Backward glances at racing history
Atlas F1 Columnist
Opening Days (Part One)
This year, as in many preceding seasons, the opening round of the year is being held in March and at a venue outside Europe. This year, the FIA F1 World Championship begins with the Foster's Australian Grand Prix being held in Melbourne on the Albert Park circuit. On the technical side, all the cars use three-litre Vee-10 engines.
For 2004, there are 10 teams fielding a total of 20 cars for the race:
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro / Ferrari F2004 053
BMW Williams F1 Team / Williams FW26 BMW P84
West McLaren Mercedes / McLaren MP4-19 Mercedes FO100Q
Mild Seven Renault F1 Team / Renault R24 RS24
Lucky Strike BAR Honda / BAR 006 Honda RA004E
Sauber Petronas / Sauber C23 Petronas 04A (Ferrari 053)
Jaguar Racing / Jaguar R5 Cosworth CR-6
Panasonic Toyota Racing / Toyota TF104 RVX-04
Jordan Ford / Jordan EJ14 Ford Cosworth RS2
Minardi Cosworth / Minardi PS04 Cosworth
It is interesting to take a few notes as we work our way through this exercise. Note the continuity and those among the missing as the entries jump a decade at a time. In this first part of the exercise, there are several familiar names from a decade ago, but also some names that are no longer with us, both drivers and marques.
It is a bit startling to see that Simtek and Pacific were with us only a decade ago, as were Arrows - running under the Footwork name, Larousse, Lotus, Ligier, and Tyrrell. Michael Schumacher, Olivier Panis, and Rubens Barrichello are still strapping on F1 cars for a living.
The teams at Interlagos:
Rothmans Williams Renault / Williams FW16 Renault RS6
Tyrrell / Tyrrell 022 Yamaha OX10A
Mild Seven Benetton Ford / Benetton B194 Ford Zetec-R (Cosworth EC)
Marlboro McLaren Peugeot / McLaren MP4/9 Peugeot A6
Footwork Ford / Footwork FA15 Ford HB
Team Lotus / Lotus 107C Mugen Honda ZA5C
Sasol Jordan / Jordan 194 Hart 1035
Tourtel Larrousse F1 / Larrousse LH94 Ford HB
Minardi Scuderia Italia / Minardi M193B Ford HB
Ligier Gitanes Blondes / Ligier JS39B Renault RS6
Scuderia Ferrari / Ferrari 412T1 041
Broker Sauber Mercedes / Sauber C13 Mercedes Benz (Ilmor) 2175B
MTV Simtek Ford / Simtek S941 Ford HB
Pacific Grand Prix Ltd. / Pacific PR01 Ilmor 2175A
The two who got the Wooden Spoons were Ratzenberger and Belmondo. On the pole was Ayrton Senna, but taking the checkered flag was Herr Schumacher, one lap clear of the field. Four drivers made their F1 debuts - Verstappen, Beretta, Panis, and Frentzen - and another claimed his first finish in the points - Katayama. And, Eddie Irvine got a three-race ban for being the cause for a four-car demo derby at about he halfway point. Irvine and Verstappen tangled as the latter was attempting to pass the former - and they collected Brundle and Bernard for good measure. The original one-race ban was tripled after Eddie Jordan appealed the decision - but they did drop the $10,000 fine that had also been levied on Irvine.
All in all, 1994 was not a vintage year for F1. At Imola, first Ratzenberger and then Senna would die when their cars crashed. Then Wendlinger was seriously injured at Monte Carlo. And then the FIA throwing the book at Benetton and Michael Schumacher. The season after Silverstone was enough to make many wonder just exactly what was going on in F1. Remember that this was the year that Benetton had that huge pitlane fire at Hockenheim as Verstappen was being refueled. The plywood fiasco at Spa-Francorchamps and another disqualification and then the collision at Adelaide - just not the sort of year that should have graced the crowning of a worthy champion, Michael Schumacher.
