Finally, Barcelona
What spurs the human desire for money? Is it the ability to buy nice things? Yes, if you belong to the categories of people crammed to bursting with the likes of me, it does. If you give me £1,000 today, you will make me very happy because I will be thinking about all the lovely things I can get with it. If, however, you belong to the rarefied ranks of the super-rich - the kind for whom a boast about being worth anything short of a billion pounds is a risible joke - amassing more and more money has nothing to do with spending it. No. In most cases these people have more money than they could ever spend even if they tried very hard. For them the acquisition of ever greater sums is an end in itself: the more they have the happier they feel.
This is what motivates a certain diminutive gentleman who goes by the name of Bernie Ecclestone. Seventy-plus and possessed of more wealth than Croesus, Ecclestone's ambition continues to be to make more money than any other human has ever made. Only then will he die happy. Having had his hands round the neck of Formula One since as long ago as the time when it was permissible, even normal, for me to soil my clothes and have someone willingly change them while cooing at me, Ecclestone has used it as his vehicle of enrichment. Each new Formula One decision that has me close to tears when announced has one motive and one motive only: make Bernie Ecclestone richer.
Imagine then my perplexion at the decision to erase the San Marino Grand Prix from this year's calendar. Denying himself the assured revenues from the splendid old circuit at Imola dealt the old rascal a double blow which he might not have appreciated at the time he made this ridiculous decision. The first was the obvious loss of television revenue from one fewer race on the calendar. The more insidious consequence was the reputational damage Formula One has been made to suffer. After the most electrifying start to a season in decades, Formula One was made trendy again. A sure sign was people going into pubs to watch races on a Sunday - something that was unimaginable in 2002. In the brave new technological world of the 21st century, with distractions continually being bombarded at us, people have become a great deal more fickle than they ever were. A sure way of alienating new fans and annoying old ones was making them wait a whole month after only three races. Imola traditionally filled this gap and would gracefully have got the momentum going for a rash of fortnightly races.
I fear that Ecclestone took his eye off the ball last year. He was so busy tying up contracts for new races in Asia and the Middle East he forgot that his natural constituency lay in Western Europe. Getting rid of European races is not the way to win friends and influence people at home. The news is not all bad, I am delighted to report. There is life in the old goat yet. It has been announced that there is to be a harbour-side Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain from next year. Oh joy! Spain will thus take over from Germany in hosting the European Grand Prix (which for the last few years has been at the Nurburgring in Germany). This is a wily move. No country is experiencing as massive a surge in motor racing interest as Spain. The success of local boy, Fernando Alonso, has so delighted the Spaniards, a historically proud race, that they will flock to any part of Spain to watch a race in droves. Valencia is a master stroke - at least notionally it is. Two races in Spain's most pleasant locations each year is mouth-wateringly brilliant. Roll on 2008!
Ahem, I hear you say, we haven't quite got over 2007, matey! Quite. We haven't indeed. There is some racing to be done in Barcelona this weekend. At the race track which the drivers know best - it is the principal testing circuit for everyone - we have an excellent opportunity to settle a few questions. First, is McLaren the equal of Ferrari in raw pace. The jury is out on that one, but I suspect Ferrari have the edge. In which case, I would expect Kimi Raikkonen to be only too eager to silence his ambitious Brazilian team-mate, Felipe Massa, and show just who is team boss.
Another interesting question which may be settled is one I never expected to be asking so early this season. Is Lewis Hamilton quicker than Alonso? Perish the thought but he just may be. Let's can this one for the minute. Time will tell.
I don't want to be the man to rain on Fernando Alonso's parade. It is his home Grand Prix after all and his best buddy (none other than His Majesty King Juan Carlos!) will be in attendance. So instead I will raise a glass of Rioja in a toast to the Spanish people and their worthy world champion and hope that you too will,
Enjoy Barcelona!
Gitau
10 May 2007
This is what motivates a certain diminutive gentleman who goes by the name of Bernie Ecclestone. Seventy-plus and possessed of more wealth than Croesus, Ecclestone's ambition continues to be to make more money than any other human has ever made. Only then will he die happy. Having had his hands round the neck of Formula One since as long ago as the time when it was permissible, even normal, for me to soil my clothes and have someone willingly change them while cooing at me, Ecclestone has used it as his vehicle of enrichment. Each new Formula One decision that has me close to tears when announced has one motive and one motive only: make Bernie Ecclestone richer.
Imagine then my perplexion at the decision to erase the San Marino Grand Prix from this year's calendar. Denying himself the assured revenues from the splendid old circuit at Imola dealt the old rascal a double blow which he might not have appreciated at the time he made this ridiculous decision. The first was the obvious loss of television revenue from one fewer race on the calendar. The more insidious consequence was the reputational damage Formula One has been made to suffer. After the most electrifying start to a season in decades, Formula One was made trendy again. A sure sign was people going into pubs to watch races on a Sunday - something that was unimaginable in 2002. In the brave new technological world of the 21st century, with distractions continually being bombarded at us, people have become a great deal more fickle than they ever were. A sure way of alienating new fans and annoying old ones was making them wait a whole month after only three races. Imola traditionally filled this gap and would gracefully have got the momentum going for a rash of fortnightly races.
I fear that Ecclestone took his eye off the ball last year. He was so busy tying up contracts for new races in Asia and the Middle East he forgot that his natural constituency lay in Western Europe. Getting rid of European races is not the way to win friends and influence people at home. The news is not all bad, I am delighted to report. There is life in the old goat yet. It has been announced that there is to be a harbour-side Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain from next year. Oh joy! Spain will thus take over from Germany in hosting the European Grand Prix (which for the last few years has been at the Nurburgring in Germany). This is a wily move. No country is experiencing as massive a surge in motor racing interest as Spain. The success of local boy, Fernando Alonso, has so delighted the Spaniards, a historically proud race, that they will flock to any part of Spain to watch a race in droves. Valencia is a master stroke - at least notionally it is. Two races in Spain's most pleasant locations each year is mouth-wateringly brilliant. Roll on 2008!
Ahem, I hear you say, we haven't quite got over 2007, matey! Quite. We haven't indeed. There is some racing to be done in Barcelona this weekend. At the race track which the drivers know best - it is the principal testing circuit for everyone - we have an excellent opportunity to settle a few questions. First, is McLaren the equal of Ferrari in raw pace. The jury is out on that one, but I suspect Ferrari have the edge. In which case, I would expect Kimi Raikkonen to be only too eager to silence his ambitious Brazilian team-mate, Felipe Massa, and show just who is team boss.
Another interesting question which may be settled is one I never expected to be asking so early this season. Is Lewis Hamilton quicker than Alonso? Perish the thought but he just may be. Let's can this one for the minute. Time will tell.
I don't want to be the man to rain on Fernando Alonso's parade. It is his home Grand Prix after all and his best buddy (none other than His Majesty King Juan Carlos!) will be in attendance. So instead I will raise a glass of Rioja in a toast to the Spanish people and their worthy world champion and hope that you too will,
Enjoy Barcelona!
Gitau
10 May 2007
posted by Gitau at 5:03 pm
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