Don't look in the cupboard, the bogey mans in there

He'll be coming back then .. hmmmm

I wonder who he'll hit this time ?

New Money, Lopez and Branson join the circus

How long do you think the likes of Lopez and Branson are going to hang around as they bounce around at the back of the grid ?

Branson has been blinded by Brawn telling him it was all down to Ross, seemingly forgetting to mention the billions of dollars Honda invested in the company for all those years. So when Brawn cleans up and drives around at the front of the field all year long Branson thinks.
"This is a piece of piss, couple of million and i get a team and i can hang out at the front of the grid and meet other business types and sell a few financial packages and a seat to the states or two."

Which is all well and good when you have a Merc in the back of the car. Put an untried and by all accounts thirsty motor at that, and things aren't so rosey. How much will fighting the other back markers for the honour of being dead last damage the Virgin brand or the Skype brand for Lopez.

These people aren't coming in because they have petrol in their veins and a desire to push technology on. As much as the Motor manufacturers were only in it to sell their cars, there was a trickle down of technology to the car on the high street. Improved safety, and better economy can be attributed to motorsport. Manufactures desire to win, and improve their brand imagine, improved the racing because they understood what racing is fundamentally about. A car, and engine and a driver going as fast as they can.

What does Branson know about racing other than he'll be able to sell more flights on his planes.

these people are needed to win races, you need their money. But are we just swapping out one bunch of business fools for another. Enzo whored the Ferrari brand out to anyone that was willing to pay through the noes. Chapman sold the paint job of his car to afford to pay the work force. But they did it to keep racing into next week.

I worry that we're entering a period where teams will appear one year and not the next, as business men get bored of being last and not winning. You can try and buy victory in F1 but you still need to have it in the DNA of the company. With Branson in London, Wirth in the carbon triangle, Llyods in Scotland. Where is the racing DNA. yes Wirth has build the very successful Acura cars in the ALMS series this year. But they were only successful when Audi and Peugeot weren't there.

I don't think this is going to end well for these back of the grid teams.

Trulli.

in Lotus.


Colin chapman will be spinning in his grave.




And kovalimuniumnn too !



So then Mickey shoes is all but set to announce a return tot he fold. Personaly i think it's a mistake. There, i've said it. I dson't think he'll be fast enough and i think he has nothing left to prove. Why come back and risk his reputation as one of the best, when he hasn't raced competatively (apart from the ROC thing) in 3 years.
Especially in a Mercedes, which i think we can all admit, benifited from Honda pulling the plug on the 08 car to start building the 09 car. something they didn't do this year. They'll be in the same boat as everyone else and look how that turned out for them this year. Once everyone else was up to speed , Brawn struggled to get the results.
Mclaren, Redbull and Ferrari will be the teams to beat next year. Mercedes will be the best of the rest. so why would Mickey come back to that ? I think Brawn were just in the right place at the right moment and rode their luck to the title. 2 new driver, one of which hasn't driven a high downforce car in 3 years, the other has yet to really put a whole weekend together and wina race.

I think Mickeys making a mistake. I really do

I’m just testing something

And whislt we're at it. You lot of cheating bastards can take that big haired nitwit Grosjean with you too.

Who next then ? Only Ferrari and Mercedes left.

GO ON FUCK OFF THEN AND TAKE FUCKING TRULLI WITH YOU !

Well if you’re part of the F1 circus, be it part of the FIA, one of the teams or some random celebrity wondering around in a bemused way. Then Yas marina is the greatest feat of motor racing circuit building ever and is just superb and lovely and great and wonderful and … a really really dull Herman Tilke track. It looks great, and has all the elements of a good track. But it’s just another race around the docks. Considering that only 2 cars dropped out of the race, the tracks looked empty for most of the race. I fell asleep at during the middle part of it once Hamilton stopped it was all over bar the shouting.

Button and Webber tried to make the last 10 laps interesting but once again, if the car in front doesn’t want to be passed then there isn’t much the car behind car do.

So Vettel wins a pretty easy race. Hamilton had nailed pole and looked set to drive off in to the distance. But then fate intervened when a rear brake problem meant he couldn’t drive away from Vettel and had to retire eventually. He looked, up to that point, like he had the circuit sorted, he was fast where it counted and smooth when he need to be. With nothing to really challenge the drivers he showed that talent and balls can still make a difference. Vettel get's a good win to end the season and can look forward to next year with a good car and a good team.

Vettel doesn’t really challenge other drivers, his wins have come after good pit work and a bit of luck. When Button was behind Webber he was ducking around trying to put Webber off line and snatch the place. Vettel, just sorts of sits back 1.5 seconds behind the leader and waits until he can pass in the pits. He’s blindingly fast when the cars underneath him, but he doesn’t fight for places. Still you have to be at the front to have a chance of winning and he’s done that this year, but for a little more reliability he could have been the new champion.

Webber, makes it the fourth Redbull 1-2 of the season. He’s still not going to win a world championship in my opinion. But he’s shown this year that he could come very close. He doesn’t have any luck, and he’s a bit feisty off the line. In Brazil, Germany and now here in Abu Dhabi, he tagged a driver on the first lap, defending a racing line or defending the corner, he always seems to be the one taking front wing end plates off other drivers. In Germany he got a drive through for waving around off the line but still won the race. Here he said he was expecting to hit Barrichello, suggesting that Barrichello is the one hitting him. Still he was there to pick up the pieces and considering that he had his legs rebuilt before the season had started, i think he can look back at this year and be proud of what he achieved.


The New World champion bring it home in third. Button get’s his moment of glory on the podium for the last race. I've not really got a lot to add to what i wrote last race, he's battled hard in a year when there were lots of winners. No one really dominated and Button took the opportunities when they presented themselves. He rode his luck and was consistent the two things that make a championship winning season. Also, once again, the driver that won the first race of the year, has won the world championship. Remember that next year, always worth a punt.

Barrichello up next in 4th, he's signed up for Williams for next year in what has to be his last year, He'll clear 300 GPs next year, that's some going. He has to be one of the factors in Brawns success this year. He's been around long enough to be able to dial a car into a circuit and make it work right out of the box. That's what has helped Button do the job this year. He wasn't fast enough when it counted but could string a win together when other came up short.

Heidfeld comes home 5th in a race he was apparently in. He's this weeks, "was he racing?" driver. The word on the street is he's going to go to McLaren next year, if Kimi insists on demanding a gazillion Euros for his services next year. He used to be Mercedes boy when he was in GP2 and was promised a seat at McLaren years ago. So i hope he gets the seat. I think he's a good consistent driver that could push Lewis.

Holy Moly if it isn't a new Favorite Japanese nutter. Kobayashi keeps it all together and pops up in 6th spot. Well done to him. He over took the new World Champion, in a pretty good move, then didn't fall asleep like Trulli normally does. Apparently he's got a seat with Toyota next year, which i think we can all agree is a good thing. Whilst nitwits like Alberkerky, Bodour and Grojean have turned up and failed utterly, Banzi Kobayashi has arrived and shown then what the word racing driver actually means. If Toyota can build a decent car next (or a car at all) then he could be something to spice up the racing next year. Defiantly the rookie of the year.

Trulli makes it to 7th, dull. HE didn't try and hit anyone this time.

8th for Buemi. not a bad result but not very exciting.

9th For Rosberg. He'll probably be in the Brawn next year and about time too. Williams was never going to deliver the results. Okay he went to sleep at the start of the season, but he just needs Brawn to knock him into shape and teach him how to win. Brawn did it to Button, he'll do it for Rosberg. Once again Williams started well but failed to deliver.

10th for Kubica who will be happy to have a seat with Renault next year, new start new team.


So the curtain comes down on the 2009. We’ve got a new team and a new name at the top of the heap. Brawn have done a great job this year after Honda pulled the plug hours before the season started. He picked the team up and took it all the way which has to feel pretty special for him. All those years he directed Schumacher to win after win at Ferrari, and now it's his name on the silverware.

It's been a good season, not much over taking granted, but you've never been sure who's going to be on pole, get the fastest lap or win. The top tens have been mixed up with no team dominating. let's hope it's more of the same next year ..... with a bit more over taking.

Trulli still isn't happy

Trulli still isn't happy

FIA press briefing, Trulli and Sutil "discus" what happen in Brazil


Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Question to Jarno and Adrian: I’m just wondering if
you two guys have settled your differences after your exchange of words following your
first lap accident in Brazil?
Page 4 of 5
JT: I think we’re going to discuss it probably tomorrow in the drivers’ briefing and in the GPDA
briefing. Obviously it was very disappointing to end the race like that, especially on the first lap.
Obviously I think I had every reason to be extremely furious. I’ve got all the evidence to show that I
was there, I was next to him, so I think tomorrow we are going to discuss it.
AS: I think there’s nothing to discuss. It was a quite obvious incident. In the end it was very
disappointing for myself, even more, I think, because I was the one who was just driving and he
lost control of his car and crashed in my back, so it was not my problem, it was his problem. I don’t
know why he’s freaking out like that, to be honest.
JT: (Laughing) If you want, I can show you some pictures. I don’t know if you’re blind but they
clearly show you that my front wing is next to your front wing, so…
AS: Yeah, but you’re trying to overtake me on the outside on the kerbing. There was not a
problem…
JT: So you mean… you didn’t move there…
AS: No, you were just not going off the power. The same happened in Barcelona where you lost
control again and crashed again into a Force India car. You just have to sometimes also…
JT: I just lost…
AS: ...expect the limits of the car. If there’s no way to go, you have to back off, that’s how racing is,
and I don’t know how long you want to learn it.
JT: In Barcelona I spun and he hit me because he tapped the kerb, he completely cut the circuit
and he didn’t slow down, so basically… Anyway, I think it’s better…
FA: (to KR) Shall we go?
AS: No, no. Watch the race in Barcelona. I didn’t hit you, you hit me. I don’t know what’s the
problem, but maybe your eyes are a problem.
JT: I don’t have any feeling about him.
AS: I don’t understand, really, sorry.
Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) I was actually going to ask a similar question, but maybe the
two of you can agree on what you said after the incident in Brazil, because obviously Jarno
was seen to be gesticulating and saying quite a few things. Could you just tell us what was
said at the time?
JT: I was furious because I said ‘didn’t you see me?’ I mean, I was next to him and he kept
pushing me going outside until I was obviously on the kerbs. I couldn’t believe…
AS: …the kerbs, not a problem to be on the kerb, I think. Where’s the problem?
JT: Ok, no problem, it’s OK. As long as we know the rules.
AS: I know the rules.
JT: Fantastic.

