Formula 1 has introduced a new points system which will result in the driver with most wins crowned 2009 champion.The current points system will still operate to decide a tie if two drivers have the same wins and to define all other championship positions.
Only 50 years too late. Finally, no more rewards for drivers tooling around in 2nd or 3rd position and playing the points. If this scoring system was in place since 1950:
This certainly changes the legacies of the "golden era":
Clark: 4 (+2)
Senna: 4 (+1)
Prost: 4 (no change)
Mansell: 3 (+2)
Andretti: 2 (+1)
Jones: 2 (+1)
Moss: 1 (+1)
Lauda: 1 (-2)
Piquet: 1 (-2)
If only the official records could be changed to retroactively award past titles to the "real" winners -- Clark and Senna tied with Prost with four titles each; Prost loses two titles ('86 and '89) that he won without the most race victories, but picks up two in which he did win the most races ('83 and '84); Moss would lose the dubious honor of being the "best driver never to win a world championship"; Mansell would become a well-deserved three-time champion; the historically overrated (in my opinion) Piquet and Lauda would drop from three titles each to just one; Jones and Andretti would both be two-time champions; and, of course, Massa would have earned the 2008 title over Hamilton (which pains me, because I was pulling for Hamilton all year, but fair is fair...). Fascinating, too, that three third-place championship finishers would have been world champions under a fair scoring system!
The rest of the multi-championship winners -- Ascari, Fangio, Brabham, G. Hill, Stewart, Fittipaldi, Hakkinen and Shumacher -- won all of their championships fairly by scoring the most victories; many of those titles, however, would have been settled on points to break ties on total victories. In 1982, for example, five drivers scored two wins each, yet the title went to Rosberg with only a single victory.
Update 3/18:The Telegraph covers this same theme today. For some reason, they claim that Prost would have also beaten Piquet in 1981, but I don't see how -- Piquet had three race victories, Prost only two. They also claim Brabham would have won no titles under present rules; how they arrive at that conclusion is beyond me -- Brabham had five wins in '60 to Moss' two, and in '59 would have won a three-way tie between with Moss and Brooks, each with two victories but with Brabham coming out ahead in points.
Photos from the last Canadian Grand Prix I attended - and will likely ever attend, because after 13 visits in 14 years I grew increasingly tired of French-Canadian assholes. Too bad, really, because Montreal is such a beautiful city. If le douchebags Québécois really dislike stupid, ugly Americans so much then I suppose I'll have to find another vacation spot to spend my stupid, ugly American dollars. But I digress...
The race was all about The Brothers Schumacher, with Ralf beating out Michael in the end. Mika Hakkinen finished third, and some rookie named Kimi Raikkonen ended up fourth. Photos taken with a Canon EOS Rebel 2000 35mm SLR + Sigma 100-300mm zoom lens; these images were scanned from prints (which is why they suck).
The two races leading up to the '94 Canadian GP were pretty depressing - first Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger were killed at Imola, then Karl Wendlinger's F1 career-ending crash at Monaco. This weekend saw the first F1 start by a skinny kid named David Coulthard, called upon by Williams to fill Senna's seat (DC finished a respectable 5th in his maiden race). Michael Schumacher won his first of a record seven Canadian Grands Prix in the Benetton-Ford that would carry him to the first of a record seven F1 championships. Race results here.
Peter Bauer managed to secure pit credentials for Oliver and me through the good offices of Mercedes-Benz motorsports honcho A.B. Shuman. We really had no business being in the Sauber garage during Friday and Saturday qualifying sessions, but the team pretty much let us roam around and take all the stills and video we wanted. Oli took these amazing photos with his Canon EOS Elan 35mm SLR; the video I shot from this weekend is coming soon to an internet near you. I scanned Oli's prints years ago with a crappy old flatbed scanner; someday I will have the negatives scanned with a proper film scanner, but until then... enjoy!
Unbelievable. But not surprising - Hamilton drove with his balls instead of his brains, which is not a bad thing (think Gilles and Mansell) but it's a trait that doesn't win many championships. But I suspect he'll learn from this and should be proud of finishing his rookie season in second, one point behind the champion; we surely haven't heard the last of Lewis Hamilton. And Alonso... well, fuck him, I hope he rots.
Raikkonen earned this one, he kept his cool all season long, drove with both balls and brains, and took it home by one championship point when almost everyone wrote him off (including me). Well done Kimi.
