F1 Went A Leetle Crazy…
As it usually does at the back end of the season, where everyone realises that races don’t need to be won if they aren’t going to win the Championship. Last year, it was Massa running away with the fuel hose attatched, this year it was Kovaleinen.
Ay,ay, ay.
Consider the following phrase:
The difference between this year’s incident and last year’s is…
a) Heikki put another driver in danger, which Massa didn’t
b) that the Iceman was nearly melted
c) Ferrari ran after Massa down the pit lane, McLaren let Brawn take the hose out of a car that has absolutely nothing to do with them unless you count their nationality and the engine.
or..
d) All of the above and then some.
Answers on a postcard please.
The Worst Kept Secret in F1 is Out
The man made havoc hurricane that is former world champion Fernando Alonso, has signed to Ferrari. The deal starts in 2010 meaning that Kimi Raikkonen has been replaced by the dispute bringing, cheat Alonso. As if F1 fans have enough reason to hate Italian cars, they’ve given them a new one now and its much easier to hate the Red and Alonso now they’re together. What doesn’t add up is after everything Alonso has done, running back to trusty Renault after the McLaren stint – or rather the failed attempt to destroy Lewis Hamilton- his part in the Singapore fiasco (don’t even dare say ‘he’s been cleared of any wrong doing’ because anyone can see he had a say in Nelson Pique’s strategy that day, he was the one who convienently took advantage so go figure), Ferrari still decided he was a good investment. Have they lost their freaking minds? So, he might be the most consistent driver of the season so far, but he’s also got a record to avoid in that he’s caused some sort of dispute or disaster at the two teams he’s been a part of. Surely a sign that he’s as dangerous as the flipping iceberg that sank the Titanic? One thing that Ferrari have gained from this, is they will almost certainly be in the media eye but more for the bad than the good.
Even though I honestly couldn’t care less about Alonso, this move sucks on three levels.
1. Fisi – he ruined his career by making the move away from Force India and we now know that Spa was a fluke but what happens to him now? He’ s the third driver now and F1 teams, despite Ferrari’s wrangling, only allow two drivers to compete. Fisichella should have turned down Ferrari and remained at Force India, he wouldn’t be effectively unemployed now if he had.
2. Massa – Alonso doesn’t like being second fiddle to anyone. Hamilton learned the hard way and whatever way you look at it Pique Jnr did too, so its going to be very interesting to see how the Spaniard adapts to being not as important as the other driver. Its another control freak problem in the pipeline and poor Massa might as well be on the end of it.
3. Kimi – Now that he’s effectively on his way out of Ferrari despite putting it off as much as possible, its been reported that he might be on the way back to McLaren. Now, I haven’t had the slightest problem with McLaren this season apart from one huge problem:- Hamilton. I’ll be damned if I end up supporting McLaren next year.
See, Alonso hasn’t even pulled on the red overalls and already he’s causing me frustration. Lord only knows how long it will be before the first reports of unrest and control battles emerge from Ferrari and the sport is brought into disrepute once more by the overbearing, jealous, control freak.
F1: Belgian Grand Prix
Because I couldn’t be arsed doing the qualifying post that I usually do, here’s the race report complete with pictures.
Hell yeah. Hail Kimi the King of Spa! Four time winner of the Belgian Grand Prix. For the first time this season, and first time at Spa since 2008, Kimi won the race! Oh and he did it in style too. He started the race in 6th, capitalised on Barrichello’s stalling start in 4th, used that Kers thing that’s been giving teams a headache since April and moved easily into 2nd behind Fisi.
Whereas Kimi had a brilliant start, Hamilton didn’t really get to start the race properly after being part of a massive crash which took out the other British hope, Jenson Button. Cue some blame shifting from Brawn onto Torro Rosso and Hamilton as always, oblivious to the situation says that his team worked really hard. Seriously, listening to him sidestep the question was like the whole Britney on X Factor thing again. ‘What have you got to say to the contestants?’ ‘Oh, I love London and the people and just..yeah’.
Anywho, three cars went out right at the beginning of the race. Hamilton’s good car days are over now I’m back in the country and watching F1 again. Ha.
Because Massa is still not fit enough to take part, Ferrari have a…well… a pretty crap replacement in Luca Badoer. Never has a name been so perfect for the person it belongs to. He’s not good. You don’t need me to say it, just look.
He didn’t seem to know that his sport involves overtaking and that waiting behind someone who is slower than you (some achievement) is the perfect situation to capitalise on and gain a place. Noooooo. Luca complained that another car overtook him when he ‘was waiting’. Jeez man! What the hell do you think this is? The Post Office queue? Anyway, I don’t know what happened to him in the end but I’m pretty sure he retired or finished dead last. No wonder Ferrari are looking to bring Fisichella on board for Monza. Come to think of it, that may or may not have anything to do with his performance this weekend for Force India.
