So Who is Going Where? F1 Silly Season!

Alonso's arrival at Ferrari was probably the worst ke

pt secret in the history of Formula One. It just kept dragging on, it was a relief when they finally confirmed it. However, there are some key peices of the puzzle that are yet to fall into place that really dictate what the grid is going to look like next year.

Probably the biggest piece is Kimi Raikkonen. He has been give a huge pay off from Ferrari, and he has already gone on the record saying that it's Mclaren or nothing. However, the Iceman has suddenly become a bit greedy, and is asking for his Ferrari salary... Which is around abouts $50million a year.

Secondly, Jenson Button is also wanting more money from Brawn. It's not a stupid amount, a paltry $8million a year, but Ross Brawn doesn't seem to think Jenson is worth it.

Then there is Mercedes. They've been itching for a German driver, and for domination. Mclaren hasn't been able to give them those during their fifteen year partnership. Rumour is that they are going to sell their shares in Mclaren and jump on the Brawn band wagon.

There are numerous outcomes to this situation, lets go through them one at a time:

Lets say Raikkonen and Mclaren come to an agreement on pay, rallying, vod

ka, whatever, and Kimi heads on back to Mclaren with, or without, Mercedes backing and Button accepts his position at Brawn, as a drive is better than no drive. We would have a pretty good battle on our hands; imagine a motivated Raikkonen going against the always fast Hamilton, the potential time bomb that is the Alonso/Massa duo, and the new Brawn team with Rosberg getting his chance in a fast car. That's without mentioning Vettel in the Red Bull.

There is always the chance that Raikkonen and Mclaren can not come to an agreement. Then what! Well then it goes down another route... Ah ok, it's probably easier to draw this in a tree diagram.

Ha!

Just as I write this Mercedes have bought out Brawn. Lets see if the drivers go where I think they do then....

End of Year Report 2009

Car 1. Lewis Hamilton

This must have been a tough year for Hamilton. It was definitely not the kind of title defence he expected, but that's the problem when a team is developing their car until the end of the season. At least he won won championship; in 2008 BMW stopped car development, and ended Kubica's title chances, but even then the 2009 car was rubbish. So Hamilton can at least take solace in that.

His driving this year was great though, his Australian drive was amazing, sadly his messed that up by lying afterwards. He pushed hard and took third in the championship almost single handily. He did make a few mistakes, like Monaco and Monza, but that is to be expected when pushing so hard. Overall it was a good season, and at least he should not have people complaining he has always had a good car...

Car 2. Heikki Kovalainen

A pretty crappy season for the thunder-bird (my dad's nickname for him, look at this picture next time the grid positions come up before the race). I'm struggling to think of a really good race for him...And I can't come up with one. He was beaten by Massa, who missed half the season, and was trounced by Hamilton. He may not be getting a lot of attention from Mclaren though, but he has never really given them a reason to; even when he out qualifies Hamilton, we all know he is going to fall back cause his race pace is so bad.

He said no to small teams next season, but the small team probably didn't think of him. Forgettable season for Heikki.

Car 3 (1) Felipe Massa

He started the season pretty well, he was out scoring Raikkonen before his accident, even though Raikkonen took the teams first points and podium of the year. Not much else to say but see you next year Felipe, hope you're well enough to take on Alonso.

Car 3 (2) Luca Badoer

Fail.

Car 3 (3) Giancarlo Fisichella

Maybe I was too harsh on Luca. Fisichella was driving well this season. His drive at Spa was good, but you get the feeling that if Alonso, Hamilton, or even Raikkonen himself, was driving it, they would have found a way past. Fisichella is a good driver though, and whether he regrets his move Ferrari... Well I don't know. He is now a Ferrari test driver, unless Force India take him back.

One thing it proves though, the Ferrari was a bitch to drive.

Car 4 Kimi Raikkonen

God himself has no idea what the hell is going on with Kimi. No doubt he is fast, but he just is... Well I don't know. Up until Massa's accident he put some good drives, and some poor ones. Then when Massa ends up in hospital, he decides comes to life with a great drive in Hungary, a string of podiums and a win in Spa. He didn't lose his speed, I think he just didn't have the team on his side. Why would a team would pay so much then support Massa? It's not that they didn't support Kimi, it's just that they just got along with Massa so well. But nevermind, he did a good job and we just have to hope he is in a Mclaren next season so we can see a Kimi VS Lewis VS Massa VS Alonso battle. It would be amazing.

Car 5 Robert Kubica

Kubica must be pretty miffed with BMW. They end his championship chances in 2008 prematurely, as they wanted to focus on next year, then they fail to create a good car for 2009. Oh, and then they decide to pull out at the end of the season. Never mind, he is on his way to Renault, and we know they can put together a good car even if they have failed to do so for the last three years. Not much to say about this season for Kubica, it was quite quiet. His drive in Brazil was great though, and he looked good in Australia when he was on the right tyres compared to everyone else, but overall a year to forget for him

Car 6 Nick Heidfeld

Nick beat Kubica this year, but no one seems to have noticed. He is in the running for the Mclaren seat if Kimi decides to sod off. I'm struggling to think of any great drives from him this season, but he is consistent. He had his first retirement, in Singapore when Sutil decided to drive into him, since the US GP in 2007. Pretty amazing. I hope to see him in on the grid next year.

Car 7 Fernando Alonso

Fernando had a quiet year on track, but an extremely busy one off. He was caught up in the crashgate scandal, and rumours of him going to Ferrari started to intensify after Massa's crash. In the end it was revealed, he is going to the Scuderia. His driving this season was good, in the rubbish Renault, but I think he was just going through the motions of racing, and was mainly concentrating on 2009. His 2008 season was much better, I can't think of any amazing drives this season from him. It will be intresting to see how he gets along with Massa. Personally I think he will be throwing the toys out of the pram by the third race. Massa is Ferrari's baby, much like Hamilton is Mclarens; and we all know what happened there...

Car 8 (1) Nelson Piquet Jnr

What a cock. He crashed a car into a wall, then complained when he got fired. Sorry dude, you did it, so don't complain. His driving was rubbish. Fair enough Flavio was berating him, but come on! In the first race his spun in a straight line. A STRAIGHT LINE! Amazing skills. Maybe he will get a drive next year, I hope he doesn't though.

Car 8 (2) Romain Grosjean

Well he crashes just as much as Piquet, but I suppose he does have less experience than him. Flavio was probably too quick to throw Piquet out. Grosjean needs another year or two in GP2, he is out of his depth in F1.

Car 9 Jarno Trulli

Well he didn't do much did he? His Toyota was one of the best cars at the beginning and he pretty much did nothing with it. We know it was one of the best cause he came from the pitlane to third in Australia. That was a great drive, but his season tailed off from there. Now he has to find a team, and it looks like he will head to Lotus. I don't rate Trulli at all. He is blistering over one lap, but his race pace is pants. He spends most of his time going backwards.

Car 10 (1) Timi Glock

Average season for Glock. Again, he should have done more with the car at the beginning of the season. His race pace is better than Trulli's though, and is qualifying is probably average for the Toyota. He might get a drive next year... A team could do worse, he is stunningly average driver.

Car 10 (2) Kamui Kobayashi

He has only competed in two races, but i love him. And so do most others. It's refreshing to see a driver who can take places and overtake. His move on Button in Abu Dhabi stunned me. I was expecting him to banzai it into the side of Button or make use of the underground run off area. Nope, he breaks and switches back on Button, making the new world champion look like a tit. God I hope he gets a drive next season, we need more like him.

Car 11 (1) Sebastian Bourdais

We all know Bourdais is fast. He destroyed everyone else in Champ Car, he is in the process of making everyone look stupid in Superleague Formula, he can drive a Le Mans' car pretty well too. So what happened in F1? Well the car didn't suit him, and Toro Rosso are the Red Bull test team, looking for a young driver that can do a Hamilton. He deserves an F1 drive, maybe one of the new teams will take him.

Car 11 (2) Jaime Alguersuari

Hmmmm.... He did better than I thought he would. He has binned it a few times, but he is barely older than me! I reckon Toro Rosso should have sent him into GP2 first cause he looks out of his depth. He should be commended for trying though.

Car 12 Sebastien Buemi

Another young F1 driver and he done surprisingly well. Picked up points, hasn't crashed too much. He can't go back to GP2 now, he is too far into F1, so lets hope he does more of the same next season, but increases his pace abit too.

Car 14 Mark Webber

Beaten by Vettel, like most expected. He was lucky to be racing after having his leg mangled, and he got his first win. So I suppose it was a good season for him. One bone I have to pick with him is that he whines about safety, then he swerves around when people go to overtake him. Very hypocritical. I don't see him as a championship winning driver. We'll see how he does next year though.

Car 15 Sebastian Vettel

A great season for Vettel. He has beaten Webber by a good margin, and came second in the driver's standings. He shouldn't be too disappointed with second as he still has plenty of time to win a championship. He needs to work on his overtaking though, and starts. He tends to get stuck behind people after a poor start, and then he just stays there. I can't actually remember him making an overtaking move. He is a bit of a Massa: can only win from the front row.

Car 16 Nico Rosberg

Personally, I think Rosberg is one of the more over rated drivers on the grid. Teams seem to like him, so I must just be missing something, but I can't think of a reason why. This season he probably should have done more with the car, especially at the beginning when he had the advantage of the diffuser. After Spain Patrick Head criticised Rosberg for being inconsistent and not making the best of the car. Following that he had a string of really consistent points finishes. He dominated Nakajima 34.5-0, but that's just Nakajima. Overall he had a good season. Lets see what he can do at his next team... Which will probably be Brawn.

Car 17 Kazuki Nakajima

Well what can we say... He scored zero points, in a car that was good enough to get 34.5 for his team mate. He hasn't really done anything impressive. It's been a terrible season, and he has been made to look worse after Kobayashi's amazing debut. His chances of F1 next year are pretty non-existent.

Car 20 Adrian Sutil

Really he should have scored more points. Problem is, every time he is in with a chance for points, he bins it. His drive at Monza was good, but he managed to screw up a possible podium by trying to take out his pit crew. He should have been higher in Spa; when Fisichella was fighting for the win, he was sat in eleventh. He will get a drive next year, but he really needs to work on his consistency, and his run...

Car 21 Vitantonio Liuzzi

His driving in Monza - his first race in over a year - was impressive. Shame his car conked out on him. After that, he really did a good job of not being noticed... Apart from his huge crash in Brazil during qualifying. He did match his Sutil though, even though Sutil has been driving that car much longer than he has. He looks good for a drive next year.

Car 22 Jenson Button

I take Abu Dhabi as a sign that Jenson was choking under the pressure. He went from 6 out of 7 wins, to struggling to get into the top five. Then, when the pressure is off, he goes and gets on the podium at Abu Dhabi. Jenson is a worthy champion, but he was lucky to have such a huge point advantage. If ever had to go through a season like Hamilton in 2008, I don't think he could pull it off. Lets hope he stays at Brawn and proves me wrong though.

Car 23 Rubens Barrichello

Poor Rubens. That was he last real chance of a title. The beginning to his season was terrible; he only finished second in Melbourne due to people taking themselves out, and his car being so much faster. If you're not going to win, he should at least finish second, his car was just that much faster than anyone elses. Second half was better, but mainly due to Jenson choking himself. He will be at Williams to teach Hulkenberg the ways of F1, and then he will be out.

Team Mate Showdown - Abu Dhabi 2009

Hamilton Vs Kovalainen

Kovalainen's qualifying came to an end early, as his gear box decided to go AWOL in the second session. This, and the extra five place drop, put him at the tail end of the grid. Plus, to add to his horrible luck, Hamilton grabbed pole by a whopping 0.6 seconds.

The race was a different story. Hamilton's brakes failed on him, which is why he couldn't pull away from the Red Bull fast enough to get back out infront of him. Infact, his car was pretty much crippled, as he pulled in a few laps later to retire from the race. His first ever Mechanical DNF in Formula One. Kovalainen's race started off well, he jumped five places on the first lap, but then got stuck behind Raikkonen. Poor Kovi has finished with the same points as Massa, which is hugely embarrasing compared to his team mates two wins. Mclaren also clinched third by one point, and Hamilton took fourth from Raikkonen by the same margin.

Winner: Hamilton.

Fisichella VS Raikkonen

Fisichella's ferrari nightmare continued. Qualifying dead last is definitely, but it probably makes Luca Badoer feel better about himself. Fisichella spent all race doing nothing, except one rash move on Grosjean. Raikkonen tried, but ended up one place behind where he started thanks to the Japanese sensation that is Kamui Kobayashi. Overall disappointing race for both, but Raikkonen did more than Fisichella. They will both be gutted at how their time at Ferrari came to an end. Yes, even Raikkonen will be feeling it inside, even if he doesn't show it.

Winner: Raikkonen

Heidfeld VS Kubica

Heidfeld was out qualified by 0.4 seconds, and started a position behind Kubica. However, Heidfeld had ten kilograms more fuel on board. Which, I think, means he out qualifed Kubica fuel corrected.

In the race Heidfeld drove well to finish fifth, and take BMW's last points, whilst Kubica got into a scrap with Buemi, and spun on some oil whilst overtaking. It shows Nick isn't that bad compared to Kubica, but he gets none of the praise his Polish counterpart does.

Winner: Heidfeld

Alonso VS Grosjean

The Renault was obviously a real dog this weekend. Alonso was knocked out in the first session, and only out qualified Grosjean by three tenths. I personally think Alonso was just going through the motions of a grand prix weekend, and was just waiting to get back home and try on his new Ferrari overalls in front of the mirror. He still beat Grosjean though. Didn't actually see to much of them this weekend.

Winner: Alonso

Trulli VS Kobayashi

Trulli is well know for being a qualifying master, but having poor race pace. He qualified sixth, whilst Kobayashi qualified twelfth. But yet again Kobayashi proved his has balls and took the Toyota by the scruff of its neck and dragged it into sixth place by the end of the race. In front of Trulli in seventh. On the way Kobayashi forced Button into a mistake, and took him, and had the common sense to let Alonso past, and not waste time defending. It was a drive of a seasoned veteran and it made him the new love child of many F1 fans. I'm certainly a fan, he is a racer, and his clean overtaking and defending is great for a man with only 2 races.

Winner: Kobayashi

Alguersuari VS Buemi

Buemi got the Toro Rosso into the top ten in qualifying, which was a great achievement. He defending harshly against Kubica, squeezing him onto the curbs under breaking, but other than that, his race was good. He beat many other faster cars.

Alguersuari is out of his depth, but you can't really blame him. He is really lacking experience in lower formulas. Taking a step back and trying for F1 again after maybe two years in GP2 would do him a load of good.

Winner: Buemi

Webber VS Vettel

Really this was the perfect race for Vettel. Even if Hamilton had working brakes, it was unlikely that he could have held of Vettel at the pitstops. He started in front of Webber with a heavier car, he pulled away, and stuck to Hamilton's tail. His laps before the stops were great too. Webber has a good race, and his defending in the last two laps were good. He didn't have to resort to the Webber wallop this time.

Winner: Vettel

Rosberg VS Nakajima

If I was Nakajima, I'd be pretty embarrassed about this season. Zero points to thirty four and a half? Then to have another Japanese driver come in and punt you out of a race, then score points, but cut deep. Shame really, cause he might have still got the Toyota seat if Kobayashi failed miserably. But he didn't so Nakajima probably should look around for drives in Le Mans or something. Rosberg qualified and finished ahead in a lackluster race for Williams. Will they finally return to winning ways next year with the Hulk,Barrichello and a Cosworth engine?

Winner: Rosberg

Sutil VS Liuzzi

Poor race by Sutil. Did Trulli's photographs and comments ruin his mindset? He was beaten in both race and qualifying by Liuzzi, and drove around pretty aimlessly only just beating Grosjean. Liuzzi wins, but it's not like he did much either.

Winner: Liuzzi

Button VS Barrichello

Apart from being schooled by Kobayashi, Button drove a good race. Which proved the Brawn did not lose its pace, but Button had lost his nerve. When the pressure was off, Button drove like he drove in the first half of the season. Barrichello might have been closer if he had the full front wing, but it was unlikely. Button does need to be more aggressive, he should have found a way past Webber. He is just too nice.

Oh and congratulations to Button on his upcoming marriage. ;)

10 Changes F1 needs Part 2

5 – Make the drivers earn their money

Now I am not saying line all tracks with concrete walls, and turn the tracks into a death trap. No, what I am saying is stop paving the areas surrounding the track to give drivers and easy way out if they make a mistake. F1 cars are safe, and will continue to get safer under the supervision of the FIA, but the tracks now are being neutered beyond all belief. If a driver falls of the track, he just drives back on. No time lost, in fact, sometimes gaining time and places. If there was a gravel trap at the bus stop at Spa 2008, Hamilton wouldn't have been so keen to cut the chicane. If there was gravel on the outside of La Source at Spa 2009, Raikkonen wouldn't have pointed his car in the general direction of Eau Rouge and floored it past 4 cars.

Look at the last race in Suzuka. The session was stopped 3 times because the drivers couldn't keep it on track. Has the quality of drivers declined? No, they have just become used to the miles of tarmac that allows them to run wide and not lose time. At Suzuka, you run wide and you have a meeting with a tyre barrier. And that is how it should be. . If you are worth your money you can push and not end up buried in a tyre wall. The driver's earn multiple millions of dollars, but they complain if a tyre barrier is within 400 metres of the track, to me, that is a bit pansy.

Oh and another thing, rolling starts for the lightest drop of rain? Please. The drivers in 1990 could manage it with significantly more power, less grip, and less safety precautions, so why are we forced to watch 40 minutes of safety car leading the way for a slight drizzle? If you are scared to crash, you are not pushing hard, and you are not a racing driver.

