GP2 Top Ten 2008

For the final instalment in my trilogy of Top Tens of 2008, I'm going to take a brief look at the GP2 Series. Since 2005, GP2 has positioned itself as the official finishing school of F1, despite not having official links with the FIA itself, and being more closely aligned with the commercial arm of F1, the FOM/FOA group operated by a Mr B C Ecclestone. It is the replacement for the then-ailing F3000 International Series which seemed to end up sending most of its drivers to America instead of F1. There's nothing wrong with racing in America, but this is perhaps not what the official F1 feeder series should be doing. Fans of the IRL might liken it to the Lights frontrunners going off to race in Formula Nippon.

Before we continue let me point you in the direction of the Too Much Racing Sidebar. If you scroll down to the white section you'll notice a new Last.FM box has appeared above the one that was already there. What does this mean? You can now play my personal radio station! If you've ever wondered what crap I listen to when I write this stuff, now you can find out. That's right, any music I've played via Winamp has been noted in Last.FM and is now available to you. Just hit Play and continue reading.
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2008 GP2 Series
For the avoidance of doubt I am only considering the main GP2 Series which raced in Europe, starting in Barcelona and ending in Monza. The Asia Series hasn't been considered.


1. Lucas di Grassi (P3 - Barwa Campos Team)
After finishing the 2007 GP2 season runner-up in points, Lucas spent the winter alongside Nelson Piquet Jr sharing the double-duty of testing the Renault F1 car and doing development work on the new generation GP2 car/engine combo. When the F1 drive went to Nelson and the test role was reduced by the F1 regulations, Lucas found himself without much work. So in June he jumped in to the Barwa Campos Team to replace the underperforming rookie Ben Hanley, and after missing the first three weekends (i.e. six races) goes on to out-score everyone else in the remaining 7 weekends of the season to wind up 3rd in points, just narrowly beaten to 2nd by Bruno Senna and ahead of the highly-rated Romain Grosjean.
Okay so he tested the new car before anyone else, but since then everyone but him had run six races and most of the field had also done the inaugural Asia Series so you've got to say they'd caught up by then.
I reckon that's pretty impressive.

2. Giorgio Pantano (P1 Champion - Racing Engineering)
Pantano had a good season, taking the previously unfancied Racing Engineering team and transforming them in to race-winners - just as he did with Campos the previous year and FMS the year before that. Giorgio seems to have decided that if nobody will take him in F1 or IndyCar, he'll prove himself by becoming a good development driver as well as a fast racing driver. Okay so his chance in F1 has been and gone which is a shame (2004 feels like an age ago), but what chance an IndyCar ride in 2009? He can't stay in GP2 yet again, that's for sure. Perhaps he'll work on improving the fortunes of A1GP Team Italy, or worse, some team in Superleague Formula. At least the guy with most Feature race wins won the title, as it should be.

3. Bruno Senna (P2 - iSport International)
Bruno had some excellent drives this year, but is still prone to silly mistakes and misjudgements. It won't take long to knock those out of his system, but didn't people say that this time a year ago? He's definitely still improving yet somehow this still feels like a year of unfulfilled promises. If he doesn't dominate in 2009 I'll be very surprised.

4. Romain Grosjean (P4 - ART Grand Prix)
Romain was expected to walk this year's title after his performances in F3 last year and GP2 Asia over the winter break. As it turned out, his ART car was a lot more 'pointier' than the opposition and this was something he seemed to struggle with, perhaps his style not suited to those characteristics. The rest of the grid's cars seemed more docile, with some commentators suggesting this was the key to ART's dominance in the early years of GP2. With a change of teams on the cards he'll be good next year. Very good.

5. Pastor Maldonado (P5 - Piquet Sports)
The latest stupidly-quick-but-prone-to-crashing Venezuelan to come off the conveyor belt came on leaps and bounds this year. Last year he and Viso were pretty close, with Viso more consistent while Maldonado showed more long-term potential. This year Pastor demonstrated that potential to great effect with some excellent drives, but had a few too many retirements from races. Fast but erratic, and likes the old Banzai move even if it won't work, just to show the others that he'll do it.

6. Sebastien Buemi (P6 - Trust Team Arden)
The highly-rated Red Bull man was fair-to-middling, and perhaps a little overhyped. He was a very good A1GP driver in the Lola-Zytek, and seems to be slowly transferring those skills to GP2. It was a reasonable upper-midfield year and should be a title challenger next year. Seemed to always be around when others hit problems.

7. Jerome d'Ambrosio (P11 - DAMS)
This is a guy I didn't rate at all going into the season. He seemed to make stupid errors early on which cost him a lot of points, but went on to impress me a lot through the year and if it wasn't for that early form he'd be much higher in the points ranking and could easily have been 7th. Like Buemi he was one of the guys who was able to find good results when others threw them away, and was often up there on merit too, particuarly in the final rounds at Spa and Monza. One to watch with interest.

8. Vitaly Petrov (P7 - Barwa Campos Team)
Seems to have stopped making errors and has picked up some speed, but not quite there yet. He could use another year and looks like he'll get exactly that. There's not much more to say really.

9. Karun Chandhok (P10 - iSport International)
Karun seems to be one of those guys who always seems to be in the wrong place. He's a fast driver and a professional one, yet seems to get involved in the pack when he maybe should be ahead of them given he's in an iSport Dallara, one of the two top teams. This is possibly down to not getting enough out of qualifying, but he's a good racer and runs very well when he qualifies up front. He works for it and goes for moves where others don't. Perhaps he's the new David Coulthard? One thing's for sure: Vijay Mallya shouldn't be dimissing him so readily.

10. Alvaro Parente (P8 - Super Nova Racing)
Alvaro had always struggled with a budget in every formula he's raced in, so he knows a good fight. He impressed at the first round in Barcelona with a win in his first race and 7th in the reverse top-8 sprint race, but then seemed to drop back during the year. He's a fast driver, a good guy, and deserves another year in GP2.

Other Surprises?
Luca Fillipi who should be in this list but fell out with ART, prompting a move to Arden, which didn't seem to work either. He showed a huge amount of promise in 2007 and was expected to iron out the bumps this year. Didn't happen. Shame. He needs a stellar 2009.

Mike Conway should have done better although he was with Trident..

Christian Bakkerud fell apart again with his customary back problems, ironic given his name, which is unfortunate because he was an excellent F3 driver.

What of 2009?
The backmarker BCN Competicion team has been bought by the ex-Jordan F1 driver (and now SEAT touring car driver) Tiago Monteiro and renamed as Ocean Racing Technology. With the team relocating from Spain to Portugal you can't expect much improvement early on, but perhaps in the long-term?

We're going to have an unmissable 2009 championship with Senna vs Maldonado vs Grosjean the main title fight, with probably Buemi and one or two others sticking their noses in with a few wins. I can't wait!
In the meantime the '08/'09 Asia Series is already under way with the 1st-generation cars. When I eventually get around to watching those races I may just post a little top ten as a warm-up to the main season.

In the meantime, have a great New Year, whatever you're doing!

Cheers!

Happy Christmas (should you celebrate it) to my two or three regular readers and modest handful of occasional stoppers-by. Thanks to you all for making my first experience of blogging a pleasant one. I've certainly enjoyed learning about the World of Blogs* and all the racing fans living within it and I hope my sometimes overly-long comments on your blogs haven't been too intrusive. For those who don't have a blog but still visit here, thanks for dropping by! Keep coming and feel free to comment from time to time. You might find yourself becoming a blogger before you know it - I did.
*I just can't bring myself to use the word 'Blogosphere'.

I will return before New Year with a GP2 Top Ten to close out that little series of blogs. I think as we head into 2009 it will be time to stop looking back at 2008, so I'm thinking about little bits on all the changes coming up. We'll see if I get around to that!

In the meantime have a great few days, whatever you're doing. Don't eat too much turkey or drink too much mulled wine!

F1 Top Ten 2008

Here is my top ten list of drivers for the 2008 F1 season. Disagree? Let me know!

2008 FIA Formula 1

1. Hamilton (P1 - Champion)
The fastest driver over the full season. He made some elementary mistakes such as the Montreal pitlane, on other occasions he destroys the field, such as in the rain at Silverstone. On the whole he was the better of the two championship protagonists.

2. Kubica (P4)
Was consistent throughout the year, the only exceptions being when Heidfeld also struggled which means you can put those occasions down to car or team problems, and not driver. Even after BMW stopped developing the car in order to concentrate on '09, he took it into the middle of the title fight until a couple of rounds remaining, when most observers tipped the top four points places as a Ferrari/McLaren lockout. He'd have done so even without Raikkonen's troubles. The BMW wasn't as good as the McLaren or Ferrari yet Robert managed to keep himself in the title fight until surprisingly late in the season.

3. Massa (P2)
Felipe has improved significantly over the last 12 months and is nothing like the driver he was when at Sauber a few years ago. He's applied himself to learning from Michael Schumacher and the lessons are paying off. I still tend to under-rate him and have to actively think to include him in any list like this. I wonder if his fellow drivers do the same?

4. Raikkonen (P3)
Kimi didn't seem to be all there this year. Somehow he made little to no impression in several races yet comes away tying the record for most fastest laps in a season. This points to not being able to run with the car when it has a heavy fuel load or cold tyres (or maybe both). When the car is fast, light, and has hot sticky tyres he's able to push with the best of them - unfortunately for him he was invariably too far behind by that stage of the race.

