What it's like being an F1 presenter and producer

Hi guys,

I hope you enjoyed this weekend's show. I'm writing this blog entry in the production office at 1am on Monday in Singapore (about three hours after the grand prix finished).

We stay on European time for the Singapore GP which means out of bed at 1pm, and into bed at 4am, which is strange but seems to work for the media and the teams.

Anyway, to this week's blog.

I remember as a TV-obsessed kid wondering what happened when the presenters weren't on screen, so I decided to show you!

I know lots of you are keen to get as close to F1 and the BBC's coverage as possible, which is why I love doing the blogs and the tweets. But this weekend I've decided to up the ante.

I asked the director Richard if it was possible to record the talkback and the three camera feeds along with our actual output.

The result is embedded below. It is about as close as you'll get to being an F1 presenter without actually doing it.

You can hear exactly what I hear as the show gets going. You'll also spot the transmission on the bottom right as well as the three cameras we use.

Now, the start of the show is notoriously much easier than the end.

For the race build-up, we know pretty much what we're going to do and who we'll speak to. By contrast, after the programme we generally have 30-50 minutes to fill without any script or running order.

I'd love to know what you make of the video. You can hear last minute changes of shot, the plan unfolding inside the McLaren garage and how we make late, swift decisions to try to make the show as dynamic, exciting and entertaining as possible.

I should point out, by the way, that as the video was filmed within the confines of the Singapore track, it is only available to UK users.

Anyway, enough words, watch the video and let me know what you think!

Jake

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Dan Gurney Hubert Hahne Mike Hailwood Mika Häkkinen

Hamilton's hopes take a hit

In one sense, the Singapore Grand Prix changed nothing; in reality, it changed everything.

Mark Webber still leads the world championship and the five contenders are still covered by the points awarded for a win. But Fernando Alonso's victory in the first of the five deciding races of the season has fundamentally altered the dynamics of the title battle.

The biggest winner and biggest loser were the two men regarded by so many as the finest racing drivers in the world - Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

Earlier this year, Alonso's fellow drivers voted him the best in F1 and he showed exactly why with a copybook victory for Ferrari in Singapore - superb in qualifying and flawless in the race under the most intense pressure from Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull.

The Spaniard's second consecutive victory not only brought him level with Webber on four wins this year but also moved him up to second in the championship, just 11 points behind the Australian. Alonso, it is clear, is now a very serious contender to win a third world title.

Hamilton, by contrast, was understandably downcast after his second non-finish in a row demoted him to third in the championship. Hamilton travelled to Singapore in second place only five points behind Webber. He is now 20 points off the lead and only one ahead of Vettel and five ahead of Jenson Button.

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"I'm in a bit of a daze," Hamilton said after a collision with Webber while trying to pass the Red Bull put him out of the race.

"I'm not really sure what happened. He was in my blind spot, I didn't see him alongside me, the next thing I know is my tyre's blown and that's it. I couldn't have had a worse two races at this time of year."

So this amazing season takes another dramatic twist.

Two races ago, after Hamilton's superb victory in Belgium - where Alonso, Vettel and Jenson Button all failed to score - it looked as if he and Webber were beginning to break away from the pack and emerge as the two men who would contest the championship.

At that point, there was no doubt Hamilton was the driver of the season among the five title contenders - he was the only one not to have made a major mistake.

A month later, with only four races to go, he has been involved in collisions in two consecutive races and finished neither.

The run-in with Ferrari's Felipe Massa that put Hamilton out in Italy two weeks ago was undoubtedly the McLaren driver's fault.

The one with Webber on Sunday was more of a 50-50 - what they call in F1 "a racing incident".

Hamilton, who had a run on Webber after the Red Bull was held up behind a backmarker, was within his rights to try to pass where he did; Webber was within his rights to defend.

Hamilton was ahead, on the outside, going into Turn Seven, but he was not ahead by a big enough margin to claim the corner as definitively his, so Webber could legitimately stay on the inside and not cede the corner.

