As the wheel turns It's been two races since I wrote anything, the first being the A1 ring, and what a mighty exciting race it was. It's been a while since such surprising drivers qualified well. This of course made watching the race a lot of fun. As a result it was with anticipation that I sat down on the couch the next week for the race in Hockenheim. I almost fell asleep. Yes, it was that boring. Nothing really happened, but I noticed something. Maybe it was my imagination, maybe I was desperately looking for SOMETHING to happen, but I thought the drivers were a bit nervous. And we all know why they look nervous. The team bosses are negotiating again for the new teams for next year. The negotiations have been going on for a while now and all the time I had this strange feeling that I recognized the atmosphere, but I couldn't pinpoint where from. Then a few days later I turned on the TV, and there it was, MY FAVOURITE SOAP: As The World Turns. Please do understand that being a girl, I have to like soaps or else I can't bond with my female friends and my social life will be one big mess, as the guys won't accept me in their world of elongation stories either. In soaps you can be held in an illusion for months and believe that people absolutely hate each other or love each other, then after a while you start noticing that you've been wrong all along. Alex 'The Donut Man' Zanardi What am I rambling on about, you ask? Well for all these years I thought M. Schumacher was really good friends with Irvine. Now all of a sudden the rumor goes that Schumi wants to push Irvine out and get Alesi in with Ferrari. Apparently Eddie was getting too big for his shoes. Friends, you say? Michael needs someone who wants to let him pass and Irvine must be getting fed up with it, even if he is getting around 5 million dollars per year for doing so. But now for the big question, why in god's name does Michael think that Alesi will do that? Alesi, the mercurial and temperamental Frenchman, prepared to play second fiddle? I don't think so! Well it's not going to happen anyway, because Ferrari already signed Eddie up for next year. The Donut Man in action Another example of the soap resemblance is the fact that Alex Zanardi is probably driving F1 next year. Like a son cast aside he was thrown out of Formula One because he wasn't good enough, or too wild or whatever. After spitting the dust from his mouth he got up and went to the U.S. where he became a driver of almost legendary proportions, now more and more commonly referred to as "The Donut Man." Donuts in front of the grandstands are his trademark whenever he wins yet another race. Now all of a sudden, like a family seeing profit from forgiveness, the teams are interested again. Formula One so prides itself in being the pinnacle, but apparently their judgement on talent is overshadowed by their lack of patience. Let's hope Williams, or wherever else he might end up, will be winning next year. I like donuts. Hanneke