The Spanish Grand Prix, or, How Bridgestone kept Mika in the Running...
Saturday morning at around 9:00 a.m. I was jumping up and down, pumping my fists in Schumi fashion, as the soon-to-be-recrowned former world champion and greatest racecar driver in the modern era took the pole for the first time this season.
Almost exactly twenty-four hours later, I was trying to pick my jaw up off the floor, as said soon-to-be-recrowned former world champion and greatest racecar driver in the modern era limped into the pits for an unscheduled pitstop after the fresh set of tires he had received just a few laps prior turned out to be CRAP.
My theory: Bernie Ecclestone, in an attempt to keep the 2000 season interesting, secretly bribed Bridgestone into adding a special pressure-reducing compound to the rubber in Schumi's tires. Think I'm nuts? Consider this: Everyone complains there isn't enough overtaking in F1. What better way to fix that than to secretly handicap the best driver, who happens to be in the lead?
Of course, I'm only joking. Seriously, I think it was quite sportsman-like of Schumacher to ask his crew to bleed the right rear tire slightly. Previously he had bragged that he could beat the McLarens with "one tire tied behind my back". Hats off to him to try and prove it. Little did he know that, because of the collusion between Bernie and Bridgestone, his tires would already be sub-standard...
Now it's off to the Nurburgring, a track which holds mystery and legend, and will always be remembered as the place where Ralf Schumacher punted his brother off the track on the first lap, resulting in the entire German population shouting "You IDIOT!" in unison...
