Tag Archives: Ferrari

Has Video Killed Smedley, The Radio Star?

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Obviously I don’t actually mean that a video has killed someone! Just as Felipe Massa’s race engineer didn’t mean the Hamilton must be destroyed!

The lack of good stories must really be beginning to bite some quarters of F1 journalists. With the lack of action in the drivers market and the drivers title being wrapped up, a juicy headline must be hard to come by. Rob Smedley  and his relationship with Massa over the radio during races has a cult following in Italy, Ferrari fans have his messages downloaded to their phones to use as ringtones. During the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix he sent “Felipe baby, stay cool” to Massa as he was distracted by the wrong type of visor at the re-start of the rain affected race. The following year, he was once again in the headlines after his infamous message “OK, so, Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?” At the German Grand Prix, shortly after, exiting the hairpin, Massa let Alonso through to take the win. For all that heard the message, it was clear the Smedley didn’t want to instruct his driver to move over, but the fact that the team gave the message had far wider consequences for them. Ferrari were found guilty of flouting the bad on team orders that could influence the outcome of a race and were fined $100,000.

At Singapore last week, Hamilton and Massa’s irresistible attraction to each other saw the pair touch at T7. The Formula1.com race edit included a message to Massa from Smedley where he told his driver to “wreck Hamilton’s race” which has been the trigger for this week’s sensationalist headlines in the press in the UK as it was deliberate against Hamilton. Ferrari have had to take the step to deny any wrong doing on their website, posting the following: “It might not have been the most politically correct choice of word, but it definitely carried no malicious intent, especially when you take into account that Rob is a Middlesbrough lad, born and bred!

“It is also true that this exhortation to Felipe came at the exit to Turn 5 on lap 11 of the race, at the end of which both the Ferrari man and Hamilton were due to come in to the pits together. In other words, it had nothing to do with the collision between Felipe and Lewis that happened on the following lap.

“It would not have taken much to avoid this misunderstanding, but that’s what happens in the frenetic world of Formula 1. When all is said done, as the Bard of Avon himself might have put it, it was all much ado about nothing.”

For me, it was no more that a motivational kick up the back side for Massa in Robs unique way and I hope this latest batch of headlines doesn’t make him change his wonderful style.


The Tifosi and Italian Drivers

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As a regular at Sliverstone since the early nineties, I’ve seen the colours worn by the home fans change over the years. During the nineties, Williams apparel dominated the grandstands as the home fans showed their support for Mansell, Hill and Coulthard. This made way to the grey/black McLaren team wear as Coulthard moved teams before Buttons good form for BAR Honda saw white shirts dominate around the home of British Motorsport. For the past couple of years, ‘Team GB’ of Button and Hamilton at McLaren has seen a sea of silver and blood red take over.

You can see the same pattern in any country with a driver to support, until you get to Italy. Every year, in early September, the Tifosi adorn their scarlet hats and shirts to show their allegiance to the most successful team in the history of Formula 1, Ferrari.

From the championships inception in 1950, it was Italian machinery that dominated the podiums and Italian drivers, with Giuseppe Farina and Alberto Ascari winning three out of the first four drivers championships. It is difficult to comprehend that a country with as much motorsport heritage, that an Italian driver hasn’t won the drivers title since Ascari in 1953. On the eve of the Italian Grand Prix, only two Italians line up on the grid, Jarnu Trulli and Tonio Liuzzi. Trulli was asked whether he was looking forward to his home race, he replied “it’s just another race”, Just another race that hasn’t been won by an Italian since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966.

There seems to be a nationwide apathy towards their drivers, Whoever drives for Ferrari gets idolised by the Tifosi. Alonso, Schumacher and Mansell have all been taken to the hearts of the fans. Even Ferarri themselves don’t seem to be under any pressure to put an Italian in the car, Ivan Capelli was the last Italian to be contracted for them for an entire season back in 1992. The last Italian to win for the Prancing Horse was Michele Alboreto, 26 years ago.

It’s evident that any home grown driver won’t have the attention of the tifosi unless they are driving a scarlet Ferrari and it would seem that as long as the team are winning, they don’t mind who’s behind the wheel.

Half Term Report – Ferrari

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In the aftermath of Fernando Alonso snatching defeat from the jaws of victory at the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Ferrari found themselves embroiled in a national enquiry as the tifosi tried to get their heads round what had happened. Everybody had something to say, even Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi who ‘called for the head’ of Ferrari’s chief, Luca Montezemolo.

The pressure was firmly on before the new 150º Italia had even turned a wheel in winter testing, Ferrari enjoyed a successful winter programme and with McLaren appearing to struggle to find any grip, they looked like the team to take the fight to Red Bull.

