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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML//EN">
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<title>Australian Grand Prix 1997 Race Preview</title>
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<td> </td>
<td><font face="Arial"><strong>Melbourne Grand Prix 1997
- Race Preview</strong></font></td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top"><a href="aboutus.htm"><img
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<tr>
<td bgcolor="#FFFF00"><font size="2" face="Arial"><strong>The
View From Australia</strong></font><p><font
size="2" face="Arial">Australia hosts the best
grand prix in the world - doesn't matter which
city, it is almost always voted the best by most
people involved. However, once the Australian
Grand Prix is over, the public forgets. The
nation has had its weekend in the sun and the
television networks get on with the business of
covering other sports…rugby league, in large
and unmanageable doses.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">Over the weekend
of March 8-9, the local TV network will saturate
us with the beauty of Albert Park,
"Melbourne's Showcase To the
World"(ugh). For the weekend, the only
Ferraris you see will be on the track,
Williams-Renaults will be instantly recognisable
as the dodos who dumped Damon Hill and Benetton
will be the idiots who lost a double world
champion.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">Come March 10,
what's F1? Relegated to the netherworld of
post-10:30 pm on a Sunday night, F1 is no longer
an issue. No news (unless there is a fatality),
no coverage outside of two hours on a Sunday
night, when we're saddled with "our very own
Alan Jones" and his sidekick Dazza*.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">What a brilliant
lineup.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">Dazza knows
nothing and Alan Jones knows less, despite what
he tells us and the know-all image he projects.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">If F1 makes the
6pm news, it is usually a poor-quality vision
bite with someone unlikely flashing across the
line accompanied by incorrect information.
On-line magazines are our lifeline as no-one else
will touch it. The golf and tennis can shove the
coverage back for up to four hours and have been
proved not to rate as well, but the network has
usually paid more money for the tennis or golf.
More shops are devoted to same, so they make more
money. Scary stuff. That's without taking into
account the fact that you can comfortably tape a
race, but not 18 holes of golf. </font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">Then there's the
network itself. One marvellous incident happened
before the screening of last year's Italian Grand
Prix. During the credits of some awful film we
saw fifteen seconds of Michael Schumacher firing
through the Lesmos on his way to a victory.
Brilliant, 'eh? This was before the supposedly
live coverage of the race began and here was
straight-faced Dazza and Allan needling each
other about their neckties and tipping a Damon
Hill victory (but only because he's in a
Williams). Thanks for caring, Channel Nine. What
always makes me laugh is Dazza's promise to be
back bigger and better than ever next year.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">Motorsport in
Australia is experiencing rapid growth and F1 is
growing in popularity. But do the networks care?
The most coverage the Grand Prix got last year
was a string of stories over people opposing its
installation at Albert Park and media hysteria
over the threats by said opponents to pour oil
over the track. This year, it has all died down
and people will be surprised to see cars tearing
around the streets of Melbourne on their TV
screens when they're expecting the cricket. The
race will be big, there will be record numbers
there and record ratings, but for the rest of the
year, after all that hard work, Channel Nine lets
itself down.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">And the rest of
us.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial"><em>Peter Anderson</em></font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial"><em>* Dazza:</em></font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial"><em>"Dazza"
is big Darrell Eastlake, a Channel Nine
commentator who was banished to a glass box at
the last Commonwealth Games for shouting too
loudly <br>
during the weightlifting...yeah, he's that kind
of commentator....</em></font></p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
<td> </td>
<td><p align="left"><font size="2" face="Arial"><strong>Race
Day : March 9th 1997</strong></font></p>
<blockquote>
<p><font size="5" face="Arial"><b>F1GP Blues</b></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Arial"><b>(Perennial
optimism, new rubber and a tight grid could see a
change in the pecking order in 1997)<img
src="cmelb97.gif" align="left" hspace="0" width="170"
height="121"></b></font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">They all said it last
year and they all said it the year before that.
"The car feels good, it is quick through the
corners, there is a lot less underwater." Or,
"with our two drivers I feel we have a winning
combination." Or, "Overall the car is an
evolution of last years model but there have been
some significant improvements that we hope will give
the car a 1or 2 second advantage" etc. etc.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">The single most
constant thing about <b>Formula 1</b> is its undying
optimism. Some teams of course, have the luxury of
hereditary optimism and don’t need to remind
themselves as to how good they will be in the
upcoming season(and I think we all know who we are
talking about here), but the majority need the morale
‘ups’ that this enforced confidence
supplies them with. The business of running a Grand
Prix would seem to have greater rewards than winning
a race or the Championship. The acquisition of
Sponsorship money and corporate entertaining, the
gainful employment of 50 of 100 skilled people, the
thrill of the chase, or just the glory of Formula 1,
what is it that keeps the managers coming back year
after embarrassing year, pointless and underfunded?
It must be different things to different people. <b>Eddie
Jordan</b>, <b>Frank Williams</b> <b>Eric Broadley</b>
and <b>Ron Dennis </b>are died in the wool racers.
They have to be immersed in Formula 1 to exist, they
live through their passion and no matter how
uncompetitive their team, embarrassment is not in
their vocabulary, just improvement, evolution etc. <b>Flavio
Briatore</b> was a reluctant latecomer to his team
and has publicly expressed more of a business
interest than a passion for his sport and <b>Alain
Prost</b> and <strong>J</strong><b>ackie Stewart</b>
are actively involved figureheads to pull in the
corporate loot. But that’s OK. For whatever
purpose you are holding a Formula 1 team together,
the ultimate goal has to be a win or for some, a
point and, as the new term begins at <b>Melbourne</b>
next weekend for the first Grand Prix of the season,
the optimism will be at a demented level, the self
hype will be at boiling point and no one will allow
themselves even the remotest thought that their car
is going to fall by the wayside or, not get at least
one point or, for some, where reality and fantasy
start to blend towards the practical, a podium
finish.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">The holiday projects
and the notes and times have all been compared and
assessed. The boys are in their new classes and the
red light is waiting, like the school bell, to signal
the commencement of their lessons.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">Winter testing at both
<b>Estoril</b> and <b>Barcelona</b> have thrown up
widely differing performance figures. The top running
teams have been constantly pushed by the midfielders
and the also-rans from last year are showing a form
that, if only on paper, gives hope that the lower
half of the grid will see as much action as the
front.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">The consensus of
opinion remains the same as last year in as much that
<b>Williams</b> will, if not walk it, have to exert
the minimal amount of excercise to keep off the
closing pack. However <b>Benetton</b> seem to be on
the trail once again after a cheerless year and <b>Gerhard
Berger</b>(blindingly quick in testing) rather than
team mate<b> Jean Alesi</b>, seems to be the current
favourite for the pat on the head and the extra
digestive biscuits. </font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial"><b>Michael Schumacher</b>,
despite having sandbagged to a degree at the
beginning of the ’96 season with his
recalcitrant <b>Ferrari</b> managed to claim 3
victories, one in front of a home crowd at Monza and
likewise, nothing seems to have changed this year.
Whilst the press talk about reliability problems and
instability and the fact that the old spec engine
will have to be put into service for the first three
races of ’97, <b>Eddie Irvine</b> whips round
the Team’s <b>Maranello</b> test track in record
breaking time. Reliable or not, Schumacher will make
the car look great and he will win Grands Prix this
year that is for sure.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">The <b>Frentzen</b>
and <b>Villeneuve</b> pairing over at Williams will
be interesting with Jacques, moving his game up a
notch to put Heinz Harald firmly where he,
Villeneuve, thinks he should belong. If the German
remains marginally faster than the Ferraris, then he
could be seeing a lot of his old nemesis, Schumacher,
in his mirrors.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial"><img
src="ml97laac.jpg" align="left" hspace="5" vspace="5"
width="219" height="120"></font><font size="2"
face="Arial">A newly dressed <b>McLaren</b> is all
gung-ho this season with both <b>David Coulthard</b>
and <b>Mika Hakkinen</b> putting in impressive
testing times. This was another team that ‘Could
do better’ last year, but didn’t and
despite some good performances, remained a
disappointment. Optimism here, seems to take the form
of auto kinesis and with the money that sponsors <b>West
Tobacco</b> and <b>Mercedes</b> have put into
development of the car and it image, it should roll
along under its own steam.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial"><img src="a-18.jpg"
align="left" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="149"
height="125"></font><font size="2" face="Arial">The
new teams of <b>Lola</b> and <b>Stewart Racing</b>
and the rebadged teams of <b>TWR Arrows</b> and <b>Prost</b>
will all be mixing it towards the back of the pack
all with aspirations of getting points. <b>Damon Hill</b>
trying desperately to justify his decision to go with
TWR and covering up for his disastrous testing
programme said recently " The car is great,
it’s just a little on the slow side, which
obviously gives us the greatest potential to improve
over any of the other teams". With the now
infamous unreliability of the <b>Yamaha</b> engine,
Hill may be wishing that he had taken the Jordan
offer, as he will probably be seeing a great deal of
the rear end of that car in the coming races. It is
unfortunate that the reigning World Champion has to
suffer the Ignominy of a car that seems to have
jettisoned all the promise it had at it’s
unveiling and that his talents should be squandered