Motor Racing Developments International / Brabham BT53 BMW M12/13
Tyrrell Racing Organisation / Tyrrell 012 Ford Cosworth DFY
Williams Grand Prix Engineering / Williams FW09 Honda RA163-E
McLaren International / McLaren MP4/2 TAG TTE PO1 (Porsche Typ 2623)
Skoal Bandit Formula One Team / RAM 01 and RAM 02 Hart 415T
John Player Team Lotus / John Player Special Lotus 95T Renault EF4
Team ATS / ATS D7 BMW M12/13
Equipe Renault Elf / Renault RE50 EF4
Barclay Nordica Arrows BMW / Arrows A6 Ford Cosworth DFV
Toleman Group Motorsport / Toleman TG183B Hart 415T
Spirit Racing / Spirit 101 Hart 415T
Benetton Team Alfa Romeo / Alfa Romeo 184T 183T
Osella Squadra Corse / Osella FA1E (Alfa Romeo 183T) Alfa Romeo 183T
Ligier Lotto / Ligier JS23 Renault EF4
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC / Ferrari 126C
There were 26 starters and only one Wooden Spoon - Winkelhock being disqualified and letting Palmer into The Show. The sin that Winkelhock committed to be banished into the Outer Darkness? When this ATS ran out of fuel in the pitlane approach road and stopped, the mechanics pushed the car to the pits. Whether he would have been actually been disqualified or not is subject to some question since the decision came after team owner Gunther Schmid erupted during a discussion of the infraction and The Blazers thought that perhaps Mr. Palmer should have an opportunity to race rather than Mr. Winkelhock.
Look at the 1984 entry list and then take a look at the 1974 entry list. There is only one name that appears on both lists: Super Rat, Niki Lauda. And it was something of a miracle that he would be on the 1984 entry list, but that is a story for another time.
John Player Team Lotus / John Player Special Lotus 72 Ford Cosworth DFV
Elf Team Tyrrell / Tyrrell 005 and Tyrrell 006 Ford Cosworth DFV
Marlboro Team Texaco / McLaren M23 Ford Cosworth DFV
Motor Racing Developments / Brabham BT44 Ford Cosworth DFV
March Engineering / March 741 Ford Cosworth DFV
Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC / Ferrari 312B3/74
Team BRM / BRM P160E P142
UOP Shadow Racing Team / Shadow DN1 and Shadow DN3 Ford Cosworth DFV
Team Surtees / Surtees TS16 Ford Cosworth DFV
Frank Williams Racing Cars / Iso Marlboro Williams FW01 Ford Cosworth DFV
Team Ensign / Ensign N174 Ford Cosworth DFV
Hesketh Racing / March 731 Ford Cosworth DFV
Embassy Racing with Graham Hill / Lola T370 Ford Cosworth DFV
John Goldie Racing with Hexagon / Brabham BT42 Ford Cosworth DFV
Yardley Team McLaren / McLaren M23 Ford Cosworth DFV
There were 25 cars on the starting grid, von Opel deciding to park the Ensign due to "handling problems."
On the pole was The Super Swede, Ronnie Peterson in either a John Player Special Mark 1 or a Lotus 72 - take your pick. However, the race belonged to Carlos Reutemann in the Brabham BT44. Reutemann took the lead on lap three from Peterson and had a curse from the racing gods smote a plug lead from the distributor causing the engine to only use seven of its eight cylinders - and then die on the penultimate lap. This left Denny Hulme, who had been lurking in second place for many laps to take the lead and lead the field to the checkered flag. It was to be his last Grand Prix victory, The Bear retiring at the end of the season.
As the opening round of the 2004 season looms, it crossed my mind to take a look at some of the opening rounds of other years ending in "four." I just thought it might be interesting to see how the entries and venues have changed over the seasons. It certainly was a fascinating exercise on my end at any rate to just see how there were mighty leaps and small bounces at times. And the roll call of names, entrants, and marques....
The opening round of the 1994 FIA F1 World Championship season was held in Brazil, the Grande Premio do Brasil being run at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace at Interlagos in Sao Paulo. There were 28 entries, but field was composed of 26 starters so there were two who did not qualify for the event. Technically, there are Vee-8's, Vee-10's, and Vee-12's running all on the same grid.
The 1984 Grande Premio do Brasil was that season's opening round in the FIA F1 World Championship. It was held in March - the 25th, on the Autodromo Internacional do Rio de Janeiro at Baixada de Jacarepagua. This was during the days when the turbos were still allowed so most of the grid were turbo cars, the Ford Cosworth engines being the odd folks out to an extent.
In 1974, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile et Commission Sportive Internationale Championnat du Monde des Conducteurs - the FIA and CSI World Championship of Drivers, got the season off to an early start. The Gran Premio de la Republica Argentina was run on 13 January on the Circuit No. 15 of the Autodromo Almirante Brown in Buenos Aires. This was during the heyday of the Cosworth DFV and they were found lurking in the rear of the vast majority of the cars that showed up to run in the Argentine heat.
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