By role
April 29 2003

The Spanish F1 driver could be the first driver to score points at a home race after seven drivers failed short this season on previous races. The first one to have the chance was Australian Mark Webber who raced at his home GP in Melbourne. After finishing 5th on an incident-full race in his first race in F1 last year he had the chance to repeat such a fate with a better car, the Jaguar R4. Webber qualified in 14th position but admitted the car had more potential as he had made a mistake on the first corner. He was, however, able to stay in front of his teammate, Antonio Pizzonia, by more than 2 seconds. If Weber had reckoned that he was overdriving, what was Pizzonia doing with that car? His luck run out in lap 16 though due to suspension failure and so was gone the chance for a homeboy to score.

Since the departure of Alex Yoong to the Americas there is no Malaysian driver to replace him on the grid. Little chance could have had Alex of scoring since he failed to do so in his previous 2 years with Minardi. Something interesting many people failed to notice is that Alonso was last with Minardi on the grid on Malaysia in 2001 and 1st in 2003 with Renault. Since he did not race in 2002 we think this change of fortunes just tells you how happy the Spaniard may feel of his current employment.

Next up was Brazil and here we had three drivers all stating that they wanted to score and even to win in Brazil. The one with the better chances was Barrichello, that indeed lead the race for some laps and was looking in good form before his Ferrari 2002, what has been called the most reliable car in F1, stopped at the side due to lack of fuel. It was not the fact of Ferrari testing a new solar system, especially on the rainy conditions, but more to due to the fact of a wrong electronic reading of the amount of petrol on the car. The system said they he had 12 kilos left, his engine said there was none. A pity since he was running a strong weekend and he looked good for a win at his country. He did set the fastest lap so we all know he had the speed to have been on the top of the podium.

The other 2 did not leave much of an impression as both Pizzonia and Da Matta qualified at the end of the grid, 17th and 18th. Their races? Unimpressive, Pizzonia crashed and Da Matta finished 10th, and last, 1 lap down from the winner.

Imola is the San Marino GP but as a matter of fact the race is run on Italian soil so Italian drivers consider this race as his home GP, together with Monza, of course. Two Italian drivers were ready to give their best in Imola. Fisichella had recently been declared the winner at the Brazilian GP 5 days later so his highs were high. Jarno Trulli of Renault was eager to demonstrate how far the French team had gone in development. Neither of the two had much reasons to celebrate after Saturday. Fisichella could not find the pace he had shown at Brazil and he could only qualify 17th. He could not explain the reason of being so further down the grid, he hoped he was in a better race strategy, he wasn’t. Trulli could only finish 16th, one second slower than his teammate. On his defense he had to take in the last minute the T-car that was set-up for the Spaniard and he was also forced to race with it.

On Sunday, and with the Italian fans more interested in Ferrari than in both of them neither of the two could do much. Fisi tried to overtake Trulli at one point but lost control of the car. He finished 15th though with a blown engine. Trulli struggled with a car that he did not like ad could only finish 13th and last, not a good position for the ambitious French team. It was, though, the only time Trulli did not score points this season.

And now the Spanish GP is days away and the 21 years old driver from Oviedo has the task and the responsibility of putting his Renault in the points. Some, as Renault’s Technical Director, mention that the team could score a podium. If Alonso would be as lucky as to get a podium in Barcelona we may see some hard celebration on the podium and in the streets of Oviedo. If he gets some points, something he has done in every single race this season, he will have been the first one to do it a home. Buena suerte Fernando!