I’m writing this just as Massa prematurely leaves the pitbox with the fuel hose still attached! This isn’t the first incident this year, there have been numerous other pitlane related errors, something that wouldn’t have happened when Todt, Brawn and Schumacher were around… and I suspect when a traditional lollipop was still in use.

Think of it logically, if you have one big carbon fibre board which has “STOP” and “1st GEAR”, along with the pre-requisite advertisers’ logos.. it’s quite impossible for the driver to miss it. Even if it were pulled up early by mistake, it is easy for the lollipop man to actually just drop it back down in front of the driver, thereby stopping the driver.

But if the LEDs have already indicated a go, is the driver still gonna be looking at the overhead lights? I doubt it… so Ferrari.. Suck it up.. bring back the lollipop!

related links: F1-Live: Ferrari denies need to ‘lollipop’ return

** Update: Looks like Ferrari reverted to a lollipop on Raikonnen’s second stop.. I didn’t catch the other stops though…

It’s been revealed on Autosport that Sepang now too wants a night race and is reportedly working with the same team of people who are responsible for setting up Singapore’s lighting system.

Now, it’s known that Singapore has always tried to do a ‘one up’ on Malaysia. And generally, they’ve succeeded in outdoing Malaysia. Two most recent examples come to mind:

• The Eye on Malaysia (an obvious knockoff of the 135 metre high London Eye), a 60 metre ferris wheel has Singapore’s 150 metre Singapore Flyer to contend with.
• Then there’s the Singapore Grand Prix, which will be the first night race in Formula 1’s history.

The Singapore Grand Prix has already been dubbed as the Monaco of the East, and yet we have yet to even see F1 cars race in anger there. So, not wanting to be outdone, Sepang has also announced plans to run a night race, preferably in 2009. A case of too little, too late? Not only that… it just screams of “ME TOOO!! I WANT SOME ATTENTION!!!”

Doesn’t it remind you of something? “Ooo.. everyone has a sent a man into space, we can’t be left out! Let’s call ours an Angkasawan and let him hitch a ride with a Russian spacecraft!” Nevermind that we don’t have any program that deserves nor warrants the word ’space’ in front of it…

Sigh… When will there be some form of creative thought and initiative from our ‘higher ups’?

Yes, F1 fans. Time for me to piss you off again. But this time, I’ll be nice. I promise. Again, I know nothing about F1, but Foxtrot told me that Singapura is going to have a street track like in Monaco. I immediately had doubts over how successful it will be (even though it’s the 2nd time). Below, I give my reasons why I doubt it will succeed.

1. The drivers will need to get cashcards to enter the restricted zones.

2. The team will have to stock up on parking coupons whenever their drivers come into the pitstop.

3. The speed limit, cameras and cops will kill the game.

4. They’ll get fined for driving and drinking. (get it?)

Michael Schumacher and family were on their way to the airport in a taxi. They were running late and Schumi decided to take the wheel.

…the former Formula One ace, plus his wife and two children, caught a taxi back to the airport they were short on time and, after a polite request, cab driver Tuncer Yilmaz watched in wonder as Schumacher took the wheel.

I bet the taxi driver woke up thinking that his day would be as usual as the rest. And he even got a tip for it!  AFP has the full story.

WAHAHAHAHahHAHAHAHAH!!! ROFL!!! MUAHAHAHAH WAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!! AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…*ouch my side hurts*… WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAAHHAHA!!!!!!

*wiping tears from eyes*… read here… ok…I think I got all the laughter out of my system…

Nope…

WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHA!!!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

Michael Schumacher is coming out of retirement… but to test for Ferrari in their upcoming test in Barcelona, Spain. According to Ferrari, “It’s half for pleasure, half for technical reasons”.

Whatever it is, it will be interesting to see what his lap times are, after a year on the sidelines. Whilst he was driving, he was always known to drive at 101%.. and nothing less.

Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen have really endeared themselves to their respective teams. I wonder, which of the current crop of drivers are going to be as well-liked by their teams when they retire. So far only Lewis Hamilton comes to mind…

Kimi’s done it! He’s done the seemingly impossible, and won this year’s world championship! They say anything can happen in Formula 1, and it usually does! The curse of the commentator strikes Lewis Hamilton as James Allen mentioned:

He’s not had a mechanical failure all year, which is remarkable, but he has had three strokes of bad luck: the tyre mistake in Germany, the tyre failure in Turkey and the tyre disaster in China.

While not exactly a mechanical failure, but a mechanical problem nonetheless. James Allen could well be the next Murray Walker…

Ferrari have walked away with a 1-3 result from the Chinese GP. Woohoo! Wet races always produce the best racing as teams and drivers gamble with their strategy and tyre choice. Fuji and Shanghai are classic example of this. The FIA should consider artificially wetting a track at random every season!

Lewis Hamilton didn’t score at all this race. And I personally think it is a result of McLaren hedging their bets again, just like they did with Kimi when he had flat spotted his tyre back at the European GP in 2005. Lewis admitted as much, telling Louise Goodman that he was waiting for the right time to switch over and was in fact coming in for a fresh set of tyres when he slid off at the entry to the pitlane. A case of being a little too late?

The current championship tally of Hamilton - 107, Alonso - 103 and Raikkonen - 100 means that we head to Brazil with 3 drivers still in contention for the World Championship. It is still an uphill task for both Alonso and Raikkonen with Raikkonen needing another (preferably) Hamilton DNF, which we all know is quite impossible. But this is still F1, and stranger things have happened. The last race of the season is gonna be electrifying.

Special mention goes to Sebastian Vettel who redeemed himself quite well after Fuji. And to Scuderia Toro Rosso, who got both cars home in the points, ahead of their ‘A team’ Red Bull Racing.

Luca di Montezemolo wants an apology from the FIA for not making all teams properly aware of the extreme wet tyre change just before the start of the race. I’m curious. While it is true that the way they informed the teams may have been flawed, but it was Ferrari’s choice to pick the wet instead of extreme wet tyres.

In those conditions, and from what they saw (James Allen commentated that it was raining 36 hours nonstop), was it likely that they would need wets (for all intents and purposes, the intermediates)? I wouldn’t have thought so. So, equally Ferrari is at fault.

The FIA has already said they will amend the way the delivery of the information will be made in the future. But what’s an apology going to do? Give Raikkonen 10 points?

I hope Ross Brawn is coming back next year. Ferrari misses him.

… and calls him a recluse.

That’s how strained relations have been between the McLaren boss and Alonso. Now, who still believes that Alonso will be seeing out his contract?

If you’re interested in reading the WHOLE transcript, get it here. Go to ITV-F1 for a summary.

Does Alonso need to behave in this manner? No. I really don’t know what he’s thinking. But McLaren are one of the best teams to be in. Renault is not McLaren, and neither is Toyota (which are also rumoured to be interested in Alonso). A different driver would’ve done his ‘talking’ on the track, by beating Hamilton. Many people question Michael Schumacher’s greatness, because he was never in a situation where his teammates were allowed to race him equally. Well, if Alonso was expecting that sort of treatment, I doubt McLaren are the team for him. Maybe if his name was Ayrton Senna…. I think Senna was the only driver that Ron Dennis ever gave any leeway to. Oh, and Mika Hakkinen.