Just One of Those Weeks

Anyone who keeps up with The Becketts Blog regularly will know that I am quite a disgruntled individual. Everything tends to annoy me in some shape or form, and this week has been no exception. In fact there have been two things in particular that have really pissed me off.

After many months of speculation Lewis Hamilton has re-signed with the Mercedes team for the next three years. Reportedly this deal is worth $100 million – fuck right off, is all I can say to that. $100 million!? That is a ridiculous amount of money, even by Formula 1 standards. And for what; two world championships!?

Look, I have massive amounts of respect for anyone who sits behind the wheel of a racing car or straddles a motorcycle. But there are very few motorsport personalities that actually deserve anything close to that figure. Lewis Hamilton is not one of them. Winning a world title is no easy feat, and Hamilton's 2008 championship win was brilliantly fought to the bitter end. But 2014 was a different story. He had a car that was 1-second clear of the field, and he only had his team-mate for competition. Admittedly Nico gave him more of a fight than anyone imagined but, when it came to wheel-to-wheel combat, the German was not as strong. Thus races for the lead became pretty stale once Hamilton had passed him. So really 2014 was his title to lose.

Putting this into context, Valentino Rossi is a 9-times Motorcycle Grand Prix World Champion – 1x125cc, 1x250cc, 1x500cc, 6xMotoGP, the only man to win on four different class of bike. He has the most GP podiums of any rider – 201, 110 wins, 60 pole positions; the veteran of over 300 Grand Prix and his wages for a year? - £20 million. A lot of money yes, but in this context sweet shite all compared to Lewis Hamilton. And one can't fathom why this disparity in pay has occurred, or been allowed to occur. I may be biased, but 9 MotoGP titles are more impressive than two F1 titles, certainly in modern day F1 anyway.

More impressive than both of those is winning the Isle of Man TT. You know how much the winner of the Senior TT gets? £18,000. And that's for sticking your neck out on 37.5-miles of public road on a 250hp Superbike for 6 laps – for the second time that week! And if you've gone through the entire race week, so that's: 2 Superbike races, 2 Supersport races and a Superstock race, Lightweight TT and TT Zero race, and come out on top of the standings you will win the grand total of £10,000. Tell you what, if Lewis Hamilton comes to the TT and races the Senior he can have his money but until then and until he wins a further 20 F1 world titles, he does not deserve £100 million.

This gulf in pay between series' is already annoying, but this particular incident has left a sour taste in my mouth. It's akin to that of football and boxing; sports that have been massively, in my eyes anyway, ruined by the sheer amount of money involved.

So when (if) the likes of Sebastian Vettel or Fernando Alonso win another title, do they deserve a gargantuan pay rise?. What about the sports' future stars, your Bottas' and your Verstappen's?

This sort of pay gap will never be resolved in the world of sport unfortunately, and I can sit here and rant all day. But something else has been boiling my blood this week, aside from the fact I missed a dentist appointment and now they want £15 off of me – 15 bloody quid for that!

I digress.

No. The other thing that has annoyed me was the fresh calls to ban alcohol sponsorship in F1.

If you missed it; Eurocare, the European Alcohol Alliance (worst superhero team name ever) called for the advertisement of alcohol on cars and crash barriers to be banned, because apparently children are taking up drinking or something along those sensationalist lines.

Now, I've watched F1 for many, many years, and I've religiously looked back over the sport's history and not once have I ever thought: “I fancy a pack of Marlboro cigarettes”, or “I could go nip of Johnny Walker” (anyone even considering making any Scottish jokes can fuck off). Nor have I ever thought: “Dad, can I get some Shell oil for Christmas?”, or “I'm going to take out a cash ISA with Santander, because Jenson Button seems to think it's a good idea on those adverts”. It's such a ridiculous notion that we're susceptible to every tiny thing we see. For goodness sakes, I play Call of Duty frequently and I've never even considered invading the Soviet Union, because I am not an idiot.

I actually find it insulting that some government agency thinks I can't make decisions for myself. But to put Eurocare's mind at ease; I like heavy metal music but I am yet to convert to Satanism; I like Project CARS but I am yet to drive like a lunatic; I love F1 and I am yet to buy something because I saw it on the side of a car. Get a grip Eurocare.

Plus, Eurocare, do you know anything about the youth of today? I can guarantee you that none of them will be dropping money on Johnny Walker or Martini. I don't even buy normal peoples alcohol because I'm that stingy, much less Johnny Walker.

#F1 #paddockgrump