Monaco Grand Prix this weekend.
I'm hoping that it will be a good race. Monaco is notorious for being difficult to overtake at, but it might also reduce the gap between Mercedes and the other teams so it could be a good race. Or it could be quite processional.
The BBC only has highlights, but I'll listen on the radio too.
It's also a Bank Holiday weekend. My only real plan for the day off is to do the final prep for Canada - I need to work out what I'm going to take and buy any last bits.
I'll also try to watch some of the backlog of stuff I've recorded so that there'll be enough space on my PVR for when I'm away. I think I might need a new PVR - I've had this one a long time and it is quite full of stuff, but even bearing that in mind its behaviour is quite erratic.
It's also not HD and with the BT box having been a bust in terms of HD I think it's probably time I upgraded to a HD box.
Showing posts with label F1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label F1. Show all posts
Friday, 23 May 2014
Monday, 12 May 2014
spanish gp
I almost didn't watch the Spanish Grand Prix.
Not because I didn't want to, but my PVR unfortunately had a funny turn when I started watching it on delay and I had to turn the box off and on. This obviously killed the recording, but because it was during the build-up stuff I started recording anew and did get to see the race proper.
My PVR has been playing up for a little while, tbh. I have been expecting it, as the hard drive is getting quite full and it's gotten a bit flaky when I've had that before. However, the weird thing is that I've actually started clearing some of the older stuff, so there's now more spare space than I've had in a long time, yet the problems have only really just occurred.
I've started clearing things down due to Canada - I need at least 50% of the hard drive free to make sure I can record everything, and it's been about 90% full for a while now. I've mostly watched recent stuff, but have delved back for a few wildlife documentaries that were on ages ago: Africa and Wild Arabia, both of which are excellent, obviously. I'm going to do my best, but I've a feeling I may sacrifice a few things.
I'll also set my BT box up as a back-up, although that's proven to be quite flaky in the past too and failed to record stuff.
The grand prix itself was okay. It was relatively quiet for long stretches of the race, and they seemed to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time, as just about every overtake was shown on replay.
The end of the race was a lot more exciting, as Rosberg was a bit quicker than Hamilton and was chasing him down. If there had been a few more laps he may have overtaken him, but in the end it finished just in time for Hamilton to take the win.
The Mercedes is clearly way better than everyone else. Red Bull and (to a lesser degree) Ferrari have pulled some ground back as they seem to now be on a similar level or better than the other cars with Mercedes engines, but the Mercedes team clearly has aerodynamic advantage as well.
So at the moment it's a bit like a two-formula championship, with Mercedes on their own, and then everyone else. But it's good that Rosberg and Hamilton are able to race (both in terms of being allowed to and ability-wise) as it means it stays interesting. One of the big problems when you get a dominant team is that either one of the drivers is way better or the team make a driver number one, so the races can get quite dull.
I mean, I'm sure if the others suddenly catch up Mercedes will start issuing orders for them to stay in position to maximise points, but at the moment it's working well.
Not because I didn't want to, but my PVR unfortunately had a funny turn when I started watching it on delay and I had to turn the box off and on. This obviously killed the recording, but because it was during the build-up stuff I started recording anew and did get to see the race proper.
My PVR has been playing up for a little while, tbh. I have been expecting it, as the hard drive is getting quite full and it's gotten a bit flaky when I've had that before. However, the weird thing is that I've actually started clearing some of the older stuff, so there's now more spare space than I've had in a long time, yet the problems have only really just occurred.
I've started clearing things down due to Canada - I need at least 50% of the hard drive free to make sure I can record everything, and it's been about 90% full for a while now. I've mostly watched recent stuff, but have delved back for a few wildlife documentaries that were on ages ago: Africa and Wild Arabia, both of which are excellent, obviously. I'm going to do my best, but I've a feeling I may sacrifice a few things.
I'll also set my BT box up as a back-up, although that's proven to be quite flaky in the past too and failed to record stuff.
The grand prix itself was okay. It was relatively quiet for long stretches of the race, and they seemed to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time, as just about every overtake was shown on replay.
The end of the race was a lot more exciting, as Rosberg was a bit quicker than Hamilton and was chasing him down. If there had been a few more laps he may have overtaken him, but in the end it finished just in time for Hamilton to take the win.
The Mercedes is clearly way better than everyone else. Red Bull and (to a lesser degree) Ferrari have pulled some ground back as they seem to now be on a similar level or better than the other cars with Mercedes engines, but the Mercedes team clearly has aerodynamic advantage as well.
So at the moment it's a bit like a two-formula championship, with Mercedes on their own, and then everyone else. But it's good that Rosberg and Hamilton are able to race (both in terms of being allowed to and ability-wise) as it means it stays interesting. One of the big problems when you get a dominant team is that either one of the drivers is way better or the team make a driver number one, so the races can get quite dull.
I mean, I'm sure if the others suddenly catch up Mercedes will start issuing orders for them to stay in position to maximise points, but at the moment it's working well.
Friday, 9 May 2014
spanish grand prix
It's the Spanish grand prix this weekend.
Spain is where they do a lot of testing, but this seems to result in a relatively uninteresting race. I'm not sure why - I guess because they all know how to set their cars up perfectly for the track, so there's no variability to it?
This weekend was going to be horribly busy, but a few things have dropped away. One of the more random was that my landlord was supposed to be going on holiday last Wednesday, but when I got back that evening he was still there. Well, he was there, but his wife wasn't - turns out his hip is playing up (he's never mentioned it before :/) so he felt he couldn't go, but his wife decided to go on the holiday anyway!
As such, I've no real chance to get into the shed to sort through the boxes, which is annoying. I'll still probably do a swap of summer stuff for winter stuff, but I'm also not sure because of the weather - it's been quite variable for a while now and I'm having to switch between clothes and coats quite often, which is proving to be a pain.
And speaking of clothes, I've bought most of what I need for Canada. There are a few items I'm going to make later decisions on, but I've either got most of it or it's due to be delivered. It's obviously been quite expensive, but these things have to be done - particularly for the Canadian Grand Prix. The weather can be quite variable in terms of shifting from sunny to wet, so I've had to cover both possibilities.
Now I just need to work out how I'm going to fit it all into my suitcase!
Spain is where they do a lot of testing, but this seems to result in a relatively uninteresting race. I'm not sure why - I guess because they all know how to set their cars up perfectly for the track, so there's no variability to it?
This weekend was going to be horribly busy, but a few things have dropped away. One of the more random was that my landlord was supposed to be going on holiday last Wednesday, but when I got back that evening he was still there. Well, he was there, but his wife wasn't - turns out his hip is playing up (he's never mentioned it before :/) so he felt he couldn't go, but his wife decided to go on the holiday anyway!
As such, I've no real chance to get into the shed to sort through the boxes, which is annoying. I'll still probably do a swap of summer stuff for winter stuff, but I'm also not sure because of the weather - it's been quite variable for a while now and I'm having to switch between clothes and coats quite often, which is proving to be a pain.
And speaking of clothes, I've bought most of what I need for Canada. There are a few items I'm going to make later decisions on, but I've either got most of it or it's due to be delivered. It's obviously been quite expensive, but these things have to be done - particularly for the Canadian Grand Prix. The weather can be quite variable in terms of shifting from sunny to wet, so I've had to cover both possibilities.
Now I just need to work out how I'm going to fit it all into my suitcase!
Wednesday, 23 April 2014
chinese grand prix
The Chinese Grand Prix was a bit of a let-down, to be honest.
China is usually good - it has a hairpin bend that's very wide that usually lends itself to lots of overtaking, but this time there was very little. I mean, it wasn't a bad race, it's just compared to Bahrain it wasn't all that much.
Of course, that's the problem when you have an amazing race - it raises your expectations quite a lot, so it makes the next race seem worse, even if you'd have been happy with it normally.
It's looking like Mercedes may be unstoppable this year, though. Speaking of which, I saw that they tipped up to the Red Bull appeal against the fuel flow thing and tried to get them banned for 3 races.
I found it quite amusing, tbh - proper F1 style kick them while they're on the floor stuff. In that regard ti was kinda surprising that it came from Mercedes, rather than Ferrari, as that's the sort of thing they would generally engage in.
It is quite odd when you think of it - Red Bull appealed against a punishment that had already been applied, and Mercedes were basically going "Actually, that punishment was way too light."
They apparently submitted a 95 page document in support and had a QC there arguing their case. The tribunal basically ignored them and simply upheld the existing punishment, which was fair enough. I do sort of take Red Bull's point if they think the sensor wasn't working properly, but if you're told to do something by the race director you should comply and then make a case afterwards.
Especially when it's the first race of the season - I think they'd have been more likely to make some concession or do something for the rest of the season if they'd taken that approach. By disobeying you've undermined any point you may then want to make.
China is usually good - it has a hairpin bend that's very wide that usually lends itself to lots of overtaking, but this time there was very little. I mean, it wasn't a bad race, it's just compared to Bahrain it wasn't all that much.
Of course, that's the problem when you have an amazing race - it raises your expectations quite a lot, so it makes the next race seem worse, even if you'd have been happy with it normally.
It's looking like Mercedes may be unstoppable this year, though. Speaking of which, I saw that they tipped up to the Red Bull appeal against the fuel flow thing and tried to get them banned for 3 races.
I found it quite amusing, tbh - proper F1 style kick them while they're on the floor stuff. In that regard ti was kinda surprising that it came from Mercedes, rather than Ferrari, as that's the sort of thing they would generally engage in.
It is quite odd when you think of it - Red Bull appealed against a punishment that had already been applied, and Mercedes were basically going "Actually, that punishment was way too light."
They apparently submitted a 95 page document in support and had a QC there arguing their case. The tribunal basically ignored them and simply upheld the existing punishment, which was fair enough. I do sort of take Red Bull's point if they think the sensor wasn't working properly, but if you're told to do something by the race director you should comply and then make a case afterwards.
Especially when it's the first race of the season - I think they'd have been more likely to make some concession or do something for the rest of the season if they'd taken that approach. By disobeying you've undermined any point you may then want to make.
Thursday, 17 April 2014
easter
Well, last day of the working week today as it's Easter.
I must say it's kinda snuck up on me this year. I think a big part of that is because of the weather - it feels like it's rained continuously for almost an entire year, and the seasons have virtually disappeared, so it's almost weird now that it's actually spring-like. It feels kinda sudden, somehow.
The training thing yesterday was horrendous.
Not because it was badly done (though the food at the venue was horrible - rather dried out and sorry looking), but because they'd crammed what should have been two days of stuff into a day - less than a day, actually, as it ended at 3:30. It was in London so it was a very long day as well. And then I couldn't get to sleep until quite late, so I'm pretty knackered today.
Oddly, it's the Chinese grand prix this weekend. I say oddly because usually they time the grand prix so that they don't land on "other" days.
China is usually a good race and I think the new engines will suit it so I'm hoping it will be as good as Bahrain. Unfortunately the BBC is only showing highlights on the TV again, but I'll listen on the radio.
My other plans for Easter are pretty minimal as I'm trying to save pennies for Canada.
I'll probably do a bit of a swap around with some stuff that's out in the shed - if the nice weather continues I'll need to get my shorts out and put away jumpers and stuff. I'll also probably do a full back-up (I keep all the drives out in the shed too). These aren't quite as firm as my landlord recently told me he is actually going away a few weeks after Easter and it's usually easier to mess about in the shed when he's away. However, the weekend that this covers I'm also booked to go and see a friend.
I must say it's kinda snuck up on me this year. I think a big part of that is because of the weather - it feels like it's rained continuously for almost an entire year, and the seasons have virtually disappeared, so it's almost weird now that it's actually spring-like. It feels kinda sudden, somehow.
The training thing yesterday was horrendous.
Not because it was badly done (though the food at the venue was horrible - rather dried out and sorry looking), but because they'd crammed what should have been two days of stuff into a day - less than a day, actually, as it ended at 3:30. It was in London so it was a very long day as well. And then I couldn't get to sleep until quite late, so I'm pretty knackered today.
Oddly, it's the Chinese grand prix this weekend. I say oddly because usually they time the grand prix so that they don't land on "other" days.
China is usually a good race and I think the new engines will suit it so I'm hoping it will be as good as Bahrain. Unfortunately the BBC is only showing highlights on the TV again, but I'll listen on the radio.
My other plans for Easter are pretty minimal as I'm trying to save pennies for Canada.
I'll probably do a bit of a swap around with some stuff that's out in the shed - if the nice weather continues I'll need to get my shorts out and put away jumpers and stuff. I'll also probably do a full back-up (I keep all the drives out in the shed too). These aren't quite as firm as my landlord recently told me he is actually going away a few weeks after Easter and it's usually easier to mess about in the shed when he's away. However, the weekend that this covers I'm also booked to go and see a friend.
Tuesday, 8 April 2014
bahrain grand prix
I only actually watched the Bahrain grand prix last night.
They've decided to make Bahrain a night race for some reason - I'm not quite sure why. With Singapore making it a night race has the advantage of putting the race in a timeframe more suitable for European audiences. It also works as a venue, being at night and in the middle of a city. However, Bahrain is a proper track and is in the middle of the desert.
The race itself was therefore at close to tea time and the BBC only showed highlights as well, which meant they showed it at 10PM, which is just too late for me - it ended at 11:30, which would mean I wouldn't get enough sleep.
As such, I listened to it on the radio (the radio coverage was notably lacking as well, only showing the qualifying and race - this seems to back up my theory I mentioned that the BBC has further cut the budget.) on the day and recorded it to watch last night.
I have to say, the radio coverage was better than the TV coverage. I think with doing highlights they had a real problem, because the whole race had something going on non-stop. This meant they had to show you some bits well, or more stuff in less detail, if you see what I mean and I think they went for the latter. It also didn't help that they clearly had some sound issues on the TV coverage.
Anyway, in my mind Bahrain is one of the boring races, but last year it produced a good race. This year it did the same - indeed, it seemed to be one of the best races in a good while. Certainly it showed what I felt previously - that the first couple of races were simply okay where others said they were great. This was a properly great race.
Well, great if you were in a Mercedes powered car. The power plant they've come up with is clearly way ahead of anyone else. And the Mercedes team has combined that with a truly great car to produce a phenomenal package. If the performance difference shown after the safety car restart is to be believed (when they would obviously want to turn the car up to maximum to avoid losing the 1-2 and having saved fuel while under the safety car) then they're up to around 3 seconds a lap faster than even the other Mercedes powered cars.
That's a phenomenal margin - Red Bull's dominance was never that sort of scale: maybe up to about 1 second at its biggest.
I'm obviously particularly pleased that real racing is on for this year, with my whole trip to Canada. I was a bit worried it would be a bit of a non-season.
They've decided to make Bahrain a night race for some reason - I'm not quite sure why. With Singapore making it a night race has the advantage of putting the race in a timeframe more suitable for European audiences. It also works as a venue, being at night and in the middle of a city. However, Bahrain is a proper track and is in the middle of the desert.
The race itself was therefore at close to tea time and the BBC only showed highlights as well, which meant they showed it at 10PM, which is just too late for me - it ended at 11:30, which would mean I wouldn't get enough sleep.
As such, I listened to it on the radio (the radio coverage was notably lacking as well, only showing the qualifying and race - this seems to back up my theory I mentioned that the BBC has further cut the budget.) on the day and recorded it to watch last night.
I have to say, the radio coverage was better than the TV coverage. I think with doing highlights they had a real problem, because the whole race had something going on non-stop. This meant they had to show you some bits well, or more stuff in less detail, if you see what I mean and I think they went for the latter. It also didn't help that they clearly had some sound issues on the TV coverage.
Anyway, in my mind Bahrain is one of the boring races, but last year it produced a good race. This year it did the same - indeed, it seemed to be one of the best races in a good while. Certainly it showed what I felt previously - that the first couple of races were simply okay where others said they were great. This was a properly great race.
