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 We may not be able to watch Michael Schumacher race again at Spa Francorchamps this year, due to his neck injury, but that doesn't mean we can't reminisce about his history at the famous Ardennes circuit.
Spa was the scene of Schumacher's entry into Formula 1 when the Jordan team, half way through their first season of F1, suddenly found themselves in need of a driver due to their existing driver, Bertrand Gachot, finding himself behind bars after an altercation with a London Cabbie. Schumacher had already shown promise by winning the German Formula 3 championship and as part of the Mercedes Junior Racing Programme with Heintz-Harald Frentzen and Karl Wendlinger. After learning the circuit on a bicycle, Schumacher impressed the world of F1 by qualifying in 7th, ahead of his team-mate Andrea de Cesaris who took the 11th grid slot. Unfortunately we didn't get to see how Schumacher would fair in the race as he retired at Eau Rouge on the first lap with clutch failure. However, his qualifying performance was enough to make Flavio Briatore work with Willi Weber and Bernie Ecclestone to get Schumacher into a Benetton by the next race, a move that upset Eddie Jordan somewhat!
One year on and racing for Benetton-Ford, Schumacher took the first of his 91 F1 victories. He qualified 3rd behind Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna, and on the way to victory took his first fastest lap. Team-mate Martin Brundle completed a good day for Benetton by bringing the sister car home in 4th.
In 1993 Schumacher again qualified in 3rd spot, making it up to second in the race behind Damon Hill who had qualified in 2nd. Alain Prost had been leading from pole but dropped down to 3rd after a miscommunication in the pits.
1994 was a controversial year for Michael Schumacher and the Belgian Grand Prix was no exception. He qualified in 2nd behind Rubens Barrichello who scored both his and Jordan's first pole position, but the Brazilian struggled to keep track position against the faster cars, eventually spinning off on lap 19. Schumacher went on to win the race, but was later disqualified when it was discovered in scruitineering that the Benetton's skid block had excessive wear indicating that the car had an aerodynamic advantage due to a lower and illegal ride height. Benetton's explanation that the wear was due to a full spin on the curbs was rejected by the stewards who claimed that the wear pattern didn't match such an incident. Damon Hill was declared the winner and Schumacher went on to miss the next two races in Italy and Portugal after Benetton's appeal against a two race ban handed out for ignoring the black flag at Silverstone was thrown out. Schumacher was replaced in the Benetton at these events by JJ Lehto; it's interesting that the team were still allowed to race both cars when you consider that they escaped a ban even though they were involved in the transgression.
The 1995 Belgian Grand Prix saw changeable conditions for qualifying and Schumacher only qualified in 16th, with the Ferrari's of Berger and Alesi on the front row. Schumacher came through from his lowly grid slot to win the race in fluctuating conditions; the field was levelled due to a safety car and it looked like there would be battle for the lead between Hill and Schumacher during the last ten laps. We were denied this when Hill was handed a 10 second stop-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Controversy also made anther appearance when Schumacher was given a one race suspended ban for 'driving aggressively'. This was in reference to Schumacher's defensive moves to keep Hill behind him, effectively giving Hill the choice between back off or go off. The argument all came down to a matter of speed; Schumacher agreeing that you shouldn't touch wheels in high speed corners, but at the speeds he and Hill were doing it wasn't an issue.
1996 was Schumacher's first Belgian Grand Prix behind the wheel of a Ferrari and he qualified in 3rd, progressing to the win ahead of pole sitter Jacques Villeneuve. This was one of only three wins in the rather unreliable 1996 Ferrari.
The following year saw Schumacher rack up another win at Spa for the Scuderia. Again qualifying in 3rd, Schumacher had a comfortable win in the wet ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella in the Jordan. Pole sitter Villeneuve dropped to 5th for Williams after struggling in the conditions, which were bad enough to warrant the first start under a Safety Car in F1 history.
1998 also saw extreme wet weather at Spa, but this time the race wasn't started under a safety car. This resulted in a multi car pile up on lap one, involving at least 13 cars. The crash happened after David Coulthard and Eddie Irvine made contact and Coulthard hit the wall rebounding into the path of the rest of the field. The race was stopped to clear up the carnage with the re-start nearly an hour later. Four drivers were missing from the re-started race as four of the teams had both cars involved in the accident with only one spare car available. Coulthard had another collision, this time with Wurz, and ended up at the back of the field. Schumacher took the lead from Hill on lap 8, passing him at Bus Stop, and had stretched his lead by nearly 40 seconds when he came up to lap the McLaren. Coulthard didn't let Schumacher through straight away, despite Jean Todt running down to the McLaren pit to request that he did. When Coulthard did lift to let Schumacher through he stayed on the racing line in poor visibility and Schumacher ploughed straight into the back of him, tearing off the Ferrari's front right wheel and the McLaren's rear wing. Schumacher was so upset that when the cars made it back to the pits he stormed to the McLaren pit, accusing Coulthard of trying to kill him. After being restrained by team members, Schumacher protested to the stewards who found no case against Coulthard. However, since the event Coulthard has admitted that he was at least partly at fault and that he was wrong to lift off on the racing line in heavy spray.
As a result of the crash, Hill regained the lead and went on to achieve Jordan's first win ahead of team-mate Ralf Schumacher. The younger Schumacher wasn't exactly pleased with the result after team orders wouldn't let him overtake Hill despite clearly being faster.
The 1999 Belgian Grand Prix was missed by Michael Schumacher after his accident at Silverstone where he broke his leg. He was replaced at Ferrari by Mika Salo who came in 7th.
2000 saw another Belgian Grand Prix start behind the Safety Car due to wet conditions. Schumacher, who qualified in 4th, was able to close the gap to pole sitter Hakkinen after the McLaren driver didn't pit soon enough for dry tyres. Schumacher’s Ferrari was set up for wetter conditions and this worked well on the partially wet track with Schumacher using the wet line to help keep his tyres cool and enabling him to pit just once. Schumacher was able to take the lead when Hakkinen spun on standing water, but as the track dried Hakkinen’s dry weather set-up came to the fore and he was able to close the gap. Schumacher was now suffering from a lack of straight line speed due to his high down-force wet set-up and after a battle in the closing stages Hakkinen made a spectacular overtaking manoeuvre when they came to lap Ricardo Zonta’s BAR Honda; Schumacher went to the left of Zonta while Hakkinen went to the right and then out-braked the Ferrari. Hakkinen then led to the flag with Schumacher finishing in second.
Schumacher’s win from 3rd in 2001 was significant in that it was the win that put him ahead of Prost’s record of 51 Grand Prix victories, and the 2002 race was a fairly straight forward affair for Schumacher who won from pole and set the fastest lap; his only ‘perfect’ Belgian Grand Prix with all three achievements.
In 2003 there was no Belgian Grand Prix due to a dispute over tobacco advertising, so it was not until 2004 that Schumacher returned to Spa. It was at this race that he won his 7th World Driver’s Championship, needing to score only two points more than team-mate Rubens Barrichello; this was achieved with Schumacher taking 8 points for second position behind Kimi Raikkonen’s McLaren and Barrichello scoring 6 points in third.
2005 was Schumacher’s last F1 race at Spa as Belgium wasn’t given a place on the 2006 calendar. It was also the first time since 1996 that Schumacher came to Spa without being a championship contender and the race didn’t go well; after qualifying in 6th he then retired on lap 13 after Takuma Sato crashed his BAR Honda into the back of the Ferrari.
It would have been nice to see Schumacher win his final Belgian Grand Prix, and as that didn’t happen in 2005 it seemed a tantalising possibility when it was announced that he would be standing in for Massa at Ferrari. Sadly this turned out not to be possible, so we will just have to remember the great times he did have in the Ardennes, such as winning from 16th on the grid in 1995 and securing his 7th driver’s crown in 2004. Spa may not stand in the record books as the circuit at which Schumacher had the most success (that is Magny-Cours in France), but you could pretty much guarantee that if it rained he would put in a formidable and memorable drive. |
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The British GP at Brawn GP |
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 Unable to attend the British Grand Prix this year, I was fortunate enough to get to spend the day at Brawn GP’s HQ in Brackley, just down the road form the circuit.
