Founded in the year nineteen twenty-four February 1980
Founded in the year nineteen twenty-four February 1980
Founded in the year nineteen twenty-four February 1980
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had been moved before Piquet arrived on <strong>the</strong> scene. The<br />
Brabham was extensively damaged about <strong>the</strong> rear end<br />
so <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> f<strong>in</strong>al timed session both team drivers had to be<br />
a bit cautious, know<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>re was no spare car available.<br />
Even so Piquet managed a courageous 1 m<strong>in</strong>. 45.02 sec.,<br />
which put him <strong>in</strong>to <strong>four</strong>th place. Zun<strong>in</strong>o was content to<br />
qualify <strong>in</strong> sixteenth place with 1 m<strong>in</strong>. 47.41 sec.<br />
In <strong>the</strong> Lotus camp <strong>the</strong>re was a great deal of<br />
optimism by <strong>the</strong> end of practice, even though de Angelis<br />
had made a dramatic start to his career with Team Lotus<br />
by hav<strong>in</strong>g a major sp<strong>in</strong>, followed by a high-speed trip<br />
backwards <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> catch-fenc<strong>in</strong>g dur<strong>in</strong>g Thursday’s<br />
test-session. The Lotus lads had a lot of work to do<br />
repair<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> damage, but <strong>the</strong> young Italian made up for<br />
it by eventually turn<strong>in</strong>g a lap <strong>in</strong> 1 m<strong>in</strong>. 45.46 sec which<br />
gave him fifth place on <strong>the</strong> grid, one place ahead of his<br />
team-leader. Andretti was not dismayed for <strong>the</strong> Lotus<br />
81 was feel<strong>in</strong>g very much to his lik<strong>in</strong>g, particularly with<br />
a full fuel tank, and he could have gone taster than <strong>the</strong><br />
1 m<strong>in</strong>. 45.78 sec he recorded on Friday, had trouble not<br />
<strong>in</strong>tervened <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> f<strong>in</strong>al practice session. He was just<br />
gett<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> groove when he suffered brake failure,<br />
and as <strong>the</strong> pedal dropped limply down to <strong>the</strong> bulkhead<br />
his foot caught <strong>the</strong> throttle pedal and <strong>the</strong> Lotus careered<br />
off <strong>the</strong> track, scatter<strong>in</strong>g marshals and photographers. He<br />
limped round to <strong>the</strong> pits and called it a day<br />
On <strong>the</strong> basis that “what looks right usually is right”,<br />
<strong>the</strong> new Arrows A3 scored highly. If it hadn’t been for<br />
some unfortunate mechanical problems <strong>the</strong>re is little<br />
doubt that both Patrese and Mass would have qualified<br />
higher up <strong>the</strong> grid than <strong>the</strong>y did. Just as Patrese looked<br />
like gett<strong>in</strong>g up among <strong>the</strong> front runners a drive-shaft<br />
broke and though <strong>the</strong> damaged corner was replaced <strong>in</strong><br />
double-quick time by <strong>the</strong> Arrows mechanics, <strong>the</strong> track<br />
surface had deteriorated so badly that fast times were<br />
out of <strong>the</strong> question. The A3 Arrows appeared to have<br />
quite an advantage on sheer speed over some o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
cars, and when Mass rocketed past Villeneuve’s Ferrari<br />
on <strong>the</strong> fastest straight he waved cheerily, to which <strong>the</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> Ferrari driver responded by clasp<strong>in</strong>g a hand to his<br />
head <strong>in</strong> mock (or genu<strong>in</strong>e?) frustration. The Ferraris<br />
were prov<strong>in</strong>g to be quick through <strong>the</strong> twisty <strong>in</strong>field hut<br />
slow on <strong>the</strong> fast straights, and though <strong>the</strong>y had plenty of<br />
Michel<strong>in</strong>s to choose from <strong>the</strong>y were hav<strong>in</strong>g difficulty <strong>in</strong><br />
mak<strong>in</strong>g a choice because <strong>the</strong> track surface was chang<strong>in</strong>g<br />
from corner to corner, lap by lap. Nei<strong>the</strong>r driver could<br />
get <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> first half-dozen, which did not augur well for<br />
a Ferrari victory.<br />
The o<strong>the</strong>r Michel<strong>in</strong> runners, <strong>the</strong> Renaults, were<br />
no better off, worse <strong>in</strong> fact, for <strong>the</strong>y were cont<strong>in</strong>ually<br />
<strong>in</strong> eng<strong>in</strong>e trouble, both Jabouille and Arnoux gett<strong>in</strong>g<br />
through two eng<strong>in</strong>es each dur<strong>in</strong>g practice. Troubles<br />
ranged from oil pump failure, through leak<strong>in</strong>g water<br />
gaskets to fuel <strong>in</strong>jection trouble and a broken valve.<br />
Altoge<strong>the</strong>r a despair<strong>in</strong>g time for <strong>the</strong> French team. At<br />
McLaren’s <strong>the</strong>re was satisfaction with <strong>the</strong> new boy Ala<strong>in</strong><br />
Prost, who was look<strong>in</strong>g remarkably cool and confident,<br />
lapp<strong>in</strong>g faster than his team leader, earn<strong>in</strong>g 12th place<br />
on <strong>the</strong> grid as aga<strong>in</strong>st Watson’s 17th place. The yellow<br />
Fittipaldis, f<strong>in</strong>anced by Skol Lager, were not go<strong>in</strong>g as well<br />
as all <strong>the</strong> hard work really justified. Fittipaldi was very<br />
