sofaF1

He should have been on pole, he should have won the race, and he should have over-taken Alonso. I'm not certain, but I think Michael just lost the championship. If he can't overtake Alonso in a faster car on a track designed for over-taking, with his team-mate 10 seconds off in the distance, then something's wrong. Perhaps he just doesn't like the track, but World Champions can't afford to not like tracks. They must be great everywhere. I'm not exactly sure what this post is about other than Michael caught onto the back of Alonso with about 15 laps to go, and I think it's very significant that he couldn't get past: Alonso drove amazingly, and Michael poorly.

The holiday is over and this weekend it starts getting interesting again.

In the last few races before rain affected Hungary Ferrari were in the ascendancy and Renault were having trouble even staying in front of McLaren.

But everyone at Renault seems to think they turned the corner at Hungary but it's difficult to tell objectively because of the rain and also because the biggest factor in Ferrari's recent performance improvement was tires and because of the rain we didn't get any more information on that.

Last year Turkey pulled out a fantastic race for us and we've got to be hoping for more of the same. But last year saw Michael under performing he hasn't won here or in China. And some commentators have said that Michael drove worse last year than he should have done even allowing for his car. But with his car causing him so many troubles last year it's very difficult to tell.

So are Renault returning to form at the same time as Michael hits a track he doesn't like? Or was Hungary a blip and without the mass dampners in the dry the Renault is compromised and Michael doesn't have bogey circuits?

There's another complicated issue a bit further back in the shape of rookie Robert Kubica. He almost scored a point at the end of his first race but it was stripped from him because his car was under weight. So how fast was he? The answer was almost certainly mega. Because he was only marginally under weight and that happened right on the last few laps when he wasn't being caught anyway. And it was his first time of driving a formula one car in the wet. So should we expect great things from him this weekend? Well perhaps but it will be his first time driving a car anti clockwise.

And what about Jenson? Will his win last time change his fortune? Well I have a sneaking suspicion that Honda targeted this track as their spot for Jenson's first win. So something special could happen.

Sebastian Vettel: just signed to drive BMW's third car on Fridays.

Johnny Borrell: his band Razorlight headlined V Festival last weekend.

So what would you do if you were Frank Williams?We've already had the answer from Eddie Jordan and it's pretty clear cut in his opinion: sell to Toyota. He suggests to Frank that he should sell Williams to Toyota over five years. So that there will be a cash injection to to team each year. So Frank gets a chance to set things right and then hand over the reigns.

A deal like this would only work if Toyota were guaranteed to get the team but the amount they have to pay to Frank is based on the teams position in the constructor's championship. That way Frank wouldn't be able to relax under the deal.

But is Frank ready for a deal? People point to Williams winning ways of the past. The fact that they haven't been winning for a while. And these things are hard to deny but look at the prospects for next year. First Nico looses his rookie status and grows up a bit as he becomes Williams number one driver. Two the management aren't constantly trying to work out which engine they're going to have in the future. They have a secure multi engine deal with a supplier of good engines. Third they have a test driver. The promotion of Alex Wurtz seems like a backwards step. Like they aren't going to be moving forward next year. But actually everyone has been saying about this years car is that it's fast but tragically unreliable. So I think they might have played a very clever move with Alex. He has the continuity for the team. He has the consistency on track. And he's supposedly one of the best testers there is for feedback. So why not give him the most mileage they can?

I'm not saying that their worries are over or that they won't someday become Lexus F1 but I think the most important factor will be that Frank would want to be the last private team to quit not the second last. While McClaren are still going he won't want to sell.

In a new show on Sky One, Formula One stars David Coulthard and Eddie Irvine will captain the teams in The Race, hosted by Denise Van Outen.

for more details: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4797463.stm

So, with five races to go, and 10 points between Schumacher and Alonso, it's time to lay your cards on the table, step up to the plate, and take the bit between your teeth:

Who do you think will win the driver's championship?

Who do you think will win the constructor's championship?

And who do you want to win the driver's and constructor's championships?

From a really interesting interview with former Jenson Button-alike Derek Warwick: itv interview at the end there is a bit comparing the current drivers which I've clipped from the long interview.



ITV-F1.com: How do you rate today’s top drivers?

DW: Michael Schumacher was head and shoulders above all of them up until two years ago, and then Kimi and Alonso made a big jump on him.

I still think that Michael doesn’t get half the credit he deserves – 89 grand prix wins, seven-time world champion, 68 pole positions. Sure, we can all say that he controlled the team, but who else would you have put in there?

Barrichello was quick, Irvine was quick; they got the 50,000 laps that everybody else got. But even when they got the opportunity, which Irvine did the year Michael broke his leg here [1999], he still didn’t do it – Michael came back at the end of that year for the last two or three races and blew Irvine away.

And that’s not by accident, that’s because the guy is special. But, Kimi and Alonso have for sure made inroads on that, and they are the new breed.

I think that after them, there’s a massive drop. I’m the biggest Jenson Button fan out there, I mean I almost cried when he won last weekend – but he still hasn’t got the commitment, and the people around him, to make him the great driver he could be. I believe he could be one of the greatest drivers out there.


ITV-F1.com: Is that based on his driving style?

DW: Yeah. How he drives the car, the way he handles the press, his whole thing is very professional I think and very good.

People raved about Montoya, but I think he’s just an over-eager South American – with arguably the greatest talent in Formula 1.


I think he was arguably the greatest driver in Formula 1, but he doesn’t do the rest of it. He doesn’t do the testing, he doesn’t know how to test, he breaks cars, he spins off, he makes mistakes.

The way I always analyse the great drivers, like Mansell, Prost, Senna, Alonso, Kimi, Schumacher – all those guys – is that they use 95 per cent of their ability to drive the car at 110 per cent, so they’ve got five per cent always left to think about how to set up the car, what the tyres are doing, what’s happening to the track, what’s happening around them.

People like Jean Alesi, Montoya, they use 99.9 per cent of their ability to drive the car at 110 per cent, so they’ve only got 0.01 per cent to absorb – so if you throw two things at them, they crash.

And it’s as simple as that. Sure they’re quick, and you can say what you like about them, but they’re still not the greats. The greats are the three guys that are out there at the moment.

In a shock move revealed last night by an undercover Swiss journalist, Michael Schumacher is to leave Ferrari with immediate effect in order to join Chelsea football club in time for the new season.

'I've always loved football' the 7 times champion said in an interview to a sofaf1 reporter this afternoon, 'I feel I've achieved everything I wanted in motorsport, now I'm moving on to something else'.

When pressed about the deal offered to him by Chelsea, the German was shy: 'It's not about the money. I own a small country in Southeast Asia. I don't need money. Corinna was getting worried about the risk of driving, and I wanted a new challenge'.

Rumours had been circling for a while that Schumacher, who broke his legs in an accident at Silverstone in 1999, has been thinking about a career change. No one, however, suspected this. With five races left to go, it effectvely hands the championship to Alonso unless Ralf changes his name and takes up Michael's seat in the Ferrari.

The news comes not long after Montoya's decision to move to Nascar, and shortly before the inevitable announcement of Coulthard's switch to Russian ballet. It seems something is rotten in the state of Forumla 1, and all the drivers are leaving to eat their apples elsewhere.

I've been quite annoyed by commentators saying how Sunday's race hasn't affected the championship battle much, if at all. Can't they see that no affect is an affect? Even if Schumacher hadn't got that point, the battle still would have been affected. Now there are only five races left, as opposed to six. Schumacher really does have to come first every single time and he'll only just win by virtue of having won more races, with their points tied. It's all pretty exciting, if you ask me. I'm sure someone must know the name of the theory, or the scientist who discovered it: nothing happening is still something having not happened.

After seeing Nick's post about hating the ITV F1 intro sequence I had an idea. I thought I would make a new one. One that I would like to see. I didn't use the music he suggested but instead used the music I wanted to see. I hope you enjoy it:



If you're thinking that Nick's post in April is a long time ago to be responding now then I can only say to you, it took a minute or two to make this.

