Has it really been four weeks? Have we really had two more races? Just where is the year going?
F1 moved back to Western Europe and with that came Heikki’s best qualifying of the year, 15th in Spain! In my last post I wrote that I should be focusing my attention onto the team getting into Q2 so clearly I’m going to take all the credit for it. Unfortunately he ended up retiring from the race but I didn’t mind him crashing in Spain simply because it wasn’t as bad as his crash in 2008. That was a terrifying one!
Monaco was next and Heikki came in 14th, his best finish of the year. If only a few more people could have issues on a Sunday, points are so close. Seriously, what is with the reliability out there! The bookmakers seem to think he’s not far away because the odds I’m getting on my $2 bets for a points finish every race are getting lower and lower. We’ve now headed to Canada for the weekend and Heikki has so far been 18th in FP1 and 12th in FP2. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the weekend brings, I love this track! I’m planning on paying a visit in 2013 which is rather far away so don’t worry, I’m not doing any actual planning yet.
After Turkey, Heikki took a trip to Bratislava to watch Finland take on Sweden in the ice hockey world championships final. Finland won and Heikki took away some inspiration from their victory. I’d quite like to become an ice hockey fan, I don’t know much about it but the people I know who like ice hockey all seem to be F1 fans! Heikki then headed to Spain where he rescued a bird from his hotel room. These drivers certainly get up to all kinds of things.
Also on Heikki’s agenda in the last four weeks was a scenic looking road trip to Monaco with Catherine, an appearance in the Amber Fashion Show and a new computer from Team Lotus partners Dell.
As well as trying to arrange a golfing outing with Rubens and pro golfer Ian Poulter, Heikki has been tweeting about an awful lot of sports. Golf, athletics, football, tennis, and MotoGP. He’s definitely quite a sports fan and gets big points from me for watching tennis and saying nice things about Roger!
Heikki is still doing a brilliant job of replying to his fans on Twitter which I like to see but unless you pay a visit to his Facebook page you may not realise he also replies very often on there too. If you’re on Facebook and haven’t yet liked this page, maybe now would be a good time to start!
Prior to the on track action this weekend, Heikki was one of the drivers in attendance at the FOTA Fans Forum in Montreal. There is a full transcript available on the FOTA Website. I haven’t had a read of it yet so I’m not sure what Heikki had to say but I’ll be more prepared to read when it’s not 4am. These time zones aren’t the best! If you were a fan who attended let us know how it went. There are two more fan forums planned for the UK and at Monza this year and if you’re interested in attending you’ll find all the details here.
That's all from me, have a great weekend!
Hi Saturday, and a ping from me too http://toomuchracing.com/2011/06/11/start-times-10-12-june-2011/
If you want to get into hockey then you can go into the deep end with the Stanley Cup in 45 minutes (ish).
Also, a big who needs preparation thingy: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92164
Have you seen these recent posts on sidepodcast.com?
- Daily: 11th June 2011
- Canada 2011 - Free Practice 2 results
- Live: Canada 2011 - Free Practice 2
- Peugeot Sport drivers take up a pit stop challenge
- Canada 2011 - Free Practice 1 results
I've scheduled a live thread for Le Mans. Repurposed the quali post as it is the same sources and info really. Somehow I made it longer so it is 1500 words.
Evening everyone.
This is going to be a long weekend.
Have you seen these recent posts on sidepodcast.com?
- Daily: 11th June 2011
- Canada 2011 - Free Practice 2 results
- Live: Canada 2011 - Free Practice 2
- Peugeot Sport drivers take up a pit stop challenge
- Canada 2011 - Free Practice 1 results
Good morning everyone :)
I've been offline for a couple of days, but now I am back.
It's Le Mans day!!
Morning everyone
Some brilliant news -
Have you included the drinking game?
Morning.
Had a tactical sleep in and made some bread in the breadmaker. Still unsure as to whether I am going to do the whole 24 or take a catnap at 2am...
I'm doing the first couple of hours, breaking for Canada Qualifying, then out to the pub at about 10pm-1am, staying up til about 6/7am, sleeping for about 3 hours, then watching until the flag.
:)
I don't normally watch F1 qualifying, so I probably won't today either. I have time between the end of Le Mans and the start of F1 to do so, anyway.
Last year my inlaws came over, so we watched Le Mans, then qualy, then I went out to watch a world cup match at the pub, came home and watched the rest...
I was really tired last night too - stayed up late expecting my parents to call and they never did. So we will see how that affects things.
Hi again!
How are you?
Not too bad Marti,
How are you?
Quite tired :) Yesteday I arrived from Toulouse. I stayed there for four days on a school trip.
No, can be a comments thing though
Morning chaps
Morning Lukeh
I'm likely to take a sleep at 2 or 3am and might miss the indycar.
How are we all this fine weekend?
Not too bad - putting the final touches to the new "Something for the Weekend" site. Relaunch in approximately 14 minutes
:)
Ooh exciting times!
A bit dazed after the first semi-decent sleep in a week :)
Listening to radio le mans whilst I potter about getting breakfast, should have a shower in a minute.. can I be bothered to get a haircut and get supplies..
Need to go get a haircuit too. But the place is all thr way over there *points in general direction*
Too much effort :)
Exactly! And there are only 90 minutes until an hour before Le Mans!
heheh
@emmastonier - Only in Le Mans...flash mob dance routine on the track by the marshals! http://twitpic.com/59z2ig
Hehe, that's the best excuse ever.
Martin Birrane of Lola says he's looking at F1 in 2013 with the new engines (part of a long interview on RLM)
:)
As promised (OK, one minute late), here's the relaunched Something for the Weekend site - http://theweekendpollution.wordpress.com
What better video to get going with than Kraftwerk's "Muaique non-Stop" - http://theweekendpollution.wordpress.com/2011/06/10/the-night-kraftwerk-scared-me-to-death/
That may need a minor parental advisory warning - a very minor one though (woops)
cool
Ooooh!
There's also an archive along the side going back the last year of entries.
:)
Tom Hanks PING
http://wp.me/1x0FA
It begins...
??
Le Mans coverage :D
Aye - it's on here too
Le Mans by the numbers: http://www.michelinalley.com/?p=5418
Pat, is it too late to add the drinking game to your Le Mans post?
Adrian Fernandez = legend
:D
Live feed from the corvette garage: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/lm2011-corvette
I'll need to figure a stream for the first couple of hours - I don't have B Eurosport 2
their site streaming is okay, but for those who prefer to use another streaming app, like winamp or fstream on the iphone, the feed is here
http://direct.sharp-stream.com/radioshow.mp3
Sorry was having a shower. I'm not changing the post now particularly when I don't really know what you are talking about..
I have a rule. Finish your drink and pour another when your chosen team changes their driver.
Ping - http://sidepodcast.com/post/live-2011-le-mans-24-hours-race
A shot for every time Hindy and haven rant??
Have you seen these recent posts on sidepodcast.com?
- Live: 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours - Race
- Daily: 11th June 2011
- Canada 2011 - Free Practice 2 results
- Live: Canada 2011 - Free Practice 2
- Peugeot Sport drivers take up a pit stop challenge
Got home just in time for the start of Murray's semi final, good stuff. He looked remarkably calm just there.
Goo RAndy!
I played as Andy Murray against Roddick on Top spin 4 last night on grass and won as Murray 6-4 6-7 6-1, therefore, murray will win.
Because games are deifnitely the best predicition device :)
noooo!!
and does that may Murray ... MAndy?.. can that's not great :)
also, Amy, you MUST go to Queens at one point..
the Internet has spoken I'm afraid :)
one day I'll do a Queens/Wimbledon trip :)
hehe
noooo!!
you have to, absolutely have to! our tickets cost us £17 yesterday and we had some super seats! specially the Del Potro doubles match! oh my goodness we were as close as i'm assuming you usually get as a media photog, just brilliant! :)
For the price that is awesome. Think I may have to come and visit Queens next year at least. Plus you must have got some awesome photographs being that close.
Kait may just explode when she sees photos :)
hm tennis is very hard to photograph :(
ahh am completely in love with the whole experience of watching live tennis. I've always gone and watched the local grass tournaments but they aren't quite the same. :) I may even have to blog it, it was just so awesome, and tennis fans are genuinely lovely friendly people :) The atmosphere was next to none. I'm gonna have to see if i can go to Wimbledon this year, but Queens could end up being a yearly thing for me i think.
how come? they only move a few meters and are slower than cars.
hehe i'll have a look through them in a bit once i'm finished cleaning the kitchen for mum and upload them somewhere for her :) i may have gone a bit mental with taking pics of him for her..
Del Potro is a bit of a strange chap really but am happy they won, was a great game to watch!
maybe it was just me, or the ever changing light (stupid rain/storm/ cloud/sun) but getting the balance between good composition, lighting and seizing that moment when they throw the racquet on the floor, or celebrate can be a bit tough first time. I was alright by the end, but yeah. Being in the crowd you are sometimes limited by angles etc cause you can't move around too much.
i love watching Murray when he plays this well, a joy to watch :)
The weather here has gone from stunning to thunderstorms to broody clouds and now it's sunny and thundering. The weather gods had a heavy Friday night.
you've got our weather from Queens yesterday, cold and thundery one minute, blue skies the next! i think the most we had yesterday was an hour and a half of play :(
I just went for a run in boiling sunshine and now it's all grey and windy. Can't decide if I was lucky or not :)
i'd say lucky! running in the cold and wind can't be fun
I tried running in the rain and wind once, it was a bad experience
Granted I was only running for a bus but still :)
Wind definitely. Rain is fine. Sun is hard. It's completely backwards.
ahh so happy Murray had a day off now, he's come back on top form! totally worth not seeing him.
He looked so calm and composed before the match started, you can tell that day off really helped.
Wonder if Murray can get this all wrapped up before FP2?
Or Fp3, even. The fact we're at 2pm on a saturday and there's still 2 sessions of f1 to come has broken my f1 mind.
Roddick has got himself all wound up.. if murray continues to be this powerful then maybe. Depends if Roddick wants to wake up or not.
He seems really inconsistent, like in that game he just won he seemed much better yet he'll probably be rrrrrubbish again now.
oh Murray calm down, stop over reacting every time the ball goes out, you're actually doing well no need to get upset every time it goes out :)
*cough* Hulk *cough*
hehe!
Mum is annoyed this tournament isn't sponsored by stella artois anymore. Dunno what that says.
Had a sneak peek on the set of ST: Voyager - The Older Generation. Looks different
http://post.ly/2C0v8
a set and 2 breaks up!! *so proud*
I did get very mad at Cilic yesterday for not letting me see Murray play, but i kinda don't mind that any more :)
There will be other opportunities to shake your fist at Cilic at I'm sure :)
the Corona bar was pretty cool tho.. plus the highland spring complimentary cocktails went down well! :)
oh my goodness me!
I think that was the tennis equivalent of 'Have it!!!'
WOHOOOOOOOO <3
Colour me impressed. Well done andy :D
What a poor finish to end on though! Sums up Roddick's performance.
Happy Murray :)
I feel torn now about the other semi. Want Ward to win because that would be a huge upset and a British finish tomorrow but Tsonga is a great name because it's deceptive with it's T being all sneaky.
An all British final? That's crazy talk.
I know!
It's not something that happens in our reality :) maybe in an alternate dimension where Tin Henman beat Pete Sampras and Rubens wins every race.
*Tim, he's not made of metal
ahh Byran and Bryan beat Del Potro and Stepanek :( ah well kinda predictable i suppose.
gooo James Ward! :) he's a great player, was great to see him play yesterday, but i'm not sure he'll get through, he played two tough matches yesterday and now to go to Centre Court against Tsonga. Maybe too much for James this year, few years time tho? Very happy for him tho, it's been what he's needed i think :)
oh my goodness, falling down the stairs on live tv.. bet he's had better days :)
He's very tall. or John Inverdale is very small.
