Just read a really interesting article: http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=590685
In it, Sir Jackie Stewart discusses the need for current F1 drivers to have coaches. All other sports have coaches, so why do formula 1 drivers think they don’t need them? Current ‘big thing’ to yet win a world championship, Lewis Hamilton, claims he doesn’t need one. He wants to get to the top on his own… I wonder at what cost though.
Hamilton lost last year’s championship by a solitary point. He had a remarkable season, there’s no denying that, but he also made a few mistakes. I wonder… had he a driving coach, would those mistakes still have been made? Its a question to which we’ll never know the answer, but it is worth thinking about.
It also makes me think about why our Governments STILL don’t place any value in advanced driver training of any kind. Our young people pass a short test, then are let loose on the roads for the best part of the next 60 years without another mandatory test.
These are the same demographic group who are significantly over represented in almost every crash statistic you care to name – and have been for a long time. Governments have tried almost everything, lower speed limits, curfews, passenger limits… all for very little change. Why can they not see the advantage in driver training?
Perhaps we need a new angle… Jackie Stewart for PM anyone?
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