Webber had nearly half his car over the kerb on the inside trying to avoid contact, but still Hamilton's left rear tyre clipped Webber's front right.

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh was right to say that Hamilton was unlucky to be out of the race and Webber lucky to stay in it. But equally the stewards were correct not to take any further action.

It is easy to see why Hamilton was so down immediately after his retirement. He knows that, on paper, he is likely to lose more ground at the next race, the Japanese Grand Prix in two weeks' time.

Suzuka could have been made for the Red Bull. Its combination of long medium- and high-speed corners is expected to play to the car's strengths, just as Barcelona, Silverstone and Hungary did. In theory, it should be a slam-dunk one-two for Vettel and Webber, in whatever order.

Just as worrying for Hamilton, though, is that the Ferrari - at least in Alonso's hands - is clearly the second fastest car on the grid, and may also be more suited to Suzuka than the McLaren.

Lewis Hamilton looks downcast as he talks to the media about his retirement from the Singapore Grand Prix

Hamilton knows his retirement in Singapore is a big blow to his title hopes. Photo: Getty Images

Button said after the Singapore race that McLaren have a major upgrade for Japan. That might change the competitive landscape. But if he and Hamilton lose more ground there, as they well might, then the championship will indeed be looking like a long shot with only three races to go - or perhaps just two, given the continuing doubts over South Korea.

It will be no consolation at all for Hamilton that he lost 'only' the points for third place - he could have done nothing about Alonso and Vettel, who were on another planet in Singapore, leaving everyone else for dead.

Alonso has not had his greatest season; he has made too many mistakes, particularly early in the season, but also as recently as Spa, when he crashed out of eighth place in the closing stages.

But now F1 has arrived at the business end of the season, he is looking every inch the formidable contender everyone knows him to be.

As Martin Brundle put it after the race: "Alonso has been brilliant, absolutely brilliant, all weekend."

Indeed he was. He took pole position in the second fastest car, going quick enough to pressure Vettel into mistakes on both of his qualifying laps when the German really should have taken pole himself.

The two of them were sensational on Sunday, pulling out more than 20 seconds on Hamilton in third place before the pit stops as they went at it hammer and tongs, swapping fastest laps at the front of the field.

Both drove superbly, but Alonso very rarely makes mistakes once he's in the lead and always looked in control, even though it was clear Vettel was in the fastest car. Now the Spaniard has the wind in his sails and the scent of another title in his nostrils, he can be expected to be formidable.

The Ferrari may not be the out-and-out quickest car, but as Alonso himself put it in Singapore: "We will be 90% at a lot of the tracks. We don't have any disadvantage in any track so we can benefit from this consistency."

Webber - in the championship lead, the fastest car and with a still-substantial advantage over his team-mate - remains the favourite, though.

After a difficult weekend, when he was never on terms with Vettel, Webber drove well to salvage third in the race, a result he will consider the best he could have expected.

Alonso and Ferrari, meanwhile, over-performed, winning a race in which they should have finished only second.

The Spaniard is Webber's closest friend among the drivers, but there will be no favours from either, or any of the other title contenders, as this stunning season comes to its dynamic climax.

But it does mean that Webber, of all people, knows exactly what he is up against.

Germain com Toyota Brendan Gaughan Loan Max Toyota Aric Almirola

An eventful day at Monza

Hi there, thanks for being patient waiting for this week's blog. I had plenty of Twitter messages asking me to pull my finger out and well here it is, finally.

I try and get these posts written in the immediate aftermath of a race weekend but with a busy time in Italy I didn't quite manage it, here's why.

After an incredibly emotional win for Ferrari, and an F1 Forum that lasted well over an hour, I was dragged by EJ into the Sauber motor home as soon as we came off air. Eddie was remarking that I am 'too polite' and have 'too many manners'. Essentially, what he meant was that I shouldn't be shy about the fact that we'd snuck in, plonked ourselves in the middle of the Sauber staff trying to clear up and then nicked the delicious lasagne reserved for the muscular blokes packing away their 'paddock palace'.

