Month: July 2018

Mick Hill. Gerry Marshall. Peter Baldwin. Doug Niven. Tony Sugden. Dave Brodie. A clutch of names that might mean little to the wider world, yet resonate loudly with anybody who set foot in a motor racing paddock during the 1970s. All were quick, some were intuitive engineers – and they represent but a small sample of the characters who did much to inject life into period British motor racing. It was an age of flamboyance: wide trousers, wider cars, exuberant driving and the distinctive musk of Castrol R.

It’s tricky to pinpoint when the term ‘Special Saloons’ was first formally used. It appeared occasionally in race programmes during the 1960s, but tin-top fixtures were for the most part labelled ‘saloon car races’, with a multi-class structure in which the most potent division was sometimes for machinery ‘over 1300cc’: at the time these were mostly highly tuned Ford Escorts or Anglias, with 5.0 litres of Ford Falcon or similar occasionally interloping.

Escorts, Minis and Hillman Imps were plentiful, but there was ample scope for lateral thought: examples included Roy Yates’s Mk3 Zodiac, Andrew Talbot’s Triumph Herald, Tony Hazlewood’s Daf 55 Coupé, Ginger Marshall’s Mini Countryman (succeeded by a Reliant Kitten), David Enderby’s VW Karmann Ghia and Peter Day’s Fiat 500, whose two-cylinder engine was half a 1.7-litre BDA. It was colourful, noisy, inventive and diverse, as far removed from one-make racing as it is possible to get.

By 1972, with Production Saloon racing introduced to the UK, the ‘special’ prefix became more widely used and the class remained popular throughout the decade, spawning the even wilder Super Saloon concept during the mid-1970s (Motor Sport, April 2006) and continuing through the ’80s before withering. Some cars raced on in combined sports/saloon or GT championships, while most of those based on single-seaters or sports cars were restored to their original purpose, which made them eligible for historic racing – and significantly increased their value.

In August 2011, the Classic Sports Car Club organised a revival race for Special Saloons and Modified Sports Cars at Mallory Park, precursor to the rebirth the following year of two popular ’70s staples. Some bygone originals compete still – not least the Repco-engined ex-Gerry Marshall Vauxhall Firenza of Joe Ward – and share the track with newer cars built in the spirit of yore. A 6.1-litre Morris Minor? Step this way… In 2018 the series will be sponsored by Wendy Wools, returning to the sport it first graced 40 years ago as backer of the British Automobile Racing Club’s Special Saloon championship.

Motor Sport tracked down a few of those who played their part first time around.

COLIN BENNETT

Worked on Mick Hill’s Capris and later ran the ‘DFVW’, a Cosworthengined VW Type 3 Fastback

“Walter Robertson bought the DFVW from Colin Hawker. It was based on the 1972 Duckhams Special Le Mans car, basically a Brabham BT33 that Gordon Murray had modified. We ran it like that for a season, but then widened the front track and grafted on a Hesketh 308 rear end. That improved it, but made it even more like an F1 car beneath the skin.

“Previously I’d helped prepare Mick Hill’s early Capris, when cars were philosophically closer to the original Special Saloons. I did have something of a moral conscience about the way things changed, because I loved single-seaters and sports cars and here we were converting them into these mad behemoths. But that’s what drivers wanted and I had a family to feed, so there wasn’t really much choice.

“You basically approached it as though you were working on a single-seater, because that’s what it looked like once you removed the body. I know there were a few slightly botched home-built specials at that time, but lots of the engineering was very, very good.

“There were some superb races between the likes of Mick, Walter, Doug Niven and co – and the cars became fairly reliable. Everyone tried to get the latest injection systems, which helped, and it was the same with Chevroletpowered cars. There were lots of tuning parts – and if the driver could handle the consequences, you’d stick it on. It did start to get quite expensive for what was essentially club-level racing, though, with people spending very serious money on engines. That was just a reflection of how competitive it became. In some ways, every race was a bit of an adventure simply because there was so much power unleashed. I really enjoyed it.”

DOUG NIVEN

1970 Scottish saloon champion
inan Escort, later very successful in
the ex-MickHill Beetle

“To me they were the good old days, when bigger was better and everybody was running around with V8s and stuff. I started with a Ford Anglia in 1969, bought Graham Birrell’s twin-cam Escort and eventually ended up with a 5.7-litre Escort V8. I raced mostly at Ingliston and Croft at that stage, but when the Super Saloon era arrived it encouraged me to travel more widely.

“I enjoyed taking on the likes of Gerry Marshall, Nick Whiting, Mick Hill and Tony Sugden. Mick was very inventive and came up with some great cars – the Beetle was based on an F5000 Trojan. Being based so far from the action, I tended to favour buying second-hand cars that were already proven in the hands of others. It was a lot of fun and I considered guys like Gerry and Mick to be pals, as well as rivals. We’d stay at each other’s houses before races and have barbecues and so forth.

“Do I remember driving the Beetle at Longridge? Aye, that was a one-off. I was racing at Oulton Park the previous day and the clerk of the course asked whether I fancied popping in on the way home, perhaps just to do a demo run. That was 1978, when I was chasing a prize Shell was offering to whichever driver scored the most victories. It was a chance to add to my tally so I agreed to race – but the circuit was so short that my mechanic fell over at one point while wrestling with the pit signalling board. We were coming around so quickly that he was struggling to remove the previous lap time and post the next one.

“I didn’t quite get the Shell award: I had 28 wins but finished second to Kenny Acheson, who managed 31 in Formula Ford. It was my most successful season, though, and I sold the car afterwards because I didn’t feel I had much else to prove.”

MIKE DIXON, SIMON ARRON

DAVE TAYLOR

Built a Mk3 Ford Cortina V8 in a hen
shed; now owns the ex-Hill/Niven/everybody VW Beetle

“I hadn’t previously raced Special Saloons, but got involved simply because I liked building cars and racing them, the kind of thing that doesn’t seem to engage people nowadays. I teamed up with Alistair Thompson, a local GP. We didn’t have much money, but we installed a stove and welding gear into a Nissen hut that had been a hen shed and put our hearts and souls into it for about 18 months.

“We built a spaceframe chassis and wanted some sophisticated suspension, so I made enquiries and found that Trojan had one of Frank Williams’s F1 Iso-Marlboros lying around. We were offered the suspension for £350, so hired a van locally [he’s based near Bolton] only to be told there was a mileage limit and that we couldn’t take it beyond Knutsford. Answer? We disconnected the odometer, and off we went to Croydon. When we arrived we discovered the suspension was still attached to the rest of the chassis, but Trojan owner Peter Agg said we could have the whole thing for £350. We later bought a Ford Falcon V8 for about £800, mated it to a Jaguar gearbox and picked up a few nuts and bolts free of charge from contacts at Chevron.

“As we were the only people building a Mk3 Cortina there was nobody making suitable front bodywork, so we created our own using a friend’s car as a fibreglass mould – I don’t think we did much paintwork damage, and as it was a company car he wasn’t that bothered.

“The paddock was generally a very friendly place. Mick Hill always used to host parties at the end of Donington Park meetings. Once, we were about to head to his place when we encountered Tony Strawson in the paddock, absolutely covered in oil because his Capri had been leaking all over him. His solution was simply to turn his pullover inside out so the oil was on the inside. He went like that…

“On another occasion, given the limited facilities at Aintree, we were washing our hands in a bucket at the end of the meeting when another mechanic came over and asked if he could share our water. It was Charlie Whiting, who I believe now works in a more sophisticated environment.”

DAVID BRODIE

Serial winner in the late ’60s/early ’70s, particularly in Run Baby Run, the FordEscort he is presently rebuilding

“It was a sociable time for some, but I was perhaps a bit of a loner because I didn’t like chatting to people if I thought we might be running side by side on the final lap! I tended to befriend those in smaller classes, guys like Jonathan Buncombe and Roger Williamson who weren’t direct rivals on the track.

“There were some great drivers, though – and the bravest was probably Martin Birrane. You’d see his Ford Fairlane in your mirrors, lurching around, wheelspin in every gear. I remember one race on the old Snetterton – me in my Escort and Martin in one of his V8s. I hadn’t fitted a 16-valve head at that point, but was using big valves – more or less the size of hub caps. Every lap he’d come rumbling past me on the Norwich Straight, then I’d dive ahead at the hairpin. This went on until we were approaching it for the final time. I knew he wasn’t going to give me much room – he left about three feet so I put my two right-hand wheels off the circuit and onto one of the old runways, which probably hadn’t been used since the war. We touched and went off, bounding towards the hairpin in a huge cloud of dust, but eventually I beat him to the line…

“I was quite dedicated by the standards of the day. I used to test at Thruxton, because they’d let me use it if aircraft movements allowed, then head back to work. I’m not sure anyone else bothered with testing. People used to say I had the means to race, but I didn’t really – I had an electroplating business and saved money by not going to pubs.”

PETER BALDWIN

Enormously successful in a series of rapid Minis; Miglia champion as recently as 2013 (aged 72)

“The thing I loved was that you were able to develop your car to go ever faster, although it still looked essentially like a Mini from the outside.

“It was mostly great fun, though I had a big accident at the Mallory Park Esses when the front suspension failed. I got out of the car to check for damage, then keeled over. The next thing I recall is waking up in hospital. My mechanic turned up later – being chased by a nurse who wasn’t happy that he’d brought the rear suspension into the ward, to show me where it had broken. That was actually effect rather than cause – I went back the following day and found a perfect imprint of a front Minilite on the asphalt, from where a broken rosejoint had caused it to fold back underneath the car.

“I must have enjoyed it, because I’d sometimes organise a plane to fly between circuits so that I could compete in two races on the same day. I was very fond of the cars and the people – we had our ups and downs, but they were sociable times with lots of parties.

“I had some particularly good battles with Alan Humberstone in his Imp – he and his dad were always trying to get the best Cosworth BDAs, while I was preparing my own engines. We were often very close – and things could become quite heated on and off the track. Once, I had to restrain him when he was trying to leave the paddock after the clerk of the course had summoned him for a chat… Things were a bit different then, weren’t they?”

GRAHAM GOODE

ex-Broadspeedengineer who won Special Saloon titles with bothFord Anglia and Escort

“I started out with an Anglia powered by a one-litre F3 screamer – and won the Forward Trust championship in 1974, my first full season. After that I moved on to a 1300 Escort and my experience with Broadspeed was useful, because I knew how to set the car up very well. I had some terrific tussles with Peter Baldwin, but I also kept beating more powerful cars and things eventually came to a head at Mallory Park, where everybody was accusing me of running an oversized engine.

It was all fairly light-hearted, but we ended up stripping the thing down in the paddock to prove that it wasn’t.

“I sold that car to Holland and built up a Mk2 Escort with a 2.0-litre BDG for 1978, still with a traditional steel shell, but the writing was probably on the wall because there were so many spaceframe cars appearing. I uprated to a Hart engine for ’79, but went to Brands Hatch and came up against Rob Mason, who had a plastic-bodied Imp on a sports car chassis. He had problems in practice and started near the back, while I was on pole. I was leading and watching my pit board, which went from ‘+6sec’ to ‘+3sec’ – and then he blasted past before we’d reached Paddock.

“They were great times, full of innovation and improvisation – I remember Alan Humberstone’s dad trying to use a scaffolding pole from one of the spectator fences to fix a broken Imp driveshaft at Thruxton – but by the end of the ’70s I felt it was time to go off and race something else.”

MIKE DIXON, SIMON ARRON, RICH HARMAN

MIKE DIXON

MARTIN BIRRANE

Lover of Americ
ana who raced Fairlane, Falc
onand Mustang before moving on
toan
ex-MickHill Capri V8

“It was a fabulous era, with lots of different machinery, and it certainly gave me an adrenaline fix. I loved it. I started out with an Anglia, but in my third or fourth race I got sideways at Snetterton and rolled. The whole car just fell apart. I broke my neck, but have absolutely no idea how I came out of it alive.

“I should probably have given up there and then, but decided a better option was to buy a V8 and so acquired a Ford Fairlane – a terrible thing that ran out of brakes after a single lap and wasn’t interested in turning right.

“I recall leading at Oulton Park, with Gerry Marshall second, and for some reason I looked in the mirror at Lodge on the final lap, ran wide and spun into the bank. Gerry got through and I hurt my wrist in the impact, so I bandaged it up and raced one-handed at Mallory Park the following day.

