No More Honda F1

It was the shot heard 'round the world on December 5th, Honda announcing their withdrawal from the Formula 1 World Championship. How could this be? After all, this is HONDA, the team whose driver by the name of Jenson Button scored more points in the second half of the 2006 season than anybody else, Fernando and Schumi included. The team that was rumored to have one of the biggest budgets in the sport who hired none other than Ross Brawn for their rebuilding effort. Not Toyota, who has been mired in mediocrity since they entered the sport - HONDA!

Yes, also the same team that finished a lowly ninth in the championship this year, and the same team that could barely keep pace with the Spyker at the end of 2007. No doubt, these are tough economic times. The promotion of Earth Dreams/My Earth Dream the last two years meant serious lack of sponsorship dollars, and spending all this money with nothing to show for it surely angered the Suits back in Japan. The official press release cites, among other things, "the deepening credit crisis and the sudden contraction of the world economies". It's an easy and believable excuse, but it's unlikely the same decision would have been made if the team was finishing at the sharp end of the grid. Cut your losses and move on, apparently.

But why now? FOTA and the FIA have shown that drastic cost cutting is possible. And you just hired Ross Brawn, the mastermind behind the Ferrari/Schumacher dominance early in the decade. It was too late for him to have any effect on the RA108, and Honda F1 were very open about concentrating their efforts on the 2009 season and beyond, Ross' three-year plan. The man himself reckons next year's challenger is a top four car.

With all this, one can't help but feel sorry for Jenson Button. The man has never had a car capable of winning the World Championship, and the buzz was that things would finally pick up next year. Honda have been hard at work on the RA109 since April this year and the new regulations are going to level the playing field to a certain extent. Jenson deserves a chance to show what he can do with a front-running car.

It is reported that there are many buyers interested in the team, with it narrowed down to three strong possibilities. David Richards of Prodrive, who ran the the operation back when it was BAR, is sure to be on that list. Today, rumors surfaced of Peugeot-Citroen being a potential buyer, with Sebastien Bourdais being part of the package. This may also leave the testing seat open for, oh, maybe five-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb, with a drive in 2010?

For Ross, Jenson, and the rest of the team, let's hope the forward momentum continues without Honda. We're looking forward to seeing them on the grid in Melbourne come March.

The New Face of F1

Just two weeks after the close of the 2008 season, the teams were back in action at Barcelona for the first round of Winter testing. With new aerodynamic rules in place and slick tires replacing grooved ones next season, the cars will have a very different look and construction. Most teams began work on next year's car around June, but still it was not surprising to see most cars running 2008 bodywork in a low downforce setting to simulate the new rules.

BMW, though, chose to run their interim F1.08B already, with bodywork that provides a glimpse of what we'll see next year from all the teams. The difference is remarkable:

This is one of the ugliest open-wheel race cars in recent memory. Getting rid of the winglets, flip-ups, and flow modifiers was supposed to create a simple and more beautiful machine, but BMW's own test driver Christian Klein put it best: "...it's the worst Formula One car I have ever seen. It just doesn't fit together..." Still, it's early on and there will be many changes before Melbourne. Let us reserve final judgement until we see the McLaren and the scarlet machine from Maranello.

Force India Turmoil

The old Jordan team has certainly gone through some changes in the past few years. But Force India now has a proper budget and have showed major progress in the 2008 season. Sure, they were the only team to not score points, but Adrian Sutil's outstanding performance in Monaco had him headed for a 4th place finish until the Kimster ended his race. And at the last race their qualifying pace was less than a second and a half off that of the Ferrari.

For the first time in three seasons, the team has the same owner and presumably the same driver lineup for the coming year. So, with all the good this stability brings, what is Vijay Mallya doing? Corporate and business director Patrick Missling is out of a job, Colin Kolles and Mike Gascoyne are gone, and the Mercedes powertrain replaces the proven Ferrari unit next year. Red Bull's troubles in 2007 and 2008 have shown that reliable powertrain integration is not something that comes easy. Mike Gascoyne's technical ability has never been in question, either.

However, it just might be that Mallya is ahead of the curve on this one. Citing a need for "radical reorganisation of the management structure to ensure the maximum productivity", one could assume that Gascoyne, while very talented, may not be the easiest person to work with - just ask Toyota. With the radical rule changes for next season, now may be the best time for a big shakeup. And Force India are sure to receive more technical help from Mercedes than from Ferrari, minimizing the difficulty in transitioning to a new powerplant.

