Caterham F1

Caterham finished the 2012 Formula One season in 10th place in the constructors' championship, but it was a close run thing.

After a promising start and some positive statements, they dropped the ball badly as the season went on and were almost overhauled by the financially weaker Marussia team.

In the closing months of last season Tony Fernandes stepped down from his role as Team Principle, and his replacement is Cyril Abiteboul, formerly of Renault Sport F1.

That can only be a positive. As good as Mr. Fernandes is in the business world, the role of team principle should be held by someone well versed in the sport and who can dedicate themselves to it full-time.

Car

This year's car, the CT03, is an evolution of last year's CT01 (the CT02 is, confusingly, a road car). It's currently very similar to its older brother, so much so that Abiteboul described it as a hybrid car.

By that he means it's part 2012, part 2013—more so than the other cars on the grid.

There are a good number of changes from last year, but as it stands the CT03 is a work-in-progress—the team has major updates planned for the Bahrain Grand Prix, and the hope is that they'll make the car substantially quicker.

But as a snapshot of what it is now, it holds the distinction of being the worst car on the grid.

And it seems especially poor in qualifying. The CT03 was actually slower around Malaysia in Q1 a few weeks ago than the CT01 was last year. Every other car was quicker than its predecessor.

Drivers

From their formation in 2010 as Lotus, Caterham have always fielded at least one race winner—Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli in 2010 and 2011, and Kovalainen alone in 2012. They weren't the best of the best, but they were experienced racers.

This season, they've taken the dual pay-driver approach.

The team is led by Charles Pic, veteran of 20 races prior to the start of the year. He's joined by Giedo van der Garde, who had zero race starts.

Pic did well from 22nd on the grid in Australia, using a two-stop strategy to come home in 16th, a minute clear of his teammate. In the battle with Marussia, he comfortably beat Max Chilton but couldn't really compete with Jules Bianchi.

Van der Garde was last after suffering minor damage and coming off second-best in a long battle with Chilton.

In Malaysia things were much closer. The two drivers finished around 10 seconds apart, van der Garde following home Pic. Both beat Marussia's Chilton, but again Bianchi was a good distance down the road.

This was at least in part due to Toro Rosso's unsafe release of Jean-Eric Vergne which resulted in a pit lane collision with Pic.

It's difficult to say whether they're doing well, but on balance it looks a fairly encouraging start to the year for both drivers.

Pic is (as we would have expected) ahead at the moment, so it'll be interesting to see if van der Garde can close the gap in the next few races.

Season Expectations

Before the start of the year, Caterham's team principle Cyril Abiteboul spoke to Formula1.com about the season ahead. You can read it here if you wish.

The general gist of the interview is that there's no longer talk of trying to bridge the gap to the midfield—rather, it's all about team stability and long-term goals.

While it's refreshing to see a bit of honesty and realism, the interview suggests Caterham wrote off 2013 before it even began. They have more than one eye on 2014, when substantial regulation changes come into effect.

But they really do need to beat Marussia this year to 10th for the financial benefits it will bring. The team finishing 10th will receive around $20m more from the teams' prize fund, and the importance of that amount can't be understated.

There are (as mentioned above) new parts planned to arrive in time for the Bahrain Grand Prix, and Caterham have a bigger development budget than their Russian rivals.

And for a backmarker, they have quite a strong technical team. John Iley, Mark Smith and Hari Roberts have been around a long time, and their experience should be helpful.

It all depends on the upgrades. If they don't have the desired result, Bianchi will be leaving them for dead all season long.

If they do work, the fight at the back will provide an extremely interesting sideshow.

Previously: Marussia Progress Report.

In a not entirely unexpected move, Jarno Trulli has been replaced at Caterham by Vitaly Petrov.

Rumours suggesting Trulli's seat was under threat from Petrov had been circulating since December, but after the Italian drove in the first test at Jerez last week, it appeared he might be safe.