Fernando Alonso celebrates victory at Monza

After almost nothing passing my lips since breakfast, I was grateful for the food and the ice cold beer that the staff were only too happy to provide. One thing EJ always manages to get is what he wants, it clearly stood him in good stead in his team boss days!

Anyway, this weekend's prep actually started a couple of days before when I was in an empty school playground in south-east London driving a moped that wasn't mine. Now, don't panic and think that between GP's I'm out joyriding around the capital, I was in fact doing my CBT course to ride a motorbike.

I love the fact that the F1 team come up with the kind of ideas that no normal person would even consider such as a hot air balloon with EJ over Silverstone, the glitzy Monaco opening in a helicopter and Martin and his E-Type on the Channel Tunnel. This week the inspiration was 'Jake, DC and EJ arriving in Monza on scooters'.

The only problem being that while David and Eddie were fully qualified, I wasn't. Therefore we found a CBT course in London and there I was in a bright yellow jacket and L-plates doing a figure of eight in a school playground.

Almost every question my incredibly patient instructor Simon asked me I managed to get wrong. However after he re-educated my brain and I'd got control of the bike on to the roads we went.

Now, I sometimes long to be back where I grew up in Norwich with my family and this was one such moment. As I gingerly pulled out on to the main road I thought that it was busy -then I remembered it was a tube strike day.

The roads were heaving and I was suddenly crossing Battersea Bridge, motoring in front of the Houses of Parliament and trying desperately not to ride with my fingers over the brakes, which I kept doing.

Thankfully the day ended with Simon signing my certificate and so I was able to take to the streets of Monza with my pals, despite EJ ending up on a yellow bike (rather than a green one which would have gone with our white and red ones to replicate the Italian flag). However, in his words "Yellow is in my veins!".

Actually, when I saw the edited opening piece and Eddie standing on the podium celebrating a Jordan win, it reminded me just what these two guys have achieved. Once you get to know a person you quickly forget the baggage they carry and focus on the individual, personal relationship you share. It is a bit like having a scary boss who becomes a good mate. To that end Eddie and David have become friends rather than the famous people they were when I first met them.

It's amazing how life has changed for them both. I was getting my earpieces and microphone fitted in the paddock about an hour before the show and DC and I were chatting to a couple of the Virgin Racing guys when Sebastian Vettel sprinted through the paddock followed by a surge of media people.

I looked at David and thought that 12 years ago he wouldn't be able to just stand and chat about life because he, too, was inside the F1 pressure cooker.

I just hope the current crop of drivers appreciate being the centre of the F1 universe because it doesn't last forever!

F1's loss is our gain as we now get to hear from the boys every weekend. Mind you, this one was trickier than others to actually hear what they were saying.

On the Saturday it was such a crush outside the Ferrari garage that I lost my essential communication with the gallery. People were squeezed up to the pack on my belt so closely that all suddenly went quiet. Not good when the only way I can hear Eddie and David is because they are fed electronically down my ears.

It's so loud in the pitlane that we have to wear ear defenders and what we say to each other goes down the microphone, into the sound gallery and back into our earpieces.

Thankfully the crowd moved slightly and I regained my communications and hopefully you didn't even notice!

It was an early reminder about the passion that courses around that place and sometimes overflows.

On Sunday it was quite funny because we were surrounded by the red-clad crowd as 'The Chain' was ringing in our ears and I was all geared up to ask David about the Italian love of Ferrari.

Then, with seconds to go until the show went on air, FOM suddenly closed the pitlane and cleared the crowd. I needed a quick rethink of my first question!

One of the aims of the show is to get you guys even closer to the action than you've ever been before, that's why I quite like a bit of madness and the odd badly-behaved member of the crowd or a cheeky pitcrew member. Take Saturday and one of the Ferrari guys who clearly knew we were on air and could have waited but decided to wheel a whole rack of tyres in front of Eddie who promptly disappeared behind them. All good fun.

From the huge roar that went up when Lewis ended up in the gravel, to the sea of Tifosi who descended onto the pit lane at the end of the grand prix, I think the fans were the main story of the weekend and I for one would love to see more of that kind of thing.

It was clear that part of the elation in Italy was due to Fernando being smack in the middle of the title race and this is an interesting part of the season to chat to the drivers.

I reminded Jenson last week that in 2009 he looked seriously stressed and under pressure at this point. By contrast, he looks super chilled-out this year. Is that the confidence of a champion?

The same applies to Lewis. Perhaps after our console exploits with Nic, when I took on the Hamilton brothers at the latest F1 video game, he thought he had the damage option turned to off in the opening lap of the race.

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It was great to see Lewis and his bro interacting with each other and he is another man that doesn't seem in the slightest bit phased by what may lie ahead. He was relaxed, confident, and joking about the rival cars, of course.

I won't criticise his over-exuberance or Vettel's recent exploits. They might not be conducive to winning a title but they entertain and that is why we watch the sport isn't it?

Anyway, whilst Lewis, Fernando and Jenson will be reveling in the moment, do spare a thought for poor Karun Chandhok who seems like he's driven his last race of 2010.

I'm off to India to see the new circuit and get a Delhi tour with Karun before heading to Singapore, which is great, but I'm sure he'd rather be behind the wheel of an F1 car. If you don't already, I'd suggest you get following me on Twitter and I'll post plenty of photos of the trip.

Right, off home to watch back the F1 Forum. If you missed it then you missed plenty so have a look and I'll see you for more in Singapore.

I'm also going to make dinner as I need to be the perfect husband whilst I'm actually at home. Have you seen the 2011 calendar...!?!

Georges Grignard Bobby Grim Romain Grosjean Olivier Grouillard

NASCAR Tickets - Stewart Makes History as Million Dollar Man

It was supposed to be Jeff Gordon's record-breaking race. He set himself up for the victory of a lifetime, attempting to break a tie with Dale Earnhardt as the first driver ever to win the Sprint Cup All-Star Race for the fourth time. In Saturday night's big event, Gordon was in first place after the third segment of the race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

All that was left was a 10-lap shootout to close out the $1 million deal, but just when it seemed that Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet was golden, attackers Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman came around both sides of the car, causing Gordon to spin out and crash nose-first into the outside wall, ending his first-place reign.

Instead of Gordon making history in Saturday night's All-Star Race, the NASCAR driver who put his name in the books was Tony Stewart, the near 38-year-old who won his very first All-Star Race and became the second driver in NASCAR history to win the race as a driver/owner, following suit of 1994's All-Star winner Geoff Bodine. Stewart zoomed into Victory Lane after passing Matt Kenseth in Turn 2 of Lap 99 (of 100) in the race, making a comment after the race about Kenseth letting him pass, saying, "I can't believe he gave me the bottom. I just cannot believe he gave me the bottom. But I'll take it. Matt is a guy you can trust. We got to second there, got by the No. 18 [Kyle Busch] and I thought, 'All right, we have a shot at this thing.'"

Stewart went on to elaborate about the state of his car, which got a last minute fix-up, saying, "We weren't that good until the last run. [Crew chief] Darien Grubb, I mean he made some awesome calls there at the end to get us where I could drive that thing the way I could. Man, it was fast."

The Sprint Cup All-Star Race ended with Stewart snagging first place honors, with Matt Kenseth in second, Kurt Busch in third, Denny Hamlin in fourth and Carl Edwards in fifth place. Stewart's big win was his first of the season, though he currently sits in second place in NASCAR Sprint Cup driver standings (as of the Darlington race). Last weekend's All-Star race also marked the first win for No. 14 under his newly-minted and owned team Stewart-Haas Racing, which he helped jumpstart in 2009.