We can still expect the team to be at the back of the grid next year, but with an even steeper learning curve than that of the 2008 season. 2010 should be very interesting...

2009 Driver Lineup

The majority of seats have been confirmed for 2009, but there are still a few question marks.

Renault: Ok, no question here as they just announced their lineup last Wednesday. We all knew that the best choice for Alonso was to stay at home with the Regie. Unlike McLaren, Renault work very well with Fernando, and why would they let him go a second time? He's shown that he is undoubtedly the best development driver in the paddock, and the tenacity he shows on track lap after lap rivals only Michael. But Piquet? Really? Aside from Japan, he's been a blight on the team pretty much all year, and not since the early 90's has a driver been out qualified by his team mate every single race of the season. He drove an ok race in Germany to capture a podium, but that was all down to luck. Surely Flavio isn't going soft even after the way he treated Kovalainen the first half of last year. Maybe they just want Fernando to know that he's definitely the number one driver?

Toro Rosso: Please, just please hang onto Sebastian Bourdais. Unless you're Lewis Hamilton, it takes you a while to acclimatise yourself to F1. He showed promise early in the season, fell off when the new car was introduced, then put in some really strong performances starting in Belgium. And he's a four-time Champ Car champion - I don't see how you can go wrong. Could Sato be the right man for the second seat? He's a bit on the wild side when in a sub-standard car, but he would bring experience to a still young team while still having the aggressive qualities of a young driver. Still, there is plenty of young talent on the way up.

Honda: Jenson seems to be in, although there were brief rumors that he might be shown the door. It's ludicrous that there was even mention of this, because the guy can drive a racecar with the best of them. He's shown to be a great driver in the wet (especially in Hungary '06), and let's not forget who scored the most points of any driver in the second half of the 2006 season. Going back further, his first win could have been at Monza in 2004 were it not for the ridiculous speed of the Ferraris. Rubens, on the other hand, might want to be getting his retirement plans in order. Honda have been very open about finding someone new, and the most experienced driver on the grid is not likely to get faster. Like Toro Rosso, they have plenty of choices, mainly in the form of Bruno Senna and Lucas Di Grassi. However, they should realize that no driver (even Fernando, Ross Brawn) will be able to challenge for podiums if the car is another disaster.

"Massa Wins, Hamilton Lucky"

...so read the headlines. Massa and his Ferrari have been flawless in Brazil as of late, and this year was no exception. He did everything that he needed to do over the course of the weekend, consistently putting himself at or near the top of the timesheets in practice and qualifying, finishing with a mistake-free drive in sometimes less than ideal conditions on Sunday.

Hamilton, in contrast, did not show the brilliance he is capable of. Perhaps this was his (and more so the team's) reaction to criticism of him being too aggressive in situations where he didn't need to be, or McLaren's fear of putting themselves at risk of another FIA penalty. It's also clear that the MP4-23 in the hands of either driver could not match the pace of the Ferrari all weekend.

This aside, Toyota's decision to not bring in Timo Glock for intermediate tires in the last laps was made to be much more important than it really was. Given the situation, it was not a bad gamble because he actually gained a position relative to where he was before the rain. But dry tires are not good in the wet, and holding on to fourth place was unlikely. Consider what the headlines would have read if Hamilton was in Glock's position and he made the same gamble.

But the championship is more than just the last race, so let's think back to other factors throughout the season. Each driver had his share of mistakes, the most notable being Hamilton's pit lane blunder in Montreal and Massa's dreadful performance at Silverstone in the wet. Hamilton's poor choice of tires in Q2 at Monza, Massa's lack of car control in Australia. And misfortune? Hamilton: puncture in Hungary and the absolutely ridiculous penalty at Spa. Massa: engine failure in Valencia and the pitstop catastrophe in Singapore.

So was Lewis really lucky to win the championship? Not at all. The championship should be decided on track, and the penalties handed to him at Spa and Fuji were questionable at the very least. Hamilton showed this year more than anyone else why he deserved the crown. Had Massa won the championship, he would have been the lucky one.

Still, winning requires a bit of good fortune and some say it is better to be lucky than good. Lewis can be thankful that he is both.