#5; April Fool

Formula 1 is back once more. Luxurious lives, immaculately designed cars, the rich and famous, travelling in the world's most exotic locations in a sport that I deeply treasure s I've said before. We've had Australia, we've had drama and crashes and outrage and glory, upsets and excitement galore. Yet what we've had already more than anything is off track action. Appeals, decisions, lying, deceiving, the list could go on and we're not even a week into the sport. I absolutely love the sport, and I'm not going to say 'Im not gonna watch this with all this crap!' at all. What I am gonna say in this blog entry is simple; Why, lewis? Why Mclaren?

What good did you achieve from lying about what was said over the pit radio? This is a new, transculent era of formula 1 where everyone will hear what's going on. We don't need lying to dirty a sport that's rebuilding in the face of a horrid economy. The sport is growing, and whilst its changes has the obviously criticisms from many fans, it is trying to step forward into an exciting future based on the challenges everyone has right now. What good is it going to do saying one thing to the (albeit frustrating) regulators of our loved sport then providing the pit radios showing something else?

I think Lewis is a good driver. I'm not a fan but I respect what he has done in that car and for the team. What I don't respect is how both he nd his team knew exactly what they were doing and now, whilst they admit to it, they have faced a pretty lenient penalty personally. Mclaren have already had a fair share of controversy with the Spying affair that spoilt the sport a few years back, and whilst this new affair isn't anything on that level by any means, it's just a shame to see the team in the headlines once more. In a weekend that was truly glorious for seeing the Brawn phoenix rising from the Honda flame in a 1-2 highlight, we had more headlines discussing Lewis and Mclaren than we did celebrating the rebirth of Jenson Button's damaged career. As a Brawn fan it upsets me, as a Formula 1 fan it frustrates me.

I also feel very sorry for Jarno Trulli. I'm a fan of Trulli but from the very start of this he seemed completely innocent about the whole affair. He's a nice guy, and I'm not disputing that Hamilton isn't because he seems a nice fella as well, but it's hard to take the nice guy seriously if he's going to lie about something so sly. Trulli is a Formula 1 veteran, and yet we have the world champion who is still relatively new to ther sport considering it's his 3rd season, using his and the teams lies for one-up-manship over someone who deserved that position just as much as Lewis did personally.

The sooner we can all move in from this the better. Lewis hd admitted his part, Whitmarsh has said what he had to say and now sporting Director Dave Ryan has been suspended. Yet the respect that I had for McLaren as a solid Formula 1 team with a rich history once more gets damaged. I'm no person to this whole scanda at all, but I won't be the only person looking at this with a feeling of shame for Mclaren. The only April Fools I find hard to laugh at this year are these individuals. For shame.

Well that's my mini-rant over at Mclaren... I've noticed that a lot of this has become very Formula 1 related. My apologies if that seems annoying but it is a huge part of my life and one I can become very vocal over.

Phew. Hope everyone has had a good week, it's nearly Easter as well! I have the day off work today which is marvellous and I'm looking forward to this weekend's grand prix and also to a visit to london on the 15th with fellow members of the Sidepodcast community which should be a great day out! There's been a lot on my mind as well latelythat I might write up about over the weekend but we'll see. Right now I just want to lay down, have a cup of tea, and wish for these silly scandals to go away!