The Icelandic Volcanic Dust has a lot answer for. No flights, no jobs, the Scorpion grounded and ultimately relegated to the garden by her in doors. Now I want you to understand this is my wife Eunice's sacred ground and when she is around working in it is not for the faint hearted.
First job to remove a tree's roots which I accomplished with no hassle as Eunice was out. Then on her return the next job was to find a lot of top soil, and I mean a lot which needed to be sieved from under our huge hedge!
First problem, a seized barrow wheel so with no option open to me I decided to use it anyway. As moving it was restricted it didn't do the lawn any good either! It also appears I don't know how to use a barrow either as I should have put another bag inside said barrow so moving the soil from barrow to location was easier, you learn something every day!
After struggling with said barrow with seized wheel a solution under the Volcanic Dust was offered with lighter weight barrow version 2. I could now move forward at a pace. When filling said barrow version 2, which of course included the bag inside it, guess what, that had a flat tyre which wasn't apparent until I filled it.
So with 2 knack???? wheels on my barrow's life became a struggle. It now appeared the only solution was to carry said barrow with flat tyre to the soils destination. Onward still with a spring in my step I deposited said sieved soil into location, mistake, it was of course in the wrong place, silly me I should have known better!
So back under the hedge sieving soil I felt safe and away from any hassle which seemed quite peaceful after all. In my deliberations I decided there was a solution for the movement of the sieved soil to the desired location, leave that to the wife and I wouldn't get into bother again. So with barrow full I positioned it, with bag in it of course, in the area of the soils final location, good job with compliments flowing a plenty.
Forward to Sunday morning and of course after F1 it was time to inspect how I was to repair said punctured barrow wheel on the alternative lightweight barrow. Removed the tube and all seemed well so off to garage to blow it up. With air in its tyre the barrow was perfect and all seemed well as movement was now smoother and the lawn wasn't under duress.
Back under the hedge and things moved on a pace until I realised I was going to be there until 2011 sieving enough soil to fill in the area in question. After a garden meeting to discuss said top soil required I decided enough was enough so hot footed to the garden centre to purchase supplies.
Back at home said purchased bags of top soil were deposited in position and things began to look better, albeit still not enough. Back under the hedge but not with relish I sieved again and completed a further barrow full which definitely had an impact.
After the trials and tribulations of the barrow wheels I then decided to have a look at barrow version 1 and its seized wheel. Looking very professional, I equipped myself with several tool boxes and attacked the seized wheel.
Now accepting this wheel has probably been in situ for many a year, of course the first thing that happened was the nut sheared off on the first movement of the spanner. Now we have a perfect barrow without a wheel and I have to innovate a solution or simply buy a new barrow, which will go down like a lead brick.
All in all an eventful weekend and once again the Icelandic Volcanic Dust has a lot to answer for.
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Monday 19 April 2010
Sunday 18 April 2010
F1 China - Shanghai Race
The Volcanic Ash fallout meant the commentary team was without Eddy Jordan who couldn't get there due the problems with air travel. They did have him on the phone but it was strange not hearing the regular banter between him and DC.
It was anticipated the race would start in the rain but that didn't happen albeit there was rain on the cars cameras on the warm up lap. The track temperature had dropped to 23 degrees with air temp of 20. So a lot of nerves as the cars approached the grid wondering whether they had chosen the correct tyres. Off they went in a cloud of spray and into turn 2 there was a big accident as Vitantonio lost it and speared across the grass and into Sebastiaen (Buemi) taking Kamui with him as well as he had nowhere else to go but run into the side of Sebastien. This brought out the safety car and in came some of the teams to change tyres. Fernando had obviously jumped the start as he shot into the lead past Mark who had out dragged Sebastian as the rest went off in grid order. Fernando had to take a drive through which he did once the stewards announced it.
Then it started to rain heavier and more cars changed to inters including Lewis who made a very late decision entering the pit lane across the grass. Both Red Bull's also came in for tyres and that dropped them both back down the field. Nico and Jenson stayed out on wets so the restart once the safety car went in was going to be interesting as those cars on new inters had so much more grid, they thought. In the ensuing laps the inters burned off almost straight away so Sebastian and Lewis went back in to change back to slicks and when they left they came down the pit lane together and nearly touching as they were side by side. Sebastian moved across on Lewis to push him nearer to the pit crews and this event will be looked at after the race by the stewards and it is likely action will be taken with penalties at Barcelona.
Nico was now leading on lap 8 followed by Jenson and the 2 Renault's but Mark, Sebastian & Lewis were locked in battle for ninth, tenth and eleventh. The rain came and went again and gave us some very interesting laps and then confusion as the rain started again. Lewis passed Mark on the long back straight as he was a sitting duck for the Mclaren. Then we had an almighty battle between Adrian, Sebastian and Lewis and as Sebastian got on the wrong side of Adrian, Lewis jumped them both up into sixth place and shot up behind Michael as he put in fastest lap after fastest lap.