However, following lengthy discussions and difficulties with his sponsors, Petrov has finally been announced as a Caterham driver, saying in a statement on the team's website:

This is a very exciting day for me.  I would like to thank Tony, Kamarudin Meranun and SM Nasarudin for giving me the chance to join a team that made its F1 debut at the same time as me, and has grown from one of the new teams to a serious force for future honours.  The passion and spirit that Tony and the whole team have to keep moving forwards is infectious, and I am honoured to be able to join them and play my part in helping the team mount a serious challenge to the teams ahead in 2012 and for many seasons to come.

Caterham owner and team principle Tony Fernandes also spoke of the Russian's arrival.

We are all delighted to welcome Vitaly into our team and are very excited about the role he will play in helping us take the next steps forward in 2012 and for many years to come.

As the first Russian to race in F1 he carries the hopes of a huge nation with ease and his talents, experience with one of our current competitors and insights on and off track will play a huge role in our development as we fight to join the established teams ahead.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank Jarno for the absolutely pivotal role he played in the formation and progression of our team since he joined us in December 2009.

It was not an easy decision to bring Vitaly in to replace Jarno, but it was one we made to ensure that we give fresh impetus across the whole team and with a realistic eye on the global economic market.

The final sentence confirms what we already knew—that Petrov brings much-needed income to the team in the shape of his sponsors.  But Trulli's below-par performances in 2011 will also have played a major part in the decision-making process.

Jarno was comprehensively outqualified and outraced by his teammate Heikki Kovalainen, and no longer looked like the driver he once was.  Now 37, his F1 career is almost certainly over, after 252 starts and a single race win.

The Italian was typically magnanimous in his parting words, focusing on the positive experiences from his two years at the team.

From zero we built up and established a solid F1 team.  I'm really proud to have been part of it.  I understand the decision the team has made and I want to wish to the whole team the very best of luck for the season ahead.

With Narain Karthikeyan taking the second seat at HRT earlier in the month, the 2012 grid is almost certainly now confirmed, with no other seats looking under direct threat at this time. 

But in the secret world of pay drivers and wealthy sponsors, we can never be entirely sure.

Speculation is mounting that Jarno Trulli's seat at Caterham—the team formerly known as Lotus—could be under threat from Vitaly Petrov.

The rumour first surfaced in late December.  Respected commentator and former driver Martin Brundle commented on Twitter (via Sky Sports):

Suspect Vitaly Petrov may re-emerge at Caterham F1 (formerly Team Lotus) in 2012.  Music has stopped, there'll be a mad scramble for seats.

The topic was pushed aside by the now-resolved saga of the second Williams seat, before returning with the news that Petrov was in talks with Caterham—reportedly for the third driver role.

However, after Trulli's disappointing 2011 season—and despite the Italian veteran signing a one-year contract extension to keep him at the team for 2012—the rumours continue that it may be a race seat the Russian is seeking. 

And sadly for Jarno, bringing Petrov in as his replacement would make a lot of sense.

Having promised much in his early career, a combination of poor luck, lack of opportunity and his own limitations restricted Trulli to a single race win from 252 starts—Monaco in 2004.

Though over a single lap he could be blisteringly quick, he struggled to maintain the pace over the course of a whole race.  "Trulli trains"—a line of faster cars stuck close behind the Italian—were a regular feature of Grands Prix for many years.

Now 37, Trulli can't even claim to be a one-lap specialist.  Outqualified by teammate Heikki Kovalainen a staggering 16 times out of 18 races, he was an average of 0.465s slower—a lifetime in F1.

In the races, it was a similar story.  He simply isn't as quick as he used to be. 

By contrast, Petrov appears to be heading in the opposite direction.  He now has two years of driving in F1 behind him, and showed a marked improvement last term after a difficult rookie season. 

Harshly pushed aside by the Lotus Renault team at the end of the year, Vitaly is young, hungry and has a point to prove.  He also comes with a hefty wedge of sponsor cash, which certainly won't harm his cause.

The only thing Trulli has which Petrov lacks is experience—but Caterham have that in Heikki Kovalainen, now 30 and with five seasons of racing behind him. 

It's difficult to dislike Jarno Trulli, and I've been a fan of his since he caught my eye with a brilliant drive at the 1997 Austrian Grand Prix.  But that Jarno Trulli wasn't sitting in the Lotus last season, and there's little chance 2012 will see an improvement.

