Well, I haven’t commented much on this years Formula 1 championship for a while, not since my comments on the Brawn teams early success. That’s not to say that there hasn’t been a lot to comment about, there has.

The little matter of Lewis Hamilton getting caught out on fibbing to the Stewards, frankly a little omission of no great consequence that seemed to be blown out of proportion to the actual even. Then there was the power struggle between FOTA (the teams ‘union’ Formula One Constructors Association) and FIA (the sports governing body) over the subject of cost capping.

No sooner had that died down then we had Felipe Massa‘s unfortunate accident which, had it happened only a couple of years ago would have been fatal, has merely sidelined him for the rest of the season. Word of 7 time champion Michael Schumacher returning to Ferrari to fill-in for Massa soon fell by the wayside due to Michael’s earlier motorcycle injury.

The next scandal to hit the sport were the allegations that during last years Singapore GP, the Renault team boss conspired with their engineering director to force their second driver to deliberately crash his car at such a time and place that it would benefit their number one driver to the extent that he would go on to win the race. The boss and engineering director have been sacked for then team and banned by the FIA. The rest of the team, who likely knew nothing about the arrangement, have been given a suspended ban.

During all this, the Brawn team mostly sustained their good form, with Jenson Button winning six of the first seven races. A great deal of column inches has been devoted in the British press to the subject of Jensen ‘choking under pressure’ or ‘going off the boil’, both of which are overstating things somewhat. He may have had a dip in form compared to the start of the season, but he has only failed to score points in ONE race so far this season. And that was only a result of being taken out at the start of the race as the innocent party in a collision between two rookie drivers. He has benefited during the drop in his form, from the fact that the other race wins have been split between five different drivers.

Positive highlights this year, so far;

Mark Webber getting his first race victory (now the record holder for the most races before his first win at 131!);

The Force India-Mercedes team getting a superb second place, on merit, for their first ever Formula 1 points. Then showing that it wasn’t a flash-in-pan by getting a fourth place in the next race, without Fisichella, their star driver

Vijay Mallay, owner of Force India, showing that there is still some integrity left in the sport by allowing (without any financial benfit) Giancarlo Fisichella to got to Ferrari as it “had been a dream of Fisichella’s for a long time”

The fact that, with four races left, it is still mathematically possible (however unlikely) that any one of four drivers to win the championship. Realistically, the only driver that does have a chance of catching Jensen is his team mate, veteran Brazillian, Rubens Barrichello. I’ve got a soft spot for Barrichello, he seems to be a genuinely nice guy, he scored the short lived Stewart GP team’s  first championship points, and he spent a good deal of his career being somewhat stifled as Ferrari’s second driver to Michael Schumacher. I wouldn’t be totally crushed if Rubinho managed to pip Jensen to the title!

Whatever the outcome of this season, it’s looking like there are to be a number of new teams joining formula 1 next year, including the return of a Malaysian backed Team Lotus. Now wouldn’t it be good to see Lotus back at the top of the time sheets?

