{"id":34127,"date":"2014-07-07T19:24:52","date_gmt":"2014-07-07T18:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/issue_content\/nigel-roebuck-58\/"},"modified":"2019-07-20T16:20:56","modified_gmt":"2019-07-20T15:20:56","slug":"nigel-roebuck","status":"publish","type":"issue_content","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/article\/august-2008\/17\/nigel-roebuck\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigel Roebuck"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reflections
\n\u2013 Mosley wins, but F1 could be the loser
\n\u2013 Brundle\u2019s assessment of the season so far
\n\u2013 Kubica sparks memories of old-style Monaco<\/strong><\/p>\n

The effects of \u2018Whippergate\u2019 smoulder on, and threaten at any moment to erupt into forest fire. Over the Montr\u00e9al weekend there were serious concerns about the state of the track, which in several places broke up alarmingly during qualifying, but not too much time was given over to it in paddock conversation: wherever you went, the talk was all of Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone \u2013 and the immediate future of Formula 1.<\/p>\n

We may have been incredulous, on June 3, that Mosley survived the FIA vote \u2013 incredulous that it could have been allowed<\/em> to happen \u2013 but we were not surprised. As the federations and clubs of countries such as the USA and Germany publicly condemned the FIA president, and urged him to resign, Mosley had continued to assert that he was receiving many more messages of support than criticism, and while that could have been just another tale, there was good reason to believe he would survive the vote, and probably by a handsome margin.<\/p>\n

A total of 222 countries belong to the FIA, and the voting system, as employed on occasions such as this, appears straightforward: one country, one vote. No kind of proportional representation is involved: a country whose federation has only a few hundred members has every bit as much clout as the AAA, which has several million. Might seem a touch illogical, but that\u2019s the way it is.<\/p>\n

In his most patiently avuncular manner, Mosley would explain that this system was entirely desirable \u2013 indeed vital, if the interests of the smaller countries were not to be submerged. Very fair-minded, you might say. Also extremely clever. Africa, for example, had a total of 36 votes in the FIA General Assembly meeting to decide Mosley\u2019s future; the USA had one.<\/p>\n

To put it another way: clubs representing 86 per cent of FIA membership wished him to resign \u2013 but that 86 per cent had only 13 per cent of the votes. A novel concept of democracy, you\u2019d have to say.<\/p>\n

After the vote, one of Mosley\u2019s henchmen was keen to put across the message that, \u2018Now we\u2019ve got a strong FIA president again\u2019, but in the opinion of most the reality of the situation was somewhat different. In Monte Carlo, a week before the vote, a senior F1 figure put it this way: \u201cI hope Mosley loses the vote, but I don\u2019t think he will. In the end, though, it doesn\u2019t really matter. Whatever happens, ultimately he\u2019s dead in the water, isn\u2019t he? How can you have an FIA president who\u2019s persona non grata?\u201d<\/p>\n

And that really is the whole point at issue here. Mosley has said ad nauseam<\/em> that his personal life in no way impinges on his ability to do his job, and while in a workaday sense that may be true, for he is nothing if not an able administrator, what the events of the last few weeks have done is rob him of the ability to be looked upon<\/em> as the president of the FIA. <\/p>\n

It is the height of absurdity to suggest that one in his position is other than terminally compromised if, for example, he is precluded from attending major motor sport events, because members of royalty or politicians or whomever will not countenance the possibility of meeting him, or even appearing in the same photograph. For that matter, how can he do the job, in any meaningful sense, if the CEOs of major business corporations \u2013 not least the major motor manufacturers \u2013 are unwilling to have anything to do with him?<\/p>\n

