grumpyf1

Well, that's it. Another year done and dusted. How was it for you? Really? You should see a doctor about that, seriously. Here's hoping that 2011 is a great year for you and yours, and brings us an F1 season as good as the last one. All the best, Jenwis

It was all looking a bit shaky for Vitaly Petrov. The rumour-mill was strongly suggesting that his time at Renault was over and he'd be out on his ear (and possibly F1 altogether). Surprisingly, Renault/Lotus (or whatever they are calling themselves this week) have signed him back on for 2 years. Petrov is a bit of a strange one: He seems to lack consistency, lurching from mediocre race and silly mistake to flashes of brilliance and gritty determination. Maybe someone with some power in the team was still narked about Monobrow bunking off to Ferrari, and were happy to sign Vitaly again on the strength of his race-long triumph of keeping the Spanish grump behind him at the last race, inducing Alonso to a) not win the title b) shake his fist at him in a way most unbecoming of a Gentleman. Whatever the reason, Petrov finds himself once more in a situation not dissimilar to Massa at Ferrari. If he beats his clearly rather good team-mate Kubica, it's likely to be seen as a bit o

Following on from the recent announcement about new engines etc from 2013, further proposals will be presented to F1's Technical Working Group in January. The TWG (not to be confused with the Transport and General Workers Union - they couldn't be more different if they tried) will be discussing proposals put together by uber-grump Patrick Head and former Ferrari luminary Rory Byrne. At the teams' request, they've come up with some nifty ideas.... Much smaller front and rear wings and shaped underfloors will dramatically alter the percentage of downforce generated by aero twiddly bits, and should make the wake of the cars (the breezy bit that comes out of the back) less turbulent, allowing other cars to follow more closely... and overtake. Generally, the cars will be less grippy, which should make them more entertaining too. From a fuel-saving point of view, drivers should be on full throttle for less than 50% of the lap compared to the current 70%. General theory

Hardly the top seat in F1, but some chap called Ambrosia has recently bagged a drive with Virgin for 2011. Actually, his name is Jerome D'Ambrosio, but I hereby lay claim to copyright on the following punning back-page headlines: "D'Ambrosio is cream of the crop" and.... er... no, that's it. Still - it was fun while it lasted. Jerome will be the first F1 driver from Belgium since Bertrand Gachot, and the 25 year old GP2 driver's appointment has the unfortunate effect of issuing Lucas Di Grassi with a P45. It's tough at the bottom. (Bending the speaker cones tonight is the They Might Be Giants download-only album from 2000 "Long Tall Weekend". In 2000 downloading an album was a) highly unusual b) likely to take about a week.)

If anyone in the Formula 1 world deserves an award, it's Sir Frank Williams. It was satisfying, then, to see him pick up the Helen Rollason Award at the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year ceremony before Christmas. Clearly, Frank's '86 card accident that left him paralysed has indelibly marked his life, but he has freely admitted that he wrecked numerous cars previously and was driving like a nutter at the time. But what is most remarkable is that he has simply worked around his disability and carried on running one of F1's most successful and popular F1 teams, with a string of World Championships and a list of drivers that many teams can only dream of. But it would be unwise to assume that the frail old man in a wheelchair is weak-minded; Far from it. Whilst the equally tough Patrick Head has engineered top cars, Frank has always been the one making the tough business decisions and wielding the axe with driver contracts in a rigorously unemotional way. Ask Damon

...and that can mean only one thing. It's time for Ferrari's annual "we ARE F1" whinge. Yes, in the lead-up to Santa unloading his sack in your living room, Luca di Grumpizemelo (the ghost of common-sense past, present and future) was once more pontificating about how Ferrari should get more money, as they're the bestest thing ever, and Formula 1 isn't worth a reindeer-poo without them. Unsurprisingly, he went on to add something along the lines of "We'll leave Formula 1. We will. I bloody mean it! We'll set up our own series, because we're ever-so important." Dear Luca. Go on then. I think with McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes etc battling it out in 2011, we'd manage quite nicely without you, thank you. Oh, while you're at it, please take that monobrowed Spanish chappie with you. He nearly complains as much as you.... Happy Christmas! (Playing today - yesterday's Kenny Everett Show from Radio 2 on iplayer. Genius + Nut

