Phil: The title of this blog doesn't really cut it, unfortunately, but it's the best I can think of.
Spa was another of this season's classics, enlivened as ever by rain and the resultant safety car incidents. Hats off to some blokes in Belgium in about 1920 for chancing across such a classic racetrack with such superb temperamental weather. Maybe they could teach Hermann Tilke's state of the art tracks in the middle of deserts a thing or two.
Hats off also to my co-blogger for such a detailed and insightful analysis, which for once I actually agree with. If I had any hats left I'd also take them off to Lewis Hamilton (who, let's not forget, actually won the race) who didn't put a foot wrong all afternoon - even if his race engineer did add a comedy moment by appearing to tell Lewis not to come in for inters too soon, just as he ran off into the kitty litter (the transmission being delayed, of course, to avoid broadcasting confidential team tactics and Sebastian Vettel saying, 'Scheisse!' whenever he crashes).
Mark Webber may have buggered up the start, but he was there ready to take Kubica's second place when the Pole missed his pit box. If you want to be world champion, it's consistently good results that count, and as my co-blogger insightfully pointed out, the smidgeon of points he got from Kubica's error may make him world champion come Abu Dhabi (but probably not before).
Hamilton may have done everything right, but Vettel and Alonso seem to have done everything wrong. I won't go over Alonso's misfortunes again, but Vettel's collision with Button was frankly bizarre - the sort of crash you have to watch several times on the replay before you can really work out what actually happened.
I'm tempted to agree with my co-blogger that with Vettel's inconsistency and unforced errors and the pressure Alonso is under coping with what's still clearly the third best car, it's a two horse race between Webber and Hamilton. However, this season is so close that a bad day at the office for Button, Alonso and Vettel makes it seem like Hamilton and Webber are pulling ahead. The reality is that the boot could well be on the other foot at Monza. It's still to early to call, and, almost unbelievably, any one of five drivers could still take the title. This season is already a classic and could be the closest ever.
Next stop is one of my favourite tracks, Monza. But before that, Ferrari have to face up to the FIA for the team orders charade at Hockenheim.
Tuesday 31 August 2010
Monday 30 August 2010
What a Race!!!!
Justin: I seem to be saying that a lot this year. All but one of this years races have been fantastic.
Qualifying was a chaotic mess of cars, traffic and crashes much like a race. This was all because of rain. Good old Spa with it's ever changing weather. The race was much the same.
The fun began on the warm up lap when we heard over a pit to car radio (I forget who's) that they expected a rain shower at 8 minutes past two. Oh dear.
A pants start by Webber saw him drop to 6th, with Lewis leading them round on lap one. Button had a fantastic start and managed to get up to 3rd. Then the rain came.
It's at this point I should say whilst watching I lept up at this point and did a Murray Walker "HHHEEEEYYYYYYY", as the BBC camera panned to watch a car go by at the bus stop and the car went straight on, then around 8 other cars followed as the track became wet. Carnage and mayhem, always fun. Rubens couldnt brake and broke his own car by smashing into Alonso. This was just the start of things going wrong for the guy who had the car for a top 3 finish.
Alonso then darted into the pits for intermediates and to check his car wasn't wrecked by Rubens Williams. Unfortunately after the safety car, the sunshine appeared and Alonso came in again two laps later for dry tyres, sending him down to 20th.
It's sending me giddy trying to recall all that happened during this one frankly! Hopefully my co-blogger will cover what I fail to mention.
Button moved up to second but was holding the field up with a damaged front wing. Cue Vettel and his impatient ways to end both his and Button's races, and probably both their championship chances too. Looking at the move again, it was all Vettel's fault...the little weasel. To be fair, he did apologise afterwards..first time for everything I guess. Definately not his championship year at all...too many mistakes. The same could be said for Alonso, as DC pointed out after the race, he is driving with frustration and has made more mistakes this year than during the rest of his career.
There was a fun scrap between the Mercedes team-mates on and off throughout the race and they ended up 6th and 7th which wasnt bad at all, as they both started a long way back on the grid.
