Hungary - Hurrah!
There are two things I never expected to be writing. Not in a month of Sundays. Never. But I am going to write them. First, the Hungarian Grand Prix was the most exciting Formula 1 race in years. Second, Jenson Button won a Grand Prix.
Rain is the great leveller. It transforms a drab, soulless circuit into a place as challenging as Spa. It extracts the ultimate in skill and concentration from teams and drivers. And it causes havoc with tyres. The buckets of rain that fell on the Hungaroring just before yesterday’s Grand Prix delivered a set of circumstances that created chaos for all but the most mentally nimble. Jenson Button’s performance was exemplary. Having suffered an engine blow up on Saturday he was demoted ten places down the grid because of the inevitable engine change. To come from fourteenth place and win the race was brilliant. Uncharitable readers might cough a hasty “Ahem, Gitau, what race were you watching? Did you not notice that none of the big boys finished the race? Did you not see Kimi Raikkonen crash, Fernando Alonso break his suspension and Michael Schumacher fatally collide with Nick Heidfeld?” I accept all this. But yesterday’s race was about keeping one’s head when all others about you were losing theirs. Ice-cold English blood brewed in the fields of Somerset runs through the young English lad’s veins. Luck has been unkind to the talented lad thus far but the Gods were smiling on Button yesterday.
I know it is on its way. I can see Roger frantically scrolling down his lists for my phone number. I know what he will be yelling down the phone at me. “Did I not tell you to lay off that foreign muck, years ago? I told you to stick to Tusker. Sangiovese, Dreher, sijui Nastro Azurro. Forsooth! See now the damage it is causing to your few remaining brain cells!” I know that Roger will not be alone in feeling this way.
The feeling is understandable. Predictably, the Brits have gone mad over here. Button’s win was the lead news item on these shores until midnight. This morning’s newspapers are plastered with pictures of the Englishman grinning away on the podium. The bitter complaint before yesterday was that it had been 65 races and more than three years since a British driver had won a Formula 1 race – the longest break ever. The last Brit to stand on the top step of a podium was David Coulthard in a McLaren at Melbourne in 2003. This was almost too much for them to bear. Especially in a year when they believed themselves worthy of the World Cup. I grinned to myself at the partiality of the commentary. “Jenson Button is going to win it!” screamed James Allen. “Yes! Yes! Yes! Oooh yes! He’s done it” If you were blind and knew no better, you would have been convinced that Allen was experiencing the most monumentally earth-shattering orgasm ever. Proportion, dear boys, proportion…
There is merriment in the streets of Tokyo too. Yesterday was the first time the Japanese national anthem was played at a Formula 1 circuit.
You’ve got to hand it to Jenson, though. That was not an easy race to win. The experience gained after 113 Grand Prix starts with no win paid off handsomely in Hungary yesterday. Button has a very smooth driving style which is jolly useful in races where tyres are a major factor. Tyres were indeed the crucial aspect of the Hungarian Grand Prix. Yesterday was a duel between Michelin and Bridgestone which Michelin won hands down. The only man to get anything half-decent out of his Bridgestone tyres was Michael Schumacher. Bridgestone runners were flying off the circuit as if on roller-skates. Schumacher’s intermediate Bridgestones were in such bad shape by the end that even the second place he was chasing became impossible. First, he was pursued by the McLaren of Pedro de la Rosa. Schumacher made it as difficult for the Spaniard as he could but the inevitable happened and he could do nothing but stare into the disappearing McLaren gear box. Next, Nick Heidfeld was on his tail. This time his defensiveness cost him more than just a podium place. The seven times world champion found himself dangling at the end of a crane dragging his stricken Ferrari off the circuit. The sigh of relief through Chipo’s lips was most amusing!
This must have felt like a kick in the teeth to the German. It would have been the dream result: a race at which he scored lots of points and Fernando Alonso scored none. Alonso had suffered a Renault rarety: mechanical failure. As Alonso exited the pits after his second pit stop he felt his rear suspension snap and ended up beached against the tyre wall to the side of the circuit. To learn later that Schumacher had also retired must have given the young Spaniard reason to drop to his knees and cast his eyes thankfully heavenwards.
Meanwhile the news about the only other world champion in the current driver line-up, Jacques Villeneuve, this morning is not good. He and BMW-Sauber seem to have had a falling-out since his crash at Hockenheim a week ago. Villeneuve had wanted a little time to recover from the accident and didn’t feel up to racing in Hungary. The announcement this morning is that Villeneuve has been asked by BMW not to bother coming back whether well or not. “Listen, guy,” they are saying, “we’re not exactly in desperate need of your services!”
For as dramatic a race as yesterday’s to result in no change to the world championship standings is nothing short of sensational. The retirement of both world championship contenders means we are exactly where we were a week ago. There are still eleven points between Schumacher and Alonso and only five races left. I am making no predictions. Three weeks break and then Turkey. I can hardly wait…
Gitau
7 August 2006
Rain is the great leveller. It transforms a drab, soulless circuit into a place as challenging as Spa. It extracts the ultimate in skill and concentration from teams and drivers. And it causes havoc with tyres. The buckets of rain that fell on the Hungaroring just before yesterday’s Grand Prix delivered a set of circumstances that created chaos for all but the most mentally nimble. Jenson Button’s performance was exemplary. Having suffered an engine blow up on Saturday he was demoted ten places down the grid because of the inevitable engine change. To come from fourteenth place and win the race was brilliant. Uncharitable readers might cough a hasty “Ahem, Gitau, what race were you watching? Did you not notice that none of the big boys finished the race? Did you not see Kimi Raikkonen crash, Fernando Alonso break his suspension and Michael Schumacher fatally collide with Nick Heidfeld?” I accept all this. But yesterday’s race was about keeping one’s head when all others about you were losing theirs. Ice-cold English blood brewed in the fields of Somerset runs through the young English lad’s veins. Luck has been unkind to the talented lad thus far but the Gods were smiling on Button yesterday.
I know it is on its way. I can see Roger frantically scrolling down his lists for my phone number. I know what he will be yelling down the phone at me. “Did I not tell you to lay off that foreign muck, years ago? I told you to stick to Tusker. Sangiovese, Dreher, sijui Nastro Azurro. Forsooth! See now the damage it is causing to your few remaining brain cells!” I know that Roger will not be alone in feeling this way.
The feeling is understandable. Predictably, the Brits have gone mad over here. Button’s win was the lead news item on these shores until midnight. This morning’s newspapers are plastered with pictures of the Englishman grinning away on the podium. The bitter complaint before yesterday was that it had been 65 races and more than three years since a British driver had won a Formula 1 race – the longest break ever. The last Brit to stand on the top step of a podium was David Coulthard in a McLaren at Melbourne in 2003. This was almost too much for them to bear. Especially in a year when they believed themselves worthy of the World Cup. I grinned to myself at the partiality of the commentary. “Jenson Button is going to win it!” screamed James Allen. “Yes! Yes! Yes! Oooh yes! He’s done it” If you were blind and knew no better, you would have been convinced that Allen was experiencing the most monumentally earth-shattering orgasm ever. Proportion, dear boys, proportion…
There is merriment in the streets of Tokyo too. Yesterday was the first time the Japanese national anthem was played at a Formula 1 circuit.
You’ve got to hand it to Jenson, though. That was not an easy race to win. The experience gained after 113 Grand Prix starts with no win paid off handsomely in Hungary yesterday. Button has a very smooth driving style which is jolly useful in races where tyres are a major factor. Tyres were indeed the crucial aspect of the Hungarian Grand Prix. Yesterday was a duel between Michelin and Bridgestone which Michelin won hands down. The only man to get anything half-decent out of his Bridgestone tyres was Michael Schumacher. Bridgestone runners were flying off the circuit as if on roller-skates. Schumacher’s intermediate Bridgestones were in such bad shape by the end that even the second place he was chasing became impossible. First, he was pursued by the McLaren of Pedro de la Rosa. Schumacher made it as difficult for the Spaniard as he could but the inevitable happened and he could do nothing but stare into the disappearing McLaren gear box. Next, Nick Heidfeld was on his tail. This time his defensiveness cost him more than just a podium place. The seven times world champion found himself dangling at the end of a crane dragging his stricken Ferrari off the circuit. The sigh of relief through Chipo’s lips was most amusing!
This must have felt like a kick in the teeth to the German. It would have been the dream result: a race at which he scored lots of points and Fernando Alonso scored none. Alonso had suffered a Renault rarety: mechanical failure. As Alonso exited the pits after his second pit stop he felt his rear suspension snap and ended up beached against the tyre wall to the side of the circuit. To learn later that Schumacher had also retired must have given the young Spaniard reason to drop to his knees and cast his eyes thankfully heavenwards.
Meanwhile the news about the only other world champion in the current driver line-up, Jacques Villeneuve, this morning is not good. He and BMW-Sauber seem to have had a falling-out since his crash at Hockenheim a week ago. Villeneuve had wanted a little time to recover from the accident and didn’t feel up to racing in Hungary. The announcement this morning is that Villeneuve has been asked by BMW not to bother coming back whether well or not. “Listen, guy,” they are saying, “we’re not exactly in desperate need of your services!”
For as dramatic a race as yesterday’s to result in no change to the world championship standings is nothing short of sensational. The retirement of both world championship contenders means we are exactly where we were a week ago. There are still eleven points between Schumacher and Alonso and only five races left. I am making no predictions. Three weeks break and then Turkey. I can hardly wait…
Gitau
7 August 2006
posted by Gitau at 12:34 pm
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