5. Alonso (P5)
Had a fair-to-middling first half of the season when you often forgot he was there, then suddenly he came alive to win two races and finish strongly in a host of others. I'm not sure if he'd finally got over the McLaren fiasco in his head, or if Renault made some improvements (or maybe both) but something definitely clicked to once again allow Fernando to look like the champion driver he is.

6. Heidfeld (P6)
'Quick Nick' had another good-but-not-quite-good-enough season. He's had quite a lot of those now, which is a shame as he's shown a lot of promise ever since he first arrived in F1 all that time ago and I've always rated him even when others haven't. He just struggles to sustain it over a season. Ought to have matched Kubica more often than he did. Perhaps that shows just how good Robert really is?

7. Vettel (P8)
An excellent season! There were times he completely embarrassed the 'main' Red Bull team in what is basically the old Minardi team running customer cars. I guess it shows Stoddart was kind of right, the team DID have it (whatever 'it' is), when it comes to the operations and strategy side anyway. Sebastian showed his talent throughout the season, even as the other Seb has noted this was as much down to the car suiting the German and not the Frenchman. It doesn't matter what the car advantage is, you still have to do the job as my next choice demonstrates.

8. Kovalainen (P7)
Very disappointing. He shouldn't be finishing 7th in points in a McLaren and I'm tempted to drop him further back because of it. As I said above, it isn't any good just driving a quick car, you still have to put the performances in and Heikki just didn't manage it. This is a shame as he struggled last year in the Renault too. He had what I'd call a Coulthard kind of year, with Hamilton taking the role of Hakkinen. Just like DC he's quick on his day but always seems to fall back for some reason, or always have the bad luck in the team.

9. Rosberg (P13)
I'm a Williams fan. The team are not where they should be. Both Nico and Kazuki did a good job in a less-than-great car, and were fighting among the Red Bulls and Toro Rossos quite often. Williams have invested in the flywheel KERS while everyone else has gone to batteries, I think it'll help them enormously! I'm looking forward to watching their improved progress next year.

10. Barrichello (P14)
Rubens didn't read the script. After closely matching Button last season, this year Jenson was supposed to come along and wipe the floor with him as he got every more disheartened. In reality Rubens thrashed Button and dragged the shitbox of a Honda to finishing positions it had no right being - the highlight being 3rd at Silverstone which was achieved entirely down to his strategic calls and his right foot. Note that he made the call on the tyres, not the team. Lesser drivers wait for the team to call them in.


Special mentions:
Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato for dragging a turd of a Super Aguri around Albert Park, Sepang, Bahrain and Barcelona all the while wondering if they'd still have a job the next day. After Barcelona they didn't have a job. Don't fall into the schoolboy error of assuming these are bad drivers - they are not.

Normally I would include a Red Bull driver in this list. Frankly neither of them did a good enough job, and were regularly beaten by the 'junior' team. I expect the big team to trounce the little one next year.

This is a quality field of drivers. We're lucky in that these days we don't have the journeyman pay-drivers propping up the field any more, as we did until very recently indeed. No Ricardo Rosset or Enrique Bernoldi now!

2009 will be a very interesting year with all kinds of permutations brought about by the change in rules. Will the slicks and KERS give us more overtaking, will it change the fortunes of any of the teams/drivers? Will more teams struggle to survive? Will Honda get a buyer and if so, who will it be? So many questions!

Christmas List

This week's United Open Wheel Word Butchers Association question:

What's on this year's Christmas List for the IRL?

- Start talking about the new chassis / engine formula so we can get excited about it!

- Make sure the international TV package is good. There are a LOT of IndyCar fans outside the USA and we feel like an afterthought sometimes. Gary and Larry made sure to namecheck all the countries their feed reached and it was nice to hear.

- Make sure the Indy Lights champ of every season gets a test with a major team. Do they already? I have no idea. Surely if they get a test, somebody down the grid will take a chance on them.

- I don't care about a series sponsor as long as the cars are well stickered-up and look good. Make sure each team has sponsors, and try to attract even more. Yes, this is tough to do these days.

- Make sure safety car periods are kept to a minimum, and the clean up is as fast as safely possible. Don't extend yellows just to squeeze in a pit sequence or a TV commercial break. TV should fit to the sport, not vice versa.

- Ditch Sonoma, a track with no fans looks stupid. See Bahrain in F1.

- Bring in Road America for 2010 (if not 2009). Also try for Michigan Speedway. Keep the street races to no more than 3 per season (Long Beach, Toronto, St Pete). I'd like to see the schedule mixed around a bit. I don't like having oval-heavy to start with, road-heavy to end with.

- Above all else: survive this downturn intact, even if it means not doing some of the above until things quieten down.


I know that's a lot of hard things to ask for, and they are all needed...

Thanks to Joel for this week's question.

Come back tomorrow for my F1 Top Ten!

IndyCar Top Ten 2008

To close out the 2008 season, and to put some content on this thing, I'm using the age-old device of the Top Ten List. First up is IndyCar, then there is Formula 1, and then I'm finishing with GP2 (if I can stretch that to ten drivers).

2008 IRL IndyCar Series

1. Dixon (1st in points)
Performed well for nearly the whole year, with just the blips at Watkins Glen and Sonoma the only real exceptions. A worthy champion although there remains the question mark over whether he'd have done so well without the advantage of his pit position.

2. Castroneves (2nd)
I think he was solid throughout the whole year, wasn't he? Didn't quite have enough for the title despite scoring very strongly in the last third of the year (he never finished lower than 2nd in six consecutive races). Just as in the points race, and on the track, deciding where to place Helio and Scott on any list like this is a very close run thing.

3. Kanaan (3rd)
Managed to take what was generally an underperforming AGR team and still finish 3rd in points ahead of Wheldon and Briscoe, in a year when you could make a serious case for Ganassi and Penske having a performance advantage over every other team. All the while he seemed to be the glue holding AGR together as it seemed to be trying to fracture. Not bad Tony, not bad.

4. Wheldon (4th)
Had a generally good year but probably could have done better. I think he'd agree with that. His first half of the year (mostly ovals) was better than his second half of the year (mostly road courses) which pre-season you would have expected. I'm not sure if the tipping point was the whole thing of whether Kanaan had taken his seat, but it seemed that it knocked his confidence in the team. If so, I don't blame him.

5. Briscoe (5th)
Much improved. Some bad luck early on cost him points and at one point there were suggestions that his drive was in question. He bounced back with a win at Milwaukee which seemed to change things for the better. He'll show well next season as I think a lot of the little niggles will be ironed out.

6. Hunter-Reay (8th)
Poked his nose among the Big Three more often than you might have expected, and took a great win at Watkins Glen.

7. Servia (9th)
Oriol was the top-scoring 'transition' driver because he's a solid driver with tons of experience, and it showed. KVR's steadily increasing pace on the ovals was almost certainly down to him.

8. Power (12th)
Servia scored more in points but Power showed more flashes of brilliant driving. Unfortunately some bad luck tangling with other cars meant the end results often weren't what they could and should have been.

9. Andretti (7th)
He had a reasonable year, less good in terms of results than before but that's probably down to AGR hitting a bad patch by their standards. I didn't like Marco much before this season but he seems to have reached a good place in his head and he's growing on me as a driver. I was impressed by his run at Milwaukee until the crash.

10. Patrick (6th)
Scored her first win in the big cars by being able to conserve fuel while others couldn't (or wouldn't). The rest of the year wasn't much to write home about but again that was probably as much down to AGR as anything. She finished ahead of Andretti in the points and picking between them is a close call, but I'm marking her down because she whines even more than he does, and that's an accomplishment. Not sure if she's whining more now or if Marco has cut down, I suspect the latter so I mark him higher accordingly (plus Marco gets bonus points for doing A1GP). If Danica isn't careful she'll soon rival Scott Speed or Nigel Mansell in the whining stakes. I guess it keeps her at the top of the Recent Articles lists on the websites.


Surprise Of The Year
Moraes jumping straight from Formula 3 and scoring some decent results through the year considering his experience and the size of his team - even if his first oval at Homestead was a bit of a culture shock for him.
The other surprise was Mutoh, he had some very good races.

Driver I Most Enjoyed Watching
Ernesto 'EJ' Viso. How can you pick anyone else? I watched him in GP2 last season (where he had a similar reputation as he gained in IRL) and it was fun to see him adapt to American racing and their unique interpretation of blocking rules. I seem to remember Doornbos struggling with it last year! It would be great to see Doornbos vs Viso in IndyCars.

Caveats
I have a terrible memory. I've probably forgotten some major event/s which should mean a driver is ranked higher / lower than I've put them here. And if you disagree with me, make your case in the comments!

2009 News
I'm sure you've all by now seen the news that the Belle Isle race has been cancelled*. I can't say I'm too upset at this news! The race was a procession. It all looked great on TV, particularly the ALMS cars, yet both races were pretty boring in terms of racing. Sorry to all the people in the Detroit region who will miss out but hey, maybe they can bring the Michigan speedway back instead.
* yes we use two L's in Britain

I mentioned Robert Doornbos earlier, and he has apparently been negotiating with HVM. However, a report in Autosport magazine this week quotes him as saying he's close to a drive with NHL and the HVM reports are wide of the mark.

"I've seen the reports but they are not true. I've been talking to HVM but Newman/Haas/Lanigan is the team I've been in contact with most. I want to be in the best team possible and hope to have a deal signed by Christmas, but I don't know exactly who that will be with. I hope I can bring ING to the IRL in 2009."

ING sponsorship would be huge, racing fans will know them from their involvement with Renault in F1.
There are also reports of Bourdais talking of going back to America which everyone else in the World of Blogs is getting excited about at least on the IRL side, but I still don't believe it'll happen. I think he'll remain a STR driver and I want that to be the case.

Finally, check out the I Am Mindy Show at MyNameIsIRL.com. Go to the site and type 'podcast' into his new search box at the top of the page. He's done two shows now at roughly half hour each, so go now and listen to both!

Word-Butchering Talent Scouts

I've kindly been asked to join a co-operative of bloggers known as the United Open Wheel Word Butchers Association, which has been set up to cross-promote a selection of racing blogs to like-minded people.
After you've read this post take yourself over to the UOWWBA site and check out some of my colleagues' blogs in the sidebar there, you might find some you've never seen before. I'd never seen Pit Out before and I've gone on to bookmark it (I also added it and Planet-IRL and Motorsports Ramblings to my sidebar). Pit Out is close to what this blog would be like if I could find the time / effort to update it as often.

Part of being with the UOWWBA is to answer a weekly question, in order to get our own individual take on any given burning issue. This week's question is this:

"You have just been appointed to be the new "talent scout" for the IRL. Your first mission is to bring 5 drivers to the series. These can be former drivers from Indycar or from any other series. Which 5 would you pick and why?"

So here are my picks in no particular order:

1. Paul Tracy.
This might only be for the one season because let's face it, even if Champ Car had continued Paul would be getting close to the end of his open-wheel career by now. His career should end the way it seems to have ended. He should go out fighting, that's the Paul Tracy Way. I miss watching him race. I wish we could see him adapt to what he once called 'those crapwagons'. When 'unification' was announced he was one of the first drivers I wanted to watch mix it among the IRL crowd, alongside Wilson, Servia and Power. He needs to be back. Just for one season. He just DOES dammit.


2. A J Allmendinger.
I don't know much about this guy, but what I do know is that once he stepped up from a midfield team to Forsythe he completely killed the opposition. Then walked away. He shouldn't be trolling around in back-of-the-field N-word teams. Even if Toyota plus Red Bull shouldn't be back-of-the-field teams. Just like Toyota and Red Bull in F1, in fact.


3. Sam Hornish Jr.
Because he was getting better at road courses, wasn't he? In any case we need drivers who are stronger on ovals than on road courses, as much as we need drivers who are stronger on road courses than on ovals. And we need flag-bearers from the 'old' IRL just as much we need those from the 'old' CART. Hornish is the best of that bunch. And the same applies to Hornish as it does to Allmendinger, vis a vis being in NASCAR.


4. Justin Wilson.
It looks like Justin is out of a ride so I'll include him here, because he damn well shouldn't be out of a ride. I hope N/H/L get some more funding and are able to run a second car with him in it. I'm sure he must be 'first call' in that instance. Look at his progress on road courses this year. He was one of the few to take it to Bourdais regularly in Champ Car. He dragged a half-assed Minardi around the F1 tracks to positions it should never have been, that car being the only one at the time without power steering.


5a. Robert Doornbos.
It looks like he may have signed for HVM, I'm not sure if that's an announcement or just a rumour I've seen on websites. In any case he's wasting his time in Superleague Formula. His sporadic F1 appearances showed potential, which he went on to prove in Champ Car before the series collapsed from under him. He was supposed to go into 2008 as a serious title contender against Wilson and Power. In reality he spent the year scratching around making a living in SF, A1GP and GT racing. He needs to be back in a top line open wheel car. I think he'd love ovals.

In case he's signed already, an alternative no.5:
5b. Alex Lloyd.
He's British, I'm British, and he's a proven winner in that he's the 2007 Indy Lights champ. The Indy Lights champ should always get at least few races in the main series during the following year or two. I know running the Indy 500 itself is a big deal, and if the winner of Lights always wins a prize drive at the 500 then that's fantastic - but I don't think they do. He needs a run with somebody who can give him a fair shot even if it is only half a season. Maybe he can run the road courses for Fisher (or a second car?).

For the last twelve months the automatic entry to this list was Dario Franchitti. Thankfully he's back already!


Thanks again to Kohl for the invite to join the OWWBA.

To everyone else, I promise I *will* get the first of my Top Tens posted next weekend! I'll probably start with the IndyCar one.

Race of Champions 2008

At the end of a hard year of racing, drivers like to relax with a little challenge. A head-to-head competition in equal cars around a circuit laid inside Wembley Stadium. The Race of Champions.

The 2008 event happens tomorrow and the draw has been made for both the Nations Cup and for the main event, the Race of Champions. Britain gets two teams, presumably as the host nation.

You have to take this loosely, some Nations aren't really nations, some Champions aren't really champions. Don't let that spoil it because this is a varied and eclectic line-up.


Nations Cup
Heat 1: France vs Scandinavia*
Heat 2: USA vs Autosport Team GB
Heat 3: F1 Racing GB vs All Stars**
Heat 4: Germany vs Ireland

* Sweden and Denmark.
** The All Stars team was formerly Australia, however Mark Webber broke his leg and his place was taken by the Spanish champion of this year's British F3 series, Jaime Alguersuari.

Each heat is a 'best of 3' and each team has 2 drivers.


Race of Champions
Gareth McHale (rally) vs David Coulthard (F1)

Adam Carroll (GP2, A1GP) vs Mattias Ekstrom (DTM, reiging ROC champ)

Tom Kristensen (Le Mans, DTM) vs Michael Schumacher (F1)

Jason Plato (BTCC) vs Andy Priaulx (WTCC)

Tanner Foust (drifting) vs Jenson Button (F1)

Troy Bayliss (Superbikes) vs Sebastian Vettel (F1)

Jaime Alguersuari (F3) vs Carl Edwards (NASCAR)

Yvan Muller (WTCC) vs Sebastien Loeb (World Rally)

Each heat is a 'best of 3'. Tanner Foust is in because Travis Pastrana, star of last year's event, got injured messing with a motorcross bike during the week. And as mentioned above, Mark Webber is out after injuring himself in an endurance event he organised.


Coverage

You can watch the ROC live on Sunday from 13:50 GMT (14:50 CET) at RaceOfChampions.com and simulcast at a variety of websites including Autosport and Pitpass.
In Britain it will be live on Sky Sports Extra and Sky Sports 3 HD (later there is delayed coverage on British Eurosport).
Across Europe it'll be live on Eurosport International.
Fans in the US can see it live on Discovery HD.
Further coverage details.

The Nations Cup begins at 14:30 GMT, the Race of Champions gets under way at 17:30 GMT. Each competition is scheduled for two hours and there will be activities before and between the events.

I was at Wembley last year. It was a little over-priced, it was hard to see the drivers, there were big gaps in the crowd and it was VERY cold.
But there were solid reasons for all of these and the organisers have worked to overcome them this year. The new KTM X-Bow is open-topped so you can see the drivers more easily. The prices are lower this year. And the newly-rebuilt Wembley is frikkin' HUGE (it looks great at night) - you can't expect to fill a place that size first time out. I hope word of mouth and the lower prices make for increased attendance. I'm not going, I said last year it wasn't worth going to it every year. Now I kind of wish I was.

You can see my 2007 photos here.

Taking stock

Okay, let's take stock and see where we are. I don't mean to be downbeat about all of the crappy news we've had over the last six weeks, but I do think it prudent to give a summary of what has changed since the end of the 2008 racing season.

- Honda out of F1. Big news for all concerned. Since last week, Honda has claimed they have 3 potential buyers lined up. I'm not sure how likely that is. I hope someone does buy the team and continue, even if they have to make swingeing cuts to survive. If nobody buys it we're down to 18 cars and dangerously close to the other teams having to field a third car per Bernie's contracts. Team orders? You ain't seen nothin' yet.

- Audi out of ALMS and LMS. I'd half-suspected they'd only do the LMS for the one year, the bigger surprise to me is dropping the ALMS almost entirely apart from Sebring. Instead they choose to take a new car to Sebring and Le Mans (and I bet they show up at Petit as well). Methinks Peugeot will win Le Mans.

- AGR out of Acura/ALMS and into A1GP. I'm sure if they jumped or if they were pushed, either way you have to think running the A1 car is a significant cost-saving over developing a prototype sportscar - I'm assuming they were helping develop it.

- Penske out of ALMS, and seemingly no Porsches at all in P2 in America OR Europe. Weird. In the US someone needs to run a customer car to go against Acura, and in Europe there are are easy wins going begging.

- I was going to mention GT1 collapsing globally, but I think that was happening anyway.

- SEAT out of BTCC. This was an announcement a couple of months back. SEAT are out of British Touring Cars, although they seem to be continuing in World Touring. The claim at the time was SEAT UK had met its marketing expectations and had reached the end of the programme. Now we've had all these other announcements, I'm not so sure that's true.

- If any of the US carmakers go under (particularly GM) then it will knock on to racing activities somewhere or other, especially NASCAR but all over the world as well in Aussie V8s (Holden), WTCC (Chevrolet), BTCC (Vauxhall), and who knows where else.

- Don't forget Super Aguri's collapse earlier in the year.


There will have been more I've missed here (let me know in the comments), and more will unfortunately follow I'm sure.

One thing is very clear. 2009 is going to have a VERY different look.

Don't get too disheartened though, think of this as a natural correction. Things got way out of hand especially in Formula 1. It's time for a bit of restructuring before we head into the eco era.

Some good news:

- Acura is still moving up to P1 in ALMS as well as running a couple of P2 cars.

- BMW will have a new GT2 car in ALMS which will be run by Rahal/Letterman. A group of BMW's WTCC drivers have been out at Road Atlanta developing it.

- Audi will have their new R8 GT car out. I saw it marked as a GT3 but I'm sure I've seen word of it going into GT2.

- More independent/privateer cars entering touring cars and world rally. This is a mixed blessing. Sometimes these teams and/or drivers are delusional no-hopers making up the numbers, yet sometimes it allows an underfunded but otherwise excellent team to take part and prove themselves. I like those guys, I always root for them.

- Honda's F1 woes will not affect their IndyCar, MotoGP, ALMS interests or any other racing activity.

- IRL will seemingly still get 24+ cars at each round.

- We still have shitloads of racing - Too Much Racing for one person to follow, and long may it be so.

Again, let me know of any more good news in the comments.


Sorry for not posting on Friday as promised.

Honda out of F1 with immediate effect?

A few of the F1 news websites are abuzz with talk of Honda pulling out of Formula 1 with almost immediate effect. I must stress at this stage: this is just a rumour.
However, this looks to be more than the frequent will they / won't they rumours we usually see about Renault. From the tone of the reports it looks as though SOMETHING is up at Honda. Whether that is a budget cut, a sale, or a shut down we just don't know yet. Anyway, to the reports:

-----

GrandPrix.com is reporting that their US car sales are down 32% (and so was Toyota's) compared to last year. They are scaling back on production and their plans to build more factories are on ice.
In terms of the F1 team the story includes this note:

On Thursday afternoon we received a flurry of reports that Honda F1 personnel have suddenly started applying for jobs in large numbers. We have been trying to contact Honda Racing F1 this afternoon but have thus far been unable to reach anyone.

The very next story on the site suggests that they are looking to sell the team by Christmas. Pitpass.com reports that a sale must be made before March 2009. I would suggest either date to be a very tall order although the Pitpass story suggests they have two potential buyers lined up already. Pitpass also says that Honda won't supply engines to the new owners.

Again that second GrandPrix.com story notes of much higher than usual staff movement:

There is no confirmation from any Honda company officials, but teams across Europe are reporting that they have received a rush of applications from Honda F1 personnel in the course of the day. The fact that the team is not responding to requests for statements is a bad sign, as if the rumours are not correct they would need to be killed as quickly as possible.

It should be noted at this point that there is always a fairly big amount of movement between the F1 teams at this time of year among all levels of staff. GrandPrix.com knows this too, so it must be an unusual pattern for them to comment on it, and a 'flurry' in one day is certainly unusual.

The lack of activity from the PR / communications department is highly unusual too, as Honda (along with Renault) usually appear to be among the best at supplying info to the specialist press or TV, at least to my layman eyes.
As GrandPrix.com says, it may be best to wait a few hours and see what the parent company in Japan says after their business day begins.

My thoughts....

This was a complete surprise to me. That this is supposedly a full pull-out is also a surprise as after seeing the news, I thought they'd at least supply engines to the new owners, even if only for a year or two.

While this might not be big in terms of where the team is on the grid at the moment, this is absolutely huge in terms of a major manufacturer leaving Formula 1 - if indeed they are. I hope that they aren't because, well, this is Honda! If any car company can turn around the fortunes of a badly performing F1 team then surely that company is Honda.

I also feel for the people at Brackley and other sites. I've been through a redundancy, it isn't a nice experience. I hope this is either a) budget cuts, or b) a sale - and I hope it is not c) a shut down of the team.

The other consideration is this: If this is true and they are pulling out, what does this mean for the IRL and ALMS programmes? Are Honda looking at other savings, or are the costs sufficiently smaller that they are able to continue? ALMS can live without Acura/Honda, the series would be weaker (combined with Penske/Porsche out) but long-term it would get over it. IndyCar would be a different story. That would be a world of hurt.

Anyway. This is all conjecture. Let's see what the Japanese parent company says on Friday.

Just to be clear, I must stress that these ARE just rumours at this point. I hope the websites aren't putting 2 + 2 together to get 5. Both are known names in the F1 world and both have sources within it. I trust GrandPrix.com because they keep their ear to the ground when it comes to the business side of F1. I also know that Pitpass does some fact-checking before posting stories like this.
I strongly advise checking both. Autosport.com also fact-checks but they don't have anything on this as I type - keep an eye out for something soon.

If it had been a lesser site I wouldn't have pointed it out. I wasn't going to post anything at all today as I have an exam in the morning and need to cram like crazy, but this couldn't wait!

UPDATE @ 23.38 UK - an announcement is due in Japan at 4.30am UK time. The BBC now has a report up citing Reuters, it seems Fry and Brawn told the other teams at the FOTA meeting earlier this week. I'll post more tomorrow.

Quick update

I'm currently revising for an exam I'm sitting on Friday (taxation, yay!), hence the recent lack of updates. I haven't watched many of my recordings either. I did see GP2 at the Hungaroring a week ago, which was fairly tedious actually. The only decent racing at the Hungaroring happens when it rains, which is hardly ever. I ignored most of it while I was doing coursework. It was that sort of race. Think IRL at Sonoma, you won't be far off.

Much more interesting was the Live Fast Racing podcast, and I'm still two behind, I listened to #19 about two days before they released #21. I will catch up! Jeff has one as well now, which I'm looking forward to hearing (sorry for not getting around to it yet).

After this exam I'll catch up on podcasts and a couple of races, and write the first in a series of 'top driver' posts. I haven't decided whether I'll do Top Tens or just the ones I think did well, could be 8, could be 11... I mean what if there aren't ten? Or what if it was a great year and the 11th is actually really good?
What I'd like to do is finish it off with the Top Drivers Of The Year (all series combined), a la the annual Autosport Xmas Bumper Issue. I feel I should do some form of quantitive analysis in Excel, a few years ago I would have. But I think I'll do this the old-fashioned way - gut feel.


Music recommendation: Sigur Rós - Hoppipola
On condition you only watch that video on a cold night, with lights turned down low, preferably wearing headphones. It might be best to ignore the vid and just listen.

See also:
Untitled 1 [Vaka] and especially Svefn-g-Englar.

There are lots of others, go from there to the tracks page and press the little play buttons, anything at random.

I promise to suggest something more up tempo and rockier next time!

BBC F1 2009 - broadcast team

EDIT - I've noticed people are still arriving on this older post via Google. Please go ahead and read this, but then make sure you check out the update here - thanks!
* * * *

From the BBC Sport website:

David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan have joined the BBC as part of next year's presentation team in Formula One.
Coulthard, who retired as a race driver at the end of the 2008 season, will join former team boss Jordan as a pundit alongside anchor Jake Humphrey.
Jonathan Legard moves from 5 Live to commentate with ex-F1 driver and award-winning broadcaster Martin Brundle.
...
The pit-lane reporters will be Ted Kravitz and Lee McKenzie.
...

This is excellent news! Can you just imagine Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard as analysts? These are probably the most outspoken, witty and fun guys in the paddock. DC has certainly grown into himself since leaving McLaren, at least to the outside world's perception. This is going to be fun! Now, I'm not sure either will be in the commentary box, or "the booth" in American parlance. I think they'll be in a studio role either in London or trackside. It'll still be great and I fully expect them to interject into the race commentary.

Jake Humphrey as main anchor will bring the F1 coverage away from the "grey-haired old anchorman" style we've had for the last however many years (always?), which just does not fit with the image of Formula 1 as a young, dynamic sport. More so since Red Bull joined the party. He's a capable guy in his 30s who has covered the Olympics, the Euro 2008 football tournament, and a host of other sports for the BBC. He's very much the up-and-coming man at BBC Sport and has been for the last year, this can be considered his first major long-term anchor role as his other stuff was for annual events, magazine shows or for the Olympics, a results roundup show.

Jonathan Legard (no Wiki page) was the main commentator for BBC Radio Five Live from 1997 to 2004, before taking on a football role for the station. Five Live is the BBC's main sports and news talk radio station. I'm not familiar with his work in either of those roles and I'm not entirely sure what TV experience he has, so I'll be watching with interest to see if he can translate to the less descriptive style of television. Because of this he is potentially the weak link in the chain.

Side-note: David Croft currently holds the F1 commentary role for Five Live and looks like retaining that job. Croft also covered GP2 for ITV4 this year, leading to speculation that he was training himself for the Big One. I'm pretty sure Croftie is going to be gutted with this decision, and while he is fairly good, he does make a fair few mistakes on the GP2 coverage. I'm not saying it's an easy job, but still..

Ted Kravitz became ITV's pit strategy reporter when James Allen was promoted to lead commentary on Murray Walker's retirement in 2002. Kravitz is hot on the strategic side of the sport and has definitely improved over the years. It used to be that Allen was the best pit reporter in town and Ted did well to fill those shoes. Allen turned out to be a good but not great commentator - he did get better, no matter what many people on the internet may say (I'm by no means a big fan, but you have to give credit where due). Kravitz has done some anchor work for the BTCC on ITV4 and you have to say he hasn't been great in that role. I'm glad he continues in his element next year.

