What now Damon?!
I witnessed an extraordinary dressing down at Silverstone on Thursday the likes of which nobody can recall in living memory within the bizarre world of Formula One. At a press conference Damon Hill complained, for the umpteenth time about his Arrows car. The 1996 world champion was blaming the car fair and square for his lackluster performance this year.
At this point outspoken team owner Tom Walkinshaw had enough "Time for the world champion to deliver. I have been subtle but now it's time to be blunt. It is time to remind him what he is capable of and that is more than he has delivered recently. Ford his sake and mine it is better for something to be said. He is no different from any other member of the team. By his own admission he has gone to sleep a bit. I believe that a professional should be able to maintain his motivation under difficult circumstances. Damon Hill is world champion and he has to drive like one."
Certainly does not sound as though they are best of friends and I am sure Damon is busy negotiating with just about every team.
On Friday afternoon Hill actually threw out from his motorhome the reporter from the British tabloid Daily Mirror who reported his problems the previous day accompanied by words certainly unsuitable for a family site such as TACH.
Saturday morning Hakkinen continued his domination of the proceedings but what really mattered, the shoot-out for pole position took place between 1 & 2 in the afternoon. This was particularly significant because according to Frank Williams there will be no fewer than 12 driver changes in 1998. That clearly means that some elderly "top guns" will be moving down to lesser teams and some of the new tigers will be taking their places.
No wonder Mika Hakkinen is driving like a man possessed, according to rumors in the paddock his place will be taken by Michael Schumacher's brother, Ralf. The McLaren Mercedes team are desperate to have a German driver on their team which is understandable.
Hill is strongly linked to Prost, he had a very happy relationship with team boss Alain, who was his team mate in 1993.
With 20 minutes to go it was Hakkinen, Villeneuve and Frentzen in the first three places with championship leader Michel Schumacher doing all he could to improve on his fourth position. Even though Michel has a 14 point lead in the championship he would very much like to win the British Grand Prix for the first time in his life.
Brave Formula One fanatics who will be up at 6 o'clock in the morning on the West Coast sponsored by cigarette companies. Advertising by brands such as Marlboro and Rothmans across the message to circumvent the law The Williams Renault team put question marks where the words Rothmans should have been, Marlboro relied on the familiar color scheme on the packet which is identical to that on the racing car.
To my amazement behind the grand stand these rules do not apply, there is huge signs and pretty ladies are doing their best to sell you the very cigarettes you cannot see on the racing cars 50 yards away.
With just 5 minutes to go the order at the top was unchanged by at least former champion Hill managed to work his way up to 12th place, a great improvement from yesterday's 20th!
Young Alex Wurz from Austria who is deputizing for Gerhard Berger is clearly a major talent who qualified well inside the top 10 (8th) proving to be quicker than team-mate Alesi. The sympathetic Frenchman is another one of those drivers who is likely to be going to the job centre sooner rather than later.
On the track, as I suspected the real drama was saved for the last 4 1/2 minutes. The German Heinz Harald Frentzen, one of this year's great disappointments finally got it together and for a short time actually led the proceedings but only until his team mate threw everything he knew at Silverstone's fast and challenging corners and at the very last second clinched pole from his team mate by a mer 0.134. Hakkinen was visibly heartbroken as he led for 55 minutes out of 60 but unfortunately not when it mattered, at the end.
With double world champion Schumacher in 4th position and his young brother in 5th I am sure there will be some major fireworks at the start. The Silverstone track is wide so don't be too surprised to see four cars side by side heading for the first corner!
It may settle down later to a boring processions, many races do, but if you are up and don't miss the start. Should be serious fun.
As for yesterday's hero, Hill finally finished in 12th position just ahead the great new discovery the Italian Jarno Trulli.
The race, which starts at 2 p.m. local time will take place over 60 laps on the 5143 meter long track.
