Prancing Horses

Before India took on Germany in the opening match of the Champions Trophy inCologne in August, the two teams lined up for the pre-match rituals-- theplaying of the national anthems and exchanging of the teamflags. First, the Indian national anthem played on the PA system, and I sangalong. As the strains of the German anthem followed, funnily, I hummed alongagain. In tune, without missing a beat.

I'm not a German. I've never been to Germany. I've never ever consciouslyheard the German national anthem. So, where was this coming from?

It took me all of five seconds to make the connection. I am a Formula I (F1)fan, and I happily spend 17 Sundays a year watching race cars with colourfulliveries go round and round a race track at break-neck speeds for around twohours.

After the race, as the top three drivers and a representative of thewinning team stand on the podium, the flags of the country of the winning driverand that of the team he represents are raised to the tune of their respectivenational anthems.

The German national anthem has become a regular feature on race days. So hasthe Italian national anthem. So much so that they have wafted into thesub-consciousness of even an Indian motor racing nut like me and lodgedthemselves there.

In the past three years, a German driver who answers to thename of Michael Schumacher and the illustrious Italian team he drives for,Ferrari, have stamped their authority on F1. It's a domination that hasprogressively increased, with a virtual sweep of the 2002 season.

Schumacher’s and Ferrari's overriding dominance in 2002 can be told throughnumbers. Schumacher's 11 wins are the most by a driver in a season, beatingNigel Mansell's record of nine wins in 1992. Ferrari won 15 of the 17 races,equalling the record set by irrepressible McLaren duo of Aryton Senna and AlainProst in 1988, Schumacher finished in the top three in every race during theseason. That’s remarkable consistency.

What's more startling is that the 1-2Ferrari finish at Japan made it 53 consecutive podiums for the Italian team,stretching across three seasons. In other words, one, or both, of the twoFerrari drivers (besides Schumacher, there's Rubens Barrichello of Brazil) havefinished in the top three for 53 consecutive races.

In a sport where technology is a more important variable than driver skill inthe winning equation, that's a monumental achievement. It's testimony to thesupreme workmanship of the excellent Ferrari support team -- designers,engineers, mechanics -- that puts it all together so that the two drivers can goout and drive the wheels of their scarlet red Ferraris. Race after race.

The journey to victory lane has been a long, hard and expensive one forFerrari. It's worth going back in time to document the turnaround and thesubsequent ascent in Ferrari's fortunes. Till Schumacher’s three-peat, thelast time a Ferrari driver won a championship was in 1979 (Jody Scheckter).Subsequently, the team alternated between running at the top of the field tobeing also-rans. Following the death of Ferrari patriarch Enzo Ferrari in 1998,the team drifted without direction.

It was in 1991 that Gianni Agnelli, head of FIAT (which ran Ferrari),appointed flamboyant Italian Luca di Montezemolo to turn around the Maranello-basedrace team. Montezemolo started to fit the pieces together, slowly. First, bebrought on board Jean Todt, a diminutive, affable Frenchman, who was thenheading Peugeot Sport.

Todt set about building a competitive car and a team. But such was thetechnological chasm that Ferrari had to bridge that the progress seemedpainfully slow. Between 1993 and 1995, Ferrari was neither fast nor reliable,but the team continued to chip away.

Once Montezemolo and Todt were convincedthey had a car that could be made fast and reliable, they played theirmasterstroke. Ferrari snapped up three key personnel from the thenall-conquering Benetton -- Schumacher (unarguably, the best driver at that time)in 1996, and technical director Ross Brawn and chief designer Rory Byrne thenext year.

These were all awesome people to have at the helm to turn around a team. Theyrevelled in playing catch-up to their rivals. They brought energy and freshnessto the races. They understood that Ferrari was different from every other teamin the paddock, in that it was one of those handful of sporting franchises inthe world that was a way of life for its loyal fans -- better known as the Tifosi.

Ferrari is more than just a FI team with striking scarlet red race cars thatsport a prancing horse for a logo. It imbibes human values and virtues.Tradition. Italian passion and emotion. Dynamism. Charisma. Flair. The Tifosiare a loud, boisterous, demanding lot. They want their team to win, but theyalso want it to do it in style. And when Ferrari started showing the potentialof doing both in 1996, a sea of red-draped, flag-waving, singing Tifosi startedto descend on the race tracks again.