Stewart, who was born in Columbus, Indiana, grew up in the racing capital of the country, starting out on go karts and even winning a World Karting Association championship in 1987. The aspiring driver tried his hand with IndyCars in the early '90s and eventually made the switch to stock cars after burning rubber in the IRL and even earning the nickname 'Smoke,' joining the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 1999 for Joe Gibbs Racing. In his first NASCAR season, Stewart took home Rookie of the Year honors, also finishing fourth in the series and winning races at Richmond, Phoenix and Homestead, becoming the first series rookie to take wins at three Sprint Cup races.

Since then, the name Tony Stewart has been ringing loud and true in the NASCAR circuit, and No. 14 has posted several big wins over the years, winning the Sprint Cup Championship in both 2002 and 2005. In 2009, Stewart left Joe Gibbs Racing to start his own team, Stewart-Haas Racing, and has since been just as consistent as ever.

Now that he's won his first race of the season (albeit not one for points) Tony Stewart is raring and ready to go. Will he continue this hot streak and take first place standings points away from Jeff Gordon in the near future? Find out with NASCAR tickets, your chance to get in on the action. Tickets are available now online.

This article is sponsored by StubHub.com. StubHub is a leader in the business of selling NASCAR tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.

Article Source: NASCAR Tickets - Stewart Makes History as Million Dollar Man

Richmond Menards Ford Mark Green Ryan Newman Phoenix Construction Chevrolet

Time for Alonso to deliver

Ferrari may have claimed victory in their FIA team orders hearing this week in Paris but another triumph on the track at Monza this weekend is absolutely critical to their championship ambitions.

Fernando Alonso, who was at the centre of the storm over Ferrari's tactics at the German Grand Prix, cannot afford another pointless race like the one he endured
in Belgium a fortnight ago, when he failed to finish after crashing in the closing stages.

Alonso, the team and the famous Ferrari fans - the tifosi - all know that the Spaniard's title dream demands fresh impetus at their home circuit, where the spotlight always shines more severely and more expectantly on them.

What was a 20-point deficit on the leading championship driver before the race at Spa has now more than doubled - and another failure to bag a big points haul here could spell the end of Alonso's challenge for the year.

Alonso and Ferrari can draw hope from the new points system, with 25 points for a win, which means that 150 points are still up for grabs over the final six races.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso

Alonso needs to produce results in Monza if he wants to resurrect his title ambitions. Photo: Reuters

But his problems in qualifying and during the race in Belgium showed how quickly a driver can drop out of contention.

Ferrari have admitted that their overall performance there failed to live up to expectations, and claim that they've found the answers.

The only proof of that, however, will be in Sunday's results.

And if after this race the gap between Alonso and the leader has climbed to more than 50 points (the equivalent of two race wins), those final five long-haul grands prix, where Red Bull's drivers are expecting to dominate, could become a disheartening slog into November.

On the positive side, if there's one man on the grid with the expertise and experience to take the fight to the front, it's Alonso.

Confident of the team's backing, he can demonstrate supreme race-craft. He can read the race brilliantly from the cockpit, understanding what he needs to do to make the most of his opportunities.

Significantly, he's taken the road to the championship twice already so knows the pressures and pitfalls, as well as the rewards.

And he's with a team who possess an enviable range and depth of resources to deliver the maximum performance. Maybe not as effectively as McLaren, who made a much better recovery last season than Ferrari, but impressive nonetheless.

The downside to the season, however, has been the number of mistakes by Alonso himself.

Even the Spaniard has admitted he's surprised by his errors, particularly the crash he had in practice in Monaco which ruled him out of qualifying.

Ferrari had promised to deliver a big performance that weekend. He'd been consistently fastest until his accident which left him playing catch-up from the back of the grid in the race.

His jump-start in China was also most uncharacteristic.

He appeared to be caught napping when Jenson Button overtook him in Canada, and when Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi did the same thing in Valencia.

Alonso's drive-through penalty at Silverstone for cutting a corner when overtaking Robert Kubica's Renault could have been avoided if he'd only handed back the place as the regulations demand.