Petrov deserves another chance in F1.  A seat at the young, improving Caterham outfit would be a perfect fit for the young, improving Russian.

Sorry Jarno, but I think it's time to hang up your helmet.

Team Lotus have promoted Karun Chandhok into the No. 21 car for the 2011 German Grand Prix this weekend, according to BBC Sport.

The Indian will replace the Italian driver Jarno Trulli, who is currently 19th in the drivers championship with two 13th place finishes in Australia and Monaco.

Chandhok was introduced to Formula One by the Hispania Racing Team in 2010 after some strong performances in GP2 and A1GP, and he finshed 22nd in the championship after two 14th place finishes.

He was replaced by Sakon Yamamoto and Christian Klien after the 2010 British Grand Prix, and finished ahead of them both in the championship.

After being left out of the Hispania team, he regularly appeared on race commentary for BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra, providing valuable insights into Formula One.

This season he was signed as one of Team Lotus' four test drivers, with Luiz Razia, Davide Valsecci and Ricardo Teixeira. He has competed in four practice sessions with the team in Australia, Turkey, Valencia and Britain, finishing behind his teammate every time.

Team Lotus have said that it is an opportunity for the Indian driver to prove himself, and Jarno Trulli will be racing in the car again a week later at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

It is also likely that Chandhok will compete in the inaugural Indian Grand Prix later this season, meaning that there would be two Indian drivers on the grid.

Trulli stated that he was "looking forward to working with Karun this weekend" and would try "to help him get the most out of his opportunity in Germany."

It was also revealed that Trulli is in talks with Team Lotus as they attempt to negotiate a contract extension that would see him racing in the 2012 season.

Team Lotus was happy to admit that its 2010 Formula One season was about learning rather than getting results.

Their entry for the season had been granted very late in the day and having a car at the first race was a triumph in itself. Of course, the car was slow. Any Formula One car built from scratch in a matter of months is going to struggle against the highly toned pedigree of the opposition. The car was particularly poor aerodynamically. I watched the car at Jerez in preseason testing, and I noticed it looking almost square from some angles.

This wasn’t a problem. The team spent most of the season asking its fans to wait for 2011. This was the year we would see strong, point-scoring performances. In preparation for 2011, they took the world championship winning Renault engine and Red Bull transmission and bolted them in the back of the car. They signed the highly-rated engineer Mark Smith from Force India, and they had some of the most important commodity of all, the one money can’t buy.

They had a year of Formula One racing experience.

We are now seven races into the season, and the bottom line is that the team has failed to reach its targets. They are not on the pace of established teams like Sauber and Toro Rosso. The team hasn’t taken the step forward it all but promised.

There have been some positive signs.

The car is reliable, with only one mechanical retirement so far—when Jarno Trulli’s clutch failed in Malaysia—and in Spain, Heikki Kovalainen qualified 15th, with Jarno in 18th. This was a boost to the team, but it wasn’t achieved on pure pace. Instead, they were aided by Rubens Barrichello’s gearbox glitch, and the Force India team’s decision to run hard tyres as opposed to Heikki’s soft tyres.

Put simply, the team doesn’t have the pace to qualify 15th on merit.

Their average qualifying position in 2010 was 19.3. In 2011, it is 18.8. There hasn’t been any significant improvement, and if you take Heikki’s one-off 15th out of the equation, the figure for 2011 drops to 19.08. To put this into context, if the team was regularly getting both cars into Q2, the figure would be around 16.5. They are some way off their expected pace relative to the opposition.

Looking for causality in this is immensely difficult. Why hasn’t Team Lotus moved up the grid? The new car is clearly a big step forward. Unlike last year’s model, it looks like a proper F1 car. It's bright metallic livery and the 2010 Mercedes-style roll hoop make it look like one of the faster F1 cars of the 2011 season.

But the car has problems.

The power steering lacks feel, and this is a big problem in motorsports. The driver feels the car through the seat and the steering wheel. If the feeling in the steering wheel isn’t there, the driver can’t push the car to its maximum. It’s like trying to sew while wearing gardening gloves.

