Why Michael Schumacher has done a good thing for F1 by coming back.

As people who read my blog will know, Michael Schumacher has had in terms of results and competitiveness since the disastrous 2005 season and his first podium-less season since he joined the sport in 1991.

He came back after the potential of turning up in 2009 replacing the injured Massa with a fully healed up neck, the World Constructors Champions and the Number 3 on his car. Hopes were high that he could take it to this newer generation and show them how to be a champion. On the whole, due to a car that wasn't fast enough often enough and (at least at the start of the year) rusty hand to hand combat skills which would limit his progress.

It wasn't the best of seasons for the 91 Grand Prix winning 7 times World Champion by any stretch of the imagination and there were some moments when I feared his comeback might be placed under threat:

• He was not strong in the very early part of the season, China being the primary option when his car was being treated (Brundle's words, not mine) like the back end of a donkey.

• Signapore was simply a messy weekend. A track which team-mate Nico Rosberg excels at in a car which was not as fast as the Renault or the Williams nevermind the Bulls, Mclaren's or Ferrari's. He then waited too long to stop and dropped (with Kobayashi) further down the field and then did what German drivers have done a lot this year, and went to war with the Sauber's and come off best as he has accidents with both of them over the course of the race and overall finished poorly.

• The Canadian Grand Prix where he basically hit anything that moved within 10 meters of him (Massa, both Force India's and Kubica) added to a bad qualifying performance created one of the worst race weekends I have seen the man drive (topped only by China '05...which was actually difficult to watch) and for the first and only i thought Schumacher would either leave or be dropped for Nick Heidfeld (before he left for Sauber).

• And the less said about the Hungarian Grand Prix the better. I can not defend what he did then.

It was correct that the BBC talk about those moments but the attacks on Schumacher, particularly Eddie Jordan after Singapore were harsh and (in my view) not entirely justified. Yes he had a few stinkers this year: Who doesn't have the occasional bad moment? Didn't Vettel hit his team-mate in Turkey? Wasn't Hamilton an idiot in Italy? Didn't Alonso need to cut a corner to overtake Kubica in Silverstone? People have bad days at the office, it is inevitable so why they were more scathing of Schumacher than anyone else (apart from Liuzzi, Buemi and Yamamoto, who are complete F***ing morons, all 3 of them) is beyond and seems a tad unfair.

But then again they needed a story to talk about in the press because the epic 5 driver war for the title clearly wasn't interesting enough for them...

It also didn't help that over the course of the season, looking set for strong results he became unlucky:

• In Monaco he had a good race to seventh, jumping Rosberg in the pit stops and then after the safety car came in on the last lap there was no indication that there was a rule against overtaking after the safety car line on the final lap which meant he pulled off a genius move on Alonso in Anthony Nouges (now how many of you have ever seen someone do that before outside of video games?) only to be penalised by a rule which was not clear and also contradicted by the messages from race control.

• In Valencia, he was on course for what could have been a stunning podium but had he got caught out by the pit lane rule and proceeded to fall to the back of the field where he basically took part in a glorified test session driving rather quickly up to the back of the back markers and then change tires and see what his car was actually made of.

• In Abu Dhabi he was lucky to remain with his face on his head and in one piece after that horrible accident with Liuzzi but after a strong performance all weekend he looked set for some good points if it were not for that crash.

Then again there were also some moments of pure class which showed that the man still has most of the strong stuff that made him one of the most successful, famous and spectacular sportsmen the world has ever seen:

• I once again point you to his pass on Fernando Alonso at the last corner at Monaco, how he found the space for 2 cars side by side with the rest of the field bunched around him I can never fathom. It was a genius piece of driving (even if it was technically illegal).

• His drives to 5th in Spain and 4th in Turkey were a good sign also, while the Mercedes was a minute down the road at the end of the race it did show a sign that he could get the most out of the car on certain tracks. And his drive defending against Jenson Button was a joy to watch as whatever the Defending Champion did the Silver Baron had it covered.

• His race at Spa was excellent considering the risk factor of the stratergy and his grid position. Both he and Rosberg drove great races and aside from the head-ache they gave Ross Brawn and Nick Fry it was great to see the pair of them take each other one. Yes Rosberg got ahead of him in the end but Schumacher drove a better overall race on the circuit he first came to the world as a Clutch destroying young'un who put the Jordan 7th on the grid in his first laps in the car.

• In Japan he took Barrichello around the outside of the chicane after 130R, if I remember correctly the last person he tried to do that to was Takuma Sato in 2003 and that took his front wing off. That was a stunning overtake but Nico Rosberg stole the limelight while trying to be outrageous and overtake Buemi around the outside of 130R. Rosberg may well have gotten ahead of him with a better strategy but Schumacher was easily quicker than him at almost ever point, was glued to his gearbox and must have been clenching his butt-cheeks quite a lot when Rosberg went off in the opening part of the lap but went on to another good result.

• He was awesome for the entire of Korea, his insight by going deliberately off the road during the safety car periods to test what he could do and the simplicity and effectiveness while passing 2 of the best drivers in the grid in the form of Button and Kubica on the way to a very impressive 4th place showed that the man does still have what it takes in the mental department (more on this later). This was his best race of the year by some margin and a sign that if Mercedes get their second car right, the championship could be contested by as many as 8 or 9 drivers for large parts of it.

And it is these things which show that there is quite a lot of the Schumacher that people knew, loved, hated and were in awe of in equal measure. Yes his driving may not have been what we saw in the F2004 or B195 (his 2004 and 1995 championship wining cars for those who don't know what I'm on about) but it was driving his best with the machinery he had, which as is clear and has been for many years, is all you can do in a sport like this one.

Right now I'm about to sound biased for a while so for all of you people who are not specially big fans of Schumacher you may as well either have not read at all and should stop reading now, or complain to me later on facebook or something:

To be honest this year, in my view, I was not particularly bothered about his results or how good he was or how good his car was. Yes obviously I want the Baron to be up there winning races, challenging for wins, pulling of great passes and being a part of the championship picture but this year was the year I most enjoyed F1 since before Kimi Raikonnen started winning (I dislike him so very much). It was just seeing Schumacher coming back, the money he would generate for the sport just by being there, watching his interviews, watching the infamous red helmet be taken around in a fancy new silver container (weird way to put it but you get what I mean) and hearing Martin Brundle call him 'The Silver Baron' made me feel like I was watching F1 back when I was a little boy. Schumacher, for all his faults and stupid moments like he had in Hungary this year, is still to be the best sportsman I have had the pleasure of watching in my lifetime.

I started watching F1 in 1996 and do you know, amongst the Dominance of Hill and Villeneuve and the wacky Jean Alesi who caught my eye? A short, slightly cold looking German man driving a Ferrari which was rubbish. I had no idea who he was truly until I saw him win in Spain. It was at that moment when I realised that this guy was something particularly special.

It was then when I became a worshipper at the altar of Schumacher. I was never patriotic, I wanted him to win ahead of Hill in 1996. I wanted him to destroy Williams in 1997 and I just thought that from 1998-2006, despite the stupid driving moments and the pig of a car he had in 2005, and how sometimes Ferrari favoured him way too much, that he was simply the man to beat at all times.

So to those of you who will undoubtedly say I am a testicle-lacking fan boy I am not. He is not the be all and end all of my time with the sport. There are certain things he has done, (Adelaide 1994, Jerez 1997, Hungary 2010, Monaco 2006 etc...) that I can not and will not even try and defend. He was, and still might be, an arrogant, aggressive, cold heartless Bastard of a man who was easier to dislike than any man since Senna and anyone before Lewis Hamilton arrived and drove Fernando Alonso to complete insanity.

On top of that people will automatically say 'oooh Schumacher had it easy, he didn't have to race against Senna, Mansell, Prost, blah blah blah...' and while they are 3 greats of F1 history I watch drives like Spain '96, Hungary '98, USA '03 and France '04 and I just sit there and think to myself that Michael Schumacher is the greatest driver to exist.

And that right there is why he should stick through all 3 years of his contract in my view...

Because I think he can be that man again.

Ladies and other gentlefolk - Here is your Formula One World Champion

Yes, one of the men who I didn't give much hope to with 2 races to go, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel won dominantly in Abu Dhabi and as such took the 2010 Formula One World Drivers Championship in a style not seen since the glory days of Schumacher and Hakkinen in the late 90's-early 2000's. Third coming into the fight at the final race he and 4th placed outsider Lewis Hamilton looked faster than the two favourites Fernando Alonso and Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber all weekend and proved it with a pair of dominant displays in Qualifying and the race.

Vettel was lucky to come out just ahead of Kamui Kobyashi at the pit stops and then had clear road with which to push, be calm and ease up to the long running Jenson Button. Once Button has pitted his team nervously told him to keep it on the road but not telling him why thanks to the appalling torture of not telling him that a race win would mean the World Championship due to the awful performances of Webber and Alonso (more on this later). The genuine emotion the world felt when Vettel heard he was World Champion was genuinely nice and what was even nicer was Hamilton and Button being on the podium with him, as if it was like the previous 2 world champions passing the torch onto their young successor.

Speaking of the previous two world champions Team Britannia (Mclaren) had a good weekend, gained 2nd the in Constructors and an excellent double podium even if it wasn't what they came into the weekend looking for:

Hamilton once again showed great pace in the desert almost matching Vettel if he were not caught behind a stunning Robert Kubica drive. His pass on Kobayashi was vital to coming second but his tense fight with Kubica was perhaps the sign that he came into the race having to do too much and rely on a stupid amount of luck to become World Champion. He can nonetheless look back on the season largely happy with his dangerous overtaking ability earning him many points and in Australia, Canada and Spa the 3 best drives of his career to date.

Button had the relatively pressure-less job of just driving a good race and earning as many points as possible. He did just that all weekend and earned 3rd place with a good lap to put him alongside Alonso in qualifying and then jumping him at the start and being largely on the pace all race plus an ambitious strategy put him out of touch with the safety car stoppers (more on them later) but still in touch with his team mate for good podium to round off a good first season with Mclaren which would include his best victory to date in Australia.

On a quick aside note both Mclaren drivers have been moaning a lot during the races about their car. It could be to do with the fact that Hamilton's and Button's radios were shown more than anyone else's at level of 6-1 for the most part but they were always unhappy about something on the car despite at times having awesome pace. Maybe everyone else is like this with their team but all we can hear are Mclaren so maybe Hamilton and Button could just need to chill a bit before they begin to be seen in the same light as Alonso (I will go on to explain this later)

This championship result could not have been possible had it not been for the accident involving the ever improving (and in this case very magnanimous) 7 times world champion Michael Schumacher and the, hopefully, outgoing Tonio Liuzzi. It was a nasty accident after Schumacher got caught on the outside of turn 6 and got a Force India almost in his face. This accident gave us 5 laps of safety car which then created the opportunity for 3 people to get into the title fight and ruin it for the two favourites:

Nico Rosberg, Jaime Algersuari and most crucially I feel Vitaly Petrov all made their mandatory stops on lap 2 under the safety car which at the time put them at the back of the field and seemed a little bit daft. But then after dispatching of the new teams and the lacklustre Buemi, on lap 15 Mark Webber and Massa came into the pits and came out behind Algersuari (before what looked like a radio message consisting of the words 'Who pays your bills little Spanish Man' made Jaime move over for Webber). Alonso then responded after Webber had started to light up the timing screens by pitting and coming back out ahead of Mark Webber and crucially behind Renault's Vitaly Petrov. For the rest of the race Alonso and Webber put endless pressure on one of the most crash prone drivers this season and in the process both ran off the track many times trying to pass him but Petrov held his nerve, gaining his second best finish of the season with his best drive. Alonso and Webber were not aggressive enough in their attack of the Russian and in my opinion bottled it when it mattered the most.

It wasn't just Petrov that ruined the championship for them. Had one or both of them gotten ahead of the Russian they would have had to overtake Robert Kubica who was driving one of the races of his life ahead of Hamilton and eventually just ahead of Petrov, which to be fair to Petrov who put in the race of his life, would have been an even more fruitless task. Furthermore even if they had cleared the yellow cars they would had to have dealt with Nico Rosberg's Mercedes, which it turned out on race day was illogically fast in a straight line to get within a place of Vettel and the Mclaren.

It was a race weekend both Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber will never want to remember as quite frankly they did not drive like the championship contenders that they looked like earlier in the season. With an overly conservative tyre strategy, not much relative pace throughout the weekend and not being able to pass a car that is realistically about half a second to a second a lap slower than both of them.

But worse was to come from the Spanish Double World Champion. Coming out of turn one on the parade lap, while just under a mile in front was the genuine emotion and overall dignity from Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso pulled alongside Petrov and had a go at him for being overly aggressive and not moving out of his way like an understudy and costing him the championship. To which Petrov should have replied with a 'F*** you Alonso I have my own race to run and I do not have to bow down to you just because you are Fernando Alonso' but calmly and maturely gave post race interview just talking about his strategy and how he was happy to hold Alonso behind him for so long.

Now there wasn't just the championship runners and Petrov who attracted a lot of attention in this race there were two other drivers who made me very happy to watch their progress:

• As I said earlier it was a stunning race for Robert Kubica. I have always been a big fan, since his fantastic points scoring (although eventually DQ'd) finish in his first race in Budapest 06, his great first podium in Monza in the same year and his first win in Montreal two years later. He had a bad qualifying for some reason, then had a bad start which dropped him to 14th at turn 1 but thanks to 2 great overtakes on Sutil and Kobayashi, a great drive holding off Hamilton and a moment of luck not slipping into the barriers in the pit exit turned a potentially disappointing end to the season into an indicator of what I have always known and the world is slowly catching onto: He is a man that can challenge for and (in my view) take World Championships given a Ferrari and a Red Bull (which could very easily happen one day).

• Jaime Algersuari for me has been one of the major characters on the grid this season. In his first full season he started off very non-descript in Bahrain but has since had a season where has been in many battles with good drivers, including a major scrap in Australia with Michael Schumacher and his first championship points in a great fight with Nico Hulkenberg in Malaysia. His pit stop may not have won him many plaudits for keeping behind championship challengers but for 40 laps he held Fillepe Massa's Ferrari, a car with a good F-Duct and the same engine which should really have creamed him in the second sector of thee track but after a calm and assured drive he kept the Ferrari driver behind him to earn 2 more drivers points and assured his F1 career at least for the next 2 years where hopefully he can move to a better team which can give him better cars.

Now that (in my view) one of the greatest Seasons in F1 history has drawn to a close now a look forward to what we can expect with 2011:

• Adjustable Rear Wings
• The return of KERS
• The removal of the F-Duct
• Pirelli replacing Bridgestone as the tire supplier
• Bahrain changing back to it's original Layout after the bore-fest that was the Endurance Layout.
• The Indian Grand Prix (which looks set to have the second highest average speed on the calender behind Monza
• Now 5 (6 if a certain rubbish rally driver decides he wants to come back and have a shower) World Champions lining up on the grid.
• Lotus heading into the midfield with Red Bull transmission and Renault power.
• The (probable) arrival of the two top men in GP2 with Maldonado looking likely to go to Williams and Perez already signed to join Sauber with Kobayashi.

With all that to look forward to and winter testing the question now remains: Who is actually going to be on the grid for next World Championship? I have my own views on who should be so what is coming up is a list mixing secured drives with drivers who i'd like to see in the sport after the unfair, financially influenced, dismissal of Hulkenberg from Williams all with new accurate matching up car numbers:

Red Bull Renault: 1. Sebastian Vettel 2. Robert Kubica

Mclaren Mercedes: 3. Lewis Hamilton 4. Jenson Button

Ferrari: 5. Fernando Alonso 6. Filiepe Massa

Mercedes: 7. Nico Rosberg 8. Michael Schumacher

Renault: 9. Vitaly Petrov 10. Nico Hulkenberg

Williams Cosworth: 11. Rubens Barrichello 12. Pastor Maldonado (GP2 champion)

Force India Mercedes: 14. Adrian Sutil 15. Paul Di Resta (British DTM star)

Sauber Ferrari: 16. Kamui Kobayashi 17. Sergio Perez (GP2 runner up)

Toro Rosso Ferrari: 18. Sebastian Buemi 19 Jaime Algersuari

Lotus Renault: 20. Hekki Kovalinen 21. Karun Chandok

Virgin Cosworth: 22. Timo Glock 23. Lucas Di Grassi

Hispania 24. Bruno Senna 25. Christian Klien

This list loses a few of drivers that have impressed me the least including the rather accident prone Tonio Liuzzi and the utterly hopeless Sakon Yamamoto but it also loses some good drivers and recognisable faces in the sport, in particular Pedro Dela Rosa, Nick Heidfeld, Jarno Trulli.

You'll also notice that I left out Mark Webber in that list. While it has all but been confirmed he will not be leaving the team I don't think overall, despite a few crushing drives leading from the front this year that he is actually good to challenge for what he so desperately wants: To be World Champion like his team-mate before him. He is 35, having been in the sport for 8 years, with only 2 at all competitive cars to his name, his career has basically become a catalogue of bad team choice and team-mates either soundly beating him or generally making his life more difficult. On top of that while Red Bull may not have treated him quite as 'equally' as they treated Vettel sometimes he did not need to put a lot of media pressure on team right when A) It's trying to repair the image of a team that treats it's drivers equally and B) In this situation more importantly trying to fight for both drivers to have a chance at the drivers championship and for the team to secure the constructors championship. This season for Mark Webber has effectively been sullied as a smear campaign against Sebastian Vettel and the rest of team and that, more than his crash in Korea and his stupid driving in Australia, has cost him any chance in his career to be the World Drivers Champion. At his age he could find a drive somewhere else but I am beginning to think that he should just retire, savour the fact that he came good in the end and challenged the best in the world in his efforts to become World Champion.

After this endless entry it is time for me to leave all you Grand Prix fans and thank all of you that have kept track of this blog as irregular as it has been over the course of the year. I shall be back after the final Winter practise session with my thoughts as to how the season ahead might pan out.

Goodbye and sorry for wasting your time.

Nick

Now it gets Interesting.

Here we go. Formula One 2010 is no doubt a classic season with some brilliant racing and 5 drivers in 3 vastly different but brilliant Grand Prix cars going for the championship with 2 races to go in the season in the next 11 days:

The Red Bull Renault RB6, piloted by Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, are fast everywhere with great overall downforce but fragile and lacking in momentum due to a race of bad luck in Korea.

The Ferrari F10, with Fillepe Massa backing the man with Momentum and driving better than he ever has in Fernando Alonso, with a car that is fast in medium and high speed corners but not as fast as the Red Bull overall but can keep up on the whole over a race distance.

The Mclaren Mercedes MP4/25, the fastest in a straight line thanks to the soon to be outlawed 'F-Duct', driven by British interests and previous 2 world champions Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton who can stay with Ferrari and Red Bull but struggling for all around luck and grip in high speed corners.

The championship picture looks as follows:

1: Fernando Alonso: 231 points

2: Mark Webber: 220

3: Lewis Hamilton: 210

4: Sebastian Vettel: 206

5: Jenson Button: 189

As you can see plainly Car No.1 Jenson Button is 42 points off with 50 left on the table thanks to the new points system. He needs at least a win and a 2nd place with the rest of the title contenders not finishing either race for him to retain his crown. He is not going to give it up because it is feasible but it is almost impossible due to the mechanical reliability of his car, which Hamilton drives and the raw pace of Alonso and The Bulls reliability pending. He is looking at the possibility of being placed into a supporting role for the 2008 champion because of his poor race in Korea. He is almost completely out of it and needs to produce the 2 races of his life to stay in the title hunt.

Sebastian Vettel is piloting the Red Bull and is seen by many as a man who will one day win the F1 World Championship. He has the driving momentum as his drive in Korea was flawless in difficult conditions but then the fragility of his car (the latest problem being a Renault engine failure) has cost him 3 maybe even 4 wins this season and now he is 25 points behind championship leader Alonso and 14 points behind his team-mate. He may be forced into a supporting role due to the problem that both of them are challenging for the title and could therefore take points off each other. He has curbed his crashing problems which he suffered during the European season (Spa and Turkey specifically) and is driving his best but I can not see him coming back from as far back as he is in the championship war.

The No.2 car, Lewis Hamilton's Mclaren has been involved in more actual on incidents than any of the championship contenders due to crashes with Webber, Massa and the Barcelona tire wall but he has put on some of his best drives (such as in Spa, Melbourne and Montreal) and has put himself into title contention thanks to a mixture of on the whole controlled driving and some brilliant overtaking moves (just ask Nico Rosberg for example). He is the best of the top 5 drivers (see further down for whom I think is the best Driver in F1) and has momentum thanks to a strong finish in Korea and engines with a decent amount of life left in them. He could use consistency and good driving to come good at the end of the season and potentially steal from under Red Bull's and Ferrari's collective noses.

Mark Webber has overall been the Bull on Parade this season. With more finishes than anyone else, by far his best driving ever and the fastest car on the grid his accident in Korea could be a real stop to the momentum which could have taken him to the crown with consistency. He could be down on confidence and from history when he is low on confidence luck can go against him. I can see him not winning this World Championship despite this being his best chance unless he gets a pair of good results in Brazil and Abu Dhabi and the next man I am going to talk about has some problems in the next 2 Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso is the man with the most momentum and a championship lead to savour. He has been driving brilliantly since the championship has left Europe. Taking on these 4 drivers would be no easy task for any of the greats and Alonso has a chance for putting his name alongside names like Fangio, Brabham, Stewart, Lauda, Piquet, Prost, Senna and Schumacher as people who have won 3 or more World titles with 2 decent finishes in the final 2 races. However Alonso has another potential problem: His engines are old and 2 of them have blown up all together back in Malayasia and Practise 1 in China. He could suffer engine troubles which could make everything change in terms of the points standings. He has to manage those engines carefully and hope that he can nurse them to the end of the season. The next 2 races are places he has not tended to do well in (minus his 2nd place in Interlagos in 2008) but that car is balanced and he has an already agreed trump card to take points off his rivals in the form of Fillepe Massa.

It is not just these 5 drivers who have a lot to fight for this season:

• Kubica is fighting to get a victory in car I am convinced is fast enough to capitalise should luck go his way. He is the stand-out driver of the year and has become, in my view, the best Driver in Formula One and could be a spoiler in someone's title challenge.
• There is a big fight for 9th place in the championship between Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Adrian Sutil and all it takes is a retirement from the 7 times champion to open the fight for the place back up.
• Lotus, Virgin and Hispania are still fighting to be in the top 10 of the constructors and the pay check that goes with it. But with a Hispania which has no updates since Bahrain and Virgin who are unreliable it looks Lotus (and particularly Hekki Kovalinen) who look most likely to steal in and gain a point when things go wrong for others.
• Nick Hiedfeld, Vitaly Petrov, Tonio Liuzzi and Nico Hulkenberg are looking to upstage their team mates to secure a drive for next season as their places are all in doubt due to the potentially unknown status of Sutil next season. A very strong performance by any one of these drivers can show bosses from various teams that they are able to cut in F1 with bosses looking to developing drivers with money such as GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado and GP2 and future Sauber runner up Sergio Perez.

With Brazil coming up shortly I am going to come up with one of my un-famously incorrect predictions for qualifying and the race. As per usual Qualifying will be on the left and the race results will be on the right, if a driver has retired then I will place (ret.) next to their name and if a driver finishes where they qualify there will only be one name.

1. Webber/Hamilton
2. Vettel/Alonso
3. Alonso/Webber
4. Button
5. Hamilton/Massa
6. Massa/Kubica
7. Rosberg/Schumacher
8. Kubica/Rosberg
9. Schumacher
10. Kobayashi/Barrichello
11. Hulkenberg/Kobayashi
12. Sutil/Algersuari
13. Barrichello/Heidfeld
14. Algersuari/Liuzzi
15. Petrov/Kovalinen
16. Heidfeld / Sutil(ret.)
17. Buemi/Glock (ret.)
18. Liuzzi/Senna (ret.)
19. Kovalinen/ Di Grassi (ret.)
20. Glock/Trulli (ret.)
21. Senna/Buemi (ret.)
22. Trulli/Vettel (ret.)
23. Di Grassi/Petrov (ret.)
24. Yamamoto (ret.)

Interlagos looks set to have yet more wet conditions and as such should provide plenty of entertainment on a track which has many overtaking opportunities and potential for accidents and Safety Cars which can change the game throughout the field as one of the greatest World Championship battles in history draws to an end.

Sorry I will let you get on with your day in a moment but I will leave you with one extra thought:

The Renault is currently just about on a par with the top 3 teams on pace and Robert Kubica has for the most part always gone well at Interlagos.

Quick plug: www.myspace.com/nickalexiswebb

Anyone who reads this and hasen't already should check out the music i've posted on a myspace of all my best material I have composed on my own.

Cheers Ladies and Gentlemen

Nick

Musing-edit

Klien is driving this weekend. He should really have been racing the whole season with Chandok while Senna should really have driven for Lotus.

'OH MY GOD, THEY MIGHT HAVE RUINED KENNY!' 'YOU BASTARDS!'

Spoiler Warning! If you haven't watched the very latest South Park don't read this!

Next week is the 3rd part of South Park's second 3 part story. Centring the South Park boys new game as super heroes featuring 'The Coon' (Eric Cartman) leading a group of super heroes including Timmy, Stan, Kyle, Token and some random kid called Bradley (who have all been identified as 5 of the heroes) and Mysterion and Mosquito fighting an evil cult born out of the BP oil spillage. There were only 3 kids who were in the running for being Mysterion: Clyde Donavon (offically the most attractive boy in the 4th grade in the list), Craig Tucker (the boy who saved the world from the Furry Death in Pandemic) and the oddly missing Kenny.

About 5 minutes into the second parter 'Mysterion Rises' the biggest storyline curve ball in South Park since Cartman grounding Scott Tenerman's parents into Chilli about 9 years ago:

Kenny is Mysterion.

WOW. I genuinely wasn't expecting that. Watching the start of the episode I (and many others like me I think) would have been suspecting Clyde or Craig as they are more quiet, involved in less storyline and have somewhat more Mysteriousness about themselves. However it does all fit in if you take who Coon suspects Kenny is not in his personal list (although he is on Professor Chaos' (Butters) list but he mentions Stan and Kyle as the immediate prime suspects. Kenny was not on the radar in this storyline at all which made it all the more brilliant to have him be the masked crusader.

However now here is the moment which may well change South Park from this point onwards:

The revelation that Kenny can't die and just wakes up in his bed the next day after each death is a startling one. It brings an element of as close to Common Sense and Matt Stone and Trey Parker can make it to. It explains Kenny's many deaths and how he is back in the next episode. It show how Mysterion is the biggest hero and brings full circle in my view one of the most recently underused and brilliantly funny characters in all of Satirical Television.

However there is something which worries me. Despite this being a stunning piece of writing and great episode all around (minus Captain Hindsight, who isn't a great character in my view) one of, if not THE big hook of all South Park has been opened up. Where do Stone and Parker go from there with not only Kenny, but everyone else? Will Kenny tell people about the curse? How will Stan, Kyle and Cartman react?

Next week's episode, the end of the 3 part story arc looks set to be one of the most important episodes of South Park in all 14 series and 12 years of the shows running. I'm looking forward to it and would welcome some comments as to what people think could happen next.

Or if you think I'm sad you can say that too. :)

Peace out guys.

Nick

Korean Grand Prix

Hello, back with another musing on Motorsport's top tier.

This time, for the first time for me I get to look at a new circuit for the first time: The Building site looking, damp, oily, sligtly mental 3.5 mile Korean International Circuit.

To start off with the track itself is good for entertainment. Overtaking chances, places ready to catch out those not paying attention and a couple of genuinely challenging sections such as the bump on pit entry and the barrier's at turn 18. However despite the generally positive feedback we don't know what a race in the dry could end up. It could still be a good one or it could turn into a Tilke bore track which would be sad considering the spectacle we were given in this event.

Despite the stupidly delayed starting the race had many talking points, including Webber's spin:

It was unfortunate for him to have the spin, and doubly unfortunate to take up the quick looking Merc of Nico Rosberg. His momentum has gone and the last chance i think Mark Webber has of winning the world title is an Alonso DNF at either of the last two races. Then there was Button's poor race, losing all his confidence after the graceful, text book overtake of 'The Silver Baron' Michael Schumacher and was unlucky to drop to 17th after his stop but after a poor attempt to come back, via being pushed off the road by Sutil and spinning in the last few laps he has near as damnit lost his chance of retaining his championship.

Then we come to Vettel. He drove a nearly perfect race, holding of Alonso's Ferrari and Hamilton's Mclaren until a moment where there was another one of Brundle's all important game changing soundbites, 'Something sounds sick out there', and the huge failure of his Renault V10. This has saved a bit of face for Webber and now leads Red Bull (and based on Button's race Mclaren) to think about making the decison to make Vettel and Button No.2 drivers to help Webber and Hamilton in the fight against the one man team which Alonso has with Ferrari. There was a great picture of Vettel walking through the pit lane and went through Renault's pit box. I would like to think that he was saying something along the lines of this:

'OH MY GOD YOU B*******!!! WHY HAVE YOU SOLD MY TEAM THAT PIECE OF S**T YOU CALL AN ENGINE YOU HALF-WITTED W***ERS. CHRISTIAN, KILL SOMEONE AT RENAULT!!!!'

Perhaps.

Speaking of Hamilton he was never going to win the race. He was marmalising the Mclaren in order to keep up with Alonso and Vettel all race after Webber's accident and despite coming up into second at the last safety car thanks to Alonso's wheel nut he would not have won the race based on the way he lost pace towards the end of the race. However he did well overall minus that slip and brought himself back into the picture for the title. Then we move onto to my least favourite contender. Fernando Alonso drove a faultless race and was in the perfect place to capitalise on the sick Renault engine to put himself at the head of the title race with the momentum to become the favourite and maybe, in 3-4 weeks the 2010 World Formula One Champion.

Other noteable drivers (for better or worse) come from various sources:

Michael Schumacher came from under the radar on 9th on the grid to finish nicely in 4th, his joint best finish of the season and solidifying a return to form, which bodes well with Rosberg driving his best and maybe a better car to challenge for wins again. It may not be quite the full fat Michael Schumacher that dominated the sport for 12 years but it is a driver regining his mojo and thinking well (if his study of the racing lines behind the safety car while lining up Kubica and Button is anything to go by) we will have a committed, hopefully faster Schumacher taking the Silver Arrow back to the front.

Liuzzi stayed out of trouble while his teammate (more on him later) hit everything in sight. His 6th place might go some way to saving his carrear if Nick Heidfeld is on the market and problem with Williams second seat.

Kubica's 5th was lucky (much like his P2 at Australia) but then again shows his ability to keep his car on the road with pace while all around him is completely insane. BBC F1 collumist Mark Davies recently wrote an article in which he seriously put forward the idea that Robert Kubica is the best driver in F1. I agree to an extent and am one of the biggest believers of the theory that give the bumblebee (my nickname for him in the Renault) a car that has a whiff of the title he will go ahead and do it.

Sutil did a very stupid thing by not saying he had a brake issue in the race. It lead to some daring moves (largely on the Sauber's and the brutal move on Button) and a hairy accident with Kobayashi. The gird penalty and the 5 place grid drop was the best thing that could have happened and it is an unfortunate race for a driver who I rate very highly and should either join Renault with Kubica or be with Nick Heidfeld in Force India dragging that team closer to Renault and Mercedes.

Buemi did not have a great race either but the focus of his stupidity was the new teams. Accidents with both Kovalinen's Lotus and Glock's Virgin also earned him a 5 place grid drop along with Sutil which was deserved because he was being an idiot with those two moves and Kovalinen was lucky to get to the end, being taking his customary place at the head of the new teams war. In my view Kovalinen has earned a drive at a better team but he is probably going to stay at the Renault engined Lotus next year and credit to him for wanting to take the team forward along with Glock and Virgin.

Coming up is Brazil, on the Interlagos track which never fails to provide tension since Schumacher's chase in 2006. A terrible but atmospheric paddock and a track as old school as it gets we're looking to see a good race that I predict will lead to a 1 on 1 fight in the championsip between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso for the world title. Which will be appropriate seeing as in the top 3 teams they are the 2 best drivers.

Next up, a review of Iron Maiden's new album, my long overdue blog on why Jeff Hardy is a better Heel than John Cena and more on the F1 title picture before the Brazlian Grand Prix but before I go i'll leave you with another one of my thoughts:

Massa is coming home, for the first time in a car since he nearly won the World Champion after a strong performance he has always been good at Interlagos and that Ferrari is genuinely a quick car.

Ciao

Nick

I'm back

Hello ladies and Gentlemen.

Yes I have a new blog. Over summer 2 festivals, becoming a godfather and gaining closure on something very prominent in my brain has sent me rather mad so right now this one is going to be about what I am thinking and how things are for me at this point in my life. Stay still as this could be a bumpy ride.

First off on the music side I went to the small 2000 trees festival in Cheltenham and saw 4 particularly great performances, Frank Turner, Sonic Boom Six, the opening band on the final day (can't remember the name) and The Subways. Considering they were acts I didn't know a lot about in terms of depth of material before I was happy to see them. Frank Turner has epic presence and is one of the best folk based acts I've ever come across. Sonic Boom Six don;t do the kind of music I normally like but I love the song 'Meanwhile in the real World' as it is catchy, groovy and at points super heavy as well. The opening act on the Saturday did not have a big crowd but did have good songs and nice presence on top of the nice touch of multiple vocalists all of which were largely quite good. The Subways started off a little slow but Girls and Boys and Rock and Roll Queen were especially awesome in a good spot in terms of being towards the front and made the set good on the whole. But the whole weekend was made by one Kate Byard who found me, helped me set my tent up and made the weekend on the whole generally better for just being there so thank you :).

Next up was Warrior Dance festival i.e the big Prodigy gig at the Milton Keynes bowl. Me and Tom went to that and had a blast. Does It Offend You Yeah opened up nicely with some nice songs but I didn't feel much presence wise but they let the music do the talking and the bassist was female and attractive and me and Lucas Murrin met her just before Chase and Status and she was cool and we got a picture and everything. Chase and Status disapointed me greatly. The only songs I really got into were the Rock Dubstep track 'Heartbeat' and the epic D'n'B number 'Pieces' which did feature Plan B.

Enter Shikari were up next and they did a set of mainly newer songs but included tracks like 'No Swwweat' and 'Stand Your Ground' which followed into their song of the day, the savagely heavy 'Enter Shikari'. Then came quite a long wait and a DJ set by Zane Lowe which did not impress me. What did impress me was Pendulum. A band who I think are better than the headliners and put on a superb set including the live debut of Immersion's 'The Vulture' and a very heavy version of 'Fasten Your Seatbelts'. One disappointment was the technical malfunctions during 'Slam'. Unfortunately we missed a lot of Prodigy's set before the journey home but not before great versions of 'Poison', 'Invaders Must Die' and 'Omen'. Overall it was a great gig but next week and then came Sonisphere, the thing I was most looking forward to.

Delain opened the festival and their brand of Operatic Metal was hit and miss with the crowd as a whole but hit a chord with me personally and they played a very good set. Gary Numan and Europe suprised me with how their set's went. After a fun and painful set by Turisas the songs. 'My Friends Are Electric' and 'Last Look at Eden in particular were stunning while the popular choices 'Cars' and 'Final Countdown' were actually really disappointing. Alice Cooper picked the pace with a great theatrical performance of classics like 'School's Out', 'Poison' 'I wanna be elected and a mega performance of recent single 'Vengence Is Mine'. Only Cooper could pull off playing a set where he dies 4 times and kills a nurse and a baby.

The first full day arrived with stand out sets by Lacuna Coil, goregeoous Cristina Scabbia in tow, Anthrax with a fun set, including the first 2 verses of 'Heaven and Hell' as a great Dio tribute. A heroes welcome for Essex based emo band INME, Apololyptica with thier cello's and a great cover of Master Of Puppets. and (perhaps the most out of place of the weekend) Placebo. Rammstein followed with their brand of epic German Industrial Metal which included a simply amazing versions of 'Sonne' and 'Kiene Lust'. That had replaced Pendulum's set last week as the best set i've ever seen.

The Sunday was however a truly stunning day. Starting with CKY playing a set based on Nostalgia with great versions of '96 Quite Bitter Beings' and 'Flesh Into Gear'. Followed by a stunning set by Skindred there was Slayer and a set of typical nostalgia and pre mid 90's songs. Most impressive of which was 'Dead Skin Mask'. Alice In Chain i have no doubt are a great band with Jerry Catrell being a legend of Alternate Music but their set left me cold as they played slower set than almost any other band of the weekend and I personally used it as an example to move forward for what was to follow.

Following them came an agonising choice of Fightstar and Pendulum, both bands i've seen live before and both whom i loved. I stuck with Pendulum and was so happy. Opening with 'Crush' gave me the idea to get on the swooping camera which made it utterly fantastic as I was on the big screen during the first chorus. 'Self vs Self' was fantastic and they even got Anders Frisk of In Flames to sing it live and it was a stunning moment. However the best moments of the set were 'Crush' and a huge performance of 'Watercolour' making this now the best show i'd ever seen. Then Iron Maiden turned up with thier modern set and just the fact they opened with 'Wickerman' was the best thing ever. A band that experienced backing their newest material is truly great and a sign there is more to come, and a better gig than the Nostalgia trips Slayer and Anthrax went on earlier in the weekend.

Ontop of the great bands there was also the great people we camped with and the sheer amount of cider, sandwiches and laughs we had with them made it the best weekend ever hope all of them are coming next year so we can camp together again :).

Then came towards the end of the Summer there was 2 big ceremonies. The Funeral for my Grandfather Anthony Alexis and the Christening of my Godson Akihiro Alexis. The old man and my immediate family had a complex relationship for a number of reasons but in the end, helping to bury the coffin and reading the bidding prayers gave me a moment of closure which i really needed. Then to the Christening where we realised that whatever happens to Akihiro personally we need to be there for the kid. He is a cute kid who has the whole world at his feet with the help of all the family, including me and my brother as Godfather's he should be absolutely fine.

Lastly as many of you know I gave up smoking recently. It's going to be tough with the cravings but with everything that happened recently and the fact that money is a bit tighter this year smoking is an irresponsible habbit for me to have as much as I enjoy the community shared by smokers, sharing cigarettes and lighters/matches in the ultimate expression of how communism should work. But now i should be healthier for stopping and I can say I enjoyed it, and the thinking time it gave me sometimes while it lasted.

Coming up next I go back to my more topical blogs with reviews of Wrestling ppv's Bound For Glory by TNA and the upcoming Bragging Rights by WWE.

Peace out yo'

Nick

The British Grand Prix - Not bad for a No.2 Driver.

HI GUYS!

Sorry for the delay, I have been held up by Kitchen refurbs and the birth of 4 kittens has rather put me off kilter so I have had to watch the race again to get this blog fully accurate and up-to-date. Hope my regular reading base of 12 bazilion people is not too angry with me. I hope I can be forgiven for my grave error.

My congratulations go out to Silverstone's circuit developers. The new track is a suprising success, the best thing Herman Tilke has ever created with great new corners and excellent overtaking places (more on this later). Yet another good race, we seem to be spoiled despite the gloomy mood after Bahrain with a great season with so many amazing elements to it. I am very sad about the summer break that will take place after the German Grand Prix in 2 weeks.

Anyway, onto the British Grand Prix itself.

Red Bull's current problems began about 5-6 minutes before the end of third practice before Qualifying when Horner and the rest of the team took Webber's updated front wing and gave to Vettel who damaged his. This is the most blatant show of favouritism since 2007 at Mclaren (we all know how that ended for Hamilton and Alonso respectively). What is worse is the dishonesty of it: Red Bull have never publicly said that they are favouring one driver over another but this trick of giving one driver better parts based on Championship standing with (and I state again) no public agreement between the team and the drivers is quite disgusting and actually more shocking than the race fixing scandal within the Renault team in my eyes. Eddie Jordan's interview to Horner asked the right questions but I would much rather have seen that from DC because of his silly Red Bull biased and it showed that compared to Brawn, Whitmarsh, Frank Williams and Domenicalli he has not got the skills to run a team effectively as I fully believe that the mechanics if nothing else are divided much like Brawn last year but it is more to do with bitterness than sheer competition. Mark Webber's "Not bad for a No.2" comment and his instance that he would never have re-signed for the team had he known something like this would happen is a sign of maturity that the rest of this team still don't have which is good on his part but worrying for the rest of them.

Add this to the drama at the start of the race and you have one of the most finely balanced situations since Senna vs Prost: Webber jumping Vettel and then Vettel forcing him and Lewis Hamilton into the pit wall was a stupid move, it not only caused contact between himself and Hamilton, but his puncture from the tire and the rumble strip at turn 1 but also forced the tightness between Hamilton, Kubica, Rosberg and the Ferrari's, which boxed in Alonso and made the collision with Massa utterly inevitable, basically causing chaos. Although he did prove he can overtake this year by passing 6 people including 3 German Compatriots in Hulkenberg, Schumacher and Sutil (although that was utterly rude). If Vettel doesn't calm down I can see this title race going to Hamilton vs Button vs Webber should these three continue to dominate and stay out of trouble (Anyone annoyed that I didn't mention Alonso just wait till later when I mouth off on him again).

He was quite petulant and it ruined the race and the constructors championship for the team as Mclaren made their respective races work out in the end. Webber was never going to be caught but Hamilton did a very good job of being no more than 5 seconds apart at any time (not including the safety car) and being that fast with half the set up time of the rest of the field. Jenson's calm drive from 14th-4th was very Button-esque: Not dramatic, involving managing his soft tires and steering clear of trouble.

Other noteable drives come from Rosberg to third (including a great pass on Algersuari), showing a Mercedes Revival, Barrichello and Kobayashi to 5th and 6th, pulling back some distance to Force India, and Sutil to 8th (including a good pass on Schumacher). It was also a bad day for Renault (they have slowly become my joint 2nd team behind Mclaren with Mercedes) as Kubica retired for the first time this season after his controversy with Alonso (again he comes later) and Petrov had another silent race where he did next nothing aside from be the victim of a mental overtake on lap 1 by Dela Rosa on The Loop (how nobody spotted this move was beyond me). Massa's race (much like Vettel's was ruined by a puncture but unlike Vettel got a bad break when he had to make a second stop and ruin any chances of a massive comeback.

NOW I WILL TALK ABOUT FERNANDO ALONSO.

He made a bad start and while he could not do anything about that or him being relatively boxed in Maggots and Beckets causing his accident with Massa but his pass with Kubica was inexcusable in my view. Not only did he go off the road but he should have let Kubica go straight passed afterwards (which he was told to do by Charlie W. and his team). The fact Kubica retired before he did is a symbol that he took too long to do and I don't subscribe to his drive through being harsh due to the timing as the same thing happened with Hamilton and Raikonnen at Spa '08 and he could well have lost the World Championship because of it so it wasn't harsh at all in my eyes. I am glad he didn't talk to the British Media after the race as not only am I getting sick of the sound of his voice but also what he has to say a lot of time makes him sound like a complete spoilt bitch. Even my mother who quite liked him when he drove his first stint at Renault is now getting a bit sick of him and she doesn't even like F1!!!! So all in, I make my Alonso statement stronger than I did last time out:

Can Fernando Alonso please kindly **** off and just drive!!!!

On an aside note I was developing a dislike for Mark Webber after his moronic drive in Melbourne but now he back into my good books as drivers go. I would prefer either Hamilton, Button, a Mercedes or Kubica to win the championship but I would not be sad if he did as he proving his skills after 8 long years in the sport.

Now at this point I am going to say goodbye before I get any more angry at Horner and Alonso. Next up is going to be my Pro-Wrestling review and look back at my first ever festival, 2000 tree's in Cheltenham!

Love to you all

Nick.

A bit late but better late than never.

Before I start this one off I will be moving off the topic of 'real sport' next week: I'll be doing things such as review for the last Slipknot record to feature bassist Paul Gray 'All Hope Is Gone', a update from the world of Pro-Wrestling with TNA's Victory Road and WWE's Money in the Bank pay-per-views and a look back at the Vuvuzella and diving stained 2010 world cup. Further more i'll be looking forward my first ever festival next week, an event by the name of 2000 trees in Chelthenham as a warm up for Sonisphere later in the month.

Now, Drum-Roll please! *drum roll for extended period of time*

It's the British Grand Prix coming up this weekend!

*More confetti and stuff!!!*

(I really ought to clean some of that mess up, it's becoming a bit dangerous lol)

With the revamped Silverstone actually looking very good it is a weekend I am extremely excited about viewing.

The new layout is rather fast and has been catching people out throughout the practise sessions, anyone from Chandok and Di Grassi to big guns like Schumacher, Massa and Hamilton. This, with the massive bump that has come about in middle of Maggots it's shaping to be an intriguing weekend where Mclaren, Red Bull and Ferrari once again lock horns with Kubica and Mercedes not being all that far behind.

One thing that has caught my attention is Hispania dropping Senna for the race to be replaced by former Super Aguri back-marker Sakon Yamamoto. This is a massive surprise to me personally as I thought Senna was doing rather well along with Chandok in something that genuinely looks like it handles like an old Lamborghini (basically like a pig). They have not given a reason, stating officially stated that they wanted to give Yamamoto a go in the car, after 14 Grand Prix where his participation could have been forgotten in the shadow of Takuma Sato's backflips with the same machinary. The weirdest thing of all is that Senna is going to get back in the car from Silverstone afterwards with no explination, which also makes me personally think that Chandok at some point will have to move on to the team's other test driver former Red Bull driver Christian Klien, who while not the fastest driver ever, I distinctly remember taking on Kimi Raikonnen at Bahrain in 2004 before the Finn's massive engine failure and not backing down from the superstar in the Mclaren.

Now for another prediction, i've been wrong 3/3 times now but that won't stop me from predicting today.

1. Webber/Hamilton

2. Hamilton/Webber

3. Vettel/Button

4. Alonso/Alonso

5. Button/Schumacher

6. Rosberg/Rosberg

7. Kubica

8. Schumacher/Massa

9. Sutil

10. Massa/Liuzzi

11. Barrichello/Algersuari

12. Buemi/Kobayashi

13. Kobayashi/Barrichello

14. Algersuari/Buemi

15. Hulkenberg/Kovalinen

16. Liuzzi/Glock

17. Petrov/Chandok

18. Kovalinen/ Vettel (ret)

19. Dela Rosa/ Hulkenberg (ret)

20. Glock / Di Grassi (ret)

21. Trulli/ Dela Rosa (ret)

22. Di Grassi/ (Trulli (ret)

23. Chandok/Petrov (ret)

24. Yamamoto/(ret)

Looking forward to a great race, see you on the other side guys and dolls.

Nick

P.S and one more thing.

TO THE PRESS! Hamilton and Button get on! GET OVER IT?!

European GP - Not so bad

So, after the potentially most boring Grand Prix I have one thing to say about it:

CAN FERNANDO ALONSO PLEASE SHUT THE **** UP!!!!!!!!!!

I can not deny the man's talent. He is a beast behind the wheel of the Ferrari is dragging the time into the championship hunt without much help from Massa. But he is becoming such a whiney little man, the ultimate driver politician and slowly becoming one of my personal most disliked drivers in the field. His 8th place wasn't as a result of a 'manipulated race' but because Kobayashi and Buemi were just good enough to hold him off.

My star of the race is definitely Kamui Kobayashi. His clever ploy of staying out on the hards for most of the race and then his pace towards the end to nail Alonso at turn 17 on the penultimate lap and Buemi with a stunning move on the last corner of the last lap. He did an excellent job keeping Jenson behind him and the most aggressive driver in F1 is showing why Peter Sauber stuck with him rather than going with Fisichella or Heidfeld.

It was a decent race at the front, ruined by Hamilton's drive through. He and Jenson had good pace between them and proved at most points in the race to be faster than Vettel. That Mclaren is hugely fast and Red Bull really need to look over their shoulders as if this new car at Silverstone work's as well as I think it will it could be a British fight between Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.

Back on Schumacher's progress he did a good thing with just going on a sort of 'live test' after the safety car went in. He was very fast despite the potentially cooking brakes and his data should prove invaluable. He was nearly amazing and could have got his own 3rd place had he only been in the pits a couple of seconds later. So I say well done on a very responsible drive for him.

However there is only one thing that can be looked at in the overall scheme of this race and as much as I dislike him I am extremely happy that Mark Webber is ok after that horrible crash (which I assume everyone has seen now). The image of his car pointing at the air is one image that will stay with me for a very long time. I was in shock at least until mid-distance and Hamilton's drive through. I think there is some fault on both sides but at least he and Kovalinen are both in one piece.

Overall this has made it interesting for the World Championship. And here is a thought I want to leave you all with:

Sebastian Vettel has only made 1 overtaking move all season. And that was off the start line against Mark Webber in Malaysia.

Nick

I'm glad we're going out of the cup.

Apparently, it is 4-1 with 13 minutes to go in the football as I start to write, I have no doubt it'll be full time by the time I finish this entry.

Anyway, as I have said in my blog, I am happy that the football team are gonna be headed home from South Africa any minute now. Football is not the only thing going on in purely the sporting world and it is in fact the only situation (as is always the case) where the British are actually doing badly:

• In Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have finished in the top 3 together in the last 3 races and lead the World Drivers Championship and Mclaren lead the constructors championship also.
• Andy Murray is doing well at Wimbledon and he has a good chance of a semi-final (which would be a fine achievement).
• The Cricket team is turning into the best limited overs team in the world with what looks like it going to be a series victory of Australia for the first time in 5 years.
• Even the Rugby Union team has beaten Australia twice in a row which hasen't happened in even longer than that.
• We hold more than 10 Olympic and World Championship gold medals with a fine bunch of track and field athletes as well as great swimmers, rowers and other great people.

So why in the name of all that is Winston-bloody-Chruchill when the nearest sniff of a Football match taking place and the (i'm gonna get in real trouble for saying this with football fans reading this but here it goes) REAL SPORTSMEN who put more effort in their craft than their sponsorship and hairdos who are doing the country they are representing really proud and this bunch of arrogant, selfish, uncaring, pampered, whimpish, overpaid people win one game by the skin of their teeth (by that I mean Slovenia) and all of a sudden the good work by the likes of Jenson Button, Paul Collingwood, Rebbecca Adlington, Johnny Wilkinson and Andy Murray (I know he's Scottish, but I support him, because he a great tennis player, who cares) is forgotten.

I am not angry even though I sound that way.

I just genuinely think that people need to stop caring, take down the Sun's England flags, stop treating this bunch of people like heroes and get back on with your ordinary lives as I expect 50% of you reading this blog don't watch football.

Anyone who has a problem with anything I've said, take it up with me on my facebook. Congratulations to Germany as apparently it is full time as I type this.

Coming up next a report on today's European Grand Prix, which was won by Vettel (congrats to him)

Nick

European Grand Prix - How will this turn out?

Firstly I must apologise for this blog. I have only just woken up for the start of this so I might be a little bit dopey when I write this, I promise I will proof read it later on if it is that bad...Please do not judge me.

Time for potentially one of the most boring tracks on the calender the Formula 1.

We are headed to Valencia for the European Grand Prix. This circuit around the port has been outwardly know by the drivers, particularly Adrian Sutil, that despite the obvious challenge of staying out the walls and keeping concentration that is not a race track that is enjoyable to race on as it has no real challenging corners apart from the chicane section at the end of the the lap. If it is unpopular with the drivers just think how the poor fans have felt for two years.

Nevertheless there are some people who are feeling more confident about the race: In particular Martin Brundle who said that the track (which I agree it kind with) has similar characteristics to Montreal, which a fortnight ago produced one of the greatest races I have ever watched. With the drivers being more motivated and more aggressive in recent weeks there does seem to hope that finally the racing reason behind going to Valencia, rather than Bernie cynically making money off the back of Alosno, will be decided.

Before I look at the potential I must look about the two major rule changes for next season:

• People moan about the adjustable rear wings as making the racing fake. I see where they are coming from but it is also about when to use it tactically and intelligently to make the move is a skill the drivers will have to know. And it doesn't mean that overtaking may not take place anyway with the dropping of the contentious double diffuser.
• The 107% qualifying rule is back. Hispania and Virgin started this season just outside the rule so whichever new team turns up (unless they can make a better fist of it that those two) will have a problem of not taking part in very many races due to the speed (or lackthereof) these cars seems to possess.
• Pirelli are the new tire supplier for next year but they want to make bigger tires for the cars. One of the current problems with the tires is that they are too big so hopefully they see sense soon as smaller tires will reduce the overall grip and make the racing more interesting hopefully.

Now for predictions for qualifying and the race, as per usual it will quali on the left and the race on the right, with anyone staying in the same place only having one name and ret. standing for retiring.

1. Hamilton/Alonso
2. Alonso/Webber
3. Webber/Hamilton
4. Rosberg/Button
5. Vettel
6. Kubica/Schumacher
7. Schumacher/Rosberg
8. Button/Kubica
9. Massa
10. Hulkenberg/Sutil
11. Petrov/Algersuari
12. Sutil/Kobayashi
13. Algersuari/Buemi
14. Liuzzi/Barrichello
15. Barrichello/Kovalinen
16. Buemi/Trulli
17. Kobayashi/Liuzzi (ret.)
18. Kovalinen/Chandok (ret.)
19. Trulli/Di Grassi (ret.)
20. Dela Rosa/Glock (ret.)
21. Glock/Senna (ret.)
22. Senna/Dela Rosa (ret.)
23. Di Grassi/ Petrov (ret.)
24. Chandok/Hulkenberg (ret.)

This race traditionally has early retirements and damage so fingers crossed there could be some comeback drives, overtaking and more than one tire stop again please??????

For now I will let you get on with your day. After the race shall be a joint look back on the first week of Wimbeldon, including Mahut and Isner's epic and the World Cup up until England's inevitable penalty exit against the Germans.

Respect to you all, I'll report back when the race is done.

Nick

Post Pay-Per-View and the following stories Blog on the double

Righto, my first drunken post, i'm guessing this'll have to be corrected lots tomorrow but here goes nothing.

First of, a look at Slammiversery.

RVD retained the title due to a Jeff Jarrett interference in the main event. Decent match, shows that Sting's new persona makes better matches and I can't help but love RVD's style in the ring (I always have). Good Jarrett/Sting Rematch on Impact. Looking forward to Hardy vs RVD vs Abyss vs Anderson at Victory Road, should be an excellent Four Way match.

Jay Lethal beat AJ. In recent weeks he has also beaten Wolfe and Kaz, Jay Lethal is good in the ring but I don't think he should be anything more than the X-Division champ (he's be great at that in my view). He is cuting TNA's best promo's apart from possible Mr Anderson and he is a good wrestler on top of that. I have noticed recently that AJ is quite good at selling.

I love the Jeff Hardy/Anderson team, although the 'Enigmatic Assholes' is a rubbish name. They are now going to war over the World Title so there is a chance they could not last very long or stick through it and compete simply for competition. I hope so, I like face Anderson and Jeff Hardy can not be heel.

