Thursday, August 28, 2008
McLari
How is it that McLaren and Ferrari are so closely matched in pace? We now realise that Hockenheim was the exception rather than the norm. McLaren and Hamilton are not going to run away with the title. That dominance must have been particular to the track and the conditions on the day. The two teams are neck and neck. This weekend, all that separated Massa and Hamilton (besides Lewis' illness) was a couple of tenths a lap - and this can probably be accounted for by the extra fuel he carried. Hence Ron Dennis saying 'we lost the race in qualifying'.
But remember last year McLaren were told to remove any elements on their car that may have been copied from or influenced by last year's Ferrari design? How well was this process monitored? Despite such apparent initial divergence, the cars are extremely close on pace again. In certain conditions, or on certain tracks, one of the other will have the advantage. The difference that there is, then, which will decide the championship, and which surely we should be celebrating, is made by the driver alone. Surprisingly it is Massa, not Raikkonen, achieving this at Ferrari so far.
But remember last year McLaren were told to remove any elements on their car that may have been copied from or influenced by last year's Ferrari design? How well was this process monitored? Despite such apparent initial divergence, the cars are extremely close on pace again. In certain conditions, or on certain tracks, one of the other will have the advantage. The difference that there is, then, which will decide the championship, and which surely we should be celebrating, is made by the driver alone. Surprisingly it is Massa, not Raikkonen, achieving this at Ferrari so far.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
A bit of a side line
The excellent Formula 1 podcast Sidepodcast very kindly had me on to talk about the European Grand prix this weekend. I was able to talk about the controversial penalty for Massa, the traffic light system for Ferrari and whether Valencia really did live up to the hype or not.
One listener commented*:
So there you have it! A future in broadcasting becons. I shall quit my job and go and travel the world talking about Formula 1 on podcasts. Or perhaps not.
Episode 74 - You’re Not Supposed to be Here, I Haven’t Changed Alonso
*The recording of the show was broadcast live on the internet here: You Know We’re Going to Talk About It. This is how I was able to read the comments that people were making live. The second video is the unedited on that I'm in.
One listener commented*:
Your guest on the phone, Alex, really seems to know his stuff... this is much better than hearing what Mark Blundel fort on the ITV program, lol
So there you have it! A future in broadcasting becons. I shall quit my job and go and travel the world talking about Formula 1 on podcasts. Or perhaps not.
Episode 74 - You’re Not Supposed to be Here, I Haven’t Changed Alonso
*The recording of the show was broadcast live on the internet here: You Know We’re Going to Talk About It. This is how I was able to read the comments that people were making live. The second video is the unedited on that I'm in.
Friday, August 22, 2008
European Pole Poll
So after a seemingly endless break we are back with a brand new circuit. There have been a few races testing the circuit but we really are venturing into the unknown with this one.
Because Valencia is a street circuit and near the water people have been thinking of Monaco but that's probably wrong. It's more like the old Long Beach circuit as it has several decent straights and 23 corners! For a modern comparator I saw somebody say "Canada with walls".
Of the 23 corners Charlie Whiting reckons that three of them will be overtaking opportunities. That's actually quite a lot for F1. Let's hope he's right. He's been keeping himself busy on the break testing the underwater marshals! Because there is a danger a car could go in the water in the Bridge section the FIA have been testing how they would rescue somebody in that situation. Let's hope it doesn't happen, but if it could I'm glad they've been practicing.
The race should look spectacular to us but to the drivers it might look a bit boring because they will be looking at a lot of concrete at the drivers level. Expect James Allen to get very confused at some point - the only difference this weekend is that we'll probably be just as confused.
So what about the race? The track looks to work better on the hard tyres which may well favour the McLarens. And if you were going to pick one driver out of them all who seems to learn circuits the fastest you would have to say it was Lewis Hamilton. He looks the man to beat this weekend. I'm sure the Alonso fans for whome this circuit was built will be thrilled.
Because Valencia is a street circuit and near the water people have been thinking of Monaco but that's probably wrong. It's more like the old Long Beach circuit as it has several decent straights and 23 corners! For a modern comparator I saw somebody say "Canada with walls".
Of the 23 corners Charlie Whiting reckons that three of them will be overtaking opportunities. That's actually quite a lot for F1. Let's hope he's right. He's been keeping himself busy on the break testing the underwater marshals! Because there is a danger a car could go in the water in the Bridge section the FIA have been testing how they would rescue somebody in that situation. Let's hope it doesn't happen, but if it could I'm glad they've been practicing.
