Formula One Features

"Chosse life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disk players and electrical tin openers? I chose not to choose life: I chose something else."

The preservation of life was high on the agenda of Formula 1 in Italy in a more immediate and universal sense than is usual, but safety is the relentless preoccupation of our sport - as it has been since Max Mosley took over as president of the FIA a decade ago.

A fourth World Championship has taken Michael Schumacher past the three crowns of the late Ayrton Senna, the rival to whom he is most frequently compared and whose mantle Fate forced upon him. Without doubt the German deserves to be elevated into the heady company of men such as Senna, or four-time champion Alain Prost whose tally of titles and record of 51 GP victories Schumacher equalled in Hungary. But the question persists, when looking at their respective careers: has Michael Schumacher had it too easy?

After a poor maiden season in Formula 3000 the highly-rated Giorgio Pantano finally got everything together at Monza and took his Astromega Lola to victory at the Autodromo Nazionale. It was the team's first win for a year - the last being when Fernando Alonso dominated the race at Spa in 2000.

Most team principals will tell you that there's no magic to the F1 business. Things don't just change overnight and even if you work all the hours God made, if you don't have the correct application of technology, then you're wasting your time. To which I would add, from very long experience, the obvious answer to unpredictable conundrums after often staring you straight in the face. But you have to avoid that classic F1 affliction of trying to make things more complicated than they really are.

There was something of an irony in the fact that members of the British and German media were all huddled together in the McLaren hospitality area to watch the Germany vs. England soccer World Cup qualifier. You see back home in Blighty, and indeed to most of Germany, there may as well have not been a Grand Prix at Spa this year. Schumi has done his thing and scampered off with the silverware for a fourth time, and if we insist on waking up in sub-zero guest houses somewhere in foggy old Belgium that's our silly look out.

Last year he was so demotivated at Benetton that his efforts were publicly ridiculed by team boss Flavio Briatore at Indianapolis. But who was the bigger mug, Fisichella for losing his way, or Briatore for signing him to a deal that would have earned the young Italian $13M for 2002? Well, things being what they are in F1, Fisichella won't have to worry what to spend all that money on now that he is switching back to Jordan next season. After another year struggling in the blue cars, the move could scarcely be more timely...

Justin Wilson became the 2001 International Formula 3000 Champion at Eau Rouge on the first racing lap of the Spa race, the penultimate round of the series. His only challenger was Mark Webber and when the Australian crashed heavily into the barriers, it was all over. The shunt destroyed Webber's Super Nova Racing Lola but the Benetton test driver got away with only a bruised ankle. Wilson did not need to win at Spa and victory in the race went to a tearful Ricardo Sperafico of the Petrobras Junior Team.

From as long as I can remember until the early 1990s, Formula 1 gearbox cases were made in cast magnesium. Many still are, but in 1994 John Barnard, who was then working for Ferrari, started a revolution in gearbox design that has culminated in the successful CFRP gearbox case used by the Arrows team since 1998.

Less than two years ago BMW's first F1 V10 engine was barely making it out of the garage door before consuming itself inelegantly amid a cloud of oil smoke. What the Bavarians achieved last year, in making it a reliable race engine by the first Grand Prix of the season, in Melbourne, was impressive enough. But the subsequent development that has made its successor F1's most powerful motor is little short of amazing when you consider the timescales involved and the threats posed by Ferrari, Cosworth and Mercedes-Benz. Next year BMW's latest wares will help Williams to challenge strongly for its first world title since 1997.

There are those who have said to me that, without the manic hullabaloo of 2000, Michael Schumacher seemed a bit, well, flat after winning his fourth world championship. I might have been entirely wrong, but I rather think that the lack of hysteria in Hungary belied a deeper satisfaction in the world champion.

A poignant thought. Last Friday Bobby Rahal's first US Jaguar dealership in Pittsburgh formally opened its doors - less than 24-hours after its proprietor had been given the bullet by the British F1 team.

Justin Wilson is all but there in the International Formula 3000 Championship. In Budapest he collected 10 points while his title rivals Mark Webber and Tomas Enge both failed to score. This gives Wilson a 20 point lead with two races remaining and as Wilson has been very consistent to date it is hard to imagine that he will not be able to pick up at least one more point. Webber will need to win both races without Wilson scoring if he is to take the title.

Few disagree that HANS (Head and Neck Support) is one of the most sensible safety advances of recent years. So why hasn't a single F1 diver actually raced it yet?

Last year he had praise and hype heaped upon him in almost equal measure, but this year all he's had is criticism. But the last two races have shown that Jenson Button is beginning to turn the corner rather faster than his recalcitrant Benetton-Renault.

Leo Kirch must be wondering where it all went wrong. The German media mogul has paid out $1.54 billion dollars so far, but he has not yet quite gained control of F1. And when he does it looks as though he might have to deal with the prospect of giving a larger share of its commercial revenues to the major car makers in a bid to prevent them starting their own independent series in direct competition to the present F1 Championship.

Now at the risk of getting everyone hot under the collar, here's a suggestion: Great Britain should not have a Grand Prix. Furthermore the image of a ?£5 billion industry' that has been conjured up by the Grand Prix lobby as the raison d'etre of the event is at present exactly that - an illusion.

As the F1 season slides inexorably into its final races, we rate the drivers, the teams, their cars and their engines.

The Hockenheim Formula 3000 event may end up being seen as the event which decided the Formula 3000 title in favor of Justin Wilson. The Yorkshire driver was leading the championship when the teams gathered at Hockenheim - but not by much. He was four points clear of Mark Webber. But on the first lap of the race Webber's hopes took a plunge when he ran into the back of Darren Manning at the first chicane. He went back to the pits but the damage was done. Mark went home with no points. Wilson took six and so increased his lead to 10 points with only three rounds remaining. The quest is not hopeless but it is going to be tough unless Wilson makes a mistake.

Why Jackie Stewart's knighthood took so long is a mystery. Besides his three World Championships and a record tally of 27 Grands Prix victories, not to mention a blameless lifestyle conducted with dignity and honor, no driver in history ever did more to boost the chances of survival in a sport that was a widowmaker in his heyday.

If I had a dollar for everybody who's moaned to me over the last few days about just how boring the British Grand Prix turned out to be, I wouldn't be sitting here writing this column.

The ideal crash barrier is no barrier at all. However, the only applications of this in motor sport that I can think of are at Bonneville and the Black Rock desert, used for Land Speed Record attempts. At these sites there are several miles in every direction between the track and the mountains and, even through a telephoto lens the vehicles seem a very long way away from the spectators and viewers. Barriers are necessary on race circuits to enable spectators and TV cameras to get close enough to the action, without being exposed to the danger of being hit by an out of control car.

Two victories in a resurgent year for BMW Williams have allowed Ralf Schumacher to realize one burning ambition - his maiden Grand Prix success - and to push himself alongside elder brother Michael in the spotlight. It's also brought in a much-needed new contender to break up the Ferrari-McLaren monopoly at the top of the F1 tree.

The 2001 British Grand Prix is out of the way, as is Britain's general election, and now it is time for Sir Jackie Stewart to take himself back to Westminster to ask for money to create his vision of Silverstone.