Formula One Features — March 2001

I'm told that meeting your heroes is, more often than not, to be avoided unless you're prepared to have illusions shattered. For me though such disappointment has seldom been a problem because, for the most part, my heroes have departed for the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns.

Anyone who watched the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix will have noticed how much more controllable the 2001 F1 cars look now that they are running on softer compound tires. Opposite lock slides no longer mean sudden breakaway and a spin that takes forever to stop. Once more they are glorious expressions of the drivers' art. But just as F1 is looking good again, traction control is about to kill the spectacle.

At the end of 1993, the FIA banned driver aids and along with them, active suspension. Driver aids included: traction control, ABS braking, rear-steer and other forms of stability control. To police the bans, they also introduced software inspections and approvals. Over the seven years since then, thousands of hours have been spent by the FIA's software inspectors, led by Alan Prudom, and the teams' and engine manufacturers' software engineers, going through engine, transmission and chassis control code, line by line.

The tragic accident on the fifth lap of the Australian GP has again focused attention on the need to ensure that race officials and spectators enjoy the same levels of protection as the drivers at F1 races. The death of track marshal Graham Beveridge during the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne has once again placed sharp focus on the safety repercussions when wheels become detached from racing cars.

Juan Pablo Montoya got all the pre-race ink, but arguably Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso made more impressive debuts. In F1 the first man you have to beat is your team-mate, and while the arrival of the much-touted Colombian, Juan Pablo Montoya, has clearly had an unsettling effect on Michael Schumacher's younger brother Ralf, the German won hands down when the two BMW Williams drivers had their first moment of truth, in Melbourne. When the chips were down on Saturday afternoon in Albert Park, Schumacher did the business and left his rookie partner a full second behind.

When Keke Rosberg surged to pole position for the 1985 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, he lapped the former RAF aerodrome track at a stunning average of 160mph. Forget the fact that he'd just stubbed out a stogie before hopping into the cockpit of his 1000bhp Williams-Honda FW10 turbo, or that he was suffering from a minor setback in the form of a slow puncture in one of his rear tires. He just got out there. And got stuck in. Job done.

Predicting the trajectory and velocity of a racing car when it is driven at the limit within the confines of a racing track, is now the subject of a great deal of analytical work by almost all teams involved in racing at all levels. However, predicting the trajectory and velocity of a car once the driver has lost control of it has not been something the teams have devoted a great deal of time to.

Luca di Montezemolo is more than just the public face of Ferrari. He is a distinguished personality in his own right in Italian sporting circles, his two spells at Ferrari from 1974 to 76 and from 1992 to the present day, sandwiching jobs with Fiat, Cinzano and running both Italy's first America's Cup yachting challenge in addition to the 1990 World Cup.

They each looked strong at times in 2000, but ultimately both were blown off by their respective team-mates. After a winter of self-analysis, can McLaren and Ferrari number two drivers David Coulthard and Rubens Barrichello raise their game sufficiently to mount a genuine challenge for number one status?

Formula 1 digital television is about to enter a new phase - and that could bring millions more dollars tumbling into the business.

Sir Frank Williams is an inspirational figure within the motor racing community. American racer Sam Schmidt, who was paralyzed in a testing accident at Florida's Walt Disney Speedway last year, admits that his decision to start up as a team owner in this season's Indy Racing League was prompted by meeting Frank Williams.