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netunleashed-blog · 7 years ago

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German GP: Jolyon Palmer column - Passion, brilliance & costly mistakes

http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=17400 German GP: Jolyon Palmer column - Passion, brilliance & costly mistakes - http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=17400 Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer, who left Renault during the 2017 season, has joined the BBC team to offer insight and analysis from the point of view of the competitors.I love sport because of the emotion, the passion, the highs, the lows, the moments of brilliance and the costly mistakes. At the German Grand Prix, all that happened in just 24 hours.First, there was the drama of qualifying. Lewis Hamilton, who was already on a tough run in recent grands prix, had more bad luck. A non-finish in Austria after a torrid race he had initially led, and then defeat in his home race at Silverstone last time out had left the Mercedes driver slightly on the back foot in his championship fight with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. But bad luck hit again in qualifying on Saturday in Germany. This time, it was a hydraulic leak and it meant Hamilton was consigned to starting 14th.These things happen from time to time. In fact, before Austria, Hamilton had been in the extremely fortunate position of not having a retirement caused by a mechanical issue since his costly engine failure of Malaysia 2016. However, the hurt was very obvious in this case.I was racing for Renault when Hamilton's engine blew in Malaysia, effectively costing him the title to team-mate Nico Rosberg. He caused a bit of a storm when he complained on television about it, saying "something or someone doesn't want me to win this year". But I don't remember his reaction being as downbeat and as low as he was after qualifying on Saturday.Anguish for Hamilton; a high for Vettel Hamilton suffered hydraulic failure in the first part of Saturday's qualifying session and started the German Grand Prix from 14th on the gridOn Saturday, Hamilton was so desperate to get back to the pits he started pushing the car back - when he still had more than a third of the lap to go! It was never going to work.The desperation was clear, and so was the despair as his car was ultimately pushed by the marshals to the side of the track so qualifying could resume without him.Hamilton did his now trademark crouch down against the car, head bowed, and looked a figure of misery.The fallout from it, with everyone trying to ascertain whether it was his fault or not, did nothing to lift his mood either. At first, it looked as though Hamilton had caused the failure by running over the kerbs. Mercedes initially said as much before both team and driver concluded the car had already failed, which caused the kerb-bouncing incident. Ultimately, it didn't matter. The damage was done. But Hamilton seemed affected. He posted Nelson Mandela quotes about the meaning of love and hatred on his Instagram page, and what was a bad day seemed to be spiralling emotionally out of control.The contrast on Saturday was Vettel. He took a brilliant pole position in front of a rejuvenated German home crowd, the biggest I've seen at Hockenheim by far (I wasn't around for the Michael Schumacher glory days).The eruption as Vettel crossed the line to take pole was loud - loud enough for Hamilton to hear and deepen the wounds of a torrid day.Fate turns on its head From 14th to first, this was a massive win for the four-time world championThe key thing for professional sportsmen is to deal with adversity. It happens to everybody at some point to varying degrees. I had a turning point in my career when I acknowledged I could no longer control anything that had already happened. It seems such a simple, obvious thing, but there's no point holding on to the frustration of days gone by or thinking about what could have been.You don't need to forget about the past; it's good to learn lessons from it. But whenever a new session or a new day comes it's all about maximising what you can do on that day.On Sunday, Hamilton did exactly that. Starting 14th, with the pace advantage of the top three teams over the others and with Daniel Ricciardo starting from the back in a Red Bull, a good haul of points was surely the minimum expectation, so long as he kept his nose clean through the opening few corners in the midfield melee.Top five; minimum. A podium? Possibly. But a win? Surely no chance.Well, just over an hour and a half after the lights went out, Hamilton was somehow coming back with that win. As he celebrated, his engineer Pete Bonnington declared "miracles do happen, mate" over the radio.Hamilton's great driveBut this was no miracle. This was pure determination from a driver who had firmly put his bad luck behind him. His first stint was crucial, keeping his soft tyres alive while others struggled, and matching the Ferraris for pace on much older tyres even after they had pitted for new.That meant Hamilton could pit for new ultra-soft tyres just as it started raining and the track began to get slippery, and with that his pace was electric. Hamilton always shines when it rains, and at times he was lapping three seconds a lap faster than those ahead of him. Even without Vettel going off it's conceivable Hamilton could have won the race, such was his pace in the conditions.The rain teemed down after the podium celebrations, but Hamilton didn't care. He was still celebrating with fans, amid lightning forks and claps of thunder. The same fans had cheered Vettel to pole 24 hours before. They had witnessed not only a fantastic race, but a fantastic performance from a driver who had been through all the emotions in that same period.A costly error from Vettel Vettel went from first to out after a crash on Turn 13 of Lap 52The contrast on Sunday was again Vettel.He led from the front and, barring some needly exchanges between himself, the team, and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, he was in complete control… until lap 52.When you are on untreaded, 'slick' tyres and it starts raining, they are the hardest conditions in racing. There is now enough rain to pit for treaded 'wet' tyres - as others had done erroneously - so you just have to slither around on a tyre that isn't designed for the conditions, with a tiny margin for error.Vettel got it wrong. He misjudged the conditions, braking too late into Sachs Kurve, a notoriously punishing corner in the Stadium section of Hockenheim, and ended up in the wall.He immediately started swearing and hitting the steering wheel in frustration and sounded almost in tears as he apologised to the team for the crash.It was a triple whammy of pain. Firstly, crashing out of the lead of the race. Secondly, because it was his home race, one that meant so much and he had crashed out right in front of the bulk of the 120,000 fans. Thirdly, because he then had to watch Hamilton drive flawlessly to take all the plaudits and a 17-point championship lead as well.What could have been.How does Vettel bounce back? Vettel says he won't have trouble sleeping after crashing out of the German Grand PrixVettel must now move on, just as Hamilton did before the race. It was a very different accident to his one in Singapore last year, when he arguably triggered a multi-car pile-up at the start, but in many ways it is a similar situation. In Singapore, Vettel started on pole and Hamilton was fifth and up against it. And, just as in Germany on Sunday, Vettel crashed out and Hamilton won. It seemed like a turning point in the championship as Vettel never recovered.While there are similarities, this year feels different. Not least because Ferrari are more competitive on the whole. But Vettel really needs to hit back this weekend in Budapest. A 17-point lead in the championship at the halfway point is tiny, almost irrelevant. But if Hamilton wins at the Hungaroring on Sunday and anything happens to Vettel, the lead could leap up to 42 points at the summer break. The gap would go from almost irrelevant to very big, almost insurmountable.It's a good thing for Vettel that he needs to wait only a few days to be back in the car and making amends. As a driver, the worst thing is to make a mistake and be left stewing on it for too long without a chance to rectify it.A season to savourThis brilliant season has been an epic two-way fight for the title between the giants of the sport - Hamilton versus Vettel; Mercedes versus Ferrari.It's been a wonderful year full of twists and turns and I'm sure there are plenty more to come. But in so many championships you can look back with hindsight at a key moment that decided the destination of the title. On Saturday, everyone was wondering whether Hamilton's hydraulic failure could be a turning point in the season. Clearly now it won't be. Instead, the question marks are all about whether Vettel's crash will be the decisive moment of the season. It's up to him to respond now in the same way Hamilton did on Sunday and ensure it won't be. Source link

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roamingkattravels · 7 years ago

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Day 2 of 7 Hong Kong Island Day 12 of my Hong Kong & China Trip Tuesday 27th March 2018 Weather: 28 degrees sunny

Meals: Egg tart, yoghurt biscuit, rice, pork Miles Walked: 6.7 Transport: Metro, No 52 Public Light Bus, No 6 Bus

Hit list for the day: The pandas at Ocean Park Aberdeen THE BEACH!!!!! Stanley & Stanley Market Jumbo Kingdom Floating Restaurant

South Hong Kong Island was purposelessly was planned for the day specifically to be lazing on the beach day in an attempt to recover my weary self. Day after day of walking for miles, not stopping for long enough to eat would be replaced by lazing on the sand, a bit of sleeping, a lot of chilling out & definitely no walking for miles – yeah right!!!! The failure of this plan was partly because if I was going to go to the south of Hong Kong Island it seemed daft not to try & fit in as much as possible & partly because some places / buses took a long time to find both in miles & in time.

Nervously edging out on to the apartment terrace, daylight acted as a highlight to how highly perched this small suspended area I stood on was. As per the previous night I kept my chair tucked into the building & tried not to dwell on the drop below.

Before heading out, I couldn’t resists a look around the apartment block’s 42nd floor gym, rooftop outdoor garden / bar & pool not to mention seeing what the views were like by day light.

First stop of the days was getting brekkie at Lim Kee Bing Sutt which had a tempting array of sweet treats in the window. My choice was perfectly a small selection of egg tart & coffee while my travelling buddy ordered an unusual mix of noodle soup, ham omelet, pineapple bun with butter (always have butter with your pineapple bun) & tea.

One very nice brekkie later, stepping back out on to the same street, various retail shutters were being drawn up revealing some scrumptious looking food. Two places that really caught my eyes were Mong Kee BBQ Restaurant who’s cooked meat strung up in the window looked delicious (if you ignore the pigs head & trotters) & the steaming dim sum cafe a little further down.

A short walk out onto Johnston Road took me back toward the metro for the start of my journey to South Hong Kong Island.

Taking the metro from Wan Chai via Admiralty the discussions of whether to explore every metro stop or not distracted me until just passing Ocean Park where I’d wanted to see the pandas. Seeing the panda’s here was a compromise reached having ruled out going to Chengdu Panda Research Centre due to time & budget restraints.

Decision made to get off at each station for a five minutes to ruled the areas in /out meant I needed to get off at the next stop.

