F1 - England - Silverstone - 2006

I watched yet another awful Formula 1 race, this time at Silverstone.
There were no overtaking maneuvers! Because of this, from my point of view, there was no real race. Instead, there was a slow, boring, parade of déjá vu cars.

I remember the Turbo days and the way Mansell’s Williams Honda S’sssed the fastest Silverstone corners, with such dare, that one could almost hear the car crying. I remember the nearly palpable road rage between Prost and Senna. I am not old enough, but in the late 1960s, there were circuits where cars could fly, on the wrong hands! These memories cast huge shadows on current F1 races and racers. I am sorry Alonso, but each win you achieve is shallower than Schumacher’s; and each win Schumacher ever achieved is worth less than one Senna’s… and Senna’s are worth less than Prost’s… and so on, until the late 1960s.

From the 1960s until the present, it all got so much biased towards “safety”, that you can find urban drivers taking more chances than any modern F1 driver, on the streets of Lisbon or Rome, when returning home, after work. The sad truth is that modern F1 drivers are nothing but 250 kph taxi-on-rails drivers. Pussycats?

This Sunday, Button’s Honda endured a dozen laps, before literally exploding, despite its below 300 kph top speed! Come on!, half of today’s street cars can do 250 kph. What does F1 stand for?! NASCARs’ are faster and much more spectacular; and I am not thinking of oval tracks!– I am thinking Sears Point and Watkins Glen! WTCC features more cars and skin-to-skin action. WRC is where testosterone is really needed… So, again, what is F1’s essence?

I’ve never, ever, been closer to saying a definitive goodbye to F1.

Red Bull gives you brakes

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