Hallam's Journal

Remember this entry of mine from July last year? stupidly excited by the vaguest prospect of Kimi Räikkönen going rallying?

Well there's been rumour and such, and when the seemingly nailed-on Kimi to McLaren deal turned out to be more postit-noted-on, it looked a hell of a lot more likely. The rumour of Kimi to Citroën, paid for by Red Bull (sponsor of Citroën in the WRC and sponsor of Kimi in, um, life in general I suppose) was out in the wild very very early.

This week there have been the sort of denials that mean "yeah it's true, I just can't announce it *yet*" from both Citroën and from Kimi's Finnish spokesbeing, and this morning, finally, IT'S OFFICIAL, IT IS ON.

I will probably have a rethink of where I put motorsport shit from now on - LJ might end up being your rally-free and F1-free zone and it might go on Facebook instead. This is because I have added more rally people on FB. As a courtesy to those of you who don't give a shit (that'll be 98% of you) you get one place where you'll be free of it, without having to take me off your default view or block me or whatever.

Well, now that the worst kept secret in F1 is finally official and Fernando Alonso is confirmed at Ferrari for the next 3 years at least, the rest of the driver moves can start to slot into place.

( Read more... )

It's been rumoured for a while that Heikki Kovalainen won't be staying at McLaren next year. Mercedes-Benz Motorsport boss Norbert Haug has made it more and more apparent that he would prefer to see Nico Rosberg in the seat. The team have started to wonder whether Kovalainen would ever live up to his initial high promise.

As y'all know I'm a big fan of Heikki, and I would cite firstly his terrible bad luck* over the last two seasons, and secondly the fact that neither last year's "good" MP4-23 nor this year's "heap of shit" MP4-24 have suited his driving style as much as they could have.

Sources (heh) say that Rosberg is pretty much a cert for the second McLaren seat. I'm also reading now (from GPWeek editor Will Buxton on Twitter) that Heikki will be at Williams next year.

Heikki was fastest in the first of this morning's free practice sessions before the Hungarian Grand Prix, and second fastest behind (current...) team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the second session. Probably too little too late. Let's see what happens in the race tomorrow. It's nice to see that the new aerodynamic updates really have made a difference to the car (like, now it actually has any grip at all).

Ah well. Heigh ho. Maintain a sunny disposition.

Dunno if Williams is the right place for him though.

*I posit that there is only so much driving luck to go around in Finland, and far too many drivers to share it out between. It is very important that both Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala get a rich, nourishing, sustaining helping of good luck for Neste Oil Rally Finland next week.

I'll admit I didn't rate James Allen as a commentator on ITV's Formula One coverage. But as a journalist, he's pretty darn good, actually. I recommend his blog http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/ and he's a good addition to yer Twitter feed - http://twitter.com/Jamesallenonf1. His blog's got everything you need to know about the McLaren lying-to-the-stewards scandal.

Following the FIA stewards' decision to change the result of the Belgian grand prix, I was having a hollow little chuckle yesterday that ho ho ho ha ha ha, remember that the people who run motorsport are the sort of idiots who think that Sébastien Loeb's haircut is within their remit (see previous post here. Well, turns out one of the three stewards who decided that Lewis Hamilton should be given a 25 second penalty was the self same Surinder Thatthi who had the problem with Seb's personal appearance in the first place.

Ha.

Hey there everyone. This is kind of a ragbag, because I don't have anything of any great import or interest to say, but at the same time I feel the compulsion to tell my bugger-all to THE INTERNET!

1) Made aubergine and courgette (zucchini) beer-batter fritters for dinner on Saturday, with tzatziki. Very very good, as ever, didn't make as much mess with the batter as I usually do.

2) What do herbs and delay pedal have in common? You can have too much of either; too much herb in a dish or too much delay pedal in a track. And yet, add more and more and more; use the herb like it was a vegetable or a salad leaf, go hogwild with layers and layers of delay pedal; and you can end up with something very pleasant. For example, one of my favourite starters is panir-o-sabzi, Iranian cheese with herbs. You get a little slab of Iranian cheese, and gurt big bunches of mint, tarragon, spring onions and radishes. You wouldn't use that much tarragon in a dish for eight people. But for one, as a salad leaf, it's just right. Same thing with bunches of methi and dhania in a stew. Use loads!

3) I feel really guilty for being slightly mean about Jari-Matti Latvala prior to Rallye Deutschland (that "sweepstake" comment I made last week). He had a complete nightmare, and he was just in tiny little bits on the Saturday and Sunday, and the poor boy does not need people sitting at home and making snide comments. He still needs to change a few things about his preparation, but I think at this point one should be encouraging rather than mean about it.

4) I feel really stupid about 3) above, but I felt I ought to say it anyway. I feel one should be in for a penny in for a pound with this "being a fan" thing. Or maybe not?

5) If y'all ever want me to post about Serious Shit Happening In The World, I, like, will, but I don't know how much good it'll do you to read it. There are better and more informed minds than mine out there. I have an always-simmering rant about the fetishisation of the countryside, but a) you can probably guess what it would be and b) it would probably enmire us all in a long and ill-tempered discussion of where privilege lies in the debate. So, best not to bother, I think.

6) Bit of a mare for Kimi Räikkönen, wasn't it?

7) Leicester have won two, drawn one so far. I guess we've found our level.

The short version: Loeb won, Kovalainen won, South Africa won, Michael Vaughan resigned.

The REALLY long version (contains sickening scenes of hero worship, and video footage of a small yellow car on its side at about a hundred mph): ( Read more... )

So, according to a German interview I just looked at, Kimi Räikkönen is thinking about maybe going into rally driving after finishing in F1 (which could be as early as after next season).

This would, in my opinion, be BLOODY EXCELLENT.

Kimi! Come over to the rally side! Have a go on the gravel!

Even if he never gets to be top standard on the loose surfaces, even if he only does some Finnish national events and the odd run in PWRC, nobody with that level of racing talent is going to be rubbish. Ahh, I am stupidly excited by this prospect.

The bastards. The bastards!
It wasn't his fault, I was watching. What happened iirc is that Heikki was himself impeded by Kazuki Nakajima and both cars were in the way of Mark Webber. Heikki was trying to get out of the way. I looked at it and thought "with Heikki's luck, the buggers will give him the penalty" and they bloody have, the buggers.

I am... oh, really cross.

All sport all on at the same time, makes it difficult even with Sky+.

A run through of the day so far:
Hungover. Cup of tea. Breakfast (sausage, bacon, egg, mushroom, tomato, toast). More tea. Hang washing out. Cricket (By heck Vettori is very good at the moment. And if you just stand there and waft your bat you will get out. Buggering hell.) Short walk in the teeth of a gale. Monaco Grand Prix (very exciting, bad luck for poor Heikki on the grid especially given how ridiculously fast he was in the later stages, Adrian Sutil must be inconsolable, well done Lewis). Follow cricket via online text commentary. Nice work from Monty Panesar. BMW PGA golf at Wentworth. Short nap. Wake up to see Miguel Angel Jimenez win the tournament on a playoff. And now another short walk before dinner I think.