Oh dear :-)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8670236.stm

Nico needs to look out!

Justin: Interesting quali. It was touched upon by Jake and EJ...the Mercedes team starting to work around Shumi and what he needs more. They joked that Nico would be asking for the old spec car soon enough. Adds fuel to the fire that Shumi wouldnt be half the champion he is without having whole teams built around him and team-mates more or less being his bitch. Watch this space....but as it stands, Shumi out-qualified Nico for the first time this year. I for one am hoping that Nico keeps racking up good points as it makes the title race much more fun having 5 or 6 guys going for it.

Whilst we're on the team-mate theme, Alonso looks more and more like he has Massa in his pocket. 4th vs 9th says it all really. The footage of Fernando driving with one hand whilst covering the duct with his hand was crazy!

Well, the grid line up could be explosive. Webber and Vettel have their own personal battle and I expect them to dissapear into the distance frankly - their pace was silly! Though, McClaren and Ferarri usually have much better race pace thats nearer the Red Bull's.

Third backwards its Lewis, Fernando, Jenson, Michael - FRUITY!!! THE 4 WORLD CHAMPS TOGETHER ON THE GRID. That will be fun!

Ayrton Senna's beak

Justin: Well, look who is well up there in the Spanish GP practice sessions. One has to wonder if the upgrades made to favour Shumi's driving style have been made at the expense of Rosberg??

Oh, and I was watching my "Murray's magic moments" video yesterday and came across possibly my all time fave Murrayism......one I'd since long forgotten about but couldnt stop laughing at when I heard it again...."And the beak of Ayrton Senna's chicken is pulling ahead".....eh?! :-)

They don't call me 'Phil Space' for nothing

Phil: Come to think of it, they don't call me Phil Space at all. The title of my co-blogger's most recent post reminds me very much of the BBC's pre-race coverage, minus the annoying bleeping countdown thing and the annoying Eddie Jordan thing.

I have to say also that I agree entirely with him about the possibility of Ferrari, or anyone else, running a third car. Ferrari have long had the ear of F1's senior management (Max and Bernie), and presumably all the more so since 'their' man, Jean Todt, is now at the helm, but I think they're mistaken if they think they can prevail on the rulemakers to allow third cars: economies of scale notwithstanding, it goes completely against the grain of making F1 more accessible to small teams (opening the grid to new teams, awarding points down to tenth place, etc). Presumably, everyone at Ferrari knows this, and flirting with Rossi is a way of reminding Massa he needs Ferrari more than they need him.

Michelin might be back! Does anyone know any jokes about the 2005 US Grand Prix?

No race for ages, so more "filler chat" about rumours etc etc

Justin: In reference to my fellow blogger's post - di Montezemolo is a twat. He is on some ego trip if he actually thinks the FIA will ever allow 3 cars from 1 team in a race. That's stupid. If that does ever happen you'll end up with 3 Ferarri's, 3 Red Bulls and 3 McClarens taking the first 9 positions!!! Possibly the most unfair and unjust system ever. The smaller teams would never be able to afford it, and whilst the mid table teams would have another car to go for points....you'd have so many other cars potentially ahead of you from the big teams, there wouldnt be any point. F1 = teams with two cars. Thats how it should always be!

Much more important things are afoot on the F1 rumour mill. Kubica to Ferarri to replace Massa next year is one that seems to be gaining a lot of momentum.

I will also point out that Ted Kravitz stated on his BBC blog that Massa was apparently furious with Alonso for his (perfectly legal) move at the time. But, he had the foresight to report that Fernando was coming in first and to get his tyres out instead of his own. Afetr the race he was (probably forced) to issue a statement saying he was slow out of the hairpin and he had no reason to be annoyed with Fernando as it was a legal move, other people overtook there etc etc.

I'd say any friction between Alonso and Massa is all one way (Massa is nowhere near as ruthless as Alonso), as Alonso seemed pretty undisturbed by his move afterwards, stating that the press is only interested because they are teammates. Had two non teammates done the same going into the pits, it wouldnt have been as under the microscope......he is right, as Lewis did the same to Vettel and nobody talked about that.

