Hamilton heads home
There was a joke doing the rounds in 1998 after England were ignominiously turfed out of the World Cup by Argentina in a scrappy game which saw young David Beckham sent off for indiscipline. It goes something like this. Beckham comes back home to England and finds himself to be a national disgrace. Everything goes wrong for him - his girlfriend leaves him, he is sacked by Manchester United and he goes broke - and he eventually decides to end it all by leaping off the highest point on Old Trafford. Just as he is about to make the leap he hears a voice imploring him not to do it. He turns round to see the rotund figure of Father Christmas. "If you drop your trousers and bend over, I will make you a millionaire twelve times over, cause the English nation to love you again and restore Victoria to you," says Father Christmas. Beckham does as requested and takes what Father Christmas has to offer with fortitude. Later, while zipping up his trousers, Father Christmas asks "how old are you, David?" "23," says Beckham. "A little too old to believe in Father Christmas then!" says the fat, gay Manchester City supporter.
The point is that England craves sporting heroes like no other country on the planet. The simple reason for this is that for an economy the size of England's and a sizeable population to boot it is extremely surprising that there are so few. Consequently, those who achieve sporting greatness are treated like royalty. The world cup winning squad of 1966 are still spoken of with deep reverence - never mind that most football supporters were not born as long ago as that. Any English sporting achievement is blown out of all proportion by the English press. The England cricket team that won the Ashes from Australia in 2005 were treated like heroes for far longer than was reasonable. Jonny Wilkinson won his way permanently into the hearts of Englishmen by kicking the drop goal which ensured that England and not Australia came home with the 2003 rugby world cup. Conversely, it is extremely easy to go from hero to zero in England. Examples abound but a recent one should suffice. Freddie Flintoff, hero of the 2005 ashes series, is now reviled because he is seen as the reason England failed to win the cricket world cup this year. His drunken escapades in Barbados are said to have upset and demoralised the team and, thus, rendered its members ineffective.
Lewis Hamilton needs to be acutely aware of all of this as he arrives at Silverstone, the home of British motor sport; where a fan and media storm, the likes of which he could never have imagined, keenly awaits his arrival. He has already secured himself as many column inches in the English press as David Beckham was able to in his heyday. The worry is that it may all become too much for a young lad like him and he may end up losing focus. This time next year Hamilton will probably be worth upwards of £50 million. For a boy who did not by any means grow up surrounded by riches, this may drive him a little mad. Couple the vast wealth with the unrelenting fan and media attention and Hamilton may just be tipped over the edge. He may start buying expensive yachts and partying like there is no tomorrow. If he does this and then starts making a mess of races, the British media will turn on him like a hunting pack of hounds. If this happens it will be the point at which his blackness becomes an issue - a subject skilfully avoided for as long as we have had Hamilton in Formula One. The news reports will say something like "Hamilton, whose father was born in Grenada, was found slumped at the wheel of his sports car under the influence of a drug and alcohol cocktail". The good news is the McLaren team are highly experienced at media management and have managed to control Hamilton's exposure very adroitly since the season began. Also, Lewis's father, Anthony, seems to be a reliably calming influence on his superstar son. Long may this continue.
Silverstone is a superb racing circuit. I say this without a hint of bias - it just is. It suits the racers - as opposed to the mere drivers - and will suit Hamilton, who is a red blooded racer. His performance at Silverstone in GP2 last year should stand him in very good stead. The circuit is very demanding - as can be seen from the fact that nobody has ever "owned" Silverstone. The best anyone has ever managed is two consecutive victories there. I have been kicking myself all week because I was too slow off the mark to get tickets for this weekend. Hamilton hysteria is such that none are to be had for love or money. Still, there is the trusty old box in the corner of my living room (a blind friend of mine aptly described it as "the God in the corner").
What threatens to overshadow this weekend's racing is the news of an alleged dirty tricks campaign involving the Ferrari and McLaren teams. Ferrari have sacked Nigel Stepney, their chief engineer, and launched a criminal prosecution in Modena, Italy because of an alleged sabotage campaign by the British engineer. It is claimed that Stepney was attempting to contaminate the fuel in Ferrari's cars with detergent. In a related incident, McLaren have suspended their chief engineer, Mike Coughlan, because it is alleged that he was in receipt of confidential technical information from a mole at Ferrari.
The gist of the story is that Stepney - alone or in cahoots with others - was assisting McLaren on two fronts. First by sabotaging Ferrari cars and secondly, by feeding McLaren useful information which would help them beat Ferrari. This, Ferrari claim, is the reason McLaren have been so superior this season. I find this very difficult to believe. Nigel Stepney was part of the winning team which together with then world champion, Michael Schumacher, joined Ferrari from Benetton in 1996 and proceeded to make history. Why would a person with as impressive a record as that wish to sully his reputation in such a sordid fashion? There must be more to this story than meets the eye. More will come out in days to come. Meanwhile, the FIA is investigating the allegations. The worst possible outcome would be for McLaren to be found guilty of gaining unlawful advantage. This would probably result in the team being disqualified and the drivers being docked lots of points.
