Bleacher Report - Articles by Pierre Tricarico

The Curious Case of Jenson Button

Pierre Tricarico — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 05:49:38 -0400

It's June 2009, and Jenson Button takes a 26-point lead going into his home Grand Prix in Formula One's biggest fairytale. He's finally getting the success he's worked so hard for.

The start of the season showed how things would be changing but none imagined that Ferrari and McLaren's struggle would be so big and that the Brawn GP team would be so dominant.

Jenson isn't complaining though, and the classy Brit takes a deserved lead into Silverstone after taking the 2009 season by storm. There is always debate about driver skill with car performance - many think an average driver could win in the best car.

There is no doubt of Button's talent though, and he always had the potential, despite only being in a competitive car in 2004, when Honda finished second in the championship. His first win came in a strange Hungarian Grand Prix in 2006, at a time when Honda were actually less than competitive.

He remained loyal to the team which seemed to be going backwards, after a strange period where he had apparently agreed to join Williams but had to buy himself out of the contract as he felt they were heading the wrong way.

He started in F1 at Williams, in a difficult period for them. He was forced out in favour of other young drivers and ended up at Benetton. Benetton cars were slow and Jenson regularly occupied positions at the back of the field.

His spirit and determination carried him through and he remained positive. He seized the chance to join BAR Honda in 2003 and had an ok season. 2004 was brilliant for the team and Button regularly outperformed experienced teammate Jacques Villeneuve.

As BAR Honda became the Honda works team, they slipped down the field and Button was well out of contention for championship points. After Honda decided to pull out of the sport for financial reasons before 2009, it looked like Button and his new teammate Rubens Barrichello wouldn't be racing at all.

Ross Brawn, who had spent a season at Honda on his return to F1, decided to turn the team into a new one - the Brawn GP team. With the strong base of the Honda set-up and Brawn's strategic genius, they stood a good chance, and they managed to build a more than competitive car.

Put with the commitment and energy of the two experienced drivers, the team seem unstoppable. Jenson's hunger and desire to win means that he's dominated his vastly more experienced teammate Barrichello, and the rest of the field.

He now regularly laps current world champion Lewis Hamilton, painting a sour face onto the McLaren driver and his father. It's nice to see Button's potential finally being harnessed and put towards a deserved world title, while his enthusiastic and gentlemanly father John looks on gleefully.

It also would be great for Britain to see a different kind of championship-winning Father-Son pairing - one that's actually inherently likable.

Is Carlo Ancelotti The Next "Special One"?

Pierre Tricarico — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 05:03:31 -0400

After the departure of Claudio Ranieri in 2004, Chelsea employed the eponymous Jose Mourinho. The self-labelled "Special One" led Chelsea to a number of trophies in his three-year reign at Stamford Bridge.

It was a happy time for Chelsea.

Off-the-pitch conflicts—particularly with owner Roman Abramovich—led to the Portuguese coach's exit in late 2007. Since then, there has been something of a procession of managers through the revolving doors of the office, with Chelsea looking at combinations of the biggest names and best candidates.

First was caretaker manager Avram Grant. Doomed from the start and having all the charisma of a large grey rock, the admirable Israeli did become popular with fans and almost salvaged something from the mess Mourniho was forced to leave them in.

His lack of experience and fashionability meant he was unable to win trophies (though he very nearly won three) and also unable to impress Abramovich. Debate was rife about who would replace Grant after his inevitable dismissal at the end of the season.

There were enough names throw into the hat to render such a hat completely unwearable, and Chelsea eventually went with Luiz Felipe Scolari. Scolari was successful with the Brazilian and Portuguese national teams but unproven at club level. He wasn't even one of the first names mentioned when speculation began.

He started well, winning games easily and keeping Chelsea near the top. Home defeats against arch rivals Liverpool and then Arsenal brought into question his suitability for the job as he couldn't seem to win important games.

It got worse as Chelsea began throwing away points everywhere, even drawing at home to newly-promoted Hull City. In fact, Stamford Bridge became a place where they almost could not win.

The inevitable happened barely halfway through the season and Scolari become another man to exit management's hottest hot-seat. Speculation started, not only about the next full-time manager but also about quarrels between players and staff and even suggestions that the biggest players were pulling the strings and getting managers sacked.

Soon admirable and successful Dutchman Guus Hiddink was given the job, but only until the end of the season as he was still under contract with the Russian national team, which remained his priority.

He did an amazing job, turning Chelsea's season around. They seemed doomed to battle it out with Everton and Aston Villa for the scraps of European qualification.

While Everton and Aston Villa both have excellent managers and good players, this was unacceptable for Chelsea and they were ecstatic to see Hiddink turn them into outside title-challengers, come within seconds of a Champions League final and eventually lift the FA Cup in the domestic season's finale.

Mourinho and Hiddink are "Special Ones" because of what they did for Chelsea, but can the newly-confirmed manager Carlo Ancelotti from Milan go further by making Chelsea the best team in the world?

He has a head-start with his illustrious past and direct links to amazing players like Kaká. However, the best way to prove you are truly special is to gain instant success at Chelsea while simultaneously pleasing Roman Abramovich.

F1 2009: Australia and Malaysia Results Put Brawn GP In Dreamland

Pierre Tricarico — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 09:17:28 -0400

The opening nine days of the 2009 Formula One season have produced two thoroughly exciting and memorable races, and two emphatic and surprising victories for a team making its debut this season.

Brawn GP was hastily and rapidly put together from the shocked remains of the former Honda F1 team, after the Japanese company pulled out of motorsport for economic reasons. Using their team's staff and notably drivers Button and Barrichello, Brawn's expertise and a brilliant Mercedes engine put them straight into contention in the last testing sessions in Barcelona.

This new start for familiar F1 favourites Button, Barrichello and Brawn has coincided with the start of a new era in the sport. Shortly before the curtains opened on the new season, MacLaren (without the scheming Ron Dennis) declared their worries of a lack of pace, and other teams emerged as potential front runners in the last winter tests.

MacLaren's fears have been proved to have foundation, as Heiki Kovaleinen has retired from both races so far, and Lewis Hamilton has been in trouble with the stewards again for some serious underhand and unsporting conduct, despite claiming seventh place in Malaysia.

Ferrari seem complacent and at times look in total disarray, with risky strategies, a lack of pace and conviction and in Kimi Raikkonen they have a driver who doesn't so much look out-of-sorts but more like a sulking child who cannot be bothered to race for the title he fought so hard for in 2007.

Political and personal troubles are less apparent in the other teams, who have concentrated on making their cars faster. Brawn GP have won both races in Australia and Malaysia (the latter grand prix ending in somewhat farcical circumstances) and lead the standings with Jenson Button ahead in the drivers' title.

Half points were awarded in Button's second race victory out of two in Kuala Lumpur, as torrential rain brought out the red flag just after the halfway point. Barrichello has shown consistency and may prove to be Button's main championship contender as the season progresses.

Timo Glock and Iarno Trulli have demonstrated their class and Toyota's progress by collecting points and podiums, and seem like Brawn's main title rivals. We have also seen some wonderful speed and performances from the Red Bulls and Williams, while Renault and BMW look almost as off-the-boil as Ferrari and MacLaren.

After two races Ferrari are yet to get off the mark and MacLaren have suffered from Hamilton's punishment and failure to get into the top three. Brawn GP lead the way from Toyota, while the rest of the small points have been spread across last season's midfield teams.

Obviously, it is still early days , and the vast financial reserves of MacLaren and Ferrari means you cannot count them out. Melbourne is usually a strange race and it's hard to determine who will go on and have a good season. The favourites had a bad qualifying and ultimately came away from Australia without any points.

It was a one-two for Brawn and a three-four for Toyota in Melbourne, followed by Alonso (Renault), Rosberg (Williams), Buemi and Bourdais (Toro Rosso). Malaysia saw more great difficulty for Ferrari and MacLaren in qualifying, and the race was just as unkind to them. After the red flags due to rain, Button was declared the winner with teammate Barrichello 5th.

Nick Heidfeld claimed 2nd, putting him 5th in the championship with Toyota's Glock and Trulli 3rd and 4th respectively. Webber, Hamilton and Rosberg made up the top eight, with them all being awarded half-points because the race hadn't reached 75% distance.

In two weeks' time we go to Shanghai, China. The season will start to get much harder from here and the European races in the summer provide good tests for the teams and drivers to keep their good form and maintain their title challenges.

The Formula One Season Heads to Melbourne

Pierre Tricarico — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:11:21 -0400

It is, as ever, difficult to determine what exactly will happen as the Formula One circus once again heads to sunny Melbourne to open the new F1 season.

One of the most significant rule changes in several years has been implemented, and the Formula One title will be decided on wins and not points.

Many people have voiced their objections, and on the whole, you don't see many people supporting the new regulations—even Ferrari fans who know only too well that such ruling would have seen Massa crowned champion last season.

One major problem with trying to anticipate the Australian GP weekend is one we ultimately see every year—that winter testing and practise times mean nothing and no predictions should be based on them.

Nothing is for certain, even with new team Brawn GP (who have apparently done well in testing) being tipped for good results.