Lewis was then stuck behind Michael and eventually passed him on the long back straight as Sebastian loomed again in his mirrors. Meanwhile the 2 Ferrari's were line astern in eleventh & twelfth. Then all of a sudden up at the front Jenson passed Nico after he went off in the rain on what must be worn tyres at this stage of the race. A lot of cars then came into the pits to change to inters as the rain came again. Lewis came in with Sebastian and came back out together but as Mark had pitted a lap earlier they were both behind him.
I have to say I have never seen anyone pass another driver going into the pits but Fernando did exactly that as he passed Felipe in what can only be considered a very dangerous move and I am sure the stewards will be having a look and words about that as well. Back at the front Jenson still led Nico and then the safety car came out to move some debris and hopefully settle things down again as there really were some heroics going on. This of course bunched the pack back together. So we had Jenson, Nico, Robert, Vitaly, Lewis and the rest.
The safety car came was coming in on lap 25 and after the goings on we still had 26 laps to go. With the safety car lights off and as they approached the next to last corner Jenson suddenly slowed the field too much and the cars all bunched up in chaos behind him as the 2 Red Bull's lost out. Hence there was a lot happening into the last turn but Lewis as usual kept his head and passed Michael and then shot straight onto the back of Vitaly and straight past and into fourth. Mark in the meantime had taken an excursion around the last corner as he got too aggressive mixed up with Lewis and Sebastian.
There is controversy over the way Jenson approached the last turn as he nearly stopped which according to Martin broke the F1 rule book but nothing about that during the rest of the race, another for the stewards. Anyway in the meantime Lewis was on the back of Robert and straight past into third and you can see by the cars body language he thinks he can still win this race. Behind we had Fernando passing Adrian followed by both Red Bull's in a serious tussle.
So after all the chaos of safety cars and rain Jenson was still in the lead well in front of Nico, Lewis, Robert, Fernando and Sebastian, A great battle ensued as Nico and Lewis became locked in battle and a very spirited drive from them both with Lewis going past. So behind Jenson we had Lewis, Nico, Fernando and Robert still there with the Renault. Now we had a very interesting scenario at the front as Jenson led from Lewis and we know what Lewis can do in this position.
Plenty of racing going on down the field with great drives from Fernando, Felipe, Mark, Sebastian and there is so much going on it is difficult keeping pace with it. Jaime was also driving a very spirited race but lost out to Adrian and Rubens which was a shame. Jenson seemed to have stabilised the position at the front and with 10 to go he was 4 seconds to the good. Then all of a sudden Fernando got the hurry up and closed on Nico to within one and a half seconds but by this time his tyres were shot so that is where he stayed.
Both Jenson and Lewis had also got tyre problems but Lewis was still ten seconds ahead of Nico with only eight to go but he was closing. The tyre issue hit all the drivers but no point in pitting then as the race would have been over. There were still some close fights in the last few laps including Felipe on Michael who went off towards the gravel trap at the last turn and Vitaly on Mark.
Jenson took the flag after and his tyre choice very early in the race and that actually won him the race as he had 2 tyre stops to Lewis's 4. It was nice to see the spirit between Jenson and Lewis before going onto the podium and along with Nico all the talk was about vision during the race. John Button can stop eating his finger nails now and he looked thrilled with the result. Martin Whitmarsh was obviously delighted albeit he said it was a very long race on the pit wall.Nico as usual drove an exemplary race and once again out gunned Michael who simply couldn't match his pace all weekend. The Red Bull's had to concede defeat finishing in sixth and eighth and they will be very disappointed as they seemed to have it in the bag from qualifying.
What a great race again and whilst not quite matching Melbourne there was something going on all 56 laps. Leaving China the championship had changed at the top as Jenson (60pts) now led Nico (50), Lewis and Sebastian (49), Felipe lost his lead (41), Robert (40), Mark (28), Adrian and Michael (10), Vitantonio ((8), Vitaly (6), Rubens (5), Jamie (2) and the lost point scorer Nico Hulkenberg in only his fourth race (1).
In the constructors championship Mclaren now took the lead (109), Ferrari (90), Red Bull (73), Mercedes (60), Renault (46), Force India (18), Williams (6) and the last team scorer Toro Rosso (2).
Now the teams head back into Europe to Barcelona (9 May) but they going to have problems getting out of China due to the Volcanic Ash fall out from Iceland. There are 6 Jumbo's waiting to move the cars and freight but things don't look good for air travel as I write. The only thing I can say in closing in bring on the rain in Barcelona as it seems to add huge excitement each time we have a wet race.
The results are now also posted on my website (www.scorpion-eph.co.uk) and by clicking the F1 tab at the bottom of the home page you can see the results of each race in 2010 and a compilation of the results I have shown above as well as results of past years races in F1. .
It was anticipated the race would start in the rain but that didn't happen albeit there was rain on the cars cameras on the warm up lap. The track temperature had dropped to 23 degrees with air temp of 20. So a lot of nerves as the cars approached the grid wondering whether they had chosen the correct tyres. Off they went in a cloud of spray and into turn 2 there was a big accident as Vitantonio lost it and speared across the grass and into Sebastiaen (Buemi) taking Kamui with him as well as he had nowhere else to go but run into the side of Sebastien. This brought out the safety car and in came some of the teams to change tyres. Fernando had obviously jumped the start as he shot into the lead past Mark who had out dragged Sebastian as the rest went off in grid order. Fernando had to take a drive through which he did once the stewards announced it.