Hello, dear readers. Jolly nice of you to drop in. I always did think you were rather smashing. Tomorrow night I'm actually going out for a nice meal with Mrs Hamilbutton, and it would probably be a touch rude to interrupt Christmas day to come and post. Therefore, I bid you a very Happy Christmas! Hope you get what you always wanted (except you - you know that's illegal!). Best wishes, Jenwis

Apparently, next season the FIA will be cracking doen hard on unsporting behaviour in F1. This is likely to result in race bans or similar, rather than just a ticking off and a fine (which, as most of them earn millions a year, is a bit like fining a docker for swearing). Good news, surely? On this basis, Schumi would be out for a couple of races for trying to smear Rubens down a pit wall, Senna wouldn't have had much track time, and Fernando Alonso might as well call it a day and take up fishing. Except he'd probably annoy the fish too much, or get grumpy with a swan. That guy makes me look cheerful. So, to sum up. More sporting behaviour = good (unless you're a Spanish mono-browed former World Champ in a red car). (Tonight's tunes are from the Specials, "Singles" from 1991. Ska-tastic!)

After their championship success in 2010, Red Bull have decided on an exciting new team livery and colour scheme for 2011, as modelled by Mark Webber and team members...

If they were children, you'd get them in a room, give them a good ticking off and tell them not be so bloody stupid, as all they're doing is making themselves look silly, and spoiling it for everyone else. So how come two Formula 1 teams haven't managed to "grow up and act their age" and both want to be Lotus? Even more confusingly, they'll both be running Renault engines, and neither will actually be owned by Renault. And worse still, until just recently they were both planning near identical colour schemes. Luckily, the Lotus squad that were in F1 last year seem to have relented, and are going with a variation on the green and yellow scheme they had this year. But what's with the former Renault team? Have they just run out of ideas? Last year's car looked like a Jordan, and the new one (which will use the colour scheme above) mimics the JPS Lotuses of yesteryear. Renault sold their shares in the team bearing their name recently, and next year

One of F1's Old Guard of team principals died last week. Tom Walkinshaw was a tough character, who wasn't afraid of fronting-up to stroppy drivers and butting heads with other team principals. He was also the man who brought Ross Brawn into Formula 1, setting the big lad in the specs off on a course that involved Benetton, Ferrari and ultimately his own team. Walkinshaw ran Benetton before a falling-out saw him shunted to the other team owned by his guv'nor, the ever-charmning Flavio Briatore. And yes, I was being sarcastic. His final fling in F1 was as team owner at the under-funded Arrows team, where his biggest coup was netting reigning World Champion Damon Hill after Williams had a spot of brain-fade, and replaced him with Frentzen. Hill paid Walkinshaw back by very nearly winning a race against all the odds, before gremlins caused him to falter in the last couple of laps. With all the corporate speak and unwillingness to say what you really mean that prevails

The most unenforceable rule in F1 has finally been dropped. You can now have team orders, meaning whoever sits in the second Ferrari is more doomed than anyone standing near Fraser on Dad's Army. Team orders have always existed in Formula 1; banning them had the rather obvious effect of making everyone do it a tad more cautiously. Except Ferrari, who (as always) were about as subtle as a brieze block factory's monthly output. But just to muddy things a little, the other rule (151C, I believe. Woop! Woop! Nerd alert!) still exists - the one that says you can't do anything which harms the image of the sport. The same rule that the boys in red got into trouble for this season. So. The rules have changed, but nothing actually has. How very Formula 1... (Tonight on the cassette deck is Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of The Worlds - ULLadubULLA The Remix Album. Crikey.)

