Martin Brundle, David Coulthard, 2011

Between them they started over 400 Grands Prix and caused an enormous crash at the start of the Australian Grand Prix 15 years ago.

Now Martin Brundle and David Coulthard will be talking to 50 million English-speaking F1 fans every race weekend as they take over commentary duties at the BBC.

Speaking to F1 Fanatic at the BBC Television Centre in London Brundle said: “I think we’ve just scratched the surface of David’s understanding and knowledge and eloquence around F1. I’m looking forward to hearing it as much as sharing it.

“I’m not going to suddenly pretend I suddenly don’t know anything about Formula 1 any more. I’ll do the shouty bit but we’ll debate things, we’ll disagree on things, we’ll tell the story, hopefully, in an informative and entertaining way, and I’m really motivated by it.”

Sure enough, the two have very different views on what’s going to be the big talking point of the year.

“The tyres are the same for everybody”

Brundle expects the switch to Pirelli tyres to play the biggest role in determining car performance but Coulthard sees it differently:

“The way I see it is the tyres are the same for everybody. They’ve got two choices of tyre, Pirelli will obviously have designed those tyres based around the cars they’ve had available to them for testing. They’ve had an old Toyota Formula 1 car and some GP2 cars for testing.

“But what they deliver to the race track will be the same for everyone. A good car will exploit the potential of that tyre, whether it’s a Pirelli or a Bridgestone. There’s no question that certain cars have a particularly characteristic movement and they interact with suspension or geometries of individual cars.”

Coulthard expects the rear wings to play a major role this year:

Button and Hamilton mark Coulthard's final F1 race in 2008

“What I think is going to be a bigger influence is how efficient people make their slot gap openers. How predictable that is for the driver, the variation in how the airflow re-attached. That will come down to research in the wind-tunnel, things like that.

“I don’t see the tyres as being the biggest deciding factor between the teams because they’re all the same. How those cars interact with the tyres will be different. But, presuming they’ve all got their models working well, it will be the other gizmos and gadgets that make a difference: downforce, drag and so on.”

Although there have been suggestions the Pirelli tyres will degrade extremely quickly, forcing drivers to make up to four pit stops, Coulthard doesn’t see that happening:

“Of course there will be degradation on the tyres and Pirelli are very hopeful about trying to create a drop-off. And I think that’s a good thing.

“We saw it at Canada with the Bridgestones, we all were supportive of having tyres with a bigger variation. Then the driver has to commit to how does he handle the degradation and everything.

“But it remains to be seen whether these are just tyres that are falling to pieces – which I would be surprised about – versus tyres that the actual properties change as the tyre wears and it loses grip.”

Coulthard doesn’t foresee any difficulty explaining the new Drag Reduction System – which can only be activated at certain times on certain parts of the circuit – to viewers:

“They’re not complicated. They might be to people who are not involved in Formula 1 for 20 years or whatever I’ve been.

“I’ve been involved in Formula 1 for 18 years now test driving and racing, and it makes it pretty logical to me what’s going to be interesting is using all of the tools the BBC use to explain it to the public in a way that they get it straight away.”

Rear wings worth ’70 or 80 horsepower’

Massa activates Ferrari's Drag Reduction System

Brundle adds that he expects the wings will provide a significant performance boost:

“The FIA haven’t finalised exactly when you’ll be able to open the slot gap in your rear wing and how long for. I think they’ll fine-tune that depending on how many straights there are on a race track and how long those straights are. There’s a fudge factor that’s going into this.

“But, fundamentally, you open the slot gap by 40mm and you’re going to go faster. I’m told by a couple of F1 people who should know that it’s the equivalent of 70 or 80 horsepower which is the power of a little mini shopping car or something.

“I just hope it doesn’t end up being artificial, and being a slam dun for the driver behind.”

But unlike Coulthard, Brundle doesn’t believe the wings will be the big talking point of the year: “I think it’s all going to be completely overridden by the Pirelli tyres.”

“I’ve done my apprenticeship”

And he’s not much moved by concerns that BBC’s commentary team will suffer for having two former racing drivers without a journalist: “Was Murray Walker a journalist? A classically-trained journalist? I don’t think so.”

He adds: “I’ve had 14 years now as a commentator. I’ve been talking into cameras for 35 years as a racing driver. So I think I know a lot about Formula 1 and I now know a lot about broadcasting.

“I think I’ve done my apprenticeship. I also write 60,000 words a year as a journalist. I can write a mean column if I want to.

“Our job is to explain what’s going on in a highly complex, fast-moving sport to well north of 50 million English-speaking people around the world. I feel very well qualified to do that.”

Brundle believes this year’s races will be “harder to keep hold of” than they were last season:

“Which is a good thing because last year’s they’d get off the line, you knew they were going to stop once, and it was quite easy to predict the race thereafter.”

This year he expects “a little bit of unpredictability. I think it’s going to be very exciting.”

