Alberto Saiz/Associated PressMark Webber stretches during the Formula One press conference in Valencia on Thursday in preparation for the European Grand Prix this weekend.
VALENCIA, Spain – It was business as usual on the track in Valencia on Friday as the cars went out for the second of two practice sessions. Mark Webber was the fastest driver of the first session, and as I write these words as he is speeding around slightly behind his teammate at Red Bull, Sebastian Vettel, in the second practice session. The Ferrari drivers are third and fourth at the moment, and it's a little like where we left off in Canada.
But there was a moment off the track on Thursday that still has me smiling.
At the FIA press conference on Thursday, at the very end of a pretty lackluster half hour, there was a very nice and touching exchange instigated by Webber.
This is the second race of the season in Spain, after the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona a couple of months ago, so it was natural that Fernando Alonso and Jaime Alguersuari were both invited to the press conference to inaugurate the weekend. As the last question of the press conference, a journalist asked both drivers about Spain's relationship to Formula One and what their memories were of Formula One as they grew up in Spain, and how they felt about the way it has developed.
Alonso answered first: "Well, when I was a kid, Formula One was not important at all, or was not a sport we followed," he said, adding that when he was racing g0-carts he was hardly even able to follow Formula One from Spain. "I never saw a race on TV in my life until I was 17 or 18."
"Now, I think it's quite popular in Spain," Alonso said. "I think they love their motorsport as we love motorbikes as well in this country. Generally, I think in go-karts and in different categories now there are many drivers so I'm sure that from now on the future will be much better for Spain and I'm happy because it's obviously my sport and something that I love and now I'm happy that the country shares this love as well."
Before Alguersuari had a chance to give his answer, Webber spoke up in response to Alonso's statement, in a little bit of a choppy prose: "He's being modest because he changed the sport in this country: what he did, no four wheels before him so he did a good job."
But fragmented thought or not, the intention was clear: To give Alonso credit for making Formula One and its four-wheeled cars — as opposed to the popular two-wheel racing of motorcycles — one of the two or three most popular sports in Spain. It was thanks to Alonso's victories and world championship titles that Spain became the big Formula One country it is today.
Alonso appreciated the gesture, and he reached over and squeezed Webber's shoulder in thanks. It would be nice to see more of these human moments in this otherwise very strictly run sport.
In the meantime, as we await qualifying on Saturday, have a look at the stories I prepared for a special report preview of the race this weekend. The main feature is all about how drivers have their preferred tracks and corners and how some are better on certain kinds of tracks than others. The Paddock Postcard feature is, naturally, about Valencia…. And this race I am up to Team Lotus in the team portrait series, and a Q&A with Mike Gascoyne.
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