“That irritated Richard Longman and a few of the other Mini racers, because I got away first and spent most of the race sideways. As the car was about 18ft long, there wasn’t much room for them to get past. I couldn’t have done that on the full circuit, with the hairpin, but fortunately we were on the short loop.”

GREGOR MARSHALL

Son of Gerry, whose car control tamed many an outrageously potent Vauxhall (not least Baby Bertha)

“Dad had a reputation as the paddock’s life and soul and that’s how it seemed, wherever we were. We’d arrive at 7.30, he’d sign on, chat to a few people, practise, slip me a few quid to amuse myself and arrange to meet me near the bar at lunchtime. He’d usually have a couple of pints before he raced…

“He always asked where I’d be standing and then either wave to me, or do something spectacular to amuse me. Afterwards there’d be more paddock chat – it was impossible to walk more than 20 metres without somebody stopping him – and then he’d return to the bar, usually until it closed. On the way home we almost always stopped for a curry.

“He seemed to be friends with most people, though there were exceptions. He and Mick Hill never got on while racing, but when Dad went into hospital for a quadruple bypass in the mid-1990s he found Mick was there at the same time for a heart transplant. They subsequently became the best of friends.

“When I was researching his stats I found that he’d done 1441 races and won 625, which isn’t a bad strike rate. I accept that he wasn’t necessarily the best dad, but he was my hero.”

TONY SUGDEN

Multiple champion with Ford Escort and, later, Škoda Coupé. Now a regular safety car driver… at 85

“I began grasstrack racing in 1949 – earning the fourth-highest prize money of the day, £2 10s – and carried on in cars until the end of 2003. There are so many memories that it’s hard to pick out individual moments. I stuck with the same Ford Escort from 1969 through to 1977, but there had been a cultural shift by then, when cars morphed into silhouettes.

My Escort had been one of the last genuine Special Saloons and began struggling to keep up, so I had to change. I spent a year in Alan Minshaw’s ex-Hazlewood Daf and then put a Škoda body on a Chevron B23 sports racer. By the time I stopped I’d won 523 races – more than 600 if you include bikes.

“Did cars feel tame after racing in the Isle of Man TT? Don’t you believe it. The Škoda had 550bhp that came in all at once, although there was no lag so long as you kept it above 5000rpm…”

Over 32 weeks and 21 races, a new champion will be forged and a new era of racing complete with halo will have commenced. As we explain over the next 14 pages there will be triumphs and tears, scandals and sensations but for now every team and every driver is waiting for just one thing…

…lights out

World champion shakedown

Mercedes dominated 2017 and is tipped to do so again this season with its powerful triumvirate of driver, team boss and technical director. We caught up with each of them in turn

Toto Wolff

Mercedes AMG F1’s team principal

How do you expect the Hamilton/Bottas partnership to evolve?

“You never think a relationship between team-mates will always be harmonious, but in year one there was definitely something of a honeymoon period – and it helped that there was lots of respect between them. There was no previous baggage, either, unlike Lewis and Nico. I’m not expecting it always to be easy, because that simply isn’t part of any racing driver’s DNA, but it was in 2017.”

How do you retain competitive motivation after four straight world titles?

“I think you remain energised so long as you are passionate about what you do. This is a fundamental, essential mindset. If one day I were to lose my passion for F1, or developing the team, then perhaps I’d question whether I was in the right position. But I really enjoy being part of the team, the changing environment, the fluctuating regulations, new competitors coming in, upping your game… Every year is different. You can reset your objectives and enter every season with the right motivation.”

And what are this year’s objectives?

“We want to maintain the momentum we built in 2017. We want to stabilise the things that functioned well last year, then work on any weak areas in the car and the organisation to make them better. F1 is so competitive that you cannot take it for granted that you’ll always be fighting for championships.”

If you had to write a school report after Liberty’s first season, what would it say? Shows great promise? Must try harder..?

“Ask me in 12 months! I’d like to give them more time. They’ve stepped into the big boots of an iconic, old-fashioned entrepreneur and I wouldn’t want to judge them just yet.”

How do you assess Lewis Hamilton’s statusin the pantheon of Formula 1?

“The statistics show that he’s among the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time – that’s a fact. In terms of records he has beaten some and might yet beat others, but it’s best to recognise the greats once they’ve called it a day, that’s the moment to sum it all up. He’s already part of a group of the very best F1 drivers, but he can achieve even more.”

Do you worry at all about the future? F1 increased its digital activities last year, which wasn’t difficult…

“They were previously zero!”

…but TV viewing figures continue to drop in some traditional heartlands.

“I think there are worrying signs for every sport because of the changing media landscape. Traditional TV is losing importance – people use multiple screens, watching on-demand – and it’s a challenge that has to be tackled in the right way. That is the biggest factor. It’s a fair enough strategy to move TV behind a paywall to generate revenue, but then you have to be able to cope with a shrinking audiences.”

Who do you regard as the most likely opposition this year?

“If you are realistic it will be the usual suspects, Ferrari and Red Bull, but there is a fine line between realism and arrogance – and it would be arrogant to write off all the others. Renault, McLaren, Williams and Force India are candidates to surprise at times. My mindset at the start of the campaign is to take everybody seriously.”

How much effect h
as the halo had?

“The biggest job was trying to make sure that it fitted nicely on the chassis, that the chassis was strong enough to take the loads and that we saved enough weight – that’s where the effort has been. The increased centre of gravity has an effect on lap time, but that’s the same for everybody.”

Last year was your first with Lewis Hamilton. What were your impressions?

“He surprised me from the outset. At our first test together, he’d just finished a run during which he’d had quite a big moment. By way of saying ‘hello’ he asked whether I’d seen what happened. You generally coo a bit at drivers for being super-brave, but I didn’t want my first conversation with Lewis to be like that, so I chose what I thought was a well-calibrated middle ground and said, ‘Yeah, but the thing that always surprises me about you fuckers is that you come back the next lap and do it all over again.’ I thought that would be mildly funny, but I could see that Lewis didn’t receive it in the way it was meant. A bit later Toto Wolff came up and said, ‘Lewis mentioned that you were a bit rude to him…’

“I later sat down with Lewis in the factory canteen. I apologised, told him I never swear when I’m cross but that I did it because it mildly amuses me and that I’d tone it down in future. He laughed, told me not to worry and that I’d just caught him a bit off-guard.

