FanFormula: Week 17. Monaco.

So after a pretty dry Monaco.
Grace decided we needed a glam theme to the FanFormula video this week.
But me being the organised one, didn't actually think about anything glam until two minutes before the video was being made.

So in my state of panic. I found the only slightly glam thing in my wardrobe.
Yep. A feather boa.
Rock and roll.

So in this week's FanFormula I argue about the F.I.A consistency again, I get sadistic about Lewis Hamilton injuries and a feather boa + extreme English heat = PAIN.

This week's FanFormula questions.

Question One
In FP3 we saw Pastor Maldonado bump tyres with Sergio Perez and in response was awarded a ten place grid penalty. What was your view on the incident and the resulting penalty?

Question Two
Qualifying saw Sebastian Vettel not set a lap time and through this benefited from a choice of tyres in the race. Do you think this rule should be changed with penalties enforced if a driver/team do not set a time in Q3?

Question Three
A slow pit stop for Hamilton, being hit on the head by numbers falling off his pit board and a lack of communication regarding Seb's pace left Lewis Hamilton frustrated in the race. Do you think this will affect his upcoming contract renewal and what do you think his options would be aside from McLaren?

Bonus question
Do you think we should still be racing at Monaco when overtaking is clearly more important in modern F1?



If you want to get involved with FanFormula you can by going to the website at http://fanformula.weebly.com/

Or if you want to follow my F1 ramblings you can also follow me on Twitter @squiffany

FanFormula: Week 9. Ten percent.

This week's FanFormula involved an early morning start, some huge hair and a piece of cardboard.
With all that going on.
I'm surprised a video even happened really.

But on to subject.
Here is this week's FanFormula questions.

Question One
In the past two races we have seen four different constructors on the podium. With the recent break do you think that any teams in particular will have made a large improvement or will this only occur by the European leg of the calendar?

Question Two
This weekend has seen the kick off for some of the lower series including BTCC, Clio Cup and during the race weekend IndyCar. Have you watched any of these series and if so why and how?

Question Three
With the Crazy Chinese grand prix fast approaching it will be the first grand prix that the BBC will be showing live and will be in direct competition with Sky. Who do you think the majority will choose and which will you be watching live?

Bonus Question
Vettel referred to Karthikeyan has a cucumber post the Malaysian GP but if you could represent a driver of your choice as a food, which food would it be and why?



If you want to join in with FanFormula, then you can by going to http://fanformula.weebly.com/

You can also get on the John Button On Twitter movement by hash tagging at #JohnButtonOnTwitter

You can also see my F1 ramblings on twitter @squiffany

An anatomy of my F1 crushes...

Now has any regular reader of FFF knows, F1 Fitty of the week has become a regular staple of this blog.
But over the past few weeks I have been thinking of my own F1 crushes over the years.

It doesn't make pretty reading at times.
So I'm going to take you down embarrassment line and show you my F1 crushes over the years.
So let's start from the beginning.

1998
Heinz Harald Frentzen




Yep this is the worse one of them all. I don't have any excuses, but the excuse I will make is that I was very young and I knew nothing of the world of attractive men.
I have no idea how this one even came about. I think in my hatred of Michael Schumacher. I paired up with Frentzen. I think I felt sorry for him. (Back story: Schumacher's wife dated Frentzen and then left him for Schumacher)
I think this story combined with the underdog factor made Frentzen appealing to me.
The worse thing about this story was that I made a sign that sat on my desk at school saying...

Tiffany Kate Fletcher
             <3
Heinz Harald Frentzen

I'm disgusted with myself.
So lets move on quite quickly.

1999-2001
Jenson Button. 


When the boy from Frome first stepped into F1. I knew he would be my first true love.
From the photo of Heat I placed on my bedroom door to the letter I wrote to his fan club.
(I literally had no shame, but I got a nice signed photo back. Still to this day I have no idea if it's real though.)



I loved him for years, then when I was 13 he made some really stupid boyish comments about women in F1, which put me off him for a long time.
In jist saying how could women drive in F1 with big boobs etc etc.
(I didn't bare in mind that at the time Jenson made the comments he was pretty young and less media trained then he is now)

But that was it.
I lost my faith.
But everything changed in 2001.

2001-2007
Fernando Alonso.


Literally this love affair lasted longer then any of my real relationships.
(Which says a lot about the state of my love life.)

In fact because of my Alonso love. I ended up helping out on Fernando Alonso forum for about a year and ended up meeting some of the friends I still have on Facebook and Twitter now.

I used to tell anyone who would listen that I would marry Alonso one day. The day he got married actually was a heartbreaker.
(Fast forward to his divorce this year and the 2006 me would of been jumping for joy. Alas 2011 me wasn't that bothered)

Now I probably would of loved Alonso forever but the year he joined McLaren is when the crush died for me.
Mainly because he insulted British fans, saying we all supported Hamilton and  to be honest in general Alonso was just a bit of a dick.
His smugness was off putting. Forever.

So even though looking back I can't understand why I fancied Alonso. Maybe it was the eyebrows...who knows.
I still think he is an amazing driver. That can never be denied.

So from 2008 onwards there has been a drought in my F1 crush timeline.
I have had the odd dalliance.
There was a brief crush moment in the last few years for Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg. (Who is on my is on my fridge at the moment. Yeah, long story)

Sometimes I even go back to Button and Alonso.

But I worked out a while a go. That it doesn't matter how pretty the drivers are.
(Even though I blog about that side of F1 constantly. )

It's about the racing.
And it will always be about that.
True story.

Any interesting F1 crushes?
Comment or you can twitter me @squiffany

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?

Diary of a F1 weekend: Monaco

So a better weekend F1 wise for me.

Not so good for some of the drivers.

Well many of the drivers.

So Friday...

Wait. Thursday.

So because Monaco has a national holiday on the Friday. Free practice one and two was on Thursday.

On Thursday I was getting a train to Manchester to meet my friend and have a night out.

So like normal I missed FP1 and FP2.

It turns out I missed several fires and a puddle.

First a truck fire before practice.

Then an OQN fire.

Then a puddle stops practice.

Who says F1 is boring?

Saturday

Now qualifying was a weird one.

Because my worst fear happened.

Now I struggle with big F1 crashes.

I usually cry.

This is because in all the time I have watched grand prix. No one has died.

I am terrified it is going to happen.

So has soon as a big accident occurs and the drivers don't move from or in the car.

I get upset. Really upset.

It happened in qualifying with Sergio Perez.

The bit that made me weep the most was in the slow motion camera replay.

You can see Sergio place his hands on his head has the wall comes closer. About 33 seconds into the clip.

Luckily after some time Sergio was released from the car suffering only a concussion and a bruised thigh. A very lucky man.

Sadly because of this. Sergio had to miss the grand prix but hopefully he will back in time for the Canadian GP.

Sunday

Well.

Where do I start.

I was glued to my telly box.

This race had everything.

Crashes, overtaking and Ali G?

Well I think I may have to do another blog post for that one.

But all I can say is that.

Even though Vettel won again.

This championship is by no means over.

Comments?

Just post below or message me on twitter @squiffany

Diary of a F1 weekend: Spain.

So this F1 weekend was really the weekend that everything went tits up.

It's also the reason why this diary is slightly later then planned.

A lot later.

In fact I should of just merged Spain to Monaco.

But here is my very late and very short diary of the Spanish weekend.

Friday

Like most weeks I was at work on Friday, So FP1 and Fp2 were both missed.

(Normally I would rant on but Saturday and Sunday were more interesting. You should read down to them. I would.)

Saturday.

Now I was at work for qualifying. Now I always come home and watch quali straight away. So I usually avoid twitter, facebook and the news. So that the results are well...Pure.

Well that accidentally got ruined by my work mate.