When the racing got under way, Ferrari failed to live up to the expectations from testing, Alonso qualified in 5th and Massa down in 8th. In the race, Massa took the flag in 7th while Alonso crossed the line in 4th, staring at the back of his tormentor in Abu Dhabi, Vitaly Petrov. The slow start to the season continued for Ferrari with the team having to wait until the 4th race in Turkey to taste the champagne on the podium when Alonso took 3rd. Elation soon turned into embarrassment in Barcelona as Alonso delighted his home supporters by storming through to take the lead into the first corner from 4th on the grid and lead for 18 laps before the first round of pit stops. A combination of Red Bull and McLaren’s pace and Ferrari’s inability to get heat into the Pirelli hard compound tyres saw the Spaniard slip down to fourth and lapped by the leaders.

Technical director, Aldo Costa paid the price for the poor start to the season, relinquishing his role with the race team to “ take on new responsibilities within the Company.” The Italian was replaced by Pat Fry who moved from McLaren the previous year.

The next round at Monaco saw the prancing horse regain some of their race pace as Alonso went head to head with Button and Vettel in a thrilling race to the flag with all three drivers on different tyre strategies. Barely a second covered the three as they went into the last 6 laps when a collision between Petrov and Alguersuari at the swimming pool complex brought out the red flag. Under the FIA rules, the teams can change the tyres whilst waiting for the restart robbing Alonso of the chance of overtaking Vettel for the victory who was on rubber that was several laps older.

Alonso has been in a rich vein of form of late, picking up podiums in Valencia, Nurburgring and the Hungaroring as well as delivering the teams first victory of the year at Silverstone.

The Spaniard has chosen the British Grand Prix in 2010 to announce he was still in the title hunt, this year he’s a little more cautious on his chances, “We have had nine races so far and, after the one at the Nürburgring, we will face the same number again. Some might say that makes it a time to assess what’s gone before, but I prefer not to look too closely at the standings. We had a difficult start, but from a few races ago up until now, we have got back to being competitive. It cannot be denied that we have made progress, up to the point where we have actually taken a fully-deserved win on one of the tracks – Silverstone – that on paper was least-suited to our car.”

Felipe Massa hasn’t managed to match the exploits of his team-mate so far this season. He has been comprehensively out qualified 10 – 1 so far by Alonso and hasn’t managed one appearance on the podium in 2011, all of which has lead to the now annual reports that he is soon to be replaced. Ferrari are adamant that he has another year left on his contract and aren’t looking to replace him. I’m sure that Felipe’s run of bad form has nothing to do with his accident n Hungary in 2009 but I don’t believe he’s got over the “Fernando is faster than you” team order. Apart from 2008, Massa has spent most of his time at Ferrari in the shadow of Schumacher, Räikkönen and Alonso and to prove he has the quality to lead a team he will have to look elsewhere.

 

Alonso’s Plan to Catch A Bull

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What was Fernando Alonso doing the week before the German Grand Prix? I don’t know, but I would hazard a guess that he took a trip back to his homeland to see how the towns folk of Pamplona deal with being charged at by raging bulls (albeit real bulls not cars called Red Bulls). Never the less it’s the Encierro or ‘running of the bulls’ participants mentality that the Spaniard has seemed to have adopted after another fine showing in Germany, finishing second to Lewis Hamilton.

In the bull run, the objective is…well quite obvious to stay alive by not being trampled by the marauding beasts! The best way of not being trampled to death is by staying ahead of the bulls and keep as many bodies between yourself and the bulls for added protection. A strategy Alonso seems to have in mind “We have a small chance to recover the gap in the Championship, if we do races like this, we are on the podium and he isn’t,” he said.

“To have that combination in our case, we need the best possible performance from our team-mates, in my case, we need the best McLaren performance as well, to see the McLarens very, very strong and taking points from Red Bull.”

This means Alonso will have to be on the top of his game for the remainder of the season if his closest rivals are also going to have a car capable of beating the Red Bulls, and Webber of course to do what he can until the obvious “maintain the gap” call comes over the team’s radio.

Not everyone can run the encierro. It requires cool nerves, quick reflexes and a good level of physical fitness. Anyone who does not have these three should not take part. It is a highly risky enterprise. Bearing this in mind I’m sure Fernando would love to see a competitive Renault up there in the hand of his own title wrecker last year, Vitaly Petrov, who once again giving Button a master class in defensive driving at the Nurburgring.

Even if Ferrari and McLaren can steal a march on Red Bull in the second half of the year, we would surely see a repeat of 2009 when by half distance Button had an almost unassailable lead. Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull took points off of each other and Button eventually took the title in Brazil with a race to spare despite not winning another race.

The fat lady hasn’t sung yet on this year’s championship, even with Alonso’s optimism and ‘bullish’ attitude. I think she is definitely rehearsing with a few warm ups.