I spoke to many folk in the Montr\u00e9al paddock, and was struck anew by the remarkable amount of ill-will that exists towards Mosley. Few, if any, were surprised that he had survived the FIA delegates\u2019 vote, and there weren\u2019t too many, either, who were overly concerned about his eccentric sexual proclivities per se \u2013 so long, that is, as it could be proved beyond doubt that no Nazi element were involved. No, within the sport the distaste for Mosley stems primarily from events past, from perceived injustices over the years, from the manner in which he has operated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Mosley, by his refusal to step down, is doing massive damage to the sport,\u201d said Martin Brundle. \u201cAll right, to some extent F1 has always thrived on intrigue and skulduggery, but I think this goes much deeper than that. Personally I couldn\u2019t really care less what turns him on \u2013 that\u2019s up to him, and I\u2019d probably prefer not to know about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the real story here is that so many people were ready to seize on this situation, because of other experiences with Max in the past. And there\u2019s this \u2018climate of fear\u2019 thing: I think the level of intimidation against team owners and journalists is staggering \u2013 what we\u2019re talking about here is fear of stepping out of line, for fear of retribution, right?<\/p>\n

\u201cI was at Suzuka in \u201991, as a driver, when he had just taken over as president of the FIA, and I was cheered by it. Balestre had been ridiculous, blasting away at us at drivers\u2019 meetings on Sunday mornings, but Max said, \u2018You\u2019re going to see very little of me\u2019, and immediately there was a great cheer from the majority of the drivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, in 1994 I became chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers\u2019 Association, and then I saw some of the tactics, some of the techniques he employed \u2013 letters that were published before they actually arrived to you, information leaked to the press, that kind of thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I moved into ITV, and on at least one occasion Mosley tried to have me removed from the commentary team because I hadn\u2019t been \u2018on message\u2019, as they say. One of his spin doctors wrote to ITV, saying that, \u2018Your commentator (currently Martin Brundle) is not up to an acceptable standard\u2019, but the ITV people said, \u2018Brundle\u2019s our man, and that\u2019s it\u2019. I must say I really didn\u2019t appreciate the fact that someone was trying to have me booted out of my job.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, in \u201996, I joined the board of the BRDC, and ended up as chairman. And one thing absolutely enraged me: we were trying to get a master plan together to improve Silverstone, and I invited Max along, and showed him the site and the plans, and he was incredibly charming, which we all know he can be. He said he\u2019d enjoyed it, and thanked me.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree days later I walked into the press room at Indianapolis \u2013 and he was laying into Silverstone like you couldn\u2019t believe! Now, if he had said to me on the day, \u2018I think you\u2019re wasting your time\u2019, I could have accepted that as his point of view. But all this \u2018wonderful\u2019 stuff \u2013 and then the dagger\u2026 I can\u2019t cope with that. On the other hand, I can cope with Bernie, because, while he may give you a hard time occasionally, you know where you are with him. <\/p>\n

\u201cI will not<\/em> have people trying to intimidate me. I\u2019ve spent all my life fighting against quality people like H\u00e4kkinen and Senna and Schumacher, and so on \u2013 top drawer, competitive, high-achieving people \u2013 so the last thing I\u2019m going to do is allow myself to be intimidated by people for whom I have little respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Max was just extraordinary at Spa last year, the way he lost his rag when he was being interviewed, and said McLaren had polluted<\/em> the championship. I\u2019m afraid that if you want to play that game, you\u2019ve got to be whiter than white. What goes around comes around, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

It does indeed, and there is no doubt that the overwhelming majority of people in Formula 1 wish to see Mosley gone. At the moment the teams are debating with Ecclestone the details of a new Concorde Agreement, but their ideas for it are at odds with Mosley\u2019s, and in two important respects: for one thing, they wish to be directly involved in the decision-making when it comes to technical regulations; for another, they want what Mosley calls \u2018the Don King clause\u2019 \u2013 which precludes the selling on of the sport\u2019s commercial rights without the FIA\u2019s agreement \u2013 to be dropped. Both these requirements, an FIA spokesman in Montr\u00e9al avowed, are not to be countenanced by the governing body.<\/p>\n

