Ponty

How very strange.

We'll be lucky to be in the Championship come May, and not because we'll be heading towards the 'dreaded' Premiership. Give me 5 years ago any day. I'm not enjoying the CCC one bit.

Now come on. I saw Richard Hammond test for radioactivity on that Sky science programme jobby and they couldn't find any evidence of anything.

Hey, Stu's alright really.

Fair.

Claridge said he liked Southampton, we were a great club and we deserved to be, and he hoped we soon would be, in the Premiership. He also said we were playing some very attractive football, with maybe something just missing in the last third. I can live with that sort of bias.

How many series until they run out of ideas and just keep churning out garbage because Sky will pay through the nose for it?

I love the fact that Vettel and STR have won a race but that's rather romanticising things. STR aren't really a small team, they have the financial muscle of RBR, along with the Newey chassis, plus the mighty Ferrari engine in full works spec. Realistically they have more clout than "bigger" teams such as Williams and Renault. They may only have 160 or so employees in Italy but they're just assembly guys. The engines and chassis are built and developed for them in Maranello and Milton Keynes respectively. Minardi were a small team, developing their own chassis, one early year using 12 month old Ferrari engines and later on the cheap Cosworth engines. STR are not.

Rossi then.

Who's arguing? I wasn't trying to tbh. I was merely justifying my reasons for not signing. I haven't claimed you were wrong to do so, or invite others to do so.

Bad drivers don't win races. Jenson won in Hungary '06, albeit because one of Alonso's wheels fell off, but you have to be at the front to win. I wasn't at Renault at the same time as JB but plenty of my colleagues were. I don't get the impression he was particularly popular.

Great race considering the usual Monza procession. I think we've been spoiled this season as spectators, largely down to the inclement weather that seems to be following the F1 circus around the circuits. Very good drive by Vettel, plus he had the sort of good fortune regarding pit stops and tyre changes that usually only affects the big boys. I did predict a couple of surprise appearances in the points for the STR boys but I couldn't have predicted that. Bourdais would have had a likely podium too, were it not for the electrical melt-down on the start line. I enjoyed Kimi, Felipe and Lewis being humbled by the little guys, and Heikki was very disappointing considering he had all the advantages of the McLaren, plus a good strategy and a front row position. On a more personal note, after qualifying yesterday it looked nailed-on that Toyota would extend their five point lead over us in the WCC but thanks to an inspired tyre change by Alonso, a long first stint and some unfortunate pit stop windows for the Japanese team, we are now level pegging. Good stuff. A point worth noting: that's the first race a Ferrari customer engined car has ever won. I'm surprised that wasn't worth a mention during the ITV coverage. Answering BTF's question; no, it's not unusual for cars to be pulled into the weigh-bridge during qualifying. I can remember Jensen suffering badly season after being called in before he had time to complete his best lap. It's just the way it goes tbh, it's happened to everyone. The weigh-bridge is in pit-lane and it doesn't take long to weigh the car. Hamilton went out on inters thoroughly by choice. It was just the wrong one unfortunately for him. Still, he made a good fist of the recovery drive, though it was interesting to hear Brundle disapprove of his technique more than once.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/70526 As I said.

It's a wee ploppy.

Well, that was the wettest practice day I can remember, let alone at Monza where it hardly ever rains. We were dire. Anything with a Ferrari engine looks solid and it seems to suit the BMWs very well. A wet qually and race and anything could happen but I think the usual suspects will take the first 6 points paying places with a couple of surprise (or maybe not) points places for the STR boys. Worth noting that Raikkonen has extended his Ferrari contract to take in 2010 alongside Massa. This raises the speculation that Alonso will either sign for BMW or remain at Renault. The Honda option was touted as a one-year deal to take him to the Ferrari ride that Raikkonen has just signed up for.

Another reason I'm not going to sign, and another reason why Hammy is not universally loved... http://www.planetf1.com/story/0,18954,3213_4133707,00.html Raikkonen's early braking was also a contributory factor to which Hamilton pointedly remarked: "That's the way he drives. If you don't have the balls to brake late, that's your problem." He needs to learn to respect people. He's talking about the driver who took the title last year after Hamilton himself proved that he could drive like a gimp.

He also pluralised "Mother in law" to "Mother in laws", rather than the more accurate "Mothers in law". Tsk.

Or an idiotic pheasant.

Congratulations Skip.

Shocked? Really? Ah, come on..

Yes, I've heard you like a battered ring.

That's what annoys me when people moan about Beckham and say he's all about the money. I can recall several moments during England games when he was clearly the only one who did care about the game and not just about picking up his paycheck.

Guitar Hero. That would make you look uber cool on the train. Much like the DS itself.