In the light of the articles that have already reached sofaF1 this might seem out of date now seeing as how I was unable to post this when I wrote it! But here we go anyway!


I didn't see the Hungarian Grand Prix live due to a social engagement, but I did know it was wet. When I saw the race result on Sunday evening proclaiming Jenson Button the winner I must confess I did think it must have been the ultimate race of attrition with Button the only driver left.

Even watching the race on Monday morning, knowing Button had won, I was trying to work out what events would take place to get him to the chequered flag first.

Button did well at the start moving from 14th to 11th by then end of the first lap and then up to 8th in the third lap.
Schumacher however, on the wet Bridgestones rocketed from 11th to 4th on the first lap, pretty much removing his starting position disadvantage immediately. Alonso too made up a huge chunk, not as quickly as Schumacher but progressing from 15th to 1st as the race unfolded.

I am pleased Alonso did well here in this stage of the race. It is easy to start doubting whether a great driver has still got it, especially when outside factors like tyres and mass damper systems etc seem to have had such a dramatic effect on performance recently.

Alonso though, showed that in the rain (the great leveller in my book) he still could make the difference.

Commentator A was obviously excited by Button more than usual this weekend as Button was closing Alonso down, but I think I would still have favoured Alonso for the win. Renault strategy was looking good and Alonso probably had plenty of motivation to take maximum points this weekend.

Sadly for Alonso it wasn't to be, good for the championship though!

It would have been good to see a straight fight between Alonso and Button, especially as Honda had done such a good job with the pit stops and strategy too.

Sadly for us that wasn't to be either with Alonso gifting the lead (This was just my perception in the race as Button still had to stop again!) to Button as his Renault suffered a rare mechanical failure.

But as the legend himself used to say "To finish first, first you have to finish" and Button had put in a very good drive (both in qualifying and the race) to get him into 2nd close behind Alonso, and consequently reap the rewards when Alonso ground to a halt.

It might have been better to see Button fight it out with Alonso and take the victory but a win is a win and to finish 40 seconds ahead is a good job well done.

I wonder if the rumour of Ross leaving Ferrari is a sign of something else a sign that Michael has privately committed to formula one next year but only if Ross stays. This would give Ross a very strong bargaining position one he might not be able to resist. So perhaps he's just floating these rumours himself?

So after Kubica was disqualified Michael, despite retiring three laps from the end, gains a world championship point on Alonso. This, of course, could be the point that wins the championship, or it could not - we'll know in two months time. Does he really deserve it? Yes and no.

He drove amazingly with an underperforming car - just look at how far Massa went back for a comparison. However, he drove far too aggressively towards the end. I was watching the times at the time, and if he had pitted when De la Rosa was behind him he could have rejoined either in front of, or just behind, Heidfeld, with plenty of laps left to try and overtake him, and maybe get to De la Rosa. Either way, it was a guaranteed 5 points. The other thing he could have done, of course, was let De la Rosa by: Heidfeld was at least 11 seconds behind and even if he caught Michael at 2 seconds a lap, he would have only just got to him by the last lap, and probably not been able to make a pass. Either way, again, you leave with at least 5 points. Better than nothing, and better than one.

...Sadly I was unable to watch the race live this weekend.

And at the end of this race for reasons best known to the machine I was watching on, I was unable to see anything after the bit that the anthems finished. The main thing I wanted to know was who was on the podium from Honda with Jenson. I didn't know who it was, and was interested. Also I was intrested to know how the podium celebrations actually went. If any of you were happy to describe it then I would be very happy to find out.

James, known for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time has - in the middle of an article that basically says that the main reason that Jenson won was because Alonso retired which is odd because Alonso was behind him he - says this:

"And if so, just as Damon Hill was able to rack up 20 wins for Williams, Jenson, who is far more talented than Damon, can do the same."

Interesting isn't it, that Damon Hill who won 20 races is less talented all of a suddent than Jenson. That I don't think will go down very well. If you want to read the quote in context then it's here

A match made in heaven?

