Seb Loeb defeated Dr Crash (aka David Coulthard) in a best-of-three showdown to win this year’s Race of Champions at Wembley Stadium. The victory reinforces the Frenchman’s claim to be considered the best all-round driver on the planet.
Michael Schumacher was also a winner at Wembley: Schumi and Seb Vettel led Germany to victory in the Nation’s Cup team event.
Schumi admitted he doesn’t take the event quite as seriously as he might…
“We are all here to race. If you give a steering wheel to any of us, we are going to try our best,” the German said. “But we have a drink the night before.”
Nothing more than a shandy though, we hope.
Crasher bonus! Watch highlights of the event below:
After much speculation, the BBC has revealed its team to cover F1 next season. This is how they roll:
Studio anchor: Jake Humphrey Crasher verdict: The Beeb’s golden boy is likeable but bland and inexperienced. A weak choice, but he’ll be fine as long as he leaves most of the talking to…
Studio pundits: David Coulthard, Eddie Jordan Crasher verdict: A great partnership in the making. Jordan is always outspoken and DC has great potential
Chief commentator: Jonathan Legard Crasher verdict: Legard is a safe pair of hands and knows his stuff, but he is rather uninspiring
Speaking at the Autocar Awards in London this week, Martin Brundle confirmed what we all suspected - he will be part of the BBC’s F1 commentary team next season (and, presumably, throughout the station’s five-year contract as Britain’s official F1 broadcaster).
“I’m delighted to be able to tell you all that I’ll be joining the BBC next year,” Brundle said.
“I’ve been commentating on Formula One for the past dozen years, and I briefly considered calling it a day. But in the end I decided to take up the BBC’s offer and I’m now very excited about working for them next year.”
Excellent, Smithers. We won’t miss the puppyish James Allen or cheesy Steve Rider, both of whom have a whiff of Alan Partridge about them, but we would have missed the excellent Brundle.
Crasher bonus! Watch Brundle’s last grid walk for ITV, made before this year’s heart-stopping Brazilian Grand Prix:
Formula 1 stars embarrass themselves in tribute to network
Emotions were high in the ITV studios yesterday, as viewers in Britain were treated to their final Grand Prix filled with disruptive advert breaks (for the time being, anyway). Before handing over to the BBC, however, the folks at channel three decided to have a bit of fun by singing along to a track by emo chumps My Chemical Romance.
While it’s a questionable song choice (is the refrain “We’ll carry on” appropriate when they obviously won’t be carrying on?), it’s worth it to see Murray Walker singing a tune he had almost certainly never heard before, and to see Lewis Hamilton being far too cool for school.
As we told you a couple of days ago, David Coulthard’s Red Bull RB4 will run with a special-edition livery for his final ever F1 GP. And here it is, looking rather smart in all white, with red-and-blue trim. The Scot unveiled the car at Interlagos yesterday, with a little help from his friends - namely, the F1 drivers.
The reason behind the colour change? DC is helping to promote Wings For Life, a research foundation which hopes to find a cure for spinal cord injuries.
“I’m dedicating my last race to the vision of making paraplegia curable,” the Big Chin announced on Red Bull’s official website. “In Formula One success is determined by a few seconds, in medicine people think in terms of years. But in both disciplines, ambition and commitment are crucial factors that are needed in order to reach the finishing line as soon as possible. Wings for Life helps to accelerate the breakthrough in spinal cord research.”
What a guy! Yes, he’s a millionaire racing driver with a hot WAG and a f**k-off house in Monte Carlo, but it’s a great and selfless act, nonetheless.
Adios to Britain’s highest-scoring F1 driver. Sniff…
On Sunday, David Coulthard will compete in his final grand prix, some 246 races after his debut for Williams at the Circuit de Catalunya in 1994 (he finished 9th).
The Big Chin never fulfilled his dream to be world champion, but he did win 13 grands prix and rack up 535 points, enough to place him fifth on the all-time list of F1 points scorers. History will view him as a superior journeyman, one of the best driversof his era not to win a title, and - most importantly - a supreme shagger and all-round good bloke.
Our F1 mole tells us that Red Bull have prepared his car with a special livery to celebrate his last race. Check out a spy pic after the jump:
Fernando Alonso v Lewis Hamilton, Ron Dennis v Max Mosley, Bernie Ecclestone v Luca di Montezemolo… F1 has seen its fair share of mud-slinging in recent times. Now pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz and David Coulthard - both of whom write columns for ITV’s F1 website - are engaged in a war of words.
Kravitz started it when he wrote about DC’s lacklustre performance in the Singapore Grand Prix:
“It seems pointless to criticise a man who’s only got three more races to go in his F1 career, but since he may well be dishing plenty of criticism out to others next year, I’ll start now: he was mediocre in Singapore.
“David was handed a gilt-edged opportunity by his team, who made the right call when Piquet crashed. […] When the safety car came in, he was looking good - running right behind Alonso and Webber, yet he finished the race behind Rosberg (with a 10 second stop & go), Hamilton, Glock, Vettel and Heidfeld…
This Belgian beauty knows much more about F1 than your average WAG - she used to be F1 reporter for a French TV station, which is how she met and fell in love with the Big Chin, David Coulthard. The couple have been engaged for almost two years, and plan to marry “in the near future” (DC’s words).
When Coulthard and Minier appeared on a celebrity edition of classic TV show Mr & Mrs, DC revealed that they have “a great time” in the bedroom. Thanks for that information Dave. You really know how to make the rest of us feel better about ourselves.
