64 F1 RACING DECEMBER 2019
MY BOAT’S NOT BIGGER THANYOURS
I bought a boat I couldn’t afford. I earned half a million dollars a year and
it cost 00,000, so I was immediately in debt. Yachts, you probablydon’t
need me to tell you, are expensive to buy and they’re expensiveto run.
Mine was moored in Monaco harbour, which isn’t cheap, plus you need
to employ a captain to live on it, keep everything – yes – shipshape, and
tell you when you need a new engine, which I did at one point. Again not
cheap. This guy would never see me. Threeweeks a year I was on that boat,
at most, and I ended up chartering it out because I just couldn’t afford to
run it, what with paying for him, the repairs, harbour fees and, oh *od,
fuel – fuel isunbel ievablyexpens ive. I remember when Ipicked up my
first boat, /ittle Missy, in 200, I invited my mates from Fromeover for a
holiday and one day they said, “Right, -B, today we’re going to payfor the
fuel for the boat.”
“No, it’s okay, it’s fine, it’s fine.”
“No, no, we’re going to sort it out.”
“*uys, seriously, you don’t have to«”
“&ome on, come on. How much is it going to be"”
“Two and a half grand to fill it up.”
“2kay,” they said, “How aboutwe, sort of, pay abit towards it" /ike,
a hundred pounds...”
In all, the yacht wascosting me hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
And I ended up buying two.
/ittle Missywas 20 metres. I got rid ofthat one and bought a new one,
Ichiban, in 20. That one cost ,000–,000 to fill up with fuel and was
2 metres long,which isn’t all that big when you consider that -acques
Villeneuve’s was metres.
Someone will always have a bigger boat, that’s what they say. It doesn’t
matter how much money you’ve got and how much money you spend on a
yacht, someonewill always have a bigger one. They also say that the best
boat is your mate’s boat, and that’s just as true.decided, announced and did it all in one go, but of course it can never work
like that for many reasons.
2f those who finished, I came last. Fernando, miles in front, was over a
second a lap faster than me. I was embarrassed by my performance
I was gutted. &oming in and seeing the team was the most embarrassing to
me. &rashing shit happens, you say sorry. But to put in such a lacklustre
performance was just mortifying.
I didn’t tell them that I was scared. I just said I didn’t turn the tyres on,
which I couldn’t, because I didn’t drive fast enough to turn the tyres on.
I don’t mind saying that I don’t think anyone’s better than me in those
conditions, but that day, nobody was worsethan me. All I could think was
that a year earlier I would have destroyed that race.MY BOAT’S NOT BIGGER THANYOURS
I bought a boat I couldn’t afford. I earned half a million dollars a year and
it cost $800,000, so I was immediately in debt. Yachts, you probablydon’t
need me to tell you, are expensive to buy and they’re expensiveto run.
Mine was moored in Monaco harbour, which isn’t cheap, plus you need
to employ a captain to live on it, keep everything – yes – shipshape, and
tell you when you need a new engine, which I did at one point. Again: not
cheap. This guy would never see me. Threeweeks a year I was on that boat,
at most, and I ended up chartering it out because I just couldn’t afford to
run it, what with paying for him, the repairs, harbour fees and, oh God,
fuel – fuel isunbel ievablyexpens ive. I remember when Ipicked up my
first boat, Little Missy, in 2001, I invited my mates from Fromeover for a
holiday and one day they said, “Right, JB, today we’re going to payfor the
fuel for the boat.”
“No, it’s okay, it’s fine, it’s fine.”
“No, no, we’re going to sort it out.”
“Guys, seriously, you don’t have to...”
“Come on, come on. How much is it going to be?”
“Two and a half grand to fill it up.”
“Okay,” they said, “How aboutwe, sort of, pay abit towards it? Like,
a hundred pounds...”
In all, the yacht wascosting me hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
And I ended up buying two.
Little Missywas 20 metres. I got rid ofthat one and bought a new one,
Ichiban, in 2014. That one cost $5,000–$6,000 to fill up with fuel and was
28 metres long,which isn’t all that big when you consider that Jacques
Villeneuve’s was 44 metres.
Someone will always have a bigger boat, that’s what they say. It doesn’t
matter how much money you’ve got and how much money you spend on a
yacht, someonewill always have a bigger one. They also say that the best
boat is your mate’s boat, and that’s just as true.
decided, announced and did it all in one go, but of course it can never work
like that for many reasons.
Of those who finished, I came last. Fernando, miles in front, was over a
second a lap faster than me. I was embarrassed by my performance;
I was gutted. Coming in and seeing the team was the most embarrassing to
me. Crashing: shit happens, you say sorry. But to put in such a lacklustre
performance was just mortifying.
I didn’t tell them that I was scared. I just said I didn’t turn the tyres on,
which I couldn’t, because I didn’t drive fast enough to turn the tyres on.
I don’t mind saying that I don’t think anyone’s better than me in those
conditions, but that day, nobody was worsethan me. All I could think was
that a year earlier I would have destroyed that race.