4 – No team left behind

We want F1 to be a close, and fair, racing series. I also admit that F1 spends way too much, and it is unsustainable in the current economic environment. However, what annoys me is the attitude that Ferrari and Mclaren have to dumb down their technology so that teams like Toro Rosso can keep up and don't have to spend much. Really, the Mclaren engine is superior to the others cause of some reliability upgrades they got through the engine upgrading ban. So the small teams complain, and say they don't have enough power, and the FIA makes Mercedes detune their engine. So basically, the teams spend their money to upgrade the car; the smaller teams can't and complain. Sorry, but if you don't have the money, why are you in F1? It's turning into a school system now: "Sorry Mclaren and Ferrari, but we can't let you win, because the others will feel bad."

Limit F1 teams to 250 Million a year, 40 million was a stupid number, then open up the restrictions. If a team can't afford 250 million, shut up, and find the money. It's the pinnacle of motorsport, not scrapheap challenge. I really don't want to see 24 spec cars. It's just not F1.

3 – Testing ban is pointless

This carries on from the money issue. Teams are not allowed to test during the season to save money. Really? That's stupid, you spend 18 weeks at a race track carting equipment around, but you can't spend 4 days every now and again at Silverstone, or Barcelona? It also means we have drivers thrown into F1 cars, Buemi and Alguersuari are the main culprits, with barely an experience. Toro Rosso is basically a test team Red Bull carries around looking for the next wonder kid Vettel or Hamilton. If we still had testing, it would be safer, and allow young drivers a better chance at succeeding in F1.

2 – Stop with the Scandals.

Any publicity is good publicity! No, it's not; it just makes our beloved sport look stupid. We've had Mclaren caught with Ferrari data, which was bad but ok teams are competing against each other it's expected, they were stupid to get caught! We've also had the President of the FIA caught in a sex scandal, Renault being caught race fixing, comments about Hitler, and much more.

F1 should be known primarily for first class, close, safe, respectable racing. Not for being caught up in scandal after scandal after scandal. The only time my friends have asked me about F1 is when they heard about the Piquet Jnr race fixing incident. How bad does it make a passionate F1 fan feel to have their great sport laughed at cause of the actions of a select few? It feels bad. F1 is a sport that has such a great history with legends such as Fangio, Senna, Clark, Giles Villeneuve, Moss, Schumacher, and Prost driving and battling it out, and it's in the process of being destroyed cause of an era of utter stupidity.

1 – Please sir can I have some more?

Yes, we F1 fans need more overtaking. We all moan about it, we all crave it, and even with the best intentions of the overtaking group, we are still cruelly deprived of any sort of passing. Why? Well we all know about the dirty air that drivers complain about, but what can be done about it? Obviously I am no expert, but here are my ideas.

1. Reduce front wing width by 10% - this will make the cars less aero dependent
   
2. Allow a certain amount of down force to be generated by ground effects – this means cars can follow without losing so much down force
   
3. Increase engine power – drivers getting out of shape coming out of a corner, or having the balls to keep his foot down. It should increase overtaking
   
4. Redesign the tracks with fast flat out ballsy corners, into a chicane, like Eau Rouge into Le Combes , or Blancimont into Bus stop.
   
5. RPM limit ruins slipstreaming. Get rid of it

10 Changes F1 needs Part 1

10 – Ticket Prices

The fans are what keep Formula One going. They are incentive for the car manufacturers to poor billions of dollars into designing 2 cars. They are why companies pay millions to get sponsors on the cars, and around the track. Yet the fans are still treated poorly.

A ticket to watch the Spanish Grand Prix in the grand stand seating section, for practice sessions, qualifying, and the race, will cost me $665. That is ridiculous. Only rich people can afford that… Which I think is the reason why it’s so expensive. F1 has a certain amount of snobbery about it, and by charging a stupid price for a grand stand ticket the rich can keep the middle classes away from them in the cheaper parts of the track. When I say cheaper, I mean the cheapest part of the track is $140, and you sit on a grass bank. On the other hand $650 will get you a penthouse suite for the Indy 500 weekend.

Why on earth are we paying that much! It makes no sense! You know what else does not make sense? A track like Barcelona can sell out with 140,000 people in attendance, and still struggle to break even. Why is that? Well we know why, but I am going be cautious and not go into who and what causes the problem.

9 - Entertainment

This could have gone under ticket prices, but bare with me, I'll explain.

So I decide to splash out on the stupidly priced ticket. I get 3 practice sessions, 45 minutes of qualifying, and a race that lasts 1 hour 30 minutes. Great. Is there any side shows? Well GP2 races, if there is one scheduled, and if your ticket includes it. Concerts? Only in Singapore, but the tickets there are even more expensive.

OK, so you don't really get any extras, how about getting up close to the drivers? Nope. That's not allowed. What about watching a crazy overtaking filled race? Only if you're lucky. Spectacular celebrations? No, has been banned.

What I am saying is, F1 is bland. Compare it to MotoGP and you will see none of the drivers have any personality. One time Lewis Hamilton did a donut in front of the stands at Sliverstone and the forum I posted on nearly exploded with excited. If one donut can cause most the F1 fans to orgasm, imagine what they'd be like if F1 drivers celebrated like MotoGP riders? Of course, some people debated whether Hamilton would get a penalty for such the single donut, which leads me onto:

8- For Gods sake make the rules clear!

Raikkonen jumps around the outside at Spa, Webber jumps around the outside in Singapore: how many get punished? Well one, for arguably the same thing,

It's crazy cause that's all that seems to be discussed nowadays. Never who drove well, but who cocked up. Example:

Forum User One: Raikkonen went off the track and gained an advantage, no penalty!

Forum User Two: I Know right! FIARRI again! F1 is such a FARCE, i hate F1, it sucks.

Forum User Three: He didn't gain an advantage.

Forum User Two: OMG yes he did! Besides if it was Hamilton, they would have banned him for life. FIARRI FARCE!

