Early into the new year and the Formula One news is picking up again little by little, especially from Italy where the Ferrari team held its annual Christmas company event, called Wrooom, in Madonna di Campiglio, this week.
Several of the team’s top members, including the drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, and Stefano Domenicali, the team director, made statements.
One theme heard coming from Ferrari is how the new lower-cost Formula One is costing Ferrari one of its past advantages. Where Ferrari used to be able to spend more than other teams, now with spending restrictions set by the teams, Ferrari, used to spending, is at a disadvantage.
On Thursday, Alonso nevertheless made an interesting point about another set of restrictions, by comparing Formula One drivers to other athletes.
“Formula One is one of the very few sports in which training is forbidden,” he said. “You don’t ask a footballer or a tennis player to do nothing in between one match and another or for two months prior to a big tournament. Having a go in a kart helps because it is more like driving a single-seater, but it’s like telling Leo Messi to train with a little tennis ball or Rafa Nadal to play with a Ping-Pong bat.”
He’s got a point.
Some darker news Thursday was not directly about Ferrari, but about Robert Kubica, who is said to be in consideration for a driver at Ferrari once he recuperates. Kubica’s troubles began nearly a year ago when, then a Lotus Renault driver, he crashed during a rally race and was so seriously injured – his leg, hand, arm and shoulder – that he missed the full season racing last year.
Now, just as Kubica seemed to be making progress to ready himself for a possible return to the cockpit this season, news came Wednesday that he had slipped and fallen on ice at his home in Pietrasanta, Italy, and reopened a leg fracture sustained during the crash. It could delay a return to the cockpit by at least three weeks.
Alonso, at the Ferrari event, said he was hopeful about a Kubica return, however, calling him the best driver in Formula One.
“For me the best driver is Robert Kubica — and I want to wish him the best,” he said. “I spoke to him yesterday, and I am sure when he is going to return he is going to be the best driver of the group.”
Another driver whose future appears at least momentarily compromised is Adrian Sutil, the German driver who was dropped from the Force India team a couple of months ago. Sutil was involved in an altercation in Shanghai in April with the Lotus Renault co-owner, Eric Lux. The case is going to court in Germany at the end of January. Lux received 24 stitches on his neck. The episode could cost Sutil heavily, and already appears to have done so. Sutil is still out of a drive for this season, despite having scored more points last year for his team than his teammate, Paul di Resta, who remains with the team.
On Wednesday, there was some news that the Williams team had signed a sponsorship deal with Michael Johnson Performance, the company of the Olympic track star Michael Johnson. The company, founded in 2007, is designed to train athletes at all levels and disciplines work on building speed, agility, strength and stamina to improve overall performance. Williams will call on the company to train its team members, including to improve and ensure top performance from the pit crew.
Interestingly, Formula One teams have often been called on in the past to help people in other disciplines perform as well as their pit crews.
Johnson broke world records in the 200 meters, 400 meters and 4×400-meter relay. He was called the fastest man in the world after winning the 200- and 400-meter gold medals at the Olympics in 1996.
“I have been a huge Formula One fan since I first attended the Grand Prix at Spa in 1990 where I had the great privilege of meeting Sir Frank Williams,” Johnson said. “I am confident that the experience and biomechanics expertise of the M.J.P. staff that has benefited numerous American football athletes, Premier League football teams, and Olympic federations, can also benefit the Williams F1 team pit crew in their goal to cut hundredths and even tenths of a second from their pit-stop times.”