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.

F1 Quali Melbourne

Well, the first bit of news came on Friday off the track as Lewis had an altercation with Australian police in his road car. Whilst the worlds press made a big thing about it I think it is rather amusing and I am sure the police loved every minute of it.

It also appears Lewis has parted his managaer and father Anthony Hamilton and according to the press it was Lewis who initiated it. I am certain we will hear more about this in the near future.

Back to quali and with cloudy skies it was all go for hopefully a better weekend showing than last time out in Bahrain. All the prospects were good for a better race weekend on a shorter track than Bahrain and on practice form it seems tighter as well.

Q1: None of the teams complained about traffic in Q1 but it looked, to say the least hairy at times. One can only say the Red Bull's are on fire and Sebastian was electric throughout quali. He was closely followed by Nico, Jenson, Lewis, Fernando, Mark, Michael, a struggling Felipe, Adrian again up there and closing out the top 10 came Robert in his Renault.

It is an awful thing to have to say but we lost the 3 new teams again and the only real surprise was the loss of Vitaly Petrov in the Renault but he was 2 seconds up the road from the new teams in a 26.5. So out went Lotus with Heikki and Jarno but both their cars at least finished in Bahrain, Virgin with Timo and di Grassi and both the HRT cars where both Senna and Karun are struggling big time.

Into Q2 where again we were to lose 7 cars and a couple of surprises in store. Sebastian & Mark were still out front followed by Fernando, Jenson, Nico (still in front of Michael), Michael, Felipe, Adrian still up there in the Force India doing a sterling job, Robert keeping the Renault up there and Rubens consistent again.

Then came a surprise and the first major scalp was Lewis himself who evidently hadn't enough fuel to complete the lap which would have taken him into the top 10. He seemed to struggle throughout Q2 and he was out, finishing in 11th. This is not as good a position as 2009 as there is no fuel strategy advantage anymore only choice of tyres.

After Lewis we lost Sebastian (Buemi), Nico (Hulkenberg), Vitantonio, Pedro, Kamui and finally Jamie. So only 1 of the Cosworth engined cars made Q1 and again it was in the hands of Rubens in his 1oth placed Williams.

Q1: So out came the big guns for Q1 with the teams looking ever upward wondering whether rain would spoil the party. The heli had some rain spots on the lens but that didn't affect quali. From the off it was Vettel setting the pace and the first to register a lap under 1.24. His stunning 1.23.9 was never to be headed even accepting Mark had the local, home turf advantage with the Aussie crown egging him on. His 24 dead kept him in second place giving us a Red Bull front row.

Fernando was there or thereabouts again following his success in Bahrain and made up row 2 in front of Jenson who obviously out performed Lewis in his lowly 11th.

Row 3 saw Felipe finally getting his act together albeit .8 secs off Fernando's pace and he was joined by Nico again out gunning Michael. Row 4 saw Michael in front of his old Ferrari partner Rubens who was showing Williams are on the pace.

Row 5 and making the top 10 was Robert who is still getting to grips with the Renault and once he does I think he will move up further and rounding out the top 10 was Adrian again showing the Force India is a top class team.

So the race looks like being a different prospect to Bahrain and has the prospect of being closer with hopefully a little more overtaking particularly with Lewis in 11th who must surely have to stamp his mark from the off.

We still have 6 seconds between pole and the 24th HRT car which could spell problems in the race due to the arrival speed of the cars behind the slowest. So we have 24 cars thundering around Albert Park's 5.3 kms circuit for 58 laps in what will hopefully be a dry race.

The lap record is held by Michael in 1.24.1 and surely that must be under threat from Vettel in particular with others not far away. We have certainly 8 cars capable of winning the race and they were all covered by less than 1 second in quali even accepting Lewis down in 11th.

Lets hope for a great grand prix tomorrow.

F1 Bahrain Race

Here we go for the first race of the 2010 season and anticipation is very high for the first race as well as all the excitement to come. The new Mercedes SLS course car looks a mean machine and I have no doubt we shall hear the roar of this beast many times during the season.

It is great to have Ayrton's nephew, Bruno Senna on the grid and what an evocative name back in the sport along with Lotus and didn't it look spooky as he opened his visa when he broke down, I am sure we all wish them well. It was also nice to see the line up of F1 previous world champions and Martin spoke to Emerson Fittipaldi, Nigel Mansell and Mario Andretti on the grid and Damon was seen many times over the weekend. Names like Nicki Lauda, John Surtees, Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher are evocative names in the world of F1.

At the second longest circuit of the season at 3.94 miles, the full tanks will mean the cars go faster as the race develops over the 49 laps. The lap record of 1.33.43 from 2009 will stand after this race due to the changes to the circuit and with a track temperature of 39 and air temperature of 36 it is going to be a hot race for all concerned.

The flag dropped and Sebastian shot into the lead from pole but Fernando passed Felipe at turn 2 in a classic overtaking move, Nico passed Lewis as he made a mistake running wide and mayhem happened behind at the back of the grid. It appears to me the plumes of smoke that, for some reason appeared from the back of Mark's Red Bull put off the followers and apart from dropping him back it also lost Robert many places.

