Eddie Irvine in action during the Austrian GP (picture Jaguar Media - Tom Shaw/Getty Images )

Hello to all JCNA members! At the request of the webmaster you now have a new JCNA Formula One "correspondent". I'm the lucky guy who gets to report on the World's top form of motorsport. So you can throw away those sleeping pills as we take a look at the 2002 edition of the "Ferrari parade".

Actually, this weekend's race was more exciting than usual, but for all the wrong reasons. I was ready for action early on Sunday morning with my pillow and a pair of toothpicks for my eyes. The day before we were actually treated to a front row that was NOT all red. Herr Schumacher the Great had problems with his car (he actually spun!) and had to jump in the spare. He ended up slotting in third between the two Williams drivers. Of course, his distant-second teammate Barrichello took the pole. It looked like the start might actually be exciting.

Both Ralf and Juan Pablo had "average" starts (is there anything more exciting in motorsport than a standing start?!), we were therefore treated to the sight of the two Ferraris in front on lap 1. Break out the pillows! My friend Jacques Villeneuve created some excitement by "punting" Frentzen off the course on lap 1. Was it his fault? Put it this way: if Jacques hadn't collected Frentzen's Arrows on the way through that corner he may have continued on until the next time zone.

Anyway, we then got a glimpse of what is really going on in Formula One this year. Michael Schumacher is a smart guy. He knows that even if your car is way better than everybody else's car you should never rub it in too much. Generally speaking, when leading a race, the rule is to pull out a respectable lead but try not to devastate the opposition. Bad for the image. However, here we had Barrichello leading the race with Michael chasing him. Obviously Mr. Barrichello wanted to put on a bit of a show, so he pushed things pretty hard. The result, not surprisingly, was a lead increasing by nearly TWO SECONDS a lap over the "next best" cars (Williams). One gets the impression that the Ferrari drivers could stop for lunch and a little nap before returning to win the race.

Mild excitement as we saw the safety car appear twice. Once for the BAR of Panis who left his sick race car in the middle of the track following a rather catastrophic engine failure which locked up his rear axle at about 170 mph. The second time for a much more serious incident: Heidfeld in the Sauber lost it big time under braking for a corner when his front left carbon fiber disc disintegrated and ended up reverse T-boning an unsuspecting Sato in the Jordan. Poor guy never knew what hit him. The impact was tremendous and even pierced a hole in Sato's tub, effectively trapping him in the car. Heidfeld walked away from his smashed car and I'm pretty sure I saw Sato wave his arms to indicate he was OK. But as time dragged on it became evident things were not going well for Mr. Sato. It took marshals a long time to cut him out of the wreckage. Then the medical crews laid him down on a stretcher and it appeared as though one of the paramedics was pumping his chest, presumably to keep his heart going. Then we were treated to the worst sight in F1, the dreaded wall of bedsheets. Usually these are held up to block the camera's view of a grisly scene. Not a good sign! Mr. Sato was transported by ambulance and helicopter and apparently is just fine. Nobody has been able to explain to me why it appeared that the paramedics were pumping his chest. It sure freaked out Eddie Jordan and the rest of the team.

Eddie Irvine driving the R3 during pratice on the very scenic A1 Ring (picture Jaguar Media - Mark Thompson/Getty Images )

So we get to watch the Ferrari parade all the way to the end of the race. I was watching the French coverage of the race and I heard one commentator say "I guarantee you Ferrari will not order Barrichello to move over and let Schumacher win". What a dreamer! What the commentator failed to remember is that Ferrari IS Michael Schumacher. The whole team revolves around HIM. The TV coverage picked up an image (with two laps to go) of Ferrari team manager Jean Todt handing a little note to Ross Brawn in the pit lane. Wouldn't you like to see what it said on that note?! Right on cue, the hapless Barrichello, who had driven a superb race from pole, moved over and let Michael take the win. I don't care what the Ferrari fans say, that move was pure garbage and an insult to the sport. Schumacher's best efforts to calm the booing crowd by letting his teammate stand on the top step and handing him over the 1st place trophy felt short. It actually angered FIA officials who summoned the team manager and drivers to a special meeting next month to discuss the situation. Even though the FIA has not condemned team orders in the past, and let's not forget that even the great Fangio won one of his 5 World Titles after his teammate handed him his own car so that he could finish the title deciding race, it can sanction any action or behavior which cast a negative light on the sport.

For me, the man of the race was Jacques Villeneuve. He drove superbly, overcame a stop-go penalty, got up as high as third, pulled off some fantastic passing maneuvers, and ended up blowing his engine on the last lap. This guy deserves better than his BAR Honda team, now the only team on the grid not to have scored a championship point so far after 6 races !

Hey! I forgot to mention Jaguar! They "managed" to qualify 19th and 20th, only the lowly Minardis were slower than them. In the race, neither driver did anything noteworthy. De La Rosa retired early and Irvine half way through with throttle problems and hydraulic problems respectfully. Embarrassing, to say the least. I've got some advice for Mr. Ford, and he's not going to like it: either do the job right or get out of the sport!

Daniel Thompson

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About the author - Daniel Thompson is president of the Ottawa Jaguar Club and past president of the Jaguar Owner’s Association – Montreal. He is JCNA Communications Chair, Regional Director for the Northeast and JCNA Vice President. He owns a 1958 MkIX, a 1968 E-type, a 2002 X-type and two Healeys.

Posted: 5/15/2002

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