Justin: Well, here I am again, pondering whether anyone is actually reading, given the fact the only other guy who regularly reads is on honeymoon. Ah well, on with the show.
A mate and I were discussing the new DRS system the other day. This stands for Drag Reduction System - it's essentially a moving rear wing that opens up like a letter box to reduce drag and downforce for a higher speed on a straight. The point came up that this represents a sort of manipulation of pure racing and thusly is the push towards needing to entertain the fans reducing the sport to a load of farcial rules that always benefit the guy behind in catching the guy ahead? The system didn't halt Vettel or help anyone behind him as he was 10 seconds down the road at the best of times.
Niki Lauda made a very good point on the BBC F1 forum after the race. He said the FIA was playing with results, telling drivers when they can and cannot use the DRS system. In his days they pressed the turbo button whenever they wanted to.
I said to my friend, it sort of reminds me of his old playstation game, Gran Turismo, where the car behind in a head to head race had a function enabled which just allowed it to slowly catch up so a proper race could be had. This is the side of the arguement I come down on, I'm not an instant fan of the DRS at all. Perhaps it may take a few races to tweak and so forth, but to have a specific "zone" where the car behind (being less than a second behind the car in front) can use the system, seems to me like bordering on favouring the people chasing. Obviously this is pursuing the formula one as entertainment route, which it is, but it's still a sport.
You don't see Usain Bolt being told to stop and wait for other runners to catch up when he is metres ahead in his 100m races do you?
The powers the be in F1 need to ask where is the line between pure f1 racing and entertainment? Personally I think DRS, not the technology as such, but the way it is deployed, straddles the grey area.
Elsewhere, Lewis Hamilton has said his number one driver to beat will always be Fernando Alonso - still bitter about 2007 Lewis? :-)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/mar/28/lewis-hamilton-ayrton-senna-alain-prost
That is all for now.
Wednesday 30 March 2011
Sunday 27 March 2011
First races are always a tad dull
Justin: It's to be expected really, as teams get used to new tyres and rules under race conditions. Just look at Bahrain last year...yawn. Then the rest of the season turned into a classic, possibly THE classic. Anyway, thats not to say the 2011 Aussie GP was utter crud, as it wasnt, its just, it was a tad dull in places.
It should be noted that the new moving rear wing rule will take a while for all of us to adjust to - just look at Sutil spinning on the start/finish straight in quali yesterday whilst opening his wing...so to speak. The shift in downforce causes issues for some.
In the race itself the moving rear wing rule saw 2 or 3 overtakes that otherwise may not have happened. Kers came into play more than once too, so with a few more races the FIA may figure out the best places to put the rear wing zone on a track. It's a work in progress. I'm not sure I'm a fan.
The race itself saw Vettel dissapear into the distance, followed some ten seconds down the road by Hamilton. Alonso had a rubbish start and dropped from 5th to 10th, but he then made his way back up the field an finished a non too bad 4th.
Jenson had a tussle with Massa and received a drive through penalty for his troubles. Massa was once again pretty slow. He finished 9th and received somewhat of a verbal bashing from Button afterwards...Button claiming that "Massa was just so slow, he is the most difficult guy to pass"...which I guess could be a compliment, but I don't think it was meant that way.
Petrov started 6th and finished a mighty sterling 3rd. I think he has to get my driver of the day, given what's happened to Renault over the winter and given Petrov's own precarious position in the team at the end of last season. He now essentially finds himself as team leader, given Heidfield finished a piss poor 19th.
Webber had a nightmare day as usual at his home GP. If I was him I'd be thinking "how the smeg am I so slow compared to Vettel?" This wasnt the case at all last year, so Webber has to sort himself out quickly.
Elsewhere both Saubers did very well, with Perez scoring points on his debut. Both Mercedes did not finish, with Rosberg being skewered off track by a charging Rubens.
Coming into the race it looked like Red Bull would be pursued by Ferrari, with the rest following. It looks like, based on this first race, that Mclaren are Red Bull's closest rivals for the moment and Ferrari must be asking themselves what the hell is going on.
Red Bull were not even using KERS. This does not bode well for the rest of the field.
