Press or Race

Remember when Jackie Stewart asked Senna about the amount of contact Senna has had with other drivers? Remember what Senna said? You can catch an edited version of the interview at youtube.com

Stewart tolds Senna that Senna may have had more contact with other drivers in the last 36 to 48 months than all past driver's champions have had in total.

Senna, “I find it amazing for you to make such a question Stewart because you are very experienced and you know a lot about racing. You should know that by being a race driver you are at the risk all the time and that being a race driver you are racing with other people. And, that if you no longer go for a gap that exists you are no longer a racing driver because we are competing and competing to win… I race to win…and sometimes you get it wrong, sure it is impossible to get it right all the time but I race designed to win.”

Incredulous is what Senna should have been. Stewart asks a press question not a driver’s question. Anyone read the article in F1 Racing on the meeting of John Surtees and Valentino Rossi? That was racers talking about racing. That is what a race fan wants to read. We don’t get much of it. I don’t get anything in the U.S. but what I pull from Britain.

My point is that what we do get is biased and, other than the races themselves, what we get is “press” not “race.” Most of what I read is jingoistic. I understand why the British press prefers the British driver to the Spanish at a British team. I still read and sometimes learn something, though not much about racing.