Silverstone GP - "It's a fantastic day Fernando"

Murray Walker introduced the race weekend commenting that Hamilton was ever more "despondant and depressed", well if he chose those words for Hamilton, what is left to describe how Webber is feeling now? FoM TV need to develop a split-screen for times like the last laps where we needed to see both the Massa-Hamilton battle and and Vettel-Webber one. After the winner's team radio was aired, for some reason the director felt we should hear the fourth placed driver too, which was a pep talk to the team from Pipsqueak, who may finally be getting the hang of PR.

I hope everyone did better than I with the new layout of Silverstone: "the back is now the front" and so on. Perhaps that is why the old men of F1 couldn't come to grips with the changes and their younger teammates outshone them again. I don't know how the pundits could call that a great race for Schumi when his teammate finished three places ahead of him. I hear it's all relative. Perhaps the layout was also responsible for Button being unable to tell left from right (I know, pot calling the kettle black), I have started knitting him some special L and R gloves.

It all finished with the most excited champagne spraying of the season. Special mention must go to Prince Harry for his costume changes. Lastly, Alonso promises that they will be aggressive and go for the win at every race, so the season looks like it can only get better.

I hope you are all proud that I managed this post without once mentioning hot or cold blown exhausts?

Silverstone Charts

Chart of Lust


1. (new entry) Wet (ish) qualifying - three good reasons: Hamilton 10th, Maldonado 7th, Webber 1st
2. (new entry) Vettel's helmet design incorporating the faces of his enginneers - noble
3. (new entry) Damon Hill - everywhere, all credit due and looking more and more like George Harrison every day
4. (new entry) Flasks of tea - ah, our home grand prix
5. (new entry) Nice cardi - Murray Walker


Chart of Loathing


1. (new entry) Team orders - "Maintain the gap Mark" - they might be legal but they're not loved
2. (new entry) Old men - naming no names, retire, your whippersnapper teammates are showing you up
3. (new entry) BBC's futuristic Silverstone package - fundamentally failing to understand the appeal of Silverstone and it's heritage
4. (re-entry) McLaren's qualifying outfits - still look like jesters
5. (re-entry) Clapping ladies - this time dressed as building society cashiers, I thought they were supposed to be sexily attired or is this Moseley's other fetish?

Silverstone GP Results

1. Glock, Stock and Two Smoking Constructors - 609

2. Still Chewing - 591

3. Gurning Rubber - 516

4. Besta di Resta - 507

5. The Best Team - 474

6= The Pitstop Princess - 472

6= Trulli Scrumptious - 472

8. Lord of the Wings - 461

9. Fuelled by Tiger Blood - 455

10. Must do better... - 438

11. Beauty & the F1 Geek - 354

12. Hippy F1 - 280

13. Ferrari Fanatic - 259

14. Wheelie Wheelie Fast - 225

Silverstone Stuff - "Not bad for a number 2 driver." "Do you think you'll manage a smile now?"

Not too much to say about this race really. Back to Silverstone and it's very much same old same old, despite alterations to the track. Muddly Talker was wheeled out and he said much the same stuff as always, "blah blah, great atmosphere, blah blah". As Walker, Moss, Hill (looking more and more like George Harrison, Beatles conspiricists note) et. al. were wheeled in, poor Bruno Senna was wheeled out to replaced by someone who could pay HRT to drive the car. Don't lose heart those who selected him for their team, apparently he will be back.



Mixed fortunes for the teams at the end of the day. Red Bull are having to deal with what seems an increasingly tense situation with their two drivers as they try to favour one without appearing to whilst making quite obvious decisions that do. McLaren salvaged a pretty mediocre showing to get 2nd and 4th. Ferrari suffered once again at the hands of the stewards: "Instead of giving one car back the advantage, we gave to to everyone else." Most importantly though, Williams finished with both cars in the points. And there I shall happily sign off.

Silverstone Charts

Chart of Lust



1. (new entry) Intra-team tension - how intriguing, these team mate rivalries might really liven things up for the second half of the season, if only the Pitstop Princess could wave a magic wand and really stir things up between Vettel and Webber.
2. (re-entry) Sutil - why? For overtaking Schumi, of course. Again.
3. (new entry) Sunshine - how lovely for those down South, ah I remember those golden days when I too could enjoy it (last week!).
4. (new entry) 10-17 year contract for Silverstone - means potentially I may attend again.
5. (re-entry) Adrian Newey - he really is quite clever methinks.


Chart of Loathing


1. (new entry) Stewards - on behalf of Ferrari - boooooooo.
2. (new entry) EJ's purple trousers - mocked by one and all.
3. (re-entry) Bitter Twist of Fate - punctures all round for Vettel and Massa and a couple of potentially good battles rescheduled for another race.
4. (down 3) Whinging - he got the wing I wanted, my drive-through penalty is unfair, grump, grump, storm off.
5. (re-entry) Austrian national anthem - it must be a little galling for the entire Red Bull F1 outfit and their visiting families to be deemed Austrian.

Silverstone Results

An interesting race that saw the biggest points haul of the season so far (Chew Chew Joe with his home track joker played) and our first zero (Birley Chassis, Ferrari really not doing the business this week).


1. Chew Chew Joe - 543
2. Que Senna Senna - 508
3. The Lord of the Wings - 498
4. Hippy F1 - 491
5. Blood on the tracks - 489
6. The Young and the Restless - 487
7. Gurning Rubber - 472
8. Liuzzi goes bananas - 458
9. Beauty & the F1 Geek - 424
10. Corpus Christi - Trimble - 402
11. Wheely wheely fast - 397
12. You will never see me in Lederhosen - 381
13. The Pitstop Princess - 370
14. Stars in Reasonably Priced Cars - 340
15. The Cake King - 316
16. Birley Chassis - 232
17. Ferrari Fanatic - 123