29/05/2007
FEATURE BY MIKE LAWRENCE
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The press box at Thruxton is a Portakabin. It is basic and, most of the time, is fairly quiet. Come the final round of the 1980 Vandervell British F3 Championship and it was Spanish in stereo with the volume turned up. It felt as though our little hut could shake apart.
Three drivers could take the title: Stefan Johansson, Kenny Acheson and Roberto Guerrero; Roberto had won five of the races.
Guerrero was the first Colombian to achieve anything in European racing so there were two Colombian radio stations in the Portakabin, it was one cramped space. Roberto's Mum went to one side of the hut to say her piece, then walked to the other side to reprise. So it went on, friends and relations, anyone with a Guerrero link.
The final placings were Johansson, 97 pts, Acheson 95 pts, Guerrero 95 pts; it had been a tight series.
We Thruxton hands were bemused by the Colombian broadcasters, so much excitement over Formula Three. There weren't Swedish or British radio stations trailing Johansson and Acheson, but they were right to be excited.
Sports journalists in the national media of any country have to compete for space. Spanish F1 correspondents thought all their birthdays had come at Christmas when Fernando Alonso appeared. Their stock rose, they received more column inches, they became part of the Alonso story.
Lewis Hamilton is hot news in Britain and part of the reason is that every F1 journalist in the national media is promoting him. It raises the profile of the journos and it promotes the sport.
I suspect that the same is going on in Brazil around Felipe Massa. British enthusiasts I speak to are knocked out by Felipe, but our media is interested only in Hamilton. One of the great things about motor sport is that enthusiasts tend not to be jingoistic. Fans are jingoistic, enthusiasts are not. The popular media is aimed at fans and is missing what some of us would regard as the real story, which is that the 2007 season is shaping to be the most fascinating for years.
We have rivalry between Hamilton and Alonso and Massa and Raikkonen. Down the grid there are similar stories. Ole Man Coulthard has been a revelation at Red Bull and one wonders if Mark Webber has a response over the season. Perhaps the ITV crew should be reminded that DC has won a few Grands Prix in his time. On the current grid only Alonso has won more.
The grid is filled with riches. There is Heidfeld and Kubica at BMW, Kovalainen and Fisichella at Renault, Button and Barrichello, and so on.
The fact that Lewis is doing so well, raises my profile. I recall when, at a party, I was asked what I did for a living I would mumble about writing about motor racing and people backed away. I switched to saying. 'I do the three card trick on a unicycle'. That got everyone's interest.
I have to live with my national media and Hamilton has put Formula One on the news agenda. On the morning of the Spanish GP, The Sunday Times had a superficial interview with Lewis in the Sport section. It was by Jane Nottage (avoid) and was as inept a piece of journalism as you are likely to read but, in case anyone missed it, a digest appeared in the News section. The article came down to three points. Lewis does not go out on the razzle, he prefers the company of family and friends.
This is not strictly true. He is a tuned athlete, handsome and personable, with testosterone by the bucket. He also spends time with his family.
Lewis is surprised, and bothered, by the attention the media is giving him. At some point in the future, it may be necessary for him to live abroad.
That was regarded as sensational. Grown Man May Leave Home. As a story it is not quite Pope Elopes! Even Jim Clark left his beloved farm to live in France to secure his financial future. Lewis hasn't moved. All he said is that he may move sometime in the future.
Lewis said that the paparazzi made him feel a prisoner in his own home. I must be missing something. He says that he is uncomfortable with all the media attention, so The Sunday Times runs it both in an interview and as a news story. Apparently, this is not excessive media attention.
The print medium has a problem. Newspapers used to be about news, but news is now available around the clock. To survive, print is now skewed towards the personality profile. A large proportion of coverage in the British national press is not about hard news, but about 'celebrities'.
A few years ago, one British paper described someone's 'brave battle against cancer'. It was a character in soap opera. The cancer was in the script. The actress playing the character was in fine health, all that was happening was that a character was being written out of a soap.
Some sections of print have a problem with what is real and what is their own creation. David Beckham used to be a footballer, he has now become a fictional character played by someone of that name.
The British news media is combining to both ruin my season and my pleasure in following the progress of an exciting new talent. I am becoming heartily sick of the name 'Lewis Hamilton'. I should be rejoicing in his considerable achievements, instead I am being driven to distraction.
On the morning of Monaco qualifying, the BBC text service ran a headline, Hamilton Third In Final Practice. Down in the story itself was the fact that Adrian Sutil had been quickest in a Spyker.