Well, great if you were in a Mercedes powered car. The power plant they've come up with is clearly way ahead of anyone else. And the Mercedes team has combined that with a truly great car to produce a phenomenal package. If the performance difference shown after the safety car restart is to be believed (when they would obviously want to turn the car up to maximum to avoid losing the 1-2 and having saved fuel while under the safety car) then they're up to around 3 seconds a lap faster than even the other Mercedes powered cars.
That's a phenomenal margin - Red Bull's dominance was never that sort of scale: maybe up to about 1 second at its biggest.
I'm obviously particularly pleased that real racing is on for this year, with my whole trip to Canada. I was a bit worried it would be a bit of a non-season.
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
australian & malaysian gps
The formula one season is under way!
I used an exclamation point there as it seems like the last season only just finished. Indeed, the Australian Grand Prix was actually a few weeks ago, and we've also already had the Malaysian Grand Prix and Bahrain is next week!
Of course there are some big changes this year - there's the whole new powerplant, with the V6 turbo engines and all sorts of clever engine recovery systems. But there are also some key changes to things like wing sizes and what they can do aerodynamically.
The new engines are very torquey (after all, they use a lot more electric power, which is instant) and the two seems to have made the cars a lot more skittish. You can see them skidding and sliding as they fight to control the cars, which I have to say I quite like.
It would be possible to make cars that almost didn't need a driver. Indeed, at several points in F1's history new technology has been introduced that meant the driver was "compensated for", and much of this has ended up in road cars - anti-lock brakes and traction control are obvious examples.
However, generally, F1 has tended to ban these, partly to keep the driver an integral part of the sport (as well as reduce costs and complexity). The problem then develops that once everything gets banned everything ends up the same. For a long time now the engines have almost been a non-factor, but now they're suddenly at the forefront of the sport.
Of course there are down-sides - the ear-splitting noise (which no matter how much you tell people how loud it is, you had to experience to really know: some of the old f1 car was as loud as a jumbo jet, but you can't really appreciate that unless you went to a race) is gone. But then it's been replaced by sound you can understand - you can hear the tyres squeal, for example. And while the screaming of the engines was an experience, you couldn't ever be at a race without hearing protection, and on some levels that's a bit pointless when you think about it.
Anyway - we've had two races, so what have I thought?
Well, I have to confess I was a bit worried after the testing that very few cars would finish. The reliability seemed very low, and a race where only 6 cars cross the line can be a bit disappointing. However, I've been pleased to see things haven't been that bad - sure retirements have increased, but not disastrously so. It's also pleasing to see some of the lower teams have taken advantage of this aspect and scored a few points.
The Australian race was okay. To be fair, Australia is not the best of circuits, as it's a "sort of" street circuit and hasn't tended tend to produce great races. Generally the most interest comes from seeing the new cars in action.
However, Malaysia was generally better. It's quite a good circuit - certainly one of the better Tilke circuits and has places where overtaking is possible. If I'm honest Malaysia had a bit of a lull in the middle, but picked up towards the end.
The Mercedes would appear to be the class of the field, both in terms of the engine itself and the team. Clearly they put a lot of effort in from quite early last year, which obviously hurt them last year but is paying dividends now.
The opposite seems to have been true for Renault, who with Red Bull were clearly focused on last year's championship. However, aerodynamically Newey's Red Bull seems as good as ever - it certainly narrowed the gap in the rain, where engine performance was negated.
I used an exclamation point there as it seems like the last season only just finished. Indeed, the Australian Grand Prix was actually a few weeks ago, and we've also already had the Malaysian Grand Prix and Bahrain is next week!
Of course there are some big changes this year - there's the whole new powerplant, with the V6 turbo engines and all sorts of clever engine recovery systems. But there are also some key changes to things like wing sizes and what they can do aerodynamically.
The new engines are very torquey (after all, they use a lot more electric power, which is instant) and the two seems to have made the cars a lot more skittish. You can see them skidding and sliding as they fight to control the cars, which I have to say I quite like.
It would be possible to make cars that almost didn't need a driver. Indeed, at several points in F1's history new technology has been introduced that meant the driver was "compensated for", and much of this has ended up in road cars - anti-lock brakes and traction control are obvious examples.
However, generally, F1 has tended to ban these, partly to keep the driver an integral part of the sport (as well as reduce costs and complexity). The problem then develops that once everything gets banned everything ends up the same. For a long time now the engines have almost been a non-factor, but now they're suddenly at the forefront of the sport.
Of course there are down-sides - the ear-splitting noise (which no matter how much you tell people how loud it is, you had to experience to really know: some of the old f1 car was as loud as a jumbo jet, but you can't really appreciate that unless you went to a race) is gone. But then it's been replaced by sound you can understand - you can hear the tyres squeal, for example. And while the screaming of the engines was an experience, you couldn't ever be at a race without hearing protection, and on some levels that's a bit pointless when you think about it.
Anyway - we've had two races, so what have I thought?
Well, I have to confess I was a bit worried after the testing that very few cars would finish. The reliability seemed very low, and a race where only 6 cars cross the line can be a bit disappointing. However, I've been pleased to see things haven't been that bad - sure retirements have increased, but not disastrously so. It's also pleasing to see some of the lower teams have taken advantage of this aspect and scored a few points.
The Australian race was okay. To be fair, Australia is not the best of circuits, as it's a "sort of" street circuit and hasn't tended tend to produce great races. Generally the most interest comes from seeing the new cars in action.
However, Malaysia was generally better. It's quite a good circuit - certainly one of the better Tilke circuits and has places where overtaking is possible. If I'm honest Malaysia had a bit of a lull in the middle, but picked up towards the end.
The Mercedes would appear to be the class of the field, both in terms of the engine itself and the team. Clearly they put a lot of effort in from quite early last year, which obviously hurt them last year but is paying dividends now.
The opposite seems to have been true for Renault, who with Red Bull were clearly focused on last year's championship. However, aerodynamically Newey's Red Bull seems as good as ever - it certainly narrowed the gap in the rain, where engine performance was negated.
Tuesday, 14 January 2014
canadian gp 2014
So the big reveal of the thing I kept alluding to last week is that I'm going (with my family) to the Canadian Grand Prix this year!
I'm really looking forward to it, though as I was mentioning it's caused me some issues in terms of plans.
I mentioned in the blog before that I'm back looking for a job. I'm also not sure that I mentioned I want to move - the two are linked, obviously in that I would like have to move for the job, but I wanted to move more immediately as I really don't like where I like anymore and want to move on.
This has been particularly brought to a head due to the break-in and the fact my rent has gone up by 5%, making it less economical. This is made worse by the fact the electricity pre-pay meter rate recently went up (I blogged about how they decided to charge me for a non-existent debt - that got sorted, but it doesn't change the fact the cost of it went up) and the laundrette up the road recently put up their prices (again). So I'd be much better off financially living in the town where I work and also from a piece of mind point of view.
However, both of these become particularly difficult with the Canada trip, which is in early June.
For one thing I need a good ten days of leave, so I can't really use random days to go on interviews or to move. Also, Canada will not be cheap - I will need around £1,000 to spend. Canada is quite expensive anyway, but also I obviously want to have a good time.
Add in that clothes is one of the biggest areas of my life where I have "economised" so will need to buy stuff for the holiday and need some new bits if I'm to look smart for interviews and you can see I'm going to have some big drains on my purse over the next few months. This makes it difficult to see how I can afford to pay for petrol to travel to interviews, but also how I could afford 2 months (or whatever) deposit to move - plus I'd need to overlap the rents so I'd have time to transfer all my stuff.
So as you can see I'm left in two minds quite what to do - do I keep going with the job hunting and start looking for somewhere to live? If I do I don't know quite how it would work. If I don't I am adding in a huge delay - more than 6 months before I even re-start.
I'm really looking forward to it, though as I was mentioning it's caused me some issues in terms of plans.
I mentioned in the blog before that I'm back looking for a job. I'm also not sure that I mentioned I want to move - the two are linked, obviously in that I would like have to move for the job, but I wanted to move more immediately as I really don't like where I like anymore and want to move on.
