The first Grand Prix of the season has been cancelled and I am happy about it.
I have never liked the recent expansion of races to the Middle and Far Easts. For 10 years now Formula 1 has been chasing the money that governments from Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Turkey and China have been trying to throw away in order to improve their image withot having to do anything to help their people. And in return Bernie Ecclestone has been all to willing to move races away from race fans to countries where they are unable to fill up a grandstand even when they ship in people for free. At the same time Bernie is busy taking races away from racing fans in France, Italy (San Marino) and Austria, as well as trying to take races off Belgium, and Canada.
I am able to forgive some of these countries to some extent when they at least have the decency to produce a decent race track such as Turkey, Singapore and Korea. Unfortunately Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Shanghai and Valencia have not even managed to do this.
People in Bahrain clearly don't care about motor racing. Why would anyone care about motor racing when you have a ruling government that not only doesn't represent the people but goes to great lengths to ensure that the people of the country get no benefits from the countries wealth. I hope the Bahraini people win their fight against the government. I hope they tell Bernie where to stick his race and I hope that their lives get a hell of a lot better.
So we are going to be starting the season late in Melbourne. Which makes me immensely happy. I have been to the race in Melbourne and it is a great event stretching over 4 crowd filled days. Not 3. Australians need 4 days for a weekend to seem real. The track in Melbourne is no classic. It is a flat track without a corner that stands out in your head. But that doesn't matter to me. This year the season is going to start somewhere that it should always start. In front of some fans.
P.S. I should apologize for my comments about the Daytona 500 in my previous Blog. I watched the whole of the race and it was great. No pack racing. Instead some good old fashioned drafting (like we miss so much in Formula 1 racing) with a stock car twist of pushing someone else around the course to help them out. Montoya had a good result with some great moments and a young Rookie won on only his second Nascar Sprint start. Congratulations to Trevor Bain.
I have never liked the recent expansion of races to the Middle and Far Easts. For 10 years now Formula 1 has been chasing the money that governments from Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Turkey and China have been trying to throw away in order to improve their image withot having to do anything to help their people. And in return Bernie Ecclestone has been all to willing to move races away from race fans to countries where they are unable to fill up a grandstand even when they ship in people for free. At the same time Bernie is busy taking races away from racing fans in France, Italy (San Marino) and Austria, as well as trying to take races off Belgium, and Canada.
I am able to forgive some of these countries to some extent when they at least have the decency to produce a decent race track such as Turkey, Singapore and Korea. Unfortunately Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Shanghai and Valencia have not even managed to do this.
People in Bahrain clearly don't care about motor racing. Why would anyone care about motor racing when you have a ruling government that not only doesn't represent the people but goes to great lengths to ensure that the people of the country get no benefits from the countries wealth. I hope the Bahraini people win their fight against the government. I hope they tell Bernie where to stick his race and I hope that their lives get a hell of a lot better.
So we are going to be starting the season late in Melbourne. Which makes me immensely happy. I have been to the race in Melbourne and it is a great event stretching over 4 crowd filled days. Not 3. Australians need 4 days for a weekend to seem real. The track in Melbourne is no classic. It is a flat track without a corner that stands out in your head. But that doesn't matter to me. This year the season is going to start somewhere that it should always start. In front of some fans.
P.S. I should apologize for my comments about the Daytona 500 in my previous Blog. I watched the whole of the race and it was great. No pack racing. Instead some good old fashioned drafting (like we miss so much in Formula 1 racing) with a stock car twist of pushing someone else around the course to help them out. Montoya had a good result with some great moments and a young Rookie won on only his second Nascar Sprint start. Congratulations to Trevor Bain.
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