Never Never Formula One

The Circus has truly come to town or is that "gone to town" or "painted the circus town red", well I don't know...

Japan. Three penalties over the race, all of them pure racing incidents. No penalty required. No, really. Hamilton fluffed his start, panicked, out braked himself, didn't actually take any other driver out of the race, didn't deserve a penalty.
Massa defended his position (rigorously for sure) against Hamilton, nobody knocked out of the race, no penalty required. Okay maybe a fine then.
Bourdais comes out of the pits with the right of way, Massa quite clearly in the wrong (according to the pit exit rules and etiquette) crowds Bourdais, they touch, Massa spins (and gets his own penalty), nobody is hurt, cars still racing, no penalty required, specially not against Bourdais for racing's sake!
While we're giving out penalties, why wasn't Mark Webber given one for dangerous driving? Massa lined him up along the straight and Webber progressively moved him across the pit exit, it was pretty dangerous from Webberski and very ballsey from Massa. Supposedly you're allowed one move to defend your position, Mark clearly went over the line (ha, ha!) with that incident. The stewards correctly chose not to award penalties in this case. They could have issued a penalty to the race organizer though - for having a pit lane just right there in the way though.

We are both racing this weekend (Jon & Deric) at Eastern Creek. I know my two correspondents have been quiet this year (one article each, puh!) and probably nobody reads this drivel anyway but Jon had this to say in an email...

"....Racing at the creek this weekend will have no overtaking anywhere as we will all get a stop go penalty for getting within 4 meters of another kart. F1 now dictates that all motor racing from karts to F1 can not have overtaking unless you are waved thru by the car / kart in front. If the driver of that car/kart does not wave you thru you must keep behind that car/ kart . As per FIA directive you must wait until the car/kart in front has reliability problems and has to pull to the side of the track.
However when the kart pulls to the side of the track or enters the pits you must get out and shake hands with the driver of that car/kart and say thank you for relinquishing the position . You then may proceed to continue racing . However if the handshake is not deemed sincere you will receive a 30 min penalty added to your placing in the race. The 30 mins is applicable to all racing even a 10 min karting heat. AKA have informed drivers that Max knows best and will apply the rule without consultation.
So motor racing will no longer have any controversy.

Now I have been a staunch F1 supporter for many a year, Dad Werth dragged me kicking and screaming to my first F1 race way back in 1974 when I was about ?? years old when the Brabham of Carlos Rueteman won. I was hooked even before that and I've been hooked since. A Ferrari 312T toy was my favorite possession for years.

Since telly became available I've rarely missed a race, probably a few here and there in my traveling years and that is likely never to change. But. The penalty frenzy we find ourselves in at the moment is a bit hard to take, in the instance when a driver/drivers have been involved in an altercation and they still continue to race (as in all three aforementioned drama's from the Japanese weekend) there should be no investigation, no penalty. If a driver is knocked out of the race then he should be fined and huge amount. If Lewis is earning 10 million a year then fine him 1 million - or deduct championship points. That will mature his driving quite quickly. If the team monumentally screws up ala Ferrari in the pit lane recently, don't shag the driver, take away championship points from the team.

The very fabric of Formula One is being torn up, silly penalties, constricting rules, a single engine formula is being slated for 2010 for fu, 'er racing sakes! We already have all these single engine formula's, A1 GP which is failing and not attracting a big audience, Indy car all powered but Honda's or Toyota's - I can't recall - whatever they struggle from year to year to attract the big numbers.

F1 is about super technology, breaking the barriers (not the armco), so much of F1 tech has filtered down into the cars we drive today and if they keep restricting the formula so much it's going to lose it's appeal. Max and Bernie have to go. They are old and out of touch, probably both jittering fools on the road driving 50 kay's under the speed limit, no wonder they want to slow thing's down, ooooh Bernie it's all too fast. Tossers.

We need to establish a NEW FORMULA. The car needs to have four wheels (!), it is not allowed to be bigger than "this" size box, engines are restricted to 2.5L but do what you need to do with BUT they need to comply with emissions and fuel economy guidelines. Big slick tyres from one manufacturer but only three compounds all available at each race and the compounds are set for the year. The emphasis will be on mechanical grip, I mean how often do you use your road car where it becomes necessary for the aero to kick and keep you glued to the corners at 4G? Karts have nil to zippo aero but have huge slicks (relatively speaking), are massively (!) light and go like the clappers around corners. It is effectively what an F1 car should be.

Maybe that's what the formula should be, huge car size karts? Mmm then they'll start complaining about the no seatbelts thing for sure....

Oh well whatever I'm looking forward to F1 in China this weekend regardless, I'll miss the qualifying on telly though because Jon an I will be at Eastern Creek doing some real racing, it's my track (racing) debut for this season, I have Jon's HOT Yamaha 100cc engine bolted to the Arrow chassis and a brand new set of MG red tyres but it's been since December '07 that I've actually raced, the nerves are building up already!

Jon is racing in the clutched TAG 125 class and is looking to kick some derriere after a DNF in the final of his last outing at Oran Park. If you happen to be in the country you're more than welcome to pop in and have a look at the action. Our "Paddock Club" may not be F1 standards but you'll only be a couple of meters from the track and if I put your name on the entry form you can even wonder around the outgrid and make sure I get a good start for my heats and final...I'll post some pics after the meeting....

....and the budget for the weekend for NNKR (Never Never Kart Racing by the way) - it wouldn't even get you good grandstand seat for the Chinese GP.....