It’s a risky business…
This is risky business. But I have carried out the necessary risk assessment and, just for a laugh, I’m hitting you with some lists.
First, a confession. I make a lot of lists. I run a lot of my life from these lists. This is not so much because my memory is failing but more because these lists help me to achieve more, to be more productive each day. Sad it may be, but there is something satisfying about ticking off the tasks at the end of a day. To make matters even sadder, I never go anywhere without a pen and a notepad. Before this regime, many ideas and inspirations were forgotten, many important names and numbers consigned to scraps of paper that made no sense.
Here, then, is a list of the highlights of 2008:
1. Sebastien Vettel winning at Monza
2. Felipe Massa’s conduct after the Brazilian Grand Prix
3. Allan McNish winning Le Mans
4. Adrian Sutil heading for the points in Monaco
5. Valentino Rossi in the rain at Indianapolis.
6. The Goodwood Revival
7. Fernando Alonso winning in Singapore
8. Formula 3 cars in the rain at Pau
9. The atmosphere at the A1GP race in Durban
10. Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner at Laguna Seca
And the low points of 2008:
1. The Grand Prix of Valencia. The race, not the place
2. Kimi Raikkonen barging into Sutil in Monaco
3. Subaru pulling out of the World Rally Championship
4. The FIA announcing the move to Donington during the British GP
5. Kimi Raikkonen hitting the wall in Singapore
6. The whole weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix
7. Penalties for overtaking
8. Audi pulling out of the ALMS in North America
9. GP2 races not broadcast on mainstream terrestrial TV
10. Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton not sharing the World Championship
And I predict, here’s the risk, that these will happen in 2009:
1. Sebastien Vettel will win a race for Red Bull Racing
2. Robert Kubica will be in the hunt for the World Championship
3. The Honda F1 team, in some different guise, will race in 2009
4. Sebastien Loeb will race a Peugeot 908 HDi sports car
5. David Richards will return to Grand Prix racing
6. Toyota will withdraw its F1 team at the end of the year
7. Jonathan Palmer’s new F2 series will be a success
8. Peugeot will win Le Mans
9. Fernando Alonso will win more than one Grand Prix
10. Valentino Rossi will sign a Ferrari contract
So, three more lists. Well, it’s that time of year, and boy, we need a merry Christmas. Feel free to disagree with all of the above ramblings.
Filed under: A1GP, Blogs, Formula 1, Motorbikes, Rally, Sportscars
Rob was brought up on racing, being taken to Goodwood as a small child and devouring his father’s copies of Motor Sport. During a career in newspaper, radio and TV journalism he created the ‘Track Torque’ motorsport show on radio and was Indycar commentator for Eurosport before co-founding the Festival of Speed and Revival events. He was marketing director of the Goodwood Road Racing Company. 
Andrea Corbetta:
December 18th, 2008 2:16pm
Hello to everyone,
where is in the low points lists Lewis crash against Kimi in Canada?
Best Regards
Andrea
Aleš Norský:
December 18th, 2008 2:20pm
One thing I really don’t understand is why we need this new Formula 2. There is only so much money in the pot for all of motor racing, so why dilute it even more? All they need is to call GP2 F-2 instead. So, I don’t necessarily want to contradict you here, but I hope that this one will quietly disappear.
rob widdows:
December 18th, 2008 2:35pm
Andrea – problem is, my lists go on for ever, so I’ve restricted myself to a Top Ten. So you can add your highs and lows. But, yes, the incident in Montrealwas certainly a low point.
Ales – I think F2 will be much more economic and do the same job as GP2 does at a lesser cost. I’m not sure that either of them are actually necessary as I believe that is easier to adapt to the current generation of GP cars than it was in the past with turbo power and slicks.
I’m not saying it’s easy, just that it is perhaps not the qauantum leap it once was to go from F3 to F1.
There will be less motor sport in future, it’s simply an inevitable result of a major global econimic crisis.
RW
John Sorrie:
December 19th, 2008 12:07pm
Keeping on the positive theme, I’ll make two lists:
Highlights:
1: Rossi&Stoner at Laguna Seca
2: Lewis’s comeback at Monaco
3: Lewis’s drive at Silverstone
4: Vettel at Monza
5: The look on the Ferrari squad’s faces as Lewis crossed the line in Brazil (childish, yes, but you know which side of the fence I sit on….)
6: (Agreement with Rob) Massa’s conduct in Brazil
7: Troy Bayliss, generally
8: Silverstone Classic and the fact it’s on TV
9: Goodwood Revival, as entertaining as ever
10: One N Roebuck retaining a sense of perspective with knowledge and insight throughout the year
Thoughts/hopes for 2009:
1: The new aero package and slicks will improve racing immeasurably.
