Bleacher Report - Articles by Lochie Lawrence

Rating the Teams of the 1999-2009 Era: The Tail Enders

Lochie Lawrence — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:10:25 -0400

Part Three of the series. In this edition the teams who haven’t quite made it to the top of the grid are rated and their histories discussed in detail. Once more, the teams are rated over the period 1999 up to an including 2009 post Turkish GP. Once again, the system used to rate the teams is this: The best results and worst results of each team have been dropped and the average taken from the remainder of finishing positions over the years. This system rewards consistency. It also ‘protects’ a team from receiving a poor rating due to a once-off season like McLaren’s disqualification in 2007 Therefore the better a team has done over time, the higher their rank will be. In the event that two teams are tied on ratings score, the result from the current season will be used to determine rank. Note that teams no longer competing are not eligible for a top ten result despite their average rating. Also note that teams that have changes names are not consider new teams, rather these are a continuation of the previous team. See Part One to see who made it into the Top Four and Part Two for those teams making up the Mid-Field. Part Four coming soon!

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Rating the Teams of the Era 1999-2009: The Mid-Field

Lochie Lawrence — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 06:19:42 -0400

Part Two of the series. The teams of the decade gone by are rated according to the consistency of their results from the years 1999 up to and including 2009 (recent to the Turkish GP). The system of rating is this: The best results and worst results of each team have been dropped and the average taken from the remainder of finishing positions over the years. This system rewards consistency. It also ‘protects’ a team from receiving a poor rating due to a once-off season like McLaren’s disqualification in 2007 Therefore the better a team has done over time, the higher their rank will be. Also, in the event that two teams are tied on ratings score, the result from the current season will be used to determine rank. Note that teams no longer competing are not eligible for a top ten result despite their average rating. Also note that teams that have changes names are not consider new teams, rather these are a continuation of the previous team. See Part One for the Top Four. Part Three coming soon!

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Rating the Teams of the Era 1999-2009: The Top Four

Lochie Lawrence — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:50:25 -0400

My how the years have flown. It seems like only yesterday we were staring down the barrel of a new millennium of motor racing in the greatest sporting spectacle on earth: the Formula One World Championship. Now, here we are on the verge of another decade of racing, and my how has the landscape changed! The leading teams of the 2009 championship were nowhere near the top a scant twelve months ago. And the sport is facing another potential split over rules and regulations that the governing body seems hell bent on imposing. Ah yes, what a turbulent time indeed. However I am not here to tell you about the future, rather to give the Formula One faithful a look into the era gone by. This article is about the teams that have competed from the season’s 1999 through to the current season 2009 (as of the Turkish Grand Prix) and how they have fared in this time period. So how are the teams rated? In order to limit the potential skewing of those lies, damn lies and statistics, the old ‘Cold War Olympics’ system has been adopted. That is, the best results and worst results of each team have been dropped and the average taken from the remainder of finishing positions over the years. This system rewards consistency. It also ‘protects’ a team from receiving a poor rating due to a once-off season like McLaren’s disqualification in 2007 Therefore the better a team has done over time, the higher their rank will be. Also, in the event that two teams are tied on ratings score, the result from the current season will be used to determine rank. For teams that competed for no more than three season’s in this era, their full results have been averaged, however only teams that are currently competing are eligible for a top ten finish. Also note, that if a team has changed names, it is not considered to be a new team, and the results of that team under its old name are counted along with any results under a new name. Get all that? Then let’s begin and see where your favourite team ended up. Keep your eyes peeled for Part 2!

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The Everyperson's Guide to the Monaco Grand Prix, Pt. 2

Lochie Lawrence — Tue, 19 May 2009 07:14:15 -0400

Now it’s time for Part Two of my guide for those aspire to attend the Monaco Grand Prix. The second half of the track will be covered as well as a few breathtaking locations around the Principality. Once again, I’ll be offering tips and advise for the average punter keen enough to make the trip as seen from my own camera. Make sure you check out Part 1 to see the first half of this amazing racing circuit.

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The Everyperson's Guide to the Monaco GP, Pt. 1

Lochie Lawrence — Mon, 11 May 2009 08:24:07 -0400

Unique, glamorous, dangerous... The Monaco Grand Prix is all of these things and more. The only race of its kind in the world and the last bastion of traditional street racing in Formula One. Yes people, it's nearly that time of year again. It's late spring in the northern hemisphere and that can only mean one thing. It's a mere two weeks from the annual rumble through the Principality I was lucky enough to see the 2008 event first hand, and I hope that every single Formula One fan who reads this gets the opportunity to see what I saw and feel what I felt. In this slideshow I'll show you what you'll see from each vantage point around the track and point out some handy tips for those of you planning to take a trip to the mother of all races. All of the photos here were taken from my camera. So join me in my everyperson's guide to the one and only Monaco Grand Prix. Part Two soon to follow!

