MY TOP 20 BRITISH F1 DRIVERS - Number 19

TOM PRYCE
GRANDS PRIX - 42
BEST FINISH - 3rd twice
POLE POSITIONS - 1
POINTS SCORED - 19
--- F1 CAREER ---
1974 - Token Ford & Shadow Ford - 18th - 1pt
1975 - Shadow Ford - 10th - 8pts
1976 - Shadow Ford - 12th - 10pts
1977 - Shadow Ford - 0pts








Born in Ruthin in the Vale of Clwyd in Wales, he always had an interest in cars from when he was working in a bakers van at a young age, but he didnt begin racing seriously until he was 20 when he first shot to fame by winning the Daily Express Formula Ford Crusader Championship in 1970, the final round held in torrid conditions in which Pryce was at his best. He then made his way up dominating Formula F100 in 1971 before moving up through the lower formulae including Formula 3, he again made headlines on his debut in the category, winning easily in the support race for a non championship F1 event, this was made even more spectacular when that field included the likes of Jochen Mass and James Hunt, both of whom would go on to be Grand Prix winners and in the latters case, a world champion too.

Pryce would not win a Formula 3 or Formula Atlantic title (in which he competed in 1972) but throughout F3, he again displayed some brilliant speed and excellent car control but suffered from bad luck and a nasty crash in Monaco which hospitalised him for a few days. Royale (his team in Formula 3) wanted to keep the Welshman under their wing and planned to graduate together to Formula 2 but when funding dried up, Royale were forced to abandon the plans meaning Pryce was forced to go it alone in F2, for that he teamed up with Rondel Racing who were racing an F2 car called a Motul, the team was the first project undertaken by a young upstart called Ron Dennis (now the main figurehead at McLaren Mercedes) Pryce raced in 9 F2 events for Rondel with his best finish being 2nd in Germany, before the team went bust and Dennis moved on to his next venture.

Before the team's closure, the sponsor Motul had released funds for Rondel to build an F1 car to be ready in time for the 1974 season. But because the team had gone out of business, the car was aquired by 2 wealthy backers Tony Vlassopoulo and Ken Grob, the team were reformed as "Token" and thanks to some backing from a good sponsor, Pryce was hired to drive the car. The car itself though was riddled with problems and was pathetically uncompetitive. After he made his world championship debut that year at the Nivelles circuit in Belgium where he qualified 20th out of 29 and failed to finish. But then the FIA deemed he was too inexperienced and refused him entry into the Monaco GP, Pryce was then dismissed and replaced by Ian Ashley. Instead he entered the supporting race the Formula 3 event, which he won very easily, after which he did some select events in Formula 2 where again he impressed.

This caught the attention of Don Nicholls, the owner of the Shadow F1 team who was looking for a suitable replacement for his lead driver Peter Revson who was killed during practice in South Africa, after a stint with Brian Redman, Nicholls hired Pryce in time for that years Dutch GP less than a month since he was forced to leave Token. But he immediately impressed, in only his 2nd drive for the team (and his 3rd GP overall) he qualified an incredible 3rd for the French GP and then scored his first points in just his 5th race with a 6th place finish on the famous 14 mile Nurburgring track, Nicholls knew then he had a star on his hands.

Pryce was now hot property and because he had only signed a short term contract, he was beginning to attract interest from the biggest team in F1 at the time, Lotus. Colin Chapman (the design genius behind the Lotus team) liked what he saw and with Lotus at the time going through some tough financial problems, and with Shadow realitively new to the scene, Chapman reportedly tried to do a driver swap with Pryce going to Lotus with superstar Ronnie Peterson going the other way, it never materialised and Pryce stayed with Shadow for 1975. But at Shadow, he was at first not considered their lead driver, that honour was bestowed upon the frenchman Jean-Pierre Jarier who as the lead driver got priority to run their new car first (the Shadow DN5) in which Jarier scored 2 pole positions. But when Pryce got his hands on the new car, he quickly put Jarier in the shade, he won a non championship race at Brands Hatch, only his 2nd race in the new car, he would later take his one and only pole position at the British GP on the same circuit. He also showed some great form at the end of the season, the high point being a podium finish in appalling conditions in Austria. As a result, he ended the season in the top 10 in the drivers championship also helping Shadow to the top 6 in the cosntructors.

Pryce remained loyal to Shadow and stayed for 1976 and he was now the team's lead driver, Pryce began the season in stunning fashion with his 2nd career podium finish in Brazil but the Shadow team would suffer in mid-season due to a late change in regulations which really affected the team because before the new rules were implemented for the 4th round in Spain that season, the Shadow's were regular top 10 runners, now Pryce and teammate Jarier were condemned to slug it out near the rear of the field until a new car could be built. That car (the DN8) would not come until the 12th round in Holland. Pryce gave the new car a spectacular debut, qualifying 3rd and finishing 4th. This enabled Pryce to finish the season on 10 points, good enough for 12th in the championship, in comparison to teammate Jarier (who went pointless) it was seen that Pryce was a driver punching well above his weight and deserving of a better car and team so he could fight for a championship.

1977 didnt start well, Jarier left to join ATS and the Shadow team were suffering financial troubles, so in came a pay driver to partner Pryce, the italian Renzo Zorzi. While Zorzi scored a points finish in Brazil, Pryce suffered mechanical gremlins despite qualifying well, but then came the now infamous South African Grand Prix. Tom Pryce came into the weekend in good spirits, despite 2 retirements he was happy with the car's competitiveness after qualifying in the top 12 for both races and Zorzi's point finish in Brazil despite starting down in 18th. Optimism later proved in the wet practice session where Pryce displayed his wet weather prowess posting a time a full second quicker than the next best set by Niki Lauda. He would suffer though in qualifying running on the same wet weather settings as the track dried, qualifying down in 15th. After a poor start to the race itself, he was down in last position but he then went on a great herculean charge through the field going from 23rd to 13th in just 20 laps. What followed after that was one of the most bizarre yet sickening incidents Formula 1 had ever witnessed.