Lee McKenzie is not the token female, just as Louise Goodman wasn't at ITV. McKenzie has experience in the pitlane role for Sky Sports' coverage of A1 Grand Prix as well as covering WRC and many other motorsport events. It says on Wiki she has her own company looking after several top drivers in several championships, which I never knew. I think she'll be good if the BBC doesn't relegate her to Louise's more recent role of simply trailing after drivers who have crashed out for whatever reason. We need that but some idea of what the lower order are doing in the pits would be nice too.


This is such a brilliant line-up, I'm like a little kid at hearing this! The article quoted above says the practical side of things will be announced later but I can tell you this:

Race coverage will be live and exclusive on BBC One (home of 'Eastenders', 'Strictly Come Dancing' (AKA the origination of 'Dancing w/t Stars') and 'Spooks' ('MI5')) for the entire 2009 season. In full. With no adverts. At all. Ever. Unless you count BBC self-promos. Of which there are many.


All qualifying sessions will be aired live on BBC Two (the home of 'Top Gear' and 'Heroes', fact fans) for the 2009 season.

There is speculation that there will be enhanced coverage available on digital TV via the 'red button' interactive service, including alternate camera angles and live timing, similar to the service on the Premiere channel in Germany.

Okay... so you've convinced me... NOW the licence fee is worth it!


Music recommendation: Fleetwood Mac - 'The Chain' (BBC F1 intro 1996)



If the Beeb doesn't bring back their iconic Grand Prix theme tune in some form or another then they are utter, utter, fools.

Note to international readers: This is about BBC taking back the rights from ITV for the first time since the close of the 1996 season. If you didn't grow up to this music then you probably don't 'get it', but believe me: This is Very. Very. Cool. Goosebumps every time I hear it.

Dr Gary Hartstein

There's an interesting article at the International Herald Tribune about Doctor Gary Hartstein, originally from Staten Island, New York and now living and working in Belgium. He is the FIA's medical rescue coordinator and rides in the Mercedes response car, the one following the field on the first lap. He took over from (the legendary) Professor Sid Watkins a few years ago when Watkins went off to found the FIA Institute.

The article is written by Hartstein and he explains his role at race weekends, you should check it out (there are two pages).

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/07/sports/SRDOCTOR.php

I also recommend clicking the author's name when done to see some of Brad Spurgeon's words on the subject, particularly the 2002 article.

F1's New Wings

Check out a photo released by the Williams team this week:


Jonathan Kennard performing a shakedown at Kemble airfield, Gloucestershire. Photo taken from www.williamsf1.com.


That rear wing is just awful. I actually like the lower front wing, although I don't like how it extends in front of the wheels, that's going to cause more debris and more nosecone changes.

Admittedly this is the 2008 FW30 running 2009 aero, the configuration most teams are expected to run in the group tests next week, but still ugly! I hope that the definitive '09 cars will be more in proportion and more in line with Autosport magazine's mock-ups of a couple of weeks ago.

What do you think? Reckon we'll get used to it?

Note that as it was only a shakedown neither the slicks or the current grooved tyres were used.

Tin Tops

And so begins the off-season. Here in Britain the temperatures have dropped, the radiators are on and the hot drinks are being consumed in earnest.

Already there is the noticeable drop-off in forum/newsgroup posts, which happens every year yet seems always to take me by surprise. On F1NGers there were over 100 posts after the Brazil race, now they are barely 15 per day. This year for the first time I am following motorsport blogs and I've noticed the same pattern. There's just not enough news - interesting news - to drive the content, what is around is just test reports and speculation about drivers in lower-order teams. Anyway, frankly some of my blogger friends deserve the rest after the amount of good stuff they've written over the year! I don't know how they keep up the post rates.

Not much rest for me though, I'm obsessed with this stuff so I'm gonna keep on trucking, if only a couple of times a week. I've built up a nice archive of recordings to watch to keep me going. This blog was partly set up to rattle on about what I'm watching, as much as comment on latest results and reports, so you might get a few posts like this until March.

I've spent the last few days watching cars with roofs (1). DTM Norisring, WTCC Estoril and WRC Finland.
(1) It should be rooves. One hoof, two hooves. One roof, two rooves.


The Norisring is an interesting place. Basically it is a short, bumpy street track of about 1.4 miles situated in the German city of Nuremberg, the track running around the Steintribüne where Hitler held his rallies. It is also FAST! These DTM cars are no slouches and the track is wide, they get decent speed along the front straight into the hairpin which looked like producing a major smash up on lap one, they did well to avoid one.
The race was entertaining, not the best I've seen and not the best I've seen at the Norisring despite this only being the second race I've seen at the Norisring. Last year's race was more fun. This is my first season watching DTM in full. I like the speed and power of the cars!
Jamie Green won the race despite driving away with a fuel car still attached to the car, which fell off down the road. In any other series he'd get a penalty so the commentary - and me - were wondering how he kept the win. It was a good drive though.


The World Touring Cars were at Estoril in Portugal a week later, this is back in July. S2000 cars are not fast, at least not on tracks of this size, I don't know why WTCC insists on visiting them. 2-litre tourers work better on shorter tracks because they just look slow, slow, slow on GP-length circuits. And you only get 12 laps per 25 minute race! A shorter track provides more laps and more chances to try that overtaking spot. Touring cars are all about fast frenetic action over 25-30 minutes, and F1-style tracks don't provide that. (I don't class DTM as 'touring cars') Okay the racing was reasonable and Tiago Monteiro raced hard to win the second race. But I just didn't care - and I like touring cars.


World Rally was at Rally Finland in August, the craziest rally of them all. Seriously if you think you've seen rallying before, driving quickly along narrow roads, then think again. You've seen nothing until you've seen a Finn on Rally Finland! They push like crazy, take risks over the jumps and I don't know how they get the cars to turn like that, but they do. Loeb won, becoming only the 4th (or 5th?) non-Scandinavian to win the event in 35 years or more.

There has been talk about taking the S2000 rules from WTCC, souping them up a bit, and using that as the basis of a new WRC car. Why can't they also use it as the basis for a new WTCC car? They need pepping up.


I said last week that I'd recommend some music or a podcast whenever I could, just for the off-season. It might be well known or it might be relatively obscure. The first song is in the latter category.
This is from their first album, they have just released their second album. Despite being a video just play the song and look away, love it, then watch the vid later. I love the low-budget quirks like when he carefully places the drumsticks down to clap!

DARTZ! - Once, Twice, Again



If you like it check out the Buy Album link when the video ends or use the other links to see their Last.fm profile to find out more (go to the L.FM artist link to find your way to their MySpace page).

(sorry if my constant edits buggered up your feeds, I was trying to make the video not autostart)

Catching up on some news

Check out Pressdog, MyNameIsIRL and other bloggers (as well as Sarah Fisher) on Trackside with Kevin & Cavin which is a weekly IndyCar radio show in the Indianapolis area and online. Proviso: I haven't listened to it yet. I'm currently listening to Live Fast Racing podcast 18 which I know is a few weeks old now but also features Bill and Jeff and is really very good indeed.
Lots of chat about IRL, a little about F1, all good.

A busy week in the world F1 in this first week of the off-season. I'd intended to do smaller updates during the week but my accounts studies got in the way so I hope this works as a summary.


Force India
A big reshuffle in progress at the team formerly known as Jordan, with Colin Kolles (the dentist) and Mike Gascoyne (the rottweiler) both leaving at the behest of Vijay Mallya, a guy who makes Flavio Briatore look modest, but I like him. You gotta like a guy who owns a beer company and an airline. Force India will announce a new management structure on Monday.

Probably bigger news is that they have parted ways with Ferrari. Unannounced but expected is a switch to Mercedes engines and gearbox. Some sites suggest they'll also take McLaren customer chassis. I don't buy that because this team has been against customer cars for years regardless of what name was above the door.


Driver Update
Toro Rosso will be testing Takuma Sato again this month and it could be that he is being lined up to replace Sebastian Vettel.
Bruno Senna and Lucas di Grassi will both test for Honda which may lead to Barrichello losing his drive. This has led to suggestions of Rubens Barrichello moving to Toro Rosso. Sebastien Bourdais' place isn't necessarily fixed so they could take Sato AND Barrichello.
Nobody seems to be rumouring anything about Sutil's seat at Force India which I'm sure is still available. I'm pretty sure Fisichella is locked in. Up and coming team (since 1991!) so it's a seat that may just prove useful to someone.


TMR Rocks
So I rule all and that's official. I mean what did I say the other day?
Check it out:

I propose a Superlicence for race stewards. I want these people to have had experience officiating F1 Grands Prix, or have performed a similar role in another top line or feeder championship for at least a year. I want there to be a permanent steward who attends every GP and chairs the stewards' meetings, as Tony Scott-Andrews did.

Aaand what did the FIA announce this week?

The FIA also announced that trainee stewards - nominated by their nation's governing body and selected by the FIA - will attend five grands prix next season in an observation role. Any national stewards officiating on a Formula One race for the first time must have observed at least one grand prix in this way to obtain their stewards' super licence. A short CV of all trainee stewards will also be posted on the FIA website. The FIA also confirmed that ex-racers are eligible to obtain their national stewarding licence and graduate to the super licence.

So yeah, listen to me, I'm a pompous F1 fan who knows it all! Yeah. Or...not.


New Deputy
The FIA has appointed Nick Craw as Deputy President for Sport, replacing Marco Piccinini. Craw is the president of ACCUS, the American national sporting representative at the FIA (on behalf of NASCAR, IRL, ALMS, etc). This is a good thing for me because Piccinini is ex-Ferrari so to my mind that removes a layer of perceived bias. And there is again an American that has something to do with F1!


