Hideously bad form of me not to have done a post about Formula 1 so far this season although it hasn’t been going that well so far.

However, it has to be noted that Lewis Hamilton’s drive in the British Grand Prix, that is now yesterday was something truly special to watch.

I’m stuck for a comparably dominant performance in a wet race but about the best would be Aryton Senna’s drive at the European Grand Prix in 1993 held at Donnigton Park.

Truly something special. Well cheered up my day that has.

Sitting here with the laptop on the sofa getting prepared to head off for an uncharacteristic early night.

I’m distinctly tired. Done a lot this week but sadly nothing really to do with the blog. Work’s been hard, meetings have been hard and to top it we’ve had the combination of visitors staying for the weekend with the start of the Formula 1 season.

So a brief synopsis is in order.

I’m knackered and need rest.

Still no answers to the 33 other questions that I asked Phorm that I was promised they would answer a week ago and have received further assurances of answers to. I would particularly like this as much of what is important regarding this issue is dependent upon those answers.

I’ve got through the weekend on somewhere around 6 hours sleep having been up all night for the qualifying and race for the Australian Grand Prix while trying to fit in work around it. Suffice to say, very happy with the results so far this season. Lewis Hamilton and McLaren lead the points tables and I’m very much looking forward to next week’s race.

I do have one gripe though. I’m not a big fan of Bernie Ecclestone and this whole concept of ‘night races’ in the Pacific area to fit in with midday European viewers is not my cup of tea either. Personally I like getting up in the middle of the night to watch the race (or simply not sleeping at all) it’s part and parcel of being a dedicated F1 fan.

Apart from that, if F1 fans from the Asia Pacific Region have to get up in the middle of the night to watch the vast bulk of races that are held in Europe then why should they have to do the same for races in their neck of the woods. It is after all a global sport.

That said, they did change the time of the Australian race this year meaning that rather than the convenient stay up late to catch the race at 1am GMT I had to wait till 4am which wasn’t good.

Went to the theatre today. To be more specific the Grand Theatre in Wolverhampton to see the Solid Silver 60’s Show. It’s nice to occasionally remind oneself that there is a world outside of family commitments, politics and techie related stuff. Highlights were of course Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick and Titch who were a class act as usual but also Gerry and the Pacemakers. Not sure how well it would go down with fellow Wulfrunians to be caught singing ‘Walk on’(with hope in you heart) but there you go.

Picked up on some breaking news from our German sources that has just gone out in the English press that Fernando Alonso is set to announce he’s leaving McLaren.

Good riddance to a person who has done their level best to damage my team throughout this year. He’s a miserable little individual who can’t out-race a Rookie. Formula 1 is a team sport and I’ve always admired the way in which McLaren have held to the principal of treating both drivers equally and letting them get on with competing on the track.

I’m sure he’ll end up in a team who seem so predisposed to stroking his overinflated ego but thankfully we don’t have to put up with another year of him. We’ll see how much he repays his new team at the end of next season with loyalty or am I an old cynic who just thinks given the opportunity, he’ll be off to whatever team he thinks will benefit his own self-interest at that time?

Good riddance Fernando, you won’t be missed.

The last few years have been a bit lean so far as us McLaren supporters go in Formula 1. It’s hard to imagine but it’s been a whole decade since we last won the Constructors Championship and nine years since we last got a Drivers crown.

As a distinctly ‘not football’ sort of person it’s always been a bit of an annoyance when considering the vast amount of media coverage that sport receives compared to my own sporting preference. As far as the British media has been concerned Formula 1 hasn’t really appeared on the radar for almost a decade and a half. Subsequently popular enthusiasm for the sport has been on the wane in the UK but it is curious this season.

With the arrival of Lewis Hamilton and actually the prospect of a British driver winning races and in with a shot at the top prize suddenly the media are jumping all over it. Although admittedly with what can be seen as a reactionary approach in that the quality of reporting is a bit on the poor side. One can only conclude that editors saw fit to drop their F1 correspondents years ago and are now making do with people writing reports who know sod all about the sport.

What it also shows is the rather disappointingly short-sightedness and national bias of their approach. Like a bunch of vultures jumping on the back of success by a new British driver they show their insincerity for reporting. We’ve had close on 15 years of under-reporting on the F1 scene where interest in the sport has dropped. In that time we as a country may well have missed out inspiring some young person to take up the sport and come through to the top level. This accounts for nothing more than a parasitic relationship for which the media has had with Formula 1.

As for the actual coverage on television in the UK through ITV, a similar analogy can be made. This is not to consider that previously under the BBC coverage was any better. Thinking back to 80’s if I recall correctly we were treated to the race and qualifying for the British GP only. ITV did improve on that situation by showing qualifying although over sporadically in this place or the other. Dare the GP be held at a time that clashes with something of far more importance like Coronation Street or some cheap low budget mid-afternoon movie and it gets shunted to the baren wilderness of ITV4. This is hardly a commitment from a broadcaster who paid a rather substantial amount of money for the priviledge of broadcasting Formula 1. Contrast this to RTL (German Commercial Channel) who hold the rights to broadcast in Germany and incidentally who we watch the Formula 1 coverage on. They broadcast everything, race, qualifying, warm-up sessions and extensive analysis. Far too many times have the post race press conference been cut short or not shown at all on ITV because we have to rush off to Corri.

It will be interesting to see the renewed interest of the media has on viewing and interest in the sport by the general public. Will new fans be created, will some of the old fans whose interest has drifted away over the years return to the fold? Probably yes. Will young people take an interest in taking up the sport, quite possibly. How many potential talented drivers could we have missed out on in the past decade and a half because a (British) driver wasn’t up there and the media took little to no interest? It’s sad really but the attention is very welcome now, pity about the quality of reporting though.

Anyway, after a fair few years of frustration with regard to my own team not doing too well it’s turning out to be a quite enjoyable season with us now holding a 35 point lead over Ferrari and both drivers pulling a clear gap away from the rest at the top of the Drivers Championship. Looking forward to France.

Just quick look back regarding the article I did the other day about claims in the British press, in particular the amateurish and ill-informed bit of nonsense from the Daily Mail.

The FIA have concluded their investigations and like most of the commentators out there who actually understand the sport, they concluded that McLaren had done nothing wrong. Can’t see many apologies in press coming forward very quickly. Still, never mind, leave the reporting on Formula 1 to those who actually know something about the sport eh?

Rarely do I take such an in depth approach to the Formula 1 results aside from various glee or consternation regarding how well my team; McLaren are doing but as there’s been a bit of a media storm today I thought it best to pen a lengthier evaluation as it is patently obvious that there’s plenty of media hacks out there who obviously know sod all about the sport.

For those who haven’t caught the news, it regards McLaren being referred for investigation by the FIA (that’s the sport’s governing body) on allegations of using team orders to allow Fernando Alonso to win the Monaco GP by telling Lewis Hamilton to back off.

I’ll deal with the poor reporting of this story to start off. The BBC and ITV (presumably because they’ve got people who actually understand the sport) do a fair, balanced and informed job. I’ll admit I only caught the story on German news so I decided to have a little look around our own press. I didn’t get far until I decided that some recourse to the complete crap in a couple of papers was needed. To be fair, The Sun did a balanced and fair report but then I got to the The Mirror.

It’s a short article but two things of note. Firstly, and this is probably indicative of the level of knowledge of a Mirror sports hack, but the name of the team, McLaren is spelled thusly, there’s only one ‘c’ in it although probably their brain is so plugged into football they can’t distinguish the difference. Secondly was the quote carried from the team boss that:

admitting that he he “virtually had to decide in advance” which one of the drivers would win Sunday’s race.

Note crappy typing again but the quote does give the impression that he decided who would win. I will return to this later when I get a bit more technical, which is obviously beyond the capabilities of your average sports hack.

On to the Daily Mail, and it’s here, although one would expect it, that fained outrage, or to be more precise, interpretations of events from a position of not knowing what you are talking about are blurted out without any regard for reality. I’ll just do a little demolition job on this article if you’ll let me.

Let’s start with the headline, ‘Ace Hamilton gets a raw deal’. Now come on, how emotive can you get. However you evaluate the facts of the story, it’s a bit much to stretch it that far, but hey, this is the Daily Mail so what should we expect? Well, followed by this:

The only time Lewis Hamilton was allowed to draw level with Fernando Alonso was post-race when they sat together in the people carrier taking them from the pits to the paddock.

