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2002 Drivers 13-23 Review
An in-depth look at the past season, team by team and driver by driver |
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| 13. Mika Salo | ||||||
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Overall, the Finn had a good 2002, and were it not for the huge number of drivers who had good-but-not-great seasons, he would have been in our top 10. Not to discredit Allan McNish's contributions in any way, but Salo was the linchpin around whom Toyota's efforts and car development revolved, and it was fitting that he scored that point for 6th on the team's debut in Melbourne. He was also in the right place at the right time to pick up another 6th in Brazil, and whilst it was not a surprise that McNish had been dumped for 2003, the news that Salo was also departing was certainly unexpected.
Sadly, Mika seemed to let the news of his sacking affect his driving more than most. It is true that in qualifying he could sometimes be red-hot, and starting in the top 10 no fewer than eight times was evidence of that. Not one of his six retirements was by his own hand, and that sort of driver reliability was what Toyota needed. But after his departure was announced, a poor qualifying effort at Indy and some silly mistakes on race day at Monza, such as running wide at the Parabolica and crossing the white line on pit exit, pointed to a loss of motivation. Back to the top. |
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| 14. Nick Heidfeld | ||||||
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A look through our race reviews will reveal that there was not much to say about Nick Heidfeld all season, and it was dispiriting to see how Sauber's return to mediocrity dragged their lead driver, whom we ranked 2nd last year, down with them. The quiet German was certainly consistent: apart from a brilliant 5th on the grid in Austria, a 12th in Japan and some shockers in Monaco, Belgium and Italy when Sauber just didn't fire, he started the other 12 races all from between 7th and 10th on the grid. Despite the hype about team-mate Felipe Massa's raw speed, Heidfeld out-qualified him 12-4.
Fourteen finishes including the last 11 races in a row pointed to a finishing record second only to Schumi, and Heidfeld could certainly be counted upon to bring his car home. He had a weakness when seeing concertina situations ahead of him, such as in Australia, where he was largely responsible for the first corner mess, and in Austria, where his too-heavy braking plus a mechanical fault caused his gigantic collision with Sato. That, coupled with the fact that pretty much all of his seven points came by default, and that he hardly pulled a passing move of note all year, cast doubts on his genuine racing skills when the chips are down. Back to the top. |
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| 15. Jacques Villeneuve | ||||||
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A look down the Canadian's grid positions throughout 2002 says everything about his season. After two 13ths in Australia and Malaysia when he was still sussing out the abilities of his steed, there came a seven race run where, apart from a 9th and a 10th, he was mired between 14th and 19th on the grid, as it became obvious that the car wasn't great, and that David Richards' plans for 2003 included him taking a pay cut. By contrast, for the last 8 events, when Jacques decided to commit himself to BAR on merit instead of going to CART for a year, he qualified between 7th and 13th.
Villeneuve's much-fabled racer's instinct still came out on occasions, such as in Austria, Britain (a good 4th place on the right tyres in the difficult conditions), Germany, the USA and Japan. He claimed that he was driving better than ever, but there was no denying that he was too comfortable when Craig Pollock was at the helm of BAR, and Richards' no-nonsense regime left him acting like a bit of a spoilt brat for the first half of 2002. When he realised that, if he didn't shape up, Richards was more than happy to ship him out, a renewed determination shone through, but such inconsistent motivation did not impress. Back to the top. |
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| 16. Allan McNish | ||||||
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Throughout 2002, Allan McNish made no bones of the fact that he wasn't happy at the way pundits were discussing his post-2002 future before his rookie season had begun. But he would have been blind not to realise that, as a thirty-something debutant, he had to do more than merely a respectable job to ensure that his first season in F1 was not his last. In other words, he had to match and then beat Mika Salo. The final statistics speak for themselves: the qualifying battle was tilted heavily in the Finn's favour 15-2, and only once (in Monaco) did McNish start in the top 10. Salo did it 8 times.
There was no doubting that the Scot was reliable enough. His massive qualifying crash at Suzuka was a sad way to round out a year in which his only blemishes in races were a spin in Brazil and a crash at Monaco. He also suffered a succession of mechanical mishaps, including a wheel problem which cost him a point in Malaysia, and a suspension problem which put him out at Monza when he looked like possibly taking 4th. As it was, he was classified 8 times including four top-10 finishes, but didn't score his first Grand Prix points. In what was a critical debut season, it was not quite enough. Back to the top. |
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| 17. Olivier Panis | ||||||
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In 2002, Olivier Panis was very much in the Pedro de la Rosa or Nick Heidfeld mould - steady but stultifyingly unspectacular. The Frenchman was still as highly regarded as ever as a tester and racer, even though there really wasn't much he could do to develop the BAR 04, but the way F1 is these days qualifying is more important than ever. In this area Olivier was still found wanting, even if his average grid slot was only one behind Jacques Villeneuve's. Only 4 times did he start in the top half of the field, but he was also a hopeless 16th in Italy and Japan, 17th in Brazil and 18th at Imola and Monaco.
His best qualifying effort, 7th in Germany, should have earned him points in the race were it not for an engine seizure. Indeed, unreliability blighted his season; he did not finish a race until Canada, round 8, and in total he only saw the chequered flag 6 times. Olivier also seemed ill-at-ease with launch control, sluggish getaways dropping him back to near last at the Nurburgring and the Hungaroring. Conversely, it was a dynamite start at Monza that saw him come home 6th from 16th, although he could have even been 4th had he not been trumped by Renault's pit strategy. Back to the top. |
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| 18. Enrique Bernoldi | ||||||
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Apart from Tom Walkinshaw's hard-working mechanics, Enrique Bernoldi was the forgotten victim of the slings and Arrows of outrageous fortune. With eight retirements, all of them due to mechanical problems, he was the one who suffered from the inevitable unreliability that came with the A23's lateness. He was the one given the ignominy of a disqualification when his team sent him out in the spare car in Australia after his race car failed to start. He was the one left in a lurch when Frentzen left the team and Arrows started playing hide and seek on race weekends.