Yet Another Schedule
The FIA has released yet another version of the F1 calendar for '09. I can't remember the last time they've released so many of them. This time they've shunted China to April to fall between Malaysia and Bahrain. Everything at the end of the year moves up 2 weeks to fill in the gap.
There is no news regarding Canada, the last I heard a deal could still be done if the money can be found.

EDIT
I was playing around with Feedburner last night after I posted this. Let me know if it causes any problems as I'm not sure what I'm doing..

Lewis Hamilton , World Champion

Congratulations once again to Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 FIA Formula One World Champion.

In Britain an audience of 8.75 million watched this race (average taken over the 3 hours of coverage), that's 41.3% of the total viewing audience during that period. It reached a peak of 13.05 million (50.9%) although the article doesn't state when this was (I think we can guess!).

These percentage figures are absolutely brilliant! Brazil always gets good figures due to it being one of only a few prime time races and it being the season closer - yet this is unheard of. It usually gets 6 mil and the afternoon European races get 3.5m. This race recorded the highest figures of ITV's entire 12-year tenure as broadcaster of F1 in this country.

A few other notables, and this is where I go unashamedly patriotic since we don't often get the chance in sport.. Hamilton is:

- the youngest ever F1 champion at 23 years, 9 months and 26 days. This beats the record set in 2005 by Fernando Alonso at 24 years, 2 months and 17 days, I seem to recall Alonso beat Emerson Fittipaldi's long-standing record which had held firm for thirty years or so.

- I believe he is the first black champion of any major motorsport series globally.

- the 30th F1 champion.

- the 9th British champion, and this is the 13th championship won by a British driver.
- the 7th English champion, the 8th won by an Englishman (okay so he's only half-English).
(for completeness the other 5 titles were won by Stewart and Clark, both Scotsmen)

- the 6th champion to win it in a McLaren (others: Hunt, Lauda, Prost (x3), Senna (x3), Hakkinen (x2)).

- the 8th champion to win it by a single point (others: Hawthorn 1958, P.Hill 1961, Surtees 1964, Hunt 1976, Piquet (Sr) 1981, M.Schumacher 1994, Raikkonen 2007). The 1984 title was decided by 0.5 points which is the smallest margin in F1 history, it came about after a race was aborted and half the available points were awarded.

- the 2nd driver to win the title in only his 2nd season, the other was Jacques Villeneuve.

- this was the lowest winning total since 2003, which was the last time it was won with less than 100 points.

This was Ferrari's 16th Constructors title, their 8th in the last decade! That's how dominant they were with Schumacher. Note that this title has 'only' been awarded since 1958, eight years after the Drivers title.

With thanks to Michele Merlino's stats review at Autosport.com. Check it out, although you may need a subscription, I'm not sure as I get the full website free as a subscriber to the print mag.

Ping America
Make sure you vote tomorrow! Stand in line all day if you have to. I've heard forecasts of a 90% turnout in some places which is just crazy. They are worried about getting everyone done before closing time so don't leave it late unless you have to. Take it from someone who's just had Tony Blair's replacement foisted upon him with no election - VOTE! I might have voted for Brown if I'd had the chance, I'd just like the chance. Our system sucks sometimes.

I'm not going to tell you which way to vote, or which way I would vote if were American. I'd love to but can't and won't.

Good Luck. I'm convinced this is closer than the media is making out - anything can happen.

EDIT - yay :-)

Race notes: 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix

2008 Grande Premio do Brasil
Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Interlagos, Sau Paulo, Brazil
71 laps

*LIVE* on ITV1 for the last time

Anchor: Steve Rider
Analyst: Mark Blundell

Lead commentary: James Allen
Expert commentary: Martin Brundle

Pitlane; Ted Kravitz (strategy), Louise Goodman (DNFs)


I note there is no title sponsor for this race, just looking at the schedule list on f1.com and 4 of the 18 are unsponsored.

I'm watching ITV News before coverage begins, Gordon Brown says he and the rest of Britain are behind Lewis Hamilton. I feel better for knowing that and I'm sure Lewis does too.

While we wait there are 7 drivers on the second race in the two-race engine cycle: Hamilton, Heidfeld, Coulthard, Webber, Rosberg, Nakajima and Sutil. These guys may have to take it easy towards the end if they are worried about reliability. Everyone else can go for it without those nagging doubts in the mind about whether the engine will last.


Coverage begins at 16.04 (56 mins to go) and we immediately launch into the dramatic title fight montage. Nice way to set the scene.

There are storm clouds around the circuit, some of them look very dark! Mark says they can hear the odd crack of thunder.

Recap of what is needed: Lewis needs to finish 5th or better. Felipe needs to finish 1st or 2nd.


51 mins to go - Qualifying Review with James Allen

Massa (P1) / Trulli (P2)
Raikkonen / Hamilton
Kovalainen / Alonso
Vettel / Heidfeld
Bourdais / Glock
Piquet / Webber
Kubica / Coulthard
Barrichello / Nakajima
Button / Rosberg
Fisichella / Sutil

Rapid-fire post-qual chats:
Jarno: If I'm wheel to wheel at the start on the inside I won't give up.
Kimi: 3rd is a good place to start, I'd prefer that to 2nd place, on the clean side so should get a good start.
Heikki: If I can help Lewis in any way I will do the best I can.
Lewis: Off pole it is always a bit easier, at P4 we are on the dirtier side, I've just got to keep my nose clean.

Steve thanks Lewis from ITV for all his help over the last two years.
Lewis thanks ITV for all their support going back to his GP2 days.

Cut back to Steve live in pitlane: "We shouldn't be biased especially standing here in front of the Ferrari pits, but you all know that we are."
Ha!


Circuit Review with Martin Brundle
We are onboard with Felipe Massa for his pole lap.
195mph into the Senna S turn 1.
Full power on exit on to the straight.
195mph into Decida de Lago.
Into the twisty stuff, good traction, he missed the apex of turn 10.
The compression in Mergulho knocks you out, hook into Juncao for the long run to the line.


44 minutes to the start, a review of last year's start where Lewis messed up at turn 3 or 4.
Recorded segment with Louise talking to Lewis and clips of this and that. I don't really learn anything new, we've seen all this before.
Lewis says he's not concerned that Massa is on pole.

Over to Ted with clips of Senna winning at Interlagos. Says there's a lot of pressure to live up to Senna for any Brazilian driver.
Emerson Fittipaldi: He's A very good team player, a special year for him.
Kimi: For me it doesn't matter who wins. For sure for out team it would be nice for Felipe but I don't really think about it, whoever wins deserves it.

Ted is now on the grid... no he's by the grandstand alonsgide the grid! The crowd smell of beer. Gets out a British flag and they all start booing, throwing a bit of beer over him!
Cut to Red Bull where there are cheers for DC. A lone piper plays Flower of Scotland!
DC: "It's great to see the sentiment in the paddock. I may not have won the championship but I've made a few friends along the way."

36 mins to go

Steve's pretty emotional as he presented DC with the Autosport Young Driver of the Year award some 20 years ago.
"It's also time to review ITV's 12 years in the sport" and they replay the My Chemical Romance video I posted last night.

The ITV-F1 website will continue into the winter and all through next season. Competition time, win a trip to the inaugural Abu Dhabi GP.

30 minutes, engines have fired and cars are starting to leave the pits. Mark is rabbitting on about the pressure Lewis is under.

Ad break. First of the day after half an hour, nice going.

Louise with Vettel: We'll try and survive the first lap then anything can happen. It will be an interesting race, anything is possible.

Martin is on the grid alongside the safety car. Says there is less chance of rain now, the cloud is breaking up and moving away. Short run to first corner.
Walking back through the grid, finds Trulli: "It's nice to be on the front row, I will do my race, I have no sympathy for anyone I want my best possible result, try to score as many points as possible." Said with a smile and cheeky grin!
Martin says Jarno could play a major role, Kimi will be desperate to get past him. Expects Kimi to back Lewis into the pack, slow him down.

Left-hand side is the clean side of the grid, the racing line with the rubber.
Finds a random mechanic from McLaren. His job is to move tyres around. Worthwhile interview Martin...
He goes to Ron Dennis, what did you say to Lewis: "Avoid trouble, follow instructions, this is as much about the team as it is him."
With Bernie, 25 of 58 championships have come down to the last race, how do you do it? "It's not easy, more difficult every year!" Crowd? They were booing earlier. "It's not good to boo anyone, cheer but not boo."

Can't get anyone else, they are too busy. Back to Steve.

15 minutes

Ted with Alan Permayne of Renault. They are trying to get a podium.

Louise with Anthony Hamilton who has his fingers crossed, says Lewis loves the car and the circuit, it'll be a really good day.

10 minutes - Drivers are suited and booted, helmets are now going on.

Ad break.

5 minutes - F1 ident graphics, track map.
We hand over to James and Martin in the commentary box above the pits.

James: 12 years since the last British champion, 16 years for Brazil.

RAIN!! It is raining on the grid!!
Martin: "That surprised a lot of teams. Everyone I spoke to on the grid said it was breaking up."

This is heavy rain.

START ABORTED
Race Control - Formation lap will start at 15:10 local (that's 12 minutes from now).

Ted says this is Intermediate weather. FIA man is soaked through.