Honda Brawn GP

The 2009 Formula 1 season is about to kick off with the Australian GP in Melbourne. But the biggest story started at the end of 2007.
Japanese car manufacturer, Honda, had returned to F1 a couple of years previously but had little to show for the millions of dollars and time they had invested. So they decided to employ the expertise of former Benetton and Ferrari F1 technical director Ross Brawn. When Brawn arrived, the 2008 car had been completed and looked unlikely to be a world beater, so Brawn’s first decision was to sacrifice the 2008 season and concentrate on a new design to comply with the revised regulations planned for 2009. As a result the 2008 season unfolded as would be expected, with the Honda being reliable but no where near fast enough to be in contention for high point scoring finishes. What had been unforeseen however was the global economic crisis that hit in the latter part of 2008 and as a result Honda decided that enough was enough and announced that their F1 division was up for sale.
The Honda F1 team had a factory, workers, a completed 2009 race car and the contracted services of two proven, race winning, drivers but no-one wanted it. Ross Brawn and team manager Nick Fry bought the team from Honda themselves, for a nominal fee of allegedly £1.00, but were faced with raising the capital to run the team. Somehow they managed to secure an engine supply deal with Mercedes and at the last minute the, now renamed, ‘Brawn GP’ F1 team were confirmed as an entry in the 2009 F1 Championship.
It hasn’t all been plain-sailing. A major component in the Brawn design (as well as those of two other teams) has been protested about. The governing bodies stewards have ruled that it is legal, but there is still an appeal pending.
The practice and qualifying sessions have proven the new Brawn car to be a revelation. Consistently up with the front-runners in practice, a major sponsor-ship deal secured with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin group of companies, and by the end of qualifying, Jenson Button and Rubens Barichello putting their cars on the front row of the starting grid. (the first time that a new team has achieved that feat since Jackie Stewart put Ken Tyrrell’s first car on pole in 1970)
After masterminding Michael Schumacher’s seven world championships at both Benetton and Ferrari, Ross Brawn is back with a bang.
I wonder if, at this moment (as Richard Branson is opening his wallet even wider, with a huge grin on his face) hari-kari is being committed in the Honda board room?

Lewis Hamilton is the new Formula 1 world Champion, and he became champion in one of the most dramatic finishes ever.

He had ran most of the race in a controlled and conservative way, laying fourth or fifth for most of the race. Fifth was the minimum result he needed, which would make him champion no matter what result his only rival, Fillipe Massa, achieved.

In the closing stages of the race, the safety of his position evaporated wih the combination of Sebastian Vettel, another highly rated young driver, making large gains to threaten his fourth place, and a threat of rain become a reality six laps from the end of the race.

Within two laps of the rain starting, the leading six drivers, including Massa, Hamilton and Vettel, all pitted to change to wet weather tires. As they returned to the track, Timo GLock, who had not pitted, found himself elevated to fourth place, Hamilton was still fifth but with Vettel right behind him.

On the penultimate lap, Vettel passed Hamilton, seemingly handing the Championship to Massa. As the last lap started, Massa looked comfortable in first place, and with Hamilton in sixth, likely to be Champion. However, Glock was finding his car more than a handful, having gambled on staying on dry weather tires, and literally at the last corner, after Massa had already crossed the finish line to win the race, both Vettel and Hamilton managed to pass the wayward car of Glock, elevating Hamiton back to fifth place and the four points that he needed to clinch the Crown.

Sunday sees the Brazilian Grand Prix, and the final race of the 2008 season.

This year, on the eve of the last race, only two drivers can clinch the championship. Leader, by 7 points, and one of the title contenders last year, Lewis Hamilton and local driver, Fillipe Massa, team mate to the reigning champion.

Just as last year, Hamilton, in only his second season leads going into the last race with seemingly the odds stacked in his favor. But last year it went horribly wrong. An ill-advised overtakning attempt at the first corner dropped him down the field, and, just as he was starting to make progress regaining his lost places, a 30 second gearbox gremlin sealed his fate. He lost out on the championship by a single point.

Will he fare better this year?

If Massa wins, Hamilton need only be 5th or better.

If Massa is 2nd, Hamilton need only be 7th or better.

If Massa is 3rd or lower, Hamilton is champion.

This year, like last, Hamilton has produced some stunning drives. Unfortunately he has also made some glaring mistakes, enough, some would say, that would already have lost him the championship in other years.

Hamilton’s greatest asset, in many ways is also his greatest fault. Although he is fast, aggressive and entertaining, for which his fans love him, the suspicion is that he has not yet matured to be a ‘thinking’ driver. A rash early overtaking attempt in the Japanese GP two races ago resulted in a penalty that dropped him out of the points. A ‘thinking’ driver, and the name Alain Prost springs instantly to mind, would already be champion. He would not have made the passing attempt at that time as he would have been aware that there was still many laps left to go and the race does NOT have to be won in the first corner, or on the first lap.

The following race, in China, Hamilton answered the critics in the best and only way he knows. He took the race by the scruff of the neck and, error free, lead from lights to flag, posting fastest lap of the race on the way

I think that Hamiltons arrival in F1 has been a breath of fresh air, and although I would not like to see him change his style of driving, I fear that, should he have a repeat of his Japan form instead of his China form, he may be destined to become the next Stirling Moss  (six time runner up, but never champion) rather than the next Ayrton Senna, or Michael Schumacher. Although I would like him to be champion, I would prefer it (as I’m sure he would) if it did it by repeating his Chinese performance rather than cruising round and settling for 4th or 5th place in the race.

The Rugby World Cup starts in a couple of days. The ‘pool’ stage comprises of four pools of five teams, with the winner and runner-up from each pool going through to the quarter finals. With the arrangement of the teams in the pools, I would argue that 7 of the 8 quarter finalists are pretty much a foregone conclusion with, unfortunately, the only question mark being the runners up of pool C. The crunch match, which also just so happens to be the last match of the group, is likely to be on the 29th September when Scotland play Italy. The winner of this match will most likely be the runner up of the group behind New Zealand (the famous ‘All Blacks’) who should have no trouble toping the group. In pool D, France and Ireland will make it through to the knock-out stages, though this is the one pool where the final positions could go either way.

My predictions?

Pool A Winner – South Africa, Runner-Up – England

Pool B Winner – Australia, Runner-Up – Wales

Pool C Winner – New Zealand, Runner-Up – Scotland

Pool D Winner -France, Runner-Up – Ireland (on point difference!)

If those were to be the final group stage placings, the quarter finals would be:

Australia v England (I’d predict Australia to win)

South Africa v Wales (S. Africa) New Zealand v Ireland (New Zealand)

France v Scotland (Hmm, I’d love to say Scotland, but realistically, and with the added advantage of being the host nation, France are much more likely!)

Semis Australia v New Zealand (New Zealand)

S. Africa v France (S. Africa)

Third Place Match Australia v France (Australia)

Final New Zealand v South Africa (New Zealand) So, there is my full prediction! New Zealand to be the eventual winners with South Africa the beaten finalists and Australia in third place. Time will tell!

So Lewis Hamilton didn’t win at Monaco. He had to settle for second place behind his team mate. But he still maintained his record of qualifiying in the top four and finishing at least as well as he had qualified! However, a few weeks later, he DID win in Canada, after claiming his first pole position and leading from start to finish in what was to prove a difficult race. The race was punctuated with a number of spells behind the safety car, periods which eat into any lead that has been built up and tends to unsettle even the most experienced of drivers. Alain Prost, four times world champion, once said that the hardest GP win was your first one; before then you THINK you can win, after then you KNOW you can win. Referring back to my last post on the subject, the only question that now remains to be answered is how Lewis handles a bad qualifying and having to work his way through the field. This weekend is the US GP at Indianapolis, in first practice he is in third place, so prehaps that question will have to wait even longer before bening answered! 6 GP’s:- 1 x 3rd place, 4 x 2nd places and 1 x win. An impressive start to any career.

After Buckie Thistle dropping down to third in the conclusion of the league, their final match was against Keith in the cup. It did not go well! Keith, who had pipped Inverurie to the league title, also added the Cup to their trophy cabinet by trouncing Buckie 5-0 Ahh well, there’s always next season.

