Formula 1

[Pip Madeley]

Just watching the last race of the season - Hamilton messed up big time on the first lap

[Dirk Gently]

Hamilton lost this title in the last Grand Prix by not scoring a single point, also it was really the engine/gearbox that let him down & cost him 4th or 5th place which would have been enough to secure the title.

But at least Alonso didn't get the title.

[stephenhannan]

All I have to say is: FORZA FERRARI

[Pip Madeley]

Hamilton lost this title in the last Grand Prix by not scoring a single point

He scored two didn't he? Shame for the lad, but as they said on TV, Raikkonen deserved to win after the effort he put in. Hamilton would've probably won it if it wasn't for his understandable but ultimately unnecessary attempt to get past Alonso on lap one.

[Dirk Gently]

He scored two didn't he?

No, he put the car in a gravel trap at the entrance to the pit lane after staying out for too long on his tyres & wearing them down to the canvas.
No grip = no finish.

Hamilton would've probably won it if it wasn't for his understandable but ultimately unnecessary attempt to get past Alonso on lap one.

I don't think that would have made much difference in the end, he could have made those places that he lost back as he nearly did after his engine cut out. It was the engine cutting out that put him in 18th position.

[Pip Madeley]

No, he put the car in a gravel trap at the entrance to the pit lane after staying out for too long on his tyres & wearing them down to the canvas.
No grip = no finish.

But the official F1 website says he got 2 points for finishing 7th?

[Dirk Gently]

I think we're talking at cross purposes, Pip. When I said 'last' I meant the last Grand Prix before today, I.E the Chinese. He got 2pts today but failed to score in China & that's where he lost the title. He was in the lead there & could have got himself big points (6,8 or 10) but he got nothing.

[Pip Madeley]

Ah, by "last Grand Prix" I thought you meant the last Grand Prix of the season, ie. Brazil.

[Jonno]

It was notable of course that Hamilton's engine problem occurred during the first set of adverts, thus robbing us of all the drama of the moment. Good old ITV - whenever they have exclusive coverage of major sporting events/one off matches, England lose - World Cup 98, Euro 2000 IIRC, and the twin failures of their Big Weekend on ITV!

[Pip Madeley]

I doubt they care, they got the ratings, peaks of 15.8m and 10.4m for the rugby/F1.

[enzo1701]

Gonna hijack this thread because I'm a HOOGE F1 fan.

2008 season coming up in March. Heikki Kovaleinen and Fernando Alonso swapping seats between Renault and McLaren. Ferrari trying to retain both championships after clinching them both in 2007 on the track and in the courts. Lewis Hamilton looking to go one better than his rookie runner-up status this year. Two new tracks and F1's first night race.

What's gonna happen? I personally can't wait.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I just hope Button can stop arsing around and do something. I personally find Hamilton rather repugnant.

[enzo1701]

Repugnant? Sorry Zbigniev but I don't see it - I see someone who is a racing driver and a gentleman. He's good-looking and polite. I can however see the argument that people are putting across in that he's everywhere you look. He has been on the cover of F1 Racing for the last four issues after all. But he's been exceptionally impressive in his rookie year.

I have to agree about Button though, I think he's another quality driver but unfortunately he's never been in the right car. His one win was only because so many other drivers retired with technical failures and accidents. 2007's Honda was a dog of a car.

I'm waiting to see how Hamilton fares against Kovaleinen, plus I'm curious if Alonso throws the entire stock of Toys-r-Us out of the pram again this year as he's up against another super-quick rookie (Nelsinho Piquet) in the Renault.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I personally find him a little ugly, but that's not what I meant by repugnant. I just found him to be rather big-headed, arrogant and obnoxious. I can only think of one specific example (when he was overheard saying something rather uncomplimentary about Minardi drivers only a few races into the season, as if he was better just because he had a faster car - I think he should have shown a little more respect really given his complete newcomer status), but his whole demeanour and attitude made me think "I would dislike you intensely if we ever met". I also kind of find the fact that his Dad is there all the time, does most of the interviews, and keeps using the word "we" for things that really only apply to Lewis rather creepy as well. But that's more a criticism of his Dad than of Lewis himself. But generally he comes across to me as about the least likeable driver in F1 most of the time.

On the other hand I always thought Jensen Button always came across as one of the MOST likeable drivers there, someone who seems to have a good sense of humour and to not take himself too seriously, while at the same time being obviously driven and committed. The only time I thought anything bad of him was when he tried to wangle himself out of the contract he signed with Williams, instead of being honourable and sticking to his word, but even that was kind of understandable when you think about it in terms of only having one career and one shot at making it, you have to put your own interests first. But really he's the chap I'd much rather be doing well for this country in F1.

Basically Button >> Hamilton.

[enzo1701]

Hmm I know the bit you mean... he refered to the Spykers, the Aguris and the Toro Rossos as the monkeys at the back. I thought it was a bit unfair... but he is good mates with Adrian Sutil, one of the monkeys. But as it also included such "quality" drivers as Scott Speed, Christijan Albers and 'Tonio Liuzzi, I kind of agreed with his sentiments.

[stephenhannan]

Time to speculate on the 2008 season.

I reckon Kimi has it for the double. Having now settled in comfortably at Ferrari, and having learned how not to break cars I reckon that all efforts will be behind him as number one driver.

It'll be one of those big runaway Ferrari years. Only spoiler might be if Kimis abrupt turn ins aren't handled well by a car without traction control.

Massa will play second fiddle this year.

Hamilton will struggle with tyres due to his habit of letting the back end slide which without TC will ruin the tyres. His team mate might surprise.

Possibly we will see BMW close the gap. A consistant driver line up will pay dividends if only they can resolve the gear box trouble.

Renault too should do better with the developement assistance now back from Alonso.

Lets hope that Button improves at Honda with a more useful car. I think the Ross Brawn influence will not show dividends until 2009. This year the Roass Brawn effect might be to steal the odd point here and there by tactically making the difference between coming 5th or 6th etc.

Will the Adrian Newey effect finally be there to view at Red Bull and Torro Rosso.? A may be certainly with the excelent youngster Vettel who really was the rookie of the year.

Toyota will be adrift as usual and I suspect before the end of the season there will be mutters about Toyotas withdrawal from the series. It's all to do with applying corporate management ( Kaizen ) rather than being focussed.

Williams will do better and deserve to, with hopefully some inspired driving from the Famous Sons. What a potential pairing! Maybe Toyota will withdraw to favour Williams and help with technical funding and at last we may see Williams back as a front runner in a few years time.

Team India. I understand that RS took one look and decided that it was better to go rather than struggle with the usual underfunded badly handling car.

AS will give us the odd moment but what have they to inherit from this years Honda. Not a lot I think.

And Prodrive. If anything they just need to survive their first season without serious amiss.

[stephenhannan]

I know what I missed.

Nelsinho Piquets welcome to Formula one. As his dad is in my opinion one of the forgotten greats I would love to see him add to the "Piquet" families reputation.

[enzo1701]

I think Kimi's probably favourite for the double too.

As for Prodrive... well they're already out of the championship - they've withdrawn due to the uncertainty over customer cars - although they may be back in 2009. This uncertainty could put Super Aguri and Toro Rosso's season on the ropes too.

Sebastian Vettel rookie of the year? Well I agree he had a storming rookie (half-)season - the youngest driver to score points in F1 with BMW before switching over to Toro Rosso. Personally though, I can't wait to see how he compares with his new teammate Sebastian Bourdais, reigning CART Champion.

I'm also looking forward to Nelsinho Piquet in F1... but with Alonso as his teammate, I can't help but think his contract says in permanent marker pen (even more permanent that Barrichello's was in Ferrari) NUMBER 2.

Super Aguri's season shouldn't be that bad because I believe that they'll get THIS YEAR's Honda, and not the dog that was last year's. Well that relies on this year's Honda being any good of course.

As for Alonso back in Renault... I don't think he'll bring that much to the team to be honest.

Ferrari are definitely favourites, as McLaren are going to suffer by being the other end of the pitlane this year.

