Spot The F1 Stars Tackling A Hook Turn
The Age
Saturday March 8, 2003
The world's fastest men on four wheels are scooting around Melbourne in a surprising collection of cars. Away from the glare of trackside publicity, most star drivers choose something subtle and inconspicuous for on-road driving, so you'll need to keep your eyes peeled to spot them slinking through South Melbourne or chasing through Chapel or Lygon streets for a quiet latte.
McLaren Mercedes driver David Coulthard is the only racer to have scored a $1 million road car, being delivered to a press function on Wednesday, in the form of a new Maybach, a twin turbo V12-powered limousine made by Daimler Chrysler and just flown in from Germany.
The car is here for only two weeks, to convince 10 of the country's wealthiest to sign up to buy, and provide suitable transportation for the star McLaren driver. For quieter joyriding, David and teammate Kimi Raikkonen each have a $190,900 180kW Mercedes S350 V6 to play with, though Coulthard will be driven around by his manager. Mercedes has supplied 23 cars for the team.
Don't expect to see five-time world champion Michael Schumacher perfecting his burn-out technique in a Ferrari 360 Modena in Victoria Parade, either. Seeking his fourth back-to-back victory in Melbourne, Schumacher and teammate Rubens Barrichello are both driving $218,000 Maserati Cambiocorsa Spyders - and they're not even new ones; the Australian importer has borrowed them from owners.
Both cars feature F1-derived paddle-shift gear change systems so the drivers can get some practice on the way to Albert Park from the hotel.
Ferrari team boss Jean Todt is driving a Maserati Coupe (Ferrari controls Maserati).
Schumacher and Barrichello both drive Maseratis in Europe, favouring the lower profile machines over Ferraris, which, as Gerhard Berger can attest, can be hard to keep safe. Both Berger and a teammate had their Ferraris stolen at one Italian race.
Australian F1 driver Mark Webber has shifted to Team Jaguar this year so he gets to drive an X-Type, as does team-mate Antonio Pizzonia.
Unlike Queanbeyan-born Webber, who's reasonably familiar with Melbourne, Pizzonia has never been here before, so to help him cope with hook turns and trams, Jaguar has provided a driver. There is one for Webber, too.
Sir Jackie Stewart is also running round in a Jaguar, a supercharged XJR limousine. Sir Jackie has a driver as well, a man who should probably get a medal after a few days with the perfectionist triple world champion.
The BMW Williams F1 Team drivers Ralph Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya are buzzing about in V8-powered BMW X5 4WDs. BMW also provides a fleet of cars for the race organisers.
Toyota's three F1 drivers are mounted in Camry Sportivo V6s, while the team also has 11 new Prado 4WDs (nine fitted with satnav) and three Lexus luxury vehicles.
Spare a thought for the F1 minnows. The cash-strapped Minardi team of Aussie Paul Stoddart were seen taking the tram earlier this week, albeit in the official Grand Prix tram race. Hopefully Mr Stoddart then caught the number 10 to Albert Park and not the number 19 back to his old home in Coburg.
© 2003 The Age
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