On moves the F1 circus this time revisiting what is a lovely circuit in the country of Turkey. The Turkish Grand Prix circuit is something of a masterpiece on 3 fronts:
1 - it's produced such good races and has such a nice layout that no of the Clarkson purists are saying "Why are we going to bloody Turkey? We need to go to more traditional circuits" anymore.
2 - The design was perfectly laid out to suit the driving style of Felipe Massa who pretty much won all the time here.
3 - Everyone is so happy to be racing here that everyone is ignoring the fact that Turkey is a country in the grip of the Covid pandemic (400k case, 10k deaths and 2,500 cases just today), in the middle of a war with Syria, and has questionable human rights issues towards its Kurdish population.
I'm not and expert on these issue so can't preach about it but I am aware of them. I went on holiday just outside Bodrum once. It was lovely.
But what can I say about the actual race? Well nothing really because I've actually stopped watching F1 this year and just read about the races in my Google alerts. The whole thing is a big back slapping posh off excuse for an advert at moment. It's a real shame because the greatest F1 driver of the modern era is at his peak. The big business manipulation of the sport leaves him open to the "he only wins because of the car", "Anything could win in his position" and "he's not Jim Clark" comments which inevitable follow any mention of him on the internet. I'll be honest I doubt Lewis Hamilton watches F1 anymore. I really hope he walks away from the sport and goes to do something different.
So, despite there being nothing left to race for and everything being won, F1 will plod on for a handful more races to fill it's TV contract obligation and give not one hoot about a global pandemic, carbon footprint or that the amount of money spent on one simple advert logo in a spot unseeable on a car could feed a huge amount of starving families having to visit food banks right now.
Enjoy the race.
1 - it's produced such good races and has such a nice layout that no of the Clarkson purists are saying "Why are we going to bloody Turkey? We need to go to more traditional circuits" anymore.
2 - The design was perfectly laid out to suit the driving style of Felipe Massa who pretty much won all the time here.
3 - Everyone is so happy to be racing here that everyone is ignoring the fact that Turkey is a country in the grip of the Covid pandemic (400k case, 10k deaths and 2,500 cases just today), in the middle of a war with Syria, and has questionable human rights issues towards its Kurdish population.
I'm not and expert on these issue so can't preach about it but I am aware of them. I went on holiday just outside Bodrum once. It was lovely.
But what can I say about the actual race? Well nothing really because I've actually stopped watching F1 this year and just read about the races in my Google alerts. The whole thing is a big back slapping posh off excuse for an advert at moment. It's a real shame because the greatest F1 driver of the modern era is at his peak. The big business manipulation of the sport leaves him open to the "he only wins because of the car", "Anything could win in his position" and "he's not Jim Clark" comments which inevitable follow any mention of him on the internet. I'll be honest I doubt Lewis Hamilton watches F1 anymore. I really hope he walks away from the sport and goes to do something different.
So, despite there being nothing left to race for and everything being won, F1 will plod on for a handful more races to fill it's TV contract obligation and give not one hoot about a global pandemic, carbon footprint or that the amount of money spent on one simple advert logo in a spot unseeable on a car could feed a huge amount of starving families having to visit food banks right now.
Enjoy the race.
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