Unfortunately then it became somewhat of a procession and it appears to me the drivers appeared to be driving very conservatively to protect their tyres and fuel loads. I sincerely hope this is not the case or this season could become a Fernando benefit.

So Sebastian held his lead followed by Fernando, Felipe, Nico, Lewis, Michael, Jenson and Mark but not particularly close and not really competing with each other. At the first tyre stop Lewis nipped in front of Nico and that was that done for Lewis but he never really got on terms with Felipe.

At the back we lost the unfortunate Karun Chandruk (HRT Cosworth) after only 1 lap with an accident across the bump, then Lucas di Grassi (Virgin Cosworth) went next. Then came a rash of failures including Kamui 11 Laps (Sauber Ferrari), Vitaly Petrov 13 Laps (Renault), Timo 16 Laps (Virgin Cosworth), Bruno Senna 17 Laps and finally Pedro de la Rosa 28 Laps (Sauber Ferrari).

However, Lotus did a fantastic job in their first GP for many years with both cars there at the finish so well done Heikki and Jarno. Williams also did a great job with Rubens in 10th and Nico Hulkenberg finishing 14th. It is fair to suggest there was more swapping and changing amongst the last 10 on the grid and at times, although we didn't see that much of it, it was quite exciting.

So back to the front and all seemed well but all of a sudden Sebastian started to slow slightly dropping a couple of seconds and it became apparent he had a broken exhaust. So, Fernando pounced into the lead that he was never to lose. Felipe kept in contention as he also passed Sebastian who forlornly pressed on.

I must pay tribute to Felipe as it is fantastic for us all to see him back and to come 2nd in his first race since his tragic accident can only be called fantastic for him, his fans, for us and Ferrari. Well done Felipe and we wish you all the best for the future and in your fight with Fernando.

Then Lewis passed the lonely Sebastian and that was basically the end of the race really albeit Nico was closing fast on Sebastian but all in vain as he failed by a short margin.

All the talk prior to the start was obviously about the comeback king Michael Schumacher and I suppose by his standards he didn't have a good weekend. In this sport the first thing you must do is beat your team mate and he was .5 secs behind Nico Rosberg all weekend.

So the final grid was Fernando (25), Felipe (18), Lewis (15), Sebastian (12), Nico (10), Michael (8), Jenson (6), Mark (4), Vitantonio (2) and last in the top 10 and points scorer Rubens (1).

So what have we learnt from today:

In the top team mate war: Fernando and Felipe very close, Lewis well in front of Jenson, Nico well in front of Michael, Sebastian far in front Mark.

Concern must be expressed about the new tyre and refuelling regulations as it could bring boring racing as the drivers have no alternative but to protect the cars. Engines now have to last 3 races, tyres are more restricted through race day and fuel has obviously to be conserved or the cars wouldn't reach the flag.

So congratulations to Fernando and Felipe and the Ferrari team but let us hope this is not the start of a procession as has happened in the past with Ferrari in Michael's hands!

F1 Driver Line up 2010

Well here we go and only 5 days before the weekends are again full of our favourite sport. The circus starts in Bahrain for a change this season with Australia coming second. Below is the final line-up of drivers teams as of Monday 8 March 2010.

This looks a very interesting line up with new cars, new teams and new stars which should be a very interesting season. Competition will run rife amongst team mates with the likes of partnerships such as Lewis/Jenson, Michael/Nico, Felipe/Fernando, Mark/Sebastian and the other top starts such as Rubens & Robert there to prove points make prizes.

Great also to see Peter Sauber back where he belongs on the pit wall with a strong driver line up including the star of the last 2 races in 2009, Kamui Kobayashi. Let us hope they have a great yet safe season and we wll wish them well.

The F1 Drivers and Teams:

Jenson Button

Lewis Hamilton

Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes

Nico Rosberg

Michael Schumacher

Brawn GP F1 Team Mercedes

Sebastian Vettel

Mark Webber

Red Bull Racing Renault

Felipe Massa

Fernando Alonso

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro

Rubens Barrichello

Nico Hulkenberg

AT & T Williams Cosworth

Robert Kubica

Vitaly Petrov

Renault F1 Team

Adrian Sutil

Vitantonio Liuzzi

Force Indai F1 Team Mercedes

Sebastian Buemi

Jamie Alguersuari

Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari - TBA

Jarno Trulli

Heikki Kovalainen

TBA Lotus F1 Racing Cosworth

Pedro De La Rosa

Kamui Kobayashi

Sauber

Karun Chandhok

Bruno Senna

Campos Meta

Timo Glock

Lucas Di Grassi

Virgin Racing - Manor Grand Prix Cosworth

Sir Stirling Moss

Sir Stirling Moss, our very own F1 legend has broken his ankles falling down a lift shaft.

Sir Stirling has broken both ankles when falling three floors down a lift shaft in his home Saturday, 6 March. It appears that his special lift doors opened in error and as he reached in to turn on the light the lift cage wasn't there but on the floor above.

When Paramedics arrived at his home in Mayfair they whisked him to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel.He also broke four bones in a foot, chipped four vertebrae and suffered skin damage, the website said. His family said he was recovering well.

  "Very unfortunate"

The website said: "He remained conscious throughout. With the assistance of Professor Sid Watkins he was moved on Sunday to a hospital closer to his home where he underwent surgery on both his ankles, which were plated and pinned.

