Sport 2013 - Another unforgettable year

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

It was always going to be tough to topple the memorable sporting year of 2012 but 2013 certainly was a brilliant cameo to last year’s events. The Brits finally had a Wimbledon winner, continue to reign on two wheels in Paris and a distance god made his success into world domination. There was also the retirement of football’s greatest manager, a won and lost Ashes series, Lions roar to glory Down Under and an invincible German take Formula One by storm. It is fair to say that there were many highlights over the past calendar year.

There is only one place where this review can start and that is to lookback on a remarkable year of tennis. In the women’s game, Serena Williams almost swept the board. The American won the French and US Open, the WTA Championships in Istanbul and regained her number one world ranking. Her Wimbledon defence ended though in the last 16, beaten by Sabine Lisicki of Germany. Lisicki made it to the final but crumbled on the main stage, allowing Frenchman Marion Bartoli – often the bridesmaid to finally become the bride. A straight sets victory for Bartoli saw her claim the only Grand Slam title of her career. A sudden retirement followed in August due to injury but no-one can take away the rose bowl dish won at SW19. Victoria Azarenka won the Australian Open and it was good year for Laura Robson as she made the second week at Wimbledon. Fellow Brit Heather Watson struggled with illness for the majority of the year whilst retirement beckoned for Anne Keothavong and Elena Baltacha. With Roger Federer enduring his worst season in 11 years – failing to reach any of the semi-finals at the Grand Slam events and claiming only one ATP win all season, the main honours were divided between three men. Serbian Novak Djokovic started the year in brilliant fashion, beating Andy Murray in four sets to win again in Melbourne. Despite a shock first round elimination in south west London, Rafael Nadal returned from career threatening injury to win the US Open and triumph for an eighth time at Roland Garros. That leads us to the unforgettable day on Sunday, 7 July 2013.

Andy Murray ended the long British drought of 77 years at Wimbledon

Injury meant Murray missed the French Open and his draw looked tough too, until all of his potential opponents were wiped out on ‘Holby City Wednesday’ on the opening week. Buoyant from his victory at Queens Club, Murray (pictured) made it to the final despite a huge scare in the quarter-finals against Fernando Verdasco. He would play Djokovic after his own five-hour epic with Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina. The final which should have been a tense affair turned into a classy performance from the Brit. Murray won all the crucial points and it was Djokovic who made the mistakes when put under pressure. In searing heat and at 5.25pm on Centre Court, Djokovic found the net and that was that. The longest drought in British sport was over – we had a Wimbledon Men’s Singles Champion and that was Andy Murray after 77 years of hurt. It was an emphatic performance and guaranteed him BBC Sports Personality of the Year in December.

Rugby Union had a powerful 12 months of competitive action. Leicester Tigers defeated Northampton Saints in a bad tempered Aviva Premiership final whilst Toulon were crowned Heineken Cup winners, inspired by Jonny Wilkinson in the final. On the international scene, New Zealand went through an entire calendar year undefeated which included autumn international victories at Twickenham and Dublin. In the RBS Six Nations, there was a final weekend showdown for the championship as Wales met England. An English victory would secure their first Grand Slam in a decade. However it was the Welsh who prevailed with a record win over their opponents 30-3. Leigh Halfpenny was top points scorer in the championship with 74 points. France meanwhile ended up with the wooden spoon. Then it was onto the summer’s big contest in Australia as the British and Irish Lions aimed to win their first overseas series since 1997. It was 1-1 after two very close games with the Lions snatching the first test 23-21 in Brisbane but losing the second 16-15 in Melbourne. It went down to the finale in Sydney and the Lions played the Aussies off the park, routing them 41-16 to win the series 2-1. It was their first series win in Australia in 24 years. Halfpenny was the star again, scoring 49 points over the three tests.

Sailing is not the most popular sport but it produced an incredible story and one of sport’s greatest comebacks in September. The year started sadly when Team GB medallist in Beijing and London, Andrew Simpson died in May when the yacht he was on training for the Americas Cup capsized. The final between Emirates Team New Zealand and Team Oracle USA was a tale of two halves. New Zealand stormed into an 8-1 lead and looked like they were going to be convincing winners. They hadn’t counted on the greatest Olympic sailor in history on the other side. Sir Ben Ainslie led a monumental fightback to turn the momentum USA’s way. In San Francisco for the final race, the comeback was complete. The US won 9-8 to win sport’s oldest trophy. Ainslie was hailed as the master again and talks are underway for a Team GB entry into the race in future years to come.

