SofaF1

Just so you see how important it all is here is a picture of the current trophy!

Either Nick or Fourstar will be holding this aloft by the end of the day*

*the actual prize giving may be a bit later than today as it goes!

This is it. The show down. After Free Practice 1 and 2 Lewis seems to be keeping things calm and collected but Massa and Alonso seem to be on it.

Massa always seems to go well at his home circuit. Hamilton must be asking, as the Happy Mondays used to say, are you twistin my melon man? It’s all mental from here on in. Massa continues to be the underdog with everything to gain and nothing to lose. Lewis is under incredible mental strain. The question is… Can he finish the race?

In our own championship the situation is something like this:

1 Fourstar 104
2 Nick 97
3 Alex 83
4 Igor 82
5 Bearded Stew 77
6 GrifF1 76

Nick will have to go some to overhaul Fourstar at this stage. There is a rather close battle shaping up between Igor and me and between Stew and GrifF1. So there is everything to play for.

Also after this race we will know the final standings in the championship.

A final reminder of the rules. For this race we want your predictions of pole and the top 8. And as usual you will get 2 points for every prediction you get right and 1 point for every near miss (except on Pole where you’re either right or wrong). You also get 2 extra bonus points for predicting the winner (so the winner gives you 4 points, but putting the person who comes second in the winner slot only gives you 1 point).

This is all as usual.

But at the beginning of the season we all predicted who would make up the top 8 of the championship and which driver would score the most polls. The rules for allocating points work in the same way. But the whole score for this is doubled.

Clear? No. Oh well never mind.

Just for ease of access here is what everyone said about the championship. Man how wrong were some of these predictions?

Alex

Poles: Hamilton

1. Raikkonen
2. Hamilton
3. Kovalainen
4. Massa
5. Rosberg
6. Alonso
7. Kubica
8. Nakajima

Stew

Poles: Hamilton

1. Raikkonen
2. Hamilton
3. Kovalainen
4. Massa
5. Rosberg
6. Alonso
7. Heidfeld
8. Piquet

Nick

Poles: Hamilton

1. Hamilton
2. Raikkonen
3. Massa
4. Kovalainen
5. Alonso
6. Rosberg
7. Coulthard
8. Kubica

GrifF1

Poles: Hamilton

1. Raikkonen
2. Hamilton
3. Massa
4. Kovalainen
5. Heidfeld
6. Kubica
7. Alonso
8. Rosberg

Fourstar

Poles: Raikkonen

1. Hamilton
2. Raikkonen
3. Massa
4. Kovalainen
5. Alonso
6. Heidfeld
7. Kubica
8. Piquet

Igor

Poles: Raikkonen

1. Hamilton
2. Raikkonen
3. Kovalainen
4. Massa
5. Kubica
6. Rosberg
7. Button
8. Coulthard

Finally the times for the sessions today:

Free Practice 3 – Sat 13:00 (not shown on tv)

Qualifying – Sat 16:00 (15:10 on tv)

Race – Sun 17:00 (16:00 on tv)

Good luck!

So as we approach the end of the season I was given the opportunity to be the guest host on a new F1 panel show produced by the wonderful people over at sidepodcast.com.

The idea was to produce a lively comedic approach to Formula 1 and I think it worked out well. I seem to have earned a reputation over there as a bit of a giggler. And have got the nickname “Giggles” hence the name of the show. And the scorer has a slight bias towards the drivers Sébastien Bourdais and Franck Montagny which may explain why their names keep popping up so much.

This was the second episode but the first one with a guest host. Hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think.

Sidepodpanel – The Giggles

Well probably one of the less eventful grand prix of 2008 but still a significant result. Hamilton maintains and extends his championship lead, but Massa is still in the fight.

Actually in SofaF1 terms this was the most predictable event of the season so far with a collective 56 points scored.

Everyone went down the Hamilton on pole route again for two points except Alex.

Alex, Fourstar, Igor and GrifF1 opted for Hamilton to win and were rewarded with 4 points each, Nick and I went for Hamilton in second and only managed one point each. Massa scored two each for Alex and Igor and one for Nick, GrifF1 and myself.

Raikkonen was right in there too with two each for Alex and Nick and one for GrifF1 and I. Alonso two scoring well again landed two each for Alex, Nick and Igor and one for Fourstar and myself.

Kubica gave a point each to Alex, Nick and myself. Fourstar took a further 2 with Piquet in eighth place and myself one. Igor picked up the last point for Vettel.

