Ere Shetters.... have you seen that Raikkonen is coming back next year... with Team Lotus/Renault...

Whooo-hoooo...... And the title is mine..... 13 Ghosts Fantasy F1 champ... well done everyone who took part...bloomin close fought too Shetters... good last round there

Well, I can almost taste the champagne already....looking forward to the season climax at Brazil...

Squibble is Vicky......

...she even managed to nab 4th place off Tan...

It's been a while since I have done a report so here is a quick one before a have to go shout at my SMT for making my teams life’s hell for being incompetent.

It was the inaugural race in India and for what was hyped to be an amazing race, it wasn't.

Hamilton was probably the highlight of the race with another altercation with Massa. Coming to a corner, Hammy tried to take the inside line but Massa pulled in and ended up being side lined by Hammy. Luckily none of them got taken out but Massa did later drop out with a gearbox issue and Hammy ended up further down the pack than he should have been.
Vettal won. Again. Button was in 2nd place most of the race and Alonso was in third. The current standings going into the last 2 races are the same as well.

Last race also saw Red Bull take the constructors title and weirdly, the race before saw Vettal crowned the F1 drivers title which was a complete shock.

So to the more important stuff. Primal has taken the top spot for races ago (has it been that long since a report?) and is slowly gaining a lead. Shetters is in 2nd with Darth slowly catching up in third. This week saw Squibble (not sure who this is) over take Tana falling back to 5th.

So with only two races left, it’s looking safe to say Primal has pulled the F1 fantasy league blinder and taken the lead right at the end as Shetters took his eye off the gardge.

Well, until Abu Dhabi, Shetters out

Forgot to do a Monza review. So here it is.

Vettal got P1. No change in the Fantasy F1 league.

Shetters reporting in for another controversial race. Now, before I get started, I was hung-over on Sunday so I was only half paying attention and napped through it. (It was my first night on ale. Evil stuff)

Well, lets start from the end. It was another finish Redbull with a 1-2, Vettal/Webber. Having not really watched the last 20 or so laps, I am guessing there wasn’t much going on.

A shock/no-shock of the weekend was Michael Schumacher finishing in 5th from 24th. Yes, you heard it, 24th. After crashing out in Q3, he started at the back of the pack. I am sure everyone is now going to go on about "Schumacher is back", but let’s just wait and see. One race does not define a driver, even a 7 times world champion.

Senna. After an awesome qualifier getting him 7th on the grid but after taking out Alguersuari on the 1st lap, he never recovered. I am sure he will be a big player in races to come and I think, just maybe, Renault will be happy with their decision.

Another shock was the departure of Hamilton on lap 12. In the braking zone for Les Combes, Hamilton, thinking he had passed Koby decided to turn in but unfortunately, he hadn't. Hammy decided to take a liking to the barrier but lucky Koby got away with only a slightly broken front wing.

With the safety car out after Hamilton rolled into the barrier, about half the pack decided to take to the pits. From here, there was some miss communication in most teams with the race strategy going forward. Examples are Farrari blaming it on the decision on tyre choice and Button was on what to do after his collision with Di Resta.

Another few quick bits. Turkey is dropped from the 2012 calendar, Webber has signed for another year at Red Bull and Heidfeld has started legal action to get back in the driving seat.

So, after that, it's been an amazing week for the F1 Fantasy team.... wait a second, no it's not.

No change.

Again.

Best round goes to Squibble and worst to Banzai. With Hamilton crashing out along with some of the other lower drivers in the teams, a few less points where dished out. Myself, I only had Webber finishing in the points.

So on that quite boring note, I will try and ensure that I'm not hung over for the next race in Monza.

Shetters out

It's Spa weekend and the return of some F1 goodness after the summer break.
There isn't much on the go of REALLY interesting news accept....
Nick Heidfeld, a 10 year veteran, has been dropped by the Renault team in favour of Bruno Senna. Heidfeld was chosen as a replacement for Kubica after his crash. The team are denying it but there is a sneaky suspicion it is over the lack of funds in the team with Heidfeld being on a salary and Senna bringing in a few million in sponsorship. I am sure Heidfeld will not take this laying/sitting down.
There is some unrest in the Red Bull camp after having 3 races without a race win from them. Both Webber and Vettal have called for a rethink on how Red Bull play out the rest of the season her Christian Horner (The Boss) has said that's not going to happen. I don't do quotes but Horner had this to say: "We work as a team and the drivers don't need to tell the team we need to respond."
Another rumour in the paddock are that Ferrari have "given up" on the 2011 season and looking forward to 2012 to ensure they get back on podium. This might be a bit premature when looking at the last few races but even though it can be mathematically done, it could be a tight fight. So what would you do?
There has been a 30,000 signature and raising partition with regards to the Sky Sports buyout of the F1 rights. Along with this, it has been in the press that Channel 4 had a failed bid even though it would of kept it on free-to-view and would have a whole host of educational spin-off programmes around it. I am sure there will be more in the press about this soon enough.
So get out your racing hats, check your fantasy F1 teams and lets get this race started. Well, on Sunday anyway.