The race itself was very much between Kimi and Fisi from the off. While the Force India was marginally faster than the Ferrari, he didn’t have the Kers. In the driver’s press conference, Fisi all but admitted he was upset that Kers gave Kimi an advantage and that was why he won. Personally, I think it was the pressure from the media about Alonso moving to Ferrari and Kimi losing his place that got him all fired up for this race. Please media, keep going if Kimi is going to react like this all the time then it’ll be more than welcome pressure. All technicalities aside, I’m so happy that Kimi finally showed that he is still one of the best and I’m elated that Fisi got 2nd. Just look at him, he’s so happy.
This makes the Driver’s Championship more interesting. Button having won at least a point from every race so far, didn’t get anything today and thus, the gap is closing in on Brawn.
Here’s a few more pictures. Yay Kimi!
And The Stig Is…
…
…
…
Michael Schumacher!
Who would have thought that?! After all the speculation over whether or not the Stig was a race car driver or a photocopier salesman from Bolton, it turns out that the most elusive driver in the motor world is in fact the best ever F1 driver.
Clarkson dressed in unfetching orange introduced the Stig to the crowd and said that he was going to reveal his true identity. This came after they showed the VT of the Stig racing the Ferrari around the track in record time. So, Stig sat down, for a second it didn’t look like he would remove the helmet or he would but then there would be something obscuring his face but no. As clear as day, it was Schumi. I couldn’t believe it and I still don’t. This was further reinforced by Jeremy Clarkson’s declaration that Schumi might not be the Stig and the fact that the end credits said ‘the Stig’ and Special Guest Michael Schumacher which has fuelled even more specualtion that this unveilling was a prank. The whole idea of revealing the identity of the mystery racer was done really to tell the internet geeks and the media to shut up. Top Gear isn’t going to reveal the true identity of the man, Schumacher just took the focus off the real Stig for a while. If the dates when the new Stig replaced the old Stig and the date that Schumacher retired from F1 correspond then it might be more than a coincidence. But at the moment, its very much being treated as a Top Gear stunt.
Still, its nice to have the petrolheads back on TV. Sunday nights were so boring without it.
F1: British Grand Prix
Button didn’t win. Neither did he come second or third or fourth. Now, they’re talking about this race as being the turning point in the season. Sometimes I don’t believe us because here we were watching Schumacher take everything and now we have two very good drivers capable of great things (yes, Hamilton is still okay even when jostling for 16th although I have to admit did he really think Alonso was going to let him through?) suddenly, the commentators don’t want British interest anymore. I don’t understand us, we love watching our own winning something but then we get fed up and like to engineer their downfall. Its a mystery.
If no one was happy for them, Ferrari were extremely happy for themselves having survived the whole race and gathered some points too. The general director said that they were happy with the cars and the drivers were happy with the cars also. However, when asked abut how they had managed to make the performance better than qualifying, neither he nor Massa could explain how the car turned out to be better than it was yesterday. Bearing in mind, they are not allowed to make changes to the car between qualifying and the race, I can’t help but wonder whether they did bend that rule a tiny bit. Regardless, Ferrari are doing considerably better than McLaren and that’s all that matters.
Now there’s a three week hiatus before the next race during which there will be more fireworks as F1 teams start their bid to oust Max and bring some sanity back to the sport.
F1: Turkish Grand Prix
I’m going to hazard a guess at what tomorrow’s tabloid paper headlines will read. ‘Button stuffs Turkey….Turkey gets stuffed by Button.’ Yes, Jenson won again and now its becoming like Michael Schumacher. No one can touch him and the strategies are so damn correct none of the other teams can come close to them. Its not like Hamilton last year where there was always a chance he’d be overtaken, Button overtakes he doesn’t get overtaken by anyone. However, he did survive a scare from Sebastien Vettel who started on pole but sacrificed his place in the first corner. Vettel got to within a half a second of Button but he had to pit and Button survived. I know I’ve said a couple of times that he deserves the success because of everything he’s had to contend with in the last two years, and I stand by it. Even after knowing he was going to win about 9 laps from the end, he still got up and celebrated like it was his first win. Until this season he had gone 150 races with one win, now he has 6 out of 7. So, why isn’t he not being treated like the media darling that Lewis Hamilton was back in the day? They don’t believe the success of Brawn will last the season, that’s why. Thoughout the race, ITV now BBC Brundle kept mentioning how there’s still 120 points to be won, and Jenson is only on 61. I call it clutching straws. If anyone can stop Brawn, its only Webber and Vettel, no one else can bring a consistent challenge.
Seeing as I really only watch F1 for Kimi Raikkonen, it might be worth a mention that erm …HAMILTON OVERTOOK HIM!!! I mean what, on earth must be wrong for the worst car designed since Honda (no disrespect to Jenson) to overtake the Ferrari? I’d think Lewis savoured that moment. That little manouver was the closest he’s been to a Ferrari all season. Even Nelson Piquet felt the embarrassment of Hamilton overtaking him and fought his way back in front. Needless to say, Hamilton couldn’t keep the place and dropped back down to 13th which for him is progress despite being lapped by Jenson for the 3rd time in three races. Thankfully, Kimi in the end got the last laugh and finished 9th. Its not as good as Monaco’s 3rd but Ferrari were more of a moderate fail today, not a complete fail.
