This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.
Lewis Hamilton
In only his second year of Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton has become the youngest champion ever, beating Alonso’s former record by 122 days. He came so close to winning last year, that the Briton was even more determined to make it work for himself and for the team. Hamilton has been a part of McLaren since he was young, and the team have been very focused on helping him succeed. It’s not been an easy season for them, having battled with Ferrari throughout, and suffered at the wrath of some much stricter stewards than we have seen before. For the second season in a row, the title came down to the very last race, and Hamilton must have had the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix in the back of his mind. A gearbox failure knocked him out of contention last year, and this year he only managed to qualify fifth. The weather wasn’t his friend but he managed to clinch the title at the very last moment.
It’s a superb way to win, and Hamilton must have been very relieved to know that he had done it at the second time of asking.
Ferrari
Although Massa won the race, and Raikkonen came third, no one on the podium could celebrate winning the championship. Ferrari managed to secure the Constructor’s title with such a strong finish, but at the time, the mood was tuned for Massa’s disappointment at his home race in Brazil. However, now that there has been time for the dust to settle somewhat, Ferrari are very thankful for what they have achieved. The team have won 8 out of the last 10 constructors championships, with only Renault being able to beat them. That is a very impressive record, and both Massa and Raikkonen thank the hard work of new team principal Stefano Domenicali, as they know this season has been tough. The team lost a lot of key personnel, as both Schumacher and Ross Brawn moved on, and now it seems like they’re just getting it back together again.
There have been a lot of mistakes this season, especially in the pit lane, but the team will know this cost them the drivers title, and will no doubt work even harder for 2009.
This is the omnibus edition of Forgotten F1 teams, gathering together the seven short shows that made up the mini series, originally released over consecutive evenings.
Here are the links to the individual show notes:
- Simtek Grand Prix
- Pacific Grand Prix
- Forti
- Arrows
- Onyx
- Life
- Eifelland
We had lots of good suggestions coming in for more forgotten teams that didn't make this list, so look out for a second series coming soon.
This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.
Formula 1 is an expensive business. There are drivers to pay, engines to buy and designers to employ. The smaller, independent teams seem to have been finding it a bit of a struggle to break into the business, and some of their cost-saving measures have been causing a bit of a row.
The problem is that a couple of teams that usually bring up the rear of the pack do not have enough money to spend on designing and developing a chassis for their own team for next year. They think it will be easier to buy in a chassis from an existing team for a fraction of the price. Teams are willing to sell, because they are only supplying old designs and not giving away trade secrets, and of course, they are happy to receive the money. So, for example, Super Aguri has links with Honda, and will most likely be running an old Honda chassis for the year ahead.
The bigger teams are up in arms about this, saying that it completely disregards what the sport is about, and that it pretty much amounts to cheating. I suppose they are not happy that they have spent money on trying to develop the sport and move it forward, whilst the others are just happy to cling on to their tails.
The smaller teams are arguing that it shouldn’t make any difference where the chassis comes from. It’s not like they are ripping off designs, they are merely purchasing them instead of building them from scratch.
Both sides appear to have a good argument, and it’s difficult to know how this one will be resolved. It doesn’t help the sport if designs are just being recycled over and over again, but at the same time, we need to keep independent teams in otherwise the whole thing becomes a big corporate sell out.
To name names and shame people, Frank Williams is an independent team owner (WilliamsF1) and is threatening legal action against Super Aguri and Torro Rosso, two new teams that are using customer cars. Williams insist that the car sharing is not legal and that the Constructors Championship becomes a farce if the teams did not build their own designs. The others insist that they are not breaking the rules as they stand and are fine to use whatever they want.
Whilst I do not know who is right, and I can’t predict the outcome of the argument, I do know this. The two teams who are causing the stir are neither of them likely to win the world championship, either driver or constructor. I understand Williams wanting to be a stickler for the rules, they are an old-fashioned team like that, but if they are competing for the titles, the other two should hardly bother them.
