Lukeh here taking you into another Friday and man, do we have an exciting few days ahead or what? We're approaching what is easily one of the best weekend's of Formula 1 as we head down to Brazil but before we go into all of that, I want to wish a huge, huge congratulations to Muse bassist Chris Wolstenholme and the arrival of baby Buster into his life yesterday! Yay! That's his fifth child now, what a guy. Time to get on with what wonders I can find for you lovely people for today.
Paddock News
Delving Deeper Inter the Battle - I love Interlagos. What a fabulous, wonderful circuit and even through television you get such a wonderful atmosphere from the circuit when Formula 1 visits that little part of the world for the Brazilian GP. Sidepodcast's Race Information thread will provide all the information you need so you know when to check in for Formula 1 and everything else you need to know. Good to see that Johnny Herbert is our guest steward for this race weekend, I guess on his F1 career we could call him a race stewart! I'm so sorry.
Red Bull Gives You Boxing Gloves - Aaaaaaaand in the red corner, he hails from New South Wales, Australia, he comes into this race with 157 races under his belt, 19 podiums and 6 wins, Maaaaaaaark "Aussie Grit' Webberrrrrrr!! Aaaaaand in the blue corner, he hails from Heppenheim, Germany, with a race record of 60 races, 17 podiums and 8 wins, the 'Man Who Lost His Smile', Sebastiiaaaaan 'Baby Schumi' Vetteeeeeeeeel! Goodness these two have already started arguing heading into the weekend and it's so exciting!
I Wonder If We Will Have a Klien Race? - There is actually more F1 news apart from the whole Rage in a Red Bull Cage going on right now, would you believe it! This weekend the admittedly improving (I know) Yamamoto will be replaced by the far more experienced Christian Klien which will please some fans but probably annoy others. Elsewhere at Force India Adrian 'Korea Was a Laugh' Sutil looks set to stay on at Force India and cost them more money with mad drives in 2011. Interesting.
Elsewhere...
What Do You Mean, Off-Season?! - With next year's Formula 1 calendar now extending to a record 302 races, with one every 7 hours... ok, so it's not that much but it is a lot and a discussion thread has been opened up here at our lovely host. What do you think about the whole 20 race thing then guys? For me, it is a lot of races and I find it pretty ridiculous it ends at the end of November but that's Bernie, the man who will take money at any cost and won't let anything stand in his way, like a Lukeh walking past a Greggs.
Jump in the Delorean, We're Going back to 2009 - 2009 was an amazing year wasn't it? Rubens won races again, Brawn were just super duper in the championship, Jenson Button showed that he is actually a good driver as Lou has been promising for years, Rubens was even more awesome, we had Sidepodradio, Rubens did some awesome stuff. In general last year was a good year for my F1 fandom, and you can go back and watch the 2009 Brazilian GP highlights if you're in the UK. Sorry rest of the world, but can I offer you a hug instead? It even has Kimi Raikkonen. But yes, that race was a pretty stupendous race and what can only be described as a thrilling drive of determination and pure champion-ness from Jenson. That was a mixed day though for me because Rubens had a catastrophe of a race but the right man won the championship. Good times!
Samba de Four Amigos - I can't stress how much I love this press conference from the drivers today. Felipe Massa, Lucas Di Grassi, and my bestest friends forever Bruno Senna and Rubens Barrichello all took part and it was a brazilian awesomefest. Everyone seems so relaxed and excited based on their responses and there's some lovely photos and insight from Rubens about the legend that is Ayrton Senna as well as Bruno recapping how he felt watching the recently shown Senna movie. I can't wait to see that in 2011. But yes, I do love Brazilian drivers and it seems such a lovely press conference.
And For Something Slightly Different
The Referee Is A Very Informative Gentleman - Ah yes, it's that time of the year again for football fans who enjoy managing the team they verbally abuse on Soccer Saturday. The beloved and excruciatingly addictive Football Manager 2011 is out in shops and available to download from Steam today and I can see many revision sessions, days at work and allsorts of useful activities for many people being pushed aside for the genius that is Football Manager. I absolutely adore the series, even if I am totally useless at the games, and I'll be honest - last year left me a bit disillusioned. 2010 felt a bit drab, typical, like no real change. Based on the demo for 2011, which is available for free on steam, I have fallen for 2011. It is just so very good. On another gaming related note, remember that Gran Turismo 5 game... it was supposed to be out today. Oops. Not long now though... we hope.
This Week's Daily Listen - Yesterday was a really busy evening for me but to relax there was only one option to throw on and kick back to and that was a bit of Sigur Ros. The Icelandic band are just so awe-inspiringly beautiful and I'm sure many of you are aware of them but I'm currently smitten with their album 'Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust'. I believe it means 'Goodness, have you seen Rubens? Isn't He Lovely?' no no, I kid, it actually means With A Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly and quite frankly I could listen to this album endlessly. It;s just a beautiful collection of music and you'd be missing out if you didn't check it out.
I think that's everything for today guys. Gosh, i'm so excited for the Grand Prix this weekend! It's going to be totally awesome! Anything could happen and that's what I love about Interlagos. For 5 years in a row the championship has been decided here and it could easily be decided on Sunday too. I hope you have an awesome Friday and I'll see you in the comments. Forza Formula Uno!