Reflections on a Grand Prix in Bahrain - a race overshadowed

This was the weirdest race I've ever been to. I have now attended 29 Grand Prix and this one was in a class of its own. It is hard to overstate the degree to which the Mosley affair dominated life in the paddock and media centre.

To give you an indication, as I have already said, watching practice on Friday was almost impossible; during the race itself I actually stopped watching at one point, either on the screens or trackside, to have a meeting(unheard of) while at the end, I didn't even notice that the drivers on the podium were not given champagne. Of course, you may put that down to slovenly reportage and ignorance; my guess is that I was talking to someone, or several people, about Mosley. After the race there was the strange experience of writing a race report(sport) and then turning to a completely separate piece on the latest revelations in sado-masochism(scandal). Anyway, hopefully you get the picture.

Racewise, and particularly from the point of view of my British readers, the outstanding element was Lewis's errors which were so unusual last year. The key one was at the start when he selected the wrong engine setting and the car went into anti-stall. This was the moment his race went awry and why he found himself behind Fernando in 10th place on lap two. Lewis's mistake on the grid was classic rookie behaviour. If he had done that at the Bahrain Grand Prix last season, no one would have been in the least bit surprised. All the more odd that it happened this year. There was some talk pre-season about "second season syndrome." Perhaps that is what we are now seeing.

As far as the incident with Fernando is concerned that seems to be an open and shut case with neither driver particularly at fault, though you can argue - as no doubt some will - about why Lewis's front wing was damaged in the first place. Some have questioned why this issue has been given space on the blog. The reasons for that are blatantly obvious: it was a strange occurrence; there were several theories about what might have happened; it just happened to involve two guys who have a recent history of bitter rivalry(in case some had not noticed); it was a key moment in Lewis and Fernando's race; Daniel asked an interesting question; I could go on...

The impression I have of McLaren is that they need to re-settle themselves somehow. The team has had lapses in concentration, as has Lewis. Heikki has performed far more steadily and has been a model of consistency. But overall it looks a little worrying. Ron says in effect 'wait 'till Barcelona' and he has also doubted whether BMW will remain as competitive as they have been to date, but by the same token, McLaren have got to get themselves back on song. Spain could be a very important race. One view in the press room is that neither Montmelo nor Istanbul are going to suit the silver arrows and there is going to be more frustration for them until we get to Monaco at the end of next month. In the back of my mind I can hear Damon Hill's perceptive pre-season warning when he said he felt McLaren were inevitably going to have to pay a price for having their eye taken off the ball over the winter in so many areas by the continuing ramifications of the spy scandal. Looks a good analysis just now.

For Ferrari it was a great weekend - an excellent reposte from Felipe, two reliable and quick cars and lots of points. I still rate Felipe. There are plenty who don't and see him as a lightweight who is doomed to become a classic Ferrari number two. He may not be the most intimidating guy in the paddock and he may have his moments of mental frailty but with the right support(which he has) there is no reason why he should not rise to the top. He could easily have been champion last year had he not had worse luck than Kimi. This season it is not hard to see that Felipe's ambition to be champion for the first time burns far more brightly than Kimi's ambition to be champion for a second time.

I don't want to go on too long. But a final note about DC. We all know he is the oldest in the paddock and he has had a distinguished career in Formula One, even if it never delivered what it may have promised several years ago. I can't say if he was at fault in his latest "turn-in" crash with Jenson(my impression was that it was the Englishman, not the Scotsman, who was more in the wrong). However, perceptions being more important than reality in Formula One, which they undoubtedly are in the feeding-frenzy atmosphere of the paddock, the mutterings about DC being over the hill have inevitably begun again. If he is it will become all too obvious over the next few races; if he isn't he needs another good result to silence his critics.

In parting I thought the organisers of the race did a great job in making us welcome, even if this Grand Prix is not at the very top of most of our wish lists. The food for us hacks was excellent and a lot of us enjoyed the colourful murals painted on the sides of the tunnel wall which goes under the track to the media centre. I was going to take pictures of some of them but, for some strange reason, I completely ran out of time...   

       

Comments

[mayorfatal]

Great post, Ed. Everybody is talking about Barcelona, but I think there will be not be great changes in the statu quo.
Ferrari, McLaren and BMW will still be the leading group. Renault improvements won't make them go further than 4th team in the Championship, if they can do it, because I doubt it.
Alonso is gonna have a bad year (he is having it already, indeed), Lewis must control himself to fight for the crown, and I agree with you when you say Felipe is more motivated than Kimmi.
I think this season is gonna be dominated by both Ferraris, with a great fight between McLaren and BMW. Kubica seems to fail under pressure, but he has a great car and is gonna be the "surprise" this season.
Greetings from Spain

[graham fudger]

Hi Ed - I sympathise with your 'strange experience' in the paddock - looks like we'll be having quite a few of those from now on.
The trouble is, the Motorsporting World is currently in a state of shock, and in desperate need of therapy.
I'm told that sometimes, psychiatrists use sock-puppets to help traumatized patients open up.

It works a bit like this:

Psychiatrist: ‘Hello Mr Sock.’
Mr Sock: ‘Hello doctor...’
Psychiatrist: ‘Are you having fun?’
Mr Sock: ‘No...’
Psychiatrist: ‘You were a short while ago.’
( Mr Sock grins, then looks sad )
Psychiatrist: ‘Do you feel angry?’
Mr Sock: ‘Yes...’
Psychiatrist: ‘Do you feel frightened?’
Mr Sock: ‘Yes...’
Psychiatrist: ‘Do you feel humiliated?’
Mr Sock: ‘Yes...’
Psychiatrist: ‘Do you think these emotions are helping you to make good decisions?’
Mr Sock: ‘errmmm…’
Psychiatrist: ‘OK – we’ll stop there.’

Mr Sock has made some excellent progress today!

[B Cave]

Quick, get a comment in before reading the maniacs wanting Lewis hung, drawn and quartered. Very strange happenings re. Lewis. I find it unbelievable he could make such a mistake. I still think there is something suspicious going on at McLaren and to go by what others I speak to are saying, they agree with me. Would love you to dig deeper into this, Ed.

[Tim]

As you say, neither Barcelona and Istanbul have been kind to McLaren over the last couple of years. McLaren must aim to finish both races, avoid any incidents, score a decent haul of points and keep its relatively inexperienced drivers focussed until Monaco. Winning from the front is all well and good, but the eventual champion may well be the driver who gets the most from his car when it isn't on the pace. As Kimi Raikkonen said last weekend, he'd had a bad weekend and not been on Felipe Massa's pace - but still he took home 8 points. Bahrain was a dispiriting race for McLaren but there's a long way to go yet. Ferrari are far from running away with things and it's far from certain that BMW will be able to offer a consistent threat.

[ovejol@hotmail.com]

Insisting in defaming Alonsos's name despite having read telemetry (the only objective data by the way) has an only purpose: To heat the fire and make excuses even when you are sure you are wrong. Interesting. Interestin too how you evaluate Kimi's motivation, given the absolute lack of expression of this guy, the same last year leaded him to a deserved championship. As for Felipe, no doubt about his motivation nor his skills. My doubt is about his mental strength, what in the end, make the diference between a champion and the rest, a winner and some one who is able to win now and then, a wolf or a sheep. Looking at his eyes I see the scare and the wandering. Looking at Schumacher,Fernando, Lewis, Kubica I see determination. Regards.

[GFehr]

An extra hour of penance in the simulator for young Lewis, and it's a long way to Brazil. A faint hope Mr. Mosley's other distractions will satisfy his special needs this year.

[graham fudger]

Things are very quiet on your blog today Ed...

Is that because people are losing interest?

Or is it because your office has received threatening letters from lawyers - hoping to exert a degree of censorship in what has thus far been an open, frank and informative public debate ?

