Jacques opens mouth, provides insightful comment

Via Autosport:

Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve believes that of Formula One's three current title contenders, Robert Kubica is the most deserving this year.

The BMW driver closed to within 12 points of Lewis Hamilton and seven of Felipe Massa after finishing second in the Japanese Grand Prix, while both his rivals incurred penalties in a race where both made mistakes.

"The one who really deserves it now is Kubica," Villeneuve, who won the title for Williams in 1997, told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"He has not been in as good a car as either Felipe or Lewis yet he has produced a season without mistakes.

He's also blown the doors off his highly rated teammate and made a minimum of mistakes in his second season. What do you think? Can you spot a World Champion's vapour trail in the chart below?:

Let 'em go

I am mildly dismayed to see the Canadian GP left off the sched., but in light of the deteriorating track conditions and perennial threats and bribes to keep it on the island, I'm happy to see some Asian / Middle East country fork over the subsidies instead. I've always said if the government wants to "help" support the arts, industry, sports, entertainment whatever...cut everybody's taxes and let them direct money to the things they value most. Of course, such widely dispersed voluntary measures wouldn't help desperate politicians in the middle of a tight election race which is why it will never happen.

It is interesting to wonder whether running tobacco sponsorship out of the sport ended up shifting the big money burdens back on governments (and ultimately taxpayers) but in any event, by leaving a big North American sized hole in the tour, there's the possibility that with a fresh sheet of paper, others may take the lead in bringing F1 or even NASCAR to Canada in the future. Could Alberta's Oil Patch become the next generation equivalent of the tobacco giants?