And the way his performance dropped off in Spa from qualifying onwards was most un-Alonso-like. He blamed the tyre choice in the final part of the session - yet both Button and Lewis Hamilton improved their times on the same softer tyre, whereas Alonso
stayed 10th, more than a second slower than team-mate Felipe Massa.

At times this season Alonso has seemed at odds with the F10 car, fearing that Ferrari were drifting out of contention.

Red Bull's dramatic advantage at the Spanish Grand Prix certainly rang alarm bells. Ferrari's version of the F-duct initially made the car slower not faster, and possibly contributed to him over-driving at Monaco.

The new blown diffuser in Valencia and the new front wing at Silverstone re-ignited the spark but until the German Grand Prix, where the furore over team orders completely obscured their team's winning performance, the improvements weren't reflected in the results.

It's as if Alonso knows the car is still not as quick as Red Bull's RB6 and is attempting to compensate by pushing it to, and possibly over, its limits - and even his talent can't bridge the gap.

One of the Ferrari's great strengths, though, is its braking performance. That was shown at the chicanes at the Canadian Grand Prix and it'll be crucial at the three chicanes at Monza.

The car also responds well through medium-speed corners such as the two Lesmos, so there is renewed optimism within Maranello that the tifosi will be seeing red near the front of the grid this weekend.

But for all the teams, getting the best out of Monza depends on finding the right balance between low downforce and high straight-line speed.

With no pre-race testing these days, it's a major challenge for the engineers. Do they run the usual Monza specific rear wings, or is there a speed advantage with the F-duct system and a slightly higher downforce setting?

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Highlights from second practice at Monza

For example, in second practice, Hamilton's car ran with a conventional Monza set-up without the F-duct aerodynamic device, while Button's car continued with the F-duct. Their best times were less than 0.06secs apart, within 0.4secs of a second of Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull.

Both Ferrari drivers, meanwhile, tested two different rear wings - both 'blown' by the F-duct - and now have to weigh up which provides the more efficient balance. Alonso edged Massa by just more than 0.1secs as the second and third fastest cars.

It left Alonso with a positive verdict for the weekend ahead.

"We are confident, we are happy with the job today", he said after practice. "We know McLaren are favourites for pole and we've seen the potential of the Red Bull all season.

"It will be difficult but we are there, we have nothing to fear and we will fight."

The forecast is for a dry weekend so that eliminates the weather variables which so damaged Alonso's last race outing.

Winning the Italian Grand Prix in a Ferrari ranks as one of motorsport's finest jewels.

Doing it first time out at Monza for Formula 1's most famous name, as Alonso needs to do, would be a spectacular re-launch into the title battle.

Kyle Busch Toyota Kimmy Parker Kligerman Trevor Bayne

An eventful day at Monza

Hi there, thanks for being patient waiting for this week's blog. I had plenty of Twitter messages asking me to pull my finger out and well here it is, finally.

I try and get these posts written in the immediate aftermath of a race weekend but with a busy time in Italy I didn't quite manage it, here's why.

After an incredibly emotional win for Ferrari, and an F1 Forum that lasted well over an hour, I was dragged by EJ into the Sauber motor home as soon as we came off air. Eddie was remarking that I am 'too polite' and have 'too many manners'. Essentially, what he meant was that I shouldn't be shy about the fact that we'd snuck in, plonked ourselves in the middle of the Sauber staff trying to clear up and then nicked the delicious lasagne reserved for the muscular blokes packing away their 'paddock palace'.

Fernando Alonso celebrates victory at Monza

After almost nothing passing my lips since breakfast, I was grateful for the food and the ice cold beer that the staff were only too happy to provide. One thing EJ always manages to get is what he wants, it clearly stood him in good stead in his team boss days!

Anyway, this weekend's prep actually started a couple of days before when I was in an empty school playground in south-east London driving a moped that wasn't mine. Now, don't panic and think that between GP's I'm out joyriding around the capital, I was in fact doing my CBT course to ride a motorbike.

I love the fact that the F1 team come up with the kind of ideas that no normal person would even consider such as a hot air balloon with EJ over Silverstone, the glitzy Monaco opening in a helicopter and Martin and his E-Type on the Channel Tunnel. This week the inspiration was 'Jake, DC and EJ arriving in Monza on scooters'.

The only problem being that while David and Eddie were fully qualified, I wasn't. Therefore we found a CBT course in London and there I was in a bright yellow jacket and L-plates doing a figure of eight in a school playground.

Almost every question my incredibly patient instructor Simon asked me I managed to get wrong. However after he re-educated my brain and I'd got control of the bike on to the roads we went.

Now, I sometimes long to be back where I grew up in Norwich with my family and this was one such moment. As I gingerly pulled out on to the main road I thought that it was busy -then I remembered it was a tube strike day.

The roads were heaving and I was suddenly crossing Battersea Bridge, motoring in front of the Houses of Parliament and trying desperately not to ride with my fingers over the brakes, which I kept doing.

Thankfully the day ended with Simon signing my certificate and so I was able to take to the streets of Monza with my pals, despite EJ ending up on a yellow bike (rather than a green one which would have gone with our white and red ones to replicate the Italian flag). However, in his words "Yellow is in my veins!".

Actually, when I saw the edited opening piece and Eddie standing on the podium celebrating a Jordan win, it reminded me just what these two guys have achieved. Once you get to know a person you quickly forget the baggage they carry and focus on the individual, personal relationship you share. It is a bit like having a scary boss who becomes a good mate. To that end Eddie and David have become friends rather than the famous people they were when I first met them.

It's amazing how life has changed for them both. I was getting my earpieces and microphone fitted in the paddock about an hour before the show and DC and I were chatting to a couple of the Virgin Racing guys when Sebastian Vettel sprinted through the paddock followed by a surge of media people.

I looked at David and thought that 12 years ago he wouldn't be able to just stand and chat about life because he, too, was inside the F1 pressure cooker.

I just hope the current crop of drivers appreciate being the centre of the F1 universe because it doesn't last forever!

F1's loss is our gain as we now get to hear from the boys every weekend. Mind you, this one was trickier than others to actually hear what they were saying.

On the Saturday it was such a crush outside the Ferrari garage that I lost my essential communication with the gallery. People were squeezed up to the pack on my belt so closely that all suddenly went quiet. Not good when the only way I can hear Eddie and David is because they are fed electronically down my ears.

It's so loud in the pitlane that we have to wear ear defenders and what we say to each other goes down the microphone, into the sound gallery and back into our earpieces.

Thankfully the crowd moved slightly and I regained my communications and hopefully you didn't even notice!

It was an early reminder about the passion that courses around that place and sometimes overflows.

On Sunday it was quite funny because we were surrounded by the red-clad crowd as 'The Chain' was ringing in our ears and I was all geared up to ask David about the Italian love of Ferrari.

Then, with seconds to go until the show went on air, FOM suddenly closed the pitlane and cleared the crowd. I needed a quick rethink of my first question!

One of the aims of the show is to get you guys even closer to the action than you've ever been before, that's why I quite like a bit of madness and the odd badly-behaved member of the crowd or a cheeky pitcrew member. Take Saturday and one of the Ferrari guys who clearly knew we were on air and could have waited but decided to wheel a whole rack of tyres in front of Eddie who promptly disappeared behind them. All good fun.

From the huge roar that went up when Lewis ended up in the gravel, to the sea of Tifosi who descended onto the pit lane at the end of the grand prix, I think the fans were the main story of the weekend and I for one would love to see more of that kind of thing.

It was clear that part of the elation in Italy was due to Fernando being smack in the middle of the title race and this is an interesting part of the season to chat to the drivers.

I reminded Jenson last week that in 2009 he looked seriously stressed and under pressure at this point. By contrast, he looks super chilled-out this year. Is that the confidence of a champion?

The same applies to Lewis. Perhaps after our console exploits with Nic, when I took on the Hamilton brothers at the latest F1 video game, he thought he had the damage option turned to off in the opening lap of the race.

