Ask Nigel: October 31

Dear Oliver,
It's not as much of a problem as you might imagine, perhaps because many of the current crop of F1 drivers seem not to read the magazines very much. Something critical on TV might be a different matter, but then - Martin Brundle apart - criticism on TV is a rare thing.

Actually, there's nothing new in this. Nelson Piquet, for example, made a point of not reading the magazines and newspapers. For one thing, it was too much effort, and, for another, he simply didn't care very much what people thought or wrote about him.

Ayrton Senna, though, was the very opposite, and would read absolutely everything he could get his hands on about racing, whether or not it was about him. I was always impressed by the fact that Senna, even at the very height of his fame and popularity, would always be right up to speed on what was happening in, say, British F3. As Frank Williams told me once, "Even when he wasn't driving for me, he'd ring me at least once a month, and we'd spend literally hours just chatting about motor racing. There was a true enthusiast for you."

Unfortunately, during the late '80s and early '90s, the feud developed between Senna and Alain Prost, and it reached a point when it was extremely difficult to remain on friendly terms with both - I don't think it bothered Alain terribly much if you were a friend of Ayrton's, but it sure as hell bothered Senna if you were on good terms with Prost!

I got to know, and like, Alain before Ayrton arrived on the scene, of course, and got on very well with both of them until the feud really began to take off. Once it had, Senna became a little wary of me, as if I were 'in the Prost camp', and sometimes that could lead to difficult moments, although I must say that Ayrton, if he did pick me up on something I'd written, was invariably polite and courteous about it.

The first time we crossed swords was actually long before that, towards the end of his first F1 season, in 1984, when he was with Toleman. Although he had an on-going contract with the team, he signed with Lotus for 1985, and when this became known, Alex Hawkridge, the MD of Toleman, decided to teach him a lesson, standing him down for the Italian Grand Prix.

I understood Hawkridge's outrage, sympathised with his decision, and wrote a Fifth Column on the subject immediately before Monza.

On the bench he might have been that weekend, but still Ayrton went to the Italian Grand Prix. I had suspected, because he was one who devoured every racing magazine, that he might be a touch frosty, and I was right. When first he noticed me, in the Toleman pit on Friday morning, he resolutely avoided eye contact, just stood there, glowering at the sight of Stefan Johansson being strapped into his car.

I remained 'in Coventry' all that day, and most of the next, but when we bumped into each other late on Saturday afternoon, he could keep quiet no longer. "Why the f*** did you write that stuff? I thought you were a friend..."

That had nothing to do with it, I said. You signed a three-year deal with Toleman - and now you're leaving after one season. "Well, the Lotus thing has only come up recently," he interjected. Come on, I said, Nigel Mansell told me at Brands in July that Peter Warr was trying to get him out of the team, to make way for you.

Senna fell silent for a few moments. "But it's a better car," he said finally. "It's my career..." Of course, I said, but still the fact remained that Toleman, after giving him his first Formula 1 drive, had been shafted. "Well," Ayrton responded, as if this justified everything, "I would have gone to Lotus this season, except that they weren't able to get rid of Mansell, because of the sponsor..."

Convoluted thinking, it seemed to me, but we shook hands, and agreed to differ. I saw him again at the airport a couple of days later, and by now his mood had lightened. He could understand my point of view, he said, and respected my freedom to write as I saw fit.

Ayrton like this could be utterly disarming, and I began to slip from my high horse. You will win with Lotus, I said. "Yes," he agreed, "for sure. I can win races with them - but maybe not the World Championship..." It was as if his next move were already in the planning stage; probably it was.




Dear Sam,
Sad to say, Peter Revson and Tom Pryce, both of whom lost their lives at Kyalami. I wish it weren't so, but it is a fact that certain circuits do trigger memories of that kind. In the same way, Hockenheim, for example, will always make me think of Jimmy Clark and Patrick Depailler, Zolder Gilles Villeneuve, Monza Jochen Rindt and Ronnie Peterson, and so on. I'm sure that younger generations of F1 fans will to some degree always think of Imola in terms of Ayrton Senna, but there was a time when fatalities in F1 were not infrequent.

All that said, sad days at a race track should not detract completely from one's good memories, and I have many of Kyalami, which, in its original guise, was one of the greatest Grand Prix circuits I ever saw. It was mighty dangerous, of course, and considered so even 25 years ago, when far less attention was paid to safety than is the case now. I think particularly of that endless straightline blast down to Crowthorne, where there was no run-off at all; simply an earth bank awaiting anyone who had a problem there.

It was indeed a track for the very brave, in particular the long downhill right-handed Barbeque Bend, and the daunting uphill left-handed Jukskei Kink. Watching qualifying here in the turbo era, when such as Nelson Piquet and Keke Rosberg were on the limit, boost off the clock, is something I will never forget.