Webber has always seemed like an old head on young shoulders. So the combo should be very interesting. I think they will probably get on really well and bring the team forward a long way, which will certainly help the junior team.

Mark might think that he's joining the next Ferrari or Toyota and joining at the right moment to get a team built around him. And with the team that they have there he might be right. But can it work untested like that? I suppose for Mark it has to be the situation that he had been in "new and interesting" with Ford and Jaguar and it didn't work out but it was moving, and then he went to "tried and tested" with Williams and it didn't work. But now he's back where he started. Red Bull is the successor of Jaguar, and a large section of the team is the same. And armed with that info it is - perhaps - less surprising than it seems. To me he never fell out of love with that team and always wanted to finish what he had started. And now with the real backing and resources that they have. And Adrian Newey designing the car. Next year should be really interesting for the team.

Do we think he'll have a drive next year?

People seem to seem to be suggesting that it will be Mark Webber and David Couthard at Red Bull. In fact Red Bull seems to be the place to be next year. I, myself, would like to see David and Jaques at Red Bull in a kind of older driver collective.

I think they'd be pretty good at making sure that the junior team would be moving forward.

I'm interested to know. I'd really like to see everyone post on this, I'll do it too. But I'd like all posts to end with a sentence which starts with either, "I think Anthony Davidson is a better commentator than racer because" or "I think Anthony Davidson is a better racer than comentator because". I'd be very interested to hear your views.

*The White Stripes - The hardest button to button

This race had everything, it even had James Allen refer to a certain Ex-Formula 1 driver as "Juan Pablo Montoya" (eight laps from the end, or lap 62 for all those sensible people who prefer things the right way round).

I seem to remember that the most rain affected season in recent years was the fantastic 2003 season where it went down to the last race of the season and Martin Brundle said several times during that season that all that Bernie Ecclestone needed to do was hire a set of sprinklers to spice things up a bit. Of course it is the unexpectedness of the rain that is important and the fact it had a) never rained before in Hungary, b) had been expected to be a very warm race not a cold race and that c) we hadn't seen a wet race between Michelin and Bridgestone since Michelin had been really embarrassed a few years ago that were the decisive figures in making this a race to remember.

Breaking the law

A rule that needs to be changed in Formula 1 was shown a bit of lime light during this race. It's been clear to see that the 10 place engine penalty was unfair to the drivers, but never more than in this race when Jenson had a worse penalty than either Michael or Alonso despite the fact that he only had a mechanical failure but Michael and Alonso effectively got yellow cards for dangerous driving. It is monstrously unfair that if you get a time based penalty for dangerous driving you are allowed to act as though you got that slow time fair and square and fuel to whatever level you want. Whereas Jenson had to stay with his qualifying fuel. Somebody needs to address this for future races. I can't help but feel that if this situation had resulted in Jenson not winning at the end of this race then pressure would have been put on the FIA to make a change to the rules, but it having gone this way it's hard to see it happening.

Just lucky? Or breaking Ducky?

The most important thing about the race is that although Alonso, Kimi and Michael fell off the race track thus practically gifting the race to somebody new. Alonso and Michael were actually behind Jenson when their car died (and Kimi fell off early enough for things to be really unclear about his real pace) and not just because they had been slowing for a while he was legitimately ahead when they fell off of the track.

Do we suddenly forget our previous complaints about Jenson? Of course not. But two things are vitally important about the future which if mis-construed could sound in another sport like glory supporting.

The psychological importance of having one win is massive in Formula 1 - it is different than in other sports where you would be really surprised to find a team who had never won in a season. Jenson hasn't won a race for six years. In the week just gone Jenson had been on Top Gear and had done less well as the Pro driver in the reasonable car than either the retired Damon Hill or Nigel Mansell (he beat Mark Webber but Mark had been in the wet) - see separate post in next few days. And one could have easily felt that this was yet another sign that he was never going to achieve greatness. And he may never of course. But the important thing is that all of the failure, all of the pain, all of the upset and all of the crap that goes with being an almost-ran in Formula 1 can truly be washed away with one win. It can change the way that you go into every race for the rest of your career.