Then it started to rain heavier and more cars changed to inters including Lewis who made a very late decision entering the pit lane across the grass. Both Red Bull's also came in for tyres and that dropped them both back down the field. Nico and Jenson stayed out on wets so the restart once the safety car went in was going to be interesting as those cars on new inters had so much more grid, they thought. In the ensuing laps the inters burned off almost straight away so Sebastian and Lewis went back in to change back to slicks and when they left they came down the pit lane together and nearly touching as they were side by side. Sebastian moved across on Lewis to push him nearer to the pit crews and this event will be looked at after the race by the stewards and it is likely action will be taken with penalties at Barcelona.
Nico was now leading on lap 8 followed by Jenson and the 2 Renault's but Mark, Sebastian & Lewis were locked in battle for ninth, tenth and eleventh. The rain came and went again and gave us some very interesting laps and then confusion as the rain started again. Lewis passed Mark on the long back straight as he was a sitting duck for the Mclaren. Then we had an almighty battle between Adrian, Sebastian and Lewis and as Sebastian got on the wrong side of Adrian, Lewis jumped them both up into sixth place and shot up behind Michael as he put in fastest lap after fastest lap.
Lewis was then stuck behind Michael and eventually passed him on the long back straight as Sebastian loomed again in his mirrors. Meanwhile the 2 Ferrari's were line astern in eleventh & twelfth. Then all of a sudden up at the front Jenson passed Nico after he went off in the rain on what must be worn tyres at this stage of the race. A lot of cars then came into the pits to change to inters as the rain came again. Lewis came in with Sebastian and came back out together but as Mark had pitted a lap earlier they were both behind him.
I have to say I have never seen anyone pass another driver going into the pits but Fernando did exactly that as he passed Felipe in what can only be considered a very dangerous move and I am sure the stewards will be having a look and words about that as well. Back at the front Jenson still led Nico and then the safety car came out to move some debris and hopefully settle things down again as there really were some heroics going on. This of course bunched the pack back together. So we had Jenson, Nico, Robert, Vitaly, Lewis and the rest.
The safety car came was coming in on lap 25 and after the goings on we still had 26 laps to go. With the safety car lights off and as they approached the next to last corner Jenson suddenly slowed the field too much and the cars all bunched up in chaos behind him as the 2 Red Bull's lost out. Hence there was a lot happening into the last turn but Lewis as usual kept his head and passed Michael and then shot straight onto the back of Vitaly and straight past and into fourth. Mark in the meantime had taken an excursion around the last corner as he got too aggressive mixed up with Lewis and Sebastian.
There is controversy over the way Jenson approached the last turn as he nearly stopped which according to Martin broke the F1 rule book but nothing about that during the rest of the race, another for the stewards. Anyway in the meantime Lewis was on the back of Robert and straight past into third and you can see by the cars body language he thinks he can still win this race. Behind we had Fernando passing Adrian followed by both Red Bull's in a serious tussle.
So after all the chaos of safety cars and rain Jenson was still in the lead well in front of Nico, Lewis, Robert, Fernando and Sebastian, A great battle ensued as Nico and Lewis became locked in battle and a very spirited drive from them both with Lewis going past. So behind Jenson we had Lewis, Nico, Fernando and Robert still there with the Renault. Now we had a very interesting scenario at the front as Jenson led from Lewis and we know what Lewis can do in this position.
Plenty of racing going on down the field with great drives from Fernando, Felipe, Mark, Sebastian and there is so much going on it is difficult keeping pace with it. Jaime was also driving a very spirited race but lost out to Adrian and Rubens which was a shame. Jenson seemed to have stabilised the position at the front and with 10 to go he was 4 seconds to the good. Then all of a sudden Fernando got the hurry up and closed on Nico to within one and a half seconds but by this time his tyres were shot so that is where he stayed.
Both Jenson and Lewis had also got tyre problems but Lewis was still ten seconds ahead of Nico with only eight to go but he was closing. The tyre issue hit all the drivers but no point in pitting then as the race would have been over. There were still some close fights in the last few laps including Felipe on Michael who went off towards the gravel trap at the last turn and Vitaly on Mark.
Jenson took the flag after and his tyre choice very early in the race and that actually won him the race as he had 2 tyre stops to Lewis's 4. It was nice to see the spirit between Jenson and Lewis before going onto the podium and along with Nico all the talk was about vision during the race. John Button can stop eating his finger nails now and he looked thrilled with the result. Martin Whitmarsh was obviously delighted albeit he said it was a very long race on the pit wall.Nico as usual drove an exemplary race and once again out gunned Michael who simply couldn't match his pace all weekend. The Red Bull's had to concede defeat finishing in sixth and eighth and they will be very disappointed as they seemed to have it in the bag from qualifying.
What a great race again and whilst not quite matching Melbourne there was something going on all 56 laps. Leaving China the championship had changed at the top as Jenson (60pts) now led Nico (50), Lewis and Sebastian (49), Felipe lost his lead (41), Robert (40), Mark (28), Adrian and Michael (10), Vitantonio ((8), Vitaly (6), Rubens (5), Jamie (2) and the lost point scorer Nico Hulkenberg in only his fourth race (1).
