Hamilton To Mercedes, the right thing to do?

In short, yes.
As a Hamilton fan from the start, I'm also a McLaren fan and like many, felt initially devastated at the announcement that he was leaving for Mercedes from McLaren, going from a successful team to a relatively unsuccessful team. When the first rumors of this move came I shrugged them off as non sense like with the Red Bull rumors of last summer and even when Eddie Jordan announced he was 'Definitely leaving' I still wasn't convinced. I thought there would be no chance of Lewis leaving to go to a team that has won only one race this year, it at the time seemed like a ludicrous idea and I personally could not see it as a possibility.

However only when it was announced officially, and once I had accepted the decision, did I begin to realize that this was a very considered and possibility brilliant move. Think about it, Lewis could be onto his 3rd WDC at this moment but he is not, bad cars and team errors coupled with a few (only a few) of his own have prevented this. If you can't achieve something after multiple tries, you change your technique, everyone does this in everyday life and it only makes sense that Hamilton is taking a different route to success after 3 failed attempts since his last title with McLaren.

There has been talk of him being disloyal, but how many drivers stay with the same team for as long as he has done? It is unheard of and I believe he would have been criticized had he stayed with McLaren for any longer, there would have been comments made of him playing it safe, or taking the easy route. Mercedes are a team that are fully committed to becoming a winning front runner in Formula One and they are making many changes which I believe will eventually come good. Hamilton is more than capable of pushing Mercedes to the top within the next few years,We only have to look at what Schumacher did with Ferrari to see it is completely possible, they were a struggling team that had not won a championship in a long time and when he arrived they won 5 consecutively thanks to his drive and determination.

Those are two things that Lewis Hamilton certainly has and although this move could make or break his career, I am hoping, and confident, that it is the former.

Sporting etiquette

Anyone reading this blog likely follows me on twitter and is likely an F1 fan, so I'm sure you all have your own opinions on the incident between Maldonado and Hamilton. I read some comments that suggested Pastor deserves to have his super licence revoked and to be removed from the sport as obviously this is not the first incident like this he has been responsible for. But as much as I think he is a danger on track, especially when frustrated, I don't feel comfortable with the idea of taking a drivers licence away especially when they have won a race this season. People were saying similar things about Lewis Hamilton last year during his most troubled season for more frequent offences and I know had that been followed through, the world would have been in uproar. Believe it or not but Pastor is well known in his home country as he is the only Venezuelan driver and probably one of the most famous Venezuelans today, stripping him of his license would crush a nation and even I couldn't do that, regardless of how much I dislike him.

The solution to the problem with Pastor, I believe, lies with a simple conversation. If a race steward or someone influential like Frank Williams just sat down with him and explained to him what he is doing wrong then maybe he may in future think before he acts. Prevention is the greatest cure after all.

I can't help but feel that young drivers are taking more risks with their driving as a result of the increased safety measures and the decreasing risk of death/injury today. And a part of me worries that change will only come after the worst has happened.
Although a lack of sporting etiquette is sometimes evident in the greatest of drivers today. Schumacher, Hamilton and Alonso have all been to blame for controversial incidents over the years, perhaps the problems are rooted deeper than just the rookies...

Who knows?

The fall of the Media

The question 'what do you want to be when you're older?' is becoming ever frequent lately, those who know me will know that I am intent on having a career in Journalism. The idea of writing for a living appeals to me, and of course there are the perks of travelling, meeting new people and perhaps working in television and/or Radio.

But whilst watching the news coverage of the Leveson inquiry recently, I found myself wondering if I wanted to become a part of this corrupt, deceitful world. This inquiry into the ethics of the British press came about as a result of the News Of The World phone hacking scandal, I'm certain you all know it. This has stained the reputation of Journalism. It was already a profession that was disliked by most celebrities, now however Journalists are becoming the bad guys of society.

However I realized I should make this an extra incentive to become a professional Journalist, I want to show the positives of this world and report on things that matter, In a way that does not intrude on the personal lives of others.