And the second factor is that you could really see that Honda won this race due to one factor than any other. They won it because they kept their heads. They worked like a team properly for the first time I've ever noticed. They really seemed together on the way. And I think they'd have taken positive lessons from this race even if Jenson's car had fallen off the track with two laps to go. The fact that Jenson won will shape the way that they go racing for a while.

I am not, by any means, suggesting that this automatically means that Jenson will win any more races in his career or that our fundamental criticisms of him are done away with, but a win in surprising circumstances - especially when there is a justified way of saying that the win was his and not through others loss can change a driver and a team forever. I'm not saying it will - but it might.

What next now no hex?

Perhaps the most interesting thing for Jenson's career is that they had been expecting great things from themselves at the next race in Turkey (which is three weeks away) but had never mentioned Hungary. So they have just won the race before the one that they had been targeting all season and a race that Jenson really enjoyed last year. So perhaps we will see them doing well again next race too. Two in a row would go a very long way to suggesting a step change in the team rather than one off. But haven't Honda been good at the ends of seasons before when it was almost too late to matter? I seem to remember it, but I'm not sure.

Disappointments, I've had a few

In fact I'd go as far as to say the only disappointing thing of the whole race was the Japanese national anthem. It seemed particularly dreary and with a likelihood that both Honda and Toyota will be winning races in the next few years maybe we should start a petition now to see it changed. Presumably those of us here who watch Moto GP are used to it by now, but for me I was startled.

Actually no, there was one more thing. Was there ever a debut win in Formula 1 where the winning driver got less tv coverage? There seemed to be a huge bias towards Pedro de la Rosa (which actually carried on into the press conference) and we missed much of the live action and for once it wasn't just because we'd cut away to the adverts.

Actually I'll add the lack of Martin Brundle. I'd have been very interested to hear what he said, but I will make a separate post about this. But fair to say it was very exciting to hear Anthony Davidson so excited for his friend. And the fact that it was clearly such a natural affection and not just marketing was very refreshing.

Knocking off the German's hat

In the end what will Jenson buttons first win be remembered for? Will it be the watershed moment when a great formula one driver's career really started or will it be a stat flashed up on the bottom of the screen when Jenson becomes a pundit? Or both? We can't really know now. All we do know for certain is that that bit of nationalist pride in seeing a British Formula One driver win, which some people have, can not have helped but be enhanced by seeing the winning British driver knocking off the hat of the German runner up during the British national anthem. This was definitely a race people will remember, by the context in which it is remembered is, as yet, to be decided.

With the driver market hotting up we're bound to be in for an interesting weekend of Formula 1 politics but what of the race itself? What will that bring?

What happened last race with Renault is difficult to know. It seems now that their form fade was down to four factors.

1) The mass dampner system certainly will have played a factor but it's hard to know how much. Especially as everyone else had to take theirs off too. We are led to believe that Renault were better hooked up with the system than Ferrari but how much of a difference does it really make? The easiest comparison would be to use McClaren who didn't have the dampner. They clearly improved relative to Renault and also to Ferrari. But if you can follow this logic with me: Renault went backwards more than McClaren went forwards against Ferrari and presuming that using the system well isn't worth twice as much as using it badly (which I think is reasonable) then there was probably something else going on as well.

2) The blistering tires. After the drop of in Michelan tires in France Renault were desperate to find something new. And Michelan were likewise desperate to prove that they haven't stopped working because they aren't going to be in the championship next year (actually this claim really doesn't wash because Michelan have known full well that they aren't going to be continuing next season since last season). In testing before Germany they found a new tire compound and rushed it into production just in time but clearly the tire didn't do exactly what they had wanted. It blistered and had lots of trouble in the suprising heat. McClaren on the other Michelan had no such trouble.

