He can lead from the front, and he can race from the back. He knows now when
to risk a move, as he did around the outside of Fernando at Monza in 2011,
and when to back off, as he did when he and Nico Rosberg headed into turn
one on Sunday.
But he showed he really can race by cutting back inside at the next turn, and
going wheel to wheel before pulling away from the Mercedes.
He is relentless.
If it is about a crooked finger, then these fans need to take a look at
themselves. I do not much care for Rafael Nadal hitching his shorts up
between each point in tennis matches but it does not give me the right to
boo him.
If it is about what happened in Malaysia, and the Red Bull team’s coded ‘Multi
21’ message (the instruction for Sebastian to hold station behind Mark,
which Seb ignored), then I cannot fathom that either. Sebastian broke no Formula
One rules in Sepang. Yes he went against an instruction from his
team but that is an internal issue, not a breach of sporting regulations.
Michael Schumacher broke rules in his career. He was deemed to have cheated by
the sports governing body, the FIA, and was thrown out of the 1997 world
championship.
I still would not have booed him as I had – and still have – huge respect for
his achievements, but I could at least understand it more if he was booed.
Sebastian showed in Malaysia that he was a real racer, who was not prepared to
give someone a win who he felt did not deserve it. He ignored team orders,
which plenty of other champions of the past have done. That ruthless streak
is a common trait of champions.
There is, of course, an argument that ‘you pays your money, you have the right
to boo’. I accept that, but personally I feel that Formula One is rather
more at the gentleman end of sport compared to, say, WWF.
I thought Martin Brundle handled it all extremely well on the podium on
Sunday, stopping the interviews for a moment to ask the crowd to show some
respect. I think there is a bit of a pantomime element to it, but it is
still uncalled for.
I do not think we’re quite at the stage we were with Damon Hill when he was
receiving death threats at Hockenheim in 1995.
I was his team-mate at Williams at that time and I distinctly remember driving
around in a car on the parade lap with him and ducking down as we entered
the stadium section and some poppers went off.
Sebastian seems to have accepted it – he believes he is there to do a job and
he knows that if he does it well it will not please everyone – but that does
not mean that we as fans should.
Other hated champions
Michael Schumacher
F1’s most successful driver was disliked for bending rules – most notoriously
when he parked across the track in Monaco to block Fernando Alonso.
John McEnroe
The American was sublimely talented but infuriated crowds with his tantrums.
Joe Bugner
A bite noir for British crowds after knocking out Sir Henry Cooper, despite
living in the UK for most of his life.