The Madness from Maranello

Is it me or are Ferrari going nuts again? First off, they decide to try and bring Schumacher back, then when he's not able to do it they choose Luca Badoer over Marc Gene. Are they mad? Gene is the only one out of the two that still has an active racing career, yet all Luca's done is test for 10 years. Marc's even the driver they take to the race weekends as the reserve driver, as far as I know, and he even won Le Mans this year. Yet it still all counts for nothing just because some guy who's not as talented gets to drive instead just because he's been with the team longer. Let's face it, Luca's career is over. Marc should be in that car, regardless of any other LMS commitments with Peugeot. Think about it, if you had a choice between a Le Mans Series drive with Peugeot or an F1 race drive with Ferrari, which one would you pick? Exactly.

Even when these two were teammates together at Minardi in 1999, it was Marc who scored more points, Marc who outperformed Luca and Marc who was kept on for another year. But it’s probably done because of 10 years of loyal service. Which I can understand. But if you were the team boss at Ferrari, you’d at least want someone who can still go racing and do it well. How can they determine he’s race ready when all he’s done is pound around the test tracks clocking up miles. He might have done race simulations in testing, but it’s not the same as an actual race situation. Gene has managed to run in a 24 hour race and win it with Brabham and Wurz. But despite their rich history there as well, it seems the endurance classic means nothing to them anymore, regardless of who waved the starter flag this year.

Plus now there's this new fiasco where LDM wants 3 car teams, just so he can get Schumacher back racing again! It's ludicrous. How on earth can anyone let this go on? I for one hope that Vatanen becomes FIA president, so to stop this whole Ferrari favouritism that seems to be going on. With Todt, no matter how glossy his brochure may be, I fear for the future of F1 as we know it. Ari is a politician, he knows what he's talking about and should be given the chance to lead. Todt's only in that position because he's rubbed shoulders with Max for years just to get into his good books, and in return is able to get the nod over controversial matters. They said it themselves that F1 isn't F1 without a competitive Ferrari. More like a coniving Ferrari, if you ask me.

The idea of 3 cars teams was toyed with a few years back. Ironically, I remember seeing a picture in Autosport showing 3 Ferraris with Jacques Villeneuve in the 3rd car. Now this idea is ridiculous, simply because a new Concorde agreement has just been signed, with everyone agreeing to bring spending levels down to those of the 1990s. How in the world are teams going to do that by running 3 cars? Plus, it’s probably just another cheap ploy for publicity by both Ferrari and Schumacher himself. Some people never change.

I for one am glad that Michael isn’t coming back after all. It did seem to be tearing the F1 community in to two evident halves -  those that did want him to come back and those that didn’t. I was rather impartial at first, but after seeing what the mention of one man can do to F1 fans to a certain extent, I decided to move firmly into the latter. I think F1’s all the better for it. Now we just need Ari to become president and then everything will be alright. If Todt wins, I don’t even want to think about the consequences. Not for a second.