars struggling with grip issues and tyres losing their thread rapidly. Ascari suffered the most and his championship hopes now solely rested on Fangio’s retirement and him taking 2 points or more. 

Fangio went on to win first of his five world titles. Ascari could manage only fourth. After having two successful seasons in F1, Alfa-Romeo announced of their F1 withdrawal from the 1952 season onwards owing to finances and the lack of it. In 1952 and 1953, the Spanish Grand Prix was replaced by Dutch Grand Prix. Pedralbes was back for the 1954 season in place of Zandvoort track of Netherlands.

Like it was in 1951 Pedralbes again hosted the ninth and the last race of the season. This time there was no such pre-race drama. Fangio was already a world champion coming into this round and he now driving for Mercedes could race without any title pressure. Barring for the two races he drove for Maserati, Fangio won four races with Mercedes.

Ascari was a double-world champion by this time and repeated his feat of 1951 by taking the pole position at this 6.3 km circuit. He was racing for Lancia and they had brought in their 90 degree V8 engine as a part of their chassis for this race. The pace was there to be seen - fastest practice lap, pole position and the fastest lap of the race. By the end of nine laps both the Lancia driven cars were out of the race. Luigi Villoresi retired on lap 2 struck by brake problems and seven laps later his mate Ascari would end his race and season due to clutch problems. The fastest car didn’t last the distance.

Mike Hawthorn who went on win his solitary World Championship in 1958 won this race for Ferrari. This win was made easy by leakage issues which Fangio had to deal with as he lost oil towards the end of the race. The duel of Hawthorn and Fangio didn’t reach the climax as a result of this unfortunate incident. Fangio lost his second position and finished in third. This third position is quite a significant one. Out of his 52 entries in F1, he won a Bradmanesque 24 times, came second 10 times, retired 10 times, DNQ (Did Not Qualify) once, finished outside the top three 6 times and this result in Spain was his sole 3^rd place of his F1 career.

The year 1955 is considered to be a black year for motorsports. The LeMans Disaster of 1955 was catastrophic and the sport became a lot stricter than it was as a result of this tragedy. Pedralbes was one of the casualties to suffer aftermath of what happened in LeMans. Stringent rules meant Pedralbes was out of the calendar. It never did any significant attempts to win back its place in F1. However, Spain did host and continues to host F1 races albeit it had to wait for another 13 years. 

Now all that remains of Pedralbes is the street and long stretch roads which once, rather twice had some of the fastest road cars on them with drivers accelerating, changing gears and braking at will. Looking at the roads, it was tough for me to visualise the events that took place nearly 60 years ago. There is a tramway on the middle of these roads, a freeway very close by to the road and few corners from the original Pedralbes circuit are still retained. The memories though remain and unfortunately I couldn’t get hold of any elderly gentleman or lady who had witnessed this event. 

Lost Track: Circuits of the Yore XII - Dutch Grand Prix - Part I

Last Turn of Circuit Park Zandvoort

Two memories come to my mind as I write this. Mind you, these are just the two out of many memorable ones I have since the time I have known F1. The decision to visit Singapore GP and watching the first ever night race in 2008 tops the list and secondly driving around the streets of Monaco to complete a lap on a busy traffic day. I was happy with the latter because I tested myself mentally with the circuit route to replicate the one used in Monaco Grand Prix. Let’s just say it was more than satisfying. BMW X5 driven by my co-brother is not such a bad car, but the traffic made sure we went in the speed range comparable to the pit lane speed limits. I always wondered then, how it would be to drive on a purpose built F1 circuit. In this edition of Lost Track: Circuits of the Yore, I write about Dutch Grand Prix (in two parts), about the Circuit Park in Zandvoort where a race was completed without a single pit stop and notoriously known for few appalling deaths on track of the likes of Piers Courage who incidentally was born today a good 71 years ago and Roger Williamson (in Part II).

 The road trip to the country of Orange from Switzerland was breathtaking. Driving majorly through the limitless speed highways of Germany was filled with pleasure, thrill and excitement. I had made up my mind to visit Circuit Park at Zandvoort which is North of Holland at any cost, while we were at Netherlands. The idea was to just have a look at the F1 circuit and its surroundings. What followed is indeed interesting. I drove the Ford (hired rental) into the circuit and managed to complete an uninterrupted lap on the same. The timing was just perfect; the junior racing competition had just completed that evening and the track from the parking lot was open. I didn’t know what I was getting in to, and the next moment I found myself at the last corner, few meters from the start-finish line. The track was empty and barely could I see people around me. I was hesitant, but seconds later decided to just lay some rubber on the track. What followed is a lap to remember, that’s another story. 

Races began under the banner of Dutch Grand Prix in the late 1940’s. By the time F1 World Championship finished its 3rd year, the circuit at Zandvoort had made its way to the annual F1 calendar. The track which is just over 4 km long was dominated by the Ferrari powered engines driven by Alberto Ascari and won consecutively in its first two years. There was no race held in 1954 and the 1955 race was hosted just a week after the disastrous 1955 LeMans race which was tragically remembered for many spectator deaths. The Mercedes duo of Fangio and Moss was unbeatable as they won the race comfortably 1-2 in the 1955 race.

 The race did not return until the 1958 season by which time the focus in the paddock had entirely shifted to Stirling Moss from the legendary five times World Champion Fangio. Moss, under the shadow of Fangio for three years running finally had an opportunity to claim his maiden World Championships. He won the Dutch Grand Prix in his Vanwall but could not win the championships that year. He won four races that season, but was overhauled by a point. Mike Hawthorn who had just one victory the entire season won the driver’s crown by a solitary point and retired from racing at the end of that season.

 With emergence of Jack Brabham and other talented rookie drivers, Moss did not get enough opportunities and thus remained to this day the best driver never to have won driver’s World Championship.

Joakim Bonnier, the first Swedish driver to win a F1 race won it in 1959 which incidentally also happened to be his sole Grand Prix of his 15 year career in F1. The 1960 race saw the future two-time World Champion Jim Clark make his debut at Zandvoort but the race was marred by Dan Gurney’s unfortunate accident which resulted in killing of a spectator who at the time of the incident was in a prohibited zone. The race was won by the then reigning champion Jack Brabham. 

 The 1961 race saw a German winning a Grand Prix for the first time in F1. Wolfgang Von Trips in his Ferrari won the race. This race was the first time all drivers on the starting grid completed the race (since then it has happened in 2005 Italian GP and 2011 European GP) and even more interesting the 1961 race had no pit stops. Quite a contrast when you compare with the current season and complaints we hear on the number of pit stops.

 Graham Hill driving in a BRM won his first GP in 1962. In those years, each circuit in Europe took turns to be designated as the European Grand Prix. Dutch Grand Prix was to be known as ‘European GP’ in 1962. The next three years it was the dominant Jim Clark who took the top step of the podium. In those three years, Clark went on to win two World Championships.

 Ford Cosworth with its revolutionary design DFV (Double Four Valve) made its first appearance at the 1967 Grand Prix. The defending champion and the previous year winner Jack Brabham had no chance as Jim Clark went on to win his 4th Dutch GP. 

 By the time the season of 1968 began, the French race car constructor Matra had roped in the talented British driver Jackie Stewart. Jackie Stewart won the race and thereby gave the first victory to a French constructor in the history of F1. He also won the next year’s edition. The only posthumous World Champion in F1, Jochen Rindt won the race in 1970.

 It is not Jochen Rindt and his victory which people remember from the 1970 edition. A lot of them recall the race for the sad demise of Piers Courage who died after a crash on lap 22; the failed suspension causing the car to hit the curbs and the grass embankment. Earlier that season, Williams had opted to use the newly designed De Tomaso 505 through a business arrangement with Alessandro de Tomaso, rather than the tried-and-tested Brabham, for the 1970 season. The problems began to unfold due to the new design’s unreliability and overweight. For more than half of the season’s races, the team struggled to finish in points scoring positions. However, the entire team had high hopes just before the start of Dutch Grand Prix.

 Courage qualified in 9th position looked all set to improve from the failures of the previous races.

Twenty-three laps of the Grand Prix were down and by that time the Williams driver was in pursuit of Clay Regazzoni. The cars reached the Turn 8 of the circuit - Tunnel Oost; Courage’s front suspension of the car broke loose and went straight instead of turning to complete the bend.

 The scenes were very disturbing as the car somersaulted and exploded like a ball of fire. The car was lined heavily with Magnesium in suspension and chassis which made matters even worse. The flames from the car were so intense; trees surrounding the accident site were lit up as a result. During the impact, one of the wheels from the car hit Courage on his head, thereby breaking his helmet. From what I have read, he died on track due to sheer impact and from the head and neck injuries he sustained in the course of that crash. 

 He passed away just shy of one month after celebrating his 28th birthday leaving behind Sally Courage, his wife of four years and their two kids.

 Sir Frank Williams, Courage’s boss at that time summed up nicely in his foreword to a book titled - Piers Courage: Last of the Gentleman Racers written by renowned F1 expert Adam Cooper - "He was a great man, highly popular, and I remember clearly that when he died a nation grieved, as did all of us in Formula One at that time. He was the greatest fun, utterly charming. They don't make them like that anymore."

 People poured in their comments, consoled Courage's family. However in few days time, the life in the world of Grand Prix and F1 went on, knowing such incidents can happen to anyone. In the next part, I write about the races and the fall of Dutch Grand Prix post 1970. 

Lost Track: Circuits of Yore IV - Pescara, Italian Grand Prix

Italy is known for its fanatic fan following for football and motorsports. In motorsports, you have stronghold German car manufacturers and English constructors in today’s game. But life in Italy is different and the passion for motorsports is something very different from the rest of Europe.

The story goes back in time when Fascists ruled Italy and under the Mussolini regime, Italy was establishing as a power house of Europe. In 1920’s when football had already created an impact among fanatics of Italy, motorsports was finding its way slowly and steadily across Italy, most notably at Monza.

