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My motorbike ride home from Spa to Norfolk on Sunday night after the Belgian Grand Prix was very therapeutic.
I can listen to music in my crash helmet and so some Clapton was called for - it was great to see Eric on the grid - and then plenty of Deep Purple and a little Led Zep before migrating to my background music playlist.
Through all of that, I frequently thought about Mark Webber's pass around the outside of Fernando Alonso in Eau Rouge at 170 mph during the race.
How did he do it? Why did Alonso yield? Is Alonso thinking: "Next time, buddy, you'll be in the hedge"?
What would have happened if they had touched? Is there any point in my career where I would have done that? Would Webber have done it without modern safety cells and large run-off areas at the top of the hill?
Whichever way you look at it, that pass was spectacularly impressive, skilful, and brave.
Webber may not have won a race for more than a year but he won my eternal respect for that one.
I almost closed my eyes when I saw what was going down. The replay only made it worse when you realised how close the two were to banging front tyres. It's the kind of move which will be referenced for years to come, particularly when we revisit Spa.
The start of the race weekend was dominated by the news of Gachot’s conviction. “There was a great hullabaloo when we turned up because all the attention was on Gachot not being there,” says Gallagher.
“All the drivers were wearing white T-shirts with protest messages: ‘Let Gachot go’ and ‘Let Gachot out of jail’.” Similar messages had been scrawled by fans on the track.
Trevor Foster asked de Cesaris to take his new team-mate around the track in a road car, showing him the lines and when to change gear. De Cesaris never did find the time for his new team-mate, so Schumacher got a fold-up bike out of the boot of his car and set off around the track.
After two laps of the track under pedal power, Schumacher and his manager headed off for the evening. No accommodation had been provided for them so they stayed at a youth hostel just outside Spa.
Friday practice came and Schumacher was immediately on the pace. He ended the day eighth-fastest on a track he had never driven before.
The following day Schumacher qualified eighth, behind Ayrton Senna, Riccardo Patrese, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell, Gerhard Berger, Jean Alesi and Nelson Piquet. Patrese’s time was disallowed when the scrutineers found his reverse gear wasn’t working, which promoted Schumacher to seventh.
He was also two rows ahead of his veteran team-mate. Gallagher says, “That was notable because, obviously, de Cesaris was no slouch. And for Michael to arrive at a driver’s circuit like Spa and do such a good job was terrific.”
A good read for Michael Schumacher fans and F1 fans in general. You can see he loves the Spa circuit with his tremendous drive from the back of the grid on the weekend.
German Nick Heidfeld has been dropped by the Renault team in favour of Brazilian Bruno Senna for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.
Renault made a promising start to the 2011 season but their form has slipped amid rumours of funding shortages, which the team have denied.
While Heidfeld is on a salary, Senna, Renault's reserve driver, comes with several million pounds of sponsorship.
It will be Senna's first race since last season, when he drove for HRT.
The 27-year-old nephew of the late Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna is expected to race for Renault in the eight remaining races this season alongside Russian Vitaly Petrov.
It will be interesting to see how he goes in a better car because he didn't really sit the world on fire at HRT even when compared to his team mate.
“I would demand less pit-stops,” he underlines. “More attacking and pushing the cars to the edge; more racing and less strategy. Bring back refuelling; it is better to drive cars that are lighter – [and engines with] 1,300 horsepower. Big engines and big noise – that is what fans relate to F1.“The 1980s [were] dangerous, so drivers needed big balls – it was the era I watched on TV when I was little. To be honest, the 1950s and 1960s were a little bit extreme; the 1980s were the right time – the right balance between safety and extreme.
“I always liked going to Imola, but of course the memories of many in F1 of going there are probably not so good. In some ways, it is a bit of a 'dark track' after what happened there. Obviously, it is not the luckiest venue, but I think a lot of drivers would love to go back there for the atmosphere.
“To be honest, I always liked going to Magny-Cours, too. Even though many complained that it is in the middle of nowhere, the track layout was very nice – and I liked it because there were no groupies and no clowns walking around in their suits, it was just racing!”
