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Amazing Race

by | 12th, July 2004

‘“I AM amazed how the race went,” said Michael Schumacher after comfortably winning the British Grand Prix yesterday.

The start of the procession

Amazed?! Schumacher’s capacity for amazement must be something quite special if he is amazed by his tenth victory in 11 races this season.

The rest of us are only amazed that anybody bothers to turn up or tune in to what the Independent calls “the most expensive processions since the old Red Square parades of ballistic rocketry”.

The Telegraph says the only drama left in this Formula 1 season is over how many points Schumacher will accrue.

He has already notched up the ton in record time. A possible 17 wins in 18 races is very much on the cards, as is the championship by Monza in mid-September.

“Had Jarno Trulli’s Renault not disintegrated on the 40th lap,” the paper says, “Schumacher could have stopped for tea on his way home and still won.”

The Tour de France has been as dominated in recent years by Lance Armstrong as Formula 1 has been by Michael Schumacher.

But what the race fails to deliver as a sporting spectacle it makes up for in the constant bitching among the riders over who’s taken what drugs and when.

The Guardian says that each team has brought an average of 80 different kinds of (legal) medicines with it, with one team bringing 155.

They range from the likes of paracetamol and vitamins to cardiac dilators and pentoxifylline, a substance usually prescribed for memory loss among the aged.

Perhaps, the team is trying to recall a time when Armstrong wasn’t the champion.

Or perhaps, as the paper says, riders are turning to semi-legal methods to improve their performance.

Whatever, the result is likely to be the same – Armstrong is currently nine minutes off the lead but described the first week as almost perfect.

A description that could just as easily be applied to Michael Schumacher’s season.’



Posted: 12th, July 2004 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink