For his part, he was hungry for the win and didn’t care that I was his teammate. Fair play to him, he went out and proved himself, and in retrospect, I was jealous and upset that he’d come out on top. See? Told you we had thin skins. And once I came to that conclusion we became great teammates and he was the guy who surprised me most out of all my teammates, which I suppose is something else you need to factor into the strange teammates’ brew: that need to impress your teammate, earn his respect – and he certainly did that.
Checo left for Force India and was replaced by Kevin Magnussen for a year, before Fernando Alonso joined in 2015 – a return for him, in fact, since he’d previously partnered Lewis at McLaren.
It’s fair to say that Fernando turning up at McLaren came as a bit of surprise to many of us. He had left Ferrari because he wasn’t happy there and he felt that he should have been winning titles, but even so, he left a team that was winning in order to join a team that was middle of the pack, or even near the back of the pack.
Why? Well, for him, probably the money. But for the team which has to find that money in order to employ a top driver that probably won’t bring them any extra silverware?
Well, at first blush, it’s a situation that provides an instant, short-term boost right across the board. The team wants the best driver line-up because it gives a lift to the mechanics and the engineers, it elevates the team in the eyes of the watching world. Everyone was like, ‘Wow, McLaren have got two World Champions and one of them’s Fernando Alonso, one of the biggest talents the sport’s ever seen.’
So that’s good. For a while.
But of course what ultimately happens is that the results don’t come rolling in, and it serves as a painful reminder that simply having a great driver line-up isn’t enough in Formula One, because drivers are only one part of the formula. Next, the team will get to wondering whether all that money being used to pay the drivers couldn’t be going on developing the car. And maybe, who knows? They might have a point about that. The whole thing is such a high-wire balancing act.
For the driver, you have to wonder if a move like that is worth it. Sure, Fernando had a lot of money in the bank, but he also had to watch other people win World Championships that conceivably could have been his. At the kind of level we’re talking about, that means more than money. Plus, I doubt Fernando was getting paid poorly at Ferrari.
Still, I liked having him as a teammate. Lewis was quick but as I’ve already said, Fernando was a much more ‘complete’ driver. In him I had probably the toughest teammate in the world and as a result you raise your game (not like you’re slacking before, but you know what I mean), and when I finished in front of him at the weekend, it was a proper buzz. It was like winning a race.
He hated it when that happened. I’m not saying he was a poor loser, but… well, in my opinion, he was a bit of a poor loser
All of which is not to say that we weren’t friendly. We were. Just that we both wanted to finish above the other. We knew we weren’t going to win any races or step on the podium, so beating each other was all the competition we had. Beating each other in qualifying, beating each other in the race.
Fernando could be quite publicly critical of the car, and he got a bit of flak for that. Deservedly so, in my opinion. I’d say if the car was tough to drive, but I wouldn’t criticise it, or the team, because that would hurt the team and it would hurt the sponsors. Everyone knows that the car’s not good enough. We all know that Fernando Alonso’s not driving slowly, but sharing your frustrations publicly doesn’t help anyone.
For me, it worked in my favour. The team would be more supportive of me, because I wasn’t putting them down. It wasn’t like I was blowing smoke up their arses. I’d tell them that things were wrong. I’m not one of these drivers who go, ‘It’s all right, it’s going to be fine.’ I tell them the issues, just as much as Fernando did. But I did it in a different manner, behind closed doors. Which is the way it should be.
I think the teammate I’ve had the best relationship with was Rubens Barrichello, who was my teammate at Brawn. I’m not saying that we always saw eye to eye – we didn’t, because we were teammates, and like I say, it’s always the elephant in the room – but we got on. Rubens is a lovely bloke. Like a lot of Brazilians, he’s a real family man, but when he’s in the factory or at the circuit, he’s 100 per cent focused on the job at hand. He understands the car better than anyone, better than me, even, which was definitely a strength of his and meant that having him as a teammate really helped me develop as a driver.
