F1 Through the Looking Glass

From Lewis Carroll's Through The Looking Glass

"I can't believe that!" said Alice.

"Can't you?" the queen said in a pitying tone. "Try again, draw a long breath, and shut your eyes."

Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said. "One can't believe impossible things."

"I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

---

So Honda walked away from F1 when they had a red-hot winning car ready to run?

I can't believe that.

Two weeks after Honda paid Ross Brawn and his cohorts to take the F1 team off their hands, we seem to see Button and Barrichello wielding a magical sword of a car. Other teams and drivers gasp in awe, there is excited chatter about Brawn GP slaying the giants of F1 in the forthcoming season.

Yeah, right.

It seems far more likely to me that if Honda had sniffed a hint of racing success in the air, they would have reversed their decision to quit; nobody throws in a winning hand. They had a perfect excuse, having failed to find anyone stupid enough to buy the team with real money.

Brawn GP are looking for sponsors, they need to look tasty. In testing they can do more or less what they like to make the car look quick, they can take out Button's sound system and easy-listening CD's. Barrichello's massage seat can be left in the garage, almost anything can be done to strip weight from the car.

But there will come a time, we call it a race, when the car will need to pass scrutineering, and will need to reach minimum weight when it has run the distance.

I can believe that progress has been made. But F1 improvements never come in one giant leap, it is a process of finding which combination of incremental changes work the best.

Renamed Honda may do better in the new term, but no way will they be top of the class.

So after winning 162 grand prix, 8 constructors championships, and 12 drivers championships, including last year's, McLaren have suddenly become a bunch of incompetent buffoons?

I can't believe that.

What I can believe is that there is a ban on in-season testing year. Because of that McLaren have been using the current testing time to try out various circuit-specific parts they will use later in the year.

It is also a fact that McLaren still have testing time left, unlike their real rivals. And they have all the resources, skills, and experience to ensure they are ready to compete for honours in 2009.

That does not mean I believe Lewis will have an easy shot at retaining his title. There is a welcome plethora of potential in the F1 paddock, and I hope for some tremendous battles for podium positions.

But McLaren as an also-ran in 2009? No, that's not reality, it's F1 through the looking glass.

Rubens Barrichello: "I believe in myself and Jenson being top of the list among the drivers, although I can see plenty of good drivers in Formula One." Source here.

I can't believe that.

It's a Saturday morning, and I've not had my breakfast yet. There are so many impossible things the world wants me to believe, and I can't swallow any of them.