CANA-we do it?
Yes we can-ADA
CANA-done!
Oh yes. At last I predict Hamilton to win, and he does. Get in!
Sadly virtually all of us predicted this outcome at a traditional Mclaren stronghold.
Becx and Martin are this weekends top scorers with 35 points for predicting Hamilton would win the race but Vettel would snatch pole position. Jack was the only person to predict Vettel would set the fastest lap but unfortunately he was rather slapped in the face by Ferrari's race strategy and thus only scored 29 due to picking up 10 points with Alonso. Our lowest points scorer this weekend was Alan D who also predicted an Alonso win but didn't have Vettel's fastest lap to recover some points with.
So our league table is starting to take some shape after 7 races we are over a third into the season and top to bottom is now 52 points. Not an unassailable lead with only two correct race winner predictions required to close the gap but now is the time to make moves as we head into a period of 4 races in 6 weeks and the season really gets serious. We are firmly into the European part of the season, which sadly means wasting our time watching the Valencia Carpark GP and hearing the BBC once again say;
"Oh look at the masonry on those pit garages, they used to be fish markets you know?"
Yes I did know, you say that every bloody year! This of course further illustrates the dull nature of the racing at Valencia where the highlights are a terribly designed pit entry lane and the potential for Kovalainen to flip anyone trying to pass him into the air over the wall and into the harbor. Well that's how I remember it anyway.
Montreal then.
It was good wasn't it? Some great racing; another retirement for Schumacher (no I'm not laughing behind my hand), more hugely impressive action from Sauber (how do they do it?), and thanks to the strategies of Red Bull, Ferrari and Mclaren managing not to balls it up for one race at least.
Yes I must admit huge gratitude to Red Bull and Ferrari for trying something different and failing but not regretting it. Of course lots of people including supposed 'technical expert' Gary Anderson criticised both teams for blowing a possible win with these tactics, but I couldn't disagree more.
Watching as much sport as I do I can say with confidence that whilst professionalism is perhaps not killing our favourite competitions, events and spectacles but it's certainly making them less exciting. Football has suffered hugely due the introduction of so called professional standards as can be seen at World Cups where rather than the mysterious unknown teams from far flung countries turning up playing their own unique interpretation of football, now the World Cup is just 32 teams playing the same tactically educated, defensive, better not to lose than risk going for the win style football.
F1 has seen similar developments in terms of reliability, too many decisions referred to stewards, rather than simply being called 'racing', too much reliability, and teams making 'professional' decisions to score points rather than go for wins.
Yes you may appear more professional, you may win more titles(??), but when we are all old and gray and the world looks back on great moments in life, sport, F1 they aren't going to recall that hugely professional 6th place finish that allowed you to nick the title of that bloke who won 8 races that season, 3 of them with a broken wrist, 2 with only 3 wheels on the car, and one crossing the finish line backwards and on fire! My point being with Mclaren following their plan they changed tyres perhaps before they needed to but it stuck to strategy. Red Bull and Ferrari thought 'our tyres feel ok, maybe we can get to the end and keep Lewis behind us?' Thus they tried. It didn't work but it made those last 20 laps or so massively exciting as you wondered how long could Vettel and Alonso go and would Lewis catch them in time?
I think possibly my favourite moment of the race was when Lewis did catch Fernando the Ferrari man despite having no rubber left and sliding all over the track kept Hamilton behind him for a few corners with brilliant car control and competitive determination, but without being dangerous or going too far in defending a position it was inevitable he would lose.
So 7 races 7 winners. Could it be 8 for 8? In my opinion no, but you never know there is still the possibility with drivers like Raikkonen and perhaps even Grosjean or Schumacher if he can avoid crashing.
Unfortunately it's the European GP next which means Valencia despite Sebastian being champion. I know they haven't done it for donkeys but I still think if they're going to add a non national race into the season it should be a gift to the current title holder, but maybe that's just me. Any excuse not to keep going back to Valencia really.
The League Table after 7 races
Predictions for Valencia by 23/06/12 please. Best of luck.
Yes we can-ADA
CANA-done!
Oh yes. At last I predict Hamilton to win, and he does. Get in!
Sadly virtually all of us predicted this outcome at a traditional Mclaren stronghold.
Becx and Martin are this weekends top scorers with 35 points for predicting Hamilton would win the race but Vettel would snatch pole position. Jack was the only person to predict Vettel would set the fastest lap but unfortunately he was rather slapped in the face by Ferrari's race strategy and thus only scored 29 due to picking up 10 points with Alonso. Our lowest points scorer this weekend was Alan D who also predicted an Alonso win but didn't have Vettel's fastest lap to recover some points with.
So our league table is starting to take some shape after 7 races we are over a third into the season and top to bottom is now 52 points. Not an unassailable lead with only two correct race winner predictions required to close the gap but now is the time to make moves as we head into a period of 4 races in 6 weeks and the season really gets serious. We are firmly into the European part of the season, which sadly means wasting our time watching the Valencia Carpark GP and hearing the BBC once again say;
"Oh look at the masonry on those pit garages, they used to be fish markets you know?"
Yes I did know, you say that every bloody year! This of course further illustrates the dull nature of the racing at Valencia where the highlights are a terribly designed pit entry lane and the potential for Kovalainen to flip anyone trying to pass him into the air over the wall and into the harbor. Well that's how I remember it anyway.
Montreal then.
It was good wasn't it? Some great racing; another retirement for Schumacher (no I'm not laughing behind my hand), more hugely impressive action from Sauber (how do they do it?), and thanks to the strategies of Red Bull, Ferrari and Mclaren managing not to balls it up for one race at least.
Yes I must admit huge gratitude to Red Bull and Ferrari for trying something different and failing but not regretting it. Of course lots of people including supposed 'technical expert' Gary Anderson criticised both teams for blowing a possible win with these tactics, but I couldn't disagree more.
Watching as much sport as I do I can say with confidence that whilst professionalism is perhaps not killing our favourite competitions, events and spectacles but it's certainly making them less exciting. Football has suffered hugely due the introduction of so called professional standards as can be seen at World Cups where rather than the mysterious unknown teams from far flung countries turning up playing their own unique interpretation of football, now the World Cup is just 32 teams playing the same tactically educated, defensive, better not to lose than risk going for the win style football.
F1 has seen similar developments in terms of reliability, too many decisions referred to stewards, rather than simply being called 'racing', too much reliability, and teams making 'professional' decisions to score points rather than go for wins.
Yes you may appear more professional, you may win more titles(??), but when we are all old and gray and the world looks back on great moments in life, sport, F1 they aren't going to recall that hugely professional 6th place finish that allowed you to nick the title of that bloke who won 8 races that season, 3 of them with a broken wrist, 2 with only 3 wheels on the car, and one crossing the finish line backwards and on fire! My point being with Mclaren following their plan they changed tyres perhaps before they needed to but it stuck to strategy. Red Bull and Ferrari thought 'our tyres feel ok, maybe we can get to the end and keep Lewis behind us?' Thus they tried. It didn't work but it made those last 20 laps or so massively exciting as you wondered how long could Vettel and Alonso go and would Lewis catch them in time?
I think possibly my favourite moment of the race was when Lewis did catch Fernando the Ferrari man despite having no rubber left and sliding all over the track kept Hamilton behind him for a few corners with brilliant car control and competitive determination, but without being dangerous or going too far in defending a position it was inevitable he would lose.
So 7 races 7 winners. Could it be 8 for 8? In my opinion no, but you never know there is still the possibility with drivers like Raikkonen and perhaps even Grosjean or Schumacher if he can avoid crashing.
Unfortunately it's the European GP next which means Valencia despite Sebastian being champion. I know they haven't done it for donkeys but I still think if they're going to add a non national race into the season it should be a gift to the current title holder, but maybe that's just me. Any excuse not to keep going back to Valencia really.
The League Table after 7 races
| Week 7 | ||
| Predictor | Points | |
| 1 | Simon | 141 |
| 2 | George | 129 |
| 3 | Alan WA | 127 |
| 4 | Becx | 121 |
| 5 | Jack | 117 |
| 6 | Alan D | 116 |
| = | James | 116 |
| 8 | Alex | 102 |
| 9 | Martin | 89 |
Predictions for Valencia by 23/06/12 please. Best of luck.
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