“He then caught me off my guard by telling me how sorry he’d been to hear about my wife [Becky Allison succumbed to meningitis in 2016]. He added that from what people had told him, the sadness never leaves but over time things would become easier and I’d learn to live with that sadness. I absolutely wasn’t expecting this. We see the public face of Lewis – the Tweets, the fashion – but this was a mature, sensitive, confident conversation. He said he hoped I’d be lucky and find happiness again. I thanked him but mentioned that any such happiness would probably involve having to speak to a girl – and I was really crap at that. He laughed and said, ‘Well, maybe just don’t call them fuckers…’ That, I think, gives you a much better sense of what he’s like than anything I could tell you about his work ethic, his driving or his determination.”

How impressed were you by Valtteri Bottas?

“I think all of us in the team are far more impressed with him than appears to be the perceived wisdom. He finished not too many points behind Sebastian Vettel – and without a DNF, which wasn’t of his making, he’d have been ahead. If you take away that DNF, he’d have been on average about two points a race worse off than Lewis – two points for which Valtteri would not excuse himself, but let’s remember who he’s up against. Lewis is one of the all-time greats – and for Valtteri things will only get better this year. I’m confident he’ll go from strength to strength.”

James Allison

Mercedes AMG F1’s technical director

Lewis Hamilton

World champion 2008, 2014, 2015, 2017

What’s been
yourrole in the development of the new car?

“I’m not in the engineers’ office, I’m not designing – my job is to explain weaknesses and put that into a feeling, and into words. Our role is taking what we’ve got then taking it to the limit. The numbers could be perfect, even in simulations, but the simulator doesn’t give you the same sensations as driving around the circuit. We have in-depth debriefs and those sessions have been very useful in the development of the new car. Only Valtteri and I speak in those sessions, so they have been very useful.”

What issues have you addressed?

“There’s a different aerodynamic characteristic from last year. Hopefully we’ve found a compromise that will favour the majority of circuits. Some of the ride and roll issues we have, some floor characteristics, will hopefully be improved a lot, too. But everything is new. The suspension is new. The car will be quicker this year.”

Are you
expecting tougher competition this season?

“Yes. When Red Bull turned up last year it had no furniture [aero bodywork], so development was very steep but the team finished very strongly. Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull ended last year very similar, so coming into this year I think you’ll see a tougher battle. Maybe there’ll be another team too, maybe McLaren.”

What can we expect from your
team-matethis year?

“This is the first evolution of last year’s car, so Valtteri will sit in the same seat, have the same controls and none of the learning will need to be done. So that means he’s already comfortable. It’s a car we both developed through last year. It’s our driving DNA fused into one. I hope he’s more comfortable. It’s not moved away from me, I’ll be on top of that.”

2018: The key questions

How will the season play out? Here we tackle the big points of contention that will provide the answer

WRITER Mark Hughes

Will we ever get used to the halo?

Philosophically, the halo is a big thing. It’s more than just the latest feature of a safety improvement programme that has been ongoing since the ’70s. Unlike crash-worthy carbon fibre monocoques, self-sealing fuel connections, better crash helmets, deformable structures and HANS devices, the halo is a visual intrusion into the fan’s romantic notion of what the essence of motor racing is. It is an ugly, jarring reminder that cannot even try to hide its imposition upon those values. There is probably only one way it might quickly be forgotten: through a fantastically competitive season. So…

Is another Mercedes walkover inevitable?

Hell, no. And those aren’t merely the words of an optimist. Consider: last year Mercedes became the last not to follow the high-rake aero concept that Red Bull introduced years ago. It did so because it believed it had a technology – a heave spring with asymmetric valving – that would allow it to get much of the advantage of high rake but without having to start afresh with a completely new aero philosophy. That technology was banned on the eve of last season, contributing to the

‘diva’ temperament of the W08. If the Mercedes aero department has accepted as inevitable that it must now pursue the high-rake route, it is starting at base camp with how all the various surfaces interact with each other. Whereas Ferrari has been on this path for a full season already. Mercedes’s aero department is arguably the best in the business so it’s not a done deal they won’t claw all that back – and maybe it has figured out yet another way of staying with low rake. But with the wider floors it seems inevitable that high rake is the way to go.

Furthermore, the 2017 Ferrari wasn’t merely a competitive car. It was the most ingenious and bold design on the grid, with more innovations, more nudging against the limits of the regulations, than any other car.

That was the first time this could be said of a Ferrari in more than a decade. It bore all the hallmarks of a re-engaged Rory Byrne. What more has he up his sleeve?

It’s believed the 2018 Ferrari will be slightly longer, the Mercedes a little shorter, so converging towards each other in the second year of these regulations. Which implies that Ferrari feels it can afford to gain more downforce (from a bigger underfloor) and reduce drag with a slightly longer wheelbase, but still retain enough ballast to enjoy full flexibility on the weight distribution range – a key part of its wide operating band last season.

Part of the weight calculation will include the halo and its associated structural mounting. Although the minimum weight limit has been increased by 6kg, the total weight is more like 14-15kg, making it yet-tougher to get down to the limit. This will define how far Ferrari has been able to go with lengthening its car – and will have pushed Mercedes further in the direction of shortening theirs.

Can Renault give Red Bull enough?

There is talk from both the Mercedes and Ferrari camps that 1000bhp has been breached by their 2018-spec power units on the dynos. Renault Sport last year struggled to keep up and will need to find not only the deficit from then but also the gains made by those two rivals. How feasible is that? Renault’s performance in the hybrid formula it craved has been extremely disappointing, but Christian Horner frequently states that if Renault can just get to within a couple of tenths of the Merc engine – rather than between 0.5-0.8sec as it was last year – then Red Bull is in the game.

There is realistic hope, actually. The engine will be a continuation of the all-new concept of 2017, but hopefully without the limitation of an inadequate MGU-H. The theory is that the potential of last year’s new concept engine was thwarted because the MGU-H could not reliably run at the shaft speeds required to maximise the new turbo and the combustion chamber that had been optimised around a much faster-running turbo. The complex turbo-compound loop of these engines means that even a slight problem within that loop compounds to severely limit the power. Despite a smaller turbo than either the Mercedes or Ferrari, limited by that

MGU-H, it was said last year to be running only at 100,000rpm, about 20,000rpm down and therefore less efficient. In other words, the 2017 engine was essentially running detuned and there could be plenty of low-hanging performance fruit for Renault if it has sorted the MGU-H problem. Let’s see.