"The door to the lift, that should have remained locked if the lift was not on the floor that it was called from, opened in error.

"He stepped into the narrow open shaft in the expectation that the lift would be present for him to walk into, as it should have been."

Lady Moss, Sir Stirling's wife, said: "This was a very unfortunate accident, it could have just as easily been another member of the family stepping into where the lift should have been."

His family said he was comfortable after a good night's rest and they expected the recovery to take up to six weeks.

Sir Stirling is known in the racing community as the greatest driver never to have won the Formula One championship.

He won 16 Grand Prix races between 1951 and 1961 and retired after crashing at Goodwood in 1962.

F1 News

May I take this opportunity of wishing the Teams, Drivers, Fans, Marshall's and all those connected with Motor Racing generally all over the world a very  

Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous 2010.

Updates and General News
Silverstone has at last been granted an extended license for an unspecified period (albeit 17 years has been mentioned) to host the British Grand Prix at its rightful home. This will give Damon and his team the opportunity to make the required investment in the circuit with guaranteed return. Well done the BRDC and about time too.

Points System for 2010
Changes to the points scoring for drivers and constructor championships come into operation for the new season as follows: 

1st - 25, 2nd - 20, 3rd - 15, 4th - 10, 5th - 8, 6th - 6, 7th - 5, 8th - 3, 9th - 2, 10th - 1.

That will make a big difference to the spread of points across the drivers and teams. Points for 
 9th and 10th will make a difference to the lower places as they are still achieving points for their efforts.

New Rules 
New rules come into force relating to race day incidents. There will be a permanent panel of stewards who iwll go to each GP along with an additional local steward for each circuit. These 4 stewards will also be accompanied by an experienced former F1 driver to add to the decision making process. These may well help iron out some of the anomalies which have hindered drivers and teams over the past couple of seasons.

New Driver Appointments 
The appointment of drivers is now changing by the day and once the places are all filled I will publish the full driver/team line up. This will finally update the last one I published a few weeks ago. News from this last 2 weeks.

I am pleased to hear Kobayashi has been given a drive with BMW Sauber for 2010 and we all wait their place on the grid to replace Toyota. Kobayashi sprung into the limelight for the last 2 races in 2009 replacing the injured Timo Glock at Toyota. He drove 2 fantastic races in both Brazil and Abu Dhabi and is without doubt a talent for the future.

Virgin Racing (Manor Grand Prix) have announced Lucas Di Grassi and Timo Glock and that sounds an interesting partnership for a new team.

Lotus have also announced their driver line up with Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalinen. Let us all hope the resurgence of Lotus can match the talent of both drivers, if it can they should be up and around mid pack.

It was also nice to hear Felipe (Massa) is back in winning ways after winning the 500 Miles of Granja Viana Kart race in Cotia, near Sao Paulo. Felipe had team mates of Lucas di Grassi and Julio Campos and crossed the line first after 644 laps - or just under 11 hours of racing. Welcome back Felipe and all the best for 2010.

That's all for now and I will continue with the updates and any important news after Christmas.

F1 Calendar 2010

The 2010 F1 Race Calendar sees 19 races with the introduction of Korea. Also the great news that Silverstone is to retain the British GP for the foreseeable future. The start race for 2010 has also changed to Bahrain and replaces Australia which is now race 2.

So here goes.

12 to 14 March Bahrain GP (Sakhir)
26 to 28 March Australian GP (Melbourne)
2 to 4 April Malaysian GP (Kuala Lumpur)
16 to 18 April Chinese GP (Shanghai)
7 to 9 May Spanish GP (Catalunya)
13 to 16 May Monaco GP (Monte Carlo)
28 to 30 May Turkish GP (Istanbul)
11 to 13 June Canadian GP (Montreal)
25 to 27 June European GP (Valencia)
9 to 11 July British GP (Silverstone)
23 to 25 July German GP (Hockenheim)
20 July to 1 August Hungarian GP (Budapest)
27 to 29 August Belgian GP (Spa-Francorchamps)
10 to 12 September Italian GP (Monza)
24 to 26 September Singapore GP (Singapore)
8 to 10 October Japanese GP (Suzuki)
22 to 24 October Korean GP (Yeongam)
5 to 7 November Brasilian GP (Sau Paolo)
12 to 14 November Abu Dhabi GP (Yas Marina)

Can't wait for the start of the new season as I am bored without the adrenalin rush already.

F1 Drivers Line up 2010 - Update

Things are getting a little clearer as the year moves on with the driver line up for 2010.

As of today the following drivers / teams are confirmed for 2010

Jenson Button
Lewis Hamilton
Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes

Nico Rosberg
Driver 2
TBA Brawn GP F1 Team Mercedes

Sebastian Vettel
Mark Webber
Red Bull Racing Renault

Felipe Massa
Fernando Alonso
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro

Rubens Barrichello
Nico Hulkenberg
AT & T Williams Cosworth

Robert Kubica
Driver 2 TBA
Renault F1 Team

Adrian Sutil
Vitantonio Liuzzi
Force Indai F1 Team Mercedes

Sebastian Buemi
Driver 2 TBA
Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari - TBA

TBA
TBA Lotus F1 Racing Cosworth

Bruno Senna Campos F1 Dallara Cosworth
TBA US F1 Team Cosworth

Timo Glock
Driver 2 TBA
Virgin Racing - Manor Grand Prix Cosworth

So we have some notable additions for 2010. 12 teams are shown above but to date Toyota, who are still bound by the Concorde Agreement to enter still have the 13th slot.

