Mexico City, May 19th, 2016.

Historic Rivalries: the opposites struggle

It occurs in all disciplines. Two opposite poles attract each other and produce results, together in balance, despite having disagreements and friction. Car racing is no exception.

However, in this sport everyone is goes for his own interests. In FORMULA 1® a fight breaks out as a result of the certainty that each of the pair of drivers, who are in the same team and think and feel that everyone is better than the other partner in equal cars.

Consequently, there have been historically rivalries in FORMULA 1® world.

Towards the beginning, only in 1950, Alfa Romeo had six riders like Giuseppe Nino Farina, the first monarch in the world and Juan Manuel Fangio. Between them there was an Exchange of glances, like poisoned darts, both believed to be suitable of being the consent of the team.

On the other hand, in a single championship Ferrari registered seven different drivers. Three or four of them used to dispute each competition they used to share cars and switched at mid-race. Tolerance was almost absolute.

By the decade of 1960 jetset and the playboys came up. Drivers are transformed into something like emerging filming stars and thus, there were so much in game, in addition to the sport prestige.

The British, Cooper registered seven drivers, including Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren. Meanwhile, Ferrari had about a dozen of drivers, highlighting brothers Rodriguez, Pedro and Ricardo. Lotus, on the other hand, used to have 12 behind the Wheel, headed by Jim Clark.

The British driver, Stirling Moss became teammate of up to 32 drivers.

Therefore, it is clear that quarrels within the teams were small for so many names. Envies were mimicked, in a spirit of pure competition.

We move a couple of decades in time, and with the 80’s arrival the F1 evolution to a big business came with lucrative sponsorships and considerable incomes for the involved ones, representatives and organizer. The fair play was left behind and covetous desires arose together with right and left dirty tricks, creating clear internal battles.

Ferrari lived one of the fiercest struggles between a pair in the same pit, a conflict that ended with Gilles Villenueve death and shortly after, with Didier Pironí’s brutal accident.

However, the most complicated couple of drivers ever, were paired years later between 1988 and 1989, in McLaren with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, two of the most outstanding ever. At the end of their careers, the French outperformed over the Brazilian driver who, nevertheless became one of the most loved by the fans.

With the change of century

Already in the XXI century, the picture followed with marked rivalries. From 2009 to 2013 things were not that easy in Red Bull, with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in garages. All kind of agreements and discussions emerged after a huge misunderstanding between them. In the end, Vettel, became number one of the team, and the predilection for him, created in him and obvious calm after four world titles of the German.

After disappointing seasons with Williams, Nico Rosberg emigrates to Mercedes where he finally beats the veteran Michael Schumacher who was replaced by Lewis Hamilton, as a strategy of the team in order to satisfy his victory desire.

The Englishman against the German, in 2013: Hamilton finished fourth of that season and Nico, the sixth. In 2014 and 2015 they finished champion and runner-up: Lewis and Nico. There is no doubt the trench between them.

At the beginning of 2016, it was dominated at the beginning by Rosberg, who lead with 42 points ahead his teammate. In Spain the fifth round of the championship, Hamilton shows that he will not settle with staying in the shadows; if playing hard is needed, he will do so. Civil war, is more than announced now.

Meanwhile, on the other teams it happens and same will happen. Since Barcelona, Daniel Ricciardo must redouble efforts as a consequence of a young Max Verstappen’s victory. The Australian advantage over the Dutch is only 10 points, missing 16 races still to run.

The 22 drivers will try everything. However, half of them know, that it any extra effort is useless, nonetheless, they will fight body to earth against their teammates, as dictated by the survival law, with the intention to renew the contract for the next championship.

Mathematically, today they can be champions, at most the first 10. Headed by Rosberg and Hamilton. Of course if they don’t previously wear each other.

www.mexicogp.mx

Facebook: mexicogp

Instagram/Twitter: @mexicogp

#MexicoGP #F1ESTA

Contact:

About CIE

Corporacion Interamericana de Entretenimiento, S.A.B de C. V.

www.cie.com.mx 

We are the market leader in outdoor entertainment in Mexico, Colombia and Central America and one of the major players in the entertainment industry in Latin America and across the globe.

CIE offers a variety of world-class entertainment options including concerts, theater productions, and sports and family and cultural events, among others, to meet our market segments’ needs for recreation and entertainment through its unique vertical integration model that provides the only access available to an extensive network of entertainment centers, advertisers including the principal advertising investors in our markets, and partnerships and strategic alliances with experienced global partners.

We operate an amusement and water park in Bogota, Colombia, and manage Centro Banamex in Mexico City, one of the largest convention and exhibition facilities across the globe. We are recognized as the foremost producer and organizer of special and corporate events in Mexico, and we operate one of the most professional contact centers in the Mexican market.

CIE is a public company whose shares and debt securities are listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange.