Translated material
From city to village
In Belgium, Raikkonen wants to return what he lost in Valencia
The Olympic Games, which overshadowed all other sporting events in August, have finally ended, and now one can turn attention to other sports that are not so close to the Russian fan, such as fencing or archery, which are included in the Olympic program, but nevertheless have an incomparably large army of fans. And although there are no Russian drivers in Formula 1, this does not make the audience’s emotions any less acute.Next weekend the next start will take place in Belgium. But the emotions from the previous stage have not yet subsided. The closing of the Olympics coincided with the debut race in Valencia, therefore, although this start was expected with special feelings - impatience, curiosity, hope, it somehow went unnoticed. However, maybe this is for the best, since the spectacle turned out to be not the most impressive. The idea of holding a Formula 1 stage in crowded city streets is not original and has not found support in the governing circles of this sport for a long time. But in order not to waste interest in their type of auto racing on the part of spectators, and, ultimately, on the part of sponsors, the people responsible for the prosperity of the Royal Racing have to look for new ways to develop and popularize it. And one of these moves was the decision to bring racing closer to people.
To save the fan from the need to go to a remote hole by European standards, wasting a lot of precious weekend time in traffic jams and the desire to undergo this test next time, the owner of the commercial rights of F1, Bernie Ecclestone, turned his attention to the half-forgotten, half-forbidden topic of city tracks. The search for a metropolis whose authorities would undertake the organization of such a very difficult and costly event was carried out for several years. Among the cities that fell into Bernie's sphere of interest were London, New York, Las Vegas, Paris...
However, the difficulties of holding the Grand Prix in these cities many times exceeded the possible profit, and these projects were not destined to come to fruition. But the authorities of the less pretentious and densely populated Valencia considered that they were able to solve such a problem, and the city could use an additional influx of tourists from among the fans of the Grand Prizes. In addition, two championship titles of the Spaniard Fernando Alonso allowed Spain to qualify for two of its own stages of the championship. By the way, this is another departure from the trends that the owners of the Bolshoi Circus have been adhering to recently: after all, they previously stated that two Grand Prix in one country would no longer be held. But once the rules are broken, then to the end.
True, they did not deviate from one tradition of recent years: Hermann Tilke, a German architect, the author of all Formula 1 racetracks built over the last decade, was assigned to develop the project. Whether he coped with the task of fitting the track configuration into a limited urban space, without neglecting the requirements of safety and entertainment, only the race could show. Well, although the first pancake did not turn into a lump, it did not become a masterpiece either. Naturally, it is wrong to judge the full capabilities of the track based on one race, but interesting events that would make this Grand Prix memorable were clearly in short supply.
Most likely the track is not to blame for this. Sometimes even at the racetracks, which are considered exemplary in terms of entertainment, there is a calmness bordering on boredom. The confident victory of Ferrari driver Felipe Massa was remembered only for the fact that it interrupted the three-race winning streak of McLaren drivers. But the performance of Massa's teammate Kimi Raikkonen in Valencia will remain in the memory for a long time - the Finn hit his mechanic while refueling, and at the end of the race he was forced to retire due to a burnt-out engine. By the way, for the same reason Felipe Massa could not finish in Hungary. The team knew about the existing problem, but decided to take a chance. As a result, Kimi missed such important points in the fight for the championship title and now, six stages before the end of the championship, is 13 points behind the leader in the individual standings, Lewis Hamilton.
However, it is still premature for Raikkonen to think about resigning as champion. As always, when there is a noticeable advantage in one direction or another in the fight between two leading stables, various rumors appear, the authors of which, as a rule, are the top officials of the warring parties. This time there was talk about some superiority of Mercedes engines over competitors. 25 hp, which is said to make German engines more powerful than their closest pursuers (read Ferrari), most likely did not come out of thin air. Considering that the FIA has introduced a moratorium on engine modifications, the suspicion cast on the team is very serious. And a series of three victories is already considered almost as evidence in another possible scandal. However, everyone is already tired of scandals. Therefore, I want the championship to end in a fair fight at least this time.