2011 F1 season

• How well do you remember the 2011 F1 season? Take the F1 Fanatic quiz
• The 2011 F1 season: The complete F1 Fanatic review
• Your 2011 F1 predictions revisited
• Barrichello tipped to stay at Williams
• 2011 F1 statistics part 3: Stats and facts highlights
• 2011 F1 statistics part two: Vettel's domination
• 2011 F1 statistics part one: car performance
• New 2011 rules produced best racing of last four years
• What F1 Fanatics really thought of the 2011 season
• F1 Fanatic's top guest articles of 2011

Images © F1 Fanatic, Red Bull/GEPA, Ferrari spa

Sebastian Vettel interviewed by the BBC's Martin Brundle with Jake Humphrey and David Coulthard

The BBC will pair two ex-Formula 1 drivers in the commentary booth in 2011 after replacing Jonathan Legard as lead commentator.

A BBC source confirmed to F1 Fanatic that Martin Brundle will take over Legard’s role and David Coulthard will join him there.

An official announcement from the BBC is expected soon.

Legard sent the following Tweet:

Life moves on. Ask Nick Heidfeld or Narain Karthikeyan. You never know what’s next. To the critical and the complimentary, thanks for the company.
Jonathan Legard

Brundle and Legard have commentated together since the BBC resumed its F1 broadcasts in 2009.

Update: BBC have officially announced the change. Their head of F1 Ben Gallop said they wanted to use the ‘combined expertise’ of two racing drivers:

We’re always looking for ways to take our Formula 1 coverage to another level – and for 2011 we have an exciting new combination in the commentary box.

We’re keen to make the most of Martin Brundle’s wealth of broadcasting experience and his popularity with the audience by giving him the role of lead commentator and putting him alongside David Coulthard – one of the biggest names in British motorsport and a skilled race analyst.

We want to tap into their combined on-track expertise – together, they will provide our viewers with more immediate discussion, analysis and debate as the action happens. The results of screen tests have been very impressive and we are convinced this combination will deliver a fantastic commentary for our audience for what promises to be a thrilling 2011 season.

The change of direction we are taking unfortunately means there is no place for Jonathan Legard in our commentary set-up. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Jonathan for his great work over the last two seasons. He is a first-rate journalist and broadcaster who has been a core member of our team – helping to re-establish BBC Sport as the nation’s F1 broadcaster. We wish him all the very best for the future.
Ben Gallop

Coulthard added:

I’m very excited to be joining forces with Martin in this new role of co-commentator.

F1 is all about challenging yourself and this will be a big challenge for me, but one that I am looking forward to. There is a great team on the BBC F1 show and we’re looking forward to the year ahead and to bringing something new to our loyal viewers.
David Coulthard

And Brundle welcomed his new commentary partner:

I’m absolutely delighted and very motivated that BBC Sport has asked me to become the lead Formula 1 commentator, alongside David Coulthard.

We have been friends, rivals and colleagues for 18 years and, combined, we have driven in more than 400 F1 Grands Prix and attended over 700. I’ve never felt more passionate about Formula 1 and I can’t wait to get started.
Martin Brundle

Image © Red Bull/Getty images

He started 17th on the grid behind fellow ex-F1 driver Ralf Schumacher, who’s in his third year in the German touring car series.

Schumacher finished tenth in the season-opener at the Hockenheimring behind another former F1 driver, Markus Winkelhock, also in an Audi.

McLaren test driver Gary Paffett, the 2005 DTM champion, won from pole position for Mercedes after early leader Martin Tomczyk spun.

Paul di Resta, Force India’s third driver, finished fourth behind Bruno Spengler and Jamie Green as Mercedes drivers filled the top four places.

Hamilton harpooned Raikkonen's Ferrari in the Montreal pits in 2008

Greg - better known as Ned Flanders in the comments – makes his debut as an F1 Fanatic guest writer by picking ten of the oddest causes of driver retirements.

Retiring from a motor race is often an unremarkable experience for an F1 driver. Although reliability has improved hugely in recent years, the sight of a smoking car pulling off the track remains a routine one for F1 viewers.

But occasionally a race ending incident occurs which is rather more noteworthy. Some you may be familiar with – Lewis Hamilton’s pit lane exploits, for example- and others you may never have heard of – how about the driver who was soaked by his cockpit fire extinguisher mid race?

This is a collection of the some of the most embarrassing, frustrating and downright bizarre race retirements ever recorded in F1.

Lack of motivation

Damon Hill, 1999 Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka

Damon Hill ended his Grand Prix career in the most ignominious style possible at his final race in Japan in 1999. On lap 22, while running in 17th place, Hill damaged his front wing in a spin and headed to the pits. But instead of waiting for a nose change, he stepped out of the otherwise undamaged car for the final time, despondently claiming ‘there was no point in going on’.

His team boss Eddie Jordan disagreed; the incident sparked a rift between the two which lasted for many years.

The extent of Hill’s disillusion with F1 had been long been apparent. By 1999, Hill was a shadow of the driver who had once challenged the likes of Prost and Schumacher, and while his team mate Heinz Harald Frentzen was challenging for the title Hill seldom progressed beyond the midfield.

At Suzuka, what was left of his already weak motivation finally disappeared. It was an unfortunate end to a remarkable F1 career.