These things being so, rumours began to emerge of the possibility of a \u2018breakaway\u2019 championship, such as Bernie and Max \u2013 together \u2013 envisaged in 1980\/81, at the time of the \u2018FISA\/FOCA War\u2019. It was all an elaborate scam, of course, but it won them the concessions they sought from Jean-Marie Balestre, then the big man in Paris, and thereafter they never looked back.<\/p>\n

Was a breakaway championship a serious possibility now? <\/p>\n

I somewhat doubt it, I must say. Ecclestone grinned when I asked the question: \u201cI\u2019ve no idea\u201d. Surely, I persisted, you would prefer the championship to stay within the FIA?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d he said, apparently more serious now. \u201cIt depends on the conditions. We\u2019ve got a big problem in F1 at the moment, no doubt about it, and whether or not it can be solved is another story \u2013 I mean, it can<\/em> be solved, but in which way I don\u2019t know at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, can it be solved while Max is still in office? \u201cI don\u2019t know that, either. I hope so\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Some people are just good with words, aren\u2019t they? With his laconic turn of phrase and enviable timing, Mario Andretti, for example, I always felt could have made a very acceptable living as a stand-up, had not his primary attention been given over to winning things, like the World Championship, the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500, and so on.<\/p>\n

I remember, in the late 1970s, an occasion on which Jody Scheckter complained about the amount of space given over to Mario in the racing press. \u201cI don\u2019t read that stuff myself,\u201d Scheckter said. No, no, of course not. \u201cBut my wife was saying, everything is \u2018Andretti this\u2019 and \u2018Andretti that\u2019. What\u2019s it all about?\u201d<\/p>\n

What it was all about was that Mario, naturally a gregarious man anyway, was smart enough to realise writers, too, had a job to do, and that if he put a little effort and thought into his responses, chances were he would get plenty of ink, which in turn would hardly displease his team and sponsors. You don\u2019t need Einstein to lead you to that conclusion.<\/p>\n

Andretti also had a gift for coming up with unexpected phrases, which in themselves often meant nothing, in the literal sense, but which yet conveyed absolutely what he was trying to get across. After he had taken pole position by an unlikely amount of time at the 1977 Belgian Grand Prix, I asked him how his Lotus 78 was behaving. \u201cMan,\u201d he said, \u201clike it\u2019s painted to the road\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin Brundle is another with that knack. One day we were talking about those people in F1 who are already rich beyond imagining, yet still seem unable to step off the treadmill of ever-burgeoning wealth. \u201cThere are people in this paddock,\u201d said Martin, \u201cwho are ill<\/em> with their money\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Mercifully untouched by political correctness, Brundle is very much a traditionalist when it comes to the sport he so much loves: \u201cThe guys in F1 today now whinge about a kerb that\u2019s two centimetres too high! I mean, it\u2019s a bit \u2018Jessie\u2019, isn\u2019t it\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s always a pleasure to be in Martin\u2019s company, for he is of a species endangered in this day and age, one who always says what he thinks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a straightforward bloke. I realise I\u2019m not always \u2018on message\u2019, as they say, but I am absolutely passionate about Formula 1, and I think we should all be in it together.\u201d<\/p>\n

This passion was there in spades during his years as a Grand Prix driver, and it abides, too, in his life today as a journalist and broadcaster. There have been retired drivers of my acquaintance who have taken a somewhat cavalier approach to commentary work over time, some of them clearly regarding it as something almost beneath them, but Brundle has never been that way. When the ITV offer came up, more than 11 years ago, he thought long and hard before making a decision, some of his colleagues, like Gerhard Berger, advising him not to move into the TV world. As it was, Martin opted to accept the ITV proposition, and his enthusiasm and commitment have never wavered.<\/p>\n