One thing I have noticed, is that many people have been saying "give Vettel his dues, he is a fantastic driver and great champion etc etc". Many...some... don't think he is the best driver on the grid...and I totally agree. He is still the fastest guy in the fastest car. He is fine when leading from the front and is relatively untroubled by other cars, but have I ever seen him in a less than perfect car, wrestling every ounce of performance from it, driving from midfield to the front to recover? Nope. Alonso and (pains me to say it) Hamilton can do this at will.
Onto Malaysia we go, and hopefully the excitement will crank up a notch from here on in.
It should be noted that the new moving rear wing rule will take a while for all of us to adjust to - just look at Sutil spinning on the start/finish straight in quali yesterday whilst opening his wing...so to speak. The shift in downforce causes issues for some.
In the race itself the moving rear wing rule saw 2 or 3 overtakes that otherwise may not have happened. Kers came into play more than once too, so with a few more races the FIA may figure out the best places to put the rear wing zone on a track. It's a work in progress. I'm not sure I'm a fan.
The race itself saw Vettel dissapear into the distance, followed some ten seconds down the road by Hamilton. Alonso had a rubbish start and dropped from 5th to 10th, but he then made his way back up the field an finished a non too bad 4th.
Jenson had a tussle with Massa and received a drive through penalty for his troubles. Massa was once again pretty slow. He finished 9th and received somewhat of a verbal bashing from Button afterwards...Button claiming that "Massa was just so slow, he is the most difficult guy to pass"...which I guess could be a compliment, but I don't think it was meant that way.
Petrov started 6th and finished a mighty sterling 3rd. I think he has to get my driver of the day, given what's happened to Renault over the winter and given Petrov's own precarious position in the team at the end of last season. He now essentially finds himself as team leader, given Heidfield finished a piss poor 19th.
Webber had a nightmare day as usual at his home GP. If I was him I'd be thinking "how the smeg am I so slow compared to Vettel?" This wasnt the case at all last year, so Webber has to sort himself out quickly.
Elsewhere both Saubers did very well, with Perez scoring points on his debut. Both Mercedes did not finish, with Rosberg being skewered off track by a charging Rubens.
Coming into the race it looked like Red Bull would be pursued by Ferrari, with the rest following. It looks like, based on this first race, that Mclaren are Red Bull's closest rivals for the moment and Ferrari must be asking themselves what the hell is going on.
Red Bull were not even using KERS. This does not bode well for the rest of the field.
One thing I have noticed, is that many people have been saying "give Vettel his dues, he is a fantastic driver and great champion etc etc". Many...some... don't think he is the best driver on the grid...and I totally agree. He is still the fastest guy in the fastest car. He is fine when leading from the front and is relatively untroubled by other cars, but have I ever seen him in a less than perfect car, wrestling every ounce of performance from it, driving from midfield to the front to recover? Nope. Alonso and (pains me to say it) Hamilton can do this at will.
Onto Malaysia we go, and hopefully the excitement will crank up a notch from here on in.
Saturday 26 March 2011
Australia Quali Report
Justin: With my esteemed colleague off on his honeymoon it's down to me to hold the blogging fort together. Still, at least he is nearer the same time zone to the Aussie GP so he doesn't have to get up at 5am to watch quali and the race tomorrow (one assumes he will put his foot down early on in the marriage and say he will be watching the race whilst on honeymoon...a man needs his F1 after all).
Anyway, it looks ominous at the moment as Vettel put his car on pole like a champion. He utterly dominated the session ending up half a second quicker than second placed Hamilton. He was some .8 of a second ahead of his team-mate Webber, who ended up third! Button followed in fourth with Alonso some 1.2 seconds behind Vettel in 5th. It's the top five guys from last year taking the top 5 positions.
Ferarri have their work cut out being so far behind, somewhat unexpectedly. Their car did not run on the hard tyres very well at all as it struggled to get tyre temperatures to an optimum.
Petrov did very well coming in sixth. All of Schumi's early promise faded as he came eleventh.
It should be a good race tomorrow, but one can't help but feel that if Vettel gets some early momentum he could be difficult to catch.
Anyway, it looks ominous at the moment as Vettel put his car on pole like a champion. He utterly dominated the session ending up half a second quicker than second placed Hamilton. He was some .8 of a second ahead of his team-mate Webber, who ended up third! Button followed in fourth with Alonso some 1.2 seconds behind Vettel in 5th. It's the top five guys from last year taking the top 5 positions.
Ferarri have their work cut out being so far behind, somewhat unexpectedly. Their car did not run on the hard tyres very well at all as it struggled to get tyre temperatures to an optimum.
