| Rivals found Ferrari's weak point It's low season in Formula 1 - it's time for vacation. True, it’s unlikely that anyone will be able to take a full month and a half off between the Brazilian Grand Prix that officially closed the season and the first December tests. For engineers and mechanics, the busiest time is right now - fine-tuning the new chassis. The most responsible work, which is carried out almost at random. Any mistake in the project and the entire next championship will go down the drain. And neither the most powerful computer programs, nor dozens of hours of blowing in a wind tunnel can give a complete answer to how a new car will behave on the track. An example of this is the unsuccessful experiment with the nose cone, which cost Williams dearly. In the middle of the season, the management of the English stable decided to abandon the extravagant new product, and at the end - the author of the concept, the chief aerodynamicist of the Italian team, Antonia Terzi.
Managers have no time to rest either. Even financially prosperous teams will not refuse a couple of sponsors that are not at all superfluous. So financial and commercial directors are trying to take the management of large and not so large companies by storm, and if more substantial prey appears on the horizon, then the heavy artillery comes in - the owners and managers of the teams. So Eddie Jordan makes desperate attempts to save his team. The Irishman even agrees to sell it, just to keep it in Formula 1. He even managed to find several buyers at once. It’s not for nothing that Jordan often visits China. After the success of the first Grand Prix in Shanghai, the Chinese authorities decided that one track in Shanghai would not be enough for such a great country. And in Beijing the idea was born to create our own team with money from large Chinese entrepreneurs.
Jordan, which was left without an engine supplier for the next year after Ford refused to finance the Cosworth company, is not the only one the Chinese were asking the price of. The first to come into their sight was the subsidiary team of Ford itself - Jaguar. But the deal did not take place. And not because of the buyers. For some reason, the Ford bosses did not consider the Chinese worthy saviors of the dying Wild Cat. Jordan may turn out to be more accommodating, although he is also not easy: before a final decision was made in Beijing, Eddie came into contact with the Russian oil giant LUKOIL. And the fate of Jaguar now entirely depends on Red Bull - the only buyer still interested in the fate of the “greens” remains the owner of the company, Dietrich Mateschitz.
However, the off season in Formula 1 this year began much earlier than the last race in Brazil. After the first stages of the championship, it became clear to everyone that Ferrari was head and shoulders above the rest. The completely lulled fans were excited by the news that was born not on the track, but on the sidelines of the FIA. The International Automobile Federation has developed vigorous activity to change the technical regulations of Formula 1, trying to involve teams in this process. But all that officials were able to achieve was the unification of most teams against a common enemy - Ferrari. And while the triumphants deservedly rest on their laurels after a difficult season, the bosses of the nine other teams held a meeting at the London Heathrow Hotel. The “Conspiracy of Nine” was honored by the owner of the commercial rights to F1, Bernie Ecclestone. Only Ferrari representatives were absent.
Data on team budgets recently published by the English weekly Autosport showed Ferrari's rivals the direction of the main attack. So, if the leading teams spent comparable sums on the development and construction of the chassis and engine, the test program of the Scuderia was financed more than generously - $88 million. This is more than the annual budget of Minardi, Jordan, and Jaguar. And the first decision made by a meeting of nine teams was to reduce testing by almost half - to 24 days a year. And in a year, perhaps up to 10. At the same time, the teams agreed not to work simultaneously on more than one circuit. For Ferrari, which has its own test track, this is a significant limitation. But can Italians be forced to submit to a decision they did not vote for?
Having dealt with one enemy, the conspirators moved on to another. Bernie Ecclestone's war against some circuits he disliked led to the fact that next season we might not see either the Silverstone stage or the French Grand Prix. But the teams stood up to protect these legendary races. Having agreed to hold 19 stages in the 2005 championship, the team owners refused to receive additional bonuses for participating in two “extra” races (according to the Agreement of Agreement, the calendar provides for a mandatory 17 stages, and for each additional team receives $5 million from the organizers). Ecclestone had no choice but to accept these conditions. Over to Ferrari. Will Schumacher and Co. continue to rest or strike back? The off season in Formula 1 is over. Dmitry SITNIK |
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