Fernando AlonsoThis is an ode to the cannon fodder, the backmarkers who fill the grid and prevent Formula One contests from becoming pure match races between the drivers for the leading teams of the moment. Their presence fills the grid with enough cars to prevent that, and they also provide texture to what could otherwise be a smooth canvas as the front-runners apply strokes to their latest masterpiece drives.
The ebb and flow of traffic affects the success of pit strategies and rewards aggressive passers over the cautious. Without a full field, including the tail-enders, F1 races would be little more than extended qualifying sessions.
Beyond the front-running teams, the drivers' names become much less familiar, and they tend to change more frequently as personal sponsorship dries up or strikes a gusher. The frequent necessity of bringing money to the lower-echelon teams means many of these pilots are derided as wealthy, no-talent playboys dabbling in racing.
Such criticism glosses over the fact that without the cash these drivers can bring, teams such as Minardi, and recently Prost, would go missing from the grid. Drivers for these teams have no hope of winning, but year after year new ones step forward to fill the cockpits.
They do it because they, like Michael Schumacher when he arrived in F1, and like no small number of F1 fans, have dreams of being World Driving Champion. Perhaps driving for an uncompetitive team will get them noticed by the big boys. Perhaps agents and team owners, negotiating in smoke-filled rooms, will work their magic and put the driver in the seat of a competitive car, after they've proved themselves and learned the tracks.
Spaniard Fernando Alonso is one such hopeful. Driving for perennial backmarker Minardi Team, SpA, Alonso has impressed knowledgeable observers with his pace. Rumors suggest his ties to Renault racing boss Flavio Briatore (who is Alonso's agent) will promote Alonso to a faster car, perhaps as soon as next season.
The USGP was an excellent example of the calculus used to estimate a driver's worth. Alonso qualified a lowly 17th, but for the team it was viewed as a victory. It was not only Alonso's highest career qualification, he put his lightly regarded Minardi ahead of both Arrows entries. He also beat '97 world champ and '95 Indy 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve, who was in a car with factory Honda power. Seventeenth is sounding better all the time.
Where do teams find drivers willing to fight such long odds? "My father made a small go-kart and I did my first race when I was 3 years old," said Alonso. "Yes, the first time [driving] was when I was 2, and racing when I was 3.
"After that I started racing in professional go-karting, racing in Spain, then internationally as well. I won the world championship in '96 in go-karts. With the normal cars, I did one year in Formula Nissan in '99 and one year in Formula 3000 last year."
Alonso bagged the Formula Nissan championship and finished fourth in F3000, ending the season with a win at Spa. That opened the door to Formula One. But the question in such situations is whether it is preferable to move directly to F1 as quickly as possible and risk being tainted as a backmarker, or to compete in lower-level series with the goal of winning the championship and consolidating the credentials that might attract a top-flight drive.
"That was a possibility at the beginning of the year; race for Minardi or test for Renault and race for Super Nova, which is the best team in Formula 3000," Alonso said. He decided to go for broke. "The Formula One opportunities that you have in your life, there are only two or three and this is one of them."
But once admitted to the show, the question is how such drivers maintain their commitment to speed in the reality of uncompetitive equipment. "It is difficult," Alonso confessed. "It is not easy at all, because you are always at the back and if you do a perfect lap you are 19th. But if you do a lap and are 21st, nothing is changed, because there is no pressure from the media or something like that. So it is very difficult to push always harder to try to get a better position."
Usually drivers will set their sights on beating their teammate, but with the late-season arrival of Malaysian rookie Yoong, even that benchmark is lost. Instead, Alonso competes against himself, trying to better previous qualifying and finishing positions. Indy was a breakthrough of sorts, with a qualifying run that put him into the 17th spot on the grid, a personal best. "I did five or six 18s, but never 17, so that was the motivation."
That, and the possibility of being noticed. "When a big company is behind you, like Renault, everybody wants you," he said. Who might take him is the question. And if Alonso moves on from Minardi, the search will be on for someone willing to suffer the indignation of fighting to get off the last row of the grid, instead of onto the first row.