One for the Good Guys

Renault have established a pleasing persona for their Formula One effort. It helps to have Flavio Briatore fronting it, of course; he brings a lot of style and enthusiasm to whatever he undertakes. Also, of course, as the results show, he's a no-nonsense manager who concentrates on the essentials. But there's a likeability about the Renault campaign that's extremely appealing. Seeing their Tonka-toy-colored racers topping the Constructors' Championship is immensely agreeable.

Then to have Fernando Alonso winning at Sepang after Giancarlo Fisichella's victory in Melbourne means success for one good guy after another. The saucer-eyed Spaniard is deservedly one of the paddock's favorites. Rarely moody, always engaging and with a good word for everybody, he's a breath of fresh air at the top of the drivers' points. And to boot he's electrified an emotional nation that has a lot to bring to the world of Formula One.

Nor would anyone begrudge Toyota their first-ever podium. Big budget or no, the Toyota team have never tried to do a Jaguar, never put flash before substance. Their persona is still that of Ove Andersson, the quiet Swede who set it up in the first place, believing in the Scandinavian style that actions speak louder than words. This heads-down demeanor has earned Toyota the respect, if not the affection, of the Grand Prix world. Only the self-styled Grandee teams will resent this intrusion into their domain by upstart Toyota, which for the first time look capable of a season-long assault on podiums.

And in the seat of that Toyota, another authentic good guy, Jarno Trulli. Toyota have stepped up to the challenge of providing a car that suits this fast driver and likeable personality. There was no lack of sympathy for Trulli when he was shown the door at Renault, and it's great to see him bouncing back with a good car under him. This was a highly motivating performance for Jarno and his team, with teammate Ralf Schumacher in fifth place.

And then Nick Heidfeld in third! We just knew that a racer who did so well against Kimi Raikkonen when they were both at Sauber had a lot to contribute, and at Sepang he proved it with a racy drive that saw him - unlike his BMW-Williams teammate - engaging in close-quarters passing and repassing without sacrificing his car or his track position. A McLaren-Mercedes reject, Heidfeld is an authentic good guy. It was great to see him on the podium.

Also qualifying as good guys are Red Bull. Lying an astonishing third in points, one point ahead of Ferrari, the Austrian-backed outfit brings a fresh approach to the game that has revitalized David Coulthard and allowed Christian Klien to show to best advantage. Their clean one-sponsor livery is the freshest and handsomest in the game. I don't expect Red Bull to stay up in third place, but I do expect them to carry on confounding some of the biggest names in the sport.

Some of the former good guys are wearing black hats. Jenson Button's tantrums after Sepang show us that he's not the staunch contributor to the BAR-Honda effort that we though he might be. Can you imagine Michael Schumacher moaning in public about his team's performance the way Jenson did? The whole point of Michael is that he's calm and positive with the press and critical and constructive with the team. Button has a heck of a lot to learn about being a team leader.

As for the yellow cars, I hardly know what to say. Though freshly Toyota-powered, they're just going through the motions. Because of - and often in spite of - Eddie's antics, the Jordan outfit was one of the paddock's good guys. The new outfit has totally blown that good will. And I'm not optimistic about their future. Successful though Gian Paolo Dallara has been in other formulae, I doubt that he'll be up to Formula One speed in 2006. The sport is being dumbed down by its new rules, but not that much. I hope he proves me wrong!

Finally, I wonder if the Formula One world really appreciates what Honda and Bridgestone did after Sepang. In this sport we're used to every kind of buck-passing and obfuscation. In public, no one wants to admit responsibility for anything. Even behind the scenes cover-ups and blame-culturing are the order of the day. Against this background, the forthright apologies rendered by both Honda and Bridgestone to their respective teams, BAR and Ferrari, are astonishing. Both bowed deeply from the waist to admit that they got it wrong big time in Malaysia.

This is not an action taken lightly in Japan. Corporate chiefs who've had to apologize for poor performance have committed hara-kiri. When such an apology is made, it is sincere and founded on a deep sense of responsibility to a customer or a task. Even Jenson Button should understand that.