The team has made a step forward since 2010, but making a step forward in Formula One isn’t enough. Every team develops their car every week. While Team Lotus has made a big step forward, so have all of the other teams. In Formula One, when the rules regarding car design change, the bigger teams tend to find the optimum solutions faster than teams toward the back because they have more resources.

Eventually you come to a point where the car design is optimised to the new rules and the development of the top teams slows down. It is only at this point that the small teams begin to catch up. Look at how close Formula One was in 2008, and compare that to the dominance we’ve seen since the dramatic 2009 rule changes.

This is the plight Team Lotus find themselves in.

In the meantime, we have to hope there won’t be any consequences for the disappointing performance. With Jarno, they have a strong development driver with 15 years of Grand Prix experience, yet he is being wasted because he can’t feel what the car is doing when he takes it to the limit.

Heikki and Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne look fully committed, but being soundly beaten week in week out must be painful.

Owner Tony Fernandes is a staunch supporter of the team, and it is clearly a very important part of his marketing programme, but it remains to be seen if his interest will drop if the lack of progress is allowed to continue.

To move up the grid, they have to keep developing the car and pushing to get improvements onto it at every race. If they keep pushing, they will close that gap.

Team Lotus has finalised its 2011 lineup with the announcement that Karun Chandhok will join the team as reserve driver.

The 27-year-old joins the team after an evaluation period during the preseason tests and will be the official reserve driver for race drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli, alongside testing duties with third driver Luiz Razia and testers Davide Valsecchi and Ricardo Teixeira.

The former Hispania driver, who raced for the Spanish team in the first half of 2010, will be thrown straight into action with a run out at Friday practice for this weekend’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
 
A statement from Lotus read: “Karun is one of the most exciting and popular drivers in global motorsports and has enjoyed a stellar career in his rise up through the ranks to Formula One.

“He will be taking part in a number of Friday Practice sessions for Team Lotus including FP1 in Melbourne and his technical input and obvious talent will provide the team with more valuable insights into how to optimise the T128’s performance potential on-track, alongside his ambassadorial role for the team as one of its official drivers.”
 
Lotus team principal Tony Fernandes added: “This is another great day for Team Lotus. Karun's appointment to our team gives us not only his immense driving talent and F1 experience, both of which will help us develop the car even further, but also brings one of the warmest, most professional personalities I have the pleasure of knowing into the Team Lotus family.

“I do not think it is going too far to say that Karun represents the future of motor racing—he is living proof that geography is no boundary to talent and ambition and that you will succeed if you work hard and keep dreaming.

“He is fiercely proud of his Indian heritage but he has a truly global outlook and I am honoured that Team Lotus is now giving one of India’s brightest stars the chance to continue to develop his talent. Everyone in the team is excited about working with Karun, and I cannot wait to see him representing the Indian nation in our car.”
 
Chandhok said: “I’ve been talking to the team for quite a while about a role with them and I’m delighted we’re now able to confirm that I will be driving for Team Lotus in 2011.

“The details of exactly which sessions I will be in the car for are being worked out now and after having spent some time with them at the recent pre-season tests I can see exactly how passionate everyone in Team Lotus is about taking this team back to the top of the F1 grid.

“These are very exciting times for Team Lotus and it’s a real honour to be able to play a part in helping shape this team’s future. I want to thank Tony, Din, Nasa, Riad and Mike for having the faith in me to give me a chance to help the team develop and I’ll do my best to repay that faith wherever I can.” 

It is no surprise that Chandhok has found a role in Formula One this season with the inaugural Indian Grand Prix scheduled for October, and with compatriot Narain Karthikeyan returning with Hispania, there is a real possibility that Chandhok could also race in India.

Lotus Racing was one of the new teams in the 2010 season. The Norfolk based team beat their new team rivals Virgin and HRT.

Group Lotus licenced 1Malaysia Racing in 2010 but new CEO Dany Bahar changed the view about F1 strategy. Bahar didn't satisfy the Lotus Racing team that first year. Then names were heard and two separate Lotus teams appeared in the F1 scene. 