Webber gained 2nd via Kubica overshooting his pit box and clipping a mechanic. Some people will say Webber will be annoyed about the clutch issue he had at the start and not getting the win. He himself said he was very happy with 2nd, and so he should be. The difference at the end of the title race could be the luck he found in jumping Kubica in the pits, who knows?
Near the end of the race we heard Hamilton asking his pit crew "when can I come in? It's getting really wet out here", as the rain tumbled again 5 or 6 laps from the end. His team replied "we dont want to jump too soon"...cue Lewis then sliding off the road and just about keeping it going through the gravel.
At this point, or soon after, Fernando was in 8th and looking to push on and he ended up going off instead. Driver error.
It was a fantastic race. My hat doesnt come off to Lewis much at all but here it does.
With Button, Vettel and Alonso scoring no points, its looking a bit more like Lewis vs Mark for the title now. Though there are still 6 races to go of course, but with 5th placed Alonso some 40 points from Lewis at the top, its looking like more of a struggle for him, Button and Vettel.
What is interesting is the dynamics within Mclaren and Red Bull. They'll have to back Lewis and Mark sooner rather than later if the others dont pull their socks up.
Qualifying was a chaotic mess of cars, traffic and crashes much like a race. This was all because of rain. Good old Spa with it's ever changing weather. The race was much the same.
The fun began on the warm up lap when we heard over a pit to car radio (I forget who's) that they expected a rain shower at 8 minutes past two. Oh dear.
A pants start by Webber saw him drop to 6th, with Lewis leading them round on lap one. Button had a fantastic start and managed to get up to 3rd. Then the rain came.
It's at this point I should say whilst watching I lept up at this point and did a Murray Walker "HHHEEEEYYYYYYY", as the BBC camera panned to watch a car go by at the bus stop and the car went straight on, then around 8 other cars followed as the track became wet. Carnage and mayhem, always fun. Rubens couldnt brake and broke his own car by smashing into Alonso. This was just the start of things going wrong for the guy who had the car for a top 3 finish.
Alonso then darted into the pits for intermediates and to check his car wasn't wrecked by Rubens Williams. Unfortunately after the safety car, the sunshine appeared and Alonso came in again two laps later for dry tyres, sending him down to 20th.
It's sending me giddy trying to recall all that happened during this one frankly! Hopefully my co-blogger will cover what I fail to mention.
Button moved up to second but was holding the field up with a damaged front wing. Cue Vettel and his impatient ways to end both his and Button's races, and probably both their championship chances too. Looking at the move again, it was all Vettel's fault...the little weasel. To be fair, he did apologise afterwards..first time for everything I guess. Definately not his championship year at all...too many mistakes. The same could be said for Alonso, as DC pointed out after the race, he is driving with frustration and has made more mistakes this year than during the rest of his career.
There was a fun scrap between the Mercedes team-mates on and off throughout the race and they ended up 6th and 7th which wasnt bad at all, as they both started a long way back on the grid.
Webber gained 2nd via Kubica overshooting his pit box and clipping a mechanic. Some people will say Webber will be annoyed about the clutch issue he had at the start and not getting the win. He himself said he was very happy with 2nd, and so he should be. The difference at the end of the title race could be the luck he found in jumping Kubica in the pits, who knows?
Near the end of the race we heard Hamilton asking his pit crew "when can I come in? It's getting really wet out here", as the rain tumbled again 5 or 6 laps from the end. His team replied "we dont want to jump too soon"...cue Lewis then sliding off the road and just about keeping it going through the gravel.
At this point, or soon after, Fernando was in 8th and looking to push on and he ended up going off instead. Driver error.
It was a fantastic race. My hat doesnt come off to Lewis much at all but here it does.
With Button, Vettel and Alonso scoring no points, its looking a bit more like Lewis vs Mark for the title now. Though there are still 6 races to go of course, but with 5th placed Alonso some 40 points from Lewis at the top, its looking like more of a struggle for him, Button and Vettel.
What is interesting is the dynamics within Mclaren and Red Bull. They'll have to back Lewis and Mark sooner rather than later if the others dont pull their socks up.
