Formula 1

[Kaybee Bailey]

I'm gutted not to have seen this race. I understand that it was fairly classic Monaco, and I'd argue that the last time we saw that was in 1996 when only three cars crossed the line and Panis won it. Just goes to show that there is still a place for the old street-track, though safety must be increasingly difficult there.

[Dirk Gently]

Well done BMW Sauber. Well done Kubica & Heidfeld. Drive of the day shared between them (but probably Kubica really) although special mention to David Coulthard.

An interesting race to be sure. Lots of incidents & lots of good scraps to see.
Brain fade of the day is obviously Hamilton closely followed by Rosberg.

The track was bloody awful but they just about got it usable. Weather was brilliant though.

1st Kubica
2nd Heidfeld
3rd Coulthard
4th Glock
5th Massa
6th Trulli
7th Barachello
8th Vettel

This result has made the driver & manufacturer championships far more interesting.

[Kaybee Bailey]

I adore the Canadian race. The track might be old and decrepid but it does give us a good race most years. Then we go to the US and it's generally boring.

I'm really pleased for Kubica, especially as he had a horrendous smash in Canada last year, it seems fitting he should get his first win there. I really rate him as a driver and this year he's come on leaps and bounds. I have BMW as one of my fantasy F1 teams and picked Heidfeld ahead of Kubica at the start of the year because I thought he'd be more consistent, but I switched them a couple of races ago.

Hamilton... well you can really go off a guy. He's said he saw them stopping and didn't break in time, but the reality is they were already stopped and he didn't slow at all. All he had in his head was to get out first, and I think he probably panicked when he saw cars ahead and didn't react. I do want him to do well, but the mistakes he makes are often quite characteristically young, but also more than a bit arrogant, which I think sparked the big fan backlash last year. It's frustrating because he's very mature in many ways, but so green in others. Still, I guess he'll learn, particularly as he's sat in tenth place at best on the grid in French.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Quite amusing that, before the race when asked about his father's crash, Hamilton said something along the lines of "I was laughing. How can anyone crash a car at 30 miles an hour". Disregarding for a moment the fact that most crashes probably occur at around that speed, he was reportedly doing 25 when he ploughed into the back of a Ferrari at a red light

Someone should immortalise that by editing it together into a Youtube clip or something.

[Dirk Gently]

Well the new season gets underway next weekend with the Australian Grand Prix.

Anyone else going to be watching?

[Jonno]

I will be, but not live at 6 or 7 am! I'll settle for the re-run at lunchtime and hope I avoid the result beforehand! Then I think I'm out and about for 3 races coming up, but the 7pm highlights on BBC3 is a nice slot so I'll probably be making use of that this season.

Nice to see it back where it belongs on the Beeb and relieved to know that they're not introducing that stupid sounding new method of scoring just yet.

[Philipnet]

Well the new season gets underway next weekend with the Australian Grand Prix.

Anyone else going to be watching?

me me me me me me me!
but I'll probably record the Australian Grand Prix and watch it Sunday morning .
I just have to remember the channel change!

[Dirk Gently]

Good to hear chaps. It'll be nice to chat about it.

Oh, and 'that' track is back!

[Jonno]

Yes, it's great to have The Chain back, and exactly as it was too. I still hate the way they ruined the snooker theme.

[Dirk Gently]

This years teams & drivers are:-

McLaren - Lewis Hamilton & Heikki Kovalainen

Brawn GP - Jenson Button & Rubens Barrichello

Ferrari - Felipe Massa & Kimi Raikkonen

BMW - Sauber Robert Kubica & Nick Heidfeld

Renault - Fernando Alonso & Nelson Piquet Jr

Toyota - Jarno Trulli & Timo Glock

Toro Rosso-Ferrari - Sebastien Bourdais & Sebastien Buemi

Red Bull-Renault - Mark Webber & Sebastian Vettel

Williams-Toyota - Nico Rosberg & Kazuki Nakajima

Force India - Adrian Sutil & Giancarlo Fisichella

[Dirk Gently]

The Grid looks like this!

1, J Button Brawn GP
2, R Barrichello Brawn GP
3, S Vettel Red Bull
4, R Kubica BMW Sauber
5, N Rosberg Williams
6, T Glock Toyota
7, F Massa Ferrari
8, J Trulli Toyota
9, K Raikkonen Ferrari
10, M Webber Red Bull
11, N Heidfeld BMW Sauber
12, F Alonso Renault
13, K Nakajima Williams
14, H Kovalainen McLaren
15, L Hamilton McLaren (Although he never took part in Q2, Drive train issues).
16, S Buemi Toro Rosso
17, N Piquet Jr Renault
18, G Fisichella Force India
19, A Sutil Force India
20, S Bourdais Toro Rosso

[Dirk Gently]

Jenson Button has just set off like someone has told him his house is on fire!
Where as Rubens Barichello set off like hie car was on ice.
And it looks like Lewis Hamilton is light on fuel as he is slicing through the field like the proverbial hot knife.

Good race so far.

[Jonno]

Well done Jenson, and I'm sure Lewis will be very happy with 3rd having started 18th and with Ferrari picking up no points! Good stuff - let's hope the rest of the season can be as unpredictable.

[Philipnet]

I hate it when late penalties change the finish order and make the podium unrepresentative of the final result

[Dirk Gently]

I thought it was an excellent race, plenty of incident and overtaking.

Phil, if you hate late changes then you're going to hate the upcoming hearing after Malaysia, that could change everything if it goes the wrong way.

[Philipnet]

Phil, if you hate late changes then you're going to hate the upcoming hearing after Malaysia, that could change everything if it goes the wrong way.

They've said that the results of the first two races will stand regardless of the decision reached on Tuesday.

[Dirk Gently]

Oh well in that case:-
My home team are romping away with the title!

[Dirk Gently]

The grid as it looks after all penalties according to the BBC page:-

1 Jenson Button 22 Brawn-Mercedes 1:35.181
2 Jarno Trulli 9 Toyota 1:35.273
3 Sebastian Vettel 15 Red Bull-Renault 1:35.518
4 Rubens Barrichello 23 Brawn-Mercedes 1:35.651
5 Timo Glock 10 Toyota 1:35.690
6 Nico Rosberg 16 Williams-Toyota 1:35.750
7 Mark Webber 14 Red Bull-Renault 1:35.797
8 Robert Kubica 5 BMW Sauber 1:36.106
9 Kimi Raikkonen 4 Ferrari 1:36.170
10 Fernando Alonso 7 Renault 1:37.659
11 Nick Heidfeld 6 BMW Sauber 1:34.769
12 Kazuki Nakajima 17 Williams-Toyota 1:34.788
13 Lewis Hamilton 1 McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.905
14 Heikki Kovalainen 2 McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.924
15 Sebastien Bourdais 11 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:35.431
16 Felipe Massa 3 Ferrari 1:35.642
17 Nelson Piquet Jr 8 Renault 1:35.708
18 Giancarlo Fisichella 21 Force India-Mercedes 1:35.908
19 Adrian Sutil 20 Force India-Mercedes 1:35.951
20 Sebastien Buemi 12 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:36.107

[Philipnet]

I'm so going to rain on your parade!

That's the grid before any penalties have been applied.

This is the grid after all penalties have been applied:
1. BUTTON Brawn
2. TRULLI Toyota
3. GLOCK Toyota
4. ROSBERG Williams
5. WEBBER Red Bull
6. KUBICA BMW
7. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
8. ALONSO Renault
9. BARRICHELLO Brawn*
10. HEIDFELD BMW
11. NAKAJIMA Williams
12. HAMILTON McLaren
13. VETTEL Red Bull**
14. KOVALAINEN McLaren
15. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso
16. MASSA Ferrari
17. PIQUET Renault
18. FISICHELLA Force India
19. SUTIL Force India
20. BUEMI Toro Rosso

* five-place penalty for gearbox change

** 10-place penalty carried from Melbourne

[Dirk Gently]

They've said that the results of the first two races will stand regardless of the decision reached on Tuesday.

Well recent news was saying that the first two results would not have stood...but this is now irrelevant as the FIA have deemed the rear diffusers legal & everything is to remain as it is. Bring on China et al!

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I've never really understood what the delay with this was. Surely the rules abotu bodywork are always quite clear as regards dimensions, positioning, weight, materials etc. It should have taken about 5 minutes to decide whether they were legal or not.

