Archive for July, 2010
Schumacher is your favourite F1 driver. No, really, he is…
Let’s face it – he’s every bodys fave F1 star if you realise it or not.
You may hate him (British/Canadians); you may love him (Germans/Italians); you may be indifferent (French/Spanish) or you may not know exactly who he is (Americans) BUT there is little doubt that he’s the most talked about driver amoung all those opinions over the last 15 years. Without him what exactly would have happened in F1?
Mika Hakkinen taking out David Coultard in Adelade?
Trulli trying the same over Frentzen at Jerez?
And could you really have imagined Damon Hill taking home seven, yes SEVEN, world championships? Some may have found Schumachers dominance to be the worst thing in F1 over the years but there was only 2 reasons why he was:
1. He’s THAT good.
2. The rest are not.
Take the closest comparisons from other sports, say Roger Federer. The worlds best player….or is that Nadal? What happens when they play against each other is that their matches regularly get toasted as the “best ever” and “extrodinary”. And that’s the point, there are legitimate challenges to Federer but to Schumacher there were none. OK, so Mika was a nicer bloke but he had to have a car 10% better than the rest to take the championship. Schumacher has regularly taken cars that were 10% down home across the line in first place.
Don’t blame the man, blame the lack of other men.
But that was then and this is now. Nobody, including the man himself can deny his much talked about comeback hasn’t been all that it could. Not that he’s that bad, missing the podium narrowly on 3 occassions but we all expect more from him. Why? Because realise it or not he’s your favourite driver. If he’s not, well get him in the same car as Hamilton and see what happens…now there’s a fight worth watching.
Can Silverstone live up to the modern F1 demands?
In a press release today the managing director of Silverstone Circuit, Richard Phillips, said that the changes that have been made to the circuit and the ongoing construction of new facilities mean the circuit now has fully exploited the qualities that had been built up over decades. Comparing to the new guard of top flight, ultra-bling circuits popping up some distance East of Northamptonshire he says:
“They (Abu Dhabi) build a hotel that lights up in different ways, and that’s absolutely fantastic,” he said.
“But have we got a better circuit than they have? Yes, I think we have. Have we got better crowds, a better atmosphere? Yes. We’ve got all those things.
“So we’ve got something that they will never have,” added the new man about the track.
“If we can absolutely perfect our track, and everything we do build is cutting edge and spectacular, then why wouldn’t people think that we are the best in the world?”
Silverstone, has been much maligned and criticised in recent years by Bernie Ecclestone for facilities that have fallen behind glittering those state-funded venues in emerging economies like Malaysia and China, being likened famously to a “country fair tying to be a world event”.
The circuit seems to have listened, and following the debacle that was [oh dear oh dear] Doningtons bit to host F1, the circuit has a major revamp under way.
Phillips said a new pit complex was due to be finished by May next year and some £36 or £37 million would have been spent on improvements and new buildings by the end of 2011.
Damon Hill added that
“There are some lovely new corners,” continuing to say that
“The new Abbey corner I think they (the drivers) are going to love and Farm is going to be really exciting.
“It’s retained its traditional high speed format and continues to evolve. And there are some really great new places to watch from,” added the the 1996 world champion
“You certainly can’t recreate Silverstone somewhere else. New tracks are being built around the world…but it’s a bit like a tree, it’s grown out of this place, out of Europe. The great challenges for the drivers are what sells the sport.
“You want to race at Monza, Monaco, Silverstone, Spa or Suzuka because you have seen great drivers on those circuits and you want to know how you compare.”
Only time will tell if Mr Ecclestone is finally satisfied. From the track day rider and drivers point of view we reckon the new Arena GP circuit is the best Silverstone has ever been. That said, comparing the place to Yas Marina is just a bit daft (we’ve been there and it’s out of this world) and perhaps Silverstone should stay clear of trying to live up to venues such as. It would take massive state spending to build the facilities needed to rival the oil-states and for what? Let them burn their oil dollars and Silverstone instead keep your eye on the most important element of motorsport: the fans.
Just a thought…
Stoner blasts MotoGP choices
With just a single premier class start under his belt to-date – he came in twelfth in the 2002 Pacific Motorcycle Grand Prix on at Motegi, it’s easy to see why many might question the decision. Stoner put it this way ‘they [yamaha] should have put anybody in that seat – but not a nobody’.
It’s the Aussie way…..