– A CHAMPION’S VIEW –

Sir Jackie Stewart

World champion 1969, 1971, 1973

– A CHAMPION’S VIEW

The thing that I, along with probably all racing enthusiasts, am looking forward to this year is seeing some closer racing. Whether we get it or not… well, we will have to wait and see.

I think the worst outcome would be another year of Mercedes dominance. You can’t blame Mercedes for that – they are just working within the rules, they want to be the best.

Also, you could argue that F1 has always had periods of dominance by a certain team, whether that was Ferrari with Michael Schumacher or Red Bull when they won four in a row. And historically there have been times when one team dominated, too, going right back to the Silver Arrows of the 1930s. So, in some ways it’s an unfair dream to want closer racing, but I think that is what the sport needs.

People will also be talking about the halo. I know some people say it is ugly but they said that about Colin Chapman’s wing cars! You have to have it.

I remember in the 1968 Indianapolis 500, I didn’t drive because I had hurt my wrist, but Mike Spence stood in and a wheel came off and hit him in the head. I visited him in hospital and there wasn’t a mark on his body but his head injury was fatal. We have to prevent injuries rather than treat them and the halo does that.

The key battle will be Lewis against Seb, although Red Bull has two very fine drivers, too. I see the Mercedes and Ferrari battle as being very technical and don’t know whether Ferrari has the team or the one person in the team – like a Schumacher or Ross Brawn character who the team can get around.

If you ask me who I am rooting for, it’s not that I don’t want Lewis to win a fifth title, but I think it would be positive for the sport and attendances around the world as well as television and electronic media for another team and driver to have a chance.

DREAM TEAM Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a dream team of Hamilton, Vettel, Ricciardo, Verstappen and Alonso all driving the same cars with the same engine. Christian Horner as boss.

Sir Jackie Stewart is founder of Race Against Dementia. Visit
www.raceagainstdementia.com

If Renault can provide something close, things could get very tasty up front. In Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton seems to recognise the new pretender and is under no illusions about just how formidable he could be. “He’s [already] doing wonderful things and he’s just going to grow so much. It won’t be a problem. It’ll just be freakin’ tough. What a contest that could be! Even I would pay to see that!”

Red Bull vs McL
aren, identical engines. How does that pan out?

Regardless of how good the Renault power unit is, we still get to see a straight match-up

SAUBER C37 between Red Bull and the newly Renaultpowered McLaren. That in itself is utterly fascinating, especially given the respective driver line-ups.

Throughout their three-year Honda misery McLaren and Fernando Alonso were adamant they had one of the best chassis out there. Well, there can be no tougher yardstick than an identically-powered Red Bull. If the MCL33 measures up to the RB14, just think what a prospect we have: Alonso vs Verstappen vs Ricciardo – and with Vandoorne getting in on it too. The prospect of 21 races of that is pretty mouth-watering in itself.

Honda: this time, surely?

Has McLaren given up on Honda at just the wrong time? Having gone through the start-up agonies of the programme, has it baled out just as the rewards are about to come? If so, Toro Rosso – and ultimately probably Red Bull – gets to benefit.

The Mercedes-like architecture of the Honda engine as introduced last year remains, giving potential aero gains over the Renault layout. Power was limited last year by a vibration problem that imposed an artificial limit on the turbo’s speed, this further impacting upon the harvesting efficiency. As with Renault, if the basic root of the problem has been cured during the off-season, the gains in power could be dramatic.

A Toro Rosso flying by Alonso’s McLaren on the straight? That would surely generate some interesting radio messages…

Should Honda struggle for a fourth consecutive season it leaves the senior Red Bull team with potentially a very sticky problem in that 2018 is potentially the last year in which Renault Sport will supply them.

Renault: a giant awakening or just treading water?

The works Renault team’s progress last year was quite visible and it ended the season usually best of the rest after the big three. But to keep that rate of progress going is difficult with what team boss Cyril Abiteboul admits is about 85 per cent of the resource of Mercedes. Furthermore, it was easily able to outscore McLaren last year thanks to an engine advantage which – by courtesy of supplying McLaren – is no longer there. Last year’s car was around 1sec per lap slower than the identically-engined Red Bull. How much of that deficit can be clawed back with the RS18, the first Renault to be overseen by new aero chief Pierre Macin, ex-Red Bull? And where does that put it relative to McLaren?

Other than that, the chief interest here will be how the very intriguing Hülkenberg/Sainz driver line-up will compare over a season.

How will
thegre
ater tyre range affect the racing?

The idea of Pirelli offering a range of seven compounds, rather than five, is to discourage uniform one-stop strategies. It’s a band-aid to the overtaking problem, which is being researched ahead of the post-2020 aero regulations. Do more pit stops enhance the racing? Or just make it more confusing? Anyway, expect more two-stop races.

– A CHAMPION’S VIEW –

Mario Andretti

World champion 1978

It’s always suspenseful as to who’s done the best work off-season, how the fight will go between the usual suspects. There will be a lot of eyes on McLaren and whether they’ve made the right move or not in going with Renault or whether Toro Rosso is going to benefit. That’s going to be fascinating.

One thing that does concern me is the new three-engine rule. What’s that going to look like mid-season and will it affect the ability to go all-out? The technical side is a big part of F1 but you have to balance it with the spectacle and I’m not sure they’ve got this right.

There’s a lot of hope for Ferrari being able to take it to Mercedes. Some mistakes were made there last year. Had it not been for them they could’ve been in the game right to the end. They had a lot of fight in them and I hope that continues. I have a lot of optimism that it’s going to be close.

Watching Fernando Alonso in a hopefully faster car is going to be great. He is such a racer. We’ve always known that, but his sheer energy in the fight with an uncompetitive car after all these years has added another dimension and we want to see him back contending.

Daniel Ricciardo has Max Verstappen to contend with at Red Bull. These sort of contests are great for us as fans. When you get a tough team-mate, as one stock goes up the other comes down. It’s a selfish business. Daniel’s ability is clear, his reliability as a racer is proven, but Max is still potentially the next superman and is full of surprises and so exciting.

