Questions over the impact of Formula 1's controversial new regulations are sure to creep into every critical discussion in coming weeks, after this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix set new all-time records for most overtaking moves and most pit stops in a race. For 2011, all Formula 1 cars now run on Pirelli tyres, the Italian company having replaced Bridgestone at the end of the 2010 season as sole tyre supplier. In pre-season testing it quickly became clear that Pirelli's rubber was a major step below Bridgestone's in terms of durability. Pirelli made haste to point out that this degradation was deliberate, as it would result in greater performance differential between drivers at different times, as well as more varied pit strategies.
The return of Pirelli has coincided with two other measures intended to promote overtaking and help create an exciting new era of Formula One. The return of Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) technology first used in 2009, allowing drivers to gain a boost of 80 horsepower for seven seconds per lap, is a major development but has slipped under the radar thanks to the divisive new Drag Reduction System (DRS). The DRS allows a driver following another car to open a slot in his rear-wing to decrease aerodynamic drag, resulting in a speed increase of up to 15 km/h which drastically aids the overtaking process. The system was devised as a counter to the notorious turbulence effect felt when following another car. Turbulence has become prevalent over the last ten to fifteen years as car performance has increasingly shifted away from the mechanical to the aerodynamic. This loss of downforce when within a few seconds of a leading car had reigned supreme, largely cancelling out any attempted regulations to promote overtaking until this year. Usage of the DRS is extremely limited however, as a driver must be within one second of the car in front at a single defined point on the circuit and is allowed to deploy the system only in a single zone, generally the circuit's longest straight.
The chancy new regulations have for the most part, been a huge success. The first four races of the 2011 season have been a marked departure from the recent formulaic past. Pirelli degradation has resulted in more pit-stops, during which positions regularly change, and KERS and DRS have through their limited mandate, given just enough of a small helping hand to overtake. At least that was the unanimous feeling after the first race or two. But with the Chinese Grand Prix, and now even more noticeably in Istanbul this week, the beginnings of a major rumbling from a number of circles have started to emerge.
In the opening race in Australia, a solid 30 overtaking moves were successfully made. This jumped to a wonderful 70 for the second round in Malaysia, hardly a surprise given its two generous straights. In both cases nearly half these passes had direct influence from DRS technology. But the upturn kept going unabated. In China there were 90 moves, in Turkey a staggering and record-breaking 112. One should never scoff at too much overtaking, but the telling statistic is that of those 112 moves, 71 were as a result of DRS deployment. Anyone watching the race could see the ease with which cars were able to open their rear wing and drive past the car in front as if they were standing still. These moves were complete well before the braking zone, whereas the FIA mandate for the DRS technology was merely to assist cars in getting side by side in the braking zone, at which point driver skill would come to the fore.
As unthinkable an irony as it may be, the Turkish Grand Prix has led to a number of criticisms from prominent members of the paddock, including drivers, that there is too much overtaking action in Formula One now, and that it is too artificial. These concerns don't just refer to the on-track action, but also to the spiraling number of pit-stops the high wear rate of the Pirelli tyres have necessitated. The Turkish Grand Prix not only equalled a 28 year old overtake record, but broke an 18 year old record for most number of pit stops in a single race, 79.
The notion that Formula One could have so suddenly shifted from lacking action to having too much is for the most part a childish one, and the majority of fans and people involved in the sport have given the new regulations a major thumbs up. The critics seem to have two major beefs. In Turkey as soon as any car came close to another through the kink that leads onto the long DRS-zone straight, it was a foregone conclusion that they would ease past and slot back into the racing line in front of their rival before the corner. The one driver who was less keen to give up his position so easily was Michael Schumacher, and he duly caused at least two amateurish collisions into the corner. If these positional changes weren't enough, four-stop strategies have become the norm now and many, led by Ferrari Team Principal Stefano Domenicali, claim that the constant position changing due to pitstops have made races too fast-moving and confusing for casual fans to follow. I wonder however if Domenicali shortchanges the intellectual capabilities of his sport's following. Furthermore, the plethora of passes in Turkey was an anomaly, the DRS system is still a work-in-progress and will clearly be deployed at a less liberal juncture next year.
Istanbul of its own accord is a particularly friendly track to the cause of overtaking. Like at the previous race in Shanghai, the DRS zone was at a traditional overtaking hot-spot, at the end of two long periods of non-stop full throttle which are barely matched on the entire calendar. One cannot judge the effectiveness of DRS after tracks like Shanghai and Istanbul. Next week's Round 5 of the championship is the Spanish Grand Prix at the challenging but notoriously dull Circuit de Catalunya. The Barcelona circuit is the testing home away from home for most Formula One teams, and as such most drivers and setup engineers can almost tune into the circuit with their eyes closed. Therefore the Spanish Grand Prix will always reveal the true pecking order of Formula One, as there is little in the way of driver struggle or setup error to explain a performance away. But more to the point, the error-free perfection with which most drivers can navigate the circuit, and the greater distance between cars, means that overtaking has traditionally been virtually non-existent throughout the circuit's 20 year history. This is a tradition which may finally be mercifully changed thanks to the new regulations.
