All hail Sebastien Vettel - F1 world Champion

Vettel joins the greats by becoming a worthy back-to-back champion in a controlled race at Japan. He’s definitely a class act but will he make it three in a row next year? Something tells me that Ferrari, McLaren and even Mercedes will all be chasing him hard. It even looked like Michael Schumacher had fun today. It was great to see 5 world champions filling the first 6 positions. That can’t have happened too often. Now come on Mr Webber – it’s about time you joined that group! And Suzuka – what a great circuit, one of my favourites along with Spa and Monaco. Sadly, Silverstone just doesn’t do it for me. Brands Hatch is much more fun.

F1 Overtaking Solution Found

I guess the fundamental problem with overtaking and F1 is that a lot of effort is put into ensuring that the best cars start at the front of the grid through qualifying. Why should we then expect slower cars to even stand a chance of overtaking? Overtaking should therefore only be possible if the car in front makes a mistake or the car behind has some kind of advantage. Drivers make few mistakes these days - and it's almost impossible for a car to run well in the hot dirty air of the car in front. Given that we're unlikely to return to the days of fully manual gear changes with a foot clutch it's unlikely that driver mistakes are going to increase.

Perhaps then we should concentrate on giving chasing cars some kind of temporary advantage. How about rev limiting all cars most of the time but allowing drivers the ability to use full revs on a limited number of occasions during a race. It would then be up to the drivers to decide when to use their full rev allowance - either for overtaking or holding off a challenge. It should be possible to keep a record of how many times an allowance has been used so that those watching the race can still see who has the ability to use full revs - unless it would be better to keep that fact a secret from the drivers!

Hail Alonso - Ferrari have a new hero

So the first race of 2010 is over, what did we learn? Well, already it looks like being a three division series. with the newcomers - Lotus, Virgin and Hispania occupying the bottom division. The Mid Division looks like comprising Sauber, Williams, Renault, Torro Rosso and Force India. Division 1 holds no surprises and is made up of Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes. Alsonso was a little lucky to bring the race home for Ferrari as Vettel had looked the man from pole to lap 33 when a duff spark plug screwed his race. We can expect to see Red Bull and Ferrari slugging it out over the next few races whilst McLaren and Mercedes pull out all the stops to close the gap. It was also an interesting race for team head-to-head challenges. Alonso seems to have put Massa in his place, whilst Hamilton did a good job over Button. Rosberg may think he's got on top of Schumi but he should be aware that Schumi had the faster laps yesterday. Schumi may be a little rusty but he is getting back on pace - and he did hold off the reigning World Champion! It will be interesting to see what happens in the next race or two. Oh - and people don't seem to like the lack of refuelling!

F1 Testing Tease

So how much can we tell from pre-season testing? Last year the final two test sessions in Barcelona and Jerez gave a fair clue to the first race. Generally speaking, those at the top of the testing performed best in the race. Brawn, Toyota, Renault and Williams all performed well in testing and on race day in Melbourne. On the other hand, Ferrari and Sauber disappointed. If 2010 follows test form then we should be looking at Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull - but don't rule out Williams or Sauber. So take your pick! The true test will be Sunday's race in Bahrain. The ban on refuelling will mean that qualifying will show us which cars run quick on a low fuel load but only the race will tell us how good a car is over the full fuel range. Bring it on. I hate the off-season.

Atomic Jihad - the Repeat

Once upon a time I wrote a film script called Atomic Jihad. I have been trying to find a buyer ever since. Once upon a time it was listed by Scriptshark. Yesterday I went online to check if Scriptshark were still listing it, they're not, but and lo and behold I discovered that Joel Gilbert has just released a film called Atomic Jihad. All I can say is that Joel's is a political documentary whilst my script is for a thriller. See if you can guess which would be most fun to watch! Anyway, I reckon I'll have to come up with a new name for my work now - even if it is held in the U.S library of Congress under that name. Such is life - and it's okay Joel, I don't have a problem. Who knows - maybe you saw the title of my work and liked it. If that's true I wouldn't mind a little acknowledgment.

Scientists find solution to Global Warming

You know scientists have gone mad when they start suggesting we stop eating meat in order to prevent global warming - sorry guys but that just ain't going to happen. Nor are people going to cut carbon emissions in any meaningful way unless forced to do so.

Fortunately there is a very simple solution to Global Warming and, as a bi-product, most other social ills - just reduce the population. A cut of 60% -70% would do nicely. Just think - no global warming, lower unemployment, less crowded cities and roads, plenty of parking space.... Sounds like win-win to me. Before people start jumping up and down I'm talking about lowering birth rates not encouraging euthanasia or anything more drastic - however appealing!

Jenson right on the Button

It just goes to show that dreams can come true and that truth can be stranger than fiction! Who would ever have thought that a team apparently on the way out of the sport would find themselves challenging for F1 glory never mind actually winning both championships. Jenson's superb drive in Brazil hopefully answered many of his critics. He might have screwed up in qualifying but his race overtaking was just sublime. I think the overtaking group may be heading in the right direction when they say that overtaking opportunities might be improved by tweaking the tracks. So, can we go back to Brands Hatch - please?

As to poor old Rubens - what does he have to do to finish well in Brazil? Pole to nowhere on Sunday after a puncture caused by a rash Hamilton move. No surprise there, then.

So, well done Jenson and Ross. Mr Brawn really is the man -having guided World Champions at Benetton, Ferrari and now Brawn. Let's hope Ross and Jenson settle the money question pretty soon now. Looks like being a special year next year if Ferrari and McLaren get their acts back together. Can't wait!