And about those points - I've been on the record for years arguing that the driver's world championship should be awarded to the one with the most wins in a season, and that points should only be counted for the constructor's title and to break ties between drivers with an equal number of wins (as in 2006, which saw Schumacher and Alonso each with six victories). By this reckoning, Mansell would have been World Champion in 1987 (six wins to Piquet's three), and Senna would have been a 4-time world champion (six wins in 1989 to Prost's four). My way is clearly the best way, but Bernie won't take my calls...
And so it goes to the final race in Brazil! After being handed the championship on a golden platter by Alonso in Japan, Hamilton screws the pooch in China and thus makes it a horse race with Lewis Hamilton (107 pts) just ahead of Fernando Alonso (103 pts) and Kimi Raikkonen (100 pts).
Lewis Hamilton is an incredible talent. Maybe it's the yellow-helmet-in-a-McLaren thing. His performance in Japan was superb, and it really looked like the championship was going to be settled in China... until he parked it in the pit lane sand trap. The Chequered Flag guys commented that it reminded them of Mansell blowing a tire in Adelaide in '86. I disagree, Mansell's was a mechanical failure. To me it was more like Senna hitting the guardrail in Monaco in '88, or Mansell hitting the engine kill switch while waving to the fans during the final lap in Montreal in '91 - both monumental brain-fades much more similar to Lewis'. Fortunately for Senna, he prevailed and won the title; Mansell wasn't as lucky. Will Lewis' fuck-up mirror that of his hero or his countryman? We'll learn on Oct. 21.
As for Alonso... now there's one special type of dickhead. He finds himself challenged by his rookie teammate, so he resorts to extortion. Then he cries about not getting as much love from the team as does Lewis. Memo to Fernando: No one loves you because you're a fucking asshole who blackmails his boss and says shit like, "I brought to the team half a second, six-tenths, whatever, and I don't see anything giving me back." Really? How about the $30M salary they give you to drive the car? Check your Swiss bank account, maybe then you'll see what McLaren has given you back for that half-second. I haven't had a profound hatred for any driver since I started following this sport, until this asshole came along. I hope he rots.
Far worse than Alonso are his sycophant Spanish fans (see the comments on Ed Gorman's blog if you don't know what I'm talking about) who have a penchant for finding conspiracies so bizzare that the 9-11 Truther moonbats would shake their tin foil-covered heads. Outqualified by Lewis? Must be because Ron Dennis messed with his tire pressure. Or ordered more fuel be put in his tank. Or paid one of the backmarkers to block him. Or hired a Native American rainmaker to spoil his fast lap. Or had aliens abduct him just before each Q3 session and replace him with a slightly more retarded and slower Alonso clone. Whatever the reason, it can't possibly be because Hamilton is simply faster. You know, the funny thing about Spanish sports fans is that they elevate their athletes (including girly F1 drivers like little Fernando) to superhero status in order to make up for the fact that their country is pretty much irrelevant in every other regard. They sort of remind me of Red Sox fans. And the venom they spew about Lewis is as completely irrational as MoveOn.org when they blame Haliburton for everything from hurricanes to their dogs' fleas.
I've been pulling for Hamilton all year, but now I almost wish he and that whiny little bitch Alonso take each other out at the first corner and hand it over to Kimi, who has been the only driver out of this trio to act like an adult this entire season. No excuses for his failures; no bitching about his teammate who, until late in the season, was running neck and neck with him; no emotional meltdowns; no finger-pointing at his team, his boss, or some Vast Kimi-Hating Conspiracy. Maybe it's the stoic Finnish way. Maybe he's drunk. Who cares? When he wins, he does so decisively. And when it comes to owning up to his responsibility when things go bad, he's a friggin' role model compared to those spoiled McLaren brats.
"I have decided that I am going to retire from racing. It has been an exceptional time."
Indeed it has. Michael Schumacher leaves the Formula One with (to date) 90 victories, 68 pole positions, 153 podiums and 75 fastest race laps in 247 starts.* The records are unlikely to be bested. Ever. The man is to motorsports what the Yankees are to baseball: a juggernaut, loved by fans and despised by detractors. The latter, I believe, speaks to how great a driver he really is. Michael Andretti once said, when told that many fellow drivers dislike him, "Good. Everybody loves you when you lose." So it is only natural that the winningest driver in F1 history is also the most vehemently disliked.
I for one have mixed feelings about Schumacher. Having watched every race he's started - from his stunning debut in a Jordan at Spa in 1990 as a last minute replacement for jailbird Bertrand Gachot, through his 7 world titles, to his victory yesterday at Monza - I've got to say there is no question that his record and sheer domination of the sport speaks for itself - for good and for bad. He is unquestionably a flawed man, unrepentant for his sins, and therefore easy to dislike. Still, his brilliance as a pilot arguably overshadows his failings as a human being. Even if one discounts his 1994 title (which can be argued rightfully belongs to Damon Hill), that still leaves six others which were won fair and square. And did I mention the records?
When I first heard he was leaving Benneton for Ferrari, I thought he was insane. The Scuderia, prior to 1996, was if not a second-tier team, certainly at the bottom of the first tier. Instead, I witnessed three seasons (1996-1998) in which he was a title contender, one season (1999) in which he likely would have taken the fight to the end had he not suffered a broken leg in the Silverstone crash, then five straight seasons (2000 to 2004) of total domination. Good drivers do not accomplish this in a career; great drivers do.
The inevitable question is: Can Schumacher's records alone make him one of the greats? Yeah, I think it does; you can't argue with statistics. Those who deny his greatness can only cite his behavior, because his results are unquestionable. I liken Shu's most vocal detractors to Red Sox fans who chant "Jeter Sucks!" at every New York/Boston game. Nevertheless, I can't help but lament that no single race stands out in my mind as a great racing moment for Schumacher. There are many memorable races which have immortalized other drivers in my fading memory: Mansell & Piquet at Silverstone 1987, Senna at Suzuka 1988 and at Donnington 1993, Villeneuve and Arnoux at Dijon 1979, Mansell & Senna at Monaco 1991, to name a few. But the Schumacher races which make my mental highlight reel are the ones which were controversial, if not downright scandalous: Adelaide 1994 (deliberately taking out Hill to clinch the driver's title); Jerez 1997 (an unsuccessful attempt to repeat Adelaide 1994, this time driving into Villeneuve); Silverstone 1998 (ignoring a penalty stop until the final lap); Austria 2002 (Barichello's un-subtle execution of team orders on the final turn to allow Schu the victory); Indy 2002 (giving Barichello the victory on final lap); Monaco 2006 (parking his car in the middle of the track after gaining pole position). As I said, the man is flawed. All great athletes have a few isolated incidents which diminish their overall legacy; Senna had his share, to be sure. But Schumacher... the guy has a friggin' rap sheet!
Despite all this, I believe history will look back at the Schumacher years, if not kindly then at least favorably. His is not a career comprised of individual moments, but one that must be judged in total. No other driver in F1 history has been so good for so long, and that, perhaps, is his legacy. He endured. No faded laurels, no embarrassing "has-been" phase to his career. A man of greater ego might have hung around long after his talent had withered just to net a few more victories to pad his total. Shu's decision to retire while still at the top of his game, and so close to the magic 100 win mark, tips the scale in favor of greatness.
I wish him well. * Update: At season's end the totals are 91 wins, 68 pole positions, 154 podium finishes, and 76 fastest race laps in 250 starts.
Senna wins from pole after taking Prost at the final chicane before the straight. I'm not 100% certain, but I believe that pass was the first time Senna overtook Prost on-track since becoming team mates; the stage was for one of the most bitter rivalries in F1. Results here.
Photos taken with Nikon FG and Sigma 70-210mm zoom; scanned from (poor) prints and (over-) processed with Photoshop. I really need to scan the negatives with a good film scanner and try again, now that I actually know a little about using Photoshop.
More F1 photos coming soon; I've already posted my 1999 photos (see below), and still have several years left to sort through, including stills (by Oliver) and video (by me) shot in the Sauber garage during the 1994 qualifying sessions. Also tons of stuff from the CART races at the Meadowlands, and a few vintage events at Watkins Glen (the GT40 reunion!) if I can find them.
Race won by Mika Hakkinen (ahead of Fisichella and Irvine), on his way to his second consecutive World Championship. The last three World Champs (Villeneuve, Hill and Schumacher) crashed into the same wall at the exit of the chicane coming onto the pit straight. Our seats were in the grandstands after the hairpin, where the cars were hitting 4th gear. Results here.
Photos taken with Nikon FG and Sigma 70-210mm zoom; images scanned from prints.