The return of Lotus is an evocative name in the sport and along with Cosworth I am sure they will both do an excellent job as they have proved in the past.

BMW Sauber have not yet had their slot finalised but I am sure we all wish to see Peter Sauber back in his rightful place on the pit wall as owner of his own team again. Well done Peter and all the best for the 2010 season and we all hoper to see you there.

That's all for now and I will keep updating the entries until we have the final grid line up.

(Image courtesy of www.turkeytouristline.com)

F1 - Silly Season Update

It’s all beginning to happen.

The final 2010 driver line up will be very interesting and probably the biggest change for many a year. Jenson is off to Mclaren and that will be a challenge for him and I have to say a mistake as he risks being put in the shade by Lewis.

Nico Rosberg is rumoured to be replacing Jenson at Brawn and with Nico being much more aggressive and in a great car it will confirm his talent. Kimi is taking a sabbatical in 2010 and interviews will never be the same, he won’t come back!

I am pleased to hear Timo Glock is confirmed at Manor Grand Prix and that will be an interesting partnership for the new team.

Flavio is claiming 1 million Euro’s in compensation and retraction of the life ban! Best of luck Flavio. Mercedes are buying 75% of Brawn and will run under the banner of the Silver Arrows again in 2010 and Mclaren say they are happy about it!

Toyota have decided to sign out after many millions over the past 4 to 5 years after being accused of trying to buy a championship. That didn't work and the current financial climate is as good an excuse as any.

And it goes on and there are those that still suggest F1 is boring, it may be sometimes on the track but off it is certainly very interesting at this time of year. There will certainly be more to come and I will continue the updates as news worthy stories come along.

F1 - Lewis versus Jenson

Firstly I must congratulate Jenson on winning the World Championship in 2009. His decision to stay with Honda, latterly renamed Brawn was well justified on balance. However, one has to ask where else could he have gone. His CV wasn't exactly illuminating and the results simply weren't there.


However, I was somewhat surprised to hear Jenson is moving to Mclaren for 2010 as he will surely be tested there more than ever before. Rubens out drove Jenson in the final races of the season and it was only the first 6 races that gave Jenson the final edge.

None of that takes away the fact he did win the championship with finally some excellent driving and particularly overtaking in Brazil, his race of the season.

From a bad start Mclaren recovered in 2009 and improved the car by a greater margin than the other teams and Lewis certainly made capital of the resurgence. He out scored Jenson by 40 points to 34 in the last 7 races and proved he is simply in a class of his own.

It is a long time since we had such a prodigious talent in F1 and one must compare him with the likes of the late, great Ayrton Senna, our Nige (Mansell) and Alain (Prost) who have nothing to prove. Without doubt 3 years at Mclaren has seem him mature and he is better for that.


Lewis's rise to fame was prolific since joining Mclaren in 2007. His record speaks volumes, narrowly missing the championship in 2007, world champion in 2008 and had it not been for the diffuser issue and Liegate early in 2009 I think he would have been champion again.

Mclaren also had to concentrate on winning the title in 2008 and hence development on the 2009 car was seriously affected.

On the other side of the fence we have Jenson who's F1 career has been much less sparkling. His winning streak has been almost entirely achieved during the initial races of 2009 where Brawn started the season with a much better car. After Brawn started the season with the controversial double diffuser they had an immediate edge.

None of this makes Jenson's achievement in 2009 less deserved but all one can say he was in the right place at the right time.

So, Lewis versus Jenson. I am surprised Jenson has put his self in this position as in my opinion he will always be No 2 following in the footsteps of Heikki (Kovalinen) who one wouldn't have thought was driving the same car in 09.

Politics and financial gain aside I would have thought Jenson would have been better stopping where he was. With Mercedes buying into Brawn at the level they have suggests they are going to be front runners in 2010 and with the rumoured Nico Rosberg behind the wheel that will be a prolific partnership.

It will be nice to see 2 British drivers in a British team but I see it being a one sided affair in the favour of Lewis. If that is the case it will take away Jenson's 2009 achievement as the pundits will suggest the controversial double diffuser won him his races.

I wish both Lewis and Jenson all the best for the 2010 season and let us all hope I am wrong.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Abu Dhabi and the Yas Marina Circuit, what a spectacle and I have it on first hand experience the TV doesn't do it justice. I am advised the circuit, the facilities, the approach to the circuit and the pit facilities are unknown in F1.

The circuit was obviously very smooth and needed some rubber down to achieve better grip. Being the first twilight race it presented a few problems for the drivers and they had to have special visors with tinted ones coming off when the dark came.

Quali started with the same ferocity and Fizzi did uit again, 20th and last which is quite unvbelievable accepting what he is driving. The other 4 drop outs of Q1 were both Force India's which was a surprise and of equal concern was Heikki.

Quali 2 really was no surprise as Kimi was 11th, that man Kobayashi, Kazuki, Jamie and another surpise as Fernando came in 11th. So the scene was set for a real challenge at the sharp end.

