There's no doubt that 2012 has seen some fantastic racing in F1. The last race from Bahrain was spectacular, and every race seems to set the bar higher every time. If the season carries on at this pace, then we're definitely in for one that will be remembered for a very long time.
Qualifying in Spain on Saturday was again a mystery. The practice sessions this year don't seem to have given any indication as to which man will take the top spot of the grid. One thing is for sure though, the qualifying sessions this year are no longer the foregone conclusion of Vettel and Red Bull. This definitely makes things more interesting, but I must admit I'd be happier seeing the Red Bulls a little closer to that number one spot. In Spain, we got quite a shock result for quali - Pastor Maldonado on pole position, Williams' first pole since Hulkenberg in 2010. Admittedly, Maldonado's pole was granted to him after Hamilton was excluded from qualifying (due to a team member not putting enough fuel in the car to get it back under its own steam after the quali lap), but even for a Williams to occupy the second position spot is a feat to be proud of. The line up of the grid was completely unpredictable, and I think you'd struggle to find anyone who honestly would have told you the result. Maldonado took pole, with Alonso second and the Lotuses of Grosjean and Raikkonen third and fourth. Sauber also fared well in quali, with Perez taking fifth. Close behind were nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel, after Seb chose to not set a time and save his tyres. Schumacher, Kobayashi and Button made up the top ten, with Webber eventually lining up 11th.
So as you can see, a pretty mixed up grid, making for what was an absolutely spectacular race. Alonso had a great start, as everyone thought he would. However, it transpired that Alonso couldn't turn this into a win - instead, Williams took the highest step on the podium with Alonso finishing right behind. The last few laps of the race were thrilling with the Maldonado/Alonso shoot-out, and credit has to go to Maldonado for not getting too intimidated and hanging on to that first position - honestly, if there's one man you don't want to be chased by it's Alonso, as he's definitely one of the best drivers on that grid. Add to that the fact that Alonso was at his home grand prix, and I don't think you'd find many men who could stand the pressure that Maldonado faced. Raikkonen eventually took third place in another great finish for Lotus, and I think it's fair to say that had the race gone on for much longer Raikkonen would have been right up in the fight between Maldonado and Alonso. With that finish, we had a Williams, Ferrari and Lotus on the podium for the first time in many years, and five different winners for as many teams in as many races. Williams can be proud of that victory, and I'm sure Frank Williams had the best birthday present he could have hoped for. Credit also has to go to Hamilton - from the back of the grid he finished 8th. I was also pleased to see that after his penalty Hamilton acted with good grace, and simply said he wanted to enjoy the racing. Of late, Hamilton's been slightly down and almost mopey in press conferences, but I'm hoping that we're now getting back to seeing the old Lewis, and we can start to focus back on his amazing driving abilities.
With the race over, we obviously expected to see no more drama until Monaco in two weeks' time. However, a large fire broke out at the Williams garage while the team were celebrating and listening to a speech from Frank Williams. The fire looked absolutely horrific, and several people had to be taken to hospital. Luckily, it appears that everyone was ok, although it's a sad way for the Williams team to end such a brilliant weekend. The team lost a lot of equipment during the fire, but other teams have offered to help by donating their extra equipment. It just goes to show how much of a family the F1 circus is, even if it's a competitive environment. Honestly, we could all learn a lot from these guys!
Now that this weekend is over, F1 heads to Monaco for one of its most celebrated races. The best part for me is that once F1 lands in Monaco, I'll be done with my exams, and free to blog and watch the racing uninterrupted. So, well done to Williams, and bring on the next race!
Showing posts with label Lewis Hamilton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lewis Hamilton. Show all posts
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
Re-Focusing
Well, it's less than a week before my first exam, and today the inevitable stress reared its ugly head and lead to me having a temporary loss of motivation. I know that this is a motorsport blog, and I keep rambling on about exams but hear me out, there's a link to F1. Over the past month, I've done little else but revision. I've watched the odd spot of motorsport on TV, but apart from that I've mostly been reading about Freud, the brain and personality. As much as I love studying and working towards my ultimate goal of a PhD, a whole month is somewhat taxing as I'm sure you'd all agree. So, today's mini-breakdown probably wasn't that much of a surprise. Of course, what's anyone meant to do when suffering from a loss of motivation other than call their Mum?
On phoning my Mum and telling her about how much pressure I was putting myself under, and how it was stressing me out, she said something which gave me kind of an epiphany, and now I'm back to my old self and looking forward to the exams. Most students I know would be begging for this sort of inspiration, but I have a hunch that it would only work for me. Now, for those of you into motorsport who have been patiently reading and wondering what the hell I'm on about, here's where F1 comes into it.
As you've probably guessed from my picture and pretty much all the posts on here, I'm a fan of a certain German Red Bull Racing driver - Sebastian Vettel. One of the (many) things that I admire about him is his ability to always have a smile on his face, despite criticisms from the media and despite having bad days at the office so to speak. In fact, this is probably the main reasons why I'm such a fan of Vettel's, ever since his Toro Rosso days he's had this perspective on his career, and it shows in his performance. The focus that he has when he gets into the car is also another huge point of admiration right there, and I have often tried to replicate this in my studies and in my approach to exams.
Sure, my exams aren't as exciting as driving an F1 car through Eau Rouge at high speed, however like Vettel I do have a career riding on my performance. So, the level of focus that Sebastian has means he's somewhat a role model for my own performance. Well, today it seems that I've had a bit of a lack of the other quality of Vettel's - the ability to carry on and be cheerful, even if things aren't quite going 100%.