It's cold out here! Let me in!! Happy Christmas X

It's parky in the UK at the moment, isn't it? This is how parky it is where I live: Yes. They're icebergs. Brrrrrrrr. (OK, I admit it. I'm listening to Status Quo.)

The Formula 1 teams and FIA announced some very interesting changes to the engine rules, starting in 2013, that will help make Formula 1 more "green". This of course ignores the fact that the cars going round the track actually only forms a teensy part of the resources eaten up by R&D, and the logistics of transporting the show around the world each season, along with all the associated personnel. Still, let us (as they are) conveniently ignore this fact for now, by simply inserting fingers in our ears and going "LA LA LA LA LA LA". The theory is that greener F1 cars will allow the technology developed for racing to be transferred to road cars, thus causing the sea levels to fall, polar bears to look less forlorn, and whole forests to miraculously re-grow. Oh, and sponsors who might otherwise avoid F1 to put their money in. Am I being cynical? Meh. F1 cars currently run 2.4 litre V8 engines, running at 16,000rpm. From '13 they will be replaced by 1.6 l

It's been quiet for a fair old while now, but the whole Little Piquet crashing into a wall saga resurfaced again recently. Renault had basically accused the Piquet's (Nelson and, erm, Nelson) of making up the whole thing and generally being to blame. The Piquet's decided this was pretty unfair and sued them. It finally got sorted with Renault being told they were jolly naughty and the Piquet's getting compensation. At the end of the day though, whatever the circumstances, Piquet Jr shoved his car in a wall deliberately, and that ain't right. Hasn't helped his career a lot, has it? Let's hope we've finally heard the last of it... (Guilty Pleasures listening this snowy Saturday "Go Simpsonic With The Simpsons")

To: @olski @jompet @jennaterri @f1_emma @GingerOllie @CaptainCraigos @thejamesman @johnm0306 @perlasanders @PixlMonster @little_jodieF1 @Katy-mo @Cumbria_Cumbria @BbqMushroom @anotherproblem @EwelinaGonera @ ruinmytune @dchalmersf1 @molesworth_1 @NigelBig @onatrainagain @VeedubGeezer @JenniferAnnMcL @HeatherAthey @Feisty_Onion @BroughtonLass @scoobyfm @JonNevill @simbaF1 @LivinInaVillage Thanks for the entertainment, chats and being really jolly super, smashing and lovely since I arrived in the land of tweet. Best wishes for Christmas and have a great New Year and 2011. PS: My real name isn't Jenwis. But you probably guessed that....

Irish Formula 1 driver Tim O'Glock has re-signed to the Virgin team for 2011. Erm. That's about it really. I just wanted to do the Irish joke again. Hopefully, next year the team might remember to do him a few technical favours, like designing-in a big enough fuel tank etc. Must be a tough gig for Timo; Toyota were nearly there when they decided to pull the plug, and I don't think anyone realistically expect Virgin to be fighting in the midfield (let along the front) any time soon. Still, you never know - Luck of the Irish and all that... (Spot of the Eurythmics tonight - the "Peace" album from 99)

Bernie Ecclestone is a very clever chap. Who else could have sold F1 several times, still managed to stay fully in control, then waited until the buyers were a bit strapped for cash and purchased it back again at a knock-down rate. Genius. His brilliant business acumen wasn't much help recently when he and his girlfriend were mugged by some rather nasty fellows outside his London offices. They weren't exactly gentle with the 80 year-old Mr E, and left him somewhat battered and bruised. His assailants got away with £200,000 worth of jewellery. Yup. My house, my car, all my possessions... Bernie was wearing stuff worth more than that. I don't condone violence, but the phrase "asking for it" does waft through my mind a little... Ever the entrepreneur, Bernie had himself photographed and sent it off to his watch supplier Hublot, who used it in an advert: Bernie's not daft is he? I'm guessing he doesn't pay for his timepieces anyway. If any muggers ar