In terms of actual races, I suppose one that comes readily to mind was the 1983 South African Grand Prix. It was the last round of the World Championship that year, and up for the title were Piquet (Brabham-BMW), Prost (Renault) and Rene Arnoux (Ferrari). Arnoux pretty well accounted for himself during practice, when he contrived to allow a car's wheel to be pushed over his foot. He raced, but really the thing was between Piquet and Prost.

Actually, Nelson blitzed it. In the early laps he simply left everyone behind, and when Prost retired, he knew the title was safe, and ultimately backed off, falling back to third, allowing his team mate Riccardo Patrese to take the victory.

Only some years later did we learn that the fuel used by Brabham-BMW in the late races that year was not quite... how can I put this, what the governing body had in mind.

The last time the 'old' Kyalami was used was in 1985, and that was a fantastic race. The Williams-Hondas of Keke Rosberg and Nigel Mansell ran away with the early laps, but then Piercarlo Ghinzani's Toleman expired at Crowthorne, dumping oil all over the place. Rosberg, the next man through, spun on it, but Mansell, seeing what had happened to Keke, backed off, and just made it through. Nigel went on to win the race, and Keke, driving absolutely at the edge, came back to finish a brilliant, if frustrated, second, passing Prost's McLaren-TAG Porsche five laps from the end.

It was always delightfully informal at Kyalami, even by the relaxed standards of the day. The 'post-race press conference', I remember, was in a small tent, Mansell simply standing around with the rest of us, answering our questions.

After a seven-year gap F1 went back to Kyalami, in 1992, and again Mansell won, this time in the 'active' Williams-Renault FW14B that was to dominate the season. By now, though, the magnificent old track had been laid to rest, and what we had in its place was just another 'modern circuit'. Inevitable perhaps, but no less sad for that.




Dear Nick,
I'd be fascinated to know where, in your research, you came across the stuff about Sir Henry 'Tim' Birkin 'being deprived of his mechanic by scheming fellow drivers, fixing the race for lottery money', because I'd never heard the story before. It is well known that that particular race was rigged by Messrs Nuvolari, Varzi, Campari and Borzacchini (so as to enable Varzi to win, and share with the other drivers a percentage of the winning lottery ticket, together with the man who'd 'drawn' Varzi), but I've never heard anything about Birkin being deprived of his mechanic.

Whatever, it is beyond doubt that, in his privately-owned Maserati, he led the first few laps of that race, the 1933 Tripoli Grand Prix, ultimately finishing third, behind Varzi and Nuvolari, and beyond doubt, too, that in the course of the race he burned his forearm on the exhaust pipe, which ran alongside the cockpit. The wound Birkin afterwards 'treated' by wrapping a handkerchief around it.

A few days later, he complained of feeling unwell, and a friend summoned Dr Benjafield, like Birkin a man who had won Le Mans for Bentley. Birkin was suffering from blood poisoning, but declined to go into hospital unless Benjafield could promise he would be out in time for the next race, at the Nurburgring. As it turned out, though, he was already beyond saving, and died of septicaemia.

From what I have heard and read, Birkin was extremely quick, but probably too brave for his own good, and inclined to be a touch headstrong. Commenting sadly on his death, Autocar put it this way: "We have lost one of our finest drivers, simply because the temperament which had brought him such success acted against him in the last vital moment."




Dear Neil,
You're one of many angered by the news that the crowd at next year's British Grand Prix is to be restricted to 60,000 (down from 90,000), and that admission prices are rising accordingly. And I can't say I blame you. As I wrote in this week's Fifth Column, I'm only too aware how lucky I am not to have to pay to go to motor races (apart, that is, from flights, hotels, hire cars, meals etc...)

The problem is that Silverstone finds itself between a rock and the FIA. When the schedule for the 2002 World Championship was issued, the British Grand Prix was one of four races (the others being Melbourne, Imola and Monza) to have 'provisional' asterisks against them. And in the case of Silverstone, what this amounts to is a positive guarantee that the traffic problems encountered at this year's race (and, let's face it, at every other since the beginning of time) will not be repeated next year.

It is a fact that, in the fullness of time, Silverstone's chronic traffic problems will be considerably eased by new roads and by-passes, and so on, but these will not be completed by next July. That being so, Octagon clearly felt that the only way to ensure improved traffic flow was to reduce the amount of actual traffic. Hence the cut in the size of the crowd from 90,000 to 60,000. Octagon hopes and trusts that this plan will persuade the FIA to give the race the green light - it is not yet confirmed, after all.

We may be rather sure that Mr Ecclestone will not feel inclined to reduce the fee for bringing his 22 cars and drivers to the race, so in effect Octagon needs to raise a given amount of money from only two-thirds of the normal number of patrons.

Quite what 'enhanced quality experience' means, I am unable to tell you. Perhaps Octagon is suggesting that you should have a better time getting in and out, I don't know...

What is fairly obvious, though, is that, at £199 a throw, plus grandstand, plus car park (should you choose to bring your car into the circuit), plus meals and petrol and - perhaps - hotel accommodation, a visit to the British Grand Prix is now going to be beyond the means of many who would wish to attend the race, particularly with a family. And that is obviously a very depressing thought.

Down the road, who knows what will happen? For now, though, I finished this week's column by suggesting that the only people with good reason to celebrate the Silverstone announcement are those who run Rockingham.

For September's inaugural CART race, I thought - in light of the fact that they were trying to attract a 'new' crowd to a different form of racing - they charged way too much, but still they pulled in 38,000 spectators, and it could be many more than that next year. Since Rockingham, quite a lot of fans have told me, anyway, that they won't be bothering with the British Grand Prix again, and this latest news will only increase their numbers.




Dear Danny,
I think Gerhard Berger has played a very considerable role in the success of Williams-BMW this season.

It is true to say that many F1 people were sceptical when BMW announced that Berger had accepted the job. He would not, they suggested, take it seriously, would play at it until it bored him. In point of fact, they were entirely wrong, and Ron Dennis was one of many to acknowledge he had been surprised by Gerhard's diligence in his new role.

It doesn't bother Berger. "Well, you know, I am quite surprised at how well you can play your game in Formula 1. Everyone knows me as the sunny boy, looking after the girls, good natural talent, quite lazy...

"I know I had this image, and I didn't care - somehow it fitted me. I felt well in my role. I think in F1 everyone gets a role: Prost had his role, Senna had his role, Lauda had his role - even Mansell had his role! And I had mine, and I was quite happy about it. But people never seemed to realise that, once a race weekend was over, I was involved in the family transport company a lot of the time, and I did all my deals myself. I was playing around in a lot of other small businesses - I was always behind a desk somewhere, doing deals."

The first approach from BMW came at Spa in 1996, the year before he retired from F1. At the time he was already thinking of the next part of his life, of what he would do when he gave up driving. There was still the transport business, of course, which could occupy all his time if he so wished it, for it is a sizeable company, employing 600 people. In the end, though, he put in other people to run it.

"I still felt very much that my life was in racing. I thought, 'Well, if something comes up, and it fits perfectly, I'll think about it', and the BMW thing seemed to fit. Of course, if you do as many years' racing as I did, the thing you understand most is the chassis side - I always had a much stronger feeling for that than for the engine side, because I was much more deeply involved in it. But still I thought I could contribute a lot, and, as it was BMW, I decided to do it."

In the opinion of most folk in the paddock, BMW's return to F1 was handled very well, very wisely. There was never any of the PR overkill which subsequently made Jaguar look so foolish; quite the opposite, in fact.

"Well, it looks right from the outside, I agree," Berger said. "I think we did quite a good job. Mario Theissen, my co-director, and I tried to steer it in the right direction. I wouldn't say we did it perfectly, but I really didn't want to say too much, to claim we were going to beat the world, or any of that stuff. It is actually quite a complex thing to install a racing department within a large company like BMW."

From the outset Gerhard has thoroughly enjoyed his relationship with Williams, that much is clear. "Of course we have a lot of hard discussions - they kick our ass, they are a winning team, and they don't want to waste their time - but that's exactly what we need. I think to have a partner like Williams is perfect, and I have to say I love working with Frank and Patrick (Head), because they're so professional - and they're racers. When they talk, I understand how they feel, and what they want. Communication between us is good, although it took a while to get from them the respect, the understanding that I was serious.

"I'm sure, in the beginning, they had doubts about me, but now I don't think so. I am from BMW, OK, but as I'm a racer, I feel as though as I'm working for Williams almost as much - because for me it was always clear that in the end it's the package that's going to win."

Frank Williams thoroughly approves of the fact that BMW's Competitions Director is a man he admired as a driver, and one he has known for years.

"Gerhard," says FW, "definitely brings a lot to the party - and, being Gerhard, he likes bringing a lot to the party, of course! He's got a huge amount of F1 experience, and that's very helpful to them - and to us. When he took the job, a lot of people thought he wouldn't take it seriously, but, let me tell you, he's very serious about it - he's on a multi-year mission, no question about it. As a link man between Williams and BMW, he's ideal, but more than that, he's an absolutely pivotal member of the BMW management."




Dear Campbell,
It's hardly a new story, Niki's Parmalat cap - he's been wearing one for 25 years, and not only when he's been involved in racing, either. Even when he was off the scene, running his airline, still there was a Parmalat cap on his head. I've always been led to believe that, yes, it is a lifetime deal - and a very lucrative one indeed...

If you have a question, send it to AskNigel@haynet.com.