Chris Froome continued Britain's success in the Tour de France

The cycling year didn’t start well when one of sport’s believed to be heroes confessed all. Lance Armstrong admitted to doping on a regular basis when he stormed to his seven Tour de France wins from 1999 to 2005. The sporting world was rocked and cycling left to fight more bad headlines of drug use in competition. Armstrong has rightfully been stripped of his titles and now goes down as one of the biggest cheats in sporting history. None of that bothered Chris Froome (pictured) though on the 100^th anniversary of the Tour de France. After bronze at last year’s Olympic time trial and finishing runner-up on the 2012 tour to Sir Bradley Wiggins, Froome went one better in 2013. He dismantled the competition to claim the yellow jersey on the eighth stage and won the prestigious race for Team Sky. After waiting a lifetime, Britain now has two tour winners in two years, as Froome was flanked home by his team-mates on the Champ Elysees. Wiggins missed the tour due to injury but completed a successful year for our country with victory in September’s Tour of Britain. On the track, there were nine medals for Great Britain at the World Track Cycling Championship in Minsk in February. Becky James was the star with four medals in her first championships – two of them were gold. Laura Trott was beaten in the Omnium by Sarah Hammer of the United States but retained her Team Pursuit title and was the inaugural winner of Ride London this summer too.

Another sport to suffer the old story of drug scandals was athletics. American sprinter Tyson Gay, Jamaica’s Asafa Powell and Kelly-Ann Baptiste from Trinidad & Tobago were among the big names to fail tests. All face two-year bans. It was a successful year for British sprinting with James Dasaolu breaking the magical 10-second barrier at the British Championships in Birmingham, whilst both he and Adam Gemili made major sprinting finals later in the year. The Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games in the Olympic Stadium were a huge success before the best in the business headed off to Moscow for the IAAF World Athletics Championships in August. From a British perspective, the year belonged to Mo Farah. He repeated his Olympic double at long distance in the Russian capital. He won both the 5000m and 10,000m in tight finishes, something he couldn’t quite achieve in Daegu two years ago. In the women’s 400m, Christine Ohuruogu produced another great finish to steal the gold medal from chief rival Amelie Montsho to win her second world championship gold. In the process, she grabbed Kathy Cooke’s long-standing national record. There was also a brilliant bronze medal in the women’s 110m hurdles for Tiffany Porter. Usain Bolt wasn’t quite at his fearsome best but he still won three gold medals, matched by Jamaican team-mate Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. The Russians were delighted when home favourite Yelena Isinbayeva won a dramatic pole vault final, helping Russia top the medals table and there were other outstanding world performances from the likes of Valerie Adams (New Zealand) and Teddy Tamgho (France). Sadly, the drug abuse from some of the world’s most recognised track stars tainted the track and field year.

Cricket’s oldest rivalry was renewed not once but twice as England and Australia clashed in the Ashes. The summer belonged to England as they retained the urn 3-0 in a series which was overshadowed by failings in technology such as Hotspot. England won the first test by a dramatic 14 runs in Trent Bridge before crushing the Aussies by a staggering 347 runs at Lord’s. The Ashes were retained after rain brought an end to an Australian fightback in Manchester before victory at Chester-Le-Street rubbed salt into the wounds of the tourists. Only the darkness at The Oval prevented an even heavier beating for Australia. Ian Bell was the man of the series with three centuries scored and 562 runs achieved as he finally came of age. Unfortunately for England, their winter tour Down Under has been nothing but a complete shambles. The Ashes have been already been lost to Australia and with two to play, England stare down the barrel of a 5-0 annihilation like in 2007. Jonathan Trott left the tour after one test due to stress and Graeme Swann announced his retirement with immediate effect recently. English cricket is currently in crisis. On the domestic front, the main honours went to Durham (County Championship) and Northamptonshire (Twenty20 Cup), whilst one of the best batsmen to play the game, Sachin Tendulkar of India retired.

Jockey AP McCoy celebrates his magical 4000th winner at Towcester

Horse racing brought another remarkable story in November. At Towcester, Mountain Dunes took AP McCoy (pictured) to another historic landmark as he achieved his 4000^th winner. He is the first jump jockey to achieve this and is now champion jockey 18 times. He now has 4029 winners (as of last week) and all this was achieved after being injured for the first month of this year. The favourite Bob’s Worth won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March as trainer Nicky Henderson and jockey Barry Geraghty combined to leave the Paul Nicholls/Ruby Walsh combination trailing in their wake. Ruler of the World won the Epsom Derby and outsider Auras Encore took the honours in the Grand National, as all 40 horses that started made it back safely at Aintree this time around.

There was British success on two wheels as Tom Sykes became World Superbike champion and Tai Woffenden became Britain’s first world Speedway Grand Prix champion in 13 years. In MotoGP, there was a new rookie sensation who took the paddock by storm. Spaniard Marc Marquez became the first newcomer since Kenny Roberts Jr in 1978 to win the championship at his first attempt. A run of four successive victories in mid-season was the turning point and he finished third in a tense season finale in Valencia to hold off a determined challenge from Jorge Lorenzo. ‘The Doctor’ returned to the top step of the rostrum as Valentino Rossi won the Dutch TT at Assen – his first win in almost three years. Britain’s Cal Crutchlow scored two pole positions and three podiums in another impressive year, earning himself a works ride for next season with Ducati.

On four wheels, Allan McNish became the endurance sportscar champion and won at Le Mans again before bowing out into retirement. Fellow Scot Dario Franchitti was forced to give up IndyCar racing after sustaining career-ending injuries in a terrible crash at an event in Houston. Scott Dixon won the championship, while Brazilian Tony Kanaan was the winner of the Indy 500. Andrew Jordan won the British Touring Car Championship, holding off late challenges from Jason Plato and Gordon Shedden to win his maiden title. In Formula One, only one man dominated the season. Sebastian Vettel broke records for fun as he claimed his fourth consecutive world championship. The unstoppable German won 13 races to equal Michael Schumacher’s mark from 2004 and matched Alberto Ascari’s long-standing achievement of nine consecutive victories, the first to do it in a season. He is unbeaten since July. Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber retired and moves into sportscars next season with Porsche while six Pirelli tyre blowouts turned the British Grand Prix at Silverstone into a joke. It was sparse success for British drivers. Lewis Hamilton disappointed many in his first campaign with Mercedes but did win the Hungarian Grand Prix again. Jenson Button and McLaren didn’t even score a single podium in 2013 and Paul di Resta’s lack of consistency means his career in the sport is also over.

There were happier British experiences in the world of golf. At the US Open, there was major success at long last for Justin Rose. On Father’s Day, he held off a late surge from Phil Mickelson to become the first English major winner since Nick Faldo back in 1996. Tiger Woods might have missed out on the main prizes but did regain his number one status. Mickelson made up for his US Open disappointment with a brilliant final day to win The Open Championship. Jason Dufner edged out Jim Furyk to take the honours in the USPGA Championship whilst Adam Scott landed the prestigious green jacket at the US Masters in Augusta. It was a troubled year for Rory McIlroy who lost form and slipped to number six in the world rankings. Elsewhere, Europe’s Ladies team won their first ever Solheim Cup in the States, thrashing the home side 18-10.

In football, the greatest football manager of his generation retired. Sir Alex Ferguson left on a high and went out on top as Manchester United cruised to a 13^th Premier League title. There were new winners in a dramatic year. Liverpool Ladies became WSL champions; Swansea City defeated Bradford City to claim their first major silverware in the League Cup final and Ben Watson’s injury time header won the FA Cup for Wigan Athletic against Manchester City. Rafa

There was another European success for Chelsea - this time in the Europa League

Benitez guided Chelsea to more European success as they beat Benfica in Amsterdam to win the UEFA Europa League (team pictured). A few days earlier, Frank Lampard had become the club’s all-time record goalscorer. Benitez moved to Napoli and he was replaced by the ‘Happy One’ as Jose Mourinho returned. The all-German UEFA Champions League final went to Bayern Munich at Wembley. Arjen Robben scored the late winner to defeat Borussia Dortmund, part of a German treble. Spain won the European Under-21 championship, Germany the Women’s Euros as both England teams woefully exited at the group stages. The senior male side though did qualify for the World Cup finals and Gareth Bale became the most expensive player in the history of football, joining Real Madrid for £85.3m.

