Fun F1

I have to commend Channel Ten Australia for showing most of the grand prix this year live on their HD channel. For those overseas readers, in Australia most “high definition” (HD) digital TV channels here are just a mirror of our “standard definition” (SD) channels.

As of this year Channel Ten has been broadcasting different content on their HD and SD channels. This means that instead of getting a delayed telecast due to time conflicts with other television shows, Ten HD has been showing the Grand Prix live.

Only problem is, what about those of us that only have SD? We still just get the old program timing carried over from the analogue broadcast (ie. delayed – GPs usually starting from 10:30pm onward).

It seems as of next year Ten will be releasing a dedicated sports channel broadcast in both HD and SD! The new channel will be known as ONE and will be a direct competitor to FoxSports and ESPN – albeit, free

Ten HD will become ONE HD but will have a simulcast on ONE SD.

No doubt this will mean better motorsport (especially F1) coverage. Again, props to Channel Ten for taking things to the next level…

Ferrari in pole position - photo by Brenton Edwards

Ok, so we got a lot of flak the last time we reported on a young guy crashing a Ferrari in Australia. This time however we didn’t even have to try to mix some humour in there – news.com.au did it for us by titling their gallery of the crash Ferrari in Pole Position.

Needless to say nobody was injured (otherwise we wouldn’t joke about it) kamagra online india.

Interestingly, the crash happened in Adelaide which I believe is the only place in Australia that has concrete and metal telegraph/power poles (called Stobie Poles) – ouch! – everywhere else has wooden poles (still ouch I guess).

Stobie Pole 1, Ferrari 0.

By dominating the Chinese Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton has almost guaranteed his first Formula One World Championship. You have to give it to the guy – every week he’s up there – and when it all falls into place he’s devastatingly quick – which is exactly what we saw in China.

Lewis Hamilton – A perfect race. The key was for him to have a clean start – which he did. After that, no dramas.

Felipe Massa – Felipe had nowhere near the pace of Hamilton. He didn’t even look close to teammate Raikkonen. No doubt he’ll put in a good show at Brazil (pole at all costs? Very light car perhaps? ), but he’ll need more luck than Kimi Raikkonen last year to pull this one off…

Kimi Raikkonen – Still improving his game back to where we expect, but still quite a way off the pace of the McLarens (well, at least Lewis’ McLaren).

Fernando Alonso – It’s quite simple. Get this guy in a competitive car and you’re guaranteed wins. Heck, put him in an average car and you’ll get wins

Nick Heidfeld – A better race than normal for Nick. Shame the early pace during the weekend didn’t translate into race pace.

Robert Kubica – You could see how disappointed he looked during qualifying. Shame he’s no longer in the championship hunt because as Kimi showed last year, anything can happen when you’re still in with a chance. But when the maths don’t add up, you’re out.

Heikki Kovalainen – Unlucky to have a tyre failure. Looked like he could have got some good points for McLaren in their bid for the constructors championship. Or as Felipe Massa put it, the “construction” championship 8)  I hate to tell Felipe, but if there was a construction championship McLaren would have won it years ago when they built the McLaren Technology Centre (AKA Paragon).

Wow… I wonder what the odds of Fernando Alonso winning 2 Grand Prix this year were…

Apart from Alonso putting in another great drive to back up his Singapore Grand Prix win, one thing was clear in Japan – both Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton are “sloppy” championship contenders.

Fernando Alonso – I can only imagine what Fernando could have done this year in a McLaren, Ferrari or even a BMW Sauber…

Lewis Hamilton – He talked a lot about how he was going to drive a smart race and not take any unnecessary risks. WTF!? I actually agree with the first corner penalty because it did screw up the races of many of his competitors. The fact that there was no contact is irrelevant – they all had to go off track to avoid his wild move up the inside.

Felipe Massa – Again, I agree with the penalty given here. I don’t understand why Felipe didn’t close the door while entering the corner instead of going crazy after Lewis passed him. Sloppy work. In many ways I think neither Felipe nor Lewis deserve the championship. Let’s give it to Vettel or Kubica or even Alonso.

Kimi Raikkonen – Hopefully this is the start of Kimi returning to form. He’s been sorely missed.

Robert Kubica – Great drive. Shame BMW didn’t develop this year’s car. He might have been leading the championship with Lewis and Felipe dropping the ball so much.

Nelson Piquet Jr – This guy seems to come out of nowhere to be in the points all the time. Great result for Renault. Will it be enough to keep his seat next year? Probably not..

Jarno Trulli – Showed he can still mix it with the youngins

Sebastian Vettel -Still solid. Let’s hope Toro Rosso can keep it up next year.

Sebastien Bourdais – It’s hard to tell whether his contact with Felipe Massa as he exited the pits was Massa’s fault or his. Massa did seem to have the racing line, but may have been able to give him a little bit of room…

First point about the Singapore Grand Prix – how good do Formula One cars look under lights!? 8)  2008 has been such a good year for F1 with a great new venue in Valencia and now a just-as-impressive Singapore Grand Prix.

The only bad points about the Grand Prix were the track seems extremely difficult to pass on and unfortunately the ridiculous safety car / pit lane rules once again ruined the race results (unless you’re an Alonso fan of course ).

Nico Rosberg – Amazing race! Gets a stop-and-go and still manages to finish 2nd! Wow   It’s almost a shame Williams wants to hold on to Nico so much. Either give the guy the car he deserves or let him show his talent somewhere else.

Fernando Alonso – Even though luck played a huge part in the win, Fernando definitely deserved to win this Grand Prix. He looked like he could have had a chance to qualify on the front row if it weren’t for bad luck in qualifying. Then, in the race, once in front he was unstoppable. Quite a nice surprise.

Felipe Massa – The term “poor Felipe” seems to be said a lot. I think that’s how the season will end too unfortunately. Once again he drove a perfect race until his team (or their automated pit system?) stuffed it up for him. After that he was not the driver he can be. Felipe is always a different driver when he leads a Grand Prix. Once he gets on the back foot he falls apart a bit.

Lewis Hamilton – Massa seemed to have him beat in the beginning, but once again Lewis brought home the points that are crucial in the chase for the World Championship.

Kimi Raikkonen – Off, on, off, on, off into the wall… When Kimi was catching Lewis I thought the old Kimi was back. What a shame I was wrong.

Heikki Kovalainen – Crap. Next.

Timo Glock – Once again showing he could be a lead driver for Toyota in the future as opposed to a mobile chicane like some Toyota drivers…

Jarno Trulli – Ok, the mobile chicane comment was harsh because Jarno is doing quite a good job when you think about it

Sebastian Vettel – Great drive, again   Not as high up as he potentially could have been, but if it had rained I would have placed a bet…