Gotta love Mark Webber. It would appear that the man is an accident-magnet, especially when he switches from four wheels to two. He's revealed that he drove the last 4 races of the season with a fractured shoulder. Uh-huh. Exactly. The sort of thing where you or I would be off work for a month or so and feeling very sorry for ourselves. He apparently did it the day before a race weekend too, but didn't bother to mention it to the team. Now I know our Aussie cousins are a touch bunch, but Jeez, mate! And how did Mr Webber do this? Well, he hadn't been out mountain biking since his previous accident that saw him start 2009 with metal plates in his leg, courtesy of trying to out-tough a 4x4 (in my experience, something generally thought of as being a definite no-win situation, unless you happen to be in a tank). For once, he came off worst. So he headed out with a mate, who promptly fell off in front of him. Even though his F1 experiences gives his some of the best reflexe

Crikey Kovaleinen came a cropper at the Race Of Champions in Germany recently, when he clipped a barrier and his throttle stuck open, sending him, his Audi and his Girlfriend (who was along for the ride having no doubt been promised they were just popping out for a pint of milk) into the barriers rather heavily. The cheery blonde one (Heikki, not his girlfriend.... I'm doubting she was particularly cheery afterwards) was out for the count for a while and suffered heavy concussion. His hapless passenger also had a hairline fracture and muscle damage. As any 17 year old kid in a car is warned by his Mum - don't show off in front of girls. (Listening to the Killers album "Day & Age" for the first time tonight. Likin' it!)

It's winter. You'd probably noticed that though. So apart from snow causing everything to grind to a halt at the first sign of a flake or two, and Slade being on the radio all the time, it also means there's no F1. You'd probably noticed that too. You're really quite observant, aren't you? Anyway, immediately after the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi, the teams stayed on for a first spot of testing, and largely to try out the new Pirelli tyres they'll all be racing on next season (assuming they make it to the first race - I'm looking at you, Hispania). I say teams, because there were a few exceptions on the driver front, notably Button and Hamilton, who scarpered pretty sharpish and left Paffett to the McLaren. Ominously, the fastest driver was Alonso... Lotus had the honour of being the last team to run a fresh set of Bridgestones, before it all went quiet and everyone nipped off to the pub. So now we have a big old wait until the 4 testing

Good old Willliams. They've still got the cutting-edge instinct. With the new regs for '11 allowing for adjustable rear wings, Sam Michael and co have come up with this nifty little device, that should give them an extra 30kmh on the straights, and it only needs the drivers to take both hands of the wheel for about 4 seconds to deploy it. Made from an old pair of skis, some gaffer tape and 2 coat hangers, it should allow Rubens and Moldyolddough to overtake more effectively next year. Barrichello said "I'm scared. Really scared. But I'm putting a brave face on it because, frankly, I retire soon and I don't want my pension to be affected if I tell Frank to sod off". Oh, alright then. It's from the tyre tests and it was to allow a camera to look at the new Pirelli's close-up. Happy now? Sheesh. (Oddly, I've just been listening to Apollo Four Forty's '99 album "Gettin' High On Your Own Supply", which includes the tr

This is where I live.... ...and this is where I work.... Tough gig, huh?

I'm not sure why I like the Hispania Racing Team. Is it because they called themselves HRT, even though they knew the high titter-factor in the UK? Is it because they just made it to the first race with Chandhok not even having run the car before quali? The comedic driver swaps? Maybe it's that supporting-the-underdog thing that meant I adored Minardi. Who knows. Anyway, it looks like I may not have to worry about it for much longer. Toyota were apparently in a deal to hand over their un-raced 2010 car to Hispania for 2011 in return for some wonga. They recently issued a statement which pretty much said "no cash, no car, you gits" and finished with a metaphorical "and don't try coming back either". Rumours have now surfaced that the team's owners are putting Hispania up for sale. That should raise about a tenner then. Likelihood of the team being on the grid next year? Lower than a dacshund's wotsits methinks.... (Tonight it's the b

OK kid, step away from the motor. So, that bloke that sounds like Italian food has pinched the Incredible Hulkenberg's seat. Bummer that. Welcome to Formula 1. Or to be more accurate, welcome to Williams. Team Willy have a bit of form when it comes to dumping drivers, most significantly World Champion Damon Hill, right after he bagged the title. Frank & Patrick are in the somewhat tricky situation of being a privateer team, so really could do with a spot of cash from their drivers, or a few bloody wins. Preferably both. Maldonado is apparently a) pretty good b) backed by Venezuela to the tune of about £10M in sponsorship. At a wild guess, the latter has put the bigger smile on the faces the team's bosses. So what know for Hulkywulky? He was linked with Mercedes as test driver, but Snorbert said he'd be better off driving for a smaller team. Oooooo. Get the man a saucer of milk. Now in talks with Force India, Hulkenberg might still be on the grid next year. Tha

Crikey, who'd have thunked it. It's precisely one year today since I stopped being a new media refusenik and made my first blog post. Since then, I've joined twitter (nearly my 1000th post on there now too) and started hankering after a phone that gives me web access. So, Happy Birthday, blog. It's been a blast. Sorry for neglecting you a bit of late. I'll do my best to post a bit more in the build up to Christmas, although I do need to write a shed-load of cards first. I wonder if there's an app for that....? (Giving the speakers a rattle right now is Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger")

I think I has pasta maldonado in a restaurant in Oxfordshire a couple of years ago. Very nice. Oh. Hang on, apparently it's Pastor Maldonado, GP2 Champion, whose Venezuelan butt will be the first one in an F1 seat for 30 years, as he's been signed at Williams to partner Rubens Oldichello. Other than the above facts, I know precisely nowt about the chap. I really should pay more attention. (NP A strange breakdown of the individual parts for the Beatles track Helter Skelter. The individual parts are pretty ropey, but somehow it makes a glorious whole...)

Rubens Barrichello has been signed for another season at Williams, whilst his "look at me, I got a pole" team-mate Nico Hulkenburgerbananarama has been dumped. I haven't done that maths (and frankly, I'm just too lazy to do that sort of exhaustive research anyway) but this will be the cheery Brazilian's 19th season in F1, won't it? So, theoretically, some new whipper-snapper joining F1 could actually have been in the process of being born when Rubens first fired up an F1 car and said "I quite like this - maybe I'll stick around for a bit". Nice one Rubhino - F1 wouldn't be the same without you. Particularly enjoyed your decision not to get bullied by that other old geezer from Germany when he came back after a bit of time in the Old Drivers Home For Bewildered Multiple Champions, where he had been "recuperating" due to his terrible problem of forgetting that it wasn't dodgems, and the idea isn't to push the others off

And they say that F1 is humour-free. Actually, to be fair, I haven't heard anyone say that, so I take it back. It does take itself a bit seriously sometimes though. Good to know, then, that someone in the uber-sterile Merc team decided to update Mr. Rosberg's passport with a new photo before he attempted to leave Abu Dhabi. Know to fellow drivers as Britney, I'm guessing it seemed the only logical thing to do. I quite fancied him anyway.... did I just say that out loud? Oops. *blush* No-one has owned up. Hang on... wasn't Schuey looking particularly smiley this season?! Surely not... (NP on the cassettograph this chilly Cumbrian evening is Tom Petty's 99 album "Echo".)