On lap 21, Pryce's teammate Renzo Zorzi pulled over on the long pit straight at the top of a hill, the rear of his car then caught fire due to a fuel metering problem, so 2 track marshals had to cross the track to get to him, but because Zorzi's car was on a crest, it was difficult to see oncoming cars. The marshals waited for a lull in the traffic to cross and deal with the fire but when they did, they did not see the battle for 12th place coming up on them, in this there were 4 cars, Pryce's Shadow, Hans Joachim Stuck in a March, the Ligier of Jacques Laffite and Gunnar Nilsson's Lotus. Stuck swerved to avoid the 2nd of the marshals (a 19 year old carrying a fire extinguisher) but Pryce who was following directly behind Stuck could'nt react quickly enough and struck the unfortuante marshal killing him instantly, his fire extinguisher then struck Pryce on the helmet which ripped off the helmet and killing him instantly too as the force of the impact partially decapatated Pryce. The marshal was flown in the air and his torso landed a few yards in front of Zorzi's car, his legs a good 50 feet down the road. Pryce's car continued down the road, slightly went off the course in a straight line and clattered into the side of Laffite's Ligier. Laffite jumped out of the car and angrily went over to Pryce's car demanding an explanation but that was when he saw Pryce's shattered body and his anger turned to shock.

The shock of Pryce's death was felt right down the pitlane and a potential future world champion was gone forever.

MY TOP 20 BRITISH F1 DRIVERS - Number 20

DEREK WARWICK

GRANDS PRIX - 162
BEST FINISH - 2nd twice
BEST QUALIFYING - 3rd three times
POINTS SCORED - 71
--- F1 CAREER ---
1981 - Toleman Hart - 0pts
1982 - Toleman Hart - 0pts
1983 - Toleman Hart - 14th - 9pts
1984 - Renault - 7th - 23pts
1985 - Renault - 14th - 5pts
1986 - Brabham BMW - 0pts
1987 - Arrows Megatron - 16th - 3pts
1988 - Arrows Megatron - 8th - 17pts
1989 - Arrows Ford - 10th - 7pts
1990 - Lotus Lamborghini - 14th - 3pts
1993 - Arrows Mugen Honda - 16th - 4pts

Some drivers come into Formula 1 with huge talent which then goes wasted due to some wrong decisions or just plain bad luck. And Derek Warwick, a former stock car driver from Hampshire can certainly be labelled as one of those.

After a stint in stockcars, he made the jump to Formula 3 with Toleman, with which he won the British F3 Championship in 1978 and he stayed loyal to Toleman throughout their stint in British Formula 2 before making the huge jump to their ultimate goal of Formula 1 for the 1981 season, it was a momentus leap in more ways than one as Toleman would in future become the Benetton team until they were bought out into their current incarnation, Renault, it also began the Grand Prix design career of Rory Byrne, the man behind many of Michael Schumacher's race winning cars. But it was'nt an easy start for Warwick and his teammate for 1981, Brian Henton, Rory Byrne's first F1 Car the Toleman TG181, was bulky, overweight and used an underpowered Hart turbo engine. out of 22 attempts to qualify, only 2 were successful, Warwick bagging their best qualifying performance 2ith 22nd in Las Vegas, the season finale.

1982 however showed that the team had used 1981 as a year to get used to the new surroundings and then set about improving their car, Hart came up with an all new F1 spec turbo engine and Warwick took as much advantage out of it as he could, the cars began to qualify on a regular basis and things were looking good especially with an all new carbon-fibre chassis in the works. It got even better when Warwick showed his full potential in the improved but still bulky TG181 by running as high as 2nd at the British Grand Prix before retiring, his knowledge of the track a big help when threading through the field, Warwick even posted a fastest lap in Holland that season. Byrne's carbon-fibre car, the TG183, was ready in time for 1983 and was instantly competitive, Warwick only qualified outside the top 14 just once all season and ended the year on 9 points. By now Warwick was attracting attention from some of Formula 1's big fish, most notably Renault with whom Warwick signed for 1984, his replacement at Toleman, a certain Ayrton Senna.

Now this was the opportunity Warwick craved, he was now with a front running team and also Britains new number 1 hero after the retirement of John Watson and early on in 1984, he certainly seemed to implement his talents well, 2 podium finishes meant he was lying 2nd in the championship behind Alain Prost after just 4 races, but then he became the victim of Renault's main achilles heel, reliability. He did recover well though to finish a fine 2nd at the British Grand Prix but then he only registered one other points finish (3rd in Austria) thanks again to the Renault's poor reliability record. So despite 4 podium finishes, Warwick finished an overall disappointing 7th in the championship, but if it wer'nt for the countless DNF's, it could have been so much better. But it was during the post season for 1985 when Warwick's career would take a turn for the worse, he made a decision that probably still haunts him to this very day.

After sacking Jacques Laffite, Frank Williams was looking for a new driver to partner Keke Rosberg and use the all new Honda turbo engine, also he wanted it to be a British driver something Williams never had since his team's re-formation in 1977, so the first man he turned to was Derek Warwick, it was like the opportunity of a lifetime for Warwick being offered the opportunity to join a team very much on the up as their number 1 driver with an all new powerful engine. But he was still contracted to Renault for 1 more year and after last season's promising displays despite the poor reliability, he decided to stay with Renault in the hope they could iron out their car's troubles. Big mistake. after the rejection, Williams proceeded to sign his second choice for the drive, Nigel Mansell, he would go on and have a wonderful relationship with Williams leading to super-stardom, race wins galore and a world title in 1992. Warwick however was left to rue the decision as he suffered a terrible 1985 season, not only was the new Renault exposing the same flaws as the previous season, but it was hopelessly uncompetitive, after finishing down in 14th in the championship, Renault suddenly pulled out of the sport. So just 10 months after being offered a fantastic opportunity, Warwick was now left without a drive and his career in limbo.

