Jeremy Clarkson’s Brutal Assessment Of Watching An F1 Race Trackside
Jeremy reflected on his first grand prix experience at the 1973 British Grand Prix. He wrote: “As my only sporting experience up to that point was playing badminton with William Hague [former Leader of the Conservative Party], I was hooked. And I vowed I would go to as many grand prix as I could for the rest of time.A vow that lasted until, ooh, about 15 minutes after the restart”, and he says that whilst that race was full of incidents, excitement and a second race start (sound familiar?) he missed all of it.
He continues: “This is the problem with Formula 1 as a live event. You have to be very lucky to see an incident, and even if you do, it’s usually over in a flash, and there are no slow-motion replays to help you understand what caused it. This, then, is a sport that has only ever really worked on television.He recalls another F1 race he attended, the 1985 Monaco Grand Prix. Although, when we say attended – he missed it due to being a police cell. And again, a few years ago, he overslept. He says, “It didn’t matter, though, because watching F1 live was dull. And I didn’t care who won.”
He goes on to say that although Drive To Survive has helped the sport’s survival and brought fans closer to the drivers and the whole ethos of the sport has changed, after attending the race in Bahrain, his view hasn’t changed.After a brief chat with Martin on the grid, he said: “I dashed out of the lift, raced past the bar – I was that excited – and took up my place on the balcony as the starting lights went out. There was noise, and soon a snake of cars whizzed past. And then there was less noise for a while, and then they whizzed past again, and I realised I didn’t actually know who was where in the line-up.”
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