Bernie stabs the BRDC in the heart

Bernie has just confirmed that Donington isn't goin gto happen.

I hope Simon Gillett is happy tonight. Not only has he failed, and quite spectacularly. But he's given Bernie eactly what he wanted, a way out of the British GP that isn't going to cost him a penny. in fact he'll now sue Gillett for breach of contract no doubt. He's now free to go and get some ratty tilk hole put on the callender with more enmpty stands and dull as fuck racing.

Can you see him giving in to the BRDCs demand for a 17year deal ? no me neither, he'll offer 5 years, which isn't enough time to raise the money and redevelope silverstone. So he'll claim it isn't up to scratch and take circus off to some desert in the middle of umbungodingo land with 4 spectators and tent after tent of fat suited banker fucks watching football on widecreen TVs whilst they complain about the noise those damn cars are making.

Once more the paying public who actually make this sport tick over, get told to fuck off and just watch it on TV. which bernie will be charging a gazillion Euros for as more people watch as less see it live.

The Odious little money grabbing senial old dwarf



Bernie looking for more cash earlier.

RIP the British GP

Well the bunting has been taken down and the champagne glasses have been tidied up. The Dark Lord has been packed off to his Ivory town with his cheap Chelsea scrubbers to keep him company. Mr Todt, the new president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile is easing his backside into the FIA SEAT OF POWER. The book of Vengeance has been opened and he’s deciding whether to ban McLaren or have Ari Vatanen boiled in oil first

Meanwhile, before the teams can start selling off their 2009 kit on eBay, they have one more race.

It’s Abu Dhabi and the Yas Marine Complex. Which I think is another Tilk effort around the docks in downtown Abu Dhabi City Yas Island. So it’s another sandy circuit with no history and no atmosphere. Probably.

The circuit is brand spanking new, and looks like Valencia and Singapore rolled into one. Lots of stupid noodley corners and long straights, there are a number of highlights with this place though;
Firstly it’s going to be run as the sun goes down. So it’ll start off in a golden sunset and finish in a floodlight night, which could present the drivers with a few problems.
Next, the pit exit. The pits are normal everyday pits, but once they exit the pit lane the road drops down through a tunnel under the main grandstand, and joins the circuit just after turn 1. Now, the tunnel exit is not part of the pit lane, so it’s run at full racing speed. There are no cranes in this tunnel so if someone (let’s say Nakajima or Buemi) get’s it all wrong on cold tires on a dusty road. They’re going to hit the wall hard and stop dead. Apparently there’s a set of doors for the marshals to clear said wreck, but how long is that going to take? I think the pit lane tunnel will play a part in this race.
Lastly, the circuit features the longest straight in F1 today, after a tight hairpin which is going to be just ripe for the KERS cars, short hand for Hamilton, to go bombing past everyone else. Maybe.

So it’s a tight and twisty with lots of heavy breaking, then a full on warp speed straight before a bit more tight twisty stuff.

It’s generally accepted that Redbull have had the fastest and best car of the season, it’s just been Vettel making too many mistakes and Webber either hitting someone or being unlucky as ever. So they are going to want to go out and prove they are the best.
Whilst Brawn have had the reliability from the off and two drivers that are as safes as houses. Okay, Barrichello got a bit feisty at times and had problems getting off the line and driving fast when it mattered. But he can go fast round a street circuit. (Valencia for instance). Whilst Button is no longer chasing the main prize and wants to prove that he is a worthy world champion. Both will want to finish well here.
Down the pit lane and McLaren have turned around a rubbish season and could do with a win to keep the momentum going. Hamilton is talking up his chances here, mainly because he believes the KERS unit is going to give him the edge. He was super fast in Singapore and I can’t see a reason why he won’t be fast here. With Kovalainen off to pastures new at the end of the year, he needs a good result to keep his stock high. McLaren also want to beat.
Ferrari, who have had a season to forget, but still want to come 3rd in the constructor’s championship, they want to beat McLaren and Kimi wants to leave Ferrari on a high. He still hasn’t done a deal with anyone yet, but the rumours are he’s asking way too much for his services, especially after the last two seasons.

So Vettel, Webber, Hamilton, Button Barrichello and Kimi are all contenders here. Each has something to prove and each wants to build the momentum for next year. Barrichello and Kimi are off to new teams and the rest have to demonstrate why they should be No.1 team mate.

New circuits also give the new boys a chance to show up. It’s a level playing field as no one has driven on the circuit before, there’s no team data to help set the car up. So a midfield chap could hit the sweat spot and have a weekend to remember. Old hands like Alonso and Barrichello can tune cars in to circuits with their eyes closed. Could Renault put the season from hell behind them?

At the time of writing, Toyota is still uming and arriing about Glock being given his seat back. It’s all rather messy over there at the moment. Trulli, having got slapped with the FIA “random act of vengeance hammer” for shouting at Sutil on live TV in Brazil, is being told by the Boss of Toyota Cars that he’s fantastic and will be staying forever. Whilst the team boss is telling him to sling his hook. No one seems to know if they’re going to be racing next year anyway. Stay tuned for more news.

I’ve also been asked to relay a message: This Sunday is the London to Brighton classic car run, with all the cars lined up on Regent streets on Saturday the 31st. if you like old duffers in tweed jackets and silly hats, fiddling around with bits of copper piping and magnetos and snaffle flange pins, then Brighton is the place to be (on Sunday)

and the winner is ....

Mr Todt.

To be expected i guess. Let's see how smug Max and co are on tonights News shall we.

Let's get ready to Rummmmmmblllleeee

Get ready everyone.

This Friday sees the heavy weight title fight of the centuary.

In the Red corner, standing a little under 4 foot tall, the french connection, the man that single handedly turned Ferrari from a laughing stock to world champion winners. It's FIA presidential candidate Jean "The Toad" Todt. The hot favourit is bank rolled by the might of the FIA itself, Mad Max Mosley and Bernie "that'll be £150million to you Guv'ner" Ecclestone.

In the blue corner, just over 10 foot tall, the Fin with the ice blue finish, he's bright shiny and new. It's FIA presidential candidate Ari "The Iceman" Vatanen. Backed by the mighty driving nation of Jordan and the HRH Prince Feisal of Jordan.

Winner takes all, and if Mad Max is to be believed then the Loosers will be taken outside and exicuted by fireing squad.
Max has been firing off email after vitriolic note. explaining to all that will listen the Todt is the only one that can possible win and that Ari wants to turn the FIA into a bunch of Baby eating gun runners and drug pushers.
Meanwhile Ari has been telling all and sundry that Max, Todt and Bernie are in a mystical cult hell bent on raising the dark lord and marching on the unbelievers.

Mud has been slung, injuctions have been served. Flights around the world in FIA transport have been denied. All in the name of glad handing the faithfull.

So Friday is the big day, I suspect Me Todt will win because the "3rd" world members who have no racing heritage to speak off, don't really vote out their leaders. they just wait until everyone get's bored with the bloodshed and the last man standing wins. the "western" world tends to like to change eveything every few years just to keep everything fresh. There are more "3rd" world voters than "western" so the Status Quo will continue.

Whom ever you vote for, make sure it counts.

Button takes the spoils of war ... hurrah

Well that was all very exciting wasn't it.

The king is dead. Long live the king.

Through the rain and the carnage steps one Mr. Jenson Button the new 2009 Formula 1 World Champion. And all credit it to. He did it with style in the end.
After limping from result to result for the second half of the season, put him on a good balls out do or die over taking circuit and he comes good. Coming from the pretty much the back of the grid to claim a very creditable 5th spot at the end of the day.
Some people have commented that he doesn't really deserve this, that it hasn't been a commanding display like Schumacher and Senna used to produce. That because he faded as the other teams got to grips with Trick rear diffusers and KERS power, that somehow it hasn't quite been a championship he's earned. But the numbers tell the story. He took the chances presented to him and he rode the luck.
The last two tears either a Ferrari or McLaren would win. Alonso popped up now and again to remind us he still drivers. Kubica had a pop. But really it's been a Red or Silver show for a long time now. This year we've had six different drivers win races, from four different teams. The top 10 in qualifying has really been covered by more than a half a second. 10 different fastest lap drivers and eight different pole drivers. It's been really hard to put a championship together because it's been really really competitive. Button has had to work hard this year and he's done it without whining that it's unfair, that he's not had the best equipment. He hasn't had to get his team mate to crash so he could win. He's not driven into anyone or parked his car up in qualifying to protect a pole.
He's done it with style, wit and a bit smile, most of the time, on his face.

So, i think he does deserve it.

Webber, wins in all of that. He drove fast when he needed to and had a pretty dull race. Once Barrichello peeled into the pits he never really looked back. No crying on the slowing down lap. and not much celebrating on the podium as the party once again focuses off the podium at the end of the Brazilian race. There's talk Webber will walk away from F1 in support of his manager Flavio. He doesn't agree with the life time ban on Flav, and being Australian has has got all high and principled all of a sudden. It'll be a shame if he does, because he's a great driver when the luck falls his way, He'll never be a world champion i think, but he'll make a world champion work for the silverware.

Kubica. What could have been if BMW hadn't thrown a hissy fit and walked off with their ball. Still he's off to Renault next year and this will do his kudos no harm at all.

Hamilton rounds out the podium with a really great drive from the back of the grid. With some great moved, and the carnage at the start of the race he shows what an ex world champion is made of. I think it finally dawned on him standing on the podium, listening to the singing and cheering down below. That he's no longer the world champion. He looked a bit lost and very tired up there. Still he's battled hard this year and learnt a lot about how to loose.

4th for Vettel who also raced from the back of the grid. It was always going to be a tall order to win the last two races of the year, but he didn't give up trying.

5th for Button, the new world champion with a great driver after cocking up qualifying. Pulled some great over taking moved out of the top drawn and got the job done with one race to go.

