SeaBee

Chirp of the day on BBC text commentary! Vettel's car is out for FP2 - and then a guy comes up with this peach*! Interesting to see Red Bull continue their habit of only having technical problems on their #2 driver's car! *Sorry SK - this does not necessarily reflect my views, it was just too darned funny!

Very much prefer the old track layout. Loves those last two right-handers leading onto the main straight. But even so, this has always been (for me) a relatively boring race where most likely you end up with teammates ending up together, because it is so "car dependent" - unless something/-one spices it up.

No fashion police here but... how the heck do you get anything out of a back pocket with that on?! I'll struggle to find/feel my pocket, let alone what's inside... (which is exactly why I'm also looking for a solution, because that's the problem I have with my thicker gloves... the name of which escapes me now)

...but not always intentional!

He went downhill over the weekend again after having started to eat, but Sat evening seems to have been a turning point of sorts and by yesterday he was back to his old self! Hopping around when there's food around and looking more lively, despite the rain. Oh wait, he's a Lab... it may have been because of the rain! Awesome pic, DJR!

He's looking a bit better, thanks guys. But the doc said the cortisone will lift him today, we should not get overly excited by that. He starts on pills tonight. At least feels a lot cooler and looks generally happier. And his eyes were definitely following the bread when we were making french toast earlier! But apparently tomorrow he should improve and hopefully start eating a bit again. Ed, seems he likes a white spot on his nose to compliment the spots on his white body! Artsy...

Absolute great pic from Darren Heath. I can't believe it's been 20 years...

Took ole Nugget to the vet after work. The boikie has some kind of major infection in the abdomen area. Fever of over 40. Couple of injections and a hand full of pills. There goes our weekend away - but there's more important things in life.

It's "her" chair! And no - she does not get onto ANY furniture but that chair... But yeah, that was when the gums itched a bit. And only she knows how she can get into and out of that chair now that she's basically fully grown. But it does not bother her! Esp if she lays with her head at the rest side, she gets up in segments... well, it's an evolutionary process! Great comical relief for me in the evenings to see that!

Cellphone snaps of Kahlua - one during a walk... one NOT walking!

...and there I was worried about my one suddenly stopping to eat his pellets yesterday. But fine if we try something else. Good luck Pain or Shine - Nugget and Kahlua sending several licks...

I'll just throw the Anthem in there as well for variety...

Oh... bugger! *facepalm* Forgot what I actually came around here for to mention! Apparently Stefano Domenicali is no longer Ferrari team principal - or whatever the technical title was. Like with Martin Whitmarsh, it seems results are paramount and if you don't perform, you are gone very quickly. And yeah, pure irony (on Whitmarsh) that they're performing this year based on decisions I'm pretty sure he made last year - such as Merc engine.

Steven, it's not maybe "Life at the limit" by any chance? Just asking, because that's the title of Prof Sid Watkins' biography - I have the book. Great read, so if it's the same, just in film, it should be good to watch.

I like my STracks so much that I ... ehhhrrr... added a set to my road bike as well. I've chipped a clunk out of one pedal with some real solid impact on a rock, but still riding with it like that (since Dec) no issues whatsoever. Shim setup is very quick. Release is muuuuuch better than Shimano and you have a good platform to use for those not-yet-clipped-in moments.

Nice new video, James Allen already covered that last week, I think... (or was it espn?) Always somebody coming up with new ideas - clever boikies.

It's not a brake light at all... It's used as Armpies said above, plus for rain. Think it also comes on if the pit lane limiter is on (if not already on due to rain).

Maniax, you should also be able to find detail on Strava or the likes. It's not a major climb, but quite more significant than e.g. Bothmas. It is about 500m asc over 15km. (Not analytically done, just off the cuff.) And like Mads said, that last bit up from Wellington side... you just FLY! It will add a nice bite into that ride of yours. (I trust you're not doing it alone...even if just for mechanicals! Ask him who had to phone his wife recently! )

Garmin Connect tracked me at a 346km/h max this weekend... from the same file I uploaded (from a Garmin device!) to Strava and SportTracks, both rendering more "human" speeds. You'd have guessed GC would have been the one to get it "more right" than the rest! Imagine how much I'll trust their segments. Don't think they can improve what Strava already has - plus the community is already established. But I see even the Discovery upload thingy now has segments.

Agreed - by far one of the better Tilke-designed tracks! Overtaking is actually possible. But I'd actually love to see some of the "old" European tracks back. And, of course something local - but the odds for that is... ja well.

Back to the noses - the safety idea behind this was to lower the impact point in possible collisions. Even before the first race, Adrian Newey said this may lead to "submarining". That said, prior to noses starting to lift for aero effect, everybody had low noses (which actually looked much better than anything recent) and I don't recall many (if any) submarining incidents. This was the case in the first race with Massa - there's a very interesting photo of that somewhere, will post if I find it. But yesterday, as has been stated, was wheel-on-wheel, that can happen in any open-wheel formula.

...and to show you just how personal it is, I disliked my Rudy's, simply could not get them to sit properly, eyes kept on getting wind on them, plus they seemed to attract moisture - and did not shed any! Riding even in light mist was... interesting! Also did not like photochromatic lenses. Nifty idea, but messed around with my eyes and never adjusts quickly enough. I went with Oakley - for MTB'ing, just make sure it's a lighish lens, not too light, but never too dark. Something like a G30 (which I use) or VR28 works for me. I only use darker lenses if I KNOW I'm not going anywhere near trees and it's a very bright day. So - buying for somebody else without that person's input, might end up an exercise in futility. Rather leave the surprise factor out of it - but that's just me being my boring over-common-sensical self.

Hmmm... just a few pages ago we were all complaining about how predictable, boring and over reliable the cars and racing have become. We asked for some mechanicals, just to add some spice. Now we get 6 retirements... And then from those 6, 3 (Sutil, Vergne and Gutierrez) were accident-related, two were both Maccas with the same issue... and the other was an oil leak on a Caterham. In the 80's that would have been called "exceptional reliability"... and this is only the 3rd race with completely new regs. Sorry, just my 2c.

Come ON... Seriously?! 10 place grid penalty for unsafe release. And Mad hatter Maldonado only gets a FIVE place grid penalty for that brain-dead moment?! SC screwed up the whole race. I would have liked the two different strategies play out in the Merc camp - interesting one that. At least there were some dicing between the front guys - and plenty behind them as well. Much better than last week. Those RB's are seriously well handling cars - wow, they STICK... Unfortunately, as somebody else mentioned, the cars plays a great role and esp at this early stage of new regs. You can see that by the finishing order as well. Very chuffed for the Force India's and good to see Williams really back in the dice - haven't been mixing it with the top guys for way too long.

If I remember correctly, last year was quite exciting - until certain teams went and wined about tyres and they changed the tyre specs mid-season, taking everybody who designed cars that actually worked with the original tyres out of the picture. FIA brilliance to the fore yet again. And face it, Aus was the same as last year, all the overtaking taking place behind the leader, who simply managed the gap. They (Merc) never revealed their hand and never showed close to full potential, as I stated after the race. Don't write off Kimi yet. He had Alonso's number all weekend, just missed out on qualifying in the wet (where Alonso is good). And then mr Magnussen sniped him on lap 1 - you don't recovery from that nowadays. But after two rounds, 2-0 for Alonso. Had a huge grin at the whole Williams radio message saga throughout the race - that was entertaining! Quite interesting to see how quickly RB regained their pace... and how McLaren stepped backwards over the weekend. Wondering whether it's track characteristics that suited the Maccas in Aus, whether some cars work better on certain tyre compounds... or whether the Bulls simply found their wings. Will be interesting to see how many of the people that complained about them last year will end up cheering for them this year if the Mercs continue to overwhelm everybody and RB does manage to take the fight to them.