F1

[fog]

Not a great spectacle to end the season on although I was more than happy to see Webber finally get a win.

Quite strange that we had two high profile gearbox failures in the race when I can't remember another throughout the whole of the season.

Elsewhere I see Jake and DC are staying with the BBC and Brundle is moving to Sky as expected.  Sky are doing a pretty decent deal (by their standards) of £10 a month for their dedicated F1 channel and will be showing all practice, qualifying and races lives.  They've also confirmed they will be doing other F1 dedicated programming too so I'm hoping we get Brundle delving a bit more into the technical side of things.

I know Sky get a bad press here because of the cost, but whatever the sport their coverage is always superb.

[TheKhakinator]

Haven't watched the whole thing; good to see MW get a win, even if it was "gifted".

Biggest hope for next season is for Renault to be competitive (Kimi!), Massa, Barrichello, Glock, Trulli to retire (yeah, right), the new teams to stop sucking so much (Lotus, HRT, Virgin), and yet more passing.

[PaulCunningham]

Kimi back for 2012 then!

[TheKhakinator]

Kimi back for 2012 then!

Hell to the yeah!

[fog]

Kimi back for 2012 then!

Great news and just what Lotus Renault need.  I think they suffered this year as without Kubica they didn't have a driver that could help continuously develop the car in the way I'm sure Kimi can.  At the start of the season Renault looked promising, but as the season went on they stood still while everyone else kept improving.

Anyway that's some driver lineup for next year.  How many former champions?

the new teams to stop sucking so much (Lotus, HRT, Virgin),

Agreed.  Their lack of improvement just isn't funny any more.

[fog]

Sky have announced more details of next seasons coverage and it's sounding great.  They've signed up Kravitz and Crofty for commentator who I wanted to take over from Legard when he was given the elbow.  And it sounds like Brundle will be kept busy doing other shows. 

In the first major unveiling for the 2012 campaign, Sky Sports have revealed their team of pundits, presenters and commentators to broadcast every session from all the season's races next year.

In an eagerly-awaited announcement, the station has confirmed that the hugely popular David Croft will join forces with Martin Brundle in the commentary box for each of the 2012's races, with Brundle on air during every day of each grand prix, dividing his time between paddock, pitlane and commentary box. The flexibility means that former F1 driver Anthony Davidson will be reunited with Croft for commentary duties for each of the weekend's practice sessions.

"In Martin Brundle we have the outstanding F1 broadcaster - on the track and in broadcasting, he's proved it time and again," commented Sky Sports Executive Producer Martin Turner.

"Working alongside him, David Croft is a passionate, experienced commentator and Anthony Davidson can bring great technical knowledge to live practice sessions."

In support, both Natalie Pinkham and Ted Kravitz will scour the pitlane in search of the inside scoop on what's occurring, with Kravitz also co-presenting the magazine show that Sky Sports have also announced will be part of their package.

Ted's co-presenter on the magazine show will be Georgie Thompson, a familiar face to viewers of Sky Sports News, while another familiar face to Sky Sports viewers, Simon Lazenby, will host each grand prix weekend.

And last, but by no means least, broadcasting veteran Steve Rider will stage a series of big interviews with racing legends of the past and present for Sky Sports.

"Ted Kravitz has huge knowledge of the pitlane and paddock and he and Natalie Pinkham will get the information and access our viewers need," added Turner.

"And guiding us through the coverage we have the experience of Simon Lazenby and Georgie Thompson. Each has hosted major sports events, from the British Lions to the Ryder Cup - they have trust and respect."

[TheKhakinator]

Ah yes. I wonder what this means for the Australian commentary. I assume we'll get Sky. I'm really still quite sad about this; I thought MB and DC were pretty unbeatable, and EJ was pretty interesting too. Will have to see what plays out.

[fog]

Ah yes. I wonder what this means for the Australian commentary. I assume we'll get Sky. I'm really still quite sad about this; I thought MB and DC were pretty unbeatable, and EJ was pretty interesting too. Will have to see what plays out.

Do you normally get Sky coverage of any sports?  Just with them being subscription channels I'd have thought you would only get the channels if they are included in your cable package..

[TheKhakinator]

Ah yes. I wonder what this means for the Australian commentary. I assume we'll get Sky. I'm really still quite sad about this; I thought MB and DC were pretty unbeatable, and EJ was pretty interesting too. Will have to see what plays out.

Do you normally get Sky coverage of any sports?  Just with them being subscription channels I'd have thought you would only get the channels if they are included in your cable package..

Actually I think my cable package has a couple of Sky sports channels... maybe... But our cable here in Aus. is called Foxtel, and they run a lot of sports channels themselves. That said, Sky is responsible for running a lot of satellite sports in sports bars here...

But the primary way to watch F1 in Australia is currently on the free-to-air digital channel ONE - they did mostly their own leadin show this year, but the commentary was from the BBC during the race, and qualifying (no practice coverage). I'm interested as to whether they'll be able to use the Sky commentary, or whether they'll do something odd like get the BBC coverage for 10 races and put their own team together for the others... which I hope they don't do, because the few times the BBC commentary dropped out, they were horrible commentators...

Disappointment:
Petrov out.
Hopeful:
Barichello out.

[fog]

Yeah I think Petrov deserves another season as he showed glimpses of promise and was let down by an underachieving Renault this year.

As for Barachello he's one of a number of journeymen drivers I hope step aside and let some young blood come through.

[PaulCunningham]

All change at Toro Rosso...
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2011/12/toro-rosso-shakes-things-up-with-all-new-drivers-for-2012/

[TheKhakinator]

All change at Toro Rosso...
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2011/12/toro-rosso-shakes-things-up-with-all-new-drivers-for-2012/

I'm kind of surprised, I didn't think Alguersuari was that bad.

[fog]

All change at Toro Rosso...
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2011/12/toro-rosso-shakes-things-up-with-all-new-drivers-for-2012/

I'm kind of surprised, I didn't think Alguersuari was that bad.

Yeah I'll be surprised if both don't get a drive elsewhere although most of the line-ups seem to have been confirmed already so their options are limited.

The thing is Torro Rosso are effectively a feeder team for Red Bull and while they are both decent drivers I can't honestly say either struck me as having the obvious talent needed to step up.

[fog]

Sutil axed from Force India I see.  He was obviously under pressure as he was outperformed by rookie Di Resta last season, so not a huge shock he's gone...although replacing him with Nico Hulkenberg, who I don't remember standing out himself in his previous F1 season, might prove to be a backward step.

[PaulCunningham]

Sutil axed from Force India I see.  He was obviously under pressure as he was outperformed by rookie Di Resta last season

Outperformed in what way?

Final Standing
---------------------
9    Adrian Sutil   German    Force India-Mercedes   42
10    Vitaly Petrov   Russian    Renault   37
11    Nick Heidfeld   German    Renault   34
12    Kamui Kobayashi   Japanese    Sauber-Ferrari   30
13    Paul di Resta   British    Force India-Mercedes   27

Also...


http://www.en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?page=chart&year=2011&dr1=Adrian%20Sutil&dr2=Paul%20di%20Resta&ycha=6