In other sport, Ellie Simmonds won three gold medals as Team GB claimed 29 gold medals in World Paralympic Championships in athletics and swimming. There were over 70 medals in total and Hannah Cockroft was a leading star. She followed up her two London gold medals last summer with double gold in the wheelchair racing T34 category at both 100m and 200m. She also won both races at the Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games. Phil ‘the Power’ Taylor won a 16^th PDC World Darts title at the start of the year but has already been knocked out this time around, so will have to wait for number 17. There were big crowds at the Rugby League World Cup held in the autumn. Hosts England lost in the semi-finals to holders New Zealand but it was Australia who took the cup back with them to Oz after seeing off the Kiwis in the final. Wigan Warriors rekindled their glory days of the 1990s with victory in both the Challenge Cup final and Super League. Oxford won the University Boat Race and 36,000 competitors took part in the London Marathon, just six days after the two bombs that killed three in the closing stages of the Boston Marathon. Carl Froch retained his IBF and WBA Super Middleweight belts which included a controversial win over George Groves in November and stars of London 2012, Nicola Adams, Andrew Selby and David Florence all won world championships in 2013.

As ever, sport has not disappointed in 2013 and in fact, it was another cracking year. 2014 should be even better with the World Cup finals in Brazil, the Commonwealth Games coming to Glasgow, Zurich hosting the European Athletics Championships, another Ryder Cup in this country and the regular editions of Wimbledon, the Six Nations, a new-look Formula One and England summer cricket tests against Sri Lanka and India. Let’s face it – we are experiencing a golden generation of sport so embrace it while we are in the heart of these great contests and unexpected triumphs.

Categories: 2013, Andy Murray, AP McCoy, Chelsea, Chris Froome, Ellie Simmonds, Sport, Tour de France, UEFA Europa League, Wimbledon

Great British sporting moments

By Simon Wright

At 5.24pm on Sunday evening, the longest drought in British sport was finally consigned to the history books.

After 77 years of hurt, pain and close calls, Britain has a men’s singles champion at Wimbledon.  Andy Murray battled through hot temperatures on a scorching day at SW19 and the persistence of his opponent, the world number one Novak Djokovic to beat the Serbian in straight sets 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.

The reaction of Murray afterwards was one of finally achieving his dream, and he has turned it around in the last 12 months.  He had a lot of people, me included who struggled to accept him as a great tennis player.  Last year’s agonising four-set final defeat on Centre Court to Swiss master Roger Federer was the turning point.

Murray’s emotional speech after the match showed the pain he felt at losing the biggest match of his career, but since then, the man from a small town in Scotland called Dunblane has turned his career around.

He dismantled Federer just under a month later on the same court to win Olympic Gold for Team GB, before seeing off Djokovic in a five-set marathon to claim his first Grand Slam at the US Open last September. 

Despite missing the French Open through injury in May, Murray has reached the Australian Open final, won three ATP titles including the AEGON Championships at Queen’s Club, and now the biggest prize in tennis.

It is a feat that I never thought I would ever see – and over 17 million viewers tuned onto the BBC on Sunday to see history being made in London.

Sporting fans are going through a golden generation of British success.  Last year was simply unbelievable.  We had Bradley Wiggins becoming the first Brit to ever win the Tour de France, cycling’s ultimate race.  Manchester City won their first league title in over 40 years with a finish we will never see again in the Premier League, there was Chelsea finally becoming Champions of Europe in Munich and of course, the unforgettable fortnight of London 2012 – an event that truly brought sport and the nation together as we witnessed some remarkable feats.

Along with Murray, I've picked out five sporting feats that are among my favourites of all-time.

There are some that have just missed out, including Virginia Wade winning Wimbledon in 1977, Sir Steve Redgrave’s fifth Olympic Gold medal in Sydney in 2000, Liverpool’s breathtaking comeback to win the Champions League in Istanbul in 2005, and the famous Bolero dance in 1984 by Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean that won gold in Sarajevo.

England win the FIFA World Cup, 1966

This memory is way too early for me, but it is something that we will probably never see again – well unless we live in fantasy land.  That is England being football world champions.

It happened on home soil in 1966 and to make it better, West Germany were the opponents in the final.

Bobby Moore lifts the Jules Rimet trophy, England's finest football moment

Sir Geoff Hurst was the hero on the day, as he became the first player in World Cup final history to score a hat-trick.  England did lead 2-1, but were taken to extra-time before a linesman from the country of Azerbaijan declared that Hurst’s second goal did cross the line.

With the Germans pushing forward to score, gaps opened up in the defence and Hurst broke clear to complete his hat-trick, with the famous words from commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme; “And here comes Hurst, there’s some fans on the pitch, they think it’s all over.”

Alf Ramsay’s men won the game 4-2, and it was left for iconic captain Bobby Moore (pictured) to collect the Jules Rimet trophy to declare England as world champions. 

Since then, there were close calls in Italia 90 and Euro 96 for major prizes, before those darn penalties got in the way, and no-one will forget Germany 1-5 England in September 2001, but the drought of no success is set to continue for some time to come.

Rugby World Cup Glory Down Under, 2003

Getting up on a Saturday morning was never more anticipated than on Saturday, 22 November 2003.  Telstra Stadium in Sydney was the venue for the Rugby World Cup final between holders and hosts Australia and Sir Clive Woodward’s England.

England went to the finals as favourites and ranked as the number one side according to the IRB rankings.  However, they hadn’t found their best form in the tournament yet, lucky to beat Samoa in the pool stages and being outplayed but somehow winning the quarter-final with Wales.  Australia meanwhile had stunned the All Blacks to reach the final against the odds.

It was Australia who started the quickest, as Loite Tuqiri went over for the opening try inside five minutes.  Penalty goals on a blustery evening dominated a tense and nail-biting encounter, but Jason Robinson’s late try towards the end of the first half, coupled with three penalties from Jonny Wilkinson had England going in 14-5 at the interval.

Mistakes allowed the Aussies back into the game and with one minute left of normal time, Elton Flatley converted his third penalty in a row to level the scores at 14-14 and take the game into extra time.

Not much had changed after the extra 20 minutes, with sudden death approaching and the game on a knife-edge at 17-17, when Wilkinson, who had missed three earlier drop goal attempts, got his fourth attempt spot on.  With 25 seconds to go, England were back infront and held on to claim a 20-17 win and be crowned 2003 Rugby World Cup winners.

It was a momentous day, a superb feat and made English rugby the prime sport for a while in this country.  Another final has followed since, although more inconsistent form has been the story of the past decade.  However, rugby union never felt so good than it did on that November morning a decade ago.

England regain the Ashes, 2005

After 17 years of constant defeats from Australia’s legendary cricket side, England finally had a chance with a decent team of taking on the Australians in the 2005 Ashes series.  It turned out to be a momentous seven weeks for the game of cricket, as it became the most talked about sport during this period.

Australia waltzed to a convincing victory in the first test at Lord’s, with legendary bowler Glenn McGrath doing the damage, taking five wickets in his opening spell.  England fought back at Edgbaston where McGrath was ruled out through injury.  Despite the best efforts of Shane Warne, Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz, England won the second test by just two runs in Birmingham in one of the most thrilling games of cricket that was ever seen.

The captains took their turn to control proceedings at Old Trafford a few days later.  Michael Vaughan became the first player in the series to hit a century, before Ricky Ponting defied England’s strong bowling attack of Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard and Ashley Giles on the final day to ensure the series remained at 1-1.

At Trent Bridge, England dominated, but almost threw the match away with some sloppy shots, and tremendous bowling from Warne and Lee.  Chasing 127 to win, it was the eighth wicket partnership from Giles and Hoggard that got the home side home by three wickets to take a 2-1 series lead.

So it came to The Oval, where England only needed to avoid defeat to regain the Ashes.  Australia had to win and showed early intent, reducing England to a below-par 373, before Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer started eroding the advantage significantly.  Flintoff, who had an unbelievable series, tore through the Australian middle order on the Sunday morning to leave England six runs ahead.

Michael Vaughan lifts the urn aloft after England's 2005 triumph

Then, on 57-3 on the final day, Kevin Pietersen survived two dropped catches and a couple of run out calls to hit a maiden test century, and take the game away from Australia.  The match was drawn and England could celebrate.  There were scenes (pictured) that hadn’t been seen since the dramatic home series of 1981, but were repeated four years later with victory in the 2009 series.

England start as overwhelming favourites to win the Ashes again this summer.  The first test starts tomorrow at Trent Bridge in Nottinghamshire.

Lewis Hamilton wins the Formula One title on the last corner, 2008

The 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship was one full of action, intrigue, stunning drives and some glaring mistakes.  It came down to a final race showdown in Brazil, with Britain’s Lewis Hamilton holding a seven-point lead over the local lad Felipe Massa.

Hamilton only needed a fifth place finish in Sao Paulo to become the youngest ever champion in the sport’s history and was untroubled for much of the day, looking secure in fourth place behind Massa, Fernando Alonso’s Renault and the second Ferrari of reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen.

Then the rainclouds arrived and with five laps to go, all the top runners had to pit for intermediate tyres.  Toyota made a brave gamble and kept Timo Glock out on dry tyres, and Hamilton was now in a vulnerable position as the German slipped past whilst he was being serviced.

