Marshal killed at Canadian GP

I would just like to express my condolences to the family of the 38 yr old Marshal who died at the Canadian GP.

As all of you know, without these dedicated Marshals who do this dangerous work for the love of the sport, there would be no Formula 1.

These days such accidents are few and far between and I think the last time a Marshal was killed at a GP was 2001 in Australia when the wheel of Villeneuve's BAR passed through a gap in the safety fencing.

I trust that, regardless of the accidental nature of yesterday's fatality, all of the circuits will review their vehicle recovery procedures to ensure the health and safety of everyone on the scene.

May he rest in peace.

Vettel Booed on Podium

This is the second time this season that Sebastian Vettel has been booed on the podium.

The first race of the season saw the Australian crowd react badly to him though it was not as audible as at yesterdays podium ceremony.

I'm not in favour of this kind of behaviour, regardless of each individual's right to express his/her opinion.  In the same way that I don't agree with drivers cursing during live, post-race interviews I think that the winner of a GP deserves to be given due respect for the fact that he has raced and won that day.

I'm not a huge fan of Vettel and certainly I'd prefer Mark Webber beat him more consistently but the fact is that he blitzed all competition yesterday and for that deserves to be rewarded by the crowd showing a bit of respect.

Fans of F1, by their nature, tend to be well informed about their sport and it is not uncommon for each fan to support more than one team and more than one driver.

I, for instance, give a lot of my support to Williams, Button, Webber, Ferrari, Sauber, Massa, Raikkonen, and Rosberg but I also have a lot of time for Bianchi, Hamilton, Bottas, Mercedes and McLaren.  Then there are Team Principals and Tech Directors who are of interest culminating with (of course) Adrian Newey.

So while I may not be a great fan of Red Bull Racing I have an interest in them from my support of Webber and my awe of Adrian Newey.

Sebastian may not be the most loveable of characters but a lot of that is based on his success and success does not deserve to be booed.

For me there were only two occasions in all the time I've watched F1 where booing was acceptable, the first was the 2002 Austrian GP podium which was shambolic and the second was also in 2002 at Indianapolis.  Funnily enough it was Michael Schumacher who was deserving on both occasions - and I was a big supporter of MSC from his very first appearance with Jordan in the 191.