Bleacher Report - Articles by Benedict Echavez

Brawny Button: Brilliant or Boring?

Benedict Echavez — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 02:34:03 -0400

As we near the halfway point of the 2009 Formula 1 world championship, there has only ever been two names on the lips of the motoring press: Jenson Button and Brawn GP.

The sweeping technical regulations introduced with the goals of closer racing, increased overtaking, and better entertainment promised a different look and feel to Formula 1—no one realized just how much these changes would affect the once familiar F1 landscape.

The mighty teams have fallen, and in their place stand the masters of F1's new order.

The new regulations (no doubt to Jenson's delight) have played directly into the hands of Ross Brawn and his upstart team. From the very first test to the present, the car Ross Brawn saved from obscurity has been, for all intents and purposes, dominant and seemingly untouchable.

Even without the much-touted, green, earth friendly, hug a tree, save the polar bears KERS, the BGP001's superior grip and balance has bested the best and left them wondering exactly where all their development money has gone (should've used it to hire Ross Brawn).

Yes, Brawn GP had the controversial "double diffuser" since the beginning, but even the other teams that showed up to '09 with that particular bit of aero work have yet to see great results. And the only car yet to challenge the Brawn's dominance, the Adrian Newey designed RB5, didn't even have the trick diffuser.

For six of the last seven races, Jenson Button has proved his skill, tenacity, and ability to drink and spray champagne whilst standing on the top step of the podium to great effect. Button was always held back, in part by Honda's blundering management of their F1 franchise but mostly because he lacked a competitive car.

His years of frustration have paid off; the end of Honda's F1 nightmare brought the season Button could only have dreamed of—a complete and total reversal of fortunes.

The car is brilliant. The driver is brilliant. The season: a bit boring?

With six wins, Button has the WDC firmly in his grip, or at least dead in his sights. At this point (though it's still fairly early) it's Button's title to lose; a challenger need only rise to the occasion.

However, after seven races yielding only two winners, can we really watch this all season? Can Brawn and Button get boring?

The dynastic rule of F1 by big budget, factory backed teams such as Ferrari, Renault, and McLaren-Mercedes could have been construed as boring to watch, yet the rule of his majesty Michael Schumacher is still touted as the prime example of dominance and skill. Perhaps a new dynasty is on the rise? If no one can step up to the challenge, then perhaps so.

The charm of the underdog garnered Brawn GP much attention, but this underdog has turned out to be an overlord.

Button has proved to the world his abilities in an F1 car. Brawn GP have proved the power that an underdog team can possess. But where is everyone else? Surely Brawn GP couldn't have had everything right from the get go?

Some would say that watching one man win each and every race would be boring, but that doesn't stop anyone from watching Sebastian Loeb dominate the WRC. Some would say that watching one team win each and every race would be boring, but that doesn't stop the Tifosi from supporting their Scuderia (pardon my rudimentary knowledge of Italian).

Hopefully, in the next race at Silverstone we will see a challenger rise to meet a Brawny Button. Surely some designer on at least one of the other teams can figure out a way around the Brawn GP juggernaut. (If they can't, maybe a budget cap wouldn't hurt too much.) Perhaps if it rains throughout the weekend Sebastian Vettel or Lewis Hamilton or anyone can find a chink in Brawn GP's armor.

If not, it'll just be another standard chapter in Brawn and Button's brilliant 2009 season. But if you love F1 like I do, one thing it won't be is boring.

Japan GP: A Frantic First Lap at Fuji Sees Fernando Alonso to a Win

Benedict Echavez — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:14:55 -0400

A chaotic first lap at Fuji Speedway threw all expectations for the championship into the air.

Lewis Hamilton, who drove well in qualifying to take pole, looked set to solidify his lead over Felipe Massa. However, he made some very serious errors in the first two laps of the race.

First, Hamilton made a horrendous start and let Kimi Raikkonen get the jump on him into the first corner.

In the frenzy to retake the lead, he then went on to force his own teammate, Heikki Kovalainen, as well as the two Ferrari's of Raikkonen and Massa, wide at the end of the first corner.

Robert Kubica, and Fernando Alonso took advantage of the situation, with the BMW taking the lead and the Renault snatching second.

David Coulthard had a fairly large accident just after the first corner, yet another DNF for the experienced driver.

On the second lap, Hamilton and Massa found themselves in a heated battle for precious championship points. Massa, desperate for position, jumped the inside of the corner and clipped Hamilton's car at turn 11, spinning the British driver, and seemingly ruining his race and relegating him to the back of the field.

In lieu of the incident, race control slapped Felipe Massa with a drive-through penalty for causing the McLaren to spin. Surprisingly, Hamilton was also assigned the same penalty for pushing Raikkonen wide on the first corner.

Meanwhile, Robert Kubica sprinted away with the lead, with Alonso following. As the BMW driver is still considered viable in the championship standings, he would do well to finish on the podium and throw the title further into contention.

After serving their penalties, Massa and Hamilton were both out of the points, running 13th and 15th, respectively.

Following the first round of pit stops, Alonso moved to take the lead from Kubica. The Spaniard, while out of the points, asserted his status as a former two-time world champion by racing hard.

As Hamilton took 13th just behind Massa, Alonso drove hard to spead the gap in front of Kubica to more than 10 seconds.The Renault driver would drive well for the rest of the race to take the top step of the podium yet again—and this time without the aid of the safety car.

A determined Kimi Raikkonen ran well in third, and with Hamilton out of the points and Kovalainen out of the race due to an unexpected engine failure, was set to score some valuable manufacturer points for Scuderia Ferrari.

With 17 laps left, Bourdais spun Massa while coming out of the pits—a hint of instant karma perhaps? The incident is set to be reviewed after the race.

Robert Kubica and Kimi Raikkonen mixed it up in an exciting battle with just 14 laps to go. The two drivers running side by side and within inches of each other. Both drove exemplary well, held it together, and no incident occured.

In the closing stages of the race, Felipe Massa in ninth hunted down Red Bull's Mark Webber for that valuable last championship point that is awared to 8th place. The Red Bull's tires having worn down to almost nothing, Webber had little chance of holding off the Ferrari.

The results: Fernando Alonso took the top podium spot in a well deserved victory, Robert Kubica drove superbly, defended his position and held on for second, and Kimi Raikkonen, though no longer a contender for the title, took third.

Japan Grand Prix Qualifying: Lewis Hamilton On Pole

Benedict Echavez — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:23:56 -0400

Fresh from the exciting and historic night race in Singapore, F1 heads to Japan for the 10th round of the season.

McLaren Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton seeks to extend his lead over Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, who surely wants to perform well this weekend to keep his title hopes alive.

With Ferrari now trailing McLaren by just one point in the manufacturers’ championship, and the weight of a dismal result in Singapore for the team weighing on their shoulders, both he and Kimi Raikkonen should be pressed to finish in the points to reclaim the manufacturers' title lead.

As heavy rain proved to be the key factor in Japan last year, who will be fastest at Fuji? Here’s a recap of the qualifying action:

After a wet morning practice, a slightly damp track set the stage for the first qualifying round, but no immediate rain was expected.

Felipe Massa asserted himself early in Q1 to take the top time at the five-minute mark, but Lewis Hamilton answered back moments later with his own quick lap to bump Massa and ensure his passage into Q2.

Ample sunshine prevailed throughout Q1, and the track continued to dry out. Timo Glock in the factory Toyota showed good pace, completing more laps than any other driver and continually posting quick times.

Knocked out after Q1: Nick Heidfeld, Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button, Adrian Sutil, and Giancarlo Fisichella.

As the track went green for the 15-minute qualifying session, a clean dry line had emerged, though some damp spots remained. Many drivers chose to start off Q2 with the softer option tires, and faster times resulted.

Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa quickly took the top times early in the session, showing the determination of the boys in red. Hamilton and Kovalainen split the Ferraris to take second and third fastest times.

The top of the time chart was occupied by the Ferraris and McLarens for the majority of Q2. Knocked out after Q2: David Coulthard, Nelson Piquet, Mark Webber, Kazuki Nakajima, and Nico Rosberg.

