Congratulations to Britain’s new Formula 1 world champion, Jenson Button.
In Sunday’s Brazilian grand prix Jenson finished 5th collecting enough points to make it impossible for anyone to overtake him in the drivers’ championship.
Button’s success is a cause for celebration here in the UK not just because he is the 10th British Formula 1 champion but also because he helped his team, Britain’s Brawn GP, won the Formula 1 constructors’ championship.
Triumph
This triumph is also noteworthy because it was achieved by a team sponsored by Virgin. One industry observer has commented that Sir Richard Branson will have made back his sponsorship money several times over thanks to this double success.
But we shouldn’t forget Jenson’s team mate, Rubens Barrichello, who fought so valiantly right to the end. Rubens led the Brazilian grand prix in the early stages and remained a championship contender himself until lap 62 when a puncture scuppered his chances.
Even as we salute Jenson’s capture of the title, it’s hard not to feel a degree of sympathy for Rubens who after 16 attempts has still been unable to win his home grand prix.
Fairy tale
Formula 1 fans will know that Jenson’s progress this year has been like a fairy tale unfolding. At the end of 2008 when Honda withdrew from the sport many wondered if the British driver’s racing career was at an end.
But those writing him off had failed to take into account the redoubtable qualities of former Ferrari technical director, Ross Brawn. Ross bought Honda F1 and created a brand new team bringing both Jenson and Rubens back into the sport.
Rookie teams are rarely that successful in Formula 1, but this team has proved the exception. With Jenson winning six of the first seven races and Rubens going on to win another two so far, it’s fair to say Brawn GP have dominated the sport during the 2009 season.
Tenacious fight
But don’t be fooled by the title of my blog. Jenson’s historic accomplishment was anything but easy. He had to fight tenaciously throughout the year and nowhere was this more apparent than in last Sunday’s race. For Button this was no cruise to victory.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate his success by enjoying a cruise to the scene of one or more of his victories. As it happens, many of the countries in which Formula 1 races are held are great cruise destinations. Obviously I’m not including Hungary in that list, but there are plenty of others to choose from.
So, as the images of Jenson and Rubens racing the Virgin logo round the world’s top circuits at 200 mph or more are fresh in our minds, why not check out a few of these ‘Cruise to victory’ holiday packages.
Your cruise to victory options
Brawn GP got their season off to a storming start with a win for Button and second place for Barrichello at the Australian grand prix. Now you can have a taste of what they experienced down under with this antipodean cruise.
10 nights fly and cruise to Australia
Jenson proved Australia was no flash in the pan when he passed the chequered flag ahead of everyone else in Malaysia. This cruise also takes in Singapore where back in September Jenson managed to come 5th.
16 nights fly and cruise to Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand
After a slight stumble in China where he came third, Jenson was back on form to bag the Bahrain grand prix. And you can bag this cruise to the country where it all happened.
10 night fly cruise and stay visiting Dubai, Muscat, Fujairah and Bahrain
Victory number four for Jenson happened in Spain, with Rubens joining him on the podium in second place. You can recapture some of the excitement with this special cruise deal that also includes £50 on board credit
7 night Western Europe cruise to Ireland, France and Spain
One of the most challenging circuits in the F1 calendar is to be found at Monaco. But Jenson and Rubens made light work of it scoring yet another Brawn one-two. This cruise brings you to Villefranche in France putting you within striking distance of Monaco
7 night Mediterranean cruise to Majorca, Tunisia, Italy, Corsica and France
And finally we come to Turkey where Jenson proved faster than anyone else back in June. Besides stops in Crete and Greece this cruise will also take you to four different ports in Turkey.
14 night Mediterranean fly cruise and stay to Turkey, Crete and Greece
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6 Comments
Oct 24 2009
1:50
Not sure if any cruise ships go to or near Rimini in Italy but if they did I’d add it to my list. For Rimini is the former hometown of the great Italian film director Federico Fellini and I’d like to take another look around the place that influenced his work. It’s also close to San Marino – where I saw the Grand Prix in which Senna and another driver was killed. I was actually there for BBC Radio 4′s travel programme, Breakaway, and witnessed all sorts of terrible accidents and violent incidents. It was an exciting but very sad event.
Oct 26 2009
20:47
I remember it only too well, James.
It was the 1994 season and the other driver was the Austrian, Roland Ratzenberger, who died the day before Senna, during qualifying.
It was a tragic double blow for the sport, but one good thing did come out of it. Safety was thereafter considerably tightened up.
Since then no F1 driver has been killed in the sport, although there have been a few serious accidents, including a crash at Silverstone that put Michael Schumacher out of a major part of the 1999 season.
In 2001 a track marshal was killed during the Australian Grand Prix.
Oct 28 2009
2:52
Bruce, I witnessed the crash that took the life of Razenberger – a moment after I arrived on the hill where the tifosi (Ferrari) fans were watching the pre-race qualifier on Saturday.
And if some people are wondering why I am dwelling on Fellini it’s because he made a film in 1983 called And the Ship Sails On (E la nave va) about the Belle Epoque society events on board a luxury liner which departs Naples in July 1914.
At the end of the film, a reverse tracking shot reveals the behind-the-scenes of what has been described as Fellini’s floating opera of a movie – including giant hydraulic jacks used to create the ship’s rolling sea movements, plus acres of plastic ocean, and a crew of technicians burning naphthalene for the smoke of disaster effect.
Then there’s a final shot of Orlando (the character who is said to represent Fellini) in a lifeboat with a rhinoceros (which was previously neglected and rescued from the ship’s hold) happily munching on hay.
“Did you know,” confides Orlando, “that a rhinoceros gives very good milk?”
Laughing, he mans the lifeboat’s oars to disappear into a vast plastic ocean.
And some people think I’m off-the-wall…If you watch this film you can see where I got it from!
Oct 30 2009
21:16
Where’s Milton and his one liners ?
Nov 02 2009
20:49
Where’s Milton? I ask myself the same question every day.
Nov 04 2009
8:54
Wherever Milton is, he’s not here.