Justin: We appear to have neglected the fact that we havent picked a driver of the year yet. Do we usually do this? I think we should!
Most of the experts have been pretty much putting Vettel, Button and Alonso as the first three in their "best ten drivers of the year" lists.
I watched the F1 Review of 2011 DVD yesterday and have to say that Button's win in Canada stood out for me, as well as Alonso's start in Spain and Webber's outrageous move on Fernando in Belgium....
Vettel has been the best driver in the best car.....Button has been driving better than ever and has outraced Hamilton this year and outscored him......Fernando has more than double the points of Massa and was only 1 point shy of outscoring two guys who had clearly faster cars....as it was he still outscored Hamilton handsomely.
I don't think I can pick between them really...co-blogger it's over to you mate!
Saturday 31 December 2011
Wednesday 14 December 2011
Kimi Raikkonen quote available as a ringtone
Phil: It isn't, but if Carlsberg made F1 themed ringtones...or maybe it would be better as an answerphone message.
The world of F1 has gone suddenly quiet, as it always does this time of year. Which leaves us with nothing to talk about except the driver market, and even here there's less than usual, as all the top teams are sticking with the blokes they had last year. There's been a sudden flurry of teams changing their names, so for comedy/nostalgia purposes, I'm going to use the old names. In some cases the very old names.
Stewart ('Red Bull') - Vettel and Webber
McLaren (for it is they) - Button and Hamilton
Ferrari (for it is still they) - Alonso and Massa
Tyrrell ('Mercedes') (you'd forgotten about them, hadn't you? I can feel a Tyrrell tribute coming on) - Rosberg and Schumacher
So no change there. The big surprise as my co-blogger has explained has been
Toleman ('Lotus') (avoiding the obvious multiple Senna legacy cash-in opportunities by sacking his nephew) - Raikkonen and Grosjean
By now we're in the midfield
Jordan ('Force India') - probably di Resta, if they have any sense, and either Sutil or current test driver Hulkenberg
Minardi ('Toro Rosso') - any two of four Red Bull young drivers (Buemi, Alguersuari, Ricciardo and Vergne)
Sauber ('Sauber') - Kobayashi and Perez
Williams (for they are still around) - Maldonado has been confirmed, and the other Williams seat is more or less the only half decent drive still up for grabs, with Senna and Petrov (ditched by the team formerly known as Renault), Sutil (if he doesn't get the Force India drive) and 2011 Williams driver Barrichello fighting over it.
And the 'new' teams, who are now old enough to have 'old' names too
Lotus ('Caterham') - Trulli and Kovalainen
Virgin ('Marussia') - Glock, and new boy Charles Pic replaces Jerome d'Ambrosio
Hispania ('still slow') - de la Rosa is back (again?), and the last remaining seat for whoever doesn't get the drive at Williams.
Hopefully you're slightly less confused than before, although perhaps only slightly. If more confusion is what you're after, then know that ex-Tyrrell, ex-Zakspeed, ex-Benetton, ex-Ligier, ex-McLaren, ex-Jordan man (have I missed any out?) Martin Brundle is now also ex-BBC as he will now be commentating for Sky.
Might I say how much I will miss Martin's commentary enhancing my enjoyment of racing - to my mind the only man to come close to the great Murray Walker (metaphorically speaking).
His replacement in the BBC 'drive' is Ben Edwards, who I initially thought was The Stig (that'll be Ben Collins) and then realised I didn't know who he was. Humphreys, Coulthard, Jordan and McKenzie retain their 'drives' while Kravitz is off to Sky.
How many days to FP1 at Melbourne?
The world of F1 has gone suddenly quiet, as it always does this time of year. Which leaves us with nothing to talk about except the driver market, and even here there's less than usual, as all the top teams are sticking with the blokes they had last year. There's been a sudden flurry of teams changing their names, so for comedy/nostalgia purposes, I'm going to use the old names. In some cases the very old names.
Stewart ('Red Bull') - Vettel and Webber
McLaren (for it is they) - Button and Hamilton
Ferrari (for it is still they) - Alonso and Massa
Tyrrell ('Mercedes') (you'd forgotten about them, hadn't you? I can feel a Tyrrell tribute coming on) - Rosberg and Schumacher
So no change there. The big surprise as my co-blogger has explained has been
Toleman ('Lotus') (avoiding the obvious multiple Senna legacy cash-in opportunities by sacking his nephew) - Raikkonen and Grosjean
By now we're in the midfield
Jordan ('Force India') - probably di Resta, if they have any sense, and either Sutil or current test driver Hulkenberg
Minardi ('Toro Rosso') - any two of four Red Bull young drivers (Buemi, Alguersuari, Ricciardo and Vergne)
Sauber ('Sauber') - Kobayashi and Perez
Williams (for they are still around) - Maldonado has been confirmed, and the other Williams seat is more or less the only half decent drive still up for grabs, with Senna and Petrov (ditched by the team formerly known as Renault), Sutil (if he doesn't get the Force India drive) and 2011 Williams driver Barrichello fighting over it.
And the 'new' teams, who are now old enough to have 'old' names too
Lotus ('Caterham') - Trulli and Kovalainen
Virgin ('Marussia') - Glock, and new boy Charles Pic replaces Jerome d'Ambrosio
Hispania ('still slow') - de la Rosa is back (again?), and the last remaining seat for whoever doesn't get the drive at Williams.
Hopefully you're slightly less confused than before, although perhaps only slightly. If more confusion is what you're after, then know that ex-Tyrrell, ex-Zakspeed, ex-Benetton, ex-Ligier, ex-McLaren, ex-Jordan man (have I missed any out?) Martin Brundle is now also ex-BBC as he will now be commentating for Sky.
