SofaF1

As Hunter S Thomson used to say, “I’ll have a Singapore Sling with Mescal on the side”. Here a SofaF1 we like to be clear about which drink is the beverage and which drink is the chaser. You don’t have a whisky chaser. You have whiskey and the beer is the chaser. What happens when you have a cocktail and a short at the same time is anybody’s guess. However formula 1 has removed some of the rum bunch that were plaguing the sport and so we have to make sure we don’t go against the grain as we make our predictions.

What do we want you to do? We want you to predict who is on pole, who will win the race, and who the 7 chasers are!

Brawn back on top with a good strategy making the most of their car. Barrichello seems to be the dominant driver at the moment and could be on for the championship, but Button does still have the lead, it really is all his to lose now. Hamilton maintaining his qualifying form, charging all the way despite being hampered by his extra stop until he started chasing his own tail and ended up in the wall not far from the chequered flag. Anyway what about us here on the sofa? Jeremy is still bringing up the rear.

Round 13

Lou 7
Igor 6
Takuya 6
Mr C 5
Bearded Stew 4
Aitch 4
Cant-Col 4
RG 3
Nick 3
Jackie 3
Rod 3
GrifF1 3
Pete 3
PatW 3
Fourstar 2
Christine 2
Alex 2
Piqued 1
Sean 1
Jeremy 0

Championship

Mr C 69
Igor 68
Nick 66
Aitch 62
Bearded Stew 55
Rod 54
Alex 52
Christine 49
PatW 48
Lou 46
GrifF1 43
Fourstar 39
Pete 39
Sean 39
Jackie 38
RG 29
Takuya 27
Piqued 20
Jeremy 15

Stewards decision was to allow the late entries as they probably wouldn’t have gained any advantage at that time, however this misdemeanor has been noted and any future transgression of the rules will incur a severe and disproportionate penalty.

As more and more evidence comes out that Renault did indeed ask Piquet to crash, and today’s announcement that Briatore and Symonds are leaving the team seems to confirm this, I keep looking for ways in which this might not be true. Honestly, I cannot believe it could happen. My main reason is this: how could they know it would give them the win? Another crash by another car could just as easily turn the event on its head again. Fixing an F1 race is not as easy as fixing a boxing match, say, where all one person has to do is fall over. There are infinite variables that Renault cannot have hoped to control. Perhaps all they were attempting to do was get a ‘good result’ for Renault headquarters, and lucked out on the win. My suspicions now, though, point towards Alonso. What did he know? After the McLaren scandal, in which it was revealed he colluded in the affair, everyone forgot Alonso’s culpability. Will he be exonerated again here? As much as I respect him as a driver, I feel that these two events could point to a certain shadiness in his character.

Sorry for the short post.

Please give us your predictions for pole and the top 8 in the race. Let us know before qualifying starts.

Thanks for being patient with me!

I haven’t seen the whole race yet but I did manage to catch the highlights online. Not too sure what to say really except it all loked a bit crazy with the usual order turned around, Force India’s up the front, and doing pretty well even when Raikkonen pusht passed, BMWs up there too. Button and Hamilton way down and crashing out. Then after the event Fisichella moving to Ferrari, what a result for him, the first Italian to drive for Ferrari since err Badoer actually.

Anyway enough ramblings i’m sure you’ve all waited long enough for these…
However, I’m not sure Jeremy will be happy with the way his mug was handled Fourstar!

Round 12

Alex 7
Mr C 6
Takuya 6
Aitch 6
Christine 4
PatW 4
Nick 3
Jackie 3
GrifF1 3
Fourstar 2
Piqued 2
Igor 2
RG 1
Rod 1
Bearded Stew 1
Sean 1
Jeremy 0
Pete 0
Lou 0

So Mr Whatever catapults to the top of the table.

Mr C 64
Nick 63
Igor 62
Aitch 58
Rod 51
Bearded Stew 51
Alex 50
Christine 47
PatW 45
GrifF1 40
Lou 39
Sean 38
Fourstar 37
Pete 36
Jackie 35
RG 26
Takuya 21
Piqued 19
Jeremy 15

I think you know the drill by now… Randomly pick names out of a hat arrange them in a Sutil-able order and let us know what it is before Qualifying starts…

We need a pole sitter and the top eight finishers for the race…

I have to say at this stage it’s possible that our championship is currently more exciting even than the real thing!

All sorts of confusion heading into Valencia, Schumacher, Badoer, Renault, Ferrari, Alonso, but great qualifying from the McLarens to lock out the front row. I know Barrichello was quick and probably could have won on speed alone, but McLaren really didn’t do too much to try and hold onto the win, what was going on in the garage?

Good for Brawn to be back on top and especially with Rubens really taking control, great result for him, but where has Button gone? Still in the championship lead, but for how long? He is probably not worrying about Vettel anymore though, if he keeps going through engines at that rate he will be starting from the back at all the last races!

Anyway enough rambling what has been happening here? (Not much actually, very poor!)

Round 11

Christine 6
Nick 5
Bearded Stew 5
Rod 4
Jackie 3
Alex 3
Sean 3
F1Numbers 3
Mr C 2
RG 2
GrifF1 2
Takuya 2
Pete 2
Fourstar 1
Piqued 1
Jeremy 1
Igor 1
Aitch 1
Lou 1
PatW 0

and so the championship is starting to tighten up all over the place

Nick 60
Igor 60
Mr C 58
Aitch 52
Rod 50
Bearded Stew 50
Christine 43
Alex 43
PatW 41
Lou 39
GrifF1 37
Sean 37
Pete 36
Fourstar 35
Jackie 32
RG 25
Piqued 17
Jeremy 15
Takuya 15
F1Numbers 3

… and straight onto Spa, whats the betting it will rain at some point?

Secret photograph of BMW’s new breakaway racing team.

The beard is a giveaway – must be Heidfeld…

There have long been rumours that Alonso is off to Ferrari, but of course none of it has been confirmed.

However in an interview with Martin Whitmarsh he was asked if he is planning to replace Heikki Kovalainen next season, he replied:

“We all know that Fernando Alonso’s move to Ferrari will have a ripple effect on other teams. It opens up the driver market. We are not in talks with any other drivers at the moment, but are obliged to have the most competitive cars and drivers that we can”.

Cat. Bag. One is no longer containing the other.

After a break that seems to have gone on forever it finally is the European Grand Prix this weekend and you know what that means?

It means it’s time for our predictions. Please pick the pole sitter and the top eight finishers for the race. Please have your predictions in before qualifying starts on Saturday!

Also just for fun you could predict if Luca Badoer will finish the race?

And the arrival day of the Mini Bearded Stew. Today is the scheduled date, based on the update for the championship standings I’d say we might get to Spa before we have our first SofaF1 – the next generation member.

So good luck to everyone, especially Mrs Bearded Stew!