Tuesday, October 10, 2006 Pages: Formula One lessons I’ve learned By John Pgages Matchpoint
“It’s not like the world's going to stop spinning,” said David Coulthard of Michael Schumacher’s retirement from Formula One racing.
Coulthard’s right. The earth will continue to spin around its axis, with or without Schumacher. But—and this I’ve concluded—it will be a boring and aimless spin, similar to 2003 when the NBA forever lost Michael Jordan.
For this I’ve learned: Michael Schumacher is Formula One.
The other day, after a couple of seasons of not having watched, I made sure to sit by 12:30 p.m., slump my back to the couch, and lock my eyeballs to Star Sports for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Before the race began, we all understood this was a two-man debate: Schumacher versus Fernando Alonso. All the other drivers were mere road pawns who existed to provide traffic. This was all Schumacher and Alonso. Ferrari and Renault.
The 37-year-old versus the 25-year-young. Experience against Persistence. A seven-time champ facing the reigning champ.
“Schumi” versus “El Nano.” It reminded me of a similar rivalry—Roger Federer (arguably the greatest ever and he who wears red) against Rafael Nadal (the upstart who, like Alonso, hails from Spain.) Most of all, this was a battle between two shades: Red and Blue.
Schumacher is red. His all-time favorite movie, The Silence of the Lambs, is about red-blood. And so the Suzuka race track was littered with blood. The giant billboard spelled “Fuji TV.” It was red. So were Marlboro and Vodafone. Even the checkered bumps at the corners were white and red.
Blue? Ahh. While Schumi’s blood ran red, Alonso’s was as cool as blue. His Renault was blue. So were the dozens of billboards who clapped each time he passed: Fosters, Panasonic, Allianz, RBS—all blue. Same with, as if a good omen from the heavens, the blue sky from above.
With two races left in the season, Schumacher and Alonso were tied at 116 points apiece. How closer can a race get? How thrilling can a finale get?
The race blasted off! The sound reminded me of cats that whizzed, of F-16 jets that roared. The giant go-karts skidded, they danced left and right, they rocketed past one another and zoomed. Goodbye? “Goodbye,” said one engine to the other.
Now 60 years old, F1 racing is forever young. And never boring. So unlike NASCAR racing. Did you watch the Pixar animation film, Cars? That was fun. Not like NASCAR where the robots go round and round and round (think 500 circles at the Indy 500). In F1, you dart on a two-mile-long stretch, brake on a turn, twist the wheel, punish that pedal, and fly. In America, it’s less about “The Man” and more about “The Machine.”
In F1, you’ve got Speed. Literally, “Speed.” There’s a race driver named Speed. There’s another named Christijan Albers whose back tire exploded and jumped to greet the sky. He emerged unscathed. What I enjoy most? The pit stop. Here in Cebu, whenever I go to the local station for a tire change and full tank, it takes hours. Formula One? Changing tires and loading 68 liters of fuel takes all of 7.2 seconds.
Whoa!
These guys never lose concentration. They zip past 310 kph and, for roughly the 5,400 seconds (that’s one-and-a-half hours) it takes to finish the race, they focus. Imagine what a one-second lapse of concentration can cost you? Yes… your life.
One more thing: One of the best TV advertisements I’ve seen was an F1 ad: Two fighter jets streak across the sky, stalk each other and engage in a dogfight. The background voice says, “In a dogfight, a pilot experiences up to 5G over a minute.”
After disengaging, the fighter plane touches down on the deck of an aircraft carrier and transforms into a Formula One race car. The F1 car sprints along before making a 180-degree spin to a halt as Kimi Raikkonen steps out of the car, takes his helmet off and keeps walking. The background voice says, “An F1 driver experiences up to 5G for over an hour.”
Whoa! (You can look it up at www.YouTube.com and type “Johnnie Walker F1 Dogfight.”)
Back to the race: Felipe Massa and Schumacher, the two Ferraris, occupied the first two spots and never let the enemy scoot past them. Like two red ants, they whisked away from the insects. Massa led until (and as expected), he let the King Red Ant bolt to the front. Schumacher was in the lead. He led all the way. Alonso climbed to second place but was five seconds behind Schumacher. The German was less than 30 minutes away from capturing the title and only had 17 laps to go… when it happened. His engine burst into smoke. He parked to the side. He quit. After seeing Schumi walk out of his car, I felt deflated. I stood up, allowed my daughter Jana to watch the Disney Channel, and felt robbed.