[Karl]

Regarding DC and the turn in shunt...

I couldn't help but think that it looked as if Jensen tried to stuff his Honda into a space that just wasn't there.

The broadcast crew went ballistic on DC. I didn't get it.

Now had Jensen's Honda been a MotoGP bike and the two could have physically leaned on each other, he may have been able to claim that thin sliver of tarmac between the curbing and his opponent. But not in an F1 car.

However, as you mentioned, unfortunately for poor "old" DC perception is everything.

Cheers from California

[javiervivaespania]

I think Barcelona will be most important for Ferrari and BMW. The rest of the constructors are announcing changes but, except Renault, have no reasons to hope for a better performance.

They rely on improvements on the aerodynamics but Montmeló has a changing wind vector that makes it very difficult to set up the car in the most appropriate way. These will affect the Qs, too. Montmeló is a circuit where it is extremely difficult to overtake other drivers , and which is well know by every driver due to the fact that they test and train a lot there. There have been great moments like 1991 with Mansell vs Senna, though.

Ferrari will have a tough test during the weekend, as well as BMW Clean (Sauber=clean in German) since they have to keep up the pace. I suppose they will play it safe in a way. Massa has many chances again of getting the pole, as he has the fastest car and Kimi is less aggressive. Hamilton will try to recover the lost points but will have a bad time under the pressure of Spanish fans.

As for Renault, I know they are developing powerful changes and Alonso owes a victory to his country. They have many secret weapons, but the only one we know is for next season: they have bought the Xtreme-X Supercomputer (able to work 38 teraflops or 38 trillion floating point operations) to develop the R-29 and complement Alonso's brain, which is already a supercomputer. Fernando must be surely the responsible of this purchase and I would not be surprised if he gets familiar with the use of the supermachine before anyone else.

[Shreyas]

Ed,

If you haven't had time to look at this...

www.formula1.com (Bahrain GP clip)

Lewis' car made a contact with Alonso's and you can see a bit from his front wing flying out

Also, two seconds before the 'big bang', he loses a sizable chunk from the wing.

No more arguments now, I guess.

[Gregor]

Agreed on the blame lying more with Jenson than with DC. Jenson looked out of control and once that happened then an accident was unavoidable - quite what he expected DC to do in that situation, I don't know. Jenson was behind him, DC probably couldn't see him and that was that!

[AL]

But...What do you expect about Lewis Hamilton? Do you forget his last races past year? Do you really believe that he will become in the next word champion?
Come on, don't make me laugh!

Just see him every time he is under pressure. HE IS A SURE LOOSER. He only will win if can start from pole, without any risk to take or button to press with his clumsy hands.

It's not Fernando Alonso issue, who lives another different war now. It's just Lewis Hamilton´s incompetence. You would try to lie everybody about Hamilton's skill, but you can not lie to yourself.

Do you really believe he's the better F1 driver of all the times? Ha,ha,ha...He could achieve it if there weren't any other. And that's the better driver in UK...ridiculous.

He won't fight against Ferrari for WCD, he just will fight with BWM or his team-mate (the only battle in which Lewis is going to had a guaranteed successful).

[elba]

Ed admits Hamilton's mistakes, that's the real british common sense.Congratulations.
Now questions:
why Lewis's front wing was damaged in the first place?
How is McLaren paying (or will pay) the price of the spy scandal?
Thank you.

[J.L.]

Good writing, Ed. I enjoyed it.
Yes, it must not be easy to attend different calls for your attention. Specially in such surroundings as a paddock in an F1 GP!
Interesting about the food. I'm allways at odds with the local food when I travel to some places.
Nice one on DC. Good fella.
Hasta luego.

J.L.

[Felipe]

Dear Ed,

I also really liked the post. This time your opinions came out as opinions (so the biased accusing brigade, which I'm part of, will stay at home). I think Barcelona is very important for McLaren, because if they have another bad weekend, it could be the start of the end. Even though I agree that McLaren had a tough winter, I think they also miss Alonso (not his character, but experience and expertise), this time last year things were still very rosy for McLaren.

[josh j]

Great postings in general over this whole mosley saga Ed. It's actually been a real pleasure to see you getting stuck into the nitty gritty of it, and telling us honestly what it's like in the thick of things - instead of just being political and standing on the fence.

Only thing I have to say is, in this post you keep referring to not wanting to go on too long, but frankly - the more you have to say - please feel free to write it all down - it's most interesting! I thought that was the whole point of these weblogs!

[Jordi]

Good post Ed,
I complained many times about your lack of objectivity, but this time your post is well balance and interesting. Thank you!

B CAVE:
Fernando says he hasn’t done anything wrong.
Telemetry says Fernando hasn’t done anything wrong.
Martin Whitmarsh said: There’s certainly no evidence that Fernando did anything wrong.
Hamilton said he has made mistakes this weekend.
Lauda said he is disappointed for Hamilton’s mistakes.
Ed said that Hamilton has made errors this weekend.

If you could only see how pathetic you look from here...

[IDR]

Thanks for this Ed.

I imagine this weekend has not been quite relaxed for you:

Long travel, tons of S&Max information, hundreds of tons of S&Max goosip, too many chats with other colleges… at least is nice to see you have enjoyed the food!

Nice touch the personal poll you organized with the teams to know who have complained about the McLaren garage. As many of us imagine… nobody.

Well, you have three weeks to recover, but don’t forget about us, you know, we are always asking for more…

Finally, at the end of the day, is quite funny that F Alonso and McLaren fans have something in common:

Both parts have our believes and best wishes for the technical improvements coming for Montmeló GP.

From my side, good luck for F Alonso and Renault. They need it much more than any other.

In bocca Lupo!

[Tracy]

Ed.
You must be rushed off your feet and totally shattered after a most unusual GP weekend.
Might I suggest you take me with you to Barcelona; a purely altruistic gesture on my behalf in the hope of easing your workload.
:-)

[Johnny P-)]

Johnny P-) wrote (yes, that's me):
-----------------------------------------
Want to see the incidentS? Try these clips:

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=3U9oWd2yEAU
"Play video" (the official one) at:
http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/4/7615.html

He's screwed the race by himself, proving to be a dangerous driver under slower, heavy traffic condition. No insurance company would consider him a victim in both occasions, even in a racing track!

Is there anyone out there still not convinced by the evidences, the drivers and the engineers? Hard-headed indeed, or ignorant, I'd say.
------------------------------------------

The official videoclip leaves no doubt on LH's affair: screwed start, jumping twice, both on lap 1 and 2 and then, a scaring straight crossing the track rightwise in front of another rival: carless and maybe unlucky, apart from dangerous driving indeed! This time Fernando has been extremely correct on Lewis: he must have perceived the damage in his upper front wing on lap 1.

[A Parker]

Jordi

After everything that's goes on in F1, you really think we should take what is told to us at face value? I think not! If we all did that, Ed wouldn't have done his team by team survey as to who had complained about the McLaren pit position. Luckily many people have suspicions that lead to investigations that lead to the truth being uncovered.

[teamwork-toronto-ON]

I believe DC did the "ms manouver" from 1997!! . . to Jenson!

[Anon (original)]

And already Ferrari and BMW turn the tables.

Ferrari scored a knockout punch today, one that will hurt McClaren for the whole season. McClaren seemed ready t torm off to victory in Australia. Malaysia seemed to acknowledge the presence of the Ferraris and the trength of the BMWs. Bahrain showed that Ferrari can beat BMW, but it won't be easy as BMW upgrades their brand new car. I predicted that the Ferrari was best followed by the McClaren by the BMW. I know think it is Ferrar, BMW, McClaren.

In terms of drivers, there are six drivers of importance this year, compared to last ear's four. They are Lewis, Felipe, Heikki, Kimi, ick, and Robert. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses:

Lewis Strengths: Fast in qulifying, when things go well they go realy well, inspirational, brave
Weaknsses: Inconsistent at imes, rookie errors, bad under extreme pressure

Heikki S: Consitent, rapid, clever
W: Maybe not fast enough, getting used to team

Felipe S: Fast qualifying pace,an ability to magically conncet with smoe circuits, rapid
W: Weak under pressure, bad in races, under extreme pressure for the season

Kimi S: Consistency, coldness, raw speed, ability to fight wll in close combat
W: Random mistakes, not the best qualifier, bad luck, over-zeal

Nick S: Probably best consistency on grid, tidyness, technical understanding, calm
W: not fast enough in races, gettingchallenged by rookie, age

Robert S: Zeal, speed, daredevil, popularity
W: Over-zeal, trying too hard, bad luck, inexperience

[Andy G]

JavierVivaEspania

I am increasingly sure that you are a comedian from Scunthorpe.

I hope your supercomputer can dish up plenty more amusing nonsense.

[javiervivaespania]

Tracy, what do you mean "altruistic"?
Be careful, this is Spain, a land full of passion and fire, not like cold and rainy England!

[CHIUNDA]

JORDI

About your comment on B CAVE - sorry but you are the pathetic one - B CAVE IS NOT TALKING ABOUT FERNANDO IN HIS COMMENT.

TRACY

Watch your altruism offers my dear - these are the days of S&M :-))

[LuckyLoose]

Ed writes "Some have questioned why this issue has been given space on the blog."
Please, this is an F1 blog........ Stop apologising for writing about F1, FA or LH! We log on to read about F1!

[Demian]

Well, since some of the teams are putting high hopes in Barcelona, there will probably be relief for some and big dissapointment for others, that's for granted.
I sure don't want a duopoly for F1 till the end of the season.
I only hope that the Barcelona race will be a good one and that the Spanish fans don't fall into the temptation of making fun of LH or his father again. You see, political correctness is not taken as seriously in Spain as in the UK or the USA, so I really hope that the spectators in Barcelona understand that by by making fun of LH's father they are only ridiculing themselves.

[jordi]

Chiunda

As I said before...
Hamilton said he has made mistakes this weekend.
Lauda said he is disappointed for Hamilton’s mistakes.
Ed said that Hamilton has made errors this weekend.

It's just funny how last year you called Fernando fans pathetic, paranoid, baby cry and now that Hamilton has made a few mistakes, you are all crying and looking for some sort of sabotage in Mclaren.

MISTAKES, end off.

If you could only see how pathetic you look from here...

[jordi]

A Parker

and the truth been?

[Chris Linthwaite]

You mean there was a Grand Prix last weekend?

Max Moseley has to go, shouldn't have been President of the FIA in the first place. Simply because of his previous political affiliations.

[Pierre]

@ B Cave:

I find your comment about suspicious goings on at McLaren towards Lewis extremely odd and unlikely.

They have just paid him a stack of cash for a LT contract. Why would they be doing anything other than giving him the support he needs? It does not make any sense.

If you have something concrete, share it. If not, save that sort of speculation for the tabloids.

[kohque]

Hi Ed,

Just wanna give me opinion about few things you say:

"sado-masochism(scandal)"

I don't really care if this guy is a sado-masochist or he fancy doing it with a goat, but dressing like Nazi and playing on beating and raping is REALLY something. It is hard to believe that the FIA is giving him time to step down...

"you can argue - as no doubt some will - about why Lewis's front wing was damaged in the first place"

Alonso mentioned Hamilton hit his car twice: "First he hit me one, but nothing happened [to my car], and then he hit me again and broke the rear wing [of my car]". So maybe in the first touch the front wing got loose. Just a wild guess.

"Daniel asked an interesting question"

Well, I found his argument rather lame but this is just an opinion I probably share with most of the world. The only interesting issue about that incident was the extremes to which some people will go to explain things in reverse. Who knows what could have happened if Alonso had actually braked for whatever reason... Headlines would read "Telemetry proves Alonso did it in purpose!!" followed by a lot less polite posts (a confident guess) and maybe even a sanction from the FIA for using the brakes while he was racing.

B CAVE,

I think "anti-Hamilton maniacs" don't add much to the conversation (blood pressure maybe or just rejoice...). Of course, your comments also give away your extremely narrow mind. Why? Well, who knows? Maybe you've just happened to miss a whole industry dedicated enterily to give news/opinion pointing the finger towards Alonso, looking for telemetry readings, making outlandish guesses... 90% of it was just about what Alonso did or didn't do. Anyone who missed the race would have thought that Alonso had crashed Hamilton. Alonso said it: "Just imagine! A guy 'eats' me from behind and I have to prove that it was not my fault".

How would you better describe all comments about "Alonso's incident"? Does anything pop up there? ...If you still don't get my point, then let me also break it for you: It is not the world, but your view, that is flat.

[mcahill]

Is Lewis having a rookie-deja vu?

He may run fast, but the errors have to stop...

[B Cave]

Jordi

We don't know the truth I feel, hence the need for digging deeper.

Pierre

I'm sure Ron Dennis and Whitmarsh are behind Lewis - but they aren't the only ones in the pit or in the team. Use your imagination. I think this is what B Cave is wondering, and I have heard mutterings about it as well.

And Khoque, gosh do you actually read the posts? As Chiunda said, B Cave's comment didn't mention Alonso (crumbs, the obssession with that guy is scary), but mentioned something going on in the McLaren team. Please read carefully before writing preposterous nonsense.

[EP]

Not a word about Hamilton's behaviour during the GP?

[Augusto Baena]

Dear Ed,

First of all, welcome back.

In Bahrain, it seems clear (according to Whitmarsh and to Alonso himself), that Lewis crashed on Alonso, from behind, twice in one and a half laps. Saying "neither driver was particularly at fault" is cynical to say the least. Alonso was flat-out, and when there is a crash from behind, the responsibility is 9 out of 10 times in the trailing car. All the fanatic British press, starting from Martin Brundle and all the ITV hooligans started spitting out rubbish about Alonso brake-testing Hamilton. They were proved wrong, but I didn't read any apologies.

In my opinion Lewis is still a rookie driver. As a rookie driver, he has demonstrated he can't still cope with pressure. He had no pressure for the first half of last season, as he was clearly overdelivering. He lost his temper when he felt his reign threatened: Monaco (he triggered an investigation on his team after losing the race), Hungary (he disobeyed and had harsh words on Ron to avoid honoring the pact he had agreed upon) and then, China (he lost his car at the pit entrance) and Brasil (he went wide while trying to overtake Alonso, which was irrelevant for his championship title). He is terrified with failure. And it gets worst with all the unrealistic expectations British press have put on him.

In Malaysia, Pedro de la Rosa couldn't attend (his wife was giving birth in Barcelona). As the track was cooler than expected, the setup Pedro had done with the simulator was far from optimal. Neither Lewis nor Heikki could get the car to work again and they langished for the whole weekend.

I think McLaren has made a big mistake hiring two excessively unexperienced drivers on the team. They are fast, committed, talented. But they can't bear the responsibility to set-up and develop the car, to lead the team. Ron seems to overplay his role as a manager in a paternalistic style and drivers are just, so to say, to drive. They compete with each other, and so have peer pressure, which is good. But they don't have anyone to look up to and to learn from, apart from everpresent mr do-it-all Dennis.

Hamilton is still making silly mistakes (steering wheel, crashing onto Alonso), and mistreating the car (he is locking the wheels in every corner, which has cost him dear points last year for tyre-related problems in Monza, China and Turkey).

Don't get me wrong. He is a very good driver. Fast, especially in hot-laps, aggressive. And he might become a great driver. Comparing him to Schumacher, Senna or Prost is like comparing Queen Park Rangers to Manchester United.

