Jenson Button
The man who was giving up a title-winning car and joining a team where he might be considered the second driver is currently leading the Formula One World Championship. Sure, rain has helped, but it should not be forgotten that Hamilton, Button’s team mate, was supposed to be the master of the wet race. Whatever else you can say about Jenson, and wherever his season goes from here, he’s certainly fared better than many of his critics suggested he would. Now we await the arrival of F1 for the European summer, volcano fallout pending (did you think we’d ever have to write that?)
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Title race
Remember when the title race was over? Four point lead, four games remaining - Chelsea were home again. And it was a whisker away from being three points and a game in hand, but it wasn’t to be. United won their derby, and Chelsea lost theirs. Who knew? Then Arsenal finally confirmed that they weren’t a factor in the Championship race by spurning the chance to close to three points with inexplicable defeat at Wigan. The volcano wouldn’t have affected United or Chelsea this week even if they had qualified for the semi-finals of the Champions League which take place this week, but at least the race has erupted back into life. (OK, we’re already running low on sport and volcano material).
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Snooker time
Sheffield in April is one of our favourite stops of the sporting year, and the first weekend was a hint at what was to come. Confident opening games from the likes of John Higgins and Mark Selby, the tension of Stephen Hendry finding a way to the second round, and Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Williams and Neil Robertson still to come. They may make changes to the game with the arrival of Barry Hearns, but just as it is with Test cricket, there is something special about the the length and the flow of the World Championships. Make changes elsewhere. And no, snooker at Sheffield is one event which we’re very unlikely to ever see threatened by the fallout of an erupting volcano in Iceland.
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Oh - and…
Rafa Nadal’s had a lean time of things, but he’s not terrible on clay courts, is he?