F1. It’s never a dull sport. After a climatic German GP, along comes the shake-up of the F1 TV rights and another race who no one could of predicted the end result (Well I am sure someone would of, there are some jammy gits out there)

Firstly, F1 TV rights. Unless you are on board the ISS, the news came out on Friday that as of next season, the BBC will only be showing 10 races including their practices and qualy. This will include the last race as well as Silverstone and will have highlights for all races. Sky Sports has picked up the rights to show all races, qualy and practices.

The reason? BBC costing cutting. There has been mixed comments, mostly saying that after this season, they will no longer watch it, even some die-hard fans.. With over 7760 comments on Ben Gallop’s blog (BBC F1 Boss) on the issue and 700 on Jake Humphrey it is not looking good for the sport. End of the day, BBC don’t want to spend the money on it, Murdock has loads, who would you choose? And by the way, the Hungarian GP pulled in the highest viewing figures, across ALL channels (including sky) ALL day on Sunday. Really BBC?

Anyway, back to some racing fun. And what a race it was. There was a good fight for pole, wrong decisions in the rain and what every guy wants to see, an explosion.

It looks like Ferrari and McLaren have finally decided to take the fight to the front of the pack. This happened last year with Ferrari as well, taking half into the season before actually turning up for a race but it’s better late than never. It will also hopefully give the fans a little something to look forward to, instead of another German humping everyone for 5 years. (Just don’t mention the war)

The final pole was Button, Vettal and then Alonso before the rest of the pack decided to join them 40seconds later with Hammy, Webber and then Massa. But before I get into that, I would like to mention Di Resta who came in 7th. I know I might be slightly biased being Scottish but for talent, he is one to watch for the future. Staying in front of the mid pack most of the race took some doing against some well-seasoned drivers. What ever happened to Barrichello?

So Button ended up showing his “wet” stuff again on his 200th GP, only ever seeming to come alive and making the decisions when it’s damp/wet conditions. Not going in to change to wets and staying on track paid dividends and kept Vettal from another pole. Hammy decided to go in for wets but after a quick drizzle, he had to change again losing him some grid places. He did blame it on his comms with his pit crew but you would expect a Brit not to be scared of a little rain.

Ferrari where on their game this weekend as well. Almost showing what we expect from them, with Massa at one point over taking Alonso, it was like old times. It’s nice to see them back even though they can be quite boring. Unlike Hammy who likes to be controversial without trying. After touching some wet track and doing a 180, Hammy decided to do another 180 to get back on track, only missing DI Resta who had to take to the grass to avoid a crash. He was given a drive through which was well deserved.

Now for the EXPLOSION we have all been waiting for. There has been no info while typing this on the cause but when Heidfeld came into the pits, we saw smoke and flames. After pulling in just outside the pits, Heidfeld made a mad dash out of the car before the marshals got their extinguishers out. And then the left side of the car decided to explode, almost taking the marshal with it. And if that wasn’t enough, as the car was being towed back into the pits, Vettal almost added to the mess by narrowly missing them.

Before we get into the fantasy F1 scores, we will mention Darths wee question. Is Button the luckiest man? Well, sort of. You can rest ashore that the media has a lot to do with this, but Button does seem to have the ability to keep the car on the track and make the right calls when it’s raining. Some people just like a challenge. Vettal was also criticised this last week after Germany saying that his hot streak had eventually run out, Hammy being “careless” on track and how come Webber isn’t as fast as Vettal in an almost identical car.

It looks like the rain is Buttons comfort zone (it helps being Brittish), Vettal looks like he needs to be out front as he is not comfortable fighting the dirty with other drivers (maybe he is too good for them) and Webber seems to have lost his spark (The media will make out it’s down to him ending his F1 career this year but it looks like he has signed up for another year) but I think it’s down to the dynamics within the team and Vettal being their “number 1”. Hammy? Well, I think he is trying to prove himself too much for whatever reason. He is a gifted driver but has lost that something we saw in his championship year. Maybe that’s why he hasn’t won another season…

Eventually, F1 fantasy results. If you are still with me, there is not much to see. There is no change, again, in the standings. Shetters pulls out a little with the “Best Round” but not by much with Banzai fresh on his wheels. Darth is still in third with Crash & Burn Racing and Squibs Scorchers taking up the back of the grid.

With the half season break now with us, it’s another 24 days before we are back on the grid with the Belgium GP. Will Ferrari keep on the pressure? Will Vettal eat dirty and crash out to give the rest of the pack a chance and the viewers a close finish? Will BBC/Sky deal change? Will Di Resta get a podium? (Jumping the red lights there) Will Darth ever get out of third place? Will Eddie ever wear a “normal” shirt? We will find out at the end of August.

Until then, Shetters out. (Maybe sooner if anything really interesting happens.)

Will update tomorrow. And hopefully put my spin on the whole "Button" issue. Which can also be the same for "Webber", "Vettal" and em..... "Hammy"

Brilliant report, Shetters! Great to see it summarised like this and I can't believe I got a worst round! Ok, I can...but still, nobody likes that hehe.

Is Button the luckiest man in motorsport and how has he become labelled a Legend in changeable conditions?? Someone please explain...

Another intersting race yesterday. Report coming this evening