The race should look spectacular to us but to the drivers it might look a bit boring because they will be looking at a lot of concrete at the drivers level. Expect James Allen to get very confused at some point - the only difference this weekend is that we'll probably be just as confused.
So what about the race? The track looks to work better on the hard tyres which may well favour the McLarens. And if you were going to pick one driver out of them all who seems to learn circuits the fastest you would have to say it was Lewis Hamilton. He looks the man to beat this weekend. I'm sure the Alonso fans for whome this circuit was built will be thrilled.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Sofa F1 Championship 2008 - Round 11 Hungary
Sorry for the slight delay in posting the results from Hungary, but at least it's kept the suspense going over the 3 week gap till Valencia!
I had most of this written a while ago I must confess, but got distracted by a bloke coming round to fix the roof, and never quite managed to finish it off, but anyway….
…who says stuff doesn't happen at Hungary unless it rains? Another great race in this thrilling season.
Everyone went for the Hamilton pole, two points all round. I wish there were points for second grid slot too. I could have done with some!
Due to the mixed up finishing order the points were all over the place. Nick and GrifF1 took two each for Raikkonen and Alex, Fourstar and myself one each. Alex and Fourstar both got two points for Alonso while Nick took one.
Kovalainen gave Nick one point. Webber gave Alex and myself a further one each. Kubica gave Igor and GrifF1 two points each.
Piquet's recent run of form gave Igor, GrifF1 and Nick a further point each and Nick mopped up with a final point for Trulli.
Round 11
1 Nick 8
2 GrifF1 7
3 Alex 6
4 Fourstar 5
4 Igor 5
6 Bearded Stew 4
Championship
1 Fourstar 72
2 Nick 71
3 Igor 58
4 Alex 56
5 GrifF1 52
6 Bearded Stew 50
Another topsy turvey race (the spell checker reckons that should have been tipsy turkey!) keeps the championship hanging in the balance. Hamilton was looking comfortable for the win but tyre problems again didn't make it easy for him. He did stay in there for a 5th place though to stay at the top of the championship table for another couple of weeks at least. Massa seemed to be on it from the word go, making a decisive move on the two McLarens like never before. He clearly had a good pace and no strategy problems until…. his engine cruelly blew up in the closing stages of the race. So Kovalainen lands a confidence boosting win, even if it was just because he was still there at the end. Good for him, great for the championship and great for us the viewers.
I had most of this written a while ago I must confess, but got distracted by a bloke coming round to fix the roof, and never quite managed to finish it off, but anyway….
…who says stuff doesn't happen at Hungary unless it rains? Another great race in this thrilling season.
Everyone went for the Hamilton pole, two points all round. I wish there were points for second grid slot too. I could have done with some!
Due to the mixed up finishing order the points were all over the place. Nick and GrifF1 took two each for Raikkonen and Alex, Fourstar and myself one each. Alex and Fourstar both got two points for Alonso while Nick took one.
Kovalainen gave Nick one point. Webber gave Alex and myself a further one each. Kubica gave Igor and GrifF1 two points each.
Piquet's recent run of form gave Igor, GrifF1 and Nick a further point each and Nick mopped up with a final point for Trulli.
Round 11
1 Nick 8
2 GrifF1 7
3 Alex 6
4 Fourstar 5
4 Igor 5
6 Bearded Stew 4
Championship
1 Fourstar 72
2 Nick 71
3 Igor 58
4 Alex 56
5 GrifF1 52
6 Bearded Stew 50
Another topsy turvey race (the spell checker reckons that should have been tipsy turkey!) keeps the championship hanging in the balance. Hamilton was looking comfortable for the win but tyre problems again didn't make it easy for him. He did stay in there for a 5th place though to stay at the top of the championship table for another couple of weeks at least. Massa seemed to be on it from the word go, making a decisive move on the two McLarens like never before. He clearly had a good pace and no strategy problems until…. his engine cruelly blew up in the closing stages of the race. So Kovalainen lands a confidence boosting win, even if it was just because he was still there at the end. Good for him, great for the championship and great for us the viewers.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Holiday Blues
With the formula one season on Hiatus we have to keep ourselves amused. To that end I think we should attempt to discover the driver's favourite songs.
Drivers can, of course, be from the past or present.
Some examples:
Michael row the boat ashore Schumacher
Abba's Fernando - Alonso
The Hardest Button to Button - The White Stripes (on the soft tires)
You get the idea. Like those, but actually funny (presumably not writing yours at six am might help).
