Hidemi's Rambling No.332

Formula One’s GP of Canada is one of my biggest pleasures. I look forward to watching it on TV every year because it is a precious and rare race that is aired live in Japan for the time difference. The race is special to me also because it is held in Montreal where I used to live and I adore the city. The live broadcast started at 2 a.m. in Japan and I stayed up, all excited. It rained heavily in Montreal and the race was suspended when a third of the laps were run. By then, a Japanese racing driver Kobayashi was in the second, which meant he would restart the race from the second position. There have been many Japanese Formula One drivers, but the best result has been third. With Kobayashi on the second, I might witness a historic moment live on TV. The heavy rain persisted for two hours and finally the skies began to clear. When the drivers were getting back into their cars for the restart, the TV commentator of the Japanese broadcast suddenly said, ‘I’m sorry that we have no air time left.’ And the live coverage was replaced with an infomercial at 4:30 a.m. They were insane. According to the post-race report on the Internet, the race after the restart was totally action-packed, to the climax that Button overtook Vettel who was leading the race on the final lap. Kobayashi didn’t make the podium but crossed the finish line side by side with Massa almost at the same time. It sounded like a great race that I had hardly seen in 22 years as an avid Formula One fan. That particular race I missed…