And so on. This continues until the next race, where the next dubious issue is debated in very much the same form.

The point I'm making is that the FIA need to get some permanent stewards to make the decisions, and have a clear rule book to read. This way we can get past this era of constant bitching and whining.

7 - Engines

Use one engine per race weekend, and it would be fine. None of this 8 engines a season rubbish. At the moment if a driver is in second place, why would they push if their engine has to last another 2 races! It's a great way of killing races, turning F1 into an endurance race spread over 17 different tracks. I want to see balls to the wall, pedal to the metal, until crossing the line! Then if the engine grenades, who cares? It's done it's job, let it go out with a bang.

And another thing, let the engineers develop the engines. The cars are so weak in the power department. Having to handle 1000 horsepower will be a great test of driver skill. 750 horsepower? They barely get to 200 Miles an hour at some tracks. Sure the cornering speed is what makes F1 fast, but if you have them a huge engine they would have more speed down the straight, and have to break earlier for turns, and it might just lead to overtaking. Watching a driver stamp on the gas whilst under pressure and wheel spin, giving the driver behind a nice run on him would also be cool to watch, it rarely happens now.

I miss V10's.

6 - Tracks

Yes, Singapore looks great at night, but you know what else looks good? Two Formula One cars side by side going into a corner, battling each other for position.

That doesn't happen in Singapore.

It doesn't happen in Valencia either. In fact, Valencia doesn't even look nice, so it's a double whammy of rubbish.

Why create a track you can't over take at? We have dumped many great tracks to watch a procession in the dark, or in a dockyard? What about Barcelona? Don't get me started on Hungary.

Or what about these new breed of tracks in China or Bahrain? They have more overtaking than the Tilke Street circuits, but still, bit as much as promised. And they look rubbish: No scenery, no spectators. Great! Forget Imola, lets go to the desert to race in front of no one, on a track with no flow.

We need a few other F1 track designers to the monopoly of Tilke. We need to keep the tracks that made F1 what it is: Monaco, Silverstone, Spa and Suzuka especially, and race in places that has a fan base. Not just cause they are willing to pay a stupid amount of money.

Part 2 coming soon

Todt Wins - Donington Fails

Jean Todt won the FIA Presidential election. I don't want to sound unsurprised, but I am, so it comes out that way.

Ari, even though he was the people's choice for President, never stood a chance. In fact, the fact he was the people's choice meant he never stood a chance. Going against the grain of the FIA wasn't such a smart idea because they are the ones that cast the votes.

The FIA desperately needed change. Mosley has improved one thing in Formula One, safety, and for that he deserves plenty of credit. However, his other rule changes have pretty much seen Formula One descend into the era of no overtaking, stupid stewards decisions, and ridiculous spending.

Lets make a list of things the Mosley has changed which really did not help:

1. Changing from Slicks to grooved tyres in 1998.
2. Raising front wing height in 2000
3. Raising front wing height in 2002
4. Raising front wing height in 2005
5. 1 Race engines
6. v8 engines
7. 2 race engines
8. 17 races on 8 engines

They are the most obvious ones. The raising of the wing height just meant F1 designers stuck wings on everywhere, which lead to the aero/wind tunnel era. The race engines nowadays are dreadfully under powered, and they have to last 900km (not including practice sessions and qualifying). It's more like an endurance race.

The cars are easy to drive, but hard to over take, even with the overtaking groups best efforts to fix Mosley's mistake.

With Mosley gone all we can hope for with Todt is that he doesn't just continue on the same path as Mosley. We can hope he doesn't favour any teams imp articular, and that he can create a group of stewards which actually know the rules of Formula One, and can apply penalties fairly. I don't want to judge Todt before he actually does anything, so I will wait until next year. I just wish him good luck, and hope he knows what F1, motor racing fans in general, want.

And what do motor racing fans want? Alot, is the easy answer. There is so much wrong with the current state of F1 it's no wonder why most people just don't bother any more. F1 needs to improve the show. Sure, they say it's the 'pinnacle of motorsport' but overall the event is rather dull. Singapore helped this with a huge concert, and a night race, but apart from that F1 races are rather bland. We need more grid girls like MotoGP, drivers to be allowed to express their feelings, like in Moto GP, Overtaking, like in MotoGP, post race celebrations that vary from the standard 'I'd like to thank the team' PR babble to doughnuts and planting flags in gravel traps.... Like in Moto GP....

MotoGP has a great professional racing, but with a mix of insanity that makes it even more fun to watch. Rossi once signed his contract in the gravel trap after winning a race. What does F1 have compared to that? The team radio with the same 'great job guys, we did it, yeah baby!', then a crawl back to the pitlane where they can't touch anyone incase they get slipped a weight. Then the podium, where the drivers look mostly bored, then to the even more boring press conference. F1 has no personality, and it's manly down to draconian FIA rules.

F1 ticket prices are also too high. I'd have to sell a lung, and stop eating, to be able to afford a ticket to next years Singaporean Grand Prix. No wonder tracks in developing countries have barely anyone there, it would cost them their year's wages to sit on a seat 600 metres from the track.

And speaking of tracks, why do we keep moving to crappy tracks, custom built for F1, that promote no overtaking, when their are plenty of tracks which we could go to instead?

And here is a perfect example. Donington Park's bond scheme to secure funding for the British Grand Prix has failed. Again, I wish I could say I was surprised, but I am not. They got the deal way to late, the plans were too big, and they had no money. It was never going to happen.

And I don't care. Silverstone is a great venue to hold the British Grand Prix, what is the problem with holding it there? Sure there isn't Abu Dhabi / Tilke styles press rooms, with 7 star hospitality suits, but normally the races are a little more exciting than Singapore or Valencia.

I just hope a deal is signed to send the GP back to Silverstone. It would be a joke if the country, which held the first race in 1950, didn't have a place on the calendar. We have already lost France.

I am all for expanding F1, but there has to be some heritage behind it, otherwise what is the point for the teams spending billions of dollars to race in a series that has no resembalance to F1 and races on circuits with no one watching?