6th for Kimi who was this weeks, "was he racing, i must have missed him" Got caught out in the early carnage and recovered to a nice points finish. Hamilton's podium pushes McLaren ahead of Ferrari by 1 point with 1 race to go. Kimi will be happy to get home tonight and not be waking up in hospital as a bit of human toast. It was only a flash fire, but it brought memories of past F1 fires back. After that I'm not surprised he took it easy.

7th for Buemi who doesn't hit anything for a change and reminds everyone he's still there.

8th for Barrichello and the last paying points place. Once again the Barrichello Bazillion bad luck catches the poor chap out. Whether it was Hamilton tagging his rear wheel, or a bit of Nakajimas car that caused the puncture we'll never know. But it was enough to stop him from winning the championship, probably for the last time. But he was the first person to congratulate Button as he got out of the car. He whinged a bit too much this year, but only because he wasn't fast enough when it mattered. None of us like to see the writing on the wall. But he can take a lot of the credit for the Brawn success this year. His experience behind the wheel kept them ahead of the chasing pack, and kept Jenson on his toes.

9th for Kovalainen, who was dull, tried to spice things up when he set Kimi on fire after driving off with the hose attached.

Banzi .... here comes Kobayashi in 10th. Damn the rules he's going to weave around and make overtaking an art again. Blue flags be damned. If you want to pass this chap you're going to have to work for it. Keep Button back for 14 laps, took Nakajima out and showed the likes of Grojean (side show bob) and Alabekerky how it should be done. Top stuff an di hope he gets a drive for next year .. In place of the truly great Trulli. What a performance from the dullster. He tries to over take Sutil on the grass, who himself is trying to avoid hitting Kimi who's just been tagged by Webber. Trulli tries a do or die effort out on the grass at turn 5 get's it all horrible wrong and comes spearing back across the track to T-bone Sutil, who ends up careering into the side of Alonso, who though he's missed all the fun.
Best off all Trulli then get's out of the car and actually runs up to Sutil and starts waving his finger around like he has some God given right to drive around on he grass and Sutil should just bally well get out of his way young man. Trulli all puffed up with self importance is telling Sutil that he's in the wrong as everyone else and his dog looks on wondering what happy juice they put in Trullis drinks bottle.
It was the most animated I've ever seen Trulli.

So that's that then. see you all in Abu Dhabi for a nice quite end to the season.

It's time to party in Brazil.

Well here we are. We’ve done Asia so now it’s time to stop off in South America, break out the caipirinha and put on the factor 59, it’s going to be hot and sweaty.

Brazil and Interlagos, it’s old, it’s run down, but it throws up some fantastic races now and again. The circuit is built on a reclaimed swamp or some such. This means that the track is all lumpy and bumpy; it’s not a Tilk super flat, dull as you like, billiard ball smooth, bore-a-thon. Throw in a bit of rain, not unknown round here, and you get some random results.

Last year we saw a nail biter. Hamilton had to finish 5th or better. Much to Bernie’s ire, McLaren went for 5th rather than the win. Meanwhile Massa had to go with the win and hope McLaren dropped the ball. Rain on the grid spiced things up as Hamilton did just enough until a sudden downpour 10 laps from the end threw it all into chaos. Vettel charged passed Hamilton, demonstrating his prowess on wet tracks yet again. Massa crossed the line as world champion; Hamilton passed Glock with 2 corners to go and crossed the line 5th and world champion. England let out a sigh of relief. The Brazilian crowd went bananas, then went quite, then broke out the caipirinha and started dancing again carrying on with the party.

12 months on and it’s a Brit chasing a Brazilian yet again. Button doesn’t need to win, but he still needs 5 points to secure the title. Barrichello needs to win with Button coming as far back as possible. Vettel needs to win with both of the brawns out of the points. We still have to go racing in Abu Dhabi at the end of the month, but a lot of the teams would like to have the championship sewn up here so they can get some testing done in the warm.
Realistically, you have to go with Button can only loose this now. Barrichello has never ever gone well here. He always freaks out at the pressure. With Massa missing the whole of Brazil will dancing and drinking for him. He’ll be the only local boy racing and he will cock it up yet again. Button will be crowned king and the crowd will be disappointed all over again. Probably.

The word on the street is that Webber spent the Japanese GP testing bits for Brazil. He tested three different front wings and got the fastest lap on the final lap with the bits to be used in Brazil. So Vettel and Webber are currently the hot favourites for a 1-2 here. Engine or no engine worries they’re going to be fast here. I can see a Vettel back to back win here, he like the circuit, suits his style and if it rains as it looks like it’s going to, Vettel is the out and out clear favourite. Webber will have bad luck as usual and choke when it really matters. Or Win … I don’t know.

The smart money said McLaren wouldn’t go well in Japan, but Hamilton showed his class and got a good third. I think he’ll go well here. He has nothing to lose and would like to prove last year was about tactics not racing. Podium possibility.

Finally please note that Glock has “suddenly” found one of his vertebras got cracked when he hit the wall in Japan. It’s taken them a week and a half to spot this rather painful and career threatening injury. But there you are. So he’ll not be taking part in Brazil. He will be replaced by some Japanese chap, Kamui Kobayashi. Who got a run in Japan practice 1 and 2 where Glock at flu for 24 hours. Do you see a pattern here? Why they don’t just fire Trulli like they want to and let Kamui
Have the seat for the rest of the year. The sooner Toyota just packs up and leaves the better. Sell up to Lola or Prodrive and stop cocking around with drivers. Its sneaky underhanded and just wrong.
My respect fro Toyota reaches a new low, it really does. If they hadn’t built the TSR01 I’m not sure I’d have any respect for Toyota.

Vettal takes a good clean win.

After Qualifying, the stewards took all the names of the drivers 4th onwards, put them into a big hat, shook it for a bit then threw the names up into the air., then waved their arms around a bit then studied the innards of a recently sacrificed pigeon. After all of that they placed the names in a random order on the grid. We had more penalties here than an England football squad at the world cup. left right and centre. Not slowing down, being a rubbish driver, getting in the way, changing gearboxes and looking at the steward in a funny way. They don't do things by half in Japan.

Well done to Vettel with a fine display of car control. Whilst others (notably his team mates) attempted to crash test their cars on different bits of the circuits walls and tires. Vettel sailed through it all to keep his championship alive by the skin of it's teeth.
Button has a nightmare run and only just scrapes into the points again. He only needs to finish 4th in Brazil, but does anyone think he can ? Brawn pretty much stitch up the constructor championship, all they need is half a point and it party at the Brawn garage. Which they do deserve. They've had a fantastic reliability rate this year, with Button only having one DNF when he got punted of the track by a stupid soon to be fired Frenchman.

So Vettel takes a lights to flag win, much smiles and everyone is happy. Well done to him, He didn't feel the need to crash test his car at all, unlike Webber who tried hard to be utterly rubbish all weekend. Except he got the fastest lap out of no where with a few laps to go.

Trulli ... Second. To me there is no second place. really .. i mean it. He was lucky, and a little tiny wheeny bit faster than Hamilton. That's all. Managed to stay awake long enough to dedicate the result to Glock ... who's going to get fired in all probability at the end of the season along with Trulli. Shame for Glock, not for Trulli.

Hamilton was robbed of second. On a track that shouldn't have suited the McLaren's he want out and drove a solid race and proved why i think he's the second coming. Hunt down the rest of the result sheet to find Kovalainen. That's how good Hamilton is. If he'd had this car at the start of the championship, would we be cheering on Button now. I doubt it.

4th for Raikkonen, who spent most of the weekend walking in and out of the McLaren pits.

5th For Rosberg who doesn't get hit by the big bad BAN HAMMER OF FIA DOOM, common sense seems to have prevailed and Rosberg didn't get into trouble for racing back to the pits when the safety car came out. He's a lucky boy.

6th for Heidfeld, this weeks "was here there, i missed him entirely."

7th Barrichello, he can still win this thing, if only he can shake off his shadow. He has beat button by more points than this. He was faster than Button all weekend, but just couldn't deliver the result he needed. Considering he started in 6th ( i know, neither do i understand that) why is he here in 7th ? Rosberg didn't get that much of an advantage when he raced back to the pits. This has always been Barrichellos problem he can't turn it on like button when he needs to. Still Brazil next, let's see how he handles the pressure here then shall we.

8th and the last paying point for Button. He's going to make us sweat this one out isn't he. What is it about being English and just not beating the pants of everyone with 3 races to go ?

9th For Kubica, looking good for that Renault seat next year.

10th For Alonso, who can't wait for that Ferrari seat next year.

There you go, I think Button is going to do it still. but it's going to be squeaky bum time next time in Brazil

Welcome back race fans.

It’s a short hop and skip and the circus has decamped from Singapore to Japan and the truly awesome Suzuka.
After 2 years at the dull as dishwater Fuji raceway, were back to one of the last great drivers circuits left on the calendar. It’s fast, technical and pushes the driver to the limit. The Driver and car have to be as one round here. When the driver throws the car into corner, the 130R for example. The car has to follow. Because if it doesn’t, the next thing it will do is hit the wall. Hard.

So. The conventional wisdom would have the Redbulls 1 and 2 here. But I think they’re too fragile to race too hard for a win. So that would mean Brawn up front then ? maybe. But Button only really needs to come 4th or better to keep things ticking along. In fact if Barrichello doesn’t finish this race, all Button needs is 6 points and the race for the chase for the cup for the thing, is all his along with fine country houses, slick car and as many girls as his tongue can handle. …. Well you get my drift. He doesn’t need to go out and race to win. As long as Rubins isn’t getting more than 6 points, Button will cruise round.
McLaren should be up there, but they didn’t look too hot in Spa and Britain, circuits similar to Suzuka. They’ve had a lot of updates since then and would really like to beat Ferrari in the constructor’s championship. Ferrari meanwhile have stopped developing this year car and really suffered in Singapore. Japan should suit them more. But how committed will Kimi be now he’s off to McLaren. I think he’s still a racer at heart, but …….

I expect the Force India’s to be back in the hunt. Singapore was a bit of a wake up call after Spa and Monza’s good results. Suzuka should be more to their liking. If Toyota has a bad weekend, the Force India will be up there. Toyota is on home soil, kind off. So I imagine they’d like to remind Japan that they are still racing. But having lost an awesome amount of money in the recent economic downturn, they’re uming and aring about even taking part next year. Despite coming second last week, they don’t look like they want to be there at all right now.

Williams and Nakajime would like to have a good showing. He will as long as everyone else crashes. Rosberg should be a good top 10 here. It’s a full on drivers circuit this place, rewarding drivers like Rosberg.

Alonso, now having that Ferrari contract signed seal and delivered in his back pocket for next year, has no pressure to get results for Renault. But professional pride with have him haul that car into the top ten.

So I think it’s a tough call this one.

Well that was pretty dull wasn't it ?

Qualifying was aceness. F1 cars belting around downtown Singapore, sparks showering the track as the cars rode the bumpy street circuit. The World champion in waiting having an awful time of it, failing to get to Quli 3. Barrichello, chasing the leader, tries too hard and sticks it in the wall leaving Hamilton with a tank full of fuel and a pole for his troubles.

It was great. Everything that is good about F1 was there in the Qualifying, drivers really trying hard, balls out, inch perfect driving. But it also showed the bad bits of F1, the fact that all the drivers knew they had to be up front because there was precious little over taking to be had on this tight and twisty street course. Once they left the line on Sunday they needed a bit of luck or an idiot up front to move up through the pack.
So thank you Rosberg (crossing the white line out of the pits) and Vettel (speeding in the pit lane ... if that's possible these days). For being idiots for the other drivers. Okay so they robbed us of any interest during the race, once those two had cocked it up there was no one to challenge Hamilton on his cruise to the line.

Webber blew any chance of a tilt at the title, with another DNF. His break exploded and pitched him into the wall. After he's been nailed by the "FIA Random act of rules interpretation" ™ this week. He over took Alonso early on, got squeezed and had to cross over the curb to avoid an accident. Remember Hamilton at Spa last year ? well the same thing here, But wait ... Alonso also crossed the curb with Webber, So they were both over the line. Yes Webber was pretty much, but not quite past Alonso and by avoiding an accident he made the pass stick. Meanwhile Glock got passed Alonso. Webber sails off into the distance until his radio pipes up, "FIA don't like that, better give the place back mate, oh and Let Glock passed too, he's ahead of Alonso now!"
Personally i think once both cars cross the line then no advantage is gained by the other so it should stand. But the FIA disagree and that was the end of that.

Meanwhile Hamilton whizzed on to the Chequred flag, champagne and a big snog from his Pussycat girlfriend, who appears to be still his girlfriend. I should stick to being a petrolhead and leave Celeb gossip to the red tops.

Glock get's second as Vettel and Rosberg cock things up.

Alonso (Teflonso as Brundle called him) keeps his head down and claims that the win last year was all his doing and he didn't need no stupid Brazilin to crash for him Ole.

Vettel saves a dropped bollock and collects 4th place. it should have been more, it's almost the end of his tilt at the title now.

5th for Button, points saved and much smiling all round (except in the garage next door). A break disc about to explode but not, shows yet again, that it's not about being the best, it's luck that wins championship. not speed and guts. You have to be the luckiest SOB out there.

As proved by Barrichello in 6th who isn't lucky and will probably throw a hissy fit over his team not letting him beat Button.

7th For Kovalainen, son to be making way for Kimi all of a sudden. Not the making way bit, he was fired back in Hungary. But who would have though Kimi was going to return to the boys from Woking. Not me, that's for certain. Will he gel with Hamilton ....... not a chance. Shades of Hamilton v Alonso i suspect.

8th Kubica, remember him, yes, he's still racing apparently.

9th Nakajima, doesn't hit anything for a change and get a top ten finish.

Finally 10th for Raikkonen. Yupe that Ferrari is still a rubbish car, Fisi in 13th and looking utterly lost proved that. Still what does he care now, he's back to Woking, the ice cream isn't as good, But the Lap dancers are cheaper .. so I've heard.!!

It's the Japanese GP next weekend, back to proper circuit with scary corners and nice fast straights. Can Hamilton make it a back to back win. Who knows.

Singapore, It didn't rain i suppose.

The Dark Lord will have his Vengence

The Dark lord looked down upon the prone body laying on the slab of black marble before him.
He smiles a slow malicious smile. Thin white lips spread wide across the face like an albino slug hunting for that last dandy lion leaf of the year.
It’s not pretty but the meaning is not lost on the crowd of acolytes crowding around the little scene. They smile, relief suddenly flowing into them like a fine Cote du Rhone following rare fillet steak. Some whimper and hold other tight, afraid to show too much emotion. Has the Dark lord Finished yet, they wonder.

Sweat drips from the face of the Dark Lord, peppering the now still figure laid before the Lord of Formula one. Finally he has his vengeance, oh they may have made him retreat to the shadows but his minion The Toad would be a safe pair of hands for the Dark Lord. But he has had his vengeance on the one he called a Looney, the leader of those little oiks that had dragged his Beloved Ferrari away from him. They had whispered into the ear of Montezemolo and promised to keep the Italian in sharp suits and comfy shoes.
But they would return. Once The Toad was in place they would see the error of their ways and return to the fold. Oh yes …..

Meanwhile he had their ringleader lying prostrate on his table of fun. Oh the Joy

A short ugly dwarf approaches the gathered crowd. His features twisted into what amounts to a smile. People have commented that he has the face only a mother could love, or someone wanting lots and lots of power and money.

The Dwarf looks up at The Dark lord, “Alright Guv’ner .. ‘ave you finish with fatty yet ? Only Piquet Snr wants to have a go next.”

The Dark Lord turns and regards his most trusted minion, he smiles again. “Yes, this poor … fool …. Will never set foot at a Formula 1 event as long has he breaths the air of this earth. He will never lead another poor young soul into temptation … and he shall never steal the heart of my Beloved Ferrari from me again mmmmwwhaAHHAHAHAHAHAHAA”

The dark lord turns and stumbles to the little shine in the corner of the tower, he falls to his knees, the acolytes crawl after him. “WHY, WHY, WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME nooooooooooo why why why !” If he had not has his tear ducts removed, he would cry as he cradles the little corgi cars of the Beloved Ferrari Shrine. “Did I not give you everything? Championship! Drivers! … the best of everything and you leave me for HIM?” he turns and stares at the figure on the table of fun. “What did He have that I ….. THE DARK LORD …… could not give you …… ?“

He breaks down, dry sobs wracking his thin body.

He reaches for the signed picture of Enzo and cradles it to his breast. “They will return Master, oh yes I vow they will return to me my master”

F1 Drivers today

top 5 drivers for me right now are:

1. Alonso because he put a back to back championship together against Mickey shoes who is still the benchmark. Can develop cars and build a team around him
2. Hamster, despite Monza and because of Monza. He drives like every lap is a qualifying lap and he doesn't accept it's over until he says so. Has led the team back from the brink this year.
3. Barrichello. He's ancient and has plugged away at being number 2 for years, and here he is, he's developed that car and is hunting down Button.
4. Kimi. Because he could be so great, he's still the fastest man out there.
5. Rosberg, is the best of the new guns. I think he could win a championship in a Mclaren or a Brawn.

also rans.

Vettel, i think he may be a bit fragile under pressure. He's fast, but needs to think of the bigger picture.
Massa, i don't think he's going to be as fast as he was. But his fight with Lewis last year was a changed Massa from the Sauber days when we bet on which wall he'd hit first.
Button, Has the luck that makes you champion but has been shown to be fragile under pressure. Needs kid gloves and the team behind him
Heidfeld, who has the best finishing record in modern F1. imagine if he's got the nod at Sauber for the Mclaren seat all those years ago.
Fisi, he was never going to wina champioship, but given a fair wind and a bit of luck, proved he could win a race or two

Undecided on

Sutil, I'm not convinced but he's having a good season in the slowest on the grid. He's shown he can mix it with the big boys when the dice fall his way. Does he have the Luck that you need for a championship.
Glock. Has calmly got on with it this year and worked hard with a rubbish car. I'd like to see him in a Brawn or Mclaren, then we'd see what he's got. Toyota will be the death of his carrier
Webber, i think he's just a bit too old and let's the pressure get to him. Can be good on the one lap wonder, but can't string a whole weekend together to take a title.

Utter Rubbish

Nakajima, Toyota gave him the ride and the engines to Williams.
Kubica. Whinges too much, is too tall and only won in Canada because Hamilton took everyone else out. has never looked like winning another race.
Grosjean, has a lot of hair and smiles too much
Liuzzi. Looked like signing my sons autograph book was the most tedious thing he'd ever been asked to do.
Alguersuari. has a silly name and only got the job because Seb bourdais told Torro Rosso the same thing scott speed did, that the car was crap and they were never going to achieve anything.


Should never be left in charge of a hand cart let alone an F1 car.

Trulli, he makes nice wine apparently.

Lewis watch out for the barrier .. oh you found it !!

Lewis, Lewis, Lewis.
 
One does not simple nail the barrier on the last lap, when the guy in front is Captain smooth.
 
What was he thinking about? "pfft 3rd is for rubbish girly swots, I'm going to be 2nd or nowhere !!!!"
 
Still At least he was trying I suppose, rather than giving up and cruising around till the flag, like Kovalainen for instance. Who appears to have forgotten that he was actually in a race and not an afternoon drive to get some ice-cream form the local Tesco's. And I suppose Hamilton has nothing to lose does he. He's going to lose his World Number One status and he's just dumped his pussy cat girl friend. Why not stick it into the wall. Go and have a beer lad and think about how many other fish, and races there are in the sea.
 
So Its normality restored and a Brawn 1-2 just like old times. Except we have the Brazilian chappy ahead of the plucky English Lad. Did some one wire Barrichello testicals up tot he AC? All of a sudden he's driving like he's a number one driver or something, give the old guy a sniff of the top prize and he's like a rat up a drain pipe. There's no stopping him is there. He'll need to get 4 points per race more then Button to win the championship, but who'd bet against that right now ?
 
Well done to Barrichello then, after roasting the gear box last time out in Spa, he manages to keep it all together and out drives Button for the win. He chose a strategy, stuck to it and then delivered the result. Good stuff from him.
 
Button gets back to the podium, doing as much as he could against a better driver today. Once again his luck holds out and Webber is punted off the circuit effectively leaving the title race between him and Barrichello. Back in the day Senna and Prost almost came to team mate blows over who was going to win the silver cup. These two seem a little less highly strung. But the garage will be an interesting place come Abu Dhabi if there's only a 1 point difference. 
 