The lack of refuelling is something fans like myself are missing. Drivers are having to be far too calculating and reserved in the early stages of the race to avoid damaging their tyres when the cars are full of fuel. While the racing has improved recently, it is simply down to the tyres and in some places the DRS system. We are seeing teams getting on top of the new tyres which degrade more quickly and as a result, they are getting increased milage from them. I tend to believe that if refuelling was reintroduced with the current regulations, we'd see racing improve to an even higher level.
“Obviously we haven't sat down and signed the contract, but ultimately I expect that to be a formality. I am very happy with the two drivers we have. They push each other hard and I can't imagine any other driver in our car, or Mark Webber in any other team's car next year,” said Horner.
Other than that, the RBR boss claims that Webber and Vettel are the two strongest drivers on the grid at least for the team and one has to admit that both of them do have this certain ‘chemistry’ as a result of which, they push the other drivers to improve even more.
“The dynamics between them tells us so. They push each other harder then perhaps some others, so we are very happy with that combination. They are now together in their third year and it is logical that we are looking to extend that,” he said.
The writing looks to be on the wall. Perhaps this will suit the timing of Ricciardo stepping up into the main event after a season and a half getting himself up to speed with HRT and Torro Rosso.
1986 Mexica GP - Stefan Johansson, Rene Arnoux, and Phillippe Alliot ride Nelson Piquet's Williams
“It is a chance for us at Red Bull to bounce back after Ferrari and Fernando Alonso came out on top at the British Grand Prix,” Webber wrote in a column for BBC Sport. “Irrespective of how good it looks for my team-mate in the Drivers' Championship and Red Bull in the Constructors' battle, you still don’t like being beaten.
“So it was not a particularly nice feeling on Sunday night at Silverstone - everyone put in their best effort and we got done. Ferrari and Fernando were very, very competitive there.
“Fernando's a wise old fox and he will definitely be a force in the next two races. I remember racing him back in Formula 3000 at the Hungaroring, which hosts the Hungarian Grand Prix the week after Germany, and he has always been very, very fast there. He is not too dusty around the Nürburgring either.”
It would be great to see Ferrari turn this championship on its head and start winning races. Red Bull have looked untouchable in qualifying but vulnerable in the races. Ferrari looked very strong in winter testing but failed to deliver on the track. It now seems they have overcome their difficulties and are now putting their best foot forward.
With the threat of rain again in the air this weekend, we may be in for another shock. We'll have to wait for a dry weekend to see if Ferrari are the real deal.
Red Bull is planning to pair Sebastian Vettel with his friend Kimi Raikkonen in 2012.
That is the sensational claim of the high-circulation German newspaper Bild-Zeitung, less than two days after Mark Webber ignored team orders at the end of the British grand prix.
2007 world champion and Finn Raikkonen, 31, left formula one at the end of 2009, and Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was quoted on Monday as saying "I believe he has put F1 behind him".
Bild said the plan to replace Australian Webber with Raikkonen is "top secret" but divulged the information of a source "at the highest level".
German Vettel remains friends with Raikkonen, the pair often meeting in Switzerland to play badminton. Asked recently who his ideal teammate is, the reigning world champion replied: "Kimi."
This seems highly unlikely but worth considering for a moment. Kimi is clearly at home with the Red Bull brand, and perhaps the reduced pressure of not being a Ferrari of McLaren driver might entice him back into the Formula 1 game.
The official trailer to the sequel of Formula 1 2010 has been released and looks to improve on an already impressive game. Formula 1 2010 fills the gaping hole left by Grand Prix 4 as a realistic simulator aimed at the enthusiast who knows the ins and outs of the sport and doesn't want just another arcade style driving game. Of course with the new season we have new rules and regulations and the game is said to reflect this with Drag Reduction Systems (DRS), Kinetic Energy Recovery (KERS) and of course the new tyres which won't go the distance compared with previous seasons. All in all it looks great and should be released towards the end of September.