Petrov did very well coming in sixth. All of Schumi's early promise faded as he came eleventh.
It should be a good race tomorrow, but one can't help but feel that if Vettel gets some early momentum he could be difficult to catch.
Thursday 17 March 2011
BOLLOCKS OR NOT?!
Justin: A tip of the hat to my colleague for his bollocks blog the other day. Following from this, I can confirm his claims that the F1 "news" is currently all bollocks, and then some!
The new Mclaren has been found to be the most unreliable car of those testing thus far. If you've been keeping up with testing this is nothing new and thus a load of BOLLOCKS. Good luck Lewis and Jenson as your car is a load of BOLLOCKS too.
Bernie wants the weakest teams eliminated from the sport by 2013, so we have just 10 teams on the grid. Essentially he wants more money for himself and healthier teams on the grid that are able to give him a load of cash, as opposed to Hispania, who are shit. Tell us something we don't know....news team....Bernie is a greedy fuck. Therefore this news is A LOAD OF BOLLOCKS.
Bernie is also reportedly "happy to assist" German investigations into the sale of F1 5 years ago. No...shit...sherlock. A German Banker was arrested in January over the sale. This is a load of BOLLOCKS. Bernie will obviously assist them so they don't find all his dodgy dealings.
The future of the Australian Grand Prix beyond 2015 could depend on whether Ecclestone is prepared to deal with a feistier Victoria State government. Minister Louise Asher has said "we're not going to be bunnies in contractual negotiations". This is a load of bollocks...as he will clearly fuck off and deal with someone who wants to give him more money.
Bernie has also stated that TV stations worldwide will walk away if eco-friendly engines are adopted in F1. This too is a load of BOLLOCKS! Is there anything other than Bernie protecting his cash?????!!!!
The 27th of March at 7am.....this is not Bollocks at all.
The new Mclaren has been found to be the most unreliable car of those testing thus far. If you've been keeping up with testing this is nothing new and thus a load of BOLLOCKS. Good luck Lewis and Jenson as your car is a load of BOLLOCKS too.
Bernie wants the weakest teams eliminated from the sport by 2013, so we have just 10 teams on the grid. Essentially he wants more money for himself and healthier teams on the grid that are able to give him a load of cash, as opposed to Hispania, who are shit. Tell us something we don't know....news team....Bernie is a greedy fuck. Therefore this news is A LOAD OF BOLLOCKS.
Bernie is also reportedly "happy to assist" German investigations into the sale of F1 5 years ago. No...shit...sherlock. A German Banker was arrested in January over the sale. This is a load of BOLLOCKS. Bernie will obviously assist them so they don't find all his dodgy dealings.
The future of the Australian Grand Prix beyond 2015 could depend on whether Ecclestone is prepared to deal with a feistier Victoria State government. Minister Louise Asher has said "we're not going to be bunnies in contractual negotiations". This is a load of bollocks...as he will clearly fuck off and deal with someone who wants to give him more money.
Bernie has also stated that TV stations worldwide will walk away if eco-friendly engines are adopted in F1. This too is a load of BOLLOCKS! Is there anything other than Bernie protecting his cash?????!!!!
The 27th of March at 7am.....this is not Bollocks at all.
Friday 11 March 2011
Bollocks
Phil: The first race of the season, in Bahrain, having been postponed, perhaps until late in the season, perhaps indefinitely, and testing almost over, the F1 media has been forced to print some bollocks.
None of it's made up, as far as I know, but it's all bollocks nonetheless because, well, there isn't any real news. Here's our roundup of the choicest snippets.
Ron Dennis has been banned from driving for 6 months for jumping a red light. Wrong sort of points, Ron! I wonder if he wore a naff 80s leather jacket in court. That won't have helped.
Bernie wants to spice up otherwise tediously dull races on circuits designed to make overtaking impossible by introducing artificial rain. Some sort of giant sprinkler system will go off at a pre-ordained moment when Ferrari have just put wets on. Mark Webber thinks it's a silly idea. Sadly the alternative idea, having every race at Spa, didn't get off the drawing board.
Sebastian Vettel wins the no shit sherlock award for saying, 'I'm smart enough to know we all have zero points starting this year'. I think he means, 'testing pace doesn't necessarily equal race pace'.
