Sunday, March 12, 2006
# posted by Rich @ 10:26 PM
Commentary Corner
Some observations and amusing quotes from the Speed team during today's race:
The pre-race show included a new feature: "Peter Windsor live from the grid". Frankly, this is a wholesale rip-off of Martin's Gridwalk, although it is a nice touch. Flavio Briatore's comment about the Ferraris on the front row being a marketing ploy were quite amusing (and if Bernie has anything to do with it, which he almost certainly does, then it is quite close to the truth as well).
Bob Varsha raised the point that Villeneuve and Rosberg lining up on row six was a blast from the past - Gilles Villeneuve and Keke Rosberg shared the 4th row at Long Beach in 1982 (Villeneuve was 7th on the grid and was disqualified, Rosberg was 8th on the grid and finished second behind Lauda).
Varsha also stated the interesting fact that the last person to start from the front row on their debut for Ferrari was Michele Alboreto (2nd on grid at the 1984 Brazilian GP).
Varsha at various points during the commentary brought up the posibility of Rosberg scoring points on his debut. One statement that he made was that Rosberg would be in illustrious company, listing Mark Webber, Kimi Raikkonen, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jenson Button (I think referring only to current drivers). Yeah, great Varsha, except neither Button nor Montoya scored points in their first races. Oh, but Jacques Villeneuve did, and he is a current driver, although I would hardly have called him illustrious company. Some other people I can think of who scored points on their debuts include Prost, Giancarlo Baghetti (who also won on his debut), Johhny Herbert, Eddie Irvine, Timo Glock, plus more that I can't remember right now.
There were some good funnies as well:
Hobbs - Raikkonen is a serious overtaker, but even he has met his match with Jacques Villeneuve
Varsha - Michael must have the peripheral vision of a horse to have the mirrors that far away
Matchett - THAT's how you stop a car. Super best friends could learn something there. (I think he meant Super Aguri)
Varsha - Oh boy, where did Button's race go?
Hobbs - Rosberg's got serious attachments
Varsha - Nice angle, very flattering (camera shot of Rosberg's ass)
Matchett - The constructors' trophy being accepted by Flavius Brontosaurus
Hobbs - Raikkonen is the best overtaker in the business because he's had so much practice
There were two annoying things with the race coverage though - the live timing system broke down around about lap 20 (I love my live timing) and we had a massive thunderstorm roll through at about 7.30 am. As a consequence of this, at 7.52 am Speed went off the air with 8 laps to go, and it didn't come back until the last lap! Now I know how ITV viewers felt about the 2005 San Marino race!
Anyway, that about wraps up my comments for Bahrain. I will talk about some more of the political issues in F1 during the week, and then it will be the Malaysian GP at the weekend. Whew.
The pre-race show included a new feature: "Peter Windsor live from the grid". Frankly, this is a wholesale rip-off of Martin's Gridwalk, although it is a nice touch. Flavio Briatore's comment about the Ferraris on the front row being a marketing ploy were quite amusing (and if Bernie has anything to do with it, which he almost certainly does, then it is quite close to the truth as well).
Bob Varsha raised the point that Villeneuve and Rosberg lining up on row six was a blast from the past - Gilles Villeneuve and Keke Rosberg shared the 4th row at Long Beach in 1982 (Villeneuve was 7th on the grid and was disqualified, Rosberg was 8th on the grid and finished second behind Lauda).
Varsha also stated the interesting fact that the last person to start from the front row on their debut for Ferrari was Michele Alboreto (2nd on grid at the 1984 Brazilian GP).
Varsha at various points during the commentary brought up the posibility of Rosberg scoring points on his debut. One statement that he made was that Rosberg would be in illustrious company, listing Mark Webber, Kimi Raikkonen, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jenson Button (I think referring only to current drivers). Yeah, great Varsha, except neither Button nor Montoya scored points in their first races. Oh, but Jacques Villeneuve did, and he is a current driver, although I would hardly have called him illustrious company. Some other people I can think of who scored points on their debuts include Prost, Giancarlo Baghetti (who also won on his debut), Johhny Herbert, Eddie Irvine, Timo Glock, plus more that I can't remember right now.
There were some good funnies as well:
Hobbs - Raikkonen is a serious overtaker, but even he has met his match with Jacques Villeneuve
Varsha - Michael must have the peripheral vision of a horse to have the mirrors that far away
Matchett - THAT's how you stop a car. Super best friends could learn something there. (I think he meant Super Aguri)
Varsha - Oh boy, where did Button's race go?
Hobbs - Rosberg's got serious attachments
Varsha - Nice angle, very flattering (camera shot of Rosberg's ass)
Matchett - The constructors' trophy being accepted by Flavius Brontosaurus
Hobbs - Raikkonen is the best overtaker in the business because he's had so much practice
There were two annoying things with the race coverage though - the live timing system broke down around about lap 20 (I love my live timing) and we had a massive thunderstorm roll through at about 7.30 am. As a consequence of this, at 7.52 am Speed went off the air with 8 laps to go, and it didn't come back until the last lap! Now I know how ITV viewers felt about the 2005 San Marino race!
Anyway, that about wraps up my comments for Bahrain. I will talk about some more of the political issues in F1 during the week, and then it will be the Malaysian GP at the weekend. Whew.
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