In the close season, he was offered the chance to join Lotus as the team's number 2 driver, Warwick accepted without a moments hesitation, but then came a problem, the team's number 1 driver Ayrton Senna found out about the impending incumbant and vetoed the move to sign Warwick because Senna wanted to be the main focus of the team especially after he was run very close in the previous season by Elio De Angelis, it was a clear advertisement of Warwick's credibility, Senna didnt want him at Lotus because he knew how good Derek was. So in the end, Warwick was hounded out, Lotus signed an unknown called Johnny Dumfries and with all the teams full in terms of drives taken, Warwick was out in the cold. He would get an opportunity at Brabham as a replacement for Elio De Angelis who was killed in a testing accident. But you'd probalby wish he had'nt have even bothered, Gordon Murray's experimental car was a disaster, Warwick scored zero points and left in frustration to join Arrows.

And with Arrows, he would enjoy a new lease of life, he was the team's number 1 and the Arrows Megatron (the Megatron basically a re-badged BMW Turbo) proved to be a competitive piece of machinery, he only scored 3 points in 1987, but he never qualified outside the top 13, it would get even better in 1988, after a nice chassis upgrade and the troubles of teams transistioning over to normally aspirated powerplants in preparation for the banning of turbo engines for 1989, Arrows took advantage by keeping their turbo engines and as a result, were one of the shining lights in a season dominated by McLaren, and Warwick was only too happy to use the turbo advantge by scoring 17 of the 23 points Arrows scored, propelling the team to 4th in the constructors championship and Warwick to 8th in the drivers, in this included four top 4 finishes.

After that, his career began to sadly fizzle out, after a strong start to 1989, he suffered in a topsy turvy season in which 39 cars were fighting for just 26 places on the starting grid in every race. After scoring 7 points and finishing 10th in the championship, he sensed Arrows were beginning to lose their way and went off to join Lotus, the team he originally wanted to join back in 1986. But Lotus were a team in rapid decline, the team were badly affected by Martin Donnelly's (Warwick's teammate for 1990) horrific testing accident which practically ended his career, Warwick scored just 3 points all season.

After a 3 year break in which Warwick enjoyed huge success in sportscars, culminating in winning the Le Mans 24 hours for Peugeot in 1992, he returned to F1 with Arrows for 1993, it would prove to be his Grand Prix swansong, scoring just 4 points with his best finish being 4th in Hungary. Afterwards, Warwick began a career in Touring Car racing with some success and then founded Triple Eight race engineering which still goes strong today, running the Vauxhalls in the BTCC and a the Vodafone Ford squad in the Australian V8 Supercar series

THE GOOD OLD DAYS - The 1982 Formula 1 Season

2008 was a great year, 7 different winners driving 5 different cars made it one of the most open and exciting Formula 1 seasons in years, but that is nothing compared to what happened way back in 1982, this was a year that had everything, ELEVEN different winners for SEVEN different teams, as many as NINE genuine title contenders, dramatic races that have gone down in folklore as well as controversy and scandals galore. This was soured however by the tragic deaths of 2 drivers and the career ending crash of another. Despite all that as well as the unpredictability of the races, it was thanks to the consistency of the Finnish driver Keke Rosberg (who only managed to win one race all year) who prevailed to give Williams only their second drivers title. The main headline of pre-season was the return of Niki Lauda, back from a 3 year exile to help fund his new fledgling airline, the 1980 champion Alan Jones had announced his retirement and he was replaced by Keke Rosberg, moving from Fittipaldi.

ROUND 1 - SOUTH AFRICAN GRAND PRIX (Kyalami) - January 23rd
The season began amid a huge row over FISA's new "super-license" regulations, Niki Lauda who had come out of retirement led a drivers strike which was only averted after the FIA president at the time Jean Marie Balestre, promised to review the situation, the race itself ended with a victory for Alain Prost, but only after a stellar drive after a puncture dropped him to 8th. Niki Lauda capped a fine return with a great drive from 13th on the grid to claim 4th.

ROUND 2 - BRAZILIAN GRAND PRIX (Jacarepagua) - March 21st
Here came the season's first main controversy, Nelson Piquet drove well from 7th on the grid to claim victory in his Brabham ahead of Keke Rosberg, but later on both were disqualified, this handed Prost a 2nd successive win, and this would also mark the end of Carlos Reutemann's career, he announced his immediate retirement after this race.

ROUND 3 - LONG BEACH GRAND PRIX (Long Beach, California) - April 4th
F1 during this time was the main attraction in the motorsport mad resort of Long Beach, California. As a sweetner, Mario Andretti agreed to step into the Williams seat vacated by Reutemann as a one off drive. Pole was taken suprisingly by the Alfa Romeo of Andrea De Cesaris with Lauda just behind, the Austrian legend overtook De Cesaris into the 1st corner on lap 14 and was never headed, therefore fulfilling his goal to be a Grand Prix winner again within 3 races. 2nd was Rosberg and Patrese was promoted to 3rd after Villeneuve was disqualified for running an illegal rear wing

ROUND 4 - SAN MARINO GRAND PRIX (Imola) - April 25th
By the time of the San marino Grand Prix, The 2 rival governing bodies FISA (who fulfilled the FIA's role at the time) and FOCA (The Formula 1 Cosntructors Association) were at war with each other, and their row escalated to a threat (which was then carried out) of a mass boycott of the San Marino race by FOCA associated teams (which equated to every team with the exception of Ferrari, Renault and Alfa Romeo.) This all stemmed from the disqualification of Piquet and Rosberg from the Brazilian grand prix the previous month due to using their water tanks cleverly to run underweight during races. FOCA carried out their mass boycott in protest as they believed that by letter of the law, it was legal. Of the FOCA teams, four ignored the boycott demand and went to race anyway (Tyrrell, A.T.S, Osella and Toleman) because they carried Italian sponsorship. All 4 of those teams that resisted the boycott order would suffer for it in the future (Tyrrell would be the last team to aquire a turbo engine, Toleman and Osella would suffer with less of a share of the TV money and non-preferable tyre contracts while A.T.S were hounded out of F1 altogether 2 years later)
So only 14 cars proceeded to start the race which turned out to be a precession. The Renault's were competitive early on but when their Turbo's inevitably failed, the Ferrari's were left to race by themselves. Didier Pironi appeared to ignore team orders by winning much to Villeneuve's disgust and as retaliation, he would refuse to speak to Pironi ever again and vow to beat him at every opportunity, a declaration that would have tragic consequences just 2 weeks later

