The Iceman, the Grey Man and the Big Man

28/06/2003

The new Nurburgring is a pale shadow of the old 14.2-mile Nordschleife circuit where the real tryers were all four wheels airborne several times a lap if they were in with a chance. Mercedes scored their most impressive victories on the old 'Ring in the days of Caracciola but the Spirit of the Ring - Nurburgring and Mercedes Ring - roared again as Raikkonen crossed the line to put his McLaren on the pole this afternoon.

The spirit of the legendary Alfred Neubauer, the portly (OK, fat) Mercedes team manager from the Caracciola, Fangio and Moss days came charging back over the years as Norbert Haug bellowed his delight as Kimi grabbed pole from Big Schumi and put Mercedes in the pound seats. Maybe we can get a trilby hat for Norby. He fills the Neubauer pitlane space perfectly in size and spirit. To see him smashing his fists on the keyboard of the pit-side computer was worth waiting the hour to see who was going to eventually snatch the pole. Somehow I can identify with Norby. He wears his mood on his face. Not like Ron who always seems to wear the same grey face to match team livery. It was Ron, after all, who once told his team not to applaud success.. because that's what they were supposed to be doing.

The Iceman, the Grey Man and the Big Man. Kimi tucked pole away in a manner that he couldn't have imagined would be so perfect for a company man who has always lived on his results. We're still talking Norbie here. He has always delivered but you must figure he is starting to become a tad concerned as the new McLaren gets delayed and delayed and BMW sign a contract with Williams that will see everyone at the top of both companies into their retirements.. and then Raikkonen snatches pole from BMW at their home track! Can it get any better for the Big Man?

Not winning the finish tomorrow won't seem like a loss, compared with winning the start today and wolfing the German press in the Sunday newspapers..

For Kimi it must all take a bit of winding back to fully appreciate. Just a fortnight ago he was literally in the weeds of his career on Saturday afternoon in Canada. Now he is starting from pole for the first time in his alarmingly short career. It isn't just that Raikkonen hasn't been around for long, he hasn't been around for long in a period of racing when Ferrari and Michael Schumacher are near enough to being totally dominant. Perhaps he doesn't understand? Doesn't he realise that his McLaren is past its pole date? I wonder what Grey Man makes of all this? RD must have been rolling in broken glass these past few weeks wondering when (or IF?) he will be able to announce the new car which started being late and is now failing to survive shunts in testing, to say nothing of failing to survive the FIA official crash test way late in the season.

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