Also I would point out the link to the full article is here....my fellow blogger sounds like a member of the press, reporting only a tiny amount of what actually transpired...naughty!

http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=48269
http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=48254

Still no idea what happened at Shanghai

Phil: My house is still under a cloud of volcanic murk, or something like that, which no television signals can yet penetrate, so I've still not seen last weekend's race. I did read this morning, though, that Luca di Montezemolo is convinced that Valentino Rossi has nothing left to prove in Moto GP and that his next logical career step is Formula 1, at the wheel of a Ferrari, naturally. That's on the assumption that di Montezemolo can persuade the FIA to let him run a three-car team in the future, which, given the current cost-cutting moves, doesn't really seem feasible. He's also alluded to potential friction between his other two drivers, observing that Alonso and Massa both know that, 'they drive for Ferrari, not for themselves'!

Fantastic Race! Best of the season!

Justin: If my fellow blogger missed this race through the crapness of TV people and Virgin broadband, then he missed an absolute corker, the best of the season in my opinion.

I have no idea how to even begin to cover what happened, but let's start with a man close to my heart, Fernando Alonso. I actually emailed the f1 forum on the red button after the race and asked:

"Do you think alonso taking massa in the pit entrance is going to cause issues? Im a alonso fan and see it as alonso saying "have that" after being held up by massa in a couple of the previous races?"

Incidentally, whilst the question wasn't answered, I have made it my quest to get one email answered live on air before the season is done.

It was a cheeky move, but one quite possibly born out of frustration of having a slower team mate - he thought "I dont want to pit behind him, so have that Massa!". There wasnt much comment made on it, as the big uproar and analysis was about the Vettel Vs Hamilton pit incident, but at the time Ted Kravitz reported from the Ferrari garage saying that Massa wasnt happy at all. The way I see it though, thats the difference between a world champion and a world chump. Besides, Lewis did the same to Vettel anyway. All four were called to the stewards after the race - we await to see what punishments are handed out, if any at all.

What an action packed race! I got rather excited when Alonso made a clean start, then realised he jumped it a mile and pondered what would happen to him.

When the rain comes the Red Bull's just arent as dominant at all. It was literally hard to keep up with what the smeg was going on during this race. Pit stops and rain aplenty! Plenty of overtaking too...a real fantastic ding dong battle between Lewis and Shumi went on for a few laps.

I'll leave my esteemed colleague to pick driver of the day, but in case he didnt see the race, he has plenty to pick from. The two Renault guys deserve a mention too, driving pretty smoothly through all the chaos.

Shumi was interviewed just after the race and he seemed pretty down about his whole weekend. We were discussing him before the race in China and once again Nico Rosberg out qualified him by nearly a second before finishing a fine third (to take second in the title race) to Shumi's tenth.

Very interesting seeing Norbert Haug (spelling correct?) trying to defend Shumi to everyone after in the F1 forum. Martin Brundle started saying "I dont want to lay into Michael because I have enourmous respect for him and his abilities...BUT...." then proceeded to say what a rubbish weekend it had been. Old Norbert almost looked embaressed. Will be interesting to see where the Shumi comeback express goes next as right now its destination nowheresville.

Everyone knows I love Alonso, but even my esteemed co-blogger will probably admit whilst the heavens were on his side (a 70 second gap to Button becoming a 12 second gap in the safety car period), Alonso still had to drive his ass off to grab 4th. Could be a valuable drive come the end of the year.

You may be surprised that as yet I have not mentioned Button at all. Thinking about it, he has to be driver of the day frankly. Serene, calm, out front, beautiful, called the tyres perfectly....As Martin Brundle said, Jenson is the best guy out there at finding good grip in dampening conditions with slick tyres. He seems to be able to read the track conditions so well too.

So, anyone who thought Jenson going to McClaren was a bad idea, thats Jenson 2 - Lewis 0 on race wins this year. I'd imagine Jenson is rather getting used to the view from the top by now. 60 points, over Rosberg on 50, with Alonso and Lewis both on 49.

On to Barcelona in 3 weeks time.

Skiver of the day, note to my colleague...surely thats EJ who didnt even turn up :-).