The Road to F1

It goes without saying that the 24 men who comprise today’s Formula One drivers are at the very pinnacle of their careers. After all, no other form of motorsport is as prestigious, globally recognised or so comprehensively covered by the media. So, it figures then that there’s no way an F1-wannabe would be able to waltz straight into a drive (at least nowadays) without having cut their teeth in a multitude of other series. But just how do drivers ascend that ladder in order to take their place on the most esteemed grid in the world?

All champions of the modern era of F1, with the curious exceptions of Jacques Villeneuve and Damon Hill, got their first taste for racing at the helm of a go-kart. These days, once you’ve gravitated your way to the top of the go-karting heap, a tangled web of competing single-seat series presents itself. But, even just 10 or so years ago things were much simpler if F1 was your final destination: Formula Ford (1600cc 110bhp engines with no aero), Formula Three (2000cc 200bhp engines with basic aero), Formula 3000 (3000cc 400bhp engines with complex aero), and Formula One. No questions asked.

Getting back to the 21^st century though, it would seem for a start that Formula Ford is in terminal decline. It’s only ever had one truly prolific championship in the form of the British one, and glancing at its list of champions you’ll need to go back to 1998 to find the first grand prix winner in the form of reigning F1 champion Jenson Button, and then all the way back to 1987 to find the one previous to that – Eddie Irvine. Instead, the first real breeding ground for talent today is Formula Renault, which even saw Kimi Raikkonen leap straight up to F1 from there off the back of a dominant 2000 campaign in the British series.

Despite that anomaly, Formula Three remains the place to discover exciting talent, some drivers in the past having graduated directly to Formula One from it. The British championship was historically the one to be in, with the likes of Nelson Piquet Sr., Ayrton Senna, Johnny Herbert and Mika Hakkinen all having taken the spoils. The recently formed Formula Three Euroseries, borne out of a merger between the flagging French and German series, has also given us Lewis Hamilton, Adrian Sutil and Sebastian Vettel in its short history. Whilst there are other notable F3 contests in Italy, Spain, Japan and South America, none seem to be able to churn out such hot talents off their production lines as the British and Euroseries championships.

This year though, F3 has a big rival on its hands in the guise of GP3. The new series' main appeal is that unlike with F3, it is a single championship that boasts a spot on the F1 support bill. This means its finest drivers are in with a very strong chance of graduation to GP2, perhaps even more so than the F3 boys. In order to combat this, The British F3 championship has firstly increased the number of races at one race meeting from two to three in order to provide better value for money, and has also introduced pit-stops to provide its competitors with a more 'F1-like' experience. With the new FIA president Jean Todt giving a vote of confidence to F3 with the creation of the International Trophy, it seems likely that the GP3 vs F3 battle will rage on for a few years yet, giving GP2 hopefuls something of a choice in which path they take in the meantime.

GP2 firmly re-established the F1 ‘finishing school’ in 2005, taking over the ailing Formula 3000 which was beginning to suffer from dwindling grid sizes and in a few cases its champions being unable to reach F1. Whilst GP2 features Nico Rosberg, Hamilton, Timo Glock and Nico Hulkenberg on its roll of honour, there is one man who was unable to convert a GP2 success into a F1 seat the following year – Giorgio Pantano. After ascending the ranks of F3000 and then having been unimpressive at the helm of a Jordan in 2004, it seemed nobody was willing to give him a second chance after his GP2 success. He remains the exception however, and with 26 F1 drives available for next season, it’s highly probable that the leading lights of this year’s GP2 championship will find themselves catapulted into the highest level in 2011.

Despite GP2 being the tried and tested method for getting to F1, it isn't the only one. The World Series by Renault, a GP2 rival, has produced the likes of Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica, and the Japanese Formula Nippon championship, whilst no longer regarded as part of the beaten track towards F1, has given us De La Rosa and Ralf Schumacher in the past. Further to that, many IndyCar stars have tried their hand at F1, Montoya and Villeneuve being among the success stories, and the dreadful Michael Andretti being the name that springs to mind when it comes to those who, shall we say, weren’t quite as impressive.