As a matter of general principle, first is better than third. We are told at every possible moment that Lewis came to Monaco having raced in only four Grands Prix, the same number as Adrian. Hamilton was third fastest in a McLaren, Sutil topped the session in, of all things, a Spyker.
The ITV crew devoted virtually the whole of the half hour lead-up to qualifying to Hamilton. Sutil's achievement was mentioned, he was interviewed briefly, and then we had to be told that Hamilton rates Sutil, a former team-mate.
Mika Hakkinen was interviewed. Most of us would have a few questions to ask Mika, among them how he was enjoying racing in the DTM series. Louise Goodman was interested on in what Mika thought of Hamilton.
Kimi has won for Ferrari this year and is a serious contender for the title. His name was not mentioned until qualifying got under way and his car was on the screen.
On race day itself there were interviews with Sir Stirling, Sir Jackie and Jude Law. Guess what was the topic of conversation. I'll give you a clue, it was not the dismal showing of Toyota and the fact that Ralf Schumacher's career seems on the slide. It was not how Nick Heidfeld has blossomed.
We were told that there was a huge crowd at Monaco because of the 'Hamilton Effect'. When was the last time there was not a huge crowd at Monaco?
As soon as the race itself was over, I switched off the set. I could not take any more. It's as bad in some newspapers. You expect it from some papers, but not from The Times or The Daily Telegraph, but Edward Gorman and Kevin Garside are front runners in the race for the Uriah Heep Tub of Lard.
Lewis Hamilton is not the only driver who has been quick straight from the box. Have a look at John Surtees's first season on four wheels. He raced cars only occasionally, his main job was winning the 350cc and 500cc World Motorcycle Championships.
Prost, Senna and Schumacher were no less impressive than Hamilton in their debut seasons, but they did not have the equipment that Lewis has. Remember also that there were far more mechanical breakdowns, even when Michael arrived in 1991, than there are today.
I don't want to take a single thing from Lewis Hamilton, he is superb. I just wish I could be allowed to enjoy his driving and I wish I could be allowed to enjoy the most fascinating season for years.
The media is building impossible expectations. Lewis is not in a sport, like golf or tennis, where everyone has equal equipment. Had he joined McLaren last year, it is unlikely that he would have had a third and four seconds over the season, let alone in his first five races.
Jenson Button is no less talented hauling around a dog of a car than he was when he became the nation's darling by winning the Hungarian GP last year. He is no longer flavour of the month. The British media virtually ignores Button as it does David Coulthard who is having a terrific season.
Make no mistake, the media is capable of dropping anyone it builds up. One characteristic of the British media is the frequency with which it does just that. I bet several newspapers have Lewis staked out because he is being promoted as too good to be true.
It's how some papers operate. Lewis is not the one making out that he can walk on water. He had a shunt during practice at Monaco and it made headlines. More than a quarter of the entire field had a shunt, but their lapses weren't subject to minute enquiry.
After only five Grands Prix, it is news that Lewis comes second to a double World Champion. I have long rated Alonso and I'm not going to stop. Fernando has won two World Championships and against Michael Schumacher at the height of his considerable powers.
The British media is being irresponsible. In some cases, their promotion of Hamilton is a form of self-promotion, they are hanging on to his coat tails. A story about Hamilton is likely to be printed and that means a by-line and column inches. We go back to the Colombian broadcasters in the Portakabin at Thruxton.
There was a time when the British pair, Torvill and Dean, dominated the world of ice dancing. I think it is debatable whether ice dancing is even a sport, but the nation followed them. After they retired from international competition, and we had no successors, ice dancing disappeared from the British media.
The media builds and the media destroys or, if you are lucky, merely ignores or forgets.
The media has so built up Lewis, and some people have become so dependent on him delivering, that I shudder to think what will happen if he proves to be very quick, but not quite World Champion quality. The list of drivers for whom greatness has been predicted is far, far, longer then those who achieve it.
In the meantime, I'd like to know why BMW Sauber has become such a force. I'd like to discover a bit more about Williams and how Toyota is reacting to being upstaged by a less wealthy team using its engines. Alex Wurz must have interesting things to say about returning to racing after several years as a test driver. I would have liked to have seen Adrian Sutil's lap in the wet practice session at Monaco.
Above all, I would like to be treated as an adult.
Mike Lawrence
mike@pitpass.com
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