Hamilton makes life harder in Singapore
I was watching a late evening news programme last week and was just about to switch off the television and retire for the night when something startling caught my eye. The main news item was the shambles in Delhi starkly demonstrated by collapsing bridges, glaring holes of muddy water swarming with dengue fever infested mosquitos and filthy toilets. All of this ghastliness only days before His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales was expected to declare the 19th Commonwealth Games open. BBC news cameras were showing pictures of hordes of miserable looking Indian workers carting wheelbarrows of cement and filling in holes as India rushed to show the world that it was equal to the challenge of hosting a major international sporting event notwithstanding the obvious ineptitude of the people tasked with the responsibility of organising it.
Nobody seemed to notice before it was too late but a little Indian chap dressed in rags had crept inside the huge stadium and scuttled across to where the cameras were positioned. Then he stood smartly at attention with his arms pressed firmly against his body and began singing a heavily accented rendition of the communist anthem The Internationale. This impressed me hugely. I was hoping he woud get away with singing more than he did but before he had even drawn breath to begin the second line of the first stanza ("Stand up, prisoners of hunger"), a policeman had sprinted across the field, clouted him across the back of the head and carted the poor chap away. I am sure all the policeman wanted was to offer the man a cup of tea and some biscuits but others may disagree.
The incident made me realise that if you want to use major international sporting events as showpieces of your country's progress, you need to instil a profound sense of order in the local populace first. If you look at the well-oiled efficiency of the organisers of the Singapore Grand Prix we saw this past weekend, you will know deep within your bone marrow that there is no conceivable way some shabby slum dwelling chap is going to emerge from the darkness beyond the street circuit of Marina Bay and begin belting out revolutionary songs. You will know that when the Singaporeans are charged with the responsibility of delivering something they do so with a minimum of fuss and with an abundance of competence.
Efficiency is a word that might well haunt Lewis Hamilton for a long time to come. Championships are seldom won by the banzai! approach to driving which he has seen fit to employ - disastrously - at two races in a row. At the first corner of the Italian Grand Prix, an ill judged overtaking manoeuvre resulted in his McLaren lying beached in the gravel. A similarly impetuous move on Mark Webber yesterday resulted in a collision and another retirement for Hamilton. Both times, if Hamilton had kept his head, he would have banked some useful world championship points by finishing in fourth place. Now, three DNFs ("Did Not Finish") in four races have thrown Hamilton 20 points adrift of championship leader, Mark Webber. With only four races to go, Hamilton - like the numbskulls putting together the Commonwealth Games in Delhi - now needs a miracle. Hamilton, Hamilton, Hamilton, you have been here before and yet you still haven't learned. Remember 2007?
In contrast to the tribulations of the McLaren driver, Hamilton's sworn enemy Fernando Alonso seems to have got his rythm going and is looking very good. Two race wins from pole position in a row have brought the Spaniard surging back into contention. Best of all for him, the momentum seems to be well and truly with him and the men from Maranello.
Nothing has changed the fascinating reality of a five man championship - it is still mathematically possible for any of the leading contenders to win - but something about Mark Webber's calm self-assuredness and Alonso's swagger suggests to me that the competition may just be down to the two of them as we come towards the end of the 2010 season. This is the time to get out a bunch of fivers and pop down to the bookies. Much as it sticks in my craw to acknowledge this, I think the smart money is on the arrogant little chap from Oviedo.
Here's how the drivers stand after Singapore:
1. Mark Webber 202 points.
2. Fernando Alonso 191.
3. Lewis Hamilton 182.
4. Sebastian Vettel 181.
5. Jenson Button 177.
The next race is supposed to be in Korea but the organisers seem to have gone to the same school as the chaps in Delhi and there is now no certainty that the circuit will be ready in time. As if there wasn't enough to give these drivers the heebie-jeebies!
Gitau
27 September 2010
Nobody seemed to notice before it was too late but a little Indian chap dressed in rags had crept inside the huge stadium and scuttled across to where the cameras were positioned. Then he stood smartly at attention with his arms pressed firmly against his body and began singing a heavily accented rendition of the communist anthem The Internationale. This impressed me hugely. I was hoping he woud get away with singing more than he did but before he had even drawn breath to begin the second line of the first stanza ("Stand up, prisoners of hunger"), a policeman had sprinted across the field, clouted him across the back of the head and carted the poor chap away. I am sure all the policeman wanted was to offer the man a cup of tea and some biscuits but others may disagree.
The incident made me realise that if you want to use major international sporting events as showpieces of your country's progress, you need to instil a profound sense of order in the local populace first. If you look at the well-oiled efficiency of the organisers of the Singapore Grand Prix we saw this past weekend, you will know deep within your bone marrow that there is no conceivable way some shabby slum dwelling chap is going to emerge from the darkness beyond the street circuit of Marina Bay and begin belting out revolutionary songs. You will know that when the Singaporeans are charged with the responsibility of delivering something they do so with a minimum of fuss and with an abundance of competence.
Efficiency is a word that might well haunt Lewis Hamilton for a long time to come. Championships are seldom won by the banzai! approach to driving which he has seen fit to employ - disastrously - at two races in a row. At the first corner of the Italian Grand Prix, an ill judged overtaking manoeuvre resulted in his McLaren lying beached in the gravel. A similarly impetuous move on Mark Webber yesterday resulted in a collision and another retirement for Hamilton. Both times, if Hamilton had kept his head, he would have banked some useful world championship points by finishing in fourth place. Now, three DNFs ("Did Not Finish") in four races have thrown Hamilton 20 points adrift of championship leader, Mark Webber. With only four races to go, Hamilton - like the numbskulls putting together the Commonwealth Games in Delhi - now needs a miracle. Hamilton, Hamilton, Hamilton, you have been here before and yet you still haven't learned. Remember 2007?
In contrast to the tribulations of the McLaren driver, Hamilton's sworn enemy Fernando Alonso seems to have got his rythm going and is looking very good. Two race wins from pole position in a row have brought the Spaniard surging back into contention. Best of all for him, the momentum seems to be well and truly with him and the men from Maranello.
Nothing has changed the fascinating reality of a five man championship - it is still mathematically possible for any of the leading contenders to win - but something about Mark Webber's calm self-assuredness and Alonso's swagger suggests to me that the competition may just be down to the two of them as we come towards the end of the 2010 season. This is the time to get out a bunch of fivers and pop down to the bookies. Much as it sticks in my craw to acknowledge this, I think the smart money is on the arrogant little chap from Oviedo.
Here's how the drivers stand after Singapore:
1. Mark Webber 202 points.
2. Fernando Alonso 191.
3. Lewis Hamilton 182.
4. Sebastian Vettel 181.
5. Jenson Button 177.
The next race is supposed to be in Korea but the organisers seem to have gone to the same school as the chaps in Delhi and there is now no certainty that the circuit will be ready in time. As if there wasn't enough to give these drivers the heebie-jeebies!
Gitau
27 September 2010
posted by Gitau at 2:36 pm
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