Diary of a F1 weekend: Malaysia

So after an exciting Grand Prix weekend in Australia.
We hardly have time to blink before it's the turn of Malaysia and the start of another early morning race.

So expect blurred vision and tiredness throughout my weekend diary.

Thursday/Friday
2am

Hoorah. I am actually up ready for FP1 however it's fair to say I'm not feeling on top form.
I noticed that in the fly away races especially the back to back ones. My sleep patterns go completely awry.
Luckily I managed to stay awake for 45 minutes of FP1 before realising that I couldn't hang on.
So decided to go to bed and wake up instead for FP2.

Notes for FP1

• Karthikeyan gearbox decided to fail. 
• Hamilton should good pace to top the table
• Vettel showed that Red Bull didn't have the pace. 
• All the cars seemed to be close in terms of time. 
• #BOTTAS

Now instead of my alarm waking me up for FP2. It decided to let me sleep through.

So I missed all of FP2.
This is not the first time this has happened. Luckily I recorded FP2 for this very reason.

Notes for FP2

• More woe for Karthikeyan
• Vettel still struggling for pace in 10th
• Vergne and Ricciardo show their hand. Top ten placings for both. 
• Then Karthikeyan has some more woe thrown in. 
• Hamilton quickest again

Friday/Saturday

FP3.

Ahhh. So I missed all of FP3. 

This lately seems a F.F.F tradition. 

There is no excuse for this.

But of course I was up for Qualifying. (Because I'm good like that.)
And even though it was 5am and I had to go to Sheffield later in the day.
I managed to not sleep through it.
I think the pack of fig rolls I brought may of helped, along with the copious amounts of coffee.

Notes for Qualifying

• Bad starts for Heikki and Kimi with five place grid drops. 
• Massa still struggling for raw pace and dropping out in Q2
• Webber out qualifying Vettel again. 
• Schumacher qualifying in the top three.
• Hamilton and Button bagging a One-Two for Mclaren. 

Saturday/Sunday

Race day. 8am.

With my alarm clock actually waking me up. 

Even with the change of clocks. (Yes it gets lighter earlier but it meant a hour's less sleep. *Grumps*)

It was time to get my cup of coffee on the go, along with another pack of fig rolls. (I'm getting lardy because of this.)

Ready for another great race.

Now what I love about watching F1, is that comedy can come from nowhere.
Now I tweet has the race is on. So when 9 laps in the race the rain came down and the red flag came out.
So did best comedy moments.

All 50 minutes of non racing was filled with entertainment that consisted of Gazebo chat. 

Who had the best gazebo?

Who was doing the BBQ?

Why did HRT only have a Tesco carrier bag?

Then it turned into a scene from the Carry On films because we started perving on the wet drivers/team members. Ooo Matron. 

Then it came full circle back 2009 with a W.W.K.D.

Or the long version. 'What would Kimi do?'

We all secretly hoped he would get the ice cream back out. Sadly this was not to be. Even if Lotus did get the Ice Creams back out for him. 

Luckily the race did start back up again but under the safety car. 

When the safety car came back in. The fun could begin again.
And boy did it.
We had Button lose his front wing.
Then Vettel got a puncture. 

I may of had some micro naps between all of this going on.
But I managed to stay awake when the fight for the lead was between Ferrari and Sauber. (Words I didn't really expect to say this year.)

And even though Perez had a moment off track and couldn't catch Alonso back up.
It was worth me having Horner jiggly leg for.

It was pure racing at it's best.
F1 is definitely back and it has come back swinging. 

Notes for the race.

• Rain
• Red Flag
• Gazebo's are entertaining
• Grosjean failing in the race for the second week in a row. 
• Karthikeyan injuring several cars. 
• Pastor losing out on points on the last lap.
• Hamilton still not looking happy after another podium.
• Vettel coming up with a new insult system and raising a new finger. Twice.
• Button's brutal honesty
• The Perez and Alonso battle.

Today was a good day to be an F1 fan. 

Remember if you want to hear more of my F1 ramblings. You can also follow me on twitter @squiffany 

Diary of a F1 weekend. Australia.

So after nearly five months.
F1 is back and I am one happy bunny about it.
Now most people who read this blog, check out my ramblings on twitter or worse (sadly for them) know me in person. Will know that I love Australia.
So to say this is one of my favourite races would not be an understatement.

However it might be one of my favourite races. It however is not the best in terms of time.
I may be an insomniac but getting up at 2am, 4.30am and 5am are not winners. Fact.

So on to the time/day confusing diary entries.

Thursday/Friday.
1am.

So some backstory...
Earlier in the day. Thanks to upgrading to Sky HD, Sky said thank you to us by sending me and my flatmate Paise £50 in Marks and Spencers vouchers, which got spent on a ton of food and alcohol that me and my friend would never be able to afford. Winner.

This led to later on in the night. Me, Paise and our friend Jennie. Drinking quite a bit of this said alcohol and eating cake in honour of the 1st birthday of F.F.F.


