I haven’t paid much attention to the Formula 1 of late because it’s a long time since I got sick of Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley concentrating, so it seemed, on the commercial aspects of Formula 1 and less on the fact that it’s supposed to be a sport. But because of twitter, it impinged on my consciousness a bit. Two British drivers in McLaren, the last two world champions; there are shades of 1988 when McLaren had Prost and Senna.
In a way, that’s the season that is closest to my heart although I was just 15 years old at the time and Formula 1 wasn’t shown on television. Sunday and Monday morning newspapers were argued over to know who had said what to whom the day before and which one of them actually managed to win.
And that was my brother’s fault. He loved cars and motorsports. And it’s his fault I read car, Performance Car, Fast Lane and the motorsports reports on Monday’s Cork Examiner.
He died in 1994, a few weeks after Ayrton Senna did, albeit in very different circumstances and he went to his grave a Michael Schumacher fan. In a way, I often feel he was lucky not to be disillusioned by the German the way I was. At the end of 1994. Watching interviews through the 1995 season in German which were just…soul destroying they were so hypocritical some times. Being disqualified on one occasion from the championship. Michael Schumacher might have the best results record in Formula 1 but too many of his escapades over the years left a nasty taste in my mouth. And he’s back this year.
I feel a certin misgiving about that. If nothing else, I really feel the old drivers should quit when they are old. There are plenty of young and up and coming drivers who merit the time and opportunity. If you have Michael Schumacher in a racing car now, I am not sure it’s because you feel he’s going to win races, but because he is going to bring commercial bonuses. In a way, the sport hasn’t changed so much since I stopped watching it.
He’s not the only one though. Jarno Trulli is still there. Rubens Barrichello. These guys are old. Schumacher, 41. Barrichello, 38 in may. Trulli, 36. And it’s not really like either Trulli or Barrichello ever delivered on any promise they showed 20 years ago.
Maybe the sport itself is dying too. It’s hardly a sport any environmental movement is likely to support much, and maybe the youngsters who would have done it 10 years ago are now kitesurfing, skateboarding, playing ice hockey. Doing things that don’t necessarily involve the same financial commitment as motorsports did. I don’t know.
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