Tuesday 24 August 2010
It's so close I can taste it!
Justin: The boredom of Formula One-less weekends is nearly over people!!! Moto GP just doesnt cut it frankly. Thats the only time I shall mention racing on two wheels on this blog.
Seems my co-blogger and I spent our F1 forced cold turkey doing much the same. I bought the Daily Telegraph book of F1, which essentially goes back to 1950 and reprints major F1 news stories as they happened through the decades. A fantastic read frankly. Reporting on just how F1 drivers died in the 50's,60's and 70's was rather graphic and blunt frankly. There is also a fantastically amusing section on f1 driver to pit radio chats, which I'll delve into with my co-blogger at our next I Was Having A Blog Live event.
Belgium is a few days away! Niki Lauda and Ferrari have been at each others throats in the holiday period. Lauda came out and said Ferrari will be slaughtered at the World Council hearing in September. Ferrari responded by saying that once again Niki misses a chance to keep his mouth shut and said he didnt seem to mind team orders when he won the title with them. Ouchie.
It's been widly reported that if any points deductions come into play it will be for the team and probably not the drivers. I agree with this. By September Alonso could be well in the hunt for the title, and taking points away from him will reduce the battle from 5 people to 4, thus taking away from the drama I think.
Not much else going on in the news and gossip columns really. Webber cannot guarantee he will be on the grid in 2012, having signed to Red Bull again for 2011. He said he wants to get the world title, but wants to pursue other sporting goals before retiring to drink red wine in Oz. I have a feeling he might very well be defending his title next year. That could be fun, with Vettel in the team alongside him once again.
Onto Belgium we go! It usually rains here.....if it does....I think Jenson will rise to the top. Both races he won this year were in wet/changeable conditions and he made excellent decisions at the right times. He reads conditions better than anyone, where the grip is etc. If its a dry race, I see Alonso taking it to the Red Bull duo as he has done the last couple of times.
Seems my co-blogger and I spent our F1 forced cold turkey doing much the same. I bought the Daily Telegraph book of F1, which essentially goes back to 1950 and reprints major F1 news stories as they happened through the decades. A fantastic read frankly. Reporting on just how F1 drivers died in the 50's,60's and 70's was rather graphic and blunt frankly. There is also a fantastically amusing section on f1 driver to pit radio chats, which I'll delve into with my co-blogger at our next I Was Having A Blog Live event.
Belgium is a few days away! Niki Lauda and Ferrari have been at each others throats in the holiday period. Lauda came out and said Ferrari will be slaughtered at the World Council hearing in September. Ferrari responded by saying that once again Niki misses a chance to keep his mouth shut and said he didnt seem to mind team orders when he won the title with them. Ouchie.
It's been widly reported that if any points deductions come into play it will be for the team and probably not the drivers. I agree with this. By September Alonso could be well in the hunt for the title, and taking points away from him will reduce the battle from 5 people to 4, thus taking away from the drama I think.
Not much else going on in the news and gossip columns really. Webber cannot guarantee he will be on the grid in 2012, having signed to Red Bull again for 2011. He said he wants to get the world title, but wants to pursue other sporting goals before retiring to drink red wine in Oz. I have a feeling he might very well be defending his title next year. That could be fun, with Vettel in the team alongside him once again.
Onto Belgium we go! It usually rains here.....if it does....I think Jenson will rise to the top. Both races he won this year were in wet/changeable conditions and he made excellent decisions at the right times. He reads conditions better than anyone, where the grip is etc. If its a dry race, I see Alonso taking it to the Red Bull duo as he has done the last couple of times.
Thursday 19 August 2010
Four whole weeks with no F1
Phil: So naturally I've been miserable as sin. I've been whiling away the hours reading Murray Walker's autobiography, Unless I'm Very Much Mistaken, which is excellent. Until the early 80s Murray managed to juggle his BBC commentating career at the weekends with a succesful advertising career during the week - in addition to a motorbike racing career in his youth, and commanding a tank in World War 2. He seems to have crammed several lives into one.