In this article, I want to discuss what is wrong with the naming row and both teams approaches. Group Lotus and Team Lotus separated by Colin Chapman because he didn't want any group to clash. Lotus Racing (Team Lotus) did reasonable things for their first year. They finished at 10th in the championship and they beat their rivals. Team Lotus did things like developed teams.

This year, Red Bull gearbox and Renault engine can be a good choice with Force India arriving. In the other hand, Group Lotus watched Lotus Racing grow in popularity and reputation each race. Group Lotus maybe thought they were on the wrong path to create a F1 team. There are examples of Honda, Toyota, Renault and Mercedes buying established teams and creating a winning team. Only Renault become successful with the Fernando Alonso and Flavio Briatore partnership. The others wasted lots of money. Proton can think that this is the faster way to be on podiums and get wins but F1 is never that simple. Otherwise there would be no Adrian Newey, Chapman nor the Brynes.

In F1, nothing is created over night. Budget is important in F1 but drivers and technology and engineers can win championships. This is why Alonso lost and Vettel won in Abu Dabi. Group Lotus made their mistake about giving no developing time to Lotus Racing. Lotus Racing's mistake should be about their pace. Fans respect what they achieve but they didn't discuss their season objectives with their licence holders.

In the end, the Lotus row maybe not end in this summer but Chapman's Legacy and Lotus's are name hurt because a new team didn't score in their first year. I wish both teams good luck, but F1 is never an easy pat—Mercedes is the right example for them. Tyrell went to Mercedes and they won the championship on their crisis year with the name of Brawn. I hope these political events will not ruin the racing. 

Many unenviable statistics exist in Formula 1. David Kennedy holds the record of the most DNQ's without ever managing to qualifying. Claudio Langes holds the record for the most DNPQ's without qualifying.

There are some tragic statistics exist too with more than a driver per season being killed for the first two decades of the sport as a championship. My focus for this piece is a statistic that, considering the sports well earned reputation for danger is surprising and tragic.

In the whole history of the sport there has only ever been one posthumous world driver's champion. The man was Jochen Rindt and he was the 1970 World Formula One drivers champion. His death prevented him from taking part in the last four races of the thirteen race season.

Yet, he still won the championship by five points.

The way Rindt drove is illustrated by his career statistics. Out of his 60 race starts, he retired 35 times. He was fast but did make mistakes and put a lot of pressure of his machinery. He was always fast and that is a hallmark of a champion.

Before his championship winning season Rindt only had two season of any real note. In 1966 he was a consistent runner securing a couple of podiums but never won. He finished third in the title race in his Cooper and people had taken notice.

In 1969 he earned his first career win for the Lotus team winning at the United States Grand Prix. 1969 was plagued with retirements like many of his other seasons but that first win did seem to give him some extra confidence heading into 1970.

In the other seasons of his career which began in with a single outing in Austria in 1964 nearly all the time his season was destroyed by his consistent failure to make it to the end

The Austrian, Rindt, won five races in 1970 in Holland, Britain, France, Germany and Monaco. Incredibly that was the only points scoring results for Rindt that year. His next best finish was 13th and he retired three times. The truth was as long as Rindt didn't have a problem, he won the race.

The Lotus 72 was a great car and Rindt was in fine form. The domination that Rindt had can only be rivalled by the domination by Schumacher in 2004 or Ascari in 1952. Rindt was in a class of one during 1970.

Heading to Monza in 1970 the drivers championship looked over and the chances of another Rindt victory was high.

Lotus made some adjustments to the car for Monza being the high speed track it was, and to a lesser extent still is. They removed the wings off the car which made Rindt's team mate John Miles unhappy saying it made the unbalanced. But Rindt seemed pleased reporting it gave him more straight line speed.

Rindt adjusted the ratio of his gearbox aswell, giving him a higher straight line speed with the Lotus hitting 205 mph on the straights. In the final practice session Rindt was, unsurprisingly, quick and it looked like Lotus would be on top.

Then on his fifth lap something went wrong. Under braking for the Parabolica, Jochen's car speared off the track and into the wall. This catapulted the Lotus into the gravel trap, spinning like a top in the process.