Over time, too, he began to involve himself with the printed word, and his columns in The Sunday Times<\/em> quickly became required reading, for \u2013 as in his commentaries \u2013 there was no shirking \u2018difficult\u2019 topics: he is a man of strong opinions, and not about to be gagged. It was just such a piece, written last September (over the Monza weekend), that brought him grief from Max Mosley and the FIA, who lost little time in launching legal proceedings \u2013 since dropped \u2013 against both newspaper and writer.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as I\u2019m concerned,\u201d Brundle said, \u201cI go into the media centre \u2013 or the commentary box \u2013 to do my job, not to be manipulated or intimidated. I was warned about my Sunday Times <\/em>columns last year. If Mosley is doing such a good job, why does he need to surround himself with spin doctors and henchmen \u2013 political<\/em> people? Why doesn\u2019t he surround himself with true motor racing people?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ah well, now, there\u2019s a question. But let\u2019s get away from contentious territory, and look at the season thus far \u2013 by which I mean the racing<\/em> season, a topic somewhat overlooked of late, given the events of the recent past. <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, first of all,\u201d said Brundle, \u201cMcLaren have done better than I thought they would \u2013 I thought all the events of the last year would have taken longer to wash through than they have, although I think it\u2019s still cost them plenty.<\/p>\n

\u201cHamilton lost a bit of focus early in the season \u2013 I know he dominated the first race, in Melbourne, but if you analyse it Ferrari made it very easy for Lewis that day. He had an awful race in Bahrain \u2013 did absolutely everything wrong \u2013 but that was inevitable sooner or later. But then he recovered well, and really began to come on strong again. His drives in Istanbul and Barcelona were excellent, and at Monaco he was brilliant. Pity about Montr\u00e9al \u2013 he\u2019d have walked that race if it hadn\u2019t been for that silly incident in the pitlane.<\/p>\n

\u201cFerrari have obviously improved their car where it mattered \u2013 over kerbs, and out of slow corners. Those were their only real weaknesses before, and now they\u2019ve got a hugely strong package.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for the drivers, sometimes I think I\u2019m the only Massa fan in the world! I know he\u2019s not the most consistent guy, but on a number of occasions he has absolutely dominated both Kimi R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen and Michael Schumacher, in the same car, on the same day. And you don\u2019t do that \u2013 when they\u2019ve also probably got more inertia and support in the team than you have \u2013 unless you\u2019re bloody<\/em> good. It\u2019s a fact that Felipe excels at some circuits \u2013 Istanbul, Bahrain, Interlagos \u2013 and he\u2019s less certain at others. And you also suspect that, in a head-to-head at Magny-Cours or Silverstone or wherever, when it\u2019s a matter of going another couple of laps on the fuel, getting the quick laps in when you need to, Kimi will do it more often than Felipe. But I still wouldn\u2019t write him off, in terms of the championship. At all.\u201d<\/p>\n

We have for years tended to think of the scrap for the World Championship as purely a two-hander between Ferrari and McLaren, but during 2007 there was evidence of a sizeable step by BMW, and this year that momentum has been maintained, to the point that Robert Kubica has emerged as a serious factor more often than not. The win in Canada was perhaps unexpected, but not wholly so.<\/p>\n

In terms of pure natural talent, Kubica, we know, is the rival Hamilton most admires, and the one, down the road, he most fears. And Lewis knows whereof he speaks, having many times competed against Robert in their karting days.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo getting away from it,\u201d said Brundle, \u201cBMW are pretty strong these days. And Kubica\u2019s slaughtering Heidfeld, which, as highly as I rate him, strikes me as a bit odd, because Nick\u2019s a pretty handy driver, let\u2019s face it. He\u2019s changed his management, and I think he\u2019s looked\u2026 out of sorts, really.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf the rest, I think Mark Webber\u2019s driving really well this season, and Nico Rosberg, too. Remember him at Monaco in the first session, on the Thursday morning? Absolutely bloody awesome<\/em>, I thought. Just the right approach \u2013 really attacking the race track. I rate Nico highly, and I like watching him drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cForce India\u2019s a breath of fresh air, I reckon. They\u2019re here for a reason \u2013 and for the right<\/em> reason, which hasn\u2019t been the case with that team, under its various previous guises, for a long time. They\u2019re not here for a party. I\u2019m pleased that they\u2019re going in the right direction \u2013 and I was very sad to see the end of Super Aguri, because those guys well outperformed their budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s interesting to see Ross [Brawn] making an instant impact at Honda. All right, they\u2019re not at the front yet, or even close to it, but they\u2019ve definitely progressed considerably in the time Ross has been there.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust shows you, doesn\u2019t it? You move teams, and you go to an outfit like McLaren, and you look for the three big light switches, so you can flick them on, and say, \u2018Ah! So that\u2019s how they do it!\u2019 And you know what, there never is anything. The difference between the top teams and the midfield teams is so small<\/em>, believe me. It\u2019s just detail, really \u2013 and focus and determination and a winning mentality. Ross has obviously instilled some of that into the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe midfield scrap has always interested me \u2013 Williams, Toyota, Red Bull, Renault. I thought Renault would be better than they have been, I must say\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