Personally, I’m really pulling for Robert Kubica. Here’s a guy with so much heart. To come back after such injuries, to have fought his way back. He’s another extremely exciting talent and in his third driver role with Williams he has that chance to come back fully in 2019. It’s amazing where willpower can get you. I was once back early from injuries and at Cleveland with three broken ribs was leading by 32sec over Al Unser and thinking this was going to be the greatest race of my life, then my engine blew. I couldn’t even get out the car, yet I’d been able to do that. So I wouldn’t write Robert off just because of his physical limitation. It won’t necessarily apply in the car – and today’s power steering systems will be a huge help.

DREAM TEAM Rather not choose…. because it’s impossible to choose without offending somebody!

– A CHAMPION’S VIEW –

Jody Scheckter

World champion 1979

Of course, the big question this year is going to be whether Ferrari will be able to challenge Mercedes. I think last year it could have done better and Sebastian made a few mistakes – he was over the top on some occasions. He seems to be a driver who is brilliant leading from the front, but maybe not so much from the middle. A lot will obviously depend on the car that Ferrari produces.

Having said that, I think Lewis did a fantastic job last year. It was his best season ever – and if he does the same this year then I will almost be able to accept all those gold chains and earrings. Then again I remember my mum saying to me, ‘Look at those Beatles, with their long hair…’ so maybe I am being old-fashioned.

I will be keeping an eye on young Max Verstappen, too – people have compared me with him, but I think I crashed more often! He has everything you need, but he has to get it into his head that you don’t win if you don’t finish. And sometimes that means coming second. He’s an exciting driver to watch, though, and that is what the sport needs at moment.

The main change I would make for this season – and think they have done it at a couple of circuits – is to enforce track limits properly. I can’t stand it when drivers cut the corner and get no penalty. They need to have proper kerbs, or rough areas of track so that if you go off you pay a time penalty. And I would bring grid girls back. I don’t know what the world has come to, banning them. For me there is nothing wrong with seeing a beautiful woman and they bring glamour to the sport.

The authorities have to stand up to Ferrari, too: call the team’s bluff on its threat to walk away from the sport. Formula 1 is bigger than one team and if it gives in to Ferrari it will be a disaster.

DREAM TEAM I would have Hamilton with Verstappen in a Mercedes. I always think it is good to have one experienced driver and one hooligan. And I’d add Toto Wolff to keep control.

Isthe
three-enginerule going to hurt?

Ever since this formula was announced to take effect from 2014, it was always the plan to progressively reduce the number of power units per car per season until it was down to three. But there were moves afoot last year, initiated by Red Bull, to leave it at four. Furthermore, the engine manufacturers confirmed that the cost of the dyno hours in making the engines reliable at the required mileages more than outweighed the saving of one extra engine per car. A motion to keep it at four was proposed – but blocked by Ferrari. As the motion required unanimity, the requirement remains at three. Which begs the question: does Ferrari feel it has something up its sleeve that will give it a high-mileage advantage?

Whatever, the possibility of an engine grid penalty deciding the championship – which hasn’t really happened so far – surely becomes greater. Related to that, the grid penalty procedure has been simplified. Multiple theoretical drops (like Alonso’s 65 places at one race!) no longer count. Anything more than 15 puts you at the back – the order then decided by when the power unit changes were made.

Will Hamilton or Vettel join the greats if they win a fifth title?

Statistically this would put whichever of them achieved the feat in rarefied territory occupied only by Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher. Three men in 68 years. It is of course a subjective view and highly dependent upon the value placed upon statistics rather than more circumstantial judgements. Allowing the stats to be the ultimate arbiter disqualifies such as Jim Clark or Ayrton Senna from this discussion.

What of the two critical career seasons – Ricciardo and Bottas?

It’s probably unfair to lump Ricciardo in with Bottas, in that he’s well established as a proven ace. But Daniel has a formidable challenge in halting team-mate Verstappen’s momentum if he’s to a) remain a hot candidate for Mercedes or Ferrari or b) not fall into a number two role at Red Bull.

Bottas averaged much further off Hamilton than did Ricciardo off Verstappen last year. He’s on a one-year contract, Ricciardo has one year remaining on his – the challenge to Bottas’s Mercedes drive could hardly be more explicit.

Will oil burn still be a thing?

Yes, but less so. Oil burning is a way of getting around the fuel-flow limit, giving the engine calories to burn in addition to those provided by the fuel. The regulations have been tightened for ’18 – active control valves in the crankcase that could be closed to increase pressure and force oil into the combustion chambers (thereby giving a Q3 or overtaking boost) have been banned. Furthermore, the oil usage limit has been reduced from 0.9 litres/100km to 0.6 litres/100km. Oil could still find its way into the combustion chambers through the crankcase pressure created off-throttle, but it will be less effective – and there will be less of it to burn. Mercedes and Ferrari were much further advanced with this technology in previous seasons than Renault or Honda. Some of that difference should therefore have been eradicated.

Is
thisthe
crucial career-definingseason for V
andoorne and Ocon?

They each came into F1 with red-hot reputations as the potential new ‘special ones’. Mercedes-backed Ocon partly justified that with his sometimes-controversial contests against Force India team-mate Sergio Pérez. Vandoorne struggled at McLaren with lack of mileage, shortage of equal parts and the colossus that is Fernando Alonso. To retain their career momentum, they need to show more convincingly against their team-mates this year.

Are
Leclercand Norris the new special ones?

F1 is such an unforgiving environment. Already Ocon and Vandoorne are fighting perception’s tide as the sport looks to the horizon for the next superstar – and standing where they were a year ago are Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris, the junior drivers of Ferrari and McLaren respectively. Both look outstanding and have the mark of ‘special’. F2 champ Leclerc races the Alfa-badged Sauber this year while F3 champion Norris will race in F2 in between duties for McLaren.

Can Kubica keep the miracle going?

Once it was Kubica who was ‘the special one’. But he is special, regardless of his current status. Just to have got himself back in consideration for an F1 race seat after the horrific injuries and seven-year absence is quite remarkable. He didn’t quite nail his Williams tests and so is the third driver, with up to eight Friday outings. If he can show in those sessions that he is anything like the pre-accident driver, the fairy tale might yet happen. There is a legion of fans behind him in this quest.

