What a season this promises to be. Yes, we haven't finished 2009 yet, but for me that is already a forgone conclusion. Button and Brawn have run into the distance and it is too late to catch them. So why not look ahead?
2010 sees a number of changes hit the sport, in regards to the driver market, rules and regulations, and the number of teams themselves. There is a good chance of having 26 cars on the grid for next year, and certainly Mr Ecclestone will be doing everything in his power to ensure this happens. His future visions for F1 escalate year by year and certainly he is looking to bring in teams who will be able to challenge the big names. We see this with new boys USF1, Lotus GP, Manor GP and Campos Meta, from all corners of the globe.
Refuelling will be banned completely, which means lap times will be slower and races will be longer, but tyre changes will still be allowed. In 2005 Ecclestone experimented similarly in the reverse, allowing refuelling but no tyre changes. Needless to say, it failed, and I won't be surprised if this latest scheme of his to "spice up" the racing action is also ditched for 2011.
Media attention over the past few months has been based upon Fernando Alonso's move to Ferrari, alleged as the worst kept secret in Formula 1 from around June 2008. As it happened, the contract was signed only three days before the announcement just two weeks ago.
Nevertheless, the Spaniard lines up for the Scuderia next year, alongside Brazilian Felipe Massa who is confident enough to get back into an F1 car after his horror shunt in Hungary earlier this summer. Surely this bodes well for Ferrari, with two of the most gifted drivers in world motorsport representing the Prancing Horse for at least the next two years. However, the team will be under heavy pressure to produce the right car this year, as it was obvious that the F60 did not live up to the high expectations of the Tifosi. The car was poor and for me, a big let down.
Of course this shoves Kimi Raikkonen out in the dirt for 2010. And it will be interesting to see where he ends up, be it in F1, rallying, or sitting at home in Finland watching it all from the sofa. For me, he is the naturally quickest driver on the grid; his raw speed cannot be questioned, nor his desire to do well, even if his press conferences leave something to be desired. He managed to win the Belgian GP this year and strung together a series of podium finishes in a car that couldn't be balanced correctly anywhere, even on the scales. The hot tip is a return to his former team, McLaren (to partner Hamilton), but seeing as he left them in bad taste, you have to wonder if they will be willing to have him back. Despite that, I'm pretty sure Kimi knows where he's going to be next year, and good luck to him.
Red Bull maintain their current line-up for next year of Vettel and Webber, and are expected to be the only team to keep things unchanged in the transition from 09 to 10. It was announced this week that Robert Kubica is to join Renault, again, another driver with raw pace who has jumped ship (just in time) from the sinking wreck that is currently BMW. These are the only confirmed positions at this stage, however, Jenson Button is expected to stay on at Brawn, Rubens Barrichello is apparently undecided and another veteran, Jarno Trulli, is reportedly staying with Toyota. No doubt over the coming weeks we will learn a whole lot more.
Race-wise, the F1 circus will roll into Korea for the very first time in late 2010, we go back to the forests and Hockenheim for the German round, which for me is a pity, as I have a penchant for the Nurburgring, and Canada also returns to the calendar after a two year break. One other slight alteration is the opening round - Bahrain, a week earlier, on 14th March. A literal baptism of fire for the new teams in the heat-haze.
And so as we arrive at the finish of the 2009 season with visits to Brazil and the premiere of Abu Dhabi, one eye focuses on the future, and what more fantastic racing action the new drivers, rules and cars will bring.
Sunday, 11 October 2009
Saturday, 10 October 2009
England v Ukraine
And so the first installment of something where I can say what I want. Based around mainly events in the sporting world, hopefully I may be able to amuse/interest people such as yourself. So here goes.
England have just lost to Ukraine. And though it hurts to admit, the goal we conceded was Rio Ferdinand's fault. Sin number one of a central defender is surely letting a long ball bounce once, giving an opposition member more than a sniff of an opportunity to cause trouble in the attacking third. He's far from 100% at the moment, this being only his fourth competitive start for club and country this season so far, and so he's still finding his fitness. Nor is he getting younger, and so, once the ball bounced past/over/around him, he may as well have given up the chase.
Spare some sympathy for Rob Green too; he had little or no alternative other than to come out with purpose and attack the ball, accept his fate and as it proved, concede the penalty kick. Though Chelsea outcast Shevchenko stepped up to worry no-one other than the ball boy behind the goal, England never really posed a meaningful threat afterwards and for me, were second best from that moment on.
