A1 GRANDPRIX™ OF NATIONS — 2005⁄2006 Fan eBook
A1 GP - a breath of fresh air?... 
A1 GP has been referred to as 'the right concept with the right car at the right time.' Now that it has just kicked off in Brands Hatch (on the same day as the Brazilian F1 GP, 2005, enthroning a new F1 Champion), time will start telling whether or not the above reference is truly accurate.
My hunch is that there is a very good chance the description is proven true, as A1 GP seems to have been set up with the racing fans in mind, as well as with awareness of some of F1's current pitfalls.
Likely the major factor catalyzing interest in the sport has been the close and spectacular racing which racing fans have so much enjoyed watching, in F1. F1, however, does not seem ready to offer as much of this great racing, these days—where has the thrill of on-track competition gone?... In recent years, F1 fans have rather been offered plenty of processional races, in which a good deal (if not most) of the overtaking has been done via pit strategy (instead of taking place on the track, itself). F1 has evolved, in fact, so much that one of the FIA's concerns has been with reducing speeds; this evolution, however, seems to have overlooked what makes the sport interesting and exciting for the racing fans.
Remember the caret of the racing we enjoyed in the great Jackie Stewart and Emerson Fittipaldi days? Remember Cevert, Peterson, Rindt, Clark, whose talented careers and lives were tragically cut short? Ickx and Mario Andretti, whose careers (like Clark's) reached beyond the F1 circuits? Lauda (Snr.), who remarkably rose, phoenix-like, from a hell of fire, for yet more F1 glory? The unlucky but brave Amon? The gutsy Regazzoni? Beltoise, Depailler, Hailwood and Surtees, all of whom switched from two to four wheels (to this date, Surtees being the only man to win World Championships on both categories)? The flamboyant Hunt, who joined F1 as the driver for an amateur outfit funded by a young British Lord (Lord Alexander Hesketh), later to occupy Emerson Fittipaldi's vacant seat at McLaren? Amazing all-or-nothing Gilles Villeneuve, who tamed a three-wheeled Ferrari around Zandvoort (the Netherlands,1979), and earned a P3 finish in pouring rain, in Canada (from P11 on the grid), despite a lost front wing, which had been stuck straight up, for most of the race (!), following an early collision with Arnoux (1981)? And how about Pironi, Tambay, Jabouille, Lafitte, Jarier? And from the center of motor sports, Moss, Hawthorn, Brabham, Watson, Mansell? How about Hulme? Reutteman? Pace? Alboreto, de Angelis, de Cesaris? Jones, Scheckter and Rosberg Snrs.? Piquet (Snr.)? Prost vs. Senna? And, yes, the two "Mr.Monaco's"—Hill (Snr.) and Senna! (F1 racing has delighted us, fans, with so many other unforgettable Drivers, starting way back with Farina, Ascari, and the legendary Fangio, that the nostalgic references above have to remain incomplete, I apologize, lest this paragraph grows way too lengthy.)
Remember the F1 Grand Prix weekends when there were so many cars to line up and not all would make the grid, on race day? Remember those terribly exciting GP's, when 'procession' was a truly foreign term in the F1 racing vocabulary? When a flag-to-flag P1 pull-away was by no means a frequent menu serving? When a handful or more drivers from different Teams would win in the same season? (In 1982, there were 11 different winners, Keke Rosberg grabbing the Title, in a Williams-Cosworth, against the likes of Prost, Lauda. and Piquet, with a single win to his name, that Season! This was otherwise a sad year for F1, though, as F1 lost Gilles Villeneuve, in Zolder, Belgium.) Remember, moreover, when 7-8 different full-fledged Champions would be crowned within the same decade? When there was far more driving than opining? When despite the far inferior safety standards (vs. today's), cars were empowered also by the heart and the enthusiasm for competition with which they were driven, and which in turn captivated us, the fans?
These were days when, in the F1 dictionary, the term 'maneuvers' signaled exciting—and not seldom, hair-raising—moves on the track and overtaking initiatives, rather than political or profit-motivated power-(dis)play. These were days when F1 had not yet turned into such a restricted club (a concerning situation, in itself, considering that isolated systems tend toward decay, and ultimately death—a scientific fact). But even in this sophisticated age when steering wheels resemble Christmas trees and are more akin to computers than car parts, proper, drivers can be found embodying that great ol' racing spirit. Take Räikkönen's remarkable combativeness, no matter how steep the hill to be climbed, for example, not to mention his privileged skill. The human element is there, the genius is there. The system, on the other hand, now tends to favor dull colors (less likely to clash), to inhibit valor (less chancy), it seems.
How can one forget Michael Schumacher's words, following that now notorious Austrian GP (May, 2002): according to the Ferrari champion, it was important first to guarantee the championship; then he'd start racing, he declared. Regardless of his incontestable merits as our new Champion—and the youngest of all!—Alonso's warning Räikkönen now to expect a more incisive battle for the Constructors' Title worryingly evokes the German champion's words following that Austrian GP in 2002. Now that the Drivers' Crown has been conquered, is that we can see Alonso give it his all and race all that he's truly capable of?... Let's look at the bright side: there are two entire Grand Prix weekends left, in which we can at last enjoy watching true racing between the main protagonists in 2005.
Times have changed in F1. It has become an enterprise. It has earned a seat in the business world. F1 has become terribly profitable (for some), albeit far more costly for the Teams, and more expensive and less accessible to the fans (gone also are the days in which one could count on turning on a TV channel, such as Eurosports, to delight his⁄her eyes with Senna and Prost, or Piquet and Mansell or Rosberg, battling away for the top honors on the podium). Nowadays even the term 'Grand Prix' is claimed as someone's valuable possession. Who cares?... We, fans, wish to see good racing, no matter what it may be called! It is true that now an F1 driver can be considered a true athlete; but this step forward fails to reflect on the quality of the competition we are given to enjoy. Somewhere along the line, especially in the last decade, that charming and captivating amateur-like love and enthusiasm for the sport seems to have waned in so many contexts of the F1 scenario.
Certainly not in the fans' hearts, though: the wild cheers that suddenly took Brands Hatch over and reverberated through our own living rooms, following Piquet Jr.'s overtaking Australia's Will Power, this burst of cheers speaks volumes. When have we last heard, via our TV sets, such a vibrant explosion of enthusiasm at the circuit, during an F1 Grand Prix?... Predictability and racing-procession have unfortunately cut short much of F1's glamour and excitement, in the last years. The A1 race narrator referred back to Jim Clark's days, at that move by the 20-year old Piquet. On the same key, Allard Kalff, the Dutch RTL7 TV (also mentioned below) A1 GP commentator, sounded as if he were narrating a soccer World Cup final match, through most of the A1 GP Feature Race, amid the excitement that Verstappen's bold climb through the field was stirring in the Netherlands (the Dutch driver started last, to finish seventh!). When has a F1 TV narrator last been so thrilled that he hardly had the chance to catch his breath?... In sheer contrast, later on, the same Sunday, Brazilian radio Bandeirantes' traditional F1 narrator, Téo José, was repeating just about every sentence he uttered—as it appears to be his habit nowadays—as a way both of filling in idle time and of artificially generating excitement, it seems, to make up for the little thrill going on on the track these days, in F1 racing...
Of course there's not a Räikkönen, an Alonso, a Schumacher, in A1 GP; but there are many good drivers and well-known names—I hear there will be yet more—and who knows a rarely skilled driver will not emerge as the series gets under way? At any rate, the first A1 GP weekend, which broke many records of audience (both at the circuit and on TV), bodes well for this new racing series, also in terms of track activity, skill, entertainment and excitement.
McLaren-Mercedes' Ron Dennis has voiced that F1 has always been a Nation's Cup; for the Finns root for Räikkönen, the Colombians for Montoya, and so forth. Then why a new series, to do exactly the same, yet announcing it as a novelty?—he added. While Ron Dennis has a point (most Finns do root for Räikkönen, most Colombians for Montoya, etc.), he has disregarded a couple of relevant details: [1] Who should the Chinese, the Lebanese, the New Zealanders, etc., then root for, in F1? There are 25 countries racing under the A1 banner, vs. 15 nationalities among F1 racing and test drivers, in 2005 (16 nationalities, if you do not count Scotland and England under the same flag, i.e., as Great Britain)–this number is slightly larger in 2006, with Poland and Russia added; [2] Verstappen (an experienced ex-F1 driver) said it all, when he remarked about the honor he felt it was to be invited to defend the Netherlands in racing. And certainly the gutsy race Verstappen put up in Brands Hatch evoked some of his most inspired moments in F1. In the post-race conference, Nelson Piquet Jr., who also had a superb race, shared that he was feeling as delighted and elated as if that win, in the Brazilian colors, had been his ever first win. In contrast, Montoya races for McLaren-Mercedes, and for Montoya, or the other way around, before he might think of racing for Colombia, in addition, even when he is wearing a helmet designed by a Colombian child, as it was in F1-Brazil-2005GP.
Verstappen has made another significant remark: at A1 GP, he (or any driver) can go racing with a win in sight—or amid their secret aspirations. Whereas in F1, on the other hand, he would line up on the grid, knowing in advance that his chances of scoring even a single point were null, or very close to null (Verstappen raced for privateers Minardi and Arrows, in his last F1 years). A1 GP cars being the same for everyone, the driver can thus make a difference, along with the set up developed by him and his A1 Team.
Moreover, A1 cars being equipped with a power booster button, limited to a certain number of uses (five, I believe, per race), it is again up to each driver to get well acquainted with this racing aid, and to remember to use it, amid the heat of the race. For example, by mid-race, Verstappen had used all of his available boosts, while fighting his way from P25 to P7, whereas Piquet Jr., on the other hand, confessed that it did not occur to him to use his power booster when he made his remarkable move, at the Surtees left-hander, for he was concentrated on the maneuver, itself. What a pity so much mental energy has been used up in endless discussions over a proper F1 qualifying format, for instance, that perhaps little energy has been left for a simple, creative and affordable idea to emerge in F1, such as that of A1's power booster (along with the limitation on the number of times it can be employed during a single race).
One more positive point, and likewise democratic, is that every A1 Team features a single car. This enables the driver occupying the cockpit, as well as the car, itself, to be both given full attention and care, at the same time avoiding the notorious (usually) non-declared preferential treatment offered one of the two drivers in some (most?) of the top F1 teams. Amid curious car problems or failures, radio communication peculiarities or failures, little pit stop efficiency or total lack of it, some (or many) of such situations may turn out to have been instances of veiled tactics lamentably employed along the 2005 F1 Season (as well as in other Seasons, obviously), right under the FIA's and the public's noses.
Another positive point, as far as fair competition, itself, is concerned, is that a single driver per team also prevents the employment of tactics such as Renault's pressing Räikkönen into using up additional fuel in Spa, in his slow-down lap, after qualifying. (Fisichella's leaving the pit lane a bit too early for the subsequent qualifying shoot out and then engaging in a rather fast slow-down lap, he caught up with Räikkönen, still on his own slow-down lap, on that long track. The Finn was thus forced to speed up, whereas he needed to drive slowly to save on fuel, in order not to have to pit too early, during the race. Due to Spa's very long lap, Renault's tactics might have turned out successful.)
Of course Team's tactics are more common during an F1 GP, itself—the most conspicuous of late having probably been M.Schumacher's holding off Hakkinen (P3) for just about an entire Grand Prix, so another Ferrari (Irvine) could take the victory (Malaysian GP, 1999, the inaugural F1 race at Sepang). That 1-2 finish helped ensure Ferrari the Constructor's Title, that year. (In the following GP, in Japan, and the last, that Season, it would become obvious, though, that neither the Team nor the team-mate were truly interested in helping Irvine beat Hakkinen, also in Japan, so that the Irishman could take that year's Drivers' Crown—as it might have seem, at the previous GP, when the Constructors' Title had actually been the sole concern, at Ferrari. Obviously, M.Schumacher, not Irvine, was to be the Red Team's first Champion, the following year, after many long titleless years for Ferrari or for a Ferrari driver. Even in face of the long drought that the Red Team had been enduring, they were ready to be contented only with the Constructors' Crown, and to wait one more year for the Drivers' Crown, so M.Schumacher, not Irvine, was the name to figure in Ferrari's history books (that year, M.Schumacher had missed about half of the season, due to a broken leg, in the British GP—thus Irvine's higher points tally—Malaysia having been the returning GP for the German driver). Hakkinen deservingly won the Drivers' Title, that year (1999), though partly on Ferrari's own blunders, such as lengthening Irvine's pitstop by 28 seconds, while a missing tire was fetched—only three tires had been awaiting for Irvine's car (!), when he was called in to pit during that year's European GP, the inaugural race at the rebuilt Nürbürgring circuit (that GP also marked the Stewart Team's maiden and single win). That costly tire mix-up on Irvine allowed Hakkinen to get ahead the Irishman by two points, in the Championship... (The BBC referred to this arithmetic blunder as "high farce [...] in the pitlane") So, the single car per Team norm, in A1 GP, has the virtue of helping prevent that Teams be derailed off the true spirit of sporting competition by tactics or inner politics such as above illustrated, lamentably taking place in present time F1.
A1 GP is not better than F1, nor F1 better than A1 GP, as many in the F1 paddock claim. Each series has its own characteristics, F1 of course carrying a long tradition, filled with glamour, courage, skill and excitement, though not necessarily living up to all of it, the last years, especially. A1 GP simply seems healthier, as it gets started, seems to exhibit the possibility of greater vitality, as it emerges in the motor racing scenario. Let us hope that these promising characteristics remain unchanged, independently of the degree of success that this new series may or not come to enjoy, in the long run.
A1 GP may thus be able to revive some of that great racing and racing spirit that used to characterize F1 up to a decade or so ago. I hope so, and am sure every racing fan also does, too. If the Sprint Race, this September 25, 2005, in Brands Hatch, was not too different from the current usual F1 procession, the A1 drivers likely timid and contained in the Series kick-off race, the Feature Race told a very different story: there were plenty of overtaking maneuvers and fights throughout the pack—Verstappen's exciting climb from last to seventh constituting a good example—and there was even a spectacular roll-over, from which A1 Team Lebanon's Khalil Beschir emerged unscathed, to everyone's relief. Certainly this accident was not on the menu, but the safety of the A1 cars was obviously demonstrated in Brands Hatch, this Sunday, as a result.
Incidentally, A1 GP's on-board TV cameras reflect the care of detail with which this new series seems to have been planned and put together: TV viewers can be offered more details, more participation, and therefore more excitement, regarding the on-going action on the track, than F1's on-board cameras have done. For instance, we were shown Beschir's roll-over also from within the cockpit! Curiously, we could see the driver's hands as if seeking to protect his head, even though he obviously had his helmet on. When later asked why he did it, he was at a loss to explain—pure reflex, most likely, motivated by our own instinct of survival: whereas the head⁄brain is likely the main body part to protect, instinctively, in the deep wiring of our nervous system and brain, we are not mapped out with a helmet on!
Let's cross our fingers, for these are still very early days, and follow this first A1 GP Season with an open heart⁄mind, as this first World Cup of Motor Sports seems to have every ingredient to be interesting and exciting!
In this mean time, F1 will be getting ready for a new Season, which we can also cross our fingers may provide us more often some of that great racing we so much enjoy!
Update-1:
Now that the series is well under way, a problematic issue which directly affects fan interest has emerged: the criteria according to which fans are or not allowed access to the A1 GP direct streaming of both qualifying and racing sessions. It appears that only fans logging in from countries in which A1 GP TV rights have not been sold are allowed to watch the A1 GP live streaming, whereas these sessions are not always offered live, by the TV networks that have purchased broadcast rights.