But with the new regulations being a work-in-progress, the FIA must make sure they are able to learn the lessons gleaned from the opening races for the future, because there are definite concerns which need to be addressed. There were early criticisms of the DRS when it was first tabled as an idea during 2010, which amidst the hoopla of Istanbul have largely been lost. Drivers were initially opposed to the system because they feared the extreme closing speeds would cause accidents like Mark Webber's in Valencia last year, where Webber rode up over the back of the much slower Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen and was launched into spectacular death-defying somersault through the sky. This is one reason why the inconsistency of allowing DRS usage at any time in Practice and Qualifying, but only at a single strictly defined zone in the race, needs to be addressed. In Melbourne, looking to get his wing flap open early, Adrian Sutil had a bemusing spin at the normally unchallenging exit of the final turn, almost planting his Force India into the pit wall. Drivers are pushing their risk taking further and further, employing the system through fast corners not just on the straight. The aerodynamically supreme Red Bull can already be seen doing this regularly. It is only a matter of time before an overambitious application of the system mid-corner, or a mechanical failure which leaves the flap open into a braking zone, will cause a serious accident.
The regularity of pit-stops could also prove to be dangerous in time, as Domenicali pointed out after the Turkish Grand Prix. Tracks with tighter pit lanes, such as many of the upcoming European circuits, will struggle to handle the overcrowding and may lead to potential accidents in pit lane, which are naturally a safety hazard to nearby mechanics. Those mechanics also face increasing pressure as the regularity of pit activity increases, and their errors can just be as dangerous a few laps later when the driver is going full speed as they are to life and limb inside the garage.
The development direction of the Pirelli tyres could prove to be the ultimate solution to both these problems. The combination of danger and artificiality means that although it has proven a useful bonus, the Drag Reduction System is not the most sustainable future development. KERS on the other hand is at the forefront of modern motoring technology, with major benefits for road car technology. If it can be tweaked to possibly include a bonus especially for the car behind as DRS provides, KERS combined with the Pirelli tyres should do the job of providing exciting on-track action adequately. At tracks like Spain and Monaco, difference in tyre performance is likely to make create far more overtaking than any DRS boost anyway. The problem with Pirelli's 'deliberate degradation' is the specific way the profile of their tyres wear down, and the performance differential. Pirelli's harder compounds have proven far slower than the soft compounds compared to Bridgestone's equivalent tyres last year. Were they closer in performance there would be far more differentiation in strategy choice. The main problem however is that the Pirelli's are said to colloquially 'fall off a cliff', losing all performance almost immediately upon the beginning of degradation. Trying to handle such extreme wear is beyond the capabilities of even the most smooth drivers like Jenson Button. Consequently every team is forced onto a uniform three or four-stop strategy.
Pirelli need to change their tyre profiles so that they still begin to wear quickly and lose peak performance, but do not drop so harshly off the proverbial cliff. This would create far greater strategic variation (should we go 1,2,3 or 4-stops?), and rather than resigning to come into the pits at the first sign of wear, good tyre management would be rewarded. The hustle and bustle of the pit lane would also somewhat decrease as the race would likely have less total pit stops. But most importantly, the polar extremes in strategy of so many different cars would create more extreme performance gaps, and consequently more overtaking. Every Grand Prix would be even more strategically unpredictable and exciting than they already are.
Showing posts with label Formula 1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Formula 1. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
The Vettel enigma: Why we could have another Schumacher
Two races into the 2011 Formula One Season it is reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel who sits emphatically atop the Driver's Championship with a perfect 50 points. The signs for the rest of the year are ominous as Vettel, despite some impressive and surprising race pace from McLaren, won both the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix with relative ease. A variety of frustrations have beset his interminably unfortunate team-mate Mark Webber, who sits in a tie for 3rd with just 22 points. With the closeness at time in race pace, and Webber's struggles, one could be forgiven for thinking we have yet another exciting competitive year on our hands. There's every indication that may not be the case however. At regular vital intervals Red Bull have shown that they have easily the year's premier car, as can only be expected from master designer Adrian Newey who Martin Brundle aptly called "the Leonardo Da Vinci of Formula One."
Rumour has it that at this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, every team in the paddock except the three new boys, and Red Bull, will run with their Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems technology. This technology acts as a glorified push to pass system essentially, with a complex system of energy recovery under braking being able to transfer back into the power train for 80bhp extra power per lap, for seven seconds. The FIA introduced the scheme for the primary purpose of overtaking of course, but it is said to be worth on some circuits more than half a second per lap. Red Bull have had problems with faulty KERS since the introduction of their car and have swept to both pole positions and both victories almost entirely without the system's bonus power. The disadvantage is twofold though, as the KERS motor's 35kg weight means 35kg less ballast to move around the car, significantly limiting the potential for optimum weight distribution. If Red Bull do decide to remove the system from their car entirely in China, they will shed the one element that seems to have most affected the stability of the car. The big question at this race, especially if without KERS, is whether the RB7 will be better balanced and able to extend its already sizable gap to the rest of the field. If this happens I fear we may not see Vettel threatened on his way to an emphatic title defense.
The possibly mistaken view that 2011 is going to be thrillingly close comes from the simple fact that 2010 was also deceiving in its tightness. 2010 was really an astonishing season, with five men leading the world championship and the unprecedented scenario of four drivers still in the running at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Vettel won the title despite having not led the points standings once during the entire season before the final race. Throughout the whole season Vettel utterly dominated qualifying and always loomed as a man likely to threaten for the title, even when he was as low as fifth in the standings.
In truth Sebastian could call himself unlucky that he wasn't already a World Champion. For all of his astonishingly short career he had impressed, from scoring a point on debut at the age of 19, to shining spectacularly as a late season replacement for Toro Rosso in 2007. In 2008, after a tough start adjusting to a difficult car, Vettel was supreme, scoring a remarkable pole to flag win for the small team in driving rain at Monza. Then he came to Red Bull in 2009 and largely dominated his new team-mate Mark Webber in the process. Webber was already entrenched at the team and is not just experienced but fantastically fast. Before Vettel no-one had come close to challenging Webber's domination over all his team-mates for qualifying pace. Vettel won third time out in China and went on to win three more races on his way to second in the championship, not too far behind Jenson Button. Although few would begrudge Button his title, the truth remains that all six of his wins came in the first seven races thanks in large part to the headstart his Brawn GP team had by virtue of a loophole in the regulations. By that time Newey's RB5 had established itself as the class of the field and Button did not win again all year.
Vettel came in 2010 frustrated from being so near yet so far in 2009. His nerves and inexperience often came to the forefront, in a series of often controversial errors. In reality, Vettel's own faltering resolve, and the fallible reliability of the RB6, conspired to almost lose a championship that should gone their way in a canter.
Vettel won the 2010 World Championship with 256 points on the back of five wins. Alonso was just four points behind (seven points seperate 1st and 2nd in every race to give an idea how close that is), on 252 with Webber on 242 and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton on 240. Vettel could very easily have run away with the title by over 100 points however, but was denied liberally by car failures and brain failures. The most inopportune mechanical gremlins afflicted Vettel while leading three grands prix, two of them surely guaranteed victories. Vettel's own youthful exuberance ruined his weekend at least another four times. Here's a short summary of only those major setbacks which spring to the forefront of the mind:
Bahrain - Vettel dominated all weekend and was easily on his way to a pole-to-flag victory before a spark plug failure on the engine hamstrung the car. The Ferraris of Alonso and Massa drove past as if Vettel was standing still and finished 1-2. Even with the initially fatal-looking problem, Vettel still somehow salvaged 4th.
Australia - Once again Vettel took a dominant pole position and pulled immediately away at the front before a break failure plunged him into the gravel and out of the race. With the wet conditions Vettel was far from guaranteed victory but surely lost major points again.
Spain - Another break failure denied Vettel 2nd place and once again it was the class of the man which still salvaged 3rd (with help from Lewis Hamilton who crashed out of 2nd) when it looked as if he was set for retirement.
Turkey - The famous collision, as Vettel threw away a guaranteed 18 points and possible 25 with an ill-advised move on team-mate Mark Webber to take the lead. The move handed victory to McLaren but while Webber recovered to 3rd, it was DNF for Vettel.
Great Britain - After racing to his now customary pole position, Vettel got a poor start and then an over-aggressive squeeze on team-mate Webber to try and hold the lead left Vettel off the track and with a puncture that sent him to dead last. He recovered to finish 7th but with Red Bull's dominant pace it should have been at least 2nd.
Germany - Yet again Vettel fluffed the start from pole, losing out to both Ferrari's, and that's where he stayed all day.
Hungary - Another pole, another solid lead. Then an obscure safety-car rule cost Vettel of all things, as he failed to stay within 10 car lengths of the safety-car in front and was given a drive-through penalty that dropped him to 3rd.
Belgium - Like Australia, the race at Spa was wet and wild with no guarantees, but Vettel made extra sure he wouldn't score points with an amateurish crash into Jenson Button that broke his front wing and earned him a drive-through penalty. This was compounded by a puncture later in the race and Vettel finished 15th.
Korea - For the 3rd time, and most heartbreaking, Vettel's RB6 gave up the ghost while he led convincingly. This time there was just 10 laps to go and Vettel was well clear of Fernando Alonso when his engine gave way spectacularly, seemingly ending his championship chances.
