There are a few clips of Arsene Wenger during his time as Arsenal manager which perennially come up in Football’s Funniest Moments compilation. One shows the great Frenchman struggling manfully with the zip on his trenchcoat, and the other when, in the aftermath of some controversial incident or other, all he could muster by way of a comment was, in full French brogue, I did not see it!
He might have even said it was the fault of the coat manufacturer or the lintsman or fourth official for obstructing his view. It was never his fault. Now read on…
He may soon be fielding phonecalls from Christian Horner. Or the Red Bull boss could hire somebody like Alastair Campbell to put a more positive spin on things for him.
However, putting an Irish spin on it, as he is married to a musician, he could do worse than look up the back catalogue of former Irish pop group B*Witched. Where he could simply say C’Est La Vie or Won’t blame it on myself, just blame it on the Weatherman.
To be fair to the team boss mind, he hasn’t been the only one opening up a can of complaints and getting their wings to have a whinge. If it’s not Max Verstappen complaining about the car, it’s Sergio Perez giving out yards about about Max, Verstappen Snr going on about Horner and Perez and Horner going on about the sun, moon and stars!
So where are we? Well, Perez had every right to be cheesed off at being asked to moved over to let Max win. Equally, though, one can totally understand the current World Champion being at his wits end with the car constantly breaking down. Horner can hardly be thrilled about it either.
From this admittedly still learning viewpoint, it would appear the fault lies with either the constructors (Honda) or the Red Bull mechanics. Giving lie to that theory, mind you, is the fact that Perez has been going very well in his own right. Presumably in a carbon copy of the car Max is driving.
Pehaps, then, it comes back to a question somebody posed before this year’s F1 season started at all – how would Max cope with being champion? The hunter becoming the hunted. Because it is different. Getting to the top is one thing, staying there is entirely another.
What the affable young Dutchman doesn’t need, however, is his outspoken father Jos chipping in and creating even more pressure and tension between the two drivers and in and around the Red Bull team in general.
That said, the current driver isn’t likely to place too much store on what the old man prattles on about. After all, he wasn’t exatly Father of the Year material, was he?
The ironic thing, of course, is, despite all the goings on at Red Bull, due to the shockingly abject performance of the Mercedes machines, Lewis Hamilton is in no position to take advantage of his great rival’s travails.
Strangely, as with the Verstappen/Perez situation, Hamilton’s sidekick George Russell has also been outperforming his highly vaunted accomplice in an apparently under performing car. Go figure.
You can only assume that, sooner or later, the currently inefficient speed machines will be brought back up to scratch. Whether heads will roll in the shrapnell only time will tell. In the meantime, one lots struggles could be an unforeseen window of opportunity for another.
What way are you swaying?
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