Formula One is a sport that is constantly evolving and reinventing itself, and every Grand Prix season is markedly different from the last. The result is a World Championship with an incredible depth of history, and a sport that will be noticeably more developed today than it was this time last year.
With the new year in sight, it’s a great time to look back on 2008 and reflect on the changes that shaped Grand Prix racing over the past twelve months.
Drivers
Kimi Raikkonen started 2008 as favourite to claim his second world title. After a run of stellar results at the end of 2007, he was fully settled in at Ferrari and had the confidence of a World Champion. He was a man on top of his game.
That must seem like a long time ago for Raikkonen who is no longer widely considered worthy of his status as F1’s highest paid driver. The Finn made numerous mistakes throughout the year and lost interest in his driving as the championship slipped further and further away. Many of his performances were simply mediocre. The season was not as bad as it looked given that Kimi came close to winning at France and Spa, and also lost points in Australia, Canada, Britain, Europe and Japan through no fault of his own, but the fact remains that he followed up his very best season in Formula One with his very worst. It was a huge fall from grace in just twelve months.
Nico Rosberg also suffered a similar hit to his reputation. There were originally two teams fighting for his services in 2008, and McLaren missed out despite what Frank Williams admitted was “an offer of majestic proportions” from Ron Dennis.
Perhaps Frank should have taken the cash because Nico underperformed throughout the year. There were still glimpses of supreme talent in races like Australia and Singapore, but Rosberg seemed to be continuously breaking front wings and made a string of regular mistakes. He was also outpaced by Kazuki Nakajima on a number of occasions so will be hoping for a better showing in 2009.
Kovalainen is another man whose stock has fallen over the past twelve months. He came alive at the end of his spell at Renault and scored a brilliant podium in Japan after fighting through the rain. His wet weather drives this year were abysmal in comparison, and by the end of the season he was long way behind Lewis Hamilton’s pace. His teammate almost won the Italian Grand Prix from 15th on the grid, whilst Heikki couldn’t even mount a challenge from second. McLaren still rate the youngster highly, which is probably a good thing because it might not have been so easy for him to have landed a drive elsewhere.
Teams
Honda was one of the powerhouse manufacturers in Formula One twelve months ago and was actively supporting two Grand Prix Teams. The company was spending as much money as any other in F1 and was making big noises about its future. Ross Brawn was brought in as manager, Jenson Button was signed up to a long-term deal, and a massive investment was being made into the Brackley facilities. Honda was one of the teams most committed to the sport, and their fortunes in 2008 give the perfect example of just how quickly things change in Formula One.
Super Aguri was the first Japanese domino to fall. When the FIA back-flipped on customer cars in 2008, Honda lost interest in the Aguri project and withdrew much of their support. It wasn’t long before their junior team was unable to survive on its own and Honda pulled the plug altogether. This cost saving was good news for Nick Fry’s team which had already undergone a major restructure, but it wasn’t enough to save them when the credit crunch finally hit home. The guts fell out of the world motoring industry in the second half of the year and Honda took a big tumble. They had to close factories, cut production, and make large numbers of staff redundant. They simply could not justify the cost of Formula One with all that going on and removed themselves totally from Grand Prix racing. They will not even continue in 2009 as an engine supplier.
In the last twelve months Honda went from having two F1 teams, one of which was poised for greatness, to having nothing at all.
Force India is another team that has changed dramatically since this time last year. In particular, Vijay Mallya’s outfit has now become McLaren’s B team and will run with a Mercedes engine and drivetrain in 2009. A number of McLaren personnel have moved over to Force India which shows how strong the new alliance is, and rumours are that Pedro De La Rosa and Gary Paffet will soon follow. The deal was only constructed late in the year given McLaren’s original intention to team up with Prodrive, and Force India’s customer arrangements with Ferrari.
Circuits
The European Grand Prix in Valencia was one of the most anticipated races of the 2008 season. It was expected to be an exciting high speed spectacle around one of Europe’s most beautiful Mediterranean harbours – essentially a faster younger version of Monaco.
The end result was far different. Murray Walker rightly described the race as “an uninspiring 90 minute blast round what looked like a container port lined with cranes” and the surroundings were almost as dull as the Grand Prix itself. The race at Valencia marked another chapter in the unfortunate Spanish tradition of boring F1 circuits.
At the start of this year a number of F1 events were under threat due to the growing demands of FOM, and the number of new countries prepared to host a Grand Prix. Australia and Malaysia were under pressure to create night races, Bahrain was feeling the heat from potential bids in Qatar and Dubai, Barcelona was being forced to stamp out racism, both German circuits were reporting losses, and Bernie Ecclestone’s long running battle with Silverstone raged on. In the end though, it was the French and Canadian Grands Prix that surprisingly dropped off the 2009 calendar. Those two events had looked relatively safe at the start of 2008, but were both given the chop simply because the respective promoters could no longer cough up enough cash to support them.
It is also worth noting that a Grand Prix at Donnington Park was something of a fantasy twelve months ago, but now that fantasy is about to become a reality. Silverstone will host its final race in 2009.
The FIA
Max Mosley has plenty of critics in Formula One and he gave them a whole new unexpected source of ammunition in 2008. If someone asked you twelve months ago to pick a motor racing personality to be involved in a sadomachistic prostitute orgy, a 68 year old administrator would not have made the top of your list. However, Max was caught with his pants down and the ensuing debacle dragged F1 through the wrong end of the newspapers. Mosley’s decision to keep his role also exposed the FIA as an outdated bureaucratic organisation because the vote of confidence in his leadership took months to organise, and the process by which votes were cast made it extremely difficult for anyone to challenge the presidency. The whole situation was a mess that F1 could have done without, and it forever changed the way people view the sport’s governing body.
The FIA didn’t do themselves any favours when it came to on-track management either. Kimi Raikkonen won the World Championship without registering any misdemeanours in 2007, whilst Lewis Hamilton collected 5 penalties on his way to this year’s title. Although there is nothing new about McLaren copping a supposedly rough deal, the number of dubious on-track penalties this season caused such a stir that the FIA have been forced to make their stewarding procedures more transparent in 2009.
The FIA’s drive to cut costs in Formula One also resulted in significant changes to the sport this year. FOTA did not exist twelve months ago, and neither did the concept of standardised engines.
Max Mosley’s call to reduce team budgets was amplified by Honda’s demise and after discussions with the teams, restrictions on testing, facilities, and engines are now being introduced into F1. The teams gave themselves more negotiating power during these discussions by creating the united force of FOTA, and they successfully campaigned to have the FIA’s original standardised engine plan watered down. More action is expected over the next twelve months as the sport safeguards its future during the global financial crisis.
If you want a graphic illustration of just how much Formula One has changed over the past year, all you need to do is take a look at the radical new 2009 spec cars. Next year’s aerodynamic regulations have resulted in some crazy machines that don’t look like anything we’ve seen on a racetrack before. Those massive front wings and tiny rear wings are going to take some getting used to! Although the new cars might be ugly at first (and perhaps forever) every indication is that 2009 is going to be a very different and exciting season of Formula One racing.
And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Here’s to more changes ahead over the next twelve months.