In the constructors championship Mclaren now took the lead (109), Ferrari (90), Red Bull (73), Mercedes (60), Renault (46), Force India (18), Williams (6) and the last team scorer Toro Rosso (2).
Now the teams head back into Europe to Barcelona (9 May) but they going to have problems getting out of China due to the Volcanic Ash fall out from Iceland. There are 6 Jumbo's waiting to move the cars and freight but things don't look good for air travel as I write. The only thing I can say in closing in bring on the rain in Barcelona as it seems to add huge excitement each time we have a wet race.
The results are now also posted on my website (www.scorpion-eph.co.uk) and by clicking the F1 tab at the bottom of the home page you can see the results of each race in 2010 and a compilation of the results I have shown above as well as results of past years races in F1. .
Saturday 17 April 2010
F1 Quali China
The F1 circus moves to Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix and in practice both Mclarens were firing on all cylinder, first Jenson, Nico and Lewis and then in the second run they swapped around. Eddie Jordan wasn't there this weekend due to the problems Europe is experiencing with the Volcanic Ash stopping flights in European Air Space.
One has to start asking questions about Michael as he has not matched Nico in either quali or the race in all the races so far. There is talk also about Felipe not retaining his seat for 2011 and that appears strange to me as he is topping the charts at this stage of the season.
DC is now going to drive in the DTM in between his contract for ITV F1 and it will be interesting to see how he can perform in the DTM rocket ships. He will feel strange to have roof for a change after his years in F1. We all wish him best for the races he will run during the 2010 season.
Back to F1 and a very strange event in practice saw the right front upright fail on Sebastian's (Buemi) Toro Rosso and the car almost immediately lost both front wheels. Whilst everything worked out OK for him it must be a concern to have such a catastrophic failure at the speeds of these cars. Norbert Haug (boss of Mercedes) seems quite relaxed about the Mercedes performance so far but accepts they are not there with the car yet.
Off we go into quali 1 in the dry with a track temp of 30 degrees and air temp of 20 degrees. All seems to point to Mclaren being on the pace of the Red Bull's and it should be a close quali session. Felipe was the first to put in a time in a 1.36.997 but that will be blitzed as the quali session unwinds. Lewis seems to have an affinity with Shanghai and we sit with anticipation of his times here and we were not to be disappointed as he slots in a lap .6 quicker with a 1.35.6.Nico is still outpacing Michael early in Q1 as he seems to have become one with the Mercedes.
Early in the session the Red Bull's don't seem to have the raw pace of the Mclaren's but their cars are still running very low to the track in qualifying and Martin commented how do they do that and then run the same spec but on full tanks for the race. The new teams are getting closer to the pace and it must be a huge challenge to match the top teams on a much smaller budget.
So after Q1 we lost Vinantonio, Jarno, Heikki, Timo, Lucas, Karun and Bruno and the big surprise is Vinantanio in his Force India as he should really be up in the top 10 with Adrian. Lewis retained his P1 slot and was never matched by the rest albeit Nico slotted into P2. Virgin are the best of the new teams and a positive step forward. Michael is still .5 secs slower than Nico and he must be very frustrated accepting his background.
Q2 then got underway and the first car out was Vitaly in his rebuilt Renault after his huge off in practice. One other worry is the Mclaren to all of a sudden have a box of neutrals and we will see how that develops for them over the weekend. A mixture of tyres being used as the teams sought the best balance. The Red Bull's don't seem to have it at this stage of the weekend and again Lewis is going even quicker with a first lap of 1.34.928. Michael then slotted into P6 but .7 behind. Fernando is not struggling with engines but he has used 2 already and they are going to have to protect the 6 remaining for the rest of the season.
Nico is still up there in P2 some two tenths behind Lewis but he still has the problem of the box of neutrals and it is becoming a concern. The Red Bull's are just not matching the front runners with Lewis the only driver in the 34's. All seems to be going to plan in the Mclaren garage even accepting his gearbox problem. There is still talk about Lewis's weaving during the race at Malaysia and as always the others always seem to want to beat him up only because he is too fast! It seems incredible that only 13 percent of the lap is on the brakes when looking at the lap.
Jenson could only manage seventh and Michael was only three hundreds of a second in front of Rubens but moved into Q3 but only in tenth place. So we lost Jaime, Rubens, Sebastian (Buemi), Vitaly, Kamui, Nico (Hulkenberg) and Pedro. The top ten are the usual contenders and it should be quite competitive in Q3 but Lewis seems to be out there in front. One has to say the Ferrari's have been very quiet up to now albeit always in the top 10.
So with Lewis sitting in P1 half a second quicker than the rest so it was now time for the last blast into the top ten grid positions. With only 10 minutes in Q3 it is very tight to ensure all goes well. This is set to be the tightest fight of the season for pole. Most teams are going for a 1 lap dash and then change tyres and go for broke. The Red Bull's seem to be glued to the track as they have been all season and it is impressive to watch.
