grumpyf1

It’s been an interesting week of experiences, good and bad... but some of them less obviously one or the other. Allow me to explain. First of all, there’s an obvious one which was not only good, but simply joyous. Whilst dropping Mrs G off at the station early one morning, a tiny wren landed on the wing mirror of our car, sat motionless for a few moments, then flitted away. Wonderful. By the same logic, seeing someone damage their car five minutes later at the petrol station should be categorised as bad. However, this was a souped-up VW, with tinted windows, ridiculous spoiler, massive shiny chrome exhaust tailpipe and a spiky haired surly lad behind the wheel, who pulled into a parking space as I was leaving the shop. Unfortunately for the young driver (and presumably his ego), he apparently forgot the ground-skimmingly low front spoiler as he pulled up to the kerb. A kerb that was several inches higher. The loud bang/crunch noise was a delight. I believe the Germans have a wo...

OK, he probably wouldn’t have managed it if Rosberg & Hamilton hadn’t wound up in a gravel trap, but Max Verstappen bagged his first Formula 1 win last weekend. At the age of 18. I remember being pretty obsessed about things that meant a lot to me when I was 18. Getting into my ultra-skinny jeans took a lot of time, and getting out of them required degrees of skill and concentration that probably should have gained my some kind of award. Then there was the styling mousse. Back when I had luxurious locks, I was carrying around enough highly flammable material on my head that a stray spark could have taken out a small town. By the time he reached 18, ridiculously youthful Formula 1 star Max had already got nearly a full year of motor racing at the top level under his belt. At which point he was old enough to take his driving test. Racing since he was four and a half years old, Max appeared in F1 last year to a barrage of criticism about his age. There were some unforced err...