Friends

What is it with people these days? Or could it be me? I'm forced to consider whether I continue with my current input to various organisations and websites simply because I seem to be moving away from the consensus on many areas.

Take the recent events in the Formula 1 Championship.

I have been a fan of Jenson Button since he arrived in the category. Being away most of the time, he hadn't appeared on my radar prior to that. It was the same with Kimi. I observed his arrival then the Benetton/Renault years when Flavio, blatantly in my opinion, used Button to enhance the reputations of his contracted drivers, Fisichella. Flav made money but history tells us that Fisi has very little fizz and as for Trulli? The perceived wisdom is that Flav was aggravated when Button rented a yacht and moored it in a prime location in Monaco for his first GP there. That was also the "playboy" period and Jenson was living the dream. Possibly incorrect but not a hanging offence.

Then he moved into a team that had been built around its star driver Jacques Villeneuve, who proclaimed that Jenson was an also ran. That was the turning point for many, because the also ran creamed his illustrious partner and went on to lead the team. If people didn't know it then, I suggest they were either blind or biased because we were witnessing a talent in the making.

Along the way, and let's not forget he is still only 29, he made some mistakes. Jerking Sir Frank Williams around is not a good thing to do so, like many, I was critical of his actions at that time. Indeed I couldn't see any good reason to stay at BAR (nee Honda) which was sadly under performing. But stay he did.

Moving on, he scored his and the team's first and indeed only, win at Budapest in 2006. Certainly he was mildly lucky to win when Alonso broke down but he was applying sufficient pressure in second place to make Alonso push harder than he might. All of which lead to the circumstance I described. But all through that season he was consistently in the top six. More evidence that he was no "also ran".

Last season (2008) was a year to forget. The car was a dog and although he was being beaten by his team mate he remained loyal to the team and made very little complaint.

Then, when things were looking good for 2009, Honda quit. Not only did this impact the team, it had ramifications all through the grid that would continue to this day with the retreat of the under performing Toyota just this week.

So what is the point of this post? Well, I've seen some good reasons for disliking a person and let's face it, anyone who is famous is there to be critiqued but surely the following is just plain daft?

Apparently Jenson Button is not worthy of being the World Champion because;

"He wants more money next year and yet loads of people in his team were downsized last year."

"He's already trousering shed loads of money yet there are people who have no work."

"When he was nine he had a crash in a Kart race and his dad berated the marshal."

"He spent a lot of time saying "I'm the World Champion" and didn't acknowledge the team."

I could go on but the above quotes are paraphrased from various conversations and my answer to them in order was:

He took a massive pay cut to support the team at the beginning of the season and having done everything he could, surely it isn't unreasonable to expect a pay rise?

Like many people I am fortunately working, I'm sure those who are out of work would be really grateful if I took a pay cut or indeed resigned in order to give them employment. No it doesn't work does it? Likewise why should Jenson be punished because he is a success?

If you are that bitter about something after twenty years, you lead a really sad existence. Furthermore as deplorable as berating a marshal is, it was his dad not Jenson doing the berating.

I guess his rendition of Queen's "We are the champions" and his interview where he thanked the team don't count then? Although I do think he should retire from his singing career.

So, what to do? I'm currently reconsidering my list of friends because for the record I never knew they were so small minded.

You live and learn.

Why Can't the FIA Diffuse this?

Well what a surprise! Here we are two races into the new Formula 1 season and lo' some of the teams disagree with others over the interpetation of the regs surrounding diffusers. Interestingly this is all the late Colin Chapman's fault. I kid you not. Back in 1977 the late great engineer, designed a Formula 1 car that aerodynamically surpassed anything that went before. Whilst Patrick Head at Williams was designing possibly the prettiest conventional "flat bottomed" Formula 1 car (the FW06) for the 1978 season, Colin had been studying aircraft design and came up with ground effect. It wasn't new by any means but making it fit with the Formula 1 regulations of the time made his solution innovative.

In essence Colin was using inverted wings on the side of his car to generate downforce as opposed to the normal "lift" seen on an aircraft. This downforce enabled the car to drive through corners much more quickly than traditional flat bottomed cars because the faster it went the more it was stuck to the ground. In the face of this leap of engineering innovation, what did the other teams do? Well, the teams got on with life and went racing. That year Lotus did pretty well and came second, but it was Ferrari who triumphed.

So what has this history lesson to do with the current shenanigans in Paris? Well, it seems that even though he warned them, the technical working group that defined the regulations for this season, ignored Ross Brawn and missed an important trick which has unsurprisingly been leapt upon by Brawn, Williams and Toyota. They have used a loophole in the regulations to produce a diffuser that creates much more downforce (thank you Colin) than the opposition, which includes Ferrari, Renault, Red Bull, BMW and Force India. It seems that rather than get on with life and go racing, these teams are now using the FIA to resolve their disagreements. Surely if the components have been deemed legal in two races by two sets of stewards, then there can't be any case to answer?

Of course the foregoing logic reckons without Ferrari, who are proclaimed in interviews given by the FIA Presdient, as being the most important team in Formula 1. Of course then if Ferrari shouts, the FIA must jump and jump they have.

As I write there is no verdict but we now face the prospect of the winners of the first two races and leaders of the championship being excluded together with those two other teams. About the only consolation, in the event that the teams ore disqualified, is that Ferrari won't actually benefit because they've been so laughably poor they've failed to score a point yet. Indeed their lawyer a Mr. Tozzi has accussed Ross Brawn, who in a previous life was the driving force behind Ferrari's success, of being "supremely arrogant". A trait, I suggest, not totally unfamiliar to the entire Ferrari organisation.

Going back to 1977, what have we lost? Sportsmanship. What have we gained? Manipulation and backbiting.

Sad isn't it?