A Dull Formula 1 Championship
Monday, July 7, 2008
Lewis Hamilton won the 2008 British Grand Prix and with the added incentive of him winning the British grandprix, the press has gone into overdrive labeling with superlatives probably Schumacher could only dream of.
We're fed with British Oriented Media through Sky's sister network Star. I couldn't help wondering, if Kimi had won in similar fashion would there be a single piece of news on Kimi, except that he lead the race and won. But he didn't. Neither did Massa.
So here comes what I've felt for a while this season. Despite all the hype, Hamilton pales in comparison with a Schumacher or a Senna or a Prost or any other great legends as the British press would make you believe. Neither is Kimi or even Alonso. They're all great drivers in their rights, but you don't sense that you're watching something unbelievably spectacular on a consistent basis. Schumacher and Senna provided, Kimi and Alonso would do it once in a while.
If you look back, Schumi arrived in F1 with a bang and with midfield machinery he excelled right from the word go. Some of his driving was labeled unbelievable even by the British press. But of course he started winning, then those comments dried up. In 1996, when Hill and Villeneuve were dueling it out, you always knew that great driver and the class of the field lied in the tractor Ferrari.
I remember a few years ago Alonso describing beating Schumacher as an incredible task where you need get every single aspect correct and be on the limit at all times. Sadly you don't feel the same when you see any of the top runners today.
So while, the Championship is at an interesting juncture with 3 drivers tied, you don't feel half the excitement a Mika-Schumi battles had or the 2005 Alonso-Kimi battle had. It's been a championship filled with "Who will falter next". I feel a Schumacher in his prime would never had made so many mistakes and had so many slip ups.
So while everyone was rubbishing Schumacher, Senna in their primes, the truth of the matter is that F1 fans would love watching drives from mesmeric and genius drivers rather than watch a bunch of faltering drivers fight it out in a close championship. It's always been the case with sports, basketball had it's Michael Jordan, football had Zidane. When you watched these greats you always knew that you were part of something special and probably that comes very rarely.
So as the British press and all hail as Lewis as the next big thing, I feel the real champ lies else where, maybe a Kubica or maybe even Alonso. They seem to be doing more to deserve the merit they receive than any of the championship leaders.
So we might have to wait a few more years till a driver of calibre and tenacity that was synonymous to a Schumacher or Senna or Lauda comes along and truly set alights the championship ring year after year and finally F1 can again claim to have a true Great.
We're fed with British Oriented Media through Sky's sister network Star. I couldn't help wondering, if Kimi had won in similar fashion would there be a single piece of news on Kimi, except that he lead the race and won. But he didn't. Neither did Massa.
So here comes what I've felt for a while this season. Despite all the hype, Hamilton pales in comparison with a Schumacher or a Senna or a Prost or any other great legends as the British press would make you believe. Neither is Kimi or even Alonso. They're all great drivers in their rights, but you don't sense that you're watching something unbelievably spectacular on a consistent basis. Schumacher and Senna provided, Kimi and Alonso would do it once in a while.
If you look back, Schumi arrived in F1 with a bang and with midfield machinery he excelled right from the word go. Some of his driving was labeled unbelievable even by the British press. But of course he started winning, then those comments dried up. In 1996, when Hill and Villeneuve were dueling it out, you always knew that great driver and the class of the field lied in the tractor Ferrari.
I remember a few years ago Alonso describing beating Schumacher as an incredible task where you need get every single aspect correct and be on the limit at all times. Sadly you don't feel the same when you see any of the top runners today.
So while, the Championship is at an interesting juncture with 3 drivers tied, you don't feel half the excitement a Mika-Schumi battles had or the 2005 Alonso-Kimi battle had. It's been a championship filled with "Who will falter next". I feel a Schumacher in his prime would never had made so many mistakes and had so many slip ups.
So while everyone was rubbishing Schumacher, Senna in their primes, the truth of the matter is that F1 fans would love watching drives from mesmeric and genius drivers rather than watch a bunch of faltering drivers fight it out in a close championship. It's always been the case with sports, basketball had it's Michael Jordan, football had Zidane. When you watched these greats you always knew that you were part of something special and probably that comes very rarely.
So as the British press and all hail as Lewis as the next big thing, I feel the real champ lies else where, maybe a Kubica or maybe even Alonso. They seem to be doing more to deserve the merit they receive than any of the championship leaders.
So we might have to wait a few more years till a driver of calibre and tenacity that was synonymous to a Schumacher or Senna or Lauda comes along and truly set alights the championship ring year after year and finally F1 can again claim to have a true Great.
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