Spanish Grand Prix Review

Needless to say, the pre-race attention was on the dramatic BAR saga, culminating in the disqualification of both Jenson Button and Takuma Sato from the San Marino GP and their exclusion from the Spanish and Monaco GPs. Much has already been written on this episode, and there is not a great deal more that we can add; on the capacity to contravene the rules BAR was found guilty (even if Button had not actually run below the minimum weight at Imola) and the halfway punishment was meted out.

As sad as that may be for the sport, the diminished grid, for BAR's fans and workforce, and for Sato in particular (whose car appears to never have been tested), it is a matter for officialdom, and thankfully everyone thus far has allowed the matter to remain there. That is, the episode has not degenerated into political mudslinging as it could easily have done. Fernando Alonso and Flavio Briatore especially were refreshingly forthright in their condemnation of BAR's antics.

Renault and BAR are, of course, both in the 'Group of 9', and Renault and Honda are part of the former GPWC, which has now been reformed with a new name to be announced. But of course BAR also pipped Renault to 2nd place in the 2004 constructors' title. It was further proof that while the 'Group of 9' or the group-formerly-known-as-the-GPWC are held together by some common interests, at the end of the day they are all fiercely independent and competitive entities, make no mistake. So much for their unity.

But on the track, this was a weekend dominated by Raikkonen and McLaren. They had already threatened to do something similar at Imola, but the Finn's early retirement there was yet another in a sequence of things that have gone wrong for Ron Dennis' team so far in 2005. But in Barcelona nothing got in Kimi's way. A 26s lead by his first pit stop, a full stop's gap in front of Alonso, was staggering. From there it was cruise-and-collect time, in what was easily the most dominant win this season thus far.

The pace of the MP4/20 in the last two races begs the question, might it indeed be Raikkonen who's going to give chase to Alonso rather than Schumacher? The combination of Kimi, the Mercedes engine, the chassis and the Michelin tyres have certainly shown more regular competitiveness than the Ferrari, especially on its Bridgestones. As long as that sustained competitiveness translates into consistent results, then Raikkonen seems more likely to recurrently take points off Alonso.

It was not a bad return to racing for Juan-Pablo Montoya, but it was not a good one either. Yes there were more points on the board, yes he had opportunistically caught Schumacher napping at a restart after the safety car yet again, and there might have even been a podium finish had JPM not had that refuelling problem at his first stop. But there was also a serious crash in practice, followed by the Colombian's inability to come remotely near Raikkonen's qualifying times, and another spin in the race.

Alonso may have been caught hand-over-fist by Schumacher at Imola, but that may have been put down to Fernando trying to win at the slowest possible speed to conserve his car. Barcelona was a different story; even with his countrymen spurring him on, come race day the Spaniard was simply off the pace, and it was the first time in 2005 that we could decidedly say that. But the key was that he still picked up 8 points for second place; his gap to Raikkonen is 27 points, to Schumi a massive 34.

In recent times, some have described Alonso as having the attributes of both a Senna and a Prost. If so, then he was definitely in Prost mode here. He's scored a podium in each race so far, and he's racking up the points. On average, both Raikkonen and Schumacher have to take 2 points off him in each of the remaining 14 races to just sneak home the title. There's a long, long way to go, but Fernando will never have a better chance to make his championship dream a reality.

Not only is the prospect of a non-Schumacher World Champion an exciting one, but of course an Alonso title would be his first, and the last time a new man won the championship was Mika Hakkinen in 1998. Fernando would also be the youngest man to be crowned. Better still is the style he's doing it in this year. Gone is the impetuosity that verged on arrogance last year; back is the rapid, forceful, consistent, points-accumulating racer that caught everyone's imagination in 2003.

But the point is that once again Alonso got the result, and Fisichella didn't, and Fisi is 30 points behind. One wonders what would have happened if the Italian was still running ahead in the latter stages of this race. Taking all the factors of equipment, luck and results into account, it just seems like Ferrari is not going to be the only 'one-car team' this year; both Renault and McLaren have already headed, or are heading, that way, with their championship hopes and seemingly all the good results falling on one man.

Ferrari's favouritism towards Michael Schumacher didn't work, with a double-puncture sending the German into yet another retirement - the last time he had 3 or more DNFs in a year was 2000. Here his qualifying pace had been poor, thanks to the Bridgestones' inadequacy over one lap, and while his race pace had shown some signs of a repeat of Imola, it seemed unlikely that he would get more than 3rd, still behind Alonso. It seems like everyone was presumptuous about Ferrari's upturn in fortunes post-Imola.