Jean Todt has that to add to the list of things to sort out. He will be a very busy man.

Team Mate Showdown Brazil

Hamilton VS Kovalainen

Kovalainen out qualified Hamilton, but that is probably the only thing he did right this weekend. Kovalainen had a terrible start, where he got spun around by Fisichella, and pitted at the end of the first lap. He then pulled away from his garage to early and set fire to Raikkonen. OK, it wasn’t his fault the Mclaren Lolipop man was looking at Raikkonen’s fuel hose, but it’s still not good.

Also considering he left the pitlane in front of an on fire Raikkonen, and finished 6 places behind him. Add to that Hamilton coming 3^rd….

Winner: Hamilton

Fisichella VS Raikkonen

Fisichella spun in Qualifying, started dead last, then decided to punt Kovalainen off the track. His team mate pitted for a new wing and a bit of a roasting, and he still finished behind him.

The Ferrari is a hard car to drive, but come on Fisi!

Winner: Raikkonen

Kubica VS Heidfeld

Hairy Heidfeld qualified 19^th. Kubica 8^th. Kubica claimed a podium, Heidfeld ran out of fuel. Not much to add, except Nick better take his finger out, cause Sauber are not guaranteed a place next year.

Alonso VS Grosjean

Grosjean wasn’t actually that far from Alonso in qualifying, qualifying 13^th compared to Alonso’s 10^th. Alonso was lucky Kobayashi messed up his final lap, or he wouldn’t have made it into the final session.

Alonso was taken out pretty early on in the race, and Grosjean wasn’t fast, and spent most of the race being over taken. Obviously Alonso would have been in front of Grosjean if he wasn’t taken out.

Winner: Alonso, based on qualifying.

Trulli VS Kobayashi

Kobayashi messed up his final qualifying lap, but he wouldn’t have beaten Trulli. Trulli is a wizard in qualifying. Trulli retired on the first lap and Kobayashi had the most impressive debut this year, keeping Button behind and generally looking in control.

Winner: Kobayashi, Trulli got taken out, but it was his own fault. Alonso was innocent.

Alguersuari VS Buemi

Buemi has come along nicely, and picked up points. Alguersuari is still out of his depth.

Winner: Buemi

Webber VS Vettel

OK, apart from Webber’s move against Raikkonen, he had a pretty good race. Vettel contributed to his downfall by qualifying poorly. His race pace was good, and if he had have been up there at the start, he might have won. But he wasn’t so it don’t matter.

Winner: Webber

Rosberg VS Nakajima

Nakajima saw Kobayashi and saw red. A fellow Toyota driver, beating me, in his first race! Determined to do something about it, he promptly drove into the back of him. Apart from that, fuel corrected, Naka beat Rosberg. Rosberg’s race was ended prematurely though, and he was running in front.

Winner: Neither. Rosberg should have qualified higher, Nakajima shouldn’t have rammed Kobayashi.

Sutil VS Liuzzi

Sutil had a stunning qualifying, and was looking good for a decent amount of points. Shame his race was ended on the first lap. Liuzzi didn’t look like doing much all weekend.

Winner: Sutil

Button VS Barrichello

Barrichello went for low fuel glory. He wasn’t fast enough to pull out a gap, and then he got a puncture whilst defending against Hamilton.

Oh, and Button is now a World Champion.

Winner: Button

Brazilian GP Winners & Losers

Winners

Jenson Button – 5th Position

After qualifying down in 14th position, with his team mate taking pole, it looked like Button had choked and that the title would go down to the wire for the third year in a row.

He proved us wrong. His move on Romain Grosjean was a testament to how much he wanted this championship. Grosjean has taken up Piquet Jnr’s title of crash master, and Button’s move around the outside going into Lake Descent was risky, but perfectly timed. When the pressure mounted he kept his cool and took the championship, and he thoroughly deserves it.

Kamui Kobayashi – 10th

Kobayashi’s debut race was brilliant. Probably because we were expecting him to run over his pit crew, or throw it into the wall at the first chance he got.

However, like Button, he proved us wrong. His defence against a charging Button was not the driving of a rookie, but more of a more experienced driver. Button did complain about his weaving in the braking zones, but it never looked dangerous or as if he was going to take someone out. He did have an incident with Nakajima, but that was Nakajima running into the back of him, he was already on the inside after exiting the pits, and Nakajima misjudged the speed differential. They are both running for the Toyota seat next year, and it would be stupid of Toyota to give it to Nakajima after seeing how well their other Japanese driver did.

Robert Kubica – 2nd

Another great drive in a car that isn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the box. His driving was consistent, but fast (take note Heidfeld). He benefited from Sutil and Trulli taking each other out, but he still had to do the business, and he did. Flawlessly.

Kimi Raikkonen – 6th

The Iceman had a bad weekend. Being tapped by Sutil is never a good thing, having your front wing smashed by a swerving president of the GPDA is pretty bad, but being doused in petrol and set on fire after all that? That is a sign it’s not your weekend.

He finished ahead of Fisichella nonetheless, and grabbed some points for his soon to be ex-team. Without all the drama, he looked good for a podium. He is on fire (pun fully intended) at the moment, but it begs the question: what the hell happened at the beginning of the year and why didn't he do that to Massa?

Here’s to hoping he ends up beside Hamilton next year. I want to see the Iceman out for revenge, and this is coming from a Ferrari fan.

Mark Webber – 1st

Yes, Webber in a winner, but his swerve into Raikkonen deserved a penalty. You may move to cover your line, but you leave one car’s width. You do not push people onto the grass. The speed difference was too great, and Webber misjudged it. This is the man who is meant to be an advocate for safety.

He is the first to have a good whinge at everyone else. When Hamilton squeezed in him out at the first chicane at Monza in 2008 it wasn’t nearly as savage as the move he pulled on Raikkonen. Webber seems to get a rush of blood to the head when he sees someone go past. Remember Nurburgring 2009 with Barrichello? The Webber Wallop* must be stopped before he causes a huge incident.

He was fast, and didn’t put a foot wrong after the Raikkonen incident, but he should have been penalised.