The final 10-minute qualifying session started off with little on-track action, fuel and tire strategies no doubt still being hammered out. As the first cars left pit lane, only eight minutes were left on the clock.

On their first hot laps, Kimi Raikkonen was the first to set the fastest time, closely followed by teammate Felipe Massa. Lewis Hamilton claimed the third spot five minutes into the session, while teammate Heikki Kovalainen took fourth.

With just 15 seconds left on the clock, Hamilton deposed Raikkonen to claim pole, bumping the Finn to second.

Surprisingly, Fernando Alonso bumped Felipe Massa in the final stages of the session, while Kovalainen kept the pace to claim third.

The grid for race day is:

Lewis Hamilton
Kimi Raikkonen
Heikki Kovalainen
Fernando Alonso
Felipe Massa
Robert Kubica
Jarno Trulli
Timo Glock
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastien Bourdais
David Coulthard
Nelson Piquet
Mark Webber
Kazuki Nakajima
Nico Rosberg
Nick Heidfeld
Rubens Barrichello
Jenson Button
Adrian Sutil
Giancarlo Fisichella

The championship heats up with more unexpected qualifying performances. Seemingly out of nowhere, Kimi Raikkonen out-qualifies teammate Felipe Massa, who was also outdone by the winner of the last GP, former world champion Fernando Alonso.

Lewis Hamilton looks ready to increase and solidify his championship lead, and teammate Heikki Kovalainen is well-placed to support him.

The Japan Grand Prix is shaping up to be full of some great action!

KERS: Novelty Or Competition Booster?

Benedict Echavez — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:30:24 -0400

As you may or may not have heard, the FIA is introducing new sporting regulations for 2009 that allow for the competitive use of Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems, or KERS. Simply put, the energy produced under braking will be available to boost a cars power. These new regulations will no doubt add new dimensions and competitive possibilities to the sport; the idea of a 'power boost' button is a seemingly great way to promote overtaking and foster greater competition between already closely matched machines.

But is this really a competitive boost, or just a novel application of 'green tech' to make F1 seem more environmentally friendly?

The amount of boost available depends on how much braking is done at any particular track, so tracks with greater strains on the brakes would produce more energy to be used. The idea of drivers and teams strategically storing energy and using it at opportune moments seems like a good way to make things a little more interesting. Imagine drivers passing each under boost on the main straight, and counter attacking after braking through the next few corners or even being ballsy enough to boost in the middle of a corner! Sounds entertaining, no?

Just slightly, I think. It's too much like those boost mushrooms you get in Mario Kart for me to take it as a serious competitive dimension, or at least for me to wholeheartedly accept it at the moment. While new strategic dimensions would be added, to me, it belittles the skill of a driver to be passed just because an opponent had KERS, or enough energy to pass. While it may be trivial, I can't recall the number of times I've been beaten in Mario Kart after leading a whole race, just because some lucky opponent got those blasted mushrooms. I just don't want such trivialities (if that's even a word) to work their way into what I openly consider the pinnacle of motorsport.

The FIA is no doubt introducing these new regulations to promote the development of environmentally friendly technology, and to ostensibly, turn F1 into a more 'green' motorsport. So KERS would seem a good way to do so. But I've always had a lingering doubt and irksome feelings towards Hybrid cars. If I remember correctly, a while back on Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson and the others discovered that hybrids (in their case, the Prius) don't really get as much mileage as reported. A smaller, more efficient engine and lighter chassis could possibly yield greater mileage than a hybrid—think motorcycles, which get awesome mileage with performance.

Hybrids seem more like a band-aid in regards to solving our dependency on oil. While they are a good idea and a step in the right direction, they still ensure the use of gasoline, thereby, ensuring oil's influence over all of us. If the FIA really wanted to green-ify the sport, they'd follow Le Mans' lead and start development of diesel and alternate fuels to be used in the sport. Or to be more extreme, an all-electric racing series could be started.

