Being a fan of F1 I have to say that the final race of the season in the hi-tech high-monied setting of the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi was one of the most anti-climatic and sleep inducing ends to a Grand Prix season I can ever remember. For once, rather than watch the first and last 10 minutes of the race, I was determined to watch the lot in the vain hope that Alonso, Webber & Vettel all crashed out leaving the Swiss driver Lewis Hamilton to win. I actually nodded off about two thirds of the way in, so dull had it all become.
A procession from start to finish, the only small bit of excitement in the whole two hours being the Schumacher (why did he bother coming out of retirement?) Liuzzi crash on the first lap, where as a result of pit stops during the time the safety car was out, the vastly overrated Fernando Alonso (are all sportsmen called Fernando unlikeable?) found himself stuck behind a Renault for the rest of the race, and hardly ever threatened to pass, thereby waving goodbye to what would have been his third title. For the non fan, imagine the scene - M25 3pm absolutlely chocker, a Renault Espace is hogging the middle lane and stuck behind it is a Ferrari Testarossa (they knew how to name cars, these Italians!) or whatever the modern equivalent is, and despite gaps appearing in the third lane, in nearly two hours, it cannot get past -unlikely don't you think?
The Beeb, having paid big money for the UK TV rights, and as is the wont of all sports broadcasters, bigged up the race so much you'd think that Fangio, Senna & Graham Hill had come back from the dead and were battling it out with Stirling Moss and Nigel Mansell for the crown.
Although this season just finished at least produced a scenario where one of four drivers could have won the driver's title at the last race, and in the 9 months or so there were a few moments of genuine excitement, as ever the actuality was far exceeded by the hype. People rightly bemoan the stupid amounts of money paid to a few elite footballers, but compared to the automatons who "drive" (I use the word advisedly) their largely computer controlled tin boxes on wheels, Rooney et al are so poor they have to "lick street clean w'tongue" before being allowed to kick a ball.
One of the Beeb's articles on their F1 page laughingly reads "Could F1 2011 be even better?" Probably not, but, glutton for punishment that I am, I'll morgan (heheh) likely watch it anyway.
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