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The thoughts uppermost in my mind about this race are the circumstances of Lewis Hamilton's dramatic retirement when the Championship was in his g.php, Kimi winning for Ferrari, the return of Marlboro branding, once such a part of F1, and Sebastian Vettel and Toro Rosso's joy at scoring their first points after he was so cruelly denied in Japan. He finished fourth and thus equalled the best finish of the perpetually under-achieving Minardi team from whence STR sprang. A week or so on I have only a vague recollection of who finished second or in any of other points-scoring places. Alonso may have been second, but this was lost in remembering reports of him trashing his dressing room after being out-qualified by over six tenths by Hamilton, who again got pole where Fred was fourth with the two Fazzas between them. However, my memories of the last race weekend are totally dominated by Lewis Hamilton's situation, starting off with actually feeling aware of and uncomfortable with the crushing pressure on him. How on earth does he deal with it? To add to it, after the Japanese GP it was announced that the Stewards were investigating his behaviour behind the Safety Car in an incident in which Vettel crashed into the back of Webber and was to be penalised 10 grid places in China. At the time I thought Hamilton's behaviour questionable and Vettel's punishment unfair and in China Hamilton was found innocent and Vettel let off. You can imagine the outcry if Hamilton had been penalised and this reinforced the feeling that there is no real justice in Formula 1. It seem to be administered fairly if incidents do not substantially affect the outcome of the show, but if they do, judgment seems to be based on what is best for the show. I am sure that those in charge would argue vehemently and persuasively that this is not the case, but this is the over-riding impression held by all to whom I speak. For those of you who missed the race - bad luck really! It started wet, dried up, then there were showers until it finally dried up - all forecast with astonishing accuracy. Hamilton was in the lead from the start, but ended up desperately struggling on wet tyres so worn that the canvas was clearly visible on TV. Yet the McLaren team left him out for lap-after-lap until, when he finally came in, his car would not even turn into the pit lane properly and he slid straight on into a gravel trap and retirement. Unlike the Editor, I believe that this was totally the team's fault, and not Lewis's. I also believe that it was cock-up rather than conspiracy, simply because no-one could make anything like that up. They have since shouldered the blame. Poor Lewis was obviously in bits and walked back to the pits with his helmet on, yet he soon re-appeared, showered and changed and was jumped by a media scrum including ITV's Louise Goodman. With sickening inevitability she asked "How do you feel?" Despite this severe provocation he maintained his composure, apologising to the team, said he could still do it, then walked into the McLaren garage, greeting everyone. Soon after, he re-appeared and gave a longer interview. This time he was even more composed, seemingly almost light-hearted, though he did contradict himself over whether or not he could see the canvas of his tyres. He apologized again to the team and when again the dreaded "How are you feeling?" question was asked replied saying you can't go through life without making mistakes and that he was over it. I would love to know what went on from his getting out of his beached car to being able to give that interview, say what he did and apparently mean it. What was the process? How was it managed? A clue emerged in one of Martin Brundle's grid walks where in desperation he seized upon someone in McLaren livery and asked him about Lewis. It emerged that this was the Finnish "Head Doctor" who whisks Lewis off to his homeland to help him manage the pressure and generate a positive mind-set. Like so much in F1, we only catch occasional glimpses of what's really interesting. Most of the time it's buried in banality, this most demanding and intellectual of all sports dumbed down for the mass audience. There must be room for an intelligent analytical and informative TV programme but maybe those in charge don't want it. Speaking of TV programmes, why isn't there a channel running old races continuously? I would love to see some old GPs. Does Formula One Management own the rights and no-one can afford to show them, or won't it release them because they are scared they would show today's racing up? Incidentally, did you see how quickly the Japan GP Safety Car vid was removed from YouTube "due to a copyright claim by Formula One Management"? When you contrast Lewis's behaviour towards the team compared with Alonso's,
not just in this race but all year, you can deduce another reason for
their apparent paralysis in China - they just couldn't bear the thought
of Alonso getting in front of him. If I were a McLaren mechanic the temptation
to "accidentally" drop one of Alonso's wheels in a pit-stop
in Brazil would be immense. The FIA clearly have similar fears as they've
appointed a special scrutineer to ensure parity is given to the McLaren
drivers in Brazil. This is despite the team having promised to treat them
with "equality and fairness" in the final race of the season.
Personally I don't doubt they would have.
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