My Mum reminded me of this today, and it definitely made me realise that taking the perspective of Vettel and being 100% focused to the task at hand, no matter how well it's going or not, keeping an eye on the end game (for Vettel, another world championship, for me, a PhD) and managing to shrug off when things aren't going so well is probably the best way in which to approach my exam.
My Mum also pointed out another driver who perhaps doesn't take this perspective despite having comparable talent: Lewis Hamilton. When Lewis first came into F1 in 2007, he had the same view as Vettel, and was always cheerful and could shrug off bad days. This quality paid off, and got him the championship in 2008 (of course, this quality and his supreme driving ability). However, after getting the championship and having a somewhat rougher year in 2009, Lewis kind of lost the 'keep calm and carry on' approach that he had before, and things just didn't seem to go his way. Last year in particular, Lewis would often get out of the car in a huff when things didn't go so well - the Massa incident being one of those times. Luckily, Lewis seems to slowly be returning to his old self, although the sulking because of a third place spot on the grid was kind of annoying.
So, the upshot of the conversation with my Mum? Be more like Vettel, and don't turn into Hamilton. I know, it's not exactly something you'd hear at an academic support workshop, but it works for me. I have a Vettel calendar this year, and the month of May shows Vettel holding his trophy in Australia last year. I'm hoping that this will remind me to adopt Vettel's cheerful and focused approach in my exams, and will win me the good results of the exams. If this carries on throughout the rest of this degree, then I'll have the equivalent of my driver's championship, my PhD, within the next 6 years. If I can pick up trophies along the way, then great, but whatever happens I'll be happy with good results; Just like Vettel. That's what I'm talking about!
On phoning my Mum and telling her about how much pressure I was putting myself under, and how it was stressing me out, she said something which gave me kind of an epiphany, and now I'm back to my old self and looking forward to the exams. Most students I know would be begging for this sort of inspiration, but I have a hunch that it would only work for me. Now, for those of you into motorsport who have been patiently reading and wondering what the hell I'm on about, here's where F1 comes into it.
As you've probably guessed from my picture and pretty much all the posts on here, I'm a fan of a certain German Red Bull Racing driver - Sebastian Vettel. One of the (many) things that I admire about him is his ability to always have a smile on his face, despite criticisms from the media and despite having bad days at the office so to speak. In fact, this is probably the main reasons why I'm such a fan of Vettel's, ever since his Toro Rosso days he's had this perspective on his career, and it shows in his performance. The focus that he has when he gets into the car is also another huge point of admiration right there, and I have often tried to replicate this in my studies and in my approach to exams.
Sure, my exams aren't as exciting as driving an F1 car through Eau Rouge at high speed, however like Vettel I do have a career riding on my performance. So, the level of focus that Sebastian has means he's somewhat a role model for my own performance. Well, today it seems that I've had a bit of a lack of the other quality of Vettel's - the ability to carry on and be cheerful, even if things aren't quite going 100%.
My Mum reminded me of this today, and it definitely made me realise that taking the perspective of Vettel and being 100% focused to the task at hand, no matter how well it's going or not, keeping an eye on the end game (for Vettel, another world championship, for me, a PhD) and managing to shrug off when things aren't going so well is probably the best way in which to approach my exam.
My Mum also pointed out another driver who perhaps doesn't take this perspective despite having comparable talent: Lewis Hamilton. When Lewis first came into F1 in 2007, he had the same view as Vettel, and was always cheerful and could shrug off bad days. This quality paid off, and got him the championship in 2008 (of course, this quality and his supreme driving ability). However, after getting the championship and having a somewhat rougher year in 2009, Lewis kind of lost the 'keep calm and carry on' approach that he had before, and things just didn't seem to go his way. Last year in particular, Lewis would often get out of the car in a huff when things didn't go so well - the Massa incident being one of those times. Luckily, Lewis seems to slowly be returning to his old self, although the sulking because of a third place spot on the grid was kind of annoying.
So, the upshot of the conversation with my Mum? Be more like Vettel, and don't turn into Hamilton. I know, it's not exactly something you'd hear at an academic support workshop, but it works for me. I have a Vettel calendar this year, and the month of May shows Vettel holding his trophy in Australia last year. I'm hoping that this will remind me to adopt Vettel's cheerful and focused approach in my exams, and will win me the good results of the exams. If this carries on throughout the rest of this degree, then I'll have the equivalent of my driver's championship, my PhD, within the next 6 years. If I can pick up trophies along the way, then great, but whatever happens I'll be happy with good results; Just like Vettel. That's what I'm talking about!
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Road Rage
This weekend I watched the last race of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) at Brands Hatch after finishing my revision for my last exam this term. The start was delayed for quite some time due to Matt Jackson's car suffering damage after running over the gravel at Paddock Hill Bend and spilling oil everywhere. Oil on a race circuit is a bad thing, as I'm sure you'll all be aware. In this case, it ended up with eight cars sliding off of the track at Druids, the hairpin corner at the top end of the Brands Hatch circuit. So, the race was inevitably red-flagged while clean-up commenced and the cars were recovered. While the delay was unfortunate, the following race was well worth the wait, with some incredibly close racing for the top positions.
Now, when I say close, I'm not talking about people being within 0.5 of a second of each other, or even 0.2 or 0.1 of a second. I mean that the second place man (Jason Plato) was literally shoving the bumper of the first place man (Andrew Jordan). Those of you who regularly watch the BTCC probably aren't that surprised: this discipline of racing is some of the closest, and certainly one of the most... aggressive. It's quite a sport for the drivers to push each other out of the way, whether deliberately or due to the other driver not wanting to move while the cars edge ever closer. In F1, when someone makes a move towards another car more often than not someone will get out of the way, and contact is (usually - we hope) rare. It's a whole other story in the BTCC. If someone goes to push you, you try to push them back. It's what makes this form of racing exciting, and most of the time the drivers are adept at keeping their cars on the track.
Sometimes though, this doesn't always work out, and thus there are some cases where the pushing and shoving gets a bit extreme and people end up off the road. Doubtless if you go to YouTube and look up BTCC, you'll see footage of this pushing and shoving - when it works and when it goes wrong.
Watching the BTCC prompted me to think about what I can only describe as road rage within motorsport. In F1, we do see drivers wander off sulkily if they've been involved in a 'racing incident', and often we hear back from them afterwards each blaming the other driver.
The most notable incident (or should I say series of incidents) last year occurred between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa. In the 2011 season, it appeared as though these drivers had magnetic cars, and there were around 5 incidents involving these two drivers spread over the season. These things happen, and the drivers have now moved on. However at the time it made for some ugly interviews. After one particular race incident, Massa came over to Hamilton and sarcastically told him 'Good job' while patting him on the back. Hamilton responded with a simple 'Don't touch me, man'. Now that the drivers have mended their rivalry for this season and moved on, this particular event seems quite amusing in retrospect, and it highlights to me that racing drivers aren't immune to the particular annoyances suffered by most of us when we're driving.
Another instance of this type occurred at the last F1 race between Sebastian Vettel and Narain Karthikeyan. Vettel was about to lap Karthikeyan and had moved mostly past him, however on pulling in front the drivers collided, eventually leading to Vettel missing out on 4th place. After the race, I noticed the most interesting headline in motorsport news: Vettel calls Karthikeyan a 'cucumber'. I am not making this up: after the race, Vettel called Karthikeyan a 'gerken' (cucumber), a word used to describe bad drivers in Germany. Of course, Karthikeyan responded and accused Vettel of being a 'Cry-baby'. In this context, the name calling is kind of funny, mostly stupid, but again highlights that racing drivers aren't so different from us drivers on the road. Oh, and I'm happy to report that Karthikeyan has since called a truce with Vettel, so hopefully the playgroud jibes will have stopped by the next race in China.
If you follow motorsport in the same way as me, you'll understand that following the sport isn't just about what goes on at the track, but hearing from the drivers' opinions and feelings. The squabbles are all part of this, and as I've highlighted before it just goes to show that racers can get road rage too. I'll leave you with perhaps the most hilarious racing driver road rage footage that I've come across: the Nelson Piquet and Eliseo Salazar fight at Hockenheim in 1982. Enjoy:
Now, when I say close, I'm not talking about people being within 0.5 of a second of each other, or even 0.2 or 0.1 of a second. I mean that the second place man (Jason Plato) was literally shoving the bumper of the first place man (Andrew Jordan). Those of you who regularly watch the BTCC probably aren't that surprised: this discipline of racing is some of the closest, and certainly one of the most... aggressive. It's quite a sport for the drivers to push each other out of the way, whether deliberately or due to the other driver not wanting to move while the cars edge ever closer. In F1, when someone makes a move towards another car more often than not someone will get out of the way, and contact is (usually - we hope) rare. It's a whole other story in the BTCC. If someone goes to push you, you try to push them back. It's what makes this form of racing exciting, and most of the time the drivers are adept at keeping their cars on the track.
Sometimes though, this doesn't always work out, and thus there are some cases where the pushing and shoving gets a bit extreme and people end up off the road. Doubtless if you go to YouTube and look up BTCC, you'll see footage of this pushing and shoving - when it works and when it goes wrong.
Watching the BTCC prompted me to think about what I can only describe as road rage within motorsport. In F1, we do see drivers wander off sulkily if they've been involved in a 'racing incident', and often we hear back from them afterwards each blaming the other driver.
The most notable incident (or should I say series of incidents) last year occurred between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa. In the 2011 season, it appeared as though these drivers had magnetic cars, and there were around 5 incidents involving these two drivers spread over the season. These things happen, and the drivers have now moved on. However at the time it made for some ugly interviews. After one particular race incident, Massa came over to Hamilton and sarcastically told him 'Good job' while patting him on the back. Hamilton responded with a simple 'Don't touch me, man'. Now that the drivers have mended their rivalry for this season and moved on, this particular event seems quite amusing in retrospect, and it highlights to me that racing drivers aren't immune to the particular annoyances suffered by most of us when we're driving.
Another instance of this type occurred at the last F1 race between Sebastian Vettel and Narain Karthikeyan. Vettel was about to lap Karthikeyan and had moved mostly past him, however on pulling in front the drivers collided, eventually leading to Vettel missing out on 4th place. After the race, I noticed the most interesting headline in motorsport news: Vettel calls Karthikeyan a 'cucumber'. I am not making this up: after the race, Vettel called Karthikeyan a 'gerken' (cucumber), a word used to describe bad drivers in Germany. Of course, Karthikeyan responded and accused Vettel of being a 'Cry-baby'. In this context, the name calling is kind of funny, mostly stupid, but again highlights that racing drivers aren't so different from us drivers on the road. Oh, and I'm happy to report that Karthikeyan has since called a truce with Vettel, so hopefully the playgroud jibes will have stopped by the next race in China.
If you follow motorsport in the same way as me, you'll understand that following the sport isn't just about what goes on at the track, but hearing from the drivers' opinions and feelings. The squabbles are all part of this, and as I've highlighted before it just goes to show that racers can get road rage too. I'll leave you with perhaps the most hilarious racing driver road rage footage that I've come across: the Nelson Piquet and Eliseo Salazar fight at Hockenheim in 1982. Enjoy:
Sunday, 18 March 2012
And we're back!
It's 8 in the morning, and I've been awake for 3 and a half hours already. The weekend's race in Australia has just ended and marked the start of the season. I have to say, it was worth sacrificing the weekend's sleep!
On Saturday, the qualifying session presented us with the first opportunity in which to see what teams had the edge. People who aren't so experienced in F1 might wonder why we had to wait until qualifying to see who was fastest what with the weekend's three practice sessions and the preseason testing. Well, testing is notoriously unreliable for predicting who will be the fastest, and so there is very little that anyone can glean from these sessions. In practice sessions, it's often unclear as to who is sandbagging and hiding their pace. So, it's on the qualifying sessions that we can see who is genuinely fast.
After Red Bull's dominance of 2011, a lot of people were wondering whether they could do it again. As the three quali sessions progressed, it looked increasingly like this wasn't the case. Q3 sadly confirmed that the massive gap of Red Bull had diminished over the break, and we didn't see Sebastian's perfect lap. Instead, the McLarens appeared to have the edge over the rest of the field, with Hamilton getting pole and Button second, locking out the front row for the first time in a few seasons. You might expect Red Bull to be just behind this, however you'd be surprised. Romain Grosjean instead took the third spot in the Lotus. So, where were Red Bull? Fourth? Nope. That spot went to none other than Michael Schumacher, suggesting that the experienced racer might be returning to his old form. Of course, it's early in the season so this is a question which may remain unanswered. Finally, in fifth and sixth positions we found the Red Bulls, with Webber out qualifying Vettel. Rosberg followed the two Red Bulls, himself followed by the Williams of Pastor Maldonado, again suggesting that this team might be having a much better season than in 2011. The Force India of Nico Hulkenberg and the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo made up the last of those in Q3, and I think this year the mid-field battles will be much close than last year. You might have noticed that I haven't mentioned the Ferrari drivers. Well, qualifying for the red cars was a bit of a let down, with Alonso beaching himself in the gravel in Q2, and Massa just not getting up to speed in the session. They eventually qualified 12th and 16th. The final surprise of the first 2012 quali session was Raikkonen's inability to get out of Q3, qualifying 18th.
So, with a fairly jumbled grid set up all we had to do was get up at 6am to watch how the race would unfold. The McLaren of Jenson Button made a fantastic start, overtaking Lewis to take 1st. To my delight, Vettel also had a brilliant start, getting behind Schumacher and Nico Rosberg after another good start for the Mercedes. Alonso also appeared to come from nowhere and managed to get himself in the top 10. The race unfolded fairly eventfully, with a lot of overtaking (not least from Vettel, prompting me to ask whether we can leave behind the argument that Seb can't race - I think he's proven himself as a racer for quite some time now) and one safety car after the Caterham of Petrov pulled over on the pit straight. While the safety car was out, Seb pitted the Red Bull (named Abbey this year, following on from Luscious Liz, Kinky Kylie, Kate's Dirty Sister and Kate) and managed to leapfrog Hamilton's McLaren. From there on, there was a lot of close racing between second, third and fourth places, however eventually this resolved into a train of Vettel, Hamilton and Webber (Webber's best finish in his home race). Jenson Button ultimately won the first race of the season.
Further back in the field, there were a lot of surprises and disappointments. Schumacher's car broke down, so sadly we didn't get to see whether he had returned to his old ways. After Maldonado's close racing with the double world champion Alonso, he dipped a wheel on the grass and crashed into a barrier on the last few laps of the race. Despite Grosjean's amazing qualifying position, the race wasn't quite as favourable after he ended up in the gravel having almost lost a wheel. Raikkonen's fate, however, was much better. Even though he had an abysmal qualifying session, he eventually ended up in 7th place, securing six championship points on his return. Honestly, I think that Lotus will be a team to watch this season, providing their races go without incident and they have decent qualifying sessions. Again, it's early in the season so watch this space!
Overall, it looks as though the season will be a close fight between McLaren and Red Bull, with Ferrari having some catching up to do like last season. Sauber also appeared to be moving up the mid-field, with (the remarkably entertaining) Kobayashi ending up just behind Alonso in 6th place, and Perez finishing 8th. Williams appear to be having a better season than last year, however some bad luck during the race meant that they couldn't reap the rewards this time round.
2012 then looks like a good one. With 19 races left to go, the championship is far from decided and anything can yet happen. I can definitely say that the sleep deprivation was worth it, but if you weren't as keen on getting up a stupid o'clock then go watch
On Saturday, the qualifying session presented us with the first opportunity in which to see what teams had the edge. People who aren't so experienced in F1 might wonder why we had to wait until qualifying to see who was fastest what with the weekend's three practice sessions and the preseason testing. Well, testing is notoriously unreliable for predicting who will be the fastest, and so there is very little that anyone can glean from these sessions. In practice sessions, it's often unclear as to who is sandbagging and hiding their pace. So, it's on the qualifying sessions that we can see who is genuinely fast.
After Red Bull's dominance of 2011, a lot of people were wondering whether they could do it again. As the three quali sessions progressed, it looked increasingly like this wasn't the case. Q3 sadly confirmed that the massive gap of Red Bull had diminished over the break, and we didn't see Sebastian's perfect lap. Instead, the McLarens appeared to have the edge over the rest of the field, with Hamilton getting pole and Button second, locking out the front row for the first time in a few seasons. You might expect Red Bull to be just behind this, however you'd be surprised. Romain Grosjean instead took the third spot in the Lotus. So, where were Red Bull? Fourth? Nope. That spot went to none other than Michael Schumacher, suggesting that the experienced racer might be returning to his old form. Of course, it's early in the season so this is a question which may remain unanswered. Finally, in fifth and sixth positions we found the Red Bulls, with Webber out qualifying Vettel. Rosberg followed the two Red Bulls, himself followed by the Williams of Pastor Maldonado, again suggesting that this team might be having a much better season than in 2011. The Force India of Nico Hulkenberg and the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo made up the last of those in Q3, and I think this year the mid-field battles will be much close than last year. You might have noticed that I haven't mentioned the Ferrari drivers. Well, qualifying for the red cars was a bit of a let down, with Alonso beaching himself in the gravel in Q2, and Massa just not getting up to speed in the session. They eventually qualified 12th and 16th. The final surprise of the first 2012 quali session was Raikkonen's inability to get out of Q3, qualifying 18th.
So, with a fairly jumbled grid set up all we had to do was get up at 6am to watch how the race would unfold. The McLaren of Jenson Button made a fantastic start, overtaking Lewis to take 1st. To my delight, Vettel also had a brilliant start, getting behind Schumacher and Nico Rosberg after another good start for the Mercedes. Alonso also appeared to come from nowhere and managed to get himself in the top 10. The race unfolded fairly eventfully, with a lot of overtaking (not least from Vettel, prompting me to ask whether we can leave behind the argument that Seb can't race - I think he's proven himself as a racer for quite some time now) and one safety car after the Caterham of Petrov pulled over on the pit straight. While the safety car was out, Seb pitted the Red Bull (named Abbey this year, following on from Luscious Liz, Kinky Kylie, Kate's Dirty Sister and Kate) and managed to leapfrog Hamilton's McLaren. From there on, there was a lot of close racing between second, third and fourth places, however eventually this resolved into a train of Vettel, Hamilton and Webber (Webber's best finish in his home race). Jenson Button ultimately won the first race of the season.
Further back in the field, there were a lot of surprises and disappointments. Schumacher's car broke down, so sadly we didn't get to see whether he had returned to his old ways. After Maldonado's close racing with the double world champion Alonso, he dipped a wheel on the grass and crashed into a barrier on the last few laps of the race. Despite Grosjean's amazing qualifying position, the race wasn't quite as favourable after he ended up in the gravel having almost lost a wheel. Raikkonen's fate, however, was much better. Even though he had an abysmal qualifying session, he eventually ended up in 7th place, securing six championship points on his return. Honestly, I think that Lotus will be a team to watch this season, providing their races go without incident and they have decent qualifying sessions. Again, it's early in the season so watch this space!
Overall, it looks as though the season will be a close fight between McLaren and Red Bull, with Ferrari having some catching up to do like last season. Sauber also appeared to be moving up the mid-field, with (the remarkably entertaining) Kobayashi ending up just behind Alonso in 6th place, and Perez finishing 8th. Williams appear to be having a better season than last year, however some bad luck during the race meant that they couldn't reap the rewards this time round.
2012 then looks like a good one. With 19 races left to go, the championship is far from decided and anything can yet happen. I can definitely say that the sleep deprivation was worth it, but if you weren't as keen on getting up a stupid o'clock then go watch
Thursday, 8 September 2011
I Love F1. I'd Love To Drive. But I Don't Envy The Drivers...
If you're a regular reader of this blog you'll be aware of my obsession with motorsport and F1 in particular. I really love watching the spectacle of motorsport, and I honestly feel that motorsport and racing is so unique that you don't get the same experience with any other sport. I also enjoy competing in motorsport through off-road trials in Land Rovers. I've done a few rally experiences over the years too, and found that I quite enjoy driving fast, and I love getting a car to go exactly where I put it, whether through slow maneuvering in the trials or the fast-paced actions in rally driving (I turned 18 exactly while executing a handbrake turn in a Subaru rally car). In short, I'd love to drive competitively for a career. However, I don't envy professional racing drivers.
This seems quite an odd thing really - kind of paradoxical. I'd love to drive professionally, however I wouldn't want to be in the same position as a professional driver. This isn't because of the pressure that drivers come under - I thrive under pressure. It's not because of the danger - I can be quite an adrenaline junkie. No, it's because of the sponsors.