Wow. 2010 really was the season where anything could happen. Going in to Abu Dhabi it looked like Alonso or Webber would be champion. I was even getting ready to brag about my post from February predicting that Alonso would be the happy man now, rather than the miserable git he clearly is. But more on that later... Qualifying this race didn't throw up any major surprises, except for Petrov beating Kubica into the top 10. But it did signpost that thing weren't going Webber's way as he could only manage 5th on the grid whilst Vettel bagged yet another pole. Hamilton failed to spot Massa and gave us one of the TV moments of the year as he ran over a camera cunningly disguised as a bollard. Race day couldn't have been more tense. As it turned out, the race would be too. With Hamilton away behind Vettel at the start, Button managed to jump Alonso for 3rd , just in time for Liuzzi to have yet another DNF courtesy of the sort of parking you see from little old ladies dur

In F1 terms, Brazil is usually good value for money. For starters, it has held the championship showdown for the last 5 years. Would it manage in again in 2010 with 5 drivers still in the hunt? Qualifying was that entertaining thing of a wet, but slowly drying, track. Things went roughly as you would expect, which regrettably included Button struggling for grip and seeing him fail to make Q3. The biggest surprise came in the last 4 minutes, when everyone decided it was time to switch to slicks and see if they could hang on. Whilst most drivers (including the championship rivals) all slithered here and there, one man kept it all together - a surprising (and probably surprised) Incredible Hulkenberg. But not only did he manage to be ahead of everyone, he then put in another lap a whole second faster. Awesome. Somehow you knew that was likely to be the highlight of his weekend... Button's crap day got worse when some armed neer-do-wells attempted to get at his armoured motor on

It would be fair to say that the Korean Grand Prix was... slippery. Even before it was wet. A bit like the model train sequence in Wallace & Grommit, where Grommit is furiously laying the track ahead of the train, the circuit seemed to still be going up as everyone arrived, but the only real problem this presented was the nice, new, slippery tarmac. Qualifying went pretty much according to plan for the Big 5, with the exception of Button, who seemed strangely off the pace and unable to get heat into his tyres. His weekend (and title defence) was about to get a whole lot worse than a lowly 7th on the grid, too. Rosberg & Massa were 5th and 6th, with Vettel, Webber, Alonso and Hamilton at the sharp end. The moment Jake Humphrey walked out of the McLaren garage on to the track at the start of the BBC's coverage and you could see it was wet, it was obvious we were in for fun and games. And that's what we got. With Red Bull able to win the Constructor's Championshi

Crikey! The Carpenters, Kraftwerk, Madonna, Glomag.... sounds like it shouldn't work, but it blummin' blimmin' well does.... Calculating Occupants (an Apollo Zero mashup) from Reborn Identity on Vimeo .

Sounds likes some kind of dodgy genetic experiment. Imagine a fluffy cute winged avenger of doom sweeping down on you and.... Sorry. Got a bit distracted there. This is fine stuff though.... Lamb vs The Eagles - "One Of These Nights" (BRAT Mashup) from Daniel Barassi on Vimeo .

Yeah, potentially dangerous. But when you add Joan Jett and a bunch of others....

What do you get if you cross current with the 80's? Bruno Mars vs Freeze's high-piched hit IO.U. - me likey!

Another mash for you - three of the barkingest ladies on the planet, Tori Amos, Bjork and PJ Harvey get a little help from Massive Attack...

Mrs Hamilbutton has gone to perform at a gig, so I'm at home. On my own. I don't smoke any more, so that avenue of enjoyment is out of the window (still miss a smoke though. Sigh.) There's sod all on tele (unless you like Strictly Come Dancing) so I'm riding the crest of the digital wave, finding interesting stuff. And here's the first one of tonight, a tip-top mash up by Wax Audio (bless you, sir or madam) of Pink Floyd and the Bee Gees. It shouldn't work. It bloody does.

I had the good fortune to be in London last Friday night to see a-ha at the Royal Albert Hall. As you may know, after a 25 year career and 9 albums, they've finally decide to call it a day. Most people probably think of them as that band that did "Take On Me" in the 80s with the animated video. Those guys with big hair. Whatever happened to them? All this time later, they've reached the end of the road and are out on a final tour. The Royal Albert Hall gig was a bit different though, as they were playing a one off - their entire first album "Hunting High And Low". I love the Albert Hall - such a great venue, good sound, easy to get in and out of, and a great deal nicer inside than most venues. Anyway, doing their album in order meant the song they might well save until the encores on the rest of the tour was first up - and bloody good it was too. Don't believe me? Well, someone videoed it (of course)... As you can see, the crowd were quite ple

