Down the Lane

The soap opera has started again. Briefly, the news is -
Alonso has a tough skull.
Hamilton a weak stomach and no girlfriend.
Rosberg's having a baby.
They can't alter the design of their helmets any more (even for charity).
They're worried regulation haircuts will be next after the above.
The new tyres are "too hard" or "too soft" depending on who is commenting.
The cars are faster by accident rather than design.
You need to put £8 down for every £1 win if you think Mercedes will win again.
Women can't drive.

Hmmm nicely put Hazell So the season starts on mothers day! The day I am off for a few days hols so I may be very tired driving down Torquay after a silly monring start? Tell me do you know if we are having the live race on the beeb?

No, Australia is highlights again. All the races that are at silly UK hours are highlights only this year, with the BBC showing only ten live.
On the live weekends they're showing P1 to 3, Q1 to 3 and the race all live and for the rest just shortened Qualifying and races. So some weeks it's too much, some not the whole story - again.

There's another woman entered this year. She was last in the lowest possible Formula yet somehow still thinks women are there on merit
At least she's got her looks, if not her brain.

Hazell I know who has won but not yet seen the race! How was it in your view?

You've missed nothing.
The blueberry muffins I guzzled while watching were good, but the result left a bad taste

Frankly, the press conferences have been far better than any track action by miles. Watching lies, more lies and quite a few pants on fire has been comedy gold.

Had such a sad afternoon realising my Olive wasn't well havent posted! So good to see a race live and what an enjoyable one. Did think the penalties were rather harsh though!

The result was harsher from my point of view

good race but how b****y long did it take them to get Max's car out of the way (What a brilliant rookie he is too) so wanted a race restart on the last lap. Nico though did himself no favours with his accusations, am I being thick but of Lewis was slowing down why didn;t Nico attempt to overtake him? Next race life, yippee

You're not being thick, it's a sensible question in a mess of silly ones. He was told not to ruin his tyres (they'd not tried them out on long runs and had no idea how long they would last) and running within two seconds of any other car damages the tyres about 10 to 30% more than the exact same running without a car in front. Basically, Nice was doing as he was told in the briefing. Lewis was being a bit mean but perfectly within the normal remit of any other driver.
Problem is, he works for Mercedes first and Lewis second, but Hamilton just seems to struggle with that fact sometimes.

Interesting article by Button last week - he said Hamilton hasn't signed his contract for 2016 yet because he wants more bonus money (but the same basic pay of about £6m). Button thinks this is a mistake as frankly Toto Wolff could put a trained monkey in that car and still get wins. He thinks Hamilton's too big for his boots when it comes to following orders and remembering he is just another employee at the end of the day.
Hence the pushing of boundaries we saw on sunday, I expect. He's testing his bosses ....

For once I'm a bit on Hamilton's side. Not for the greed factor, but on his perfectly fair (if needlessly mean) tactics. I may have done the same. Official line is they didn't argue, nobody did anything wrong and everyone is best friends again - but in the background Adrian Sutil is getting more car time

By the way, I won the sweep on how long it would take for the drivers to start bickering and the boss to start covering for them Truth is, I just guessed a number of races and halved it

So tired this afternoon! Got home by 4, was worried I would doze but no a really good race. I am a bit confused again though Why did the team keep telling Nico about his brakes then later tyres when he was not far behind Lewis, wouldn't it be clearer if they said do not attempt an overtake? Missed Jensen, what a shame

sandy wrote: Missed Jensen, what a shame

Yes, I expect he's rueing his decision to fight for that drive now. He could be sitting with the wife sipping a beer at home watching rather than giving interviews endlessly making excuses.

Good race, enjoyed it. Not the result so much, but the action. By sheer chance I'd predicted the first three in the right order while at an auction yesterday, though only because I'd confused Kimi with Sebastian (don't tell anyone, they now think I'm a genius!). Had assorted texts tonight calling me an idiot for not having a bet ....

Nico likes as much feedback as he is allowed. The team just tell him what he has to know and what they feel he would want to know, so I guess that's why his messages seemed so odd to us outsiders. Besides that, they aren't allowed "driving advice" like 'speed up in corner 4' any more, just safety advice like 'speed up in corner 4 to avoid brake overheating' so that may have played a part in the messages too.

Today's GP dessert was a very large chocolate and fresh cream trifle.
Delicious.

I'm still super suspicious, sorry Hazell and please do not give me details of winderful food, I am after losing half a stone by christening day May 3rd

sandy wrote:I'm still super suspicious, sorry Hazell

Fair enough, I would be too. Though in this case, over nothing. Being a total nerd I recorded the BBC Forum (it was discussed at length) and then looked up the brakes on F1 cars just to see if the team where telling porkies. They aren't. The Merc brakes have a system that alters them if they overheat. Lewis knew how to switch the system off from inside the car and Nico didn't. Just proves that Lewis is in some ways a far better driver than his team mate as he clearly more pays attention to briefings. They weren't overheating enough to do damage and Lewis was aware of that, Nico just kept driving without thinking it through. With no advice available from the pits now, the team couldn't tell Nico what to do.
The 1st & 3rd will have cost the team millions in points revenue, etc., so they won't be happy either. If they could get a 1 2, they would do.

.... please do not give me details of winderful food, I am after losing half a stone by christening day May 3rd

Sorry. If it helps, I ran it off mucking out, haying up and wrangling 3 horses later on. You can eat pretty much anything when you have horses who think it's funny to gallop about refusing to go to bed and you have to chase them

Seriously Hazell, thanks for the feedback Makes it much more clearer, I used to read Motor sport but at £3.10 bit loathed to now!
Re working off the cake, I am going horse riding for the first time in 'donkeys years' so may suggest I don't get on the horse just chase it around

Canadian GP this weekend, one I'm looking forward to. Love a street circuit, me

Last race I had a double chocolate fresh cream sponge (Sandy - it was VILE!) and this time I'm working on something containing maple syrup for my viewing pleasure. Maybe bacon and syrup ...... (Sandy - it will be VILE whatever I choose. You wouldn't like it and frankly neither will I. Honest.)