BBC F1 TV coverage – Australia

How do the BBC compare to the job ITV did last year? ITV weren’t perfect, but the BBC weren’t that much different. So much for their “huge coverage” they promised. So what was it like?

Bernie’s Bonkers Medals idea

Bernie Ecclestone, commercial supremo of Formula One has caught Olympic fever. He wants to do away with points down to eight place, awarding instead Gold, Silver and Bronze medals for places one to three – but only counting Gold medals towards the Championship.

For some years now the points have been 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for 1st to 8th places respectively. Previously, points were only scored down to 6th place with 9 points for a win, 6 for second, 4 for third and then 3, 2, 1 for the last three points.

The old points system was extended because mid range teams still had to put in hundreds of millions of dollars each year yet hardly ever finished in the Top 10 and so got no reward for their efforts with everything going to the Top 3 teams each year mostly.

Giving out medals is stupid. How many Silvers equal a Gold? How many Bronzes? How do you convert them? Ah, yes, you give them a numerical value… Bernie ought to come out with it and be honest: he just wants to reward Ferrari and McLaren! Sod the rest of them.

Are McLaren trying too hard?

I am worried that McLaren, in throwing everything into winning the Championship this year, have over-improved their car to the point of making it faster, but undriveable. Hamilton described the newly improved car as “blindingly quick” around the Interlagos circuit in Brazil – but he only managed 4th fastest in Qualifying. That indicates a loss of driveability he cannot afford right now.

McLaren trying too hard sounds right too – perhaps Ron is thinking of retiring and the team want this to be his swansong? And after all the hassle with the FIA and last year’s shenanigans, who can blame him if he did want to retire? Personally I hope he stays on, but it also wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t.

So, what will happen in the race? I suspect Massa will win, because he has to. Hamilton will not make 5th place because he’s just not familiar with a) the new car setup and b) driving not to finish first. Whatever happens, I suspect Lewis will finish in a better position the less time his Dad talks to him on the grid. I don’t know what he says in these moments, but at those races where Anthony Hamilton has spent much time at the last minute with Lewis, Lewis has completely overcooked things and made mistakes all over the place.

The question will be, who will cause Lewis problems on the track? We know all about the racist elements in the sport but thankfully only one of those will be driving. The unbalanced stewards will perhaps make some more silly decisions favouring Ferrari, and Raikkonen will perhaps show people that he really is faster than Massa.

Of course, rain may change all that. There is a good chance of rain during the race, and who knows what will happen then?

Sebastian Bourdais robbed by disgusting Ferrari Stewards idiocy

You have to be sorry for Frenchman Sebastian Bourdais, four-times winner of the US Champ Car series and latest victim of the flatulent FIA Stewards’ Ferrari favouritism at Japan’s marvellous Fujiyama circuit.

Bourdais was in a battle for position on the track with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, who had seriously cocked up his race in Japan with one error after another. Bourdais did everything correctly, he was outside of the pitlane area, he was on the inside of the corner, and was next to the metal barrier on his right side when Massa drove up on his left, and proceeded to try to drive straight through Bourdais as if he didn’t see him as he aimed for the apex of the corner without any regard for the car which was already in that position.

Of course, Massa hit the side of the Toro Rosso and span, losing point scoring places as a result. As Massa slowly made some places up, the TV screen announced that the incident between him and Bourdais would be investigated “after the race.” Meaning when the TV cameras had gone and the potential for bad PR on the main evening news had dissipated and they could work out which penalty to apply to Massa without hurting his World Championship chances.

In the end, they decided to penalise the innocent man who was driven into. There must be some rule giving a more severe penalty to someone receiving their second stop-go penalty in the same race (he had already driven into the side of Hamilton on Lap 1) so they couldn’t give Massa a second drive-through penalty. Because he had finished in 8th, and the 9th placed man (and a few others) were all within a few seconds of him at the finish because of his most un-World Championlike driving the stewards couldn’t give him a penalty because that would mean taking away a single point from him. Never mind they’d already taken a race win away from Lewis Hamilton in Belgium when they last fiddled when Rome was burning. So, they had to blame someone for the accident, and that left Bourdais.

After all, he was clearly at fault because Massa span and Massa never spins! Cough, cough, don’t mention Silverstone or the first two races of 2008… Oh, and of course, Massa doesn’t make mistakes either – it’s not his fault he continually drives into other cars… after all, he is half blind.

Bourdais carried on to finish in a fine 6th, one place ahead of his team mate, Monza winner and latest wunderkind, Sebastian Vettel. But after the penalty, he was demoted to 10th place!

The politics of this are interesting. First of all, Bourdais is French, the only French driver in F1 at the moment, and the FIA offices are in Paris. Ferrari is Italian, and I think most mediterranaean types would not have complained much about Ferrari favouritism from the FIA stewards before, since it was always “Les Anglais, Les Rosbifs” who were being penalised previously. Oh, and Frenchman Jean Todt, erstwhile head of the Ferrari F1 team is rumoured to be being groomed to be the next FIA president after Max Mosley retires next year. Oh yes, and Bourdais has the audacity to have made his name in the US, where F1 has no glowing reputation to uphold to such an extent that they won’t even be going to Canada in 2009 – so they feel safe to treat Bourdais shabbily as they think there will be no come back.

Ferrari, the clowns of Singapore, are clearly continuing to disintegrate and the only question left is will the FIA follow the sinking ship down proclaiming to all and sundry that it was the iceberg’s fault all the while?

PS Spaniard Alonso won. In a French team. What should have been a great news story, is now just an also ran to yet another Ferrari fiddle. Poor Alonso. Poor Bourdais. Poor Formula One.

PPS Is Max Mosley’s man the financial link between Ferrari money and the FIA Stewards‘ Ferrari favouritism?

Fantastic Vettel Finishes First, Hamilton stays ahead

Sebastian Vettel (pronounced “Fettle”) was today in fine fettle and form (sorry about the pun – couldn’t resist it!) and led from pole into the record books. He’s the youngest driver ever to win a GP, removing Alonso from that position. Not only did he get that record, but he’s the first driver to win a GP for Dietrich Mateschitz, boss of Red Bull, and the first driver to win for Minardi (OK, not Minardi anymore, but that’s what Seb’s team used to be called). He’s also the first driver to win a GP for ex-GP driver and 10 times GP winner Gerhard Berger. On top of that, he’s the first driver to win at Monza in the Italian GP with a Ferrari customer engine!

Aussies turn into whingeing softies at Paralympics

What a wuss. Second placed Kurt Fearnley in the 800m T54 Wheelchair race at the Beijing Paralympics had a boohoo today. He complained that because he was in Lane 2 he got boxed in and couldn’t win so BooHooed to his team who then BooHooed to the committee – who then, amazingly, said the race would be rerun on Tuesday!

Sebastian Schumacher?

Nice one, Seb! Pole position in Italy at Monza – in the wet, too. OK, the wet gave you an advantage, but you still had to go faster than the Ferraris, McLarens, BMWs and Red Bulls – oh, and cash-strapped Renault too.  But nobody can take it away from you – you got the pole. Shame you don’t get a point for pole and fastest lap in F1, but that’s for the future, perhaps. You’d certainly deserve it for getting pole in a Toro Rosso – but it is Adrian Newey designed…

Well done that man! Sebastian Vettel, all around nice guy and new young talent for F1. Let’s hope he isn’t destroyed in the same way the authorities are trying to destroy Lewis Hamilton.

Who is the McLaren Tyre Muppet?

After a fantastic win that wasn’t in Belgium, McLaren made a right mess at Monza. Who was the muppet that put Hamilton on intermediates in Q2? Who was it that held him in the pit lane for many minutes of the session when other drivers were making their fastest laps – couldn’t they make their minds up?

F1 authorities ban overtaking

No wonder F1 is so boring. The F1 authorities insist on blocking drivers from racing each other! The latest ruling on chicanes is just crazy and not at all thought through. It’s a knee-jerk reaction to last week’s farcical attempt to deprive Lewis Hamilton, McLaren and Ron Dennis of any chance of a fair crack at this year’s F1 World Championship.

In the pre-Schumacher days, weaving in front of a driver to prevent them overtaking was illegal. Then Schumacher came along, weaved often, and got away with it every time – as he got away with so many questionable things. When questioned about what was allowed, the authorities decided that making one move before positioning for a corner was allowed – ie you could block an overtaking attempt. Now we see drivers at every level of the sport doing the same, and racing has become even more boring.

Fast forward to the 2008 Belgian GP. Lewis Hamilton is closing fast on Raikkonnen in the rain. While fast in the dry, this year’s Ferrari is abysmal when the tyres are cold, and rain cools the Ferrari’s tyres faster than anything. The McLaren on the other hand gets lots of heat into its tyres pretty easily and is great on cool tyres. In the rain, the McLaren still has oodles of grip when the Ferrari has next to none at all. Of course, this means the McLaren wears its tyres out faster as we have seen, but the advantage in the rain means Lewis can brake far later than either Massa or Kimi which is why this year McLaren has done so well in wet races, and the Ferrari so poorly.

Just before the bus stop chicane, Lewis catches Kimi, Kimi brakes very, very early, Lewis’ momentum helps him scythe past, but in the middle of the chicane Kimi is trying not to be overtaken while at the same time dealing with much less grip, and his car runs wide, right in Lewis’ way. Lewis can allow the two cars to hit one another, or he can cut the chicane. He chose the latter, but this we already know. We also know that up until last week, the standard procedure to follow when you cut a chicane is to allow the person you just overtook to repass you. There was no “neutral” territory, you just had to let them past you.

So, Hamilton allowed Raikkonnen to pass him again, but suddenly the cars reached the approach to La Source. Raikkonnen had to brake earlier than Hamilton due to the lower grip he was getting from the Ferrari’s tyres. Hamilton was so close he nearly went into the back of Kimi, but swerved to the inside and braked later, passing him. The McLaren team asked FIA Race Control if Lewis needed to let Kimi past again, but twice they said no.

McLaren appealed, so to “write the rulebook after the event” so they had something to hit McLaren over the head with the FIA have come now out with a new rule – that a driver who cuts a chicane must allow the driver he has just passed to retake his position, and the chasing driver must not overtake until after the next corner. That’s daft. Although it is very convenient for Ferrari, it seems designed primarily to save face for the F1 stewards who have been villified since their unsupportable decision.

Why is it daft? Well, look at the circuit diagram of Monza for instance. Possibly the best overtaking part of the circuit is at the Rettifilio at the end of the main straight. But it’s a corner at which so many drivers regularly have to go off, either because they had no room, were forced off in the heat of the moment, or just out-braked themselves trying to avoid being overtaken. The start of the Italian GP is almost always like this. With the new rule any driver cutting this chicane will not be allowed to overtake the car in front until the Roggia. Cut here and they won’t be able to overtake until after the Lesmos, which basically means they will have to wait until the entry to the Parabolica since there is no real possibility to get past at the Ascari chicane. And we certainly won’t have those marvellous images we’ve had from previous years of cars going two abreast around the Curva Biassono.

You also of course get drivers who cut the corner to stay in front. Now, with this new rule do they have to give up their position? Or is nobody allowed to attack them for a whole straight and the next corner? What about a fit car trying to get past a mis-firing or mechanically challenged car – will they have to travel behind the sick leader at reduced speed just so as to not “gain an advantage” by overtaking them? Does this mean that the third placed car can then overtake both the sick leader and the regulation encumbered challenger?

What about the driver who doesn’t mind pushing a rival off-line, or even off-track? If they do this at a chicane and the other driver has to cut to avoid an accident, it won’t be his fault he went off-piste, but he will be penalised for having perhaps the better car or for driving better. Whatever, the FIA have now introduced another weapon into the arsenal of the unsporting race driver to stop a rival overtaking them: block at the non-chicanes, and force wide at the chicanes. That way, even if an enterprising and exciting driver can overtake you, they won’t be able to or be allowed to! I do wish rule-makers would remember the power of precedent.

What a stupid situation this latest rule adjustment brings. I thought the promoters of F1 (ie Bernie) wanted more excitement, not less… putting obstacles in the way of those wishing to overtake won’t help “the show” at all.

I may have said this before, but the lunatics are definitely running the F1 asylum.

F1: the pathetic joke that calls itself a sport

There is a rule in Formula One that the drivers are very afraid of. They really should never break this. Just so they know exactly what this rule is, there is another (unwritten) rule for the officials that insists they repeatedly demonstrate to the drivers exactly what it is the drivers should not do.

It’s called “Bringing the sport into disrepute” and while drivers are not allowed ever to break this rule, the officials can and do do this on a regular basis. From sex scandals at the very top of the governing body, to questionable actions and repeated favouritism on the behalf of the FIA Stewards when it comes to applying the laws that are written down.

At Monaco, Kimi Raikkonnen skidded on a damp track at the chicane just after exiting the tunnel, and ploughed into fourth placed Adrian Sutil in the Force India, knocking the talented young driver out of a points scoring position. Did the FIA stewards penalise Raikkonen? No. At the time, Mike Gascoyne, the Force India Technical Director, said that if it were the other way around Sutil would probably have received a two race ban.

The FIA officials explanation? They said that because Sutil overtook three cars under yellow flags he would have got a drive through penalty worth 25 seconds so he wouldn’t have finished in the points anyway. Pardon? That’s a bit like saying you’re allowed to rob the bank if the bank made an accounting error on someone else’s account! Surely they should both have been given penalties – Sutil’s infringement should not mean Raikonnen’s need no penalty. That’s crazy.

At Valencia, right on camera, Felipe Massa broke a law in the pits which at the least should have given him a drive through penalty – GP2 drivers breaking the same law the same weekend at the same track were actually disqualified. But Felipe drives a Ferrari, the FIA’s favourite car. They didn’t disqualify him, they didn’t give him a Stop and Go, they didn’t even give him a drive through. For the first time ever, they decided to “investigate the matter at the end of the race”.

Well, at the end of the race Felipe won by 5.6 seconds from Lewis Hamilton. The FIA Stewards decided Massa had done something wrong, but did not apply a post facto drive through penalty by adding 20 to 30 seconds to his race time. No, they said he should pay a fine so small in comparison to his salary (and one probably picked up by his team anyway) that it in reality is not a penalty at all.

Move on to the next race, the Belgian Grand Prix at the famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the hills and forest of the Ardennes and a day of mixed weather. Ferraris are renowned for not being able to get heat into their tyres as quickly as the McLarens which also perform better on cold rubber, so when the race started with half the track damp and half dry an interesting prospect for all was in sight.

The last five to ten laps or so were the most interesting, because that’s when it rained. Up until this point Kimi Raikkonnen had done a great job in holding Lewis Hamilton off and had a pretty stable 5.8 seconds advantage. Felipe Massa was nowhere to be seen in third. There had only been one incident involving the stewards when they gave a drive through penalty to Heikki Kovalainen when he was hesitant about overtaking Mark Webber and then slid into him on the greasy track at the chicane on the run up to Les Combes.

So, down came the rain. The race woke up. So did the audience.

In the space of about 4 laps, Lewis Hamilton closed the 5.8 lap gap between him and Kimi until he was right behind him, breaking later for every corner, travelling faster at every apex. There was no way that in the 2 laps of the race that remained Kimi was going to be able to resist being overtaken with such a differential between the cars.

At what used to be known as the “bus stop chicane” Lewis went past Kimi on the outside. Kimi kept it tight on entry, then squeezed Lewis on the exit on the greasy track so there were only two possibilities for the British driver: hit Raikkonnen, or go off the track and cut the corner. Not wishing to be accused of “causing an avoidable accident” (as Raikonnen had not been at Monaco) Hamilton opted to cut the corner, then allowed Raikkonnen to move back into first place.

Raikkonnen started weaving to prevent the man from Stevenage from getting past. In the space of less than a La Source second, Raikkonnen weaved, Hamilton dodged, Hamilton passed. This was racing, one of the best passing moves in racing history, taking me back to that superb move of Mansell on Senna when he passed the great Brazilian at the Hungaroring in in the flash of an eye in 1987 or the move of Hakkinnen on Schumacher at Les Combes in 1999. Yes, it was that good.

Apparently the FIA Stewards (Frances’s Nicholas Deschaux, Surinder Thatthi of Kenya and Belgian Yves Bacquelaine) believe that remaining in second after cutting a corner at a chicane to avoid an accident gave Lewis an advantage he wouldn’t otherwise have had. Therefore they gave him a penalty. Not a fine, a 25 second penalty – not enough to let Alonso finish on the podium of course, but not so much that would mean Hamilton only lost one place. So, the odd 25 second penalty was applied. McLaren have announced they will appeal. So they should.

So now we have yet another means by which the FIA bring their own sport into disrepute. Man, have they got a thing against McLaren! And do they looooove Ferrari… but they certainly don’t apply justice.

Why is that? Answers on a post card please not including bent stewards, bribery, gambling scandals, institutional corruption, or blackmail. Pettiness of individuals I can accept. Incompetence I can certainly accept. Jealousy, meanness, and racism too. What do you think?

Incidentally, the BBC website hit a record for the number of people posting complaints about this injustice. Next year, the BBC take over the contract for F1 TV coverage. Will they have any audience left? At this rate, the FIA will have killed off interest in their own Championship.