Kimi get's 3rd with a KERS drive. He profited from Hamilton attempting to dent his head on the barrier and kept Sutil behind him all afternoon. Given how many times he's taken out Sutil over the years, Kimi must have been expecting payback at any moment. At this rate he’s going to be keeping his seat at Ferrari next year and Alonso is going to be kicking his heals in a Campos hardy har har. Maybe Kimi needs a rubbish team mate, where he is utterly the Number One driver before he can really perform at the limit. Once Massa got his act together last year Kimi gave up and looked like he couldn’t give a toss. Now he doesn’t look like he can do any wrong.

Sutil makes 4th which considering he was 2nd on the grid has to be a disappointment. But it does show that Fisichellas result in Spa was no flash in the pan. Remember though that Spa and Monza are the lowest downforce circuits on the calendar. So I doubt that there will be any more poles and fastest laps this season. But you have to start considering a Force India in the top 10 from now on because they’re there on merit.

Alonso makes it to 5th, did he contribute anything to the race ? I missed him entirely.

Kovalainen makes it to 6th eventually. Okay so he didn’t hit the wall on the last lap when he was on the podium. But he never looked like getting anywhere near the podium at any stage of the race. Has he already got a contract some where else for next year. Or is he still trying to convince the board of directors that he has what it takes to win. Whatever the PR people say, the truth is he can’t live with Hamilton, time to move on.

Heidfeld in 7th. Dull.

Vettel in 8th kisses the championship goodbye.

Fisi make it to 9th which is better then Badoer ever did.

Finally Nakajima makes it to 10th only because Hamilton hit the wall.

Monza, Red to the Core..

It’s almost time to leave Europe, It’s been a tough middle of the season for some of the teams, some up, some down.
Brawn have gone from easy winners to wobbly also ran’s.
Redbull have gone from strength to strength but are spending too much time with French mechanics crawling all over the back of their cars.
McLaren have turned a dog into a thorough bred race winner. Whilst Ferrari have lost 1 driver, fired another and pinched a third from the back of the grid.

Monza, it’s ALL about speed here. Back in the day, Enzo always built the rest of the car around the engine. He wanted a car that could go fast, not because it was slippery like a missile flying though the afternoon heat. No it was fast because it had a MASSIVE engine in the back. To drive a Ferrari fast you had to have arms like tree trunks and balls the size grapefruits. The cars were fast in a straight line and they won at Monza. Enzos scarlet cars would power round the autodrome de Monza and beat the rest of the world in front of the most passionate, most knowledgeable pack of fans anywhere in the world. There are no more devote and fanatical bunch of petrol head anywhere. And they are there to cheer on just one team. The Tifosi want one thing and this year they want something very special.
Fisichella got pole in Spa and then came second to Kimi. The next thing, Monty is knocking on the teams’ trailer, flashing wads of Euros at Vijay Mallya before walking off with his number one driver. So Fisi, an Italian remember, will be driving for Ferrari, an Italian team, at Monza, an Italian Race. In front of a very partisan Italian crowd…… He’d better win, or there could be a riot.

Can he win or will Kimi spoil the party?

What are Brawn and Redbull going to do? Redbull have a very few engines left. Brawn has one driver with nothing to loose and one with everything to loose.

McLaren have a fast can in a straight line and big grunty engine. Hamilton could be a contender here. KERS could be the deciding factor here. With a nice big boost out of the parabolic and across the line they could be set for pole and the fastest lap.

Renault have a charge of “bringing the sport into disrepute” for cheating outrageously in Singapore last year, hanging over their collective heads. Whilst the Redbull lads are gathering round the back of the Renault pits to ask some searching questions. Don’t expect too much from the garlic eaters.

Spa, who is that !!!!!!??!?!?!?

Spa, race of champions!

Well that was pretty weird wasn’t it?
Force India, Toyota and BMW I’m sorry, but they have rubbish cars that are there to prop up the big boys aren’t they? They’re not supposed to be there to challenge the big boys and get points and look like winning teams and stuff. No they come last and are there for comedy value .!!!!
Except in Spa it would seem, the home of big fast grunty engine motor racing, with big balls out speed and danger and true honest to God racing ... they were there and they did take it to the big boys and they proved that racing is about being brave and committed to a sport that rewards the brave.

Okay so Alberkerky and Grosjean showed us that there is still a world of difference between a world champion, a world champion elect and couple of newbies with good PR. But still, there were a lot of drivers at Spa who reminded the paddock that they still existed and knew how to race.

Obviously I don’t mean Badoer here. Who, yet again, got in everyone way and was just plain embarrassing. After the driving into the back of the Force India in the pits at Valencia after the race had finished Badoer came to Spa vowing to show the world he wasn’t an also ran but a true red blooded Italian racer in a race winning Ferrari ...... except he didn’t.
I think Badoer demonstrates just why there should be no sentimentality in F1. Yes he’s worked hard for Ferrari for 10 years, but he should stick to testing and not racing.

Meanwhile over in the Renault pits. Alonso was busy showing off to his “alleged” new employers (Ferrari) that he can drive into a Force India just as well as Kimi of Massa or Badoer. Except it was Alonso that came off worst this time with another retirement due to a wheel spinner problem. Oh well only 5 more races to go lad.
So Kimi wakes up and wins a race. Hurrah for Kimi. He gave one side of the Ferrari garage something to smile about in their worst season in a gazillion years. It’s been 1993 since Ferrari last went through a season without a win. When Alesi and Berger failed to cross the line first and save some pride. This will be well received back in Italy, mostly because it goes a long way keeping Ferrari in hunt for third place in the constructors.
Next up in 2nd of all places appears to be Fisichella in a, of all things .... A Force India. Nope, I can’t believe it either. And it wasn’t because of freak weather conditions or carnage on the first lap. No, Fisi nailed Spa from lap one in practice one. The Force Indies were all over this place like a bad rash. Either Sutil or Fisi, one or other was in the top 5 all weekend.
In the race Fisi got jacked on the restart to a KERS running Ferrari, but then the Ferrari didn’t disappear off into the distance as we all expected. No, Fisi kept Kimi honest throughout the race. Never more than 4 seconds back. No, I have no idea where they found all that speed from. It also makes Monza in a couple of week’s time an interesting prospect doesn’t it.
3rd for Vettel who keeps the dream alive for a little bit longer. With Button and co having bad weekends, Vettel stays in the hunt. Redbull look to have a bit of an issue with their Renault engines at the moment. Webber had to change his on Saturday morning and Vettel has 2 engines left for the next 5 races. So for Vettel to pick up a 3rd here with the wick turned down it is a very good result indeed. Can he sustain this and really take the fight to Button. Good question. It’s Monza next and that really tests the engine.
4th For Kubica. This will have done nothing to harm his chance of a Renault seat for next year. A good solid drive with not winging at all. Maybe the BMW boys are starting to get their act together.
5th for Heidfeld too. Proving that BMW can set up the car for fast grunty circuits at least. Expect more of the same for Monza then.
6th Kovalainen has an uninteresting run, outside the top 5, which s what they were expecting apparently. With Hamilton being punted off, this result makes Kovy look good to perspective managers.
7th for Barrichello. Who will be a happy boy that Button fails to finsih, but he should have made more of this. Dragged the car home in the last two laps with an engine dumping oil out of the left hand side. The first Merc engine failure this year. A fact not lost on Redbull and their Renault tech boys.
8th and the last points paying spot for Rosberg. Who looked lost and slow all weekend. With not Button, Hamilton or Alonso in the top 8 he profits from their misfortune.
9th Webber, out of the points and never really looked like taking the fight to the Brawns. Suffered when he had to change the engine on Saturday, never really recovering from the loss of track time. Redbull will be asking Renault what they intend to do with its engines. If they keep going bang then they won’t be racing for the title come Abu Dhabi
Finally in 10th Glock. Toyota and rubbish and need to get their act together. They should have been all over this circuit and they weren’t. Yet again they fail. Force India is now officially better than them.

What lap will it rain on then ?

It’s back to proper racing

Considering that Belgium is the most boring country on the planet, by some miracle it managed to build the second best circuit in the world. A circuit built by Men for Men to race on. Big, fast corners with long winding straights through the forest up the side of the only interesting bit of Belgium.
This place is all about speed and handerling, going fast and carrying the speed though the corners so that the ribbon of tarmac unfolds in front of the car. Speed, you have to have a big grunty engine that can propel the car like a missile through the forest or the Ardennes.

Which going on form so far, all adds up to the Redbulls after Webbers victory in Germany.

But, this is Belgium and that means rain. We got it last year in the result that never was. Hamilton chasing down the Ferrari of Kimi, until it starts to rain and Kimi’s going backwards suddenly. Then Hamilton cuts the corner, gives Kimi the lead back and then takes him into the next corner and keeps it on the island to take a brilliant victory. Or so we thought. Then the FIA pressed the Random Result Generator Button™ and Massa wins for some really bizarre reason.
The weather can be strange here. Rain on one side of the circuit and brilliant sunshine on the other side. Usually it just dumps a load of rain on the circuit and catches the great and good out.
So picking a winner is always tricky here. Redbull are the favourites because they won in Germany. Webber is still chasing Button hard and Vettel needs to shake the feeling that he’s stiffed when the chips are down. Redbull can still win the constructors cup if both of their drivers are up to speed
McLaren have got themselves a fast car at last and are trying to beat Ferrari to 3rd spot in the championship. So they will be going balls out for a win. Hamilton to wipe the memory of last year’s race, and Kovy to try and keep his seat for next year.
Brawn seems to have got the car sort of fixed and Button needs to stop haemorrhaging point to his rivals. Whilst Barrichello want to prove once and for all that he can win a championship if given the chance.
Ferrari meanwhile have given Badoer another shot at racing, after he clocked up the most number of pit lane fines in the history of motor racing. Kimi wants to prove that he can still drive a car fast, even win, after last year’s fiasco.

So there are lots of drivers with something to prove here and they have a proper circuit to do it on.

Barrichello wins somehow

Hurrah for the old boy.

There we go. Barrichello finally shuts up whinging and comes home first. From Qualification he looked to have the car under him to do it, and he delivers in some style. Having the pace to chase down the fast starting Hamilton and passing the McLaren when it got stuck in the pits waiting for tires.
After the race Witmarch claimed they were too slow and Barrichello was always going to win, if the tires had been there for Lewis it wouldn’t have made a difference. They were always going to loose. I think he’s right, Barrichello looked faster than Hamilton and they couldn’t pull out enough of a lead to make the difference. However, if the stop had been slick then Lewis would have been closer and maybe Barrichello would have made a mistake.

But , at the end of the day, all the major passes happened in the pit. The race, as a race, was pretty much over after the first lap. No one could pass unless the car in front (usually Badoer in the Ferrari) got out of the way. The circuit which should be ace, is too wide and too dusty. I think there were more people on the beach then watching the race.
Dullsvile.
So Barrichello wins, well done to him. He did a good job and chased down Hamilton for a well deserved win, He leapfrog Webber in the race for the chased for the cup for the thing behind Button. Can he go on put a run together as Button looks to have lost his nerve a bit ?
Hamilton, takes 2nd after a great pole, low on fuel as he was. He’d lost a lot of running after tagging the wall at the start of practice on Friday. So to come back take pole and almost take the win is pretty good I think. It again shows that McLaren have turned the corner and now have a car the if not the fastest, is defiantly fast enough to win. It was fast in Germany too before Webber tagged it. SO Spa next weekend might be another happy hunting ground.
3rd for Raikkonen again shows that the Ferrari too has a good car when they find the sweet spot. Like McLaren they’re also looking to salvage pride this season, but they continue to take points away from the Brawns and Redbulls. Kimi didn’t look like he was going to race anytime, he just got there with a long middle stint and being just fast enough. Will he be staying now that Massa is sitting at home for the rest of the season and maybe beyond.
4th Kovalainen, slower than Hamilton again, but did the best he could with a car that didn’t have much break disc left. He still needs to put a race weekend together and make some luck for himself. He’s not consistent enough, and may well still lose his ride if Rosberg can be bought out of his.
5th Rosberg again brings the car home in a points paying position. Doing a good solid job with the tools to hand, just how much longer can Frank keep him ?
6th Alonso, tried hard but never looked like trouble ling the top 5 really. Spent a lot of the race getting out the way of any Red cars.
7th Button, oooh it’s all starting to go wrong isn’t it. Okay so Vettel and Webber are out of the points. But his team mate is 35 seconds up the road and doing his stupid shuffles dance thing on the top step, Buttons rightful place. Maybe the pressure has got to him, maybe he’s trying too hard, or not hard enough. Whatever the problem, Brawn look to have sorted the car issue out to a large extent. Now Button needs to get his act together and go and do his thing. A rubbish start left him behind Webber for most of the race, and only a bit of traffic on Webbers in lap saves Button from a thrashing.
8th Kubica. I have no idea how this has happened. I guess the Toyotas being rubbish means there are no other cars to be ahead of the BMW. Everyone else left is either too old (Badoer), too new (Grojean and Alguersuari) or blew up. So Kubica gets a point in a season to forget.
9th Webber. Well that didn’t go to plan did it ......
10th Sutil turn to be the best Force India.
Quite randomly, Glock gets the fastest lap. No I have no idea how he did that either. Lap 55, why didn’t he do that all race and maybe get some points. I don’t know quite how, but I’m going to blame Trulli for no other reason than I dislike him.
This was supposed to be a Brawn circuit, and it was. Not the Brawn we were expecting, but Brawn did the best of the championship contenders. Once again it’s the McLaren’s and Ferraris who have taken points away from the leaders and this is going to be the shape of the rest of the season.
It’s Spa next which is a fast flowing circuit that sorts the men from the GP2 newbies. The Redbulls should be all over this place, but I think McLaren and Brawn will be closer than Redbull expect. Hamilton on shear bloody guts and Brawn on strategy.

It feels like I'm destined to never write this !

I've started it 3 times now and have yet to get even half way.

Okay big breath, last go.

We're off to Spain and the sleepy little port of Valencia. It's a tight dusty circuit, first used last year and was devoid of any sort of soul or passion. Yes there are a gazillion Spaniards cheering on Alonso, but they're miles back and the tight street circuit isn't like Monaco with houses over looking the circuit from all angles. It's a harbor race but it's more like Portsmouth docks than the Cote D'azure. I've seen more spectators at the Chinese race.
Being tight and dusty means that it only has the one line around it. It's wide enough for three cars in places, but anyone going off line finds out how hard the wall is at the next turn. Last year Massa led Hamilton and Kubica home in a fairly dull race. The highlight being Massa taking his turn to try and drive a Ferrari into Sutil in the Force India. It's almost certainly not going to be a thrill a minute race ... I'm pretty sure.

However, this race is going to be important for all of the teams. It's the break point between, "We can still win something here lads" and "Okay, okay it's a Dog, time to fire up the PC and plan next years car chaps"

Brawn currently lead the championship, but the last three races have been dire, with 5th and 6th instead of romps home to win. they lead has been cut to 15.5 points and the car looks to be a right old handful on old/new/shiny blue/pink/or a spear set of radials off Ross's car. It over steers and under steers all over the show. For a car that once dominated, it's lost that winning feeling hasn't it. They thinks it's something they've bolted onto the car either at Turkey or Britain, the question is what is the bit that's gone wrong. Button can still win the championship. But not if continues to come 5th for the rest of the season. Barrichello will continue to complain until Brawn points out that he is slow, a nice guy .. but slow.

Redbull need to continue to beat Brawn to give their boys a chance at the title. They look focused these days, no longer the playboys in the paddock having a bit of a laugh and selling soft drinks to the punters. They can smell Bernie's cheap aftershave as he hands over the prize at the end of the season. However. Vettel looked very outclassed in Germany and lost in Hungary. After being the bright new thing that could stop the Brawn wagon, now he's casting around trying to find the edge that took him to victory in China and and Britain. Meanwhile Webber looks to have finally found a car that can deliver his potential. A good top 3 run since Turkey has seen him move in 2nd place behind Button.

Bizarrely Ferrari are currently 3rd in the championship. I have no idea how, Kimi is still on his sabbatical after winning the championship in 2007 and Massa, has had to retire home after Barrichello tried to brain him. Mickey Shoes almost got the nod for Valencia, but fell off his motor bike earlier in the year and the doctor told him to forget it. So Luca Badoer get's the nod from here on in. maybe to the end of the season if he doesn't hit anything. Ferrari 58 points behind Redbull are playing for pride now. But they'll still give it a go.

Toyota Have failed when they should be fighting for wins. They had a whizz bang car and a flash diffuser and they still contrived to cock it all up. Trulli has a nice vineyard ..... that is all. Glock has been unlucky with some good drives up the field from the back of the grid. He's running out of races to prove he isn't another Trulli.

McLaren, have staged one of the greatest turnarounds in modern formula one history, Spain onwards saw them floundering around racing Force Indies and Torro Rosso, Then in Germany but for a wild Ozzy move they 'could' Have won, then in Hungary .... a circuit not unlike Valencia ..... a blinding win with time 'for a cup of tea half way round. Hamilton, after a bit of a shaky start has got the team working in the right direction and has got them to build a winning car. Can he do it again ? I 'm not going to bet against it. Kovalainen has been told to buck his ideas up, i expect he'll get his P45 come the end of the season.

Williams ... see Toyota. Rosberg is doing what he can, but needs to put a whole GP weekend together to deliver some of this promise. Nakajima continues to trouble the armco more than the score board.

Renault, have finally fired Piquet for being utterly rubbish, and have now brought in some chap called Romain Grosjean. Part of the Renault young pups club, he did alright in F3 and is doing *cough* okay *cough* in GP2, although he does appear to be at the scene of a lot of accidents recently. Still give the chap a chance, he'll be nowhere near as fast as Alonso. Who is allowed to race at his home GP after the FIA realized that their stewards are idiots and they banning the only Spanish team at the next Spanish race would be stupid. If not very financially damaging to all and sundry. Alonso for pole ... it's a good bet i think.


BMW...... utter rubbish, soon to be gone, and can't even do the descent think and sell the team back to Sauber. What could have been.

Torro Rosso, have fired Bourdais, for no apparent reason and have employed Alguersuari. He didn't hit anything in Hungary (unlike Massa (sorry)), so let's see what he can do here. Buemi continues to be underwhelming.

Finally, Force India have looked almost racy at times. Who knows, they might do well this time and not get hit by a Ferrari.

There you go, I think the McLaren's and Ferrari, will be mixing it up with the Brawns and Redbull s again. I think the Brawns might just have the edge here, but only if they can fix the car. Throw Alonso into the mix and it has the makings of the good race. If only it wasn't at Valencia.

BMW and they left no money on the bedside table either

And now it's BMWs turn to throw it's toys out of the pram and complain loudly "we've paid a fortune to be here, why aren't we winning !!!!!"

Good riddance to bad sports. They had the chance to go for the title last year and take Kubica all the way. But they stepped back and said "No vee havf for zee 1 vin and zee third place, we vill now build a championship car for zee races next year" Which turned out to be crap.

pffft rubbish

The future

As I predicted then, the Mclarens and Ferraris are going to be taking points away from Redbull and Brawn. Brawn however have more worries than the woking boys getting in the way. It looks like they have a real problem with the development of that car which is now eating its tires and yet stilll not getting them up to any sort of working temperature. Couple that with a potential issue with a suspect rear suspension unit and there is going to be a lot of head scratching going on there. Remember too that the F1 world will close down for 2 weeks now. The factories have to be closed so the personel can go and have a holiday. Mandated by the FIA that, so they have to close stuff down. So two weeks closed down then one week to get it all up and running again, and then it's off to Valensia followed by Spa the weekend after Spain. With no testing at any point and you have to wonder if they can solve any of their problems before the Italian GP.

A resergent Mclaren and Ferrari, a fast Redbull and Williams punching above its weight means any predictins for the top 10 wil rely on ;uck more than form and judgement.

It's all rather exciting isn't it :D

Hungary like the Wolf

Hurrah for the Plucky lad from Woking and the hard working McLaren Boys.

We have our 4th different winner of the season and a real shock result for some of you. Only Webber in the Redbull got the fastest lap. There were no Brawns on the front row, they were nowhere on the fastest lap table and managed to knoble poor old Massa in to the bargin. What has happen to the once mighty Brawns? They should have been all over this track like a bad case of swine flu. But no they were messing around in the midfield fight over steer and understeer and graining tires and a whole world of rubbishness. It was like they were Hondas or something.

At the time of writing Massa is still in Hospital but is now out of his induced coma and is responding to the doctors. Having seen some of the photos floating around the internet of Massa after he’s been pulled form the car, I have to say he is a very lucky man. The Left side of his head looks like it’s been hit with a cricket bat. He’s lucky to still be able to see. Let’s hope he’s able to return to racing, let along before the end of the season. Watching the car plough head long into the barrier is bad enough, watching the driver get brained first then hit the barrier just brought back memories of Senna.
I’ll let you know who is going to replace him for Valencia when they announce it.

So. Mclaren have burnt the candle at both ends and turned a dog of a car into a race winner. Well done to them. With Kovy in the top 10 too, it shows that they now have a car that both drivers can go and drive. They’re leading the car, not waiting to see what it’ll do half way round the corner. I don’t think they’re going to go on and blow the rest of the field away and steel the silverware from under the Brawns noses, but they’re Hamilton is definalty going to be a feature of the top 5 for the rest of the season.

Alonso also poped up to remind everyone that he can actually drive a car, even if it does have three wheels. To which the FIA to very great exception and have banned Renault for the next round in Valencia. Maybe if Henry Surtees hadn’t been killed by a loose wheel a few day earlier, or Massa not got brained by debry. Then Renault might just have got a fine. But they did and Renault didn’t So don’t expect Alonso to get pole next race.

So Hamilton returns to the top step, along with Kimi 2nd and Webber 3rd.

Kimi saves some pride for Ferrari who had a lot to deal with this weekend. The car was quick but they couldn’t chase Hamilton down. I think both the Mclaren and Ferrari benifited from having KERS systems here. Where over taking is so difficult. They could hunt down the non KERS cars and pass with ease. Kimi did a good job and didn’t fall asleep as usual. I still think he’s going to get fired come the end of the season.

Webber, keeps the momentum of Germany with a solid 3rd. Despite almost hitting Kimi in the pits, and the team generally arsing around all weekend.

4th for Rosberg who is a regular in the top 10 now, Williams look to do a good job at last.

5th Kovalainen proves the Mclaren was really suited to this track, can he go on and make a fist of the final races.

6th Glock, Toyota looked to be down and out on Saturday with rubbish practice and qualifing. But here we are with Glock in the points again. Making the best of things.

7th Button, Oh how it’s all starting to go wrong. The development program has turned a great car into a dog. Quick call the Woking boys to see how it should be done !!

8th Trulli, who actually drove sideways to try and pass some one. No, I can’t believe is either. However, he is doing a lot of Charity work for that Italian town that got flatten in the earth quake. Which is jolly stirling stuff and so I don’t dislike Trulli quite as much as I used to.

9th Nakajima who didn’t hit anything for a change.

10th Barrichello, who proably complained that he wasn’t given as much help as button and threw a big tantrum about it later.

Hungarian Qualifying

Have Brawn lost that winning way ?

This is supposed to be the track that Brawn bounced back and showed the rest of the grid how it was done. Yet here we are with Button struggerling to trouble the sharp end of the grid, whilst Barrichello fails to make it through to Q3. 6 months ago we all though the Brawns where going to walk it like Schumacher used to do in the glory years. Championship won by the British GP. But then it all started to go wrong at Turkey, with Redbull running faster all weekend, only Vettel cocking up 1 corner all wekend saving Button. We tought that was just a blip, before the onward march to glory. But then the Brit and German GP confirmed that the championship favourite

It looks like something broke on the back of Barrichellos car. Which then hit Massa before he attempted to crash test the armco. Watching in car footage afterwards made for uncomfortable viewing as memories of Senna at Imola came flooding back. A cut to the forehead, concussion and dammage to his skull makes him a lucky boy. 10 years ago he might not have been so lucky.

So Alonso picks up the pole, he's frighteningly light on the old fuel, so it'll be interesting to see if he can turn this into a win. But pole in this place is almost as good as a win. Vettel and Webber make it up to 2nd and 3rd in the end, Vettel with more fuel than Webber too. Hamilton with his KERS in 4th has got to be worth a punt for a podium, a win with a fair wind and bit of the old Hamilton Luck. He's got less fuel than the Redbulls, but thet just means he's going to be faster off the line. Let's hope Webber isn't so aggressive as he was in Germany.

Rosberg next to Hamilton followed by Kovelinem and Kimi means Button in 8th is going to have his work cut out to make something good happen here. Right now the Redbulls are the team with their hands on the silverware. Button has a lot of fuel, maybe two stopping in a attempt to leap frog the Redbulls.

It's going to be another tactical race.

The Hungarian GP

The Hungarian F1 Gp

Hungary has two things. Dust all over the circuit and corners, lots and lots of silly little corners.

It’s a lot like Monaco with complex series of corners linked together; the driver has to be smooth and controlled, concentrating on sticking to the line and waiting for the right moment to overtake.

This means Hungary is a circuit that has Brawn written all over it. There are a few high speed corners for the Redbulls to pull away on, but then it’s a short straight and a slow series of corners up next, for the Brawns to catch and pass on. Cars have to be nimble, accelerate, stop quickly and look after the rubber. Nervous, twitchy cars don’t go well at all here,
Off line its dirty and dusty, the circuit doesn’t get much use for the rest of the year, so it takes 3 days of racing for the track to rubber in. So going off line here and the next thing the car is bouncing over is the grass. There is lots of run off to bounce over too because the average speed is so low here. Accidents are rare; cars usually expire in the heat and dust.

Both Ferrari and McLaren are talking up their Hungarian races. Given how well Hamilton was going before Webber took him out, I’m inclined to believe McLaren here. They might not have sorted that car out, but hey have made it more drivable and predictable. So, with a good run at qualifying, a clean getaway off the line and who knows what a KERS car can achieve here!
Ferrari meanwhile has got Massa running well again, Kimi less so. But they do have a neutral car that while not very fast, can be driven hard on the slower circuits.

So this race is going to come down once again to the qualifying, and then the first lap. Whoever can get ahead of the McLaren’s and Ferraris is going to have a clear run to the flag. Maybe Hamilton and Massa will fight it out at the head of the field, whilst the Brawns and Redbulls fight to get through. Vettel and Webber will be fighting each other; both believe they can take the title. Barrichello has had his chance so he’ll have to give way to Button.

This is going to be a close tactical race with non-title contenders getting in the way.

Meanwhile over at Torro Rosso, young Mr Bourdais has been given his marching orders and shown the back door to America. Some unpronounceable Spanish chap called Alguersuari (No I have no idea how you pronounce that either) will be taking over from him for the rest of the season. Though I believe then Sebastian Loeb will be getting a drive this year at some point.
Mr Alaberkerky is the current British F3 champion and is currently racing in the World Series by Renault, with little success. He’s got the seat over more experienced drivers because he’s part of the Redbull young driver program, and Redbull are bankrolling the Torro Rosso boys. The Boss of Torro Rosso in a fantastic display of confidence in their new young signing said “I do not expect anything from him”.
He’ll last longer then Piquet, but only because he’s got an awful lot of money backing him.

German F1 gp, It's an ozzy win

Well that was all very exciting wasn’t it !

Exactly what have McLean done to turn a rather rubbish car into a pocket rocket. If it hadn’t been for Webber getting all unnecessary off the line, we could have had a bit of a fight there, as it was despite getting a drive through penalty for attempting to punt Barrichello into the pit all. Webber won a flag to flag victory in a pretty dominate display.

Webber was blindingly fast all weekend, with a solid pole on Saturday ahead of the lighter Brawns of Button and Barrichello. Qualifying was all about being on the tack at the right time, with sudden cloud burst turning the track into a skating rink in the blink of an eye. The track would get slippery for 5 minutes then dry out and give the drivers a tilt at posting fast laps. Though it all the Brawns and Redbulls fought it out to be at the front. Joined for a change by both of the Mclarens. I’ve no idea why they’re suddenly up the sharp end of the grid. New areo bits and a rear diffuser have contributed and looked to have solved most of the problems.

But Webber got the job done from very light Brawns and a slow Vettel. Hamilton pulled it up to 5th, which given his last few months is a s good as a win.

Come Sunday and is was bright and clear with neer a cloud in the sky, almost no chance of any rain or anything other than a Redbull demonstration race. Which is what we got, Webber punted Barrichello out of the way, punctured Hamilton’s rear tire and drove off into the distance. He had a drive through for punting Barrichello, which delayed him for 30 seconds odd, but still cruzed home a mile up the road. It looked easy for him, and I suppose he deserves it, despite taking out Hamilton in turn one.

Vettel makes it second, but he wasn’t really at the races and didn’t look like challenging Webber at all. Still it’s another 1-2 for Redbull whilst Brawn fail to make the podium

Massa makes get’s a podium and makes his seat safe for another year. Like Mclaren Ferrari have got on with rebuilding their car, but it’s too late to challenge for the big prize. Expect Massa to be doing well form no on though. Meanwhile Kimi is having a rough old time of it. Once again taking out Force Indias Sutil who was having a cracking race. What is it with Sutil and Kimi, don’t think like each other or something.

Rosberg has a very good weekend and comes home in 4th. Normally by now Williams are floundering down at the back of the finishing pack. This year they look pretty racy. Not talking to FOTA is working out for them I think.

Button, has another damage limitation race, they’ll go much better in Hungary next where it’s warm and slow. But another high speed corner circuit, he couldn’t get the tires up to temperature and lost time with graining tires and no grip where it mattered.

Meanwhile Barrichello is throwing a massive tantrum about the team not liking him and button is stealing his lunch money and a whole bunch of other things that mean he’s not being allowed to win. To which Mr Brawn rolls up and says “Rubins had the 11th fastest lap. You can’t win a race if your best lap time is the 11th fastest. Shut it”

Alonso got the fastest lap, He was pretty racy all weekend, even spinning on on the way to the start line. maybe that Reanult is starting to come good like the Mclaren and Ferrari. That or Alonso was so insenced about being out qualified by Piquet for the first time ever that he went a bit mad ?