Samoa Joe, Hernandez and Matt Morgan is an interesting storyline which they should keep developing. Morgan is a bit weird but playing his character well, Joe is still probably one of the top 2 in ring performers and Hernandez just looks like a badass and has some great moves. A Triple Threat Number 1 contenders match between the three would be very good.

I am a fan of Rob Terry, I think he just needs to lose body mass and he could be really good. The Freakbuster is one of my favourite finishing moves. Orlando Jordan is a mess thouough, I have no problem with bi-sexuality. But his portrayal of it just sucks and he needs to do something massive to be taken seriously in my view.

Yay for the potentially ECW style faction with Abyss as the massive heel monster ally. Abyss is so much better heel than the silly face role that he was playing allied with Hogan. Paul Heyman is rumoured to be the stable leader, that would be epic as he can cut a bad-ass promo when wants to. Heyman, Rhino, Raven and Dreamer with Abyss would be a believably epic stable and one day could turn face to rival this Four Horsemen rip off (Fortune).

Great technical match between Kazarian and Kurt Angle, it proves why Kurt is so good and why Kaz is worth something to the wrestling business. That was the best match of the night for me.

On an aside note from the PPV, I am in love with Angelina Love's new violent gimmick, I just hope they don't turn it heel as she is playing the same roll as Randy Orton but it looks like it'll be better overall if she gets the Knockouts belt.

Brian Kendrick is doing well for himself. His development of submission holds looks very convincing and he and Doug Williams will have an excellent 2 out of 3 falls match at Victory Road.

And the beautiful people are hot, I'm just saying that now.

Now onto WWE Fatal Four Way

Wow, Mysterio being champion would not have been my choice for a result but it was something I wasn't expecting. Good match though, I do wonder what they will do with Swagger without the championship and his seeming losing run. Kane and CM Punk will be a good rivalry with Undertaker being in the background as such.

The NXT rookies story is great, I am just hoping that Brain Danielson is still employed by WWE so he can come back and start winning matches and championships ASAP. Barrett cannot face a heel champion so I'm think he'll face a weakened Cena/Orton after a Money in the Bank title match beating Sheamus (who should not have the championship in my view, despite his improvement in recent weeks). Cena will have the title back by Survivor Series I reckon if Edge or Orton don't although Barrett needs a massive title reign to establish himself.

New RAW GM after Bret Hart, It'll have to be a heel GM but no heel GM will be as good as Bischoff was unless he is something special. I reckon he is going to be not quite fully heel but he'll side with the rookies and have Cena, Orton, Bourne, maybe Morrison and R-Truth being targets for abuse (not at the same time though). I hope Michael Cole is the GM as him fully heel would be pretty great and very different idea to what any company has been doing since heel Jerry Lawler back in the attitude era.

It is time for a fairly large push for Miz going after WWE championship (maybe not getting it though).

Drew McIntyre might move onto a feud Mysterio as he has (hopefully) now moved away from the Intercontinental Title story with Kofi Kingston. He is performing well and his look is awesome, I just wish he gave better promo's as they are not interesting and do not match up to the quality of some of his matches. I hope he does go for it sooner rather than later.

Best match from both Pay-Per-Views was for sure Evan Bourne vs Chris Jericho. Bourne is a great little (in stature) talent and the Shooting Star Press is epic, and Jericho is a great performer even if he has slowed down a bit over the years. Either these two will have a massive feud or Bourne might go on an feud with Miz while Jericho goes back towards the main event.

Overall it's all a bit finely balanced. It can either be really good (both companies) or be really shitty and the writers screwing up.

Next up is my Valencia prediction and then the race report, followed by entries on Wimbledon and the World Cup.

Peace out guys

Nick

Fever - A record with split personality

I have been putting this entry off not because I don't want to post it but because other things, including the end of my first year of uni and not being with my laptop for several days at a time. So in this entry is the long awaited entry reviewing 'Fever': The third Album of Welsh Hard Rock titans Bullet For My Valentine.

The important thing about this album is that it does not bear any resemblance to their previous record 'Scream, Aim, Fire' and has a little bit more in common with 'The Poison'. However it is a much more mature effort as I will go on and explain throughout the songs on the album. It features Matt Tuck showing why he is one of the most popular vocalists in this style of music and a band who are comfortable in their own skin, writing what they want.

First up there is 'Your Betrayal', the lead single in America. This is a relatively simple song in it's concept, with the march drum intro creating a mood almost similar to that of their first album 'The Poison'. The song stays simple, drop tune guitars, little bits of screaming and the haunting Whisper's of Matt Tuck in the verse. The second huge chorus gives way to the middle section which is different to most Bullet For My Valentine as it is not a traditional Guitar solo but the almost siren like vocal line over the top of the very heavy guitar shows a maturity in song writing which is not previously present.

'Fever' is more traditional Bullet For My Valentine, a raucous drop C tuned metal number about a night in a club. It's not the fastest song on the album but in the way it is the one with possibly the most raw attitude. The highlight of this song is the vocal harmonies which sort of add to the almost sleezy element.

'The Last Fight' was the first glimpse the UK got of this album as it was the lead single. It's a driving number featuring the album's first guitar solo from Padge. It's also my personal favourite vocal performance as it features good singing as well as the shouting elements in the chorus. This is another very mature song. On an aside note about this song, the video is simple but very cool.

'A Place Where You Belong' is a similar sort of song to 'All These Things I Hate' off their first album. A softer song with heavier bits and pieces, a stereotypical sort of Metal ballad. It's almost quite a boring song until the guitar solo happens when the song picks up.

'Pleasure And Pain' is much more like it. The opening lyric of 'Come take the sacrifice' allied to a powerful opening riff make the song's opening full of impact. The rest of the song continues in a similar vein, making it one of the most intense songs on the record. Although my favourite bit happens just before the last chorus with the quiet yet tortured sounding line "You don't want, to know the truth".

'Alone' starts with the massive tapped guitar pattern and chord sequence which is almost similar to the way 'Your Betrayal' began. The synths in the verse and the string parts in the chorus give this song a real sense of occasion. It's also a catchy number with the guitar solos being at first based on simple melodies and modulating back into the D minor of the chorus. However the occasion is brought to a crashing finale with the slowing down of the intro to crawling pace almost like the epic ending to a film or (as this song possibly should have been) a massive closing track of an album.

'Breaking Out, Breaking Down' has quite a lot to live up to consider what preceded it on the record. It is one ofthe least heavy songs on the album as a whole but it features very good harmonised vocals in the pre-chours and chorus in particular. However the rest of it is quite nice but nothing else really standing out until the 2nd half of the bridge, which is almost painfully simple but effective.

'Bittersweet Memories' is a track that is simple in method and execution. It's a ballad about love gone wrong. This song isn't about one particular bit, rather the overall effect, which is profound for the type of song it is. If this isn't a single I will chop of my middle toe on my left foot and eat it.

'Dignity' is a true hark back to the musical styles utilised more on the first record. The totally harmonised opening riff brings back memories of songs like 'Suffocating Under Words of Sorrow'. It is a bit of a middle finger this song, perhaps not the most mature of lyrics either but what makes this song truly majestic is the tightness of the music allied with the melodies in the voice, particularly in the chorus. Another good thing is well sorted mixture of the Screaming and Singing. This is really by far the best song on the album.

'Begging For Mercy' is quite the beast. The heaviest song on the album after the opener. It is a song which features massive riffs and a very, very clever final chorus. However the chorus could be seen as a bit similar to 'Fever' and 'Pleasure and Pain' but I disagree and see this track as being almost monstrously heavy.

'Pretty On The Outside' is a grooving 6/8 animal featuring the least amount of cleanly sung vocals on the whole album. This song also features (in my view) the best lyrics as I believe everyone knows at least one person somewhat like this and they want to know the person better, to see if a person is quite what they seem, so this song really connected to me personally.

This album I would give around an 8/10. It is a good record, very mature musically with some very nice playing by all concerned and some mostly very good singing. However what the album falls down on is perhaps the more ballad type songs being no-where near as strong as songs like Dignity, The Last Fight, Your Betrayal and Alone which are the 4 best tracks. As mature and un-emo as it is, it is not a good a record overall as The Poison, their first album.