ROUND 5 - BELGIAN GRAND PRIX (Zolder) - May 9th
Alain Prost had qualified on pole, John Watson had won the race, but by the end of the weekend none of that didnt really seem to matter, during qualifying Gilles Villeneuve went out on the track in a last ditch attempt to beat his teammate Pironi (keeping to his word), while doing so though, he came across Jochen Mass in his March. Mass spotted the Canadian driver and proceeded to move out of the way, but Villeneuve by mistake followed him believing he was going the other way, he tried to correct his error but it was too late. His left front tyre hit Mass's right rear causing the Ferrari to begin a series of sickening aerial cartwheels. Then as the nose of Villeneuve's car made contact with a soft embankment next to the track, his seat was ripped from his cockpit and he was flung nearly 30 feet into some catch-fencing, despite interventions first from fellow drivers Warwick and Rosberg and later on the medical teams, Villeneuve died in hospital that night, the news brought sadness to the whole pitlane and the Ferrari team withdrew from the race as a mark of respect.

ROUND 6 - MONACO GRAND PRIX (Monte-Carlo) - May 23rd
I will talk about this race more when i do a full report on this on its own. Riccardo Patrese won the race after probably the greatest finish you'll ever likely see

ROUND 7 - UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX (Detroit, Michigan) - June 6th
Detroit was a brand new track for the 1982 season and also not one of the driver sfavourites including a series of tedious 90 degree turns, therefore limiting overtaking...
...But some forgot to tell all of that to John Watson, after a dismal qualifying session, he lined up 17th on the grid, and despite the race being re-started, he went on a charge through the field passing cars as if they were standing still, his drive was so amazing, when he took the lead, there were still 20 laps to go. Eddie Cheever finished a great 2nd to the delight of the home crowd

ROUND 8 - CANADIAN GRAND PRIX (Montreal) - June 13th
Back to back races meant an emotional trip to Canada barely a month after the death of their hero Gilles Villeneuve, the Montreal circuit was renamed in his honour. But this weekend would bring yet another moment of tragedy.
Pironi had qualified on pole position but as the lights turned to green, he stalled his engine and immediately put his hands in the air to warn drivers behind, nearly all made it safely through, Raul Boesel clipped the Ferrari's rear tyre causing him to spin in front of Geoff Lees, but there was even worse to come, Riccardo Paletti (who started way back in 23rd spot) was unsighted and crashed his Osella into the back of Pironi's Ferrari at full pelt, the nose was severely crushed in and Paletti had suffered 2 broken legs and massive chest injuries, also he was unconsious. Pironi got out immediately to help Paletti and the medical teams arrived on the scene and all seemed well, but nobody knew that the force of the impact had ruptured the Osella's fuel tank and petrol was leaking, inevitably it ignited and Paletti was suddenly trapped in a fireball, the fire was swiftly put out and Paletti was then cut free from the car, but because of his injuries in the initial impact, he died in hospital shortly after arriving. Nelson Piquet went on from the restart to lead home a Brabham 1-2, but like in Belgium, it did not seem to matter.

ROUND 9 - DUTCH GRAND PRIX (Zandvoort) - July 3rd
Rene Arnoux fluffed his pole position which allowed teammate Prost to lead, 4 laps later though Pironi managed to overtake the frenchman and he then drove away to take a dominant victory ahead of Piquet and the ever consistent Rosberg, to make things even better for Pironi, both Prost and Watson would fail to score.

ROUND 10 - BRITISH GRAND PRIX (Brands Hatch) - July 17th
Nelson Piquet led from the start from 3rd on the grid ahead of Niki Lauda, Lauda would then take the lead on lap 10 when piquet retired, from there on it was a comfortable drive to victory but the real star of the show failed to finish the race. In a car nicknamed "The Bergamo", Derek Warwick took his Toleman on one hell of a ride picking off cars one by one and culminating in a daring move on Pironi to take 2nd place which sent the crowd wild, Warwick though later retired but finally he was able to showcase his talents.

ROUND 11 - FRENCH GRAND PRIX (Le Castelet) - July 25th
As expected, the Renaults dominated the weekend and not jsut them, but French drivers as well, Arnoux won ahead of Prost a Renault 1-2, but Pironi and Patrick Tambay (Villeneuve's replacement at Ferrari) followed behind them to meaning French drivers locked out the top 4 positions. Keke Rosberg and Michele Alboreto completed the points scorers. But this would spell the beginning of the end for Rene Arnoux at Renault, him winning the race went against team orders, this meant that Renault were essentially a one car team, after a row with team management, Arnoux ended up signing for Ferrari for 1983.

ROUND 12 - GERMAN GRAND PRIX (Hockenheim) - August 8th
Another weekend of tragedy bacame apparent during friday qualifying, Pironi crashed into the back of Alain Prost's Renault and suffered an accident which was frighteningly similar to that suffered by Villeneuve in Belgium, Pironi survived though, but his injuries would turn out to be career ending, which was a real shame for him as he looke dlike he was running away with the world title.
In the Race, Arnoux led from pole, Piquet then passed him for the lead and looked like he was running away with the race, until crashing into Eliseo Salazar's A.T.S while trying to lap him, after confronting Salazar, Piquet then tried to have a go at the Chliean driver, a show at how furious he was. As a result the 2nd Ferrari driven by Patrick Tambay went on to take an emotional win ahead of Arnoux and Rosberg, again displaying his great consistency.

ROUND 13 - AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX (Osterreichring) - August 15th
After the usual chaotic start on Austria's narrow start line, The Brabhams shared the lead before both retiring, giving Prost the lead on lap 28. As other cars were dropping out like flies, Prost looked like he was seemingly coasting to an easy win, until with 5 laps remaining, drama, his turbo failed again costing him the opportunity to jump up to 2nd place in the standings with 3 races to go. This meant that a tight battle between Elio De Angelis and Keke Rosberg suddenly became a battle for the lead. De Angelis held on to take his first ever win, but only just, his margin of victory, just 0.050 seconds, wow.

ROUND 14 - SWISS GRAND PRIX (Dijon-Prenois) - August 29th
Why the Swiss Grand Prix was held on French soil i'll never know, but it did produce one hell of an exciting finish which brought up an unexpected result. Like at Paul Ricard, the Renault's were expected again to dominate and sure enough they were first and second ont he grid and sure enough they ran away from the field, all except one car though, that of that man again Rosberg. With Arnoux already out, Rosberg set about catching Prost's increasingly sick sounding Renault Turbo, and amazingly overtook him with 2 laps remaining, Rosberg went on to claim his first grand prix win, and with it, the championship lead, and with Pironi out of action, only a finish ahead of Prost in the points would crown him champion

ROUND 15 - ITALIAN GRAND PRIX (Monza) - September 12th
Rene Arnoux won the race with the Ferrari's of Tambay and Mario Andretti (Pironi's replacement) following in his wake, it was a dominant drive from Arnoux who wanted to end his time with Renault with a bang, crucially though, the championship was guaranteed to go down to the final round as Watson scored his first points since Canada to put him within 9 of Rosberg, meaning victory with Rosberg failing to score would crown the popular ulsterman world champion.

FINAL ROUND - CAESARS PALACE GRAND PRIX - (Las Vegas, Nevada) - September 25th
The goal was simple for Keke Rosberg, finish in the top 6 and you are champion, if not, hope that John Watson doesnt win, in the end, he didnt need to put in much effort, but he did at least keep his part of the bargain by driving a strong race to finish 5th, Watson ended up in an agonising 2nd spot behind yet another first time winner, Michele Alboreto. Eddie Cheever again delighted the home fans with a podium finish. Ferrari capped off a tragic year by winning the constructors title mainly thanks to the efforts of both Pironi and Tambay

FINAL DRIVERS STANDINGS
1. Keke Rosberg 44pts, =2. Didier Pironi 39, =2. John Watson 39, 4. Alain Prost 34, 5. Niki Lauda 30, 6. Rene Arnoux 28, =7. Patrick Tambay 25, =7. Michele Alboreto 25, 9. Elio De Angelis 23, 10. Riccardo Patrese 21, 11. Nelson Piquet 20, 12. Eddie Cheever 15, 13. Derek Daly 8, 14. Nigel Mansell 7, =15. Gilles Villeneuve 6, =15. Carlos Reutemann 6, =17. Andrea De Cesaris 5, =17. Jacques Laffite 5, 19. Mario Andretti 4, =20. Jean Pierre Jarier 3, =20. Marc Surer 3, =22. Bruno Giacomelli 2, =22. Eliseo Salazar , =22. Manfred Winkelhock 2, =22. Mauro Baldi 2, 26. Chico Serra 1

FINAL CONTRUCTORS STANDINGS
1, Ferrari 74pts, 2. McLaren Ford 69, 3. Renault 62, 4. Williams Ford 58, 5. Brabham BMW 41, 6. Lotus Ford 30, 7. Tyrrell Ford 25, 8. Talbot-Ligier Matra 20, 9. Alfa Romeo 7, 10. Arrows Ford 6, 11, A.T.S Ford 4, 12. Osella Ford 3, 13. Fittipaldi Ford 1

A1GP, CHENGDU: Carroll Paints The Town Green

It looks like A1 is beginning to get used to the new Ferrari powered cars, one man in particular, finally managed to deliver on the promise he showed in Zandvoort 5 weeks ago, unlike then though, this time he scored a dominant win in the sprint race and recovered well to take 2nd place in the feature race behind a first time winner, Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque. The big suprise though was the first appearance of the season for the Great Britain team, they only had limited testing with their new driver Danny Watts, but despite that, he still managed to grab a pole position and a pair of 3rd places. Not bad for a rookie. Series leaders though Malaysia had an unhappy time picking up just 6 points although this was enough to increase their lead at the top of the standings.

SPRINT RACE

Adam Carroll had qualified on pole position for the sprint race, but at the rolling start, he came under severe pressure fron the Netherlands car driven by ex-F1 driver Robert Doornbos, but going into the 1st corner, he managed to hold off the flying dutchman. At the same time, Britain's Danny Watts managed to haul himself up from 4th to 3rd passing the reigning champions Switzerland, who were also showing a welcome return to form.

Adam Carroll though was in a class of his own, with only Robert Doornbos able to keep up with Carroll's super quick pace, the pair of them were consitently at least half a second a lap quicker than the rest of the field. Behind them though, Watts could'nt hold off a hard-charging Jani who was sensing blood, and a podium spot, Watts though displayed some great defensive driving to hold off the more experienced Jani which would end up in him getting the podium finish he so richly deserved. Bufront though Carroll strolled across the line to take a dominant win ahead of Doornbos, before Watts croosed in 3rd place a massive 15 seconds later, the Irish now definitely look like real title challengers, especially if Carroll can reproduce pace like he did in the sprint. Behind the top 4 9Ireland, Netherlands, Great Britain & Switzerland) the other 4 points positions were taken by South Africa, Portugal, new Zealand and France, the french car this weekend driven by the great Alain prost's son Nicolas

FEATURE RACE

Carroll however didnt get the pole for the main feature, that honour went to Danny Watts with Carroll lining up 2nd ahead of Filipe Albuquerque (Portugal), Neel Jani (Switzerland) and Adrian Zaugg (South Africa) The feature race used the traditional standing start and from this, Watts got a blistering getaway, Doornbos (who finished 2nd in the sprint) didnt get away at all. Carroll didnt get the best of starts and would end up losing 2nd place to Albuquerque. The best start of all went to Monaco's Cilvio Piccione, who managed to get himself up from 7th to 5th, and then passed Jani for 4th at the 2nd turn. Doornbos's stricken car on the grid brought out the safety car for 2 laps.