So by the time FP1 started I was pretty away with the fairies. At one point the room started spinning and a lot of FP1 was a bit of a blur.
From what I remember.
It rained a lot and Massa did nothing to help his career.

I managed to stay awake between the gap from FP1 to FP2, which is a rarity.
By this point though I was verging from feeling merry to feeling rough.
So from memory.
It was raining and Kamui nearly tank slapped it right at the end.

Friday/Saturday.
5am
Now feeling a lot less drunk and hungover.
I could finally concentrate on qualifying.
I didn't watch FP3 but I caught up with it in the gap between waking up and Qualifying.
It's luckily I didn't watch it because all the action was right at the end with both Schumacher and Vettel spinning into the gravel trap.

So on to qualifying.
I love that Raikkonen missed qualifying into Q2 because he was changing his helmet. My favourite F1 excuse now...ever.
Alonso out qualified Massa even whilst stuck in the gravel trap. Massa must now be clinging on to that seat by a mere thread.
But my favourite thing about Aussie qualifying had to be the beautiful giraffe himself Romain Grosjean taking third place. I did do a massive cheer for that.



Then pretty much has soon as qualifying wrapped up. I was off to work and I won't lie it was challenging on the amount of sleep I had. Eeep.

Saturday/Sunday.
4.30am
So after a lovely mother's day meal and a little bit of sleep.
I was up bright and early, ready for the race.
Now for some reason Sky decided to start the build up a whole hour and a half before the race, which normally I would of loved.
But at half past four in the morning. It really wasn't needed. Sleep was.

So in summary my favourite/upsets of the race.

• Seeing both Grosjean and Hulkenberg out on the first lap. Gutting. Hopefully we will see more from them in Malaysia
• The Sauber's fighting for the points, especially Perez from right at the back of the grid. 
• Webber finally breaking his bogey track record by bettering his best 5th place with a well deserved 4th. (Even if he did bugger up the start again)
• Maldonado crashing from 6th place on the last lap, which would have gave Williams some badly needed points. 
• Hamilton sulking over 3rd. I know it's upsetting losing but try to at least look happy on the podium instead of looking like a mardy five year old. 
• Button winning. Full stop. 

And so concludes the first diary entry of the year.

So if you survived that barrage of words, you can also follow me on twitter @squiffany.

Top five F1 teams.

Now this week is the anniversary of the first time I watched Formula One.

Now it's not a celebratory number like 20 or 30 years but I'm very proud to reach my 13th year of Formula One.

This post is all about the top five F1 teams.
Now as you can tell from this list.
I am a huge fan of the underdog.
It's the British side of me.

Some of these teams have now sadly gone and some teams are still going strong.
But without these five teams.
The last 13 years of F1 would have been a bit dull.

Jordan.


The first team I ever truly loved, mainly due to Damon Hill but mainly due to Eddie Jordan's complete determination and use of a press call.
You couldn't miss Jordan.
They took risks and made some great racing. Sometimes they were the wrong call but were never afraid of calling a spade... a spade.
A team greatly missed.
Eddie Jordan's shirts however aren't.

McLaren











In the first two years of my Formula one life. McLaren were my team of choice.
Dominant and always provided great racing.
Especially against the Ferrari's.
Even after a slump in the mid 2000's they still had some great inter driver rivalry's.
Alonso/Hamilton
Raikkonen/Montoya
Now with two world champions in Button/Hamilton. McLaren makes you quite proud to be British.

Sauber.

I do love an underdog. To me Sauber are the epitome of this.
Always bringing new and exciting drivers into F1. Like Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen.
Even when times were tough and the team were under the verge of collapse, they always pull through.
Like Jordan, they take risks and that's what makes them exciting.
Now with Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi at the wheel more exciting drives lie ahead.

Minardi

Like Sauber, Minardi were known for putting great F1 talent into there cars.
Even future world champions.
They did also put in some dud drivers. Luca Badoer anyone?
They may have been known for there great coffee rather then there great racing and they may have been the HRT of there day.
But they tried.
And I do love a trier.
Especially a Formula One trier.

Ferrari.

Now anyone who knows me, knows I have never been a fan of Ferrari.
Sometimes controversial.
Sometimes dominant.
But without Ferrari. F1 would have been a duller place.
I can say to my kids I saw Schumacher's dominance, Massa's near championship and heard Rob Smedley voice in an F1 crisis.

Your top five teams?
Feel free to comment below.

F1 Fitty (Well cutie) of the week

Hey Bloggers

I totally forgot about my F1 Fitty of the week.

So now I have remembered here he is.

After his performance of two weekend's ago.

I present to you.

Sergio Perez.

Driver for the Sauber team.

Now he is a young fitty.

Being only 21,

but that means that he's going to go from cute to fit in about 5 years time.

So if I am still writing this blog then, I may be coming back to talk about the fitness of Mr Perez.

With his dark hair, brown eyes and beautiful smile.

Sergio is one sexy Mexican.

Hubba Hubba

Do you have a F1 fitty of the week you want to talk about?

Email me at squiffany87@gmail.com