2012 Season Preview

[Anna]

GPUpdate are doing previews with interviewers and such stuff I thought I'd make a thread for preview stuff just in case other places are doing it too ;D .

[Anna]

GPUpdate pre-season feelings: John Watson

2 February 2012

We’re already into February and so it’s time to hear another point of view from our panel of experts. It's John Watson, five times a Grand Prix winner and championship runner-up to Keke Rosberg in 1982. Over the years, the voice of ‘Wattie’ has become a familiar one through TV commentary roles with Eurosport, Sky and the BBC.

John, we could have a thrilling season ahead of us, with six World Champions on the grid. How much are you looking forward to it all?

Well, first of all I would like to be working in it again! I would love to have a chance to be a broadcaster and communicate that thought – six World Champions – and it potentially is going to be a wonderful season. We’ll have to wait and see how the changes of technology are going to have a bearing. I look forward to the first race in Australia, on a super race track and a wonderful venue.

Will we hear your voice this year?
Sky have got their line-up, so I don’t think there is much chance there, but you never know…stranger things have happened. Within the BBC they’ve got television and radio, so there maybe something which, if I could do it, I would be over the moon.

What about Lewis Hamilton this year? It’s been a bit up and down of late…

A difficult year in 2011. I don’t know why because Lewis is, if you like, the consummate out-and-out, hot-rod racer. It didn’t come together. I am sure a lot of people have gone through the reasons for that, not least Lewis and McLaren. Jenson Button did a great job within the team and, in part, I think that might have been some of the trouble; I think Jenson managed to get the ear of the team, in terms of how the development of the car and the future of the team might be going, and Lewis didn’t quite seem to go with the flow on that one. There were also all of the incidents he got involved with and that did no doubt taint that sense of whether he was being picked upon. So he’s got to think about what he’s doing, try to work around that better and use the skill he’s got. He’s a great, great driver and a great racer.

Moving on to Michael Schumacher…he is yet to score a podium finish since returning in 2010. Realistically, what is the maximum he should hope to achieve this year?

I would like to think, before Michael retires for the second time, that he will win a Grand Prix – and if he won a Grand Prix for Mercedes-Benz, what a celebration that would be. Michael Schumacher at the end of 2011 was doing a very, very good job. There are people in Formula 1 who are…let’s describe them as ‘ready to put the boot in’…some of them remember Michael when he was an active racing driver. It was difficult to make a comeback; he came into a team and a car that was not structured around him, he didn’t have the benefit of all the goodies that he had at Ferrari like limitless testing and a tyre basically designed around his and the car’s requirements. But also, there are a number of drivers like Sebastian Vettel and Lewis who he had never raced against; suddenly, he’d got these youngsters who don’t give a damn about Michael Schumacher! It was difficult.

The final dash this year was for the remaining Williams seat alongside Pastor Maldonado. Bruno Senna eventually got it. Prior to that, who did you tip?

You had Adrian Sutil, who did a super job in the second half of last year. Rubens (Barrichello), who has got a lot of experience and you might have called him the incumbent. But I always love to see seats like that go to drivers on merit, rather than someone who is paying. I know it is difficult in these very strained times, from a financial point of view. That is the position that Williams had to make a judgement on; whether to go with someone like Sutil - could he carry that momentum and drive the team forward? I think what they need is a driver who can drive the team, maybe them some sense of direction about the way they need to go and just give the team a motivational kick up the backside!

Around them all will be Kimi Räikkönen after his two-year sabbatical. Has he still got what it takes?

Well, Kimi ought to because when he retired he was, relatively speaking, younger than Michael when Michael retired. Kimi is, sort of, the one person who is out of step with the rest of the Formula 1 field in that he is very much his own man, he drives to his own particular tune. He is clearly a massively talented and skilful driver. There were questions over his commitment but, in terms of natural ability and out-and-out driving skill, the guy is massively talented. Can he get the focus back? Can he drive Lotus back to the levels that, let’s say, a Robert Kubica would have done? Maybe we might see Kimi Räikkönen do in the Lotus what Williams need – that’s force and drive the team; Alonso is probably the most likely man to drive a team forward and Kimi needs to use that as a template for his position within Lotus.

There’s a long way to go but we’re asking everybody:
Predict a driver and team for the 2012 Formula 1 titles, please.

Bloody hell! I mean, we have some rule changes and some other factors that will have a bearing, but the incumbent team and the evolution of the Red Bull car under Adrian Newey…(pause)…Vettel was mighty impressive in 2011, I thought – not just on the fact that he won all those races but sometimes, when he had to, what he did to get the job done was just blinding. You’d have to go with the incumbent but do not underestimate Fernando Alonso and Ferrari; Ferrari have recruited some people from McLaren and other teams, and other teams have been recruiting from whomever, and you’ve got Jenson and Lewis as potentially the strongest driver line-up on the grid - will they have done enough through the back end of 2011? Because if either one of those drivers gets a winning car, they’ll be tough to beat. So I think it’s potentially a great season in prospect but what I would love to see is Michael Schumacher winning a race. That would be great for Formula 1.


John Watson was speaking exclusively with GPUpdate.net in Birmingham


Next time: Lee McKenzie, pit lane reporter for BBC F1