Tuesday November 07, 2006

F1 2006 review

Now the 2006 season is Trulli [sic] over here are my thoughts on the teams and drivers performance this season. I have done this in order of the final team championship standings.

Renault. At the start of the season they were very strong and made sure they bagged as many points as they could before their rivals caught them up. Alonso blew Fisi away and managed to keep the faith except at the US GP where Fisi outperformed him big time. The team had some unexpected reliability problems that made Alonso's job harder than it should be and they also lost out when their mass damper was banned.

Dumb moment: Tyre choice for Alonso in China.

Ferrari. This year more than any other the technical depth of this team shone through. Schumi's swansong year had an unusual amount of errors from him, technical problems and of course the farce at Monaco. Massa was prone to errors of his own in the early season but by the end he seemd close to Schumi but I doubt he could have driven the race Schumi did at Brazil.

Dumb moment: The Monaco incident.

Mclaren. Their first winless year for many years and a very lacklustre year from them. The team can't even blame as they did last year the move to the new HQ - they just really were not on the pace. There were too many retirements as well. The Monster leaving allowed De La Rosa a chance to shine but he was never really up to Kimi's commitment.

Dumb moment: Hanging onto the Monster for as long as they did.

Honda. A miserable start to the season for Rubens who after too many years in a Ferrari could not get used to the Honda. He was comprehensively beaten by Button but although they finished together in the final standings - there was twenty six points between them. Mid season their qualifying pace was dreadful - remember Silverstone but to their credit they turned the season around and Button was the highest point scorer in the last few races of this season. Their highlight must have been their first win since returning to F1.

Dumb moment - any ideas ?

BMW-Sauber. Shock result for them they had a target to beat Team Willy but fifth is pretty good for their first year. Like Mclaren they pensioned off a past his sell date driver JV but brought in a newcomer who got a podium in no time at all. Kubica is a star of the future but has a few rough edges that need smoothing off. Heidfeld was faster after the arrival of him teammate and the team must be looking to moving forward for next year.

Dumb moment: Twin tower aero package on the nose of the car - swiftly banned by the FIA.

Toyota. A meagre season interspersed with a few points finishes here and there. Neither driver really impressed and a good place on the grid usually meant they were light on fuel.

Dumb moment: Re-signing Trulli.

Red Bull. Expecting more with Ferrari power but failed to deliver. Will their sister team want the 2006 car for next year I wonder? All development stopped on it soon in the season to allow Newey to build a brand new 2007 vehicle to be powered by Renault engine. Sacked Klein before the end of the season who was not doing a bad job.

Dumb moment: Stopping development of the 2006 car.

Williams. A torrid year for the team. The Cosworth might have been the fastest reving V8 on the grid but its power was squandered with all sorts of bizarre reliability issues.

Dumb moment: Both drivers colliding and taking each other out in Brazil.

Toro Rosso. A very dodgy decision to use last years V10 restricted which was allowed when they were Minardi for cost grounds. Despite this and last years Red Bull car one point was all they achieved. If these two drivers are Red Bull's future driver line up they need to look further for talent - there is plenty of drivers out there much better than these two.

Dumb moment: A very dodgy driver pairing.

Midland [nee Spyker]. There was no six car race this year where the team could bag a load of points. Little or no investment as the old owner prepared to sell the team to Spyker for a large profit consigned them to also rans. Both drivers tried hard with the cars they had.

Dumb moment: Can't think of one.

Super-Aguri. Indeed a performance worthy of a point or two one would have thought. Sato crossed the line at Brazil ahead of the Spyker and Toro Rosso cards. There were to many mistakes from the first second driver Ide until he was pulled off the track to be replaced by Montagny then Yamamoto.

Dumb moment: Keeping the faith with Ide for as long as they did...

So an excellent season where both championships went to the wire. It is clear that just having a powerful engine is not enough; you need a good car to maximise its benefit. Both tyre teams did an excellent job of trying to beat each other and Michelin will be pleased to come away winning. Roll on 2007.