So in summary…

1 Alex 11
1 Igor 11
3 Nick 9
3 Fourstar 9
5 Bearded Stew 8
5 GrifF1 8

Whicj means with one round to go the championship looks like this

1 Fourstar 104
2 Nick 97
3 Alex 83
4 Igor 82
5 Bearded Stew 77
6 GrifF1 76

Hamilton did well to put the turmoil of the last few weeks behind him and drive a solid race, claiming pole, race win and fastest lap (his first this year) over the course of the weekend.

Massa and Raikkonen didn’t really have an answer for his pace, but maximised the points that they could get with second and third. Alonso solidly kept his foot in behind them for a good result. The Renault seems to be doing quite well, maybe a bit too late now though!

And so to the final round in Brazil, where Massa has had good form in the past. Can Hamilton keep it all together to bag the championship? What will happen here, I’ll have to dig out the championship predictions and see …keep it tuned to SofaF1.

I recently discovered GridCrasher‘s somewhat irreverent coverage of motor sport (via The Spoiler, if you happen to be into footie too like what I am) but is this true?

Ron Dennis happy for Ferrari to win in Brazil

Has Kovalainen really been so bad that they simply cannot rely on him getting any points at all and keeping them in the chase for the constructors title? Answers on a postcard to Sao Paulo…

So the Chinese Grand Prix! It’s on at a slightly more sedate time than the Japanese which is handy. And with the championship going down the wire the qualifying and race could be crucial!

With all that’s at stake who will hold China in their hands come Sunday?

Please let us know the pole sitter and the top eight for the race.

Qualifying – 7am (6.15am on ITV)
Race – 8am (7am on ITV)

As an aside to this weekend’s excitement, this will appeal to the race fan and the geek in all of us:

Racetrack Screensavers

(the cool stuff starts about a minute in…)

You may have noticed in articles leading up to this weekend’s Chinese grand prix that some writers say Lewis had a 12 point lead last year, and some say he had a 17 point one. Which is it? And why do they never agree? The confusing issue is that Lewis had 12 points over Alonso, but 17 over Raikkonen, who then went on to win the title.

Not that I read much in to numbers, but isn’t it strange that 17 minus 12 is 5, the amount Lewis is leading by now, and that 12 is how far Kubica is behind? With three young drivers heading for this championship, we really can’t predict what’s going to happen. And with the stewards under so much pressure in their decision making now, what are the chances that a controversial penalty might decide the championship?

There were three interesting penalties handed out in Japan. Let’s look at the details: Hamilton is punished for out-braking himself in the first corner and driving Raikkonen (and others, I think) off the track. Raikkonen regains the circuit several places in front of Hamilton.

Then, Massa is punished for driving over a corner, both wheels off the circuit, and into Hamilton. Hamilton spins and rejoins at the back of the pack, Massa carries on where he is.

Lastly, Bourdais is punished for not getting out of Massa’s way when exiting the pits. Massa spins and rejoins behind Bourdais, losing a few seconds (they are out of sequence anyway as Massa hasn’t pitted yet).

Do all, or any of these instance deserve penalties, let alone the same ones? Are they comparable? Should we take into account the results or the intentions? When compared to what has happened throughout this season, we can only say that penalties this year have been inconsistent. Without doubt, we need a new system of analysing and distributing penalties. Perhaps, however, we should do away with them altogether – every driver for himself?

There hasn’t been a really large shake up in the rules of Formula 1 for a number of years but at the end of this year we will experience a sea change in car designs, the addition of KERS and the return of slick tyres.

Now I’m all for these changes. I think they will massively improve the ability of cars to overtake each other when they are close. But there is one problem. Max Mosley seems to be suggesting this is the beginning of a large number of changes that will be introduced over a number of years.

The reason the cars are so close to each other at the moment is the period of rule stability. Yes it has highlighted the need to make overtaking easier and so we must react by changing the rules. But changing the rules will cause the cars to run further apart which might mean we see only slightly more overtaking.

While reducing the reliance on aerodynamic efficiency as planned will make it easier to overtake when you get close behind another car. Rule changes tend to mean that the different cars speeds vary more. At the moment the cars are close but can’t overtake, perhaps we will be in a situation where the cars can overtake but aren’t close to each other.

New rules tend to mean that certain teams (normally those you’d expect) take advantage of the rules better and faster. They make big gains in the early years, then the smaller teams catch up over time.

Pretty much the only overtakes we see these days are better cars out of position overtaking less powerful cars that are on the same lap (so no blue flags). With overtaking made easier even these will lose their spectacle.

So the most important statistic will be the distance between the fastest qualifier and say position 16 (some backmarkers will always be there). If this number is the same as this year we will see improved racing. If the gap is much larger (which is more usual after a rule change) then it’s important that the rule changes don’t get written off immediately. Holding steady on the rules will bring the back of the field closer. And as that happens will have great racing.

Max will have to resist the urge to tinker if he wants to have the overtaking he desires.