Hill looks for the
hot seat
Tifosi look to
Schumacher to take the prize
The expectations of the
tifosi this year more so than last, will be high.
The Grand Prix at Monza, traditionally the
place where all the rumours are laid to rest
regarding driver placements, should be as closely
fought off the track as on.
The only safe bet for
next year, seems that Michael Schumacher will
be driving for Ferrari again. The key piece in
the jigsaw of driver's musical chairs is Damon
Hill. When he sits down, everyone else will begin
to move. With Ron Dennis announcing last week that he
intends to keep his two McLaren drivers David
Coulthard and Mika Hakinnen, Hill's
chances of a competitive drive have taken a downward
turn. A seat with the Jordan Peugeot team is
possibly available, provided that star turn Giancarlo
Fisichella's currant 'on loan' contract is not
recognised by the FIA's contracts board. This
would put him firmly with Benetton under a ten
year management deal with team boss Flavio
Briatore, a team that the young Italian is
reluctant to go to, having tasted the sweet smell of
success with Eddie Jordan's seemingly
friendlier team. If Jordan were to retain Fisichella,
then there could be a place available with Benetton,
Briatore having ditched both Gerhard Berger
and Jean Alesi in favour of young and cheap,
wunderkind Alexander Wurz and one other. To
add to the confusion Alesi has already offered his
services to Jordan for a million pounds and that is
considerably less than Hill's perceived asking price
of seven million. Jordan however has had Alesi before
and the Mercurial Frenchman has only one race win to
his credit (with Ferrari in Montreal) whereas
Hill has 21 and has the experience of winning which
is an all important ingredient for a team hungry for
victory. Although thought to be non-committal, Jordan
said last week that, "It would be a brave man
who turned down a world champion." Whether this
was a backward way of saying, "Damon. reduce you
price and we can talk.." or not, no one but
Jordan is sure, but it is thought that main sponsor
Benson & Hedges would be prepared to cough up an
extra 4 million to secure Hill's services. Jarno
Trulli's place as second driver to the already
confirmed Olivier Panis at Team Prost
is for similar reasons, in doubt, but his 'loan'
contract from Minardi and again, Briatore, should be
easier to break if the right amount of money changes
hands. Prost represents the last ditch for Hill and a
final choice between staying put at Arrows or
a year's sabbatical would be his only other option.
Monza should sort all these variables out, but if
not, Hill will find himself in the same predicament
as last year, having just been ousted by Williams
and on a dwindling market for a competitive drive.
The result was a season of frustration and changing
fortune for the World Champion.
If Michael Schumacher
can keep the form that he showed in Belgium two weeks
ago, then we can be sure of a spectacular finish to
the race. This will however, not necessarily come
from the drivers but from the Tifosi - the
fervent Ferrari fans who will invade the track in
their thousands should a red car pass the chequered
flag first. Schumacher has every chance of achieving
a second win on Ferrari's home turf in two
years and with the collective passion of a hundred
thousand fans rooting him on, the scenario looks
favourable for complete chaos as the chequered flag
falls. Woe betide the stragglers trying to make up
points. They will be hard pushed to make it to the
line let alone the pits.
Opened in 1922 in the
grounds of Monza Royal Palace, the Autodromo
Nazionale was an awesome 6 mile combined road and
oval circuit with huge banked concrete curves at each
end. It has also claimed the lives of over a dozen
racing drivers including Ascari in 1955, Wolfgang
Von Trips in 1961, Jochen Rindt in 1970
and Ronnie Peterson in 1978. It has also
claimed the lives of over 40 spectators. After 3
drivers were killed on the same day in 1933 the oval
circuit was abandoned until it was restructured in
1955 with revised but still venerable banking. The
only part now used is the pit strait past the
original grandstands, leading to the spectator
friendly chicanes at Rettifilio Varlante,
where the original North Curve swept away
right, into a long banking curve. Tantalising
glimpses can still be seen as the cars thread their
way through the chicane to the Curva Grande.
The cars appear from the trees in the final part of
the deceptive Parabolica and pass the point where the
old South Curve banking used to feed onto the pit
straight.
Last year saw the
first of Hill's chances at clinching the championship
title, end in a collision with some temporary tyre
barriers at the Goodyear chicane, erected
ironically at his own suggestion, to prevent drivers
cutting the corners and dislodging lethal concrete
slabs of curbing.
Having pulled out a
commanding lead over Alesi by lap six and driving
with skill and determination, maybe his exuberance
got the better of him and he smacked 'those tyres'
with his right front wheel. His car made a fine
pirouette and came to a standstill mid track at the
exit to the chicane. "I just have to admit to
making a mistake" he said later, "There's
no one to blame except myself. That was probably
quite an easy race victory and I threw it away".
The magic came back to
Monza as Schumacher took the flag and the crowd
exploded with joy. Jacques Villeneuve came in
over a minute and a half down and one lap behind.
Team boss Frank Williams must have wondered
where it all went wrong, knowing that his cars should
have outpaced the field.
This year, although
Williams are still regarded as the main force, it has
not gone their way and it is only by dint of good
fortune and with a few lucky wins for Villeneuve,
that the championship is still in contention.
Fisichella has a race
win in his sights and buoyed by his second place in
Belgium and a car that will be one of the fastest on
the long straights that Monza provides, Schumacher
could have an unexpected fight on his hands.
Hot weather has not
been kind to the Scuderia this year suffering as they
have been with tyre problems, but with a better
handling lightweight chassis and the Germans
undisputed driving abilities a win looks more than
likely. It could even be the underachieving Heinz
Harald Frentzen that will do the honours for
Williams this year. Villeneuve has said that their
chances in Italy don't look good.
This year with
Schumacher mellowing and Ferrari on a high from
Belgium, the fans, amassing at what they call La
Pista Magica, will be as passionate as ever. The
Iron bars that surround the paddock - where normally
wire fencing would do in all other tacks, will be
swamped with passionate Tifosi, some armed with bolt
cutters, all desperate to touch the hand of their
hero who can restore their faith in the Prancing
horse and the grandeur that was once Ferrari.
Chris Richardson
