Race Relations 15/10/14

So this year's Bathurst was dramatic and exciting, while the inaugural Russian Grand Prix was... rather less so, if we're honest. But I'm inclined to give Sochi the benefit of the doubt - I think it was less the fault of the circuit and more a sign of how every race could've gone this year had Mercedes not allowed their dudes to race.

Source

So credit to Mercedes for that decision. Their first victory in Russia since Kursk brought them the 2014 World Championship for Constructors, a prize they've been chasing for 60 years and their first one ever (it didn't exist in 1954). A sign of how much times change: from Fangio's world titles in 1954 and '55 it took nearly half a century for Renault to win another title for a manufacturer team (depending on how you classify Ferrari, of course); now, only eight years later, Mercedes has won it again.

That's one sign of the times: here's another, the "Grand Prix of Russia" itself. The first time Formula 1 went behind the Iron Curtain it was 1986, the Curtain was still up, and the venue was Hungary. "No problem, Formula 1 in a communist country," said one anonymous taxi driver: "We're only communists when someone's listening." Which reminds me of one of my favourite East German jokes: "How do you know the Stasi [secret police] have bugged your house? Your block gets electricity." Martin Brundle was a young nothing driver in those days, and he recalled that,"Hungary provided a culture shock both for the locals, who were in awe of the shining transporters and their million-dollar cargos, and the teams, who were dismayed by the quality of the hire cars waiting at the airport – assuming you could get one." He went on to say:

The Hungaroring is 12 miles to the east of the city. Even in 1986, there was a motorway, the M3, which was very impressive as far as it went. Which wasn't far. It led toward Miskolc – wherever that is – but in actual fact, for some years, the motorway only went as far as the racetrack. One day, I missed the slip road, drove on for a short distance and, suddenly, it was as though I had dropped off the end of the world. The motorway stopped and, presumably, you had to find your own way to Miskolc on very rural roads. - Working The Wheel

No signs of that sort of thing in Sochi, though: Russia's come a long way since perestroika and glasnost and, thanks to some pioneers (hehe) among the finest upstanding members of the world of organised crime, has embraced capitalism with gusto. Earlier in the year, when we still hated them for bullying Ukraine, John McCain called Russia, "A gas station masquerading as a country!" - quietly ignoring how that description applies twice over to Republican BFFs Saudi Arabia. Oil doesn't generate many jobs where it actually leaves the ground, wherever that happens to be, so the money tends to pool in the pockets of whoever owns the pipelines.

Like so (source)

Which is really where modern Russia meets modern Formula 1 - never mind Tolstoy and Prokofiev, Russia today is more of a bigger, chillier Gulf state; if you want to know why Bernie did a deal with Putin and not Yeltsin, there's your answer. Not that it looked too chilly in the broadcast, of course: the Black Sea coast is a gorgeous part of the world, you can see why the Russians want it so badly. But the track itself just reminded me of a blend of Valencia (remember Valencia?) and Korea - those long, curling straights lined with concrete walls. The Sochi circuit seems basic but functional, with that long Turn 3 that must be a great place to see the cars in action, but few other spots of interest, or so it appeared on this visit at least. Next year the teams will have some data and setups ready, so everything will hunker down and become a bit more marginal and, hopefully, produce some more fireworks. Hopefully. Even if they don't, there's still a solid reason to keep staging the Russian GP:

Source

Okay, so moving on to Bathurst. There was no shortage of grumbling that the action was stopped when the track needed repairs, but really, I think the people on the ground handled the situation amazingly well. It could have been much, much worse. The track disintegrated before the Dallas Grand Prix of '84 as well, which was bad enough, but then in came a 50-lap Can-Am race that destroyed it completely. Dallas Fair Park was left looking like a rally stage. The Formula 1 teams were instructed to get out there and practice anyway, with predictable results: one of the Tyrrells finally lost control and rebounded off the walls, breaking the driver's legs and effectively crippling his career (that driver was, of course, Martin Brundle. Man, that guy shows up everywhere).

I don't know if that example was in the officials' minds specifically, but that's more or less what they were fearing. If you thought "just yellow flag the problem areas" was a viable solution, you've either, a) never been in a racing car and felt the forces involved in cornering for yourself, or b) you've never actually met a racing driver: if there's a competitive advantage in risking their neck, they'll risk their neck every time. With Jules Bianchi's crash only a week in the past, there was no way the race could go ahead with the track in that condition, so to me the impressive thing was that the repairs actually held: they sure didn't in Dallas.

Now watch this drive.