Obviously mistakes can happen, even more assuredly will reliability strike at inopportune moments. But there is much to read from Vettel and Red Bull's near-self destruction in 2010. What must be remembered is that Vettel is just 23 years of age, comfortably the sport's youngest ever World Champion. Furthermore, his Red Bull team are also babies in the grand scheme of things, having entered F1 in 2005 and only become competitive in 2009 as Adrian Newey's influence took over. Neither team or driver could be expected to possess the kind of battle-hardened consistent acumen to get the job done as the old hands at Ferrari and McLaren might have.
The fact is that Vettel and Red Bull were unlucky not to be champions in 2009, and 2010 should have been a walk in the park. The reason it was not was because neither party had ever reached these heights before. Now the job is done, the ambition is achieved, and the pressure which seemed to utterly overwhelm anyone near Vettel, has been lifted. Since it debuted in testing this year, Newey's RB7 has looked as fast as can ever be expected, but also possessing of nearly flawless reliability. More importantly, Sebastian looks to have followed the same path. There is an aura of calm contentment around Vettel these days which belies his age, and clearly not by coincidence, he has looked ominously metronomic on track.
Sebastian Vettel is clearly one of a handful of truly special drivers in the world today, surely matched only by Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. At his best it is arguable he is unmatched even by those peers. Adrian Newey IS unmatched at what he does, that bears no cause for argument. Vettel has shown signs in the two races so far in 2011, that he can match the uncanny speed he was born with, to the kind of inch-perfect precision that made the only other German World Champion Michael Schumacher so unbeatable at times. If Adrian Newey can give him the car to match for years to come, who's to say there won't be another German dynasty?
Rumour has it that at this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, every team in the paddock except the three new boys, and Red Bull, will run with their Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems technology. This technology acts as a glorified push to pass system essentially, with a complex system of energy recovery under braking being able to transfer back into the power train for 80bhp extra power per lap, for seven seconds. The FIA introduced the scheme for the primary purpose of overtaking of course, but it is said to be worth on some circuits more than half a second per lap. Red Bull have had problems with faulty KERS since the introduction of their car and have swept to both pole positions and both victories almost entirely without the system's bonus power. The disadvantage is twofold though, as the KERS motor's 35kg weight means 35kg less ballast to move around the car, significantly limiting the potential for optimum weight distribution. If Red Bull do decide to remove the system from their car entirely in China, they will shed the one element that seems to have most affected the stability of the car. The big question at this race, especially if without KERS, is whether the RB7 will be better balanced and able to extend its already sizable gap to the rest of the field. If this happens I fear we may not see Vettel threatened on his way to an emphatic title defense.
The possibly mistaken view that 2011 is going to be thrillingly close comes from the simple fact that 2010 was also deceiving in its tightness. 2010 was really an astonishing season, with five men leading the world championship and the unprecedented scenario of four drivers still in the running at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Vettel won the title despite having not led the points standings once during the entire season before the final race. Throughout the whole season Vettel utterly dominated qualifying and always loomed as a man likely to threaten for the title, even when he was as low as fifth in the standings.
In truth Sebastian could call himself unlucky that he wasn't already a World Champion. For all of his astonishingly short career he had impressed, from scoring a point on debut at the age of 19, to shining spectacularly as a late season replacement for Toro Rosso in 2007. In 2008, after a tough start adjusting to a difficult car, Vettel was supreme, scoring a remarkable pole to flag win for the small team in driving rain at Monza. Then he came to Red Bull in 2009 and largely dominated his new team-mate Mark Webber in the process. Webber was already entrenched at the team and is not just experienced but fantastically fast. Before Vettel no-one had come close to challenging Webber's domination over all his team-mates for qualifying pace. Vettel won third time out in China and went on to win three more races on his way to second in the championship, not too far behind Jenson Button. Although few would begrudge Button his title, the truth remains that all six of his wins came in the first seven races thanks in large part to the headstart his Brawn GP team had by virtue of a loophole in the regulations. By that time Newey's RB5 had established itself as the class of the field and Button did not win again all year.
Vettel came in 2010 frustrated from being so near yet so far in 2009. His nerves and inexperience often came to the forefront, in a series of often controversial errors. In reality, Vettel's own faltering resolve, and the fallible reliability of the RB6, conspired to almost lose a championship that should gone their way in a canter.
Vettel won the 2010 World Championship with 256 points on the back of five wins. Alonso was just four points behind (seven points seperate 1st and 2nd in every race to give an idea how close that is), on 252 with Webber on 242 and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton on 240. Vettel could very easily have run away with the title by over 100 points however, but was denied liberally by car failures and brain failures. The most inopportune mechanical gremlins afflicted Vettel while leading three grands prix, two of them surely guaranteed victories. Vettel's own youthful exuberance ruined his weekend at least another four times. Here's a short summary of only those major setbacks which spring to the forefront of the mind:
Bahrain - Vettel dominated all weekend and was easily on his way to a pole-to-flag victory before a spark plug failure on the engine hamstrung the car. The Ferraris of Alonso and Massa drove past as if Vettel was standing still and finished 1-2. Even with the initially fatal-looking problem, Vettel still somehow salvaged 4th.
