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GURSS: The Armchair F1 Fan
Written by: Jade Gurss   
03/23/2009
Charlotte, NC
 
As a fan of Formula One, I cannot wait to see how this weekend and the 2009 season develops. It’s always a delicious test of patience leading up to the opening weekend of the season as the loudest and fastest soap opera on earth finally goes on track for real in Australia.

Jenson Button at Albert Park on Wednesday (LAT) ยป More Photos
Leading into the Aussie race, there are many mysteries and questions: are Brawn’s testing speeds for real and could Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello contend for wins from the start? Were McLaren sandbagging or are they really as slow as they were in testing? Are Toyota and Williams as good as the stopwatches say they are? How will the new rules manifest themselves on the racetrack? What points system will be in place to crown the champion? Which teams are using Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) and will it make a difference in performance?

The driver combinations remain almost static from last year, so the great unknown is the massive rewrite of the rulebook, creating what is hoped to be a more even playing field and closer, more competitive racing. If testing times are any indications (and they tend to be concrete proof of nothing), it could be more crowded at the pointy end of the field.

Most fans have a driver or manufacturer to cheer for – and I must admit to a small bias towards McLaren since my days with Ilmor-Mercedes – but what does a fan really want? I believe the fans want great racing with a lot of passing and multiple contenders for the title and race wins.

The 2009 season will have to go a long way to match the dramatic twists of 2008 – from Lewis Hamilton securing the title in the last corner of the last lap of the last race to seeing young Sebastian Vettel get his inaugural pole and race victory with a masterful performance in the rain. It seemed each weekend had at least one dramatic twist or thrilling moment - like Hamilton using pit lane as if it were his own bowling alley at the Canadian Grand Prix or watching Hamilton and Raikkonen duel in the rain at the finish of the Belgian round of the championship. Three different drivers won their first Grand Prix – and it will be interesting to see if those drivers (Kubica, Kovalainen and Vettel) develop into championship contenders.

Sometimes being an F1 fan in North America can be trying at best. The TV airtimes range
from late night to early morning. So, put the DVR into high gear and make sure not to miss a moment even if necessary sleep precludes watching it live. Luckily we have superb coverage from SPEED (a fact I’ve written about elsewhere before becoming a columnist here) to provide a complete look at practice, qualifying and the races.

Sadly, this year is the first without a North American race as the Canadian and US rounds of the championship are no more. Bernie blames it on the teams, the teams blame Bernie and the sponsors fume silently because they want to race in North America. But, no matter who is to blame, for the foreseeable future, if you want to see a race in person it means a flight to another continent, which is a sad sign of the state of the politics of the sport.

So, as a fan, do I have predictions? I’m usually bright enough not to make them, but I’ve always believed the best teams react best to changes in rules, so I’m still expecting a Ferrari vs. McLaren battle for the constructor’s title and Hamilton versus Massa and Raikkonen in the driver’s category. But, wouldn’t it be fun if I’m incorrect and we have surprises galore? Tune in this weekend to see how it all gets started.

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Jade Gurss is the owner of fingerprint, inc., a sports publicity company. He has written two New York Times Best Sellers, including what is believed to be the biggest-selling motorsports book in American publishing history (Driver #8 with Dale Earnhardt Jr.). His two decades of publicity and marketing experience involves nearly every category of motorsports, including nine innovative seasons as NASCAR publicist for the Budweiser brand and Earnhardt Jr. His blog can be seen at: http://fingerprint.typepad.com




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