Fun F1

It seems not a year goes by where there isn’t an issue with the red light at the end of the pit lane during the Canadian Grand Prix. As a result, we’ve got a very interesting Formula One World Championship now…

Robert Kubica - A well deserved win, even with a bit of luck thanks to Lewis Hamilton. You have to give it to Kubica - he’s always there at the front this year. It’s ironic that in Canada last year he had his darkest moment and now he has his brightest. Very happy for the Pole!

Nick Heidfeld - I feel Nick Heidfeld is one of those drivers that has had rough luck in F1 despite such an admirable effort. He was unlucky not to get on board with McLaren after being Mercedes’ golden child. He’s had a string of bad cars where he’s punched well above his weight. And now, his less-experienced teammate has come up with the first win for team he’s helped build for years. With all that said, Nick just hasn’t been a factor all year like Robert has. Sure, the fact that he has a smoother style and can’t warm his tyres quick enough in qualifying has compromised every race of his and he’s done great to fight back from low grid spots - but this is Formula One. If he’s got a problem in quali then he needs to change something - be it his driving style, set up, whatever… There’s really no excuses. Still, we feel for you Nick but get back to being Quick Nick before Alonso comes in and takes your seat…

Lewis Hamilton - Lewis is still a rookie in so many respects and in Canada it showed. With that said, I see shades of Michael Schumacher in him. Schumacher was also prone to some questionable moments but that’s ok when you drive that darn quick. Before the pit stops Lewis was in a class of his own. Canada is certainly a track that suits him and he probably would have had the win fairly easily if he didn’t stuff up.

Kimi Raikkonen - Amazing composure from Kimi after being taken out by Lewis! Truly worthy of the ice-man tag. I think deep down Kimi probably knew if they both stayed in the race Lewis probably would have increased his lead in the championship. Even so, Kimi’s friendly pat on the back of Lewis was a great sporting gesture.

Fernando Alonso - Never really in the race but a great qualifying effort.

Felipe Massa - Could Ferrari mess this guy’s pit stops/strategy up any more? I don’t think it’s so much a case of Ferrari missing Ross Brawn, it’s just a case of the team lacking polish at the moment. Full credit to Felipe for a good fight back in the race and one of the best passes of the year (2 cars in one hit!)

David Coulthard - Good to see him back on the podium, but based on the performance throughout the year you have to feel for Mark Webber and the fact he wasn’t up there…

Timo Glock - 4th place is a great result but it was largely due to the retirement of so many of his competitors. The best part about the result for Timo is that he outperformed his teammate Jarno Trulli.

Heikki Kovalainen - Hmm… Nico Rosberg for McLaren in 2009?

Nelson Piquet Jr - Thought I’d mention Nelsinho because he did seem to have a bit of speed this time around and looked very racey indeed (not that sort of “racey” girls! ;)).

Kazuki Nakajima - It’s funny how it’s taken then commentators so long to realise Kazuki isn’t that bad at times. We saw some speed when Kazuki debuted last year, but admittedly got it wrong thinking he wouldn’t drive for Williams or Toyota this year. We’re still waiting for the next Ukyo Katayama though…

It’s been such a hectic week that I haven’t even had time to watch the race let alone do a review on the Grand Prix of Monaco, so this time I’m throwing it out to the fans - what were your thoughts about the race and the drivers/teams? Don’t be shy… we’re all friends here

Edit - As Stephen was the first to jump in and did such a good review of the race, here are his comments in the main part with bold text and all… ;)  A big thank you to Stephen and everyone else who has commented here. We’ll be back on track (so to speak) for Canada

Lewis - So lucky, hit the barrier, didn’t lose too many places due to the rain and managed to get back out in one piece.(Heres the professional bit) He did drive well for the rest of the race and managed to clinch the win. He seemed quite happy with this.

Robert - Another consistent performance. If he carries on like this, he will be right there at the end of the season. Did well to keep Massa behind him. BMW are definately at the same party as Mclaren and Ferrari.

Massa - What happened!! This should have been his race so easily! They made a real mess of his strategy, gone are the days of Ross Brawn. He has to pull it together.

Alonso - Shame! He saw a big chance to score some points here and I think got a little over enthusiastic. Pushed too hard and paid the price, twice! I must admit he is bigger than the team he is in at the moment but then a great driver would turn it back into a winning team. I’m sure he’ll get there.