Sebastian then all of a sudden seemed to get it together and was finally in P1 and his first into the 34's apart from Lewis in Q2. On the first run Lewis could only manage fifth with Jenson seventh which seemed strange. So Lewis then changed onto the Green walled, soft tyres and off he launched and as he only did a pit lane tyre change he was fuelled for both runs. It was meteoric then for the last few laps and all of a sudden the Red Bull's came good and for the second time this season they locked out the front row.
Lewis had a bad Q3 and didn't get it together and even dropped behind Jenson for the first time this weekend. Fernando put in a great lap and finished third after a highly competitive, best qualifying of the season. So we finished up with Sebastian (P1), Mark, Fernando, Nico, Jenson, Lewis, Felipe, Robert, Michael and finally Adrian in his Force India again in the top 10. It appears that maybe the Mclaren doesn't work as well on the soft tyres compared with the prime and that will interesting during the race.
Great quali session and we look forward to a great race. It will be good to see Lewis moving through from sixth and he looks forward to a good race and there is much talk about tomorrow being wet and we know from previous races that always makes for a very interesting race.
One has to start asking questions about Michael as he has not matched Nico in either quali or the race in all the races so far. There is talk also about Felipe not retaining his seat for 2011 and that appears strange to me as he is topping the charts at this stage of the season.
DC is now going to drive in the DTM in between his contract for ITV F1 and it will be interesting to see how he can perform in the DTM rocket ships. He will feel strange to have roof for a change after his years in F1. We all wish him best for the races he will run during the 2010 season.
Back to F1 and a very strange event in practice saw the right front upright fail on Sebastian's (Buemi) Toro Rosso and the car almost immediately lost both front wheels. Whilst everything worked out OK for him it must be a concern to have such a catastrophic failure at the speeds of these cars. Norbert Haug (boss of Mercedes) seems quite relaxed about the Mercedes performance so far but accepts they are not there with the car yet.
Off we go into quali 1 in the dry with a track temp of 30 degrees and air temp of 20 degrees. All seems to point to Mclaren being on the pace of the Red Bull's and it should be a close quali session. Felipe was the first to put in a time in a 1.36.997 but that will be blitzed as the quali session unwinds. Lewis seems to have an affinity with Shanghai and we sit with anticipation of his times here and we were not to be disappointed as he slots in a lap .6 quicker with a 1.35.6.Nico is still outpacing Michael early in Q1 as he seems to have become one with the Mercedes.
Early in the session the Red Bull's don't seem to have the raw pace of the Mclaren's but their cars are still running very low to the track in qualifying and Martin commented how do they do that and then run the same spec but on full tanks for the race. The new teams are getting closer to the pace and it must be a huge challenge to match the top teams on a much smaller budget.
So after Q1 we lost Vinantonio, Jarno, Heikki, Timo, Lucas, Karun and Bruno and the big surprise is Vinantanio in his Force India as he should really be up in the top 10 with Adrian. Lewis retained his P1 slot and was never matched by the rest albeit Nico slotted into P2. Virgin are the best of the new teams and a positive step forward. Michael is still .5 secs slower than Nico and he must be very frustrated accepting his background.
Q2 then got underway and the first car out was Vitaly in his rebuilt Renault after his huge off in practice. One other worry is the Mclaren to all of a sudden have a box of neutrals and we will see how that develops for them over the weekend. A mixture of tyres being used as the teams sought the best balance. The Red Bull's don't seem to have it at this stage of the weekend and again Lewis is going even quicker with a first lap of 1.34.928. Michael then slotted into P6 but .7 behind. Fernando is not struggling with engines but he has used 2 already and they are going to have to protect the 6 remaining for the rest of the season.
Nico is still up there in P2 some two tenths behind Lewis but he still has the problem of the box of neutrals and it is becoming a concern. The Red Bull's are just not matching the front runners with Lewis the only driver in the 34's. All seems to be going to plan in the Mclaren garage even accepting his gearbox problem. There is still talk about Lewis's weaving during the race at Malaysia and as always the others always seem to want to beat him up only because he is too fast! It seems incredible that only 13 percent of the lap is on the brakes when looking at the lap.
Jenson could only manage seventh and Michael was only three hundreds of a second in front of Rubens but moved into Q3 but only in tenth place. So we lost Jaime, Rubens, Sebastian (Buemi), Vitaly, Kamui, Nico (Hulkenberg) and Pedro. The top ten are the usual contenders and it should be quite competitive in Q3 but Lewis seems to be out there in front. One has to say the Ferrari's have been very quiet up to now albeit always in the top 10.
So with Lewis sitting in P1 half a second quicker than the rest so it was now time for the last blast into the top ten grid positions. With only 10 minutes in Q3 it is very tight to ensure all goes well. This is set to be the tightest fight of the season for pole. Most teams are going for a 1 lap dash and then change tyres and go for broke. The Red Bull's seem to be glued to the track as they have been all season and it is impressive to watch.
Sebastian then all of a sudden seemed to get it together and was finally in P1 and his first into the 34's apart from Lewis in Q2. On the first run Lewis could only manage fifth with Jenson seventh which seemed strange. So Lewis then changed onto the Green walled, soft tyres and off he launched and as he only did a pit lane tyre change he was fuelled for both runs. It was meteoric then for the last few laps and all of a sudden the Red Bull's came good and for the second time this season they locked out the front row.