Lost in Schumacher's failure to eat into Fernando's advantage was yet another miserable weekend for Rubens Barrichello, who has turned into a really faceless factor this year. Yet again he had reliability issues in his F2005, causing him to change his engine. Yet again he was left trailing in the midfield, and like in Bahrain he finished 9th, out of the points. He has not scored since his 2nd place in Melbourne; he has not gone four races without a point since the days of the unreliable Stewart in 1998!

On Bridgestone, Luca di Montezemolo came out after the weekend to lambast the tyre supplier in the press, and in turn the Japanese company complained about their lack of testing, despite Ferrari not signing up to voluntary test restrictions! But this is the price for Bridgestone putting their eggs all in the Ferrari basket. A time was always going to come when the advantage of Ferrari and Bridgestone working virtually exclusively was going to be outweighed by all the other main teams working with Michelin.

By contrast with the other leading contenders, Toyota are a genuine 'two-car team' at the moment, Jarno Trulli just beating Ralf Schumacher for 3rd. Both Toyotas have made the finish in all 5 races so far, and in the last four both have been in the points on the road. There's now definitely no fluke in their level of performance - the question is if they'll be like BAR last year, with lots of podiums but no win, or if they'll crack the top step. On this year's comparative unpredictability, a win is definitely on the cards.

This was Ralf's most impressive drive so far this year, and on pace he should have taken that 3rd place. But by pitting just one lap later at the first stops, Trulli got ahead despite a less-balanced car in race trim, and stayed there. Therein lies the difference between the two: Jarno has developed into a complete racer, who now makes use of in and out-laps and can drive around difficult cars; in comparison, how many times have we seen Ralf lose out in pit stop sequences?

It was a better drive from him though - there was only the one error at Campsa that let Barrichello through, but still the FW27 package is not allowing Mark to press on for the whole race. Knowing the car's weakness off the line, one also wonders why they adopted such a lose-lose strategy. For six laps' less fuel in second qualifying (the equivalent of 18 kilograms), Mark only gained about 0.4s on the likes of Alonso and the Toyotas. Was that relatively minimal pace advantage really worth an extra pit stop?

The intriguing thing is that the next race is Monaco. The first five races this year have shown that this tactic of vaulting Webber up the grid only to see him slide down in the race is not working; perhaps Williams ought to try sacrificing grid positions for a longer first and second stint. But with Mark's undoubted qualifying prowess and his tendency to shine on the streets of the Principality, Monaco might be the exception to the rule, where grid glory could translate into a decent race result.

Nick Heidfeld came from the last row of the grid after another engine change to finish out of the points but mid-pack in yet another solid drive, indicating that by race's end both Williams had roughly come home where they belong in the pecking order. Interestingly, during the week he had been commended by Sam Michael for his robotic, detailed technical feedback, after Webber had (whether jokingly or derisively) claimed that Nick's style was simple to 'sit there' during a race instead of pressing forward.

REJECT OF THE RACE
'Tonio Liuzzi
Suffered a goring by bullish F1 fate

Red Bull won its little midfield power-struggle against Sauber, with David Coulthard bringing home yet another point after another thoroughly consistent and creditable drive, and the Swiss team failing to continue their terrific form at Imola. Felipe Massa was there or thereabouts without really threatening the points, while Jacques Villeneuve's San Marino performance (which saw him inherit 4th place after the BAR exclusions) proved a flash in the pan as yet again he struggled to match Massa's speed.

Vitantonio Liuzzi though was a tremendous disappointment. In a messy weekend, he could not get near Coulthard, even though Barcelona was a track on which he would have had copious F3000 and F1 testing experience. Eventually, he was the first retirement with a silly spin into the gravel. Although there were more obvious candidates (hello Bridgestone), we give 'Reject of the Race' to the Italian - if nothing else, because on form Christian Klien should never have been replaced in the first place.

Neither is Minardi, with both Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher embarrassingly getting stuck after a matter of yards with the same electronic glitch. Clearly the PS05 has many bugs to iron out, and in the meantime, without proper testing, practice and set-up time, it remains a nervous handful which is catching both drivers out. There is potential in the package, but one hopes, for their sake and for the sake of the tail-end battle with Jordan, that that potential is untapped sooner rather than later.

And so, to the most glamorous but also the trickiest race of the year in Monaco, a race which over the years has also tended to go against the form guide. Renault won last year with Trulli; will they maintain their form? Will Trulli carry his excellent Monaco record to Toyota? Will McLaren continue their scintillating pace? And will Ferrari and Bridgestone find some consistent and reliable pace at last? With the way this season has unfolded so far, who would dare predict anything?