Good reactions ;)
he's tall :) not too much taller than John tho based on yesterday, am assuming John was a step lower or something?
I took a break to watch that Murray walker documentary while watching the match, back to tennis now because im curious about this james hap. enjoyed seeing that guy fall down the stairs too :)
Ping: http://sidepodcast.com/post/live-canada-2011-free-practice-3
Bonus Heikki for Amy.
ehehehe the umpire hiring that chair is kinda funny :)
no doubles for Rafa?! :(
I have a question for the tennis experts - how comes they only use eagle eye at some tournaments but not all of them? I noticed they didn't use it at Roland Garros but they do here and Wimbledon.
Are our umpires just blatently lazy? :)
:)
I'm gonna let Amy answer this one cause i'm not overly sure. They don't have it on any other courts by centre court at Queens (i don't think) so i'm guessing expense.
oops, thank you for the correction. Deary me. But it just made me wonder yesterday, money related reasons makes sense though.
They kept saying they were geared up for it at Roland Garros, they just hadn't switched it on.
It doesn't speak French, obviously
I bet there was a little janitor man who wants to keep it traditional sitting next to the switch at Roland Garros with his arms crossed shouting 'NON!' whenever anyone tried to get him to turn it on
Pat Cash!! yaay! :)
I must add quickly, having various dashboards is immensely useful for multiple sports being commented on. Excellent creation :)
the technology can cope, but can my brain?
:)
Tsonga has started off well. Although I'm not expecting Ward to win I hope he doesn't get walked over.
They don't use it at any clay tournament since you can see the ball marks. They have the technology at RG because they sometimes show the animations, but they don't use them for actual challenging.
It's quite expensive technology so it was originally only at centre court at the other 3 slams but its slowly being rolled out to other courts at other slams and to other smaller tournaments.
oooh, that also makes sense. Thanks Amy :)
Awww. Tsonga takes the first set. Ward has been fighting away though which is something :)
Ward is looking much stronger this set :D
am proad of James, he's holding up better than i thought in this second set.
he's done really well!
I'm surprised the British tennis media haven't all collapsed from heart attacks after deciding that clearly he's going to win Wimbledon.
You mean he isn't?
Well I'm not watching anymore, hmph :)
haha :)
I've started watching handball videos on Youtube because I've been told I absolutely have to go see it at the Olympics.
What an insane sport.
They used to show handball highlights/news on a show I used to watch called transworld sport on channel 4 just after the aussie rules football section and I could never decide which I found more mental to watch. Most amusing though just because both seemed to be anything goes really :)
it kind of looks like netball, but they're running with the ball, and they have proper football goals. I need to choose a country to adopt for it because I bet NZ won't be sending a team :D
ahh bravo Tsonga.
Unlucky James :( gave it a bloody good go though.
@NeilHarmanTimes from an hour ago:
BBC pick out a man in crowd saying it's James Ward's nervous Dad. Wrong man
poor British #2, no one really cares because you're not Andy
Heheh, I like Tsonga. :)
I suddenly eat my words
i loved the look of panic on his face when they said they had a picture of him with no clothes on
Hahah!
What a dude. Will be a good final tomorrow :)
Results ping: http://sidepodcast.com/post/live-canada-2011-free-practice-3-results
No wait. This ping: http://sidepodcast.com/post/canada-2011-free-practice-3-results/
Little bit disappointed to find out my step dad has bought red paint for redecoration... um...
bugger. :(
right, 1am, what else to do but to introduce my cookbooks to my scanner :)
you're getting your room painted red AGAIN??
I'm not sure how 'something light that is not red' has translated to red...
are they trying to make you move out? :D
i honestly don't know know how you cope with your room as it is.... too much red?.. you said you were getting new carpets? they're not red too are they?..
.. you can take paint back you know.. ;) we usually get the tester pots and try those but once mum got the wrong shade and we took it back and replaced it, as long as it's not open and you have the receipt it doesn't matter.
Well it's working. Grrrr.
It's all gone awkward now I've questioned why he's got red despite knowing... I need a motorhome. or Burb.
forget not wanting red, who paints a room red? can we call you roxanne from now on?
just ask him if he can take you back so you can get a shade you prefer?... mum makes me paint my room myself/ choose the colours etc.. so i can't complain at her if i don't like it :)
hehehe!! Lukeh already has a red room, i honestly don't know how he wakes up without a headache each day.
Hey everyone. All go here, but just had a moment to pop in and remind people about the Pole poll.
http://sofaf1.com/2011/06/11/canadian-pole-poll-3/
Hope everyone is doing well :)
I was young and foolish!
Now I'm just foolish. I knew I should've done it myself.
ALLLEEEXX!! is giggles radio on tomorrow. i don't want to forget again.. i don't like people suggesting i'm having a feud with you when i just forgot :)
Allllll done!
but... how on earth did your mum let you? :)
don't paint your room red again... specially if you don't want it red... and if it doesn't need it. it's a waste of paint!!
When I lived at home, I painted each one of my walls a different colour.
ohhh... maybe it's just my mum then.. :)
I have never been allowed to choose the colour of my rooms, I hated it when I was a kid but looking back my parents were very wise to stay neutral :D
It's just paint. We could have spent ages arguing about it, or my parents could just let me do it and then let me paint it all white again when I couldn't bear it any longer.
this may be why I had no choice - we were a wallpaper household :D
Heh. No giggles radio tomorrow. No time sadly, but we'll have the Canadian Grand Prix instead :)
They can't find the receipt even though they bought it earlier on!
I would bang my head on the wall if it weren't red.
Ping: http://sidepodcast.com/post/live-canada-2011-qualifying
:D hehe this is true, my mum however, would never let me have different colours on each wall. It took her alot to let me have light purple rather than the white with a tint of pink she had preferred when i was small. I think it's something to do with the fact that she didn't want to waste money on paint and time painting it with me if she knew i wouldn't like it :D now of course i've got photos and posters all over the walls you can hardly see what colour it is anyways :)
just wanted to make sure :) thanks.
No problem. And glad everyone can now rest easy that there is no fued :)
I can't remember if I saved up and paid for it or not, I probably did. Still, I think it's good practice for being able to paint walls. Always a handy skill.
i just woke up and found myself in a fued... i'm sure that's how many start :)
hehe i've had plenty of practice at painting, my sixth form made sure of that..
#notbitterhonest
I remember.
Oh goodness, I remember that. That set you up for life learning how to paint...
:) you'll be pleased to know my mum did too, and gave the teacher in charge a piece of her mind (have never seen mum that angry) and lodged a formal complaint :)
#iheartmymum
Enjoy a little something from the sidepodcast.com back catalogue.
- Japan 2010 - Free Practice 3 Results
Originally published 09/10/2010
Have you seen these recent posts on sidepodcast.com?
- Live: Canada 2011 - Qualifying
- Canada 2011 - Free Practice 3 results
- Live: Canada 2011 - Free Practice 3
- Live: 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours - Race
- Daily: 11th June 2011
in case anyone missed it, i posted a few new photos on my flickr earlier - http://www.flickr.com/photos/loujohnson/
Yay!
I love how the earl grey tea is described as pleasantly aromatic :)
@F1TimingApp responds:
As per the terms, we can't guarantee a live service. We can't afford to simply discount next years App I'm afraid
My reply is NSFW
if they screw up you can blame them. if bernie's system screws up, what can they do?
I do get that but it shouldn't be my problem. I understand the margins are low but we are getting a substandard service. If more people give bad feedback from bad experiences, people start to take notice
In reality, I realise we're stuck with it
only if your expectations are unreasonably high. they are a 2nd tier service relying on a provider. it's like yelling at us when mediatemple went down. nowt we can do.
(okay we changed provider, but bernie is the only provider here)
I don't pay SPC [donations are optional and I choose to do that]
If SoftPauer's customers find it unacceptable, they should be speak up and in turn this should be fed upwards. It's business, not unreasonable
I know it won't change but I think it's a valid point
agreed. i just don't find it unacceptable i guess.
jakehumphreyf1: Apparently from Silverstone onwards, a new FIA directive will require big changes to teams exhausts. No doubt more on #bbcf1 site soon...
