Kubica doing well

It seems that, after his rally crash yesterday, Kubica's first words on regaining consciousness were to ask if his navigator was OK. I already like the guy a lot - he just went up even further in my estimation.

It seems that the armco that he crashed into penetrated the car, causing much of his damage, including a partially severed hand needing 7 hours of surgery. The signs are apparently promising though, although he may need additional operations to sort out his knee and shoulder.

Original suggestions that he would be out of F1 for a year now seem to be an over-estimation, but Renault Team Chief Eric Bouillier has said it will be a couple of months at least. Clearly, at this stage, these can only be guesses, until Kubica starts to recover.

Renault now have the tricky problem of deciding who to put in the car in Kubica's absence. Grosjean and Senna are their 3rd drivers, but neither are likely to perform at anywhere near the level Kubica would have. It'll be interesting to see what they decide on.

Most important is that Kubica recovers fully as past as possible. He may have lost out on a chance this year, but the guy is still a future World Champion and decent chap. It's been heartening to see the support from his fellow drivers, and from F1 fans worldwide.

If the volume of good wishes has healing powers, he should be back on track in no time.

(Mixtape tonight - Currently Carmine Apice & Brian May, "Nobody Knew". Rock!)

Comments

"It's all gone quiet..." said Roobarb

If, like me, you grew up (and I’m aware of the irony in that) in the ‘70s, February was a tough month, with the sad news that Richard Briers and Bob Godfrey had died. Briers had a distinguished acting career and is, quite rightly, fondly remembered most for his character in ‘The Good Life’. Amongst his many roles, both serious and comedic, he also lent his voice to a startling bit of animation that burst it’s wobbly way on to our wooden-box-surrounded screens in 1974. The 1970s seemed to be largely hued in varying shades of beige, with hints of mustard yellow and burnt orange, and colour TV was a relatively new experience still, so the animated adventures of a daft dog and caustic cat who were the shades of dayglo green and pink normally reserved for highlighter pens, must have been a bit of a shock to the eyes at the time. It caused mine to open very wide indeed. Roobarb was written by Grange Calveley, and brought vividly into life by Godfrey, whose strange, shaky-looking sty...

Suffering from natural obsolescence

You know you’re getting old when it dawns on you that you’re outliving technological breakthroughs. You know the sort of thing – something revolutionary, that heralds a seismic shift it the way the modern world operates. Clever, time-saving, breathtaking and life-changing (and featuring a circuit board). It’s the future, baby! Until it isn’t any more. I got to pondering this when we laughed heartily in the office about someone asking if our camcorder used “tape”. Tape? Get with the times, Daddy-o! If it ain’t digital then for-get-it! I then attempted to explain to an impossibly young colleague that video tape in a camcorder was indeed once a “thing”, requiring the carrying of something the size of a briefcase around on your shoulder, containing batteries normally reserved for a bus, and a start-up time from pressing ‘Record’ so lengthy, couples were already getting divorced by the time it was ready to record them saying “I do”. After explaining what tape was, I realised I’d ...

A fisful of change at the shops

A recent day out reminded me how much the retail experience has altered during my lifetime – and it’s not all good. I could stop typing this, and buy a fridge, in a matter of seconds. The shops are shut and it’s 9pm, but I could still place the order and arrange delivery. I haven’t got to wander round a white-goods retail emporium trying to work out which slightly different version of something that keeps my cider cold is better. It’ll be cheaper, too. But in amongst the convenience, endless choice and bargains, we’ve lost some of the personal, human, touches that used to make a trip to the shops something more than just a daily chore. Last weekend, we visited a local coastal town. Amongst the shops selling over-priced imported home accessories (who doesn’t need another roughly-hewn wooden heart, poorly painted and a bargain at £10?) was one that looked different. It’s window allowed you to see in, rather than being plastered with stick-on graphics and special offers calling ...

grumpyf1

Search This Blog