Sadly, as too often was the case, the barrier wasn't fitted properly and when Rindt hit the wall it went through a joint in the wall with Rindt's car hitting a stanchion.

The Lotus came to a stand still with Rindt not moving. The entire front end of Rindt's car was decimated. Rindt was rushed to hospital but was already dead on arrival. Why had Rindt been killed? Who, if anyone was to blame?

What caused Rindt's car to spear into the wall was quickly discovered with a braking unit on the right front failing. The actual cause of Rindt's death was due to a slit throat. The reason behind this injury was due to Rindt being worried about safety, ironically.

Cars had crashed and caught fire spectacularly and the drivers were killed in the previous few years. Rindt was terrified of this happening to him and in the event of a crash he wanted to get out ASAP. To make the process of getting out the car quicker he removed the crotch straps from his safety belt system.

This was a terrible error. When he crashed at Monza his body slid down the cockpit on impact. The main buckle of the remaining belts slit his throat. If the crotch straps has been present he may well have survived.

But, the impact should never have been as severe as it was. Had he hit the wall and it remained intact he may have been okay. But due to the poor fitting of the wall the part he hit separated slightly and the front of Rindt's car hit a stanchion.

The stanchion had no give in it at all causing the massive damage to the car and the reason why Rindt slid down the cockpit.

Rindt died but as always the show went on. Jacky Ickx couldn't earn enough points in the final races to overhaul Rindt's lead and Rindt became the sports first, and so far only, posthumous champion. Jacky Ickx said later he was happy that he didn't overhaul Rindt because he wouldn't of felt happy about it.

Jackie Stewart later revealed that Rindt was going to retire at the end of the season, if he won the title. Sadly Rindt never had the chance to retire and to spend the time with his wife he so missed when racing.  

Stewart summed up Rindt and Jochen's life in motor racing

"Jochen loved the sport, but he wasn't in love with it".

Jochen Rindt was a champion driver and had he not been killed and had he continued, which is doubtful, he would of gone on to win more titles. He doesn't get recognised as much as he should. He enjoyed the sport and was an excellent sportsmen. 

But, he knew there was, and is, more important things in life than sport.

Jochen Rindt

RIP     

Monza is well known around the world and is one of the favourite tracks of many on the F1 circuit. It's a track well known for high speed, slip streaming and overtaking.

Over the years, there has been many good races including one of my personal favourites, the 1998 Italian Grand Prix. But there have been many other classics there, such as the 1971 race, the 1988 race and the 1999 race to name a few.

However, like many fast circuits, it is a dangerous circuit and death; sadly, it has never been to far away from the Italian track. Ascari, Von Trips and Rindt all sadly lost their lives at the track.

In 2000, a marshall by the name of Paolo Ghislimberti was killed as a result of a wheel flying of a car and striking him during a severe first lap crash. Despite all of the safety equipment, as the 2000 accident proves, Monza is still dangerous.

One of the other men who died because of an accident at the Italian track is Ronnie Peterson—a driver, who like Cevert (who I did an article about earlier) was, in my view, is one of the greatest drivers not to win the title. I also believe he would (despite being 34 at the end) of been a world champion if his life was not cut short.

Peterson's story is one of tragedy, bad luck and a lack of preparation.

Ronnie Peterson still had the chance to be the world champion as they headed in the final two races of the 1978 season. It looked doubtful he would win, with his teammate Mario Andretti 12 points clear, but it was still a possibility and as has been demonstrated so well this year, anything is possible

Ronnie drove for three teams during his career. He spent a lot of time at the March team, spent a season at Tyrrell, as well as driving for the legendary Lotus team. Peterson began his career driving a privateer March during the 1970 season and even in those early days, there were clear signs of his ability.

He was driving an old March 701 but he still managed to out-qualify and out-race people who would much more current equipment. Also, when you consider he very rarely got to test due to financial constraints, his efforts are even more impressive.

He was unable to score a point in the 1970 season but was a consistent top ten runner.

