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ITV’s Farewell Montage

No matter what you think of ITV’s coverage since 1997 this weekend marks the end of an era. The ITV Sport / North One Productions people had the rug pulled out from under them when the top brass decided to cancel the contract two years early and grab more football rights instead.

During the qualifying show today they aired this goodbye piece, which will undoubtedly be in the pre-race show as well. It starts off being the usual downhearted ‘sorry to be leaving’ thing (and your heart sinks when you hear that damned song again)… clips of Lewis “when I was a young boy”… and then they have a bit of fun!

Great to see a sense of humour from the ITV team, I wish they’d shown it a little earlier. The sudden stop halfway through to show the words “place commercial here” after all the shit they’ve been through with timing of ads, the reposte from James Allen to the criticisms of basically every internet forum and blog around, and the F1 community saying when you’re gone we’ll carry on.. Lewis’ face when Steve sings!

Nice to hear Murray Walker again, and a reminder of how good Allen was in the pitlane role.

Cool way to bow out. I hope they have a longer version to close out the coverage tomorrow because so much Formula 1 history has occurred since their eventful first season and this version only covers a tiny part of it.

For 2009 ITV’s racing activities are limited to live British Touring Cars on ITV4, as with this season. I hope they are able to develop that coverage a little more – and it’s pretty good already.

Goodbye ITV, and thanks.

I’ll see if I can dig up some more YouTube links of ITV’s history in F1 for posting from Monday onwards, as a send-off for them. I’ll also post a little overview of their good and bad points over the years as I will remember them going forwards.

Qualifying: Brazilian GP 2008

A change of plans means I’m here for qualifying rather than watching away from home. Golfing in heavy rain is not fun plus its bloody cold outside..

ITV’s coverage started at 3.10pm. Some of their pre-qual show will be repeated before the race and I’ll cover it then.

A group has gathered with Coulthard. Just away from them, Gil de Ferran is talking to Louise, he says DC is one of the best British drivers of all time, or who has ever lived. Ha! No he isn’t!

ITV doing a season recap complete with dramatic music. Maybe I would feel more awake if I’d shaved today. Now they are talking to Jenson – maybe he would have had a better season if he’d shaved that stupid beard away. He says they’ve been working on the 2009 car since last year because they already knew the ’08 car wasn’t very good! Everyone is shooting at ’09 because of the regulation changes.

ITV are showing a recap of their 12 years of covering F1. Unfortunately they are using My Chemical Romance as the backing track. Oh no… they’ve got people from F1 miming the words! Ha! That’s funny AND cringeworthy at the same time. Hopefully someone will put it on YouTube so I can include it here later in the week.

We’re live with commentary now at 3.58pm. Listen to the crowd! Like a football stadium. Only at Interlagos! THIS is why it should stay as the final round of the championship, none of that glossy corporate bullshit here. Abu Dhabi might look great but it won’t have this atmosphere. They are apparently showing shots of Hamilton and Massa on the big screens and getting this reaction.

This is the shortest lap of the season at just over 70 seconds.

Qualifying 1 (20 mins, 20 drivers, any fuel load)
4pm, green light, Piquet is the first car on track.

Piquet sets the first time at 1:13.208.
Barrichello is wearing a differently-coloured helmet this weekend in respect of his mentor, ex driver, some guy from the 70s who I’ve not heard of before.

Massa is on track, crowd go wild! Hamilton leaves the pits.

13 minutes to go and 9 drivers have set a time, Trulli is fastest.

Massa’s first lap puts him 3rd. Kovalainen is 2nd. Raikkonen 6th. Hamilton’s first lap puts him top, just. The top teams may not be using new tyres, they should get through this stage without them but may go again with a set in a minute.

Alonso is on track. As usual the BMWs are leaving it until the last minute.
There’s a spun Toyota causing a yellow at turn one. Glock. You can’t improve your time under yellow so that’ll ruin a few people’s runs.

BMW are out on track as pretty much everyone else pits, so they have a nice clear track. Still they only get 11th and 14th.

5 minutes to go, who is not going to make it?
Rosberg, Coulthard, Fisichella, Bourdais and Sutil so far.

Helmet cam from Coulthard!
Brundle says it needs to be a touch higher so you get the driver’s eye view of peering over the chassis. DC goes 12th.

Massa is going again for some reason, he is 5th and not in danger. Feeling the grip? Changing the car?
Massa goes fastest, there’s a roar from the crowd!

2mins to go, cars are pouring out of the pits for their final run.

Chequered flag, drivers on a lap can complete their run.
Cars are streaming across the line one after the other.

Massa fastest at 1:11.830, then Raikkonen, Hamilton, Alonso, Glock, Trulli, Piquet, Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Kubica, Vettel, Webber, Bourdais, Barrichello and Coulthard for the top 15.
Knocked out are Nakajima, Button, Rosberg, Fisichella and Sutil.

Both Williams are out! Rubens made it through. Kovy will need to do better if he’s going to be rear-gunner to Hamilton, he’ll be needed to fight off Alonso tomorrow.

ITV have time for a quick ad break and a chat to Mark in the paddock.

Qualifying 2 (15 mins, 15 drivers, any fuel load)
Back to James and Martin, we see Button chatting to a photographer, James says ‘we think he ran out of fuel just a few hundred yards before the pits’. Speculation that Bruno Senna may be at Honda next season.

Green light and both Toyotas are first to jump.
Talk of fuel loads. You have to take a lot of fuel out at this track to have any difference on lap time because of the short lap. Also the teams want to avoid the soft tyre tomorrow.

Meanwhile this is the low-fuel banzai session to make the top ten. Glock sets the first time in 1:12.331.
Massa, Kimi and Lewis are on track. Each take turns as fastest.

Louise with Rosberg, he says they knew they’d have trouble with tyres graining but not that bad.
8mins to go and positions are changing every ten seconds!
Glock goes 3rd. Brundle says something like that is going to happen today, a Glock or Alonso getting up there amongst it, among the title fight.

The track is dry and has been throughout. Rain is expected at some stage tomorrow.

On the bubble at the moment are Bourdais, Kubica, Webber, Coulthard and Barrichello but we’re talking fractions of a second behind the rest of them. This is CLOSE. Anyone could be knocked out. The top 14 are within 1 second of 1st. Kovalainen goes fastest!

McLaren and Ferrari are sending Lewis and Kimi out, Felipe has stayed in. They wouldn’t normally do this but it is so close at this track they can’t take the risk.

Short quiet period as people refuel, change tyres, or are on out-laps. 2 minutes to go.

Kimi stays P5. Hmm. Heidfeld aborts.

VETTEL 2ND!! As the chequered flag waves Sebastian takes 2nd position, amazing. Nobody else is improving on their earlier times.

Bourdais up to P8, knocking out Piquet. Kubica is also out. Hamilton aborted his lap and pitted. Martin suggests he may have just been putting a heat cycle through the tyres.

Kovalainen was fastest on 1:11.768, then Vettel, Hamilton, Massa, Glock, Raikkonen, Heidfeld, Bourdais, Alonso and Trulli.
Knocked out were Piquet, Webber, Kubica, Coulthard and Barrichello.

Both RBRs are out and both STRs made it through – again!

ITV take a quick ad break while the top ten add race fuel.
Chat with Coulthard, who is struggling with graining tyres and not happy to be out already. See what he can do tomorrow.

Qualifying 3 (10 mins, 10 drivers, race fuel)
Green light, short pause before Toyota is again the first to jump with Glock.

Martin says this is a rewarding race track, you’ve got to attack it and get it right. It’s narrower than most new tracks and that’s a good thing, it makes the cars look faster and dominate the track.

Glock’s first time is 1:14.311, Vettel smashes that with a 1:13.155. Times are slower because of the extra fuel.

Hamilton and Massa on track at the same time, Massa to cross the line first. He’s quickest in 1:12.453. Hamilton is 3rd in 1:13.252. Massa could be going light to secure pole.
Hamilton has dropped to 6th with other cars improving, he did have a wiggle in turn 2.

The crowd are going crazy! Massa has pitted and is going again. Everyone on their out laps for the final run. Massa will cross the line first, then Hamilton, Kimi and Heikki.

Massa improves to 1:12.368
Hamilton 1:12.830
Kimi 1:12.825 for 2nd
Alonso 5th
Trulli goes 2nd!!
Heikki takes 5th, he improved but not by enough.

Massa in 1:12.368, then Trulli, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Alonso, Vettel, Heidfeld, Bourdais and Glock.

