Australian Grand Prix Review

On Friday, to be honest the headlines on the track were few and far between. Out on the track the Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello were so far ahead of everyone else it was scary, and it made you wonder why on earth Ferrari would even bother with the F2002. Or alternatively, it made you shiver at the thought of how good the F2002 must be if it is as much a step forward as the Ferrari key men have been saying it is.

The new Williams FW24 continued to underwhelm somewhat as it has done throughout pre-season testing, while McLaren, which seemed to have made real gains with the MP4/17 over the winter, appeared to have struck early reliability issues. Sauber had clearly maintained their 2001 form, Nick Heidfeld setting the 5th fastest time at the end of the session, and Felipe Massa showing that he is as equally adept at stepping into an F1 car and being right on the pace as Kimi Raikkonen had been last year.

If Toyota had exceeded expectations on the Friday, then Minardi looked to be in some strife. If Paul Stoddart's team had carried their Friday form throughout the weekend, instead of the eventual celebrations there would have been very grim faces instead. Both KL Minardis looked rather sluggish as Mark Webber and Alex Yoong felt their way around the track. Mechanical problems limited the Malaysian's track time in particular, and then he proceeded to foolishly spin off in the wet having simply braked too late.

It was incredible that, in the second free practice on the Friday, whilst so many teams were fine-tuning their cars, neither KL Minardi appeared on the track for a whole half hour. In 2001, when Stoddart's men had cobbled two chassis together in the nick of time to race in Australia, a troubled weekend was expected but didn't really come to fruition. This time, with a much better lead-up and plenty of testing, reliability and respectable pace was expected, but on the Friday there seemed to be little of either.

Perhaps a larger concern, though, was the identity of these opportunists, and the interests they represented. Tom Walkinshaw was overtly involved in there somewhere. He claimed that his involvement was technical only; if this was the case, one wondered why he would waste his resources on another venture when his own Arrows team was struggling. Some, looking at the supposedly unhealthy state of Arrows' coffers, suggested it was an attempt to transfer his operations from one franchise to another.

Now that would have been cunning. At one stage, the possibility of a Renault junior team was being bandied about, and that Tom's involvement was really to ensure a future Renault engine deal. If that were true, then having just started a relationship with Cosworth, that seemed impatient at best and a distrustful snub towards Cosworth at worst. But by day's end it had emerged that the buyers were a mysterious group called Phoenix, not that that went very far to explaining anything at all.

Especially if all that would be appearing on the Interlagos grid were souped up Prost AP04s with 1999-spec Arrows engines, which would be hard-pressed to qualify, in particular if Gaston Mazzacane were the wheel as has been rumoured. But still, none of this gave the slightest clue as to why Walkinshaw was involved in the first place, and what he or Arrows stood to gain from his involvement. This will be the major story in F1 in the coming weeks as the details begin to unravel.

Stoddart was of course not alone in voicing his alarm at this sudden instability in F1, although the Minardi chief was certainly the most vocal. Neither Sir Frank Williams or Jean Todt seemed particularly pleased, and in one fell swoop Walkinshaw had pretty much alienated the entire pit lane. It seemed ironic to us that Stoddart's Minardi was stuck in the pit lane with arch-nemesis Gustav Brunner on one side (the ex-Minardi designer now with Toyota), and Walkinshaw's Arrows on the other.

While Jean Todt's men continued on their merry untroubled way, other teams were finding the going much tougher. Juan-Pablo Montoya had the somewhat unusual dilemma of burning brakes, and throughout the whole weekend the Williams did seem to be no match under braking for the Ferraris. But that was nothing compared to Sato's problems, the Japanese rookie recording the first big crash of the weekend at infamous turn 14, where just about everyone has gone off at some stage in the past.

Rain marred the second session on the Saturday, and in fact the threat of rain lingered throughout the entire weekend. That should have been good reason for most drivers to go out in the wet, so that they could establish a wet set-up just in case either qualifying or the race were held in showery conditions. It seemed strange, then, that whenever rain started to fall, most teams would immediately bring their cars back to the sanctuary of the garage.

Ralf Schumacher impressed by getting into the low 1:26s on his very first run, while Montoya may have joined him on the second row had he not been allegedly baulked on his fast lap. Raikkonen qualified a career-best 5th, but not an inconsiderable margin behind Coulthard in 4th. Jarno Trulli continued his fantastic qualifying record by putting the competitive Renault in 7th, while debutant Massa pipped the experienced Heidfeld for 9th. Although it was based on just one or two runs, the German would not have been best pleased.

Fisichella continued his 2001 form by putting the Jordan in 8th before handing over his car to Sato, after the latter's chassis could not be repaired in time and the t-car stopped on the track. But by the time Takuma stepped in, a shower had swept across the track and there was no way that he was going to get within 107%, although in such circumstances there was also no way that the stewards wouldn't have allowed him to start, especially considering some of the respectable times he had set in free practice.

It must have worked, because the rain didn't let up for the rest of the session, and towards the end, when there was no hope of any improvement in the times, the reluctance of teams to get in some wet running continued to be bewildering. Only Ferrari, with their rain-master drivers, sent their cars onto the track for any extended period of time. Ross Brawn said afterwards that they had gained useful wet weather data as a result, and one wonders why hardly anyone else followed their lead.

