Oh joy! Oh rapture! The merciless winter is over and the grand Formula 1 season has begun. It’s been a while, too long, in fact so long three new teams have sprung as if from nowhere and our favourite underdogs Jordan and Minardi are mere memories. Such is the change at the rear end of the grid I have been almost too busy to care about the front runners. Who are these new teams? Where did they come from? Who do I love secretly now that Minardi are gone?
Well folks… if you want to go for the complete down and out, don’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell renegades, Super Aguri are the team for you! Currently running on a four year old chassis, with little to no experience throughout and two questionable drivers, Super Aguri originated from a heavy amount of Japanese F1 fans spitting the dummy over Takuma Sato’s ousting from B.A.R Honda. Enter Aguri Suzuki and his idea for an all Japanese team powered by a Japanese engine… Also he had a great deal of money, which tends to be a benefit when you’re trying to break into a sport where buying a steering wheel requires an unholy amount of cash, never mind the rest of the car. Bahrain saw the first outing of Super Aguri. It also saw the first pit stop which highlighted a few rookie mistakes. Firstly, both cars pitting at the same time is generally considered a bad idea, what with there only being enough space and mechanics for one at a time. A radio error was blamed, so forgiveness is granted. Secondly, if you happen to be the lucky driver who DOES pit, it’s perhaps best not to run over your pit crew. However with all the issues of being a new team, and the slowest to boot, Super Aguri HAVE managed to get a functioning team together in a matter of months and promise a much better car by around mid season. Hiring Sato the human cannonball was perhaps more of a Public relations stunt than good thinking, whilst Yuji Ide will still be adapting himself to Formula One. Though they may be the new Minardi, writing them off so soon may prove to be a mistake. Stranger things have happened.
One team I refuse to get on board with is ‘Midland F1 Racing’ or ‘MF1’. Admittedly this is partly to do with the fact they sound like a radio station rather than a legitimate sporting team. Mainly though they haven’t done anything to wow me so far. They’ve been in the background, not really putting themselves out there, which is an important part of being an underdog. People need to like you before they want you to do well and Midland just don’t seem to care. However, with an entire season ahead they could very well prove me wrong. I hope for the sake of entertainment that they do.
Then we come to the prettiest named team in all of sporting history. Scuderia Toro Rosso, how lovely? It rolls off the tongue with ease… though I do worry about the Italian fans who are sitting at home thinking ‘but there’s already a team named that, what’s going on?’ Now I get to show off and inform you that roughly translated, Toro Rosso means Red Bull. How fun, two red bull teams. It’d be lovely to see them face off in a midfield battle but Toro Rosso should be granted a little time to find their feet first. Also, possibly the greatest thing about Toro Rosso is the name of their second driver. Scott Speed. That’s a race winning name that is! I can’t wait till he eventually proves me right, though granted it would probably be with another team, or in about a decade. Again, stranger things have happened. Remember when Jordan almost won the championship? To put it as intellectually as possible… Who’d have thunk it?
One thing remains clear about this season, whilst the front running teams battle it out to see if the delicious Fernando Alonso can retain his title, the back of the field is certainly going to be an entertaining and possibly surprising added addition to the fun and craziness of the beautiful sport of Formula 1 racing. I personally look forward to seeing what happens, because right now swearing any of them off doing something of interest this year would be a foolish mistake.
LK
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