Anyway, the race, or lack of one. I'd forgotten all about Hakkinen's move on Schumacher - watching it again, it's startlingly simple yet effective. It reminds me a little of Mansell's move on Senna, using (I think) Stefan Johansson as a rolling roadblock, wherever that was. But that's not actually my favourite.
I usually sneer at people who watch F1 (or motor racing in general) 'for the crashes', but I'm going to make an exception and indulge myself for the opening lap at Spa in 1998. And what a bloody mess of slithery wet tarmac and chunks of carbon fibre it was: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e287pHZNUcs.
Hopefully next weekend won't be half as messy.
Anyway, the race, or lack of one. I'd forgotten all about Hakkinen's move on Schumacher - watching it again, it's startlingly simple yet effective. It reminds me a little of Mansell's move on Senna, using (I think) Stefan Johansson as a rolling roadblock, wherever that was. But that's not actually my favourite.
I usually sneer at people who watch F1 (or motor racing in general) 'for the crashes', but I'm going to make an exception and indulge myself for the opening lap at Spa in 1998. And what a bloody mess of slithery wet tarmac and chunks of carbon fibre it was: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e287pHZNUcs.
Hopefully next weekend won't be half as messy.
Tuesday 10 August 2010
Belgium
Justin: The BBC are doing their usual "what was your fave race?", before the race takes place in whichever country. So, readers and obviously fellow blogger, what was your fave Belgium GP?
For me, picking out one, it just has to be the two supreme rivals of their time, Schumi and Mika going at it all season long in an epic championship battle that went all the way to the wire in Japan that year....the Belgium GP of 2000 gets my vote. Schumi....Mika....Zonta.....most stonking overtake ever? Mika got his balls out for that one, whilst Zonta's probably shrivelled up whilst he was thinking "shit, I'd best drive straight!".
Tuesday 3 August 2010
Splash and dash
Phil: Blogging in my lunch break at work as I've moved yet again, and have no Internet at home, so it's going to have to be a short splash and dash.
First things first, greetings to our follower! First actual readers, and now an actual follower. This blog goes from strength to strength. If we carry on at this rate we may be starting our own religion by the end of the season.
Anyway, the race. I would have to agree with some (but not all) of my co-blogger's detailed analysis. The news since he blogged is that Schumacher has apologised to Barrichello for almost shunting him into the pitwall, and been penalised 10 grid places at the next race, at Spa. Given his current qualifying form this may well put him last on the grid.
I'm going to give a pat on the back to Vitaly Petrov, consistently outraced by his Renault teammate Robert Kubica all season to the extent that Renault have openly considered who to replace him with (Sutil? Heidfeld? Raikkonen?), who scored a 'best of the rest' fifth place at the Hungaroring.
Congratulations also to Mark Webber - make no mistake, this was the drive of a champion. Admittedly, the opportunity only arose because of his teammate's misfortune (one of the Red Bulls was inevitably going to win this race, as they were head and shoulders ahead of the rest of the field at the weekend, and I'm going to pretend I didn't see Vettel behaving like a spoilt child as took his penalty and on the podium) but the important thing is that Mark took the opportunity and turned it into a dominant win. And with the top five drivers separated by only 20 points (the equivalent of only 8 points under the old system) with one third of the season left, this is going to be the closest season finale in a long time. I can't wait.
First things first, greetings to our follower! First actual readers, and now an actual follower. This blog goes from strength to strength. If we carry on at this rate we may be starting our own religion by the end of the season.
Anyway, the race. I would have to agree with some (but not all) of my co-blogger's detailed analysis. The news since he blogged is that Schumacher has apologised to Barrichello for almost shunting him into the pitwall, and been penalised 10 grid places at the next race, at Spa. Given his current qualifying form this may well put him last on the grid.
I'm going to give a pat on the back to Vitaly Petrov, consistently outraced by his Renault teammate Robert Kubica all season to the extent that Renault have openly considered who to replace him with (Sutil? Heidfeld? Raikkonen?), who scored a 'best of the rest' fifth place at the Hungaroring.