Australia - Once again Vettel took a dominant pole position and pulled immediately away at the front before a break failure plunged him into the gravel and out of the race. With the wet conditions Vettel was far from guaranteed victory but surely lost major points again.
Spain - Another break failure denied Vettel 2nd place and once again it was the class of the man which still salvaged 3rd (with help from Lewis Hamilton who crashed out of 2nd) when it looked as if he was set for retirement.
Turkey - The famous collision, as Vettel threw away a guaranteed 18 points and possible 25 with an ill-advised move on team-mate Mark Webber to take the lead. The move handed victory to McLaren but while Webber recovered to 3rd, it was DNF for Vettel.
Great Britain - After racing to his now customary pole position, Vettel got a poor start and then an over-aggressive squeeze on team-mate Webber to try and hold the lead left Vettel off the track and with a puncture that sent him to dead last. He recovered to finish 7th but with Red Bull's dominant pace it should have been at least 2nd.
Germany - Yet again Vettel fluffed the start from pole, losing out to both Ferrari's, and that's where he stayed all day.
Hungary - Another pole, another solid lead. Then an obscure safety-car rule cost Vettel of all things, as he failed to stay within 10 car lengths of the safety-car in front and was given a drive-through penalty that dropped him to 3rd.
Belgium - Like Australia, the race at Spa was wet and wild with no guarantees, but Vettel made extra sure he wouldn't score points with an amateurish crash into Jenson Button that broke his front wing and earned him a drive-through penalty. This was compounded by a puncture later in the race and Vettel finished 15th.
Korea - For the 3rd time, and most heartbreaking, Vettel's RB6 gave up the ghost while he led convincingly. This time there was just 10 laps to go and Vettel was well clear of Fernando Alonso when his engine gave way spectacularly, seemingly ending his championship chances.
Obviously mistakes can happen, even more assuredly will reliability strike at inopportune moments. But there is much to read from Vettel and Red Bull's near-self destruction in 2010. What must be remembered is that Vettel is just 23 years of age, comfortably the sport's youngest ever World Champion. Furthermore, his Red Bull team are also babies in the grand scheme of things, having entered F1 in 2005 and only become competitive in 2009 as Adrian Newey's influence took over. Neither team or driver could be expected to possess the kind of battle-hardened consistent acumen to get the job done as the old hands at Ferrari and McLaren might have.
The fact is that Vettel and Red Bull were unlucky not to be champions in 2009, and 2010 should have been a walk in the park. The reason it was not was because neither party had ever reached these heights before. Now the job is done, the ambition is achieved, and the pressure which seemed to utterly overwhelm anyone near Vettel, has been lifted. Since it debuted in testing this year, Newey's RB7 has looked as fast as can ever be expected, but also possessing of nearly flawless reliability. More importantly, Sebastian looks to have followed the same path. There is an aura of calm contentment around Vettel these days which belies his age, and clearly not by coincidence, he has looked ominously metronomic on track.
Sebastian Vettel is clearly one of a handful of truly special drivers in the world today, surely matched only by Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. At his best it is arguable he is unmatched even by those peers. Adrian Newey IS unmatched at what he does, that bears no cause for argument. Vettel has shown signs in the two races so far in 2011, that he can match the uncanny speed he was born with, to the kind of inch-perfect precision that made the only other German World Champion Michael Schumacher so unbeatable at times. If Adrian Newey can give him the car to match for years to come, who's to say there won't be another German dynasty?