Will deletion of shark fins and upper T wings make any difference?

Nothing detectable. Between 0.1-0.15sec of lap time – and possibly a less snappy response on the limit as the fin’s wake no longer crosses an aerodynamically awkward transition. The change is just for aesthetics. Watch out for less visible lower body T-wings, like Williams ran a couple of times last year.

How ‘Alfa’ will Sauber be?

It will be very interesting to see if the Ferrari influence here increases beyond just lending the team its junior driver. It could be a great way for Ferrari to bring on new engineers as well as drivers and from Sauber’s viewpoint it could be a great foundation to long term security. On the other hand, it may all just be about the political power of two brands rather than one as Sergio Marchionne negotiates the terms for Ferrari’s commitment to the post-2020 F1. In which case, does it presage the 2019 Maserati-Haas team?

– A CHAMPION’S VIEW –

Alan Jones MBE

World champion 1980

We need grid girls back – what a joke! If I could change one thing, it would be to reverse that decision. But on track, I’d be surprised if the status quo changed significantly. We’re hearing stories of Mercedes having 1000 horsepower and that’s not something I see Renault making up in the next couple of months. Ferrari you can never be quite sure about, tucked away over there out of the mainstream they’re always capable of springing a surprise – and they may very well come up with something that blows everyone away. But my money would still be on Mercedes.

So it’s a bit of a shame that we’re sitting here in February already sort of knowing who is going to be standing on the podium places; it’s not as unpredictable as it needs to be. It’s hard to see past Lewis Hamilton. He’s got Valtteri Bottas there with him but I was rather left cold last year by this ‘psychologically it was difficult and I went off the boil’. If you need motivating, don’t bloody do it! You have to believe in yourself and just get stuck in. If I was a team owner I’d be thinking, ‘Why do I need this?’

Red Bull’s an interesting one. I don’t see them as title contenders because I just cannot see Renault suddenly making up that power gap but I’m sure they will have one of the very best chassis and it’s an interesting time for Daniel Ricciardo. Red Bull has signed Max Verstappen ahead of him and they’re sort of saying ‘He’s our boy’. If I was Daniel in that situation I’d be thinking ‘Oh, is that right?’ and I’d be talking to Ferrari. I’d love to see him in a Ferrari. I’m a huge fan of Max, I love his do-or-die attitude but he maybe needs another year before he has Daniel’s consistency.

As for other changes, I worry about the halo. I hope I’m wrong but if a car gets upside down and they can’t get the driver out quickly because of that, then there could be a lot of egg on faces.

DREAMTEAM Mercedes car, Red Bull team boss
Christian Horner,driver
line-upHamilton and Ricciardo

Damon Hill OBE

World champion 1996

– ACHAMPION’ S VIEW –

Like many, I’m eagerly looking forward to seeing how McLaren will perform with Renault power. Will it be the step forward for which everybody is hoping – and how will Fernando Alonso rate his new engine? Assuming that he’s not already completely knackered by the time the season starts…

Ferrari was very strong for most of 2017 and I’d like to think it will be able to build on that – assuming, of course, that the team doesn’t withdraw from the sport before the first race!

I don’t see a great deal changing at Mercedes. Toto Wolff does a great job maintaining a consistently high standard – indeed the whole team is so efficient that it almost comes across as unexciting. Will Lewis come out all guns blazing? I know he’s had a few ups and downs off the track over the winter, but I don’t imagine that will distract him particularly.

I’ll be interested to see the different ways in which teams integrate the new halos, to see whether any of them finds a way of doing it advantageously, and I’m hoping the new tyre options will mix things up a bit, by creating a greater number of two-stop races. My biggest hope, though, is that we’ll see some good, hard racing. There was some very close competition last season, but I wouldn’t want a complete re-run: I hope the gap between the top three teams and the rest will come down.

Other things to watch? Max Verstappen seems to get stronger by the year and I note that Kimi Räikkönen has finally taken to using social media, so I’m looking forward to see what that yields. I’ll keep a close eye on Williams and Force India, too:

I wonder how long it will be before Paddy Lowe’s influence starts to take effect at the former – and Force India continues to be a cracking little racing team. And, on top of everything else, Fernando will be chasing his Le Mans dream. It’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that he’ll win, is it? That would leave him only the Indy 500 to conquer…

DREAM TEAM This could be a quick way to lose a few friends… There’s a case to be made for sticking the Mercedes engine in the back of a Red Bull, but I guess the simplest option would be to buy the whole Red Bull-Renault package. Christian Horner runs the whole operation very well, Adrian Newey is still a great designer and I think the Verstappen/Ricciardo pairing is probably the strongest in the paddock.

MERCEDES

First team entry 1954

Races entered 168

Wins 76 FLs 56

Poles 88 Driver titles 6

Position last year 1st

A bit like Manchester City on wheels, but more consistent. There have been 79 GPs since F1 entered its hybrid era – and Merc has won 63 (last season was its weakest, with ‘only’ 12 from 20).

Liberated from the destabilising consequences of former team-mate Nico Rosberg’s mind games, Lewis Hamilton was arguably at his most fluent in 2017. And he was already fairly handy…

LEWIS HAMILTON

First GP Australia 2007

Races entered 208

Titles 4 Wins 62

FLs 38 Poles 72

Position last year 1st

VALTTERI BOTTAS

First GP Australia 2013

Races entered 97

Titles 0 Wins 3

FLs 3 Poles 4

Position last year 3rd

FERRARI

First team entry 1950

Races entered 949

Wins 229 FLs 244

Poles 213 Driver titles 15

Position last year 2nd

Kimi Räikkönen was part of the last Ferrari team to win a world title (constructors, 2008), but wasn’t always a great deal of help – and is arguably even less so now… Sebastian Vettel’s attributes are a given, but the Scuderia might fare better if it employed two current top-liners and spent more time focusing on racing than threatening to withdraw from F1 if it doesn’t get its own way.

