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but it is 'forced' tyre management these days, you have to use compound X and you have to use compound Y.

It used to be real tyre managment, when we had different tyre makers, with all kinds of different compounds they could use in the race, but they were not obliged to use all of them.

I remember that Prost was a master in this; he sometimes put 3 different compounds at the same time on his car. Some drivers gambled and put hard tyres on to get through the whole race, some drivers didn't and used softs but had to make a pit stop etc etc.

THAT is what I call tyre management. Now it is forced, and in the end, almost everyone is on the same strategy anyway, bar a few laps difference.

I hope one day we will have different suppliers again, and tyre makers going to the limit with their tyres.

There will be a race, no one is going to blow anything up, terrorists aren't going to invade the circuit mounted on dromedaries, bedouins won't raise their daggers, nor rip Alonso's head off.

It's all normal in Bahrain.

And you know what? Apart from the manifestations, it is all normal, really. Normal, for a country like Bahrein, which is a oppressed population, comanded by a monarchy floating in oil, sheiks that for over 200 years control the country, who rely on the USA (the biggest naval american fleet in the Gulf is on the island, and lock together to Saudi Arabia, of they depend viscerally.

So, when we were there for the first time, in 2004, it was already that sahit. Except there wasn't anyone on the street. In the prisons, they probably beat up opposers the same way. "This is a hell hole", I wrote, at the time, half an hour after landing in Manama. As you can see, my first impression wasn't one of the best.

And I confess I went reasonably excited to Bahrein. Not by the islands atractives, but because it would stop in Beirut, Lebanon, coming and going from Bahrein. That one, was a rich experience - despite the short time I had on the city, one of the most beautiful I've known.

On Bahrein itself, nothing really surprised me. OK, the organisers were nice since the GP was confirmed. They sent journalists some trinkets I hold until today, like a car plate with the numbers 04-04-04, date of the first race, a miniature of the circuit tower in crystal and even a bad of desert sand - that sand is gone, I've now noticed. On the Wednesday or Thursday of the race, they made a party of the one thousand and one nights with all the possible clichés, with some fatties doing belly-dancing, some tents with big pillows, arab delicacies to eat at will and even un unlikely band of brazillian musicians who played "The Girl from Ipanema" and "Meu Brasil Brasileiro", to give a globalized feel.

The Sakhir circuit was one of the first of the range of superautodromes started by Sepang in 1999. Afterwards came the bahrani track, and then Turkey, China, Abu Dhabi, South Korea and more are to come. It became a championship of luxoury and ostentation. Don't care. The blokes have the money, let them spend it on what they want. The construction didn't surprise, except for the fact that, quite literally, the circuit was in the middle of the desert. After the main straight, nothing but sand. It's a curious cenario, for those who had never seen anything similar.

The city is very ugly, it's got those usual downtown glass and brushed steel buildings to give a modern look, some internacional restaurants to cater for the very large foreign population, SUVs everywhere and nothing else worth mentioning. Me and Fábio Seixas stayed at the most unrefined apartment. Tower-Something or Something-Suites, how they like to baptize this sort of flats. The car was parked in the street, which didn't have a sidewalk. Dry air, heat, zero charm.

We didn't care about the country's political situation. Amongst us, let's get this straight: Bahrein wasn't that relevant. It's not a turistic destination, nothing to see. It was just another race, four days and off we went.

But since the Arab Spring happenings, it became relevant. It became known, and the harsh repression from the Shias became news. Less than Libya, Egypt and Syria, also because the USA want the khalifas that have been there for two centuries stay there. However, it was a chance for F1 to make a stand, spread a message, get out of the ridiculous shell that is based on the lazy statement that the sport and politics don't mix. They should. Accions that come from fanous people have more reprecussion, echo, make something happen.

It just so happens that F1 is managed by a man without great scruples and no worries besides money. And the team that follows him around acts like cattle. So, the race going on, which I didn't think would happen at one point, after being sure it would and then not knowing about anything else, is no surprise. Not even the complete emptyness in the statements by all involved. No one has courage to say that it's wrong, to make a criticism, to show solidarity, to show that they see something else in the world besides tyre temperatures.

Athletes, in general, are being alienated from reality. The majority professes an abject conservatism, caring only about they millionarire bellybuttons and to hell with everything else.

F1 doesn't have a Socrates. F1 has wax heroes, who will never die of overdose.

"We saw him (Lewis) do the the exact same thing against Jenson Button in Canada, where he did hit the wall. We assume with Lewis Hamilton that he is that feisty, and he's never going to back out of a situation. I was in a situation like that myself at Silverstone against Allan McNish, who's also been on the FIA Driver panel before, in Le Mans cars, where he pushed me over to the wall, and that instant you think "please don't keep coming over, because I'm committed now"

Anyone see Ant Davidsons comments on the Rosberg move on Sky? Seems he's even further up his own arse than we thought.



This is the same man who was deliberately running Audis off the road at Le Mans less than 1 year ago.

So I guess you guys are pretty stoked about the tumors, then