With three laps to go Hamilton allowed the lapped Robert Kubica to pass him, but slid wide and the Toro Rosso of Sebastian Vettel dived past into fifth place, meaning Hamilton was now out of the world championship position he needed to be in.

Massa did everything he needed to do, cruising across the line to take his sixth win of the season, and for 30 seconds or so, the Brazilian had done it.  However, the rain intensified and Glock on his dry tyres was a sitting target.  Into the final corner, both Vettel and Hamilton passed the limping Toyota, with the McLaren powering up the hill to become the 2008 Formula One World Champion.

Ferrari didn’t notice this and started celebrating, but they had got it wrong.  It was Hamilton’s ex-girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger and the McLaren mechanics who had got their calculations right.  Hamilton was champion and in the most unbelievable manner possible.  He made history on the final corner of a truly remarkable season, all of this on ITV’s final afternoon of broadcasting the sport after 12 years.

Super Saturday, 2012

There are so many memories from last summer’s Olympics and we all have our own personal favourites.  Among mine was Sir Chris Hoy’s sixth gold medal in cycling, Jade Jones winning the Taekwondo and Katie Taylor taking Ireland’s first gold for 16 years in women’s boxing.

However, none of that can topple the amazing events on Super Saturday.  Not even a predictable Team GB penalty shootout defeat in football could turn the night into a sour one.

The team had already won three gold medals in the day, two more in rowing and one in the Velodrome, but it was the events in the Olympic Stadium that were simply awe-inspiring.

First, Jessica Ennis completed her domination of the women’s heptathlon event.  Ennis took victory in the final event, the 800m to stamp her authority on the two-day competition.  The Sheffield athlete broke her own British heptathlon record for points, and finished over 300 points clear of her nearest rival.  After the injury pain of missing out on Beijing in 2008, Ennis had shown to the world that she was the best all-round athlete.

Moments later, Greg Rutherford from Bletchley in Milton Keynes leapt 8.31m to extend his lead in the men’s long jump final.  No-one else got close and after his own injury nightmares of previous years, Rutherford had pulled off an unexpected but no less deserved gold medal.  He became the first Brit to win the long jump competition since Lyn Jarvis in Oslo in 1964.

Then, it was the turn of Mo Farah to take the limelight.  Against a top field of Ethiopian and Kenyan athletes, Farah showed them up with a brilliant tactical run, before kicking twice on the final lap to pull clear of the field and win the men’s 10,000m.  The stadium went crazy and Team GB had just won three gold medals in the space of half an hour.  It was undoubtedly the best night in British athletics history, and quite possibly, the greatest moment in British sporting history.

Those five moments, together now with Andy Murray’s glory at Wimbledon are my personal favourites.  I’m sure we will see many more great British sporting moments in the coming years, but for now, let’s enjoy and bask in recent glories and accept that at the moment, Great British sport is in a happy and very successful place.

Categories: Andy Murray, Ashes, Australia, Britain, England, Jessica Ennis, Jonny Wilkinson, Lewis Hamilton, Rugby World Cup, Scotland, Sir Geoff Hurst, Sport, Team GB, Wimbledon, World Cup

The team order storm rumbles on

The Formula One circus has arrived in Shanghai for this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, round three of the 2013 season.

It is civil war at Red Bull between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel

All eyes will be on the Red Bull Racing drivers, world champion Sebastian Vettel and his team-mate Mark Webber following the team orders storm three weeks ago in Malaysia.

The debate has kicked off again, and it seems like the team has lost all control over its drivers.

Webber, who is sporting a dodgy haircut this weekend, said the situation was tense and the relationship between the drivers was strained.

Vettel launched his own attack in a highly charged media conference of his own, stating Webber has never helped him or the team, and although he respected him as a driver, suggested his actions in Sepang were payback for Webber not being there when he needed his help to win the title in Brazil last season.

I’ve kept fairly quiet on the team orders debate, but having mulled over the arguments and the various opinions over the past few weeks, it is time to state how I feel about the situation.

The background

For those who don’t know the full story of what happened at the Malaysian Grand Prix, here is the explanation of events.

Timing a move onto slick tyres better than Vettel had Webber in the lead for the majority of the race.  Despite some frustrations from the German around half-distance, the team issued a coded instruction called ‘Multi-21’ after the final round of pitstops.

We’ve since learned that ‘Multi-21’ is meant to mean car two ahead of car one.  This should suggest Webber was ahead and Vettel was not allowed to attack.

