Thoughts while towing a hydroplane


Last week, I drove over eleven hundred miles in one day. Eleven hundred and sixty, to be exact, in sixteen and a half hours. That works out to seventy point something mph, including stops for fuel.

Looking back, I can scarcely believe I managed it, towing our hydroplane behind our Dodge Ram pick up chosen for just such outings. The Ram behaved faultlessly, and recorded almost the same fuel consumption, towing the hydroplane, as on the way up to Dublin, Ohio, trailerless, where the hydro had been in storage.

She’s a lovely boat. Just plain good-looking from all directions. Ron Jones certainly knew how to design those three-pointers. Looking in the rear view mirror as I drove back, I could see the cowling and windshield silhouetted in other cars’ headlamps behind me and it’s an evocative sight, I can tell you.

It’s on trips like this that we all have the chance to think; lots of good ideas come to me about how to progress our small business (and which I always forget before I’ve even gone to bed!)

I started musing about the current situation in F1. In my mind, Lewis Hamilton – no matter what happens in Brazil – is already the World Champion. Let me explain; Lewis has, at the moment, a seven point lead but it should be more, as that Bourdais/Massa incident in Japan was yet another bad/foul decision by the Stewards, and, as that decision gave Felippe Massa a point, Hamilton really has eight points going into Brazil.

But wait, there’s more! Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa outright, no matter what those silly Stewards may have decided after the event, (Raikonnen crashed out, remember?) and so Hamilton finished that Grand Prix as the winner, but only received six points, instead of the ten he so richly deserved, and Massa gained an extra two, thus taking six points from Hamilton. Add that, plus the extra Massa point from his contact with Bourdais and you can see that Hamilton’s total is really fourteen, which gives him the Championship, even if he is a DNF in Brazil and Massa wins outright. Incidentally, I have nothing but contempt for these stewards, as I don’t know any of these FIA officials who have actually raced any car, let alone a Formula One car. After the Belgian Grand Prix, one steward actually boasted that he would “be able to eat free anywhere in Italy from now on(!)”

Ferrari had almost no penalties this year (what a surprise, as FIA really stands for “Ferrari International Assistance”, as the motor racing World knows full well).

So there you have it; no matter what the outcome in Brazil, Lewis Hamilton is (in my opinion!) already F1 World Champion this year, even if Massa or Raikonnen attempt to shove him off track (as Schumacher did to Damon Hill all those years ago at Adelaide). There will be no prizes for guessing that McLaren/Hamilton will be penalized (again) by the Stewards at the Brazilian Grand Prix, just in case he scores more points than they think he should. Watch this space!

UPDATE:

It’s official now – Lewis Hamilton has become the Formula One World Champion. For those who want to read a blow-by-blow account of the race, go to:

http://www.itv-f1.com/Home.aspx

Briefly, Massa had to win and Lewis finish no lower than fifth and, despite it all being settled at the last corner of the last lap(!), Lewis managed fifth place to Massa’s win, despite running heavy on fuel load all the race and trying to take no chances.

I do have to say that, though it all worked out right in the end, surely it would have been better for McLaren to let Hamilton go for the win and not run so heavy on fuel throughout? But then again, they do this for a living and I don’t!

As I said earlier on this subject, in my eyes, Lewis was already World Champion and the whole thing only went to the last race due to the stupid decisions of the FIA Stewards, particularly at Spa in the Belgian Grand Prix, which Lewis won outright. Incidentally, the Stewards’ decision at Spa meant that Massa inherited the win, though being way back on the track when Lewis’ McLaren MP4/23 crossed the finish line, meaning that (in my eyes) Lewis won six Grand Prix this year, to Massa’s actual five, so he is a worthy World Champion.

Two things I found very strange:

1. There was the usual press conference afterwards with the top three finishers featured but no new World Champion there to be interviewed! Very strange... Perhaps the FIA slipped up there?

2. It’s 9.30 on Monday morning as I write this. Perhaps I haven’t looked far enough on the Internet but I have yet to see any mention or congratulations from anyone at the FIA. As far as I can see, neither Max Mosley, Bernie Ecclestone, nor anyone else from that august organization has said anything about this great result for F1 and British motor racing in particular...