Jake tweeted that just now, but is this the EBD change we've been discussing since... Spain, I think?
Maybe there's more to it
@MarussiaVirgin
.
Virgin: The FIA have allowed Jerome to race tomorrow, having considered the fact that he had to start with a new chassis this morning.
Hehe, there's an excuse for everything with this ruling :)
Ping: http://sidepodcast.com/post/canada-2011-qualifying-results
Devon knows how he made it so easy
Eeeevening :)
done a bit of blogging on books and the kindle PING http://toata.co.uk/index.php/2011/06/203-the-little-digital-bookworm/
Hi Alison
Wow, non motorsport talk feels weird. It's been a while :)
:D
I'm not in a very le mansy mood tbh.
Which means it's time for a break. Off to the shops for wine, snacks and maybe a film afterwards
Great post!
Qualy wasn't exciting so don't bother with that
Shawshank's on ITV2
TT 2011 on ITV4
Hmmm, decisions
Thanks :)
Have been meaning to write something book-y for a while now, but this seemed to make a perfect blog post idea. I also wish I had a kindle to compare reading 1984 digitally compared to as a book... perhaps an idea for the kindle android app.
Yes. I was going to comment, but really, I don't have a kindle so I don't qualify :)
I'd go for convenience though. I can read a book on my phone, my iPod, my Mac or my iPad. I'm basically covered wherever I go :)
That was something I meant to comment on myself but I forgot to mention it - another factor the digital side of things outs me off is I can't imagine reading a whole book on a small screen like the iPod or phone, it's another case of mental hurdles that need to be overcome but everything I go back to thinking of the convenience that obstacle tends to be pushed aside.
It's like with music - the fact you can just simple get what you want now is immense but the big difference is there is no spiritual or physical connection to a single you'd buy in the shops. A book just has 'something'. I don't really know what but they just do.
Gosh it's ridiculously sentimental and I could go on for hours talking about this :)
My sister was telling me she's been reading the free classics you can get on a kindle app on her phone. I can't imagine it on that tiny screen but she was saying you don't notice it after a while.
That is definitely true.
will have to try that and blog about it at some point in the future :)
Ping: http://www.f1minute.com/news/sebastian-vettel-beats-both-ferrari-drivers-to-canada-pole-position
all I have for the daily lou is my post on books, if that's ok :)
thank youu! anyone else?
This post on the 1973 Canadian GP safety car fiasco from Mav http://www.vivaf1.com/blog/?p=6995
thanks Jackie :)
Lou,
Joe to tweet more.
http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/f1-tweeting/
Has to be worth a mention
i missed that. thanks :)
Lou: https://twitter.com/#!/bassanoclapper/status/79593344212271104
If you want something a bit fun, that Les Paul guitar google thing now has it's own webpage. I was wondering if we could have a competition to get people doing the chain. Here's the link http://www.google.com/logos/2011/lespaul.html
I was playing it the other night, I can't remember if I commented it but if you want to play The Chain on that page press these keys on your keyboard in this order...
Y...YUI..UYTYU..E
The dots being the breaks in the song obviously :)
cool :-)
tonight I've been cleaning up rubbishy files on my laptop and getting rid of old stuff for space and i just found a notepad file with just this link in it and nothing else
http://yfrog.com/49yybmj
good times. :)
roll over beethoven... http://goo.gl/doodle/4a9lS
Hehehe! Awesome!
I didn't realise you could record :)
You just press that little rectangle below it
Yay!
Here's my chain
http://goo.gl/doodle/oizL5
Have you seen these recent posts on sidepodcast.com?
- Canada 2011 - Qualifying results
- Canada 2011 - Qualifying
- Canada 2011 - Free Practice 3 results
- Canada 2011 - Free Practice 3
- Live: 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours - Race
Ping: http://sidepodcast.com/post/daily-12th-june-2011