This week in Podium or Pits ... POP agrees with Lewis (shock, horror!), Rob Smedley does his bit for charity, Schumacher is flying, and Felipe Massa has a problem with his nuts...
Lewis Hamilton - finally! Something Lewis and POP can agree on. When a driver has the same nationality as his team, the national anthem is only played once. So when Lewis or Jenson win it's one glorious rendition of God Save the Queen. But when Fernando wins, it's the Spanish national anthem followed by the seemingly endless Italian anthem (seriously, it does go on a bit).
This week, McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton has said that the anthem should be longer. "When I stand up there and Felipe Massa has won, Brazil's anthem is like 10 minutes long. Ours is less than half a minute" said Hamilton. The eagle-eyed readers among you will notice the glaring error in Hamilton's statement. Yes, that's right, when does Massa ever win anyway!? Oh, and the Brazilian anthem isn't 10 minutes either. Despite Hamilton's factual inaccuracies, the basic premise is spot on - the Brits in British cars deserve more podium time to savour their glory. That's only fair. Perhaps a rendition of Fleetwood Mac's The Chain for good measure?
Rob Smedley - Felipe Massa's engineer is so involved in the race that he may as well be re-named Massa's "co-pilot". He's the one reassuring Massa when things go wrong, and the one kicking him up the butt when he needs to do some overtakes. They say that behind every great man is a great woman. Well, behind Felipe Massa is Rob Smedley (not that he's a woman, it's just that he's great!) Anyway, Rob Smedley is unequivocally on the podium this week for his charity work: he's going to be a guest speaker at an F1-themed charity event for Zoe's Place Baby Hospice. Smedley and his wife lost a baby in 2007. "This is a very small way of using Formula 1 as a platform to give something back" said Smedley. Top bloke.
Schumacher's flying!! Literally! credit - Twitter: @PBurnsF1
Michael Schumacher - 8th in the last race. Well. But life's not all bad for the former world champion: he has his own plane! Michael Schumacher: living the dream.
Felipe Massa's nuts - credit: Octane Photos
Felipe Massa - it's a Felipe Frenzy this week in Podium or Pits! It has been revealed this week that Felipe may have lost a place at last weekend's German grand prix because of ... a nut. He may be Brazilian, but a Brazil nut isn't the issue here folks. Ferrari introduced a new "speedy" wheel nut design for the German race, but sadly it disconnected from the wheel gun on Felipe's final stop, costing him crucial time in a race won and lost in the pit stops. Overall the new design was quicker, but with such unreliability with the system it perhaps may not be worth it for the team. Smedley - sort it out.
Comments and Discussion
Has Hamilton ever heard the complete God Save The Queen? The second verse is a little bit...confrontational to say the least;
O Lord, our God, arise,
Scatter her enemies,
And make them fall.
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all.
Confound their politics and frustrate their knavish tricks? Sounds like Ferrari bashing to me, no wonder the FIA keep it to one verse!
The British anthem is too long as it is. It's the most depressing rubbish and probably only beaten by Switzerland's as the worst anthem out there.
Italy. Now there's a country that knows what an anthem should be like.
seconded - LOVE the italian anthem, it never ends!
It may be a boring national anthem but it's OUR boring national anthem.
There are 6 verses... not sure if Paul Di Resta will win a GP (ok, sure he will but not soon) but I'm certain he won't sing that final 6th verse!
Go look it up if you don't know.
Flower of Scotland then?
Lewis should be grateful he's not Japanese as their anthem only has 31 syllables - its just an extended Haiku really. Far too short an anthem for basking in national glory.
The italian anthem makes me think of women doing pirouettes.