Lewis appeared to be in a class of his own and marched to pole with a fantastic lap some .5 in front of Sebastian. Then we had the main protagonists like Jenson, Mark and Rubens fighting it out for the lower places on the grid.

So it finished Lewis, Sebastian (V), Mark, Rubens (in front of Jenson again), Jenson, Jarno, Robert, Nico and 10th came Sebastian (B).

So as everyone marvelled at the surroundings Martin's grid walk with Eddie was a little different to usual and very interesting. The teams in the meanwhile were all getting ready for racing amongst all the mayhem.

The warm up lap finished off they launched into turn 1. Lewis went from the start and everyone thought that was it, what we didn't know is he was in trouble with brakes. Sebastian kept Lewis in close company followed by Mark. To be fair the race wasn't a spectacle like Brazil, just a different circuit.

Eventually Lewis was brought into the pits by the team with an offside rear brake problem yet to be confirmed what exactly happened. Sebastian went away after Lewis's demise followed by Mark which was to finish as another 1, 2 for the Red Bull team and well done to them.

Behind Mark, Jenson and Rubens were fairly close but not really in competition but that man Kobayashi was firing on all cylinders. In the latter stages Jenson began to put Mark under pressure and it went until the flag was very thrilling and Jenson very nearly took second but in the end it it finished Sebastian, Mark, Jenson and Rubens.

At least finished on the podium in his final race in his world championship season. Well done Jenson.

So the season is finished and what a season it has been for all sorts of reasons, some good, some bad. We all have to wait now until March 2010 in Bahrain for the first race of what should be a different season with no refuelling and some new blood on the grid.

Thank you to all those who have read my blog and I look forward like all of you to 2010.

Brazilian Grand Prix

In past few years Brazil has been the scene of the crowning of the world champion and we were all hoping it could be Jenson's title this year. The highlight of this years qualifying was the weather. All the cars went out in Quali 1 which caused one or two surprises to say the least.

Instead of the usual contenders we lost Lewis, Heikki, Sebastian, Nick and Vintanio.
Then the heavens opened and nothing happened for at least 2 hours and it was getting close to finishing qualifying using the grid positions from quali 1. After what seemed like an eternity quali restarted on a wet circuit.

Jenson then struggled and finished a very lonely 14th which wasn't where anyone expected him to be but in front of the even more lowly Sebastian. So Kamui, Jaime and Kazuki made 11, 12 and 13.

Off we went into quali 3 and the fight for pole. We were to have a very mixed up grid anyway apart from 1 and 2. Mark and Rubens fought it out at the front and after a thrilling fight Rubens took the pole at his home Grand Prix. Adrian shot the Force India into 3rd followed by Jarno.

Kimi followed in front of Sebastian (Buemi) in front of Nico, Robert, Kazuki and finishing the top 10, Fernando.

So into race day and whilst there was a slight chance of rain at least it started in the dry. Rubens led away from pole followed by Mark and what was to be the best race of the year commenced. There are those that suggest, including me sometimes, that F1 is boring with no overtaking.

With Jenson, Sebastian and Lewis at the back we were set for a thriller. An accident took out a very unhappy Fernando as he tangled with Adrian and Jarno and Nick also had a coming off. That took 4 out of the race and obviously moved up the 3 rocket ships coming at speed.

Lewis, Sebastian and Jenson sliced through the grid dispelling the myth about no overtaking in F1. Jenson particularly drove a fantastic race overtaking with unbelievable accuracy, nothing was to stop his dream.

So with some thrilling drives the race finished with Mark in P1 followed by Robert, Lewis, Sebastian (V), Jenson, Kimi, Sebastian (B) and the last points went to Rubens.

Jenson's 5th place was enough to take the World Championship and for the 2nd year in succession we had another British World Champion. The points of the 2 Brawn's also gave the Constructors Championship to Brawn so it was a double celebration.

I cannot end this report without mentioning Kumai Kobayashi after his first race in F1. His was a fantsatic drive to 9th and it may even give him a Toyota drive for 2010.

So what a race, great driving, tremendous overtaking and 2 championships concluded during the day.

Now with baited breath the Forumla 1 circus sets off to Abu Dhabi and the second new circuit in the desert and part of the United Emirates.

Singapore Grand Prix

So here we are at the race which has caused much controversary of late with the allegations that Renault forced Nelson Piquet Junior to crash at last years race (2008) so Alonso could win. The resultant FIA Council meeting concluded that Flavio Briatorre would be excluded from any involvement with events controlled by the FIA for life and Pat Simonds for 5 years.

Nelson Piquet was however given immunity as he was the one who offered the information to the FIA. I still find the saga difficult to accept within the sport I love and feel Nelson should have a penalty. He was the one that crashed the car at the perfect moment to allow Alonso, who had just pitted, to go on and win the race after the Safety Car period.

As if F1 hasn't had enough controversy over the past 2 seasons we are then faced with what has been called the worst act of its type in sporting history. Let us all hope we can finish the 2009 season off without any other controversy and that we can get back to the sport and start again with a clean sheet in 2010.