Kimi Raikkonen's back! So if you're at a race and there's a queue for the gents you know whose fault it is.
That's all for now.
NB. One of the above was made up.
None of it's made up, as far as I know, but it's all bollocks nonetheless because, well, there isn't any real news. Here's our roundup of the choicest snippets.
Ron Dennis has been banned from driving for 6 months for jumping a red light. Wrong sort of points, Ron! I wonder if he wore a naff 80s leather jacket in court. That won't have helped.
Bernie wants to spice up otherwise tediously dull races on circuits designed to make overtaking impossible by introducing artificial rain. Some sort of giant sprinkler system will go off at a pre-ordained moment when Ferrari have just put wets on. Mark Webber thinks it's a silly idea. Sadly the alternative idea, having every race at Spa, didn't get off the drawing board.
Sebastian Vettel wins the no shit sherlock award for saying, 'I'm smart enough to know we all have zero points starting this year'. I think he means, 'testing pace doesn't necessarily equal race pace'.
Kimi Raikkonen's back! So if you're at a race and there's a queue for the gents you know whose fault it is.
That's all for now.
NB. One of the above was made up.
Wednesday 2 March 2011
Stat Attack Time!
Justin: My Colleague's blog about the top ten drivers of all time got me thinking. We haven't had our stat attack session as mentioned a few blogs ago. Onto that shortly.
I think my co-blogger will know that everyone will have a difference of opinion over who the 10 best drivers in the history of F1 are. As I texted to him when I read his blog, Mansell is in the top 5 all time most wins chart with 31 first places, so judging by that alone he is deserving of a place in the all time top 10. I'd probably keep him in there personally based on the fact that I grew up on Mansell Mania and his driving inspired me. The balls out overtaking around the outside of Piquet, the wheel to wheel dices with Senna. The fact that his 31 wins were all registered (barring his last) in the era of Prost and Senna. Then again, I'm basing part of my answer here on my emotions for the man....not like me that, to get all emotional about F1!
We both agreed that Gilles Villeneuve should be in there, or would at least be in ours as he was possibly the most naturally gifted guy ever to grace a circuit surely.
It's all open to debate I guess. Based on wins alone, Niki Lauda is top ten material, but I'd put others in his place such as Graham Hill, for example.
The only top ten certainties are (surely?) Senna, Prost, Fangio, Ascari, Stewart, Clark.......would Moss make it in there given he never won a title? Or would Shumacher make it in there given his comeback smearing his legend?
By my co-bloggers DVD are we saying that nobody in the current F1 lineup is good enough to be rated in the top ten of all time? Based on wins alone, Alonso is top ten material and he'd certainly be in my list I reckon.
Anyway, just wanted some good ol fashioned F1 debate.....
Stat time....
I'm probably being lazy....but here is the link to all the driver stats you will ever need!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Formula_One_driver_records#Total_wins
I think my co-blogger will know that everyone will have a difference of opinion over who the 10 best drivers in the history of F1 are. As I texted to him when I read his blog, Mansell is in the top 5 all time most wins chart with 31 first places, so judging by that alone he is deserving of a place in the all time top 10. I'd probably keep him in there personally based on the fact that I grew up on Mansell Mania and his driving inspired me. The balls out overtaking around the outside of Piquet, the wheel to wheel dices with Senna. The fact that his 31 wins were all registered (barring his last) in the era of Prost and Senna. Then again, I'm basing part of my answer here on my emotions for the man....not like me that, to get all emotional about F1!
We both agreed that Gilles Villeneuve should be in there, or would at least be in ours as he was possibly the most naturally gifted guy ever to grace a circuit surely.
It's all open to debate I guess. Based on wins alone, Niki Lauda is top ten material, but I'd put others in his place such as Graham Hill, for example.
The only top ten certainties are (surely?) Senna, Prost, Fangio, Ascari, Stewart, Clark.......would Moss make it in there given he never won a title? Or would Shumacher make it in there given his comeback smearing his legend?
By my co-bloggers DVD are we saying that nobody in the current F1 lineup is good enough to be rated in the top ten of all time? Based on wins alone, Alonso is top ten material and he'd certainly be in my list I reckon.
Anyway, just wanted some good ol fashioned F1 debate.....
Stat time....
I'm probably being lazy....but here is the link to all the driver stats you will ever need!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Formula_One_driver_records#Total_wins
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