Surprise! We already knew that.

RD1 tackles the tough challenge of keeping a secret in F1 and the ramifications that has for us fans.

My morning ritual goes something like this: Arrive at work, write something entertaining on Book Face, scan Autosport, check email. This morning was no different, except I came across the story on Autosport that Gerard Lopez has publicly admitted to wanting to buy Renault’s F1 outfit and it made me think – when was the last time I was truly surprised by something in F1?

Sure we joked on the podcast about how this was the best kept secret since Ralf Schumacher’s move to Toyota, but really these days it seems like the FIA keeps everything in an Elaine Benes type vault just waiting to be tempted by some schnapps into leaking. In fact, come to think about it most of the time the FIA gets in a twist about news leaks that are (IMHO) no accident but a well calculated political move. Now I get this strategy, but it really sucks the fun out of it for the rest of us. (I know I know – they don’t actually care about the rest of us)

Now, when I first started following F1, sure there were political shenanigans (often involving *cough, cough* Ferrari) but it was amusing and entertaining. Now its just the same thing ever week and the sport has just tumbled into a land of political nonsense. Maybe this will change with Max gone and with Bernie on the decline. Maybe it will change with people like Ron Dennis and The Flav out of the sport. Or maybe its just the way things are now, but I for one, miss the old days of opening up Autosport and being truly shocked and surprised by something I read. Maybe someone should legislate that into 2010.

RD1 out.

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