The Grand Prix on the weekend was great. I used to follow F1 religiously (my family as well) and we'd watch every race, but when Schumacher and Ferrari started running the sport I tuned out. I hate Schumacher and seriously, watching him win Grand Prix after Grand Prix was like watching a shark let loose in a coy pond. I reckon F1 was more entertaining from the '70s to the '90s- there were more teams, great drivers (Stewart, Lauda, Villeneuve Snr., Mansell, Prost, Rosberg, Senna) and the drivers weren't the PR-spinning robots that so many of them seem to be today. In a recent issue of F1 racing, Damon Hill made a valid point when he said he was concerned about big businesses taking over F1 teams- would they be more inclined to hire the driver who can win them races and really push it to the ragged edge or would they go for the driver who can sell more of their product? F1 needs a real character, someone like a cross between Alex Zanardi and Ayrton Senna. The reason Jean Alesi had such a large following was because he would express his emotions for everyone to see, instead of the "Oh well that's motor racing, hopefully we'll have better luck next race" line that gets spun over and over these days. Hakkinen and Schumacher crying visibly at Monza in '99 and 2000 respectively- we need more of that- dare I say it- even some biffo would be good!