Congratulations also to Mark Webber - make no mistake, this was the drive of a champion. Admittedly, the opportunity only arose because of his teammate's misfortune (one of the Red Bulls was inevitably going to win this race, as they were head and shoulders ahead of the rest of the field at the weekend, and I'm going to pretend I didn't see Vettel behaving like a spoilt child as took his penalty and on the podium) but the important thing is that Mark took the opportunity and turned it into a dominant win. And with the top five drivers separated by only 20 points (the equivalent of only 8 points under the old system) with one third of the season left, this is going to be the closest season finale in a long time. I can't wait.
Monday 2 August 2010
Bloody awesome mate!
Justin: The Hungarian grand prix was a classic, no doubt about it. The safety car prevented it from being a walk in the park for Vettel, who at the end of lap 7 was somewhere near 8 seconds ahead of Fernando.
After the safety car, for what I believe was some debris on track, all hell broke loose. Before the safety it was Vettel being chased by Fernando, with Webber seemingly running his engine in fuel save mode for later on. Then you had Massa being followed by Lewis.
The safety car comes and goes and they emerge as Webber (not having stopped during this period), Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton jumping Massa in the pits due to Massa's tyres still being in the garage.
Now....step forward Mark Webber if you please! Webber starts pumping in some stonking lap times....around 25 qualifying laps one after the other. The idea behind this of course was to originally get enough time over Alonso for a pit stop and come out in second behind Vettel. This plan was to change soon enough.
Whats this? Vettel being investigated by the stewards? Another obscure, not very well known safety car rule? Vettel had been caught napping on the restart and had fallen more than ten car lengths behind the leader. Thing is of course, this isnt a very well known rule for the fans, but as DC said after the race, this is racing, these things happen, rules are there for reasons, and in the driver safety meetings they do discuss rules such as this, so Vettel would have been perfectly aware of all this. More on his weasly excuses and whinging later on.
So, Vettel gets awarded a drive through penalty, which shifts the momentum of the race away from him and towards Webber and Alonso. Alonso was pretty consistent in being the best outside Red Bull all weekend really and he managed to mix it up well with them on race day. So with Webber first and Alonso second, with Vettel not far behind at all, Webber now had to really pump in the times to get out ahead of Alonso and go for the win.
During this time, Button was crawling around in 11th and Lewis had retired with a gearbox failure. So for Red Bull and Alonso it was looking quids in for the title race.
Right up to his pit stop Mark Webber drove like a bat out of hell. He got the gap needed and emerged comfortably ahead of Alonso, who by now had the much faster Vettel up his exhaust pipe.
Now, I'm not known in blogging circles for my descriptive analysis of each race as it happened, but this is an exception as Mark Webber drove an astonishingly accomplished race. He was fortunate with what happened to Vettel, but you need to be in position to take advantage and be good enough to take advantage and he was definately both of those.
Webber has now won twice as many races as anyone else this season and stands atop of the driver standings. Thoroughly deserved stuff Mark, well bloody done mate.
Now lets get to Vettel. You fucked up mate, deal with it. Stop reacting like a child and get on with it. Red Bull knew he was going to say something stupid to the media when over the radio they told him not to say anything and we'll talk later about it. At least later on he admitted he was asleep at the restart, though I'm sure I caught a hint that he was trying to blame Webber just a bit.
One win from seven poles just isn't championship form Sebastian. You can do it on a Saturday, but you have someone over the other side of the garage who is better than you on a Sunday mate. Bonza!
This is going to be a huge blog, mostly because the race was so exciting, but partly too because the three top teams had such differring fortunes. Red Bull we have done.
Ferrari - Alonso said, as Martin Brundle pointed out on the forum after the race, after the rubbish race he had at Silverstone, that he could still win the title....did he say could...or would? Anyway, he now stands just 20 points behind Webber in the title race and you wouldnt want to put money against him really now. Yes I know, I had thoughts of almost admitting his championship was over a few blogs ago, what can I say, I'm the Murray Walker of this blogging partnership, I'm emotional sometimes. Alonso had a superb start in Hungary and that set him up for battling with the Red Bulls for the entire race.