It ra ined so much at the Japanese Grand Prix, I started thinking it was Cumbria. Whilst we struggled on when there was that drop of rain last year, F1 didn't, and qualifying was postponed until Sunday morning. Lewis Hamilton seemed to have run over a fairy, broken a couple of mirrors and offended God (it was probably those sodding earstuds) so unlucky was he this weekend. Before he even got to quali, his gearbox needed changing, meaning he would drop 5 places on the grid. Then there was the small matter of an ear infection. Still, with some damp patches remaining out on track, quali got underway and it all went fairly to plan until Massa managed to drop out in Q2. If he thought that was bad, he wasn't even going to manage a lap in the race. Button chose an interesting tyre strategy, gambling on starting with hard tyres, then reaping the rewards later in the race when the track was rubbered in and he would be on softs. Good plan. Plans don't always work though. Red Bu

Sometimes, I think I spend way too much time thinking up amusing titles for blog posts. Anyway... Lotus (when you say "you were on fire today" it's actually true) have announce that they will be using Red Bull gearbox and hydraulic systems next season. Apparently, they will be using Renault engines. They're a team based in Britain, but financed by Malaysian owners. Mike Gascoyne IS Dr Lotustein. Fresh from employing Nick Heidfeld in place of Pedro de la Rosa, Sauber have announced that they will have 20 year old Mexican Sergio Perez alongside Kobayashi next year. Looks like Nick will be looking for yet another seat, then. Perez will be the first Mexican driver in F1 for 30 years and managed 2nd in GP2 recently. Let's hope he's Speedy (Gonzales). (Still listening to Ken Bruce. He's grumpier than me!)

Those of you with good memories will faintly remember that I got re-tweeted by Jake Humphrey and, being an incredibly shallow person, I decided to make a big thing out of it. I naturally assumed that my brush with fame was to be the end of such adventures courtesy of the Tweetisphere, but I was wrong. I'm "following" F1 Racing magazine on Twitter, and they asked for opinions regarding Ferrari escaping without further punishment following the "Fernandoisfasterthanyougate" incident. I duly responded and then thought nothing further of it. A couple of weeks ago, my shiny new October copy of F1 Racing plopped through the letterbox. It immediately got promoted over the October 2009 copy of Mojo lurking in the bathroom and became my throne-room reading matter. Whilst reading their article on the Ferrari "cheatingbunchofgitsgate" incident, I noticed a box containing responses from their Twitter followers. And there I was. Well, I say that... I wasn'

....Oh, I'm sorry. Was I meant to be typing something....? Right. ....Erm. What, now? Sorry, bit distracted for some reason. Ahem. OK, here goes. Singapore earned it's place as my favourite amongst the new races straight away when it first joined the F1 circus 3 years ago. It just looks so fantastic and usually manages to provide a great race. Well, it did again in 2010 too. More on that in a minute though. First off, we had two new drivers in for this race, with Christian Klien returning for the first time since 2006 in the Hispania, after Yamamoto got food poisoning. That might just be a handy phrase to cover the fact that the cash had stopped flowing. Of course, Sakon might have been.. er.... flowing himself, but I think a temporarily empty wallet might have been the problem, rather than his insides. At Sauber, Nick Heidfeld returned, replacing the hapless (and form-less) de la Rosa. Both acquitted themselves well in qualifying, Heidfeld a tidy 14th and Klien beating Se

Radioactive Tubular Girls by LeeDM101 / Video by Instamatic from Tim Baker on Vimeo . What do you get if you mix Calvin Harris, Mike Oldfield, Kraftwerk and Duran Duran together? This is genius of the highest order...