Massa smokes them by half of a second. Hamilton starts alongside Raikkonen, with Alonso directly behind him.
Expect Trulli to pit early tomorrow, probably Massa too. How will that play out if it rains?

Press conf (heavily edited highlights):
Massa – “So nice to be here. We have 73 laps tomorrow which is very long but it is always better to start on pole. I will try to do my best tomorrow to win the race.”
Trulli, Toyota’s first front-row start since 2005 – “I thought I wasn’t going to make it for Friday because I was feeling really bad.” He thanks the engineers and doctor. “I really played my cards during qualifying, saved my tyres. It shows the progress made by Toyota during this season. Our car could be good tomorrow but we need temperature, we need sun!”
Raikkonen – “I did more or less what I was suppose to do. I prefer to be 3rd than 2nd, here it is a good place to start.”

Kimi’s talking about the run to the first corner. You can expect someone to be pushed a long way outside if they are on the right-hand side of the grid – like Hamilton is.

Louise with Lewis, worried about Massa on pole? – “I’m not worried. I just need to bring the car home in the points.” He talks too quickly and I can’t pause live TV so that’s all you’re getting from him.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to David Coulthard as a driver (and maybe Rubens Barrichello), to ITV as British broadcaster of F1, to those stupid grooved tyres, and to decent-looking F1 cars. Next year we will have BBC, slick tyres and crazy wings. I’ll be writing about all of these changes over the coming weeks.

If the atmosphere was this good today, imagine tomorrow! You are NOT going to miss this one.

I’m off to watch Simon Cowell make a fool of himself on X Factor. Enjoy the race!

Brazil – update

Just a few notes on what’s going on down in Brazil at the moment.

Title Decider
F1’s points system runs 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 and Lewis Hamilton has a 7 point lead over Felipe Massa. They are tied on 5 wins apiece.

This is what LEWIS HAMILTON needs in order to win the title:

Finish in the top five (even if Massa wins).
Alternatively: Massa to finish 3rd or lower no matter where Hamilton places.

That’s it. Sounds easy, right? Last year proved it isn’t.

This is what FELIPE MASSA needs in order to win the title:

Finish 1st with Hamilton 6th or worse (tiebreaker on wins per below).
Finish 2nd with Hamilton 8th or worse.
Finishing 3rd will only give him 6 points so won’t cover the existing deficit.

If Hamilton finishes 6th and Massa wins the race it is a tie on points and the title would go to Massa based on number of wins.

It is worth remembering that if they are tied on points and tied on wins the title will be decided on the ‘quality of results’ system. That’s the number of 2nd-place finishes, if it is still a deadlock it goes to # of 3rds, and all the way down until a winner is found.

Ferrari have an 11 point lead over McLaren. For McLaren to win the Constructors’ title they need to outscore Ferrari by 12 points which just isn’t going to happen realistically is it? They do need to keep tabs on BMW who can take 2nd position from them – Kovalainen needs to be on his game as do the two BMW drivers.

My prediction: Massa to win the race, Hamilton to finish on the podium and take the title. It won’t ‘feel’ right if the title-winner isn’t on the podium, always a nice symmetry and he gets to celebrate with the crowd. Ferrari will get the Constructors’ title.

Weather
The forecast for the weekend is for showers, indeed FP2 was held in such conditions. It will rain tomorrow but maybe not during qualifying, though the track may already be wet. Showers are possible during the race on Sunday.

Hamilton is great in the wet and the Mclaren is more suited to it than the Ferrari. The outcome of the title could depend on which Felipe Massa turns up. There’s the guy who was quick in the wet in Monaco, and the guy who threw it away (5 times) at Silverstone. I think the former will appear with this being his home race.

Let’s hope this fight isn’t decided by a Safety Car or a stewards’ decision.

One thing to note if it does rain heavily is that last time it did, in 2003, a large river of water crossed the track after the Senna ‘S’, creating the most expensive parking area for damaged cars in the world. The track has been resurfaced since ’03 so hopefully that won’t happen again.

Check this for a review of ’03 (with crappy music), featuring lots of overtaking, Montoya’s great driving and the two huge crashes which ended the race:

If it rains on Sunday let’s hope we get the great racing without the big crashes!

David Coulthard
This will be David Coulthard’s last Formula 1 Grand Prix. To mark the occasion his car has been painted in the colours of Red Bull’s own charity, Wings For Life. F1 teams are not allowed to run cars in two colour schemes without unanimous agreement from the team bosses (you might remember BAR trying that in 1999 and having to run that ridiculous livery with 555 on one side and Lucky Strike on the other). This time it is all for a good cause as well as DC being a popular paddock figure, so they of course agreed.

David remains with Red Bull as chief test driver and consultant, and a strong persistent rumour since July has been that he’ll join the BBC’s broadcast team in one role or another and will attend each race in that capacity. I look forward to it – he can be funny and outspoken!

Helmet Cam
The Straw Poll column at Autosport.com reports that F1 will be trying out the Helmet Cam this weekend, similar to the one pioneered in Champ Car a few years ago. I remember seeing the view from Paul Tracy at Long Beach and being amazed at the acceleration of the car! I can’t wait to see the F1 version.
Read the whole of that column for Friday (it is daily during F1 weekends) for a brilliant story of the Canadian Formula Una girl’s application for a visa!

I’ll see you for the notes after the race on Sunday, which will be the last race I watch live this season (before I hit my big pile of recordings!).
I’d like to do notes on qualifying to mark the end of season but I’ll have been chasing a little white ball around a golf course. We’ll be rushing back to watch qualifying and it’ll be away from a PC.

Enjoy the race!

Preview: 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix

Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo, Brazil

The circuit is more widely known as Interlagos, which is the original name of the track and means ‘between the lakes’. It was renamed thirty years ago for a Brazilian driver killed in a plane crash – Pace scored his only F1 win at Interlagos.

Click the link above to see the track layout in the 1970s compared to the layout today. This week you’ll hear the drivers speak of the direction of travel being an issue on their neck muscles. It is rare in Formula 1 to have an anti-clockwise track which I’m sure your average NASCAR or IndyCar driver would find quite funny…
Normally the drivers train for lots of right-handers on a clockwise track, they have to train specifically for this track (and now these days Istanbul as well) which runs the other way, and particularly because of the long, steep uphill left-hander at the end of the circuit, beginning at Junção.

The track itself is notorious for being the bumpiest of the season, something which was largely cured last season after a complete relaying of the asphalt, though many bumps still remained. They may well appear again this year! The facilities in general are not up to scratch per F1 standards, however because it isn’t a European track nobody seems to mind so much. Under an agreement signed in March the GP will remain at Interlagos under the proviso that pit and paddock facilities are improved over the coming years.

There are also frequent crime problems with members of the Toyota team being mugged a few years ago and similar incidents reported from time to time.

The Brazilian GP was often held at the beginning of the year and was the season-opener until 1996 when Melbourne took over, relegating Sau Paulo to 2nd event. In 2004 Brazil was moved to the end of the year, being the season closer every year since except for 2005. In 2009 the new Abu Dhabi circuit is scheduled to be the finale with Interlagos being the preceding event.

Ferrari have walked the last two runnings of this event, however McLaren hold the most wins with 11 to Ferrari’s 9 and Williams’ 6. This is assuming Wikipedia is correct which isn’t guaranteed.

Felipe Massa these days is largely untouchable at his home track so I would expect him to dominate this weekend, however it depends on how his head holds. Lewis Hamilton faces the same problem but more so, since he threw it away last year with a mistake before a gearbox problem ended his race anyway. That sort of thing has got to mess with your head even if only a little bit.
I also expect Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso to play a large part in this race, with Robert Kubica and maybe Nick Heidfeld also getting amongst it. The rest won’t be able to live with the pace.

I’ll be back in a day or two with the points break-down and what Lewis and Felipe have to do to win the World Championship.

I think this race is pretty favourable to most people around the world, though maybe not the Antipodeans. That means there’s no excuses, you have to watch this race live alongside f1.com live timing!
(you do need to register for free and have Java installed, I suggest doing so before the weekend)

Qualifying is at 2pm local, 11am US EST, 4pm UK, 5pm CET.

Racing begins at 3pm local, Midday US EST, 5pm UK, 6pm CET. Check your listings because you want to watch the pre-race show, right?

NOTE FOR UK VIEWERS: THIS IS ITV’S LAST F1 BROADCAST
(Aussies, Kiwis, Canucks and Springboks who take James & Martin’s coverage note that you’ll probably get the BBC feed next season)