This has been particularly brought to a head due to the break-in and the fact my rent has gone up by 5%, making it less economical. This is made worse by the fact the electricity pre-pay meter rate recently went up (I blogged about how they decided to charge me for a non-existent debt - that got sorted, but it doesn't change the fact the cost of it went up) and the laundrette up the road recently put up their prices (again). So I'd be much better off financially living in the town where I work and also from a piece of mind point of view.
However, both of these become particularly difficult with the Canada trip, which is in early June.
For one thing I need a good ten days of leave, so I can't really use random days to go on interviews or to move. Also, Canada will not be cheap - I will need around £1,000 to spend. Canada is quite expensive anyway, but also I obviously want to have a good time.
Add in that clothes is one of the biggest areas of my life where I have "economised" so will need to buy stuff for the holiday and need some new bits if I'm to look smart for interviews and you can see I'm going to have some big drains on my purse over the next few months. This makes it difficult to see how I can afford to pay for petrol to travel to interviews, but also how I could afford 2 months (or whatever) deposit to move - plus I'd need to overlap the rents so I'd have time to transfer all my stuff.
So as you can see I'm left in two minds quite what to do - do I keep going with the job hunting and start looking for somewhere to live? If I do I don't know quite how it would work. If I don't I am adding in a huge delay - more than 6 months before I even re-start.
Thursday, 7 November 2013
formula one
So Sebastian Vettel has wrapped up the driver's title and Red Bull has the constructor's title.
It seems like after the mid-season break they have become unbeatable. From what I understand this is partly because the change of tyres back to last year's compound following the tyre-failure issues played into the design of the Red Bull, but I also think they focused on the development of this year's car where others moved on to next year's car.
There are quite a lot of big changes coming next year - the engine changes to a 1.6 litre turbo, there's a much bigger energy recovery aspect (not just the KERS), but also the front wing is much smaller, the rear wing changes, the exhaust exit point changes and the fuel capacity changes. I'm sure there are other things, but those are pretty big already.
I think that means that the teams had to make a decision much earlier to switch all effort to next year's car, otherwise they'd end up impacting their competitiveness, and I think Red Bull left that decision until much later. Certainly McLaren were saying they'd switched before the season was half way in, Force India haven't done anything since the mid-season and I think Mercedes switched some time ago, just to name a few.
The other aspect of course is Vettel himself. His big advantage, I think, over the others is his flexibility and willingness to listen to what the team tell him. If they say "do this" he tends to do it (I mean specifically in terms of how to drive the car - we all know he'll ignore team orders and his engineer is always telling him off for going for the fastest lap), where I think other drivers try to get the car tweaked to better suit them, rather than adapting to it.
The last grand prix I actually blogged about was Singapore so I thought I'd give a very quick run-through of the races:
It seems like after the mid-season break they have become unbeatable. From what I understand this is partly because the change of tyres back to last year's compound following the tyre-failure issues played into the design of the Red Bull, but I also think they focused on the development of this year's car where others moved on to next year's car.
There are quite a lot of big changes coming next year - the engine changes to a 1.6 litre turbo, there's a much bigger energy recovery aspect (not just the KERS), but also the front wing is much smaller, the rear wing changes, the exhaust exit point changes and the fuel capacity changes. I'm sure there are other things, but those are pretty big already.
I think that means that the teams had to make a decision much earlier to switch all effort to next year's car, otherwise they'd end up impacting their competitiveness, and I think Red Bull left that decision until much later. Certainly McLaren were saying they'd switched before the season was half way in, Force India haven't done anything since the mid-season and I think Mercedes switched some time ago, just to name a few.
The other aspect of course is Vettel himself. His big advantage, I think, over the others is his flexibility and willingness to listen to what the team tell him. If they say "do this" he tends to do it (I mean specifically in terms of how to drive the car - we all know he'll ignore team orders and his engineer is always telling him off for going for the fastest lap), where I think other drivers try to get the car tweaked to better suit them, rather than adapting to it.
The last grand prix I actually blogged about was Singapore so I thought I'd give a very quick run-through of the races:
- Korea - I've always felt Korea was an okay track and the races were okay, it's just it suffers because it's in the middle of nowhere. This year's race was pretty good, I thought.
- Japan - Japan is usually pretty good, but this year I thought it was okay. This might have been a bit affected by my holiday issues, so I was watching it some way out of sink.
- India - a fairly dull, pedestrian race. This isn't one of the better newer circuits, though obviously Vettel was crowned champion, so it wasn't totally uninteresting.
- Abu Dhabi. The beeb's highlights suggest it was better than it actually was: it was a pretty dull race, with a few interesting moments. I mean, it's better than when it was first held as they've tweaked the circuit a bit, but it's still pretty dull.
Monday, 23 September 2013
singapore grand prix
Singapore grand prix this last weekend.
The circuit used to have a rather notorious corner "turn 10" (why do none of the new circuits have proper names for the corners? I mean, I appreciate they also should have numbers, but giving them names too adds character.), which was essentially a chicane on a corner.
However, in order to make the drivers go around it properly it had really high curves. The idea behind it was that with it being a street circuit, there was no run off so they wanted to encourage them to take the corner properly.
But, of course, racing drivers being racing drivers, they would always push it to the limit and therefore run over the curbs. However, they were so high this launched the cars into the air and there were more than a few cars damaged by the subsequent landings.
This year they did away with the chicane element, so it was a normal corner. This shaved a good 5 seconds off the lap time, but it wasn't enough for the circuit to become a decent length.
The race itself wasn't actually too bad in the beginning and end sections, but it had quite a long middle period where very little happened. And because it was Singapore it meant it was banging up against the 2 hour limit. Of course, being Singapore it also had a safety car period after someone hit the wall, so I guess if it hadn't had that it would have been under 2 hours, but every time the race has been run they've had a safety car.
Unfortunately for the championship, Vettel won, making it almost certain that he will win. He has almost enough margin that he could miss a couple of races and still win. I mean that in a reliability sense, rather than him taking a holiday - if the car blows up and Alonso wins he would still have a huge margin.
But then, given how reliable all the cars are nowadays that's not very likely.
There was also finally the announcement that Raikkonen will be moving to Ferrari next year, which seems to mean Ferrari will have two number one drivers. This is very odd for them - they're a team that likes to have a clear number one and a number two.
Rumours therefore flew that Alonso might go to McLaren, but I doubt this, and, interestingly, Ron Dennis was at the race. Ron was the main part of McLaren that Alonso didn't like. Plus, given how things are changing next year, it's a bit of a crap shoot - even Adrian Newey at Red Bull might be wrong footed if the Renault engine isn't up to snuff.
Unfortunately the unluckiest man in Formula 1, Mark Webber, had a problem with his car that caused the engine to blow up (wasn't clear if it was engine or gear box) and to cap the weekend he then got a reprimand for running out onto the circuit to get a lift back from Alonso. It wasn't the lift that was the issue, but the going on to the circuit, but because he's now had 3 reprimands he gets an automatic 10-place grid penalty at the Korean Grand Prix!
It's weird how it's always Mark that has these issues - KERS failures seem to be particularly favourite.
The circuit used to have a rather notorious corner "turn 10" (why do none of the new circuits have proper names for the corners? I mean, I appreciate they also should have numbers, but giving them names too adds character.), which was essentially a chicane on a corner.
However, in order to make the drivers go around it properly it had really high curves. The idea behind it was that with it being a street circuit, there was no run off so they wanted to encourage them to take the corner properly.
But, of course, racing drivers being racing drivers, they would always push it to the limit and therefore run over the curbs. However, they were so high this launched the cars into the air and there were more than a few cars damaged by the subsequent landings.
This year they did away with the chicane element, so it was a normal corner. This shaved a good 5 seconds off the lap time, but it wasn't enough for the circuit to become a decent length.
The race itself wasn't actually too bad in the beginning and end sections, but it had quite a long middle period where very little happened. And because it was Singapore it meant it was banging up against the 2 hour limit. Of course, being Singapore it also had a safety car period after someone hit the wall, so I guess if it hadn't had that it would have been under 2 hours, but every time the race has been run they've had a safety car.
