Suzuka fails to deliver star quality
If you want a weather vane of star quality, look no further than the contrasting media fortunes of Nicole Scherzinger and Jessica Michibata, Jenson Button’s girlfriend. Not many Formula One drivers’ wives or girlfriends end up becoming an essential part of the F1 landscape but Nicole has. If Lewis Hamilton has an off-circuit moment, performs a dramatic overtaking manoeuvre or, worst of all, is involved in a heavy accident, the television cameras instantly switch to Nicole’s face so that the entire world can see every last twitch of her reaction. We haven’t had this since the late 1990s when the face of Erja, the wife of Mika Hakkinen, was as much a feature of F1 television courage as her husband’s driving ability. It has given Nicole’s face a ubiquity which performing as a Pussycat Doll could never do in a month of Sundays. Nicole, in short, has attained star quality. This, I assure you, will not have gone unnoticed by the lovely Jessica who, while a desirable model in her own right, cannot yet claim to possess star quality.
In Noel Coward’s play Star Quality, an ageing actress is so determined to attain that elusive quality that she will stop at nothing. At one point during rehearsals for a play she hurls the play’s director across the dressing room and has to be reminded that “we’re putting on a play, not fighting a war!”
I can see Jenson Button having a conversation in similar vein with Jessica.
Jenson: We’re a step closer to the big goal, darling.
Jessica: But, Jenson, you promised me that you would finish it in Japan, darling. Now what?
Jenson: I know, I know, sugar lump, but all is not lost…
Jessica (raising her voice irritably): But this is Suzuka! You told me more championships are decided here than anywhere else. I told everyone. Now I just look stupid!
Jenson (sighs): I wouldn’t go quite that far, Jess. After all, I am still in the game and surely winning it matters more than where you win it, doesn’t it?
Jessica (beginning to lose it): You don’t understand! This is my home country. I could have eclipsed Nicole today. She would be nothing now!
Jenson (understanding swiftly dawning on him, chooses his remarks carefully): Jess, love, I’ll take you to Copacabana for some you and me time after the next race and we can put all of this to the back of our minds.
Jessica (sobbing): Jenson, please, please don’t deny me the world championship. I deserve it more than that American bitch.
Jenson: (embracing her): There, there, Jess. Relax, darling. The battle’s nearly over.
It is not too far fetched an assumption to suggest that Mr Button is rather more stressed than he has ever been. Not long ago he was the toast of the world; the driver who couldn’t seem to put a foot wrong. Now, the recurring question is whether he has it in him to become world champion. Every commentator now wonders how things came to be so bad. In another woeful day at the office for Button yesterday, Sebastian Vettel won the race commandingly and cut the gap between him and the leader to 16 points while Rubens Barrichello earned 2 more points than Button to cut his own point deficit to 14 points. A deep breath is required now. Let’s not all get carried away.
If you look at where Jenson Button is, you begin to understand Fernando Alonso’s frustration at McLaren in 2007. McLaren refused to accord Alonso the “respect” he felt he deserved as a double world champion. In Alonso’s eyes it was the team’s duty to order Hamilton, a mere rookie, to support him in his championship campaign. If Rubens Barrichello’s role was to support Jenson Button - like it was to support Michael Schumacher when he was employed by Ferrari – he would already be world champion. Having to fight his own team-mate has made things infinitely more difficult and proportionally increased my respect for the man. He capitalised on events when he could at the start of the season (while everyone else was scrambling to make sense of dramatic new regulations) and, now that the rest of the pack’s cars have equalled and even surpassed his own car’s capabilities, he is being cleverly conservative.
Even if Jenson Button does not win another race this season, he will have six wins to his credit at the end of it. That, remember, is one more than Lewis Hamilton was able to achieve in his 2008 championship winning season. The Cassandras of this world argue that if Button is crowned world champion, he will somehow have “lucked his way into it”. The argument is that he exploited a loophole involving dodgy diffusers at the start of the season, stole a march on everyone else and was no match for the big boys when the odds were evened out later on. Nonsense. The rules were the same for everybody. It is a 17 race season. The chap with the most points at the end of it wins the world championship. Quite simple when you think about it. Two years hence, anybody reading the list of past championships won’t begin wondering whether Button’s wins were evenly spread throughout the season or not. The records will simply say: “Jenson Button, World Drivers’ Championship Champion 2009. And nobody will ever be able to take that away from the Somerset lad. But first, he is going have to become world champion.
Given the new state of play after Suzuka what would you do if you were Ross Brawn? You have an English driver with talent but a worrying degree of conservatism in choppy waters containing many sharks. The hungriest of the sharks are Vettel and Hamilton. Vettel is not giving up until the final chequered flag has been waved. Hamilton wouldn’t mind a couple more wins for reasons of kudos (it is important to have lots of front page exposure if you wish to retain good earning potential and keep Nicole happy). You also have a temperamental but talented and experienced driver in Barrichello. Any hint that you are leaning towards favouring Button is not going to endear you to Barrichello. But how do you ensure that you keep both chaps happy and ensure the Brawn team’s survival?
