"That would be suicidal"...

So it's been quite a dark day for F1 really.
The news that Sky will broadcast all the races, whilst the BBC will only have half, is to me devastating.

It's been threatened for years that F1 might not be on any free to air channel but I think the main shock wave is that the fans had no idea at all it was going to happen.
No prior warning or even rumours.

I woke up this morning to find the whole of the F1 world upside down and a little bit in tatters.

The things that upset me the most was some fans lack of sympathy to people who can't afford to purchase Sky Sports. 

"and for those that can't afford Sky? >>> Tough luck. You are stuffed. Nothing more to add really."

Thanks.

I'm glad people who have Sky or Virgin and who CAN afford to have Sky sports. Can watch the F1. I don't begrudge them that.

What I do begrudge is that some people just can't afford Sky sports and £300-600 a year is A LOT of money to most people. That's rent or food or bill money.

Don't rub it in our faces that we haven't got the money to afford to watch the one thing we love. Your lucky. 

Then Jake Humphrey didn't manage the situation well.

I know he is just the face of the show but for three years Jake has put on the persona of someone who deeply cares about this sport. 

So to say this on his twitter wasn't his best move.

"The important thing is - BBC are still transmitting F1, every race will be accessible in the UK...AND WE'RE LIVE TOMORROW! #bbcf1"

Yeah great. The races will be accessible but only on the radio or with edited highlights later. 

Any F1 die hard, Including Jake should know that we want to see the races LIVE.

Edited highlights just won't do. If you wait for highlights you have to avoid all media if you don't want to know the result. That's not going to happen for all the races. 

We know the BBC paid way too much for F1 back when the deal was stuck. We know that the UK is in bad economic times. We know the BBC had to save money.

Surely there was a better way then losing half the Formula One season.

Take shows away from BBC Three. (I say some not all the shows are bad). Don't move the whole of the BBC up to Salford and don't send every BBC member ever to exist to the Olympics in 2012. (Yes I am still bitter over the fact I didn't ANY Olympics tickets)

Especially when Formula One is at it's peak television-ally wise and the BBC F1 coverage is second to none. 

Sky will have a lot to do to make Formula One just as amazing as the BBC. I do hope they succeed. 

I'm ending this post with the words of Bernie Ecclestone and a dark day for Formula One and fans. 

"Sky is doing an incredible job, but if you look at their audience they are nowhere. With these figures it would be almost impossible for teams to find sponsors. That would be suicidal." - Bernie Ecclestone, May 10th 2011.

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F1 Fitty of the week.

Since he had a bad week last weekend.
I mean a fourth place finish is just tragic considering his recent winning streak. (Please detect the hint of sarcasm in that sentence)
So to cheer him up.

My fitty of the week is Sebastian Vettel.

Now this blonde haired, blue eyed German.
Is just  twenty four years old, so there is still years of beautiful-ness to come.

But Sebastian is not just a cute, pretty face.
Oh no... He is also the youngest Formula One champion ever.
Not only that but he is the youngest Formula One race winner, youngest person to drive a race and youngest pole sitter. I could go on with all of Sebastian's record achievements, but I would be here all day.

So not only is Sebastian young and pretty but he is also fast too.
On Top Gear UK last month Vettel became the fastest Formula One driver in a reasonably priced car, beating the old stig and old timer Rubens Barrichello.


One of the best things about Sebastian though has to be his sense of humour.
The stereotype is that German's don't tend have a sense of humour but after years of watching British comedies like Faulty towers and Little Britain. I think we can say Sebastian knows how to have a laugh or two.
I like to think the British helped with that.


Joking with Alonso.


Joking about blow up dolls.
(My twitter friend took this video. Follow her at PeachyF1 on twitter)

But like most Formula One drivers they do have hidden talents.
Playing the guitar is Sebastian's.

Or maybe not...
Maybe less time winning some races and more time practicing Sebastian. :)

So Sebastian Vettel.
Cute, pretty, funny, fast and talented.
What more would you what out of a F1 Fitty of the week?

Worst F1 fashion. Part One

So after much discussion.
The first post of worst F1 fashion is here.
The reason for the split of posts is quite simple.