True enough, and from the sport\u2019s point of view, the worst aspect of that has been that Fernando Alonso, as good a driver as there is in F1, has been relegated almost to the role of bit-player.<\/p>\n

Brundle agreed. \u201cYes, it\u2019s true, Alonso\u2019s being wasted at the moment. Mind you, I think, after the way he behaved at McLaren last year, he\u2019s getting his just deserts, quite honestly. <\/p>\n

I mean, what do you not do on your own doorstep? I think he handled that whole affair so badly \u2013 there\u2019s such an air of negativity about that whole group of people he\u2019s got around him\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Alonso\u2019s future in F1 has been the subject of much debate this season. There is all manner of talk about \u2018get out\u2019 clauses in his two-year Renault contract, suggestions that if certain performance parameters are not met, he can walk away at the end of this season \u2013 but where to? After all, Brown and Cameron will take holidays together before Fernando goes back to McLaren, and Luca di Montezemolo not long ago said \u2013 perhaps disingenuously \u2013 that Ferrari had no interest in changing the team in the foreseeable future. And as for BMW, the remaining team in the big three, well, Mario Theissen has confided that he has reservations about Alonso the team player, given the way he behaved at McLaren.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d Brundle shrugged, \u201cunless Renault can get back to something like their best, by the look of it Fernando\u2019s screwed. And that\u2019s a tragedy, because he\u2019s such<\/em> a pleasure to watch, isn\u2019t he? Those championship years were just extraordinary \u2013 he won races where he didn\u2019t have to pass a car, and that\u2019s pretty impressive. I\u2019m a huge fan of Alonso the driver, and in terms of the person\u2026 well, I\u2019m kind of getting over it. I thought what he did last year was shocking \u2013 there\u2019s some stuff you keep behind closed doors, and he didn\u2019t. I very well know what an extreme and complicated man Ron Dennis is \u2013 I\u2019ve been around him quite a lot, both as a driver and as a driver\u2019s manager. Ron\u2019s got a lot of qualities, but he\u2019s a bit of a challenge, as well. I can imagine the frustration Fernando felt, but that\u2019s Ron, and you\u2019ve got to manage it, haven\u2019t you? Other people have managed it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

He may be edging towards his fifties, but the racing driver in Brundle still abides. The weekend after the Spanish Grand Prix I texted him about something or other, and back came a reply, saying he was at Spa for a Formula Palmer Audi event. I took this to mean that Martin was simply accompanying his son Alex, a regular competitor in the championship, and it was only a couple of days later that I discovered he had actually taken part. According to various of his contemporaries, that put him somewhere between eccentric and loopy.<\/p>\n