Lewis Hamilton – 3rd

Simple really, a great drive, great strategy, 18th to 3rd place with little drama. A Champions drive.

Losers

Sebastian Vettel - 4th

His poor qualifying pretty much meant the end of his title chances. Sure he went from 15th to 4rd, but only a win would do. Luckily he is young and likely to get another chance to go for the title. Unlike…

Rubens Barrichello – 8th

He got pole, but once the weights were released, it showed why. He had little chance of victory with Webber matching him lap for lap. Then he was released into the Button – Kobayashi scrap, and it was really game over. The puncture was just the icing on the cake. That was his last chance at the title, and he knows it.

Jarno Trulli – DNF

He got taken out on the approach to Lake Descent. Was it his fault, or Sutil’s? Personally, I say racing incident. Going around the outside is always risky. This DNF is especially bad for Trulli. His contract is yet to be renewed, the Toyota team are over due a win and he threw away his chance today, and he surely doesn’t have many people begging for his services. His impersonation of Nelson Piquet Snr didn’t impress the stewards either, who fined him $20,000.

Nick Heidfeld – DNF

Like Trulli, he doesn’t have a lot of choices next year. His 41 race streak was ended in Singapore, and now he has another DNF thanks to a lack of fuel. His team mate qualified 11 places infront of him, and then finished 2nd. Kubica showed the car had some pace. Basically, he was owned by Kubica.

Post-qualifying car weights - Brazil

1. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 650.5
2. Webber Red Bull-Renault 656.0
3. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 656.5
4. Trulli Toyota 658.5
5. Raikkonen Ferrari 651.5
6. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 659.0
7. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 657.0
8. Kubica BMW-Sauber 656.0
9. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 664.0
10. Alonso Renault 652.0
11. Kobayashi Toyota 671.5*
12. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 671.5*
13. Grosjean Renault 677.2*
14. Button Brawn-Mercedes 672.0*
15. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 680.0*
16. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 683.5*
17. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 656.5*
18. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 661.0*
19. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 650.5*
20. Fisichella Ferrari 683.5*

* Declared Weight

Brazilian GP Qualifying Report

In my last post I predicted Hamilton or Vettel for pole. I also predicted how I thought Ferrari would struggle to get in Q1.

Well it seems I was talking rubbish. Both Hamilton and Vettel were knocked out in Q1, whilst Fisichella helped me keep at least a bit of face by spinning coming out of the Senna S and bringing out the red flag after 1 lap.

Q3 was then delayed as the safety car took to track to judge how dangerous the track conditions were. 

The lights turned green with 17 minutes remaining on the clock.

The driver realised that it was likely to be a spin fest, and the teams filled up the cars so they could do 17 minutes of continuous running. The first lap times dropped from the 1min 40's to 1min 20s. The Williams were really on the pace, along with Raikkonen. Hamilton and Vettel were struggling though, and both pitted for new tires. 

It didn't help, with Hamilton spinning and Vettel aborting his final lap.

Vettel being knocked out in the first session pretty much bought his title chances to an end. As he parked in front of the FIA Steward garage he threw his steering wheel out in digust, and seemed really angry about his performance. He could, of course, be running a dry weather set up, but why would he be so annoyed? He would understand why he was so slow. So I am getting mixed feelings from him.

Kovalainen was also knocked out, but as usual, no one cares. I don't think I saw him on screen once. He did out qualify Hamilton though. Hamilton has confirmed he is running a dry weather set up though. Which will help if it's dry tomorrow, obviously, but it's pretty redundant since he is starting in 18th.

Button and Barrichello made it through with minimal drama, and Alonso made it through by the skin of his teeth in 15th position.

The drivers knocked out are:

20 Fisichella 1:40.703 

19 Heidfeld 1:25.515

18 Hamilton 1:25.192

17 Kovalainen 1:25.052

16 Vettel 1:24.009

At this point, with the safety car circulating to test track conditions, it started to rain over Bangkok. So I lost signal. When the signal returned, Liuzzi was heading backwards into the tyre barriers at turn 1.Q2 was red flagged as quickly as it began. It was a big crash caused by aquaplaning. He hit the inside wall on the straight, and carried on and hit the wall on the outside of turn 1. Luckily, he stepped out the car unaided, and waved to the crowd.

The safety car came out. Again. Restart will be delayed until conditions continue announced race control. At this point I nearly decided to head to bed, but my love for F1 kept me up. The safety car came out at 15:30 local time, the Star Sports commentators starting to plugging new shows and their books. The safety car was announced to come out again at 15:45. The Star Sports started talking about Raikkonen and Ice Creams. F1 is a hard sport to follow.

Finally! It was announced that Q2 will resume at 16:10. This is longer than the qualifying at Suzuka, which was pretty long. Actually, this qualifying is longer than races are allowed to run for.

Nico Rosberg was the first to head out, and was pushing hard. His first lap was 2 seconds quicker than his lap in Q1: 1:21.815. Barrichello crossed the line to take 4th, and Button followed  to take 10th. Raikkonen put in a stunner of a lap to take first, with a 1:21.378.

Kobayashi took the escape road, whilst Nico Rosberg headed into the pits to strap on a pair of inters. Webber upped the pace to take 1st, and Raikkonen dived into pit for inters too. The grid waited to see if the Inters would work for Rosberg. 

They didn't. Rosberg's first lap was 1.2 seconds slower than Webber, and it seemed he jumped the gun.

Rosberg's inter gambled paid off as he took P1. Button stayed out on track on wets. His last chance to get into the final session, but he failed to make the cut. Sutil moved into P2 with an amazing lap, he always impresses in the rain.

Barrichello made into the shootout, which is a blow to Button. Kobayashi just misses out on Q3 after a moment in turn 3. Overall a solid debut for the young Japanese driver.

Drivers out of Q2 are:

15 Liuzzi No Time

14 Button 1:22.504

13 Grosjean 1:22.477

12 Alguersuari 1:22.231

11 Kobayashi 1:21.960

This was Barrichello's shot at putting a good amount of space between him, and his team mate. Would Barrichello's Interlagos curse end here? As Q3 started, the entire grid headed out onto track except for Sutil.