It's because worst F1 fashion will continue to run and run. Mainly because Formula One drivers and bosses have no fashion taste, so I don't think this will be my last post on it.

So a few days ago I asked on people on Facebook and Twitter to name or show me the worst F1 fashion they could remember.
Some honest and strange requests appeared.
My personal favourite weird request was David Coulthard's chin.
(Sadly something nature gave him could not be in the list.)

These however were the more eye blinding choices.

Kimi Raikkonen
And the awful trucker hat.



David Coulthard
And the skinny white jeans.



Of course Eddie Jordan shirts were a popular choice.



Shower curtains and carpets are never safe when Eddie is about.

My personal choice is this monstrosity from Michael Schumacher.

Last time I checked the cowboy look was only seen in the westerns.

But the of course the winner of Worst F1 fashion. Part One is...
(Drum roll)

Flavio Briatore.

Warning: Your eyes may never recover from seeing Flavio's mailbag.
*Shivers*

I did sorry for the photographer who took this photo.
Mainly because they are now blind.

But then I remembered.
They inflicted this photo to the F1 world.
And for that I don't think they can be forgiven.

Got more Worst F1 fashion to share?
Message me on twitter at @squiffany or comment below.

The Alonso advert.

So Fernando Alonso is on our Telly box lately doing some promoting for the new Fiat 500 twin air.
Now what I love... is the version of Fernando Alonso the Brits get.

So this is what the Italians get.


This is what the Spanish get.


And this what the UK gets.


Now I have a slight suspicion (Detect the sarcasm) that poor little Fernando has been dubbed.
Mainly because he sounds like Speedy Gonzales.
Not like the normal Alonso who is normally heard just whinging and moaning
But don't worry people of the UK because he also dubbed in German too. Hoorah.

And the German advert actually makes Alonso sound sinister.
*Shivers*



Next time advertisers.
If you know a Formula One driver can speak multiple languages.
Just get them to do the advert in all the languages.

Even if it does mean that you will have to sack the Speedy Gonzales voice over man.

F1 Fitty of the week.

So the Scottish.
Not the first nation that comes to mind when you talk about fitties.
Unless you count David Tennant, Ewan McGregor, Dougray Scott or even Gerard Butler.

OK so there are plenty Scottish fitties.

But Scottish Formula One fitties.
Ah... that's where the formula definitely falls down.
David Coulthard, Allan McNish and erm... Sir Jackie Stewart.

Well until now.
Because finally we have a Scottish Formula One fitty.

In Paul Di Resta.
.

Now normally talk about how pretty a Formula One drivers eyes are but I'm sorry.
Have you seen how luscious his lips are?

It's like a male version of Angelina Jolie.

Of course Paul is not just a great rookie driver.
He is also the current DTM champion and Paul won DTM whilst also being a reserve driver for Force India.
A man with a great work ethic.
It just adds to the allure.

Just like the allure of his life.
Whilst researching for snippets of Paul's background/personal life.
It turns out the internet couldn't produce me anything either.

Intriguing.

So for now we will just have to look at his pretty face.
Which won't be too hard.

On twitter?
Follow me at @squiffany

Senna.

Last year I graduated from university with a degree in Film Studies.
In the last year I have done nothing with my degree at all.

Fast forward to June of this year and I went to see the Senna movie.
I was supposed to write a review on it soon after.
But life got in the way and at the time it seemed too late to write a blog post about it.

Then twitter reminded me that America and Australia still haven't been lucky enough to see the film yet.
So I think I have found my chance to do my review and remember why a degree in film could be still useful.


The review in brief is simple.
Senna was a beautiful, thought provoking and an emotional rollercoster
From hurt to anger. From love to war.
The Senna film had something else... as well something which most documentaries don't have.

A soul.

It showed you how a man who just drove a Formula One car actually... ticked.
It felt like you saw how the clogs of how Senna's mind worked.
Not only just through the voices of family, friends and colleagues but through his own words.

That was one of the biggest emotions for me.
Hearing Senna talk.

I didn't watch Formula One when Senna died. So hearing him talk for such a long period of time. Was strange because I felt like I knew him personally when I clearly didn't. That made the pain even more unbearable because you knew what was coming next.

It's wasn't just Senna's crash that draw the biggest silence in the cinema.
I have watched Formula One for thirteen years and I thought I pretty much youtube-d every Formula One crash.
Then I saw Martin Donnelly's crash for the first time.

There are no words for that.
At all.

In the cinema that needs to be seen to be believed.

This does take me neatly to the soundtrack, which was breathtaking. It matched the mood of all the destruction and emotion so well. It reminded me that a film could have so many layers and depth. If the Soundtrack doesn't win an Oscar come next year. I'll be shocked.

To me the film was perfect.
But of course the film has drawn some criticism for being biased. For not putting Alain Prost or Jean Marie Balestre side over more clearly and for forgetting talking heads of other characters in Senna's life like Michael Schumacher and Murray Walker.

But what people forget is two things. One. The film is only 90 minutes long. I have seen rough copies of the film at 145 minutes long and even that was amazing but the amount of footage that Asif Kapadia and his team have had to condense is mind blowing and a six hour documentary is not going cut it in the cinema.

I'm hoping for a directors cut on DVD instead, which I know would please a lot of fans.

Secondly time restrictions in the edit are going mean some people's Senna moments aren't going to be included even people F1 fans relate with Senna.
All that mattered were the major characters who were involved in Senna's life and career.

Of course it is going to be slightly bias.
It's about Senna.
The clue is in the title.

The Senna film. Did something no other Formula One film/documentary has ever done.
It appealed to everyone.
Because it didn't feel real.

The Senna movie felt like a fairy tale and people like Alain Prost and Jean Marie Balestre were the villians and Ayrton Senna was the hero trying to defeat them and he did defeat them.

It's just this story didn't have a happy ever after.

The four words that brought back the ultimate debate.

Turkey and Germany 2010.

Two races.
Two contrasting stories.

Turkey 2010
Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber collide.
Forcing the debate. Should inter team racing be allowed?


Germany 2010
Felipe Massa is told.
"Fernando is faster then you. Can you confirm you understood this message?"

Two corners later Felipe Massa, lets through Fernando Alonso to win the race.
Forcing the debate. Should team orders be allowed?

We know after these races. Things changed.
Team orders were allowed in 2011 and several teams have gone on the record to say that their drivers will be allowed to race each other.

What the media don't report is what happened with fans after both races.
With the Turkey race. War broke out between Vettel fans, Webber fans and Red Bull fans. Vettel fans were saying it was Mark's fault. Webber fans were saying it was Vettel's fault and Red Bull fans were spilt into two camps. The Red Bull fans who wanted to see the drivers race each other and fight to the death (Not literally of course) and the other Red Bull fans who thought that team inter racing each other was pointless because it brought nothing to the team.

After the German race. What annoyed fans so much was not use of team orders. It was the blatancy of them.
The whole world could de-code that message.
There was no ambiguity about it.
It took the racing out Formula One and the politics back into it.

So here lies my point.

"Mark, maintain the gap""


Those four little words

Brought the Turkish race and German race debates back to the fore.
Even though ow team orders are legal.
Red Bull didn't do anything wrong.

It's the still moral of those four little words.
It's aftermath of those four words.

It's brought back the Vettel vs Webber debate.
In the past few days I have seen some extreme slanging matches between the fans. To the point where it is not about the F1 anymore. It is about being personal.

It's brought back the inter team racing vs protect the team debate.
Do you let drivers race against each other? Or do you protect the team and the points?

And it's also brought back the blantacy of the team orders.
Do we as fans. Want to know that drivers can't race each other? Do we need to hear the radio transmissions that confirm it.

If that radio message to Mark was never played. It would make us has fans oblivious and therefore we could make our own judgements as to whether Mark and Sebastian were really racing.
But do we want to be naive and not know what's being said.

I understand why the teams do what do but as a fan it starts to take the fun out of racing.

I am again sat back on the fence.

Watching the shit hit the fan.

And fans beat the shit out of each other.