Ted Kravitz - the Brazilian GP from the pit lane
The Mole welcomes BBC pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz to the blog to give his inside line on the Brazilian Grand Prix.
BRAWN
Spending a few extra days in South America, and without a computer, I haven't seen much of Britain's reaction to Jenson Button's championship win at the Brazilian Grand Prix. In the insular world of the Formula 1 paddock, though, there was a general feeling of goodwill towards Button, despite the intense rivalries between all the teams.
Other drivers and team bosses I spoke to agreed that Button deserved the title, that Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel will get his chance to be champion, that Rubens Barrichello probably won't, and that it will be interesting to have what is effectively a non-drivers' championship race in Abu Dhabi just for fun.
It's this last thought that intrigued Button's race engineer Andrew Shovlin when we spoke on the pit wall after the race. He was pleased that at last we will be able to see whether Jenson's drop in form since Turkey was because of the car, or due to the immense pressure he was putting on himself to get the job done.
Brawn's Jenson Button is surrounded by photographers after clinching the 2009 world title
I found it interesting that team boss Ross Brawn was so quick to dedicate the championship to the 250-odd people who had to be laid off earlier this year when he restructured the team from its previous form as Honda.
The Brawn team had, understandably, kept very quiet about this throughout the year. Many of those made redundant have since found work elsewhere in motorsport, but it was significant how they were at the front of Ross Brawn's thoughts in his moment of victory.
Other team members handled the celebrations their own way. Mechanics tempered their joy with mild irritation that their garage had become invaded by seemingly every cameraman and hanger-on in the paddock, chief executive Nick Fry's smile was as wide as ever, while wives and girlfriends, sponsors and friends of the team wandered around, some crying, others barely able to take the moment in.
What I'll always remember from that weekend was Button's own psychological battle, how he rose to win the title from being at emotional rock bottom on Saturday night.
I've never seen him so down as when we spoke three hours after he had qualified 14th, not even throughout the tough times with Renault in 2001-2, or on realising in both 2007 and 2008 that Honda had built him a slow car to race yet again.
Button admitted he took the qualifying knock pretty hard, but added that he had "a few good people around me who have sorted me out". His dad, his manager, physio, engineer and Ross Brawn did quite a job, because he was a different man by Sunday morning.
Button had clearly decided in his head that enough was enough, and that he was going to finish the title in Brazil. In this respect I'm sure he had learned from Lewis Hamilton's 2008 experience, had seen how easily it could all have slipped away, and resolved that that was not going to happen to him.
RED BULL
Team boss Christian Horner is a competitive chap, so he just about managed to find it within himself to congratulate Jenson Button and Brawn Grand Prix on their championship win during our interview after the race.
Horner's frustration is understandable. This season Red Bull emerged as a serious championship contender, with two top-class drivers in Vettel and Mark Webber, but they got off to a late start.
Horner refused to blame any single element for his team's championship defeat, neither driver or team errors, imperfect reliability, nor the failure of his design team to spot the loophole which allowed 'double diffusers' at the start of the season.
Instead, Horner stressed what a good season they'd had and how close they'd pushed Brawn - a team that, on the evidence of the first six races, had looked invincible.
In that light, it was rather telling to read Red Bull's press release, in which Renault's Fabrice Lom felt the need to include the following sentence: "I won't let anyone say that the engine is the only aspect that cost us the title, we won as a team and we lost as a team".
McLAREN
McLaren gained three points on Ferrari in their battle for third place in the constructors' championship with a canny drive by Lewis Hamilton to the podium.
But after Hamilton asked his engineer, after his first-lap pit stop, why he'd put him on a one-stop strategy, I was left wondering what it is, exactly, they do in their briefings, if they haven't discussed the possible strategy permutations that might be used.
"Oh, we were always going to do that if there was an incident at the start, Lewis", came the reply. Great. Was there anything else they were planning to surprise their driver with?
RENAULT
Thanks to Robert Kubica's second place for BMW in Brazil, Renault lost their hold on seventh place in the constructors' championship, and slipped down to eighth. If there's some crumb of comfort Renault can take from what has, in almost all respects, been a disastrous end to the season, it's the fantastic drive by future Renault driver Kubica, a man every single team member is delighted to have coming on board.
Stand-in team principal Bob Bell could barely find enough superlatives with which to describe the Pole, and singled out his abilities as a team leader, something they will need, having lost Fernando Alonso to Ferrari.
As for who will be Kubica's team-mate, Robert is pushing hard for Hamilton's current team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, knowing that he would be a reliable number two, and possibly believing that there's more to him than he has been able to show thus far at McLaren.
