Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy – and it’s not just a fuel stunt. Red Bull has a fast car and the old Aussie could finally get hist first win!!
Mark Webber on pole in Nurburgring!
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Tag Archives: f1
This is what it takes for my local sports section to cover F1
The folks who run Formula One racing are idiots. I understand that they want to contain costs and make the sport a bit greener, but the ways in which these monied elites go about attempting to achieve that goal are horrendous. Earlier this year, the sport threatened to self-destruct for next season, with the ‘commissioner’ (FIA President Max Mosley) going one way and the teams going another. Then, just when a resolution was reached, Mosley started to send a signal that he was going to back out of the deal. now, no one knows what’s going to happen. So, am I going to spend any money on the fancy F1 app at iTunes so I can follow the races on my mobile? Not until I know there’s is going to be an actual F1 season next year.
Oh, but wait, the insanity continues. Now Bernie Eccelstone, the guy who basically owns the sport, decided that now would be a good time to talk about what a great leader Hitler was. Good luck trying to walk that one back. these people are giving Sarah Palin a run for her moeny.
So after an amazing and competitive championship last year, featuring a young and charismatic driver (Lewis Hamilton) who is also the first black champion (and driver), and after the phoenix-like rebirth of Honda as BraunGP, none of which was covered with any substance by the American media, now my local paper has something to say (scroll half-way down – still no respect).
That’s OK, F1 bigwigs. We know how you feel. After all, we threw snowballs at Santa.
Uh-oh
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns21606.html
Looks like the teams and the FIA may not have it sorted after all!
F1 manages not to destroy itself, for the moment
While I’m not clear on all the details, it now seems certain that there will be a 2010 Formula One season. There had been talk of a two-tiered championship (bad idea), budget caps (prbably a good idea) and a host of technical issues intended to make the sport more cost-effective and efficient. I don’t know how much of that will be present in the next round. I was just getting used to the current regs!
One thing I know is that FIA President Max Mosley will not seek another term, which should alleviate some antagonism between teams and sport management. There has been a long history of bitterness between the teams and the governing body.
What comes next, I don’t know. And it’s frusturating because the current season has proven to be pretty uncompetitive. I am now a Red Bull fan and was glad to see their strong victory at the British Grand Prix, but it is still Brawn way ahead of the pack, and Jenson Button will have to have some disaster befall him in order to lose the driver’s trophy. So, unfortunately, the rest of the season is just going through the motions. There is no incentive for any of the slow teams (McLaren, BMW, Ferrari) to improve this year’s cars because it seems we’re still waiting to see what next year’s rules will be.
Other stuff (not Wayne Shorter-related)
F1 racing – is getting ready to tear itself apart. Teams refuse to be subject to standardized technology and budget caps. To make matters worse, the proposed changes are voluntary, meaning that the 2010 Championship is expected to be a two tiered affair. I’m very much in favor of some measure of fiscal control on the sport, but standardized technology takes away a key element that is really integral to the tradition and definition of F1 racing. And a two-tiered championship is absolutely unacceptable.
Phillies – pulled out a nice squeeker tonight. Hamels gets the win, although it seems he’s not quite as sharp and dominant as he was last year. Same with Lidge – BIG TIME. But he did get the save tonight and was a damned entertaining game to listen to. Franzke is coming into his own (as Scott Graham did, a few years back) on those exciting calls at the end, particularly Lidge’s strikeout for out number two with two on in the bottom of the ninth. Nice job.
John Scalzi – is a fine SciFi writer, a real professional. He’s been blogging prolifically since 1998. That’s some pretty good output for one guy. Getting the benefit of really good writing on a daily basis is quite a treat. But when its Scalzi’s twisted sense of humor, well then it’s priceless. And, hey, it is priceless, totally free! He recently featured an interview with a stick of butter, and today confronts his inner geek as he contemplates the purchase of a new computer powerful enough to play fancy new games:
As an example of this problem, note the picture above, of CyberPower PC’s “Lan Party Commander.” Leaving aside the name of the PC, which screams “I am encrusted in the residue of Cheetos and Mountain Dew,” this rig is one of the more subtly-designed of the gaming rigs CyberPower puts together, and it still looks like a cooling tower at Chernobyl. If I walk into a room and something is glowing like this thing is, my first instinct is to dive toward the lead shielding.
Read the entire post here. I particularly like image of him encrusted in the residue of Cheetos.
WordPress – is ready to getting ready to go to 2.8 and only just installed this version (currently I’m using 2.7.1) on March 26. That’s less than two months ago! But it’s a dilemna because the last update (that I just installed) was terrific. Fortunately, it’s still in beta testing, and I’m not feeling that adventurous at the moment.
BraunGP – is F1 domination possible?
F1 is about speed and technology. You can have a flawless driver in an inferior machine and that driver will not win one race all year. Similarly, you can have a driver who is rusty or somewhat imperfect, and when you give him the right car, he can soar away from everyone else. Usually, neither the car nor the driver are perfect, but, on any given week, you try and get both going as fast and staying as reliable as possible.
Occasionally, someone very smart figures out something that no one else knows or understands. That person’s team then gets an unfair advantage. Usually, this is in the area of aerodynamics. In 1978, this is what happened with Lotus and their ‘ground effects’ car. Ross Brawn may be about to pull off the same trick over thirty years later. The beauty is that his team didn’t exist until, like, 5 minutes ago. They had been dumped in the trash by Honda. Apparently the manufacturer had no idea what it had on its hands, or chose not to believe the very people it had installed at the upper levels of team management, including Brawn himself.
Thank goodness Brawn et al perservered. We are now on the brink of having the greatest feel-good story of all time in this sport. Forget the ‘haves’ vs. the ‘have-nots’. This is about someone who was smarter and more determined to have, not just a fast, but a winning car in 2009. Brawn is way out in front and everyone else is playing catch-up.
The March issue of F1 Racing magazine has its 2009 Season Preview. There is no mention of Brawn’s team. Last Sunday, his cars came in first and second in the Australian Grand Prix.
The Low Point
I’ve now finished three of these monstrous books and it’s time for a break. This is great fantasy with politics, sex, battle, and just a touch of the supernatural. A lot of major characters get killed off, which is no problem, because it sooooo long. Each volume is nearly 1000 pages. I need to take a break before the next one, just to get my head out of crazy Dungeon and Dragon land.
The Ice & Fire series is tedious, but it’s nothing compared to chemo. Em is now finished with inpatient #5, which means this weekend just plain sucks. Bad taste in mouth, no energy, meager appetite and just general suckiness. Of course, the animals are helping out a good bit. Right now, Grace is parked on Em’s chest and providing a soothing and relaxing hot-water-bottle treatment. It’s nice of that cat to help me out a bit.
The Phillies are getting beaten up by the Giants right now. After last night’s emotional come-from-behind win, it’s hard to imagine they can sustain the intensity. On another sports-related note, Massa is on pole for Turkey, which will hold its Grand P tomorrow. The Indy 500 qualifying is today, I think, but I have to say I’m not all that interested.
That’s it for now. I’m overdue for updating the site, but it’s good to just check in, blog-wise. Peace and love to you all!!
Robert is on pole!
Brilliant qualifying brings Kubica his first pole position. Maybe Ferrari and McLaren were light, but if so, not by much. This boy is the real deal. Bahrain GP is tomorrow.