I've just completed my second week as a Marketing Officer. Well, I say second week. I was off 2 days the first week, one day this week and left early to go for some training today. So I've just completed my first six and a half days of actual marketing. I believe that 6.5 out of 10 is actually quite a high attendance rate for a Marketing person. Well done me. I'm a credit to my profession. There have been a couple of minor challenges so far: Day 1: Arrived refreshed after two weeks in the strange void between Client Services and Marketing, during which I spent a large part of my life cruising up and down the M6. If that makes me sound like some kind of huggy-bear/superpimp type character, then I'll cope with that as a concept. *long pause* I'm still coping. Anyway - my desk was missing something when I arrived. After a bit of pondering, a touch of wondering and a fair amount of puzzling, I realised that the bloody great big mac that had been there before I wen

Good bit of news today. Well, I say good. Good if you're Nick Heidfeld. Not very good at all if you're Pedro de la Rosa. Heidfeld has been twiddling his thumbs this season whilst being Mercedes Test Driver, which in real terms means he's done rugger ball since the start of the year except for wearing headphone at races and generally looking as cool as possible without actually being in an F1 car. A bit of excitement (not to mention a bit of driving and some dosh probably) came his way recently when new-for-next-year tyre suppliers Pirelli wanted someone to drive the completed Toyota that didn't get a run this year with their new rubber on the corners, to see how it all went. It's unclear if this helped him get the seat at Sauber for the rest of the year, if it was his undoubted talent, the fact that he's driven for them before or (and this seems most likely) because Pedro de la Rosa was a bit crap. Kobayashi has substantially outperformed him this season,

If you're not a big fan of Formula 1, you probably thought that race was pretty dull. Two things: Firstly, why are you reading this then? It's a blog about Formula 1. Are you totally nuts or what?! Secondly, it wasn't dull but in fact very tense. Okay, after the first lap or so it wasn't a thriller (cue Michael Jackson) but it was edge of your seat stuff as far as the championship goes. For the first time this season there was no Red Bull parked on the front row, with the more traditional Ferrari & McLaren battle reconvened for the Italians' home race, and at the start it didn't look like it was going to go to plan for them. Button got a good start and even though Alonso made a robust move to intercept him (translation: He tried to barge him out of the way), Jenson was first into the first corner... just. Massa held his own against Alonso too, whilst a fast starting Hamilton was up to 4th and then challenged Felipe a bit too late. Floppy front wheels ar

Blimey. I wasn't expecting Alonso on pole. I had a sneaky feeling that Jenson was going to be quick with his unusual rear-wing-the-size-of-a-sideboard & F-duct combo, but I wasn't really expecting to see 'Nando on pole. Still, fair play to him, although it did mean that Luci Di Grumpizemelo got to punch his fist at the tifosi. The git. Some clever stragesing by Button's half of the McGarage gave him a surprise second, so we have the delight of the two guys with the toughest job of getting the title at the front for race day. Me likey. Oh yes. Massa did well for 3rd (but really, other than his Dad, who cares at this stage?), Webber did a brilliant job for 4th after a car more unreliable than your average builder failed him in FP2 and 3 and Hamilton looked pretty grumpy to be lining up 5th. Not as grumpy as Seb though, who had to settle for 6th. FOTA have changed the timings graphics for this race and they're BLOODY AWFUL! Although we now get to see all th

Friday practice sessions are a funny thing. For starters, you don't expect there to be a lot of excitement, as the end result equals precisely nothing. From my point of view, getting to see a session is about as rare as rocking horse poo. Today though, I saw most of free practice 2 as I was luxuriating in the warm embrace of a day off work. Contrary to popular belief, I do actually have a job and go to work sometimes... I'm not always on holiday. You know what? I really enjoyed it. For starters, the 5Live commentary team are actually really good, and with the luckless Karun Chandhok once again without a drive, his insights were not only interesting, insightful and informative, but he was also pretty good at it and funny to boot. I'd like to suggest to the BBC that they drop Jonathan Legard and give Karun the job instead. Anyway, for what it's worth, Vettel was fastest in FP2, which was a bit of a surprise, as it was widely assumed that the McLa's would be c