SofaF1

Hopefully Alex has had a chance to see the race now, (thats the reason i’m a bit late honest!) so we won’t be spoiling it for him by revealing the results after 14 races, and some interesting developments have occurred.

Alex, Nick and myself all went for a midfield of Hamilton, Massa, Heidfeld in 3rd, 4th and 5th, it didn’t completely work out that way but we did get a point for Hamilton and 2 for Heidfeld, Fourstar was also in on the action with Heidfeld in 5th, it’s the only time so far we have all gone with Heidfeld in this position and he has delivered. Heidfeld has been pretty consistent around 5th in the finishing order, scoring five 4th’s, two 5th’s and three 6th’s so far this season.

Above that Nick and myself both got a point for Raikkonen, Alex one for Alonso and Fourstar 2 for Massa. Alex and Nick, got 2 for Raikkonnen on pole, but only Alex got the win right landing another 4 points! Actually Alex was on a bit of a roll by this stage heading for his second highest points finish of the year so far.

The last couple of points were picked up by Rosberg, one each for Nick and Fourstar and Kovalainen, one for Alex, but I had a bit of a late surge and managed to grab 2 points for both of them. Result.

Round 14

1 Alex 11
2 Bearded Stew 8
3 Nick 7
4 Fourstar 7

I’m not sure about anyone else but I was disappointed to get just 8 points, but actually it’s a pretty good score and our collective 3rd highest score of the season.

This is the good bit for me, with three races to go I have managed to catch Nick who has been leading the championship since Malaysia!

Championship

1 Nick 89
2 Bearded Stew 89
3 Alex 81
4 Fourstar 67

I’d say Spa was a good race for Alonso, maybe not a classic, but he held off Hamilton at the start and seemed to have the advantage over his team mate, gradually chipping away at this championship lead. Great race for Ferrari obviously, and especially for Raikkonen, he needed to win that one to really have a shot at the championship and, with Hamilton finishing in fourth, made up a good chunk of ground.

Great drive again from Heidfeld, he really does seem comfortable and has got into a great groove this year at BMW. How about Sutil? He was really going for it, his car seems to vastly improved, bit late in the season though!

I mean why would they carry on? There are no constructors points for them any more, one of their drivers is almost certain to win. So what’s the point?

They just need to keep their reliability. So no new bits and the cars aren’t even going to be allowed to drive on their fastest limit – I guess. That’s why the Ferrari’s were so much faster. Ron needs both of his drivers to finish the rest of the races in at least 3rd and 4th which will be easier if they are both on the limit. This way he can be calmer when they are just racing each other. Under these conditions the reliability should be bullet proof and you don’t have to worry about your rival turning the wick up – you control both wicks.

Luca di Montezemolo knows politics, and this comment from him seemed perfectly pitched to piss off Ron Dennis.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo dedicated his team’s Belgian Grand Prix triumph on Sunday to an employee at an English photocopy shop.

“It’s a perfect victory, for which I want to thank Raikkonen, Massa, (team boss Jean) Todt and all these guys,” he said after Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen led Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa across the finish line.

“I want to dedicate it to our fans who believe in the fairness of the sport and to this English gentleman who in the month of June wanted to inform us that someone linked to an opponent team entered into his shop and asked him to copy dozens of pages containing technical information about our car.

“Without him it would never have been possible to shine the light on to one of the worst pages in the history of motorsport,” he added.

from Autosport

I really enjoyed it. There was actual overtaking today. Most of the season has seen the boys at the front closer so the pit stops were more exciting. Maybe that’s good for Ted from his vantage point. But for me there seemed to be something going on most laps and overtaking through most of the field. Maybe it was just me being strange but maybe the guys at the circuit, James and Martin also called it not a classic, are watching for different things. There were more on track overtakes today than there usually are and that was enough for me. I’m not saying it was the best race of the season, it was just better than it was being painted.

Autosport.com has been getting a bit excited over the last two days. First, yesterday evening it claimed McLaren had been banned from this championship and next year’s. Very quickly it printed a clarification (which had now disappeared from the site).

In the last few hours they have put up the ‘news’ that McLaren may not have to pay all the $100 million. This is only ‘news’ to them. Yesterday they gave us the full FIA statement which said McLaren had to pay $100 million minus the FOM income lost as a result of the points deduction. Hours late Ron Dennis clarified this for everyone. They’d only have to pay about half the $100 million.

Of course, the world media has grabbed the very nice round figure and run with it. That’s what McLaren have to pay, according to them. Thus it is today that it is ‘news’ that they don’t, when really we all knew it yesterday.

FIA blah blah blah McLaren blah blah blah $100m blah blah blah.

That was going to be the only mention of it until I recieved a telephone call yesterday from a mate asking if I thought it was dodgy that Alonso wasn’t at the track. I said that I didn’t think so. Alonso had to be at the FIA press conference and they fine you massively if you don’t show up. No said the friend, he’s not at the track he’s having a massage or something. It’s fair to say I was a bit confused by this information. Only after a minute or two did we happen on the cause of the confusion. The guy had read, or at least thought he had, that Alonso was at a spa.

So on to the main event, you know, the race. Here is the situation:

• Spa is normally known as a McLaren circuit
• But Ferrari’s package is more suited to this kind of circuit than others.
• But McLaren normally do well here even in seasons where the car is a dog.
• But Kimi loves the circuit he’s won here twice
• He was driving a McLaren
• Ferrari need this win they’ll do everything to get it
• McLaren want to prove beyond doubt that they would have won the championship. They want this win too.

And the BMW will be best of the rest. The renault and williams will be close behind but…

• It might rain (watch out for Jenson)
• If it does rain somebody could do a Winklehock by having gambled on a rain setup
• If it does rain it can be raining on one bit of the circuit and dry on another. Somebody could be very brave.
• And regardless of rain you can usually overtake here. And the new modifications might make that easier too.

Good Luck!

>> F1 spygate <<

Fast car merry-go-round

McLaren face more spying allegations today. Gossip behind the scenes says Fernando Alonso is looking to jump ship at the end of the season whatever happens, with a big money move to a lesser team, rather than take a sabbatical. McLaren are looking at bringing in Jenson Button to be the number two driver at the end of next season. Delighted to get back in a good car, Button is unlikely to be any trouble to the McLaren team.

But the really sensational rumour concerns who provided the extra evidence which shopped McLaren the FIA. Initially fingers were being pointed at Alonso but F1 insiders tell us that the smart money is on Hamilton Snr, who was angry at the team for keeping Lewis in second place in the last race. Surely not?

from popbitch

The general feeling around the paddock seems to be that McLaren will be disqualified from this year’s championship. One of their employee’s, remember, has already been found guilty of holding technical data about the Ferrari. Things can only get worse. What I don’t understand, however, is how they draw the line between the constructor’s championship and the driver’s. Why should the driver be allowed to keep his points? Yes, perhaps they (or Lewis at least) had nothing to do with the spying, but they’re still driving a car acquired by that spying. If you disqualify the team, you have to disqualify the driver, don’t you?

…and asked the barman for a pint.

“Sure” said the barman “but why the long face?”