Tonight I was watching the television when the ever annoying ad break came on. Alongside the usual 'Cash-for-Gold', 'Have you been injured?' and Hovis ads was an ad for Santander, the bank which sponsors McLaren. Two Santander ads came on, in fact. In the first, McLaren's own Lewis Hamilton was pictured standing on a podium - all three slots on the podium were occupied by Lewis to be accurate (the stewards would have a field day!). The second Santander ad (which admittedly, I quite enjoyed) featured Lewis and Jenson Button building a massive lego F1 car. Once the Santander ads had finished, an ad for the new Fiat 500 came on, this one featuring Fernando Alonso (although not, I noticed, Fernando's voice). Finally, an advert for Head and Shoulders shampoo aired, featuring Jenson Button and the worst acting I've ever seen. This final ad pushed me over the edge.
I understand that F1 is big business, with sponsors galore and lots of people involved in the apparent corporate machine. Yes, drivers need to be sponsored to even get into F1. Sponsorship is part and parcel of racing. However, do drivers really need to feature in adverts like those listed above? Head and Shoulders, Jenson? Really? Drivers should be just that; drivers. While the sponsors obviously need the reciprocity (we give you money, you give us advertising) can't they leave the drivers to get on with their sport? This is one of the reasons why I don't envy the drivers. F1 in particular is getting more like big business and moving away from being a pure sport. (Ok, other sportsmen are involved in advertising, I realise this, however I have to point out this feature in racing too).
A second reason why I don't envy racing drivers was highlighted when I went to the Nurburgring. During my trip to the Nurburgring I attended a pit walk and an autograph session. I also watched the drivers' parade before the race. Now, I had a choice whether to attend these events. I sense the drivers are more limited in their free will. Fair enough, I'm guessing the drivers understand that they have to meet fans, but would I want to walk out to hoards of people screaming my name and hounding me for a signature every single working weekend? I'm not so sure.
A third reason became apparent today on Twitter. The usual suspects were in attendance at Monza, and so for people who are slightly addicted to Twitter we got an interesting insight into a Thursday on a race weekend. Loads of Twitter/F1 people were posting pictures of the media sessions on a Thursday, and it made me realise how many interviews, press conferences and general publicity sessions that the drivers have to go to. F1 is a team sport, however you rarely see the mechanics giving interviews - the drivers are the ones who face the questions. Would I enjoy my every move being questioned a hundred times over by different journalists? I doubt it.
So, on a race weekend a driver has to answer a never ending barrage of questions and meet their adoring (and at times, crazy) public. When not racing, they have to please the sponsors and become the face of a brand - be that Fiat, Santander or, indeed, Head and Shoulders. However, that's not all.
Last weekend I took an unexpected trip to Cardiff to watch the Red Bull Speed Jam for which I won tickets. In attendance were Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo. It was their weekend off, however they were still being made to get back to the day job and entertain us. Don't get me wrong, I loved it. However, it does seem a bit much for the drivers to have to drive around and show off when they're not actually racing. You wonder how much choice a driver has in this matter. No doubt they enjoy the actual driving - if they didn't then they wouldn't be in that career - but do they enjoy having to go to these events? If someone went up to Mark Webber and said 'you have to drive this car round this place at this time and go and sign a hundred-odd autographs', would he be that willing? I doubt I would be, and that's another reason why I wouldn't envy the drivers.
This seems quite an odd thing really - kind of paradoxical. I'd love to drive professionally, however I wouldn't want to be in the same position as a professional driver. This isn't because of the pressure that drivers come under - I thrive under pressure. It's not because of the danger - I can be quite an adrenaline junkie. No, it's because of the sponsors.
Tonight I was watching the television when the ever annoying ad break came on. Alongside the usual 'Cash-for-Gold', 'Have you been injured?' and Hovis ads was an ad for Santander, the bank which sponsors McLaren. Two Santander ads came on, in fact. In the first, McLaren's own Lewis Hamilton was pictured standing on a podium - all three slots on the podium were occupied by Lewis to be accurate (the stewards would have a field day!). The second Santander ad (which admittedly, I quite enjoyed) featured Lewis and Jenson Button building a massive lego F1 car. Once the Santander ads had finished, an ad for the new Fiat 500 came on, this one featuring Fernando Alonso (although not, I noticed, Fernando's voice). Finally, an advert for Head and Shoulders shampoo aired, featuring Jenson Button and the worst acting I've ever seen. This final ad pushed me over the edge.
I understand that F1 is big business, with sponsors galore and lots of people involved in the apparent corporate machine. Yes, drivers need to be sponsored to even get into F1. Sponsorship is part and parcel of racing. However, do drivers really need to feature in adverts like those listed above? Head and Shoulders, Jenson? Really? Drivers should be just that; drivers. While the sponsors obviously need the reciprocity (we give you money, you give us advertising) can't they leave the drivers to get on with their sport? This is one of the reasons why I don't envy the drivers. F1 in particular is getting more like big business and moving away from being a pure sport. (Ok, other sportsmen are involved in advertising, I realise this, however I have to point out this feature in racing too).
A second reason why I don't envy racing drivers was highlighted when I went to the Nurburgring. During my trip to the Nurburgring I attended a pit walk and an autograph session. I also watched the drivers' parade before the race. Now, I had a choice whether to attend these events. I sense the drivers are more limited in their free will. Fair enough, I'm guessing the drivers understand that they have to meet fans, but would I want to walk out to hoards of people screaming my name and hounding me for a signature every single working weekend? I'm not so sure.
A third reason became apparent today on Twitter. The usual suspects were in attendance at Monza, and so for people who are slightly addicted to Twitter we got an interesting insight into a Thursday on a race weekend. Loads of Twitter/F1 people were posting pictures of the media sessions on a Thursday, and it made me realise how many interviews, press conferences and general publicity sessions that the drivers have to go to. F1 is a team sport, however you rarely see the mechanics giving interviews - the drivers are the ones who face the questions. Would I enjoy my every move being questioned a hundred times over by different journalists? I doubt it.
So, on a race weekend a driver has to answer a never ending barrage of questions and meet their adoring (and at times, crazy) public. When not racing, they have to please the sponsors and become the face of a brand - be that Fiat, Santander or, indeed, Head and Shoulders. However, that's not all.
Last weekend I took an unexpected trip to Cardiff to watch the Red Bull Speed Jam for which I won tickets. In attendance were Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo. It was their weekend off, however they were still being made to get back to the day job and entertain us. Don't get me wrong, I loved it. However, it does seem a bit much for the drivers to have to drive around and show off when they're not actually racing. You wonder how much choice a driver has in this matter. No doubt they enjoy the actual driving - if they didn't then they wouldn't be in that career - but do they enjoy having to go to these events? If someone went up to Mark Webber and said 'you have to drive this car round this place at this time and go and sign a hundred-odd autographs', would he be that willing? I doubt I would be, and that's another reason why I wouldn't envy the drivers.
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
The Summer's Over. The Battle Has Resumed. Oh Yes!
Did we all have a lovely summer break? Yes? Wonderful! Or were you like me, and desperate for the F1 to come back off of its holidays? Yes? Excellent! Either way, you have to say it's good to be back, and it feels good to dust off the old blog.
So this weekend just gone saw the Spa Grand Prix - one of the most iconic races on the calendar. There was the usual talk around the paddock over the weekend, and there were questions about Red Bull's performance after their lack of wins at the previous races. Would McLaren and Ferrari overtake them? Has Sebastian Vettel finally cracked? Will Mark Webber say 'to hell with this' and leave at the end of the season? Well, no. None of these things happened and Belgium just proved what a strong team Red Bull are.
The Friday practice sessions were very wet, and we didn't see a whole lot of action there. What was lovely to see was the return of Bruno Senna to F1. He took over from Nick Heidfeld, and is set to race once again in Monza, and possibly for the rest of the season. However, it has to be noted that a lawsuit is currently in progress as Heidfeld is technically locked into the contract until the end of 2011. Whether this lawsuit is successful is another matter of course. What wasn't so good was that Ayrton Senna's nephew got caught out in the tricky conditions and stuck the Lotus Renault into the barriers. At least Senna can be comforted by the fact that Paul Di Resta did exactly the same thing, and that both cars were repaired before qualifying.
After wet running in pretty much every session up until qualifying, everyone seemed cautious about what quali would bring. McLaren looked on brilliant form during qualifying and at the last minute Lewis Hamilton looked set to take pole... Until Sebastian Vettel came along and went almost half a second faster! Well, normal service resumed from the German driver and his Red Bull team then! The big surprises in qualifying included Schumacher losing a wheel on his first outlap and crashing into the barriers. Turns out, the wheel nut was cross-threaded and so the accident was kind of inevitable. However, this wasn't much of a comfort as Schumi qualified in 24th place. Heikki Kovalainen had some good luck though, as he managed to get his Lotus into Q2 once again, showing that Lotus are indeed improving and are approaching the pace of the mid-field. Another surprise was that Jenson Button could only qualify 13th, after slowing to let team-mate Lewis Hamilton past - something which must have been (to use a common F1 phrase) 'bitterly disappointing'. After Senna's crash on Friday, everyone was thrilled when he managed to qualify in 7th place - clearly, this man is one to watch in the future.One final thing to mention about quali was the crash between Hamilton and Maldonado - a crash which looked like revenge from Maldonado after Lewis Hamilton passed him when setting a fast time. Maldonado was given a 5 place grid drop (surprisingly lenient in my view) and Hamilton given yet another reprimand for the incident.
So, with the grid set it was time for race day. Spa is typically a circuit suited to those cars with great straight line speed - traditionally not Red Bull. Sectors 1 and 3 are characterised by long straights, whereas sector 2 is more to the Red Bulls' liking. With this in mind then, it would be interesting to see who had the advantage this year. Another problem for Red Bull was that their tyres suffered from blistering (possibly caused by Newey experimenting with more camber than Pirelli recommended) to such an extent that the bosses and drivers were worried for the safety of their drivers. So worried in fact that they appealed to change their tyres on the grid - something which is not permitted for those in the top 10 qualifiers. Of course, this request was denied, provoking anger among the team - not less Sebastian who could be seen having stern words with a Pirelli worker. Red Bull are though a racing team and so rather than face a penalty for changing tyres, extensive calculations were carried out and the team figured that Mark Webber's tyres would last until lap 3, and Sebastian's would last until lap 5 - both pitted on these respective laps. With disaster averted in this respect, the race could continue.
Although Sebastian started on pole, it was Nico Rosberg who had an awesome start - seriously one of the best starts I've ever seen - and took the lead on lap one. However, this lead was short lived and eventually normal service was resumed. You all know I'm not one to describe the race in every detail, so I recommend you watch the race to see Rosberg's amazing start, and to see an edge-of-the-seat overtake by Webber on Alonso. Really, an overtake on the outside of Alonso at Eau Rouge is something else - no wonder Christian Horner said he closed his eyes! Spa wasn't so kind on Lewis Hamilton however, and he clocked up another DNF after crashing into Kamui Kobayashi. Lewis did later say that it was 100% his fault and apologised to the team, however you have to wonder whether Hamilton is becoming one of the unluckiest men in F1 right now.
After one of the most thrilling races I've seen this year, Sebastian Vettel overtook several other drivers (who said he wasn't a racer?!) and eventually won the race, with Mark Webber bringing in a second place for Red Bull and Jensonwatch the race if you haven't already - it's convinced me and my Dad to take a trip to this race in 2012! With Sebastian's victory comes another blow to the championship rivals - Sebastian can win the driver's championship in Singapore should he win the next two races. However, F1 is increasingly unpredictable and so we can only wait and see what happens. No doubt we'll still get some thrilling action throughout the rest of the year. Bring on Monza!
So this weekend just gone saw the Spa Grand Prix - one of the most iconic races on the calendar. There was the usual talk around the paddock over the weekend, and there were questions about Red Bull's performance after their lack of wins at the previous races. Would McLaren and Ferrari overtake them? Has Sebastian Vettel finally cracked? Will Mark Webber say 'to hell with this' and leave at the end of the season? Well, no. None of these things happened and Belgium just proved what a strong team Red Bull are.
The Friday practice sessions were very wet, and we didn't see a whole lot of action there. What was lovely to see was the return of Bruno Senna to F1. He took over from Nick Heidfeld, and is set to race once again in Monza, and possibly for the rest of the season. However, it has to be noted that a lawsuit is currently in progress as Heidfeld is technically locked into the contract until the end of 2011. Whether this lawsuit is successful is another matter of course. What wasn't so good was that Ayrton Senna's nephew got caught out in the tricky conditions and stuck the Lotus Renault into the barriers. At least Senna can be comforted by the fact that Paul Di Resta did exactly the same thing, and that both cars were repaired before qualifying.
After wet running in pretty much every session up until qualifying, everyone seemed cautious about what quali would bring. McLaren looked on brilliant form during qualifying and at the last minute Lewis Hamilton looked set to take pole... Until Sebastian Vettel came along and went almost half a second faster! Well, normal service resumed from the German driver and his Red Bull team then! The big surprises in qualifying included Schumacher losing a wheel on his first outlap and crashing into the barriers. Turns out, the wheel nut was cross-threaded and so the accident was kind of inevitable. However, this wasn't much of a comfort as Schumi qualified in 24th place. Heikki Kovalainen had some good luck though, as he managed to get his Lotus into Q2 once again, showing that Lotus are indeed improving and are approaching the pace of the mid-field. Another surprise was that Jenson Button could only qualify 13th, after slowing to let team-mate Lewis Hamilton past - something which must have been (to use a common F1 phrase) 'bitterly disappointing'. After Senna's crash on Friday, everyone was thrilled when he managed to qualify in 7th place - clearly, this man is one to watch in the future.One final thing to mention about quali was the crash between Hamilton and Maldonado - a crash which looked like revenge from Maldonado after Lewis Hamilton passed him when setting a fast time. Maldonado was given a 5 place grid drop (surprisingly lenient in my view) and Hamilton given yet another reprimand for the incident.
So, with the grid set it was time for race day. Spa is typically a circuit suited to those cars with great straight line speed - traditionally not Red Bull. Sectors 1 and 3 are characterised by long straights, whereas sector 2 is more to the Red Bulls' liking. With this in mind then, it would be interesting to see who had the advantage this year. Another problem for Red Bull was that their tyres suffered from blistering (possibly caused by Newey experimenting with more camber than Pirelli recommended) to such an extent that the bosses and drivers were worried for the safety of their drivers. So worried in fact that they appealed to change their tyres on the grid - something which is not permitted for those in the top 10 qualifiers. Of course, this request was denied, provoking anger among the team - not less Sebastian who could be seen having stern words with a Pirelli worker. Red Bull are though a racing team and so rather than face a penalty for changing tyres, extensive calculations were carried out and the team figured that Mark Webber's tyres would last until lap 3, and Sebastian's would last until lap 5 - both pitted on these respective laps. With disaster averted in this respect, the race could continue.
Although Sebastian started on pole, it was Nico Rosberg who had an awesome start - seriously one of the best starts I've ever seen - and took the lead on lap one. However, this lead was short lived and eventually normal service was resumed. You all know I'm not one to describe the race in every detail, so I recommend you watch the race to see Rosberg's amazing start, and to see an edge-of-the-seat overtake by Webber on Alonso. Really, an overtake on the outside of Alonso at Eau Rouge is something else - no wonder Christian Horner said he closed his eyes! Spa wasn't so kind on Lewis Hamilton however, and he clocked up another DNF after crashing into Kamui Kobayashi. Lewis did later say that it was 100% his fault and apologised to the team, however you have to wonder whether Hamilton is becoming one of the unluckiest men in F1 right now.
After one of the most thrilling races I've seen this year, Sebastian Vettel overtook several other drivers (who said he wasn't a racer?!) and eventually won the race, with Mark Webber bringing in a second place for Red Bull and Jensonwatch the race if you haven't already - it's convinced me and my Dad to take a trip to this race in 2012! With Sebastian's victory comes another blow to the championship rivals - Sebastian can win the driver's championship in Singapore should he win the next two races. However, F1 is increasingly unpredictable and so we can only wait and see what happens. No doubt we'll still get some thrilling action throughout the rest of the year. Bring on Monza!
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