With an average grid spot of around 17th, a qualifying battle 11-1 in Frentzen's favour, and a best finish of 11th at the Nurburgring, it was true that the Brazilian did not have a particularly brilliant season, and there seemed to be more deserving drivers than he waiting on the fringes. But if anything stood out it was his appetite for a scrap. He had shown that in Austria and Monaco last year, and this year he was good in battle situations at Monaco, where he opportunistically passed Massa on the drag down to Ste Devote (only for his countryman to punt him off the road), and at Hockenheim. Back to the top. |
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| 19. Pedro de la Rosa | ||||||
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In a word, it was a very mediocre season for the likeable Spaniard, one of the most articulate and discerning drivers in the field. Saddled with a Jaguar the handling of which he never seemed to get used to, Pedro was one of the most unobtrusive drivers of the year. Rarely did he do anything daft - only one of his nine retirements was self-induced, and that was at home at Barcelona, where he always seems to spin off! But rarely did he do anything that made you sit up and take notice either. His 11th grid position in Brazil was a good effort, but in total he was out-qualified 10-7 by Eddie Irvine.
His 8th grid spot in Italy was wasted by a poor start, and he missed out on points there and also in Australia, where mechanical problems robbed him of a near-certain 5th in the attrition-hit race. All but one of his eight finishes were between 8th and 11th, showing that he was solid all year, but you look for something a little bit more in a Grand Prix driver. By year's end he was involved in a public slanging match with Irvine over who was responsible for the slow rate of development on the R3 and R3B, each blaming the other, although the truth was probably somewhere in between. Back to the top. |
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| 20. Takuma Sato | ||||||
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There was no doubt that Takuma Sato's 5th place drive in Japan was one of the best performances of the year, but sadly it was too late to recover his dented reputation. At the start of the year we suggested that Taku, arguably the most talented Japanese driver in F1 yet, would not be performing miracles and should be given time to settle in. Unfortunately, he started the year trying too hard, and when he finally did calm down and look like settling in, his efforts did not compare favourably with Giancarlo Fisichella, although it must be said that Jordan were also having a most unimpressive year.
From the moment he went out in Melbourne, it was clear that he was over-driving. It made for great banzai viewing, but it also contributed to a big repair bill, with a litany of accidents and spins in Australia, Spain, Austria (not his fault) and Monaco, and in the Historic Monaco GP when he crashed a Lotus 49. 6 finishes in a row at year's end pointed to a safer approach, but overall he found himself out-qualified 12-5 by Fisi, and usually about 0.4 to 0.5s slower than the Italian which, rookie inexperience notwithstanding, was not particularly brilliant. Suzuka was his only top 10 grid slot all year. Back to the top. |
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| 21. Felipe Massa | ||||||
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There was little doubt that, like Kimi Raikkonen whom he replaced at Sauber, Felipe Massa had talent and speed to burn. But unlike the Finn, who distinguished himself by his level head and smooth driving, Massa over-drove to the point of raggedness, and it made for painful viewing seeing him constantly correcting and re-correcting when a safer approach sufficed. Though he often compared well against Nick Heidfeld in races, and scored 4 points of his own, he was out-qualified 12-4 by the German. But a catalogue of incidents proceeded to put him on our 'Reject of the Year' podium.
As a sample, he collided with Webber in a 50-50 collision in Brazil; he baulked everyone in qualifying in Monaco, punted off Bernoldi and crashed at Ste Devote; he spun 4 times on race day at Silverstone; he incurred two penalties in France for a jump-start and for crossing the white line; he childishly complained about Sauber team orders in Germany; he was rightly punished for his clash with de la Rosa at Monza; and he ended the year by crashing again in Japan. Hungary was easily his best weekend as a whole, but as 2002 went on he simply didn't seem to be learning from his mistakes or tempering his style. Back to the top. |
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| 22. Alex Yoong | ||||||
| There was a lot to like about Alex Yoong. He seemed a personable chap, unpretentious, aware of the limits of his ability, a hard worker, a willing learner, and comfortable with the media. Sadly, none of those qualities had anything to do with being able to drive a Grand Prix car quickly. The most out-of-his-depth driver who has graced F1 since the mid-1990s, Alex never qualified higher than last, except for Australia and France where there were extenuating circumstances. Usually, he only got within the 107% mark by about 0.5s, and three times (San Marino, Britain, Germany) he didn't make it at all. 'Reject of the Year' material, we're sorry to say.
Rested for two races by Paul Stoddart, he did have a strong end-of-year, getting close to Mark Webber's times, although that was probably due to the Minardi reaching the extent of its capabilities. Generally cautious and able to keep the car on the road, at times he was able to race quite solidly, for example in Malaysia and Japan, where he ran ahead of his team-mate. However, he seemed particularly prone to losing the back end of his PS02, especially when he was pushing harder. He was in F1 because of his money, and in 2002 there was nothing to suggest that he deserved a place on merit. Back to the top. |
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| Anthony Davidson | ||||||
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The BAR test driver filled in at Minardi when regular driver Alex Yoong was rested for the Hungarian and Belgian GPs. Although he qualified last and spun out in both races, he was relatively close to Mark Webber's pace, despite not having sat in the car previously and generally acquitted himself well. He tended to be a bit too generous to the front-runners whilst being lapped, and at Spa was caught out trying to match the speed of the car ahead instead of doing his own thing. Still, it seemed amazing that, Minardi aside, he was on no-one's shopping list for 2003.
Back to the top. |
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