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Live Race Report from Australian GP: Brawn Wins 1- 2

Lochie Lawrence — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 01:28:28 -0400

Hello and welcome to the 2009 Formula One Australian Grand Prix.

Today will now doubt be an exciting event that will be remembered for years to come. Never before in Formula One has such a raft of rules changes been introduced at one time. Out go the grooved tyres, shark fins and large rear wings.

In come the slicks, Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) and adjustable front wings. Add all this with the off-season form of the new Brawn GP and the closeness of the majority of the field and you have all the ingredients for one cracker or a Grand Prix.

The weather for the race is fine with a slight southerly wind creeping across the track. Ambient temperature is 22 degrees Celsius with an estimated track temp of 30 degrees Celsius.

The temperature is significantly lower than previous years due to the new 5:00PM, or twilight starting time for this event in order to fit in better with the TV viewers in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Also significant are the shadows across many of the braking zones including the ultra tight turn 3, turn 5 and turn 13. Watch for driver error in these parts of the track as the pilots get used to the sun being at such a low angle.

So what can we expect for the race? Well you'll just have to wait and find out, but in case you missed qualifying the headline of the day was the raw pace of the Brawn GP team, with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello taking a one-two for the team first time out.

Next up was Vettel in what was a strong showing for Red Bull, proving you don't need to be one of the diffuser gang to run quick. Kubica did well for BMW, while the quickest man in all three practice session, Nico Rosberg, managed to get into the top five, with the Ferrari's, the Toyota's and Webber making up the rest of the top 10 on the day.

However, in breaking new over night, Toyota have now been put to the back of the grid for the race due to the FIA stewards deeming an “upper rear wing element that showed extreme flexibility in contravention to article 3.15 of the Technical Regulations”. This sees Raikkonen and local boy Webber move up to P7 and P8 respectively, as well as Heidfeld and Alonso in P9 and P10.

At the other end of the field, things went from bad to worse for McLaren, with Lewis Hamilton qualifying 15th, only to be relegated to 20th (18th after the Toyota penalty) after having to change his gear box due to a failure in Q2 of qualifying. Heikki Kovalainen, who has outpaces Hamilton all weekend, ended up in 14th.

Check out the full grid below to see where your favourite driver ended up.

Qualifying Grid

P1   No. 20 - Jenson Button, Brawn GP-Mercedes
P2   No. 21 - Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP-Mercedes
P3   No. 15 - Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault
P4   No. 5 - Robert Kubica, BMW-Sauber
P5   No. 16 - Nico Rosberg, Williams-Toyota
P6   No. 3 - Filipe Massa, Ferrari
P7   No. 4 - Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari
P8   No. 14 - Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault
P9   No. 6 - Nick Heidfeld, BMW-Sauber
P10 No. 7 - Fernando Alonso - Renault
P11 No. 17 - Kazuki Nakajima - Williams Toyota
P12 No. 2 - Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren-Mercedes
P13 No. 12 - Sebastiam Buemo - Scuderia Toro Rosso
P14 No. 8 - Nelson Piquet - Renault
P15 No. 19 - Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India-Mercedes
P16 No. 18 - Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes
P17 No. 11 - Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso-Ferrari
P18 No. 1 - Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes (Penalty*)
P19 No. 9 - Jarno Trulli, Toyota (Penalty*)
P20 No. 10 - Timo Glock, Toyota (Penalty*)

Live Updates

Lap 5

The 2009 F1 season is go an it’s Button in Brawn GPs first ever race who is bounding away from Vettel in his Red Bull.

Mark Webber was collected in the first corner by a late-braking Barrichello and has rejoined in 19th.

Kovalainen is out with damage to the front left of his car.

Lap 13

Jenson Button is continuing his charge at the front with Vettel 4.5 second behind.

The first rounds of the pit stops has begun, with roughly half the field coming in to take on fuel and new tyres.

Lap 15

Buemi takes seventh place off Fisichella. Brilliant debut for the Toro Rosso newcomer. Barichello has a damaged front wing and seems to have impacted his race.

Lap 17

Vettel pits from second place. He stays in for 11.6 seconds.

Lap 19

Kazaks crashes his Williams into the pitwall and yellow flags are out.

Lap 21

Safety Car is out and Button is behind it.

Lap 24

Piquet has an incident at Turn 23 and he is out.

Lap 25

Hamilton is in P11, P1 - Jensy, P2 - Vettel, P 3- Massa P4 - Kubica P 5- Raikkonen

Lap 29

Button maintains his lead and puts in a two seconds lead, and Vettel is trying to put in a three seconds lead over Massa.

Lap 31

Jensey is up 4 seconds.