Chaos on the grid as teams change tyres but look, the rain has stopped already and the guys are saying when it stops it evaporates very quickly because it is so hot.

The Safety Car had left the grid and took up station at the end of the lap in case it needed to pick up the field at the start. They've now brought it around to the front of the grid in case an SC start is needed, in which case the extreme wet tyres will be required under the rules.

Reminder: In F1 the official 'wet' tyres everyone calls 'intermediates'. The 'extreme wets' are known as just 'wets'. F1 teams like to name things as they've always been known rather than the supplier's marketing reasons.


Alonso radio: Radar is clear for 40 minutes.
Ted agrees as he's seen Ferrari's radar. All the teams have the radar data from Meteo France.


ITV have taken the opportunity for an ad break.
I've taken the opportunity to grab a beer. Carlsberg Export.

The Safety Car has been around for a sighting lap. It is wet in places, bone dry in others.

Martin tips Toro Rosso for a good result, they won at Monza in the rain.

Tyre warmers are coming off the cars, what do people have?

Lewis is on full wets. Red lights flashing on the cars, when you run wets you MUST have your rain light turned on.

17.10: Cars pull away on the formation lap, lots of spray.

Starting order: Massa, Trulli, Kimi, Lewis, Heikki, Alonso, Vettel, Heidfeld, Bourdais, Glock, Piquet, Webber, Kubica, Coulthard, Barrichello, Nakajima, Button, Rosberg, Fisichella, Sutil - No penalties!

Martin: It has rained mostly around the pit straight area. Kubica is on dry tyres. The Bridestone inters have a very wide operating window, it can be quite dry and they still work.

Grid forming. Kubica has pitted.

5.4.3.2.1.GO!

They ease through turn one, crash in turn 2. DC spun with another car.

Kovy has been taken by Vettel and Alonso.

Safety Car for the incident at turns one and two. This is what I said earlier about parking it at the end of the lap.

Piquet is out with a broken wing. Ah shit, Coulthard gets out of the car, he couldn't recover it. That's hugely disappointing for two reasons: this was his last race, he deserved a good race, the whole paddock seemed to want him to do well. Secondly he was the guy running the camera inside the helmet!

Ad break. Order as they circulate on Lap2:
Massa, Trulli, Kimi, Lewis, Vettel, Alonso, Kova, Bourdais, Glock, Webber, Barrichello, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Button, Sutil, Fisi, Naka, Kubica

Fisi pits at the end of L2.

Replay of Vettel and Alonso passing Kovalainen.

DC is talking to his guys on the pitwall to help Webber's race. Martin thinks DC took a hit from Nakajima. Piquet was out a little further around the corner.

Replay of the start: Heikki blocks Vettel to let Hamilton away.
Rosberg tags Coulthard who was knocked into Nakajima.
Helmet cam, he's just pushed off. Rosberg's fault entirely.

Lights out on the SC. Track is largely dry apart from the main straight, turns one and two, and the pitlane.
Fisi pitted a lap ago?

L4 - RESTART

Heikki overtook Alonso on entry to turn one but Alonso repasses in 2.

L5 - Heidfeld passes Barrichello for 11th. Fisichella had taken dry tyres on his stop and is last, 6 seconds per lap slower. Will it pay off for him later or will it cost too much time?

L7 - Massa leads Trulli by 1.8s.
Louise with DC: "Took a cautious approach, left plenty of room, Rosberg hit me and spun me around, then Nakajima continued our crashing love affair. I wanted to get to the chequered flag and do some donuts which I think I would get fined for!" He thanks his parents and his fiance.

Raikkonen goes for Trulli but doesn't make it.
Rosberg pits, so does Button. Both take dry tyres as Fisichella is setting reasonable times now.

Martin says this is the first wet running of the weekend.

Replay: Heidfeld passes Webber for 10th.

L9 - Bourdais and Glock pit, so do Sutil and Nakajima. I'm getting this from live timing, the TV is a few seconds behind on noticing.

A Honda and Williams have a fight exiting the pits.

Martin: The treaded tyres fall away quickly when they overheat.

Vettel, Alonso, Webber pit. Barrichello too.

Fisichella sets a purple time in sector 2!

A fire extinguisher has gone off at Honda! No car there..

L10 - Massa pits, Kovalainen and Heidfeld also in.

Trulli leads from Raikkonen and Hamilton. Kovalainen was sat there for a long time, problem on the right rear, he'll lose a lot of places.

L11 - Trulli, Raikkonen and Hamilton now pit - the last to do so.
Wing adjustments.

Trulli beats Hamilton, just. Raikkonen beats the pair of them.

Ted says they don't need to use the soft tyres now that it has been raining.

Hamilton is behind Vettel, Alonso and Fisichella! Fisi is 7th! GREAT call from him and Force India.

Massa had a big slide at turn one.
Nakajima spun it at turn one, continues.

Hamilton passes Trulli at turn one and spuns, continues. Fisi is hustling Kimi!

L14 - Massa, Vettel(!), Alonso, Kimi, Fisi(!), Hamilton, Glock, Bourdais, Trulli, Heidfeld, Webber, Kovalainen, Barrichello, Button, Rosberg, Sutil, Kubica, Nakajima

Hamilton 6th, if it ends now Massa would win the title on the tiebreak.

Kimi is slow, does he have no pace - or is it deliberate?

L16 - Vettel and ALonso are matching Massa's lap times. Massa is 0.9s ahead of Vettel, then another 1.1 to Alonso, and live timing has chosen this moment to freeze.

Radio to Vettel, Massa is ten laps longer.

Timing is back.

L18 - Martin notices that Fisi is on the softer rubber, gives more speed but wears out sooner.
Hamilton passes Fisichella on the wet part of the track on dry tyres!

He jumps to hyperspace, he's practically out of Fisi's vision already.

McLaren mechanics clapping, very happy.

Sebastien Vettel sets the fastest lap of the race!

The top 5 cars are somewhat faster than the rest of the field. Several cars are now backed up behind Fisichella, costing them time. Glock has cleared Fisichella.
Bourdais is now trying it.

L20 (where is the time going?) - Bourdais alongside, Fisi resists.

Trulli pushes Bourdais off the track at turn 1, he loses 5 places.

Martin: "I don't know how the stewards will see this one, it's bordering on rude."

Vettel has been faster than Massa for two laps now. Factory Ferrari outclassed by customer Ferrari engine. Sebatien waves at Adrian Newey as he goes by (he doesn't but he should).

L23 - Ad break.
L25 - We're back. Fisichella now has Trulli and Kovalainen behind him. Heidfeld is catching them.

Vettel sets another fastest lap.

Glock is catching Hamilton by a couple of tenths per lap. Hamilton is 5th and isn't catching anyone.

L27 - Kovalainen passes Trulli on the front straight.
L28 - Vettel pits. Commentary thinks this may have screwed his day.

Kovalainen sweeps past Fisichella on the main straight, Kovy on a charge. He's 17sec or so behind Hamilton with only Glock between them.

L29 - Alonso radio: "Vettel was fuelled much shorted than we thought, your race is with Massa."

Massa is catching a Williams to lap it.
Ted reports that Toyota did NOT fuel Glock when they switched to dries so McLaren's day will get a little easier.
It gave him a good position but he'll get the cost of that now.

L31 - Ad break.
L33 - We're back.

Glock set the fastest lap of the race a lap ago.

Martin: "If Hamilton wants the championship he's got to get on the programme. He's matching Massa's times at last."

As he says that Massa smashes the fastest lap! Yet we're still 1.5sec or so off a completely dry lap time. Nobody else is anywhere near Massa's time.

L34 - Button pits.

L37 - Glock pits. Martin asks James if they can get to the end of the race from here.. James says yes, he thinks they can. It is a very long stop.
He's out alongside Rosberg in 14th, losing 9 places.
Ted says the fuel nozzle was out of position so they lost a lot time resetting the position.

L38 - Felipe Massa pits. Ferrari's garage is at pit entry this week so he's straight in. 9.4sec stop, Martin says he'll need to come in again.
Fisi and Bourdais are also in.

So Alonso leads, we expect him in over the next couple of laps.

L41 - Alonso is in, so is Hamilton.
We don't see Alonso rejoin. Both will have to stop again
Hamilton is out ahead of Trulli, he's now in 6th position.

L42 - Renault tell Alonso that Vettel will stop again.

Martin says the cars don't all have the same fuel tank size so some cars can go significantly further than others.

L43 - Kovalainen pits. 8.8sec stop.
L44 - Raikkonen pits. 5.1sec stop. Not sure if the clock was wrong there.
James: He'll only be the champion for another 28 laps.

Raikkonen is out ahead of Hamilton.
Button passes Barrichello for 11th, team-mate pass.

L45 - ad break.
Let's recap the positions from live timing:

Massa 4.1s ahead of Vettel who will need to stop shortly, then another 3.2 to Alonso, 10.7 to Kimi, 2.7 to Hamilton in 5th, 6.0 to Webber, 10.0 to Kovalainen, then Glock, Trulli, Heidfeld, Button, Barrichello, Rosberg, Bourdais, Kubica, Nakajima (lapped), Fisichella, Sutil.

BMW are having a very flat day. Webber and Nakajima have stopped once, everyone else twice, although obviously the picture could be masked because of the switch to dries.

L47 - we're back.