2: Williams will make their way up the grid
3: Nicky Hayden will master the Ducati
4: Rossi will decide F1 is not for him but will try various other types of racing (DTM, Le Mans, etc)
5: The BBC will provide excellent coverage with TV appearances from Mr Walker.
6: Eddie Jordan will be threatened with legal action by the FIA for speaking his mind
7: It will rain at Spa
8: KERS will be postponed until it actually works properly
9: The mooted Rossi v Bayliss contest will go ahead
10: Motor sport (the sport, not the mag!) will come back in a purer, more concentrated form after surviving the economic situation. Racing will be better, cars more straightforward, budgets slahsed, technology binned.
Aleš Norský:
December 19th, 2008 1:16pm
Whether F-2 or GP2 goes away does not matter, as long as one of them goes. I realize that all those drivers need to race somewhere, but we do not need two series at that level. John Sorrie, I respectfully disagree with your #2 highlight. Hamilton was actually lucky to be forced to pit at that particular time, as it gave him a sizable advantage just a few laps later. No to take anything away from him, but I would not call it a great comeback drive by any means.
John Sorrie:
December 19th, 2008 1:37pm
Ales,
I fully appreciate the luck involved in Lewis’s drive at Monaco, but, as JYS would say, you make your own luck.
He was lucky but also made the most of the circumstances and I think the drive itself (the car control, etc) was deeply impressive. I wonder if the other title contender, in the same circumstances, would’ve got the same result?
AJ Ball:
December 20th, 2008 10:32am
More highlights:
The IRL-Champcar merger. Given the current financial situation it looks even more like the only sensible move.
Allan McNish at Petit Le Mans. Drive of the year surely.
Carl Edwards beating M. Schumacher at the RoC? Believe it or not!
The biggest lowlight has to be the penalty for Bourdais in Fuji for hitting a Ferrari that turned in on him.
Quote of the year: “The kid’s gotta change his attitude with the media. He’s happy, he’s friendly, he answers your questions, he shakes hands with the sound man, he shakes hands with the camera man and the interviewer and thanks you for the interview. He’ll give Grand Prix drivers a bad name!”
Nicholas D'Amato:
December 22nd, 2008 12:24pm
One must-add highlight, Rob. On par (or better!) than McNish at Le Mans was his barely believable drive at Petit Le Mans here in the States. I hope someone broadcast that race for everyone over there.
Thanks, and feel free to put up more lists. Risk or not.
rob widdows:
December 23rd, 2008 1:34pm
OK, right. Someone has to do it, and I may as well be the first.
So, HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY and let’s all pray for a healthy and peaceful New Year.
And thanks everyone for all your ‘blogs’, comments and observations. It’s been a good year for Motor Sport magazine and we are gradually getting to grips with the new-fangled internet communications….!
A wee bird tells me that number 5 on my list of predictions is on its way to becoming a reality.
So let’s have one more prediction. We will all love our motor racing in 2009, just as we always do, despite all the misgivings and grumbles about the FIA and the silly politics.
Most of us have a sense of history, and that always helps to put the modern era into some kind of perspective.
Have a great holiday, wherever you are!
RW
rob widdows:
December 24th, 2008 1:41pm
Just packing up for the Christmas holiday and saw that Ed, our trusty Lord of the Web, had left a message of seasonal greetings. And a thought occurred to me.
We should all be grateful, as we come towards the end of another year,to the folk that comprise the newly-formed FOTA and the FIA. Why? Because at last, and not before time, we are glimpsing the green shoots of some good sense. From the barmy profligacy of the past ten years may come a more workable, more practical era of Grand Prix racing. At last the teams are working together to start reducing costs and to bring back some sense of reality to the business of going motor racing at the highest level.
We are by no means out of the wood yet but FOTA and the FIA are moving in the right direction. In years to come, when some as-yet unknown teenager is winning the World Championship, we may be grate ful that, in 2008, the racers and the politicians decided to slim down, and save our favourite sport.
Happy Christmas.
RW
rob widdows:
December 31st, 2008 1:44pm
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!
OK, it’s not a new year yet in the UK but it is already 2009 in many parts of the world. So, Happy New Year and let’s hope that all our governments and/or rulers will strive for peace, and some prosperity.
And let’s hope that motor racing survives the global economic challenges to come through and thrill us all with some great events.
Resolutions? I’m compiling a list, as ever.
RW