A bunch of us have appeared on Top Gear over the years. Michael did it, Kimi did it, Lewis, myself, and Rubens.
Of us all, Rubens was the only one to beat the Stig so he got us all T-shirts made. His said, ‘I beat the Stig’, and ours all said, ‘I got beaten by the Stig’.
Not everyone wore theirs. I did though.
And then there’s Lewis. He may not have been as good as I was at doing voiceovers for Tooned, but he was certainly the fastest driver I ever had as a teammate.
Not only that, but he’s the real big character of the sport. He’s got 11 million followers on Instagram, He’s huge on Twitter. He’s one of the few current Formula One drivers who is a household name.
I think he’s probably one of these guys who’s done an awful lot of growing up in the public eye. I mean, he came into the sport as a phenomenal talent, and that has never dimmed, obviously, but in terms of his skill at presentation, it’s come on leaps and bounds. I remember getting ready for events with him and he’d look at me, wanting tips on how to look, and now he’s a fashion guru.
I always remember him trying to think of something to say. If I said something in an interview and it was his turn, he’d look at me and go, ‘I was going to say that, I don’t know what to say now. I don’t know how to better that.’
I’d be like, ‘Mate, it’s not about bettering me. It’s not laps on the circuit. We’re just saying how we feel about a situation, about how that race went,’ But he never really got that. He always felt that he should go one better.
Like I say, though, he’s developed an awful lot. The Lewis Hamilton I know is a great person, but I think that a lot of people in F1 don’t get him because he leads a very different lifestyle, and I think he’s looked upon as being quite American in his outlook. What his detractors forget, though, is that he’s got a lot of people interested in the sport who weren’t interested before, and a lot of those will be Americans. What’s more, the chances are he’s going to go on and dominate the sport for years to come, and he will, of course, deserve every success that comes to him, because you don’t get it unless you’re very talented, which he is, and prepared to learn and work hard, which he is.
Who can stop him, though? That’s the question. And the answer it seems is Max Verstappen. This is a guy who’s come in, been bloody quick and won his first race in Barcelona, which was either the best thing that could have happened to him or the worst, because on the one hand his confidence bloomed and on the other hand he thought he was invincible, at which point the crashes started coming, the mistakes, the incidences of him losing his head. You don’t need to push as hard in practice as he was. He crashed in Monaco last year before qualifying started, destroyed the car and didn’t qualify as a result.
It’s a well-worn scenario. It’s happening to Charles Leclerc right now – another very raw talent still being fine-tuned. A version of it happens to a lot of drivers, yours truly included. The true test of racing character is whether the driver can come out the other side, and while it’s taken Max a while to learn from his mistakes, and work out that you need to ease off every now and then, I think he’s really getting there now.
To me, it feels like he’s much more like the finished article now. Not the finished article. But getting there. His natural ability is being better managed. He’s much more balanced and as a result he’s been finding a lot more consistency, and for me he’s probably been the driver of the year in 2019.
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2. THE PLACES
The problem with designing new circuits is that they cost a fortune, so there aren’t many new ones, which is why city-centre circuits, like the new Hanoi Street Circuit debuting in 2020, are where it’s at.
And that’s good, because street circuits are kind of fun. But at the same time you don’t want too many of them, because they’re very difficult to overtake on. You don’t have the run-offs and braking zones that you get on the custom-built circuits, whereas on a lot of the street circuits there’s no run-off. There are just walls. And if you have a brake failure you’re going to meet one of those in a big hurry.
Saying that, there’s an upside. Having no run-offs reduces the temptation to overdrive the car, unlike somewhere like Austin or Malaysia where all that space tempts you into taking risks that may ultimately derail you. Instead, you build up to getting the maximum out of the car, you work up to finding your limit, rather than going over and pulling back, which to me is the essence of good racing.
From a driving point of view, though, the circuits I like are the fast, flowing ones like Suzuka and Spa, which have a mix of tricky corners and ones that you can take almost flat-out.
