GRID-SIDE MAGIC WITH PETER WINDSOR AS LEWIS HAMILTON TAKES SECOND
There are very few things that will get me outta bed at 4:30 AM, and Peter Windsor is one of them. My fearless grid-boy once again proved worthy of a early wake up call, as he worked the Formula One European Grand Prix from Valencia Spain like a true champ. Sticking his microphone where others only dare to go, interrupting racers without trepidation and asking whatever comes to mind…as always, Peter Windsor was flawless.
He began with one of my new favorites-Italian Jarno Trulli…one word for this on-the grid-interview: priceless…Windsor approaches Trulli who is in the midst of ‘doing some sort of warm-up.’ Windsor opens the conversation: “Jarno, it’s going to be a long hot day, it looks like?” Jarno laughs-with an accent: “Yesss, it look liiiikkkkke, it feel liiiiikkkkke…its going to be a tough race because anyway, its lonngggggg…its hotttttt, its harddddd…the circuittttt.” The long, hard, hot circuit Jarno refers to is the 3.4-mile path that runs through the streets of Valencia.
Windsor then tried to bust in on Nico Rosberg who wanted nothing to do with him cuz he was busy listening to ‘Three Doors Down’ on his iPod….Nick Heidfeld was happy to speak with Peter…there was a lot going on on the grid….Kazuki Nakajima was going off for a bathroom break and P-dogg let him be….Sebastian Bourdais (yawn)…Kazuki Nakajima comes outta the bathroom with an ice pack down the back of his shirt to ‘stay cool’…Windsor keeps yapping as he walks the grid and approaches…Nelson Piquet. Piquet is adorable, but even Peter couldn’t decipher what the hell he was trying to say: “Yeah, obviously I wanna qualify better and my goal is to be as close to the front as possible but ah, also close to Fernando is good if we’re in the back that means the cars no good, Fernando’s close to me and I think that’s a good reason, its not good when Fernando is qualifying in top five and I’m not even in Q2, tough weekend for us, but its a street race, lot of things happen around here so we have to have a bit of luck.” Huh? What? Windsor: “Thanks a lot Nelson, I think I got the gist of what he was trying to say anyway.”
The new track is very smooth, not a lot of grip, 25 crazy turns, narrow in parts, just under 3.4 miles, 122-mph average speed, hairpins, quick corners…all in all, according the experts, a ‘fantastic track.’
Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa started in row one. Massa held off Hamilton from the gate, while the drama that is Formula One unfolded harshly when Kimi Raikkonen sped outta his pit stop with the fuel hose still connected to his car, injuring several mechanics as he did so. A few minutes later, with only ten laps to go, his Ferrari engine blew up and he was smoked outta the race. But, the off-track story only adds to the drama…Felipe Massa’s engine failed during the race at Budapest, raising concerns over the Ferrari engines…
Kimi Raikkonen: “Not much to say after a day like this. It was definitely not the weekend I was hoping for but I do not believe that, despite this negative result, I am now out of the running for the title. There are still six races to go and sixty points up for grabs. We have seen that the situation change really quickly, even if I realize things are now more complicated. Today, I lost a place at the start and I was stuck in traffic for all of the first stint. Then, when I had a clear track ahead of me, I was able to push and was doing good lap times. At the second pit stop, I made a mistake and left before I should have done. Fortunately, Pietro (Timpini) is not too badly hurt. I wish him all the best and hope he gets better soon. In any case, it would not have changed anything as then the engine broke. Now we must concentrate on preparing for the next rounds and on improving our qualifying performance.”
Felipe Massa after winning: “It’s fantastic having won this race, especially after the disappointment of Budapest. The team did an amazing job in preparing for this Grand Prix and the benefits of that could be seen right from the very first day. Yesterday, I got pole and today the win, with the race fastest lap as the icing on the cake. You cannot ask for more especially at my one hundredth grand prix with every single one of them powered by a Ferrari engine.”
And Lewis Hamilton after placing second: “I can’t complain with second place today. This was a strong weekend for us despite my having a few problems health-wise, but we pulled through. The track was pretty difficult to overtake on, but I maintained the gap – our lap times showed that our overall pace was good, which was encouraging. Heikki and I scored 13 points today, which is very positive for the team, so I’d describe it as a satisfactory weekend for us.”
Adding to the satisfactory weekend was the appearance of ‘Grid Boys” as opposed to ‘Grid Girls”. The Grid Boys were added back in March in response to either the increase in female fans or in efforts to reach more female fans-depending on who you ask. In any case, I’d say the powers-in-charge have definitely gotten on the right track.
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As always, thanks for reading.
Delinda Lombardo
delinda@athlebrities.com