All that aside, we'll see some teams running KERS next year, while some won't. BMW and Toyota are hard at work developing their KERS technology, while Ferrari are reportedly finding it more difficult. At any rate, things will be interesting. With high voltage machinery and volatile race fuel being used at the same time, there may be some spectacular crashes involving Zeus-like bolts of electricity and ample fire. But hopefully not.

Oh yea, on a similar note check out: Green Congress

It's a Hybrid Supra that won a 24 hour race in Japan, the first Hybrid race car ever to win a race. Just in case you were thinking all this KERS stuff was new and cutting edge, it's already been done, and done successfully before.

Italian GP: Vettel Makes History in 1st Victory For Torro Rosso

Benedict Echavez — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 02:35:56 -0400

21-year old Sebastian Vettel makes history in the first ever win for Scuderia Torro Rosso.

The young driver won the race from pole after a stellar performance in qualifying. He enjoyed a commanding lead over McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen for all of the race. His performance has made him the youngest GP winner ever, again displacing Fernando Alonso for the record title.

Kovalainen held on to secure second for McLaren-Mercedes, earning valuable team points. Robert Kubica drove well to grab the final podium spot for BMW-Sauber.

Also of note, Lewis Hamilton, starting from 15th, charged through the field to take 7th, reasserting his skill and determination. Despite his good performance, he slims his championship lead down to just one point over Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

Race Report to Follow

Sebastian Vettel Makes A Dream Run to Take Pole at Monza GP

Benedict Echavez — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 02:34:50 -0400

With the Formula 1 world a-flutter after Belgium's controversial outcome, the Monza Gran Prix will be interesting indeed.

This week's qualifying session in Monza presented tricky conditions, akin to the rain-soaked final laps of last week's race in Belgium. Drivers with excellent wet weather car control got their chance to shine. Here's a recap of the qualifying action:

With less than optimal conditions, all drivers had to tiptoe through the course. With low downforce, no traction control, poor visibilty and a slick track, there were numerous spins and course-offs. Times were negated as some drivers had to cut corners and take run-off areas due to the slippery conditions. Heikki Kovalainen took an early lead, showing much speed in the wet and besting his teammate in the first qualifying session. Despite the light rain, a semi-dry line began to appear on some parts of the track, improving times. Drivers knocked out (in order): Barrichello, Piquet, Nakajima, Button, and Sutil.

The rain picked up going into Q2. Some drivers (such as Hamilton) had been contemplating making the switch to intermediate wet tires, but the weather and track conditions did not improve. Sebastian Vettel, showing good pace, lead the field for the majority of Q2, snatching the top time away from Kovalainen. Surprisingly, both Hamilton and Raikkonen were at the bottom of the knock out list for all of the second session, the soaked conditions and intermediate tire gamble proving too much to overcome for the championship points leader. Knocked out after Q2: Kubica, Fisichella, Coulthard, Raikkonen, Hamilton.

After the surprising Q2 results, Felipe Massa, who just barely squeaked out of Q2, carried the hopes of Ferrari at thier home event, with Heikki Kovalainen left to represent McLaren Mercedes at the front of the field, as he qualified 2nd. Sebastian Vettel yet again topped the time charts at the beginning of Q3. Surprisingly he held his own, and went on to take P1 (becoming the youngest driver ever to take pole, snatching the title away from Alonso.) Both Scuderia Torro Rosso cars ran very well in the wet, with Bourdais qualifying 4th.

The field for Sunday's race is as follows:

Sebastian Vettel
Heikki Kovalainen
Mark Webber
Sebastien Bourdais
Nico Rosberg
Felipe Massa
Jarno Trulli
Fernando Alonso
Timo Glock
Nick Heidfeld
Robert Kubica
Giancarlo Fisichella
David Coulthard
Kimi Raikkonen
Lewis Hamilton
Ruebens Barrichello
Nelson Piquet
Kazuki Nakajima
Jenson Button
Adrian Sutil

Ironically, Ferrari was out-qualified by its customer cars. The championship has yet again been shaken up, with Hamilton's uncharacteristically low qualifying position. Massa, who would've no doubt wanted to qualify higher has to battle it out from sixth position. After all the qualifying surprises, the Monza GP is shaping up to be quite interesting.