I think it's time for more stories to liven up this series, so...
So, Lee... what happened to your comeback?
With only a handful of races remaining, Ferrari's Lee Davidson seems to be losing it... but why?
So Lee is looking like losing the Season 5 drivers championship - or not win it, let's just put it that way. It isn't even close - not
really close, not in the take-him-out-at-Suzuka-Turn-1 type way which we have become familiar with over the years. No, Lee is out of this one, calm and heading for a new team next season, let's hope, for some well earned fun.
What went wrong is another story, and it begins whichever view you want to take. You could for example, catalogue the list of retirements that deprive Lee of - what? - 30points? The collision at Barcelona, The 'write-off-into-the-amco' at Monaco, The spin at Indianapolis. By comparison, Bruno Domingues' Renault was as sturdy as a low-milage four-wheel drive with one elderly lady owner.
On the other hand, nothing comes free. The Ferrari F1 248 is sufficiently quick enough to win the championship, but in contrast was the driver capable of carrying out that potential? If there was balance to be found - consistancy versus speed - then the Ferrari would come out ahead of the Renault. Problem was, Ferrari erred on the side of speed, Renault erred of the side of consistancy. Paper and scissors.
Everyone is playing the same game, of course, so blaming
your bad luck in this case is about as helpful as reminding you that Ayrton Senna beat Alain Prost in 1988 championship because because they decided to count only the best 11 results that year. Nonetheless, it seems kind of wrong that a driver - a
driver, not a car - should be doubly handicapped for something as obscure as a duff patch of oil on the track, or a brake failing.
Is Lee blameless? Not exactly. Flexing his fingers, he flicked the master switch off in the qualifying session at Melbourne. Lee thinks that the car's anti-stall should have saved him; the system it turned out, was at that point not designed to catch an engine whose revs had dropped virtually to zero. That one was 80 per cent Lee, 20 per cent the Ferrari. He also ran wide wide out of the last corner of his qualifying lap in Barcelona. He lost over a second - and found himself on row 8. Had he been on the front row he might have scored some vital points, instead, he drove into the back of Weiland's Super Aguri while pushing too hard, and forced himself out of the race.
I managed to have a chat with Lee in the paddock at the French GP. He was calm - starting 5th, beside Domingues on row 3 - dead-pan. No tension, no stress.
"How did you handle it," I asked him, "when Jarrett - your own team mate - came out with that stuff a few weeks back - you know, the 'Lee is being baby fed' quotes that he used? "Any other driver in your position would've gone ballistic." Lee just smiled and said, "I don't care about any of that stuff. Allman can say what he likes. I just do my own thing. I don't worry about anyone else."
"Was there ever a time," I continued, "when it
did matter? Did you throw your helmets as a kid? Do you throw your helmets now when you're home in the UK?"
"No, I was always like this," Lee maintains, staying dead-pan. "Always, I've never seen the point of fighting or getting really angry. I think the only thing is to do your life and not worry about what others are saying."
People who know Lee well might say that his equanimity is innate - a gift. I buy that, with one proviso; gifts need constant maintenance and can be squandered if neglected. Lee, clearly, has worked hard at his ability not to react to events and to the people and politics around him. As such, I suspect his emotional intelligence quota is right up there with that of Jef Beyens.
So can Lee stay cool, can he play out the rest of the season as his almost finished jigsaw puzzle? Can he answer the critics?
As I left the paddock I turned to see a man wearing red walking the brisk walk of a super-quick, wonderfully crafted racing driver whose crafted actions upon steering wheel, throttle and brake say all that needs to be said about sublime skill and class.
Hope you enjoyed the read - I'm going to try and find the time to do a little write up story on everyone through the rest of this season and next. 👍
I got wrecked on lap 1 though 
Retired in both superenduros (or whatever they're really called) and suddenly I've dropped like 14 places in the standings.