But, whichever route you choose, motorsport is prohibitively expensive – the going rate for a year with a top F3 team is around £400,000, and well in excess of double that sum for a year in a competitive GP2 seat. This means unless your father is the Duke of Westminster, you’ll need a major sponsor on board to keep your bank balance afloat. This role traditionally belonged to cigarette brand Marlboro, but since the increased restrictions on tobacco advertising came to being, Red Bull is now probably the most prevalent backer of young talent. Their Red Bull Junior scheme has seen Christian Klien, Tonio Liuzzi, Scott Speed, Sebastien Buemi and most recently Jaime Alguersauri all land drives in the Red Bull or Toro Rosso F1 teams in the last five years, and there’s little doubt that the likes of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne, who are currently scaling the rungs of motorsport with help from the Austrian drinks firm, will find themselves in a similar position in the next few seasons.

More to the point, these series in which the stars of tomorrow earn their stripes provide some fabulous racing. I implore you, if you are already a fervent F1 anorak (which is probably a safe bet given you’re reading this) to give, if you have Eurosport, watching GP2 a go. The racing is nearly always intense, and given that the guys at the wheel are somewhat less experienced, the chances of some tangles are rather high. It’s a mighty shame the BBC passed up the opportunity to show it, unlike ITV who during their tenure as F1 broadcasters went to great lengths to provide us F1 fans with some great entertainment.

Chinese Grand Prix 2010

Before the start of this season, many of us, myself very much included, wrote Jenson Button off as a title outsider and envisaged his annihilation by fellow British champion Hamilton. How wrong we were. 4 races in and Jenson is on top of the heap, having added today's grand prix to his Australian success after another excellent wet-weather drive.

Qualifying, which was perfectly dry, served as a reminder as to the imperious form of the Red Bull machines, with Vettel and Webber locking out the front row between them in that order. Despite pace in Q1 and Q2, the McLarens could only muster 5th and 6th, with Alonso and Rosberg separating the British cars from the Red Bulls. Next came Massa, from Kubica and Schumacher who was first to admit he had serious work to do to be a genuine contender.

Come the race itself, Alonso was somewhat anxious to get going, as evidenced by his jump start that saw him lead the way by a suspiciously large margin from Vettel and Webber. Predictably, the Spaniard would eventually be slapped with a drive-through penalty as the rest of the pack followed through the first series of bends in virtually grid order, until a multi-car collision unfolded. Liuzzi lost control of his Force India mount under braking, sending him careering into the hapless Sauber of Kobayashi and Toro Rosso of Buemi, the former thus maintaining his perfect non-finish record this season.

The safety car was hastily scrambled as a result of this, incidentally just as the drizzle that had looming over the circuit since just before the start turned into 'Where's my umbrella?' style-rain as ITV's Ted Kravitz put it. That meant the entire field, which started on slicks, dived into the pits (including Hamilton who had a late change of mind having driven halfway round the final turn) with the exception of Rosberg, Button, the two Renaults, the sole surviving Sauber of De La Rosa, and Kovalainen's Lotus.

As the safety car retired back into the pits after the debris was cleared, Rosberg led the pack whilst Kovalainen was unsurprisingly swallowed up by the pack. At first, it seemed as if the switch to Intermediates was the wise move, yet the leaders were able to hold on with slicks as the rain let up slightly, burning out the inters within laps. This meant just about everyone who made the swap was back the pits before long, with Hamilton and Vettel proceeding to partake in a spot of speed-limited drag racing as they exited their pit boxes simultaneously. Despite investigation, the stewards took no action as it would turn out.