Friday, March 25, 2011
Prediction Of The Day - Formula 1
Australian Grand Prix - Starting Grid Prediction
1. S.Vettel
Red Bull 2. M.Webber
Red Bull
3. F.Alonso
Ferrari 4. L.Hamilton
McLaren
5. M.Schumacher
Mercedes 6. N.Rosberg
Mercedes
7. J.Button
McLaren 8. V.Petrov
Renault
9. F.Massa
Ferrari 10. K.Kobayashi
Sauber
11. R.Barrichello
Williams 12. N.Heidfeld
Renault
13. S.Buemi
Toro Rosso 14. A.Sutil
Force India
15. J.Alguersuari
Toro Rosso 16. S.Perez
Sauber
17. P.Maldonado
Williams 18. P.Di Resta
Force India
19. H.Kovalainen
Lotus 20. J.Trulli
Lotus
21. T.Glock
Virgin 22. J.D'Ambrosio
Virgin
The HRT's of Karthikeyan and Liuzzi will fail to qualify.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Famous (and not so famous) sporting birthdays: March 1-7
March 1, 1956 - Balwinder Singh Sandhu (Cricket)
BS Sandhu was a useful (if unspectacular) medium pace bowler for India over the course of an International career lasting barely two years. Sandhu played just eight tests, without any major success. He possessed no great arsenal of pace or variation, but could swing the ball mildly in both directions. He qualifies unequivocally as one of the not-so-famous birthdays this week to most, yet any Indian cricket fan over the age of 30 must surely remember his name for a single delivery. In the 1983 World Cup final India had been bowled out for a paltry 183 by the mighty West Indians, who had won both World Cups to date. Early on in what seemed like a regulation run-chase, legendary West Indies opener Gordon Greenidge shouldered arms to what looked like another innocuous delivery from Sandhu. But the ball nipped back off-the seam just enough to take out Greenidge's off-stump. To the surprise of no-one, Sandhu didn't take another wicket or have any great impact on the rest of the match, but that famous ball will live on in the annals of Indian Cricket. It sparked a collapse that saw the West Indies all out for 140 and crowned India world champions for the only time to date. March 2, 1982 - Ben Roethlisberger (American Football)
Compared to other contact sports around the world (except perhaps Ice Hockey), the average age of professional American Footballers is notably high. It is a measure of the man's greatness that even isolated from the sport to the extent we are in Australia, sports fans have known Roethlisberger's name for so long and yet he has only just turned 28. The quarter-back for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Roethlisberger is one of those few names like 'Manning', 'Brady' and 'Favre' who casual Australians can turn to when trying to fake a credible knowledge of the States' most quintessentially American sport. Roethlisberger has also achieved more in the sport than any of his contemporaries could manage by such a young age, most notably becoming the all time youngest Super Bowl winning Quarter-back with the Steelers in February 2006.March 2 1988 - Matthew Mitcham (Diving)
Australian Matthew Mitcham dived into the public consciousness with one number: 112.80. This was the Olympic record smashing single dive Mitcham pulled out, when needing a mammoth 107.30 to beat China's Xhuo Luxin to gold in the 10m Platform Diving event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Mitcham is the latest in a long line of Australian divers who have given the sport a resurgence in the country over the past ten years. Mitcham participated without major fanfare in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games of 2006 at the not particularly young (for diving) age of 18, and had a similar lack of impact in the 3m Springboard event at Beijing. But an inspired set of dives off the 10m platform set off whisperings of one final Australian medal on the closing night of the games, but surely no-one including Mitcham thought it was going to be gold until that final magic dive.March 4 1936 - Jim Clark (Motor Racing)
The story of Formula 1 driver Jim Clark is one of the great tragedies of motor racing. He was a freakish talent matched by few before or since, yet is often never remembered in quite the same breath as other all time greats like Fangio, Stewart, Lauda, Senna and Schumacher. Without a doubt his lack of due credit comes about because of the unreliability of the cars he drove, and his untimely death at the age of 32 denied Clark the chance to build an unprecedented legacy. Clark formed 50% of a legendary partnership with engineering legend Colin Chapman, whose pioneering Lotuses took Clark to the World Championship by huge margins in 1963 and 1965. A mere two titles does a great injustice to the man. Chapman's penchant for spectacular revolutionary designs inevitably meant that each year the Lotus was easily the fastest car, with easily the world's fastest driver, but had horrible reliability. If the cars had been able to make the finish line more often, Clark could easily have won every championship from 1962 to 1968.Clark even took on and conquered the greatest American race the Indiannapolis 500. Clark was a close 2nd on debut in 1963, was denied victory by a characteristic mechanical gremlin in 1964, and then thoroughly dominated the all-American field to win in 1965, midway through his F1 title-winning year. In the modern professional era of motor racing, such a feat is even more astounding. More World Championships would surely have come after 1968 had he not been killed when a tyre de-laminated during a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim in 1968, sending him into the trees at high speed.
March 5 1963 - Eddo Brandes (Cricket)
Zimbabwe's Eddo Brandes is not a cricketer who should ever come across as particularly threatening, yet his name would make the blood of many an Englishman boil. He was one of a handful of hard working medium pace bowlers of the late 1980s and 1990s, as Zimbabwe struggled for recognition or success on the world stage. In an otherwise inauspicious part-time career, the chicken farmer dominated England's batting line-up on more than one occasion. Most notable was his 4 for 21 in the 1992 World Cup which inspired Zimbabwe to an amazing 9 run win, after they'd been bundled out for 134 batting first. In 1997 Brandes also managed a One-Day International hat-trick against England, dismissing three far from shabby batsmen, Nick Knight, John Crawley and Nasser Hussain. The cherry on top of course is his famous exchange with Glenn McGrath, where Brandes explained the source of his somewhat portly mass.
March 5 1975 - Luciano Burti (Motor Racing)
Few people other than dedicated Formula 1 enthusiasts would remember Brazilian Luciano Burti, other than his immediate family and friends. His primary claims to fame are two spectacular accidents at the end of his Formula 1 career. Although he achieved little international stardom, Burti was an impressive talent. He outperformed future F1 champion Jenson Button to be runner-up in the 1999 British Formula 3 championship. His performances impressed three-time world champion Jackie Stewart. In 2000, Stewart's team became Jaguar Racing and Burti was employed as the team's test and reserve driver, getting an unexpected debut when Eddie Irvine missed the Austrian Grand Prix with illness. In 2001 he became Irvine's permanent team-mate but fell out with the team after just four races and moved to fellow back-markers Prost. It was with Prost that he had the accidents which came to define his career. First he spectacularly vaulted the slow-starting Michael Schumacher at the start of the German Grand Prix, then two races later was lucky to survive a high speed accident at the Belgian Grand Prix. He never drove in F1 again.