Beached in the pit lane gravel trap

Lewis Hamilton, 2007 Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai

Another McLaren pit gamble didn't work out for Hamilton in 2007

Lewis Hamilton’s first Grand Prix retirement came in the most frustrating and embarrassing circumstances imaginable.

At the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix, while running on threadbare tyres as the team delayed a switch from wet to dry weather rubber, Hamilton’s McLaren understeered at snails pace into a tiny gravel trap in the pit lane entrance. He could have been forgiven for lamenting his luck – it was virtually the only gravel trap on a circuit surrounded by acres of tarmac run off.

After futile attempts first to accelerate out of the gravel and then to gain a push from the marshals, Hamilton conceded defeat and began the short walk of shame back to the McLaren garage. Little did he know that the points he had frittered away in the Shanghai pebbles would eventually cost him the championship.

Read more: 2007 Chinese Grand Prix review: Raikkonen win blows title race open

Crashing in the pits

Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen, 2008 Canadian Grand Prix, Montreal

Hamilton’s pit lane demons came back to haunt him in Canada barely six months later. A safety car period early in the Canadian Grand Prix encouraged most cars to dive into the pits, and from a seven second lead Hamilton found himself staring at the gearboxes of rivals Kimi Räikkönen and Robert Kubica as he headed for the pit lane exit.

With hindsight he would have been better served observing the red light by the pit lane exit. He didn’t, and subsequently cannoned into the back of Räikkönen’s Ferrari, putting both out on the spot. The lost win, and the likely six points he was denied by his ten place grid penalty for the following race in France, almost cost him the title for a second consecutive season.

Read more: Controversy as Lewis Hamilton hits Kimi Räikkönen in pit lane

Stalling while waving to the crowd

Nigel Mansell, 1991 Canadian Grand Prix, Montreal

Nigel Mansell retired from the lead of the 1991 Canadian Grand Prix with less than half a lap to go – of this there is no doubt. What is less clear, however, is what caused his car to stop just a few hundred metres from the flag, gifting victory to his nemesis Nelson Piquet.

Mansell and his team claimed that the gearbox in his Williams had failed coming out of the hairpin for the final time, causing him to stop. What Mansell declined to acknowledge was that he had been seen waving to the Canadian fans in a premature celebration just moments before his car ground to a halt. Cynics suggested he had in fact allowed the revs from his Renault engine to drop too low, causing the engine to stall.

Mansell refuted the criticism, calling his detractors ‘idiotic’ and ‘pathetic’, and blamed the press for the creating rumours. Was Mansell genuinely blameless or was it a desperate attempt to cover his blushes? You decide.

Running over a loose drain

Juan Pablo Montoya, 2005 Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai

A dislodged drain cover was responsible for Juan Pablo Montoya’s exit from the 2005 Chinese Grand Prix. Running slightly wide out of Turn 10, Montoya drove straight over the protruding metal grate, damaging his front right wheel beyond repair. The safety car was dispatched for several laps while marshals attempted to weld the grate shut. The incident effectively handed that year’s constructors’ championship to Renault.

Alarmingly, though, it was not the only time that the drainage had caused chaos at Shanghai. Just four months earlier, Australian V8 Supercar driver Mark Winterbottom came across a similarly dislodged drain cover which sliced through his car and could well have injured him. Thankfully, there have been no such incidents since.

Read more: 2005 Chinese Grand Prix Review

Burnt by the cockpit

Mark Webber, 2004 Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka

'Do I smell barbecue?'

Mark Webber is renowned for coping with tough conditions in an F1 cockpit – recall his performance at Fuji in 2007 despite vomiting in his helmet. But at the 2004 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, Webber was forced surrender to adversity, in this case an overheating cockpit.

The temperature of the driver’s seat inside the Jaguar had intensified throughout the race to the point where it was actually burning Webber. Though his mechanics attempted to cool him by throwing a bucket of water into the seat during a pit stop, the heat soon returned until the luckless Aussie finally decided he could take no more and withdrew. It had nevertheless been a valiant drive that typified Webber’s commitment, though presumably his rear end has never been quite the same.

Trapped nerve

Justin Wilson, 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang

The HANS device, which helps protect drivers from neck injuries in the event of a violent accident, met with some opposition when it was introduced in Formula 1. And with some good reason, as there were a few major problems to iron out as Justin Wilson discovered.

Racing in only his second Grand Prix Wilson was forced to withdraw 41 laps into the race after losing all feeling in his arms.

The injury was eventually attributed to an ill-fitted HANS device, which had been putting so much force on his shoulders that it caused a trapped nerve. Considering that racing in Malaysia is a major physical challenge at the best of times, Wilson did well to survive as many laps as he did

Pit lane crash

David Coulthard, 1995 Australian Grand Prix, Adelaide

David Coulthard’s race-ending accident at the 1995 Australian Grand Prix was not only highly embarrassing but costly. In his final race for Williams, Coulthard was comfortably leading as he entered the pits for his first stop. Yet he did not slow enough for the tight pit lane entrance and understeered on the dusty surface into the pit wall.

After the race, Coulthard desperately tried to pin the blame for the accident onto his Renault engine, claiming he had been ‘driven towards the wall’ by the sudden acceleration of his Williams. But for all his denial’s the bottom line was that DC had thrown away a comfortable win with an amateurish mistake.

He wasn’t the only driver to be caught out by the slippery surface, though. Johnny Herbert abandoned an attempt to get into the pit lane and continued for another lap, while Roberto Moreno backed his Forti into the pit wall not far from where Coulthard crashed.

Crashing on purpose

Nelson Piquet Jnr, 2008 Singapore Grand Prix

Piquet's ability to crash an F1 car was never in doubt

Initially, Nelson Piquet Jnr’s race-ending accident at the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix seemed innocent enough. It appeared to be nothing more than another error by a much-maligned driver who was on his way out of F1. The rumours of the crash being part of a wider race fixing scandal were gradually extinguished, and the incident was soon forgotten.

Only in July of the following year did the shocking truth emerge. Piquet, it transpired, had been ordered by the Renault team management to crash his car in order to give his team mate Fernando Alonso an opportunity to win. Piquet did not dispute this request (undoubtedly influenced by the promise of a contract extension), backing his car into the wall at turn 17 just metres in front of a packed grandstand.

Never before in F1’s six decade history had a driver been forced by his own team to endanger his life (and the lives of spectators and marshals) by crashing intentionally. That the three known conspirators – Piquet Jnr, Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds – are no longer in F1 indicates that the sport is no longer prepared to tolerate such behaviour. However, the inability of the FIA to successfully punish the trio, allied to the suggestion that others had knowledge of the plan (including a certain Ferrari driver), means that it is not inconceivable that similar schemes could be devised in the future.

Spanners jammed under brake pedal

Johnny Herbert, 1998 Italian Grand Prix, Monza 1998

At the 1998 Italian Grand Prix at Monza Johnny Herbert experienced a situation Toyota owners across the world currently live in fear of. His Sauber’s brake pedal jammed as he approached the high speed Lesmo corner, causing his car to slide off into the gravel.

To the millions of fans world wide watching on television the spin appeared simply to be a driving error, yet the hapless Herbert was not to blame. Incredibly, a mechanic had mistakenly left a spanner in the cockpit before the GP, which had worked its way into the footwell and became lodged beneath the brake pedal. Herbert was predictably unimpressed, labelling the mechanic responsible ‘stupid’, and perhaps unsurprisingly he left the team just a few races later

Bonus blunders

It wasn’t easy to whittle this one down to a top ten. Here’s a few more that didn’t make the cut:

Running out of fuel
Jean Alesi, 1997 Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne

Jean Alesi is by no means the only driver to have run out of fuel in an F1 race, but ignoring his team’s instructions to pit for fuel was unprecedented. For several laps, his Benetton team desperately tried to remind the Frenchman that he needed to come back to the pits to refuel, yet he turned a blind eye to the pit boards and ignored all radio messages.

Inevitably, he coasted to a halt with an empty fuel tank on lap 35, leading ITV commentator Murray Walker to suggest that the Benetton mechanics would be ’ab-so-lute-ly furious!’

Michael Schumacher’s safety car woes
Michael Schumacher, 2005 Chinese Grand Prix and 2004 Monaco Grand Prix

What is it with Shanghai and driver retirements? The 2005 Chinese Grand Prix capped arguably the worst season of Michael Schumacher’s career. On lap 23, Schumacher lost control of his car going into turn six and spun his car into the gravel and into retirement. The spin alone was unbefitting of a seven-times world champion; the fact that it had occurred under the safety car made it even more embarrassing.

It wasn’t his day. Less than two hours earlier, while heading to the grid, the German had drifted carelessly into the path of Christijan Albers’ quicker Minardi, causing a sizeable shunt which forced both men to start from the pit lane.

Schumacher’s mediocre run to 12th in his only previous Chinese GP was scarcely more impressive, leading many observers to suggest he had finally come across a bogey circuit. But Schumacher disproved this in some style in 2006, scoring his final win to date at the track.

It wasn’t his only altercation behind the safety car, however – in 2004 he emerged from the Monte-Carlo tunnel having crashed into the wall during a caution period.

Fire extinguisher explosion
Oliver Panis, 2004 British Grand Prix, Silverstone

Toyota’s hopes for success at the 2004 British Grand Prix were dampened quite literally when the fire extinguisher in Olivier Panis’ cockpit suddenly and inexplicably went off, filling the car with foam and blinding the driver.

Fortunately Panis managed to bring the car to a halt in the gravel without making contact with the barriers or another car, but his final race at Silverstone was over.

Over to you

The incidents above represent ten of the most bizarre reasons for retirements I could think of, I’m sure there have been plenty more accidents or mechanical failures that I’m unaware of that have been stranger still.

So this is where you come in. If you know of any other odd retirements worth mentioning, let us know in the comments below.

This is a guest article by Ned Flanders. Want to try your hand at writing a guest article? Got a great idea for a top ten? Get in touch here..

F1 top tens

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• Top ten... Underdog triumphs (Video)
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Jaime Alguersuari is one of many young drivers backed by Red Bull

Toro Rosso has confirmed Sebastien Bourdais will not race for the team at the Hungarian Grand Prix next weekend. Jaime Alguersuari is expected to take over his place.

This sparked a debate here about whether the Spanish 19-year-old is ready for F1 yet. But Red Bull’s policy of getting racers from their young driver scheme into F1 as quickly as possible has turned up at least one diamond so far.

Red Bull’s young driver scheme has racers in several major categories around the world – including Algueruari and Brendon Hartley, who were team mates in British Formula Three last year.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo is Red Bull’s representative in British F3 year. In Formula Two Red Bull is backing Mikhail Aleshin, Mirko Bortolotti and Robert Wickens. Mika Maki (Formula Three Euro Series), Daniel Juncadella (Formula BMW Europe) and Jean Eric Vergne (Formula Renault 2.0 Europe) are also on the company’s books.

No other team monitors as broad a talent pool in the junior categories as Red Bull. But how well does it work for them? These are the drivers Red Bull has promoted to its two F1 teams so far, most of whom enjoyed their backing at junior level (Coulthard, Webber and Bourdais are the exceptions):

David Coulthard – 72 starts (2005-2008)
Christian Klien – 29 (2005-2006)
Vitantonio Liuzzi* – 39 (2005-2007)
Scott Speed – 28 (2006-2007)
Robert Doornbos – 3 (2006)
Mark Webber – 44 (2007-present)
Sebastian Vettel** – 34 (2007-present)
Sebastien Bourdais – 27 (2008-present)
Sebastien Buemi – 9 (2009)
Jaime Alguersuari – ?

*Four for Red Bull and 35 for Toro Rosso
**25 for Toro Rosso and nine for Red Bull

At this stage there’s been more misses than hits. Four of the junior team drivers aren’t racing in F1 any more. Sebastien Buemi is only nine races into his F1 career and it’s too early to make a call on how well he’ll do.

You have to wonder how wise some of their decisions were. The defunct American Red Bull Driver Search – which had the motto “Searching for the future American F1 champion” – wound up after Scott Speed was placed at Toro Rosso for 2006. Unfortunately, he was dropped halfway through 2007.

But the man who replaced him – Sebastian Vettel – has clearly been the young driver programme’s greatest success story.

Other teams seem to try to cherry-pick junior drivers as best they can. Some, like Ferrari and McLaren, rarely look beyond active F1 drivers for their next hires.

Red Bull’s more proactive approach – which we might call ‘panning for gold’ – may look like a more attractive option if it can continue to unearth drivers of Vettel’s ability.

Perhaps that’s why Ferrari took the unusual step of testing three young drivers – including the impressive Bortolotti – at the end of last year?

Read more

• Jaime Alguersuari set to take Bourdais’ place at Toro Rosso in Hungary
• Jaime Alguersuari (Meet the Rookies)
• Ferrari tests 3 Italian racers (Pictures)

McLaren won ten races in 2005, then nothing in 2006

After a pole position and a win in his first two British Grands Prix, Lewis Hamilton goes into this year’s race knowing he’ll be lucky to score points.

At the sharp end of F1, teams come and teams go. But of late no team has oscillated between being championship-challengers and also-rans with the same unpredictability as McLaren.

This decade we’ve seen the decline of Williams, the rise and fall of Renault, and Ferrari generally competitive apart from a blip in 2005. But McLaren have often been racing for wins one year, struggling the next, and then swapping round again. Why can’t one of F1′s best-resourced teams manage better consistency?

A glance at McLaren’s win record in recent seasons illustrates their strange form:

McLaren wins, 2002-2009 (click to enlarge)

In 2004 only an inspired performance by Kimi Raikkonen at Spa – in a heavily revised MP4-19 – prevented McLaren from spending the season winless. That set them up for an excellent 2005 where they won ten times and were in the running for both championships.

The following season the MP4-21 failed to to win a race. Then in 2007 they were competitive again: Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso scored more points in the MP4-22 than any other car managed (but the team’s spygate penalty meant no constructors’ championship).

Last year’s car finally delivered their first title in nine years, but once again things have gone pear-shaped. McLaren have failed to master the new rules for 2009 and so poor are the MP4-24′s aerodynamic properties that the car was slowest of all through the ultra-quick turn eight at Istanbul. That does not bode well for their performance at Silverstone, which has plenty of quick corners.

Designers

Unusually, McLaren rotate the responsibility for producing their cars between two designers. Pat Fry was chief engineer on this year’s car, as he was on the 2007 MP4-22. Tim Goss was the man behind last year’s car.

That has been the case since the last car designed by Adrian Newey – the 2006 MP4-21 – before the superstar designer left to join Red Bull (whose cars have, unsurprisingly, begun to share certain characteristics with past McLarens since then).

Newey famously pursued an ultra-radical design for 2003, the MP4-18, which failed to pass crash tests and never raced. That gestated into the MP4-19 – hich was an unmitigated disaster, at least until they corrected its worst flaws with the MP4-19B. Subsequent McLarens expanded on that concept, often with success, but the massive overhaul of the rules this year forced meant an evolution of previous models was not possible.