Even with a car that was a second slower -- an eternity in FI -- than its twoprincipal rivals, Williams and McLaren, Ferrari won races. Schumacher showedjust why he was why he was the best driver in F1, using his skills to overcomethe handicap of a slower car. And, Todt and Brawn demonstrated why they were twoof the best minds on the pit wall, complementing Schumacher’s driving withsome shrewd tactical moves. The writing was on the wall. It was just a questionof finding another second in the car before the championship came.

But Ferrari also found out that the last mile -- that elusive second -- was thehardest to make up. For three years running, Schumacher and Ferrari -- still witha slower car -- stretched their rivals, taking the championship battle to thelast race of the season, only to be pipped at the post. It finally came together in2000. And, since then, Ferrari hasn’t looked back.

This year, it opened such a huge gap between itself and the other teams thatit prompted the sport’s governing body to reel in changes for the 2003 season,ostensibly to rein in Ferrari’s dominance and make the championship morecompetitive. Although the FI governing body stopped short of doling outhandicaps to the weaker teams (believe it or not, such suggestions were on theagenda), it effected two significant rule changes:

• Saturday qualifying has been replaced by a two-day qualifying. The times recorded in the Friday practice session will determine the running order on Saturday -- the slowest driver coming out first. On Saturday, instead of 12 laps, drivers will be allowed just one flying lap.

This affects the teams and drivers in two ways. One, the order of running. At the beginning of a session, race tracks tend to be cold and slippery. As cars put in the laps and rubber is laid, the track gets progressively faster. So, obviously, teams and drivers would want to be the last to go out on their qualifying run on Saturday, which means they’ll have to run fast on Friday. And who’s the fastest of them all? On current evidence, Ferrari.

Two, drivers will now only have a single chance of putting it all together, instead of the four to five runs they could have had in the old dispensation. Now, who’s the master at the crunch? Who consistently pulls off that one quick lap at the death? Schumacher. So, on current evidence, expect few changes at the top of the grid. Yes, there could be a time when he -- as well as the other quick Williams and McLaren runners -- might botch it and slip down the grid. And it’ll be interesting to see them weave their way through the rest of the field, which means lots more jostling and overtaking.

• The points-scoring system has been revamped. The existing 10-6-4-3-2-1 set up (for the top six drivers) has been replaced by a system that rewards teams and drivers down to the eighth position (10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1). The new points system is aimed at stopping teams finishing behind Ferrari from being left behind in the championship race. For instance, if the two Williams came in third and fourth behind the two Ferraris for the first two races, they would have 22 points to Ferrari’s 36, and be 14 points adrift. In the old system, they would have been 18 points behind (14 to 32). What the new points system also does is reward consistency -- more points for finishes. And which team was the model of consistency and reliability in 2002? Ho, hum…

Sure, the changes add more variables into the winning equation. But if theFerrari retains, or increases, their performance advantage of this year, theywill win lots in 2003 -- though, at times, they will probably have to workharder.

All said and done, it’s up to the other top teams like Williams,McLaren and Renault to step up their game. That’s the only way they are goingto beat Ferrari. It’s a tall ask no doubt, but they can draw some heart fromthe fact that, like most sport, success in FI is cyclical. Ask Ferrari, who haveseen it all within a decade.

Even McLaren and Williams have had spells ofcrushing dominance. It’s a truism of sorts that it’s easier to get to thetop than to stay there. Ferrari will eventually be knocked off their pedestal,though realistically speaking, perhaps not in 2003. After all, they have thebest car and the best driver.

With the 2002 championship tied up early in the season, Ferrari have had moreresources to throw into the 2003 car design. As far back in August, Ferraritechnical director Ross Brawn said the design of next year's Ferrari was welladvanced and that it will be better in many ways than the pacesetting F2002.

Said Brawn: "It is hard to imagine our domination can go on like this foranother year. I thought 2001 was perfect, but this year has been even better.All we can do is work as hard as we can and not make any screw-ups in the designof the car -- and I don't see why we should."

Ominous words, indeed. Wordsthat suggest there’s a good chance that the German and Italian nationalanthems will continue to be regular features on Race Days in 2003.