Entries in Aitchison (1)
Chinese Checkers
Monday, April 18, 2011 at 11:38AM
Well wasn't that interesting! Like chinese checkers with everyone passing and re-passing and not knowing how it was going to play out. Everyone seems to have enjoyed it, but I found it tough to follow. A number of factors played into that. I did not watch it live, midnight Saturday night here and we were off on a road trip early Sunday, hence no blog. So taped it as SPEED are not letting us record to disc, so quality is bad and graphics unreadable. Finally watched it in bed at 8pm last night after a couple of glasses of red, so not fully on top of my game. Lastly we have Mr. Varsha and co. doing the commentary, and I bet Coulthard and Brundle kept their viewers better informed.
Anyway, I think I am not feeling happy because I don't just want to be entertained, I want to understand what is happening and watch it unfold. To do that now it seems I need to be watching the timing screen and doing a lap chart while trying to watch the race. Doesn't sound much fun to me. Joe Saward said after Malaysia that following the race is not hard because he does a lap chart, but that's his job, not his entertainment. I am struggling to find a comparison. At the moment NASCAR is the closest where who changed how many tires when seems to decide the race. It would be like watching a soccer match where you can sub the players like basketball, and you take Ronaldo off for a spell and then bring him back at the end when the defence is knackered. Probably just me prattling on as an old purist.
Great result for Lewis, and even more amazing for Webber. He did avoid the problems of being in amongst the back end of the grid and drove a great race. "Just doing my job" he says in true Mark fashion. As it seemed in practice the Mercedes are lifting their game, but Ferrari are in trouble. Strangely it is Massa that is handling it better. It is telling when you see the fastest race laps that Trulli in the Lotus was quicker than Alonso! Very good for Lotus, finally beat a mid field team on pace. Pretty amazing that there was only one DNF and that was for a wheel not being put on correctly. There was the same amount of marbles as we will now become used to, but drivers are going out there anyway, especially Webber, it did not seem to faze him. It was interesting that there was probably more overtaking away from the DRS zone than in it, the combination of KERS and tires are having more effect.
Montezemolo says the Ferrari form is totally unacceptable, and in a speech like he was practicing for being President, he said, ""This cannot and must not be the team's level," he said. "It's a very delicate moment. I expect our engineers to act with determination and know-how, unleashing the maximum of their capacity to improve the performance of the car in a short time. I want Ferrari to be at the level that both we and our fans demand it should be." Rah, Rah.
Peter Geran responded to my comments on attendance in China and how it is now a major market for manufacturers, but I believe that has happened in spite of the GP, not because of it. Rumors continue this morning about the Indian F1 track not being finished. Here we go again.
Over in Assen the Checa show hit a speed bump in the first race with Rea winning on the Honda, but normal service resumed in the second race and Carlos now has a handy lead in the Championship. BMW fared better in the race than practice, but that's not saying much. Good to see young Australian Mark Aitchison finish tenth in the first race, his best finish in his rookie season on not the most competitive machine.
I caught a few minutes of the Long Beach ALMS race at odd times on live streaming, and there always seemed to be a caution out. Very sad race. Why not just run a GT Championship and get the other cars out of the way for them?
Anyway, I think I am not feeling happy because I don't just want to be entertained, I want to understand what is happening and watch it unfold. To do that now it seems I need to be watching the timing screen and doing a lap chart while trying to watch the race. Doesn't sound much fun to me. Joe Saward said after Malaysia that following the race is not hard because he does a lap chart, but that's his job, not his entertainment. I am struggling to find a comparison. At the moment NASCAR is the closest where who changed how many tires when seems to decide the race. It would be like watching a soccer match where you can sub the players like basketball, and you take Ronaldo off for a spell and then bring him back at the end when the defence is knackered. Probably just me prattling on as an old purist.
Great result for Lewis, and even more amazing for Webber. He did avoid the problems of being in amongst the back end of the grid and drove a great race. "Just doing my job" he says in true Mark fashion. As it seemed in practice the Mercedes are lifting their game, but Ferrari are in trouble. Strangely it is Massa that is handling it better. It is telling when you see the fastest race laps that Trulli in the Lotus was quicker than Alonso! Very good for Lotus, finally beat a mid field team on pace. Pretty amazing that there was only one DNF and that was for a wheel not being put on correctly. There was the same amount of marbles as we will now become used to, but drivers are going out there anyway, especially Webber, it did not seem to faze him. It was interesting that there was probably more overtaking away from the DRS zone than in it, the combination of KERS and tires are having more effect.
Montezemolo says the Ferrari form is totally unacceptable, and in a speech like he was practicing for being President, he said, ""This cannot and must not be the team's level," he said. "It's a very delicate moment. I expect our engineers to act with determination and know-how, unleashing the maximum of their capacity to improve the performance of the car in a short time. I want Ferrari to be at the level that both we and our fans demand it should be." Rah, Rah.
Peter Geran responded to my comments on attendance in China and how it is now a major market for manufacturers, but I believe that has happened in spite of the GP, not because of it. Rumors continue this morning about the Indian F1 track not being finished. Here we go again.
Over in Assen the Checa show hit a speed bump in the first race with Rea winning on the Honda, but normal service resumed in the second race and Carlos now has a handy lead in the Championship. BMW fared better in the race than practice, but that's not saying much. Good to see young Australian Mark Aitchison finish tenth in the first race, his best finish in his rookie season on not the most competitive machine.
I caught a few minutes of the Long Beach ALMS race at odd times on live streaming, and there always seemed to be a caution out. Very sad race. Why not just run a GT Championship and get the other cars out of the way for them?