The point of this dig is? No, nothing to do with the story, a simple little scene setter for the rest of the article.

Even by the standards of the big losses suffered inside the famous casino around which yesterday’s race took place, he was reeling from the most hurtful of setbacks. The cards were stacked against him and his own boss was doing the dealing: he had been told not to win.

Erm, quick fact check here. Much as it’s not my humble place to get in the way of the Daily Mail trying to manipulate a story in a certain direction but Lewis Hamilton was not told ‘not to win’.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis, whose decision it was to gift Alonso the victory, claimed the decision was only pragmatic. His drivers were cantering away to their second onetwo of the season. Why risk that with an unnecessary scrap around this unforgiving circuit?

Ahh, the scene unfolds, we have the plucky little guy hard done by, now introduce the villain of the piece Ron Dennis, the team boss. Sorry, this is really low level journalism to say the least.

Dennis said: “There is some disappointment because of the way we needed to cope with a potential deployment of the safety car, which has happened four times in the past five years. Consequently, you virtually have to decide in advance which one of the team’s two drivers will claim the victory.”

This is getting to the actual story, and what it amounts to is a nice bit of media spinning of words taken and misrepresented. I’ll refer back to this bit later when I actually discuss the realities of strategy, something for which appears to be beyond the Daily Mail hacks.

The first part of the conspiracy lay in McLaren’s decision that Hamilton, as normal, would carry a heavier fuel load going into the last section of qualifying. It meant he was handicapped in the shoot-out for pole.

Oh dear, it’s a conspiracy now. Emotive words do seem to be the order of the day. OK, first point. Since the changes in the FIA regulations regarding qualifying, those who end up in the last ten shoot out session have to carry what fuel they have in the car in qualifying into the race itself. A simple logic check and it’s obvious that you cannot have both cars stop at exactly the same time as there’s only space in the pits to refuel/change tyres on one car. Therefore whatever the difference one car must carry more fuel than the other. To the best of my knowledge in every race so far this season Lewis Hamilton has had the heavier fuel load. Has this meant he has been deliberately handicapped in every race? Well if he has then he hasn’t seemed to have done too badly having come into the Monaco GP as the leader of the Drivers World Championship.

Secondly whoever reported on this story obviously didn’t watch the qualifying as they would have noticed that Lewis Hamilton was faster than Alonso and would almost certainly have got pole position irrespective of having a heavier fuel load and only failed to do so because of a slight mistake by himself and being held up by another car.

And, as we all know, it is near impossible to overtake on the narrow, bending streets of this cramped Principality.

The first accurate statement of the article but I have to ask one question. When I was at school it was regarded as a cardinal sin to start sentences with the word ‘and’ along with ‘also’ and ‘because’. Still, I guess they’re employing monkeys these days with all the press cutbacks.

Then, during the race, he was twice called in to be refueled earlier than scheduled. It denied him the chance to whizz round when his load was lightest and record potentially quick laps.

First point, Alonso had an 8 second lead, it wouldn’t have mattered. No amount of ‘whizzing’ round on a lighter fuel load would have made up that difference. Equally teams being teams and having large amounts of tracking equipment as to where all the cars are on the track at any given time employ various strategies. One of these is to try and bring your car out into ‘clean air’. Meaning that they know where their car is going to come out relative to the other cars on the track. If you allow your car to come out in the middle of a pack of other cars then they’ll lose time overtaking or lapping them. It’s impossible to tell this without tracking equipment so just possibly he was called in a few laps early to avoid being caught up in traffic which in the case of the Monaco GP is completely crippling to your race.

To cap it all were the instructions crackling through on his car radio. ‘I was told to take it easy,’ said Hamilton. Less than half the grand prix had elapsed but the game was over.

What’s not mentioned here is that the ‘take it easy’ instruction was also relayed to Fernando Alonso as well. Given that the McLaren’s were supremely faster than anyone else on the day, finishing over a minute ahead of third place Felipe Massa in the Ferrari, doesn’t it just sound reasonably to ask your drivers to take it easy?

There’s two very important reasons for this. Simply that this is Monaco, it’s a nasty unforgiving track. The slightest mistake and in most cases that’s the end of your race. Unlike every other track where you can stand a chance of getting away with an error, you can’t do that at Monaco. There’s no run-off areas, no gravel traps or cushioned tyre walls. You go off and you’re into steel barriers. Apart from the issue of not scoring points there’s the very real issue of safety. Much as the cars are supremely safer today than they ever have been, we must not forget that Monaco is the scene of the second from last fatality in Formula 1 and unlike Imola where the last fatality happened, whereas that track underwent extensive changes to improve safety, Monaco has had none. It remains from a safety perspective the most dangerous track on the F1 calendar and as long as it remains there, it deserves the greatest of respect.

Secondly there is as the article rightly points out that it is ‘near impossible’ to overtake at Monaco. As much as Lewis Hamilton is an exceptionally gifted driver he stood absolutely no chance of overtaking Fernando Alonso in the race. To risk an attempt could easily have ended both their races as even if he had pressured Alonso into a mistake, the closeness of his own proximity to the accident would almost certainly have ended his race too. Put simply there was no point in taking the risk of an accident either from the drivers individual perspective or that of the team’s. The result of both cars colliding and being out of the race would have converted the current 20 point lead by McLaren over Ferrari in the Constructors championship in to a deficit of 2 points and would have handed the lead of the Driver’s Championship to Felipe Massa. The point of the sport after all is to score more points than the other drivers/teams to win the championships.

The orchestrated procession could not have been any fun for the spectators who crammed on escarpment above Rascasse corner, fought for elbow space on apartment balconies, sat side-by-side in the grandstands or on their yachts. Did they know they were watching a fix? Probably not at the time, but they cannot think it is right when they find out. Nor can the punters who wagered money on the outcome? Any recompense for them?

OK, the ‘orchestrated procession’, come on, have you never watched the Monaco GP before. It’s always a procession, orchestrated or otherwise. It is a track that retains a place on the calendar purely out of tradition and a few vested interests. It by rights has no place as a modern race track. It’s a pointless race with no chance for any racing bar the luck of the heavens opening and rain mixing things up a bit. Anyone who goes to Monaco thinking they’re going to see a race is sadly deluded and to expect to see overtaking is going to be disappointed whatever the circumstances in a dry race.

Now for a more considered evaluation on top of some of the relevant points above regarding strategy. We know that one car has to carry a different amount of fuel than the other. However, it has been the case that the differences this season have been more than in recent years. There is of course a very good reason for this and it’s a strategy echoed by most of the top teams.

The FIA changed the rules regarding the deployment of the safety car this year in the event of a crash or incident on the track. In the past the simple strategy to respond to a safety car deployment would be to bring both cars in and it was simply pot luck as to who got serviced first or depending on how close they were on the track, whether one had to queue up behind the other and wait. It was the most advantageous approach to that situation. By definition because of the rule changes all team managers have to decide on a strategy that either favours one driver or the other. Now at most race tracks it is not as critical but at Monaco it is simply because of the inability to overtake.

This is of course where you have to play the percentages game and ironically, although you’re unlikely to pick up on it in the press, McLaren gave Lewis Hamilton the race strategy that on average would have handed the race to him and not Alonso. Strangely enough we don’t see claims that McLaren were favouring Hamilton over Alonso and given all the media hysteria regarding his meteoric rise, I doubt we would even if it was a deliberate attempt to favour him. Put simply, in the last 5 Monaco GP’s the safety car has been deployed on 4 occasions and if it had, Hamilton would have won the race. On that basis there was an 80% chance that Lewis Hamilton should have won the race, purely because he had the favourable strategy. Safety car didn’t come out, Alonso had the strategy to win the race if it didn’t come out so he won it, plain and simple.

Again due to new regulations brought in by the FIA, teams must now use engines for two races. On the cycle of things, this was the first race with a new engine. It will have to be used at the next race in Canada. In a sport where consistency and reliability are the dominant factors, risking over-stretching engines when you have a clear lead of over a minute to the next opposing car is silly. Two engine failures and a Ferrari 1-2 finish at the next race would almost wipe out McLaren’s lead in the constructors and would result in Felipe Massa taking the lead of the Drivers Championship. Not really much use to either McLaren driver or the team is that.

