grumpyf1

Following Monaco, rules got clarified, and Red Bull suddenly had to have less holes than they’d like. It turned out not to be an issue come the final quail session, but before that Senna, Kovaleinen and Vergne all went about making their cars lighter and with more holes too. Unfortunately, all three did so by sticking their car into a wall. The trend continued into Q2, when Maldonado (whose talent reserve is now definitely running on fumes) shoved his car into the infamous Wall Of Champions. It’ll probably be the only time in F1 that ‘Pastor’ and ‘Champion’ appear in the same sentence. As the crunch damaged his gearbox too, he wound up a further 5 places back on the grid come Sunday, in a lowly 22nd. Meanwhile, Das Sebulator was busy annexing pole position ahead of an on-form Hamilton and Alonso, whilst Button’s run of terrible form continued, with a grid slot of 10th. There will now be a short interlude whilst I regale you with my tale of F1 TV woe. As you know, I’m a B...

Damon Hill is joining Sky's F1 team. This pains me greatly. For possibly no other reason than the simple fact that I can't afford it, I don't like the fact the Sky will have all the F1 races live this year, whilst poor people will get half, and a whole bunch of extended highlights, on the BBC. Or less, in other words. As you know, they blagged Brundle and kidnapped Kravitz, but Damon? I'll let you in on a little secret here - he's still my favourite F1 driver. Battling his way into F1, working hard, remaining polite and refusing to bad-mouth anyone (even that pesky German chappie), dealing with the death of Senna and then finally winning a championship against his new team mate, Villeneueve, before getting shafted by Williams and winding up in an Arrows with the number 1 on the front. Being resolutely high-tech, I watched a video tonight (well, there was bugger all on the box) of the highlights of the BBC's coverage of the Japanese GP from '96, whe...

Do you remember selecting members for your team at school? Not a 'proper' team, arranged by the psychopathic PE teacher with the over-tight shorts and a tendency to shout a lot in a way that implied he was strangely compensating for something, but a mates team, during lunchtime. Captains get appointed and take it in turns to pick from the assembled mass. Well, the BBC have finally announced their TV F1 lineup. And it's clear Sky got to pick first. And second too. They've swiped the excellent Martin Brundle and Ted Kravitz (along with everyone from Five Live), so it was fair to say I wasn't expecting much. And I got even less. Alongside Coulthard, Humphrey (with his increasing twitter obsession about fitness training, his personal fitness guru and motivational phrases), Jordan and McKenzie, will be Gary Anderson and Ben Edwards. Gary Anderson I know - avuncular tech geezer, who spent a lot of time with EJ at Jordan. Cue Eddie joshing about how little he pa...

We now know a bit more about the BBC's F1 coverage for next year - it's probably best if you don't get TOO excited. Whilst Sky are busy launching their new dedicated F1 channel and getting their bank account reinforced, we already know that the excellent Brundle and equally good Kravitz are heading their direction. Along with just about everyone from 5Live, plus 3 microphones, a desk, 9 cameras and a slightly dented filing cabinet. And a lot of viewers. And what are us hopeless poor people (or conscientious Murdoch objectors) getting in return? Ben Edwards! Who? Ben Edwards! He did some Touring Car commentary apparently. Ooo... tumbleweed! In response to my terrified question on twitter "Please tell me he's not another Legard/Allen?!", I was advised that he's nearly as interesting and good as those two by @Pickledegg101 and @BBQMushroom. I've not met either of these fine, upstanding twitchums, but obviously I value their opinions without que...