Turkish Delight
Sunday, May 30, 2010 at 01:28PM
I will announce here and now, if has not been obvious, that I love Formula One. I know many people, especially here in the US, will say it is boring, but who could say that after today's race from Istanbul. This sport evolves at a pace unequalled by any other. After Bahrain, which I must say was boring, we all expected an uninteresting season, but the rate of development of these cars is such, helped by a bit of rain and some bad calls by teams and drivers, that it has turned into the season we actually expected.
I know a lot of people will say there is not enough overtaking, but it is the level of tension for me that develops that makes me want to watch. One of the best races I ever saw was Villeneuve winning in Jarama, Spain, with a train of six cars behind him. No one overtook anyone else all race, but the excitement and tension was enormous as Villeneuve did what we thought was impossible. He drove a perfect line at every corner for every lap, not one slightest mistake to let anyone by. Impossible, but there it was happening in front of your eyes. I agree with Max Mosley about very little, but his analogy about F1 being chess, and one overtaking maneouvre being worth a hundred in NASCAR is true. It is the difference between soccer and basketball, both sports I played and loved, but for me that one winning goal is memorable, when one basket rarely is.
And then there is the human component, Webber vs Vettel, Button vs Hamilton, Alonso vs Massa, and these are team mates. Some will say look at Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, but I do not think that is on the same plane. It needs a Phil Jackson inside every team to try and manage the egos and abilities to produce an overall winning environment. It is going to be interesting to see how Christian Horner manages that within the Red Bull team after this race.
I did not think it very smart if, as reported, he has blamed Webber for the incident. I can only imagine he is saying Mark should have given way, but there are no team orders in F1, and he has two drivers equal in points at the top of the Championship, so why would he expect Mark to just lie down? The McLaren drivers showed how to compete without taking each other out, even though the pit wall must have been beside themselves watching. With Mark still not contracted for next year that may have been the decider for him whether to go or stay. It is interesting the different quotes that have been attributed to Vettel. Most of them are about how it is Mark's fault, but the only one that runs true for me is the Telegraph in England quoting him as saying he lost control under the heavy braking. That jibes with what I saw on the TV. Mark did not do him any favors, but why should he? Vettel clearly had enough asphalt to keep all four wheels on, but Mark did not move over on him.
The whole point of this is that the incident was caused by Mclaren putting pressure on the Red Bulls. OK, they were not overtaking back and forth, but it was still exciting stuff, with towards the end the possibility of fuel becoming an issue keeping it that way.
The post race interview was a bit more interesting than usual, with a picture certainly being worth a thousand words. I have to applaud Mark Webber's self control when asked repeatedly by the interviewer about the incident. While he did blame his team mate he did it carefully, grimacing through clenched teeth. The most telling point was when Button was talking Lewis Hamilton leaned over to Mark and asked him what happened. Even though we obviously could not hear what was said we could clearly see Mark using his hands to demonstrate his version of events.
I said yesterday that Mark is a very tough cookie, and I think he has Sebastian rattled. The team has a very difficult decision to make now, do they support Mark who is leading the Driver's Championship, or favor Vettel who presumably has a longer future with the team?
I know a lot of people will say there is not enough overtaking, but it is the level of tension for me that develops that makes me want to watch. One of the best races I ever saw was Villeneuve winning in Jarama, Spain, with a train of six cars behind him. No one overtook anyone else all race, but the excitement and tension was enormous as Villeneuve did what we thought was impossible. He drove a perfect line at every corner for every lap, not one slightest mistake to let anyone by. Impossible, but there it was happening in front of your eyes. I agree with Max Mosley about very little, but his analogy about F1 being chess, and one overtaking maneouvre being worth a hundred in NASCAR is true. It is the difference between soccer and basketball, both sports I played and loved, but for me that one winning goal is memorable, when one basket rarely is.
And then there is the human component, Webber vs Vettel, Button vs Hamilton, Alonso vs Massa, and these are team mates. Some will say look at Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, but I do not think that is on the same plane. It needs a Phil Jackson inside every team to try and manage the egos and abilities to produce an overall winning environment. It is going to be interesting to see how Christian Horner manages that within the Red Bull team after this race.
I did not think it very smart if, as reported, he has blamed Webber for the incident. I can only imagine he is saying Mark should have given way, but there are no team orders in F1, and he has two drivers equal in points at the top of the Championship, so why would he expect Mark to just lie down? The McLaren drivers showed how to compete without taking each other out, even though the pit wall must have been beside themselves watching. With Mark still not contracted for next year that may have been the decider for him whether to go or stay. It is interesting the different quotes that have been attributed to Vettel. Most of them are about how it is Mark's fault, but the only one that runs true for me is the Telegraph in England quoting him as saying he lost control under the heavy braking. That jibes with what I saw on the TV. Mark did not do him any favors, but why should he? Vettel clearly had enough asphalt to keep all four wheels on, but Mark did not move over on him.
The whole point of this is that the incident was caused by Mclaren putting pressure on the Red Bulls. OK, they were not overtaking back and forth, but it was still exciting stuff, with towards the end the possibility of fuel becoming an issue keeping it that way.
The post race interview was a bit more interesting than usual, with a picture certainly being worth a thousand words. I have to applaud Mark Webber's self control when asked repeatedly by the interviewer about the incident. While he did blame his team mate he did it carefully, grimacing through clenched teeth. The most telling point was when Button was talking Lewis Hamilton leaned over to Mark and asked him what happened. Even though we obviously could not hear what was said we could clearly see Mark using his hands to demonstrate his version of events.
I said yesterday that Mark is a very tough cookie, and I think he has Sebastian rattled. The team has a very difficult decision to make now, do they support Mark who is leading the Driver's Championship, or favor Vettel who presumably has a longer future with the team?
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