One cannot doubt the quality of Jenson Button, but you have to question the team's overall potential after deciding to employ Sunday driver Rubens Barrichello, the man who seems to go nowhere but backwards come race day.

There is little difference in the teams' lineups for the start of the campaign to last season. As ever, it will probably take 2-3 races for us to see which teams and drivers are working well.

I will approach the Australian Grand Prix the same as I do every year, with the excitement and anticipation that comes with not quite knowing what is going to happen, and knowing that Melbourne always puts on a good show, whether the result is realistic in the long terms of the season or not.

Lewis Hamilton Capitalizes on Ferrari's Mistakes at Monaco Grand Prix

Pierre Tricarico — Tue, 27 May 2008 06:57:55 -0400

An eventful Monaco Grand Prix sorted the men from the boys this weekend and threw up a result which put Lewis Hamilton firmly back into the title race—giving him serious momentum going into the Canadian race, where he excelled last year.

The Brit was one of few drivers to keep his head in a frantic wet-dry race, which almost promised to produce an unexpected result reminiscent of the 1996 race.

The rain fell building up to the start and continued into the early stages of the race, and people questioned whether there should have been a formation start behind the safety car.

However, the race started in normal conditions and each car negotiated the opening lap without incident. In fact, it took a few laps for drivers to start making mistakes.

Five laps in, as Felipe Massa had opened up a nice lead from the start, Ferrari fans would have been rubbing their hands together at the sight of Lewis Hamilton getting it wrong at the Tabac corner and nudging the barrier, giving him a right-rear puncture.

The deflated Brit crawled to the pits, and at this point, it looked almost impossible to recover and gain a result from this position—especially around the difficult street circuit.

As the track dried out, and with most cars using the intermediate tires, you could see drivers struggling to keep their cars away from the barriers.

David Coulthard continued his run of poor results and topped off a calamitous weekend by losing control of his Red Bull at the top of the hill on the entrance to the Casino right-hander.

To add comedy to the incident, Sebastien Bourdais' Toro Rosso had the same accident just seconds later and rammed into Coulthard's already heavily damaged car. Only pride was hurt and they could only be thankful they didn't have absolute stinking weekends—like Nelson Piquet and, most notably, reigning champion Kimi Raikkonen.

The Finn would have been cursing his team after they failed to fit his tires before the three minute cut-off before the formation lap, landing him with a drive-through penalty.

The "Ice Man" disappointed his team and fans by makin several mistakes and failing to recover when he decided he wanted to try.

As Massa traded fastest laps with second place man Robert Kubica, Lewis Hamilton, with little to lose, started a charge to get back on the podium.

The safety car for the Coulthard/Bourdais incident allowed him to regain ground lost with his earlier mistake. And, his pit strategies—for which the Brit must heavily thank his team—saw him ease past Kubica and set his sights on Massa, who would be stopping at different times after Hamilton's early refuelling.

The Brazilian didn't do enough on his in-lap as he got held up by lapped cars and missed the chance to prove his critics wrong. He exited the pits after his scheduled stop to find himself behind the MacLaren and eventually behind Kubica.

The string of bizarre events opened a cash-lined path for the talented but unnoticed drivers from the midfield to gain deserved points finishes—Nakajima of Williams and Adrian Sutil of Force India, who both started at the back of the grid.

Toyota's Glock and Australian Mark Webber had some fierce battles in the search for points. They were also challenged by experienced men like Alonso and Barrichello.

An inspired performance from Sutil was brought to an infuriating end as a recovering but clumsy Raikkonen got out of shape at the exit of the tunnel and smashed into the Force India. Sutil was taken out of the race after he had seen off Webber and got himself into fourth.

Annoyingly for the distraught Sutil, Raikkonen was able to limp home into ninth after a pit stop.

The last major incident saw Nico Rosberg, in the hunt for points, lose control coming into the Swimming Pool section and slam into the barriers, sending debris everywhere and parking his Williams right in the middle of the track.

The resulting safety car wiped out the lead Hamilton had made after the pit stop period. He kept a cool head while most others didn't, and held off challenges to come home as race winner.

Classy Aussie Webber came home in fourth, behind a podium of Hamilton, Kubica, and Massa. Vettel and Barrichello came out of the carnage to claim fifth and sixth respectively—Nakajima and Kovalainen filled the remaining point-scoring places.

Lewis Hamilton unexpectedly roared back to the top of the standings, with Massa proving he is equal to Raikkonen (who looks very much out-of-sorts at the moment).

The Brit, though, takes a lot of momentum and prestige to Montreal and will be hoping another Canadian victory will push him firmly into the driving seat to claim the world title.