Sure, all he had to do was keep it on the road, yet no mean feat, and he had put it on Pole to take an improbable and very deserving home win for STR.  Red Bull albeit happy must also be choked and somewhat wondering if this is the right team to sell.  At the end of the day that Ferrari engine is stonkin fast and Vettel composed and assured much beyond his years.  A boring race but a happy result. Kovi in 2nd and Kubica in 3rd looked dulled out on the podium.  Very dull halfway through so I guess a couple of the pilotes must've fallen alseep as well.  A few retirements here and there nothing more nothing less.  Another Formula ilth event relying on mother nature, Vancouver style, to stir the pot and make an entertainment business outta of mechanical engineering exercise run by people who don't even like cars, that much.  Strange and ironic all at once.  The soap opera will continue....

Hamilton's softer set-up spoils Kimi's bid to win his 4th straight at Spa, as Lewis takes an improbable victory ahead of Massa and the return of Quick Nick to the top steps. Leave it to classic Spa to encourage some vintage style F1 like way back and deliver a race to remember.  Despite the awful re-vamped bustop the circuit challenges teams and drivers like no other, except Monza, up next week.  Back to back vintage F1 is just what this championship needed to inject a fresh spirit into the year and throw a monkey wrench into the championship.  Kudos to Hamilton for hanging on at the end, all the UK karting coming in handy.  I'm sure Kimi wished it was snowing, though it did once at the Canadian GP, Gilles V.'s famous first, no less.  Massa looks more and more like the scuderia's #1 for grimly hanging on to salvage some laurels for Ferrari, though lets see what next week brings.  With Toro Rosso as well, good performance by those guys and Seb Bourdais, still hanging and delivering the goods today, at least.  Vettel mst be wondering a little, as Alonso once did, or still does evidenced by his constant chatter to the pits about the rain, perhaps a career in atmospheric sciences might have been in the future of the past double world champ had he not visited a go-kart track as a youngster.  In any case, pitting for tyres near the end did make sense with such a long lap for some of the mid-pack, and with the possibility of retirements, most notable Nick Hedifeld, who apparently is hanging on for his job too, yet where do these conjectures come from? Sometimes the proof needs to be in the pudding.  Whatever that means....next up, you know it, Monza, but to quote today's winner "that's what we're talking about!" Yeah, let's just see what the stewards say about all that corner cutting and weaving.  Hamilton and Mclaren may not be as stoked as they were right after the race....and despite the best efforts of men and machine today the soap opera will strive to continue. oh dear!

But, haven't we all got better things to do than watch the top 3 qualifiers finish the exact same way, from teams who employ 1000's and spend millions.  What gives?  A BMW losing control when a plastic bag gets underneath it?  Here I am, overcome as well.  We can try looking on the brightside, yet there really isn't much of one... I'm afraid to say....  F1 risks become a nostalgic pastime of faded heroes and glory, much like New Orleans.  Which might have a chance as a US Grand Prix site after the introduction of Valencia, arguably Europe's wallflower, Marseilles is close too, and fresh coat of paint and plenty of deals for holiday seekers, no doubt, missing their soccer as their unaccustomed derma was burned to a crispy.  Soon, after our two classic races, they're off to another fantasyland where the bankers and their guests will promote their souless idea of F1.  Fine, we all know money makes the world go around, and sure we all like it, some more than others, but sheesh, there are people starving and worse in this world and the environment has to be a priority, and in this kind of 'spektical', it's not.  All that's missing is a Jonas Brothers/ Hannah Montana concert in the middle of the latest Circus of the Sun show. Maybe in Singapore and with all those lights on and the massive electricity needed so a bunch of Euro'peans don't have to set the PVR, like us Yanks and Canucks have been doing since day one.  Second class citizen's, I tell ya....and,  Yeah, please ask one of those entertained guests who won the '64 world championship, see what they say.  And be prepared,  these days are shallow and uninteresting, building id on reality tv and maxim magazine.  Hopefully they all breakaway into a cheezfest they'll call GP1 or something shallow and unimportant like that and they can get on with their uninteresting balance sheet style of racing and the real men, and lads can get back to basics, first with Formula 2 and then a Formula 1 that the great pioneers of yesteryear like Sir. Surtees et al and the fans who cheered them on, can still feel a sport that marvels in the pathos and colour of its history and provides a reasonable facsimile of it's storied past.

Valencia was not racing, Valencia was about corporate values and advertising. F1, with the right management in place, does not need more races like this to shore up its bottom line. In fact, what it needs most is fewer races and more excitement from less commercial finance pressure.

http://business.asiaone.com/Business/Story/A1Story20080824-83869.html

Nice win for a nice chap over his less than 100% teamate, after Felipe who was 10sec's! in the lead, blows his engine on the front straight, ahead of fellow Finn Kimi and the plucky Timo Glock, who really bounced back after his shunt and trounced nearly everybody. The rest....quite honestly these Euro races really beat up a fellow up in North America, with setting the PVR with all the coverage differences or worse, trying to stay up, you don't even remember what happened in the morning.....  Zuts alor. Wish there was more for this week. Next report will be awesome. 

Now for now ---  Simmer down you posties,  Things are under semi-control in the sport we all love to not love.  So, let's look on the bright side for awhile and see where that takes us.

merci

If not for Button kooking his stop and letting the others through, Ruby had an upset in the bag. A fine drive from Heidfeld in 2nd and bad strategy left Kimster 4th.  A wet and sloppy one without thankfully any safety cars due to Silverstones incredible width.  Something all will miss including Lewis Hamilton who looking like the cadet 100cc Knockhill championship winner he was/is and found all the klag and marbles to kart his way to the line winning his home race, fist pumping Anthony, never mind the bollocks, here's the Hamilton's.  Nice words for bro at the post race.  Good times all 'round,  yet the politics have just begun.

Next stop, Germany.  Hockenhiem.  The last few times it proved an exciting event.  The BMW's will be strong, after a so-so weekend and so will Ferrari, who really dropped the ball in the UK.  Mclaren too, as long as Dennis an co. can keep the happy family together until then.

What about next year, and Fernando Alonso becoming the next Jacques Villeneuve of F1.  Suck it up buddy and drive for your team, like a man, and do your best to make it better.  Ever played golf, scorched the first nine, had the second nine burn you, well, that's the way it goes. Reality is, Fernando never beat Schumi, fair and square, their cars were the difference and they were never really close.  Sad to see Coulthard go too.  Another vet driver pushed out for the sake of a Vettel, Sutil, Nakajima.  All of whom combined will be hard pressed to match DC's win and podium finish record.  Or never date as many hot babes as he did either.

Someone who sucked it up, Coulthard, might probably have been World Championship had he not left Williams in 1995 for Mclaren where he played the second fiddle to Mika all those years.  Another example of why you do not swap teams all the time and/or have your heart set of Ferrari.  In a reversal of fortunes Alesi re-buffed Williams to join Ferrari, which then Wiliam gave DC the ride.  See how it goes, poker man.  Stay away for the tables and be reliable.

Do not worry, the fans will always have something to talk about.  Good luck to DC the rest of the year out.  Look forward to the hot and sticky summer-time races in the next few weeks.

And the new Formula 2, next year.