Full Throttle

You may, or may not be familiar with the UK’s Mirror newspaper. Lightly regarded as a “tabliod” it does have one redeeming social quality.

Whoever writes their headlines for Formula One related stories is the absolute best.

Take this one posted after this weekends F1 event in Malaysia for example: Fool Speed Ahead.

Jenson Button’s Malaysian Grand Prix exploded in a war of words yesterday with American rookie Scott Speed.

The Honda ace finished third as Giancarlo Fisichella and Fernando Alonso blitzed to Renault’s first 1-2 finish in 24 years.

But a morale-boosting second place in the toughest race of the year went begging when the world champion charged out from his final pit stop just 50 yards ahead of Button to grab runners-up spot.

Afterwards the Frome Flyer blamed Toro Rosso’s Speed for wrecking his chances.

“I got held up by quite a big margin, quite a few seconds, just before I had my second stop which cost me a lot of time,” said Button. “Maybe that was enough to come out of the pits in front of Fernando.”

But Speed, the first American to race in F1 for 12 years, hit back and claimed: “That’s ridiculous. I got a call on the radio and two corners later I let him by. I was the one who got held up, by Sato, for three laps.

The headline is a classic, even by the Mirror’s lofty standards.

As luck would have it I missed the race because of out of country guests prowling around the homestead this week so I’ll take Jense at his word. But I will say this: Jense, it could have been worse and you could have spent the entire event smelling Red Bull and Toro arse like Toyota had to endure last week.

Taken in that context a podium isn’t all that bad.

Formula One, Red Bull, Honda F1, F1, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle