GOOD TV

[Wendyf]

Stanley, if you are planning on watching the Saudi Grand Prix give yourself a health check first and practise some calming deep breathing......

[Stanley]

I'm looking forward to it Wendy. I shall be OK!

[Stanley]

You were right Wendy, very interesting!
Max Verstappen reminds me in many ways of Rosberg. I suspect there some quite unattractive aspects to his character. His driving was, to say the least, dodgy. I believe he initiated the rear end shunt by Hamilton.
The last race will be good. How about a DNF for both because they come together and the title is decided by a steward's enquiry. I think Verstappen will be desperate enough to try to take Hamilton out.

[Wendyf]

We have spent a large part of the last few evenings watching Peter Jackson's Beatles documentary 'Get Back' on the Disney Channel. It follows the Beatles through one month in 1969 when they were attempting to put an album together and possibly a TV special, culminating in the roof top concert in the middle of London. The magical relationship between Lennon and McCartney is still very evident but you can see that Yoko, sitting silently beside John throughout, is starting to pull him in a different direction. You can see Paul's remarkable musical skill and how he was desperately trying to hold things together, but what surprised both of us was John's gentle and almost sweet nature, not what we have been led to believe over the years but then it was just a month in 1969.

[Stanley]

I hesitate to say what Wendy will be watching but I shall be watching qualifying for the F1 tomorrow.....

[Wendyf]

Channel 4 are showing the race live on Sunday!

[Stanley]

Really?
I've just had a look and it's at dinner time. I shall be watching. My fear is that it will be decided by a crash. I don't trust Verstappen, I believe he could easily have an episode of red mist. I think Hamilton is less liable to this.

[Wendyf]

I don't know if I can bear to watch! If they both go off Verstappen wins. I read this article the other day and found it quite disturbing.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/59555388

[Gloria]

Stanley, I tend to feel the same about Hamilton.

[Stanley]

I read that Wendy and will not be comfortable until this weekend's race is over. I see parallels in attitude between Verstappen, Rosberg and Vettel. There's an edge about them all I don't see in Hamilton.
The Quali is too late for me, I go to bed at 20:00 so I shaLL SAVE IT FOR CATCH UP TOMORROW BEFORE WATCHING THE RACE AT MIDDAY. (bUGGER CAPS LOCK!)

[Gloria]

Now it’s come right down to the wire, it’ll be exciting watching it live.

[Wendyf]

If Lewis keeps it clean he wins in my eyes whether he takes the title or not!

[Stanley]

Wendy, spooky! I had exactly the same thought last night when I saw that Verstappen had taken pole.
It's very hard to explain but there is a febrile nervousness about Verstappen's attitude to racing that makes me uneasy. I saw the same in Vettel and Rosberg. I don't get that from Hamilton. True, he's edgy and keen but somehow he seems to have more control.
I shall be there at dinnertime with my meat pie and pot of tea!

[Stanley]

Well that's got that out of the way. A very exciting race, Lewis robbed of victory in the last lap mainly by the fact that the race director allowed the lapped cars to overtake the safety car but also by the fact that Red Bull's tyre strategy was better and Verstappen was on new soft tyres while Lewis's tyres were at the end of their life.
The commentary was done by Sky and they spent so much time arguing amongst themselves that it detracted from the first half of the race. Martin Brundle is a biased old woman!
Back to normal now.....

[Tripps]

Grand Prix racing does nothing for me, but since it was hot news and free on Channel 4 I watched bits of it. There was an 'incident' near the end and they were all going slowly, keeping the tyres warm, and it seemed foregone that Hamilton would win when the race restarted. Took my eyes off it for a moment, and what I took for a replay was actually the race ! Then the other guy won. I sense a 'stewards' will follow, and at this level perhaps court proceedings? Even the commentators don't seem to get what has happened after the restart.

Just read the post above - still don't understand.