Brundle clearly feels sorry for people like that. \u201cI just fancied driving something, and for me this was a no-brainer \u2013 I mean, who wouldn\u2019t want to drive Spa? I told them that if there was a spare car there, I\u2019d like to drive it. I was going there with Alex, anyway, and I took my kit with me \u2013 and there was a spare car\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have missed it \u2013 believe me, the memory of following my son through Eau Rouge at 150mph is something that will live with me for ever. How many opportunities like that come up? He\u2019s racing, and I\u2019m getting older, and all the rest of it \u2013 and here you are, racing against your boy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were several reasons for doing it, all of them positive, but of course the big downside would have been if I\u2019d been terribly slow or crashing into things or hurt myself. Every other weekend I stand up, and say, \u2018Alonso should have done this\u2019 or \u2018Hamilton shouldn\u2019t have done that\u2019, and there was a great danger \u2013 if it had gone wrong \u2013 of people saying, \u2018Well, he can\u2019t even keep a Formula Palmer Audi on the track \u2013 what does he know any more?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Liz Brundle was at Spa with her husband and son, and loved it, according to Martin. \u201cShe misses racing terribly \u2013 she was an unusual racing wife, in that she came for the racing, not for the shopping. She really enjoyed the weekend \u2013 apart from the fact that every time a red flag came out, there was a one in 10 chance it was one of her two men\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

That prompted thoughts of the Dunlop family. Not long before, Robert, brother of the late Joey, had been killed in practice for the North West 200, and I was surely not alone in being stunned to learn that, two days later, his son Michael then went on to win the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re made of different stuff, those road racers, aren\u2019t they?\u201d Brundle mused. \u201cIt\u2019s like a calling, isn\u2019t it? A religion. Joey died on a road circuit in Estonia. I ride a bike a lot, and faster than I should. And yet, believe it or not, I got whacked in London recently, doing about 20mph, and it really got my attention, believe me. I was hit by a woman pulling out of a junction, and got knocked across the other side of the road. I didn\u2019t hit anything, and didn\u2019t even come off, but even at that speed the impact gave me quite a whack, and the idea of coming off a motorbike at 180mph \u2013 on a road circuit, with trees and stone walls and all the rest of it\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not as though they make a shed-load of money, either. I\u2019m full of admiration for them, because they do it purely for the love of it, and they\u2019re prepared to take the risk. I wonder if they believe it\u2019ll always be somebody else, or if they\u2019ve absolutely come to terms with the fact that it could be them. It\u2019s a bit like F1 in the \u201960s and \u201970s, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe balancing point, though, is that Steve Hislop died in a helicopter, and Mike Hailwood died on a Saturday night, going out for chips. I really believe that when your number\u2019s up, that\u2019s it. If I think back to some of the shunts I had, and some of the shunts I saw\u2026 I\u2019m a complete fatalist. It\u2019s just the luck of the draw, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

One of the most appealing aspects of the Goodwood Festival of Speed is the sheer unlikelihood<\/em> of the whole thing. Who could ever have imagined the sight of a Formula 1 car, being driven \u2013 and with some anger \u2013 along a narrow strip of asphalt through a country estate?<\/p>\n

As well as the novel surroundings, there is also the ingredient, increasingly unfamiliar in the F1 of today, of proximity<\/em>. People attending the Monaco Grand Prix for the first time invariably rave about being so close to the action, but Monaco, as we know, is a special case. Speeds may be modest, by F1 standards, for most of the lap, but nowhere is one so aware of the sheer violence of a Grand Prix car\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

These days at Goodwood the F1 runs tend to be rather more measured than was once the case, but still the impression of speed, particularly acceleration, is overwhelming. There is something very pleasing about the sight of a racing car in an incongruous environment, even when it\u2019s not hurrying.<\/p>\n

When I first started attending the Monaco Grand Prix, in the late 1960s, everything was very informal. At the \u201968 race I was in my hotel, at the top of the town, early on the Thursday morning when suddenly there was the distant scream of a racing engine. I headed out immediately, simply following the noise, and down on the harbour front, beyond the old Tabac corner, Jean-Pierre Beltoise was giving the brand-new Matra V12 a workout. First practice was still hours away, but, hey, this was a French driver in a French car, and needs must.<\/p>\n

There were a few police on hand, the odd official, and of course some of the Matra mechanics, and that was it. J-PB would squirt the car one way for 150 yards or so, then turn round, and repeat the procedure in the opposite direction. It went on for about 20 minutes, and I have never forgotten it.<\/p>\n

A year on, I was in the same hotel, having breakfast on the balcony, which overlooked a crossroads at the top of a steep hill. It was Friday this time, and early morning practice \u2013 then a traditional feature of the Monaco GP \u2013 had finished a while earlier. <\/p>\n

Back then there was no formal paddock in Monaco, such as we know today, and the teams were housed in a variety of garages around town. As I enjoyed my coffee and croissant in the sunshine, suddenly there was the shattering sound of a 12-cylinder racing engine. In the middle of the traffic, on the hill, was a Ferrari F1 car, and Chris Amon \u2013 holding it on the clutch \u2013 was very keen to proceed. The gendarme<\/em> on point duty instantly appreciated his problem, stopped everything else, and waved Amon through, the gorgeous red car leaving black lines as it vanished up the road. If only my camera had been to hand.<\/p>\n

In earlier days there were even fewer restrictions. I have a wonderful video, bought years ago, which tells the story of Amedee Gordini\u2019s under-financed, invariably chaotic, little team, and there is 1948 footage of Jean-Pierre Wimille giving his car a little test in the streets of Paris, at one point giving a hand signal to indicate his intention to turn left. And I was entranced to learn from Jabby Crombac that when, in 1952, Jean Behra\u2019s car was finished only after the truck had left for the Swiss Grand Prix, \u2018Jeannot\u2019 proceeded to drive it from Paris to Berne \u2013 where he finished third in the race!<\/p>\n

Italy, though, was something else again. Anywhere around Modena you were likely to see a factory Ferrari or Maserati sports racing car thrashing around, complete with \u2018PROVA\u2019 stencilling in place of a conventional number plate. It was all very stirring and romantic, and it would have given Dawn Primarolo the vapours.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons why I so adore Italy is that, even in 2008, something of that free spirit still abides, certainly to a greater degree than anywhere else. Thus I was not entirely surprised to learn of the arrangements made for the presentation of this year\u2019s Lorenzo Bandini Trophy.<\/p>\n

Named for the charismatic Ferrari driver who lost his life in the 1967 Monaco GP, this trophy is awarded not in recognition of a driver\u2019s successes, but in honour of his \u2018fighting spirit\u2019. Lorenzo\u2019s widow, Margherita, makes the presentation, and traditionally the ceremony, in the little town of Brisighella, was held over the weekend of the Grand Prix in nearby Imola, but even after the removal of that race from the F1 calendar it has continued, and this year the winner was Robert Kubica.<\/p>\n

Some genius working for BMW Italia came up with a terrific idea: wouldn\u2019t it be something, he thought, if Kubica turned up in his F1 car?<\/p>\n

This being Italy, getting authorisation was apparently the work of a moment, and thus Robert was strapped into an F1.08, and drove the 30 kilometres from Faenza to Brisighella. All right, there were some concessions to dull modernity \u2013 a police escort accompanied Kubica on the journey, and speeds were relatively modest \u2013 but often Robert gave the car a screaming burst of throttle, and I\u2019ll warrant that any kid who saw and heard him will never forget the experience.<\/p>\n

Not too easy to imagine something similar in Guildford or Harrogate, is it? Dawn & Co would never go for something so frivolous, so dangerous<\/em>. Italians tend to smile a lot: there may be a clue here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":753,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"tags":[39589,167,34089,229,34399,195,36846,22376,34088,24057,115462,34562,22563,6080,236,594,34370,35051,35302,34611,91482,38449,35822,41251,34228,37735,35731,35085,35032,35269,34786,22111,35729,35885,35958,227,36061,35162,37627,509,116148,115532,115479,115680,116123,115466,228],"issue_decade":[121591],"issue_year":[121626],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content\/34127"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/issue_content"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/753"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34127"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content\/34127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":243620,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content\/34127\/revisions\/243620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34127"},{"taxonomy":"issue_decade","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_decade?post=34127"},{"taxonomy":"issue_year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_year?post=34127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}