[enzo1701]

Well I got my ticket sorted for Silverstone this year. Plans A, B and C have been ruined due to Hamilton-mania as Copse, Pit Straight and Woodcote are all sold out.

So what have we got? A ticket at Club Corner. Clips on Youtube seem okay but still wish I could lap up the start-finish line atmosphere again like I did on the Copse Terraces last year.

Anyone been to Club Corner?

[Dirk Gently]

Well you see some decent action there but give yourself plenty of time to get there.

Any hoo, team & driver line up looks like this:
Scuderia Ferrari
Team Principal Stefano Domenicali
Technical Director Aldo Costa
GP Debut Monaco GP 1950
GP Points 4357
Drivers Felipe Massa & Kimi Raikkonen
Car Stats
Chassis F2008
Engine Ferrari
Tyres Bridgestone

BMW Sauber F1
Team Principal Mario Theissen
Technical Director Willy Rampf
GP Debut Bahrain GP 2006
GP Points 137
Drivers Nick Heidfeld, Robert Kubica & Sebastian Vettel
Car Stats
Chassis F1.08
Engine BMW
Tyres Bridgestone

Renault F1 Team
Team Principal Flavio Briatore
Technical Director Bob Bell
GP Debut British GP 1977
GP Points 976
Drivers Fernando Alonso & Nelson Piquet Jr
Car Stats
Chassis R28
Engine Renault
Tyres Bridgestone

Williams F1 Team
Team Principal Frank Williams
Technical Director Sam Michael
GP Debut Spanish GP 1969
GP Points 2560
Drivers Kazuki Nakajima & Nico Rosberg
Car Stats
Chassis FW30
Engine Toyota
Tyres Bridgestone

Red Bull Racing
Team Principal Christian Horner
Technical Director Adrian Newey / Geoff Willis
GP Debut Australian GP 2005
GP Points 74
Drivers David Coulthard & Mark Webber
Car Stats
Chassis RB4
Engine Renault
Tyres Bridgestone

Toyota Racing
Team Principal Tadashi Yamashina
Technical Director Pascal Vasselon
GP Debut Australian GP 2002
GP Points 163
Drivers Jarno Trulli & Timo Glock
Car Stats
Chassis TF108
Engine Toyota
Tyres Bridgestone

Scuderia Toro Rosso
Team Principal Franz Tost
Technical Director Giorgio Ascanelli
GP Debut Bahrain GP 2006
GP Points 9
Drivers Sebastian Vettel & Sebastien Bourdais
Car Stats
Chassis STR3
Engine Ferrari
Tyres Bridgestone


Honda Racing F1 Team
Team Principal Ross Brawn
Technical Director Shuhei Nakamoto
GP Debut Australian GP 1999
GP Points 319
Drivers Jenson Button & Rubens Barrichello
Car Stats
Chassis RA108
Engine Honda
Tyres Bridgestone

Super Aguri F1 Team
Team Principal Aguri Suzuki
Technical Director Mark Preston
GP Debut Japanese GP 2005
GP Points 4
Drivers Anthony Davison & Takuma Sato
Car Stats
Chassis SA08
Engine Honda
Tyres Bridgestone

Spyker F1 Team or Force India or whatever the hell its called today!
Team Principal Colin Kolles
Technical Director Mike Gascoyne / James Key
GP Debut Chinese GP 2006
GP Points 1
Drivers Adrian Sutil & Giancarlo Fisichella
Car Stats
Chassis VJM01
Engine Ferrari
Tyres Bridgestone

McClaren Mercedes
Team Principal Ron Dennis
Technical Director Paddy Lowe / Neil Oatley
GP Debut Monaco GP 1966
GP Points 3142
Drivers Lewis Hamilton & Heikki Kovalainen
Car Stats
Chassis MP4-23
Engine Mercedes-Benz
Tyres Bridgestone

So not many surprises there. Or are there?

[enzo1701]

Got to pick up on a few errors in this sorry, and adding official 2008 team names and third/test drivers to the list... but otherwise it's a good rundown.

