Dull As
So where's the beef? Where’s the meat on the bone?
Above all, where is the controversy?
Just take a second to think about it.
Spy-gate, Lie-gate, 5mm-tolerance-gate, diffuser-gate, crash-gate, FOTA-are-loonies-gate – the list goes on and on.
Not so very long ago, Formula 1 was riven with scandal. Hardly a race went by without endless talk of Machiavellian off-track shenanigans.
How things have changed. F1 2010 seems to have entered a kind of banausic torpor, with very little evidence of political machinations on the scale of recent seasons.
With a new regime firmly in control at the Place de la Concorde, and a general weariness both within and without our sport for the recent merry–go–round of spin, all eyes have been focused on what we all really love: racing.
Of course bad news sells, websites are hungry and journalists are keen to provide – but what to write about when nothing seems to be happening?
Things have become so dull that even the usually rabid British press pack has become bored with the recent “Lewis ain’t talking to his dad” non-story.
On track, of course, things are going swimmingly. Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Renault are going great guns, resulting in the most wide open championship in years.
Sunday’s thrash around the streets of Monaco did give the news hacks something to get excited about for an evening. Michael Schumacher’s last-lap move on Alonso’s Ferrari prompted frantic thumbing of rule books, with clauses and sub-clauses read out again and again as the debate about the legality of Schumacher’s pass raged.
While the arguments will rumble on, surely the real story – Michael Schumacher being penalised – is just another example of what a different planet the F1 world now is.
This is all well and good. F1 needn’t be jejune without controversy and political intrigue, but a little off-track spice here and there might be nice.
Be honest – I bet you miss at least some of it!
Please now take a few minutes to enjoy my pictures from the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix by clicking here.