Might I say how much I will miss Martin's commentary enhancing my enjoyment of racing - to my mind the only man to come close to the great Murray Walker (metaphorically speaking).
His replacement in the BBC 'drive' is Ben Edwards, who I initially thought was The Stig (that'll be Ben Collins) and then realised I didn't know who he was. Humphreys, Coulthard, Jordan and McKenzie retain their 'drives' while Kravitz is off to Sky.
How many days to FP1 at Melbourne?
Sunday 11 December 2011
Snow antics
Justin: A Renault driver injuring his hand in an off-season, non f1 sports event? Is history repeating?
Not really...Kimi fell off his snowmobile over this weekend and got away with spraining his wrist apparently.
Wouldn't be surprised if he entered the race under the name James Hunt....good ol Kimi!
Not really...Kimi fell off his snowmobile over this weekend and got away with spraining his wrist apparently.
Wouldn't be surprised if he entered the race under the name James Hunt....good ol Kimi!
Friday 9 December 2011
What a load of rubbish
Justin: I texted my co-blogger with the news earlier. The news to which I refer is that Renault, soon to be Lotus, have re-hired Romain Grosjean for 2012.
As my co-blogger pointed out, this is the guy who is known only for being better than Piquet Jr, which doesnt say a lot!
Grosjean replaced Piquet midway through 2009 and was pretty shit. Ok, the car wasn't great, but he did absolutely nothing of any worth to note. He was then dumped back into GP2 for two further years, which he did win in 2011.
Bruno Senna, on the other hand, has done plenty of good things after being dumped into the car mid-season this year. The guy echoed shades of his Uncle when he drove superbly in qualy at Spa in the wet, for one. He has been consistently faster than Petrov too, overall.
It makes me sad frankly. Where is the passion and desire? I want to see what Bruno has really got - put him in a half decent car for a full season please! Renault and the fans have truly lost out on finding out what he is really made of.
Now we have Sutil, Senna, Petrov and Rubens all apparently dicing for the last seat at Williams. What an undignified end for three of them.....it's either that, HRT or dont be in F1.
As my co-blogger pointed out, this is the guy who is known only for being better than Piquet Jr, which doesnt say a lot!
Grosjean replaced Piquet midway through 2009 and was pretty shit. Ok, the car wasn't great, but he did absolutely nothing of any worth to note. He was then dumped back into GP2 for two further years, which he did win in 2011.
Bruno Senna, on the other hand, has done plenty of good things after being dumped into the car mid-season this year. The guy echoed shades of his Uncle when he drove superbly in qualy at Spa in the wet, for one. He has been consistently faster than Petrov too, overall.
It makes me sad frankly. Where is the passion and desire? I want to see what Bruno has really got - put him in a half decent car for a full season please! Renault and the fans have truly lost out on finding out what he is really made of.
Now we have Sutil, Senna, Petrov and Rubens all apparently dicing for the last seat at Williams. What an undignified end for three of them.....it's either that, HRT or dont be in F1.
Sunday 4 December 2011
Kimi, F1 news and other things
Justin: Ah...Kimi....what great memories we have of you and your classic soundbites. My co-blogger made me chuckle once again by sharing the legendary "I was having a shit" moment. Somewhat poetic too from my colleague, given, as he said, Brundle is leaving and Kimi is coming back.
I had a root around on youtube for other classic Kimi moments and found two gems! Small children and interviewers may have their work cut out next season!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMBP1T_jw5w&feature=endscreen&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj7HIpSDaKU&feature=related
Classic stuff!
Brazil Review
The "I Was Having a Blog" live event in HW, for Brazil, went down a storm. It was a good race, but not a great one. Good to see Mark Webber nail a win down and hopefully go into winter and next year with some hope and raised confidence.
News
Kimi coming back to Renault means, in my mind (plus I have heard the rumours) that if Kubica does come back at all, it will be with Ferrari and not Renault. He is out of contract at Renault and a top 4 team has apparently offered him as much testing in an old spec car as he needs once he is ready - so they can also assess if he is ready or not. Massa's days are numbered......if...big if I think...Robert does make it back.
Rubens still has no drive, but the fact that Kimi didnt go to Williams could help him I guess.
I think I can safely speak for my co-blogger as well as myself and say it would be great to see both Rubens and Robert back next year.
I had a root around on youtube for other classic Kimi moments and found two gems! Small children and interviewers may have their work cut out next season!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMBP1T_jw5w&feature=endscreen&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj7HIpSDaKU&feature=related
Classic stuff!
Brazil Review
The "I Was Having a Blog" live event in HW, for Brazil, went down a storm. It was a good race, but not a great one. Good to see Mark Webber nail a win down and hopefully go into winter and next year with some hope and raised confidence.
News
Kimi coming back to Renault means, in my mind (plus I have heard the rumours) that if Kubica does come back at all, it will be with Ferrari and not Renault. He is out of contract at Renault and a top 4 team has apparently offered him as much testing in an old spec car as he needs once he is ready - so they can also assess if he is ready or not. Massa's days are numbered......if...big if I think...Robert does make it back.
Rubens still has no drive, but the fact that Kimi didnt go to Williams could help him I guess.
I think I can safely speak for my co-blogger as well as myself and say it would be great to see both Rubens and Robert back next year.
Friday 2 December 2011
Exit Martin Brundle, enter....Kimi Raikkonen
Phil: As Brundle defects from the BBC to Sky, and Raikkonen decides rallying is even more boring than F1, let's relish their finest hour once again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3JWFEK5q88.
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