Superficial Silverstone

The British Grand Prix always seems to have an air of the superficial about it, brought about by the myriad of celebrities who crawl out of the woodwork to attend because it is the place to be, and be seen on this particular weekend.

            Celebrities such as Jude Law, Goldie, and JB from JLS all got their faces snapped by media.



Chris Moyles and the producer from his Radio One show, who professes on air that he has no knowledge or interest in F1, were there for qualifying having been given a mud free parking space.  This is outrageous considering that real fans were told not to attend due to parking problems.  The wonderful atmosphere at Silverstone we all hear so much about, would be non existent without fans who attend because they actually enjoy, and possess some knowledge about the sport.  Yet it is the real fans who are let down in favour of desultory celebrities.

When Lewis Hamilton talks about the fans giving him an extra boost at the British Grand Prix, is he talking about the real fans or his celebrity chums?  Bring on Hungary, where the only celebrity guest you get on the grid is Niki Lauda.  That is how it should be. 

Sodden Silverstone

If you go to Silverstone, you should expect some rain.  This year has produced an unprecedented amount of rainfall, causing major problems at the track.


There has been a huge amount of money spent in recent years developing the track so it can complete with the likes of newer, grandiose tracks like Abu Dhabi.  The Silverstone Wing has been completed comprising of a lavish new Pit and Paddock complex and conferencing centre.  The Complex also provides new garages, a race control building, media centre, hospitality and VIP spectator zones and a primary paddock.  While most of these developments are intrinsic to hosting a Formula One race, it all seems to be focused on the corporate side of the sport, including VIP's of course. 

This rainy weekend has exposed Silverstone as not having a very high regard for the real fans.  The quagmire state of the carparks resulted in fans being told not to go to the Grand Prix.  Was depriving fans of the spectacle they have paid to see, the contingency plan Silverstone managing director Richard Phillips spoke of at the beginning of the weekend? 

Fans that did manage to get to the track had the pleasure of pushing their cars out of the mud.

Although some of the car parks are now hard standing, a lot are still fields.  Maybe some of the money spent on corporate building should have been allocated to improving car parking for the masses.  One problem seems to be that a lot of the fields are owned by local farmers so therefore cannot be made hard standing, but this is perhaps a reason why the venue for the British Grand Prix should be changed.


Access to the track  is a huge problem.  Getting in and out of the Hungaroring and Spa tracks is an absolute breeze compared with Silverstone.   Parking at the Hungaroring is free and at Spa it costs a third of the price of Silverstone parking. As a fan, this makes the Northampton track less appealing in comparison with others around the world, which is not positive for British motorsport. 


Bernie Ecclestone has not hidden his negative opinions about the British track and with lots of speculation surrounding a future Grand Prix in London, I wonder whether this weekend has just been another nail in the Silverstone coffin.

                                      Access to a London Grand Prix should not be a problem.

Does more safety mean less respect?

It has been said by Sir Stirling Moss that drivers in his day all held tremendous respect for each other.  They knew that a shunt could end with any drivers involved being injured or worse. 

Moss and Fangio give each other full respect while racing wheel to wheel at Monaco in 1955..


As safety in Formula One has improved over the years, it seems the level of respect between drivers has deteriorated. 

Prost and Senna showed little respect for each other when they were ramming into each other to clinch the titles in 1989 and 1990. 

Prost collides with Senna to win the World Championship in 1989.

Senna drove straight into Prost on the starting line to clinch title in 1990.

Only two drivers, Gilles Villeneuve and Riccardo Paletti, had died since 1978 so it could be that they were lulled into a false sense of security regarding safety.    Senna collided with many other drivers during his career and newer drivers such as Schumacher adopted this disrespectful approach. 

Now F1 is safer than ever before, and there seems to be less respect than ever before. 

Racing in the 1950's and 60's was built on a high regard for fellow drivers, providing thrilling wheel to wheel racing.  If there was more respect for each other in the present day, maybe it would give us exciting racing that without leading to a stewards discussion.

