A comparison of Formula One pitstops in 1950 and today

Quite a difference, but they can go wrong...

Do 2014 F1 cars sound less impressive than the 2013 cars?

First a sound comparison between 2013 and 2014 F1 cars on the pit straight at Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia as they complete the first lap.



And then the evolution of Formula 1 engines: from 1992 (V12) to 2014 (V6) looking also at 2004 (V10) and 2007 (V8), with a special mention for the 1988 MP4/4

James Hunt - Thames Television interview

What a marvellous interview and how well spoken James and the interviewer are, a different era and I would suggest a better one in some ways.

Oh and James Hunt was wrong, he did win the F1 Championship that year, see Rush for more details!

Formula One quiz answer

Yesterday I asked 'When was the last time that three drivers of the same nationality finished first, second and third in a Formula One Grand Prix and so shared the podium at the end of the race?'


The answer is the 1982 French Grand Prix when three Frenchmen stepped up onto the podium of the Paul Ricard. René Arnoux finished first, ahead of his Renault team-mate Alain Prost, with Didier Pironi finishing third. In fact yet another Frenchman, Patrick Tambay, finished fourth.

Formula One quiz

When was the last time that three drivers of the same nationality finished first, second and third in a Formula One Grand Prix and so shared the podium at the end of the race?

Answer tomorrow...

The greatest piece of overtaking in Formula One Grand Prix history?

Nigel Mansell's ballsy harrying and overtaking of Gerhard Berger on the last lap of the 1990 Mexican Grand Prix at Peraltada. On worn tyres and having just been overtaken by Berger, Mandell will not give in and, I  think, mesmerises Berger with that both sides feint before making his move. Those were the days of proper Grand Prix racing and overtaking, now they need artificial aids to allow cars to get the extra power to overtake; pah! Mansell, Senna and Prost would make mincemeat of Button, Hamilton and Vettel.

BBC have a timing issue re Monaco Grand Prix video

Actually the video is 4:06 long...

ITV Sport

ITV's coverage of Formula 1 motor racing and the Boat Race has been an absolute disaster. Having to show advertisements whilst the race is in progress is a joke, an absolute joke. For that reason I am happy that 2009 is the last year that the Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race will be televised by ITV, this is the last year that a piece of British sporting tradition is sullied by having an advertisement in the middle of the race - this year I believe it will be an advertisement for sausages.

Next year the Boat Race returns to the BBC, as Formula 1 did at the start of this season, and I am grateful for that.

Brazilian Grand Prix

Mature driving by Lewis off the start there! Allowed Raikkonen and Alonso to overtake him off the start and then tried to get ahead of Alonso far too early. Looks like my three English sporting losses this week are still on!

Wonderful ITV coverage there and just why the coverage should never have been given to them. Deciding Grand Prix of the year and Hamilton has already messed up the start, we go to the adverts and come back to Hamilton 40 seconds behind the leader after engine problems, or so they say - but we missed it all, for all we know a large hand came down and picked him of the track for 40 seconds.

Theo Spark had a worryingly prescient posting well before the race started "Will Lewis Hamilton be F1 World Champion? I fear not. McClaren need Alonso's sponsors and their money. (there is the small matter of a large fine to be paid) Whether Lewis is 'allowed' to win the championship in this situation is open to doubt. After the tyre fiasco in China do not be surprised if there is another 'glitch'. I hope I am wrong. Come on Lewis you can do it."

A 'glitch' like a malfunctioning gearbox?

Would it be very cynical for me to say that it is Formula One's interests for this race to be full of excitement? There are a lot of people watching, me included, who wouldn't normally watch a whole race and if this race is exciting then maybe we'll watch more races next year.

Hamilton overtaking Barichello was rather exciting... Good manoeuvre

Watching Formula One with adverts is just ridiculous, it is a continuous sport. The money men made a f***ing stupid decision to give the coverage to ITV and not the BBC or Sky (with no adverts)

Looks like Bernie Ecclestone saying he thought Alonso should win was more of an instruction than a wish, QPR supporters think on...

Not really going to happen is it? What a great Sporting week; at least Leeds United won to go 9th, even with a 15 point deduction.

Rugby World Cup Final - the aftermath

Oh well, not a victory but it was close and an exciting match to watch. Cueto's "try" was correctly disallowed but at least we got close to scoring a try unlike the Bok.

That's England losing the football against Russia and the rugby against South Africa, now there's Hamilton to bugger up the Formula One this afternoon and that'll be a great week of English sport.

I must admit I was singing "I've never met a nice South African" yesterday and now thanks to Theo Spark I can put the video on my site -



Of course there are some nice South Africans and I have even met three, but I still like the song.


In case you are wondering, and I was, Breyton (or Breyton) Breytenbach "is a South African writer and painter with French citizenship. Breyten Breytenbach was born in Bonnievale in the Western Cape, approximately 180 km from Cape Town and 100 km from the southernmost tip of Africa at Cape Agulhas. He studied fine arts at the University of Cape Town and became a committed opponent of the policy of apartheid. He left South Africa for Paris in the early 1960s. When he married a French woman of Vietnamese ancestry, he was not allowed to return: The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act (1949) and The Immorality Act (1950) made it a criminal offence for a white person to have any sexual relations with a person of a different race. In France he was a founder member of Okhela, a resistance group fighting apartheid in exile. On an illegal trip to South Africa in 1975 he was betrayed, arrested and sentenced to seven years of imprisonment for high treason: his work The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist describes aspects of his imprisonment. Released in 1982 as a result of massive international intervention he returned to Paris and obtained French citizenship."

5Live Motor Racing expert

Just a quickie... Radio5 live motoring expert was just discussing the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix and said that Lewis Hamilton had just got into his Formula One car for the first time in 26 days. This does seem unlikely, has he really not driven his car since the last Grand Prix. It is more likely he has been driving it every day in practice. Maybe the BBC expert really does think that Grand Prix drivers only drive on race weekends, maybe he is that dim.