THE WHEELS HAVE COME OFF...

Finally, it seems the wheels have come off of the so-called `sport` of Formula One motor racing. There was a time, in the Graham Hill, MIke Hawthorn, Stirling Moss days of my youth, when it was a beguiling spectator sport, with glamour, danger and the out of reach wealth that surrounded it, as the rest of us looked on with open mouthed and wide eyed envy. Not any more.

And I don`t just refer to the recent `judgment` handed down by the sport`s own governing body, which produced a mixed verdict of good news and bad news. The good news is that it has effectively banned Flavio Briatore from taking any further part in its acitvities but the less welcome part is that it only felt able to dish out a suspended sentence to the Renault team for what was a flagrant disregard not only of the rules of the game but also the safety of their own driver and that of others taking part.

I`ve mentioned before that I`m no fan of motor racing. I find it a boring, noisy, repetitive, environmentally-hostile round-the-world circus that has long since ceased to be a sport and become a business. In that regard, I guess it`s little different to other sports - football, tennis and the like - but motor racing does seem to have a `track record` of bringing the game into disrepute all of its own. In recent memory, there was the £50million fine imposed on the McLaren Team for having a sneaky look at Ferrari`s technical secrets. Then there was the Blair/Ecclestone stitch up over the banning of tobacco advertising versus alleged payments to the Labour Party and who can forget the Teutonic inspired orgiastic cavorting of the man who yesterday announced the verdict over the Renault affair? It`s prettty clear that they deserve each other.

So for me and, I suspect, lots of others who have witnessed Formula One`s clutch slipping over recent years, the fact that the wheels have finally come off is greeted with more relief than regret. Trouble is, I doubt we`ve heard the last of it.