Heading into 1971, his talent was clearly noted and the full works March team took him on as one of their drivers. Peterson showed what he could do and earned himself second in the drivers’ championship, albeit, a long way behind Jackie Stewart in the all-conquering Tyrrell.

During the season, he earned himself four second place finishes as well as a third in the USA. Sadly, that first win did just stay out of reach. 

In 1972, Peterson was hamstrung by a terrible car with the March 721, being a step backwards it seemed from the March 711 of the previous season. Despite being stuck in a poor car, he did manage to secure some points with a highest position of fourth in the USA but also scored three other in Argentina, South Africa and France.

Rather unsurprisingly, Ronnie secured a drive elsewhere and was in the Lotus team for 1973. 1973 was a watershed for Peterson, with him earning four race victories in France, Austria, Italy and America.

In what was a very tight season, Peterson was sadly let down by mechanical problems and without those, I suspect at worst he would of been runner-up and may of even fought Stewart for the title.

But with these problems, Peterson had to settle for third in the championship. On a positive note, Lotus did win the constructors title.

1974 should of been a fantastic year for Lotus but their new Lotus 76 was ahead of its time and there was some problems with it. There was so many problems with it, they reverted back to the old 72 after the Spanish Grand Prix.

Once the 76 was scrapped, Peterson managed to put together a much more serious title bid but the damage done by the issues with the 76; it made it impossible for Peterson to catch up.

Once back in the 72, Peterson earned another three victories during 1974 but fourth was the best that Peterson could produce. Considering the problems he had with cars in 1974, fourth was a very good effort.

1975 was a disaster. The 72 was now very out of date and with the 76 being scrapped—there was nothing that could be done. The 1970 season saw the debut of the 72, so Peterson was driving a five year old car; he was driving an antique. Peterson could only score two points finishes during the 1975 season.

Once more, he had to look for somewhere else for a competitive machine.

In 1976, he drove the first race of the season for Lotus before moving back to March. Once again, there was car issues—he suffered very bad reliability issues.

During the season, he had only six finishes out of 16 races. Peterson also made the mistake of over-driving in an attempt to try and get more out of the car and that lead him to having a few accidents.

At the 1976 Italian Grand Prix, his aggressive driving paid off and he earned himself a race victory, but yet again, Peterson had to look for somewhere else to provide a car that was quick and reliable.

Peterson went to Tyrrell for 1977 and he got to drive the legendary 6 wheeled P34. The P34 though was wider and crucially much heavier.

The biggest problem, however, were the tires: Goodyear had stopped developing the small front tyres and the car had less front grip than most other cars in the field. Peterson secured a podium but both him and Depailler struggled with the car and neither could do much.

In 1978, he made a surprise return to Lotus and for once, it looked like he had the car to match his talent. Peterson and his teammate Andretti were the class of the field and dominated the season. Peterson only managed two wins but four second places and other points finishes left him still in the title race heading to Monza with the Canadian and American races to go.

The 1978 Italian Grand Prix incident summed up the problems with Formula 1 in this era: The drivers were seen as expendable.

If someone died in Formula 1 in the 2011 season, I would expect a mass public outcry and inquest to the crash.

Back then, however, death was common and a lot of people seemed not to care. This is what happened.

As the parade lap ended, the cars at the front of the grid stopped and took their positions and waited for the rest of the grid to line up. For reasons unknown, the starter pressed the button putting on the green light whilst the middle of the grid was still lining up.

Due to this, the middle of the field got a jump on the cars at the front and things became very crowded at the front.

The straight at Monza narrowed as well at the approach to the chicane acting like a funnell. This caused the already crowded leading pack to become even more bunched.

What happened next is unclear but Hunt struck Peterson, sending him into the wall and a melee ensued. Several cars were involved and a red flag was put out.

Peterson's car was on fire and he was trapped inside. Hunt and other drivers pulled Peterson out of his car and it was clear Peterson had severe damage to his legs. Incredibly, it took 20 minutes for Professor Sid Watkins to get on the track.

The Italian marshalls made a wall preventing people from him getting onto the track. It was a horrific mistake.

