F1's Place In An Uneasy World

(The 2001 Italian Grand Prix took place at Monza a few days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US. This piece describes how F1 responded. Jarno Trulli crashed on the first lap of the race but was still the star of the show) 

 

 

 

Historically, many sports originated as alternatives to war. Enlightened societies sought to avoid conflict by organising games and competitions as relatively harmless outlets for potentially dangerous aggression.

And while sport has gone on to become a unifying force of international proportions - witness the Olympic Games and the World Cup of football - warlike tendencies are still an unfortunate aspect of humanity, as the terrorist attacks on the US have so sadly shown.

Those who play the F1 game are fond of saying their sport is like war, so it was interesting to observe the reaction of some of the featured players when faced with the reality of what happened in America.

In the immediate aftermath of the attacks against New York and Washington several drivers felt the Italian Grand Prix should not have taken place. Michael Schumacher was particularly disturbed by the situation in the US, then by the life-threatening accident to former F1 driver Alex Zanardi in a CART race in Berlin (where he lost his legs) and by the fact that a track worker had died in a first-lap crash in the 2000 Italian Grand Prix.

"It is a very emotional time," Schumacher said, "with what happened in America and this weekend with one of our former drivers in hospital and with what happened here last year. We should question whether we should race and we tried to get an agreement to not overtake on the first lap. We all agreed except one."

The dissenting vote was cast by Jacques Villeneuve, who defended his position on the grounds that as professional racing drivers it was their duty to get on with the job.

'You cannot make all the money we do and tell the fans you are not willing to compete from the very start," Villeneuve said.

"If Michael felt that felt that strongly about it and really wanted to make a point, then he shouldn't have started at all.

"For me, it was a question of princples I've had since I was a boy dreaming of being a racing driver. I believe you have to go flat out from the start and give 100 percent to the chequered flag."

Arguments for and against these points of view raged on, as did the Italian Grand Prix, which fortunately finished without any serious incidents and was in fact quite an entertaining distraction from the unrest prevailing in the world at large.

But beyond that, the sport has a valuable contribution to make especially in times of international strife, as was most eloquently summed up by Jarno Trulli, who received a standing ovation in the Monza media centre for his heartfelt impomptu speech.

"It's not just a US tragedy," Jarno Trulli said, "it's a tragedy for the whole world. We have to show to everybody that we are together with the USA, that we are all together in the whole world. Formula 1 is a sport and all sport is also a way to show somehow that the whole world doesn't have to stop. We still have to carry on, we have to take care of what is happening but we can't stop, otherwise the people that attacked the USA will have won their battle and we cannot let this happen. We have to show that we are strong enough and we have to look forward."