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
Team Principal Stefano Domenicali
Technical Director Aldo Costa
GP Debut Monaco GP 1950
GP Points 4357
Drivers Felipe Massa & Kimi Raikkonen
Test Drivers Luca Badoer & Marc Gene
Car Stats
Chassis F2008
Engine Ferrari
Tyres Bridgestone

BMW Sauber F1 Team
Team Principal Mario Theissen
Technical Director Willy Rampf
GP Debut Bahrain GP 2006
GP Points 137
Drivers Nick Heidfeld & Robert Kubica (I removed Vettel as he now drives for Toro Rosso, not BMW)
Test drivers: Christian Klien and Marko Asmer
Car Stats
Chassis F1.08
Engine BMW
Tyres Bridgestone

ING Renault F1 Team
Team Principal Flavio Briatore
Technical Director Bob Bell
GP Debut British GP 1977
GP Points 976
Drivers Fernando Alonso & Nelson Piquet Jr
Test drivers: Lucas di Grassi, Roman Grosjean and Sakon Yamamoto
Car Stats
Chassis R28
Engine Renault
Tyres Bridgestone

AT&T Williams
Team Principal Frank Williams
Technical Director Sam Michael
GP Debut Spanish GP 1969
GP Points 2560
Drivers Kazuki Nakajima & Nico Rosberg
Test driver: Nico Hulkenberg
Car Stats
Chassis FW30
Engine Toyota
Tyres Bridgestone

Red Bull Racing
Team Principal Christian Horner
Technical Director Adrian Newey / Geoff Willis
GP Debut Australian GP 2005
GP Points 74
Drivers David Coulthard & Mark Webber
Test driver: Sebastian Buemi
Car Stats
Chassis RB4
Engine Renault
Tyres Bridgestone

Panasonic Toyota Racing
Team Principal Tadashi Yamashina
Technical Director Pascal Vasselon
GP Debut Australian GP 2002
GP Points 163
Drivers Jarno Trulli & Timo Glock
Test driver: Kamui Kobayashi
Car Stats
Chassis TF108
Engine Toyota
Tyres Bridgestone

Scuderia Toro Rosso
Team Principal Franz Tost
Technical Director Giorgio Ascanelli
GP Debut Bahrain GP 2006
GP Points 9
Drivers Sebastian Vettel & Sebastien Bourdais
Test driver: to be confirmed but likely to share with Red Bull Racing as they have already been doing through the winter.
Car Stats
Chassis STR3
Engine Ferrari
Tyres Bridgestone


Honda Racing F1 Team
Team Principal Ross Brawn
Technical Director Shuhei Nakamoto
GP Debut Australian GP 1999
GP Points 319
Drivers Jenson Button & Rubens Barrichello
Test driver: Alexander Wurz
Car Stats
Chassis RA108
Engine Honda
Tyres Bridgestone

Super Aguri F1
Team Principal Aguri Suzuki
Technical Director Mark Preston
GP Debut Japanese GP 2005
GP Points 4
Drivers Anthony Davison & Takuma Sato (still to be confirmed)
Test drivers: To be announced
Car Stats
Chassis SA08
Engine Honda
Tyres Bridgestone

Force India Formula One Team
Team Principal Colin Kolles
Technical Director Mike Gascoyne / James Key
GP Debut Australian Grand Prix 2008 (New team on the grid this year, although they were Spyker last year, Midland the year before that and Jordan the year before that)
GP Points 1
Drivers Adrian Sutil & Giancarlo Fisichella
Test driver: Vitantonio Liuzzi
Car Stats
Chassis VJM01
Engine Ferrari
Tyres Bridgestone

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes (sorry I had to pick up on the spelling)
Team Principal Ron Dennis
Technical Director Paddy Lowe / Neil Oatley
GP Debut Monaco GP 1966
GP Points 3142
Drivers Lewis Hamilton & Heikki Kovalainen
Test drivers: Pedro De La Rosa and Gary Paffett
Car Stats
Chassis MP4-23
Engine Mercedes-Benz
Tyres Bridgestone

[stephenhannan]

Well I got my ticket sorted for Silverstone this year. Plans A, B and C have been ruined due to Hamilton-mania as Copse, Pit Straight and Woodcote are all sold out.

