Motorsport on Monday: 20/04/2015
Slightly held up but here for your evening reading pleasure the weekend's racing digested...
Last week, he was brisling with rage. This week, after what we can only imagine was a 'rather stern' talking to by Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda (would you like to be on the receiving end of a Lauda dressing down?), he was all smiles and cheery easiness. Yes, he said at the start, he'll take a punt on Lewis and Seb. Sure, he's in with a shot of winning. No, he's far from downbeat at being almost half a second off Lewis in qualifying.
Is Nico resigned to his fate or playing long game?
But how many racing fans would prefer the Nico of last week? The one where he's cheesed off and keen to fight the world-class brilliance sitting in the garage alongside him, rather than following the team line and apparently being happy with his lot? In Bahrain, it was almost as if he'd accepted that Lewis is on another level and there's little point in trying to take him on: not the approach you can imagine other closely-matched team-mates in the quickest car on the grid taking.
Or is it? Is Nico actually being smart here? Rather than rattling the team, is he thinking that accepting his lot during his current fallow patch might be the best way to get all he can while he works out his comeback? Lose a few battles to win the overall war? He is, traditionally, the thinking driver of the two, after all - your Prost, to Lewis's unabashed Senna-esque style.
Then again, Nico might just have realised that Lewis really is on another level, putting in brilliant performances that, in years to come, we'll all be talking about with Fangio-like reverence. How many of the rest of us realise we might be watching history in the making?
You, outside, now and all that
I went to the opening of Daytona Tamworth on Friday night, along with a battery of current BTCC drivers and support race stars. I was paired with Rafael Martins, who's currently finding his form in MSA Formula 4; like all the stars, he frustrated the hell out of me by doing things in a kart that, as I watched him, simply didn't compute.
It was quite cool to watch the BTCC gaggle though, which included Dave Newsham, Rob Austin and Derek Palmer Jr; the inevitably ended up bunched up together on the track, but raced very close yet very clean, with great dicing and some extremely respectful overtakes. Classy stuff.
So what changed yesterday? Because it was back to form for BTCC with more panel-rubbing than a car detailer's wet dream. Cars went off at all sorts of angles left, right and track centre, and the beautifully clean stuff between Shedden and Priaulx back at Brands a few weeks ago was but a distant memory. In Tamworth, the drivers showed they know how to classically race; at Donington, it was back to classic BTCC stuff.
Great, though, wasn't it? The purists will hate it but the BTCC has, invariably, always been about this. It's among the most controversial racing in the world, where elbows-out, bumper-to-bumper moves (that's front bumper to front bumper) are par for the course; that's why we love it and that's why so many tens of thousands go along to visit it. Let's face it, Brands was, at times, a bit dull to watch; not so Donington, where race three was seat-edge stuff that sent Twitter into a frenzy as sides were taken.
Even today, Andrew Jordan was still buzzing, despite yesterday musing on Twitter: "Somehow Matt Neal keeps the win. Interesting decision..." Love it or hate it, BTCC racing is not one you can ignore. Those guys know how to race - but they also know how to race BTCC; they're not the same thing and long may it be so.
Photos: LAT Photo
This year Rosberg was completely destroyed in qualifying when in 2014 he was stronger than Hamilton.
Is it just me or is this not a little strange.
Hamilton's contract is up and Rosbergs performance goes down.
Hmm.....
This year Rosberg was completely destroyed in qualifying when in 2014 he was stronger than Hamilton.
Is it just me or is this not a little strange.
Hamilton's contract is up and Rosbergs performance goes down.
Hmm.....
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