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YouTube - Micayla Johnson Overall Weapons Grands At Quebec Open 2009

Micayla Johnson Overall Weapons Grands at Quebec Open 2009

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The Most Memorable Grands Prix of the Last Three Decades

Observer motor sport correspondent Maurice Hamilton will cover his 500th grand prix, which is a fantastic excuse to share his 10 most memorable grands prix from a remarkable career that began in 1977

Dijon-Prenois, France, 1979Unforgettable final laps as Gilles Villeneuve and René Arnoux fought forsecond place. They were off the road more than on it, the Renault andFerrari banging wheels and having fun. If it happened today, the FIAstewards would have a collective fit.

Jarama, Spain, 1981Outrageously talented but usually without a car to match, Villeneuve somehow managed to keep his cumbersome Ferrari in the lead and ahead of a train of cars for the final 30 of 80 exhausting laps.

Monte Carlo, Monaco, 1982Alain Prost led until the Renault spun. Riccardo Patrese took charge — and spun. Didier Pironi moved ahead, but the Ferrari ran out of fuel on the last lap. As did the next leader, Andrea de Cesaris. Patrese, who had been push-started, crossed the line first — and didn’t know he had won.

Adelaide, Australia, 1986A race-long fight for the title with all three contenders, at some stage, being in a position to become champion. Nigel Mansell went out with a spectacular puncture. Nelson Piquet was then in line until a pit stop. Alain Prost, the outsider, ran out of fuel as he crossed the line to win.

Suzuka, Japan, 1989Ayrton Senna and Prost finally had a chilling head-to-head, the McLarens absolutely flat out with Prost leading most of the way, Senna desperate to keep his championship alive. After the inevitable collision Senna continued and fought back to the front, only to be excluded. An exceptionally tense afternoon.

Suzuka, Japan, 1994In treacherous conditions, Damon Hill led the last lap. If he slid off, his championship chance and reputation would be finished. The restarted race was to be decided on aggregate time. Hill had to finish three seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher and drove the lap of his life against unseen opposition and won by 3.3sec. Nerve-racking to the end.

Hungaroring, Hungary, 1998To beat McLaren, Ferrari employed a three-stop strategy as opposed to two for McLaren. Schumacher had to pull out 25 seconds in the 19 laps before his third stop. He drove each lap as if it was a qualifying lap; a superb demonstration of his skill.

Indianapolis, US, 2001Chosen, not for the race, but for the occasion. The first major public gathering, two weeks after 9/11. Around 225,000 people turned out, nervous, but defiant. The pre-race emotion made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. After dithering over whether to cancel, it was the finest thing F1 has ever done.

Suzuka, Japan, 2005No coincidence that this race track, one of my favourites, features so strongly. It promotes breathtaking racing, none better than the overtaking moves by Fernando Alonso and then Kimi Raikkonen as he took the lead on the last lap.

Silverstone, Britain, 2008Chosen as a representative of many great occasions at a classic venue, but also as a perfect example of Lewis Hamilton’s exceptional ability on a wet track in a race full of drama.

Tags: Decades, Grands, Last, Memorable, Most, Prix, Three

Spanish Condemn Racist Abuse in Face of Threat to Grands Prix

The bitter row which threatened to engulf both the Spanish grand prix at Barcelona on April 27 and the inaugural European grand prix at Valencia in August, possibly leading to the cancellation of both races, eased yesterday after the Spanish motor sport authorities moved quickly to condemn the racist taunts directed at Lewis Hamilton when the British driver was testing his McLaren-Mercedes at the Circuit de Catalunya last Saturday.

The controversy over the racist taunts directed at Hamilton had intensified yesterday after the FIA demanded a full explanation from the Spanish motor sport federation as to how the unpalatable events unfolded in the grandstand opposite the pits during the test.

Max Mosley, the president of the sport’s governing body, insisted the Real Federación Española de Automovilismo deliver a detailed plan of action to ensure there would be no repeat of the verbal abuse directed at the 23-year-old driver.

The RFEA responded in robust fashion, distancing itself from the xenophobic behaviour of this small minority of fans.

“The federation wants to show its absolute repulsion at these incomprehensible incidents and demonstrate its support and solidarity for the McLaren team and especially their driver Lewis Hamilton,” the Spanish statement read, earning the approval of the FIA mandarins.

“This type of idiots that are confusing sporting rivalry with violence should be aware that the federation has a zero-tolerance approach to this issue. Car racing is a sport where events that divert from cordiality between fans and drivers and teams will not be allowed. The RFEA wants to make clear that the protagonists of this event were a very small group that doesn’t represent the thousands of people who enjoy this sport in a fun and cordial way.

“The RFEA also wants to highlight the speed at which the circuit officials removed the offensive banners and the trouble-makers from the stands.”

The circuit authority said in a separate statement that it would not allow “even the smallest incident to repeat itself within its facilities”.

It said new measures would be in place for tests at the circuit in late February and the Spanish grand prix in April, and threatened legal action against any offenders in the event of sanctions being imposed.

Having taken some of the heat out of this unseemly affair, it now falls to the FIA and the Spanish authorities to work out a practical way of policing the spectator areas to ensure that there is no repeat of such behavior.

This may not be the work of a moment, any more than the sport could effectively control a spate of track invasions by fans during the 1990s.

On those occasions the governing body resorted to imposing punitive fines on the circuits concerned, but that is unlikely to work when it comes to dealing with racism when both the FIA and the track-owners are on the same side.

It appears the behavior may have been prompted by what some Spanish racegoers believe was the way in which McLaren showed favoritism towards Hamilton at the expense of their twice world champion Fernando Alonso during the 2007 world championship campaign.

For his part, Hamilton said he was saddened by the actions of the Spanish crowd. “The only thing that I have done is to try to give the best of myself and try to win the championship,” he told the sport life press.com website.

“At no point have I tried to deliberately prejudice Fernando but the fight has been very tough and my image in Spain has been severely damaged.”

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