SEBASTIAN VETTEL

First GP USA 2007

Races entered 198

Titles 4 Wins 47

FLs 33

Poles 50

Position last year 2nd

KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN

First GP Australia 2001

Races entered 270

Titles 1

Wins 20

FLs 45

Poles 17

Position last year 4th

RED BULL

First team entry 2005

Races entered 244

Wins 55

FLs 54

Poles 58 Driver titles 4

Position last year 3rd

A team with Aston Martin backing, Renault engines – and a direct line to Honda’s performance progress via sibling Toro Rosso. Its relationship with Renault has stabilised, following marriage guidance counsel in 2015, but the possibilities are intriguing. Blessed with the best of all driver line-ups – and Vertappen is contracted until the end of 2020. The future is, indeed, orange.

DANIEL RICCIARDO

First GP Great Britain 2011

Races entered 129

Titles 0 Wins 5

FLs 9 Poles 1

Position last year 5th

MAX VERSTAPPEN

First GP Australia 2015

Races entered 60

Titles 0 Wins 3

FLs 2 Poles 0

Position last year 6th

FORCE INDIA

First team entry 2008

Races entered 191

Wins 0 FLs 5

Poles 1 Driver titles 0

Position last year 4th

Despite background uncertainty over the state of owner Vijay Mallya’s business empire, the team has remained a paragon of stability – for several seasons the best in the paddock, if measured on the basis of points scored per pound spent. Sergio Pérez has a masters degree in slaying giants; Esteban Ocon is a Mercedes junior who seems destined for promotion sooner rather than later.

SERGIO PÉREZ

First GP Australia 2011

Races entered 134

Titles 0 Wins 0

FLs 4 Poles 0

Position last year 7th

ESTEBAN OCON

First GP Belgium 2016

Races entered 29

Titles 0 Wins 0

FLs 0 Poles 0

Position last year 8th

WILLIAMS

First team entry 1977

Races entered 690

Wins 114 FLs 133

Poles 128 Driver titles 7

Position last year 5th

Jones/Reutemann. Piquet/Mansell. Add to that Prost, Senna, a couple of Rosbergs, Hill, Montoya, Webber and a Villeneuve. A Sirotkin/Stroll cocktail doesn’t quite match the team’s proud heritage. Stroll looked good at times in 2017, but inconsistently so; Sirotkin showed promise in GP2, but wasn’t quite a match for Felipe Massa during testing last autumn. A tough year beckons.

SERGEY SIROTKIN

First GP n/a

Races entered 0

Titles 0 Wins 0

FLs 0 Poles 0

Position last year n/a

LANCE STROLL

First GP Australia 2017

Races entered 20

Titles 0 Wins 0

FLs 0 Poles 0

Position last year 12th

RENAULT

First team entry 1977

Races entered 341

Wins 35 FLs 31

Poles 51 Driver titles 2

Position last year 6th

In F1 terms, few manufacturers match Renault for boldness of spirit – given its track record with pioneering turbos and standard-setting V10s, not to mention a string of titles with Red Bull – but it dithered about returning to the front line in 2016 and progress since has been fairly sedate. Last year it reached the level of a half-decent Clio, but it hurriedly needs to unlock its inner 8 Gordini.

NICO HÜLKENBERG

First GP Bahrain 2010

Races entered 135

Titles 0 Wins 0

FLs 2 Poles 1

Position last year 10th

CARLOS SAINZ

First GP Australia 2015

Races entered 60

Titles 0 Wins 0

FLs 0 Poles 0

Position last year 9th

TORO ROSSO

First team entry 2006

Races entered 226

Wins 1 FLs 1

Poles 1 Driver titles 0

Position last year 7th

Effectively a guinea pig, in that it surrendered a supply of Renault engines to keep McLaren happy and received a crate of hitherto unloved Honda V6s in exchange. So this season is likely to be either a total disaster, because the things will persist in breaking, or else Honda will turn back into Honda and Gasly and Hartley – each a genuine talent – will be fighting in the top six. Possibly…

PIERRE GASLY

First GP Malaysia 2017

Races entered 5

Titles 0 Wins 0

FLs 0 Poles 0

Position last year 21st

BRENDON HARTLEY

First GP United States 2017

Races entered 4

Titles 0 Wins 0

FLs 0 Poles 0

Position last year 23rd

HAAS

First team entry 2016

Races entered 41

Wins 0 FLs 0

Poles 0 Driver titles 0

Position last year 8th

An object lesson in how to enter F1 at reduced (though still prohibitively expensive) cost, but also illustrative of the limitations those terms of engagement impose. Grosjean has long been saddled with cars some way south of his own potential; the frustration sometimes shows. Magnussen made a stellar F1 race debut (Australia 2014), but – oddly – has rarely looked that good since.

ROMAIN GROSJEAN

First GP Europe 2009

Races entered 122

Titles 0 Wins 0

FLs 1 Poles 0

Position last year 13th

KEVIN MAGNUSSEN

First GP Australia 2014

Races entered 60

Titles 0 Wins 0

FLs 0 Poles 0

Position last year 14th

McLAREN

First team entry 1966

Races entered 821

Wins 182 FLs 154

Poles 155 Driver titles 12

Position last year 9th

Has dispensed with Honda (builder of the fourth best engine on the grid) to tap into a supply from Renault (the third). Irrespective of performance gains, the switch was worthwhile as a catalyst in persuading prize asset Alonso to stay. Sophomore Vandoorne has a fine pedigree, so last season underlined just how potent a force Alonso (approaching his 17th year as an F1 racer) remains.

FERNANDO ALONSO

First GP Australia 2003

Races entered 290

Titles 2 Wins 32

FLs 23 Poles 22

Position last year 15th

STOFFEL VANDOORNE

First GP Bahrain 2016

Races entered 20

Titles 0 Wins 0

FLs 0 Poles 0

Position last year 16th

SAUBER

First team entry 1993

Races entered 352

Wins 1 FLs 5

Poles 1 Driver titles 0

Position last year 10th

New technical associate Alfa Romeo has an illustrious competition history, but hasn’t won a Grand Prix since Spain 1951 as a constructor, or Italy 1978 as an engine supplier. For now the name is little more than a large motif on the engine cover, but it symbolises increased technical collaboration with Ferrari – and heralds the arrival in F1 of the highly capable Charles Leclerc. Positives, both.

MARCUS ERICSSON

First GP Australia 2014

Races entered 76

Titles 0 Wins 0

FLs 0 Poles 0

Position last year 20th

CHARLES LECLERC

First GP n/a

Races entered 0

Titles 0 Wins 0

FLs 0 Poles 0

Position last year n/a