Lewis had a bad Q3 and didn't get it together and even dropped behind Jenson for the first time this weekend. Fernando put in a great lap and finished third after a highly competitive, best qualifying of the season. So we finished up with Sebastian (P1), Mark, Fernando, Nico, Jenson, Lewis, Felipe, Robert, Michael and finally Adrian in his Force India again in the top 10. It appears that maybe the Mclaren doesn't work as well on the soft tyres compared with the prime and that will interesting during the race.
Great quali session and we look forward to a great race. It will be good to see Lewis moving through from sixth and he looks forward to a good race and there is much talk about tomorrow being wet and we know from previous races that always makes for a very interesting race.
Sunday 4 April 2010
F1 Malaysia Race
After the problems in quali the teams faced at least a dry start but with rain forecast.
Temperatures of 48/49 for both air & track meant it was for sure to be a hot sticky time for the drivers. As the cars came out to the grid Pedro's Sauber stalled in the pit lane and after starting it up it stopped on track and that was the end of his race.
The very mixed up grid after quali caused huge anticipation for all concerned into T1. Off they went onto the warm up lap and all seemed all well as they formed into position. Down went the flag and Sebastian launched his Red Bull past Mark & Nico into T1 and all the rest followed and cleared the first two corners.
Rubens had stalled on the grid but was to get going whilst Lewis launched his Mclaren down the pit wall and clean side of the track and made up 8 places to 12th by the end of lap 1. Meanwhile Jenson had opted for the dirty, grandstand side and found himself locked in battle with Fernando and Felipe and they were to remain like that for a lot of the race, albeit Felipe passed Jenson ultimately.
At the front Sebastian, Mark, Nico, Robert and Adrian were holding station and really nothing happened to change their relative positions to the end of the race. Jenson had made his first and only pit stop earlier than anyone on lap 9 which hampered him a little but his position to the 2 Ferrari's remained the same until Felipe went by.
Michael suffered a broken wheel nut which put him out the race on lap 9 and still he can't really match Nico in the sister car who has out gunned the 7 times world champion all season. Timo went out on lap 2 after a spin, we lost Kamui on lap 8 so both Saubers were out and then Vitantonio went out on lap 12 with throttle problems. Then later on out went Vitaly on lap 32 with gearbox issues and Heikki with problems with hydraulics on lap 46.
The fight between Lewis and his mate Adrian continued and with the Mercedes engine in the Force India, Lewis never over came him and they finished 5th and 6th respectively. Fernando had gear selector downshift issues all through the race which obviously hampered him throughout and his latter fight with Jenson for 8th filtered away and then his engine blew albeit he was classified 13th having completed 54 laps.
In the tyre change competition Mercedes came out top with a 3.9 sec season best change. Jamie confirmed his talent and drove a good race to earn his first point for Toro Rosso and he made some excellent overtaking moves throughout the race.
So, the rain stopped away which I suppose on reflection took away some of the excitement and Sebastian commented he would have liked a wet spell to cool things down. The race was not as thrilling as Melbourne but that will go down as a classic but Lewis's fight through the field and latter scrap with Adrian, Felipe, Jenson and Fernando locked in combat throughout the race and Jamie's overtaking moves added spice to a dull race up at the front.
Leaving Sepang the points have moved around a bit with Felipe taking over first place so they stood: Felipe (39), Sebastian and Fernando (37), Nico and Jenson (35), Lewis (31), Robert (30), Mark (24), Adrian (10) and rounding out the top 10 was Michael (9).
In the constructors championship it is Ferrari (76), Mclaren (66), Mercedes (44), Red Bull (61), Renault (30) and Force India (18) followed by Williams (6) and Toro Rosso (2).
The real excitement of the race was Lewis's meteoric rise from 20th and his scrap with Adrian for a few more points. The scrap between Felipe, Jenson & Fernando caused a few edge of seat moments but the front 5 remained basically as the first lap so that must be considered a little boring.
Off we now go to China on April 18 and we look forward to seeing any upgrades and moves from the lower teams into the higher ranks. Force Indai are now stamping their authority on the top positions with both Adrian & Vitantonio and it would be good to see Williams doing similar.
Temperatures of 48/49 for both air & track meant it was for sure to be a hot sticky time for the drivers. As the cars came out to the grid Pedro's Sauber stalled in the pit lane and after starting it up it stopped on track and that was the end of his race.
The very mixed up grid after quali caused huge anticipation for all concerned into T1. Off they went onto the warm up lap and all seemed all well as they formed into position. Down went the flag and Sebastian launched his Red Bull past Mark & Nico into T1 and all the rest followed and cleared the first two corners.
Rubens had stalled on the grid but was to get going whilst Lewis launched his Mclaren down the pit wall and clean side of the track and made up 8 places to 12th by the end of lap 1. Meanwhile Jenson had opted for the dirty, grandstand side and found himself locked in battle with Fernando and Felipe and they were to remain like that for a lot of the race, albeit Felipe passed Jenson ultimately.
