By Peter Grenville

Published at 11:07, Friday, 30 November 2012

I ONLY follow one sport – Formula 1 motor racing. Potentially, I could follow more, but I suspect the disapproval from the other end of the sofa might be bad for my health.

Peter Grenville

As the season culminated in Brazil last Sunday, I’m now stuck with an F1-free existence until March next year, whilst the Footballerist community enjoy their cosy conversations about which star gets paid the most, and who’s speaking with an amusing French accent this week.

Still, I have happy memories to keep me warm on the long winter nights, as 2012 was a scintillating season, which started with seven different winners in the first seven races. This left the championship wide open until the end of the season, as the top teams struggled to out-develop their competitors.

The final race couldn’t have been more exciting if you’d asked a panel of F1 geeks to write the script. The impossibly young double World Champion, Vettel, headed into the event just ahead, but found himself clouted into a spin on the first lap, facing the wrong way in oncoming traffic doing terrifying speeds.

This allowed his rival, the experienced double World Champion Alonso, to get himself into a position where he would win the title if they finished in the same order.

Rain caused all the drivers to struggle for grip, some failing to stay on the track, and some (step forward, Mr Raikkonen) to go off the circuit and head somewhere up a side road.

Those SatNavs can be tricky to programme though.

As Vettel fought his way through the order from last place, Britons Button and Hamilton battled for the lead, joined by a cheeky youngster whose name is a cross between a green chappie and something you don’t want to run into on a boat – Hulkenberg. The Hulk eventually crashed into Hamilton, ending his final race at McLaren, and leaving the way clear for Button to take his third win of the season.

Whilst Alonso drove valiantly to second place, Vettel coming home in sixth was enough to give the German his third, straight, title.

So now I have to console myself with my F1 underpants, out-of-date Damon Hill T-shirt, and VHS of the 1998 World Championship until the spring. I can’t even do my Murray Walker impersonation, as apparently it upsets other library users.

On the upside, my Nigel Mansell moustache is coming along well, and saying “For sure” at the start of every conversation, whilst thanking “The Team”, is definitely going to make me the life and soul of the party over Christmas.

Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk