Simon Lazenby.

I know that what I have to say will divide opinion but sometimes a blog just has to do that.

I don't want to start a debate. I don't want to get nasty.
I just want to say how I feel about this situation.


Now you may of heard the story in the Daily Mail about Simon Lazenby being drunk and disorderly on an EasyJet flight back from Valencia.
But that's not what I want to talk about.

But I do want to talk about Simon Lazenby.
I do feel very sorry for Simon. He really does divide opinion in the F1 community.
"Oh he's just a poor Jake Humphrey"
"He knows nothing about F1"
Blah blah blah.

Funnily enough I realised that some people seem to have extremely short memories. Because I remembered that when it was announced that Jake Humphrey would be hosting the BBC F1 coverage.
There was uproar. ACTUAL UPROAR.
"How can a children's TV presenter host a major sporting event?"
"Jake who?"

Yet now Jake is so loved by the F1 community he's deemed a bloody national treasure. (Not in my eyes though. You can see why here)

Yes Simon may of made some mistakes since hosting the Sky F1 coverage and yes he may of said the wrong thing at times. But he's always admitted them and ALWAYS said sorry.
People seem to forget that he's human. He's only nine races into a new job and in the last few races, seems to have really settled into the role. Especially with people like Ted, Natalie and Johnny.

What people seem to miss about Lazenby is that he is bloody funny (He really is. Hence why he has the nickname Lolzenby to his loyal subjects.), witty and a seemingly nice bloke.
What I like about Simon is that he actually tweets to his fans. He may not post many status tweets but he does talk to some us, gains our opinions and actually wants to improve how he is on screen.
He cares about what people think of him. He wants to impress us. The F1 fans. The F1 community.
That to me makes him all the more human and all the more endearing.

So maybe at times he tries too hard and gets it a little or even all wrong.
Who else hasn't done that at some point in their lives?
I know I have.

As for the alleged drunk and disorderly plane incident.
I would like to point out that Georgie Thompson does have a drink drive conviction under her body con dress. Yet no one seems to be mentioning this when it comes to her presenting skills and so they shouldn't.
A private life is a private life. It doesn't affect her work. She does a good job.

So will Simon keep his job next year?
I don't know, but I for one hope he does.

The Spanish GP for me showed how good Simon really is.
He was cool, calm and collected when the fire broke out in the Williams garage.
He took charge. Tried to give us the fans as much information as he could possibly get, whilst trying to talk to and find influential F1 figures and make sure that they were all okay.
Spain proved that Simon and the whole Sky F1 team had class and compassion.
Something that a sport like F1 always needs.

So you can get your poison pens out for Simon Lazenby.
Bring it on.

The Simon Lazenby fan club may only be small.
Be we are mighty.

You can also follow me (Or send your abuse which ever floats your boat) on twitter @squiffany

A letter to Ferrari

Dear Ferrari.

Ferrari this is no Dear John letter. That I promise you.
Call this a look into your future.

See many years ago. You were a top team. A great team. With the best driver and championships at your feet.
I never loved you, but secretly I always admired you and passion for being the best. Wanting to be the best.
Skip forward a few years and something has changed.
That something was that you decided not to grow up.

However your fans and followers have grown up. A lot.
We now carry smart phones, use twitter to communicate with Formula One drivers and we understand that the press. Although can be intruding, are an important part of F1 has a business.

Lately though you just seem to be having Kevin and Perry style tantrums about everything and anything lately and quite frankly it's starting to get a bit dull.

Especially this week.
When you acted up big time.

So when the internet passed rumours that Felipe Massa has/was being sacked. You decided instead of manning up and dealing with the problem head on.
You know a good old fashion press release or a quick press conference.
You thought that at the test at Barcelona, you would ban Felipe and Fernando from talking to the press. Especially the Spanish and Brazilian press.
Thus causing more of stir then if you dealt with the problem head on.

Sadly though I believed you wanted that to happen.
By not letting the drivers have a voice, you created a media storm. Thus insuring more press coverage at the test weekend then if you actually topped the time sheets.
Which you haven't done in a long time.

One day though I hope you can grow up, invest in a decent PR manager and start letting your drivers have a voice.
And finally focusing on the car again.
Becoming the team I remember so well in the noughties.
Becoming amazing.

Signed secretly.
Female Formula Fun.

Don't forget if you want to hear more F1 ramblings you can follow me on twitter @squiffany

The Jake Humphrey decline momentum.

So in the past six months. I have noticed a change in someone.
It all started when the BBC announced that the coverage of the F1 was to be shared with Sky.

Most people were quite angry about this.
(Me included. The blog post about all that debacle is here.)

This even included some of the presenters of the BBC F1 coverage.
But just one comment from one person changed my whole perception of how much they really loved F1.
That proved to me. That F1 was a just job to them not a real passion. Even though they made out that was the case

That person is Jake Humphrey.


Now of course I don't want to think one comment made me hate Jake.
Of course not, I don't tend to hate anyone and I certainly don't dislike someone just for a comment.

It's just been in recent months.
Jake Humphrey has hit the smug button and kept running.
And smug to me. Is very off putting.

It started off with the comment that just after the BBC/Sky issue, that the BBC will still have all the races.

Jake jumped in by saying roughly
"Oh but the BBC will have all the races next year and it's going to be marvellous."
But when the BBC just has delayed edited highlights for 2012 and if the last few months were anything to  go by. The BBC F1 coverage went a bit downhill any ways.



But then little things started creeping in.
That made me think that Jake is up his own arse.

His tweets do not help the situation.
Lately his tweets have gone from nice cheeky banter, a bit of F1 and little bit of Norwich.
To full on Norwich, lots of fitness related pluggery, how many times Jake is on the beeb this week and even less F1 (And this wasn't based on the off season tweeting.)

Again twitter is his personal view and if I wanted to I could unfollow him.
Twitter is not the full basis of this dislike.

I just feel like lately Jake has got smug.
Even on the BBC F1 review. (Which was pretty dire compared to previous efforts) I just didn't want to listen to Jake. I would of preferred an F1 clip show.
Now Jake has recently announced that he is writing a book about his time in F1, which six months ago I would have be first in line for.

Now though I just feel like I really couldn't care less about what Jake Humphrey has to say... about anything.

Maybe this is just me.
But I need to know if there is anyone else out there.

Comment below or tweet me @squiffany

STR's choice.

So this week after much speculation both Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi have been given the push by Toro Rosso after two years in the team.


The thing is. Someone asked me a few months ago. If you could only keep one driver out of Toro Rosso who would it be.
And I couldn't have given an answer.

Both Jaime and Seb have given stellar performances at times and were both quite evenly matched on pace and performance in the Toro Rosso
It was a bit like an F1 of version Sophie's choice. Only with two drivers instead of children.

So I can understand why Toro Rosso have given both drivers the push.
It was the easiest if a little slightly cowardly thing to do.

F1 moves so fast and with only 26 places it's so competitive.
(Unless you have money and can buy your way in. *Nudges Pastor Maldonaldo*)
Seeing Jaime and Sebastien drive I never once thought. They are something special. They are going to be champions of the future.
So far I have only done that with Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel on their F1 debuts.

I would like Jaime and Sebastien back in F1 at some point. They weren't awful drivers, they just weren't that memorable.

But with Jaime and Sebastien gone.
New blood can come to the fore.
In the form of the Red Bull junior team programme.

With Daniel Ricciardo finally getting a drive with a better team then HRT and new boy and former Toro Rosso test driver Jean-Eric Vergne also taking the second seat at the team.


I'm hoping that 2012 should be a brighter year for the sister Red Bull team.

You can also follow my ramblings on twitter @squiffany

"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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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 Libran and the Bahrain GP.

So lets start from the top.

What does a Libran have to do with the Bahrain GP?

Well if you haven't worked it out.

It's me.

I was born 29TH September 1987.

Smack bang in the Libra star sign.

One of a Libran's traits is this.

"In personal relationships they show understanding of the other person's point of view, trying to resolve any differences by compromise, and are often willing to allow claims against themselves to be settled to their own disadvantage rather then spoil a relationship."

This is exactly how I feel about the Bahrain grand prix.

I'm pretty much on the fence.

There are many reasons why it shouldn't be reinstated and many reasons why it needs to be on the calendar.

Lets get to the nitty gritty.

The main reason why the Bahrain GP worries me. Is because if (And if is the big word) the situation there hasn't calmed down by October. How safe really are the drivers, teams, journalists and fans going to be?

Now I know the emergency law has been lifted but who knows what is going to happen in the next few weeks?

I'm not good with politics. Especially anything related to civil unrest.

I just think Bahrain is not ready for an F1 race in 2011.

There are other reasons why we shouldn't go to Bahrain.

Some drivers like Mark Webber don't think it's right.

Webber is far from convinced.

"My opinion is unchanged since I was first asked about this in late February. Even though a decision has been made, I'll be highly surprised if the Bahrain GP goes ahead this year" Webber said on his website. "In my personal opinion, the sport should have taken a much firmer stance earlier this year rather than constantly delaying its decision in hope of being able to reschedule it in 2011. It would have sent a very clear message about F1's position on something as fundamental as human rights." Formula one's ruling body, the FIA, gave the green light for the race to be reinstated for October 30 after a visit by a delegation to Bahrain this week.
(Taken from brisbanetimes.com)

Personally the Bahrain track has never been my favourite and again it's making F1 about politics and not about racing.

However there is several good reasons why Bahrain would be good.

After putting on my twitter page that I was on the fence with the Bahrain decision.

I received this reply.

"People here are so happy with the news, it gave us hope that Bahrain will be fine, it gave us a thing to look forward and move forward"

Now this makes me happy.

I know there are plenty of fans who can't wait for F1 to come back to Bahrain and I wouldn't want them to miss out on having a home race.

I also know that it pumps money into small businesses and into the economy who gain from F1 having a race there.

And after the unrest Bahrain have had.

They could do with the tourism and money to help rebuild the country and its reputation.

So after all that.

I'm still on the fence.

Only time will know if Bahrain 2011 will be a success.

For once I really hope it is.

Comment below or you can follow my F1 related tweets on twitter @squiffany