Don't ask, don't tell

Sir,

Is it just me or does there appear to be a reluctance to ask the hard question regarding the ‘crash-gate’ affair? I have read widely on the issue, both in print media and on the internet, and have paid particular attention to the words of the splendid Mr Roebuck who is well known to be fair, hard-hitting and unbiased. Yet no one has asked, ‘Did Alonso know?’

 I regard myself as an Alonso fan but in the same way that I was a Schumacher fan – that is, with eyes wide open and accepting that these guys are determined, focused, ruthless and, at times, flawed. That Alonso never questioned the pitstop strategy is a little hard to believe. I hardly think that on the day he was told “Off you go with an eggcup of fuel and we’ll hope for the best”. Maybe he was unaware of the dastardly plot, but in a situation where the whole race strategy depended on an early safety car it is only human nature to think that someone would have said, “don’t worry, it will all be fine” – nod nod, wink wink, sly smile.

Anyway, I wish him well at Ferrari next year and I think he will fit in perfectly – whether he knew or not. As I said earlier he is determined, focused, ruthless and, at times, flawed. A match made in heaven! Felipe, watch your back!

Sort of on the same subject, when the news of Piquet’s whoopsie first broke I was disinclined to believe that is was deliberate simply because he crashed so heavily, putting his life and the lives of many others in danger not to mention the damage to car and barriers and the cost, when parking the thing would have achieved the same result. The boy deserved sacking for that alone. It put me in mind of Michael Caine’s famous quote “You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!” 

Richard O’Rourke, Cobh, Co Cork