unhappy with <strong>the</strong> handl<strong>in</strong>g of his car until a loose nut <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> rear suspension was discovered which was allow<strong>in</strong>g<br />
one rear wheel to contribute to <strong>the</strong> overall steer<strong>in</strong>g effort!<br />
An eng<strong>in</strong>e failure <strong>the</strong>n lost him a lot of time and by <strong>the</strong><br />
time everyth<strong>in</strong>g was sorted out <strong>the</strong> track deterioration<br />
was aga<strong>in</strong>st him and he only just scraped onto <strong>the</strong> grid.<br />
Rosberg was well qualified and his car seemed generally<br />
better than Fittipaldi’s, but even so 13th position on <strong>the</strong><br />
grid was not exactly a w<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g position. However, it<br />
was much better than <strong>the</strong> Shadow could do, for nei<strong>the</strong>r<br />
of <strong>the</strong>ir new recruits qualified <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> top 24. With new<br />
cars and new drivers <strong>the</strong> Shadow team had not got much<br />
hope of success, but <strong>the</strong>y had to start somewhere and<br />
<strong>the</strong>re is always <strong>the</strong> consolation that th<strong>in</strong>gs can only get<br />
better. The Ensign-Unipart team were <strong>in</strong> a somewhat<br />
similar position, though Regazzoni’s experience was<br />
obviously a great help and he qualified <strong>the</strong> new ear quite<br />
well <strong>in</strong> spite of various troubles, among <strong>the</strong>m a stick<strong>in</strong>g<br />
throttle that sent him career<strong>in</strong>g over a kerb which cracked<br />
a water pipe.<br />
The Tyrrell 009 cars, only a <strong>year</strong> old. were already<br />
look<strong>in</strong>g dated and <strong>the</strong> drivers were hav<strong>in</strong>g trouble<br />
com<strong>in</strong>g off <strong>the</strong> 180-degree turn at <strong>the</strong> end of <strong>the</strong> circuit<br />
anyth<strong>in</strong>g like flat out, as <strong>the</strong> front runners were do<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
Daly had a major eng<strong>in</strong>e failure on Friday morn<strong>in</strong>g so<br />
had to use <strong>the</strong> spare car, and that would not run properly<br />
with <strong>the</strong> fuel tank less than three-quarters full. He was<br />
back <strong>in</strong> his own car for Saturday afternoon but had to<br />
take to <strong>the</strong> rough to avoid an accident that Prost looked as<br />
though he was go<strong>in</strong>g to have, but didn’t. This damaged<br />
<strong>the</strong> nose cowl, <strong>the</strong> side pods and <strong>the</strong> skirts so he had to<br />
go back to <strong>the</strong> spare car aga<strong>in</strong>. Both cars qualified, but <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> grey mish-mash <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> lower part of <strong>the</strong> grid. Down<br />
at <strong>the</strong> Alfa Romeo pits Giacomelli was do<strong>in</strong>g his best <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> role of temporary team leader, for though Depailler<br />
was driv<strong>in</strong>g he was far from fit. The team had brought<br />
Vittorio Brambilla along “just <strong>in</strong> case”, but <strong>the</strong> gritty little<br />
Frenchman was not go<strong>in</strong>g to give up. He has set himself<br />
<strong>the</strong> target of be<strong>in</strong>g back on form by <strong>the</strong> South African GP<br />
and said “I won’t be unless I force myself hard now.”<br />
Both Alfa Romeo drivers qualified <strong>in</strong> spite of various<br />
troubles, such as a big high-speed sp<strong>in</strong> by Giacomelli<br />
on Friday which damaged skirts and suspension and an<br />
eng<strong>in</strong>e failure on Saturday morn<strong>in</strong>g which forced him to<br />
use <strong>the</strong> spare car <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> f<strong>in</strong>al session, and he crashed that<br />
and damaged <strong>the</strong> suspension. Depailler missed <strong>the</strong> first<br />
crucial SIX LAps on Saturday afternoon due to clutch<br />
trouble, so it’s to his credit that he got <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> race at<br />
all. While Marc Surer squeezed <strong>the</strong> new ATS <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong><br />
race , Jan Lammers’ hopes disappeared with an eng<strong>in</strong>e<br />
failure. The new Osella team found <strong>the</strong> pace of big time<br />
Formula One a bit too hot for <strong>the</strong>m and <strong>the</strong> car needs to<br />
lose about 100 kg. before it can be taken really seriously,<br />
while Cheever still has a lot to learn.<br />
No matter what <strong>the</strong> organisers did to <strong>the</strong> new<br />
sections of <strong>the</strong> track, and <strong>the</strong>y repeated <strong>the</strong>ir efforts<br />
to treat <strong>the</strong> troublesome surface on Saturday night,<br />
<strong>the</strong> moment <strong>the</strong> warm-up session began on Sunday<br />
it was obvious that race conditions would be almost<br />
impossible. The tyres tore up <strong>the</strong> tarmac and scattered<br />
it to <strong>the</strong> outside of <strong>the</strong> corners so that <strong>the</strong>re was an area<br />
of “marbles” just off <strong>the</strong> correct rac<strong>in</strong>g l<strong>in</strong>e, to catch<br />
anyone who made a slight error. Once on <strong>the</strong> “marbles”<br />
you might just have well been on sheet ice for all <strong>the</strong><br />
control you had.<br />
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