Rosberg, Button and Kubica thus enjoyed a healthy margin over the rest after Petrov fell back and De La Rosa's Sauber expired having ran promisingly in 5th place. Schumacher ran in 5th, ahead of Hamilton, Vettel and Webber who'd sauntered up through the pack since their stops, including some dicing for position with Sutil. It wasn't long before the battle we'd all been waiting for three years commenced: Schumacher versus Hamilton. Sadly, with the 7-time champion strangely struggling in the conditions, Hamilton made short work of him before resuming his battle from Malaysia with Petrov ahead. The Brit was careful not to repeat his weaving tactics that saw him lambasted by his fellow drivers in the driver's meeting prior to the race.

Back at the front, Rosberg squandered the advantage he'd built up by running wide, allowing Button to close within striking distance of the German. Sure enough, at the hairpin, Button nipped past the Mercedes to lead the race. Not long after, the rain began to intensify once more, this time definitely making the intermediate the tyre to be on. Schumacher and Webber were first to oblige, followed by leaders Button, Rosberg and Kubica one lap later, and then Hamilton and Vettel after another lap.

After another safety car thanks to Alguersauri damaging his front wing, Button made headway at the front. Hamilton nudged Webber wide at the restart costing the Aussie several places. It didn't take long for him to repeat his earlier passes on Schumacher and Petrov too, and laps later he would seize 3rd position from the other Renault in what was becoming a stellar drive. Conversely, it was turning into a wretched day for Schumacher as he slipped behind erstwhile polesitter Vettel and Alonso who had recovered well from his early drive-through for jumping the start.

The leaders all pitted once more in light of degrading rubber, with Hamilton jumping Rosberg for 2nd, having been hassling him hard in the laps before. Further down the road, Alonso continued his charge by passing Kubica for 4th place, with Vettel behind ahead of teammate Webber who profited from an earlier stop than his rivals. Having spun a while ago from 5th place, Petrov was able to steam up the inside of Schumacher who simply had no answer for the Russian, promptly falling back another place after former teammate Massa followed the Petrov past him.

None of this action however prevented Jenson Button taking the chequered for the second time in four races, proving he is the man to beat in changing conditions. Hamilton completed the McLaren 1-2, with Rosberg making it an all Mercedes-powered podium with another impressive drive. Alonso finished in a spirited 4th having made a grand total of 5 pitstops, ahead of Kubica, Vettel, Petrov, Webber, Massa and the much-maligned Schumacher. Sutil and Barrichello finished just outside the points, ahead of Alguersauri, Kovalainen, Hulkenberg and perennial tail-enders Senna and Chandhok. Trulli's Lotus suffered a break-down part way into the race, as did di Grassi, whilst the sister Virgin of Glock failed to start at all.

So, another action-packed the race delivered another worthy winner. With Button pulling 10 points clear of his closest rivals in the championship, he has surely vindicated his risky decision to part ways with Brawn and join McLaren. Hamilton will surely be scratching his head over how to even the score with his teammate before it's too late...

F1 in Numbers

Cast your mind back, if you will, 25 years ago. Back then, in 1985, Thatcher and Reagan were at large, mobile phones were the size of toasters, Shakin’ Stevens was number one, and ‘our Nige’ was at the helm of a Williams-Honda with a sizeable red ‘5’ emblazoned on the nose. Now, compare that with today – you’re lucky to ever see the car numbers on the television at all. Sadly, the rise of commercialization means that all of today’s F1 teams place the minimum size number on the nose and the side of the car as required by the regulations in order to maximise the haul of precious sponsorship dollars. But, another key difference between those golden years and now is the actual system used to allocate numbers. Allow me to explain...

From 1974 to 1995, it was fairly simple: each team was allocated 2 numbers, and the new champions from each season just swapped their numbers with the incumbents – for example, at the end of 1974, the incumbents Lotus swicthed their 1 & 2 for McLaren’s 5 & 6 and the rest of the field carried on with the same numbers. This continuity meant that teams became associated with certain numbers – Tyrrell had numbers 3 & 4 throughout this entire period, Ferrari became attached to 27 & 28, and so did Lotus to 11 & 12 – Williams & McLaren mostly took turns keeping 1 & 2 warm during this halcyon time.