As usual though, it seems to be the case that if a "small" team comes up with a clever bit of design and engineering that gives them a huge advantage over the "big" teams, then they start crying foul and get the rules changed. Although happily it doesn't seem to have worked out in their favour for once.

[Dirk Gently]

Had it just been Ferrari that was disadvantaged then I'm sure it would have been a different result.

[Dirk Gently]

The grid according to BBC!.

1 Ger Sebastian Vettel 15 Red Bull-Renault 1:36.184
2 Spa Fernando Alonso 7 Renault 1:36.381
3 Aus Mark Webber 14 Red Bull-Renault 1:36.466
4 Brz Rubens Barrichello 23 Brawn-Mercedes 1:36.493
5 GB Jenson Button 22 Brawn-Mercedes 1:36.532
6 Ita Jarno Trulli 9 Toyota 1:36.835
7 Ger Nico Rosberg 16 Williams-Toyota 1:37.397
8 Fin Kimi Raikkonen 4 Ferrari 1:38.089
9 GB Lewis Hamilton 1 McLaren-Mercedes 1:38.595
10 Swi Sebastien Buemi 12 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:39.321
11 Ger Nick Heidfeld 6 BMW Sauber 1:35.975
12 Fin Heikki Kovalainen 2 McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.032
13 Brz Felipe Massa 3 Ferrari 1:36.033
14 Jpn Kazuki Nakajima 17 Williams-Toyota 1:36.193
15 Fra Sebastien Bourdais 11 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:36.906
16 Brz Nelson Piquet Jr 8 Renault 1:36.908
17 Pol Robert Kubica 5 BMW Sauber 1:36.966
18 Ger Adrian Sutil 20 Force India-Mercedes 1:37.669
19 Ger Timo Glock 10 Toyota 1:36.066
20 Ita Giancarlo Fisichella 21 Force India-Mercedes 1:37.672

Excellent showing by Red Bull.
Interesting to see Alonso up there. I wonder how light on fuel he is?
Piquet's days as an F1 driver must be numbered surely?
Massa fails to get past 2nd qualifying, what is wrong with him this year? Kimi is 2 seconds faster~!

[Dirk Gently]

Only me interested in this then.


1 - Sebastian Vettel 15 Red Bull-Renault 1 1:57:43.485 10
2 - Mark Webber 14 Red Bull-Renault 3 1:57:54.455 8
3 - Jenson Button 22 Brawn-Mercedes 5 1:58:28.460 6
4 - Rubens Barrichello 23 Brawn-Mercedes 4 1:58:47.189 5
5 - Heikki Kovalainen 2 McLaren-Mercedes 12 1:58:48.587 4
6 - Lewis Hamilton 1 McLaren-Mercedes 9 1:58:55.351 3
7 - Timo Glock 10 Toyota 19 1:58:57.961 2
8 - Sebastien Buemi 12 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 10 1:58:59.924 1
9 - Fernando Alonso 7 Renault 2 1:59:07.794 0
10 - Kimi Raikkonen 4 Ferrari 8 1:59:15.235 0
11 - Sebastien Bourdais 11 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 15 1:59:17.641 0
12 - Nick Heidfeld 6 BMW Sauber 11 1:59:19.319 0
13 - Robert Kubica 5 BMW Sauber 17 1:59:30.338 0
14 - Giancarlo Fisichella 21 Force India-Mercedes 20 lapped 0
15 - Nico Rosberg 16 Williams-Toyota 7 lapped 0
16 - Nelson Piquet Jr 8 Renault 16 lapped 0
17 - Adrian Sutil 20 Force India-Mercedes 18 lapped 0
RET - Kazuki Nakajima 17 Williams-Toyota 14 retired, 43 laps 0
RET - Felipe Massa 3 Ferrari 13 retired, 20 laps 0
RET - Jarno Trulli 9 Toyota 6 retired, 18 laps 0

Excellent result for Red Bull & quite frankly, based on the last two races, well done to McLaren as well. To be honest Hamilton could have been 4th had he kept it on the black stuff & pointing in the right direction.
Worst start to a season for Ferrari since the very early 80's.

[Philipnet]

Only me interested in this then.

Yes, just you then!

Worst start to a season for Ferrari since the very early 80's.

Will next week's one compound the misery?