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Kev Lawrence: revving up for the new Formula One season
AT an obscenely early hour this coming Sunday, when most of Peterborough will still be in the land of nod, a familiar growling will start up 10,000 miles away in Melbourne, and quickly build into a deafening wall of noise that always sets my pulse racing.
AT an obscenely early hour this coming Sunday, when most of Peterborough will still be in the land of nod, a familiar growling will start up 10,000 miles away in Melbourne, and quickly build into a deafening wall of noise that always sets my pulse racing.The explosion that cracks into your ears as about 20 V8 engines ignite to kick-start the new Formula One season always excites me, and I'm not even what you might call a "petrol head". I just love the sport of motor racing, a trait passed on to me by my dad, who was possibly the biggest James Hunt fan this country ever saw.
Nigel Mansell may have bleated recently that his win meant more, but watching Lewis Hamilton grab that drivers title in such dramatic fashion last season was one of my greatest ever sporting memories. It was extraordinary.
Lewis, for me, epitomises the perfect English sporting hero. An ideal role model for any aspirational sporting youngster. He is confident and focused, courageous and determined, ultra respectful to his peers, and carries as much natural talent for his chosen sport than you could ever wish for.
He is a born winner, with a smile to match, and is quite possibly the finest sportsman of our generation. Time will tell on that one.
But I have a worry for this coming season. Word is, his car is a bit slower than the others. And unlike his main rivals (Raikkonen, Massa, Alonso, and Kubica) Hamilton has never before driven a poor F1 car. So is the youngest ever champion about to start the defence of his drivers title from a position of weakness? Will the driver with the number 1 on his car be lost in the midfield?
I don't think so. If the technical package is not there immediately, I'm sure before long it will arrive. Lewis also has a strength of character that will have been reinforced by his victory last season, and near victory the season before. He's won it now, and knows he can win it again. And even though teams are not permitted to test between races under new guidelines, making it harder for cars struggling for pace to evaluate what's wrong, I do believe the ability of McLaren's engineers will soon get them back to the front of the grid. I certainly hope so, as a season without Lewis challenging would be a much duller one indeed.
After Melbourne this weekend it's Malaysia, China, Bahrain, Spain then Monaco. The British GP is scheduled for June 21, and, ridiculously, it will be staged down the road at Silverstone in Northamptonshire for the very last time, before switching to Donnington Park from 2010.
Bernie Ecclestone has called the track "stupid" for not developing adequately. And I am somehow inclined to agree with him.
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Weather for Peterborough
Sunday 12 February 2012
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Temperature: 1 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North west
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