Sunday, October 08, 2006
Michael beats Alonso, Renault beat Ferrari, and ITV lose
Will Michael get any satisfaction, sitting on his flight back home, from knowing he beat Alonso fairly today, and that it was only his car that let him down? (Whereas when Alonso failed at Monza, he was behind Michael). I doubt it. This is the way of Formula 1. Michael knows that. You could see it on his face as he trudged back to the pits to shake the hands of all of his mechanics. He had done his best, but it didn't matter. He had driven to win when it didn't seem possible in China, and he had a (uneasy) 5 second gap to Alonso and looked like maintaining it to the end. He had, you might say, won the championship on lap 34.
But on lap 35 ITV went, quite understandably, to an advertisement break. Nothing, after all, was going to happen now until the end of the race. Once again, however, they missed a crucial moment in F1 history. Schumacher goes out of the race, and out of the sport, in his first Ferrari engine failure since 2001. This anticlimax to the season will also mean that the next race, which due to its evening slot was bound to draw huge viewing figures, will be watched by only the true fans, and the truly insane Schumacher-lovers who think he can still do it...
But on lap 35 ITV went, quite understandably, to an advertisement break. Nothing, after all, was going to happen now until the end of the race. Once again, however, they missed a crucial moment in F1 history. Schumacher goes out of the race, and out of the sport, in his first Ferrari engine failure since 2001. This anticlimax to the season will also mean that the next race, which due to its evening slot was bound to draw huge viewing figures, will be watched by only the true fans, and the truly insane Schumacher-lovers who think he can still do it...
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Sadly I lost my first attempt at this post in a bizarre computer problem. Let me try again...
I actaully saw the plume of smoke coming off of Michael's car just before we cut to the ads. Actually to be fair I didn't know it was Michael's for sure I just saw a flash of red. So it must have been already happening before the decision to go to the adverts actually came. I watched in horror on the live timing as the grim realisation of what had happened filtered through.
I was extra disapointed in ITV today though, not just about the adverts which always seem to come at the worst time (although I appreciate that in reality millions of exciting things happen in races but actually in the last five years they've probably only missed five really big ones).
I was disapointed again to find ITV still in a studio which seems to be a terrible idea now which I'll talk about again during the week.
But also to not have a congratulations from Steve for being up at what he continually referred to as an anti-social hour. He congratulated Mark though.
Obviously I don't need his congratulations at being there. I know I am a true fan and I'll carry on doing it without Steve Rider suggesting one thing or the other. But I used to get a feeling from Jim when he would do it that although he didn't really understand it he loved us for our passion.
I must say that despite my jokey complaint about Ted earlier on, he did at least say: "shame to be leaving one of the great circuits that all the drivers love, the journalists love and the great sports fans back home who even wake up really early in the morning to watch it". And he must have had to remember it was early as he was out there whereas for Steve he knew it was early as he and Mark looked like they both were about to fall asleep.
Anyway, end of rant. Favourite line of the day? Came from Flav before the race.
Louise: I guess this is a big day for you?
Flav: Why? It's got 24 hours like any other.
I actaully saw the plume of smoke coming off of Michael's car just before we cut to the ads. Actually to be fair I didn't know it was Michael's for sure I just saw a flash of red. So it must have been already happening before the decision to go to the adverts actually came. I watched in horror on the live timing as the grim realisation of what had happened filtered through.
I was extra disapointed in ITV today though, not just about the adverts which always seem to come at the worst time (although I appreciate that in reality millions of exciting things happen in races but actually in the last five years they've probably only missed five really big ones).
I was disapointed again to find ITV still in a studio which seems to be a terrible idea now which I'll talk about again during the week.
But also to not have a congratulations from Steve for being up at what he continually referred to as an anti-social hour. He congratulated Mark though.
Obviously I don't need his congratulations at being there. I know I am a true fan and I'll carry on doing it without Steve Rider suggesting one thing or the other. But I used to get a feeling from Jim when he would do it that although he didn't really understand it he loved us for our passion.
I must say that despite my jokey complaint about Ted earlier on, he did at least say: "shame to be leaving one of the great circuits that all the drivers love, the journalists love and the great sports fans back home who even wake up really early in the morning to watch it". And he must have had to remember it was early as he was out there whereas for Steve he knew it was early as he and Mark looked like they both were about to fall asleep.
Anyway, end of rant. Favourite line of the day? Came from Flav before the race.
Louise: I guess this is a big day for you?
Flav: Why? It's got 24 hours like any other.
I missed the plume of smoke, but as it went to the break Schumacher just started his first lap out of the pits and I decided to watch his and Alonso's times closely to see how they matched up. The first sectors were equal, but then Schumacher didn't come up in the second. I thought maybe it was just a glitch in the system, and he'd come back at the end of the lap, but slowly I saw his name tumble down the order and I knew something had gone horrible wrong, but couldn't quite believe it.
Only the images as they returned from the ad-break really confirmed it for me: one stuck in my mind is Schumacher walking in the shadows under the bridge, his head hung low on his shoulders.
Still, I had hoped he could do it in Brazil until I saw his quotes saying he's given up on the title. But did you notice the slight dig at Alonso? Michael says 'I would like to fight for the championship on the track', which is exactly what Alonso didn't do. He's already starting to undermine Fernando's victory.
Only the images as they returned from the ad-break really confirmed it for me: one stuck in my mind is Schumacher walking in the shadows under the bridge, his head hung low on his shoulders.
Still, I had hoped he could do it in Brazil until I saw his quotes saying he's given up on the title. But did you notice the slight dig at Alonso? Michael says 'I would like to fight for the championship on the track', which is exactly what Alonso didn't do. He's already starting to undermine Fernando's victory.
I do have to agree that i also saw the smoke pouring from the back of the Ferrari after the pit stop. I must confess i did not see the race live for a number of reasons, but, despite knowing what the final result was i may have been waiting for it to happen, i am sure i was watching with the same attention as normal. The camera showed Schumacher heading out of the pits with Alonso coming down the straight behind him, the shot changed to show Alonso and followed him as he passed the camera where the smoke of the Ferrari awaiting him. Maybe too many things were in place to avoid the ad break from ITV's point of view but the incident was well underway before we got there!
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