Hamilton rocks Indy
I found myself with time to spare once and chose to explore the shelves of an American bookshop. There was a new book by a prominent atheist professor called Richard Dawkins which I found fascinating. So engrossed was I in reading the book that I was on chapter three before I noticed the presence of the shopkeeper standing before me with a look of extreme belligerence.
"Are you gonna buy that book," the shopkeeper snarled through clenched teeth.
"Perhaps," said I in the manner of an offended, haughty person.
"This ain't no f****ing library, said the shopkeeper. Eat shit and die!" He then snatched the book from my grasp and ordered me to leave his shop forthwith.
This little incident came back to me when I looked at Fernando Alonso's face yesterday afternoon on the podium. He looked like a man who had taken the first part of the shopkeeper's instruction and wasn't particularly enjoying the taste of it. Lewis Hamilton in only his seventh ever Formula One race soundly beat the world champion to second place. Alonso was living a nightmare beyond the imaginings of even Salvador Dali, a Spaniard whose brain was wired like the circuit board of the heat control machines in hell. Denied pole position by a super-determined Hamilton on Saturday, Alonso thought he would apply his superior experience in the race on Sunday and get ahead of the English pretender to his throne. It was not to be. An attempt at diving past on the inside at the start was thwarted by the super reflexes of the young lad in the mustard yellow helmet. Down the straight in Hamilton's slipstream, Alonso tried it again and this time he looked certain to get through. Side by side as they came to the corner you could see Alonso getting through. It looked to be a certainty. But, no, the youngster is as good at defending as he is at overtaking.
The word phenomenon has been used repeatedly in description of Lewis Hamilton and it is now clear that this is by no means an exaggeration. The world champion is having a nightmare year while his team-mate effortlessly and with charming insouciance builds on his lead in the world championship for 2007. The gap is now ten points. It must be said that this can easily be overhauled. One retirement by Hamilton - almost a certainty - and a win by Alonso would bring them back onto level-pegging. But for now the man at the top of the points standings and on the front page of the world's newspapers is Lewis Hamilton. Speaking about Hamilton as a likely world champion at the end of his first season is no longer a fanciful suggestion. The lad makes it all seem so easy, so natural that one easily forgets the scale of his achievement. Hamilton is yet to race in a formula One car and finish other than on the podium. This is the sort of thing Schumacher used to do after he had been world champion a few times. Hamilton is doing it in year one. Astonishing.
I read an interview with Hamilton which was conducted early in the season - after Bahrain I think. Hamilton was asked who he would most like to meet. His reply was "Eddie Murphy - it would be like wow!" I couldn't help laughing at that. The lad is going to be - if he isn't already - vastly more famous and a good deal richer than Eddie Murphy could ever hope to be. He will look back at that interview and want to kick himself. He hasn't been back to England since his first win. He has no idea what awaits him when he gets here. Life will never ever be the same as it was again.
Truth be told the race was not terribly exciting. Apart from the Hamilton/Alonso ding-dong not a lot else happened. BMW proved as strong as predicted but lost out badly when Nick Heidfeld was forced to retire. At least Robert Kubica's replacement, nineteen year old Sebastian Vettel, managed to score a point for the team by coming in eighth. Ferrari were quick in the race but never quick enough to be anything like a threat to the imperious McLarens ahead of them. Once again it was Felipe Massa rather than Kimi Raikkonen who finished on the podium. If they haven't already questions will soon be asked about the Finn's commitment to the team.
It is now looking as though, short of sabotage or dreadful unreliability, the next world champion could well be a twenty-two year old boy from Hertfordshire. This is beyond fairy tale stuff. This is more like alchemy. The worry now must be that Hamilton will lose focus as a consequence of the fame and fortune which is swiftly coming his way. He will make money beyond the dreams of avarice. Women will throw themselves at him. Companies will be falling over each other to get him to endorse their products. All of this can cause an ordinary young man to go a little mad. But then again Hamilton has thus far proved that he is no ordinary young man. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Magny Cours, an Alonso circuit, is up next. Let's see what happens there…
Gitau
18 June 2007
"Are you gonna buy that book," the shopkeeper snarled through clenched teeth.
"Perhaps," said I in the manner of an offended, haughty person.
"This ain't no f****ing library, said the shopkeeper. Eat shit and die!" He then snatched the book from my grasp and ordered me to leave his shop forthwith.
This little incident came back to me when I looked at Fernando Alonso's face yesterday afternoon on the podium. He looked like a man who had taken the first part of the shopkeeper's instruction and wasn't particularly enjoying the taste of it. Lewis Hamilton in only his seventh ever Formula One race soundly beat the world champion to second place. Alonso was living a nightmare beyond the imaginings of even Salvador Dali, a Spaniard whose brain was wired like the circuit board of the heat control machines in hell. Denied pole position by a super-determined Hamilton on Saturday, Alonso thought he would apply his superior experience in the race on Sunday and get ahead of the English pretender to his throne. It was not to be. An attempt at diving past on the inside at the start was thwarted by the super reflexes of the young lad in the mustard yellow helmet. Down the straight in Hamilton's slipstream, Alonso tried it again and this time he looked certain to get through. Side by side as they came to the corner you could see Alonso getting through. It looked to be a certainty. But, no, the youngster is as good at defending as he is at overtaking.
The word phenomenon has been used repeatedly in description of Lewis Hamilton and it is now clear that this is by no means an exaggeration. The world champion is having a nightmare year while his team-mate effortlessly and with charming insouciance builds on his lead in the world championship for 2007. The gap is now ten points. It must be said that this can easily be overhauled. One retirement by Hamilton - almost a certainty - and a win by Alonso would bring them back onto level-pegging. But for now the man at the top of the points standings and on the front page of the world's newspapers is Lewis Hamilton. Speaking about Hamilton as a likely world champion at the end of his first season is no longer a fanciful suggestion. The lad makes it all seem so easy, so natural that one easily forgets the scale of his achievement. Hamilton is yet to race in a formula One car and finish other than on the podium. This is the sort of thing Schumacher used to do after he had been world champion a few times. Hamilton is doing it in year one. Astonishing.
I read an interview with Hamilton which was conducted early in the season - after Bahrain I think. Hamilton was asked who he would most like to meet. His reply was "Eddie Murphy - it would be like wow!" I couldn't help laughing at that. The lad is going to be - if he isn't already - vastly more famous and a good deal richer than Eddie Murphy could ever hope to be. He will look back at that interview and want to kick himself. He hasn't been back to England since his first win. He has no idea what awaits him when he gets here. Life will never ever be the same as it was again.
Truth be told the race was not terribly exciting. Apart from the Hamilton/Alonso ding-dong not a lot else happened. BMW proved as strong as predicted but lost out badly when Nick Heidfeld was forced to retire. At least Robert Kubica's replacement, nineteen year old Sebastian Vettel, managed to score a point for the team by coming in eighth. Ferrari were quick in the race but never quick enough to be anything like a threat to the imperious McLarens ahead of them. Once again it was Felipe Massa rather than Kimi Raikkonen who finished on the podium. If they haven't already questions will soon be asked about the Finn's commitment to the team.
It is now looking as though, short of sabotage or dreadful unreliability, the next world champion could well be a twenty-two year old boy from Hertfordshire. This is beyond fairy tale stuff. This is more like alchemy. The worry now must be that Hamilton will lose focus as a consequence of the fame and fortune which is swiftly coming his way. He will make money beyond the dreams of avarice. Women will throw themselves at him. Companies will be falling over each other to get him to endorse their products. All of this can cause an ordinary young man to go a little mad. But then again Hamilton has thus far proved that he is no ordinary young man. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Magny Cours, an Alonso circuit, is up next. Let's see what happens there…
Gitau
18 June 2007
posted by Gitau at 2:24 pm
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