Pescara, a small province on the Adriatic coast of Italy was no different and it hosted the first automobile race in the year 1924. It was known as the ‘Coppa Acerbo’, named after Tito Acerbo, the brother of Giacomo Acerbo, a prominent fascist politician. The inaugural race was won by the then unknown driver ‘Enzo Ferrari’, who later rose to fame with the launch of his ‘Ferrari’ in the late 1920’s.

In the European race circuits of that era, Coppa Acerbo was considered to be a very prestigious event. The home grown cars were among the winners most notably the Alfa Romeos who dominated the racing scene winning the seven out of the first nine races. Due to the changing regulations, the winners varied from Alfa Romeos and German Silver Arrows of Mercedes until World War II.

The race returned after a re-building process in 1947 with an alteration to the name of the circuit. Since the Fascists no longer ruled Italy, the circuit name was aptly changed to ‘Circuito di Pescara’.

When Formula One World Championships began in 1950, Pescara was not part of the official calendar but that didn’t stop it from being one of the most prestigious races in the racing circles. Well, strange thing do happen in Formula 1 and with the cancellation of Belgium and Dutch GP in 1957 it paved the way to Pescara, and it hosted the longest ever grand prix (26 km circuit length). The race of 1957 till date remains the longest race ever being hosted in the history of Formula One.

Juan Manuel Fangio in his Maserati took the pole position, while the race was won by the English man, Stirling Moss in his Vanwall. In spite of a successful race, the 1957 edition was the only race Pescara ever hosted as a Formula One event.

With Belgium and Dutch GP returning to the calendar and coupled with ever-increasing speeds and the fragile build-quality of most cars of the time, the race was discontinued after the 1961 event. It is also worth noting that, Italy already had a regular circuit in Monza, which hosted Italian GP since the inception of Formula 1 Championships and continues to do so.

With time, Pescara was long forgotten and the only recent connection to Formula One is that, Pescara also happens to be the birth place of the Italian driver, Jarno Trulli.

Lost Track: Circuits of Yore III - Bremgarten, Switzerland

Train journey to Bern was made several times before, but I always missed going out of the station and take the bus that would take me to Bremgarten, a small village north of Bern.

I missed the visit in 2009 due to numerous reasons, and I missed it again in 2010. This time around, I was determined to make a visit to this village and so I did. I wondered how it would have been sixty years ago when it hosted the Swiss GP in the Formula One calendar. The place was scenic and I went about exploring few areas of this village.

Bremgarten was the place that hosted Formula One and other Motorsport events under the umbrella of Swiss Grand Prix. Built originally as the motorcycle circuit in 1931, this track was built around the forests and hosted the first automobile race from 1934.

In spite of Bremgarten being accused as a treacherous circuit, it was a regular feature in the calendar of motorsports, managed to hold successfully the Swiss GP and Grand Prix of Bern (motorcycle races). Popularity was such that, when the Motorcycle championships which began in 1949 and the very next year, Formula One; both included Bremgarten to their respective racing calendars.

Giuseppe Farina won the inaugural Swiss GP on his way to claim the first ever Formula One World Championships. Juan Manuel Fangio was the winner in 1951. The going was fine till the news of 1955 Le Mans disaster hit the headlines across the world. Around 80 spectators were killed when a car driven by Pierre Levegh lost control. The car parts of Levegh’s Mercedes flew all over and caused what is considered as the most catastrophic accident in the history of motorsports.

The LeMans 24 hours racing disaster had serious consequences with several of the organisations were asked serious questions with regards to safety. Mercedes as a tribute to the victims withdrew from the race immediately and did not take part in the motorsports for the next 30 years.

Switzerland, known for its non-violence in the contemporary history took a step forward and held several talks immediately to look at the implications of such a disaster. Any chance of Swiss GP at Bremgarten returning to the F1 was closed once in for all when senate finally banned motorsports in 1958 on the grounds of the sport being unsafe for the spectators.

Juan Manuel Fangio driving his Mercedes around this 7.28 km circuit was the last winner at Bremgarten. Two races were held under the name of Swiss GP in France at Dijon circuit in 1975 and 1982. Clay Regazzoni, from the canton of Ticino (Switzerland) won the 1975 Swiss GP while Keke Rosberg won his only GP in 1982 enroute to his World Championship title.

I walked across the roads of Bremgarten recollecting all the knowledge I had on Swiss GP and wondered how it would be to have a race now in Switzerland. It turns out; the Swiss Government isn’t very keen in spite of a brief moment when overturning the ban was considered seriously.

Back in 2007, The Swiss Council of States (known as the Senat) had examined the law passed by the National Council to alter the terms of the Road Traffic Law of 1958 which prohibits circuit racing in Switzerland. The proposal was to allow racing on closed circuits in the country. The Council of States rejected to new law and although the legislation went back to the National Council with little hope, the law was never passed.

So on that note, and to add that Formula One is moving to different parts of the world, it is very unlikely Switzerland is going to build any circuits in the foreseeable future, at least not ones on which racing will take place.