Phew…. Posted on July 4th
Crumbs, there is so much going on, it is difficult to know where to start(and the day-job is getting a bit lively).
In bullet points this is what has happened in chronological order at Silverstone so far
* Lewis accepts a challenge from Jenson to do a triathlon for charity and is then promptly withdrawn from it by his father and manager Anthony(very poor PR - underlines again the very obvious reality that “team Hamilton” needs its own full-time media consultant).
* DC announces his retirement at the end of this season when he is widely believed to be joining the new BBC television team as paddock-based expert in place of Mark Blundell(who has joked recently that he has brought a new sofa, all the better to watch the racing next year from home).
* Mosley writes to the teams setting out a radical overhaul of how Formula One is going to be run and gives them three months to write a new set of technical regulations.
* Bernie and Max reveal that they have called a truce as we exclusively report in today’s paper. Is this a real end to hostilities or a temporary ceasefire? Why did it happen? I understand the two men met after three months of cold war. Whose idea was the meeting? One thorn in Bernie’s side that remains is the Formula 2 championship. Will this be quietly forgotten?
* Practice session one. A warm dry morning sees Felipe head the time-sheets only to have a dangerous high-speed crash at Stowe when his left-front wheel skidded on oil left by Fernando’s exploding engine. The Brazilian hit the tyre wall quite close to where Michael Schmacher had his big shunt in ‘99. There was big damage to the rear of Felipe’s car but apparently none to him fortunately - a big setback for him which will leave him on the back foot for the rest of the weekend.
* The FIA announces that the British Grand Prix is safe but that it will move to Donington Park from 2010, a possibility first mooted during the French Grand Prix. This has left the press room stunned. Clearly Bernie has totally lost it with what he calls “shitty” Silverstone. My guess is that this will be a hybrid deal where Bernie will take over Donington during Formula One weekends and will plough a good deal of his own money into the place in return. There is a huge amount to do and there are some in the media centre here who do not believe the move will ever happen.
Err..that’s it for now. Whatever next? Lewis signs for Ferrari???