However, the FIA decided that in 1996, with just 22 cars on the grid and the ’95 entry list stretching to numbers 29 & 30, the numbers should be re-assigned each year in the order of the previous season’s constructor’s championship (Unless the reigning champion decides to jump ship, just as Schumacher and Hill did following their respective title-winning campaigns). Whilst this seems logical, the downside is that the numbers change every season, meaning we no longer get those historical associations like we did in the good ole’ days.

So, perhaps it’s time we redressed the situation. Let’s take a look elsewhere in motorsport for some inspiration. In the case of Moto GP, the system is fairly simple. I quote the FIM rulebook: Each rider accepted for the Championship will be allocated a specific starting number which will be valid for the whole Championship. In general, the starting numbers will be based on the results of the team riders in the previous year's Championship or in other similar events. This means No. 1 is reserved for the previous season’s champion, No. 2 for the vice-champion and so on.

However, we seldom see these numbers in use for two closely connected reasons: 1) Riders are becomingly increasingly superstitious and therefore wish to keep the same ‘lucky’ number regardless of their championship position, for example Valentino Rossi’s 46, Casey Stoner’s 27 etc., meaning the lower numbers become neglected. 2) For merchandising reasons and for ease of identification, it is easier for the riders to keep the same numbers year on year. The Moto GP riders drag their numbers, usually in precisely the same custom font, around with them to any and every team they ride for. And, more importantly, they are plain for all to see on the front of the bike, making identification a far easier task from a distance. It should be noted however that numbers 34 & 74 are retired as marks of respect toward Kevin Schwantz and Dajiro Kato respectively.

The British Touring Car Championship employs a similar system – that said, a standard font is used, and most drivers tend to go for their reserved number, unless it is embarrassingly low down the order (Yes, we’re looking at you Dave Pinkney). Gazing across the pond at IndyCar, interestingly enough it is not the drivers, but the teams to which the numbers belong – For instance the Penske team signs drivers to pilot their cars 3, 6 & 12. As in Moto GP, number one has fallen into disuse because of the big teams’ affection for their traditional numbers; although the identity of the car is bolstered further by the fact the teams often run different sponsorship liveries per car. Of course the series where numbers are most instantly recognisable has to be NASCAR, where the wholly personalised numbers take up a giant space, often the height of the car, on the side of the car and on the roof.

Whilst I’m not advocating that particular approach for F1, it would certainly be beneficial, in my opinion, to get some real connection back between driver and number. Perhaps then the easiest way would be a return to the system of old; declining grid numbers was the reason it was replaced, yet our grid is up to 24 for this year and set to swell back to the FIA’s target of 26 in 2011. To see Fernando and Felipe tearing up the track in cars 27 & 28 would certainly provide a nostalgic trip down memory lane. Sorry, can’t see the downside myself. Let me know if you find it.

Malaysian Grand Prix 2010

You could have been forgiven for expecting a race akin to Melbourne having watched Saturday's qualifying session interrupted by monsoon-like conditions, yet come race day, dry conditions prevailed and great racing ensued, even if much of it didn't take place at the pointy end of the field.

However, we did have the tropical deluge to thank for outsmarting the bods of McLaren and Ferrari, consigning Alonso, Hamilton and Massa to 19th, 20th and 21th places on the grid respectively. It rained from the outset through Q1, but the boys at McLaren and Ferrari failed to foresee the rain worsening. As such, they were reluctant to let their drivers go out in the early part of the session, but as things transpired by the time they hit the track, conditions had worsened to the point where the driving talents of the 3 aforementioned were insufficient to make the grade for Q2. Button squeezed through on virtue of getting on the track somewhat sooner than his rivals, but a pirouette into the gravel meant he'd be starting in an equally lowly 17th, despite actually qualifying for the second session.

