2004 Midseason F1 Report

We have reached the halfway point of the season and as we turn towards the home stretch some things have become apparent. So to cover these items and to look forward to the rest of the season here is my midyear report. Obviously Ferrari has had a superb season so far. Michael Schumacher has dominated the competition. He has won 8 of the 9 races and has taken pole position at 5 of the races. Although his rush to the pole has been slowed since San Marino, the only real trouble he had in qualifying has been at Monaco where grid position is so important. By starting 5th he probably cost himself a chance to win the race even though he blames JPM. Schummi is only 18 points ahead of Rubens, but he might as well be a million. There is no way Ferrari allows Rubens to catch AND beat Schummi. Frankly Rubens has looked pretty ordinary until the past couple of weeks. He took pole at Indy and was racy. I don’t think he had the car, but he was solid. On the other hand it appeared he did have a faster car at Montreal the previous week and the general consensus is that team orders prevented a pass. With the Sandwich as his tail gunner, Schummi is a lock to win yet another championship. Behind Ferrari there has been some good racing. BAR has absolutely been as good as advertised. They have been fast at every track just as they were fast in preseason testing. The scuttlebutt prior to the season was that the numbers BAR was putting out were inflated or just plain lies, but Buttons and Takuma have been nothing short of spectacular some weeks, as has test driver Anthony Davidson. Currently Buttons stands third in the Driver Championship with 44 points. Sato only has 14 and is back in 7th place. Unfortunately for the hard charging Japanese driver he has suffered through engine problems. While BAR is definitely a better team without Jacques, they are still struggling trying to field 2 cars. For what it is worth they do sit third in the Constructor championship with 58 points. Only 8 back from Renault, but 84 behind Ferrari. Renault definitely has had their shit together this year. Jarno Trulli scored his first ever win at Monaco in May and is currently 4th in the title chase. Team mate Fernando Alonso who suffered a hard crash yesterday at Indy is 5th just 16 points back from Trulli with 25 points. As for success, that is just about the extent of it for this season so far. Every other team would have to consider the season a failure. Sure Minardi got a point for the first time in two years yesterday, but they have consistently been 4+ seconds off the pole time and usually post 2 DNF’s. Of course this is to be expected from Minardi’s under funded effort. What was not expected was the performance of the Williams and McLaren teams. They have been pitiful. JPM is 6th in the points, but he has not looked good. His finishes, 5, 10, 13, 3, retired, 4, 8, DQ and DQ tell the story of his season. Only in Spain has he started from the front row and he is looking like a guy running out the string with Williams. I thought this might happen, but he has insisted he is still working hard. One thing for sure is that BMW has lost any horsepower advantage they may have enjoyed the past couple of seasons. I am sure they detuned the engine in an effort to make it last but the results have not been good. Then there is Ralfie. Thought to be going to Toyota Ralfie boy sits 8th in points with 12. Miraculously he did grab the pole in Canada, but Indy proved to be the usual bad stop on the tour for the team. Ralfie crashed and JPM’s car wouldn’t start on the grid. Also disappointing is the McLaren effort. Currently 5th behind Williams, this team has just been awful this year. Kimi Raikkonen is back in 11th spot in the chase after losing the championship by a point last year. David Coulthard has not been any better. He is in 10th position and, like Montoya, seems to be running out the string for the team. Mercedes did detune their engine this offseason to get better reliability over the course of an F1 weekend and the results have been disastrous. They have suffered one engine failure after another. Obviously the Mercedes V-10 needs the torque to survive and they should rethink their engineering program. At this point it would have to be said that McLaren is the biggest disappointment in the paddock. BAR and Renault have to be the biggest surprises and of course Ferrari the best team. Jaguar and Toyota are both struggling with poor results. Jag driver Mark Webber may be tanking so he can get that Williams ride next season, but Christian Klien has actually been more consistent. Webber had a great start to the season, but a couple of poor starts to those races killed his hopes for a good season. Toyota looks like they are ready to give Christiano deMatta the heave ho after the season. It’s a shame for Christiano. Toyota just hasn’t produced since they have been in and don’t seem on the verge of it now by signing Ralfie boy for next season. Jordan is Jordan and that isn’t good. Eddie may be a fun guy, but his team sucks and poor Minardi just can’t catch a break. Sauber sits sixth in the Constructor championship and has a pretty nondescript season. So what is in store for the rest of the season? Most likely more of the same. While McLaren might reverse their engine woes the Coulthard issue will drone on and they are too far back now to chase down the Ferrari’s. Pretty much the same with Williams. BAR and Renault look poised to battle it out for number 2. I like the BAR drivers better. Sato is fearless, and a little reckless, and will probably win a race before the season is out. Buttons has showed a lot of promise since Jacques ran his mouth last year. Trulli has one win, but I get the feeling he will be one of those drivers who retire with one total. Alonso has shown some flashes but he seems content as well. Therefore I think BAR will bring home the 2nd place bacon with Renault 3rd. Beyond that I don’t see any real changes. We get some semblance of the old qualifying session style back in a couple weeks at Silverstone which will be nice. Love the new date for Indy, that was awesome, but I feel for the folks down in Brazil who now get a race that will essentially decide nothing. It’s too bad that it works out like that some years, but until someone is ready to challenge the Prancing Horse, that will be the rule rather than the exception.