ITV Sport's pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz brings you the stories from inside the paddock during the penultimate round of the season in China.
Read on to find out about McLaren's pit wall drinks' service, Ted's tales from a flight home with some of the F1 jet-set and why a whole new meaning was placed on the phrase 'stewards' transparency' in Shanghai.
McLaren
The most dramatic thing to happen on the McLaren pit wall during the race was when Ron Dennis turned drinks waiter.
Finding himself with nothing immediate to take care of and feeling a bit thirsty, the chairman of the McLaren Group got off his perch, crossed the pit lane en route to the cooler at the back of the garage, removed five bottles of water and delivered them to his employees on the pit wall, none of whom had asked for them in the first place.
Apart from that, Lewis Hamilton’s race passed without incident. Indeed, as Frank Skinner once said, the event itself was like watching paint that was already dry in the hope it might dry a bit more.
As for Heikki Kovalainen’s problems, I’m sure he did have an air leak in the engine’s pneumatic system, but it looked for all the world like a brake problem that stopped him.
First was the small pile of carbon dust that came out of the right-front wheel and settled on the pit apron at Heikki’s first stop, not to mention the smoke from the brake on the grid.
Then was the tyre delamination on that wheel. And finally, when he retired, we saw on TV all the mechanics looking over the front of the car, prodding around the right-front.
Ferrari
One reason why Kimi Raikkonen was faster than Felipe Massa was that he chose to run without the anvil-shaped fin on his engine cover.
This device is designed to improve the airflow onto the rear wing and to reduce yaw, ie to stop the rear of the car sliding when cornering.
But it seems this was one of the devices that induced more understeer into the car, and Kimi prefers the rear end sliding, so he found that, along with other set-up changes, the car was much better without the fin.
It may have taken Raikkonen 17 races to perfect the set-up on the car, but it looks like they’ve aced it now.
Who would bet against Kimi out-qualifying and out-racing Massa again in Brazil next week, which would be a bit embarrassing.
Renault
Fernando Alonso and his entourage of wife Rosario, physiotherapist Fabrizio and manager Luis were all on the Air France flight on Sunday night along with a couple of us from ITV.
It was quite a strange experience. Normally we fly direct back to London, so tend to see the same UK-based people on the flight.
This was clearly the other ‘continental’ set, going back to Monaco or Spain, and there was a very different vibe.
Felipe Massa was there, too, along with Jean Todt. All the French and Italian TV crews were generally laughing it up around the cabin, Massa nipping back from first class to chat, Alonso shooting him what might have been envious glances from the fifth row of business class.
In any case, with Alonso seemingly deciding to stay at Renault, the two parties are in the middle of salary negotiations.
Fernando would be well within his rights to ask for the same £20 million a year that Kimi Raikkonen gets, knowing Renault don’t really have an alternative.
Helping to make that point, I enjoyed Fernando’s ‘I can go quicker than the Ferrari’ radio transmission during the opening stages of the race.
It sounded very much like he wanted it to be broadcast as he was nowhere near passing Massa at the time, but it sounded pretty impressive.
Whether faster than Ferrari or not, Renault have made an amazing improvement these last few months. They have fantastic momentum going into 2009.
Honda
Hopefully momentum is something Honda don’t need, as they haven’t got any.
But a special mention for Rubens Barrichello, who had a super weekend, beating Jenson Button by a substantial margin in qualifying and by five places in the race.
He’s too much of a gentleman to say it, but Rubinho must be pretty disgusted at being put through the indignity of having young drivers engage in a shoot-out for his seat over the winter.
He’s beaten Button in the last two races, and I’m going to put a tenner on him doing the same on home ground next weekend.
Next year’s KERS cars are going to be complicated enough to operate without a rookie having to learn everything else about surviving Formula 1 at the same time.
Maybe having the most experienced driver of all time on board would be a worthwhile advantage?
Toro Rosso
Toro Rosso are five points ahead of Red Bull Racing going into Brazil, and on the evidence of China, they look good to keep that lead, which will create a headache worse than that gained following a night on vodka and the company product for a lot of people at Red Bull HQ.
The simple explanation as to how this has come about is that Toro Rosso has the best performing driver in Sebastian Vettel.
He has scored 30 points, as opposed to Mark Webber’s 21, David Coulthard’s eight and Sebastien Bourdais’ four.
The latter was looking good for a point or two in Shanghai before he and Jarno Trulli collided in what was as much a racing incident as the Bourdais/Massa clash the week before, but which attracted no attention from the stewards.
Talking of which, the Shanghai stewards’ office was in a very open and visible location: a ground-floor, glass-walled office next to the paddock/pit lane walkway.
The office had blinds so you couldn’t see in during the day, but as soon as it got dark (about 6pm in Shanghai) it was lit up like a chip shop.
It was interesting to see what they did in there as I passed by of an evening, but it seems they were not so keen on such openness and called a Chinese policeman to remove a cameraman who was attempting to get some shots of stewards in action.
A little heavy-handed, I thought, and it gave new meaning to the idea that the FIA stewards lack transparency in their decision-making.
Ted always welcomes your thoughts and opinions on his paddock notebooks, so if you fancy commenting on any of the points in his latest entry then get in touch via the box below. Some of the best replies will be published.
I'm not surprised at Ron delivering water to his team, he has excellent leadership qualities and realises that looking after individual and team needs is an important part of achieving his task needs i.e. achieving good race results.
Phil Slocombe
Spain
Your conclusion that Seb Vettel is the reason that Torro Rosso are leading Red Bull is a bit simplistic dont you think? Nothing to do with the difference in engine power?
Colin Gray
Sydney Australia
Being a Brit, I've always wanted Jenson to do well but I must admit, of the two, I'd keep Rubens and pair him with a rookie because he has experienced being in a winning team. Jenson has only experienced former winning teams.
Mike Ellison
Ottawa, Canada
Ted, you are spot on in regards to Rubens.
He is not only the most experienced driver in F1, but also a proven race winner, knows the Honda engineers very well and get along with them, understands the car inside out, is reliable, passionate, a great teammate, a true professional, who is also very fit and most importantly "feedback genius," which is imperative for a developing team during a season under lots of new rules and new technologies. Honda will make a huge mistake if they decide to add another variable (other driver) to a complicated season ahead.
Thanks for the article. Someone is thinking clearly in the press.
Pedro
USA
I totally agree with you on Rubens. It'd be pretty insane to take away his drive when he's keeping Jenson Button honest. I'm sure Jenson's seat at Honda is safe, being such an extraordinary driver, but with the Alonso aspect always a (slim) possibility for Honda, who knows? And, if Alonso was to take an offer from Honda, he wouldn't be cheap, and last time I checked, Jenson was one of the 5 highest paid drivers on the grid. I can't imagine Honda forking out two colossal driver salaries when talks of budget caps and cost cutting are the main headlines in F1 news.
Surely it'll be a retaining drivers situation. It has to be.
Brian
Dublin
Thanks Ted for your insights and comment. In 2006 McLaren didn't win a single race in spite of access to the fine skills of Montoya (albeit not for the whole season) and Raikkonen. Enter Alonso backed up by an eager young gun Hamilton in 2007 and the team was instantly winning races and would have won both championships if scandal and Dennis' idealism hadn't got in the way. Alonso's claim that he brought 0.6s to the team doesn't now seem a fanciful claim. Come 2008 with Alonso back in his favourite team Renault, after a slow start getting to grips with a below par car, Alonso is again displaying why he became WC in '05/'06. How do you rate Alonso's contribution to Renault's recent success?
Nick Meikle
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe