The Defining Move

I apologise if my deepest reflection on the 2005 season is shaped by that incredible race at Suzuka, which has already exhausted most of the superlatives in the Thesaurus.

But I did go home wondering what effect Fernando Alonso's drive might have on Michael Schumacher. Specifically, on Schumacher's desire to keep putting himself on the line when there's probably half a billion plus in the bank, he's had 14 years in the limelight and been first past the chequer more than 80 times.

It's easy to go over the top when you see something like Alonso's pass of Schumacher around the outside of 130R. But it was very special.

The move that got most attention in Japan, of course, was Kimi Raikkonen's last lap pass of Giancarlo Fisichella. Because it won the race. But passing Giancarlo is not like passing Michael.

James Hunt and Niki Lauda, discussing that fabulous 1976 season, both talked about the 'mental files' they kept on their rivals. The memory bank dictated how they approached each one. With Driver A, for instance, they might barge down the inside secure in the knowledge that he would give ground. He wouldn't turn-in. But Driver B might be a hard man. Take liberties and you were both out of the race, simple as that. So you watched and waited. Feinted. Tried to force an error.

Would Schumacher or Mark Webber have been passed by Raikkonen on the last lap? No chance. Not even by a superior McLaren. Both would have collided rather than give up the win. I'm not saying that's right. It's just fact.

I've heard F1 sages saying that Raikkonen's pass was the best move they've ever seen. But considering the respective speed of the cars and, importantly, who was in them, for me it didn't make the top two in the Japanese Grand Prix. They both belonged to Alonso. His pass of Schuey and his dive inside Webber into Turn One.

That's not to take anything away from Kimi. He couldn't have done any more - it was the last lap, the pressure was on, it was do or die, and he pulled it off. But Fisi helped his cause. He protected an inside line into the chicane that didn't need protecting and he was slow out. And don't forget that they had played out the self-same scenario the lap before when Kimi hadn't quite made it. With that fresh in mind, there is no way that Fisi should have been caught out. An instinctive racer would have slowed the McLaren into the chicane, been deliberately slow picking up the throttle, and pushed the limit of the one-move rule on the straight. Earlier on the straight. Anything. But Kimi definitely wouldn't have gone by. Not on the grey stuff at any rate.

The real racers, the hard men, are as uncompromising at 200mph as they are at 70mph in a second gear corner. Which is why Mika Hakkinen's pass of Schumacher at Spa in 2000 really was up there among the greatest moves ever seen. On the previous lap Schumacher, remember, had executed just the kind of chop that Kimi would have got from a hard man on the last lap at Suzuka. Michael's conduct was marginal, a point that Mika calmly - to his eternal credit - made to him afterwards. Hunt would have punched his lights out.

The idea was to intimidate but at Spa the tactic backfired on Michael. Cowed? No. Furious? Yes. Mika got him next time round in a move that was brave, opportunistic and brilliant in equal measure.

This was on-the-edge stuff. There's no margin at that speed, especially at a place like Spa, bounded by trees. Interlock wheels and you have yourself an aircraft accident. And it's testament to the skill of the guys that we don't see that. I'll come back to that at the end.

But, for now, Suzuka and 130R. Alonso had four laps less fuel than the Ferrari and the Renault was quicker in a straight line. Michael knew that, and as soon as they exited Spoon Curve he flicked left to make Fernando go the long way round. To say to him, well, if you're not a car's length ahead by the time we reach the turn-in point for 130R, then you're going to have to go around the outside of me there, and you won't be up for that, will you?

Some say 130R isn't the corner it was. It's been eased slightly and there's more run off, sure. But run-off isn't a whole hell of a lot of use when you're flying through the air. Which is what Fernando was risking if Michael had sat it out on inside line, got some dirt on his tyres and understeered into him. Renault's telemetry had him at around 205mph when he went around the outside of the Ferrari...

It put me in mind of something Webber said when he was talking about his plan to pass Christian Klien's Red Bull on the first lap.

"It's still a proper corner, 130R," he said, "and it can be a bit iffy on the first lap when the tyre pressures are low and the cars bottom out. I figured that as Christian didn't have much experience, I might just get up the inside of him into the chicane if I took 130R flat. That was the plan but, fair play to him, he kept his boot right in when he got out of shape." You might recall the Red Bull surfing all over the run-off area on lap 1 in Japan.

The point? Simply that for Alonso any variance from the norm, at that corner, at that speed, against that driver, was asking for it. A few litres less fuel may have given him a run, but he still needed huge balls.

I can't actually tell you about the balls, but you can certainly see the confidence. Alonso has a swagger about him. His racing is instinctive and no matter how much you get lost in techniques and technicalities, there's pure bravery in there too.

Those mental files again. Somewhere in Fernando's, a couple of years back, will be the moment when Michael, peeved about something he'd done earlier in the season, put him on the grass approaching Silverstone's Stowe corner at 200mph. Alonso is intelligent. It will have registered that this was the same man; that it was the man whose title he had just taken; that he didn't actually need to do it. And yet he still did. Probably because it was Michael.

When Michael, 36, sits at home with Corinna and the kids this winter, he may well ponder the moment. And he will realise the level needed to get the better of Fernando and Kimi. Will he weigh up everything he has and wonder how much he needs it? How much he wants it? My guess is that he will, and that he'll still want it one more time. And he'll know he's up to it, as long as his car is.

Which is why I was hoping that the F1 Commission would indeed vote through the return to tyre stops. Without that, Michael wouldn't have been in the game next year either, a shame. Okay, it was more than tyres, but not a lot more. I'll be amazed if Schumacher isn't challenging Alonso and Raikkonen next year.

One last thing. Coming back to those interlocking wheels, I read with interest Max Mosley explaining that F1's new rear wing plans for 2007 could mean that instead of needing to be two seconds a lap quicker to pass the car in front, a car with a half second's deficit should be able to pick up the tow and go by.

I know that in the FIA/AMD survey, 94% of the respondents said they wanted more overtaking. But is that a surprise? Ask a sample of men if they'd like more sex and you'd probably get the same result.

But is this the answer? Maybe it is, but it strikes me that one of two things might happen. First, if a slower car can overtake a quicker one and stay in touch via the slipstream, then the overtaking itself becomes more frequent but less significant. Cars will be passing each other all the time and we might get to pre-Valentino Rossi bike racing, where they passed each other all afternoon. You could go make a cup of tea and come back to see who made the decisive move on the last lap. Some would say that's better; others would disagree.

Second, given some of the 21st century toughness and bravery we've been talking about - prompted by super-safe cars - just how aggressive are today's drivers going to be about breaking the tow? Much more so than their sixties counterparts, I'd suggest.

Could the one-move rule seriously be enforced in such circumstances? Ten moves would be more like it. And a couple of those aircraft accidents we do so well to avoid would become statistically more likely. That, certainly, will need some thought.

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- The Autosport.com Team

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