So, whereas a number of fans are denied access to the A1 GP live streaming, the sessions these fans seek to watch on-line are not always broadcast live, by the TV networks that hold the monopoly of that transmission. The result is that fans, in these countries, end up without direct access to the qualifying and racing sessions! These fans can only resort to following the result tables, on-line, since the TV video broadcasts come hours later (often clipped, it should be added).
For example, we can read on-line that the above cited Dutch RTL-7 television has no interest in broadcasting live the A1 GP events which take place at times other than those of the first three A1 GP events – despite fans' requests. The reason given by the above-mentioned TV network is that complying with the fans' requests would imply a rise in costs which RTL TV is not up to facing. Too bad for A1 GP, and for their fans, as well. After all, Formula One broadcasts are handled far more considerately by the same Dutch TV Network (RTL 5 or SBS 6): F1 qualifying and racing are not only offered live, but also on VT, during the day, if these F1 events are held at odd hours, for Europe.
And, again, too bad for the A1 GP fans in the Netherlands and elsewhere, where a similar situation prevails: when these fans try to get live access to the streaming offered at the A1 GP Homepage, they are denied access, because they are logging in from a country where live A1 GP broadcasts are supposedly being offered – even though these fans have actually not been getting the events live (in the Dutch case, so it has been ever since A1 GP moved out of European soil)! It is not surprising that interest may have reportedly begun to wane amongst some of these fans. After all, A1 GP is meant to be a form of entertainment, not a source of recurrent frustration – at waking up at odd hours only to realize that the racing events are neither broadcast nor available, despite their being streamed live. If frustration starts prevailing, it is understandable that one's interest stars shifting elsewhere, no matter his⁄her initial enthusiasm for the new series.
Obviously, it is far less fun to watch a video broadcast, and even less so if the original sessions have been clipped, when they are finally aired. By the same token, it is frustrating to have to rely solely on one's imagination, in order to try to derive a likely mental imagery of what static numbers indicate on the screen, as these numbers are updated according to the action on track! After all, this is a World Cup of Nations, where cheering – as the A1 GP organization, itself, claims – emerges as great part of the excitement involved.
Hopefully, the A1 GP Administration will become aware of this issue and take interest in addressing it, in behalf of the fans, whom they wish to conquer, worldwide. No doubt the A1 GP Administration must realize that, no matter the excitement A1 GP may be able to offer, A1 GP is yet to build its own pedigree within the Motor Sport scenario – as compared to traditional racing series such as Formula One, IRL and Champ Cars (CART) racing, to cite the most popular among A1 GP's possibly closest competitors, as far as fans are concerned.
As the old adage asserts, there being a will, there's plausibly a way. And, certainly, there seem to be viable ways of pulling round the unfortunate circumstance just referred to. Here are two possibilities, though there should of course be others. For example, A1 GP can simply open its live streaming to fans from all countries. This would allow all fans who are not offered live broadcasts on TV, to access them on-line. Alternatively, A1 GP might require (on their contracts) that the TV networks buying their broadcast rights do offer live and integral transmissions, in behalf of those fans who never mind waking up at odd hours for a good racing event! The former solution is the simpler, no doubt, and certainly many, many fans around the World would greatly appreciate the considerateness it would evoke. The matter, in sum, seems to narrow down to what, in truth, is given priority focus: capturing profits or captivating fans?... There ought to be a way to conciliate both.
Update-2:
Germany, England, Brazil and Italy (among some other countries⁄Teams in the A1 GP series) all have more experienced open wheel drivers than the ones who have habitually been nominated for the A1 GP weekends – most of their young A1 GP drivers having hardly made it beyond local formulae. Whereas these young drivers' talents are beyond questioning, their maturity and experience will of course fall short of the prominent status which these mentioned countries enjoy in the motor racing scenario: they have produced, altogether, more than 50% of all F1's World Champions, to date1. It is thus a bit curious that some of these countries' more experienced drivers have not been invited to race at A1 GP, thus far, even if just to give their Teams a boost, over a weekend or two. The so far favored less experienced drivers, on the other hand, could well profit from the eventual company of a more senior teammate, now and then – if the idea is to hone these young talents at a championship that labels itself the World Cup of Motor Racing. Moreover, it would be fun to see some of the names we have grown fond of, in other racing series, and watch how they fare in the A1 GP environment, as well. Anyway, it seems that such an initiative could be advantageous to all parties involved – including raising the level of the competition and thus more interest and excitement in the Motor Racing World Cup, itself.
