F1 Comes Home

From 2009, coverage of the Formula 1 season will return to the BBC.

This is fantastic news.

No more advert breaks to ruin the action. There have been numerous occasions when vital action has been missed. “While you were away this happened….” and a replay of the incident is shown. Last season there were over 4 hours of adverts during the season according to Jon McKnight. This works out to be around 15 minutes during each race. Imagine if there was 15 minutes missing from the coverage of a football match!

Could this also spell the return of the original F1 theme tune? Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” is still associated with F1 racing, even 12 years after it disappeared from our screens when ITV got the rights to F1 coverage. In that time ITV have had four different theme tunes! The BBC got it right first time!

The next question is, who will be the commentator? Murray Walker will always be the No1, but he has said that he’s getting too old to be doing a lot of races each year. James Allen from ITV, in my opinion, is not going to move across, as he is not very popular amongst fans. I do hope that Martin Brundle is signed up by the BBC, as his invaluable additions to the commentary are superb.

In addition to the TV rights, the BBC will also be broadcasting on all platforms, TV, radio and online. Perhaps we’ll even get the coverage in HD too.

Might have to start saving the pennies to invest in an HD TV!

DC’s Comments from Australian GP 2008

For those of you who missed David Coulthard’s (RED BULL) comments after being taken out by Felipe Massa (FERRARI) :

It’s always good to hear what they really think!

UPDATE : CLIP IS NOW NOT AVAILABLE

England 19-26 Wales

Wales have won at Twickenham for the first time in 20 years!

It was a thrilling game, and a really good comeback from the Welsh side, who trailed by 10 points at half-time, to win 26-19. Read the match report here. I thought we’d had it at half-time, but credit to the boys, they pulled it out of the bag.

Congratulations to Warren Gatland for his first victory in charge, and also to Ryan Jones in his first game as captain.

Lets hope that we can win against everyone else now, and reclaim our Six Nations crown!

Oops!

Somehow I don’t think Steve McClaren will be in a job by lunchtime………..

As a Wales supporter I thoroughly enjoyed the performance that the England team put in last night. It will  definitely wipe the smile of many England fans’ faces. They are usually so smug. They think that they’ve got the greatest team in the world, and a right to be included at every major tournament!

When that first Croatia goal went in I began cheering, but when they added a second I was overjoyed to say the least. The happy mood gave way to disappointment when England seemed to come back into it. However, normal service was resumed when Croatia’s third strike went in.

On that performance, England did not deserve to qualify. What a load of rubbish. They’ve only got themselves to blame.

Boo Hoo!!!!

That’s the sound of the thousands of England fans on the way to work this morning! As I write this there are a couple in the office crying into their coffee!

Such a shame - not!

England v Croatia

According to the papers and what you see on the TV, if England don’t win the game against Croatia then it’s going to be the end of the world.

The media are hyping up this England team so much. When it all goes wrong though, they will turn on the players and manager, such is the fickle nature of the media. I can’t wait to see them fall flat on their faces.

Come on Croatia!

McLaren Shortlist

Lewis Hamilton has revealed who he believes to be the short list for Alonso’s replacement at McLaren next season.

The short list consists of Nico Rosberg (Williams), Heikki Kovalainen (Renault) and Adrian Sutil (Spyker (or Force India F1 as they are now known))

So what are the chances of one of these drivers taking Alonso’s spot?

Nico Rosberg: Pretty slim, I would think. Rosberg has a contract with Williams for 2008, with an option for 2009. Patrick Head, Williams Director of Engineering, has issued a “hands-off” warning to McLaren, who would have to pay a great deal of money to buy out the contract, which they won’t have too much of after their fine this year.

Heikki Kovalainen: Under contract at Renault, managed by Flavio Briatore (Renault team boss). I think Kovalainen would only go to McLaren if Alonso signs with Renault.

Adrian Sutil: Has had some good performances in the Spyker this season, and could be the surprise choice to partner Hamilton next season.

There’s no word as to when anything will be announced so we’ll have to wait and see.

Alonso leaves McLaren, so who’ll partner Hamilton

Today, McLaren have announced that Fernando Alonso has left the team. The split is a mutual decision, and neither party will pay any financial penalty.

Alonso is now free to join any team for the 2008 season, with Renault as one of the favourites to sign him.

The other question is who will now partner Lewis Hamilton at McLaren next season? One name that has been continually touted around is that of Williams’ Nico Rosberg.

Personally, I really hope that this does not happen. Rosberg has done an amazing job at Williams this season, helping to revitalise the team, and having some superb races this season. It will probably not happen next season at least. Partly because he is under contract to Williams and if McLaren really wanted him then they would have to buy out his contract, which is one cost they could do without after their $100million fine.

So the next few months will be interesting as the drivers market settles down after Alonso decides where he is going.

FIA Presidental Nonsense

Max Mosley, the President of the FIA, is at it again with his comments.

After reportedly calling Jackie Stewart a “certified half-wit”, he has now said that Lewis Hamilton will have a negative effect on F1. Read the full story here at the BBC website.

Mosley has stated that,

“If he does the same thing next season as he’s done this season, it will certainly have a big effect,” he said.

“It will start to be negative because we’ll get the Schumacher effect where people start writing to me saying can’t you do something to slow him down.”

Yet again his comments seem to have no basis. I don’t think that I ever remember anything about people complaining that Schumacher was too fast and we need to slow him down. Is it me, or isn’t that the purpose of the World Championship that the fastest driver will always win, and that it is up to his rivals to try and beat him?

Personally I cannot see Lewis Hamilton having a negative effect at all on the sport. Especially not in the UK, where even non-Hamilton supporters will still give him credit for what he is probably going to achieve in the sport. This season he has definitely brought the sport to the forefront again.

I’m not the only person with these views, here are Wolfie’s comments about it.

Also looking towards the 2008 Championship, Mosley stated that next year’s McLaren will be heavily scrutinised by the FIA, to ensure that none of the ideas from the Ferrari dossier are used.

“The difficulty we have is that you’re not going to find on the McLaren a part that was designed by Ferrari.

“What you may find are ideas and at this level of technology at this level of motorsport, if the idea is given to the chief designer he will make a component utilising that idea which bears no relation at all to the component perhaps being used by the other car.

“So we will be looking for the ideas. The investigation will be thorough, it will use outside experts and we will do everything we possibly can to make sure that either of the McLarens has no element of Ferrari intellectual property in it or if it does we will then have to consider taking some sort of action.

“That would not necessarily be preventing them from running. It would be more likely that they would be given a negative point allocation.

“Finding something will not be easy. On the other hand, there are sources we are going to deploy who will give us as good a chance as its possible to have to find it.”

I can see it now that their could be as much controversy at the start of next season as we’ve seen this season, because I’m sure that McLaren would appeal and argue that all the ideas on their new car are their own. But we shall have to wait and see.

I’ve never really liked Max Mosley, and the sooner he leaves his position in the FIA the better the sport will be. But as he’s already been there for the past 14 years, and always seems to get re-elected, usually because no-one stands against him, I don’t hold out much hope for it happening any time soon!