Sebastian took matters into his own hands and disregarded the team order, and raced Mark hard, but clean and took the lead against the accords of his team.

He apologised to the team, and looked miserable on the podium but he has come out fighting since, saying he felt Webber didn’t deserve the victory in Kuala Lumpur.

But should he have listened to his team?

It is about racing

At the end of the day, Formula One is about ‘racing.’  It is what draws in the many followers to the sport.  If racing doesn’t happen, you have to question the morals and ethics of the sport.

I certainly despise team orders.  They have been a part of Grand Prix racing for a long time though.

Some will obey to team instructions.  David Coulthard stuck to a pre-race agreement and allowed Mika Hakkinen to win the 1998 Australian Grand Prix, as Hakkinen had beaten him to the first corner.

In 2002, Ferrari staged the finish of the Austrian Grand Prix, when they brutally asked Rubens Barrichello, who had dominated the whole weekend to gift the race to Michael Schumacher.  Barrichello did it at the last possible moment, but the team were roundly criticised and it led to a rule banning team orders.

And of course, they did it again at Hockenheim in 2010, by asking Felipe Massa to let Fernando Alonso by for the victory.  This was a race that finally lifted the ‘team order’ ban, but in reality, they had never gone away from the background.

Others have ignored instructions.  Both Carlos Reutemann and Rene Arnoux went back on agreements to win races in the early 1980s, as did Didier Pironi famously in 1982 at Imola – leading to Gilles Villeneuve vowing never to speak to him again.  He didn’t, as he was killed 14 days later in practice at Zolder in Belgium.

Sebastian Vettel should have listened to his team.  There was an instruction in place, and the common sense would have been for him to obey the order and follow Webber home.

However, he is a racing driver, a triple world champion and with his chief rival Fernando Alonso out of the race after a crash on lap two, saw an extra seven points up for grabs which could be vitally important come the latter part of the championship.

You tell him not to do it, and especially for the win and it is a difficult one to swallow.

Formula One is a team sport.  It is the teams that employ the drivers, pay their wages and keep the sponsors happy.  However, the drivers are racers and will want individual honours.

Vettel had a case

Vettel had every right to go for it if he felt he should have.  It was ruthless and risky, but I praise him for going against morals and showing the determination he has in proving what a true racing driver he is.

Nice guys do not win world championships, and we all know Mark Webber is not a serious championship contender.  He had his chance to win the title in 2010, and blew it in the wall in Korea.

The neutral wants to see racing at the highest level.  I do not want to see a race that is decided with 15 laps to go, and then they just race around in circles until the chequered flag.  If they did that all the time, I’d rather watch a round of golf!

Vettel took a pasting from the media afterwards, and on reflection – it wasn’t his smartest move to make, but then again – he isn’t the first and won’t be the last to ignore team orders.

Mark Webber has been painted as a saint who has done nothing wrong.  This is Mark Webber, a driver who has ran into countless team-mates (some weren’t his fault, it has to be said), one who has brake tested drivers in the past (Fernando Alonso in Bahrain in 2004), and one who has ignored team orders himself against Vettel (Silverstone 2011).

He is not whiter than white.  Webber is a good racing driver, traditionally has a fair reputation and on his day, is unstoppable but he’s made poor errors of judgement in the past.  Far too many people forget his character.

Lewis Hamilton has ignored team orders before, so has Jenson Button.  They have all done it.  I can’t help feel that Vettel got so much stick because of his nationality.  Who cares if he is German?  I’m not bothered.  Those who’ve branded him as Schumacher Mark II look ridiculous.  Of course, he has made mistakes before, but who hasn’t in life.

And I have to ask this question too?  If you were in the same situation as Vettel, what would you do? 

What happens now?

Red Bull has insisted there will be no more team orders this season, which is a strong statement to make.  I’m not convinced by this at all.

This is Sebastian Vettel’s team, and where does it leave the situation at Red Bull now, both in the short and long term.

For now, there will be no change.  Mark Webber will see the season out, and the competition between them on the track will now be even fiercer than what it has been before.

Vettel was never going to be sanctioned heavily.  He apologised for his actions to the team afterwards, and he went back to the factory to apologise and explain last week in Milton Keynes.  He is the golden boy of the team, and they seriously weren’t going to ban him for one race for what he did.

If teams started doing that to drivers – you could probably turn Formula One into a reality show contest for Channel Five, and auction seats off on eBay.

Webber will be gone at the end of 2013, probably into retirement you’d imagine.  It is Vettel’s team, he owns it and whoever come into the den in 2014 will have to get used to that pretty quickly.