The US Team, it should be mentioned, has apparently done something on this line; and it has in fact climbed a few places in the championship standings, since. No doubt, Scott Speed (who will be competing in the 2006 F1 Season) has widely proven his talent; nonetheless, the US Team seems to have benefited from the injection of new, though more experienced, blood. In truth, the young Speed may well return to a more motivated Team and actually find it easier to put his talent to effect, after having taken a short break.
At any rate, in the mean time, the French Team has been pulling away, on their own merits – even if also in what seems to begin resembling a tedious F1-like fashion... That is, their nearly 30 points ahead of the rest, and eight consecutive wins – by the Malaysian weekend – carry that underlying threat of rendering the championship far less interesting, as the Ferrari-Schumacher pair did in F1, for five long years. Undoubtedly, there is plenty of action throughout the pack, in the A1 GP races. But competition also for the highest honors of course makes the racing events yet more interesting.
On the other hand, the Soccer (Football) World Cup would certainly not see Germany, England, Brazil, or Italy sending their B or Junior Teams to play in the competition. This being said, it must be conceded that the Netherlands have successfully – and why not say bravely, too?! – been doing something pretty close to that, regarding their National Soccer Squad: a good number of well established Dutch idols have consistently been left out of the Dutch National Soccer Team; and it does not look like these stars will be called for the coming Soccer World Cup, in Germany, either!
Anyway, should a Motor Racing World Cup be regarded and dealt with differently from a Soccer World Cup, in terms of national enthusiasm, commitment, passion?...as echoed, on racing Sundays, at the A1 GP racing tracks, "for the pride of your Nations, start your engines!" Or, differently put, should soccer be then understood as a more important or more popular sport than motor racing?...
The latest figures from Brazil do not seem to indicate that: [1] the 2005 Brazilian Stock Car V8 Championship, which has just ended, enjoyed an average attendance of 33,5 thousand per race! Whereas the 2005 Brazilian Soccer (Football) Championship, which has likewise just ended, enjoyed a mere average attendance of 13.349 per match; [2] moreover, the most recent race of the Brazilian F-Renault Championship, held at a street-circuit, in Salvador (state of Bahia), has reportedly broken both the Brazilian soccer and car racing records of attendance! I haven't been able to find comparative figures, from other countries, but it is hard to imagine Brazil to be the sole country where motor racing attendance may actually surpass that of soccer (football), now and then (Brazil is considered by most as the "land of football" – not of motor sports! – despite England's being credited for having given birth to the sport).
Update-3:
Now that A1 GP will have its first female racing driver (Katherine Legge, nominated by the British Team for the A1 GP Dubai weekend), it is pertinent to remark that the above-mentioned Brazilian F-Renault Championship likewise includes a Brazilian female racing driver, Bia Figueiredo. Bia has won some three F-Renault races, this year, and currently lies in third, in the Championship. She has, in fact, a remote chance of clinching the 2005 title, which she is all set to pursue, for as long as that chance is there (maybe F1's Jenson Button should be told of it 
...). More realistically, however, Bia Figueiredo will most likely be fighting for the runner-up Championship position, for which her chances are excellent. The final Braz.F-Renault Series weekend is to be held at Interlagos (São Paulo), coinciding with the Dubai A1 GP weekend (December 9-11).
As a matter of fact, the F1 folks have seen Bia Figueiredo in action, for the Brazilian Formula Renault series staged the supporting race for the Brazilian F1 GP, at Interlagos – this was the weekend in which Fernando Alonso not only clinched the 2005 F1 Title, but also broke Emerson Fittipaldi's long standing record as the youngest F1 Champion ever. Certainly many F1 eyes were focused on Bia Figueiredo, on that weekend, for she started from nowhere else but pole position!
Update-4:
Perhaps as a result of the above-mentioned difficulty for some A1 GP fans to see the A1 events live, I was sent a link, accompanied by a laconic note with reference to on-line streaming being now available. This note was sent either by A1 GP or A1 GP Team Netherlands, or both. It was nice to see that someone seemed to have finally been concerned with fans that had been consistently deprived of following the series live, around the World.
What a surprise, to arrive at that link and realize that it had not been a mere announcement, as I had supposed, but rather advertisement for charged streaming at the A1 GP site. They had apparently decided to make live and on-demand streaming available to those who could not get the racing events directly, on TV. However, differently from what had previously been done, at the same A1 GP site, regarding fans located in certain parts of the World, the announced streaming was being charged for. (Would anyone have bothered announce it, had it been free?...) Depending on the quality of the image one wishes to pay for, prices range from 2.5 to 9 US Dollars. At the highest price, the image quality seems to be very good, for those willing to pay.
The fact that the issue had been referred to above (regarding some fan's finding it impossible to follow the series, live) made it relevant to register the already mentioned link and note, as well as my subsequent checking out on it. Conclude what you will. You now know you can pay and watch A1 GP events on your computer screen, whether live or on demand, regardless of where you are on the Globe. All you need is internet access, a computer, and a few Dollars to spare. Or you may not bother, and turn your attention to the newly started 2006 F1 Season, which you can probably get live, on TV, even when racing is in the middle of the night. Afterall, F1 has not started reaching directly into the fan's pockets. Let's hope they do not get ideas from A1 GP...
Incidentally, the 2006 F1 eBook is out–and 100% free! You can view it here and download it here (including updates).
And if you enjoy soccer (football), the 2006 World Cup eBook is also out: view it here and download it here (including updates). Likewise, it is 100% free: no gimmicks, no strings attached, nothing to sign up, no questions asked; just download these eBooks and enjoy them!
Hope you have been able to put this A1 GP eBook to good use. And if it has somehow contributed to helping make it more pleasant for you to follow the Series in its first Season, so much the better!
Please remember to speak out, should you come across any inaccuracy here. Though the information entered in the eBook has been carefully checked, to err is just human and never totally improbable... so your reporting whatever needed correction would be greatly appreciated, as every one downloading the eBook updates could benefit from it!
Have your own ideas⁄impressions? Other positive⁄negative points you have considered? Would you like to share them? I'm all ears.
I'd also appreciate being notified of any inaccuracy that you may have come across in this eBook, so I can correct it and release an updated rectified version.
The above text can be given a bit of context: I root especially for good racing and fair sportsmanship, above personal preferences, regarding teams or drivers. Most of all, it is good motor racing that I enjoy. At the same time, I'm put off by unsporting tactics—whoever might be using them—as well as by 'chess-playing' (or military campaign planning, to borrow from Gilles Villeneuve's obituary) in place of a true racing spirit. Having been a sportsperson, above all I enjoy the competition, the self-overcoming in the measuring of forces, the daring, the overall ceaseless development (i.e., 'today always a bit better than yesterday') and the excitement that can be found in sports, among which motor racing, of course.
Final note: The individual references above should not obscure the fond account in which I hold so many other outstanding drivers, albeit my refraining from a long, boring list.
_______________________
1. Regarding the F1 Constructors' Championship, Great Britain (especially) and Italy have conquered nearly all Titles. As far as the Drivers' Championships, 12 have gone to Great Britain, 8 to Brazil, 7 to Germany (that is, to Michael Schumacher), and 3 to Italy, among 56 F1 World Championships, thus far. The remaining Drivers' Championships have gone to Argentina (5, all to Juan Manuel Fangio), France (4, all to Alain Prost), Austria and Australia (also 4, each), Finland (3), US (2), and New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and Spain (one, each). Further details are available on-line.
This A1 GP eBook, and respective Web pages, were created with TreePad™.
Texts, images and music in this eBook & on MieNet ©1976-2006–MieNet,
unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.
And if you do, remember there are yet other 
