Jacques Villeneuve arrived at the Austrian Grand Prix relaxed and tanned and ready to do battle. Half that battle took place off the track as Villeneuve and David Coulthard criticized Michael Schumacher both in public (in press conferences) and in private (in the drivers' meeting).
Both attacked Schumacher for his fierce, defensive driving style when defending his position on the track. In the recent French Grand Prix, Schumacher had slashed across Coulthard to take the lead at the start and later nearly pushed him off the track when he tried to pass.
"It seems like it is always the same person doing it," Villeneuve said. "But he always gets away with it, so why should he stop? If he's happy with it, and nobody tells him don't do it anymore, it's allowed him to stay in front. But when the drivers behind have to lift to avoid an accident, then that's not fair either."
Villeneuve then raised a word seldom heard in F1 -- ethics.
"It just gets down to the drivers," Villeneuve said. "Even though we have noticed that we can get away with it, most of us still wouldn't do stuff like that. That is our personal ethic. But I guess ethics are not just for when you drive your car, they're the way you are in your everyday life. And the way you are, you bring it into the car as well."
For his part, Schumacher said that Coulthard was just whining.
"I had fights with Mika Hakkinen before and now it is with David," Schumacher said. "But Mika never complained. David seems to be different and it appears that I am always the bad guy. People say that there is not enough action on the track, but when there is, some start complaining"
Race officials, however, refused to amend the rules or take any action against Schumacher.
This year's Austrian Grand Prix will be remembered for the massive accident in turn one just after the start that eliminated three cars, damaged others and drastically changed the running order of the cars. Officials deemed that the over exuberant Ricardo Zonta and Pedro Diniz had triggered the whole thing.
Coulthard, who has been clashing with Schumacher on and off the track, couldn't resist saying with an evil grin: "I don't know if I understand what happened exactly at this start, but I am sure that Michael was to blame."
The McLaren Mercedes duo of Hakkinen and Coulthard ran away with the race and finished first and second. Hakkinen's victory, however, remains provisional because technical inspectors found a seal missing from one of the electronic boxes on his car. The box has been sent to a lab in London for further analysis. If the software has been tampered with, Hakkinen will be disqualified.
It's doubtful that the inspectors will find anything amiss. McLaren and Mercedes have far too much integrity to cheat, and if they did, they would do something far more subtle than removing an obvious seal to get at the software.
Costly Crash: If the MasterCard folks need another scenario to add to the company’s advertising campaign that lists the costs of certain items and then adds that some things are priceless, they could use some footage from the Austrian Grand Prix where the Prost Peugeot teammates Jean Alesi and Nick Heidfeld managed to smash each other out of the race. The advertisement would go something like this:
"Cost of fielding a mid-field F1 team: $60 million a year."
"Cost of two wrecked Prost F1 cars: $1 million."
"Cost of the look on the faces of team owner Alain Prost and the rest of the team management moments after the accident: Priceless."
The look of pure disbelief on Prost's face as he watched the accident unfold on TV was indeed priceless.
Wonder if Prost can charge it all to his MasterCard.
Silly Season Swirls: Meanwhile, the never-ending rumors about Juan-Pablo Montoya leaving Chip Ganassi's CART team a year early to drive for the Williams BMW F1 team in 2001 continue. The latest gossip says that the deal is done, and Ganassi and Frank Williams are merely haggling over the transfer fee.
What is known is that Champ Car star Dario Franchitti is testing a Jaguar F1 car at Britain's Silverstone track this week.
The Williams team has signed up to run Michelin tires when the French manufacturer returns to F1 next season. It appears to be an excellent gamble on Williams part because the Michelins have been proving to be fast indeed in private testing.
Tom Kristensen, Michelin's test driver, has no F1 experience, and the test car is last year's Williams fitted with a new BMW engine. Yet Kristensen recently lapped the Imola circuit nearly two seconds faster than the pole time set by Mika Hakkinen in the San Marino Grand Prix earlier this year.
It could be argued that Michelin put on a set of soft, sticky tires just as a publicity stunt. But there would be little point in that and, besides, the test was done in secret and the news about the lap times leaked out.
Villeneuve is adamant that he wants to be on Michelin tires next year. Don't be surprised if the announcements that Villeneuve is staying with BAR in 2001 and that the team will use Bridgestones both come out soon.
Coulthard’s Milestone: One final note. Coulthard started his 100 Grand Prix in Austria. Since the start of his F1 career in the 1994 Spanish Grand Prix, Coulthard has covered approximately 18,505 race miles and 5971 race laps and gone through a stack of tires as high as the Eiffel Tower. He has used 300 race suits, 90 pairs of boots, 45 helmets and 250 pairs of gloves. He's also worn the same pair of "lucky" underpants for most of those races.
