I find it impossible to think that this is it. I said to Harriet, as I packed my bag for the final race of this year, that 2010 has been the fastest 12 months of my life.
I can vividly remember eating pizza in a small restaurant in Richmond back in March as we both apprehensively considered the next nine months of almost constant travel.
In the blink of an eye, it's almost over.
Although I've visited many of the same places, same hotels, even the very same hotel room at times, this year has been an incredibly different journey to the one I took in 2009.
I'll never, ever forget the nerves in the Melbourne pit-lane as F1 returned to the BBC after a long absence almost two years ago. And while the nerves have settled down, the pressure never has.
In 2009, I went into every race having never been there before, feeling anxious, aware I was a total newcomer, looking to please everyone. At the end of what was the most incredible year of my life, I realised that I hadn't actually taken time to step back and enjoy it. I was determined to put that right in 2010.
I think I've managed to do that but, as I've tried to take a step back and be objective about this season, remember the sights and the sounds of a championship year, I wonder if the same can be said of the men who are at the very centre of the storm... the championship contenders.
One of my mottos in life is "savour it". I said it to my wife on our wedding day, to my sister when her first child was born and to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner after last weekend's constructors' title triumph.
As life zips past at an incredible rate and the smallest things become the biggest issues, savouring what is around us is often the last thing we think of doing.
Last weekend in Brazil, for example, David Coulthard turned to me and said: "You'll never see a driver celebrate a win for as long as a team member."
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
He was referring to the psyche of a driver, the complex psychological make-up that inspires the chosen few to constantly put their neck on the line in pursuit of perfection.
After he picked up pole position last weekend, I asked Nico Hulkenberg what had crossed his mind following the achievement.
"Oh no, two press conferences and then more interviews," was his answer.
He didn't allow himself the indulgence of reflecting on the hard times when an F1 pole was beyond his wildest dreams, or how his family would be celebrating back in Germany. Nope, it was all about what was to come.
F1 doesn't do the present very well. It's all about the next race, the next upgrade, the next season. The constant pursuit of perfection demands that. Live in the now for a fraction of a second and, in this world, it instantly becomes the past.
In this year, of all years, it's been important to take stock of what we are witnessing, to be aware that it may be very many seasons before we encounter another similarly close title battle. And it all comes down to this weekend's final race.
For four of the drivers, there is no looking beyond this weekend. Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton know their entire season - every lap of every track - has distilled to this... one race with everything on the line.
My advice? Tune in, take the phone off the hook and, most of all, savour it. I know I will.
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is live on BBC1 (from 1210 GMT) and the BBC Sport website (UK users only) on Sunday with the race starting at 1300 GMT.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jakehumphrey/2010/11/making_the_most_of_the_f1_seas.html
Lorenzo Bandini Henry Banks Fabrizio Barbazza John Barber Skip Barber
No comments:
Post a Comment