The World of Frantic…Uncut, un-edited and unreal!
Sunday 5th September.
Its BTCC day for me. Which means a lot of swearing at the TV in my case. The last two rounds for my guys Matt Neal and Gordon “Flash†Shedden have gone badly. In the end, however, I was reasonably happy with a win each for my drivers and Matt back into 2nd in the championship. You can’t exactly rant on that. Making today’s BTCC moaning entry short and pleasing. What a let down.
Sadly in between trying to keep an eye on BTCC, WTCC, Moto Gp and some other bike series, the news filtered through that Shoya Tomizawa was killed in a freak accident in Moto2 making it 2 deaths in 2 events for the series after Peter Lenz’s accident at Indy. No amount of words can make it any easier for family and friends of Tomizawa and Lenz. Tragically the accidents happened in such a way that there is no type of safety device that could help a rider. All we can do is send our condolences and just hope it does not happen again
Monday 6th September.
It’s the greatest question ever. To F-duct or not to F-duct. Several stories from Renault on the same issue. And Mclaren who decided to say weeks ago they were not running it are now. Sort of. They think. How about just one headline with “We don’t know what to do†sorted.
Tuesday 7th September.
Kobayashi is staying with Sauber for 2011. This is good news in two ways. 1)Kobayashi will be in F1 2011. 2)Sauber will be in F1 for 2011 they think. This is a relief as Sauber and HRT were on my “Not going to see in 2011†list. Brawn got away with the no logo approach in 2009 because they had a shed load of cash and a good car built by Honda money. Sauber had a nice big factory but a god awful car and no money from BMW. Who, last time I checked, were still deciding whether or not to waste a load of cash on DTM; a series that even I stopped watching 2 years ago.
It’s the day before the hearing on Ferrari. And what better way to get ready for it than dig out the old ex driver list and ask them what they think. I get the feeling tomorrow may be a long day.
Wednesday 8th September.
No 13th team. That is all the news for the day. Done.
If only it was that easy. I can not believe some of the stuff I’m reading. To be honest I shouldn’t be on Twitter when this stuff breaks because the over reaction makes you want to slap some people.
Let’s just take a step back now and be honest. Out of all the people that were “outraged†by the FIA decision of no further punishment how many
A) Hate Ferrari
B) Hate Alonso
C) Hate Both
D) Hate the FIA (ok that’s nearly all of us)
Whilst I do not like team orders I accept they happen. It is pretty obvious to everyone that if anyone is going to stand a chance for the title at Ferrari its Alonso. I find a lot of what people are saying rather over the top, things on twitter like,
“Ferrari should be thrown out of the championshipâ€
“I hate Ferrari and never watching F1 againâ€
Well yes, thanks for that. Don’t watch F1 again. I cannot help but feel that the lack of off track scandals has just bottled up a lot of potential whining. I have heard how “This wasn’t racing†and “Fans were robbed of a race.†Well no not really. The German gp was as dull as Bahrain. Apart from the failed pass Alonso attempted earlier on there was never going to be the “titanic battle†people were talking about. The new Hockenhiem produced a dull race. If Ferrari didn’t issue team orders, we would have had nothing to talk about. The move, whilst unfair to Massa, was logical for the championship. Whilst yes the constructor points pay the money the driver’s championship grabs the headline so why not go for both? If proof was needed remember people talked always that Schumacher ended Ferrari’s 21 year championship drought. The constructor titles in 82,83 and 99 didn’t get that much notice.
Probably the best reaction I read was “Ferrari get off free yet Renault got punished for Singapore†Wow lets compare a team order switching drivers with team orders smashing into a wall and endangering marshals fans and drivers. Unreal.
I’m sure that many people will disagree with me but I just can’t get that upset about it. If it was, say Button, being told to move over for Hamilton or the red Bull drivers then maybe, given how close they are in the points but it is still up to the team. Red Bull was happy enough to give Vettel a front wing off Webber’s car because Vettel was higher in the points. That’s slowing the other driver but as much as we hate it, the team decides. In the history of F1 scandals this was the weakest. Those that hate Alonso and/or Ferrari will still go mad on this (all hate mail to frantic@theparcferme.com ) Simple fact is a poorly worded rule that the FIA must have known would bite them in the backside one day was exposed. We all know what happened but the rules ban team orders and not team strategy. I just look forward to seeing how the other teams stick to there morals in the final races. Oh and before the cry’s of Jean Todt helping Ferrari start. He wasn’t on the panel that voted. Smart guy.
Thursday 9th September.
Almost lost in the Ferrari news was a 20 race calendar for 2011. This is great news but I am guessing they will have to allow the engine allocation to increase from 8 a season. Unless it’s the FIA’s hell bent mission to spice things up with a few 10 place grid penalties come season end. Though poor Pedro De la Rosa would wish it would kick in this season.
20 races means even more so that they expect Korea to be ready because lets face it if they are not ready for this years race I doubt the FIA would allow them on the calendar next year. Speaking of which is it just me or is the “will they be ready or not?†question hanging over the Korean race embarrassing for F1 and stupid?
If this circuit does get the no go then the effect on the championship will be huge. As close as it is right now, cancelling a round and therefore 25 much needed points for a driver is gone. I guess it’s great if your leading, one less race to defend but really hadn’t the FIA learnt anything from USF1 when it came to the “we will be ready honest†routine.
Friday 10th September.
Jacques Villeneuve still wants in on F1 but now his team entry was refused he has changed his plans. He said “We will now go back to our original plan, which was our Plan B,†Ok. Jacques your plan B was your original plan. Brilliant just brilliant. Did the A team do a plan B before a plan A? Yes I know they weren’t real but still you get my point. If the 1997 world champ wants to get into F1 what he really needs to do is give all that cash to HRT where he will get a drive easily. But there probably was no money which is why your bid failed J.V. Drat there goes plan C…
Saturday 11th September.
All the anti-Ferrari fans didn’t get there wish. After hearing how people wanted them to start last on the grid, 1st and 3rd was kind of disappointing for them. What they don’t know is tomorrow Massa will start in front of Alonso even as Alonso starts in p1. But no one will notice. Again.
I managed to sit through the pre qualifying build up too which was good of me. When I say that, it means I missed most of the features but somehow sat through Eddie Jordans rants.
Now I like Jake he is a good host and really confounded his critics. If I had one complaint it would be mid season when someone felt the need to replace the clip board he was holding with an Ipad. Clipboard to an Ipad? Yeah that was needed. (insert rant here on TV license money being spent wrongly etc.) But I like Coulthard; I think he has played his new role well but then he has stayed the calm one whilst Eddie sort of goes a bit nuts.
Now I think Eddie’s style with certain things is great. I love how mid sentence he will run off and then drag Patrick head or Martin Whitmarsh etc in front of the camera to grill them on the spot it’s brilliant. What I don’t like is the way he sways in the public wind of opinion. From hating the team orders thing at Germany making out how wrong team orders are and how we were robbed of an epic battle (as I’ve already said we weren’t) to the following day saying yeah the team orders rule needs lifting. But if you’re that concerned of being robbed of a team battle, shouldn’t you want team orders to stay banned? But for all his swaying I do love the debates between him and Coulthard. And to be honest if I had to replace one guy on the BBC F1 panel it would defiantly be Jonathan Legard. Now he does make me shout at the T.V and unlike my views on Ferrari, I am defiantly not alone on this one.
