Maybe I got the wording

wrong. I don’t bet at the bookies very often, you see. Perhaps that explains it. I should have bet on Felipe Massa for a ‘first’ instead of a ‘win’ in the season’s opening Grand Prix in Australia.

I put $20 on the little Brazilian, Felipe Massa, to win his first race for Williams, as our imbibing experts committee had agreed in our regular sortingout of motor-sport at the Brewers Arms in Christchurch.

The form was all there – Williams coming back to into the frame with the Mercedes engine and Massa getting a fresh drive after endless summers in Alonso’s wake at Ferrari. Anyway, in Australia my man Massa was a first, not a winner. First retirement after a first-corner tangle and I was spending the rest of the race rueing my $20 loss…