Brawn put on a family day for their staff, so that we could all enjoy the race together on the big screen, with entertainment for the children, a buffalo spit roast for dinner, and other necessities such as a bar and an ice-cream van!
Two locations were provided for watching the race; outside on a big LCD TV provided by Eddie Stobart (who run the Brawn GP trucks), or inside on projectors where a live timing screen was also available. Fortunately the weather was nice enough for most of us to sit outside (though unfortunately not quite warm enough for Jenson’s tyres), and we all sat around tables drinking Pimms while children enjoyed Punch & Judy, Scalextric, and a Brawn car colouring in competition!
We were following the BBC feed for the race so were still able to enjoy the excellent pre-race show and interviews whilst discussing Brawns chances for the race. Unfortunately we didn’t quite get what we were hoping for with Jenson getting boxed in at the start, and Webber getting the better of Rubens in the pit stops. However, we still cheered when Rubens’ third place became more comfortable after the final round of pit stops, and it all became very exciting when Jenson found some pace in the closing stages!
We may not have got the win we had hoped for, but Rubens still got a big cheer on the podium, especially considering he drove so well despite suffering from acute back pain all weekend.
With the race over it was time for lunch, the previously mentioned spit roast buffalo, provided by Laverstoke Park, Jody Scheckter’s organic/biodynamic farm in Hampshire. It was very tasty, as any of you who attended the Honda open day a couple of years ago will know.
After lunch the children were treated to a disco and bouncy castles while the (supposedly) grown-ups competed against each other on a bungee run! The sun came out, the drinks and the ice-creams flowed, and we all started to turn a bit red while we waited for the race team to return.
From about 6pm-7pm they gradually started to arrive back from Silverstone on a variety of forms of transport; bicycles, motorbikes, cars, and trucks. And then at 7pm we were all ushered inside to watch a short DVD put together by Mercedes, featuring some fantastic shots from the Monaco weekend. One that stood out for me was a slow-motion shot of a bird flying away off the track ahead of the approaching front wing of the car!
When the DVD finished with a congratulations message from Mercedes, Ross Brawn came out onto the stage. He initially got a bit of feed-back from the mic, but decided to have fun with it by swinging the mic around and making a truly awful noise! He seemed very relaxed and thanked all the families for putting up with the hard an uncertain times of the winter months, a message that was echoed by Jenson when he was introduced on stage after a slight delay because according to Ross he was enjoying a beer!
Jenson was quite jokey, and when we were told that Rubens was stuck in traffic Jenson quipped that was him for most of the race! Rubens then arrived and got an even bigger cheer than Jenson when he appeared on stage, and became even more popular when he informed us he was staying on to enjoy the party with us.
We then proceeded to that great British institution; The Raffle! Tickets had been sold to help fund future family events and there were a number of great prizes including Rayban Sunglasses, BTCC and Superbikes tickets, Spa & Golf days and a football prize that Ross announced as Manchester United if you’re lucky or Liverpool if you’re not! The three of them drew the tickets and some of the female winners were lucky enough to get a kiss for Jenson (which Rubens seemed to find highly amusing). Rubens even fancied one of the prizes himself so announced that the ticket he had drawn was ‘Number 23... Rubens... Barrichello..!’
After the raffle there was then a bit of an autograph scrum with both drivers signing anything put in front of them. I got quite close to Jenson before he was whisked off in a different direction, but Rubens was who I was really after and I duly managed to get his autograph on my new iPhone! When I put the shiny white back of the phone in front of him he looked at me to ask if I really wanted him to sign it. When I said yes he took a little more care signing it than with the posters, caps and t-shirts!
It was then announced that the drivers had to leave, but in reality it was only Jenson who left. We all went back outside and my phone enjoyed a moment of fame with many suggestions about how to protect the signature. We then noticed the Rubens was stood very near us chatting to Nick Fry. Chris (my husband) told me that Rubens would have his photo taken with me if I asked, and so we approached with me saying ‘you ask him... you’ve met him before!’ It was at this point that Nick spotted us and tapped Rubens on the shoulder. He was very happy to pose for a photo with me and I thanked him again for signing my iPhone and congratulated him on his podium. A few other people then joined us and I discovered that I had set a trend for iPhone autographs... I believe there are now three in existence!
We then noticed that Ross was not far away, also signing autographs and having photos taken. So off we went to get our phones signed by him too and have our photo taken again. I think Ross must find it quite strange getting almost the same amount of attention as the drivers, and one staff member did get made fun off by the others when he had his picture taken with Ross!
On the way back to our group we then spotted little Antony Davidson, of F1, Le Mans, and Radio 5 Live fame. He was also very happy to pose for a picture, which I tweeted to @5LiveF1 the following day... they replied that he never lets Crofty get that close to him! I think the only opportunity we missed was John Button when we were all clambering for Jenson & Rubens!
After all this excitement we then welcomed the Race trucks back in what must have been a record pack up time, and had a chance to catch up with some of the race team. One guy even said that if I took the back off my iPhone he could take it to the next race to get Jenson to sign it for me! Now you may think me crazy, but I decided that was a bit too risky for the 3G S!
As the sun got lower in the sky we decided it was time to head for home and Top Gear, which turned out to be a rather nice piece of icing to cap the day, with my F1 hero making a surprise appearance!
If you would like to see some pictures from the day visit: www.chris-and-sarah.co.uk |
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Turkish Tweets and other tales from Istanbul |
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 Yesterday was a completely new experience for me. I don’t normally get to tweet through grands prix, because a small child commandeers the laptop while her parents watch the race. However, now the Summer weather is here, strictly in the interests of her health, you understand, I can throw her out to play with her friends.
In the last few weeks, I’ve enjoyed getting involved in the lively F1 community on Twitter and have been particularly impressed that what started out as a quick chat with @SarahAnnGreen about potentially having a Maxout avatar has spawned so many different and widely used versions in just a couple of days. By the way if you don’t have one already and you want one, @brawngp_fanblog or @SarahAnnGreen will sort you out.
The F1 tweeps I’ve come across, many of whom are in here, have been very welcoming so I was looking forward to spending an entire race in their company. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep up – I mean, walking and talking at the same time is a big thing for me, but I was up for the challenge.
Within seconds of the BBC coverage starting @brawngp_fanblog had indulged in entirely tasteless speculation about EJ going commando which led to a collective churning of stomachs across our Tweetdecks.
There were some amusing moments as Jake Humphrey almost got run over by a Toyota earning @aaroncorby’s respect for the first time. Honestly, you would think Jake’d have heard it coming. They aren’t quiet, these formula one cars!
Martin Brundle decided to take “Crazy Dave” on the grid walk with him, but first, to illustrate the drivers’ view of the first corner, they both went and sat on the ground – with DC being unable to resist a dig at Martin’s age, sadly the only mention of his half century all weekend.
On the grid itself, they found Jenson, wearing what he called a cool jacket, to stop him from getting to hot. It kind of looked like the sort of thing you’d put a toddler in to keep them afloat if they fell in the swimming pool. This did not impress @SarahAnnGreen who said “You call it a cool jacket, Jense, but I’m really not sure.”
A few laughs around Naomi Campbell kissing Jenson on the grid and bizarrely not seeming to know what she was doing there – supporting England, apparently – and a chat with Ross about FOTA, the FIA and all the grubby political stuff that’s been going on and it was time to get down to business.
You’ll remember that Vettel was on pole position, with the two Brawns behind and then Webber, with Trulli and the Ferraris making up the top seven cars. As the lights went out he and Jenson raced to the first corner but Vettel stayed ahead. Our attention was drawn to Rubens who had a shockingly bad start which put him back to 13th place. @fakerubens was with us very quickly with an explanation “NOOOOO I WAS LOOKING AT TWITTERS WHEN RACE STARTED AARRGGH “
While we adjusted to this change in Brawn’s fortunes, we learned that Button had got past Vettel off camera at turn 9. Martin Brundle wondered whether he would then go on to a 2 stop strategy, rather than the planned 3, to match Jenson. @vee8 reminded us how rubbish the Red Bull had been with the softer tyres in Monaco so a 2 stopper with a long stint on them may not have been a clever thing to do.