Special Allowances for Maldonado?

Maldonado's retrospective twenty second penalty seems a little lenient considering the fact that he had four wheels off the track, then came back on, running Lewis into a wall.  Surely this is worse than the misjudgement Schumacher made when he ran into the back of Senna in Spain.  Following the infamous incident at Hungary in 2010 with Barrichello, there was uproar about his apparant ramming of the Brazilian into the wall.  Where is the same uproar when Pastor actually does it?

Martin Whitmarsh has told Lewis that he should be wary of  the hotheaded Maldonado and drive accordingly.  Why should these allowances be made for him?  They wouldn't be made for Lewis. 

Kobayashi was handed a 5 place grid penalty for the British GP for his tangle with Massa and John Eric Vergne will move 10 places back  for his collision with Kovalainen.  These are much harsher penalties, where is the justice?

Rotten Run of Luck or Something More Sinister?

What a horrendous horrorshow the start of the season has been for Michael Schumacher.  Co - commentating on Free Practice 1 in Valencia for Sky, Allan McNish was of the opinion that when a driver notches up only two finishes out of seven, the driver himself must be looked to when apportioning blame.  Clearly the only race he has watched this year is the Spanish Grand Prix, because that is the only one where the blame can really be laid at Schumi's door. 

Forced off the track in Australia due to a gearbox problem.

Front right wheel wasn't secured properly in China.

A DRS problem in qualifying and a gearbox change meant a start from 22nd on the grid in Bahrain.  He finished 10th.

A fuel pressure problem caused another retirement in Monaco.

Schumacher explains the DRS problem in Canada.

There have been other times when he has seemed less than jolly with decisions made by the team.  In Canada they made the decision not to send him out for his final qualifying lap.

A cynic could be forgiven for thinking that Mercedes are sabotaging his season in favour of Rosberg...

Alonso's facade

Alonso has been openly saying he would not be phased by having a high calibre team mate such as Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel.  Transparent comments, considering what happened when the double World Champion moved to McLaren to partner Lewis in 2007.  History repeating itself as the deteriorating relationship between the two top drivers at the team mirrored that of Prost and Senna years earlier. 

Fernando's influence within the Scuderia is substantial and he has no intention of agreeing to a driver who could challenge him to the first Ferrari championship in six years.  The facade is a necessary cloak, hiding the fact that whoever takes the place of Felipe Massa will be there as a number two driver.  Who better to fulfil the brief than his good friend Mark Webber?

The Passion of Gilles Villeneuve

Having Jacques Villeneuve as a pundit on the Sky F1 coverage for the Canadian Grand Prix was a refreshing change.  He has some interesting opinions,  in particular his comments about drivers today not showing enough passion or excitement.  Considering the fact that he is the son of one of the most passionate drivers of all time, it is fitting that this should be his belief.

Gilles Villenueve had a fearless attitude to his driving, famously stating that he was not worried about breaking his legs in an F1 car.  Not someone to do things by halves,  he was always trying to surpass himself, searching for the ultimate lap.  Something which sadly resulted in his death during practice for the Belgian Grand Prix in 1982.
Watching footage of Gilles and Arnoux from Dijon 1979 does induce a nostalgic feeling for the days when drivers really raced, exuding passion that was impossible to miss.

If this sort of racing happened now it would be followed by a visit to the stewards.  Is it that current drivers lack passion, or is it a case of them not being allowed to show it on the track?  The attitude Gilles had about never taking it easy to guarantee second place when there was a chance of pushing relentlessly to gain first, is an attitude that is not always apparent now.  Whether this is due to the teams being cautious, wanting to see the car home intact and gaining points rather than in the barrier, or whether it is the drivers worried about being handed a possible penalty, it creates a detrimental air of compliance.

The passionate driving style of Giles Villeneuve was often considered too reckless, but was equally regarded as being refreshing in a conformist period of F1.  In 2012 we seem to be in another era of  following the rules and keeping harmony, when what fans really want is some good old fashioned racing from the heart, Gilles style.