It’s the same with Le Mans. There are two corners that I really don’t like at Le Mans, and they didn’t suit the car we were driving. You’d brake and the car wouldn’t slow down enough, and you’d turn in and you get understeer and only just about make it round. Ah, but every other corner on the circuit was just awesome, just lovely and flowy and smooth, and it’s such an amazing experience driving at night.
However, I have a rule in Formula One when it comes to the best circuits for visiting. Not necessarily driving, but visiting. And it’s the three Ms: Montreal, Melbourne and Monaco.
Montreal is a street circuit, and basically the city stops, just like a city-wide festival. There are a couple of places where all the restaurants get marquees out into the street, and it’s party time, day and night. It’s a very special atmosphere.
As a driver, if you’re staying in the city, it’s a nightmare, because you can’t get around, so you leave the circuit and there’s no way to reach your hotel. Sometimes you’ve got to walk, which is unusual, but for most of us is a really welcome change of pace. I’ve mentioned before how being in Formula One is like being in a never-changing city: Formulaoneville. Well, Montreal is where you do actually get to see a bit of your host city for that reason, and very beautiful it is too.
My first ever race in Montreal was 2000. Me and my dad and various others went to a party hosted by the owner of Cirque du Soleil at his huge house, and it was there that we found ourselves sitting around a bonfire singing ‘Yellow Submarine’ with none other than George Harrison. Pretty surreal. Trouble was, I was really tired, so I said to Dad who, bear in mind, was sitting around a bonfire singing Beatles songs with George Harrison, ‘Dad, I’m going to have to go. You stay. Enjoy yourself.’
He was like, ‘Uh uh, no. We go together.’ But anyway, as it happened, the quiet Beatle – who it turned out wasn’t all that quiet – was ready to leave, and so he jumped in our limo with us. Off we went home with George sticking his head out of the limo sunroof, still singing Beatles songs. That was an incredible, very special experience – one that opened both our eyes to this wonderful world we were suddenly a part of.
Melbourne, meanwhile, is a bit hit and miss with parties but it’s a fun race to go to, because there’s a good atmosphere and it’s the first Grand Prix of the year, and everyone’s really excited to see what the new cars look like and how they perform. It’s in a park, of course. Albert Park, which is beautiful.
And then there’s Monaco, which encapsulates all the glamour of Formula One. It’s the oldest race. It’s yachts and film stars and models, and lots of racing drivers live there.
These are the little things that all add up to Monaco’s very, very special atmosphere.
Meanwhile, for a driver it’s great, too. You never feel more alive than when you’re wrestling this 900 horsepower monster around its streets. Coming out at the end of a lap around Monaco, especially when you’ve done a good lap and you’ve pushed the car to the limit, there’s nothing like it. It’s scary but also immensely rewarding. There’s no other place that you qualify and enjoy it as much as Monaco. It’s physically and mentally another level compared to anywhere else.
Then, at night-time, all hell breaks loose, because you get parties on boats, parties in nightclubs like Amber Lounge, or in bars like La Rascasse, which is a bar on the second-to-last corner. When the circuit opens back up to the public at night, La Rascasse spills out into the street, so, at midnight, 1am, you’ve got drunk people drinking on the street, on the race circuit, spilling their beer on the track. It’s complete madness. There are scooters parked everywhere and then parties finish at I-don’t-know-when in time for the big clear-up before testing begins at 9am.
About seven in the morning, all the scooters that have been left by revellers are taken to the police station. I mention the scooters in particular because I once lent my PR guy, James, my scooter. He left it on the street outside La Rascasse and then staggered back to a boat. The next morning, he awoke, groggy, groaning and massaging his sore head. Where am I? Oh, that’s right, I’m on a boat in Monaco harbour having gone out and got absolutely trashed last night. Where’s Jenson’s scooter? Oh, that’s right, I left it on the road outside the bar. What’s that sound?
Oh my God, it’s racing cars.
James leapt out of bed running to the prow of the boat, only to run straight into a glass door, knocking himself out. By the time he came round he had a lump on his head the size of an egg and a monumental task ahead: to recover my scooter on race day in Monaco.