You cannot blame Ferdinand entirely for the defeat; others had a few opportunities to get a strike in on goal, and on other days, these half-chances may have been taken. Ashley Cole and Terry had far from impeccable games, Heskey was largely ineffective up front, Rooney showed no more than glimmers. The only players who I thought made an effort to stand up were Carrick and Lampard, proving themselves a sound central partnership, with Carrick repaying Fabio Capello's good faith (who of course, suffered his first competitive defeat as England manager).
Neither should we forget the atmosphere, which was hostile to say the least, and you cannot blame the England players for having half an eye on the crowd just to check where the next flare was going to come from. The Ukranians obviously show a passion for the sport but most of them were volatile and verging on the unacceptable; hardly the most pleasant of places, as we have now found out. Their football team are nothing special, but they budged their way past our lacklustre 10 men with the help of their supporters.
A positive however; David James came on and made a couple of world-class stops, which did prompt the question "why wasn't he on the team-sheet in the first place?" and he'll surely be featuring prominently in the build-up to 2010. Another debate for perhaps another blog, but how on earth can Capello decide which keepers will be favoured for the trip to South Africa? James, Green, Foster, Kirkland, Robinson, Carson, Hart, all names that will be in the thoughts of the boss. A tricky choice.
Final stop Belarus, and we'll have to show a marked improvement on Wednesday; English fans won't be so forgiving if a similar display is presented to the 90,000 at Wembley, however you'd like to think we'd be more at home with the bigger pitch and will cause this particular opposition comparatively more problems.
Rio the supposed "untouchable" will be under pressure; plus there's no doubt his club manager will be watching closely. He should be prepared for some stick over the coming days; England too. Yes, Wednesday's a dead rubber, but they need to produce, just to leave that final satisfying taste in the mouths of the English public.
England have just lost to Ukraine. And though it hurts to admit, the goal we conceded was Rio Ferdinand's fault. Sin number one of a central defender is surely letting a long ball bounce once, giving an opposition member more than a sniff of an opportunity to cause trouble in the attacking third. He's far from 100% at the moment, this being only his fourth competitive start for club and country this season so far, and so he's still finding his fitness. Nor is he getting younger, and so, once the ball bounced past/over/around him, he may as well have given up the chase.
Spare some sympathy for Rob Green too; he had little or no alternative other than to come out with purpose and attack the ball, accept his fate and as it proved, concede the penalty kick. Though Chelsea outcast Shevchenko stepped up to worry no-one other than the ball boy behind the goal, England never really posed a meaningful threat afterwards and for me, were second best from that moment on.
You cannot blame Ferdinand entirely for the defeat; others had a few opportunities to get a strike in on goal, and on other days, these half-chances may have been taken. Ashley Cole and Terry had far from impeccable games, Heskey was largely ineffective up front, Rooney showed no more than glimmers. The only players who I thought made an effort to stand up were Carrick and Lampard, proving themselves a sound central partnership, with Carrick repaying Fabio Capello's good faith (who of course, suffered his first competitive defeat as England manager).
Neither should we forget the atmosphere, which was hostile to say the least, and you cannot blame the England players for having half an eye on the crowd just to check where the next flare was going to come from. The Ukranians obviously show a passion for the sport but most of them were volatile and verging on the unacceptable; hardly the most pleasant of places, as we have now found out. Their football team are nothing special, but they budged their way past our lacklustre 10 men with the help of their supporters.
A positive however; David James came on and made a couple of world-class stops, which did prompt the question "why wasn't he on the team-sheet in the first place?" and he'll surely be featuring prominently in the build-up to 2010. Another debate for perhaps another blog, but how on earth can Capello decide which keepers will be favoured for the trip to South Africa? James, Green, Foster, Kirkland, Robinson, Carson, Hart, all names that will be in the thoughts of the boss. A tricky choice.
Final stop Belarus, and we'll have to show a marked improvement on Wednesday; English fans won't be so forgiving if a similar display is presented to the 90,000 at Wembley, however you'd like to think we'd be more at home with the bigger pitch and will cause this particular opposition comparatively more problems.
Rio the supposed "untouchable" will be under pressure; plus there's no doubt his club manager will be watching closely. He should be prepared for some stick over the coming days; England too. Yes, Wednesday's a dead rubber, but they need to produce, just to leave that final satisfying taste in the mouths of the English public.
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