Back to F1. The teams came to Singapore with the 2009 World Champion in the balance. Battle was once more joined between, Red Bull and Brawn. Quali 1 saw a change for the first 5 drop outs as we saw Heidfeld, Liuzzi, Grosjean, and Alguersauri and the luckless Fizzi who just can't get to grips with the Ferrari. It is sad but Fizzi simply hasn't got there yet and doesn't seem to be any nearer.

Quali 2 came as a disaster for Jenson who finished 11th and not happy with his lot as once again he was outpaced by Rubens. The same luck applied to Kimi who coudn't get the Ferrari set up so both Ferrari's failed to get into Quali 1. So we lost Jarno who was again outpaced by Timo in his flying Toyota, Buemi, Adrian Sutil, Jenson and Kimi.

Into Quali 3 and without doubt Lewis was the star of the day. He launched his Mclaren into pole with a lap untouched by anyone else. His nearest challenger was the usual Sebastian Vettel who finished in P2. Nico was flying and put his Williams into P3 closely followed by Mark Webber. Alonso followed Mark and Timo (Glock) in his Toyota just pipped Robert (Kubica) and to finish off it was Heikki, Rubens and Kazuki.

Into race day and Lewis remained hot favourite and from the flag he was never really headed apart from pit stops. Timo drove a hero's race into second and he really had the Toyota humming and the same applied to Nico until he came out of the pits and crossed the dreaded White line. As is normal with this offence it brings an automatic drive through and put him back down to 11th.

The title contenders were basically locked together finishing in line astern with Sebastian (4), Rubens (5) and Jenson (6). This result tightened the championship and they went to Brazil with all 3 still in the fight albeit Jenson still has the edge.

So after returning to the scene of the Renault debacle last year all went off without a hitch, off to Japan.

Hungary Quali

Firstly our thoughts go out to the Surtees family after the tragic accident to Henry at Brands Hatch. This freak accident just shows how dangerous motor racing still is as the wheel off one of the other competitors cars hit him on the head.

What brings it home even more is the spooky freak accident to Felipe Massa only a week after when a spring from the rear of Rubens Barrichello's Brawn bounced down the circuit and was collected by Felipe who, it appears finished up with a fractured skull.

All the signs are that Felipe will fully recover but as I write he is still in an induced coma. Whether he will drive again seems to be in doubt and their is talk of him being replaced by, wait for it, Michael Schumacher and that would be a real revelation.

Anyway that is unimportant compared with Felipe's complete recovery and our thoughts go out to the Massa family in the meanwhile.

On a somewhat sombre note after Brands the F1 circus goes to the tight Hungaroring noted for no overtaking which the drivers seemed to ignore all weekend.

We, I am sure all welcome Jaime Alguersauri to F1 who is the youngest driver to take an F1 seat and obtain his super license. He has replaced the luckless Sebastian Bourdais at Toro Rosso or maybe even STR -Ferrari, and as the 2008 Formula 3 champion he has been brought in under the Red Bull young driver program and he seemed to be consistent during his first run.

There was the usual fight to see who was to lose out in Q1 and apart from Alguersauri who broke down it was the Force India's and again the BMW's who just don't seem to be able to get things right. One expects better from BMW and I wonder what is being said in Germany about their continuing in the sport through these difficult times.

On into Q2 which is where Felipe had his accident and I don't think we should dwell on that. The loss of the spring in Ruben's car meant he couldn't progress to Q1 and the team launched an immediate inspection to find why and he finished 12th.

The Red Bulls's, Mclaren's (isn't that nice to be able to say) and Williams's were having an almighty fight at the top with Rosberg in P1 at one stage. Q2 saw the demise of both Toyota's, Nelson in the 2nd Renault, Rubens and of course Felipe.

On into Q3 and the same 6 cars were fighting it out but this time, with a lightly fueled Renault it was Fernando who put the Renault on pole followed by Sebastian (Vettel) followed by Mark, Lewis and Nico and then Heikki, Kimi. Jenson seemed to having tyre problems again and finished a lowly 8th and then rounding out the top 10 it was Kazuki and Sebastian (Buemi).

Albeit all the drivers were concentrating on the job in hand all the talk was correctly about Felipe and the only news we had post quali was that he was in hospital and stable. We desperately await good news.

Monaco Grand Prix

Over the Monaco weekend there were many talks about the budget cap for 2010. All the teams are at least in agreement with the cap on spending but how it's done appears to be the issue. Reading between the lines it now transpires the budget cap won't be applied in full until 2011 with reductions in 2010.

The breakaway series appears to have gone away so at least we are sure of F1 continuing in its present form as all we armchair spectators want it to. My concern is all the changes are going to water down the sport and the politics are getting worse which I am sure the sport does not need.

With a further meeting, 27 May, it will be interesting to see which of the teams lodge their 2010 entry as the only team to enter at this point is Williams.

Anyway, back to the race. It was an interesting race with mixed strategies which always make it interesting. Jenson shot off pole into Ste Devote and never really got challenged from there. In the meanwhile Rubens had a great start and beat Kimi into the first corner and he never really relinquished that position either.

After a shakedown the Ferrari's gathered behind the Brawn's and again were never really challenged finishing three (Kimi) and four (Felipe). They have closed the gap on Brawn and the best showing of their season so far. The cars looked sharper, more driveable and definitely much more on the pace.

