Two days after the Hungarian Grand Prix and that incident between Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello is still commanding plenty of attention.
And, as if to prove F1 is never short of controversies, yesterday Ferrari’s date to face the FIA over charges of using team orders was announced.
Here’s today’s round-up:
Links
Sport’s latest sensation: a rubbery bracelet
“Rubens Barrichello swears by his. […] Indeed, though it looks like a slim band of silicone inset with two flimsy holograms, an increasing number of sports stars are claiming that they can increase their balance, strength and agility simply by wearing something called a Power Balance bracelet – on sale for the princely sum of £29.99 at a sports shop near you.
“The car was pretty edgy to drive” (Michael Schumacher)
“Regarding the overtaking manoeuvre with Rubens, I indicated pretty early that I would move towards the inside and not simply give up the line, and there was just enough space for him to pass me without touching each other. It was a hard fight, and this is what we are here for, but I accept that the FIA stewards saw it as too hard.”
Schumacher right to say sorry (BBC)
“Schumacher fans will claim we’re beating up on him. Well, I’m a Schumacher fan. I think he was a driving god and delivered performances of a barely believable quality on numerous occasions. That is even more reason not to run a driver off the road who is on new, softer-compound tyres and who has been catching you at vast speeds for 10th place.”
Comment of the day
Jim N isn’t impressed with the speed of the FIA:
What annoys me most is the time it always takes the FIA to arrange a hearing or make a decision. No matter what the outcome, it is unfair on all the public and on top teams that they will have completed another race before the outcome of this is known.
This is supposed to be a top class professional sport, but unfortunately the governing body is run by well meaning but unpaid volunteers with procedures largely set in the 1920’s, no wonder they progress at a snails pace. The decision on the new team for next year is another example, by the time they have made the decision the FIA will have taken longer to assess the various bids than the winning bidder will have to finalise their finance, set up their facilities and design and build their car?óÔé¼?ª. ridiculous!
If F1 wants to present a professional face to the world then hearings and decisions like this need to be taken in a timely manor. OK to have convened before Hungary was probably not realistic, but there is no excuse in a multi billion dollar sport such as F1 not to have made any decision before Spa. All this does is make F1 look very amateurish and a "fixed" sport in the eyes of casual viewers.
I personally believe that if any disciplinary hearing is required in F1 it should be undertaken within two weeks of the incident, and if the FIA cannot achieve that, then it needs to be reorganised.
Jim N
From the archive
With much debate going on about changes to how front wings are measured, Jonathan dug out this article on flexible wings: Banned! – Flexi-wings
From the forum
Will GP2 championship leader Pastor Maldonado be in F1 next season?
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to S?â?©ren Kaae!
On this day in F1
It’s 58 years to the day since Alberto Ascari won his first world championship.
Ferrari had only scored their first world championship win the year before, but in 1952 they were dominant. They won every round that counted towards the world championship, apart from the Indianapolis 500.
Ascari began his winning streak in the third round of the championship and he won the remaining six races. He clinched the world championship at the Nurburgring Nordschleife, driving car number 101, with his three team mates Giuseppe Farina, Rudi Fischer and Piero Taruffi following him home.
f1yankee
3rd August 2010, 0:20
holograms, huh? throw in some magnets and unregulated “supplements” and you’ve got a deal!
Bien
3rd August 2010, 0:38
Saw this product advertised on another site and checked it out and was surprised to see Barichello endorsing it. Sounds stupid to me.
Macca (@macca)
3rd August 2010, 3:59
A lot of top line football (AFL not soccer, NRL and cricket starts in Australia have been wering these braclets for months and they all swear by them.
Hamish
3rd August 2010, 4:23
Yea Im with Macca. It may sounds real stupid but a lot of sportspeople think they’re amazing. Its the same sort of principle as those magnetic bedrests you can get.
BasCB (@bascb)
3rd August 2010, 7:36
As the article says, it’s all about feeling comfortable and unbeatable. I think half of the succes in a lot of sports is about “knowing” you can do it, so if you believe in this thing, it will work as a very helpfull placebo.
gabal
3rd August 2010, 8:10
I found it stupid but then I read that first time he wore Barrichello won his first race. We all know how drivers are superstitious so this could just be another case of that.
Besides, I believe they are now his personal sponsors so he actually gets money to promote them.
The Dutch Bear
3rd August 2010, 9:22
Just about the whole Dutch football team were wearing these things in South Africa.
manatcna
3rd August 2010, 0:53
Amazing! Supposedly intelligent people believing in miracles.
spawinte
3rd August 2010, 2:31
I know how to fix that, holograms on each side of the helmet!
KNF
3rd August 2010, 2:51
It’s all psychological, like wearing lucky underpants (Massa), mismatched boots (Wurz), carrying a daughter’s hairbrush (Schumacher) or having a Pussycat Doll on hand (Hamilton)…
If they think it works, well it works…
Maybe we can have an article on driver superstitions during the summer break…
f1yankee
3rd August 2010, 3:35
leaving racing for a moment, my pick for all-time craziest athlete is hall-of-fame baseball player wade boggs.
the commonly known:
eating chicken before every game.
running sprints precisely at 7:17.
always reserved a seat in the stands directly in his line of sight for his mistress, who was instructed to not wear underwear. not because he liked it, but because it had to be that way.
the less well-known:
avoided a knife attack by “willing himself invisible”.
fell out of his pickup truck while his wife was driving down the highway.
frighteningly prolific big game hunter.
claims to have been picked up by a tornado and dropped gently over a mile away.
Macca (@macca)
3rd August 2010, 4:02
Theres was a South African cricketer called Neil McKenzie. Before he went out to bat he would tape one of his old bats to the ceiling and check that every toilet seat in the change rooms was down, then on his way out to bat he was very careful not to step on any cracks.
KlBD
3rd August 2010, 18:46
Wade Boggs’ Carpet World! :)
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
3rd August 2010, 2:48
Schumacher did say Sorry to Barrichello.
SiY
3rd August 2010, 10:51
Yes, the actual article on his website in which he apologised still hasn’t made it into the English version, but Autosport, BBC, etc translated it well.
The German apology and admission the stewards were right can be found here: http://www.michael-schumacher.de/?page=news&story_id=104664&lang=de
DGR-F1
3rd August 2010, 13:19
What if Rubens doesn’t read Schuey’s website?
LewisC
3rd August 2010, 16:24
I don’t wish to be churlish here, but I’m sure Schumacher would have said sorry if he’d had to visit Rubens in hospital, too.
Asca
3rd August 2010, 2:51
MAybe Williams should take a leaf out of Rubens book and apply the same holograms to side of their cars to “increase their balance, strength and agility”…?
At the very least it might confuse their opponents and give Rubens a little more room next time he decides to overtake Schumacher.
BasCB (@bascb)
3rd August 2010, 7:45
Nice to reread that article on flexing wings. I suposse it’s an issue as old as the fact they use wings at all (going between flexing the wings and moving them).
Also good to remind of the danger of a flex wing failing for all who now defend Red Bull (and Ferrari) for being so clever with their wing solution.
Calum
3rd August 2010, 8:56
Stick two bands round the MP4 25 exhausts, that will sort out the balance ;)
Arkadiusz
3rd August 2010, 9:39
It’s funny that whatever Schumacher would do, he would have to face criticizm. If he would simply let Barrichello go, many would have another reason for saying that he lost his instinct, talent, etc.
Patrickl
3rd August 2010, 11:14
He lost the position already when he messed up the exit of the last corner. If he had had left Rubens on track he would not have been critiziced for that.
Cranberry
3rd August 2010, 13:29
“The 7-time world champion prooved yet again that he is but a shadow of his former self.
The man who was once feared for his defensive tactics on the track took only a few laps to succumb to the pressure put on him by his former whipping boy, Rubens Barrichello. The former legend messed up his exit to the main straight and Barrichello was able to squeese himself past, perhaps claiming back one of the many points he was forced to gift the now-de-throned king when they were driving for the same red team.”
Yes, he would have.
John H
3rd August 2010, 14:11
Why didn’t he move to the right BEFORE he was wheel to wheel with Rubens.
He left the door open, and then drove him into the wall. Terrible.