grumpyf1

Formula 1 drivers take a huge risk every time they climb into their 200mph missiles. It had been 21 years since a driver died as a result of injuries sustained in a race, until last Friday. Watching the Japanese Grand Prix last year, it rapidly became clear that something was terribly wrong as the drivers returned to the pits, the race having been stopped, due to heavy rain and fading light, following several accidents. The captions on screen had briefly shown details for Frenchman Jules Bianchi and his Marussia car, but the pictures underneath weren’t of either. Drivers pictured getting out of their cars had solemn-faced team members rushing to speak to them, and it was obvious they were being advised of something terrible that the viewers at home weren’t yet party to. Interviewed, Bianchi’s competitors reported only that they knew of the incident. F1 learnt many lessons from the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna in 1994, and included in that list was avoidin...

A weekend of frantic sporting activity beckons, as I try to decide if I’ve got enough time to nip off and make another cuppa without missing any coverage of the British Grand Prix. For someone whose sporting knowledge outside of Formula 1 means knowing “there’s some tennis thing on”, it’s a very special weekend, as many of the UK’s F1 teams face their most arduous travelling experience of the year. In some cases, this logistical nightmare entails as much as half a mile’s journey, all the way to the Silverstone Circuit in Nottinghamshire. Having made the journey once myself, I can confirm that you do have to get up before you went to bed to ensure a good viewing point, and it is possible to get a sun-tan on one side of your body only - which is a useful conversation point if you run out of things to talk to colleagues about on Monday after they’ve got over the shock of how much you willingly paid for a T-shirt covered in sponsor logos. Whilst the season so far has largely featu...

So Lewis Hamilton is F1 World Champion 2014. Congratulations to him, but even more so to his rival, Nico Rosberg. That’s F1 all done and dusted until next year, then. You can’t fail to have noticed Britain’s Lewis Hamilton all over the papers, TV and internet following his 2nd World Championship title success in Abu Dhabi last Sunday. He’s certainly had to wait for title number two – his first came in 2008,when he was a fresh-faced McLaren youngster, and looked a lot less like the cool-dude, diamond-ear stud wearing favourite of the press, with the Pussycat Doll girlfriend and chronic mood swings, that he has become since he joined the dominant Mercedes team. He deserved it, too. His team-mate, Nico Rosberg, had an identical mind-blowingly expensive motor, but managed less than half the number of race victories of the man across the expanse of immaculately polished garage floor. As early as round 3 the friends from karting days were working hard on destroying their relatio...

I’m guessing a lot of us had a wish-list heading into the last race of the season. With Seb 13 points ahead, it probably involved rain, a shunt/spin that dropped Vettel down the order, a great race by Alonso, some more rain, crashes, more rain and whole heap of tension. Maybe with a British winner. And some rain. Don’t expect much for Christmas – it looks like all our wishes came true early, in a breathtaking race to finish off a pretty stunning year. Qualifying took place on a drying track, with Grosjean dropping out in Q1 after a dopey tangle with Karthikeyan, and Hamilton grabbing pole from Button. The title protagonists were 4th (Seb) and 8th (Nando) respectively, each with their team-mate outqualifying them. The Gods of F1 luck smiled on Fernando again, as 8th became 7th after Maldonad’oh got a penalty for (you’ll like this) failing to go to the weighbridge – this isn’t a penalty in itself, but it does get you a reprimand. Enough reprimands and you get a penalty. D’oh. ...