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.


It was great to see Lewis and his bro interacting with each other and he is another man that doesn't seem in the slightest bit phased by what may lie ahead. He was relaxed, confident, and joking about the rival cars, of course.

I won't criticise his over-exuberance or Vettel's recent exploits. They might not be conducive to winning a title but they entertain and that is why we watch the sport isn't it?

Anyway, whilst Lewis, Fernando and Jenson will be reveling in the moment, do spare a thought for poor Karun Chandhok who seems like he's driven his last race of 2010.

I'm off to India to see the new circuit and get a Delhi tour with Karun before heading to Singapore, which is great, but I'm sure he'd rather be behind the wheel of an F1 car. If you don't already, I'd suggest you get following me on Twitter and I'll post plenty of photos of the trip.

Right, off home to watch back the F1 Forum. If you missed it then you missed plenty so have a look and I'll see you for more in Singapore.

I'm also going to make dinner as I need to be the perfect husband whilst I'm actually at home. Have you seen the 2011 calendar...!?!

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Dario Franchitti Takes IRL Championship; Ganassi Teammate Dixon Wins Finale

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HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Target Ganassi Racing swept all honors in Saturday night's IZOD IndyCar Series finale with Scott Dixon comfortably beating Danica Patrick and Tony Kanaan by 2.7 seconds to take the win at Homestead-Miami Speedway, while teammate Dario Franchitti's eighth place finish was enough to overcome an 11-point deficit earning him his second consecutive series championship and third overall.

Team Penske driver Will Power, who previously led the championship for all but one week of the season, saw his title hopes extinguished on lap 135 of the 200-lap race when he brushed the wall and broke the right rear suspension on his car. The team tried to repair the damage and he turned a handful of laps only to come in again for good.

It's the second straight year Franchitti, husband of actress Ashley Judd, came into the final race needing to overcome a points deficit to win the title. The native of Scotland needed to win the pole position, lead the most laps and win the race to guarantee the title. He did win the pole and led the most laps, but his title was all but secure upon Power's uncharacteristic mishap.

"Last year I was here watching this race in a back brace, so it's been the best year of mine in motorsport, though obviously I'm very disappointed with the outcome tonight,'' Power said.

 

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Schumacher and Villeneuve exchange warm words

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June 10 '10

Jacques Villeneuve has been reunited with his old nemesis.

The one-time car-racing champ and his former rival Michael Schumacher appear to have made up.

They met reporters near Montreal on Thursday to promote new automobile safety technologies and raced around on a rainy track.

It's been over a decade since Schumacher tried running his Canadian foe off the track in a decisive Formula One race. Schumacher now says he believes there's still a place in F1 for Villeneuve ? who hasn't driven on the circuit since 2006.

In return, Villeneuve is applauding the return of the seven-time champion.

It?s been over a decade since Michael Schumacher tried to run Jacques Villeneuve off an F1 track but on Thursday the two champions had nothing but good things to say about each other

?It's great for Formula One because it was starting to run short a bit of heroes,? he said of his former German rival. ?It's important because it brings in fans.?

Villeneuve is in Montreal while the city enjoys its own comeback this week: the return of F1 racing after a one-year hiatus.

Schumacher said he is happy the city is back on the F1 calendar.

?The track is always good emotion because the spectators really live the Grand Prix and you can feel that and that makes it special from that point of view,? Schumacher said.


Article as appeared first at www.theglobeandmail.com, Images(C) Daylife

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F1: Raikkonen rules out Renault F1 seat

Raikkonen rules out Renault F1 seat By Jonathan Noble Wednesday, October 6th 2010, 08:08 GMT Kimi Raikkonen has ruled out making a return to Formula 1 with Renault next year, despite being linked with the team for several weeks. The Finn had been in contact with the French car manufacturer after the Belgian Grand Prix in August, and Renault chiefs were considering putting a deal together with the former champion if he could prove he was motivated for a comeback. Related posts:
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