The Underdog review (bitchy version that never got published circa March 2006)

‘Super Aguri’, what a lovely racing team name. Relevant? No. However that’s likely to be the last you’ll hear of them this year. A little harsh perhaps but equipped with an aging Arrows chassis, some not so first-class Honda power and not much else it’s unlikely this team will even raise the bar high enough to become ‘the new Minardi’ and our favourite underdog. You have to love the runt of the track but I’m afraid Super Aguri are as likely to even start a race as this writer is to pass a few exams this year. No, if you want to support an underdog team this year, make it the brilliantly titled ‘Scuderia Torro Rossa’. Thank heavens for that well placed ‘Scuderia’ on the front or Italian fans may have wondered why there were four drivers racing at the same time for Red Bull. Think about it. Then we have what actually used to be Minardi with the dull new title of ‘Midland racing’. It sounds a tad adventurous… that ‘Mid’ at the start there. Perhaps ‘Second-to-Lastland’ would have been more accurate. Second last only to Torro Rosso, with everyone’s favourite Super Aguri on the sidelines wondering what it’s like to drive an F1 car. Meow. Maybe we should head to the front of the grid for a more positive glance.
Well Ferrari seem to be back, groan, a perfectly good team can suffer all they like in my opinion if it gets Ross Brawn taken down a few pegs. With the very odd addition of Felipe Massa (He came from nowhere that one, or Sauber) perhaps a little breathing space from the podium was all they needed to come back as the all powerful super group everyone so willingly despises. Kind of like Take That. Only kidding! People actually like Take That.
Moving on, Renault return (Can you say ‘We are the champions’?) with a lot of pressure on the cards this year. No-one really thought they’d beat Mclaren in both championships last season, and they did! So much like a once happy soap opera marriage, it’s all very likely to go horribly wrong. Perhaps Alonso’s imminent departure to the dark side will tear the team apart. Perhaps Fisichella will start a brawl in the Rover’s Return, who knows?

LK