Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Will a Canadian be in F1 next year?

As the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was the last of 2009 (it was won by Sebastien Vettel, followed by Mark Webber and World Champion Jenson Button), I made copious notes. From top to bottom, here they are.

– BBC announcer Jonathan Legard noted that only six drivers are confirmed for 2010. With that many seats open, does it mean that Canada’s Robert Wickens will get a look?

Wickens wrapped up second-place in the FIA’s Formula 2 series this weekend by winning pole for both races at Barcelona and finishing third in the second. The dreadful mechanical luck that has plagued him all season continued this weekend when he was forced out of Saturday’s race.

Ever since he won the Formula BMW-USA title three years ago, it has been onward and upward for the young man from Guelph and Toronto who is sponsored by Red Bull. I would not be surprised to see Wickens in Grand Prix racing next year.

– What was Naomi Campbell doing in the Ferrari garage? Wasn’t she Flavio Briatore’s main squeeze at one time? Before he dumped her for Heidi Klume and eventually Elisabetta Gregoraci? Since he’s persona non grata at F1 events these days (it must have just about killed him not to have been at Abu Dhabi), so how come she’s still hanging around?

She must have been with somebody – but who?

(So endeth the social notes.)

– All the McLaren heavyweights were in evidence this weekend – Ron Dennis (his arch enemy, Max Mosley, has been replaced as FIA president by Jean Todt so Ron evidently feels sufficiently comfortable to be back in pit lane) and Daimler AG board chairman Dietre Zetsche, in particular – and so it makes you wonder what’s going on so far as that second McLaren seat is concerned.

Kimi Raikkonen keeps saying he’s either in it or he’s out of F1. But there are suspicions that the powers-that-be would rather see Jenson Button partner Lewis Hamilton next year and so they’re putting the pressure on the Kimster to go to Brawn GP instead.

We should know in a week or so but I still suspect Hamilton would prefer Raikkonen over Button and you can bet that Lewis will definitely have a say in the matter.

– You sometimes have to wonder about the inane chatter heard on occasion between pit and driver, in this case Red Bull and Mark Webber. The BBC tapped into the Red Bull communications link to bring us the following:

"Mark . . . Jenson’s behind you and is lighter on fuel so will likely be trying to pass."

Will likely be trying to pass?

No kidding. I thought this was a car race but after hearing stuff like that I’m not so sure. . .

– There are undoubtedly all sorts of reason why they don’t do it – tradition, rules, what-have-you – but I sometimes wish that F1 (and Indy cars, for that matter) would borrow a page from NASCAR and let a driver eliminated by mechanical failure – or suspected mechanical failure – return to the race after the problem has been fixed.

I adore Grand Prix racing and really enjoy watching the really good guys go at it. It’s not as if they show up at a local track every few weeks, either. You only get to see Sebastien Vettel or Nico Rosberg or Lewis Hamilton once a year, at most, if your country is lucky enough to have a Grand Prix so why not try to have those guys in front of the paying public as long as possible?

Hamilton was called into his garage yesterday on lap 19 of the 55-lap contest because sensors had detected a problem with one of the rear brakes and the team – correctly – didn’t want to see him go into a wall at 200 miles an hour because his brakes failed.

But why not fix the brakes and send him out again? I think he’d be smart enough not to interfere with the leaders and I’m sure the fans on hand would love to see him out there again, at speed, driving like the 2008 world champion he is for a few more laps than the 18 or 19 they got.

Just a thought.

– Okay, I tried – I really tried – to have a totally open mind when it came to Jenson Button and his performance in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, now that he is officially world champion (as Legard and Martin Brundle reminded me just about the whole race).

But give me a break.

Kamui Kobayashi, driving in only his second Formual One race, made Button look like an amateur fairly early on when he forced the champion into making, essentially, a rookie mistake and then, with six laps to go and while driving an obviously (to my eye, anyway) superior car to Mark Webber, he flat out couldn’t get past him.

It was almost classic to hear Brundle prepare everybody for the inevitable pass when Button caught Webber. "Jenson is right on his tail now, he’s in his tow, he’ll get him at the end of the long straight . . . etc.).

When it became obvious with three laps to go that Button wasn’t going to get the job done, the excuses started. "Jenson’s struggling with the turbulence . . .," and so-on.

Jenson Button is a good race car driver. He’s just not great, as some would have us believe.

– Just in case you were on Mars for the weekend and haven’t seen the official results, it was Vettel first, followed by Webber and Button. Then came Rubens Barrichello, Nick Heidfeld, Kobayashi, Jarno Trulli and Sebastien Buemi. Raikkonen finished 12^th; his replacement at Ferrari, Fernando Alonso, was 16th.

– I can hardly wait for 2010, when the fight for the championship between Vettel and Hamilton will have us biting our nails from the first race through to the last.

And we’re going to see a whole lot of new faces in F1 next year. Cross fingers that Robert Wickens is one of them.

Comments

[ultranol]

I believe there's nothing denying drivers to come back to the race after fixing the problem, right?

Back in 2003, when cars had just one lap to qualify, the order in which cars entered the track was determined by the order in which cars finished their previous races, and if they hadn't finished, the number of laps completed was used. Then you could see cars returning to the race after dozens of laps, because no one wanted to go on first on the next qualifying session.

I guess "pleasing fans" is not enough of an incentive for them to do that...

[racingmaniac]

Finally someone shares my view on Button. He was good when the winning car came along and he grabbed it and pull in of those wins, made full use of his car advantage(1.5+ sec a lap advantage). But without it he was decidedly mediocre. In Brazil he drove a gutsy race to secure his title, but if it weren't for his tremendous good luck in several of his poorer races by the bad luck of his rival we probably would have a title showdown in this sunday's relatively boring race.

If I were Hamilton though I'd welcome Button than Kimi. Kimi one way or another is a fast driver, he is just not as motivated. If he shares a good car with Lewis he can probably pull a few good race together. I'd be much less worried about Button's speed. And if Button is as good as Brawn said about feedback, he'll make sure Lewis has a good car.

[dj]

Well Mc D,you don't like JB because it took him ten years to get a WDC,but states show that he was the best on track passer (not pitlane passing) this year, and Koba got his a$$ handed to him on the 1st lap ,when he tried to block , JB banged him out of the way , then Kubic,did a number on him, and the only reason Trulli didn't ram him was , they are on the same team,back to 11th. for Kobe the blocker. As for JB's so called mistake ,JB was on cold tires an a full tank, Koba was on hot tires ,an light on gas,he pitted two laps later. The reason he did not pass Webber is because in F1 aro package you can't run nose to tail (like JV an Shui did in 97), so turn down the sound an watch the race.

[Dreads]

I'm assuming the reason they wouldn't put cars back on the track after mechanical failures also has something to with the rules about how long engines and gearboxes have to last. If a team is trying to preserve those for a race they can be in serious contention for, why risk taking a grid-drop penalty next time round if something else goes wrong?

[ultranol]

Yeah, Dreads is absolutely right. Back then they didn't have this kind of penalty... makes a lot of sense.

[magnaflow]

crazy he didnt even try to drive hard in japan