As the Grand Prix season opens in Melbourne on Sunday, Villeneuve has the hot car while frustrated Hill needs heavenly help to defend the title
MOTORRACING:Maurice Hamilton
IT is at times such as this that grand prix teams, struggling to make final preparations for the new season, remember 1989. Nigel Mansell had joined Ferrari and his chances of finishing the first race seemed as unlikely as suggesting that Damon Hill, penniless at the time and without a decent drive in the junior formulae, would one day become world champion.
Mansell’s Ferrari, sporting the revolutionary semi-automatic gearbox which is now de rigueur in Formula One, could barely manage a lap before breaking down. During the warm-up for the first race, in Rio de Janeiro, the Ferrari ground to a halt once more and Mansell booked himself on an early flight home.
He missed his plane because, against all odds, he won. Hill would be delighted to offer his travel agent a similar excuse on Sunday in Melbourne once the dust has settled on the opening round of the championship. The chances are, however, that he will make his flight with time to spare.
Twelve months ago, Hill was the only driver in the top six to have stayed put, the rest having compromised their chances by swapping teams. Now it is Hill who is suffering the effects of upheaval after being rejected by Williams-Renault and finding a place at Arrows-Yamaha.
Hill was impressed by the promise of this middle-order team once they had come under the authoritative command of Tom Walkinshaw Racing but, judging by the relentless sequence of problems – culminating in a structural failure during the final test at Silverstone last Wednesday – the potential is long-term, and a far cry from the consistency and competitiveness Hill had been accustomed to during his four years with Williams. At this rate of going, the reigning champion will be lucky if he finishes the Australian Grand Prix, never mind winning it.
Hill’s frustration had been exacerbated by the news pages of the motor sport press as they carried weekly reports on the fast lap times achieved by the latest Williams almost from the moment it made its track debut. Whereas Hill’s first outing, delayed by two days, was a single lap in the dusk at Silverstone, the Williams was shown to the press in Didcot and, 48 hours later, was shattering the unofficial lap record during the course of a 72-lap run in Barcelona.
In some respects, it is unfair to draw a comparison between the two teams. There is much to be done at Arrows, and Walkinshaw will address the problems by employing a similar formula to his successful remedy five years ago at Benetton, but the immediate shortcomings simply underscore the culture shock which Hill will probably have to endure throughout the 17-race season.
“If it’s too easy, then I’m really not interested,” said Hill. “I need to put myself under extreme pressure, because something seems to happen which takes me to another level. And every time it’s happened, and I’ve been under such pressure, I’ve driven like I’ve never driven before.”
Anyone who has witnessed Hill’s fortitude during the past few years would agree but, equally, they would understand the degree of difficulty on this occasion when he damns the Arrows with faint praise by saying: “The car’s great, it’s just a bit on the slow side.”
It almost goes without saying that Hill’s old firm are the favourites to win the drivers’ championship and take the constructors’ title for a record ninth time. Jacques Villeneuve, who finished a close second in the championship last year, is ready to capitalise on the lessons learned during his first season and he should have the measure of Hill’s replacement, Heinz-Harald Frentzen. The former Sauber driver has the inherent speed but it remains to be seen whether his suspect temperament can withstand the demands of a team who go into every race expecting to win – 1997 will make or break Frentzen’s reputation.
After three remarkable wins in a poor car last year, Michael Schumacher has nothing to prove. The quality of racing this year will depend on whether Ferrari give the former champion a decent car.
The early signs are that the 1997 model is better than last year’s – which is not saying much – and, even if Schumacher is not taking the fight to Williams, he may face stiffer opposition from within his own team now that Eddie Irvine has finally been allowed to get some test mileage under his belt. Irvine has been the first to recognise the impact made on Ferrari’s haphazard technical organisation by the arrival of Ross Brawn, the placid Englishman who helped bring Benetton and Schumacher two championships.
Will Benetton-Renault suffer even further now that Brawn has followed Schumacher to the Italian team? Probably not, because it is difficult to sink any lower than failing to win a single race as reigning world champions last year. Benetton put that down to the fact that their drivers, Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi, were settling in and ridding themselves of bad habits picked up while racing for Ferrari for a number of years.
If a productive test campaign is anything to go by, the team from Oxfordshire are now working as a very efficient unit. Berger, the most experienced driver in the field, could be the dark horse, since this is possibly his last chance to win the championship. On a good day, Alesi is capable of beating Berger and matching Schumacher, but only if he allows his head to rule his massive heart.
If points were awarded for appearance, then McLaren-Mercedes Benz would be unopposed, the silver and grey colour scheme showing off the latest car to stunning effect. McLaren, also fast during testing, are ready to win with two experienced and hungry drivers, Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard. But exactly the same thing was said this time last year, and the former champions went on to finish their third season in succession without a victory and then lose their sponsor, Marlboro, thus ending a 23-year association.
The same applies to Jordan-Peugeot, the team who have led the second division for too long without making any impact on the top four. Eddie Jordan has taken the biggest gamble of the lot by signing two young drivers at a time when he desperately needs someone with the experience of winning.
Jordan may find stiff competition from Ligier, the French team having been acquired by the former champion Alain Prost. Ligier’s competitiveness will come not just from the powerful Mugen-Honda engine but, on occasions, from their Bridgestone tyres, and therein lies the one factor which could make all of the foregoing look foolish.
After four years as sole supplier in Formula One, Goodyear will have competition from the Japanese tyre company. The problem is that no one knows how competitive Bridgestone will be, least of all Goodyear. Even if Bridgestone produce a tyre which is fast during the single qualifying session on Saturday afternoon, it remains to be seen whether or not it is capable of withstanding the abuse dealt out during the race.
It is almost certain, however, that Bridgestone has a rain tyre which is superior to Goodyear’s offering, in which case a wet race will give teams such as Stewart-Ford and Lola-Ford, Ligier, Minardi-Hart and Arrows a performance advantage they might not otherwise have had.
If Damon Hill is seen looking to the heavens this season, it will be in search of divine intervention as his only hope.