Wat een weekend was het! Een aardige rel in de Formule 1 die nog ongetwijfeld een staartje krijgt, en vermakelijke supportraces in Silverstone. Maar wij zaten gisteravond natuurlijk vol goede hoop voor de televisie: Oranje zou immers wereldkampioen worden. Niet dus! Dank je wel Howard Webb! Daarom vandaag uit protest geen blog. Maar morgen hebben we wel weer iets moois over een dame in de autosport, de laatste uit de periode van voor de oorlog die ik zal behandelen.
Maar eerst een aantal opmerkelijke uitspraken van afgelopen week.
“It was very simple – Alonso didn’t expect Hamilton to be that competitive in his first year. He told me at the beginning that it was my decision to sign a rookie like Hamilton, but that it could cost me the constructors’ championship. Fernando was calculating everything, but not that Lewis would challenge him. That affected him massively.” – Ron Dennis over de rivaliteit tussen Fernando Alonso en Lewis Hamilton in 2007.
“After the accident the boys [mechanics] put some messages on it, one of which was obviously ‘RIP’. But another read ‘You gave me the best day of my life [with the win in Monaco], and you also saved my mate.’ That says it all.” – Mark Webber over zijn Red Bull Racing RB6 waar hij in Monaco mee won, maar in Valencia hard crashte.
“I was on holiday with my girlfriend, and there was a great pool at the place where we were staying. I was swimming a lot, to keep up the fitness, but I was getting a bit bored with it, to be honest. So I started doing the worm, you know, going up and down with my head and body to get through the water. It’s quite good for the neck muscles, actually. So anyway, I started really getting into it, really going for it, flying through the water. And I wasn’t really paying attention to where the edge of the pool was…” – GP2 Series-coureur Sam Bird loopt rond met een flinke wond op zijn hoofd.
“I don’t see [the discrepancies in closing speeds] being a problem. When Alonso drove a Minardi, I think the difference was much greater than it is now between the top and the back of the queue, so for me it’s not an issue.” – Heikki Kovalainen relativeert de ‘traagheid’ van de nieuwe Formule 1-teams.
“We are working very much on our acting careers. It seems to be going very well because we are convincing all of you. He’s going to be James Bond and I am going to be the villain in the movie. Yes, we’re working on those roles.” – Lewis Hamilton geeft een dom antwoord op de domme opmerkingen van Mark Webber.