Credit, though. He found it. Took him the whole of race day, and he had to pay the Monaco fuzz a massive fine, but he got the scooter back.
Salutary tale there.
Okay, one more M. It’s Monza, which because you’ve got Milan down the road is actually great for parties. Like Monaco, it’s one of the big races, and a lot of that is down to the Italian fans, the famous tifosi. They pack the place – a beautiful park, it is – every seat in the grandstand is taken. People drive their caravans up to the edge of the circuit so they can stand on top of them to see. People hang off walls, hang off signs to watch the race. It’s a really special atmosphere, even for a driver not driving a Ferrari.
In 2011, I was leading for a lot of the race until Fernando, who was driving for Ferrari, jumped on me in the pit stops, and I ended up finishing second. Got up to the podium and the fans were booing me. I was like Really? You’re booing me? A Ferrari has won, for crying out loud.
But that’s Monza for you. And after all, the partisan crowd is an essential part of the whole experience there. If you’re on the podium with two Ferrari drivers, it’s mega – all you see is a sea of people all the way down the straight, a field of red in the stands. You forget about the cameras, the TV audience, you’re just totally in that moment, where the excitement of the crowd is so infectious and intoxicating that it takes you to a whole other level. It really is very special indeed.
If the three Ms are the circuits that are the best to visit for whatever reason, then there are the three Ss which are the best for the racing itself. Silverstone is fast, it’s flowing, you’re rarely below 130mph. It’s just crazy how fast it is. I remember going there back in 1994 with my dad. We camped and I recall standing on the banks and watching the cars come through. It’s the best race to see an F1 car up close.
Spa is another one. A great driver’s circuit. My favourite, though, is Suzuka, which is flowing, narrow, old school. You’re on the edge the whole time, knowing that if you make a mistake, it’s going to end in tears, which is good for the same reasons it’s good to race on a road track: you build up to your limit rather than overreach and have to pull back.
I won there in 2011 with McLaren when I finished first, Fernando second and third was Sebastian, who clinched his second World Champi
onship the same day that I won. So, a great race, on a very special circuit. In qualifying, when you’re on low fuel and new tyres, you feel like you’re a superhero driving this 900-horsepower car from turn two up to turn eight. There’s so much downforce you can only just about keep up with where the circuit’s going.
Mind you, the problem is that a lot of the circuits I’ve talked about and the circuits that I love are probably not the best circuits for overtaking. If you’ve qualified at the front it’s great, but if you’ve qualified tenth then you know you’ve got a battle on your hands.
Compare it to Austin, a great circuit because you can have some really good battles. There are five places at which you can overtake, which means that if you do happen to find yourself in tenth, you have chance of clawing back the places, and the fight is awesome. If you make your move then the guy will come back at you at the next corner and vice versa. You can overtake down the inside on the back straight and he’ll go round the outside at the next one and then you’ll be on the inside for the next corner. It’s just brilliant. Added to that, Austin has a very unusual nightlife situation in that it’s kind of dead during the day but once the sun goes down it’s like a different place. There’s one particular road through the city that comes alive.
And lastly, and although I hate to end on a downbeat note, an A.
Abu Dhabi, my least favourite circuit, was never exactly fun, it was very stop-start. There were no real fun fast sections. It was like straight, brake hard, 90-degree corner, straight, brake, left, 90-degree corner. Very angular circuit.
Still, that’s like saying what’s your least favourite Ben & Jerry’s flavour. I mean, they’re all pretty good.
THE PERFECT LAP
Is there such a thing as the perfect lap? I don’t know. How about the nicest teammate who lets you share all his data, and a team with loads of money who want to give tons of it to you. No sponsor days. A car with an inbuilt seat massage and great visibility, no buffeting or vibrations. And when you cross the finish line, it says to you, ‘Well done, JB, you’re on pole position’, because, of course, you’re always on pole position.
How to Be an F1 Driver Page 21
