grumpyf1

Well, what a smashing time I had in Leeds. 4.45am alarm call on Monday, got lost when I exited the station when I got there, then discovered later that the hotel I had booked couldn't take me and wound up in one much further away. Overlooking a motorway junction. Still, I now am apparently able to create a Wordpress website from scratch. I've got certificate that says that, anyway. Still, you don't want to hear about my trials and tribulations... you want The Other Stuff! Hopefully. So, without further delaying tactics or unecessary waffling, here it is... Naughty corner: Ooo, but there were a LOT to choose from, weren’t there? I think you can guess who I’m going for, can’t you? Yup – Pastor’s stupefyingly bad attempt to pass Hamilton, not only robbing Lewis of points, but Williams of a decent haul too. Again. Hero: Some worthy candidates... Webber made up 15 places, Schumi got a podium at last, but I’ll go with Fernando getting the win from 11th on the gri...

In preparation for the European GP at Valencia, I considered painting the wall next to the TV just before the race. That way, I’d have something more interesting to watch if necessary. Good job I didn’t (it’s quite a nice colour anyway) as the race turned out, for the first time in it’s miserable history, to be a corker. The lap record around the circuit is held by Timo Glock, back in the days when he drove a Toyota very rapidly. Unfortunately, the only thing he was doing rapidly this weekend was nipping to the loo. Although it’s possible he might have broken some kind of record for that too, as he was poorly enough to miss the race. Qualifying saw a dejected Webber out in Q1, his DRS not working, whilst a thrilled Kovaleinen made it into Q2. The second part of quail wasn’t a good one for those driving red cars, as both Ferrari drivers failed to make it through to the shoot out, with the top 10 covered by a measly 0.22 seconds. Whilst it looked like it would be similarly...

Wotcha. S'pose you want to know what the driver and team statistics were for the thrilling European GP. Oh, go on then... Naughty corner: Anyone who thinks going back to the Valencia circuit is likely to result in an interesting race... Hero: Did you watch all of the race without nodding off? Seriously? You, then. Definitely. Fantasy Formula 1 driver of the day was... you guessed it... Vettel, with 26. The top three drivers so far are Vettel on 193, Webber with 142 and Button on 129. 8 races in and Maldonado still hasn’t bagged an FF1 point. Just to remind you – you get points for moving up a place from where you started in the race... The top three teams so far are Red Bull on 194, McLaren with 165 and Renault on 130. Toro Rosso move up to 6 th courtesy of Alguersuarus. Ahead of Mercedes! Ollie C manages the impressive feat of adding himself to the top 3 high scores for second time... with the same score of 96 as he got once before. At the other end of the spect...

Last time I did a race review, you needed a tea-break part way through it was so long, and I needed finger massage after to ease the numbness. After a season of excitement, and the most thrilling race for a couple of years in Canada, hopes weren't high for Valencia. Remarkably, it managed to be even duller than anticipated. At a circuit that featured one exciting event last year when Webber successfully changed down-under into up-above and was otherwise a snooze-fest of epic proportions, it was hoped that regulation changes, DRS, tricky tyres and a software crack-down might liven things up a bit. It did. A bit. But only a bit. To be fair, Vettel's dominance isn't helping matters any, and he was once again on pole, with Webber 2nd, Hamilton 3rd with Alonso and Massa behind, trailed by a disappointed Button. At the start, Seb nipped off into the metaphorical sunset, whilst Rosberg managed a fine start from 7th. Button made a great pass on Britney on Lap 6 and his team-...

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz... Ngh?! What...?! Oh, has it finished? Who won? Seb? There's a shocker. Well hello kidliwinkies! Did we all have a nice snooze whilst the European GP was taking place? Never mind - the British GP in two weeks will be much more interesting. It'll probably rain for starters. So here are the scores on the doors from this race (people called Aaron or Jon - look away now): And the all-important running total after 8 rounds... Nope, I don't understand why I'm still at the top either, especially with THAT score. Race report to follow - it shouldn't take long eh? Mind you, there's a new Top Gear on later on BBC2. One has to get one's priorities right, doesn't one? (Musical accompaniment this evening courtesy of a compilation LP called "Stairway To Heaven/Highway To Hell", featuring assorted poodle-haired rock types.)

Valencia. It's so dull, isn't it? Nothing ever happens. *sigh* oh well. Might as well watch then, you never know, this year it might be different... Qualifying made a bit of a mockery of 2 weeks of press speculation about how fab some team's new blown rear diffuser was or how much extra time had been found with an F-duct etc. In the end, the only surprises were that Michael and Nico (the floppy haired one) both went out in Q2 in the clearly-less-than-brilliant Merc, whilst Williams drivers Rubens & Nico (the Hulk-y one) made it into the top ten. Vettel grabbed pole, Webber was 2nd, Hamilton 3rd and Alonso 4th. Button managed just 7th after a scruffy lap. His Sunday was set to improve, whilst Nando and Webbo's were about to get worse. In Mark's case, much worse... Webber made a scruffy start to the race and wound up somewhere down the arse-end of the top ten, so a decision was taken to cut his losses and change tyres early. This put him back out right near the ba...