Lap 32

Massa pits for the second stop. Vettel is still at P2. Kubica is the fastest man on track

Lap 33

Rookie Buemi is P7 and Kimi is P4

Lap 35

Kubica sets another fastest lap of 1:28:268

Lap 36

Kimi from P4 tries to play catch up with Kubica at P3 with a lap of 1:28:228

Lap 37

Kubica is going in fast. The KERS seems to be helping him the most,. Is he on lighter load?

Lap 40

Kubica goes to pits and so does Kimi Raikkonen. Mass as at P11 now.

Lap 41

Timo Glock spins. Hamilton is ahead at P6. Raikkonen joins back in at P9. Kubica rejoins at P7.

Lap 42 standings

P1 - Jenson P2 - Vettel P3- Barrichelo P4- Rosberg P 5- Lewis P 6- Kubica P 7- Alonso P 8- Raikkonen

Lap 44

Kimi pits for a third pit stop. The battle for P2 is on between Vettel and Barrichelo

Lap 46

Vettel pits from P2

Lap 47

Massa seems to be having a mechanical problem. Kimi earlier hit the pit wall due to his own mistake. Massa is out of the championship points.

Lap 48

Button pits but come ahead of Vettel by a few seconds

Lap 50

Raikkonen is down to P15, Lewis Hamilton in at P 10

Lap 51

Button, Vettel, Barrichelo maintain lead.

Lap 52

Barichello pits. Will he rejoin at P3 ahead of Kubica?

Vettel is trying to decreasing the distance between him and first placed Button. It is now down to 1.6 seconds

Lap 53

Barichello rejoins at P5 with Kubica and Rosberg ahead of him and beats Rosberg for P4. Will he able to cross Kubica at P3. Rosberg has some problem. Lewis is P7

Lap 54

Trulli at P5, Rosberg is losing time on the soft compounds.

Lap 55

Glock is at P 7

Lap 56

Vettel and Kubica take each other out...GOD! Both are out of the races. The yellow flags are out.

Lap 58 - Final Lap

Trulli in at P4, Will Hamilton beat him to come to P3

Button finishes P1

Barichello P2

Jarno Trulli P3

Hamilton P4

Glock P5

So, IT IS A BRAWN 1-2!

Final Standings

P1 Jenson Button Brawn GP 1:34:15.784
P2 Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP + 0.807
P3 Jarno Trulli Toyota + 1.604
P4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren + 2.914
P5 Timo Glock Toyota + 4.435
P6 Fernando Alonso Renault + 4.879
P7 Nico Rosberg Williams + 5.722
P8 Sebastian Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 6.004
P9 Sebastian Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso + 6.298
P10 Adrian Sutil Force India F1 + 6.335
P11 Nick Heidfeld BMW + 7.085
P12 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India F1 + 7.374
P13 Mark Webber Red Bull + 1 laps

Did not finish

Sebastian Vettel Red Bull + 2 laps
Robert Kubica BMW + 3 laps
Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari + 3 laps
Felipe Massa Ferrari + 12 laps
Nelson Piquet jr. Renault + 34 laps
Kazuki Nakajima Williams + 41 laps
Heikki Kovalainen McLaren + 55 laps

Race Analysis

It seems like the Brawns are the Wizards of Oz, with Button weaving his magic and Barrichello sharpening the knives. Competitors are all struggling to keep pace with the Brawns.

Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull and Robert Kubica in the BMW drove a great race if not for that mishap just two laps before the chequered flag.

Lewis Hamilton came in at P4 from P18 for five points and it was unimaginable at the start of the race. Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock showed how much the Toyota is technically strong by coming in at P3 and P5 from their starting positions at the back of the grid.

It is crunch time for the Ferraris as both their drivers failed to make it to the chequered flag and one wonders what is wrong with their engineering as well their botched pit strategies.

Overall, a great race for Brawn, Toyota, and Lewis Hamilton. And a sad note for Kubica and Vettel.

The Agony and The Ecstasy: Why I Love Being a Webber Fan

Lochie Lawrence — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 04:37:18 -0400

Some people choose to live their lives the easy way. Others become Mark Webber fans. That is how I feel having just sat through qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, yet another instance of the man going so close (to a good qualifying position running 3rd early on), yet finishing so far off the mark (10th for the record and no pun intended).

If you couldn't tell from the title, I am a huge Mark Webber fan. I have never adored a sportsperson so much, never felt so passionately about one man's task and never been so frustrated by one individual's plight as I do about Mark Webber's.

Now, this probably doesn't separate me from most people who support a team or individual in any one of the world's thousands of sports. But why do I put myself through the career that is Mark Webber's? Surely choosing to attach my cart to any other horse in the field would result in a more comfortable existence?

Well, yes it would. In fact, once upon a time my cart was firmly attached to a prancing horse. My first years as a fan of F1 were in the 90's, growing up watching Michael Schumacher's meteoric rise to World Champion.

My first memories of the sport were of a driver so perfect and freakishly talented that he would take wins in everything he sat in. Although the late 90's were a bit lean (by his standards anyway) he came back in the 2000's and crushed the field year after year.

Naturally, as a young and easily corrupted lad, I became an unconditional Schumacher fan, as did many others around the world.

I loved the fact that I could tune in week after week and see that the guys I picked and identified myself as a fan of had swept the field once again. Choosing Schumacher was choosing the safe bet. And being safe is usually the first ingredient in leading a comfortable and predictable existence.

But in 2005, Schumacher was beaten. And that is when I realised, that I had lost the point of being a fan of motorsport.

I wasn't watching the race and enjoying it because my favourite driver could put in a good performance and take victory. I was watching to be safe in the knowledge I was very unlikely of being found out to be wrong.

I was mindlessly feeding a system that many criticised as being too sterile and, dare I say it, 'boring'. That is not sport. It's not even entertainment.

So I switched. But not to new darlings Renault, and later McLaren, both of whom gaining an overnight influx of fans wanting to be seen in a winning team's merchandise. Instead I tuned in to the underdog that was Mark Webber in his sub-standard Williams. And although he's gone onto equally unreliable luck since with Red Bull, I've never strayed since.

But why would I get so emotionally caught up in a person who carries the label 'the unluckiest driver of all time'? A person who's only realistic shot at a win was in a race where he dispensed his lunch onto his race suit and was then unceremoniously punted off behind a safety car by the hottest sensation of 2008?

Whose quest for a podium in F1's first night race was halted by a freakish electrical interruption from overhead tram lines? Who was hit by a two ton car in his own charity event, breaking his leg and limiting his off-season?

Because following Webber is what being a sports fan is all about. It's about the anguish you feel when yet again, something happens to his car.

It's the joy you feel when no one expects it, he gets up and snags a great result. And most of all, it's the confirmation that no matter what happens, you can always hope and dream that one day he'll win a race.

And that, ladies and Gentlemen, is what keeps me coming back week after week.

So good on you Mark Webber. You don't make it look easy, but you sure make it entertaining.

Break a leg, son!

Defending Modern Formula One from the Old Guard

Lochie Lawrence — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 04:27:20 -0400

"Why would you bloody well wait up for that boring crap?" quizzes my boss Neil after I've just swaggered in the door seven minutes late for a meeting, bleary eyed and having just explained that I'd been up to 12:30 in the AM (Australian time) watching another Formula One race.

"Boring? Are you kidding Neil? Massa pulled a screamer of a move around the outside of Hamilton off the start!" I will enthusiastically reply.

"Yeah, well I bet that was probably the only pass on the race track all night buddy. It's not the same as it used to be. You want to see racing, you should get onto that 'YouTube' or whatever you kids are on these days and look up Regazzoni's win at the 1970 Italian GP. You don't see races like that one these days."

This is my typical Monday morning during the F1 season. Me, running in late, tired as hell, but happy that I'd stayed up all night to see my heroes take to the track for a couple of hours. Only to have my bubble burst by someone with enough "experience" in life to have seen the "golden era" of F1.

Of course, they refer to the legendary days of yore where passing on track happened more times than one could keep up with. When the drivers drove for the "love" of the sport, rather than more money. When "real men" raced wheel to wheel and got out and had a beer with one another afterwards.

I, on the other hand, come from a generation that's lucky to see five on-track passes per race. Where drivers are paid megabucks to get in the car and do a "job." Where a bunch of boys barely older (and in some cases younger) than myself, who are locked away by their team and show little if any social ability (I'm looking at you Kimi).

But do I envy these people who grew up on a diet of Moss and Brabham, rather than of Schumacher and Alonso? Would I have it any other way?

No chance.

You see I am one of the few people who love modern Formula One for what it is. A technology laden, over-aerodynamic, high-rev, two hour speed fest (though this is meant to be changing).

I love how it is as much about pit-strategy and technology as it is passing. Am joyous about the safety cars and half-baked rule changes every six to twelve months.

Why? Because Formula One is the premier motorsport category in the world, and like the world itself, it's evolved.

So what if there is only one pass of the lead per race? Who cares if pit strategy decided the race order? Though the old guard detest such things, no one can deny that there is nothing else in the world like F1 racing.

So I say to those people who have a quiet chuckle at my expense on every other Monday morning. To me, the modern era of Formula One is the best there ever was. Yes, Massa only made one pass on-track.

Yes, the cars followed each other for most of the race. But this is what I grew up with. This is what I will look back upon with fondness in years to come and gush over to the next generation.

Long live modern F1!