So, In order to achieve this I have decided I will try my very hardest to only report on two things.
Events and news that matters to everyone (e.g war, crime, economy, politics)
Or Events/News that matters to me personally (F1, Music etc)

If at any point I find myself writing irrelevant stories on the affairs and private lifes of the rich and famous, I will stop.

Dangerous sports, activities or pastimes are selfish, put others at risk and should be discouraged, Do you agree?

Throughtout my life so far, many hobbies and interests have come and gone, but one seemingly dangerous sport has always had a large presence.

Formula One is a sport that originated in Britain over 60 years ago and is a huge part of our history and culture. There is no denying this is an extremely dangerous sport; 15 drivers were killed in accidents in the 1950's, twelve in the 60's, ten in the 70's, four in the 80's and two in the 90's. Danger is part of the appeal of Formula One and so will always be there, One major fact to comment on here is how the numbers have rapidly decreased and no fatalities have occurred since April 1994.

The Extreme safety measures that the sport has adopted have kept the excitement and adrenaline but eliminated deaths behind the wheel. Some of these features have filtered down into out road cars to improve safety there, such as traction control and strong carbon fibre body work.

Yes, there is no denying it is a dangerous sport, however it is too much of an important part of international culture to be discouraged. The aspect of danger means people have so much more respect for sportsmen like racing drivers and Formula One is such an intelligent, exciting and fascinating sport that it has a huge fan base across the globe. It is inevitable that when you have 24 cars racing around a track at more than 300km/h now and then they will collide, we cannot fully prevent that.

But if we did find a way to prevent crashes and eliminate all danger from sport, would we want to?
Taking the danger out of a sport or activity makes it much less compelling for spectators and participants and could be described as border-lining on boring.

The simple fact is if you take away the danger from a sport, you also take away a massive part of the excitement and the adrenaline. And in a sport like F1, taking away the danger is like taking the sun away from a summer holiday, it turns something so amazing into something completely average.


(Thought I'd share this with you all, wrote it as part of my creative writing in English)

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/sri-lankas-killing-fields/4od

I watched the first documentary on this when it aired back in June 2011 and I was disgusted and shocked at what I saw, Channel 4 has used some brutal footage to portray the fact that the Sri Lankan Government is avoiding facing up to some serious war crimes, but they say it's justified.

The second documentary aired last month and recounts the events since the end of the civil war in the country. The commonwealth is shown to have forgotten Sri Lanka's crimes and welcomes President Rajapaska back into the national community with open arms.
The country appears to have investigated the accusations made by channel 4 however they avoid coming to any real conclusion in their reports and completed the process themselves instead of going through an indepent panel.

It's an interesting watch, that's for sure.

Bahrain, What to do?

I'm sure everyone is familiar with the story, there has been protests against the Government there, innocent civilians have been killed and the unrest in the region has led many to question if Formula One should ever return after last years race was cancelled. As the event approaches, more and more people are voicing their concern, from Racing legend Damon Hill to MP's in Parliament. Today the Guardian has published an article in which an anonymous Team Principle speaks out showing their concern for safety. This un-named boss who is said to be a Leading member of the 12 team principles went on to say "I feel very uncomfortable about going to Bahrain. If I'm brutally frank, the only way they can pull this race off without incident is to have a complete military lock-down there. And I think that would be unacceptable, both for Formula One and for Bahrain. But I don't see any other way they can do it." This shows the harsh reality of the situation there and amounts more pressure on the FIA to re think whether Bahrain is capable of safely hosting the race. From a pure, selfish point of view I'd want the race to go ahead simply because I love F1 and don't want to have to go another weekend without it. However I can't ignore the safety issues and the fact that a lot of Bahrain civilians want it cancelled because of recent protests, so in my opinion, it should be cancelled. Not only to protect the reputation of F1 but to also respect the needs of the public who are unhappy with their ruling.