Monday, 7th July 2008
Blame the rain…
Nature had its own say in the most important sorting events this weekend.
At Silverstone, the rain was a major factor in the way the formula one race was played out.
The rain was irregular, the weather forecasts were uncertain, and in the end, the triumph was of mind over technology.
Home boy Lewis Hamilton had been favourite to win the race, but hopes dampened somewhat when he only qualified fourth on Saturday.
In the end, Hamilton did win the race, by a massive margin. His triumph was not due to the fact that he was before his home crowd, but rather his mastery of the wet but also excellent strategic decisions by McLaren.
The crucial moment came one third through the race, Hamilton and Raikkonen went into the pits together, McLaren put in a new set of wet tyres on Hamilton’s car but Ferrari, thinking track conditions would improve opted to retain the used tyres This proved fatal.
The race showed that those teams which relied too heavily on the information they were being fed through this equipment wrongly delayed their decision to change their tyres.
At the end of the day, Hamilton won the race and human skill triumphed over technology.
Could it be a message, not to mess with nature?
An epic final
Rafael Nadal shattered Roger Federer’s dream of a record sixth successive victory at Wimbledon. This year’s final was the longest ever and definitely worth the adjective of being an epic.
I can imagine the emotional stress that Nadal went through when he threw away three match points before winning the match in the fifth set. Even though Nadal won, Federer remains first in the world rankings. He’s followed closely by Nadal.
If anyone needed any further proof that they’re the best two tennis players at the moment, yesterday’s match was just that. Just like Silverstone’s race, the Wimbledon battle was affected by rain and the match had to be suspended. However, the entertainment was guaranteed and who was lucky to attend the game enjoyed one of the best, if not the best, tennis encounters to date.
Back to business
Valletta and Birkirkara will be the main actors in today’s prelude to this year’s local football season. Following their successes in the past season, the Lily-whites will meet the Stripes in the inaugural match of the Euro Challenge Cup. (The other team taking part in this competition is Marsaxlokk).
Although, both clubs are known for their rivalry, today’s match will serve as the warm-up for the teams, in view of next week’s European competitions.
I don’t envy any of the players who have to beat the heat in tonight’s matches, but given the fact that the actual season starts next week, there were no real options to playing in such weather. I hope that one of our teams will pass the first rounds and make it to the more interesting stages of the Euro competitions..
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