Kimi - I am a Kimi guy, but I think he was just taking the weekend off here. Maybe Saterday night in Monaco is just too wild! Could have come away with something if he hadn’t run into the back of Sutil. Oh well, next time.

Sutil - One of the saddest moments we’ve had in F1 for a while. You could feel his exitement and then nothing. He still deserves respect for an amazing drive.

Felipe Mass - I think the next time Felipe gets pole position against I’m going to place a bet on him to win the race…

Lewis Hamilton - A fantastic drive given the circumstances - Bridgestone recommended he run a 3-stop race to avoid a tyre failure like he had last year, despite them constructing a more durable tyre. If he was on a 2-stopper he probably would have won.

Heikki Kovalainen - Heikki, Heikki, Heikki… A brilliant qualifying and then you dropped the ball with an extremely poor start. Can’t really blame Kimi for the tyre failure. For a circuit that is supposed to be good for passing, it seemed to take Heikki a bit of time to get back ahead of people who are normally “backmarkers”. 

Kimi Raikkonen - Drove a fairly smart race to bag some good championship point. Wonder if he would have pressured Lewis more in the closing stages if he was behind in the championship…

Nick Heidfeld - I’ve put Nick ahead of Robert Kubica here because he is often left in the shadows. What a great drive in the background to leapfrog both Alonso and Webber in one hit.

Robert Kubica - Brought in another good result for BMW, but they didn’t look as shiny as in previous races.

Mark Webber - Great drive in both qualifying and in the race. So happy the car seems to be holding together!

Dogs on the track - Thankfully no dogs got on the track during the F1… but what about poor Bruno Senna hitting a dog during his GP2 race. This sort of thing just shouldn’t happen at an international even.

Giancarlo Fisichella - Last, but not least, Giancarlo - it was your fault!!

While it’s not an F1 story, I couldn’t help but smile at a local story this week where a Melbourne man crashed his father’s Ferrari F360 Challenge Stradale. Nobody was injured (apart from the driver’s pride). The part I love is how the crash happened at “Batman Avenue”. Seriously, Batman Avenue? Shame Superman didn’t save the day…

The Spanish Grand Prix had such a good build up… Alonso almost on pole… Kubica still mixing it up with the “big boys” (even though he’s physically a bigger boy than all of them :P)… Then the race came… What a let down…

Fernando Alonso - An unbelievable qualifying effort. I thought Nelson Piquet Jr was starting to get closer to Fernando’s pace in previous rounds but the Spanish Grand Prix has just shown how huge the gap is between the two. How ironic that the traditionally reliable Renault couldn’t last the distance. I’m not sure but I think it was James Allen that made a fantastic comment during the race (yes James, we give you cred when it’s deserved! ;)) - something along the lines of “Alonso drives very bad cars very quick and drives very good cars pretty average” (paraphrasing). With that said, hopefully the Renault is no longer a “very bad” car.

Renault - Big ups to the team for all their hard work to make such a quantum leap in performance. I can’t believe I just wrote big ups…

Heikki Kovalainen - Very happy to see him walk out of hospital on the news today. Hope he’s better for the next round. Maybe he might come back even quicker like Robert Kubica did after his terrible Canadian accident.

Kimi Raikkonen - Another day another Finn… I mean win…

Lewis Hamilton - Very good race given where he started from. Seems McLaren is dropping a bit from Ferrari but perhaps they’ll turn that around on slower circuits (like Monaco). 

Mark Webber - Didn’t see much of him but a great qualifying and a great race. Looks like the Renault is a pretty handy engine on the faster circuits.

Giancarlo Fisichella - Have to mention our Italian friend as always because he continues to do a remarkable job in an  

David Coulthard - Bye bye in 09

Robert Kubica - Mr Top 6 himself

Toyota - Just when they seemed to be getting near the top 4 they go backward…

Honda - Honda seem to have gained a little performance on the other hand (compared to Toyota)…

Nick Heidfeld - Hmm. I don’t understand why Robert is outperforming Nick so much lately (both qualifying and now, race).

Channel 10 Australia - Thanks for not showing the driver interviews… not. I guess the Indian Premier League is pretty cool but come on, just show it 5 mins later next time (it is on every friggin night after all, whereas we only get F1 every 2 weeks or so).