This year’s Formula One world championship is expected to be dominated by three drivers, who will have more than just victory at stake, writes Caroline Reid
It is one of the most glamorous sports in the world, but – not so long ago – Formula One had earned a reputation for being tedious and repetitive. Michael Schumacher dominated the sport for more than a decade, winning 91 races and seven world championships. But, now, there are three drivers, racing for three different teams, with a very real chance of championship victory. If the on-track drama can match that off it, this season could be one of the best in history.
One thing dominated the 2007 season: the rivalry between Spain’s Fernando Alonso and Britain’s Lewis Hamilton at McLaren. It was the stuff of Hollywood movies; clean-cut young rookie Hamilton squaring up against hot-headed double world champion Alonso, both on and off the track, with a sub-plot of industrial espionage and stolen Ferrari designs.
Alonso was expected to take McLaren to their first world title for eight years, but, when he signed for the team, he didn’t know he would be partnering Hamilton, McLaren’s golden boy, who had been groomed for success by team boss Ron Dennis since his teenage years. As the first black driver in F1, Hamilton grabbed the headlines off the track, but he also proved to be lightning fast on it, matching the Spaniard’s pace from the start. Under the glare of a global audience, Alonso started to get rattled. First one, then the other McLaren driver took the upperhand and it seemed nothing could stop the team dominating the season. But then everything started to fall apart, with an incredible plot twist.
A photocopy-shop employee revealed the wife of McLaren’s chief designer, Mike Coughlan, had been seen making copies of a 780-page dossier containing detailed designs of Ferrari’s latest car. Ferrari traced the leak back to Nigel Stepney, the team’s senior mechanic, who was promptly suspended. McLaren claimed Coughlan had been acting on his own and said none of the Ferrari material had been used by the team. The sport’s governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), decided not to penalise McLaren unless evidence could be found that they had used the information from Stepney to their advantage.
However, after the FIA offered an amnesty to team members who could provide further information, Alonso revealed to the organisation that information from Stepney had been used by McLaren. A series of emails between Alonso and the team’s test driver, Pedro de la Rosa, showed them discussing Ferrari weight distributions that had, ultimately, come from Stepney. The FIA fined McLaren an unprecedented US$100million and threw the team out of the constructors’ championship, but allowed Alonso and Hamilton to continue to race for the drivers’ title.
By now, the atmosphere at McLaren was far from cosy. Alonso accused McLaren of favouring Hamilton and the two started to get in each other’s way on the track. The FIA appointed an observer to ensure both drivers were being treated fairly and, at the end of the season, Hamilton and Alonso finished level, with 109 points and four victories each. Even though their rivalry had dominated the season, neither driver won the world championship. That honour went to Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen, who quietly crept up the standings while all eyes were on the battling McLaren pair. The taciturn Finn took a stunning victory in the last race of the season to beat the McLaren pair by a single point.
Now Räikkönen, Hamilton and Alonso go into the 2008 season with a renewed and burning desire to take the drivers’ title. Alonso walked out of McLaren to return to his former team Renault, with whom he won his two world championships, while Hamilton and Räikkönen have stayed put.
Other big names, such as Felipe Massa and Jenson Button, will be trying to add to their victory tallies, while Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica will be fighting to score first victories for themselves and their BMW team.
Hamilton has a new McLaren team-mate in the form of friendly Finn Heikki Kovalainen and all 22 competitors will be looking for a chance to spray the champagne as the Formula One circus zooms from Australia to Brazil, via destinations as diverse as Monte Carlo, Istanbul, Shanghai, Mount Fuji, Kuala Lumpur and, of course, Bahrain.
Add to the mix new races in Singapore and Valencia, the first Indian team, Force India, in the sport and rookies who come with big reputations – such as Nelsinho Piquet and Sebastien Bourdais – and the stage is set for a season every bit as exciting as the last.
F1: THE 2008 SEASON
Australia: 16 Mar, Melbourne
Malaysia: 23 Mar, Sepang Kuala Lumpur
Gulf Air Bahrain: 06 Apr, BIC Manama
Spain: 27 Apr, Barcelona
Turkey: 11 May, Istanbul
Monaco: 25 May, Monte Carlo
Canada: 08 June, Montreal
France: 22 June, Magny-Cours
Britain: 06 July, Silverstone
German: 20 July, Hockenheim
Hungary: 03 Aug, Budapest
Europe: 24 Aug, Valencia
Belgium: 07 Sept, SpaFrancorchamps
Italy: 14 Sept, Monza
Singapore: 28 Sept, Singapore
Japan: 12 Oct, Fuji
China: 19 Oct, Shanghai
Brazil: 02 Nov, Sao Paulo
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