The streets at Wong Chuk Hang were much quieter than those of the north island; fewer vehicles, people & businesses. The area was showing little tell tale signs that it wouldn’t stay like this for long though.

My walk down the street bought my to a tiny temple providing a few moments of interest. Almost next door stood Nam Long Shan Road Cooked Food Market hosing stall often stall of Chinese style canteen which I suspect served delicious food but too full from breakfast I ordered a small chilled beer then sat watching mountain after mountain of plated food being efficiently delivered to its awaiting human. The bill paid & friendly food stall mama thanks it was off back to the metro to retrace the rails for Ocean Park’s pandas.

Queue joined turning out to be the incorrect queue then correct queue conquered entry was HK$500, with budgets in mind the cost per person was enough to strike to much awaited pandas off the list.

Lei Tung (with a view to locate Aberdeen) being the next metro hop off provided a fairly normal level confusion in that Hong Kong seems very good at providing sign posts when you actually arrive at a destination but none to guide you to it.

A stroll around passing a mall & raised walkway provided a glimpse of Aberdeen, so off it was down the very many stairs onto street level to try & weave through the tall navigation blocking buildings to Aberdeen. A false start with many more stairs led to a dead end so back up it was in the increasing heat before finding a route down the main road which arrived into the back of Aberdeen.

A rather long walk around the harbour passed dragon boats both in the water & in tall long storage racks. A slight detour had to be taken to gain a closer look at the beautiful flags flanking a seemingly pop up temple, handily there was also a toilet there too.

Returning back to the harbour edge, boats were moored cooking and selling food. Another boat drew in & offered a Harbour tour for HK$60 each, with the bus station still a long stroll away the tour was agreed & request to be dropped off on the opposite side made.

Aberdeen Harbor is, like all of Hong Kong a place of sheer contrast. Natural mountains creating a beautiful backdrop for tall building to root their footings & the waterfront bringing smaller buildings, both new & old, industrial & residential alike.

Similarly the range of boats add to that feeling of contrast with everything from old junk boats to princess yachts all surrounding The Jumbo Floating Restaurant waiting for the evening to draw in to display its lights, unfortunately I didn’t get to turns & see the the see it’s night time glory.

All thoughts of trudging no back up to the metro were abandoned meaning South Horizons wouldn’t be visited, instead after walking round the block a few times having been pointed in wrong directions, public light bus no 52 public light bus to Stanley was boarded which stopped at Repulse Bay Beach on-route.

Walking down the steps to the pretty Repulse Bay Beach & across the hot sands to its sea front was a welcome moment. Towel laid on the sand a paddle in the still cool sea along with some shell hunting made for a relaxing break in the day that was meant to be all beach with no walking. The digital beach clock showed it was 26 degrees & 4.30 p.m. before lounging with a shared mini red wine & yoghurt biscuits commenced to watch the boats & people go by. An hour later, enough time wasted being lazy it was back up the stairs for bus 52 to Stanley Market.

The bus driver helpfully informed me to stay on the rickety little thing until last stop which was moments from Stanley Market. Arriving just as most stalls were packing up for the day, it didn’t take long to get through to the far side at south island’s waterfront.

I’d noticed so many differences in the South Island to the north, here there seemed to be more of a play boy & expat presence. Ferrari’s danced the winding road I’d just travelled over & nanny’s were dragging western children to clubs & interests, neither the nannies or the children looked remotely happy.

Stanley beach provided a pleasing back drop to stroll along & lead to a short run of bars & restaurants, purely because of its open & airy front an Irish Bar was selected to rest & enjoy a cooling beer.

The sun dropping prompted a walk to find a bus back to north island, no 6 to Wan Chai was found and dutifully waited for. This bus, driving at brake neck speeds then breaking your neck passing over bumpy roads or stopping has to be the most stomach churning bus trip I’d taken. With great relief I got off in Wan Chai & vowed to only use the public light bus in future.

Following a quick change the hunt for food was on, walking around Wan Chai’s streets everywhere seemed to have shut but having just about given up looking an open restaurant was located. Having walked upstairs & been seated the waiter furnished me with a menu then hovered to my side – I expect to see my reaction when I saw the prices!!! Many of the dishes were well in the 1000’s not 100’s, scanning as quickly as I could whilst wondering how many HK$ my small purse held I eventually ordered 2 small beers hoping that they were neither in the 100’s nor 1000’s price bracket.

After further menu studying a small piece of pork along with a small single portion of rice was ordered, I can’t remember the exact cost probably due to being in shock but seem to remember the bill not far off HK$500.

Tired & still hungry heading back to the apartment terrace to chill before sleeping seemed like the best plan. I couldn’t help thinking it was such a shame I’d missed the earlier seen Mong Kee BBQ Restaurant’s opening times because I’m sure I’d have had a mouth watering meal there in plentiful portion sizes & at a fraction of the cost.

Continued on Day 13 …

Hong Kong China Trip – Day 12 Day 2 of 7 Hong Kong Island Day 12 of my Hong Kong & China Trip…

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