Part two of unravelling the complicated world of Formula One
THE GRIDWALK
Before most races, BBC commentator Martin Brundle goes out onto the packed grid and interviews people including drivers, team personnel, VIPs, Presidents and random people. The gridwalk is a definite highlight of the pre-race coverage.
VIPs and Presidents
On his gridwalk, Martin Brundle will often encounter ‘VIPs’ who are there as guests of particular teams or drivers. Occasionally these guests are not really sure what is going on so are not talked to for long. Bernie Ecclestone (the boss of F1) will also bring Presidents or Royalty of the country to meet Martin on his gridwalk – including the Crown Prince of Bahrain and the President of Australia.
“I was having a sh*t”
Sometimes on live television, unexpected things happen such as Kimi Raikkonen’s infamous “I was having a sh*t” quote from Brazil in 2006. Seven times World Champion Michael Schumacher had announced his retirement and was being presented with a trophy by Pele on the grid before his final race*. Martin was doing his gridwalk, and found Kimi Raikkonen at the side of the grid, standing with his race engineer under an umbrella, away from the sun. When asked by Martin if he would get over missing the presentation, Kimi responded with “Yeah, I was having a sh*t” which caused Martin to laugh and thank him for sharing. Martin then commented how they then knew that his car would be nice and light. (This was before the refuelling ban which is currently in F1).
* Michael Schumacher returned from his retirement in 2010, racing for the Mercedes GP team.
Tanja Bauer
Tanja Bauer, a German TV presenter, and Martin Brundle frequently meet on the grid, quite often fighting each other for interviews.
The Brundle Curse
Over the years, many drivers that Martin Brundle has talked to on his gridwalk have had unfortunate accidents or bad luck in the race. It doesn’t happen all the time, but it has happened and now driver interviews are becoming less frequent on the grid – have they finally realised that if they talk to him their race could be ruined? An example of this is, during Lewis Hamilton’s rookie season he requested that nobody interviewed him on the grid before races as he wanted to remain “in the zone” and BBC respected this. However, at the Chinese GP Martin talked to Lewis on the grid for the first time that year and in the race Lewis suffered his first DNF of the year – coincidence?
Random People
Sometimes Martin finds and interviews random people who he knows nothing about, just to find out who they are and what they’re doing there.
At some races it is not feasible for Martin to do his gridwalk as it is too far from the commentary box, where he needs to be for the start of the race. Occasionally he will be accompanied by either Eddie Jordan or David Coultard.
FOR SURE
You cannot watch Formula One without understanding and knowing about ‘For Sure’. For Sure is a phrase used by all drivers and is used in pre-race interviews, post-race interviews and press conferences. It is unusual you will hear any interview with an F1 driver without the mandatory ‘for sure’ thrown in. Fans all over the world have all noticed the excessive use of it and two years ago, one team even had a ‘For Sure World Championship’ on their website Felipe Massa, Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel are particularly fond of the ‘for sure’ phrase. An example of how it would be used:
“For sure I had a good race”
or
“It was difficult for sure”
‘For Sure’ continues to be a prominent phrase in Formula One and does not appear that it will be fizzling out any time soon.
DRIVER TRAITS/PERSONALTIES/NICKNAMES
A number of drivers in the paddock have particular traits/mannerisms or nicknames.
Sebastian Vettel and his finger
Look at any picture of Sebastian Vettel after he has secured pole position/won the race and he will undoubtedly have his index finger raised to indicate that he is number one.
‘Quick’ Nick Heidfeld
Nick Heidfeld is known around the paddock and amongst fans as ‘Quick Nick’.
Nico ‘Britney’ Rosberg
Nico Rosberg is known as Britney, possibly because of his longish blonde hair. Last year, Nico tweeted a picture of his passport which someone had taped a picture of Britney Spears to over his own photograph.
Jenson ‘JB’ Button
An obvious one, but he is often referred to as JB. He is also known for his ‘smooth’ driving, so listen out for that word a lot when JB is being talked about.
Nico ‘The Hulk’ Hulkenberg
Another fairly obvious one. The Hulk is reserve driver for Force India.
Michael ‘Schumi’ Schumacher
Michael Schumacher is sometimes called Schumi. In the past he has also been known as the Regenmeister (rain master) as he was often very successful in wet races. There are other drivers on the grid now who could also take this title. He also used to have a signature jump when he won races before he retired in 2006, since his return in 2010 he has not won so it is unclear as to whether he still does the jump.
Karun Chandhok
Karun Chandhok, former HRT driver, was a popular addition to the F1 grid in 2010. The Hispania Racing Team changed their drivers a number of times throughout the season and when Chandhok was sidelined he sometimes joined the 5LiveF1 commentary team for Friday Practice, and gained the nickname ‘Karunipedia’ due to his extraordinary knowledge of everything F1.
