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.
Nando shows you how to tackle Brazilian GP circuit
This is what Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and co. face this weekend. You’ve watched Alonso drive it. Now here’s what he thinks of it:
“It is very bumpy; you have to have suspension that allows you to drive hard whilst not being too uncomfortable. There are some great corners that you really get to attack, and all the elevation changes make it interesting for the drivers.
“Interlagos is quite a short circuit at 4.3km but it offers the prospect of great racing with lots of overtaking, especially going into the tricky turn one. The track is normally pretty dirty when we get there on the Friday but it gets quicker and quicker during the weekend.”
With rain forecast, organisers of the season-closing Brazilian Grand Prix have also added grooves to three sections of the Interlagos circuit to improve drainage ahead of the race weekend.
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…
Random stuff we found by the side of the internet…
• First test drive of the all-new Ford Mustang KITT (pictured), star of the forthcoming Knight Rider movie. Does it still have a “Turbo Boost” button? Jalopnik has the answer.
The best of the rest:
• Is there a future for Nascar’s “Car of Tomorrow”? [Sports Illustrated]
• For the last time this season, Martin Brundle answers a whole lot of F1-related questions [ITV]
• Top 10 vehicles made out of Lego [Le Blog Moto]
Martin Brundle has escaped penalty for asked Wee Bernie Ecclestone at the Canadian GP what he thought about the “pikeys putting tarmac down at turn 10″.
The watchdog Equality and Human Rights Commission condemned Brundle’s use of the word, and a spokesman for the British F1 broadcaster apologised for the slip. Despite 36 complaints to ITV and Ofcom, the TV watchdog accepted the explanation that Brundle did not intend the use of the word to cause offence. Quite right too. We weren’t offended, but then we love pikeys.
After missing the recent Hungarian GP while on his traditional mid-season break, Brundle will be back in the F1 paddock at Valencia for the European GP in a fortnight’s time.
F1 pundit criticised for slip of the tongue in Canada
Martin Brundle was interviewing Wee Bernie Ecclestone during his frantic pre-race grid walk in Canada on Sunday (all of the drivers ignored Brundle, with the exception of that nice young chap Felipe Massa), when he said: “There are some pikeys there at turn ten putting tarmac down… what do you think of that?”
At the time, watching the incident live, Grid Crasher raised one eyebrow at Brundle’s cavalier use of the word “pikey”, but thought nothing more of it. However, his remark has been picked up by the ever-vigilant PC brigade. A spokesperson for the Equality and Human Rights Commission said, “This word has been used on television in the past and is highly derogatory. They have caused much offence in the past.”
Watch McLaren’s flying Finn play hide and seek in a tyre wall
Proof that a modern Formula 1 car is almost indestructible. Ten years ago, this incident may well have cost Kovalainen his life; F1’s zero-tolerance attitude to safety in the 21st century means that a driver can almost walk away from a huge crash like this. As a precaution, the Finn had to be airlifted to hospital, but he suffered no injury apart from minor concussion after the smash.
Will the BBC poach Brundle from ITV for next season?
Martin Brundle is the jewel in ITV Sport’s crown. He knows what he’s talking about (you might expect that from a man who competed in more than 150 grand prixs), he’s not afraid to speak his mind, and he handles the pressure of a live grid walk better than anyone might have expected. In short, he is a natural broadcaster. But could he be out of a job next season?