[Stanley]

David, there were 4 lapped cars between Lewis haMILTON IN THE LEAD AND vERSTAPPEN RUNNING 5TH BEHIND THE SAFETY CAR. tHE RACE DIRECTOR ALLOWED THE LAPPED CARS TO PASS THE SAFETY CAR SO THAT MEANT THAT ON the restart Verstappen was immediately behind Lewis on newer faster tyres. One lap was enough for him to pass.
Disappointing and Lewis deserved the race but the F1 gods spoke.

[Big Kev]

I watched this a while ago, it was very good. I've set it to record tonight, well worth another watch.

20211212_144549.jpg

[Tripps]

Still don't get it. Why do cars that have been lapped take any part in a restart when there is only one lap left?

Hamilton's interview was dignified - though I saw nothing to make want to watch it again.

Still it's surely impossible though, to be fair to everyone. In snooker they'd have a re-rack.

I found it interesting that they still use Imperial measurement for the tyres. 'Next year the tyres (presume width) will be 18" rather than 13" I expect that's one of the benefits of Brexit.

[PanBiker]

Regardless of the crash circumstance I would have thought that the fact that Hamilton led the race for 54 laps and then had three laps stolen would have counted for something. I know there are rules but I agree, regarding the lapped cars who should not have been allowed to pass the safety car negating his advantage. An empty win on a technicality in my book.

I heard the Sky bloke saying that in future the skirts on the cars which aid aerodynamic stability are going to be removed as they pose a hazard when bits fall of in minor shunts etc.

On a different tack, they always claim that car racing at all levels contributes to the development of the bog standard motor vehicle. That was fine while the internal combustion engine was top of the pile of car technology. Nowadays that is not the case and the race is on to attain better performance from electric drives and battery technology. Why isn't World Championship top racing pushing the barriers here. Surely the IC engine is dead to all intents and purposes and the main push should be into electric vehicle technology not pouring further billions into the gas guzzlers.

Discuss.

[Whyperion]

Regardless of the crash circumstance I would have thought that the fact that Hamilton led the race for 54 laps and then had three laps stolen would have counted for something. I know there are rules but I agree, regarding the lapped cars who should not have been allowed to pass the safety car negating his advantage. An empty win on a technicality in my book.

I heard the Sky bloke saying that in future the skirts on the cars which aid aerodynamic stability are going to be removed as they pose a hazard when bits fall of in minor shunts etc.

On a different tack, they always claim that car racing at all levels contributes to the development of the bog standard motor vehicle. That was fine while the internal combustion engine was top of the pile of car technology. Nowadays that is not the case and the race is on to attain better performance from electric drives and battery technology. Why isn't World Championship top racing pushing the barriers here. Surely the IC engine is dead to all intents and purposes and the main push should be into electric vehicle technology not pouring further billions into the gas guzzlers.

Discuss.

Electrics - Lots of reasons why direct power from an onboard generator (effectively) might actually be no worse than power that had to be generated from fossil fuels, biomass , nuclear or even wind. I suppose for racing if a technical incident holds up other cars they should restart at the same timed gaps ( maybe Log functioned towards the back markers), as when the incident was called.

F1 - and any kind of motor racing - has always been a lottery where the ability of the car (and mechanics) to survive the two hours of changing attrition is part of the competition- it does make the idea of an individual as a season champion as a bit stupid - maybe points could be awarded strictly style, with marks for technical merit and artistic impression - Kimi got voted by the BBC (Radio) as driver of the day.

[Stanley]

If circumstances had been the opposite and Hamilton had won like that I don't think he would have been happy. Life can be quite unfair at times but then he gets paid quite well for what he does regardless of the result.
We can relax now until next year.
Last night by accident I found that BBC4 showed the last two episodes of Larsson's Millennium earlier this week so I watched them. That helped me to forget F1!

[Big Kev]

Channel 4 must have resolved their differences with Freesat. 4HD is back in the epg on 126.

[Stanley]

Perhaps it's my eyes but screens are so good these days that HD is very little different to low resolution....

[Big Kev]

Perhaps it's my eyes but screens are so good these days that HD is very little different to low resolution....

It makes a difference on the 50" screen...

[Big Kev]

Paulette bought a Christmas TV listing mag (makes good bathroom reading), there look to be plenty of films on that are worth recording over the 'festive fortnight'.