The European GP was a memorable race for Spyker, and while there were no points at the end of it, the team had certainly made its mark.
Spyker was the only team to make a great strategy call that every team in the pitlane had the chance to take. Calling Markus Winkelhock into the pits for wet tyres at the end of the formation lap gave the rookie the amazing opportunity to not only get into the lead of the race, but to pass the likes of Kimi Raikkonen as he did it.
And while he didn’t get the chance to sample a proper start off the grid, he did have the rare honour of leading the field away at a safety car restart with the World Championship contenders breathing down his neck.
Things didn’t quite work out after that, but the day revived memories of Belgium 1998, France 1999, and Brazil 2003 – three occasions on which the Jordan team showed that with the right calls in the pits and a canny driver in the cockpit the form book can be turned upside down. Many of the guys involved in those wins are still in the Spyker camp today.
The eventual double retirement was disappointing, but nevertheless it was a day that everyone on the team could enjoy. Not least Mike Gascoyne.
‘Like in Canada we got all the strategy decisions right!,’ he says. ‘We were thinking about stopping both cars at the start, but we only stopped one. We could see the rain coming, and we are the only team that doesn’t get radar information, so it was quite interesting that we were the only one that got it right.
‘We made the call with Markus, we didn’t with Adrian, but we also knew that if it did rain and everyone had to stop, we only had to do a one-car pit stop rather than a two-car pit stop.
‘We were also hedging our bets. Markus would obviously be in really good shape, Adrian would still pick up places because of not having to do a two-car pit stop. And if it didn’t rain we still had Adrian in there. Markus would have suffered, but given that he was a rookie in his first race, that wasn’t really going to be a big problem for us. It covered all bases.’
In fact the decision to put Markus onto wets at the end of the formation lap was an inspired one. Despite starting from the pit lane, he was 10th across the start/finish line at the end of the lap – but four of those officially ahead were in the pitlane as they crossed the line, so he was actually already sixth on the road, and just 10 seconds behind leader Raikkonen!
On that second lap he passed Giancarlo Fisichella, Takuma Sato, Jarno Trulli, Alex Wurz and then Kimi himself. All of those guys then went straight into the pits, and Markus crossed the line with a huge 19s lead over Felipe Massa, the first of the drivers who had already changed tyres. At the end of the third lap the team called Markus in to change to extreme wets, which was another perfect call. But by the time he came out, still in front, the safety car was waiting for him. In effect, his fun was over.
‘He obviously went through the field. We then stopped him again to go on extreme wets, and he was still 30s in front of everyone. It was the right thing at that point, and without the safety car he’d have been leading the race by a minute, because everyone else would have had to come in again and gone onto extreme wets. With the safety car it was still not a problem, he was in front.’
Markus sat at the front of the grid, ahead of Massa, Alonso and Raikkonen, during the long wait for the restart. The team was free to change tyres during that period, and in the end took a gamble that didn’t quite pay off.
‘When it was red-flagged we initially changed onto the standard wet for the restart, but we got a report of showers coming in that would start two minutes after the restart. Thinking it might be the same sort of thing, we took the gamble of going back onto the heavy wet, because if that happened all the guys on the intermediate would have had to stop again.
‘Ultimately they were all going to come past us as it dried out, we went for a call that would have got us a result if it had rained again. I still think it was the right thing to do. In the end it did very lightly shower, but didn’t rain.’
Markus led into the first corner, but he was anxious not to get in the way of the big guys, and was soon devoured by the pack. It was clear that his extreme wets were not the right choice.
‘But having said that, don’t forget he qualified 5s off pole. He’s there at the restart alongside Massa, Alonso and Raikkonen. He lost 7s on the first lap, so I’m not so sure the tyre was that bad! We made a call, and if it had rained again, it would have been a great call. In the end he got it through to the dry, he went onto dries, and unfortunately he had an electrical problem.’
Mike was full of praise for Winkelhock’s performance: ‘It may well be the only F1 race he ever does. He’s a lovely, lovely guy, he’s worked with us for 18 months, and he’s incredibly professional in everything he’s ever done. And he led his first Grand Prix. It’s a great family history with his dad and everything – I’m sure his dad would have been very proud of him!’
Meanwhile Sunday was a very short race for Adrian Sutil, who had been so looking forward to an opportunity to drive in the rain. He was one of the seven drivers to go off at the start of the third lap, of whom only Lewis Hamilton and Anthony Davidson were able to resume. ‘It was a river. He was actually just about to go past a Ferrari and was a little enthusiastic going into the corner! That was a shame, because if he had kept it on, anything could have happened. We’ve got a slow car. But that doesn’t stop you getting the strategy calls right. Like in Canada, this time we did it again.’
The team didn’t go to this week’s group test at Jerez because there was little point in spending time on the current car, which now has just one more race outing in Hungary. Instead the team took advantage of a quick run on Silverstone’s Stowe circuit to try the gearbox for the B-spec car, which will appear in Turkey.
‘We did Silverstone because we have the new gearbox, and then we’ve got the B-car in Turkey, which is a step forward. It won’t take us to a point scoring position, but it will be a step forward. More importantly we’ve now got the wind tunnel up and running, we’ve got things in place to start moving forward. This time next year I think we’ll be in good shape!’