So what have we got? A ticket at Club Corner. Clips on Youtube seem okay but still wish I could lap up the start-finish line atmosphere again like I did on the Copse Terraces last year.

Anyone been to Club Corner?

Club is a good place to watch as you should be able to see the turn through Stowe and on through Vale where there is a good overtaking chance. Club itself is slow but the acceleration upto Abbey is something else where you should spot another good overtaking position.

This year without traction control Club should come into its own, harking to the fine manouvers of yesteryear. You should have seen traction controlless Schumacher a few years ago really stamping his mark here.

The Club corner and the hill behind used to be one of the best spots for general admission ticket holders, now sadly ruined by half of it being taken over by a costly open stand that even in the best years rarely fills up.

[stephenhannan]

Australian Grand Prix 2008

Fine start to finish win by Hamilton, who unhampered by serious competition due to Ferrari Cock ups made the most of it to keep out of trouble and notch a first winn this year.

Driver of the Day: Nico Rosberg. Battled all day for a fine podium much deserved and a fillip for what I hope is a reviving Williams team. This led to this years first commentator gaff when JA suggested that Frank Williams would be on the edge of his seat.

Brainfade of the day: Down to Massa at the first corner which dismissed any idea of the front end being competativly fought.

Poor Judgement of the day: Was not to bring in Raikkonen as soon as available during the safety car. Caused needless hurry on worn tyres to pass Koveleinen whenthe opportunity was there to cruise upto the back of the pack on full tanks, fresh tyres and knowing most of the pack in front had someway to pit.


Stupid New Rule: Closing the pit lane. We had a couple of drivers fall foul at the first SC and Barracellos race completly ruined needlessly when faced with a penalty or running out. What a stupid rule to penalise and then have the exit closed as well. What's the fear a car exiting into a slow moving pack behind the SC? Is this more dangerous than exiting into a full pack in race mode?

The Curse of the French. Bourdais should have had at least a finish in his first race, instead a la Alesi the car failed with the ending in sight. Nice to get a point or two, but really I'm sure he personnally would have prefered the finish.

[Dirk Gently]

Australian GP result, Albert Park - 58 laps

1. HAMILTON McLaren 1h34m50.6s
2. HEIDFELD BMW +5.5s
3. ROSBERG Williams +8.2s
4. ALONSO Renault +17.2s
5. KOVALAINEN McLaren +18.0s
6. NAKAJIMA Williams +1 lap
7. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +3 laps
8. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +5 laps
9. KUBICA BMW +11 laps
10. GLOCK Toyota +15 laps
11. SATO Super Aguri +26 laps
12. PIQUET Renault +28 laps
13. MASSA Ferrari +29 laps
14. COULTHARD Red Bull +33 laps
15. TRULLI Toyota +39 laps
16. SUTIL Force India +50 laps
17. VETTEL Toro Rosso +58 laps
18. BUTTON Honda +58 laps
19. WEBBER Red Bull +58 laps
20. FISICHELLA Force India +58 laps
21. DAVIDSON Super Aguri +58 laps
DQ. BARRICHELLO Honda

Fastest lap: KOVALAINEN 1m27.418s


Hamilton had a near faultless race. Clinical you might say.

Ferrari had an abysmal weekend. Not only did their own cars not finish but there seemed to be some rustiness on the part of the drives brains & their customers had problems with their engines. One to forget me thinks.

Hiedfeld & Rosberg had great races & if truth be told were probably surprised to find themselves on the podium.

Not having Ross Brawn on the pit wall seems to have affected Ferrari to Ferrari's detriment.

A very enjoyable race to watch & bodes well for the future.

[enzo1701]

Brainfade of the day: Down to Massa at the first corner which dismissed any idea of the front end being competativly fought.

I nominate Raikkonen instead for an absolutely hopeless overtaking attempt which almost put him into the wall... then losing it a few laps later by dropping his rear wheel onto the grass.