JackFrost

Imola '94 was where it all came to a head. That weekend seemed to be cursed, it was just one thing after another. Barrichello's accident, Ratzenberger's death, Senna's death, the Lehto/Lamy accident where debris flew into the crowd and injured spectators, Alboreto's wheel flying off in the pit lane and injuring numerous mechanics, it was unbelievable. There's one key thing that the Senna/Ratzenberger fatal crashes had in common. Neither of them died because of Imola's track layout, they both died because of lax safety procedures/measures. They both hit unprotected concrete barriers, yes unprotected concrete barriers at two of the fastest parts of the track where speeds were close to 200mph. Safety back then was simply "that'll do", it was a complete after-thought. The safety car had only just been reintroduced and the pit lane didn't even have a speed limit (I think it was Keke Rosberg that once clocked 160mph in the pit lane). We now have significantly stronger cars, far better protected drivers, the HANS device, wheel tethers, TecPro barriers, proper run-off and numerous safety measures to more than accommodate fast flowing circuits that made F1 great to watch back in the day. T4 at Sochi and that quadruple left at Turkey prove that it can be done in this age where cars are taken to their cornering limits in a safe way. The tragic thing about Bianchi's death was that his accident was a carbon copy of an accident Martin Brundle had 20 years earlier. The only difference was Brundle missed the tractor and instead hit a marshal.

Quite, And before you know it you're moaning like a grumpy old man going on about the good old days

The whole circuit has been changed significantly Turns 2 and 3 have been tightened up and made slower Turns 4 and 5 have been tightened up and made slower Turn 6 has been tightened up and made slower Short straight added between 6 and 7 The Esses section has been narrowed and tightened Peraltada replaced with the baseball stadium section. The idea of the original circuit was that it started slow and gradually built up. The pre-'92 circuit was largely full throttle from the second half of the esses all the way round to turn 1. Now the whole circuit is a slow clumsy car park. I just don't get why they deliberately design circuits to be tight, twisty and boring. What F1 needs are fast flowing circuits in the same vein as Imola pre '94. Just with proper run off areas and safety features that mean drivers can't crash into unprotected concrete walls.

Really? I thought Tilke's Mexico redesign was his worst yet. He turned one of the fastest flowing old school F1 tracks into a cluster**** of two straights and a neverending quagmire of narrow, slow corners. The irony of them honouring Mansell's insane overtake round the outside of the Peraltada by naming the carcass that was left after him I found quite amusing. The frustrating thing is Tilke can design good circuits (Istanbul, Singapore, Austin) but they just seem to vastly prefer stop-start circuits of long straights and hairpin-chicanes that all look the same and don't flow whatsoever. They blatantly removed the Peraltada purely for commercial reasons so they could make use of the stadium. I don't buy the safety argument at all, compare the potential space at the old peraltada with T4 at Sochi https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@19.4047874,-99.0968454,3a,75y,165.31h,71.04t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1scUvtSAQJdoNMTsOMyl0B0w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1?hl=en https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Sochi+Autodrom/@43.4078218,39.9546453,3a,75y,276.07h,74.07t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sQXWITOHQo3kdToYgaW6z_g!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DQXWITOHQo3kdToYgaW6z_g%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D280.78012%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656!4m2!3m1!1s0x40f59514657440c9:0x876213fab509159a!6m1!1e1?hl=en

Very good first 40 mins, got complacent and the inevitable happened. Kudos to Eddie Howe for pouncing on it. Why Clasie went off instead of Wanyama is a mystery but Koeman was seriously ****ed at the players in the second half. That said Bournemouth were excellent in the 2nd half, we just had the better cutting edge.

Silly lad

28% possession in the 2nd half

The redesign of the Mexico circuit is so bad it's almost funny. We weren't even 20 mins into practice 1 and the sky commentators/twitter were laying into it.

Well known egomaniac

F1 is as much about off track politics as it is about the racing. What Rosberg was resentful at was all the politicking behind the scenes. Lewis knew how to get into Rosberg's head when he looked like he could match him, and Rosberg didn't know how to handle it. Various incidents throughout the last couple of years would also strongly indicate Lewis has been heavily protected by his team and by the F1 establishment as a whole (ala Schumacher). Hamilton & Rosberg's friendship has been severely strained since that incident at Spa when Lewis stated to the press that Rosberg told him he drove into him on purpose. (Herbert & Brundle all but confirmed this was a bare-faced lie in the pitlane at the following GP). I actually feel sorry for Nico to a degree, but Lewis has been the better driver over the last two years and he couldn't have called the McLaren to Mercedes move any better. It'll be interesting to see whether the upcoming rule changes shakes it all up again. Meanwhile Mexico is next, and what they have done to the track is just utterly depressing on first impressions.

Think Clasie's been very good so far

4 points from Chelsea away and Leicester at home Take that any day

LOL, some of her answers are hilarious. A friend of mine at the NCA was only telling me the other day the charities are the worst.

Anyone else see this on BBC4 last night? One of the most powerful pieces of TV I've seen in years. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b055kpfm Through the medum of poetry, it tells the story of a 20 year old woman brutally murdered in a Manchester park by a gang of youths, as she tried to protect her boyfriend. The couple were attacked purely because of the way they looked/dressed.

Labour didn't cause the global financial crisis but they spent, spent spent right up until it happened. As for Gordon he was sticking two fingers up at anyone who was expressing concern at the size of the deficit, years before the global crisis happened. http://www.theguardian.com/business/2005/apr/18/politics.ukgeneralelection20051 Then just before the crisis hit over here in the 2nd half of 2007 Blair stood down and Gordon Brown got the job he'd always wanted. Course, Blair never saw that coming. . .

Totally agree, I was disappointed with Cameron there

Going on how he was convicted originally, I reckon it'll get overturned.

Except that you'll need to increase expenditure accordingly to generate the extra income.

My favourite part of the Labour conference was when McDonnell claimed another world is possible by "rejecting austerity while also living within our means".

Sociopath. It's the art of him genuinely believing his own crap, whilst being completely oblivious to the fact that no one believes him. He's clearly lost the dressing room

Absolutely superb performance. Our counter attacking was sublime. Pelle, VVD and Mane were absolutely brilliant. As for Mourinho it's clear he's lost the dressing room. As soon as he scapegoated the medical staff you can see it got to the backroom staff, the coaches, the players etc. etc. I've never seen a Chelsea side with such low confidence. Mourinho will be gone this month IMO

You can actually see him move his whistle towards his mouth and quickly move it away again. He knew full well it was a penalty.

How did MLT do today?

It was Russia's political intervention that ultimately forced Assad to disarm/destroy a lot of their chemical weapons, shortly after the Ghouta sarin attack. They clearly have influence and control over Assad to an extent which in some ways isn't a bad thing. A lot of it depends on how much long-term stability can be achieved in the country. If successful I suspect Russia will gradually 'stop being the bad guys' (see Iran) when we find out we'll achieve more if we work with, as opposed to against them.

This. We literally just gave them control of the game