F1: A Contradiction Competition

This morning I checked the F1 news page on the BBC website and was greeted by this article in which Lewis Hamilton states that he is aiming for McLaren to get a one-two at Silverstone. Brilliant, we all think, Lewis getting back on form. Well, I'm annoyed. Formula One seems to be full of contradictions lately and I for one am getting fed up. The mass of contradictions by drivers and officials is making the sport far more confusing than DRS and KERS overtakes ever were.

Let me first explain perhaps the most apparent instance of contradictions in F1: the Bahrain situation. Initially, the Bahrain GP was postponed because of unrest in the country. This is fair enough, as the people of a country come first (something stated by Mark Webber - one of the most vocal drivers about the Bahrain situation). A waiting game then ensued whereby meetings were held or pushed back to discuss and see how the situation would evolve in the country. A deadline was given to the country and FIA officials to decide whether the race could be held. Great, we all thought, we're going to get a firm "yes" or "no" on the 1st of May. Nope. The deadline was then extended by over a month. This was kind of annoying, however most of the fans understood. Eventually, after many meetings and much gossip the FIA took the decision to reschedule the Bahrain race. This seemed like a firm answer, and most fans thought the matter was solved. However, the teams called for a boycott of the race, and more negotiations ensued, along with the usual gossip which accompanies so many big decisions. The teams' protest was officially based on the logistics of the date of the rescheduled race, however many also felt that the ethical implications of going to a country in such a state would outweigh any benefit of F1 returning to the country. While the teams protested, the FIA sought to reassure them, stating that Bahrain was now safe. However, the teams couldn't be ignored and as such the Bahrain race was eventually cancelled - a move which many felt should have occurred in the first place.

When you see the number of articles saying that the race was off-on-off-on-off, you can see how annoying it was to watch this situation unfold. The whole process of decision making seemed completely unprofessional, as it appeared that the officials never spoke with the teams and decisions were made based purely on money alone. The contradictions made the situation so hard to follow, and many were simply relieved that it was over.

Anyway, we moved on from this and got on with the season. However, the drivers seem to have got into a competition for who can have the most contradictions. The first one I noticed was Fernando Alonso. Before the race at Valencia, Alonso was quoted as saying that Ferrari were having a bad year. After the race, during the press conference, Alonso said how well Ferrari had done during the last few races:

Monaco was a very good performance all weekend. We finished second. Canada was a very good performance. We didn't score any points there and here again very good weekend in terms of performance Felipe (Massa) and me and now both cars in the top five is a great team result so definitely moving in the right direction.

To add to this, another BBC article quoted Alonso as giving up on the title fight. So, what's Alonso's position? "Ferrari are bad - we're doing well - I've given up".

Now, to my final example. Lewis Hamilton has been all over the media. Given his run of bad luck lately, this isn't surprising. The previous article quoted Lewis as saying that he had pretty much given up on the next race at Silverstone, let alone the title. He said that he was "really not looking forward to Silverstone", that McLaren had "taken a step back" and that "It's finished really. In the sense of the title it's almost over". So, pretty pessimistic stuff. However, in the next breath Lewis has all of his optimism back and he's looking for the world championship! In terms of the Silverstone race, Lewis's initial comments of "we're just not quick enough to win there. I think we'll really struggle" have been forgotten, and he's now saying that McLaren can get a one-two finish there. In fact, he's said that "nothing is impossible", and the championship is far from over.

So what's going on with F1 lately? People were complaining at the start of the year that the races were confusing what with all the overtaking, but now it seems that the source of the confusion has very little to do with the on track action. Of course, I understand that the media isn't always accurate, but there must be a grain of truth in most of these articles and the drivers seem to be saying two things at once. I wish that the drivers and media would stop speculating, or at least stick with one point of view. For new fans, it must be excruciating to try and get into the sport with all this going on. Personally, I'm considering ignoring what each driver says, simply because I don't know whether they're being truthful or whether next week their views will be completely different. So, if I've sent a hundred links out to media spokespeople or drivers and you're reading this, I implore you to get your stories straight or say nothing at all - these contradictions are giving me a headache!

On a Personal Note

Watching the F1 is always a good thing in my eyes. The spectacle and drama of the race coupled with the intellect and strategic calculations of the sport make it so well rounded that it's hard not to find something to enjoy. What I also love is the drivers congratulating each other at the end of the race. Now, this seems like a fairly random point, but bear with me.

As you might have gathered from my 'About Me' description, I'm a bit of a nerd academically. I perform very well at anything academic, but I tend to suffer for it by being a little bit of a geek. Well, a lot of a geek actually but never mind. While getting good results for my degree and previous qualifications is a great boon for me, I do find that it brings with it a whole lot of hostility from my peers. Whenever I do well I don't tend to brag, or even tell anyone to be honest. However, people still ask me how I did and they hate me for doing well.

This is where F1 comes in. Formula 1 racing is incredibly competitive. People from other series of racing compete to get a drive in F1, however only 24 drivers at a time ever make it. When those 24 do make it into the series, they are then fighting to keep their seat, as well as fighting for championship places and the glory of winning. However, you rarely see any genuine hostility. Yes, the media will publish stories of how Alonso hates Hamilton, Webber hates Vettel and Sutil's had a punch up in a nightclub, however at the end of every race the drivers congratulate each other. There doesn't seem to be any animosity between anyone really. The drivers tend to focus on their own performance during a race, and aim for their best result - which is what I do in my academic life. Sadly, not everyone in my life behaves in this way and competitiveness seems to overrule respect for each other.

I would dearly love it if more of my peers got into F1. I feel that them witnessing the respect between the drivers in such a highly charged environment would make them stop and think about their own behaviour towards each other in the academic world. What I guess I'm trying to say is that I view the F1 drivers as role models for my own life. If I can behave with mutual respect for my peers and do well myself then my life is on track (no pun intended). If this is achieved through basing my behaviour on that of Vettel et al. then there's another boon for F1, and another reason to love it all the more.

Contracts, Contracts and more Contracts

This month seems to be all about contracts - both within F1 and personally I must say. Recently, Fernando Alonso announced that he will be staying with Ferrari until at least 2016 - an extension of 5 years. Quite some time really, considering how changeable F1 can be. With this announcement, speculation that Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel could move to Ferrari has been ceased. This got me wondering how much of a balance there is between a driver signing a contract to secure their future and simply to stop the speculation.

A while ago Sebastian Vettel confirmed that he would be staying at Red Bull until the end of 2014 (much to my joy as that means I will graduate from university while Sebastian is still racing for my favourite team - just a fun fact for you there!). Christian Horner announced that he was pleased with this outcome, again as it stopped speculation that Sebastian would be leaving Red Bull.

The amount of stories in the media which revolve around who is going to which team is insane. Every year there are debates about who will go to Ferrari, whose career is coming to an end, who will be replacing whom and so on. Why is there such speculation? Simply because it's interesting. However, very few people actually cite the younger drivers who could come into F1 - the interest lies in working out which of the renowned drivers will be moving.

Keeping up with the debate is often tricky. Last year I believe that people were saying that Kubica could swap with Massa and go to Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel was interested in going to Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton also wanted to go to Ferrari and I remember a story which said Schumacher could return to Ferrari too. If you believed all of this then Ferrari would have at least five drivers. There seems to be very little logic in deciding who is moving where - often stories are based on heresay and who we would like to see in a team. More often than not, the teams simply renew contracts with their current drivers however this is rarely presented as an option. Also, stories tend to be based around something that a specific driver said once upon a time. Sebastian Vettel argued that one day it might be nice to drive for Ferrari - just after this he renewed his contract with Red Bull and put a stop to the stories starting 'Vettel May Move to Ferrari'.

So, returning to my original point of whether renewing contracts was for the driver's benefit or for the cessation of speculation, I can't really blame the teams. Hearing stories of who will be moving to your team must be stressful. Perhaps it's even more stressful for the poor drivers who might be 'replaced' by another driver. Maybe the contracts do serve the function of ending the media speculation - perhaps we can refer to them as F1's super injunctions!