The tragic death of Dan Wheldon is a shocking reminder of the
dangers of top level motorsport. Wheldon was a phenomenally
talented racer who grew up in Buckinghamshire before taking on the
likes of Jenson Button and Mark Webber in the junior formulae,
eventually moving to the United States to take the IndyCar circuit
by storm with his enthusiasm and humility. He became the first
Briton to win the prestigious Indianapolis 500 since Graham Hill
four decades earlier in 2005 (en-route to the championship) and
added a second win at the brickyard just five months ago. Yesterday
he was competing in the Las Vegas 300 in the hope of winning the
$5m prize for charity. Having made up ten places in the opening
eleven laps, he was involved in a fifteen car pileup which cost him
his life at the age of 33. He is survived by wife Susie, and sons
Sebastian, 2, and Oliver, six months. The thoughts of all
motorsport fans are rightly with his family, friends and the Sam
Schmidt Motorsports team.
Dan came close to joining the Formula 1 fraternity on multiple
occasions, most notably for BMW Sauber in 2007. Despite the fact
that he never raced in the series, he had close connections and
huge number of very good friends in our sport. We are lucky that in
our particular branch of the sport, there have been no deaths for
more than a decade. It's a phenomenal record, and one which owes
much to the tireless crusades of the likes of Sir Jackie Stewart,
Sid Watkins and Max Mosley. However, moments like these serve to
re-enforce the fact that we cannot become complacent and must
continue doing all we can to prevent the loss of life in every
series, at every level.
What feels like an afterthought now is the Korean Grand Prix,
which also took place yesterday. The result was almost predictable,
but nonetheless another interesting grand prix. We owe our
followers quite a significant apology, as our normal post-race
analysis was disrupted (ie. Didn't happen) due to severe technical
problems. We know a lot of people enjoy our tongue in cheek F1Lite
Awards, and we will be right back with them come the Indian Grand
Prix. It feels somewhat inappropriate to publish our full roster in
light of last night's events, but one stands out…
The Man Of The Weekend goes to Lewis Hamilton. The former world
champion has been under huge pressure from media, fans and fellow
drivers to the point where the strain looked utterly unbearable
come Korea. Lewis has made a number of silly mistakes this year,
but his frustration is just a manifestation of his need to win,
something he has been largely unable to do this year. In Yeongam he
turned up and looked like he meant business: his first pole
position in more than a year, and a disciplined second place,
keeping the charging Red Bull of Mark Webber behind him for half
the race despite repeated DRS attacks. Before the race, Lewis spoke
of seeking redemption, and this was the first big step.
Finally, we're going to be a little short-staffed over the next
week. Normally we have enough volunteers to cover any team
absences, but in this case we've got a few clashes which simply
can't be avoided. We hope to continue updating and will certainly
be pre-scheduling some brand new content here on F1Lite.com, but
please bare with us if service is a little slow over the next week.
We'll be back to full speed for the Indian Grand Prix.
Thanks for reading,
Alex
F1Lite.com