What it does mean is this Formula One season already has an explosive matter to remember as it progresses throughout the summer.

Hopefully, we can get on with the action of ‘racing’ and not ‘staging’ in China this weekend.

However, I will leave you with one lasting quote from the fantastic Senna movie.

The late Ayrton Senna famously said to Sir Jackie Stewart in 1990 during a tense stand-off between the pair; "And if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver."

If you question Sebastian Vettel’s will to win and determination to win, then perhaps you need to ask yourself whether Formula One is a sport you really should be watching.

Categories: Brazil, China, David Coulthard, Felipe Massa, Ferrari, Formula One, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Mark Webber, Media, Multi-21, Red Bull, Sebastian Vettel, Sport, Team Orders

Megan, John and Lewis - A week in the headlines

Most news bulletins are dominated nowadays by political anger, conflict in the Middle East and our brave soldiers who continue to fight a battle in Afghanistan that gets grimmer with every passing week.

That changed this week as the stories were lead by the disappearance of 15-year-old schoolgirl Megan Stammers from Eastbourne.

She had been reported missing after eloping away from the country with one of her schoolteachers, Jeremy Forrest.

Sussex police worked very hard with counterparts across Europe to find the pair, while her devastated family members made heart-warming appeals for Megan to come home.

CCTV pictures were released of the couple boarding a ferry hand-in-hand and it ended in relief on Friday afternoon, when French police found them in Bordeaux.

Maths teacher Forrest has been arrested by police in France on suspicion of child abduction and made a brief court appearance in the country.  He is due back in court on Tuesday and is likely to be extradited to the UK shortly after that. 

If he is found guilty of not only that but having an indecent sexual relationship with a student then the law book is likely to be thrown at him and rightly so.

Yesterday, Megan boarded a plane to head home and will be reunited with her family soon. 

Although it will be difficult, I would hope the media allow her and the family to return to a normal life as they possibly can, fully away from the public spotlight.

Where’s the consistency?

Sport made the news on Thursday when the Football Association found former England skipper John Terry guilty of racially abusing QPR’s Anton Ferdinand.

Terry was charged by the FA earlier this summer, despite having been cleared by a court of law in July.

He has been handed a four game ban and a £220,000 fine.  A written statement is likely to be released this week and after that, Terry will have 14 days to appeal against the decision.

It is difficult to have much of a view on this case but what I will say is that the lack of consistency from the FA is startling.

Last season, Luis Suarez was banned for eight games after the Liverpool striker was found guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra in a match against Manchester United.

The FA then banned Joey Barton for 12 games in the summer, after his disgraceful behaviour on the final day of last season as a QPR player.  Barton elbowed Carlos Tevez, and then head butted both Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany.

So why does Barton get 12, Suarez get 8 and Terry get 4?  Where’s the consistency?  It can’t be right!  For once, I agree with Barton’s reaction about the FA being clueless.

Also, it took 11 months to sort out – as the Terry/Ferdinand incident happened on October 23 last year.  While it is difficult to talk about the legalities without knowing the process, surely this could have been dealt with quicker.

A chequered career

Lastly on Friday morning, the Formula One world was stunned as Lewis Hamilton announced his decision to leave behind the McLaren team that has nurtured him since he was a young child.

Hamilton will move to Mercedes GP on a three-year deal for 2013 to partner Nico Rosberg.  This means that seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher has been booted out to make way for the Brit.

McLaren have reacted quickly and brought in the talented Mexican Sergio Perez as Jenson Button’s team-mate for next year.

Lewis Hamilton is taking a big gamble in moving to Mercedes

Hamilton has had a chequered career, which has brought him one world championship but that was back in 2008.  Since then, he has come close but not quite close enough.

Pitstop blunders, a lack of reliability and some costly accidents mean chances of winning the title in 2012 are now slim to nil.

Add in his feud with Felipe Massa last season, a management company that only is interested in money, his high maintenance relationship with X-Factor judge Nicole Scherzinger and ‘Twittergate’ when he published telemetry at Spa of secret McLaren data information and a move was on the cards.

While change is needed for all parties, McLaren have got one of the best young racers on the grid in Perez and as for Hamilton, I hope he enjoys midfield mediocrity because that is all Mercedes will provide him in the short-term.

Categories: Afghanistan, Bordeaux, CCTV, FA, John Terry, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Middle East, Nicole Scherzinger, Politics, Sport, Sussex, Twitter