Regards

Augusto Baena

[Ed Gorman]

Augusto! Welcome back.

[ALONSO'S MIRACLES]

wonder why Lewis is performing so badly? No doubt it is due to the hundreds of thousands of Vudú sessions we are hosting in Spain this season. He will never win. Spanish Black Magic will make it damned sure

[D]

^
Hey, Augusto! >

Great to see you back. We've missed you.

Hope all goes well with you.

Give us your insights.

^
Carlos B >

If you're out there, watching, please come back, too.

[kohque]

B CAVE,

Of course you were not talking about Alonso. You just dropped this "Quick, get a comment in before reading the maniacs wanting Lewis hung, drawn and quartered" and move on to the topic...

I was not talking about Alonso either (talk about reading the posts), but I am not going to chew it for you.

[Anon (original)]

Hello Augusto! You've never met me, but I've read a lot of your stuff, so welcome back!

To Javiervivaespania and Andy G:

I admit the first time I read Jvier's "supercomputer" post I had no idea whathe wa talking about. I thought he was just speculating. Turns out I was totally wrong, and he's totally right:

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/080410102435.shtml

[Carlton Twitchell]

Yes a pleasure to read ... however , a few 'bones to pick ".. the speed of sound is (Google tells me) 348 mtrs per second . Now do you know how far the Tv camera is from the crash? No? Well then please do not assume the thingy fell of the car before the big bang was heard by the global TV audience . Leave it to those who were there , like Ed, and were witness to the actual event.
Secondly, Alonso is listed way up there in the stats of career F1 wins , so is Kimi. Lewis is still in single digits albeit after his rookie year. He isnt a rookie this year 'cos his ROOKIE year was last year.Its like virginity , once gone you cant lose it again,OK?
So lets get this right...IF Alonso wins its not because he IS the greatest F1 driver in 08 but because of the multitudes of his fans practising voodoo? Interesting.If he loses you may wish to consider burning them at the stake whilst dancing a Flamenco .It must be the high level of tostesterone in donkey meat. Que?
Great blog re De La Rosa... set up. It does beckon the analogy (? )with horses and jockeys . In horse-racing we bet on the horse not the jockey ... correct? In F1 racing ,we focus most of the praise on the driver (the jockey?) and little on the car ( the horse?). Surely a great car will make a mediocre driver excel and likewise a poor car will stimey the efforts of even the best driver , even , a world champion .So take Renault = mediocre car drags down 2x world champ . Great car ( McLaren )gives rookie driver (LH last year:)a record -breaking start to his F1 career. Ferrari(great car ) and Kimi (great driver/defending champ) = probably the strongest combination and hence = the TITLE.yes , McLaren couldve done with the experience of Coulthard or Barrichello instead of two 'rookies'.Checkmate.Game over. Better luck next time. Alls fair in love and war. The righteous will inherit the Earth ( if thats OK with you?).
Further to my Wikipedia refs I did glance at Bernies bio and was interested to read it, in the light of Mosleys predicament and Balestres demise.If we only knew how to connect the dots it would all become clear.Harking back to the early days it does now seem that a lot of Arthur Daly-types with a bit of post -war dosh could dabble in F1 .It then became posh (the hype).No dirt under the fingernails any more.Sanitized.Scrubbed.Like art.
F1 was born,grew,matured and then like most entities went into decline well before the fossil fuels ran out. The big names will drop out due to budget and the racing connection tardied by bad press ;racing in 2020 will not the 'cool' thing to do any more. The specialists will reign for a while and then other sports will become fashionable and distract a flighty public. Time passes , an owl flies from a chapel in Bethesda.(Dylan Thomas)
So anyone seen Steve Fossett recently? Or Everett Ruess for that matter... fol de rol
.. toodle pip...
I thank God I was alive when Murray and James were commentating on F1 on the Beeb with no ads .Heaven on earth. Thank you both,CTw (not Spartacus..)