Musings on the Italian Grand Prix

I was fortunate to have been able to interview Toyota F1 driver Jarno Trulli on the eve of last year’s inaugural Singapore Grand Prix. As expected, the Italian driver oozed with a passion for Grand Prix racing that only the hot Latin blood in him can generate.

Which is why I’d give anything to have the chance to ask Giancarlo Fisichella, another Italian F1 driver (and next to Rubens Barrichello, perhaps the oldest and most experienced driver on the grid), this question: Would you rather drive a Ferrari that is not expected to win or a non-Italian car that has, of late, been showing a much greater chance of winning?

Like any red-blooded Italian, Fisichella has always dreamt of driving a Ferrari in F1. He has said so in countless interviews throughout the course of his long Formula 1 career.

Of course, Fisi is a racing driver through and through, which means that he races to win – and not just make up the numbers to complete the grid. And behind the wheel of a Force India in Spa in Belgium, he nearly showed the world that he and his erstwhile backmarker of a car can take the battle to a red-painted car with the Prancing Horse logo adorning its flanks – driven by a former world champion, no less.

But Fisichella has already revealed his choice: he respectfully asked Force India team principal Vijay Mallya if he could drive for Ferrari to sub for the recuperating Felipe Massa and his Indian boss graciously released him from his contract to let the Italian live out his dream.

But after last Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix, did Fisi live up to his own dream – and that of the millions of tifosi? He finished a lowly 9th, woefully out of the points and almost a minute and a half behind the winning Brawn of Barrichello – while teammate Adrian Sutil took the fight to the very same Ferrari driver that Fisi hassled and harassed just two weeks ago, Kimi Raikkonen.

Sutil and his Force India finished almost a full minute ahead of Fisichella and his Ferrari. Any regrets, Giancarlo?

But before I get hate mail from the legions of Ferrari fans out there, I’m just being rhetorical. Anyone, and I mean anyone, would jump at the chance to drive for the Scuderia – winning car or not. It took four years before Michael Schumacher transformed the red cars from also-rans into championship-winning cars five consecutive years. Besides, it’s way too early to judge driver and car – both of which are surely acclimatizing to one another.

Which brings us to the championship contenders…

Barrichello may have edged out teammate Jenson Button for victory at Monza, but the points-leading Briton had the consolation that his Red Bull rivals’ championship challenge all but disintegrated.

Button has narrowed down his title rivals to virtually just one – and it looks very much as if Brawn will win both championships now. Jenson has finally gotten back on the podium for the first time since Turkey. The eight points he scored last Sunday take some pressure off him and put Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber way off the points race, almost 30 points behind.

Barrichello seems to have the momentum now, but he needs Button to have more setbacks if he is to have a chance to snatch the title from him. The Brazilian needs to take three points per race off him in the four remaining races on average and that will not be easy now that Jenson seems to have rediscovered his groove.

Ross Brawn has allowed his drivers to race each other until the end of the season now. No team orders. Once again it was Barrichello’s qualifying skills which gave him the springboard for the win. He was ahead of Button on the grid with slightly more fuel and that gave him an extra lap to cover his teammate and title rival at the pitstops.

Lewis Hamilton started the race strongly on his two-stop strategy, but his pace dropped off a little in his middle stint and that meant that he was not able to cover the one-stopping Brawns. Then he made that dreadful mistake on the final lap when, pushing hard to try to close in on Button, he crashed the car on the Lesmo bend.

Red Bull had a poor weekend, mainly because the Renault engine seems to have lost ground compared to Mercedes, almost like last year. Although development isn’t allowed in the modern F1 rules as it used to be, there are minor tweaks that can be done and it seems Mercedes, and to a lesser extent Ferrari, has been most successful at it.

Red Bull seems to have lost the pace in qualifying, which isn’t helping them. Other cars are working better on the low-downforce tracks of Spa and Monza, not least the Force Indias, and of course the KERS-equipped cars.

Young German Adrian Sutil had his best weekend as an F1 driver. The Force India car was again very fast in all conditions and on both tires. Sutil made a mistake on his final lap in qualifying, which probably cost him the pole to Hamilton and then in the race, predictably, he was passed by Raikkonen at the start.

Raikkonen’s car was again slightly slower than the Force India, but the Finn used all his experience and race craft to keep Sutil at bay, using his KERS button to prevent the German from passing him.

With the way things are developing on and off the track, the remaining four races just can’t come any sooner…

It seems that most of the Backseat Drivers out there are on the same page as far as the issue we brought up last week is concerned. Here are some of your reactions to last week’s “Pedestrians vs. Vehicles” by yours truly…

I completely agree on your lawyer friend. This is exactly what happened to me: I was driving along Aguinaldo Highway in Imus, Cavite and was going to make a u-turn, seeing it was clear to do such a maneuver. There was, however, a jeepney on my left side which was loading passengers. As I was making my move, the jeepney suddenly ran into me. Surprisingly, the invistigating officer showed up and instead of asking what had happened, asked us from where we were. Upon learning that I was from Bacoor and the jeepney driver was from Imus, he and all the police in the traffic headquarters sided with the jeepney driver – even if it was clear that I got bumped and not the other way around. Their excuse was that the jeepney was moving forward and not looking because the driver was soliciting fare from his passengers. I ended up paying for damages. It really sucks when the authorities gang up on you. – kuya38

Unfortunately, the Philippines is full of ignorant people who don’t know much about rules and road courtesies and rely on “bahala na”, so we just have to watch out for people like them (all PUVs, triycles, pedicabs and even a lot of private vehicle drivers). The authorities on the road (policemen and traffic aides) more often than not are also like these people (upbringing and background) so they would tend to take the sides of people like them and prey on a poor driver who may not have done anything wrong. The pedestrians and the passengers, on the other hand, also don’t really know when and where to cross the street or get on and off a vehicle. Some are just so stubborn that they insist on crossing a no crossing street because they are too lazy to use the overpass. There is no hope...at least for a generation or so... – videcormeum

What it is really all about is – what else “SHOW ME THE MONEY” – any longtime resident here should know this as this is the ONLY driving principle here! – Incredulous