Although this explains some of their difficulties, it’s still not a good explanation for why they’ve got it so badly wrong in specific years. With the McLaren Technology Centre they have resources the equal of, and more often better than, every team on the grid. Their car simulation and tyre modelling facilities are especially renowned – and the latter should have been an absolute boon as F1 switched from grooves to slicks over the winter.

Driver line-up

From 1996 to 2001, McLaren enjoyed stability in their driver line-up with the increasingly experienced duo of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard. Since then they’ve not been able to hit that balance of experience and consistency, losing several top drivers to rival teams (Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso) or championships (Juan Pablo Montoya):

2002-2004: David Coulthard, Kimi Raikkonen
2005: Kimi Raikkonen, Juan Pablo Montoya, Pedro de la Rosa, Alexander Wurz
2006: Kimi Raikkonen, Juan Pablo Montoya, Pedro de la Rosa
2007: Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton
2008-2009: Lewis Hamilton, Heikki Kovalainen

Although they seem happy with Hamilton, who has a five-year contract with the team, Kovalainen’s deal only runs to the end of the season, and once again there are rumours that McLaren are looking for a replacement. But as long as their car’s in the doldrums, maintaining consistency in their driver line-up might be a smarter move.

Focus of resources

One explanation for their lack of form this year is that the effort put into ensuring a championship victory last year diverted resources from the 2009 effort. It’s no coincidence that two of the other teams who were concentrating especially hard on development at the end of 2008 – Ferrari and Renault – also started 2009 poorly.

Have McLaren fallen victim to a similar phenomenon on past occasions? Did their championship effort in 2005 detract from their 2006 effort?

If so, we must also ask how they were able to perform so strongly from the beginning of 2008. On that occasion not only had they been preoccupied with the 2007 title fight, but the fall-out from ‘spy-gate’, after which they were forbidden from developing certain components.

Whatever Hamilton thinks the reasons for McLaren’s fluctuating form is, it will likely be much on his mind as he prepares for a drubbing on home ground this weekend.

For McLaren the onus is now on Martin Whitmarsh, following his appointment as Ron Dennis later this year, not only to navigate the team out of this latest slump, but also tackle why it keeps happening, and find long-term solutions to their problems. The question is how.

Read more

• McLaren F1 team information
• Video: Hamilton’s McLaren in hall of fame
• McLaren struggling or sandbagging?
• Ron Dennis at McLaren, 1980-2009
• Lewis Hamilton in publicity storm over ‘McLaren quit’ remarks
• Lewis Hamilton is bigger than McLaren

David Coulthard powers to his first F1 win since Melbourne 2003

David Coulthard won’t be competing in his home Grand Prix this race for the first time in 16 years.

But he still gets to take F1 cars for a spin every now and then. Yesterday he demonstrated a Red Bull show car in Lima, the capital city of Peru. Here’s some pictures and video from the event.

The South American country has never held an F1 race, and since the loss of the Argentine Grand Prix at the end of 1998 the continent has only had one race per year in the form of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Judging from this video footage, it looks like the speed restrictions that get placed on events like this in Britain don’t apply in Peru!

Here’s some photographs from the event on La Marina Avenue in San Miguel district. If you were there and took any pictures or video please share them with us on the F1 Fanatic drop.io.

Update: According to Red Bull:

More than 100,000 people watched David Coulthard tear down the streets of the Peruvian capital at the weekend – and some locals even stormed the run to race him in a minibus.

The 1.2km run took place in downtown Lima along the Avenue de La Marina and got the official seal of approval when the Peruvian president asked for the car to be parked with the royal guards outside his palace.

As well as the normal run, David visited the local Inca market, was pictured on the front cover of the largest news paper in Peru, quizzed by journalists and drove round the city in a public minibus.

…and half way through Saturday’s run, David was challenged by two men in a very similar minibus to see if he wanted a race. Never one to resist a challenge, David took them on – and won by some way after the minibus’ engine overheated.

Following his final run, Coulthard greeted the public waving the Peruvian flag. Then, right after he finished DC took off his suit to reveal a T-shirt which read ¨Yo Amo Perú¨, or I Love Perú. Thousands of Peruvians cheered and then yelled back: ¨David, Peru te ama¨.

They loved him – and the showcar spectacle – too.

More F1 pictures

Images (C) Getty Images/Red Bull

Brawn's Melbourne rout brought back McLaren memories

A new season, a new generation of Formula 1 cars, and a routing of the opposition. This year’s Australian Grand Prix had much in common with the 1998 race. F1 Fanatic guest writer Andrew Tsvyk tells the story.

During the presentation of McLaren’s newest Formula 1 challenger on January 16th, Ron Dennis announced his retirement from the team. This was not entirely a surprise for the F1 community, as rumours of Dennis quitting had been in the air for a year or so. Lewis Hamilton’s championship success gave Dennis a wonderful opportunity to end his F1 career on a high and he took it.

During his ultra-successful McLaren tenure career, which spanned almost three decades, Dennis tasted great success and bitter acrimony. The 1998 Australian Grand Prix mixed both.