Watts got the jump on everyone s the race restarted and so did Carroll, he now had a clear run on Albuquerque, but the Portugese driver had the inside line going into turn 1 and Carroll abandoned the attempt with Piccione lurking behind him. The positions would remain the same until the first round of pitstops. Watts pitted at the earliest opportunity along with the majority of the field, Portugal and Ireland though stayed out, assuming the lead of the race, Carroll pitted on the next lap, and after a super quick tyre change managed to get out ahead of Watts, but Albuquerque pitted on the next lap, the Portugese pit crew aced the pitstop and he got out ahead of the pair of them, even better for Albuquerque, he came out in a clear track while Carroll and Watts had traffic to deal with.

By the 2nd round of pitstops Albuquerque had managed to build up a lead of over 4 seconds as he pitted, Watts followed suit but unlike Albuquerque, he ended up in traffic which the Portugese driver managed to avoid, this would end up with Watts now battling to hold onto 3rd spot ahead of Jani. Until the 2nd pitstops, Carroll had not displayed any of the pace he showed in the Sprint, but now, with him in 2nd place and Albuquerque in his sights, he set off on a monumental charge, posting a succession of fastest laps in a bid to catch the leader. Meanwhile, the series leaders Malaysia were struggling somewhat in the higher reaches of the midfield, but that didnt stop Fairuz Fauzy, he pulled off a very brave move on the outside of Australia's John Martin for 5th on lap 35, 3 laps later, Nicolas Prost tried to do likewise, but ended up in the gravel trap, thus bringing out the safety car.

With all advantages wiped out the race became a short sprint for the finish, Albuquerque didnt manage to get the jump on Carroll he needed to give him some breathing space, Carroll on the next lap then tried a similar move to what Fauzy pulled off 6 laps earlier with little success, from then on he decided to settle for 2nd and Filipe Albuquerque made sure that Portugal would become the 17th different nation to win an A1GP race. Watts managed to hold off Jani to secure back to back 3rd places, Fauzy held onto 5th ahead of Martin, Cilvio piccione took 7th with USA's Marco Andretti finishing a difficult debut in the series with a fine points finish in 8th, the final 2 points positions went to Adrian Zaugg (South Africa) and Narain Karthikeyan (India)

NATIONS STANDINGS (TOP 12)
1. Malaysia 28, =2. Ireland 23, =2. France 23, =4. New Zealand 20, =4. Netherlands 20, 6. Portugal 18, 7. Switzerland 17, 8. Great Britain 16, 9. Australia 13, =10. Monaco 9, =10. South Africa 9, 12. USA 6

TOP 12 DRIVERS
1. Fairuz Fauzy 28, 2. Adam Carroll 23, 3. Loic Duval 22, =4. Filipe Albuquerque 18, =4. Earl Bamber 18, 6. Neel Jani 17, 7. Danny Watts 16, 8. John Martin 13, 9. Jeroen Bleekemolen 11, =10. Robert Doornbos 9, =10. Cilvio Piccione 9, =10. Adrian Zaugg 9

RETROSPECTIVE - 1979 French Grand Prix

In all its glory, the final 5 laps

Back in the days when Grand Prix drivers were real men, men with a hunger for speed, a passion for Racing and without fear of death, Formula 1 was a real spectacle of motorsport at its glorious best. Back in the early days, driver skill was just as important as the machinery they were given by their respective teams, there were full grids of 26 cars (with numerous others failing to qualify or even pre-qualify) and we also saw some of the greatest drivers ever to grace a grand prix car, one of them in this race i'm looking back on.

FRENCH GRAND PRIX 1979 - DIJON PRENOIS CIRCUIT
STARTING GRID

ROW 1 - 1. Jean Pierre Jabouille, 2. Rene Arnoux
ROW 2 - 3. Gilles Villeneuve, 4. Nelson Piquet
ROW 3 - 5. Jody Scheckter, 6. Niki Lauda
ROW 4 - 7. Alan Jones, 8. Jacques Laffite
ROW 5 - 9. Clay Regazzoni 10. Jean Pierre Jarier
ROW 6 - 11. Didier Pironi, 12. Mario Andretti
ROW 7 - 13. Carlos Reutemann, 14. Jacky Ickx
ROW 8 - 15. John Watson, 16. Keke Rosberg
ROW 9 - 17. Bruno Giacomelli, 18. Emerson Fittipaldi
ROW 10 - 19. Riccardo Patrese, 20. Patrick Tambay
ROW 11 - 21. Jan Lammers, 22. Jochen Mass
ROW 12 - 23. Hector Rebaque, 24. Elio De Angelis
DID NOT QUALIFY - Patrick Galliard, Arturo Merzario

As the lights turned green, the two turbo powered Renault's both got off the line terribly allowing Gilles Villeneuve (the real star of the era) to slip through between them and lead going into the first corner, the majority of the race was bordering on precessional, Villeneuve lost the lead on lap 46 to Jabouille as the turbo engine's in the Renaults began to find their legs, Jody Scheckter (who would end up as World Champion in 1979) would drop back badly from his 5th place on the grid to finish a lap down in 7th. Despite all this, it would be the final 5 laps of the race that would go down in Grand Prix folklore

Jabouille in his Renault had stretched out a lead of just under 15 seconds and was well on the way to achieving his very first Grand Prix win, but no one cared about that, the real drama was happening behind him in the battle for 2nd place, Rene Arnoux in the 2nd of the Renault's had managed to haul in Gilles Villeneuve in an attempt to grab 2nd place and the opportunity to give France a glorious driver & car 1-2 finish in their home grand prix. Going into lap 76 and Arnoux had his first sense of opportunity going into the first corner (which was the main overtaking area) Villeneuve locked up but Arnoux patiently abandoned the opportunity and kept the Ferrari occupied until the fast flowing final turn going onto the pit straight 2 laps later, there Arnoux was close enough to get a good slipstream and then pulled out to overtake the Canadian driver, Villeneuve, typical of him, tried to keep as close to the inside as possible in a possible attempt to switch back on the inside of the chicane which would follow immediately afterwards, but Arnoux had completed the pass before going into the chicane prompting a huge roar from the French fans, they now sensed a 1-2 finish for 2 French drivers both in French cars was now a mere certainty.

But Villeneuve was having none of it, despite Arnoux pulling away from his flat-12 Ferrari at a considerable rate of knots, Villeneuve attempted an audacious late overtaking attempt on Arnoux on the very next lap, locking up his front left tyre big time, and amazingly, he managed to pull it off, re-taking 2nd place against all the odds, a clear example of Villeneuve's refusal to accept defeat. After completing the pass, Arnoux (who had a clear power advantage) knew that all he needed to do was to attempt again what he did on the previous lap and 2nd place would be his again, and probably for keeps too as the next lap would be lap 80, the final lap. So Arnoux kept himself within striking distance of Villeneuve's Ferrari so he could get a good slipstream again on the home straight. This he attempted again but as they began the final lap, he was too close to Villeneuve's rear so they were side by side going across the line. He then pulled out later to attempt the pass than he did the previous time, Villeneuve didnt expect Arnoux to attempt the pass so late and locked up his front left again as a reuslt, they went round the 1st turn side by side, but now Villeneuve was going in with a touch more speed than his French rival and also with a slight overlap advantage so he could attempt the switchback, but Arnoux had done just enough to prevent that coming out of the final turn going into the chicane, they then banged wheels which caused Arnoux to run off the circuit for a short time, as soon as he returned to the track, they banged wheels again forcing Villeneuve to take to the kerb before banging wheels for a 3rd time, this caused Villeneuve to run wide again, but this gave him a faster run up to the Parabolique hairpin coming up. Through that, Villeneuve managed to pull off arguably the cleanest overtaking manouvere of the lot on that half a lap.

Jochen Mass was then way too polite for Arnoux's liking (sensing an opportunity if Villeneuve was held up by the German while lapping him) his only hope of passing Villeneuve now was going into the fast final turn, getting into the slipstream and beating Villeneuve across the line in a straight drag race. Jabouille won (not that anyone cared about that at the time) but all eyes were on that battle for 2nd, Arnoux's hopes of beating the Ferrari on the straight were dashed when Villeneuve had pulled out enough of a gap to prevent that from happening, so ended one of the greatest Grand Prix ding-dong's ever witnessed

RACE RESULT - TOP 10

1. Jean Pierre Jabouille - Renault ................ 80 laps in 1h 35m 20.420
2. Gilles Villeneuve - Ferrari ................ + 14.590
3. Rene Arnoux - Renault ................ + 14.830
4. Alan Jones - Williams Ford ................ + 36.610
5. Jean Pierre Jarier - Tyrrell Ford ................ + 1m 04.510
6. Clay Regazzoni - Williams Ford ................. + 1m 05.510
7. Jody Scheckter - Ferrari ................ + 1 lap
8. Jacques Laffite - Ligier Ford ................ + 1 lap
9. Keke Rosberg - Wolf Ford ................ + 1 lap
10. Patrick Tambay - McLaren Ford ................ + 2 laps

p.s. Video posted on youtube by kokxol entitled "Gilles villeneuve vs Renè Arnoux best about 1979 F1" on 30/07/06

BRAZILIAN GRAND PRIX - Massa Wins The Battle But Hamilton Wins The War

Not Since Damon Hill in 1996 has a British Drver officially been procalimed the best in the world, but not since the days of the Senna/Prost feud has a world championship been decided after such an incredible and dramatic race. Lewis Hamilton came into the race with a "comfortable" 7 point lead over rival Felipe Massa, meaning only a top 5 finish was needed by the McLaren driver to take the glory. After the lights went out, what happened over the following 2 hours would go down in Grand Prix folklore, resulting in Lewis Hamilton joining an illustrious list of British World Champions, Mike Hawthorn (1958), Graham Hill (1962 & 1968), Jim Clark (1963 & 1965), John Surtees (1964), Jackie Stewart (1969, 1971 & 1973), James Hunt (1976), Nigel Mansell (1992) and Damon Hill (1996). A very exclusive club indeed

THE RACE

About 5 minutes before the start, the heavens opened and the rain began to bucket down, The stewards as a result decided to give the teams an extra 10 minutes to change to Intermediate tyres in order to accomodate the deluge. Hamilton had qualified in 4th spot with Massa on the pole in front of his home crowd, and due to criticism of Hamilton's "agressive" driving style recently, it was imperative that Hamilton had to survive the opening lap, something he failed to do the previous year. As the lights went out and the race began, Massa as expected made a blistering getaway while Hamilton dropped behind his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen. Kovalainen ran wide going into the Senna S allowing Hamilton and Alonso to slip underneath, Alonso then took Hamilton going into the next corner while behind there was Mayhem, David Coulthard was tapped by Nico Rosberg who then spun into the path of Kazuki Nakajima causing damage to both cars Nelson Piquet spun off into retirement in a completely unrelated incident, as for Coulthard, it was a sad sad way to end his illustrious 14 year career in the sport, amazingly, these 2 would stand as the only cars to fail to finish all day)

CHAMMPIONSHIP WATCH - Hamilton 98, Massa 97

The safety car came out as a result for 2 laps while the mess was cleared and the race resumed, Massa sprinted away, Alonso and Vettel had got ahead of Hamilton at this point leaving Lewis down in 6th place behind Jarno Trulli, but then the track began to dry rapidly with Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella the first to react, and his lap times were immedaitely quicker come his first full flying lap, this prompted several of the mid-pack cars to change to slicks, the leaders however left it till the last possible moment, as a result, Fisichella found himself up in 5th place and after the rush for slicks, Hamilton found himself down in 7th

CHAMPIONSHIP WATCH - Massa 97, Hamilton 96

Hamilton quickly dispatched Trulli and then set about getting past Fisichella which took longer than he would have liked, netherless, he was up to 5th eventually but a long way off the leaders, speaking of which, Massa was now finsing himself under some pressure from Sebastian Vettel, pressure he didnt really need, but he neednt have worried, Vettel was running a completely different 3 stop strategy and pitted shortly after that pressure, this promoted Hamilton up to 4th but he was now coming under severe pressure from Toyota's Timo Glock, he though like Vettel was running a different strategy and he pitted on the half way point to fuel up till the end of the race leaving Hamilton in the clear again in 4th.

CHAMPIONSHIP WATCH - Hamilton 99, Massa 97

After the 2nd round of pitstops which took place with around 30 laps remaining, Massa retained his comfortable lead over Alonso and Vettel (who had a further stop to make) with Raikkonen 4th and Hamilton 5th, at this point there were no worries whatsoever in the McLaren camp, theyknew Vettel had to stop again and now Kovalainen had fought his way back up to 6th to support Hamilton's rear, and when Vettel made his final stop, he slotted back in between Hamilton and Kovalainen but importantly, about 15 seconds behind the briton, all Hamilton had to do now was keep the car on the track and run reliably, and the title was his...

...until a quite amazing development in terms of the wather forecasts, rain was expected to arrive before the end of the race, and heavy too. THe questionw as though, WHEN would it come, the answer would arrive on lap 63 (8 laps to go) as the mechanics and TV pit-lane reporters felt the first few drops of rain that would prove to be so crucial, within 2 laps, it was a downpour, and now it was clear Intermediate tyres were needed, but with the race so close to its conclusion, was it worth gambling on keeping the slick tyres.

The answer was apparent, over the next 4 laps, 17 of the 18 remaining drivers decided to take no risks and pit for Intermediates, the one that gambled was that man on the one stop strategy, Timo Glock, and he would prove to be a telling factor later on.

After the rush for Inter's, Hamilton found himself down in 5th place, but because Vettel pitted a lap earlier, Vettel was now within striking distance of the McLaren. Massa however comfortably kept his lead continuing his dominant display, he could'nt do much more than what he was doing, Sebastian Vettel he hoped would be his saving grace. And with 2 laps to go, it looked like his prayers were answered, after letting through Robert Kubica to unlap himself, Hamilton ran wide going into the final turn and Vettel took the chance with both hands and drove away from the struggling McLaren, it looked like Hamilton had blown it for the 2nd year running

CHAMPIONSHIP WATCH - Massa 97, Hamilton 97 (Massa ahead on countback)

With Vettel increasing his lead over Hamilton further going into the final lap, the home crowd were beginning to sense that their man Felipe Massa was about to achieve his lifetimes ambition of becoming Brazil's first world champion since the late Ayrton Senna back in 1991 and when he crossed the line, it seemed as all of Brazil was jumping up in celebration of their new hero, but Lewis Hamilton, still down in 6th in the worsening conditions still had half a lap to go, but he was getting nowhere near catching Vettel, it seemed like the title was going to go to the youg Brazilian. But then coming out of the infield complex and towards the final turn, the most amazing turn of events, Timo Glock, still on slick tyres was now struggling to stay on the track and slowing a lot due to his slicks giving him zero grip on the wet surface, his gamble failed to pay off and both Vettel and (more importantly) Hamilton took their chance to move further up the order, Lewis Hamilton's prayers were answered there and then as this promoted him back into 5th place and back into the lead of the world championship, the Ferrari mechanics had no clue as to what happened when the McLaren crossed the line, they believed Massa was champion, until they looked at the timing screens which were showing Hamilton in the 5th place that he needed to steal the title by 1 point. This triggered mass hysteria in the McLaren team garage with Hamilton's Girlfriend, the popstar Nicole Scherzinger (Pussycat Dolls) and his younger brother Nicolas joining in the celebrations.

RACE RESULT (TOP 8)

1. FELIPE MASSA - Ferrari ................ 71 laps in 1h 34m 11.435
2. Fernando Alonso - Renault ................ + 13.298
3. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari ................ + 16.235
4. Sebastian Vettel - STR Ferrari ................ + 38.011
5. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren Mercedes ................ + 38.907
6. Timo Glock - Toyota ................ + 44.368
7. Heikki Kovalainen - McLaren Mercedes ................ + 55.074
8. Jarno Trulli - Toyota ................ + 1m 08.463

FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
DRIVERS TOP 10
1. LEWIS HAMILTON 98, 2. Felipe Massa 97, =3. Kimi Raikkonen 75, =3. Robert Kubica 75, 5. Fernando Alonso 61, 6. Nick Heidfeld 60, 7. Heikki Kovalainen 53, 8. Sebastian Vettel 35, 9. Jarno Trulli 31, 10. Timo Glock 25
CONSTRUCTORS
1. FERRARI 172, 2. McLaren Mercedes 151, 3. BMW Sauber 135, 4. Renault 80, 5. Toyota 56, 6. STR Ferrari 39, 7. Red Bull Renault 29, 8. Williams Toyota 26, 9. Honda 14, 10. Force India Ferrari 0