Essentially at that point it was race over – Jenson drove round the park like he was out on a Sunday afternoon meander through a country lane, pulling into the pits twice for perfectly executed stops, Vettel didn’t get past him and in fact ended up third behind Webber.
The only retirements of the day were Fisichella, who made it to lap 4, and Rubens who, it transpired, had gearbox problems from the start, pulled out about two thirds through after getting a bit too close for comfort with various people before then.
There were a few exciting moments of real racing between Lewis Hamilton and Nelson Piquet Jr. You always get slightly nervous when Piquet Jr comes anywhere near another car, or some gravel, because he does have a bit of a fondness for exploring both, but he actually managed to overtake Lewis at one point, only to lose the position very soon afterwards – a display of “excellent driving from both of them. @fakepiquetjr was ecstatic “Yay, I take @fakehamilton and I not hit him”. Earlier he had been ecstatic that “Now matching @fakealonso for pace, @fakeflav will not have to beat me with cricket bat after this race” When he finished the race, albeit in 16th place, @SarahAnnGreen commented that he should be made Driver of the Day. Now that the real Nelson Piquet has joined Twitter at @nelsonpiquet_, will we have to stop making these jokes? And will he see the funny side of his fake counterpart?
One moment of controversy ensued towards the end of the race when Vettel, now in third, was clearly raring to pass Webber and was ordered by his team to hold back. Martin Brundle has today commented on his BBC column that it would have been irresponsible to push another engine to the limit when they’ve blown 3 already this season by allowing them to race. Vettel’s body language at the end of the race made it very clear that he wasn’t happy with this and he could barely look Webber in the eye on the podium.
With Jenson cruising to an easy victory, conversation on Twitter turned to commentators. Legard is like marmite – I’m not keen, @vee8 gets him and there was quite a debate on whether James Allen should ever be allowed to commentate on anything ever again. Another controversial figure – but I’d take him over Legard any day.
It was great to see Jenson weave his way across the finish line and emotionally thank the team for providing him with a legend of a car. Poor Rubens was definitely unhappy and wondered to @LeeMck why the bad luck in the Brawn team always happened to him. Let’s just hope that they can sort the gearbox problems out or it’ll be another five place penalty for him.
The final result was:
Button, Webber, Vettel shared the podium with Trulli, Rosberg, three times champion Massa and the beleaguered Kubica and Glock making up the rest of the points scorers. Jenson is now 26 points ahead in the drivers’ championship – not an unassailable lead by any manner of means but he did manage to equal the Master’s record of 6 wins in the first 7 races.
It was great fun to see Tweetdeck changing almost by the second as the race developed. Silverstone in a fortnight should be fun – there had better be good weather so the child can be despatched to the woods again.
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Vettel pips the Brawn boys in Turkey qualifying |
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 Sebastian Vettel came out on top as Brawn and Red Bull had an exclusive, superb battle for the top spots in qualifying in Turkey today.
Vettel had been quickest in both Q1 and Q2, but Jenson Button seemed to have the edge in Q3 and held the provisional pole for much of the time until Vettel put in one last push to take the top spot and become the first driver to go fastest in all three sessions of qualifying.
"It was a surprise to be quickest in all sessions. Finally we made it. In the last couple of races we tried hard and finally we are ahead," he said. "We have a very good chance here, a very good car.
"I expected more difficulties in qualifying but we made it. This is just half way and the main task for us comes tomorrow, it is a long race, very tough, it won't be an easy one, it will be exciting, so let's see."
With Button in second, it was up to their team mates Rubens Barrichello and Mark Webber to lock up the second row of the grid as well. Rubens had a poor early run but somehow found the pace to pop the car into third, while Webber - who had only narrowly squeezed into Q3 after having just one attempt following an error at Turn 8 on his initial flying lap.