Back on top

1998 was the year McLaren returned to their winning ways. The seeds of the team’s recovery after three winless season were sown when Dennis succeeded in tempting Mercedes-Benz away from Sauber, and Adrian Newey away from Williams.

McLaren-Mercedes got their third season together off to a winning start as David Coulthard produced arguably the biggest sensation of 1997 by winning the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. The West-sponsored McLarens won two more races that season, signalling that the outfit from Woking was heading in the right direction.

Things improved for the silver arrows the following year, as Newey built the blindingly fast MP4/13, adapting it perfectly to the sweeping rule changes (such as the reduction of the car’s width and the introduction of grooved tyres). Newey’s creation dominated pre-season testing. McLaren’s performance of the curtain-raising Australian Grand Prix left few people surprised. Nevertheless, the race itself was far from trouble-free for the team.

Qualifying produced the widely expected all-McLaren front row, with Mika Hakkinen ahead of David Coulthard by 0.043s, while third place went to Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari. After a disgraceful defeat in Jerez, Schumacher was hoping that his team had finally beaten a car to rival Williams. However, with Renault ceasing engine supply at the end of 1997, Williams were no longer the leaders.

Easy one-two

When the red lights went off the McLaren drivers had a strong get away and were able to keep their positions. Schumacher stayed third, made a bid to pass Coulthard when the McLaren clipped the grass exiting turn two but fell back.

Hakkinen completed the opening lap 1.5s ahead of Coulthard, with Schumacher and Villeneuve 2.8 and 4.2 sec adrift respectively. In the laps that followed the running order remained unchanged, while the gap to the McLaren drivers kept growing. It seemed that only Schumacher could threaten them, but on lap five his race came to a premature end as a result of engine failure.

Schumacher’s demise left McLaren in the league of their own as Villeneuve, the best of the chasers, fell back at a rate of up to three seconds per lap. It was clear that, unless mechanical problems intervened, only the McLaren drivers would have a chance to dispute the victory.

The phantom pit stop

Coulthard never really troubled Hakkinen despite the small gap between them. But in a sudden twist on lap 36 the order was swapped, with Coulthard hitting the front. The most peculiar thing was that Coulthard inherited the lead when Hakkinen inexplicably turned into the pits and drove past the McLaren garage where nobody was waiting for him. It transpired the race leader had misunderstood his engineer warning him about upcoming traffic. Hakkinen was known to have had hearing difficulties since his live-threatening crash at Adelaide in 1995.

Hakkinen’s excursion down the pit-lane cost his around thirty seconds. But even after having lost so much time he was able to rejoin the race in second position – such was the advantage that the McLaren drivers were enjoying over the opposition on that day. After a few laps he began to catch Coulthard.

The new leader did little to hold Hakkinen back. He was informed by the team that a mistake had occurred and that it was up to him to correct it. Being a true gentleman as well as a team player he let Hakkinen through with fewer than three laps to go.

So what made Coulthard relinquish the lead of the race? The answer to this question became available only after the end of the Grand Prix. Arriving in Melbourne Dennis was aware that his drivers had the fastest car in the field at their disposal. However, unreliability threatened to be the MP4-13’s Achilles’ heel and Dennis decided to intervene.

He asked his drivers not to push each other to the limit, urging them to decide the outcome of the race off the track. The two agreed, reaching a consensus that the one to arrive at turn one first would clinch the victory. Having started from pole-position, Hakkinen won the sprint to the first bend. Ironically, had it been not for the Finn’s mistake, the public would not have known anything about the drivers’ pre-race agreement.

Hakkinen’s victory proved his first step towards the 1998 world championship crown. Coulthard crossed the finishing line in second, with Wiliams’s Heinz-Harald Frentzen third, ahead of Eddie Irvine (Ferrari), Jacques Villenueve (Williams) and Johnny Herbert (Sauber).

Accusations that McLaren consistently favoured Hakkinen over Coulthard persisted until Hakkinen’s retirement at the end of 2001. Perhaps one day, when he has resigned from McLaren for good, Ron Dennis might find some spare time and dedicate it to writing a book about the times he spent at the helm of one of F1’s most successful outfits.

I, and millions of other passionate F1 fans, would be fascinated to read Dennis’s take on how this controversial race came about.

1998 Australian Grand Prix results

1998 F1 season statistics

David Coulthard, who retired from F1 last year, will instead take the role of Red Bull’s third driver and will return to the cockpit if Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel, Sebastien Bourdais or Sebastien Buemi are unable to race.

Red Bull is expected to re-appoint Hartley to the reserve driver role once the opening rounds of the season are complete.

Coulthard is working for the BBC as a pundit this year, so he will already be present at all the races.

Read more: Brendon Hartley gets dual F1 test role

Victory at Melbourne last year got Hamilton's title bid off to a strong start

F1 Fanatic guest writer Journeyer concludes his look at the history of the Australian Grand Prix.

Albert Park in Melbourne is a very different place from Adelaide’s streets.

Where Adelaide had long straights and mostly 90-degree turns, Albert Park has more varied corners. But it still provided plenty of action, as we shall see in the second part of the Australian Grand Prix’s history.

