In 1971 Peter Gethin won by a nose over the line, from the great Ronnie Peterson but there were effectively five cars in the group he led over the finish. There were four different marques in the top five and five in the top six! We've seen nothing quite like it since and we never will again if things stay as they are.
Eddie Jordan's pre-race
revelation that F1 is about to change hands was the most exciting
thing that happened all weekend, but what will actually transpire
remains to be seen. Then we had the news that McLaren are to dispense
with the services of Jenson Button, for next year, but keep him on as
reserve driver with an option for 2018.
It may be, as the ever
diplomatic Button says, that he will relish the break and that he
wants to do other things. However, he has previously said that F1 is
his life. I used to race Formula Fords and I can remember thinking
once, on a long straight on the Brands GP circuit, 'relish this now
because you won't always be able to do it'. When it became
financially impossible to carry on racing it hurt me deeply. I fear
that we've seen the last of Jenson and that he may come to regret
what he's agreed to.
The people at McLaren
may want to secure Stoffel Vandoorne, but they don't want a driver of
Jenson's calibre going to another top team, because he's the complete
article right now. Alonso, who many F1 watchers still consider the
best driver in F1 has described Jenson as the most complete team mate
he's ever raced with.
Other F1 watchers rave
about Lewis Hamilton, but when Lewis and Jenson were team mates
Jenson scored more points, if Nico could say that he'd be the world
champion. I'd have liked to see Jenson go to Williams and Claire
Williams says she'd have loved to sign him. He has to be in a top car
though, well, Renault is a works team with a stellar history, they're
in some difficulty right now, but we hear all the effort is going
into next years car built to the new rules. Those situations often
turn things around. Wouldn't do Renault sales in the UK any harm to
have two British drivers.
Ron Dennis claims that
with Honda, McLaren will once again dominate, but it's hard to see on
current form. We've seen that Jenson can be ruthless on track and
peerless in the wet, that he understands tyres and set up and race
strategy, possibly better than anyone else, but no one is perfect.
Jenson is possibly too much of a gentleman off the track, but that is
a reason why sponsors adore him and that's yet another reason for Ron
to keep him dangling. Sad and probably cynical.
Once Lewis fluffed the
start a Rosberg win was simply down to reliability and keeping out of
trouble and Rosberg is nothing if not competent. That Lewis would get
past the Ferraris was predictable on relative performance, the only
real question was whether Ricciardo would pass Bottas given the
Williams straight line speed. I thought he would, Red Bull got the
tyre strategy dead right, Ricciardo released his electrical energy at
just the right moment and didn't hesitate and so he did. He came from
too far back some would say, but no lock up, superb control and he
got the result he might not have got had he been patient.
There was some racing
down the order, Jenson was pushed out more or less at the start by a
Sauber and came from last to twelfth in a car which is improved but
is still far from truly competitive, if that doesn't underline his
on-track calibre I don't know what does. Come backs, even if they
happen, often end in tears, Jenson should have stayed by hook or by
crook.
The British Motorcycle
Grand Prix was far from boring. Congratulations to Maverick Vinales
on his first win and to British hero Cal Crutchlow who finished
second, just 0.583secs ahead of Italy's Valentino Rossi, the
seven-time champion and 2015 Silverstone victor. Crutchlow won his
first Moto GP recently in the Czech Republic. Moto GP is a lot
healthier than F1!
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