Unfortunately for the championship, Vettel won, making it almost certain that he will win. He has almost enough margin that he could miss a couple of races and still win. I mean that in a reliability sense, rather than him taking a holiday - if the car blows up and Alonso wins he would still have a huge margin.
But then, given how reliable all the cars are nowadays that's not very likely.
There was also finally the announcement that Raikkonen will be moving to Ferrari next year, which seems to mean Ferrari will have two number one drivers. This is very odd for them - they're a team that likes to have a clear number one and a number two.
Rumours therefore flew that Alonso might go to McLaren, but I doubt this, and, interestingly, Ron Dennis was at the race. Ron was the main part of McLaren that Alonso didn't like. Plus, given how things are changing next year, it's a bit of a crap shoot - even Adrian Newey at Red Bull might be wrong footed if the Renault engine isn't up to snuff.
Unfortunately the unluckiest man in Formula 1, Mark Webber, had a problem with his car that caused the engine to blow up (wasn't clear if it was engine or gear box) and to cap the weekend he then got a reprimand for running out onto the circuit to get a lift back from Alonso. It wasn't the lift that was the issue, but the going on to the circuit, but because he's now had 3 reprimands he gets an automatic 10-place grid penalty at the Korean Grand Prix!
It's weird how it's always Mark that has these issues - KERS failures seem to be particularly favourite.
Friday, 20 September 2013
singapore grand prix
I was away yesterday attending a job interview, so there was no post because of that, rather than me lapsing again!
Singapore Grand Prix this weekend.
Unfortunately, Singapore is usual one of the really dull races. It has some novelty appeal in that they hold it at night under great big lights. So far they've been lucky with the weather (artificial lights would be particularly bad if there was spray) and it's been a dry race.
The real problem with the track is that it's a street circuit. Street circuits have something of an appeal if you're at the track as you can get really close to the cars and the noise echoes around the buildings, but in terms of a race they're often quite dull. The problem is that roads are very different to circuits.
Circuits are generally a lot wider than roads and the corners and bends are much more organically shaped - following contours in the terrain or avoiding obstacles, etc., whereas streets are about taking you to somewhere as quickly and directly as possible.
It's also a very long, slow lap and therefore the whole race often rubs up against the two hour limit.
I think you can tell I'm not really looking forward to it. The BBC is only showing highlights, but I'll probably listen to it on the radio (if they're covering it).
Otherwise its' the last weekend before my landlord returns, so I will probably try to finish off stuff.
Singapore Grand Prix this weekend.
Unfortunately, Singapore is usual one of the really dull races. It has some novelty appeal in that they hold it at night under great big lights. So far they've been lucky with the weather (artificial lights would be particularly bad if there was spray) and it's been a dry race.
The real problem with the track is that it's a street circuit. Street circuits have something of an appeal if you're at the track as you can get really close to the cars and the noise echoes around the buildings, but in terms of a race they're often quite dull. The problem is that roads are very different to circuits.
Circuits are generally a lot wider than roads and the corners and bends are much more organically shaped - following contours in the terrain or avoiding obstacles, etc., whereas streets are about taking you to somewhere as quickly and directly as possible.
It's also a very long, slow lap and therefore the whole race often rubs up against the two hour limit.
I think you can tell I'm not really looking forward to it. The BBC is only showing highlights, but I'll probably listen to it on the radio (if they're covering it).
Otherwise its' the last weekend before my landlord returns, so I will probably try to finish off stuff.
Monday, 9 September 2013
italian grand prix
Well, that was a lot better than I was expecting.
I have to confess I wasn't really looking forward to Monza as my memory of it is as a circuit where it's very difficult to overtake, but that didn't appear to be the case this weekend as there was a lot of action on the track. Indeed it also seemed to disprove what I was saying about the DRS, but that wasn't quite as it might have appeared.
Basically because Monza is so high speed (I think it only has about 6 corners!) they all use a special low-down force package, and of course that means the rear wing is quite skinny. As such the DRS (which basically opens a hole in the rear wing to reduce its drag) doesn't have a huge impact. That means it generally allowed them to get into overtaking position without just driving past.
I mean, that wasn't always the case - there were some drive pasts, but even these weren't as daft as they were at Spa, for example, with the drivers able to defend a bit and then fight back at the next corner.
Unfortunately it was also a bit of a weird weekend.
Riciardo was confirmed as Webber's replacement at Red Bull, but the whole rest of driver situation is quite messy. It seems like Raikonen is likely to go back to Ferrari, and Alonso wasn't happy. Well, the feeling was that that was a big part of why Alonso wasn't happy. He could easily have been unhappy at how the weekend went generally.
It's odd - the Mercedes has generally qualified well this season and then gone backwards on race day, where the Ferrari seems to qualify poorly then do really well during the race. Reliability issues aside, I think Alonso has always finished some way above where he qualified.
And mentioning Mercedes, they had a bit of a shocker. Hamilton said he made a mess of qualifying, but I think that was overly harsh. Rosberg didn't actually do that much better, it was more that Hamilton messed up his quick laps in 2nd qualifying.
However, his radio then failed during the race, so he couldn't hear them calling him in for his pit stops, for example. He did make up a couple of spots, taking him into the points, but it was clear he felt he could & should have done a lot better across the weekend.
I have to say it now looks like Vettel is going to take the driver's championship as the others just haven't been able to deliver a consistent challenge.
I have to confess I wasn't really looking forward to Monza as my memory of it is as a circuit where it's very difficult to overtake, but that didn't appear to be the case this weekend as there was a lot of action on the track. Indeed it also seemed to disprove what I was saying about the DRS, but that wasn't quite as it might have appeared.
Basically because Monza is so high speed (I think it only has about 6 corners!) they all use a special low-down force package, and of course that means the rear wing is quite skinny. As such the DRS (which basically opens a hole in the rear wing to reduce its drag) doesn't have a huge impact. That means it generally allowed them to get into overtaking position without just driving past.
I mean, that wasn't always the case - there were some drive pasts, but even these weren't as daft as they were at Spa, for example, with the drivers able to defend a bit and then fight back at the next corner.
Unfortunately it was also a bit of a weird weekend.
Riciardo was confirmed as Webber's replacement at Red Bull, but the whole rest of driver situation is quite messy. It seems like Raikonen is likely to go back to Ferrari, and Alonso wasn't happy. Well, the feeling was that that was a big part of why Alonso wasn't happy. He could easily have been unhappy at how the weekend went generally.
It's odd - the Mercedes has generally qualified well this season and then gone backwards on race day, where the Ferrari seems to qualify poorly then do really well during the race. Reliability issues aside, I think Alonso has always finished some way above where he qualified.
And mentioning Mercedes, they had a bit of a shocker. Hamilton said he made a mess of qualifying, but I think that was overly harsh. Rosberg didn't actually do that much better, it was more that Hamilton messed up his quick laps in 2nd qualifying.
However, his radio then failed during the race, so he couldn't hear them calling him in for his pit stops, for example. He did make up a couple of spots, taking him into the points, but it was clear he felt he could & should have done a lot better across the weekend.
I have to say it now looks like Vettel is going to take the driver's championship as the others just haven't been able to deliver a consistent challenge.
Friday, 6 September 2013
italian grand prix
It's the italian grand prix this weekend from Monza.
Monza is one of the fastest tracks on the current circuit and is not that far off being an Indi-car style oval circuit. Indeed, I seem to recall the old, banked circuit was an oval. I mean, it has a few chicanes and that, but if you were to take an oval and stretch it and put a dog leg in it, that wouldn't be too far off of Monza.
Anyway, the point is that it's a very fast circuit and the race often doesn't take much more than an hour to run.
It's normally an okay race. It doesn't tend to have a lot of overtaking, though it is possible. Part of the issue is that being so fast and having so few corners it's not often they make mistakes, so there's not much chance to take advantage of that.
Still, it's usually a good race for Ferrari who tend to build a car that does well on high speed circuits. Hopefully therefore Alonso should do well, which should keep the championship alive.
There's also the possibility that if the Mercedes can get on pole in qualifying then they'll be able to dominate and hold the others back. That was part of the key as to why they did well in Hungary - get on pole and stay there.
Of course that's also the general Red Bull tactic, but then the car (deliberately) doesn't tend to have the highest top speed so they may struggle to achieve it.
Monza is one of the fastest tracks on the current circuit and is not that far off being an Indi-car style oval circuit. Indeed, I seem to recall the old, banked circuit was an oval. I mean, it has a few chicanes and that, but if you were to take an oval and stretch it and put a dog leg in it, that wouldn't be too far off of Monza.
Anyway, the point is that it's a very fast circuit and the race often doesn't take much more than an hour to run.
It's normally an okay race. It doesn't tend to have a lot of overtaking, though it is possible. Part of the issue is that being so fast and having so few corners it's not often they make mistakes, so there's not much chance to take advantage of that.
Still, it's usually a good race for Ferrari who tend to build a car that does well on high speed circuits. Hopefully therefore Alonso should do well, which should keep the championship alive.
There's also the possibility that if the Mercedes can get on pole in qualifying then they'll be able to dominate and hold the others back. That was part of the key as to why they did well in Hungary - get on pole and stay there.
Of course that's also the general Red Bull tactic, but then the car (deliberately) doesn't tend to have the highest top speed so they may struggle to achieve it.
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
belgium grand prix
Thought so - I wrote this yesterday, but turns out I didn't post it!
During my absence I only missed blogging on the one grand prix, which was Spa Francochamps in Belgium.
Usually Spa is one of the best races of the year, as it has natural opportunities to overtake and the drivers enjoy racing there. It's also a place where it often rains, and unpredictably so. Because of the hills it has its own little micro-climate that can take the teams by surprise.
Having given it the big build-up this year's race was okay. Qualifying was good as it was quite exciting. The weather played a major part and parts of the sessions were wet. However, in the race it stayed dry throughout.
I also have to say I think DRS ruins a circuit like Spa. The problem is that there are good places to overtake, and they still use them, but because there's quite a big DRS section some of the time they wait until they can get on the DRS straight and simply overtake with the extra speed. Which is the worst form of overtaking.
Good overtaking is getting them into the corner (or I guess sometimes when coming out of a corner) but simply driving past the other guy on the straight because you have extra speed that he doesn't isn't overtaking. And there was a fair bit of that this year.
DRS does work on a handful of circuits (notably the circuits in the middle east) but the intention was meant to be that it aided overtaking, helping them get into an overtaking position, not that it allows them to drive past.
During my absence I only missed blogging on the one grand prix, which was Spa Francochamps in Belgium.
Usually Spa is one of the best races of the year, as it has natural opportunities to overtake and the drivers enjoy racing there. It's also a place where it often rains, and unpredictably so. Because of the hills it has its own little micro-climate that can take the teams by surprise.
Having given it the big build-up this year's race was okay. Qualifying was good as it was quite exciting. The weather played a major part and parts of the sessions were wet. However, in the race it stayed dry throughout.
I also have to say I think DRS ruins a circuit like Spa. The problem is that there are good places to overtake, and they still use them, but because there's quite a big DRS section some of the time they wait until they can get on the DRS straight and simply overtake with the extra speed. Which is the worst form of overtaking.
Good overtaking is getting them into the corner (or I guess sometimes when coming out of a corner) but simply driving past the other guy on the straight because you have extra speed that he doesn't isn't overtaking. And there was a fair bit of that this year.
DRS does work on a handful of circuits (notably the circuits in the middle east) but the intention was meant to be that it aided overtaking, helping them get into an overtaking position, not that it allows them to drive past.
Tuesday, 30 July 2013
hungarian grand prix
I didn't post a blog yesterday because I got busy with something from early on and basically forgot.
It was the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend.
It's been on the calendar a long time has Hungary, but it's not one of the classic races. The nature of the circuit is such that it's very difficult to overtake. The circuit is relatively slow speed as it is basically a continuous series of corners. This makes it challenging and (I imagine) interesting to drive, but doesn't facilitate overtaking.
However, saying all that, this recent race was okay. I mean, it wasn't amazing, but there was enough stuff happening that it wasn't totally dull.
It was also Hamilton's first win for Mercedes. I have to admit they've done a lot better this year than I thought they would - I thought they'd struggle this year and then possibly pull off a blinder with the new engines next year.
He's also theoretically in the hunt for the championship, but I think this weekend was actually somewhat distorted. Basically Vettel, Alonso and Raikonnen got a bit stuck behind Button's McLaren. Button actually did quite well in the race, as he was down in 13th after qualifying and ended up 8th. I think they drove a clever strategy that Button was able to make work, but it was helped by the difficulty of overtaking at the circuit, as he then delayed a lot of people.
However, there is another way of looking at that, in that Lewis was also in the position of having to overtake people on a difficult circuit, but he did it, where others either failed or took too long. Hamilton had to overtake Button once and Webber twice and did so it quick order each time.
To me this shows the difference between Lewis and some of the competition - give him a car that's up to the job and let him go and he will race, where others will perhaps tend to sit back and consolidate.
It's now the F1 mid-season break, so there won't be any races for a while, and I think when it comes back at the end of the month it's the always entertaining Belgium race at Spa.
It was the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend.
It's been on the calendar a long time has Hungary, but it's not one of the classic races. The nature of the circuit is such that it's very difficult to overtake. The circuit is relatively slow speed as it is basically a continuous series of corners. This makes it challenging and (I imagine) interesting to drive, but doesn't facilitate overtaking.
However, saying all that, this recent race was okay. I mean, it wasn't amazing, but there was enough stuff happening that it wasn't totally dull.
It was also Hamilton's first win for Mercedes. I have to admit they've done a lot better this year than I thought they would - I thought they'd struggle this year and then possibly pull off a blinder with the new engines next year.
He's also theoretically in the hunt for the championship, but I think this weekend was actually somewhat distorted. Basically Vettel, Alonso and Raikonnen got a bit stuck behind Button's McLaren. Button actually did quite well in the race, as he was down in 13th after qualifying and ended up 8th. I think they drove a clever strategy that Button was able to make work, but it was helped by the difficulty of overtaking at the circuit, as he then delayed a lot of people.
However, there is another way of looking at that, in that Lewis was also in the position of having to overtake people on a difficult circuit, but he did it, where others either failed or took too long. Hamilton had to overtake Button once and Webber twice and did so it quick order each time.
To me this shows the difference between Lewis and some of the competition - give him a car that's up to the job and let him go and he will race, where others will perhaps tend to sit back and consolidate.
It's now the F1 mid-season break, so there won't be any races for a while, and I think when it comes back at the end of the month it's the always entertaining Belgium race at Spa.
Friday, 26 July 2013
hungarian grand prix
Hungarian grand prix this weekend. It's not usually that interesting as a race, and the BBC is only showing highlights. After this there's a 3 week gap, during which F1 has its "two week holiday".
I have to confess I've not found this season all that memorable. There's been a few interesting races, but it doesn't seem as close as last year. Weirdly, even though the rules were pretty stable again, it seems to have had something of a crystallising effect on some of the teams. Perhaps they've shifted significant focus to next year's car?
It doesn't help that McLaren are not in contention and some of the mid-level teams have relatively poor cars.
I've no particular plans this weekend. I had thought that I might play some games other than SimCity. I mentioned doing this a while back, but didn't actually do it.
Alternatively I might try to get ahead with watching some of the anime I keep selling, rather than having to watch it once it's already sold.
My landlord is going away on holiday in September this year I believe so I'm expecting to have a go at the contents of the shed. There's quite a bit of stuff out there that I think I'm going to have to sell, given my financial situation.
I have to confess I've not found this season all that memorable. There's been a few interesting races, but it doesn't seem as close as last year. Weirdly, even though the rules were pretty stable again, it seems to have had something of a crystallising effect on some of the teams. Perhaps they've shifted significant focus to next year's car?
It doesn't help that McLaren are not in contention and some of the mid-level teams have relatively poor cars.
I've no particular plans this weekend. I had thought that I might play some games other than SimCity. I mentioned doing this a while back, but didn't actually do it.
Alternatively I might try to get ahead with watching some of the anime I keep selling, rather than having to watch it once it's already sold.
My landlord is going away on holiday in September this year I believe so I'm expecting to have a go at the contents of the shed. There's quite a bit of stuff out there that I think I'm going to have to sell, given my financial situation.
Monday, 8 July 2013
german grand prix
Well, the german grand prix was actually pretty good.
From memory the nurburgring, where it is held every two years, hasn't really been that great for overtaking, but it produced a good race this time. Unfortunately for the championship Vettel won, taking him to 30-odd points in the lead.
It's a shame the championship is not more interesting as the races themselves have tended to have a reasonable amount of action, it's just that Vettel seems to be just that bit more consistent than everybody else.
There were a few unfortunate incidents in the race, though. One of Mark Webber's rear wheels wasn't attached in a pit stop and as he drove off it careened down the pit lane and unfortunately hit a cameraman - he obviously was focused on his job filming a pit stop at Mercedes so wasn't really paying attention for rogue wheels. He was quite badly injured, with broken bones.
Also, one of the lower teams cars (I forget who) had a huge engine blow out that resulted in a bit of a fire. It's quite rare to see that sort of thing these days, though it was quite common years ago. Anyway, the driver therefore pulled off the track and leapt out pretty sharpish, which was fine and the on-board extinguisher killed the fire, but unfortunately the car started to roll back down the hill and crossed the circuit.
It ended up lodged against an advertising hoarding and didn't cause an accident, but it was a bit unfortunate and could have been disastrous. I think it was a combination of things - the driver obviously pulled off and jumped out without really parking his car in any sense. They're also required to leave the car in neutral, and it was on a hill, and I guess the marshals either didn't get to it quick enough or didn't get proper control of it and it set off rolling backwards.
On the good side there were no tyre problems at all. Pirelli changed the rear tyre for this race, with the changes making it more durable, but also the type of circuit is quite different to Silverstone and from what they were saying on commentary, the design of the curbs was different, without the sharp corners.
The real proof of the pudding will come at Spa, which has similar high-speed elements to Silverstone, and the properly different tyres Pirelli are going to introduce.
From memory the nurburgring, where it is held every two years, hasn't really been that great for overtaking, but it produced a good race this time. Unfortunately for the championship Vettel won, taking him to 30-odd points in the lead.
It's a shame the championship is not more interesting as the races themselves have tended to have a reasonable amount of action, it's just that Vettel seems to be just that bit more consistent than everybody else.
There were a few unfortunate incidents in the race, though. One of Mark Webber's rear wheels wasn't attached in a pit stop and as he drove off it careened down the pit lane and unfortunately hit a cameraman - he obviously was focused on his job filming a pit stop at Mercedes so wasn't really paying attention for rogue wheels. He was quite badly injured, with broken bones.
Also, one of the lower teams cars (I forget who) had a huge engine blow out that resulted in a bit of a fire. It's quite rare to see that sort of thing these days, though it was quite common years ago. Anyway, the driver therefore pulled off the track and leapt out pretty sharpish, which was fine and the on-board extinguisher killed the fire, but unfortunately the car started to roll back down the hill and crossed the circuit.
It ended up lodged against an advertising hoarding and didn't cause an accident, but it was a bit unfortunate and could have been disastrous. I think it was a combination of things - the driver obviously pulled off and jumped out without really parking his car in any sense. They're also required to leave the car in neutral, and it was on a hill, and I guess the marshals either didn't get to it quick enough or didn't get proper control of it and it set off rolling backwards.
On the good side there were no tyre problems at all. Pirelli changed the rear tyre for this race, with the changes making it more durable, but also the type of circuit is quite different to Silverstone and from what they were saying on commentary, the design of the curbs was different, without the sharp corners.
The real proof of the pudding will come at Spa, which has similar high-speed elements to Silverstone, and the properly different tyres Pirelli are going to introduce.
Friday, 5 July 2013
german grand prix
German Grand Prix this weekend.
It's not normally that interesting a race. The German actually alternates between two circuits and this year it's from nurburgring, but it's not the ring that you think of when you hear that - it's a custom built track that's basically alongside it (well - it might use a bit of the original). It's certainly not the miles and miles of track version.
We also get to see what happens with the tyres. As I understand it they've tweaked them so that they should be stronger and tougher, but they want to do more significant changes which aren't possible in the time available.
I have to confess I found the whole tyre blow out thing really quite scary. In open-wheeled racing like this tyres are one of the big weak-points that remain. Touching tyres often leads to the worst sorts of accidents, with cars flipping in the air. A sudden puncture or deflation when you're in any car is a disaster, but when you're going nearly 200 miles an hour it is a very dangerous thing indeed.
I'll also be trying to watch lots of anime so I can get it on e-bay. I may actually try to play some of the games I need to get through. I've played quite a bit of SimCity these last few weekends, but I think I may have gone off it somewhat.
I'd mentioned I'd got some really good tips off of YouTube and they'd helped me play the game a lot better, but the problem was that therefore meant I got a lot further into the game. What do I mean by that?
Well, basically up until recently I hadn't ever got to the stage of wanting to start a great work or being in a position to unlock the more interesting ones or have the resources to stand a chance to build them. Instead I'd abandon the region and start a new one, hoping to make a city that was better at whatever.
However, with my most recent region I basically had some rocking cities that meant I had all research done and was pumping out the resources needed by the bucket-load. I therefore decided to do the solar plant. I started this in my electronics city and sent it all the processors.
I then thought I'd do the plastics, only to discover that my petroleum city didn't think the solar plant had been started. Indeed, it even let me buy the solar plant again.
Oh dear. Well, perhaps it was just a synching thing? I came back the next day... and there was no change. And my metals city couldn't see the Solar plant either and again let me buy it.
My tourism city could see it and I started a city I'd always been intending to use to do trade and that could see it from the get-go (I'd wondered if maybe it was a game calendar thing, but that put a kibosh on that). What I therefore ended up doing was going to y petrol and ore cities and sending the required resources to by trade city where I could then send them on to the solar plant. So my petrol city can't help build the plant, but I can send the resources to another city that can then send them to the plant.
Well I stuck with that process (man was it fucking tedious waiting for it all to happen) and eventually completed the solar plant. And my other cities still couldn't see it.
A quick search of the interwebs confirmed this is a fairly common problem. We're now on version 5 and something that is surely fundamental to the regional, multi-player gameplay that's supposed to be what the new SimCity is about still doesn't work. And wasn't 5.0 meant to address the region play?
So I may play some other games.
It's not normally that interesting a race. The German actually alternates between two circuits and this year it's from nurburgring, but it's not the ring that you think of when you hear that - it's a custom built track that's basically alongside it (well - it might use a bit of the original). It's certainly not the miles and miles of track version.
We also get to see what happens with the tyres. As I understand it they've tweaked them so that they should be stronger and tougher, but they want to do more significant changes which aren't possible in the time available.
I have to confess I found the whole tyre blow out thing really quite scary. In open-wheeled racing like this tyres are one of the big weak-points that remain. Touching tyres often leads to the worst sorts of accidents, with cars flipping in the air. A sudden puncture or deflation when you're in any car is a disaster, but when you're going nearly 200 miles an hour it is a very dangerous thing indeed.
I'll also be trying to watch lots of anime so I can get it on e-bay. I may actually try to play some of the games I need to get through. I've played quite a bit of SimCity these last few weekends, but I think I may have gone off it somewhat.
I'd mentioned I'd got some really good tips off of YouTube and they'd helped me play the game a lot better, but the problem was that therefore meant I got a lot further into the game. What do I mean by that?
Well, basically up until recently I hadn't ever got to the stage of wanting to start a great work or being in a position to unlock the more interesting ones or have the resources to stand a chance to build them. Instead I'd abandon the region and start a new one, hoping to make a city that was better at whatever.
However, with my most recent region I basically had some rocking cities that meant I had all research done and was pumping out the resources needed by the bucket-load. I therefore decided to do the solar plant. I started this in my electronics city and sent it all the processors.
I then thought I'd do the plastics, only to discover that my petroleum city didn't think the solar plant had been started. Indeed, it even let me buy the solar plant again.
Oh dear. Well, perhaps it was just a synching thing? I came back the next day... and there was no change. And my metals city couldn't see the Solar plant either and again let me buy it.
My tourism city could see it and I started a city I'd always been intending to use to do trade and that could see it from the get-go (I'd wondered if maybe it was a game calendar thing, but that put a kibosh on that). What I therefore ended up doing was going to y petrol and ore cities and sending the required resources to by trade city where I could then send them on to the solar plant. So my petrol city can't help build the plant, but I can send the resources to another city that can then send them to the plant.
Well I stuck with that process (man was it fucking tedious waiting for it all to happen) and eventually completed the solar plant. And my other cities still couldn't see it.
A quick search of the interwebs confirmed this is a fairly common problem. We're now on version 5 and something that is surely fundamental to the regional, multi-player gameplay that's supposed to be what the new SimCity is about still doesn't work. And wasn't 5.0 meant to address the region play?
So I may play some other games.
Monday, 1 July 2013
british grand prix
Well now - that was eventful!
It was the British Grand Prix this weekend, and it was quite the race, both for good reasons and bad.
The BBC showed the full race, obviously, and that meant they showed all the practice and qualifying too. However, when I got back on Friday I had a bit of a shock as my PVR had failed to record the Friday stuff. Indeed, it seemed to have stopped recording anything from Thursday evening.
I’ve had it do that occasionally before, though this time it stopped recording after I switched it off, rather than doing it while it was on standby. I managed to get at most of everything I lost via repeats, so no harm in the end.
The practice on Friday was unfortunately wet and because the forecast was for the weekend to be nice so they didn’t do much running. Qualifying was good as Hamilton ended up on pole, but unfortunately the Ferraris were rather poor.
But the main event was the race itself, which given some people seemed out of position meant there was probably going to be some overtaking. Well there was plenty of overtaking- sometimes Silverstone can produce some dull races and sometimes some great ones. Overtaking is possible, but not easy.
However, the race was also eventful for other reasons as apparently 6 Pirelli tyres failed. Four of these were caught on camera and all were basically catastrophic failures. I was a bit weird, actually. They’ve had several tyre failures in previous races this year, but this is the first where it’s happened repeatedly.
All the failures were spectacular and it’s really just a matter of luck and skill that there were no serious accidents. It’s a shame, really, as Pirelli did such a good job when they came into the sport of adding interest with the tyres, but for whatever reason all the coverage will be quite negative from this, I’m sure.
There’s a chance that the cause of the failures was them being cut on the curbs. The cuts would have been on the side of the tyre and because Silverstone is the first proper circuit with lots of fast corners that’s why there have been so many. However, the tyres should have been able to take it - it’s not like they’ve never raced there before!
The real shame of it was it messed with the results of the race - Hamilton was the first to get one and it meant he ended up fourth, and others obviously suffered too.
One of the problems is that they obviously want something to be done, but the next race is only a week away and they will probably have already shipped the tyres (or made them at the least). There’s a more decent gap after that, and the nature of the next race (German) is that if it is down to the high-speed corners it will be less of an issue.
It was the British Grand Prix this weekend, and it was quite the race, both for good reasons and bad.
The BBC showed the full race, obviously, and that meant they showed all the practice and qualifying too. However, when I got back on Friday I had a bit of a shock as my PVR had failed to record the Friday stuff. Indeed, it seemed to have stopped recording anything from Thursday evening.
I’ve had it do that occasionally before, though this time it stopped recording after I switched it off, rather than doing it while it was on standby. I managed to get at most of everything I lost via repeats, so no harm in the end.
The practice on Friday was unfortunately wet and because the forecast was for the weekend to be nice so they didn’t do much running. Qualifying was good as Hamilton ended up on pole, but unfortunately the Ferraris were rather poor.
But the main event was the race itself, which given some people seemed out of position meant there was probably going to be some overtaking. Well there was plenty of overtaking- sometimes Silverstone can produce some dull races and sometimes some great ones. Overtaking is possible, but not easy.
However, the race was also eventful for other reasons as apparently 6 Pirelli tyres failed. Four of these were caught on camera and all were basically catastrophic failures. I was a bit weird, actually. They’ve had several tyre failures in previous races this year, but this is the first where it’s happened repeatedly.
All the failures were spectacular and it’s really just a matter of luck and skill that there were no serious accidents. It’s a shame, really, as Pirelli did such a good job when they came into the sport of adding interest with the tyres, but for whatever reason all the coverage will be quite negative from this, I’m sure.
There’s a chance that the cause of the failures was them being cut on the curbs. The cuts would have been on the side of the tyre and because Silverstone is the first proper circuit with lots of fast corners that’s why there have been so many. However, the tyres should have been able to take it - it’s not like they’ve never raced there before!
The real shame of it was it messed with the results of the race - Hamilton was the first to get one and it meant he ended up fourth, and others obviously suffered too.
One of the problems is that they obviously want something to be done, but the next race is only a week away and they will probably have already shipped the tyres (or made them at the least). There’s a more decent gap after that, and the nature of the next race (German) is that if it is down to the high-speed corners it will be less of an issue.
Friday, 28 June 2013
british grand prix
It's the British Grand Prix this weekend.
As I understand it there are actually still quite a few tickets for sale. This is relatively unusual for Silverstone as it normally sells out a good way ahead. Indeed, from what my Dad was saying, apparently they have some seats left in the grandstands, which is very unusual.
I think one of the causes might be the weather last year. We were fully in the grip of the almost constant deluge and Silverstone was quite bad - people getting bogged in the mud, etc. Indeed, my Dad went last year and had to be towed out as his car had stuck. This was on the practice day (Friday) and they pretty much sorted it out for the qualifying and race days, not least of all because most of the campers would be in-place by then.
However, I think with the weather having not been that spectacular this year it might have put some people off a bit.
Another issue is that the brits are basically nowhere. The McLaren is clearly nowhere near competitive, which takes Lewis out of the running. Paul Diresta and Max Chilton are in non-competitive teams and of course while Lewis and the Mercedes might pull of their trick of getting pole or at the top end I expect they won't simply reverse down the field again.
Now while I don't think it actively harms attendance, with none of the brits in contention it means the boost effect doesn't happen.
I'm hoping it will be good race. Silverstone can vary in terms of racing quality - you get some good races and some dull ones.
The thing that often causes interest at Silverstone is the weather - the forecast seems to be all over the place recently, so I've no idea if it will rain. I hope if it does then it happens during qualifying or the race proper as that will shake things up a bit.
As I understand it there are actually still quite a few tickets for sale. This is relatively unusual for Silverstone as it normally sells out a good way ahead. Indeed, from what my Dad was saying, apparently they have some seats left in the grandstands, which is very unusual.
I think one of the causes might be the weather last year. We were fully in the grip of the almost constant deluge and Silverstone was quite bad - people getting bogged in the mud, etc. Indeed, my Dad went last year and had to be towed out as his car had stuck. This was on the practice day (Friday) and they pretty much sorted it out for the qualifying and race days, not least of all because most of the campers would be in-place by then.
However, I think with the weather having not been that spectacular this year it might have put some people off a bit.
Another issue is that the brits are basically nowhere. The McLaren is clearly nowhere near competitive, which takes Lewis out of the running. Paul Diresta and Max Chilton are in non-competitive teams and of course while Lewis and the Mercedes might pull of their trick of getting pole or at the top end I expect they won't simply reverse down the field again.
Now while I don't think it actively harms attendance, with none of the brits in contention it means the boost effect doesn't happen.
I'm hoping it will be good race. Silverstone can vary in terms of racing quality - you get some good races and some dull ones.
The thing that often causes interest at Silverstone is the weather - the forecast seems to be all over the place recently, so I've no idea if it will rain. I hope if it does then it happens during qualifying or the race proper as that will shake things up a bit.
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