L49 - Webber is now in. Hamilton has Kubica on his arse but Robert is a lap behind.
Ted says the fuel consumption is lower than expected because laptimes are slower than they have been in practice. It is changing the fuel strategy.

Vettel is catching Massa again and is just 1.9s behind now. We expect Vettel in but not sure if the others will definitely stop. They may have saved fuel at some of the stops, not pitted on empty.

L52 - Vettel pits. 20 laps go to. Vettel comes out behind Hamilton (and the lapped Kubica).

Kubica is 16th because of the wrong decision on tyres at the start.

L54 - Vettel is 2.2sec behind Hamilton.
Martin is thinking maybe they can all now squeeze the fuel to the end of the race, maybe that's why laptimes are so much slower.

L55 - ad break.
L57 - we're back with 15 laps to go, sorry 14 now.
Renault to Alonso: There may be rain soon.

Hamilton has picked his pace up to match Vettel who is now right behind him, 1.0sec.

Kubica radio: Could rain in ten minutes.
Martin says: "Stay tuned, this is a long way from over. 13 laps is about 15 minutes!"
I say this could be Spa all over again!

Kimi is catching Fernando quite quickly, the gap is 3.1 seconds.

L60 - Ted is watching the weather coming in. It will hit the main straight first and may not hit the rest of the circuit.
Eleven laps to go.

Massa grew up around here and hung out at the kart track just over the wall after turn 2. I remember the same thing being said of Barrichello in recent years.

Massa, then Alonso 12.3sec back, then Kimi 1.7sec back from Alonso, Hamilton is 12.2sec behind Kimi.

Alonso laps Bourdais into turn one.

James speculating whether Ron Dennis will step down from his role at McLaren if Lewis wins.
L64 - Radio to Nico Rosberg: "As soon as you seen rain on the visor let us know and we'll change tyres."
We're told there is light rain in the paddock. Nakajima pits. We don't see it. Did he gamble on wets? He's at the back with a damaged car from the Coulthard incident, so he may as well.

Positions 11th down have been lapped.

L66 - Raining halfway around the track. Heidfeld takes the gamble he did at Spa.
Barrichello, Button, Rosberg, Bourdais, Fisi all in for inters.
Who whole back of the field has pitted!! It is raining on the main straight.
Vettel attacking Hamilton.

Martin is calling for intermediates for everyone. Ferrari are scrambling for tyres.

Raikkonen is in, Massa did NOT pit. Alonso is in. Hamilton is in with Vettel.

Will Glock and Kovalainen make it to the end without pitting? There are FIVE LAPS to go.

L67 - Massa pits. Getting dark at Interlagos. We can't see where Hamilton rejoined. Timing hasn't caught up.

Martin: If it doesn't rain Hamilton doesn't get the championship, no Vettel is still behind, he needs to keep Vettel behind him to win it.

L68: Massa, Alonso, Kimi, Glock, Hamilton, Vettel, Trulli, Kovalainen, Webber, Heidfeld (top ten)

If Vettel passes Lewis then it is all over. Hamilton has a lot of traffic.

L69 - Kubica pushes past Vettel! To unlap himself, then gets Lewis.
VETTEL passes Lewis!! Now raining harder.

Can Glock handle the rain on his dry tyres?? Can Hamilton retake Vettel?

Massa has started the last lap. Glock 15sec up on Hamilton.

FINAL LAP

Felipe Massa wins the race! Fuck I can't type. Lewis passes Glock!!!

Hamilton wins the TITLE!!

Fucking hell how did that happen? Where did Glock come from?

Ferrari celebrated early.

Martin: "To be fair the kid did everthing right."

Louise with Anthony: "What can I say. I can't find any words. Great. Absolutely great. It's a shame the crowd is booing this. We got the championship, now on to the next one."

James: "We've done 206 with ITV and we've never seen a race like this, I hope we get to work together again."
Martin: "Glock lost 18 seconds on the last lap."

Radio - Massa thanks his team, crying.

Felipe is out of the car.

Fire in the pitlane! Button's car is alight. Cameras catch up to Hamilton.
He can't seem to get the steering wheel back on.

Look at the pitlane! Packed with media.

Martin: Thank you to every single person who's worked on F1-ITV over the last twelve years.

Lewis with his crew at last. Chanting his name.

Straight to the podium, which is lit because of the darkness of the clouds.
Massa, Alonso, Raikkonen.

Brazilian anthem. Flags are raised and look like they'll blow away!
Italian anthem. Shots of Hamilton with the British flag over his shoulder as Massa on the podium nearly breaks down in tears.

He collects his trophy which looks possibly Klingon.

Martin's driver of the day: Massa.
Martin's driver of the year: Hamilton - just.

Ted is with Lewis: "Lewis Hamilton World Champion, how does that feel?" There's so much media he can't speak, mic's in his face, his dad tells everyone to back off let him get a drink. We cut away.
Champagne on the podium.

James and Martin sign off for the last time and we go to an ad break.

ITV have to get out of here because of a new series ripping off High School Musical so they'll probably whizz through the post-race, even though it is their last.

We're back with Dave Ryan of McLaren talking to Steve and Mark. "Well you said some champagne, it isn't going to be some it'll be heaps. I've never experienced anything like it. For a minute we thought 'not the same thing again'. This is really special. He's something special. You won't see me sober again for a while!"

Lewis Hamilton wins this race by one point. Steve says if Massa had won we would have reflected on some strange stewards decicions.

Review of the race.
Hamilton went too wide which let Vettel through.
Mark: "Whatever happened to Glock changed the outcome of the race and the championship, for the better I think."

Press conference:
Massa - "The race was just perfect. We did everything fantastically. Such difficult weather at the beginning. I'm so proud about the race, the team, the people who support me more than ever, much more than I expected. But then we saw Lewis passing Glock again and that's a really mixed lot of emotion. Unfortunately we missed [by] one point but that's racing, we need to be proud about our job, our race, our championship. It's one more day of my life I'm going to learn a lot."
ITV cut the conf to go to Martin Whitmarsh of McLaren - "we said to Lewis take it easy, we knew we were racing Glock, we had the GPS so could see him coming back towards us, we kept telling him Glock's on dries."

Nobody cares about Fernando and Kimi in the press conf do they? Nah didn't think so.

To Lewis - "It's been such a long journey, the team has done such a good job all year. Before it started to rain I was quite comfortable, my tyres were a bit shot, then Vettel got past me and the team told me I had to pass him, then I saw Glock and they said I had to pass him. I crossed the line and was like 'have I done it have I done it?'"
Anthony interjects - "this is the dream from young kids everywhere. Huge respect to Mr Massa Senior and Junior, fantastic people."

To Ron Dennis - "That was one hell of a call [on tyres]". More platitudes.
Is there another Lewis? "We've got another couple of young guys we're looking after. But Lewis is something else." Wow look at the rain now!!

Steve - "A great way to end our coverage on ITV."
Mark - "It'll take a lot to beat us on the other channel but I bet they'll try."


Closing montage reviewing the season to the Kings of Leon.

And that's it, we're done for 2008.


Goodbye ITV. You gave us a lot of good things, you also sucked enormously in several ways. It will now be for the BBC to see what they can do.

Congratulations Lewis Hamilton, and Ferrari for the Constructors' title.

Anyone else think Vettel is auditioning for a Ferrari drive?


Race Results
01. Massa 71 laps [10 points]
02. Alonso +13.2s [8]
03. Raikkonen +16.2s over Massa [6]
04. Vettel +38.0s [5]
05. Hamilton +38.9s [4]
06. Glock +44.3s [3]
07. Kovalainen +55.0s [2]
08. Trulli +68.4s [1]
09. Webber +79.6s
10. Heidfeld + 1 lap
11. Kubica + 1 lap
12. Rosberg + 1 lap
13. Button + 1 lap
14. Bourdais + 1 lap
15. Barrichello + 1 lap
16. Sutil + 2 laps
17. Nakajima + 2 laps
18. Fischella + 2 laps
19. Piquet DNF
20. Coulthard DNF

A well-driven race from Massa, Alonso and Vettel. Kubica picked up several spots with the tyre change. Both Glock and Trulli set a 1m44 time on the final lap because they were on dries, everyone else on inters.



Final Points Standings
01. 97 Hamilton *champion*
02. 96 Massa
03. 75 Raikkonen
04. 75 Kubica
05. 61 Alonso
06. 60 Heidfeld
07. 53 Kovalainen
08. 35 Vettel
09. 31 Trulli
10. 25 Glock
11. 21 Webber
12. 19 Piquet
13. 17 Rosberg
14. 11 Barrichello
15. 9 Nakajima
16. 8 Coulthard
17. 4 Bourdais
18. 3 Button
No score: Fisichella, Sutil, Sato and Davidson

Lewis Hamilton is the 2008 Formula One World Drivers' Champion.


Final Constructors' Standings
01. 172 Ferrari *champion*
02. 151 McLaren-Mercedes
03. 135 BMW Sauber
04. 80 Renault
05. 56 Toyota
06. 39 STR-Ferrari
07. 29 RBR-Renault
08. 26 Williams-Toyota
09. 14 Honda
10. 0 Force India Ferrari
11. 0 Super-Aguri Honda

Ferrari is the 2008 Formula One World Constructors' Champion.


Right that's it for the final live race of the year. I'm off to wait and see what penalty the FIA will dream up for Hamilton, in the meantime the brand new run of Top Gear starts tonight. My next live race which will be the Australian Grand Prix in March, and I'll have updates throughout the off-season.