F1

Well the 2004 F1 World Championship is in the books. Yesterday in Sao Paulo, Brazil the season unceremoniously ended. JPM finally got a victory for Williams. Their first since the summer of 2003 and in JPM’s last race for the Grove team before moving to McLaren next season.

The event was notable for Ferrari’s lack of success. The Sandwich finished 3rd after starting on the pole and Michael finished 7th after starting 18th.

Here is the final constructor and driver championship points:

CONSTRUCTOR

1 Ferrari
262
2 BAR-Honda
119
3 Renault
105
4 Williams-BMW
88
5 McLaren-Mercedes
69
6 Sauber-Petronas
34
7 Jaguar-Cosworth
10
8 Toyota
9
9 Jordan-Ford
5
10 Minardi-Cosworth
1

DRIVER

Pos Driver Nationality Team Points


1 Michael Schumacher
German Ferrari
148
2 Rubens Barrichello
Brazilian Ferrari
114
3 Jenson Button
British BAR-Honda
85
4 Fernando Alonso
Spanish Renault
59
5 Juan Pablo Montoya
Colombian Williams-BMW
58
6 Jarno Trulli
Italian Renault
46
7 Kimi Räikkönen
Finnish McLaren-Mercedes
45
8 Takuma Sato
Japanese BAR-Honda
34
9 Ralf Schumacher
German Williams-BMW
24
10 David Coulthard
British McLaren-Mercedes
24
11 Giancarlo Fisichella
Italian Sauber-Petronas
22
12 Felipe Massa
Brazilian Sauber-Petronas
12
13 Mark Webber
Australian Jaguar-Cosworth
7
14 Olivier Panis
French Toyota
6
15 Antonio Pizzonia
Brazilian Williams-BMW
6
16 Christian Klien
Austrian Jaguar-Cosworth
3
17 Cristiano da Matta
Brazilian Toyota
3
18 Nick Heidfeld
German Jordan-Ford
3
19 Timo Glock
German Jordan-Ford
2
20 Zsolt Baumgartner
Hungarian Minardi-Cosworth
1


Of course there were no real surprises with the standings down the stretch. Fernando Alonso did manage to hold of JPM for fourth in the championship. Ralfie was able to catch David Coulthard and actually pass Giancarlo Fisichella for ninth in the standings. BAR finished the season strong and was able to claim second place in the Constructors championship plus they retain the services of Jensen Buttons next year after last weeks Contract Board ruling. Of course, who knows what kind of ramifications that decision will have on the team.

No, what really happened yesterday was just the start of an offseason that will prove to be quite interesting and have far reaching effects on the future of the sport.

Right now there are 19 races on next years schedule. At least one of those is going to go. France, San Marino and Great Britain seem to be on the chopping block. It seems ridiculous to think the GBGP would go away but that is what Bernie is hinting at. And when it all comes down to it, it is all money that is the underlying reason. Bernie can make more and fuck everyone else if it means tradition gets trampled. Those of us in Indy know the feeling.

Besides those races the Jaguar team has ceased its operation and unless a suitable buyer can be found it will be lost. Cosworth is involved with Ford’s decision to get out of F1 racing, but it appears the Cosworth brand will be sold and continued. This helps Minardi and Jordan remain on the track. But with the demise of Jaguar, there is but 18 cars expected on the grid at Melbourne next March. Sure there has been some rumblings about some new blood coming in, but with the state of affairs at the FIA office who would come in right now?

Then of course there is the GPWC that threatened a couple of years ago to start up a rival series. The idea seemed to be dead but today it was brought up again in response to the rules Max and the FIA are proposing in regards to competition and cost controls.

There are a few things we do know about next season. Ferrari will be back as the favorites with the same driver combo. In fact here is a look at what is known right now.

Ferrari-Michael and the Sandwich
BAR-Honda-Buttons and Sato
Renault-Alonso
Williams-Mark Webber
Toyota-Top Knot and Ralfie
Minardi
Jordan
McLaren-Kimi and JPM
Sauber-Jacques and Massa

Anthony Pizzonia is most likely to get the Williams seat next to Webber. Minardi and Jordan never keep the same guys so I wouldn’t want to speculate on who gets those “choice” rides for next year.

This offseason will prove to be quite enlightening. Thanks for reading all season long and keep it here for more breaking news and opinion!