Читать книгу Ferrari: The Passion and the Pain - Jane Nottage - Страница 16

THE MOOD WAS BUOYANT AND OPTIMISTIC

After Imola, the mood was buoyant and optimistic as the team set out for Monaco. Monaco is less about motor racing and more about parties. The motorhomes gather round the port area like colourful Lego kits at a children’s party. The big boats anchor out in the bay and the rich kids go to play in a big way.

Monaco may be a party town, but during a Grand Prix weekend it is impossible to escape the racing. Wherever you stand, the roar of the Formula One engines can be heard, and like Spa or Monza, but for different reasons, it is the one place where drivers want to win more than anywhere else. Ferrari, at least on paper, should have been in with a chance.

Schumacher’s race engineer, Ignazio Lunetta, was in an upbeat mood. The race engineer is the man closest to the driver. He cares only about helping his guy to win, even against his team-mate. It is a close and trusting relationship as the race engineer is the man who translates what the driver says into changes on the car. The quiet, unassuming Lunetta had worked with Jean Alesi before Michael Schumacher arrived at Ferrari, and he was finding Schumacher a very different cup of tea.

‘Schumacher is more in one line, he pushes a lot and he works very hard. Alesi was lazier whereas Schumacher is constantly stimulating work. The biggest problem is to get to know Schumacher. It is very important that I can read his thoughts and get to know exactly how he likes the car in various situations. At the moment I am doing the tests with him as well as the races. He understands things very quickly and works a lot, but he still needs to be guided as he is quite perplexed a lot of the time. However, I have never seen anyone as constantly quick as Schumacher.’

Like his team-mates, Lunetta was quietly confident about Monaco. ‘The engine is good, the aerodynamics have improved and the car is easier to drive. One of our biggest problems is the clutch which is difficult to control. A little movement and it over-reacts and creates wheelspin.’

Back in England, John Barnard was also optimistic. ‘The main thing I hope for is that Schumacher can qualify on the front somewhere and then he’ll have a good chance as it’s a very difficult track to pass on.’ Obligingly, Schumacher qualified on pole position. He outpaced Hill by half a second, an incredible feat on the tight Monégasque circuit. However, he shot himself in the foot by waving to the crowd before the qualifying session was completely over and Gerhard Berger, who was still on a quick lap, crashed into the back of the Ferrari. Schumacher later apologized to Berger for going too slow.

Having had two dry days of practice, it poured with rain on race day. Schumacher had a poor start and, while still on the first lap, made a mistake at the right hander after the Loews hairpin, getting half-way onto the inside kerb, then pushing the car into the guard-rail. It was all over hardly before it had hardly begun.

To his eternal credit, Schumacher took the blame full on the chin. He returned to the team garage and apologized to everyone. Lunetta says, ‘He came in looking like a beaten dog. He was devastated and said sorry to everyone. We forgave him. He gives such a lot, and he is only human; he has to make mistakes sometimes.’

Team Principal Jean Todt put it succinctly as he commented, ‘Michael accepts errors from others, but not from himself.’ Meanwhile Eddie Irvine had qualified seventh but had a disappointing race; he had been given an illegal push start by the marshals, then Mika Salo and Mika Hakkinen crashed into him, ending his race.

End of Monaco. Deep depression. It was quiet on the way home as everyone pondered what might have been, and wondered when the next good times would come along. However, there is nothing as contrary as Formula One and disaster can turn into victory in the space of a couple of weeks – and that was about to happen. Next stop was Barcelona and the drive of a lifetime.

CREATIVE ADVERTISING

Ferrari and Shell are a potent combination: power and passion allied to technical excellence. This message has been broadcast across the world with the help of some stunning advertising campaigns. One such advertisement, called ‘The pit stop’, features Eddie Irvine coming in for a change of tyres and refuelling, but instead of concentrating on the race, he wants to ensure he’s using Shell petrol because he is collecting the company’s model cars. Thirty million people collect these cars, and the two advertisements are seen by over a billion people in more than 100 countries worldwide.