The Next 48hOURS ≈ Weekend Sport European Grand Prix Preview

By Andrew Davies ing at the Renault team for failing to move team-mate Fisichella out of his way in Aus- ith the advent of the DRS tralia. “Where was Ham-il-ton and where is and Pirelli tyres, the Valencia Ham-il-ton?” he demanded. His engineer Grand Prix has no fears for us had to radio back carefully, now. Before, it was the kind of “He WAS second...and he IS second.” Sadly Wdeadly dull processional race that gave F1 all we got from Fernando after that was a bad name and on everybody’s wish list to silence and we just had to imagine the tiny disappear instead of the race at Istanbul. temper going on. Now, it has all kinds of racing opportuni- In fact he was lucky; after the race he ties. accused the stewards of allowing the race

Sport Until now, the harbourside circuit of to be manipulated and unlike Hamilton’s Valencia failed on three different levels. rant in Monaco this year, there was no trip It’s nowhere near as glamorous as Monaco to the stewards’ offi ce to apologise after- (docks and warehouses rarely are), it’s not wards. as challenging as the street circuits of Sin- On the face of it, he has the opportu- has a problem keeping it together on the opening laps of a gapore or Montreal and it’s not as exciting nity this year to get his own back; the Fer- Grand Prix as a normal race track. But if you can add rari was working incredibly well in Mon- in the possibility of overtaking, that last treal and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t ’s old premise about imagining comes out of nowhere like the shark one is solved. shine in Valencia. In qualifying at least, be- that your car is enveloped in cotton in jaws. And at least it has a passionate crowd cause there’ll be the same supersoft Pirelli wool for the fi rst seven laps and not Of course install it and you’ll get that will come along to support Fernando Option tyre that Alonso took to within a letting anyone get near you to cause post-race comments on the lines of: Alonso, which you can’t say for quite a few gnat’s chuff of . an accident is one that he could take “Lewis wasn’t showing up on my vi- races on the calendar. This year we might The big area of doubt surrounds Pirelli’s on board. sor display”, but it’s a thought. They see the Valencia GP transformed, although ‘medium’ Prime tyre that they are introduc- Hamilton might have won that race should also have a 105% rule intro- with the parlous state of the Spanish econ- ing for Valencia. How this works around the at a canter if he’d stuck around - he duced. Those cars that do not qualify omy, it will probably be its least well at- streets with each team’s set up is anybody’s always changes tyres later than Jen- within 105% of pole have to install tended. guess. At the son. double-sized (F1 caravan) mirrors. And The drama of recent years has been in- fl ew on the soft tyres but once the hard Thinking about actually look in them, Timo. jected by the occasional Safety Car. Last tyre was introduced they suffered badly. and his constant reference to “Mur- , despite his late year Lewis Hamilton was exceptionally Fernando will positively not want this to errrs”: the Murr-errs on F1 cars have race wobble in Canada is still favou- naughty and sprinted out of the pits fail- happen in front of his loyal Asturian con- hardly changed since the 1950s, isn’t it rite for pole position and another race ing to line up behind the Safety Car, but tingent for two home races in a row. about time that drivers had something win. Very little is likely to derail the only by 10 meters or so. He was penalised, Similarly, Mclaren will not want Jenson a bit more sophisticated to see what Red Bull juggernaut until we see the Can Raphael but the penalty didn’t drop him a position Button and Lewis Hamilton to get up close was coming up from behind? There result of the off-throttle/engine map- Nadal go one and thus we had one of the funniest radio and personal for two races in a row and it is is so much invention and brainpower ping change at the British GP. transmissions of all time as a result. really up to Lewis Hamilton to make clean that goes into circumventing the rules Though it would be nice to see the better after his , who had patiently overtaking moves and not go for stupid and the intention of the rules, surely applecart upset for the sake of sus- French Open lined up behind the Safety Car like a good ones. On his team-mate or anyone else. someone must have got a better solu- tained interest in the Championship win and take boy was outraged by this turn of events - Lewis has had some advice from people tion to a bit of mirrored glass? through the season...don’t hold your Wimbledon by he got on the radio to his team in the kind like David Coulthard and Lauda af- If you consider that Ford Focuses breath. storm once more of spluttery rage we once saw him vent- ter Montreal and love him or loathe him, are now parallel parking themselves Even if Red Bull do suffer a drop automatically, you’d think F1 could in performance, this year they have a come up with a high tech solution for clear No.1 and No.2 driver and Vettel a situation that can potentially ruin won’t drop points to , their races. Or is it that they prefer NOT especially when Webbo has said he’d Weekend sport on TV - Highlights to see what’s behind them and claim like to stay on for 2012 and has no ignorance. contract signed. Friday –24 Jun Saturday – 25 Jun Cricket Certainly with a steering wheel of Further down the grid it will be Rugby Rugby England v Sri Lanka – 3rd Test Day knobs and dials - magic paddle latches interesting to see if can Vodacom Super Rugby Qualifi er 1: Vodacom Super Rugby Qualifi er 2: 2 – 11:30 – SS2 and the like, they could do without start getting the better of Michael Blues v Waratahs – 09:00 - 11:45 Crusaders v Sharks – 09:00 - 11:45 the kind of heads up visor display that Schumacher again, whether Kamui Ko- – SS1 – SS1 Soccer fi ghter pilots have, but given what bayashi can repeat his epic European UEFA European Under-21 Final - went on in Canada between Jenson GP of 2010, whether Sergio Perez is fi t, Tennis Tennis 20:40 - 22:45 – SS5 Button and Lewis Hamilton, some at- whether Nick Heidfeld can outqualify Wimbledon Day 5 - Sgl 3rd Round Wimbledon Day 6 - Sgl 3rd Round tention might be focused on it. With Vitaly Petrov again and whether David - 13:45 - 21:00 – SS2 - 13:45 - 20:00 – SS2 Sunday –26 Jun rear-scanning infra-red devices, driv- Coulthard can name him correctly for Formula 1 ers would be able to see regardless of an entire race. Cricket Formula 1 Grand Prix Of Europe Main Race spray. And will be look- West Indies v India 1st Test Day 5 Grand Prix Of Europe Qualifying - - 13:30 - 16:30 – SS2 Jenson May have looked in his mir- ing anxiously in his mur-errs for a fast - 16:45 - 00:30 – SS5 13:50 - 15:00 – SS5 rors in Montreal, but as we saw with approaching Red Bull... Brundle’s rear-facing camera in Aus- 15446 Winter 2011 Next 48HRS.pdf 1 5/31/11 3:56 PM tralia all those years ago - Senna’s car * PlanetF1.com

12 The Next 48hOURS www.48hours.co.za 24 June - 30 June 2011