This years Formula 1 motor-racing season is well underway now, and I can’t believe that I haven’t had any blog entries on the subject so far! The main talking points, pre-season, were the fact that Michael Schumacher (7 times champion) had retired and that the reigning champion, Fernando Alonso, had switched teams and been joined by ‘rookie’ driver Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton is reigning GP2 champion, one of the ‘feeder’ formulae for aspiring F1 drivers, and generally highly regarded. His entry into Formula 1 with one of the leading teams was noted as a point to watch, as the team in question rarely (if ever) take a chance on unknown quantities (the fact that the team balanced having a rookie driver with securing the services of Alonso is fairly indicative of how they cover their bases!). The fact that Hamilton is of Caribbean descent was also a high profile subject, with many commentators drawing parallels to the impact that Tiger Woods had in the golf world. Four races into the season and Hamilton has not disappointed! Flawless performances in all the races so far have seen him leaving a lot of the nay-sayers munching down on their hats. He has not yet WON a race, but that seems only to be a question of when and where rather than if. In four races he has not qualified lower than 4th, he has not finished lower than 3rd, He has not finished lower than he qualified He is the first driver in formula 1 history to have top 3 finishes in his first 3 (and now 4!) races and he is now the youngest driver ever to lead the championship. Un-believably, in the British media (presumably because he IS British) there are STILL some nay-sayers suggesting that he is over-rated! Although I would agree that perhaps he has not been too pressurised and there is perhaps still a honey-moon period within the team I think that the only thing he has yet to prove is how he handles it when things go badly. Then again, if you don’t make mistakes, you don’t have to correct them, and so far he hasn’t made any! Before too long I would estimate there will be a race where he has technical problems in qualifying, or an engine change out will relegate him down the grid. Then, when he has to make up places past cars that he has already shown to be slower than his, we will truly see what he is made off and, I believe, the remaining critics will be silenced. The next race is the legendary Monaco Grand Prix, the most famous and glamorous of them all. Last year Hamilton won the supporting GP2 race there (Monaco will also be his F1 race début on a circuit that he has actually raced before and, in fact, he has raced around Monaco three times, GP2 last year and two F3 races the year before. He won all three races…..), and I can’t imagine that there would be a better place for him to see P1 against his name for the first time in a Formula 1 car. That Hamilton has produced the goods so far is perhaps less of a surprise than the fact that the Super Aguri team at the other end of the grid is performing better than expected. In fact, I would imagine that there are people in the Honda board room who are cringing that, using last years cast-offs, Aguri are performing better than the ‘works’ Honda team! Even my old favourite (and he is now the oldest of the current drivers!) David Coulthard has managed to pick up a few points with one of the lesser regarded teams. The championship still looks like a two team race, with Ferrari and McLaren being the class of the field this year. And at the moment you can take your pick from the drivers, as any one of the four WILL be champion this year. Raikkonen and Massa (at Ferrari) and Alonso (at McLaren), have all won races this season. Hamilton hasn’t won, but with three 2nd places and a 3rd he’s the only one of the four to have had top three finishes in all the races so far. Although it would be regard as shallow to be champion without a win, consistency counts. Consistency alone won’t win you the championship, but lack of consistency can certainly lose you the championship!

In the last weekend of the Highland League (well, apart from a couple of games for Fort William who have to make up for some winter postponements) the title has been decided only by goal difference as Keith and Inverurie have ended the season with the same number of wins, draws and losses. Keith are this years champions by virtue of their higher goal scoring rate. Buckie Thistle finish the season in third place, despite their promising start to the campaign. Next Saturday sees the Highland League Cup final between Buckie and Keith, a match that will decide whether Buckie get any sliver-ware this season, or if Keith will do ‘the double’.

Buckie Thistle’s promising league season has stuttered to an end. After going through the first half of the season and into the New Year without suffering a defeat, a few bad results culminating in two defeats in their last two league matches has left them in third place in the league having played all their matches. Inverurie are top of the League at the moment with only Keith able to catch them. Buckie’s last remaining game of the 06-07 season is against Keith in the Highland League Cup final, so there is still the posibility of ending the season with one piece of silverware! Keith of course could feasibly do the ‘Double’ if they can catch Inverurie and win against Buckie Thistle on the 12th of May. As to Buckie’s league chances, well, there is always next season, which will be the 50th aniversiary of their last league championship.