Lewis struggled all day from his lowly grid position, made even worse by a gearbox change. He finished a lowly 12th and again nil points. Heikki on the other hand had a strong start faded to 7th and then hit the wall at the swimming pool, knocked off the nose and out he went, an incident very similar to Fernando's accident during quali.

Behind the Ferrari's Mark (Webber) drove a great race to finish 5th followed by a resurgent Nico who finished in his grid position of 6th. Fernando said his car felt better as the race went on to come in 7th and the last point scorer was Sebastien (Bourdais) earning a point for Toro Rosso.

Nelson Piquet was enjoying a good race until Sebastien (Buemi) decided to push him off the circuit into the armco at Ste Devote, so both were out.

Vettel started on super softs and was soon presenting a mobile chicane for many stuck behind him. Eventually he had to come in early as the tyres were shot. A lot of the teams were surprised how quickly the super softs went off and caused some strategy changes for the teams.

Vettell eventually attacked the armco at Ste Devote and his race was run. BMW continued their bad luck season with Heidfeld complaining the car wasn't quick enough and Kubica pulled out with brake problems.

So the race finished with Jenson (First) and Rubens (Second) and another Brawn 1,2. A rather amusing finish as Jenson decided he would ignore Monaco protocol and drive into the customary pit lane rather than the Monaco scenario of driving to the finishing lane and parking in front of the royal box.

Even after 78 laps around the streets of Monaco he was seen running to the start/finish lane which caused a little hilarity but confirms his fitness level.

So a Brawn 1,2 a Ferrari 3,4 followed by Red Bull, Williams, Renault and the last point to Toro Rosso.

Can anyone catch Jenson who now leads the championship by 16 points from Rubens on 35 and then the luckless Vettel at Monaco who has only 23 points. The constructors championship is obviously led by Brawn on a massive 86 points with their nearest rival (Red Bull) on a lowly 42.5.

One has to say it is not over yet but his points lead after 6 of 17 races is huge and it will take some failures from Brawn to water down such a massive lead. The reliability of the Brawn's to date has been exemplary to date and lets hope for Jenson and Rubens that continues.

So off we go to Turkey and what a thriller that will be with Ferrari coming back, Red Bull still improving, Williams getting nearer and let us all hope Mclaren find the downforce which is so sadly lacking so far this season.

Monaco Quali

Well here we are at the glitz and glamour of Monaco for the most evocative race on the F1 calendar. This street circuit is one of the most challenging for the drivers with close barriers, the tunnel where vision coming out is an issue and the challenge of overtaking.

It looked like Lewis was going to be on top of the list except he dropped it going into Mirabeau on the bump and swiped the rear left corner. So that was him down to 16th and taking no part in the qualifying hour.

Up at the sharp end it was destined to be a fight between the Brawn's, Red Bull's and Heikki in the remaining Mclaren with Fernando in there and fighting with his Renault. Jenson seemed to be taking things very slowly and didn't really figure in the early running. So, in quali 1 we lost Lewis, both Toyota's and both BMW's. One has to ask where are BMW as their season has been miserable to date and one suggests drastic changes have to be made and quickly.

Into quali 2 and the fight continued at the head of the field with Rosberg now putting in some scintillating laps and we were in for a showdown. There were no surprises in the top 10 as we lost the Toro Rosso's, Force India's and Nelson in his Renault.

So let battle commence as the last 15 minutes started. Again Jenson wasn't showing his hand as Rubens led the pack with Kimi in close pursuit. What was Jenson doing floundering around but he obviously had the game in hand. At the last minute he threw in a lap that was to put him on pole and where he got that from no one knows.

So the finishing order in the top 6 was Jenson, Kimi, Rubens, Sebastian (Vettel), Felipe and Nico showing good form in the Williams. Heikki showed well in front of Mark, Fernando and Kazuki.

So lets hope for a good race with plenty of the usual Monaco excitement.

F1 Barcelona - The Race

Sorry the post is late but life has been hectic over the past 2 weeks. So off we went to Barcelona for the first European race of the season. The front end of the grid is becoming the form cars for 2009 with Red Bull, Torro Rosso with a Ferrari for a change up at the front.

Albeit concerned about the KERS cars off the grid the 2 Brawn's were off but this time Rubens went into turn 1 in the lead closely followed by Jenson. Then came carnage behind them as Trulli went off onto the grass and came back across the track in front of Sutil and Bourdais ran into, or climbed over the back of Buemi. So we lost 2 Torro Rosso's, a Toyota and a Force India.

This brought the safety car out whilst they cleared up the debri. Then a pattern started to emerge as Rubens was off away at the front followed by Jenson, Vettel, Webber and Massa. It seemed they were all on 3 stoppers which Ross Brawn had confirmed was the quickest strategy.

With plenty of scraps down through the field the first pit stops arrived and in they swooped. All done and status quo resumed. Barrichello, Button, Vettel, Webber, Massa and the rest. Apart from a few scraps in the mid field the status quo remained until the second tyre stops.

The pace that Rubens had been running now seemed to go away on the third set of tyres and in the meantime Brawn had swapped Jenson to a 2 stop strategy rather then Rubens' 3 which went down like a lead brick with Rubens. However, the 2 stop strategy was still the right one.