3) The new rear end aero package was the real problem for the Renault. We know this now because Renault have not said that they are going to be tweaking it while they try and sort it out. No they are actually going to just junk it and go back to the old one. How it affected the tires we don't know. But I wonder about this because the whole week of testing was also very hot so the tire choice must have been made in similar conditions. Also we know that in testing you have to be scientific. You need to take a car with a baseline speed that you are sure about and then just change one thing and see what that does. If you change two then you won't know which one caused the change. And with a limited amount of testing mid season and a limited amount of new design tires it's possible that it was the combination that was slow not either of the components. It's possible that they didn't work well together.

4) The last but by no means least point is the mental state of Alonso. His overreaction to Michael's pit stop is a sign that Michael really is starting to get to him. He needs to be able to concentrate if he's going to stem the onslaught. Michael's after him and he better sort his mind out. In Formula 1 the most important square foot of the race isn't on the track it's between the drivers ears. And with Alonso unable to beat Fisi he's certainly got some thinking to do.

So where does that lead us? Well out of the four things two have been solved already. They won't use those tires or that rear end again and they we don't really know how important the dampner was to them. So other than getting Alonso laid or sorting him out some other way they might not be in such bad shape.

But with all of the upheaval and no time you'd have to be pretty brave to suggest they'd be faster than the Ferrari this weekend.

Michael is on fire at the moment and Massa has never driven better. There are definate signs of him being held back for the greater good of Ferrari.

As for the signs that the mass dampner is important it's worth noting that the two teams who improved the most were Honda and McClaren. Two teams that didn't have it in the first place. Kimi's bad luck continued apace with a refueling error, a tire change error, hydraulics failure and a faulty gear box. The fact he was still faster than Pedro probably says something about Pedro as well as it does Kimi. The McClaren is fast again but it's still not reliable. Honda are faster again too but there's that reliability gremlin again. Rubens hasn't even got to the end of a race for a while (after having one of the most successful reliability records at the begining of the season).

Toyota and BMW are keeping everyone nice and honest at the front. With Toyota just ahead and more reliable than Honda.

* I'm I'm sure there's a joke about eastern european countries in here somewhere

According to the Guardian this morning Ross Brawn is set to retire. Surely though, if Ross retires then so will Michael?

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/formulaone/story/0,,1835952,00.html

Or would it mean that Kimi and Michael would have more even chances rather than it all just being about Michaels race chances.

I think Renault have bought Webber out of his contract with Williams, because they now know that Kimi is going to go to Ferrari and not them...

Why else would Williams give up Webber for Wurtz? Much as he's a nice guy he didn't even get picked by McClaren for the role when Montoya left. He's was so obviously out on his ear that he must have been dead cheap, but even so. I think they had effectively already budgeted for Webber (he had one more year on his contract) and there's no way he's been underperforming.

Webber is contracted to Flav. So I think it's a lock on the whole driver Market.

Ferrari: Michael + Kimi
McClaren: Alonso + Paffet
Renault: Fisi + Webber
Red Bull: Coulthard + Massa (With Ferrari engines he'll go here)
BMW: Kubica + Heidfeld
Toyota: Ralf + Trulli
Williams: Rosberg + Wurtz
Honda: Rubens + Jenson

By the way I think Paffet will edge it because of the question of experience

I was most surprised to hear they've replaced Villeneuve for Hungary, and possibly longer. And, I do think it was a replacement: Jacques was fine after his crash, and now he's suddenly injured? For a driver struggling to get a seat for next year, you don't want to give up any chances to prove yourself, no matter how injured. And what race is it? The one possibly nearest to Kubica's Poland? And the next? Turkey? This seems all too suspiciously neat for BMW. Jacques needs to remain focused and not say anything remotely bitter, otherwise people will start to say he's gone back to his old moaning self, and then he'll never get a drive.

So, following on from our 'that special something' thread, is Kubica going to cut it? The problem for him is that Hungary is a very, very hard track to do much with.

With Jaques not racing this weekend. I start to worry again about the loss of characters in Formula 1. It's a worry that seems to come around again every time a particular character leaves (or is forced out of the sport). And it does seem to be happening - Jaques, Juan Pablo, Irvine, Stoddard and Jordan have all gone or seem to be on the way out.