Spyker was the only team to make a great strategy call that every team in the pitlane had the chance to take. Calling Markus Winkelhock into the pits for wet tyres at the end of the formation lap gave the rookie the amazing opportunity to not only get into the lead of the race, but to pass the likes of Kimi Raikkonen as he did it.
And while he didn’t get the chance to sample a proper start off the grid, he did have the rare honour of leading the field away at a safety car restart with the World Championship contenders breathing down his neck.
Things didn’t quite work out after that, but the day revived memories of Belgium 1998, France 1999, and Brazil 2003 – three occasions on which the Jordan team showed that with the right calls in the pits and a canny driver in the cockpit the form book can be turned upside down. Many of the guys involved in those wins are still in the Spyker camp today.
The eventual double retirement was disappointing, but nevertheless it was a day that everyone on the team could enjoy. Not least Mike Gascoyne.
‘Like in Canada we got all the strategy decisions right!,’ he says. ‘We were thinking about stopping both cars at the start, but we only stopped one. We could see the rain coming, and we are the only team that doesn’t get radar information, so it was quite interesting that we were the only one that got it right.
‘We made the call with Markus, we didn’t with Adrian, but we also knew that if it did rain and everyone had to stop, we only had to do a one-car pit stop rather than a two-car pit stop.
‘We were also hedging our bets. Markus would obviously be in really good shape, Adrian would still pick up places because of not having to do a two-car pit stop. And if it didn’t rain we still had Adrian in there. Markus would have suffered, but given that he was a rookie in his first race, that wasn’t really going to be a big problem for us. It covered all bases.’
In fact the decision to put Markus onto wets at the end of the formation lap was an inspired one. Despite starting from the pit lane, he was 10th across the start/finish line at the end of the lap – but four of those officially ahead were in the pitlane as they crossed the line, so he was actually already sixth on the road, and just 10 seconds behind leader Raikkonen!
On that second lap he passed Giancarlo Fisichella, Takuma Sato, Jarno Trulli, Alex Wurz and then Kimi himself. All of those guys then went straight into the pits, and Markus crossed the line with a huge 19s lead over Felipe Massa, the first of the drivers who had already changed tyres. At the end of the third lap the team called Markus in to change to extreme wets, which was another perfect call. But by the time he came out, still in front, the safety car was waiting for him. In effect, his fun was over.
‘He obviously went through the field. We then stopped him again to go on extreme wets, and he was still 30s in front of everyone. It was the right thing at that point, and without the safety car he’d have been leading the race by a minute, because everyone else would have had to come in again and gone onto extreme wets. With the safety car it was still not a problem, he was in front.’
Markus sat at the front of the grid, ahead of Massa, Alonso and Raikkonen, during the long wait for the restart. The team was free to change tyres during that period, and in the end took a gamble that didn’t quite pay off.
‘When it was red-flagged we initially changed onto the standard wet for the restart, but we got a report of showers coming in that would start two minutes after the restart. Thinking it might be the same sort of thing, we took the gamble of going back onto the heavy wet, because if that happened all the guys on the intermediate would have had to stop again.
‘Ultimately they were all going to come past us as it dried out, we went for a call that would have got us a result if it had rained again. I still think it was the right thing to do. In the end it did very lightly shower, but didn’t rain.’
Markus led into the first corner, but he was anxious not to get in the way of the big guys, and was soon devoured by the pack. It was clear that his extreme wets were not the right choice.
‘But having said that, don’t forget he qualified 5s off pole. He’s there at the restart alongside Massa, Alonso and Raikkonen. He lost 7s on the first lap, so I’m not so sure the tyre was that bad! We made a call, and if it had rained again, it would have been a great call. In the end he got it through to the dry, he went onto dries, and unfortunately he had an electrical problem.’
Mike was full of praise for Winkelhock’s performance: ‘It may well be the only F1 race he ever does. He’s a lovely, lovely guy, he’s worked with us for 18 months, and he’s incredibly professional in everything he’s ever done. And he led his first Grand Prix. It’s a great family history with his dad and everything – I’m sure his dad would have been very proud of him!’
Meanwhile Sunday was a very short race for Adrian Sutil, who had been so looking forward to an opportunity to drive in the rain. He was one of the seven drivers to go off at the start of the third lap, of whom only Lewis Hamilton and Anthony Davidson were able to resume. ‘It was a river. He was actually just about to go past a Ferrari and was a little enthusiastic going into the corner! That was a shame, because if he had kept it on, anything could have happened. We’ve got a slow car. But that doesn’t stop you getting the strategy calls right. Like in Canada, this time we did it again.’
The team didn’t go to this week’s group test at Jerez because there was little point in spending time on the current car, which now has just one more race outing in Hungary. Instead the team took advantage of a quick run on Silverstone’s Stowe circuit to try the gearbox for the B-spec car, which will appear in Turkey.
‘We did Silverstone because we have the new gearbox, and then we’ve got the B-car in Turkey, which is a step forward. It won’t take us to a point scoring position, but it will be a step forward. More importantly we’ve now got the wind tunnel up and running, we’ve got things in place to start moving forward. This time next year I think we’ll be in good shape!’