At the front Sebastian, Mark, Nico, Robert and Adrian were holding station and really nothing happened to change their relative positions to the end of the race. Jenson had made his first and only pit stop earlier than anyone on lap 9 which hampered him a little but his position to the 2 Ferrari's remained the same until Felipe went by.
Michael suffered a broken wheel nut which put him out the race on lap 9 and still he can't really match Nico in the sister car who has out gunned the 7 times world champion all season. Timo went out on lap 2 after a spin, we lost Kamui on lap 8 so both Saubers were out and then Vitantonio went out on lap 12 with throttle problems. Then later on out went Vitaly on lap 32 with gearbox issues and Heikki with problems with hydraulics on lap 46.
The fight between Lewis and his mate Adrian continued and with the Mercedes engine in the Force India, Lewis never over came him and they finished 5th and 6th respectively. Fernando had gear selector downshift issues all through the race which obviously hampered him throughout and his latter fight with Jenson for 8th filtered away and then his engine blew albeit he was classified 13th having completed 54 laps.
In the tyre change competition Mercedes came out top with a 3.9 sec season best change. Jamie confirmed his talent and drove a good race to earn his first point for Toro Rosso and he made some excellent overtaking moves throughout the race.
So, the rain stopped away which I suppose on reflection took away some of the excitement and Sebastian commented he would have liked a wet spell to cool things down. The race was not as thrilling as Melbourne but that will go down as a classic but Lewis's fight through the field and latter scrap with Adrian, Felipe, Jenson and Fernando locked in combat throughout the race and Jamie's overtaking moves added spice to a dull race up at the front.
Leaving Sepang the points have moved around a bit with Felipe taking over first place so they stood: Felipe (39), Sebastian and Fernando (37), Nico and Jenson (35), Lewis (31), Robert (30), Mark (24), Adrian (10) and rounding out the top 10 was Michael (9).
In the constructors championship it is Ferrari (76), Mclaren (66), Mercedes (44), Red Bull (61), Renault (30) and Force India (18) followed by Williams (6) and Toro Rosso (2).
The real excitement of the race was Lewis's meteoric rise from 20th and his scrap with Adrian for a few more points. The scrap between Felipe, Jenson & Fernando caused a few edge of seat moments but the front 5 remained basically as the first lap so that must be considered a little boring.
Off we now go to China on April 18 and we look forward to seeing any upgrades and moves from the lower teams into the higher ranks. Force Indai are now stamping their authority on the top positions with both Adrian & Vitantonio and it would be good to see Williams doing similar.
Saturday 3 April 2010
F1 Malaysia Quali
After a tremendous race in Australia the F1 circus moved to Malaysia and the weather is obviously on everyone's mind after the first Red flag and half points finish in 2009. The weather didn't disappoint as it rained prior to the start of quali and all hell was to break loose.
Jenson had struggled with set up all day on Friday whilst Lewis was fastest throughout practice but that all means nothing now the rain has come. Into quali and the teams had 4 sets of inters and 3 sets of full wets for the weekend so it was critical to try and preserve tyres for the race.
As the session started most of the teams were out straight away but Mclaren and Ferrari decided to wait as their weather reports suggested the first rain storm was to be the only one and how wrong could they have been.
The teams on inters were able to put banker laps in but Mclaren and Ferrari struggled as the rain came again and they simply weren't quick enough on their full wets. Eddie Jordan commented it was a disgrace as the 2 top teams should know better and he was quite scathing of their decision.
Sebastian (Buemi) was the first to register a quick lap whilst all the big guns sat it out Then Sebastian put in a quick one followed by Kubica. With 12 mins to go all the teams were out and it was obvious the second downpour was going to hamper Lewis, Fernando and Felipe and they were stuck in 19, 20 and 21st places which was really what they deserved.
Jenson slid out into the gravel trap on turn 5 and was to take no further part so he finished his day in 17th as a miserable day for the Mclaren & Ferrari's continued.
The interest wasn't for once up front as the drop outs from Q1 made interesting reading. Trulli (17), Fernando (19), Lewis (20), Felipe (21) followed by those one would sadly expect to go out in Q1, Karun (22), Bruno (23) and Lucas (24).
What a prospect we now had with some of the new teams elevated into Q2. Jenson admitted after Q1 the team had got it wrong as they should have gone out on inters at the very start of quali and put bunker laps in and not sat it out in the garage. Was the decision naive (I don't think so), was it bravado (I don't think so either) so that leaves a degree of arrogance believing they can't be beaten in Q1!
Into Q2 and the top 17 looked very different as Vitaly put in a 1.48 only to be usurped by the rain meister, Michael but the places kept changing throughout as we still had big guns such as Sebastian, Mark, Nico and Robert.
However, None of the top 10 were safe at any time as the times changed constantly but eventually we lost (Vitaly (11), Pedro (12), Sebastian (Buemi) (13), Jaime (14), Heikki (15), Timo (16) and of course Jenson who only finished 17th from his time from Q1.
At the end of Q2 it was Sebastian (1), Robert (2), Adrian (3), Nico (Hulkenberg) (4), Nico (5), Robert (6), Mark (7), Vitantonio (8), Rubens ((9) and last but not least Michael (10).