Not only was Peterson in trouble but Brambilla got struck in the head by a flying wheel, knocking him out cold. Both drivers when medical help did finally get to both drivers they were both sent to hospital but Brambilla was the main concern.

Once Peterson got to hospital an X-ray was taken with seven fractures found, in one leg and three in the other. The fractures were operated on and Peterson's legs were made more stable.

During the night, Peterson's wife Barbro got a phone call from an unknown person saying that they were trying to kill Ronnie. To this date, the person who called remains a mystery.

During the night, Peterson was showing signs that something was gravely wrong. All of his vital medical signs were becoming much worse. Whilst the fractures in his legs were being fixed, bone marrow got into his bloodstream. Fat globules started to form on Peterson's on all of his major organs.

By Monday morning, Peterson was in full renal failure. In the morning, a brain scan was taken to measure brain activity—there was none.

Peterson was brain dead and not long later, the other organ systems failed and he died.

Had medical help been able to get to Peterson quicker when he was on the track like it should, Ronnie would of survived.

Ricardo Patrese was blamed for this accident by some people including James Hunt, which led to Hunt whilst commentating for the BBC being less then pleasant towards Patrese. The common viewpoint is that it was just a racing incident.

Ronnie Peterson was a huge loss to the world of Formula 1. Peterson's wife, Barbro, couldn't face life without Ronnie and she committed suicide in 1987.

Peterson was liked by all: His aggressive driving style made him popular with the fans and his attitude in the paddock made him a popular man there. He, by all accounts, was a nice guy with an amazing gift.

RIP

Ronnie Peterson 

The concern over next weekends race in South Korea is still mainly focused on the asphalt and any issues it may have as it was recently laid. The fear of asphalt coming up, oil seeping from it’s curing surface or grooves is still very present in the mind of many drivers.

Those are all good concerns and as FIA’s Charlie Whiting has examined the circuit and given his approval, it seems that perhaps those fears could be over stated. What if they’re not?

Lotus Racing’s Mike Gascoyne takes a very practical look at the issue:

“The big unknowns are what downforce levels to run, and how the track surface will stand up to the rigours of a full race weekend. We will find the right setup over the weekend, and any track issues are out of our control – it has been passed by the FIA so we will just go there and do our best. If there are any problems, it will be the same for everyone, so we cannot waste time worrying about what might happen”

Ultimately the issues the teams could face will be the same for everyone and the series will march forward to do its best to complete a grand prix there next week.

Many of you know that the teams utilize a simulator for training and car development and true to form, they have created the Korean circuit so the drivers can learn the layout. How effective is that type of preparation? Some drivers don’t feel it’s the most germane to their preparation and some veteran drivers, like Jarno Trulli, prefer the tried and true method of walking the circuit:

“Korea looks pretty good – Some drivers use simulators or even games to take a look at the lines, but I usually find my way around a new venue by running a few laps of the track on the Thursday. It’s a good way to work out the stresses of the plane journey, and you get a view of where the braking and turn-in points are. Whatever happens, after a couple of laps I’ll know my way around and where I can push, so it doesn’t take long to acclimatise.”

His teammate Heikki Kovalainen doesn’t think learning the circuit will be too difficult as it is a pedestrian circuit of Tilke lore:

“I’m looking forward to Korea. It’s new for all of us, and while I’ve had a bit of a look at the layout, the first couple of laps will be all about finding the right lines, and then we will focus on setups. To be honest, it won’t take long to get to grips with the track and I think the car will be ok there. It’s a pretty typical modern circuit – a couple of long straights with heavy braking at the end, and then a mix of a few tighter corners and a couple more quicker ones, so we should be about where we were in Japan. If I get another set of tyres like my second set in Suzuka it’ll be great, but whatever happens, we’re closer to tenth in the Championship now, and that’s what it’s all about.”

The big moment for Lotus Racing will be securing the 10th position in the manufacturer’s championship and you have to admit, that is a great job for a new team. I have not seen any concession from Sir Richard Branson as to when he will pull on an Air Asia flight attendant uniform and serve drinks to pay the debt for the wager he made at the beginning of this season but I am looking forward to it.