Red Bull on the other hand had no such worries, and Webber in a brave call decided to risk intermediate tyres for his fast lap in the final session when those around him opted for the safer full wets. His risk paid dividends - he lined up on pole from Rosberg's Mercedes and his teammate Vettel. Sutil and Hulkenberg impressed the onlookers with 4th and 5th places, from Kubica, Barrichello and der weltmeister Schumacher. The race began dry, but with predictions for rain around 1 hour in. That said, you never quite know what will happen weather-wise, least of all at Sepang... As Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali wisely foretold, 'The rain comes when the rain is on the ground'.

As the five red lights went out, it was Vettel who seized the iniative at turn 1 to snatch the lead away from his polesitting teammate. Further back, Hamilton had a Playstation-esque start that saw him sitting in 13th, up 7 places from his grid slot at the end up lap 1, after a fine getaway followed by an opportunistic lunge up the inside of the field at turn 1. He continued to slice his way through the field relentlessly early on, with convincing passes on Buemi, Alguersauri and Kobayashi. Less convincing however was a move on Petrov for 9th place – just after passing him Hamilton responded to a challenge from the Russian with some highly questionable weaving down the pit straight which, rightfully in this writer's opinion, earned him a warning from the stewards, this weekend bolstered by Johnny Herbert.

Meanwhile, The Red Bulls extended their lead at the head of the field, whilst Button fell behind both the pursuing Ferraris, Massa, unlike Hamilton however, seemed incapable of scything pass Buemi in such a way the Brit was able to do with apparent ease. A couple of laps later, Button found a way back past Alonso, the Spaniard hobbled by gearbox downshift woes. The reigning champion then pitted for a set of harder compound Bridgestones, but not Schumacher's return to racing took another dive, with a loose wheelnut forcing the German out of the running from 6th place.

Hamilton then began to rapidly close in the 5th placed Force India car of Sutil after Hulkenberg pitted, before the Force India driver opted to change his tyres also, rejoining the action ahead of Button. Rosberg and Kubica both opted to pit from 3rd and 4th places, the latter returning to the track marginally ahead of Massa's Ferrari, now running well with no traffic immediately ahead. All this meant Vettel now led Webber and Hamilton, all three yet to stop. The Red Bull laps later pitted a couple of laps apart, but any hope of Webber challenging his German teammate was effectively destroyed by a fumbled wheel change in the pits.

On lap 31, Hamilton finally made his switch to the soft compound tyres, a few laps after Massa. Hamilton rejoined the track in a wheel-to-wheel battle with his teammate, which he duly won before speeding up to the back of Sutil in 5th, where the Brit would remain for the duration of the race, the Force India having impressive straight-line speed with the Mercedes unit propelling it. Button in the meantime lost another place to Massa, Alonso, having pitted, soon caught up with Jenson too, but his engine expired in a giant flurry of smoke before he was able to pass the McLaren.

The lead positions would remain static to the flag, with Sebastian Vettel taking a long overdue win from Webber. Rosberg completed the podium a solid drive to 3rd, from Kubica 4th, Sutil who held on from Hamilton for 5th, with Massa and Button completing the top 8. 9th went to Alguersauri, who over the course of the race made 2 brave but masterful passes on Petrov and Hulkenberg. The latter took his first career point for 10th place ahead of Buemi and Barrichello in the sister Toro Rosso and Williams. Di Grassi scored Virgin's first finish ahead of the Hispania pairing and the Lotuses of Trulli and Kovalainen, who battled to the bitter end in the face of a series of problems to impress the adoring home crowd.

So, the much-fabled rain never materialised, yet the racing did, even if the Red Bulls did enjoy a very hassle-free run to the flag. The championship now is incredibly tight, with Massa enjoying a slender 2 point lead from Alonso and Vettel thanks to the quirks of the new scoring system, with Button, Rosberg, Hamilton and even Kubica all still less than 10 points adrift. We complete our Asian-Pacific leg of the series with a visit to the Shanghai circuit in 2 weeks time, where the weather can also throw a few surprises... but Malaysia proved that whilst the rain does add to the spectacle, dry races can be just as entertaining.