Three races into the 2007 F1 calendar and the top two teams clearly do not have a clear No1 driver.
While Michael Schumacher was always the undisputed number one at Scuderia Ferrari, things are different now. Both Ferrari drivers have won a race and while Kimi Raikkonen is at the head of the championship standings, team mate Felipe Massa’s victory last Sunday meant he is now only five points adrift.
Asked whether the team will designate a No1, Massa said he did not think there will be any decision until the championship is almost done.
“I think the team has to work like we are doing now with both drivers, trying to put both cars in front of McLaren,” Stefano Domenicali, who has replaced technical director Ross Brawn at Ferrari said that “as always” the track would give the answer at the end. “For us, it's important that they will have maximum support from the team, both from an engineering point and from a psychological point of view and from the motivation point of view, and then once again, it's the lap time and the track that will give the answer.”
Things are tighter at Mclaren. Both its drivers, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton are at the head of the points table. Alonso has won a race and finished second in another but was fifth on Sunday while Hamilton was twice in second place and once in third. But Alonso is the reigning world champion and Hamilton is a rookie in Formula One.
The Woking team has a history of insisting that it does not favour any of its drivers until one of them is out of the running for the championship – one only needs to recall the Prost-Senna rivalries. Asked on Sunday if he has the same chance as Alonso to go for the championship Hamilton said: "Yeah, absolutely, I don't see why not. I have the same car and I seem to be as competitive as him, and I feel a lot more comfortable now that a win is going to be possible."
McLaren chief executive Martin Whitmarsh added there was nothing stopping Hamilton: "He'll want to go better now and win a race. "I don't think anybody doubts that he will do that this season."
Slightly back in the grid, Nick Heidfeld, who does not have a firm contract for next year, has been doing himself many favours at BMW, coming fourth in all three races so far while Robert Kubica won his first points on Sunday, when he came sixth.
At Renault Giancarlo Fisichella, as expected, leads rookie Heikki Kovalainen but the issue there is more about the performance of the car. Questions are being asked at Toyota however over Ralph Schumacher, one of the best paid drivers on the grid, who has just one point to his name compared to team mate Jarno Trulli’s four. Still, it’s early days and much can change in the next few races.
While Michael Schumacher was always the undisputed number one at Scuderia Ferrari, things are different now. Both Ferrari drivers have won a race and while Kimi Raikkonen is at the head of the championship standings, team mate Felipe Massa’s victory last Sunday meant he is now only five points adrift.
Asked whether the team will designate a No1, Massa said he did not think there will be any decision until the championship is almost done.
“I think the team has to work like we are doing now with both drivers, trying to put both cars in front of McLaren,” Stefano Domenicali, who has replaced technical director Ross Brawn at Ferrari said that “as always” the track would give the answer at the end. “For us, it's important that they will have maximum support from the team, both from an engineering point and from a psychological point of view and from the motivation point of view, and then once again, it's the lap time and the track that will give the answer.”
Things are tighter at Mclaren. Both its drivers, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton are at the head of the points table. Alonso has won a race and finished second in another but was fifth on Sunday while Hamilton was twice in second place and once in third. But Alonso is the reigning world champion and Hamilton is a rookie in Formula One.
The Woking team has a history of insisting that it does not favour any of its drivers until one of them is out of the running for the championship – one only needs to recall the Prost-Senna rivalries. Asked on Sunday if he has the same chance as Alonso to go for the championship Hamilton said: "Yeah, absolutely, I don't see why not. I have the same car and I seem to be as competitive as him, and I feel a lot more comfortable now that a win is going to be possible."
McLaren chief executive Martin Whitmarsh added there was nothing stopping Hamilton: "He'll want to go better now and win a race. "I don't think anybody doubts that he will do that this season."
Slightly back in the grid, Nick Heidfeld, who does not have a firm contract for next year, has been doing himself many favours at BMW, coming fourth in all three races so far while Robert Kubica won his first points on Sunday, when he came sixth.
At Renault Giancarlo Fisichella, as expected, leads rookie Heikki Kovalainen but the issue there is more about the performance of the car. Questions are being asked at Toyota however over Ralph Schumacher, one of the best paid drivers on the grid, who has just one point to his name compared to team mate Jarno Trulli’s four. Still, it’s early days and much can change in the next few races.