So now Jenson took over the lead hotly pursued by Mark, Rubens, Felipe and Sebastian who was, for him frustratingly stuck behind the Ferrari. Unfortunately Lewis had a bad afternoon and really wasn't at the sharp end all day.

Nick (Heidfeld) and Nico (Rosberg) were always in the points and drove a good race throughout. In the heat of battle Kimi went missing with electrical problems so off to the garage for his shorts and an ice cream, Kovalinen only lasted 7 laps for the gremlins took over so that made the 6 retirements of the day joining the first 4 on lap 1.

So the run to the flag was on and after Mark's (Webber) final pit stop Rubens took over P2 and was never to lose it behind Jenson.

Felipe had fuel problems in the latter stages i.e. lack of and was told by the pits to slow down so as not to run out prior to the end. It appears the refuelling rig, banned for 2010 didn't dispense the correct amount of fuel and to bring him in for it would have taken any chance away. As it was he finished 6th after letting Sebastian and Fernando through.

That was at least a pleasant sight for Sebastian as he had been looking at the Ferrari double diffuser all afternoon so can tell the pits all about it, ha ha.

So yet another 1,2 for Brawn and Jenson's 4th win of the season, the 2 Red Bull's took 3rd and 4th with Fernando, Felipe, Nick and Nico making up the top 8 points positions. Rubens recorded the fastest lap at an average speed of 202.484 so at least something for his day out at the office.

So now it's off to Monaco for all the razzle dazzle and what hopefully will be a thrilling race. So many thrills with La Rascasse, Lowes, the tunnel and the swimming pool complex at what should be a great event as usual.

I remember watching a program about Jackie Stewart saying that when he came out of the tunnel into the then different chicane he could smell the grass every time he went past, wow. There was evidently a patch of grass on the harbour side to the left of the first part of the chicane and he could smell it with each circuit.

Monaco here we come.

Ayrton Senna Anniversary

Last Friday (1 May) is the 15th Anniversary of the death of what maybe the greatest Formula 1 driver of all time, Ayrton Senna da Silva. This Brazilian was to make a mark in F1 that was difficult to emulate even by the great Michael Schumacher with whom he is always compared.

As with most of the F1 drivers Ayrton came from Kart Racing, onto Formula 3 and eventually onto F1 in 1994 with the Toleman team. He moved to Lotus in 1985 and had 3 seasons with them with differing results although many podiums.

Then he moved to Mclaren in 1988 and won his first world championship. That was to be followed by a further 2 in 1990 and 1991. He left Mclaren and moved to Williams in 1994 in controversial circumstances between himself and Alain Prost.

The first 2 races of the season were not good for him, in fact his worst start to a season. Onward he went to San Marino where on Friday, during the afternoon qualifying session, Senna's protege, the then F1 newcomer Rubens Barrichello, was involved in a serious accident that prevented him from competing in the race. The next day Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger was killed in qualifying. but unfortunately was killed in at the San Marino GP in that year.

Having put the car on pole the drivers were put behind the safety car after a huge pile up at the start. Senna then set the pace with his now great rival Michael Schumacher behind him. As Senna entered the Tamburello corner at 137mph his Williams left the track and hit the retaining wall. After being airlifted to hospital he was pronounced dead later in the day.

Ayrton Senna is the last driver to die at the wheel of an F1 car, a testament to the pressure he started towards driver safety.

During his career he had 3 world championships, 41 races, 80 podiums, scored 610 points and has 65 poles. One wonders what would have happened had he been around more in the early years of Michael Schumacher's career, all we can do is ponder the thought.

Laptop Power Packs

Afternoon followers, I thought we should update you on the latest antics that we have been up to in the past week!

I am sure many of you are excited about the new season of Forumla 1 that has started, well done Jenson Button and well done to Lewis Hamilton for coming 3rd (Jano Trulli has been knocked down a place since the race finished), we look forward to an exciting season and who knows we may well see our gorgeous Jenson Button lift the trophy this year, how exiciting!

The Monkeys were flying all over the place last week, we have had many orders through Spain and a few items went across the pond to the USA; we really are becoming International!

We also started a Limited company so Mobi Power Packs is now an LTD, wooo hooo, we will go VAT registered shortly also and then it really starts to get scary!

We hired space last week at a Danish event to show case all the products, the event was centered around wine tasting and I even bought some myself ;)

We had a lot of interest from walkers, there is a group of people who will be walking the north of Spain next month, the walk is 800KM and they plan to walk 34KMs per day, this is where the PowerMonkey eXplorer will come into it's own, these walkers will be camping and covering 35KMs per day up a mountain, not much chance of finding somewhere to charge for a few days at a time, plus the Spanish weather will be packing out a few UV rays next month so the SolarMonkey will really perform, it will allow these walkers contact with the outside world while on their adventure.

The PowerMonkey will charge a mobile for 96 hours on standby, along with MP3 players, Blackberry, PDA, Nintendo and PSP, including digital cameras.

The SolarMonkey will charge your mobile via the UV power of the sun, the SolarMonkey will also charge PDA, Blackberry, PSP, Nintendo, Digital Cameras including powering portable speakers while charging the rechargeable batteries that are in the speakers, meaning you never need to be without charge while hiking, walking or camping!