The weather didn't improve much for Q3 with another downpour at the start. Less than 3 minutes in and with all the teams on full wets it was still considered dangerous and Red flagged which is always unnerving for the teams. The standing water at Malaysia once again playing havoc with proceedings.
Yet, out came the gladiators with 7.17 mins to go onto a very wet track with rivers running across. All the teams, apart from Mark were on full wets with both Force India's leading the field.
As Red Bull had its 2 cars on alternate tyres it was obvious one of them would stamp their authority on proceedings. Mark grabbed his Red Bull by the scruff of its neck and put in a stunning 1.49.327, some 1.3 secs in front of the rest.
After Mark it was Nico out qualifying his more experienced rain meister team mate once again followed by Sebastian in the second Red Bull and completing row 2 was Adrian again putting that Force India in the lead group.
With a stunning drive Nico (Hulkenberg) confirmed his F2 talent starting the third row with Robert, the fourth row was Rubens and Michael and rounding out the top 10 was Kamui and Vitantonio.
After the mayhem it only goes to prove the best teams in the world with the very finest technology can make catastrophic blunders and they really do not deserve any better. To be outshone by even some of the new teams must be very gauling for them and so it should.
From an armchair point of view it will make the grand prix tomorrow very exciting so we will have to see what 3 world champions and Felipe can do from their lowly grid positions. Let us all hope it is a safe race and gives us the excitement Australia did.
Jenson had struggled with set up all day on Friday whilst Lewis was fastest throughout practice but that all means nothing now the rain has come. Into quali and the teams had 4 sets of inters and 3 sets of full wets for the weekend so it was critical to try and preserve tyres for the race.
As the session started most of the teams were out straight away but Mclaren and Ferrari decided to wait as their weather reports suggested the first rain storm was to be the only one and how wrong could they have been.
The teams on inters were able to put banker laps in but Mclaren and Ferrari struggled as the rain came again and they simply weren't quick enough on their full wets. Eddie Jordan commented it was a disgrace as the 2 top teams should know better and he was quite scathing of their decision.
Sebastian (Buemi) was the first to register a quick lap whilst all the big guns sat it out Then Sebastian put in a quick one followed by Kubica. With 12 mins to go all the teams were out and it was obvious the second downpour was going to hamper Lewis, Fernando and Felipe and they were stuck in 19, 20 and 21st places which was really what they deserved.
Jenson slid out into the gravel trap on turn 5 and was to take no further part so he finished his day in 17th as a miserable day for the Mclaren & Ferrari's continued.
The interest wasn't for once up front as the drop outs from Q1 made interesting reading. Trulli (17), Fernando (19), Lewis (20), Felipe (21) followed by those one would sadly expect to go out in Q1, Karun (22), Bruno (23) and Lucas (24).
What a prospect we now had with some of the new teams elevated into Q2. Jenson admitted after Q1 the team had got it wrong as they should have gone out on inters at the very start of quali and put bunker laps in and not sat it out in the garage. Was the decision naive (I don't think so), was it bravado (I don't think so either) so that leaves a degree of arrogance believing they can't be beaten in Q1!
Into Q2 and the top 17 looked very different as Vitaly put in a 1.48 only to be usurped by the rain meister, Michael but the places kept changing throughout as we still had big guns such as Sebastian, Mark, Nico and Robert.
However, None of the top 10 were safe at any time as the times changed constantly but eventually we lost (Vitaly (11), Pedro (12), Sebastian (Buemi) (13), Jaime (14), Heikki (15), Timo (16) and of course Jenson who only finished 17th from his time from Q1.
At the end of Q2 it was Sebastian (1), Robert (2), Adrian (3), Nico (Hulkenberg) (4), Nico (5), Robert (6), Mark (7), Vitantonio (8), Rubens ((9) and last but not least Michael (10).
The weather didn't improve much for Q3 with another downpour at the start. Less than 3 minutes in and with all the teams on full wets it was still considered dangerous and Red flagged which is always unnerving for the teams. The standing water at Malaysia once again playing havoc with proceedings.
Yet, out came the gladiators with 7.17 mins to go onto a very wet track with rivers running across. All the teams, apart from Mark were on full wets with both Force India's leading the field.
As Red Bull had its 2 cars on alternate tyres it was obvious one of them would stamp their authority on proceedings. Mark grabbed his Red Bull by the scruff of its neck and put in a stunning 1.49.327, some 1.3 secs in front of the rest.
After Mark it was Nico out qualifying his more experienced rain meister team mate once again followed by Sebastian in the second Red Bull and completing row 2 was Adrian again putting that Force India in the lead group.
With a stunning drive Nico (Hulkenberg) confirmed his F2 talent starting the third row with Robert, the fourth row was Rubens and Michael and rounding out the top 10 was Kamui and Vitantonio.
After the mayhem it only goes to prove the best teams in the world with the very finest technology can make catastrophic blunders and they really do not deserve any better. To be outshone by even some of the new teams must be very gauling for them and so it should.
From an armchair point of view it will make the grand prix tomorrow very exciting so we will have to see what 3 world champions and Felipe can do from their lowly grid positions. Let us all hope it is a safe race and gives us the excitement Australia did.
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