grumpyf1

Spa. It's fab, isn't it? That Herman Tilke bloke hasn't been allowed anywhere near it, and good job too. You can stick your fancypants modern F1 circuits where the sun doesn't shine (Cumbria, mostly); they don't have a hope against this place. First off, apologies for the delay in this report: I've been away and miraculously managed to avoid the results of the race until I watched it this evening. Good job too - bit of a corker, wasn't it?! I'd normally comment on qualifying, but as I was contenting with some tetchy hot dogs at the time, I didn't see it, although I understand the arrival of a few showers made it interesting and Petrov look like a right div as he tried to find out if the kerb was wet... by driving over it. Hello tyre wall! Goodbye dignity and credibility! Berk. Rubens made it to his staggering 300th GP (but it wasn't to last long) and the BBC turned up trumps again with their Brundle and (my mate) Humphrey's drive to Sp...

Mrs Hamilbutton being icapas... incasipit, icapascit.. broken means it's been me and the allotment, mano a... er... allotmento, this week. Put another hour in up there today and am now tantalisilngly close to getting all the paths cleared. As you can see from the splendidly high quality photo above, there are plenty of apples ont'tree too. My back is bloody killing me. (Footnote: Mrs H was involved in an unfortunate bus-chasing incident which resulted in a plastercast on her digging hand. Any old excuse eh?) (For tonight's post, we're giving it some Smooooooth - note the capital "S" - with The Best Of Sade. No need to ask, she's a smooth operator)

Crikey! Since joining twitter, more than 90,000 people have started following and everyone is interested in what he has to say. He's also a nice bloke and respected for his knowledge and enthusiasm about Formula 1. That's Jake Humphrey. C'mon, you didn't think it was me, did you? Mind you, a (virtual) brush with Jake last night meant my Twitter following nearly trebled to an impressive... 17. I've been following Jake on twitter and last night he posted about Big Brother. Couldn't resist replying, and remarkably, he retweeted me and added his own comment about shirts. Apart from the previously mentioned 90,000 odd people in twitterland, this also meant it popped up on the BBC's F1 website in their Twitter feeds. Surprisingly, it actually managed to stay there from last night through until lunchtime today. This very blog got a hammering too from people looking to find out what grumpyf1 is all about. At least half a dozen people had a look! Wow. Overwhelmi...

Yeah, it's really tough living in Cumbria. In the minor bit of tourist traffic on my way home from work this week, I took the photo above at Waterhead, looking out over Windermere. How was your traffic jam today?! In case you were wondering where I've been (I'm guessing you haven't) we had our good friend Nige staying with us last weekend and went to the great Chillifest at Levens Hall, and the weekend before that I was at my big bro's stag do in London. Yes, I did feel a bit shabby afterwards. Still, 1st class train travel helped. Next weekend I'm off to the 80's Rewind festival in Henley (I'd fluff the mullet up, but there isn't enough hair any more) and inbetween all that I've been working up at the allotment, failing dismally to paint windows and generally being far too busy. Still, after this week I have two weeks off work, although working at a Craft Fair and aforementioned bro's wedding take up the weekends, then I start a new...

Hungarian GP - Qualifying Just a week after Alonso's - ahem - win in Germany, the F1 circus rolled into Hungary and whilst the Amazing Red Bull Boys dazzled with their speed, McLaren were the team wearing the brightly coloured baggy trousers and with the comedy car. Vettel was a vast 1.8 seconds faster than Hamilton in 5th, and shared the front row with Webber. Alonso and Massa were next best in the Ferraris, with Rosberg 6th, Petrov impressively out-qualifying Kubica in a potentially career-saving move, and De La Rosa and Hulkenberg rounding out the top 10. Button was out in Q2, managing only 11th, whilst Schumi was down in 14th. Red Bull's amusingly bouncy front wing once again passed scrutineering, although you can bet there will be a rule "clarification" along soon that will put an end to that. It can't come quick enough for the other teams. Race  "OK Michael. Rubens is faster than you. Please confirm that you will try and smear him down the pit w...