I watched the Spanish GP with a pal who has won national championships in his native Canada and who last competed in his own Bugatti T51 Grand Prix car. By most people's reckoning he is a serious citizen. Neither of us could be bothered to watch the race to the end because we could not follow it. We had no idea what was going on.

A few days later I spoke to another friend who said exactly the same thing. He is a former tenured lecturer with a top university whose knowledge of racing is encyclopaedic. His special interest is American racing. If I want to know about the American board tracks of the 1920s, I ask him.

We are all greyheads and between us we have more than 150 years of following the sport. None of us could bear to watch the closing laps, the race had gone away from us. We checked the results later.

None of us could understand why Alonso won and why the guys who shared the front row finished sixth and twelfth. We know that it was down to tyre choices and pit stops, but the knowledge required to know exactly what was happening is so arcane that it is beyond us.

The FIA is encouraging green initiatives, including Formula E. At the same time it is asking Pirelli to make tyres which are thrown away after only 40 miles. Alonso used five sets of tyres in a race of less than 200 miles.

I am not denying Fernando his victory, or saying that he lucked-in, anything like that. Everyone had the same choices and, in my book, Alonso is the most complete driver on the grid. In an ideal world he should have been wheel to wheel with Raikkonen, Rosberg, Vettel and Hamilton.

Most people get turned on to racing in their teens and I was no exception. When I became involved, racing was a simple formula, it was all about man, machine and road. The winner, baring retirement or accident, was the man who was fastest over the distance. This is the essence of any form of racing.

Man machine and road is the core of our sport and, despite all the technical advances, that has been the formula for most of the 55 years since first I saw a motor race.

Moto GP is a success, deservedly so, because it obeys the formula: man, machine and road. Much of my early experience of motor sport was 'bike racing at Cadwell Park. It was terrific, but something, I don't know what, drew me to cars.

Up until WWII, tyre changes were frequent because of the length of races and the relatively crude technology of the tyres. It was not unusual for cars to carry spare wheels and riding mechanics were carried until the death of such a one, Tom Barrett, in the 1924 San Sebastian GP although single-seaters were permitted in GP racing only from 1931.

In the history of the World Championship, tyre changes were part of the 1950/51 seasons, but the Alfa Romeo 158/9 consumed nearly three quarters of a ton of fuel (750 kg) during a three hour race. Refuelling was by milk churn and funnel and so it made sense to change wheels as a precaution, during the lengthy fuel stops.