Indeed the Finn was again seen openly hanging out with Renault personnel after the race, obviously not feeling the need to be particularly discreet about it.
On a different note, Renault brought two new engines to Brazil for Alonso and Romain Grosjean. Renault have been one of the more successful teams in managing their eight-engine allocation for the season, and because Alonso crashed on the first lap, he will go into the last race at Abu Dhabi with the freshest engine on the grid. This could prove to be useful in what looks like a power track.
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I found out an interesting footnote concerning the Renault engine. We asked why Webber had not taken the opportunity to put a new engine in his Red Bull when he started from the pit lane in Japan. Apparently the Renault engine loosens up and becomes more powerful after its first few-hundred kilometres.
FERRARI
A lot of people were truly impressed by the way Kimi Raikkonen drove coolly through a wall of flame in the pit lane after countryman Kovalainen drove off from his pit stop with his fuel hose still attached.
It was also impressive that he had to drive the rest of the race with his eyes streaming from droplets of condensed petrol vapour that got into his visor.
Another race and still no points for Giancarlo Fisichella, in what was his fourth time driving Ferrari number three. In Brazil his progress was limited by being forced off track on the first lap, which wasn't his fault.
We talked more generally on Thursday about the problems with the car. Fisi said he had got used to operating the multitude of switches he has to fiddle with on the steering wheel, but that he is losing time during braking.
The way the Ferrari runs its Kers power boost demands constant adaptation to different behaviour in braking zones as the energy stored under braking is converted into electrical power.
Apparently no two corners are alike, and when the Kers starts to malfunction, as it did in Brazil, you never know whether you're going to need to brake earlier or later from lap to lap.
Fisichella might gain more by taking Kers off the car, which would allow him to brake in a predictable way. But in the hands of Raikkonen in the other car the Kers system gains Ferrari half a second per lap, so it seems unlikely they would agree to go down that route for the final race of the season.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~42~RS~)
Comments
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Can't wait for Abu Dhabi - should be a free-for-all!
Cheers, Ted. Good blog, as ever, particularly your insight into how Jenson transformed himself from zero to hero overnight.
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Well, Ted, thankfully the infatuation with Buttons success is now subsiding within the media. I was sickened while watching three prime time BBC news programmes salivate over him, while not even mentioning Webers name. Indeed, even this BBC F1 web page did virtually the same. Class stuff.
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Good blog Ted, it's always good to read what you have found out and your thoughts on the weekend.
I can not beleive it's the last weekend of the season coming up already!
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Informative blog, Ted, but can you or the BBC please proof-read it before it is posted? I refer to the following: Discrete and Qualifyied.
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Steve_vee_E: The reason they 'salivated' over Button and ignored Webber was quite simple, really - Webber's victory meant nothing other than a personal milestone for him. Button became World Champion and created history in doing so. Plus, in case you haven't noticed, Button comes from this country. It's ridiculous that you'd even question such treatment.
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Best blog on the F1 site Ted, thanks again.
Lewis for the race in Abu Dhabi....
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Slight correction Ted - Kovalainen left the pit box after the lollipop man told him to go. I'm not sure why so many BBC F1 people are going on like it was Kovalainen's fault.
Nobody's mentioned the $50,000 fine given to McLaren for the incident.
Otherwise a great blog :)
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Why are people saying this is the first time a British driver has succeeded another British driver as champion?
1962 - Graham Hill -GB
1963 - Jim Clark - GB
1964 - John Surtees - GB
1965 - Jim Clark - GB
and
1968 - Graham Hill - GB
1969 - Jackie Stewart - GB
So it's happened quite often.
(data from the F1 owns website)
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Great article!
I truly believe that Kimi proved he is a world class driver this season!
Not many gave him the credit he deserves!
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mark-whitehouse: I don't think anyone's saying it's the first time two Brits have succeeeded each other as World Champion; they're saying it's the first time since 1969, as was said repeatedly during the Brazilian GP broadcast.
Ted, hope you enjoy your computer-free trip. Must be bliss.
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#8. mark-whitehouse wrote:
"Why are people saying this is the first time a British driver has succeeded another British driver as champion?"
I think that it's the first time an English driver has succeeded another English Driver. This is accurate if pointless, so perhaps the question should be: "Why are people saying this is the first time a English driver has succeeded another English driver as champion?"
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@2 - Button won the DWC, that is unsurprisingly a bigger news story than Mark winning the Race. In headline bulletins they give the headlines, on the full sports news they did talk about Webber winning the race.
Interesting blod Ted, one question that I would have fired back at Webber/Red Bull regarding not giving him a new engine at Japan... yeah it might take a few hundred miles to bed in, but what did he hope to achieve starting from the pit lane, why not use the race as the bed in period....
Is there any news yet about the Trulli, Sutil spat? I am also a little bit narked that Sutil has been portrayed as a dangerous driver because Kimi carries on driving into him, or driving him off the road and into the path of Trulli.
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@9 - Huh? Kimi is very highly rated in F1 as a driver and has been for years.... the question mark has been over his motivation and commitment when things are going his way/ he is bored.
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Ref post 4:
I edit this blog and I'm afraid those slipped through the net. Our apologies for that. They have now been corrected. Thanks for pointing it out.
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Hi Ted,
I wanted to add my voice to those commenting on how interesting this blog is - congratulations!
What happened to the Japan pit lane blog though? I was waiting for it after the GP and it never appeared.
thanks,
Tim
ps Well done Jenson and the Brawn team :) I've been rooting for you all year and you did an amazing job. Brazil was one of the best races in a very long time, and a totally deserving championship win.
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As always I like your slant on the whole procedure. Glad you mentioned Raikonnen. He did pause after the fire, but I guess that's because he couldn't see where he was going. He's one cool customer, perhaps a bit too cool for Ferrari (as demonstrated eating ice-cream in Malaysia before it'd been officially stopped). I think he's driving amazingly well for a guy who's in a team that doesn't want him. I wonder whether there's a bonus if they beat Maclaren?
I wonder if Heiki will have a better time at Renault without Flavio? He comes across as a quiet guy who needs his confidence boosted. Flavio would always tell his drivers they were rubbish unless they drove like Fernando.
Finally I'm not much of a Button fan. He always struck me as too negative, but then he did often have a bad car. I'm happy for him that he succeeded, but I doubt Brawn will do as well until the budget caps kick in. Good luck too him though. I hope he take his confidence from this drive into the future, as that was something special.
Thanks again Ted.
TS
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Congrats on this blog
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Regarding Kovi at Renault, I think could be a good move for him. He will still know some/most of the guys there and as him and Kubica are friends that work quite nicely.
I would imagine part of the reason that Kubica wants him is because while he may think Kovi has untapped potential I am also sure that Kubica thinks he can beat him consistently. Kovi has performed OK as a number 2 at McLaren but I think the team has expected a lot more than that from him and that may well have put Kovi in an unhappy place. I would imagine that Renault will build a car and the team around Kubica, and want a a decent enough driver in the second seat who will pick up regular points (he has scored 22 points this season which ain't bad given how bad the car was at the start of the season).
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Ah, Bullet Monkey, well done sir.
But now then, should I be sorry for the lack of some good old English courtesy on the BEEB & its website?
Well yes, I think so. Wasn’t much to ask for… “and Mark Weber won the race”. That’s all.
I believe it’s referred to as reporting. And as other non BBC news channels (TV & radio) did mention Weber, I find your remark about my initial post as being ‘ridiculous’ a somewhat pointless excursion into the ‘I wanna say sumfink ‘cause Buttons me Man’ arena.
Buttons my man, too, BM.
But, more importantly, F1’s my race.
Oh well.
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What was the point of sending the team to Abu Dhabi to view the circuit ahead of time if all that is provided is a 1:50 video?
When the full version is finally aired, the cars will already have been round the track for three practice sessions.
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Well done Ted on inadvertently prompting my favourite moment of the season thus far - an emotional Ross Brawn choking up after the victory. Extremely telling and very inspirational, I think that your coverage is superb and the beeb couldn't do without you.
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What a brilliant blog really enjoyed reading it.
Gutted the last race of the season is coming up though!! can't wait for next year. I hope Hamilton is competitive from the off will be great watching him and Button battling at the front of the grid.
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Ted's blogs are always worth reading. However I really have a big issue with the comment that Kimi bravely went through flames. This is simply not true.
What I saw was Kimi unable to stop before entering a shower of unburnt fuel - it was the fuel reaching the hot exhaust of Kimi's car that started the fire. This meant that by then Kimi was already in the middle of the ensuing flames.
Bravery had nothing to do with it - it was impossible for him not to drive through flames. Worse still it can be argued that he was stupid to carry on as he was at a far greater risk of crashing or having permanent damage to his eyesight.
What was really lucky about this incident was that Kimi only swerved slightly to the left as he braked - any further and he would have mown down a whole pit crew.
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hello ted Congrats on your blog nuff respect on your pit-lane work very Interesting....yes yes well done jenson button world champion sounds just right.what a drive what a ding dong in brazil....ted whats your take on the button/hamilton as team mates at mclaren next year?...me i would love to see them in the same team.1 jenson coming of age, 2 lewis hungry as ever...p.s any chance u could find me a drive in f1.lol.
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