Qualifying specialist Jarno Trulli pipped the Ferraris for fifth place and the title of "best of the rest". Felipe Massa, despite strong form in qualifying, only managed 7th behind his team mate - although it could all be down to fuel strategy.
But the biggest shock of qualifying was the elimination of Lewis Hamilton in Q1. he looked thoroughly off the pace and out of sorts in a car that seemed to be handling worse with each outing. It had been on the pace in practice, but once qualifying started he never looked in danger of squeezing through into Q2.
"Our car seems to have got slower relative to the others as the grip has gone down on the track," said Hamilton. "I pushed as hard as I could today but I just had no grip out there."
His team mate Heikki Kovalainen did get into Q2 but performed poorly, so that the two McLarens will actually line up one after the other on the actual grid tomorrow.
Both Toro Rossos were also eliminated in Q1 in their worst showing of the season so far, and Nelson Piquet's desperate season continued when he also failed to progress from Q1 after he half-spun at turn 8 and then later plunged into the gravel at turn 3, citing brake troubles. Fernando Alonso managed to get into Q1 but had his own major similar slide-and-spin at the same corner in the final part of the session.
Qualifying positions
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:27.330 1:27.016 1:28.316
2. Button Brawn-Mercedes 1:27.355 1:27.230 1:28.421
3. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 1:27.371 1:27.418 1:28.579
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:27.466 1:27.416 1:28.613
5. Trulli Toyota 1:27.529 1:27.195 1:28.666
6. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:27.556 1:27.387 1:28.815
7. Massa Ferrari 1:27.508 1:27.349 1:28.858
8. Alonso Renault 1:27.988 1:27.473 1:29.075
9. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:27.517 1:27.418 1:29.191
10. Kubica BMW-Sauber 1:27.788 1:27.455 1:29.357
11. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 1:27.795 1:27.521
12. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:27.691 1:27.629
13. Glock Toyota 1:28.160 1:27.795
14. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.199 1:28.207
15. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:28.278 1:28.391
16. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.318
17. Piquet Renault 1:28.582
18. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:28.708
19. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 1:28.717
20. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:28.918
Fuel weights
When Vettel snatched pole, the smart money was that he was running light. And figures released by the FIA hours later confirm exactly that:
Pos Driver Team Weight (kg)
1. Sebastian Vettel RBR Renault 649.5
2. Jenson Button Brawn Mercedes 655.5
3. Rubens Barrichello Brawn Mercedes 652.5
4. Mark Webber RBR Renault 656.0
5. Jarno Trulli Toyota 652.0
6. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 658.0
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 654.0
8. Fernando Alonso Renault 644.5
9. Nico Rosberg Williams Toyota 660.0
10. Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 664.0
11. Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 681.5*
12. Kazuki Nakajima Williams Toyota 680.4*
13. Timo Glock Toyota 689.0*
14. Heikki Kovalainen McLaren Mercedes 665.0*
15. Adrian Sutil Force India Mercedes 668.5*
16. Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes 696.5*
17. Nelson Piquet Renault 689.6*
18. Sebastien Buemi STR Ferrari 686.5*
19. Giancarlo Fisichella Force India Mercedes 688.5*
20. Sebastien Bourdais STR Ferrari 701.0*
* declared weight
With Ross Brawn confirming that Button will be pitting on lap 17, the figures show that Vettel will be in two laps earlier on lap 15 if all goes to plan. That will give master strategist Ross Brawn some 2 minutes to plot a response to whatever Red Bull do in the pit stop, before his own drivers come in.
But Webber is on the same fuel load as Button and could prove to be in the ideal position to out think both Button and his own team mate.
The idea strategy for the fastest theoretical race time is to do two stops starting on lap 20, a longer middle stint and a shorter final one. The soft tyre - not much liked by the teams this weekend - would be saved for the shortest stint, especially as it isn't doing much for initial pace according to qualifying performance.
Fernando Alonso is the lightest car - making his 8th place start more disappointing as it was clear that he was supposed to do a banzai lap and get Renault some lime light. Instead, he'll be coming in on lap 13, his race already badly compromised.