in trying to develop a car, already with a terminal
disease, that for this year at least will be totally
uncompetitive.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">Two ex world champions
both have points to prove. Of the two Prost (nee <b>Ligier</b>)
will be the one to watch. Driver <b>Olivier Panis</b>
put in some stupifyingly fast testing laps to
confound even the top teams. With <b>Bridgestone</b>’s
official announcement that team Prost will be the
fifth team that they will be supplying this year, the
car, powered by the <b>Mugen Honda</b> promises to be
extremely competitive. Stewart Racing has yet to
perform and despite new<b> </b>recruit<b> Jan
Magnussen</b> and old hand <b>Rubens Barrichello </b>pushing
the Tartan Army forward, it will be an added bonus if
they end up in the points. </font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">Lola will be running
an old spec <b>Ford Zetec</b> <b>V8</b> for the first
half of the season and even qualifying could be a
problem. Sponsors, however are not unduly concerned
as judging by Lola’s reputation and past history
a championship is but a matter of time. It just
depends on how much.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">Eddie Jordan, changing
tack when Hill wouldn’t bite, is trying out the
raw talents of <b>Ralf Schumacher</b> and <b>Giancarlo
Fisichella.</b> Whist quick in testing, neither has
the experience of Formula 1 racing. We may see some
improvement by midseason when Jordan could be looking
at podium finishes.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">Probably following
closely in the Jordan slipstream will be both <b>Tyrell</b>
and <b>Sauber</b>. Both teams have come up with tidy
if conventional packages. The Tyrell driver-duo of <b>Mika
Salo</b> and <b>Jos Verstappen</b> look good on
paper, yet despite the renewed litany of position,
points and podium, <b>Ken Tyrell</b> has been out in
the cold for a long time. This could however, be a
better year for them. Sauber will be a slightly
different proposition. Having two times winner <b>Johnny</b>
<b>Herbert</b> to boost the teams credibility and ex
Ferrari tester <b>Nicola Larini</b> to exploit last
year’s <b>Petronas/Ferrari</b> engine, should
put the team in some point scoring situations. With
Ferrari rumoured to be using the same ’96 spec
engine at least for the first two races, it will be
interesting to see if the Sauber chassis is any match
for the Big Red.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">Finally, a team with
little hope, but a great deal of aspiration and
managed by the biggest anorak of them all is <b>Minardi</b>.
<b>Giancarlo Minardi</b> has a vision and a passion
for his sport like no other, yet always fighting
finances, has rarely been within a mile of the
podium. This could change with the take over by a
consortium including Flavio Briatore (rapidly
becoming the Rupert Murdoch of Formula 1) and ex
driver <b>Alessandro Nannini</b>. The <b>Hart</b>
engine that powers the car is reliable if a tad
workmanlike. Using Bridgestones could conceivably get
the team a point or two in damp conditions, but
whether drivers <b>Jarno Trulli</b> and <b>Ukyo
Katayama</b> have the mettle remains to be seen.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">The new circuit at <b>Albert
Park</b> in Melbourne will be used only for the
second time in its current configuration although
Australian ‘Grands Prix’ of sorts have been
held there spasmodically since 1928. It is a longer
than average lap utilising fast flowing corners and
slow tight bends, a mix that all drivers had to learn
from scratch last year. Expect lap times to be
dramatically quicker this year. The recent
despoliation of part of the track by alleged
conservation protesters remains a mild threat for
race day, but the ‘bonhomie’ and sheer
exuberance of the occasion should overcome any
tension that may be present.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">So as the lights go
out on Albert Park, the lights in Britain and other
parts of the world go on as a bleary eyed audience
take to their TV’s in the small hours of Sunday
morning. In that split second of spinning Goodyears
and Bridgestones, the Bullshit will be left behind on
the grid with the dissipating fumes of high octane
fuel. The testing configurations, the light fuel
loads, the sticky tyres and wing adjustments will
count for nothing. Each man will be driving for
himself and his own piece of personal glory. Glory
however, will come to only one driver this weekend.
Look for the blues and the reds rather than the
yellows and whites.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial"><em>Chris Richardson</em></font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="right"><a href="f1ch1997.htm"><font size="2"
face="Arial">1997 Championship Contents </font></a><a
href="f1ch1997.htm"><font size="2" face="Arial"><img
src="lictop.gif" align="absmiddle" border="0" width="20"
height="20"></font></a></p>
<p align="right"><a href="f1ct.htm"><font size="2"
face="Arial">Formula 1 Contents </font></a><a
href="f1ct.htm"><font size="2" face="Arial"><img
src="lictop.gif" align="absmiddle" border="0" width="20"
height="20"></font></a></p>
</td>
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