Brazilian Grand Prix Retrospective

by Andrew Frankl

European Bureau Chief, The Auto Channel

After the adoration in Australia Jacques Villeneuve certainly came down to Earth with an almighty bang! There can be no doubt about his talent and also about his ability to learn a new track-such as Interlagos-very quickly.

What some people doubted-with reason as it turned out-was his ability to mix it with the tough guys. It is one thing to lead a race in the best car with the best engine, it is something quite different to drive in the rain dicing with someone as tough as Jean Alesi. His name means as much to the average European as AJ Foyt does in America. Let me explain.

Jean is originally from Sicily although these days the family live in France. Out of the car he is the most charming person anyone would wish to meet, Once inside however he is a real tiger whose dictionary does not include the word mercy. Mixing it with him is not unlike taking Tyson on inside the boxing ring. This, Jacques was obviously not aware of, and instead of lifting off and letting the Benetton driver go by he tried to fight it out on a damp, rainy track with minimal traction. With his superior car he could have re-passed on the by then dry track but of course all that is just conjecture as the young French-Canadian spent the rest of the race watching it on television. He will of course learn and will also give as good as he got this time - about that there is very little doubt.

It was good to see Damon Hill drive an impeccable race from start to finish. Last year he made several silly mistakes, This year - so far - his driving and his general behavior have been 100% correct. Even if he does not score in Argentina he will still lead the championship as his lead is currently l4 points and the maximum anyone can get for winning is 10.

Michael Schumacher was struggling with a car that has been cobbled together from some 1995 and some 1996 bits. Bearing that in mind he did very well to get on the podium. There was great excitement concerning Alain Prost's superlicense. Some people got the wrong end of the stick by assuming that he would replace Hakkinen in Brazil, there was never any question of it, the young Finn drove an excellent race.

The driver who seems to be completely out of touch is his team-mate David Coulthard and whilst it does seem unlikely if anyone is going to be replaced for the odd race or two, it is going to be him.

With only a week between the two races we cannot expect any major changes. All the cars are staying in South America and only minor alterations can be expected before the lights go out in Buenos Aires. No need for alarm, this is the latest starting procedure which is far too long and boring to go into.

The main thing is that when all the red lights go out, that is the start of the race! Odd, but it worked so far twice.