Heaviest on the grid are Sebastien Bourdais followed by Lewis Hamilton, who will apparently not be pitting until around lap 33 as they try and strategise their way out of their qualification woes. |
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The Story of an F1 Fan - SarahAnnGreen |
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It has been suggested on twitter that I should write about how I came to be a Formula 1 fan, so here is my F1 story!
My Formula 1 story starts with a young girl who thinks that motorsport is boring and very annoying when her dad is watching it on the TV instead of something she wants to watch. That little girl turned into an F1 addict.
On the 1st May 1994, when I was only 14 years of age, I was spending Sunday at my grandmother’s house, as I did most weekends. I did not like Formula 1, but it was usually on the TV because my Nan liked to see the start and the finish of a race. I usually sat there doing my home work or something more creative. So, on that dark day in F1’s past I saw the race and the events that unfolded in one of Formula 1 greatest tragedies. This had quite an effect on me.
I remember that day being quite warm and sunny, and after my Dad came to collect me and take me home later in the afternoon, I went and sat by myself in the back garden on a tyre ring that hung as a swing from an apple tree. Thus stationed, I contemplated the events of Imola. I came to the conclusion that Formula 1 was stupid and dangerous, people had died… and what for? Some silly sport? It was totally unnecessary and a waste of life. I just didn’t get why the drivers wanted to race when such things could happen.
By the end of 1994 I was becoming addicted to F1.
It started not too long after the tragedies of Imola. One of my school friends had a bit of a thing for Mika Hakkinen, so when the race was on I would pay a bit more attention to note how he had done so that I would know whether I could tease her about it on Monday morning in class. The rest of the country was getting obsessed with Damon Hill.
As I watched I began to notice that it wasn’t Hill who was the stand-out driver, but a young German by the name of Michael Schumacher. He was clearly the better driver, but because Hill was British and Schumacher was German, the UK fans were all for Damon and all against Michael. I had never really been one for watching sport and had therefore never cared who won and the whole supporting someone just because they’re British passed me by. It seemed to me that the better driver deserved the support, so I secretly started to root for Schumacher.
Before long I was getting up early to watch races live. I remember at the time of the 1995 Pacific Grand Prix I was on a school trip to Paris, but I made sure to wake up early so that I could watch the race on French TV. My best friend and room-mate wasn’t exactly pleased! By 1996, when Michael has moved to Ferrari, I refused to spend a race day without wearing something emblazoned with Ferrari.
Formula 1 had always been about Michael Schumacher for me, and I had supported and defended him through the good times and the bad without fail. I worried about what would happen to my relationship with F1 when he retired. The day he announced his retirement I was at Gatwick airport getting ready to go on holiday. We had listened to the grand prix in the car, but by the time of the post-race interviews I was stood outside departures with my little personal radio, my head in Italy whilst people bustled past.
2007 was a bit strange for me, adjusting to a Schumi-less F1. I was still supporting Ferrari, but had never been much of a Raikkonen fan (it was a McLaren thing), so it was odd cheering the team rather than the driver. 2008 was much better as I liked Massa and the Brazilian grand Prix was probably one of the most emotional I’ve watched. By this time I also had an interest in the fortunes of Honda, as my husband starting working there in 2007, and I also liked Barrichello from his years at Ferrari. Being at Silverstone in the pouring rain (we were in an uncovered grand stand) and seeing Rubens come third in such an awful car was rather special.
My long support of Schumacher also gave me great admiration for Ross Brawn, so when it was announced that he was joining Honda I was very excited for what he could do for the team. It seemed so wrong that he may not get that chance when Honda pulled the plug at the end of 2008. The winter was very strange, with so many different rumours, and then supposed deadline after supposed deadline passed. The night that the Brawn GP announcement was made was quite a late one. I had stayed up waiting for the news, and then when it finally came I was too excited to sleep! I think my bouncy excitement the next day at work was probably a bit on the annoying side for my work colleagues. And Brawn GP just got better and better, as we all know.
So now I am still a Ferrari fan, but one who keeps getting very annoyed with them for somewhat losing the plot so far this season, but also a Brawn fan. However, it all links back to seeing that young German driver beating Damon Hill back in 1994.
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