Drivers can, of course, be from the past or present.
Some examples:
Michael row the boat ashore Schumacher
Abba's Fernando - Alonso
The Hardest Button to Button - The White Stripes (on the soft tires)
You get the idea. Like those, but actually funny (presumably not writing yours at six am might help).
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
New Aero Package
Although testing is not permitted during the current three week break, I understand that Renault is looking for a breakthrough in aerodynamic design. To reduce costs, power comes from a 1.4 litre turbo engine:
Friday, August 01, 2008
Hungarian Pole Poll
What to expect this weekend? The Hungaroring is hardly used by anyone other than F1 and this makes it very dusty on track at first.
The circuit is essentially like Monaco with run off areas and this tends to mean that there is almost no overtaking during the race. Perhaps this will change with the traction control ban? Hungary has had some pretty eventful races from time to time but only really when it rains. No wonder Martin Brundle doesn't show up. We will have Anthony Davidson during qualifying (I've double triple checked this time - this is a good thing as Ant is very knowledgeable) and for the race we will have Damon Hill (last year's performance was pretty poor, he really does need to sound slightly more interested).
One interesting problem in Hungary is the strategy call. Tyre degradation is high so you don't want to put as much fuel in. But on the other hand you can't overtake so you want to have a big boatload of fuel on board so you can outlast the people you are racing to the pitstops.
The latter is what the back half of the grid will be doing. They will be hoping that some of the faster drivers get stuck behind them too.
The front drivers have a compromise to make. Too much fuel and you won't be near the front of the grid in qualifying. Too light and you'll be making too many pitstops.
A tough balance. Lewis has looked mega in the last couple of races.
And looks pretty good this weekend too. McLaren are spending money on car developments like it's going out of fashion. And he seems to have his head in a much better place. And the McLaren ran really well at Monaco and that's the best indicator for this track. The only fly in the ointment is the issue of tyre degradation. The silver cars always seem to use up their rubber faster than the rest. This could be a problem. McLaren, I'm sure, would just like to get through the qualifying without their teammates declaring war on each other.
Ferrari have their anvil wing in place this weekend showing they aren't stopping the development program either. Ferrari do look a bit lost at the moment. But Kimi is usually one of the best at qualifying on heavy fuel loads.
Behind them Kubica, Webber, Trulli and Vettel seem to be either out driving their cars or at least taking apart their team mates. That Webber / Vettel partnership for next year looks pretty potent.
Let us know what your predictions for the race weekend are. Who will be on pole? Who will score points (top eight)? And perhaps we should all go for a crazy prediction?
The circuit is essentially like Monaco with run off areas and this tends to mean that there is almost no overtaking during the race. Perhaps this will change with the traction control ban? Hungary has had some pretty eventful races from time to time but only really when it rains. No wonder Martin Brundle doesn't show up. We will have Anthony Davidson during qualifying (I've double triple checked this time - this is a good thing as Ant is very knowledgeable) and for the race we will have Damon Hill (last year's performance was pretty poor, he really does need to sound slightly more interested).
One interesting problem in Hungary is the strategy call. Tyre degradation is high so you don't want to put as much fuel in. But on the other hand you can't overtake so you want to have a big boatload of fuel on board so you can outlast the people you are racing to the pitstops.
The latter is what the back half of the grid will be doing. They will be hoping that some of the faster drivers get stuck behind them too.
The front drivers have a compromise to make. Too much fuel and you won't be near the front of the grid in qualifying. Too light and you'll be making too many pitstops.
A tough balance. Lewis has looked mega in the last couple of races.
And looks pretty good this weekend too. McLaren are spending money on car developments like it's going out of fashion. And he seems to have his head in a much better place. And the McLaren ran really well at Monaco and that's the best indicator for this track. The only fly in the ointment is the issue of tyre degradation. The silver cars always seem to use up their rubber faster than the rest. This could be a problem. McLaren, I'm sure, would just like to get through the qualifying without their teammates declaring war on each other.
Ferrari have their anvil wing in place this weekend showing they aren't stopping the development program either. Ferrari do look a bit lost at the moment. But Kimi is usually one of the best at qualifying on heavy fuel loads.
Behind them Kubica, Webber, Trulli and Vettel seem to be either out driving their cars or at least taking apart their team mates. That Webber / Vettel partnership for next year looks pretty potent.
Let us know what your predictions for the race weekend are. Who will be on pole? Who will score points (top eight)? And perhaps we should all go for a crazy prediction?