The other teams may well have regretted it on Sunday morning, when the warm-up was wet despite a forecast for sunshine. Massa, for instance, had a traction control problem that affected his Sauber in the rain and kept cutting the engine out on the exit of slow corners. If this problem persisted and the race was wet, the Brazilian was in trouble. In fact, if the rain hung around, most teams would have struggled to get a satisfactory wet set-up sorted out in time.

Eventually, the two Arrows did get onto the track, but both illegally. Frentzen forgot that a red light at the end of the pit lane means 'stop', while the team sent Enrique Bernoldi out in the spare car, knowing that he would eventually be black-flagged, but determined to get some testing miles under their belts. Understandable, but still a flagrant contravention of the rules. All in all, Arrows' bizarre antics on and off the track were more than enough to earn them the first 'Reject of the Race' award for 2002.

Mind you, going into turn one they had plenty of competition for that dubious title. It was the messiest first corner incident since Germany 1994 (Belgium 1998 notwithstanding, but that was just after the first turn), and there seemed plenty of drivers who had engaged their gears but not their brains. Whether it was down to testosterone or rustiness, it ensured that season 2002 got off to a flying start, rather too literally.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Tom Walkinshaw's Arrows
Mindless grid bungle followed by double Disqualification

But while Rubens was over-zealous in defending, the same may be said of Ralf's attack. The German didn't completely forget to brake; he had wiped off some speed before the point of contact, but it was touch and go as to whether or not he would have made the corner. Once his car became airborne anything could have happened; a repeat of 2001 when Villeneuve hit him from behind may have ensued. It was Ralf's good fortune that he had managed not to flip.

Not surprisingly, mayhem broke out behind. Michael went over the grass any dropped to 4th; Raikkonen was forced off the track by Ralf's errant front wing; Trulli, who had made an amazing start, leapt up to 2nd. Seeing all the mayhem ahead, Heidfeld and Olivier Panis decided to cut the first corner, but why they felt as though they had to cut it by as much as they did remains a mystery explained only by instinct. On them lay the blame for the subsequent midfield decimation.

The decision to employ the safety car was the right one. In terms of debris the track was not dangerously littered, unlike Hockenheim last year. In that situation, there is never any reason to give those unfortunately eliminated a second chance. Those on whom fortune had smiled should be given the chance to take advantage of it ­ and in this case, the two floundering Jaguars suddenly found themselves in the points, and the two KL Minardis just outside of them.

When the safety car pulled off, for a few laps we were entertained by the Trulli-Schumacher battle once Montoya had slid wide and handed 3rd to Michael. The Renault was a clearly inferior car and Schumi was always going to get past. Trulli was losing so much time in his eager defending, he may have been well-advised to concentrate on his own race, even if this meant Schumacher would find a way past without too much trouble.

Coulthard in the lead then slid off as the safety car re-entered pit lane for the second time. Michelin runners such as DC, Raikkonen and JPM seemed plagued by a lack of front-end grip, so one could excuse David for the error, but it was silly for him to try to gun it coming out of turn 14 anyway. What was the point if turn 15 is a slow bend where those behind would have caught up anyway? In the end it didn't matter, gearbox gremlins making it a horror start to Coulthard's 2002 campaign.

Schumacher was so amazed he too went wide at turn 15, allowing Montoya to take advantage and sweep around the outside at the restart. Undoubtedly, JPM is the master of restarts, thanks to his CART experience, but to be honest Schumacher didn't fight much. On one hand, it was a sign of confidence in his car's superiority, but on the other hand, it was possibly also a sign of deference to Montoya's sheer passing ability, as was so graphically shown to him at Interlagos and Indianapolis last year.

When cars are equal, you end up with battles like that between Montoya and Raikkonen. Schumi was gone and the win decided. Kimi had caught up quite brilliantly after pitting under the first safety car, but once behind Montoya, he was not consistently 'on it' enough to pressurise. He put in the fastest lap of the race just before his last stop, and came out in front only to spin off, caught out on cold tyres. In the end, he claimed a solid 3rd, but his inability to be on maximum attack consistently should worry Ron Dennis ever so slightly.

Irvine was left in a lonely 4th, de la Rosa dropped several laps with a mechanical problem, Sato had gone early, and Villeneuve had lost his rear wing at the same place as he had in 1999. This elevated Webber into 5th, and despite his bungled pit stop the position looked safe. He had been driving a conservative race, nursing a broken differential and short shifting, perhaps a bit too eagerly at times. But, considering the massive pressure of a home-town GP debut, he was doing a sensational job.

It is probable only Italy's tifosi could have rivalled the celebrations that ensued. The partisan onlookers around the circuit cheered 'till hoarse as Webber drove what had to come close to the slowest lap of honour in F1 history, punching the air repeatedly while back in the pits, Minardi raided the champagne cellars of McLaren and Williams. After the seemingly inconsequential official podium ceremony was completed, Stoddart and Webber made an appearance to the delight of the throng below - the first ever 5th place 'podium' finish!

Every year there's an 'aberration race', when the form book goes out the window and some people achieve dream results. Without the form guide even having been established for 2002, the Australian GP may already have been this season's aberration race. The cool weather hampered the Michelin runners, and Ferrari probably aren't as far ahead as this race would make you believe. There is still good reason to expect an ultra-close season, and the Michelin teams could turn the tables as early as Malaysia.