The latest opinion polls have shown the Tories with double digit leads. It seems that something seismic has occurred in the political world. It all started with the election that never was, that burst the Brown bubble, but now it seems that political good will has now evaporated.
Last week, the Budget did what was expected of it. It was the most boring budget in years, not much happened. I think, though, that it showed that in the present crisis this Government has no ideas on how to move forward and that it had boxed itself in. It has finally dawned on the public that this Government has mismanaged the economy, and has nowhere to go.
I think last Wednesday will in future be seen as this Government's Black Wednesday. The day the Government's competence was seen to be lost.
From now on, this Government is on borrowed time.
Squiffy.
Tuesday 18 March 2008
What a race!
The Australian GP was fantastic. Not only did Lewis Hamilton win in great style, withstanding 3 safety car periods similarly to his maiden win in Canada, but the Ferrari drivers were made look pretty ordinary. Apart from Raikkonen's middle stint, he was out of sorts for most of the weekend. He made several unforced errors and nearly joined Felipe Massa in the wall.
There were several surprises. The McLaren seemed to be as fast, if not faster, than the Ferrari. The Honda was better than expected, as was the BMW. I think the biggest surprise, though, was that the cars looked twitchy without traction control - and quite a handful.
F1 is back, and better.
Squiffy.
There were several surprises. The McLaren seemed to be as fast, if not faster, than the Ferrari. The Honda was better than expected, as was the BMW. I think the biggest surprise, though, was that the cars looked twitchy without traction control - and quite a handful.
F1 is back, and better.
Squiffy.
Saturday 15 March 2008
Hamilton on Pole, nearly Pole on Pole
It was great to see Hamilton start the season on pole, but what a surprise to see Robert Kubica on the 2nd spot. He just missed out, and if he hadn't had a small excursion on the grass he may have made it to pole.
Looking forward to the race now.
Squiffy.
Looking forward to the race now.
Squiffy.
F1 2008 is here (part 2)
Completing the round up of F1.
Williams
I am a big fan of the Williams team, ever since they had Nigel Mansell driving for them. They are true racers; Frank Williams and Patrick Head are honest down to earth petrol heads and have not been persuaded, thus far, to allow a corporation to buy into their team. Maybe that was a mistake, as the team have not been close to the front for a few year, but I respect them for it.
Unfortunately, Williams suffered greatly when Adrian Newey left during 1996, and have only added one more driver's title since (and that car would have had Newey's imprint). They have won races, but apart from 2003 and not come close to their heyday. Last year they recovered from their appalling 2006 season, when they finished 8th, to rise to 4th.
Sam Michael, the technical director, seems to have settled into his role and now that the wind tunnel is calibrated correctly, has produced a promising car for this year. So far, the car looks fast and may be in the running for 3rd spot.
Nico Rosberg is a driver with a large amount of talent and hopefully should thrive with a good car underneath him. He seems to enjoy the atmosphere at the team, and personifies the 'Williams' racer. Kazuki Nakajima also shows a turn of speed if somewhat erratic. He will need to calm down and not try too hard, as once labelled as accident prone - the tag will not leave.
Renault
The Renault team should be advancing this year, after a lacklustre 2007. They will have Fernando Alonso back in the fold and that should be a boost, even if he is only around for a year. Renault lost their way last year; after having designed cars around the Michelin tyres they did not effectively change their design for the Bridgestones and suffered badly.
With a great engine and aero team behind them, Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr should be able to run up front, although a third championship for Alonso looks unlikely. Fernando has to undo some of the damage that he did to his reputation last year and buckle down to some stellar performances. Piquet Jr was narrowly beaten to the GP2 championship in 2006 by Lewis Hamilton and so should be competitive, although I doubt whether he will be able to provide Alonso with the headaches from last year.
Toro Rosso
The Red Bull 'B' team will be starting the year with last year's car. This may give them an advantage at the start of the season as they will know the car inside out, and with the reliability problems sorted out they may outgun the 'A' team. The team will move up to the RB4 for the Turkish GP, by which time niggles with the new car should have been laid to rest. I would expect them to drop back at this point before coming back after a few races.
Sebastian Vettel will be at Toro Rosso for a full season. He's a great talent and will no doubt be plucked by one of the bigger teams at the end of the year, maybe alongside Webber at the 'A' team? After watching him at the Race of Champions it's clear that he's a future race winner.
His namesake, Sebastian Bourdais is a 4 times Champ car champion and finally gets his F1 chance. It's a shame that it has taken him so long to achieve his ambition, and I feel that he may struggle after being out of European single seaters for a while. He will have tough competition from Vettel and may find himself eclipsed.
Force India
It's been sad to see the old Jordan team going from championship contenders in 2000 to tail enders via some changes in ownership. It would be great to have EJ back in the frame, maybe as the successor to Max Mosley.
After Midland and Spyker, the team has now become Force India. It should be on the up, Mike Gasgoyne is back as technical director with Mark Smith as chief designer. Vijay Mallya is the millionaire behind Kingfisher lager and a petrol head, since buying the team he's injected money and renewed optimism. Hopefully this will lead the team back up the grid.
Giancarlo Fisichella is back at the team, for a third spell, and will provide some experience alongside the accident prone but fast Adrian Sutil. I expect Fisichella to be a star, bringing the car home higher than it should. How is it that Fisichella excels in middling teams and disappoints in front running teams? I think this will be his last team though. Sutil needs to calm down and show his speed without the excursions on the grass, if he proves to be close to Fisichella he will deserve his place in F1.
Honda
The Honda team had a diabolical 2007. The car was awful, it gave the drivers conflicting feedback and left them not knowing whether the next corner would demonstrate understeer or oversteer. Honda have suffered from Geoff Willis's departure (what a mistake to make) and upheaval in the engineering department. It looked like Honda may go the same way as Toyota with management by committee, but fortunately they wrestled Ross Brawn from Ferrari. This should be the key to Honda's resurgence. Mr Brawn is extremely talented and should help the team to thrive by setting a good direction for development.
After last year's recalcitrant RA107, the RA108 looks marginally better. Honda have gone back to first principles and developed a plain looking chassis. This is a good step, they need to get to understand their car again before making complicated aero upgrades. Last year, they were throwing parts at the car in the hope that it would help. Hopefully, they will be able to make leaps this year.
It's been terrible to see Jenson Button get so close to having a car which can show his talents (in 2006) and then stumble back. He's super smooth and deserves better, Honda have to deliver soon otherwise it will be a talent wasted. This will probably be Rubens Barrichello's last year, and I don't think he'll be quite as fast as Jenson, but it's great to see that enthusiasm is still there when it would have been so easy to lose heart.
Super Aguri
A few weeks ago it looked like the team would not make it to Melbourne, but thankfully some investment has enabled them to make the flight. They will be using last year's Honda, so I wouldn't expect any fireworks from the team.
Takuma Sato is looking better these days, but was shaded by Anthony Davidson towards the end of last year. In fact Davidson looked the better of the pair overall, but was unlucky to earn less points. Let's hope for better this year, but the RA107 is less than likely to deliver.
Squiffy.
Williams
I am a big fan of the Williams team, ever since they had Nigel Mansell driving for them. They are true racers; Frank Williams and Patrick Head are honest down to earth petrol heads and have not been persuaded, thus far, to allow a corporation to buy into their team. Maybe that was a mistake, as the team have not been close to the front for a few year, but I respect them for it.
Unfortunately, Williams suffered greatly when Adrian Newey left during 1996, and have only added one more driver's title since (and that car would have had Newey's imprint). They have won races, but apart from 2003 and not come close to their heyday. Last year they recovered from their appalling 2006 season, when they finished 8th, to rise to 4th.
Sam Michael, the technical director, seems to have settled into his role and now that the wind tunnel is calibrated correctly, has produced a promising car for this year. So far, the car looks fast and may be in the running for 3rd spot.
Nico Rosberg is a driver with a large amount of talent and hopefully should thrive with a good car underneath him. He seems to enjoy the atmosphere at the team, and personifies the 'Williams' racer. Kazuki Nakajima also shows a turn of speed if somewhat erratic. He will need to calm down and not try too hard, as once labelled as accident prone - the tag will not leave.
Renault
The Renault team should be advancing this year, after a lacklustre 2007. They will have Fernando Alonso back in the fold and that should be a boost, even if he is only around for a year. Renault lost their way last year; after having designed cars around the Michelin tyres they did not effectively change their design for the Bridgestones and suffered badly.
With a great engine and aero team behind them, Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr should be able to run up front, although a third championship for Alonso looks unlikely. Fernando has to undo some of the damage that he did to his reputation last year and buckle down to some stellar performances. Piquet Jr was narrowly beaten to the GP2 championship in 2006 by Lewis Hamilton and so should be competitive, although I doubt whether he will be able to provide Alonso with the headaches from last year.
Toro Rosso
The Red Bull 'B' team will be starting the year with last year's car. This may give them an advantage at the start of the season as they will know the car inside out, and with the reliability problems sorted out they may outgun the 'A' team. The team will move up to the RB4 for the Turkish GP, by which time niggles with the new car should have been laid to rest. I would expect them to drop back at this point before coming back after a few races.
Sebastian Vettel will be at Toro Rosso for a full season. He's a great talent and will no doubt be plucked by one of the bigger teams at the end of the year, maybe alongside Webber at the 'A' team? After watching him at the Race of Champions it's clear that he's a future race winner.
His namesake, Sebastian Bourdais is a 4 times Champ car champion and finally gets his F1 chance. It's a shame that it has taken him so long to achieve his ambition, and I feel that he may struggle after being out of European single seaters for a while. He will have tough competition from Vettel and may find himself eclipsed.
Force India
It's been sad to see the old Jordan team going from championship contenders in 2000 to tail enders via some changes in ownership. It would be great to have EJ back in the frame, maybe as the successor to Max Mosley.
After Midland and Spyker, the team has now become Force India. It should be on the up, Mike Gasgoyne is back as technical director with Mark Smith as chief designer. Vijay Mallya is the millionaire behind Kingfisher lager and a petrol head, since buying the team he's injected money and renewed optimism. Hopefully this will lead the team back up the grid.
Giancarlo Fisichella is back at the team, for a third spell, and will provide some experience alongside the accident prone but fast Adrian Sutil. I expect Fisichella to be a star, bringing the car home higher than it should. How is it that Fisichella excels in middling teams and disappoints in front running teams? I think this will be his last team though. Sutil needs to calm down and show his speed without the excursions on the grass, if he proves to be close to Fisichella he will deserve his place in F1.
Honda
The Honda team had a diabolical 2007. The car was awful, it gave the drivers conflicting feedback and left them not knowing whether the next corner would demonstrate understeer or oversteer. Honda have suffered from Geoff Willis's departure (what a mistake to make) and upheaval in the engineering department. It looked like Honda may go the same way as Toyota with management by committee, but fortunately they wrestled Ross Brawn from Ferrari. This should be the key to Honda's resurgence. Mr Brawn is extremely talented and should help the team to thrive by setting a good direction for development.
After last year's recalcitrant RA107, the RA108 looks marginally better. Honda have gone back to first principles and developed a plain looking chassis. This is a good step, they need to get to understand their car again before making complicated aero upgrades. Last year, they were throwing parts at the car in the hope that it would help. Hopefully, they will be able to make leaps this year.
It's been terrible to see Jenson Button get so close to having a car which can show his talents (in 2006) and then stumble back. He's super smooth and deserves better, Honda have to deliver soon otherwise it will be a talent wasted. This will probably be Rubens Barrichello's last year, and I don't think he'll be quite as fast as Jenson, but it's great to see that enthusiasm is still there when it would have been so easy to lose heart.
Super Aguri
A few weeks ago it looked like the team would not make it to Melbourne, but thankfully some investment has enabled them to make the flight. They will be using last year's Honda, so I wouldn't expect any fireworks from the team.
Takuma Sato is looking better these days, but was shaded by Anthony Davidson towards the end of last year. In fact Davidson looked the better of the pair overall, but was unlucky to earn less points. Let's hope for better this year, but the RA107 is less than likely to deliver.
Squiffy.
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