Oct 29, 2006

The Choice Of Champions

More then ever before in previous seasons I’ve noticed a debate emerging this past couple of weeks with a strength (and a cod validity) that's quite unexpected over who the worthy or 'real' champion would be this year...

Although pundits mean 'deserving' when they say 'real', the real champion is actually very simple to decide as it is based on things like real races and real points; rather than races that happened in your head or on your Sony Playstation.

It's easy to see why a 'worthy' champion debate might emerge, what with the way points have been overhauled, rule reinvention and regulation tweaking have played into making Ferrari look tainted (again) and also how some final bravura performances from Schumi and final twists have played to the gallery.
What's not so easy to see is why anyone with half a brain thinks it's in any way a useful or justifiable way to pursue any kind of intelligent or logical dialogue about the sport.

Just as Red Bull's dumbass axing of Christian Klien was based on hard numbers rather than softer, more telling facts (that might actually have suggested they should keep him and he was doing pretty well all things considered, thanks) so the Championship is also calculated on a purely mathematical basis.
The champion is no more and no less than the person who comes out on top; worthy or not, fair or unfair. For the loser it's hard cheese, life sucks, and all that. End of story.

The debate would have been equally worthless last year, when Kimi Raikkonen was clearly the 'worthy' champion, as reflected in many popular and professional polls and awards; none of which, you may have noticed, actually caused points scored across 2005 to magically reassemble in his favour.
He was an inspired and daring all-or-nothing racer compared to Nando's route of apparently duller and businesslike competency that year (mirrored in Renault's more conservative strategies); a contrast never more apparent than at the European GP - and who picked up the spoils there too? Exactly.

Worthiness or mitigating circumstances are simply not valid currency - though even today many would still say Niki Lauda was the 'moral victor' or 'worthy' or 'real' champion in 1976.
Well tough titty; because James Hunt was the real champion (and a great one too). Just as Keke Rosberg was the real champion in 1982 when it really should have been the gobsmackingly mercurial Didier Pironi (or who knows, even the equally mercurial Gilles Villeneuve...) - it's worth bearing in mind that Rosberg only took a single victory in his championship year, which is a pretty uninspiring stat...

And in the end, after all the twitching and meddling from Lady Luck, it happens that Alonso is the real champion this year. Schumi is the real runner-up; his last race one that showed him at his very best - spirited, ballsy, deft and committed.

The way to judge the championship is on reality, not a world of alternate possibilities. Would they, after all, have made it a more exciting year? No of course not.
Anyway, now we've cleared that up, when's the next race?