Then there’s the points system. Whether you believe it to be right or wrong, it rewards consistency as mentioned above because of the narrowness in the margins of points awarded. The current points system was brought in partly on the account for the dominating margins by which Michael Schumacher was winning the Driver’s Championship in the 90’s and earlier this century. Yes, it narrowed the margins by which drivers win the World Championship, but it also meant that as in the 2005 season, the driver who wins the most races doesn’t necessarily walk off with the trophy. That year Kimi Raikkonen in the McLaren won more races but Fernando Alonso in the Renault took the title. Purely because he was more consistent in scoring points. The McLaren was clearly the faster of the two cars but reliability let him down and allowed Alonso to take the crown.

Finally, lets put this into a bit of perspective. There’s been almost hysterical media reporting regarding Lewis Hamilton. For the first time in my opinion since the 70’s, Britain has produced a supremely talented driver. He’s good, there’s no doubt about it. He’s only done 5 races but he’s already in the record books for the most races of any rookie finishing on the podium since Bruce McLaren (founder of the McLaren team). He’s continuing to extend that record but let’s not forget, this is his first season. When it was announced that he was going to drive for McLaren I was truly happy having followed his career pretty much since McLaren started supporting him when he was 11. The British press have suddenly picked up on him and are hyping him out of all proportion. Do I think he’s one of the most talented drivers ever to enter Formula 1? Well yes. Do I think he’ll win the Driver’s World Championship one day? Well, yes again. Could he win it this year? Maybe, who knows?

Sadly though the British media like to build people up then take them down. McLaren have been very responsible in shielding him from the full glare of the media and let’s not forget this was his first race in a Formula 1 car around arguably the most difficult F1 circuit. Had he pushed it too hard, had he simply not caught Alonso but gone too far and ended up in the barrier, those same media pundits that are crying fowl would be writing scathing reports about how he screwed it up, how he’s too young, inexperienced or whatever other angle they can think of. It’s sad but that’s the way it is in this country when it comes to the media.

Would I have preferred him to win rather than Alonso? Yes, of course I would. Although I’ll be the first to say I always support the team over the driver. From time to time a driver comes along that you just can’t help supporting, and hopefully they also drive for your team. I personally can’t stand Alonso, never could but as he drives for my team and brings home points for the Constructors Championship then I can accept that. On that, I will finish.

[Update]

Having polished off this article and just popped back to the Daily Mail’s site to check I hadn’t missed anything, the article I refer to here has been pulled from their site including their related articles section. However, the link to the original URL from here still works so the page hasn’t been pulled. If it is then feel free to let me know. I have it saved anyway.

I’m going to disagree with Phil on this one but more from the perspective that he’s admittedly not a Formula 1 follower and has probably picked up on this through the reporting of the mainstream media.

The only tenuous argument to suggest this to be the case is that Tiger Woods is of an Afro-Caribbean background and so is Lewis Hamilton and they’re both in sports dominated by predominantly white males. I’m not going to discount the potential spin off that Lewis Hamilton could become a great role model for for young Afro-Caribbean males but I would put it in a different context which probably illuminates on my own perspective of issues of race.

Unlike many who have suddenly been awoken to the existence of Lewis Hamilton I’ve actually been following him for many years. Mainly because I’m a supporter of McLaren Mercedes who he drives for and so I get all the magazines that have been highlighting his development since a young age as one of only a handful of drivers who the team have been sponsoring through their driving careers.

What effect he will have, at least hopefully from my perspective is to raise the interest in Formula 1 in Britain which for over a decade has been flagging. Partly due to the dominance in that period of a certain Michael Schumacher which ironically elevated the interest in Formula 1 in Germany to unheard of levels but equally because despite we as a country holding the largest number of Formula 1 drivers championship crowns, the crop of drivers we’ve produced of late have been at best mediocre.

Going to do a bit of a run down, sorry if you disagree but purely my own take on it. The big hype the last few years was all around Jenson Button. Sorry, seems like a nice enough guy but he just doesn’t have it from pretty much every angle you consider. David Coulthard, too much into the lifestyle, just doesn’t deliver. He had exactly the same car as Mika Hakkinen during the seasons that he won the World Driver’s title and was way behind, not even a good enough support driver in the second season losing the constructors title to Ferrari. Damon Hill, well yes he won the Drivers title but did he infuse people with his ability, no, because to be fair he wasn’t that good a driver, he was simply lucky that the year he won he had a car that was so supremely superior to everyone else’s that he only had his team mate to beat and that was Coulthard. Almost forgot Eddie Irvine. I thought he was great from a personality perspective but still nothing outstanding as a driver and of course had the problem of being partnered with Michael Schumacher where he was outclassed as a driver even despite rumours of contractual agreements.

No, to see the last time there was a British driver with some real pulling power that infused the crowds then you have to go back to Nigel Mansell and again he wasn’t a truly great driver. He had a habit of breaking the cars with an overly aggressive driving style which probably accounts for only one title although it should have been two.

I’m going to say that Britain has lacked a truly great talent in Formula 1 since James Hunt, an innately talented driver with an admittedly larger than life personal life but definitely one of the great drivers.

It’s nice to see Formula 1 getting some more attention in the press but sad as it might seem it would only take a crash or two or a couple of breakdowns for all this media adulation to turn to criticism. I sometimes wonder about why the British media acts in this way.

I went into this season having Hamilton as my favourite driver, not only because he’s driving for my team but for the first time in over a decade and a half it was refreshing to be supporting a British driver for a change.

I didn’t want to expect much because it’s a big step up from GP2 racing to F1 but so far he’s exceeded all my expectations and that makes me rather happy. His drive last year from last to first in the Turkish race was probably one of the best in the history of GP2 where cars are much more equal and the difference is very much more down to the driver than in F1.

What I didn’t spot in the media is the little fact that since the Bahrain GP on Sunday he has now beaten every single driver in the field in an actual race which is nice.

My predictions for the season. Well, it would be nice to see him as world champion but I won’t expect it because it’s never been done before but what I do expect to see is that he will come to dominate the team. Despite having a double world champion as a team mate, irrespective of whether Fernando Alonso gets more points by the end of the season.

Hamilton is simply a lot smarter, understands the professional corporate mentality of McLaren to a much higher level than Alonso and so for me I will look forward to finally being able to support a British driver for a change and what colour his skin is is irrelevant to me.

I’ll finish on what roughly Ron Dennis the boss of McLaren said about him (can’t be bothered to look up the exact quote). That McLaren aren’t doing this as some stunt to have the first black driver in Formula 1. He’s there simply because of his sheer talent and ability, his race/ethnicity is irrelevant, McLaren are in Formula 1 to win and that’s why Hamilton is there.

A good result.

Yep, the Formula 1 season is upon us. I’ll be up all night watching the qualifying for the Australian GP and tomorrow for the race.

I will be very happy if this year we (as in McLaren) can actually win a race, which I’m sure we will and hopefully a few with Lewis Hamilton.

Another divergence away from politics. That to the world of Formula 1. Yes, I can here Bob groan. But for probably the first time in a generation, our little island has produced a real talent.
Now I am completely biased in this matter given I’m a fully paid up card carrying member of Team McLaren, (one of only four organisations, the others being the Labour, Co-operative Parties and the GMB) but we have a new driver for next season by the name of Lewis Hamilton who I’ve been following for a while in the lower categories of racing. He has to a large extent won everything he’s ever competed in and even more impressively, today in testing he was a full second faster than the next driver. That is a major achievement for someone who’s only been in a Formula 1 car half a dozen times.
There’s been some people come out the woodwork to say he’s too young, that McLaren are rushing him into Formula 1. Most notable of these were David Coulthard who I’m of the opinion is a right moaning git who simply isn’t that good a driver and is realising that there is a new British driver on the scene and he’s on his way out of the sport. I also recall those detractors a few years ago when McLaren brought in Kimi Raikkonen saying he was too young, he hasn’t done too badly so far.
So for me, I’m looking forward to the 2007 season in which hopefully we’ll actually win a race. I am however, not looking forward to all the media bullshit that will be put about regarding Lewis Hamilton being the first Afro-Caribbean driver in Formula 1. He is simply there because he is arguably the best up and coming driver of his generation who was spotted by and assisted by McLaren in his career since the age of 12 and from me, I wish him all the success in the future.