Who decided to text me that Webber got pole not knowing I was work.

Gutted.

(Don't worry he's promised not to do that to me again)

Sunday.

Ah well. I didn't get to watch much of the race. This was due to my little nephew Luca.

He's almost four and decided for some reason to just off the bannister. Sadly he landed funny and broke his arm in two places.

So whilst my nephew was going to the hospital.

I was in charge of looking after my niece Giorgia who is nearly 7.

Now Giorgia doesn't like F1.

It's boring.

So whilst I put Liar Liar on for her. In VHS no less. (Old school for the win)

She decided she didn't want me to watch F1 at all.

"Aunty Tiff I'm hungry"

"Aunty Tiff can I have a drink?"

"Aunty Tiffffffff"

Oh dear.

Well at least I knew who would win the race.

Saved me missing much.

So I'm hoping for a better weekend at one of my fave circuits.

Monaco.

My nieces and nephew. Crazy but I love them to bits.

Luca, Giorgia and Hope.

Have a great F1 weekend.

The finger that made me fall out of love with Sebastian Vettel.

My mum is a woman of many quotes.

Classic lines of advice such has...

"If you get attacked by a man, kick him in the bollocks and run"

and not forgetting

"Never trust a man with brown shoes"

One of my other pieces of mum advice is.

"Never be too cocky when your at the top, because there is always someone out there that is better then you."

That sentence seems extremely app when talking about Sebastian Vettel.

Now a couple of years ago I did like Seb. He was funny, loved talking to the media (A slight rarity in F1 these days) and he was pretty decent looking too (Always a win for a young female.)

At BMW there was no doubting his talent. This kid is special.

Then in the first half of his first full season at Toro Rosso. People forgot that at one point Sebastien Bourdais was actually a little bit better then him.

But all that changed at the infamous 2008 Monza race.

Where in a slightly poor Toro Rosso and in the rain to boot.

Vettel won his first race.

A star really was born and within the year was signed with Red Bull.

Now in 2009 Red Bull were still over shadowed by a better team. (In this case Brawn) and Vettel was to me still likeable but still had what I called the gift.

The gift to be quick, clever and above modest.

Then this time last year.

I fall out of love with Vettel.

Turkey 2010.

The infamous Team mate clash.

Now it wasn't the fact Vettel blamed Webber because drivers can only see what they see. Not like us with our TV's and multi camera angles.

It was the way he acted afterwards.

Like a spoilt brat.

Hugging Christian Horner and acting like my four year old nephew.

It was too much for me.

My love for him was dying.

The tipping point though came a few races later.

When the wins came at the end of last season. We started to see the Vettel finger.

This was all good at first. Every driver like to do a celebration when they win a race. In Fernando Alonso's championship year. He stood on his car and did a pose representing the country he won in.

That at least was a little different.

But Vettel and his finger are just bloody annoying and the radio message.

"That's what I'm talking about"

Actually sends my twitter mad every race weekend.

Because the one thing that bores an F1 fan to death is repetitiveness.

(We all remember the Michael Schumacher seasons.)

Sebastian Vettel now is that Repetitiveness.

Now some people are going to say I'm just jealous because he is winning all the time.

I promise you that's not the case.

Jenson Button won a stream of races last year and I still like the guy.

Jenson was smug... don't get me wrong there. But Jenson followed my mum's philosophy.

He knew there would always be someone better round the corner and in interviews he always says. "So-so did a great job today, we didn't"

A bit of humbleness doesn't hurt an F1 career.

So Mr Vettel.

You need to get a new celebration and listen to my mother.

Because she ain't ever wrong. Fact.

Like this rant/post. Click the follow button blog button on the right hand side. Or you can follow me on twitter @squiffany.

Diary of F1 weekend: Turkey

So Turkey this weekend.

One of the more interesting tracks. Mainly for the fact that if you say your going to the Turkish grand prix. Your easily spotted in the crowd because normally... there is no crowd.

But it's also the scene of the aftermath of a three week Formula One break.

So now I have bored you slightly with a bit of guff, here's my diary of an F1 weekend.

Friday.

Now I was at work on Friday afternoon but with FP1 on at 8am. My usual habit would be to watch FP1 and then miss FP2 to go to work but... on Friday night I was going out. So I spent my Friday morning trying to find my outfit and get everything prepared ready for the one hour timeslot I had to get dressed and back out the door in.

Although I did manage to see Vettel's crash in the rain though. Only because my twitter feed was ready prepared with a Vettel crash video. So I got to watch it on the bus. Mobile technology for the win there.

Saturday.

Again work made me miss qualifying but thanks to the red button. I watched it all just an hour later. So I wasn't as far behind as normal. Qualifying didn't throw up much really. The main news was that Kamui Kobayashi's car failed and so was at the back of the grid for the race. This piece of information alone made the anticipation of the Turkish race more exciting.

Because has anyone who watches F1 knows, Kamui Kobayashi is the master of the overtake and with 23 cars to overtake.

That's a race in itself, never mind the front runners of Red Bull and McLaren.

Sunday

So I'm off today and in even better news because the Turkish race is actually at a decent hour of 1pm. I actually get a lie in. Double result.

Like China three weeks ago. The Turkish GP was a great dry race. Lots of overtaking (Especially by Mr Kobayashi), team mate rivalry and dodgy pit stops (I'm talking to you Ferrari and McLaren)

The things that made the race personally great for me have to be.

• Martin Brundle talking Toblerone etiquette (I didn't even think there was any) with Sebastian Vettel pre race.
• EJ moaning that the overtaking because it was easy made the race dull. That man really needs new glasses or a nap.
• OQN and Petrov fighting for dominance in the Renault team
• The pit stop incidents. It just shows one small mistake can really cost you places
• And Michael Schumacher pretty much showing he is actually related to Ralf. Bad times.

So in two weeks we're off to Spain. Alonso country.

It's usually the place where all the upgrades come on to all the cars.

Can anyone make any improvements to really catch Vettel?

Who knows, but I know it's going to be unmissable.

Like this post. Then you can follow this blog. Just click on the right hand side of the page or you can follow me on twitter @squiffany

Cheesy F1 adverts of late.

Hey all.

Hope your already counting down the days till F1 returns.

I know I am.

What has amazed me lately is the amount of F1 commercials that have been banded about.

Now I know there have always been F1 adverts but it just seems like more and more are appearing.

Now I think in the UK it's because we actually have some decent winning and world championship British drivers. In the form of Lewis and Jenson.

Now I know F1 drivers aren't actors but my god.

Some of these adverts hurt my eyes, ears and even my dignity.

Have you tried getting people into F1 when they see adverts like these on the Telly box.

Now that advert was just for the Germans.

But the UK did get something similar a few years earlier.

This advert was also a recent one for us in the UK. Luckily not involving shampoo.
Sadly Nigel must of needed the cash.

Now sadly history is repeating itself with identical shampoo adverts. For Jenson and Sebastian.

(Why does F1 and shampoo always go hand in hand? You never see the drivers hair under a helmet anyway.)

It's just so wrong.

It turns out if you win a world championship then you must have dandruff. Fact.

Just ask Michael Schumacher. In the first F1 advert I ever saw.

Now this one was in Italian (I couldn't find the version I was looking for), we got the same advert but worse.

It was dubbed.

Argggghh.

Mind you I still don't think it will top this.

Though at least this was for a good cause. Promoting milk to youngsters.

This print advert shows that at the end of it all.

Drivers will flog any old tat for cash.

Just ask Fernando Alonso

I would like to say a big thank you and credit Kate or @Petronella on twitter. (Follow her she does great F1 tweets) For spotting this picture in Ideal Homes magazine and for me to be able steal it for my blog.

Comments? Seen any more recent cheesy adverts? Print or video.

Just post below or twitter me @squiffany.