Formula One ( F1 )

i made the financial sacrifice and upgraded to sky HD for the F1,
they gave me £50 in M&S vouchers for doing it.

Have to say Sky coverage so far is a real step up - new Helmet Cam is awesome.

I have just watched the practice highlights on the sky website - very nice, but ads are a bit of a pain.

Good to see Ted doing his usual informative stuff.

Schumey & the Hulk fastest in 2nd prac (albeit, times seemed meaningless given the rain/conditions) - great to see Hulk back, he's a nice bloke and has retained the same flair he had in A1GP days. Quali will be v interesting !!

No problem getting a stream of Sky F1 coverage so far. Highlights show on now.

So, the final free practise is over, and Lewis leads from a Lotus. Eh? Pinch me again somebody. Thats good news.
But its still too early to tell if the Red Bulls are sand-bagging, and my guess is that they are.

01 Lewis Hamilton McLaren - 1:25.681 18 laps
02 Romain Grosjean Lotus - 1:25.758 0.077 21 laps
03 Mark Webber Red Bull - 1:25.900 0.219 20 laps
04 Jenson Button McLaren - 1:25.906 0.225 17 laps
05 Nico Rosberg Mercedes - 1:25.929 0.248 23 laps
06 Michael Schumacher Mercedes - 1:26.078 0.397 14 laps
07 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull - 1:26.211 0.530 12 laps
08 Sergio Perez Sauber - 1:26.632 0.951 19 laps
09 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:26.723 1.042 17 laps
10 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso - 1:26.733 1.052 15 laps
11 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus - 1:26.737 1.056 19 laps
12 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber - 1:26.755 1.074 21 laps
13 Nico Hulkenberg Force India - 1:27.029 1.348 23 laps
14 Bruno Senna Williams - 1:27.119 1.438 20 laps
15 Pastor Maldonado Williams - 1:27.187 1.506 16 laps
16 Fernando Alonso Ferrari - 1:27.323 1.642 19 laps
17 Paul di Resta Force India - 1:27.428 1.747 22 laps
18 Felipe Massa Ferrari - 1:28.023 2.342 19 laps
19 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham - 1:28.341 2.660 19 laps
20 Vitaly Petrov Caterham - 1:28.702 3.021 11 laps
21 Timo Glock Marussia - 1:30.728 5.047 13 laps
22 Charles Pic Marussia - 1:31.225 5.544 14 laps
23 Pedro de la Rosa HRT - 1:33.114 7.433 12 laps
24 Narain Karthikeyan HRT - 1:33.261 7.580 13 laps

http://www.planetf1.com/news/3213/7602778/Hamilton-Quickest-As-Germans-Beach-It

Wow. Ferrari are as bad as people had feared. Even with Alonso wringing its neck, it couldn't even get into the final 10 cars for the last phase of qualifying. Back to the drawing board, and I predict a sacking.

C'mon Lewis!

Fark me. That was a dominant display!

Well done McLaren.

Ferrari, oh dear.

Go Webber.

pfft.

Webber ftw

yada yada yada

When I was growing up there was a lotus specialist garage about two doors down. Many a teenage auto fantasy was spent looking at their cars. Hope this is not just a blip.

Webber Webber Webber

Euph?

Don't worry - Lewis will balls it all up on turn 4 and then (not) blame everyone else other than himself. Again.

Hamilton is much faster than Button, but Button doesn't destroy cars. I'd truly like to see either of them win the title, but would rather see Jenson win it. There's just something about Lewis that I can't put my finger on... maybe the arrogance is starting to wear a bit thin.

Alonso is a waste of skin and will moan about the lack of performance from his Fiat. I reckon he'll be outperformed by Felipe Massa and Schumacher will languish in the mid-table again. I'm most interested in seeing the ground made up by the other teams on Red Bull and how their car will perform now that regulations have been adjusted once again etc.

I'm watching Kimi...

Exactly this ...

We think alike.

I'm just sick and tired of Lewis behaving like a petulant child. If things don't go his way then there's always a reason and he's never at fault. I like his aggressive driving style but I can't be dealing with his post-drive interviews. Whereas Jenson's are genuinely entertaining.

I guess Lewis is a bit Manchester United...

Nigel Mansell has been well known to be a bit of a whining cunt, with everybody in the wrong except him - and unlike Lewis, he would sometimes even blame his garage crew.

The problem is that Lewis knows that he's the fastest driver, and not being able to truly race against the Red Bulls last year, just wound him up chronically. He has a real belief in his driving, and feels hard done by when he can't be at or near the front. Jenson is a much more rounded individual, and can take his wins and losses with grace. That makes Jenson more of a gentleman racer, and Hamilton more from the Ayrton Senna mould........ a really uncompromising racer, and not always a nice guy.

GA2G - Hamilton fan (well he is eligible for a Grenadian passport, through his dad)

Does his Dad now work in the passport office since Lewis has new management?

Senna was an utter shit. A genius, but an utter shit. Schumacher made Senna look like a thoroughly nice chap - he will stop at nothing to win. During the first seasons that he won the world titles with Fiat, it wasn't the best car (by a country mile) and he battled to every win. His tactics suck butt-hole and the strategic "removal" of other close contenders in the title race will be remembered forever by all those involved. It still doesn't change the fact that he achieved the greatest results in the modern era and will probably go down in history as the greatest ever (based on results). Vettel won't even come close.

Mansell used to moan, even when he won, but he had something to moan about when Prost was his teammate. Like discovering during qualifying for the British GP that Prost had switched cars with his and had the mechanics change the numbers and everything to cover it up. Nigel responded by outqualifying Prost in the supposedly inferior car and taking pole. Whine though he might, Mansell always did his serious talking on the track.

Now then, Massa, why does he even have a super licence, let alone a Ferrari seat? He's utterly talentless. He's the Emile Heskey of F1.

Does his Dad now work in the passport office since Lewis has new management?

Lewis Hamilton's dad is now Paul Di Resta's manager. But I'm sure every true F1 fan knew that.
By the way, I got a Grenadian passport due to my dad being a citizen of that country by birth.

Anthony Hamilton is clearly a driven man, in every sense of the word.

If everything was going swimmingly then why did his apparently gifted offspring choose other management?

Lewis is a busted flush. He had his time and he capitalised on it once. For a team that was built around him, both sides are now unsure about where he'll be sitting next season. McLaren did it once for him and he reciprocated. His arrogance didn't allow for the fact that there was (and is) somebody better than him.

I would be genuinely elated for him to win another title, but I think an ego the size of his will always be difficult to fit into a carbon fibre monocoque.

Now then, Massa, why does he even have a super licence, let alone a Ferrari seat? He's utterly talentless. He's the Emile Heskey of F1.

This somewhat hyperbolic statement seems to ignore that the fact that it's pretty likely that they BOTH drive better than you AND play football better than you...

And it's a bit tough on Heskey. At least people like him.

The Spanish nation all think that Alonso's an 18 carat cunt.