We mustn't allow these tales of skulduggery - or indeed anything else - distract us from what promises to be a fantastic British Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso seems already to have resigned himself to losing to Hamilton on Sunday. He has - ill-advisedly in my view - raised the British v Spanish hokum again and suggested that Hamilton will be favoured by McLaren this weekend. I think we just have to cut through all of this and allow ourselves to make the most of one of Formula One's greatest races. Doubtless, like me, you will,
Enjoy Silverstone!
Gitau
05 July 2007
The point is that England craves sporting heroes like no other country on the planet. The simple reason for this is that for an economy the size of England's and a sizeable population to boot it is extremely surprising that there are so few. Consequently, those who achieve sporting greatness are treated like royalty. The world cup winning squad of 1966 are still spoken of with deep reverence - never mind that most football supporters were not born as long ago as that. Any English sporting achievement is blown out of all proportion by the English press. The England cricket team that won the Ashes from Australia in 2005 were treated like heroes for far longer than was reasonable. Jonny Wilkinson won his way permanently into the hearts of Englishmen by kicking the drop goal which ensured that England and not Australia came home with the 2003 rugby world cup. Conversely, it is extremely easy to go from hero to zero in England. Examples abound but a recent one should suffice. Freddie Flintoff, hero of the 2005 ashes series, is now reviled because he is seen as the reason England failed to win the cricket world cup this year. His drunken escapades in Barbados are said to have upset and demoralised the team and, thus, rendered its members ineffective.
Lewis Hamilton needs to be acutely aware of all of this as he arrives at Silverstone, the home of British motor sport; where a fan and media storm, the likes of which he could never have imagined, keenly awaits his arrival. He has already secured himself as many column inches in the English press as David Beckham was able to in his heyday. The worry is that it may all become too much for a young lad like him and he may end up losing focus. This time next year Hamilton will probably be worth upwards of £50 million. For a boy who did not by any means grow up surrounded by riches, this may drive him a little mad. Couple the vast wealth with the unrelenting fan and media attention and Hamilton may just be tipped over the edge. He may start buying expensive yachts and partying like there is no tomorrow. If he does this and then starts making a mess of races, the British media will turn on him like a hunting pack of hounds. If this happens it will be the point at which his blackness becomes an issue - a subject skilfully avoided for as long as we have had Hamilton in Formula One. The news reports will say something like "Hamilton, whose father was born in Grenada, was found slumped at the wheel of his sports car under the influence of a drug and alcohol cocktail". The good news is the McLaren team are highly experienced at media management and have managed to control Hamilton's exposure very adroitly since the season began. Also, Lewis's father, Anthony, seems to be a reliably calming influence on his superstar son. Long may this continue.
Silverstone is a superb racing circuit. I say this without a hint of bias - it just is. It suits the racers - as opposed to the mere drivers - and will suit Hamilton, who is a red blooded racer. His performance at Silverstone in GP2 last year should stand him in very good stead. The circuit is very demanding - as can be seen from the fact that nobody has ever "owned" Silverstone. The best anyone has ever managed is two consecutive victories there. I have been kicking myself all week because I was too slow off the mark to get tickets for this weekend. Hamilton hysteria is such that none are to be had for love or money. Still, there is the trusty old box in the corner of my living room (a blind friend of mine aptly described it as "the God in the corner").
What threatens to overshadow this weekend's racing is the news of an alleged dirty tricks campaign involving the Ferrari and McLaren teams. Ferrari have sacked Nigel Stepney, their chief engineer, and launched a criminal prosecution in Modena, Italy because of an alleged sabotage campaign by the British engineer. It is claimed that Stepney was attempting to contaminate the fuel in Ferrari's cars with detergent. In a related incident, McLaren have suspended their chief engineer, Mike Coughlan, because it is alleged that he was in receipt of confidential technical information from a mole at Ferrari.
The gist of the story is that Stepney - alone or in cahoots with others - was assisting McLaren on two fronts. First by sabotaging Ferrari cars and secondly, by feeding McLaren useful information which would help them beat Ferrari. This, Ferrari claim, is the reason McLaren have been so superior this season. I find this very difficult to believe. Nigel Stepney was part of the winning team which together with then world champion, Michael Schumacher, joined Ferrari from Benetton in 1996 and proceeded to make history. Why would a person with as impressive a record as that wish to sully his reputation in such a sordid fashion? There must be more to this story than meets the eye. More will come out in days to come. Meanwhile, the FIA is investigating the allegations. The worst possible outcome would be for McLaren to be found guilty of gaining unlawful advantage. This would probably result in the team being disqualified and the drivers being docked lots of points.
We mustn't allow these tales of skulduggery - or indeed anything else - distract us from what promises to be a fantastic British Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso seems already to have resigned himself to losing to Hamilton on Sunday. He has - ill-advisedly in my view - raised the British v Spanish hokum again and suggested that Hamilton will be favoured by McLaren this weekend. I think we just have to cut through all of this and allow ourselves to make the most of one of Formula One's greatest races. Doubtless, like me, you will,
Enjoy Silverstone!
Gitau
05 July 2007
posted by Gitau at 12:10 pm
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