But there really are new characters around we just need to get to see them. Scott Speed and Sato immediately spring to mind from the new crop. Also there is more to come. I expect a lot of new drivers coming through.

There is a code that James uses to describe the local race fans. When in Germany or Italy he will start up his commentary by talking about the weather and then describing the fans as passionate. Whereas here in the UK and in the US we are always knowledgeable. Other countries fall in to one or other camp. Some are neither seemingly but nowhere is both. This has always annoyed me because I like to think of myself as knowledgeable and passionate about Formula 1 and I bet lots of German, Italian and American fans do too.

But having been to Italy and watch the grand prix on television there I think what James is saying may be code for something else. In Italy they watch Formula 1 like champions league football. You support any teams from your country in the league even if you hate them when you play against them at home.

What I mean is this, although everyone knows that Italy loves Ferrari they supported Renault last year because Ferrari couldn't cut it and at least an Italian is in charge at Renault and Fisi races there too.

This position of bias might be explained by a number of things but I think I know the answer. This is the complete list of people who were interviewed on tv during the race, the sporting director of Ferrari whose name I can never remember, Massa, Fisi, Flav and Trulli (and one more I'm going to hold back a bit).

The difference between that line up and one for race day in the UK is massive. Here we would have spoken to at least one representive of every team but there? They mentioned McClaren only to say that Montoya left and that Pedro had not done too badly. I'm not even sure they mentioned Kimi.

All of the people that they interviewed were Italian or worked for an Italian team and if that doesn't make you feel a bit biased then I don't know what will.

Actually it's not quite true because the one I held back was Rubens. He's not Italian or racing for an Italian team but he is fluent in Italian as is Massa. In fact there was no English the entire race. If you couldn't speak Italian then you weren't getting on tv. And I'd bet the same thing happens in Germany but probably nowhere else. They must be the only countries where there is enough of a wealth of speakers to make your program interesting.

The interesting read across is for what this means for the driver market. Did Honda choose Rubens for his driving or to balance up the italian press with arch rivals Toyota having Trulli?

Actually Rubens must be a really good catch for a formula one team as I think he even speaks German.

The lap counter graphic is something that I have recently realised has actually been on my mind for a while, if that makes sense.

It could be that my brian is bruxxed but I find the lap counter quite confusing to the point where I don't take much notice of it anymore.

The lap counter counting the number of laps to go makes sense to me on the first lap or the last lap, when I say to myself "ah … that’s how it works!" but any laps in between I can't make up my mind what lap the cars are actually on.

If the lap counter says 57/65, "That means 57 laps to go fool!" I hear you say, but then I always seem to go off on a magical thought train tour debating whether it is 57 complete laps to go or 57 including the one they are part way though.

I should be able to work out which way it works and then remember and not have a problem any more, but for some reason every race revisits the same issues for me.

Now, it is quite useful to know how many laps there are to go especially if someone is flying towards the end of the race and you want to work out if they can catch the person in front before the chequered flag or something and is used in the race commentary accordingly, but I would suggest that most commentary usually refers to the lap that the cars are currently on (or will be) such as…

"Raikkonen in on lap 10" or "Alonso puts in his fastest lap on lap 24" or "Taking on enough fuel to get him to lap 49" or "Incident on lap 14 involving …etc etc etc"

This has been bought to the forefront of my mind recently with things like British Superbikes and Touring Car coverage following the Grand Prix programme. On both of these events the lap counters have counted up, starting from 1/16 or whatever when the cars or bikes are on lap 1 and showing 4/16 when on lap 4 with 3 laps completed. This seems to make much more sense (to me) partly because

a) I can place the cars in the race quickly

b) Using the symbol "/" to me says "of" and although both "57 of 65 laps to go" and " on lap 4 of 16" are probably both correct I would suggest the latter was more intuitive

c) Suprisingly given my previous admission of mental confusion, I can easily work out how many laps are still to go.

I think if I know quickly where the cars are in the race, I've got a fixed starting point for any lap calculations either forward or back in the race. The problem I have with the counters counting down, it takes me so long to work out what lap the cars are on that it has changed by the time I work it out even if I got it right!