Felipe Massa
Ever since the Malaysian GP of 2009 (see below), fans have continued to refer to Massa as ‘Felipe Baby’.
Kamui Kobayashi
Kamui Kobayashi is well known for his overtaking, at times getting extra close or touching other cars on his way past. For a while he was known as ‘Kobaybashi’. He is also sometimes referred to as Koby.
Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli used to be referred to as the ‘one lap specialist’ as he was able to pull out stunning qualifying laps and qualify well. However, when it comes to raceday, commentators are talking about the ‘Trulli train’ in that he gets in front of other cars and they all get stuck behind him because he is not on the pace/difficult to overtake.
F1 AND WEATHER
Weather conditions in Formula One can really mix up a race. When rain is forecast, the anticipation of waiting for it to arrive is almost too much sometimes. Every team has a high tech weather radar which can predict when rain is coming, however this will not always be entirely accurate. A prime example of this was during qualifying for the Malaysian GP in 2010. It was a wet start to qualifying but some teams were convinced that the rain would pass and track condition would improve. However, it didn’t and big names such as Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa found themselves out after failing to set a fast enough time.
Quite often when a driver gets a “rain in 10 minutes” message over their radio, rain will not appear. Even with all the technology in the world, sometimes all you can do is wait for the rain to actually fall.
When it rains, drivers can use Intermediate tyres or Extreme Wets (for very wet weather), however if they are on track on slicks and it begins to rain then they have to be careful not to slide off the track on their way round to the pits.
Examples
2007 European GP
There was chaos during the opening laps of the 2007 European GP at the Nurburgring when many drivers were on Intermediate tyres rather than the Extreme Wets they should have been on. This resulted in a very expensive car park at turn one as Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Adrian Sutil, Nico Rosberg, Scott Speed and Vitantonio Liuzzi found themselves in the gravel (in quick succession), with Anthony Davidson aquaplaning off the track as well but managing to keep it out of the gravel. Nick Heidfeld, who managed to keep his car on the track, was heard on the radio complaining to his team that it was “undriveable”.
2009 Malaysian GP
Heavy rain caused the Malaysian GP 0f 2009 to be red flagged and cancelled and half points were awarded as the required 75% had not been covered. During the red flag period (before it had been decided that the race would not be restarted) Kimi Raikkonen was spotted in the Ferrari garage helping himself to an ice-cream. Meanwhile team-mate Felipe Massa was requesting a white visor as he couldn’t see anything, which prompted the “Felipe baby” response from race engineer Rob Smedley.
2010 Korean GP
The inaugural Korean GP proved to be a dramatic one as it rained heavily before the race was due to start, causing the race to be started under the safety car. The safety car stayed out for a number of laps as drivers reported back to the their teams via the radio that the weather was too bad to start in. Lewis Hamilton, however, was urging them to properly starting the race, stating that he had dealt with much worse. When the race was restarted, Mark Webber lost control of his car and ended his own and Nico Rosberg’s race.
Wet, but wet enough?
Sometimes rain showers can be light and not last for very long – meaning drivers could stay out on the slick tyres, but they would have to drive extra carefully. During the Belgium GP in 2010, raing arrived towards the end of the race, however it wasn’t wet enough for Intermediate tyres so most drivers stayed on slicks. Race leader Lewis Hamilton found himself off the track and in the gravel due to the slippiness of the track, however, he somehow managed to keep the car going and went on to win the race.
Sometimes, as the track conditions improve, it is a case of waiting to see who blinks first to change tyre compounds. Jenson Button is particularly well known for picking the right tyre at the right time and it has helped him win races.
The Brazilian GP of 2008 is a great example of how quickly the conditions can effect the tyres and turn races on their heads. Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton were the two championship contenders going into the race, and as the race neared it’s end Felipe Massa was winning with Lewis Hamilton in fifth, which had it ended like that then Hamilton would have become World Champion. Rain started to fall on lap 63 of 71 meaning many drivers pitted to swap to Intermediate tyres as the rain became heavier. Timo Glock (Toyota) was fuelled to finish the race (in the days of re-fuelling) and he stayed out on his slicks, hoping that the rain would not become so bad that he would have to pit anyway. Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel found themselves behind Glock, and as Hamilton fought to fend off Vettel, to hold onto the position he needed to win the championship he slipped off the track and allowed Vettel through. With two laps to go it looked like the championship had slipped away from Hamilton and would be Massa’s for the taking. However, on the last lap, in the final couple of corners of the race, Glock found his tyres were no longer suitable for the current weather positions and was struggling, allowing Vettel and Hamilton to pass and for Hamilton to consequently take the championship.
COMING UP IN PART 3:
-Gates
-Rivalries
-Memorable crashes/accidents
-Overtaking
The 'H' Duct 