Well yesterdays GP in Bahrain despite its initial excitement turned out to be a bit of a procession, still think that Massa should have been penalised for ignoring the yellow flag during qualifying, and would love to know just what caused Hamilton to run up the back of Alonso. However the driver’s championship is being kept wide open this year and that can only be a good thing for F1, it is possible for anyone of 6 people to be leading the championship in three weeks time.
Archive for the 'f1' Category
Saturday saw the start of a new chapter in the history of the charges of St Cuthbert, Cambuslang and St Andrew, Uddingston when the congregations and people from across the diocese gathered to welcome Rosemary as their new priest a joyous occasion, although somewhat unusual to be celebrating in a piskie church without a glass of wine!
While today saw another new start of a different kind.
At 3:30am the alarm woke us from our slumber to alert us that the 2008 F1 season was about to begin down under in Melbourne. There have been several changes in the rules, all of which are welcome in my book, especially the loss of traction and launch controls, now they really are driving not just racing a computer. The race itself was fantastic despite being interrupted three times for the safety car, in fact with the crashes, thrills and spills it was much more like the races I that got me interested in F1 in the first place than the 50-60 parade laps F1 had turned into in more recent years. If this first race is anything to go by we will be in for a thrilling and unpredictable season, and it looks like the new boys will be giving the old timers a run for their money, just a shame that the final safety car denied Kovalainen a better place after such a good drive and Bourdais was denied a better place on his debut when his Ferrari engine let him down.
There is no doubt in my mind, and I am sure in the mind of many other F1 fans, that Lewis Hamilton is extremely talented, however yesterday proved that talent is not enough. Those tyres should have been changed earlier, okay so McLaren are holding up their hands and saying it was their fault, but a more experienced driver would have insisted on coming in as soon as their performance dropped and those with lesser cars overtook with such ease. Hubby and I were screaming at the TV for him to come in and change them, but we weren’t screaming loud enough as Lewis obviously didn’t hear us! However, that being said, everything is all set now for an exciting final race to the season in Brazil.
Lewis could still win the championship, and I hope he does, but so could Alonso and Kimi. Kimi has shown he would be a deserving champion, he is talented and experienced and doesn’t have hissy turns unlike some drivers - just a shame he drives a Ferrari. Then there is Alonso, he has shown us another side of his character this year, and not an endearing one. I would be disappointed to see him clinching the championship his behaviour and attitude this season has been more akin to a spoilt 5 year old than an F1 champion.
Who will it be, we will know in just under two weeks.
That may seem a strange statement, however after a disapointing season, the rain in Japan made Sunday’s race one of the best of the season, and one to remember and one worth getting up at 4.30am to watch.
Lewis Hamilton will no doubt remember it as he increased his lead in the championship once more, it isn’t in the bag yet, but he will have to make mistakes, have bad luck or have others to snatch from him now, and Kimi’s drive yesterday showed he has every intention of trying to do just that.
Vettel will remember it for that mistake that robbed him and Webber of podium places, the fact that he will also start 10 places back in China is adding unecessary injury.
The Spyker team will remember it for winning their first championship point.
Ferrari might want to forget it, however they will remember they can’t use the ‘We didn’t know about the tyre rule’, again! I for one don’t believe that members of an F1 team are checking their e-mails once a race is under way.
Kovalainen will remember it for taking his first podium beside old friend Hamiton, and with that podium Renault finally have something to remember from this season.
Those of us that watched it will remember it for the rain, for the brave and spectacular driving of those drivers, if I was driving in those conditions I would have been doing one of two things, stopping, or if that wasn’t possible driving very very slowly! DC summed it up beautifully; ‘It’s a crazy thing to be a racing driver - on the one hand you’re scared, but on the other, you’re having the time of your life because every moment you’re right on the edge, even on the straights.
There are two people that probably want to forget it, Alonso whose crash meant he has an uphill battle now to keep the drivers championship, and Button whose run of back luck continued with loosing his front wing when Heidfeld collided with him and then the car deciding on the final lap that it didn’t want to make it all the way to the finish line, again.
That was the question that greeted me as I came back last night from the service and a visit to *E* to talk about prayer.
“Erm, what should I be doing?”
Was the reply.
Turns out what I should be doing is arranging cover so that I can be in Silverstone for next years British Grand Prix, Hubby bought tickets yesterday for us as a treat, good job the diary was empty!
Sorry Meg and Jean.
As those of you who know me, know, I am an f1 fan and in my book the events of last week were an utter nonsense but after the most boring race of the season yesterday I think I know why they happened.
Someone did know something and it was nothing to do with wind tunnels, down force, wing design, e-mails or text messages or in fact anything else that was talked about in Paris last week. They knew that the once thrilling Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium was not going to hold the excitment it once did after its expensive face-lift, so decided to plan a distraction.
It didn’t work I noticed!
Yesterday saw a packed church as *E* and *J* celebrated 50 years of marriage a magnificent achievement. In fact the church was so packed and warm that we had to open the rear door and let the singing flood outside, maybe some of those making their way down to the temple of shops might have heard the strains and thought about going to church next Sunday - nothing wrong with being an optimist! Afterwards, there was food, wine and of course a cake, lots of smiling faces and lots of use of the courtyard in the sun.
Then later on McLaren did a one two in the F1, a joyous Sunday indeed!
I was extremely disappointed in Alonso’s dirty trick of not allowing Lewis out to do his final qualifying round yesterday, it certainly seemed that he was hindering him on purpose and Ron Denis didn’t seem a happy bunny either. However it what has developed since is interesting, it would appear that the whole team were in on it to one degree or another. We might never know if Alonso and his side of the team deliberately impeded Lewis’ race, but the steward certainly think there was something afoot as they have put Alonso back 5 places on the grid for impeding another driver. Alonso himself only just managed to get his last qualifying lap in, and if he was really trying to hold up Lewis, he was playing the dangerous game of nearly penalising himself too. I don’t believe starting 6th will cause Alonso many problems in the race as the McLaren’s are out performing most other cars on the grid at present, the question will be if he can catch and overtake Lewis and whether pit stops have any play in that, the actually race, due to start shortly will tell that story.
Dreaming Spires - well off to Oxford’s ones for a week with Mother Ruth - leaving Hubby and son to fend for themsleves, which they are more than capable of doing - so probably no further blogs until my return.
Well if qualifying is going to be any indication of how tomorrow’s race at Silverstone will pan out it will most definitely be a sitting on the edge of your seat race.
Lewis, Kimi, Alonso, Massa, that is the grid position but tomorrow it could be anyone’s race!
For the last time we saw those beautiful F1 cars race the 70 laps around the Magny-Cours track and give us a fantastic race. Kimmi finally got his act together and won his second race of the season, and it would appear that Ferrari have finally got their package sorted as Massa cruised into a comfortable second place, denied a victory by his team mates pit crew. Lewis yet again finished on the podium, and will surely have to buy a new trophy cabinet!
While Ferrari were one/two from the start the real racing was going on further down the field with BMW and McLaren having a great ding dong battle, and giving us something to get excited about. It was also good to see Renault actually racing again rather than just trying to get around a circuit and finish.
Next week it is Silverstone and the near 200 mile race around that famous circuit.
