Proverbial

According to logic, a close basketball game should be more exciting than one where some team dominates the field from the get go. But at least in today’s NBA, where the last 3 minutes or so of a close game are dragged on indefinitely by intentional fouls and timeouts, that’s not the case at all. What you get is people being excited about the way this or that team plays, rather than enjoying the match-up on the court.

Today’s F1 grand prix, in Kuala Lumpur, reminded me of how that’s also the case with the race these days. Due to the efficiency of today’s cars’ brakes, and the ridiculous loss of control when riding on someone else’s vacuum, when you have two similarly capable pilots with similarly capable cars, you get a race where no one can overtake the next guy, and it all ends up being decided on the pit.

Which is why I was more than happy to see Felipe Massa’s first six laps, today. Instead of being patient and using some magical strategy to win, after dropping to third place at the start, the Brazilian pilot decided his only shot was to overtake Hamilton as quickly as possible and not let Alonso open too wide a distance.

The British rookie again showed impressive skills and was able to hold Massa off long enough for him to make a mistake and end up on the grass, now dropping to fifth, in which spot he would end the race. Some will say that proves what a stupid decision it was, and I won’t disagree. But the thing is, that was the most exciting race I’ve watched since Schumacher threw his car at Damon Hill’s in 1994.

Being only a spectator seeking entertainment, I can only hope for things like that to happen at every race. After all, who doesn’t have fond memories of Nigel Mansell?