And, lets not change the ritual here.....where the hell was Massa when Vettel had his drive through? Had he pushed like crazy and shown some of the pace that Alonso had, then perhaps he could have jumped Vettel....as Rob Smedley indicated in the radio transmission we heard...but nope...Massa just simply isnt as fast as Alonso, nowhere really near in fact.
As Brundle again pointed out, sooner or later the other teams will have to do what ferrari have already done, that is getting behind one man at the expense of the other guy. People may not like it, but Ferrari were right to get Alonso past Massa in Germany as Alonso is now well in the hunt and was and always has been this year their best bet.
Mclaren - when Lewis retired the face of the title race changed completely as the guys who had the most ground to make up were suddenly the guys with everything to gain. I don't know what Button was up to all day. In quali he complained of having no grip. This is the issue with Jenson. Put him in a perfect car to his liking and there is nobody better, anything else and he fails to drive around the issues of the car unlike a Hamilton or an Alonso. He needs to get himself sorted quickly. He was lucky that Lewis retired today really.
A quick note on quali - it is scary seeing how fast Red Bull are compared to the rest! But as Vettel knows, qualifying pace means absolutely sod all if you cannot do the job on a Sunday, whinging little weasel.
Michael Shumacher.....what can you say? I've seen all Schumi's questionable blocking techniques over the years....Hill in 94, Villeneuve in 97, lapping a slowing DC in 98 so he just rams him off the road....whilst I'm not shocked that he desperately tried to keep Rubens behind him by almost planting his former colleague into the pit wall, I am surprised that he still even bothers.
Ramming people off the road seems to be the one thing he can do in this new career as well as he did in his old career. Oh that and totally denying any knowledge of any wrong doing and blaming everything on poor Rubens. Fuck off back into retirement Schumi. It was a disgusting move on Rubens and as DC and Brundle pointed out, if the pit wall had continued that's an "aeroplane crash" right there...devastating. Alex Wurz is a steward/ driver association guy and he wasnt the least bit impressed either.
Elsewhere Hungary provided plenty of pitlane fun - Rosberg losing his tyre, the Renault lollipop guy possibly seeing said tyre bouncing towards him and releasing Kubica into the side of Sutil. Opps.
So....lets face facts....its a pure and utter vintage year of F1........5 guys seperated by 20 points....with 25 for a win and 18 for second.....its going to be a fantastic run in.
A month without F1....what will we do???!!! Nooooooooo! Don't worry, blogs will happen as and when.
After the safety car, for what I believe was some debris on track, all hell broke loose. Before the safety it was Vettel being chased by Fernando, with Webber seemingly running his engine in fuel save mode for later on. Then you had Massa being followed by Lewis.
The safety car comes and goes and they emerge as Webber (not having stopped during this period), Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton jumping Massa in the pits due to Massa's tyres still being in the garage.
Now....step forward Mark Webber if you please! Webber starts pumping in some stonking lap times....around 25 qualifying laps one after the other. The idea behind this of course was to originally get enough time over Alonso for a pit stop and come out in second behind Vettel. This plan was to change soon enough.
Whats this? Vettel being investigated by the stewards? Another obscure, not very well known safety car rule? Vettel had been caught napping on the restart and had fallen more than ten car lengths behind the leader. Thing is of course, this isnt a very well known rule for the fans, but as DC said after the race, this is racing, these things happen, rules are there for reasons, and in the driver safety meetings they do discuss rules such as this, so Vettel would have been perfectly aware of all this. More on his weasly excuses and whinging later on.
So, Vettel gets awarded a drive through penalty, which shifts the momentum of the race away from him and towards Webber and Alonso. Alonso was pretty consistent in being the best outside Red Bull all weekend really and he managed to mix it up well with them on race day. So with Webber first and Alonso second, with Vettel not far behind at all, Webber now had to really pump in the times to get out ahead of Alonso and go for the win.
During this time, Button was crawling around in 11th and Lewis had retired with a gearbox failure. So for Red Bull and Alonso it was looking quids in for the title race.
Right up to his pit stop Mark Webber drove like a bat out of hell. He got the gap needed and emerged comfortably ahead of Alonso, who by now had the much faster Vettel up his exhaust pipe.
Now, I'm not known in blogging circles for my descriptive analysis of each race as it happened, but this is an exception as Mark Webber drove an astonishingly accomplished race. He was fortunate with what happened to Vettel, but you need to be in position to take advantage and be good enough to take advantage and he was definately both of those.
Webber has now won twice as many races as anyone else this season and stands atop of the driver standings. Thoroughly deserved stuff Mark, well bloody done mate.
Now lets get to Vettel. You fucked up mate, deal with it. Stop reacting like a child and get on with it. Red Bull knew he was going to say something stupid to the media when over the radio they told him not to say anything and we'll talk later about it. At least later on he admitted he was asleep at the restart, though I'm sure I caught a hint that he was trying to blame Webber just a bit.
One win from seven poles just isn't championship form Sebastian. You can do it on a Saturday, but you have someone over the other side of the garage who is better than you on a Sunday mate. Bonza!
This is going to be a huge blog, mostly because the race was so exciting, but partly too because the three top teams had such differring fortunes. Red Bull we have done.
Ferrari - Alonso said, as Martin Brundle pointed out on the forum after the race, after the rubbish race he had at Silverstone, that he could still win the title....did he say could...or would? Anyway, he now stands just 20 points behind Webber in the title race and you wouldnt want to put money against him really now. Yes I know, I had thoughts of almost admitting his championship was over a few blogs ago, what can I say, I'm the Murray Walker of this blogging partnership, I'm emotional sometimes. Alonso had a superb start in Hungary and that set him up for battling with the Red Bulls for the entire race.
And, lets not change the ritual here.....where the hell was Massa when Vettel had his drive through? Had he pushed like crazy and shown some of the pace that Alonso had, then perhaps he could have jumped Vettel....as Rob Smedley indicated in the radio transmission we heard...but nope...Massa just simply isnt as fast as Alonso, nowhere really near in fact.
As Brundle again pointed out, sooner or later the other teams will have to do what ferrari have already done, that is getting behind one man at the expense of the other guy. People may not like it, but Ferrari were right to get Alonso past Massa in Germany as Alonso is now well in the hunt and was and always has been this year their best bet.
Mclaren - when Lewis retired the face of the title race changed completely as the guys who had the most ground to make up were suddenly the guys with everything to gain. I don't know what Button was up to all day. In quali he complained of having no grip. This is the issue with Jenson. Put him in a perfect car to his liking and there is nobody better, anything else and he fails to drive around the issues of the car unlike a Hamilton or an Alonso. He needs to get himself sorted quickly. He was lucky that Lewis retired today really.
A quick note on quali - it is scary seeing how fast Red Bull are compared to the rest! But as Vettel knows, qualifying pace means absolutely sod all if you cannot do the job on a Sunday, whinging little weasel.
Michael Shumacher.....what can you say? I've seen all Schumi's questionable blocking techniques over the years....Hill in 94, Villeneuve in 97, lapping a slowing DC in 98 so he just rams him off the road....whilst I'm not shocked that he desperately tried to keep Rubens behind him by almost planting his former colleague into the pit wall, I am surprised that he still even bothers.
Ramming people off the road seems to be the one thing he can do in this new career as well as he did in his old career. Oh that and totally denying any knowledge of any wrong doing and blaming everything on poor Rubens. Fuck off back into retirement Schumi. It was a disgusting move on Rubens and as DC and Brundle pointed out, if the pit wall had continued that's an "aeroplane crash" right there...devastating. Alex Wurz is a steward/ driver association guy and he wasnt the least bit impressed either.
Elsewhere Hungary provided plenty of pitlane fun - Rosberg losing his tyre, the Renault lollipop guy possibly seeing said tyre bouncing towards him and releasing Kubica into the side of Sutil. Opps.
So....lets face facts....its a pure and utter vintage year of F1........5 guys seperated by 20 points....with 25 for a win and 18 for second.....its going to be a fantastic run in.
A month without F1....what will we do???!!! Nooooooooo! Don't worry, blogs will happen as and when.
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