Chinese fans (slightly odd) banners
Vettel: I Name Thee Kate’s Dirty Sister
I wondered what that was all about…
Reflections on the Chinese Grand Prix
"[Sutil] drove a lovely race until six laps from the end, in sixth, when he went flying off for a big meeting with the barriers. In Monaco he was in fourth place with four laps to go when Kimi hit him from behind. In Shanghai his exit produced the biggest reaction of the day in the press room. "Oh no…" we all shouted…"
Rosberg hindered by visibility issues
Nico Rosberg "The main problem I had today was drops sticking to my visor which wouldn't run off making it virtually impossible to see. It's a problem related to my visor's anti-fog system which I've had in the past but haven't been able to resolve."
Heidfeld slowed by debris damage
Nick Heidfeld "Close to the end of the race I had the chance to score one or two points, but then there was a lot of debris on the track, including a wheel, from Adrian Sutil's accident. I tried to find a way around it, but it was unpredictable which way it would go and it hit me. Afterwards the car felt very strange and I lost four places."
James Allen’s Chinese GP verdict
Jenson Button was faster than Rubens Barrichello in the early stages, went past and pulled away. This was probably quite an important moment as it underlined the pecking order in the team, which has been established in the first two races.
Frontal airflow management on Toyota TF109
"This element is particularly interesting because the FIA aimed at banned this kind of elements with the new regulations, but with the right approach something is still possible there."
Dennis exit won’t halt Lewis probe
Bernie Ecclestone on Ron Dennis: "If he resigned to stop the hearing, it won't work. This is not about personalities, it is about finding out if there was more to what happened than we know already.
Hamilton left isolated as his team turn against him in China
"The rank and file here are still furious that Dave Ryan, an employee for 35 years, was sacked for his role in the cheating scandal."
These are links I’ve bookmarked using Delicious. You can see my Delicious profile here.
muckymuck
20th April 2009, 4:45
Oh what a feeling! I’m Chinese and even I’m blushing about those banners…
But Cool Guy Kimi is our eternal faith so everything’s okay.
And remember – FIA: Fair
F1Yankee
20th April 2009, 16:19
they really like kimi, any idea why?
Kherubim
20th April 2009, 7:31
“Kate’s Dirty Sister”… naming an F1 car like a WW2 fighter is pretty cool (Nose art next?)…
Of course never forget that line from Blackadder about treating planes (or cars) like women…
ajokay
21st April 2009, 10:39
I miss Jordan’s nose art. The snake, the hornet, the shark. Nose art is awesome and there should be more of it.
macca
20th April 2009, 9:46
it’s hard to cut through all the dross written about hamilton; this article is typical daily mail antagonism, poking open wounds. i’m not a fan of hamilton particularly (i’m not partisan about any driver, to be honest, just the sport in general), but he’s taking far too much flak about this from people who aren’t qualified to criticise.
i read brian moore’s (former england rugby player) column in the telegraph (dire paper) and even he was laying into hamilton!
hitchcockm00
20th April 2009, 11:43
Brian Moore? What does he know about F1?? He can’t even be fair and balanced about his own sport let alone a completely foreign one!
Franton
20th April 2009, 9:58
Seriously, you expected unbiased and actual journalism from the Daily Mail? It reads like they made this stuff up. Unfortunately it’ll probably be reported as truth by the other tabloid rags in the UK as the truth in the next couple days …
scunnyman
20th April 2009, 11:14
I though the Chinese race was quite good. I do have question for Keith.
Keith do you think that now Ferrari are having a really bad season they might just now start to concentrate their efforts on next year just like Honda did in 08. Or do you think that the changes to the regulations for 2010 are not that great?
I for one think that is it nice to have the likes of Ferrari and Mcalren away from the front of the grid and not winning. Maybe we will have a totally new champion this year, and have 2010 start with 4 champions. It will be a bit like the late 80’s early 90’s with multiple amount of champions on the grid just like it was when i started watching f1.
hitchcockm00
20th April 2009, 11:44
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74644 “Ferrari not ruling out writing off ’09”
pSynrg
20th April 2009, 12:00
Vettel just keeps getting more and more interesting. Never mind his wins :)
Oliver
20th April 2009, 12:10
Mclaren and Ferrari didn’t prevent other teams from winning in the past. They were simply doing a better job. F1 isn’t a charity if you.
Journalism isn’t about what you feel but rather what it is. Investigative journalism isn’t the same as inventive journalism. You can tell when a writer is making up a story as it often filled with his own words or a one or two word quote from the supposed driver, whit the writer completing the sentence.
Sush Meerkat
20th April 2009, 13:44
He resigned to save Martin Whitmarsh job, if the shareholders had an inkling they could get Dennis back if they fired Whitmarsh thats the vote they would have gone for, now he’s the only “senior” person there that they can have. His job isn’t on the line anymore.
Bernard
20th April 2009, 20:03
I wonder if Sebastian still drives with a coin in his shoe.
Leon
20th April 2009, 20:12
‘If he resigned to stop the hearing it won’t work’……and in those acid words from Ecclestone ( a former team owner who never had the remotest possibility of matching Dennis’s record…more sour grapes ? ) we hear the cynical arch-manipulator with the bloody knife still dripping in his hand.
I don’t believe Dennis or any other team leader/owner ( past or present )is pure as the driven snow, but Dennis’s massive achievements speak for themselves.
Once again I pose two serious questions:-
1. By what right do FIA consider it to be their prerogative to examine the minutiae of any F1 teams private internal operations? Surely an F1 team is a private company offering it’s competitive services to F1. What they say and do publicly should be examined minutely, but how they arrive at their stance in private debate is nobody’s business but the teams personnel.
2. Why does FOTA tolerate the evil machinations between Ecclestone ( FOM ) ( who technically should not imnterfere and keep his big mouth shut when it comes to FIA business ) and Mosely ( FIA ) ?
DGR-F1
21st April 2009, 13:42
I couldn’t agree more Leon. Its already been stated somewhere on the blog that teams will do what they can to get an advantage over each other – any advantage, in any circumstances – and they are there to win, not to sit around playing footsie with Bernie and Max.
A thought has occured to me on the ‘lying’ debate. The BBC commentaters were pointing out how during the first six laps behind the SC in Shanghai, the Pit Crew were sending sublte and not-so-subtle messages to the Drivers to mention if the conditions were good enough to start racing properly, as Charley Whiting listens to the messages and makes a decision.
The BBC were saying that the teams use this to their advantage too, so the racing starts when they want.
Now, to me this is ‘lying’ to the FIA Stewards to get an advantage, even if they are little lies, and all the teams were guilty of it during the SC laps.
Is the FIA going to be checking all the drivers and all the teams after Shanghai? Well no, of course not. That would be silly.
Almost as silly as investigating a team for trying to gain an advantage in other ways?
Johnny 5
22nd April 2009, 22:36
@DGR-F1:
I heard that on the BBC commentary, too. So, if the FIA stewards are able to listen to the team radio traffic, wouldn’t they already know what was or wasn’t said to Lewis in Australia about letting the Toyota through?