THE PERFECT DISASTER

A freak crash? A weird jam? You can call it as you wish, but don’t call it a “normal racing accident” coz there is nothing normal about what happened at the start of the Singapore Grand Prix last Sunday night. I remember a movie called “the perfect storm” and I remember how the meteorologists tried to explain how the unusual formation of winds, temperatures and currents could lead into a deadly mega tornado. This is precisely the disaster which took place at the beginning of one of the best races on the Formula One circuit last week, a perfect disaster.
Lets call Kimi the “wind”, coz he took a magnificent start in first gear despite the recommendations of the instruction book in wet conditions which suggest he should start in second, like most drivers did. And the Finn took off like a forceful wind, sure to arrive at turn one in full command and to lead the race from there on. However he did not take any count of the “temperatures” rising in Verstappen’s head and the stubbornness of the young Dutchman in similar situations. Max went to protect himself from Raikkonen’s attack and Vettel’s covering move and turned left. Looking at the reply frame by frame, the crash between number 7 and number 33 was inevitable, but a third factor contributed to turn an ordinary storm into a perfect one. Vettel did not follow the suggested “current” floating out of it and choosing to cover (covering too much maybe), but having the full right to do so. Unfortunately he failed to see what was happening on his left side as the encounter between Red Bull and Ferrari fitted perfectly into his blind spot. Then: Bang, Bum, Crash…. and Seb, Kimi and Max could do nothing but to follow George Clooney’s miserable destiny at the bottom of the sea. What a shame, a perfect shame.