Buemi stole P1 from Webber during the first few laps, whilst Barrichello took 4th. Raikkonen went 3rd, and put in a purple sector immediately afterwards. Kubica's BMW put in an incredible 3rd sector took put his BMW in 2nd place. 

The second laps begin, and Barrichello took pole. The crowd errupted, but it was premature as Kubica took it straight back off him by 0.512 seconds. Webber couldn't beat Kubica, and neither could Raikkonen. The qualifying specialist Trulli took pole, but only for a few seconds as Rosberg took it straight back off him.

The times were tumbling as track conditions improved. Trulli took pole back, then Barrichello snatched it off him. Webber put in the fastest 2nd sector of anyone, and took pole again. Raikkonen took 4th, as Barrichello made a mistake in the 2nd sector. 

Everyone had 1 last lap left. Webber was in first with 1:20.109, but would it stand? Webber improved his time by half a second. Barrichello crossed the line, and took pole away. The crowd erupted. No one else could beat that time, and Barrichello claimed pole for the 3rd time in his career.

With 13 positions between him and his championship contenders, Barrichello must be feeling optimistic about his title chances.

Top 10 qualifiers:

1. Barrichello 1:19.576

2. Webber 1:19.668

3. Sutil 1:19.912

4. Trulli 1:20.097

5. Raikkonen 1:20.168

6. Buemi 1:20.250

7. Rosberg 1:20.326

8. Kubica 1:20.631

9. Nakajima 1:20.674

10. Alonso 1:21.422

Saturday Practice Three Results

No alot of Practice 3 to report on. When the Session was finally given the go ahead, only 18 minutes remained.

And even in that short space of time, Romain Grosjean managed to bin it in a most spectacular way. I'll try find a video of that later, but here are the results:

01 N. Rosberg Williams 1:23.182 9 laps

02 K. Nakajima Williams 1:23.832 7 laps

03 J. Button Brawn GP 1:24.122 6 laps

04 F. Alonso Renault 1:24.125 5 laps

05 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:24.149 4 laps

06 R. Grosjean Renault 1:24.389 5 laps

07 S. Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:24.443 5 laps

08 J. Trulli Toyota 1:24.859 5 laps

09 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:24.867 5 laps

10 M. Webber Red Bull 1:25.440 5 laps

11 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:25.508 4 laps

12 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:25.685 5 laps

13 J. Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:26.224 6 laps

14 R. Barrichello Brawn GP 1:26.530 4 laps

15 S. Vettel Red Bull 1:27.047 4 laps

16 V. Liuzzi Force India F1 1:27.341 4 laps

17 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:27.798 4 laps

18 G. Fisichella Ferrari 1:29.285 4 laps

19 R. Kubica BMW 1:29.895 3 laps

20 K. Kobayashi Toyota 1:30.259 4 laps

So at the moment it is hard to tell who will be on pole. It will depend on how much rain falls, and how much the track dries up in Q1, and Q2. I expect Hamilton and Vettel to be most likely to claim pole. I also think the Ferraris will struggle to make it into the shoot out session. The Brawns, should make qualify around 3 to 7. Really, the rain brings out the best in drivers, and Button and Barrichello are no slouches. After all, they both took their maiden wins in wet races. However, the Brawn GP car doesn't like the wet, and it will be interesting to see if their solution to cool tyres helps them in the rain.

The Brazilian Grand Prix 2009 Preview

If the Brazilian Grand Prix fails to excite you, then you obviously have no soul... Or possibly you're just not a fan of Formula One. If this is the case, you should probably watch the Brazilian Grand Prix, as it may just convert you.

The Brazilian Grand Prix was first held at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, or as it more commonly known as: Interlagos, in1972.

The track back then 3 high speed straights, linked by 21 corners. It was terribly bumpy, and to add the discomfort of the drivers, was raced around anti-clockwise. It was considered dangerous by the drivers, even though no one had died there. The race moved to Jacarepaguá for 1978, before moving there from 1981 to 1989.

Interlagos returned in its current, shorter, form for the 1990 championship. The track was now only 4 miles long, and had lost a huge chunk of it's corners, but the challenging bumps remained. In 2007, the track was totally repaved, but the drivers still complain about it.

The 2003 race lives on in memory as one of the most exciting Grand Prix of the 21st century. The rain caused turn 3 to become a river, which caught out numerous drivers, from Button to Michael Schumacher. Then there was Webber's enormous shunt coming onto the home straight, followed by Alonso's even more enormous shunt when he collided with a Webber's stray wheel, whilst rushing back to the pits. Raikkonen was awarded the win, but Eddie Jordan managed to prove that Fisichella had completed 2 laps after he took the lead from the Finn, and was awarded the victory.

That was the last race to be held at the beginning of the season, which has lead to Interlagos becoming the decider of World Championships. Who can forget Hamilton sliding past Glock to steal back his championship from Massa? Or Raikkonen defying all the odds to beat the feuding Alonso and Hamilton in 2007? Or Schumacher's epic retirement drive in 2006?

There is rarely a dull race, and this year should be no exception, with rain forecast again all weekend.

This year the champion is led by Button, by 14 points from fellow Brawn driver Barrichello. Barrichello has never had good luck at Interlagos. Infact, he has retired more than he has finished. So logically, Button should wrap up the championship here. Yes, Vettel is 16 points behind, and that is one less than Raikkonen in 2007. But lightning doesn't strike twice. Button just needs a podium, and he has won. Vettel is out of engines, and at Interlagos that will hurt him. The altitude in Interlagos is situated already saps power from the engine, so the fact Vettel is going to be using an engine most likely on it's 3rd race, plus it's an already low on power Renault block...

Saying that, Button hasn't been performing for the last half of the season. He has scored on average 3 points a race. We will just have to see.

I'm currently waiting for Practise 3, but it has been delayed due to rain. Hopefully qualifying will still get the go ahead.