Here’s how. Engineer things so that Barrichello wins in Brazil. You can’t do better than win at home. Separately, tell Button that you want Barrichello to win in Brazil and for him to come second or, at least, third. Result: Barrichello has his day at home, Button becomes world champion, lots of British sponsorship money flows into Brawn and everybody is happy. QED.
We are at the stage in every tightly contested championship when jangled nerves get raw. I love it.
Gitau
05 October 2009
In Noel Coward’s play Star Quality, an ageing actress is so determined to attain that elusive quality that she will stop at nothing. At one point during rehearsals for a play she hurls the play’s director across the dressing room and has to be reminded that “we’re putting on a play, not fighting a war!”
I can see Jenson Button having a conversation in similar vein with Jessica.
Jenson: We’re a step closer to the big goal, darling.
Jessica: But, Jenson, you promised me that you would finish it in Japan, darling. Now what?
Jenson: I know, I know, sugar lump, but all is not lost…
Jessica (raising her voice irritably): But this is Suzuka! You told me more championships are decided here than anywhere else. I told everyone. Now I just look stupid!
Jenson (sighs): I wouldn’t go quite that far, Jess. After all, I am still in the game and surely winning it matters more than where you win it, doesn’t it?
Jessica (beginning to lose it): You don’t understand! This is my home country. I could have eclipsed Nicole today. She would be nothing now!
Jenson (understanding swiftly dawning on him, chooses his remarks carefully): Jess, love, I’ll take you to Copacabana for some you and me time after the next race and we can put all of this to the back of our minds.
Jessica (sobbing): Jenson, please, please don’t deny me the world championship. I deserve it more than that American bitch.
Jenson: (embracing her): There, there, Jess. Relax, darling. The battle’s nearly over.
It is not too far fetched an assumption to suggest that Mr Button is rather more stressed than he has ever been. Not long ago he was the toast of the world; the driver who couldn’t seem to put a foot wrong. Now, the recurring question is whether he has it in him to become world champion. Every commentator now wonders how things came to be so bad. In another woeful day at the office for Button yesterday, Sebastian Vettel won the race commandingly and cut the gap between him and the leader to 16 points while Rubens Barrichello earned 2 more points than Button to cut his own point deficit to 14 points. A deep breath is required now. Let’s not all get carried away.
If you look at where Jenson Button is, you begin to understand Fernando Alonso’s frustration at McLaren in 2007. McLaren refused to accord Alonso the “respect” he felt he deserved as a double world champion. In Alonso’s eyes it was the team’s duty to order Hamilton, a mere rookie, to support him in his championship campaign. If Rubens Barrichello’s role was to support Jenson Button - like it was to support Michael Schumacher when he was employed by Ferrari – he would already be world champion. Having to fight his own team-mate has made things infinitely more difficult and proportionally increased my respect for the man. He capitalised on events when he could at the start of the season (while everyone else was scrambling to make sense of dramatic new regulations) and, now that the rest of the pack’s cars have equalled and even surpassed his own car’s capabilities, he is being cleverly conservative.
Even if Jenson Button does not win another race this season, he will have six wins to his credit at the end of it. That, remember, is one more than Lewis Hamilton was able to achieve in his 2008 championship winning season. The Cassandras of this world argue that if Button is crowned world champion, he will somehow have “lucked his way into it”. The argument is that he exploited a loophole involving dodgy diffusers at the start of the season, stole a march on everyone else and was no match for the big boys when the odds were evened out later on. Nonsense. The rules were the same for everybody. It is a 17 race season. The chap with the most points at the end of it wins the world championship. Quite simple when you think about it. Two years hence, anybody reading the list of past championships won’t begin wondering whether Button’s wins were evenly spread throughout the season or not. The records will simply say: “Jenson Button, World Drivers’ Championship Champion 2009. And nobody will ever be able to take that away from the Somerset lad. But first, he is going have to become world champion.
Given the new state of play after Suzuka what would you do if you were Ross Brawn? You have an English driver with talent but a worrying degree of conservatism in choppy waters containing many sharks. The hungriest of the sharks are Vettel and Hamilton. Vettel is not giving up until the final chequered flag has been waved. Hamilton wouldn’t mind a couple more wins for reasons of kudos (it is important to have lots of front page exposure if you wish to retain good earning potential and keep Nicole happy). You also have a temperamental but talented and experienced driver in Barrichello. Any hint that you are leaning towards favouring Button is not going to endear you to Barrichello. But how do you ensure that you keep both chaps happy and ensure the Brawn team’s survival?
Here’s how. Engineer things so that Barrichello wins in Brazil. You can’t do better than win at home. Separately, tell Button that you want Barrichello to win in Brazil and for him to come second or, at least, third. Result: Barrichello has his day at home, Button becomes world champion, lots of British sponsorship money flows into Brawn and everybody is happy. QED.
We are at the stage in every tightly contested championship when jangled nerves get raw. I love it.
Gitau
05 October 2009
posted by Gitau at 4:51 pm
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