1996: The young rookie was rather lucky; he was about to drive his first F1 race in a front-running team. Just to make things better, he passes his much-touted team mate at the start – to the shock and delight of the crowd!

Yes, Jacques Villeneuve’s debut had much in common with another driver’s 11 years later. Villeneuve nearly won his first race – if it hadn’t been for some typical Villenueve over-exuberance. Even so, Villeneuve would trouble his team mate all year long.

1997: It was a new era for F1 and British TV – BBC was out, and ITV was in. The first race with Murray and Martin in the booth was quite a thriller – with Villeneuve and Eddie Irvine out early, and Michael Schumacher challenging David Coulthard all the way to the flag. Coulthard took the win – McLaren’s first since Senna in Adelaide four years earlier. McLaren’s new silver livery won first time out.

This is the first of a series of videos covering the race in its entirety.

1998: This race had McLaren stamped all over it. It was a race of utter domination for the team.

But what’s this – Coulthard letting Mika Hakkinen through? Yes, it did happen. Inevitably speculation followed that team orders had played a role, but it later emerged the pair had a agreement they had that whoever who got to the first corner first would be the race winner. That was scuppered when Hakkinen came into the pits when he didn’t need to because of a radio fault. To fulfill their agreement, Coulthard let Hakkinen through.

It was the second race in succession where he had let Hakkinen past (the first being Jerez at the end of 1997). Since then, Coulthard never really got to beat Hakkinen consistently until 2001.

1999: This was a race of multiple twists. Hakkinen’s car stalled, which startled Schumacher, causing his car to stall. Hakkinen managed to keep pole, but Schumacher lost his P3 on the grid. Both kept running into problems – Hakkinen with the throttle, Schumacher with his electronics and a puncture. Coulthard too had a hydraulics problem, causing him to drop out.

Enter Eddie Irvine, who duly picked up his first career win, in what would turn out to be the best year of his career.

2000: Here’s Hakkinen’s pole lap from that year. Again, Hakkinen and McLaren were dominant on Saturday. But their cars didn’t last the distance when it mattered. By the end of the weekend, it was Ferrari 16, McLaren 0; Schumacher 10, Hakkinen 0. At long last, there was light at the end of Ferrari’s 21-year tunnel.

2001: This was a sad race. Ralf Schumacher and Villeneuve had a heavy collision, sending debris flying. Tragically, marshal Graham Beveridge was struck by a flying tyre and died from his injuries. The wheel managed to pass through an aperture in the catch fencing which was scarcely any bigger than a tyre, designed to make it easier for marshals to get to the track in an emergency.

It overshadowed a strong win by Michael Schumacher, who, along with second placed man Coulthard and the other directors of the GPDA, pushed hard for increased safety. Fortunately, as of this writing, this has been the last fatality at an F1 race weekend.

WARNING: This video shows a fatal incident; viewer discretion is advised.

2002: This was easily the craziest race of the year. Everyone has a favourite moment – it could be the opening pile-up, or the restart that saw Coulthard go off and Juan Pablo Montoya pass a surprised Michael Schumacher. It could also be Schumacher’s pass to retake the lead, or Montoya’s battle for second against Kimi Raikkonen.

My personal favorite was local hero Mark Webber in the Minardi, finishing fifth in his first Grand Prix by holding back the Toyota of Mika Salo.

2002 Australian Grand Prix

2003: This was the first race where we saw a raft of new rules, seen by many as an attempt by the FIA to curb Ferrari’s dominance. But it was the Michelin tyres on the McLarens and Williams cars that stopped Ferrari – as well as a dangling barge board…

2004: Just when everyone thought they had Ferrari where they wanted them, Ferrari trounced them again. The red team won by a mile, and there was nothing anyone could do about it all season long.

2005: Just like 2003, the FIA instituted another round of rule changes to curb Ferrari’s dominance. And just like 2003, it was the Michelin tyres (this time on the Renaults and McLarens) that ended Ferrari’s dominance. Schumacher collided with countryman Nick Heidfeld, putting both out of the race.

2005 Australian Grand Prix

2006: For once, Australia didn’t host the season opener – they gave that honor to Bahrain after hosting the Commonwealth Games that year.

Not that it made the race any less exciting. With Schumi and Montoya both falling foul of the final turn, it was left to Fernando Alonso to take the win. The last corner also saw something rather more spectacular – a Honda engine failure.

2006 Australian Grand Prix

2007: Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari – how would it work? The first race without Michael Schumacher, the first race with Lewis Hamilton. There were so many storylines in this race. As it turned out, Kimi won easily, with Lewis an excellent third. But then, the other teams had issues with Ferrari’s floor. The controversial part was gone before the next race.

2007 Australian Grand Prix

2008: Last year’s race was a brilliant start to what was to become a brilliant season. Everyone seemed to have some problem or other as the weekend progressed.

Amidst the chaos, though, Hamilton reigned supreme to take his first win of the year. But as we found out, it wasn’t always going to be that easy for him.

2008 Australian Grand Prix

So here we are, just days away from the beginning of the season. The new rules will surely shake up the running order, but who will step up and challenge for the title? This season is set to be an absolutely brilliant one.

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