Kovy next to prove the Mclaren is getting better

Glock in 9th from the pit road once again shows that Trulli is awful and dull and should be fired

Heidfeld in 10th showing how rubbish the Beemer still is.

FOTA unhappy with the FIA ... yet again !

So the FOTA teams haven't been consulted on the new rules. FOTA (or the world car manufactures as they should really be called) want to have a say how they brands are promoted. that means they want to make the rules up.

The FIA as head of world motorsport and the rule makers (as in any other sport) keep telling the manufactures to stop pushing in the tuck shop line and do as they're told.

It all started with Max telling all and sundry that this sport needs to be cheap and cheerful and so there were going to be a set of rules for teams running to a budget and they'ed get to have a huge advantage and stuff. the established car maunfactures didn't like the sound of that so started throwing their weight around and asking for more tuck shop privileges and a choice of either dime bars, snikers and Mars bars not trackers and oat cakes which may well be healthy but taste like shite. Max said he was incharge and they could all fuck right off

Then Bernie stepped in and said the school guv'ners (CVC who own the comersial rights to F1) were not happy ... not happy at all. And that Max ought to consider his future and knee caps very carefully. know what i mean guv.

Then Max called all the FOTA chaps Loonies at the british GP

So Max and Bernie and Monty and Flav all sit down in a smokey room and thrash out a plan.

they walk out of the room and say "ha, it was all a misunderstanding, tuck shop privilages are back on and, i'll quit as headmaster. But we're going to have some new boys (who i might have choosen personaly because they're all old mates) and I'm still ace and the FOTA chaps are a bit nutty but not Loonies"

FOTA told everyone that Max "is a fucking nutter dictator who wanted to bugger the upper 5th in the showers after rugger practice and he smelt of moth balls and was mad and we always hated him ha ha ha ah ah a"

Max didn't like the dictator slur, and said "fuck you, i'm thinking of staying on now unless you bastards take that back"

FOTA said "fuck off grandad"

Bernie said "hitler was a rubbish dictator and the Saddam is greatly missed"

Then Bernie said "sorry about the hitler thing, he was a bad man, but Max is aceness incarnate"

Now it appears that the FIA have told the FOTA chaps that becuase they got all arsey and thretend to go and play with their own ball, they can't now have a say in how the new rules will be made. FOTA though they had a say becuase they were on the list of teams to take part next year which got published a few weeks ago.

But the FIA are saying FOTA said they wern't playing until the concorde agreement had been signed, which it won't be until after the rules are worked out.

FOTA have thrown their arms into the air and are now gathered round the back of the bike shed telling all the 4th year girls that they could have Max if they wanted too.

Max is calling them all a bunch of yobs who should just grow up.

Welcome back sports fans.

We’re all off to sunny Germany and the Nurburgring 2009.

It’s fast and smooth, ideal for the Redbulls and Brawns to fight it all out. The weather looks to be changeable, with rain up until Friday and cloud all weekend.
Now, when Brawn turned up to a cold Silverstone they had a real problem getting the tires up to temperature. The is because Button is ever so smooth and Barrichello is slow. The Redbulls work their tires hard, which wears them out faster, but means they get more grip faster too.

If Nurburgring is cold then Vettel on his home circuit is going to be a shoe in for the win. Long fast high speed flowing corners really suit the Redbulls, Webber too looked pretty handy on a cold English track, so he’ll be pushing Vettel hard.
Brawn claim they aren’t worried at all and Ross is talking Up Barrichello and his chances. Unlike Silverstone, where they hardly touch the brakes, Germany has lot’s of tight hairpins after long straights. Big heavy breaking zones suit the Brawns so they’ll be closer to the Redbulls than the last time out, the question will be by how much.

I think the cold weather is going to play into Vettel hands, but what to I know.

As for the rest, it’s been very quite on the news front. Bernie is walking around telling everyone that Hitler did a rubbish job and Saddam was a misunderstood organisational genius. i.e. Max is ace and I love his dictatorial style baby. If as everyone suspects Jean Todt gets the FIA fuehrer roll, how will Bernie deal with him I wonder. Being Max’s bezzy mate gave Bernie a lot of scope to build an empire, something he did with glee. I wonder if Todt or the next chap is as accommodating.

Anyway Ferrari are talking up a good race, with Alonso already signed for 2010 apparently and either Glock or Rosberg signed for 2011, how much effort will Kimi and Massa be putting in? Or rather will Kimi start putting any effort into racing anytime this year? I doubt it personally.

Else were Toyota looked to have fixed what ever problems they had with good qualifying and racing at Silverstone. This track should suit them too, so expect Trulli to have a tilt at the pole on Saturday.

Williams are still in the top 10 at the moment but Renault (soon to be Briatorie) is chasing them down. Well Alonso is, if only to remind his new employers how good he is in a rubbish car. Piquet is already downloading the unemployment forms for next year.

McLaren claim that this is going to be the last throw of the dice for the 2009 car, if that doesn’t work they’ll start working on the 2010 car after this weekend.

BMW will be hoping for something good to happen this week, it’s the mid point of the season and so far they have bugger all to show for a lot of money.

Ooooooooh.

I'm off to the Goodwood Festival of Speed, at some Ungod hour of saturday morning.

excited ... yes.

pictures ... oh yes.

Sunday Morning

Happy fathers day :)

My money's on Webber, i think Jenson will get 3rd, barrichello will stuff it off the line and clog up the midfield. Toyota will be second. Vettel will cock it up at the end of vail on lap 2.

Tires are the key here. Cold tires on a cold day mean slippery track, Button won't get his to working temp fast enough and Redbulls will over work theirs.

I have no idea what car or what year this is.

It's probably in the 80's and it's probably a Porsche.

Can you guess what it is then ?

FOTA vs THE FIA

Roll up roll up, watch the combined might of the worlds car manufactures, take on the worlds largest sporting governing body slug it out for the right to say "We're running Formula 1"

What a bunch or arse this all is. A bunch of over grown children running around and shouting the odds at each other. Over what seems to be to be the sum total of fuck all. The right o make the rules and spend just a whole shit load of cash.

Who in all of this rubbish is talking about the fans. The fact it's cheaper to go to Monza that get a weekend ticket for the British GP, that's including a grandstand ticket. Says it all to me. The teams complain they can't run a team on anything less than £100 million. Who gets to pay for that, we do. It's the fans who are going to have to pay for all of this and it's the fans who get the rawest deal. Not for the likes of us the chance to meet our hero's and ask them how it feels to drive at 190mph into the right hander at Copse. No, We're kept well away in case we touch them.

The FIA claim they want to give the fans something to watch, a show if you will. The Teams say they want to put on a show. But each team wants to win the championship, and if they can do it with 8 races to go, so much the better. The FIA just want punters to stamp up the cash so they can pay off the bankers who bough the rights to F1 5 years ago.

Back to Blighty chaps - the British GP

So we return once again to the home of Motor sport. Oh the Italians will tell you that the home is Monza in Italy, the Americans tell you it's the Oval at Indy. Even the French have a pop with Le Mans and the 25 hour race. But the true heart and soul, where the hard work and the true engineering passion resides, is in the heart of England. If Formula 1's heart is painted Ferrari red, then that heart is pumping English four star. Most of the teams have factories here, most of the teams have British engineers and staff working for them. The British make Formula 1 what it is, we just let the rest believe they're running the show.

This year will see the last race at Silverstone, having had the GP stolen from them in a dawn raid by Donington. In much the same way silverstone took the GP off Brands hatch all those years ago. The FIA having run out of patience with the BRDC and the pink gin brigade. I for one won't miss Silverstone, It's a dump, with ratty stands and far too many empty "hospitality" seat that i never ever got a chance to sit in, Mr Moore.
It is cold and windy, there are too few toilets and the paying public are herded around like unwanted cattle. It is soo class riddled that only the right handshake can get you into the interesting areas. Which are then mostly full of invited guest who don't even know where the engine is.

However, out on the muddy banks sit the huddled masses who will put up with almost anything. Back to the true heart of motorsport sit the fans. I've been on the banking when Mansell beat Piquet in the greatest race ever. Seen Hill and Coultard take emotional victories, surrounded by people who know the difference between a titanium skid plate and the second course dinner plate. Those who knew that Schumacher shouldn't have over taken the Williams of Hill on the warm up lap. That although Schumacher and Senna weren't "one of ours" they were the best we'd ever see.
They also know that if the FIA could get away with it there's be no muddy punters standing on the banking, we don't bring enough money in, not like the suited idiots complaining that their Gaspatio soap is cold. The ones that don't bother with the GP2 race but wonder where "that damned Raikerman and Bluttern have got too !".

So it'll be Donington next year and Silverstone will try and have a race to remember.

You have to look at the year so far and figure Button is the favourite. Redbull Look like the only challengers left, with Webber taking more points than Vettel so far the Ozzy is looking like a challenger at last. Where Vettel will be win or bust, Webber is taking the slowly slowly approach, either could beat Button.

Toyota didn't recover from the wrong tire choice in Bahrain. Trulli says they got their act back together in Turkey, i think they profited from Barrichello cocking up and Ferrari not gettgin their tires to work. Toyota just look like their filling the vacum until Mclaren, Ferrari, Renault and BMW get their act together. Saying that Trulli does tend to do well here and Glock could show he's made of the right stuff here.

Williams have lost touch as usual.

Ferrari have upped their game and look like contenders again. But a wet Silverstone is not to Massa's liking, whilst Kimi is still looking bored.

Barrichello is saying he's going to spoil the party. If he gets left on the line again he'll spoil lots of peoples afternoon ;)

Renault are apparently about to jack it all in and sell up to Flav, Piquet would get fired ASAP and Alonso would be put on HUGE retainer. It worked for Brawn, maybe it'll work for Flav. Meanwhile silvertone has got to be Piquets last race whatever happens. I think only a win can save his sorry ass now.

BMW are starting to turn things around, they were ahead of the Mclarens last time out, i can't see a reason for that to change anytime soon.

Mclaren, will be trying to beat the Torro Rosso and Force India this weekend. Hamilton will need a shed load of luck to trouble the top ten. Last year he was stunning in the wet and dry conditions, this year even rain can't help him.

Mansell always said the Home crowd was worth two seconds a lap, there were some years he needed all of that. Button and Hamilton will need it, for very different reasons.