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Before the Grand Prix we had something new to focus on in that everyone was anxious to see the new circuit. We had to cope with one or two novelties, like blobs of glue holding the drifting sands together, but all in all the project seems to have been completed to perfection and there was not a complaint to be heard. But it can't only have dawned on me that the Silverstone facilities, so defended by the likes of Jackie Stewart and Martin Brundle, are really looking like the yard of Scrapheap Challenge. Having said that, the circuit was yet another point-and-squirt heaven, with sharp corners and long straights. Whatever happened to the flowing artistry of some of the great circuits of the past? They've all become victims of cars that are now so blindingly fast they cannot be risked in high speed corners for fear of the consequences if anything went wrong. Just curious, but did anyone else notice the uncanny resemblance of the new Sakhir circuit to a virtual Grand Prix game? The absence of any vegetation and the sharp contrast of colours made it look almost as realistic as my PS2. Although the Ferraris were not always the quickest in practice (Button often was), when it came to final qualifying we had the usual all red front row. The two Williams were tucked up behind, followed by the two BARs, this time with Takuma Sato rather raining on Jenson Button's parade. The McLarens had another miserable time, although according to Norbert Haugh an engine failure is not an engine failure when it is fitted to the back of a McLaren. We are therefore not quite sure how to explain the mass of flames, smoke and white-hot bits of metal coming from the back of one of his cars. Perhaps it is just a fancy West cigarette lighter. In the event the two Ferraris just disappeared off the front of the grid and were never seen again for the rest of the race, such was their dominance. Michael is driving probably better than ever and with a quick early sprint he distanced himself from Barrichello and stayed there for the rest of the race. Whilst Marlboro and Shell must have fretted over the lack of TV coverage at the front there were some excellent battles behind. Montoya ran in third place for a long time and behind him Sato continued to embarrass Button as the resurgent BAR team again did well. Trulli was running nicely and consistently in the top six. Alonso was another to stop for a new nose but still finished in the points from 17th on the grid. He charged hard through the field to finish sixth, despite being brake-tested by a frustrated Webber. One day Alonso will get it all together and will be very good. Ralf had an awful time. He clattered into Sato, pulled into the pits when the car was OK, later knocked over two of his mechanics and then drove into Fisichella - yet, inexplicably, there is talk of him going to Toyota for zillions. Other than MS, who impressed? Sato and Button for sure, Montoya, who was heading for a clean third place until a late gearbox malfunction, Alonso and, for the first time, Christian Klien, who had a lovely battle with Kimi Raikkonen, showing complete fearlessness in the face of someone who was touted to snatch the World Championship from Schumacher this year. Who disappointed? Everyone at McLaren, whose drop-off in performance and reliability has happened so quick that one wonders where it all came from. Perhaps calculating the water temperature of the pond outside the new Head Office complex is just taking up too much of their time. The race was actually quite exciting. For once the advertising breaks became an annoyance rather than a blessed relief and there was a lot more usage of in-car TV. Maybe some of the excitement came from Sakhir being a new track and none of the teams had truck-fulls of data available. Perhaps random tracks would be a good way for F1 to go into the future - a prospect for Mallory or Snetterton then? It's Imola next, home of the red ones. Look out for another special performance.
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