So, the F1 moves to Silverstone in a couple of weeks with the almost certain possibility of a British winner.
F1 Qualifying: Turkish Grand Prix
Keeping this brief, Button didn’t get pole. Some people would call it meltdown at Brawn, but others would look upon it as he’s still going to win tomorrow. I think he is anyway.
So, if Button wasn’t on pole, who was? Vettel was. Then Button. Then Barrichello. It wasn’t a bad day for Brawn.
Kimi and Massa qualified 6th and 7th respectively although to be frank, in Monaco Kimi qualified 2nd and finished 3rd in the race. Still, its pretty respectable when you compare it to the McLaren team who had both their cars drop into the drop zone during qualifying. Hamilton didn’t make it past Q1 again and Heikki only lasted until Q2. I’m rather enjoying the rapid decline of McLaren.
F1: Monaco Grand Prix
Guess who won?
Guess which team came 1st and 2nd?
Now, guess who came third? Vettel? No. He crashed out early. Hamilton? Oh puh-lease. He started in 19th and only came 13th after 5 cars crashed out or retired. Do the maths. Massa? Oh close very close he was 4th. Give up?
You’d better believe it. Kimi finished 3rd!!! He was brilliant in staying away from the walls and barriers and Ferrari seem to have their heads screwed back on and made NO MISTAKES in strategy. They even made some stellar decisions to do with pit stops so that neither of their drivers would fall any further back than 7th. Brilliant. Some jobs were saved after all. Massa finished 4th too but only just because he could have nicked 3rd and Kimi probably won’t have been happy…to be perfectly honest, I don’t think he would have cared.
He looked so happy to be back on the podium and get his hands on that champagne because Kimi can’t get enough of that stuff.
Note how Jenson sprays the champagne and Kimi just swigs it. Its been a long time.
Its this theory in action.
I love that.
In other news, Eddie Jordan has spent the weekend tracking back on his ’suspend Kimi for compromising the progress of Ferrari’ comments from Spain and even wore a red shirt today. Talk about sucking up. He was wrong, so very very wrong. And to watch him be proven wrong is even better. I don’t take well to people who critisise others with no real reason why or evidence to back up their attacks and I don’t think highly of them when they’re proven wrong and resort to manic backtracking to show they are innocent. No fair.
And to pick up on a point that came up a lot in the race regarding Alonso and Ferrari – FU Fernando, though I love you too sometimes, especially since the battle with Hamilton, I will not forgive if Kimi gets shunted out of Ferrari a la Barrichello. That happened to Kimi when he was at McLaren. Speaking of Barrichello, do they come anymore unlucky than him? First being second fiddle to Schumacher and now Button? I’d think the man would lose it one day and take Button out of the race. Oh no, I must be mistaken, only McLaren drivers tend to fight uncontrollably against favouritism. *ahem* Alonso and Hamilton *ahem*.
Jenson Button is unstoppable if not untouchable in the driver’s championship and there are 11 races left to go. He’s running away with it and he doesn’t make mistakes he’s an awesome driver and he does deserve all this after the Honda crap. I wonder how he feels when he overtakes Hamilton’s lapped car 5 times in a race. Hamilton used to be the one to beat but now he’s more or less done for the season.
So, after Monaco is Istanbul and for sure Jenson and Brawn are going to gather pole and another 10 points. Its a question who comes 2nd and 3rd and after this weekend would it be a jinx to say Ferrari?
F1: Monaco Qualifying
After a two week hiatus, Formula 1 makes a welcome return and as the football and domestic rugby seasons draw to a close, I’ve never been happier to watch cars whizz around a track at 300mph.
What? Who’s that there in the red? Yes, rub your eyes and you’d better believe it, Kimi Raikkonen made it onto the front row of the grid. Not only that -get ready to gasp- but he almost had pole!!! I choked. I wasn’t expecting that. At most I was expecting him to qualify on the second or third rows but when Ferrari basically let him and Massa do as many laps as they could in the allocated time instead of dragging them back into the pits and watching them get closer to the back of the grid, I have to admit I thought this might be a turning point in what’s been a dull season for Ferrari.
To put it in a less patronising tone, to watch Eddie Jordan track back over his comments that Kimi needed to be suspended because he was comprimising Ferrari’s progress, was a treat. Kimi recorded the fastest lap on more than one occassion and qualified fastest in Q2. Eddie even changed his prediction that Hamilton would get pole and said Kimi would qualify the fastest. How quickly people change their tone when they’ve been proven wrong spectacularly. So don’t doubt Ferrari and don’t question Kimi Raikkonen’s committment to the sport. He’ll prove you SO wrong.
On another note, you may have noticed that Jenson is in that picture. Jenson you’ll be surprised to hear qualified 1st.
What a season this is turning out to be for him and I’ve said before, I’m happy for him but I’d be happier if it was Kimi. Sad but true, I know but I don’t support the team as much as I support the driver.
Ha-me-lton watch: 16th after crashing into a barrier. So much for retaining that title eh, Hammy?
Lewis might be pleased to know that he wasn’t the only douche in Monaco today…
Lewis has a long way to go before he can match these two for twitlike behaviour.