March 6 1947 - Dick Fosbury (Athletics)
American Dick Fosbury became Olympic High Jump champion when he cleared an Olympic record 2.24 metres at the Mexico City games of 1968. But it was his revolutionary new jumping technique for which he is world famous. In the 1960s the prevailing method for High Jump was the straddle technique, a diving-like motion where a jumper would throw themselves over the bar facing forward and down, and then pull their legs individually over. The teenage Fosbury found this technique difficult and throughout his High School years slowly began to hone his own technique of running in at an angle and then leaping backwards, facing skyward as he arched his back and legs over the bar. His method came to be known, disparagingly, as the Fosbury flop. Fortuitously, the cushioning mats used today became standard issue around the time of Fosbury's rise. As he mastered the technique Fosbury swept all before him, and it is now the default technique for all High Jump.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Local News Wrap - December 6-12 2010
Cricket: By far the most interesting, newsworthy and least painful (although not by much) set of breaking stories this week has involved off-field dramas of selection and injury, not the cataclysmic mess that was the cricket. The latest bizarre selection move on Australia's part is Western Australian off-spinner and general punny name cannon fodder Michael Beer being plucked from the deepest depths of obscurity for the 3rd test in Perth this week.
Rugby League: My beloved Parramatta Eels seem to be doing an unusual amount of publicity events recently, culminating in a Christmas visit to a local shopping centre. One doubts if more publicity is the best way to diffuse the speculation over Timana Tahu's future. But then it could be worse, they could have Timana's PR agents.
AFL: The amusing saga of all-round nice guy Gary Ablett and all-round vaguely suspicious character Mark Thompson continues unchecked. Recent revelations to fuel the fire were that former Geelong premiership coach Thompson was secretly in talks with Essendon well into the previous season, while simultaneously berating Ablett for considering his eventual defection to the Gold Coast Suns. Now it seems that Thompson also had the indignant hypocrisy to fall out with Ablett over his contemplation. Ablett revealed this week that the pair have barely spoken since April, angering club legend John "Sam" Newman.
"That is the most pathetic thing I have ever heard" Newman was quoted as saying. When Sam Newman is disgusted by something you know you have a problem.
Football: The A-League continues to take advantage of being the only substantial sporting league in the country over summer, with some compelling games this week. The Brisbane Roar have continued to show themselves as the real deal, scoring their first ever win in Sydney, 1-0 over Sydney FC. The result, a record-extending 16th straight game without defeat, leaves them an ominous seven points clear of Adelaide United, despite their comfortable 2-0 win over the North Queensland Fury. Gold Coast and Central Coast look solid in 3rd and 4th after a 2-0 win over the hapless travellers Wellington, and a 1-1 draw at Perth respectively. Meanwhile the Melbourne Victory pulled out one of their best performances of the year to win the local derby against the Heart 3-1.
Formula 1: Logic and reason has finally returned to the FIA's lawmakers, with the controversial team orders rule being repealed for 2011, an absurd 9 years after it came in. The rule was implemented in response to a pair of farcical staged finishes by Ferrari drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello during their dominant 2002 season. Regardless of opinions on whether the fans deserve better, or should hack the fact that F1 is a steam sport fundamentally, what was always unanimous was dislike of the rule because of its arbitrariness. Teams have taken to merely using predefined codes or careful wording to disseminate the same message, resulting in a product equally as 'staged', but less honest. For 2011 team orders will return, distasteful maybe, but transparent definitely. Meanwhile Mark Webber has admitted to sustaining a broken shoulder in a mountain-bike accident before the championship-deciding last four races of 2010 (before which he led the title chase). I believe Webber if he claims that the injury did not play a role in denying him the championship, but can't help but think that after two major incidents in a row, Webber should not go near a bicycle of any form ever again.
V8 Supercars: James Courtney has wrapped up the 2010 V8 Supercar title as expected, but he tried his hardest to throw it away, with a 15th and a 14th place finish in the spectacular final weekend on the streets of Sydney Olympic Park. A violent rainstorm in Race 1 resulted in the astonishing happening of all three title contenders hitting the barriers at the same time in the same corner (Whincup and Winterbottom joining Courtney in the wall). Courtney alone of the three was able to salvage some points, scraping home 15th as Dale Wood took a hugely unexpected maiden win. Shane Van Gisbergen looked on track to make it two debut winners from two on Sunday but had the heartbreaking misfortune of running out of fuel on the final lap, handing victory to Holdsworth. Courtney recovered from a comically inexact pit stop to finish 14th and deny Jamie Whincup a hat-trick of titles.
Boxing: Wednesday December 8 saw a thoroughly arbitrary yet strangely interesting exhibition bout between two-time world champion Anthony Mundine and Foxtel reality show "The Contender" winner Garth Wood. Interesting is meant quite liberally however as the fight was of consistently atrocious quality. But it instantly took on a special meaning when Wood landed a flush blow to Mundine's chin in the 5th and left him on the canvas. Wood's KO win was one of the biggest upsets in Australian boxing history. Moreover it was a pleasant surprise and general inspirational source of hope to any decent person to see Mundine dealt the kind of come-uppance any passively interested Aussie boxing fan (any greater interest results in far too much exposure to Mundine's intolerable character) has been desperately waiting for.
Rugby League: My beloved Parramatta Eels seem to be doing an unusual amount of publicity events recently, culminating in a Christmas visit to a local shopping centre. One doubts if more publicity is the best way to diffuse the speculation over Timana Tahu's future. But then it could be worse, they could have Timana's PR agents.
AFL: The amusing saga of all-round nice guy Gary Ablett and all-round vaguely suspicious character Mark Thompson continues unchecked. Recent revelations to fuel the fire were that former Geelong premiership coach Thompson was secretly in talks with Essendon well into the previous season, while simultaneously berating Ablett for considering his eventual defection to the Gold Coast Suns. Now it seems that Thompson also had the indignant hypocrisy to fall out with Ablett over his contemplation. Ablett revealed this week that the pair have barely spoken since April, angering club legend John "Sam" Newman.
"That is the most pathetic thing I have ever heard" Newman was quoted as saying. When Sam Newman is disgusted by something you know you have a problem.
Football: The A-League continues to take advantage of being the only substantial sporting league in the country over summer, with some compelling games this week. The Brisbane Roar have continued to show themselves as the real deal, scoring their first ever win in Sydney, 1-0 over Sydney FC. The result, a record-extending 16th straight game without defeat, leaves them an ominous seven points clear of Adelaide United, despite their comfortable 2-0 win over the North Queensland Fury. Gold Coast and Central Coast look solid in 3rd and 4th after a 2-0 win over the hapless travellers Wellington, and a 1-1 draw at Perth respectively. Meanwhile the Melbourne Victory pulled out one of their best performances of the year to win the local derby against the Heart 3-1.
Formula 1: Logic and reason has finally returned to the FIA's lawmakers, with the controversial team orders rule being repealed for 2011, an absurd 9 years after it came in. The rule was implemented in response to a pair of farcical staged finishes by Ferrari drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello during their dominant 2002 season. Regardless of opinions on whether the fans deserve better, or should hack the fact that F1 is a steam sport fundamentally, what was always unanimous was dislike of the rule because of its arbitrariness. Teams have taken to merely using predefined codes or careful wording to disseminate the same message, resulting in a product equally as 'staged', but less honest. For 2011 team orders will return, distasteful maybe, but transparent definitely. Meanwhile Mark Webber has admitted to sustaining a broken shoulder in a mountain-bike accident before the championship-deciding last four races of 2010 (before which he led the title chase). I believe Webber if he claims that the injury did not play a role in denying him the championship, but can't help but think that after two major incidents in a row, Webber should not go near a bicycle of any form ever again.
V8 Supercars: James Courtney has wrapped up the 2010 V8 Supercar title as expected, but he tried his hardest to throw it away, with a 15th and a 14th place finish in the spectacular final weekend on the streets of Sydney Olympic Park. A violent rainstorm in Race 1 resulted in the astonishing happening of all three title contenders hitting the barriers at the same time in the same corner (Whincup and Winterbottom joining Courtney in the wall). Courtney alone of the three was able to salvage some points, scraping home 15th as Dale Wood took a hugely unexpected maiden win. Shane Van Gisbergen looked on track to make it two debut winners from two on Sunday but had the heartbreaking misfortune of running out of fuel on the final lap, handing victory to Holdsworth. Courtney recovered from a comically inexact pit stop to finish 14th and deny Jamie Whincup a hat-trick of titles.
Boxing: Wednesday December 8 saw a thoroughly arbitrary yet strangely interesting exhibition bout between two-time world champion Anthony Mundine and Foxtel reality show "The Contender" winner Garth Wood. Interesting is meant quite liberally however as the fight was of consistently atrocious quality. But it instantly took on a special meaning when Wood landed a flush blow to Mundine's chin in the 5th and left him on the canvas. Wood's KO win was one of the biggest upsets in Australian boxing history. Moreover it was a pleasant surprise and general inspirational source of hope to any decent person to see Mundine dealt the kind of come-uppance any passively interested Aussie boxing fan (any greater interest results in far too much exposure to Mundine's intolerable character) has been desperately waiting for.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Weekly news wrap: November 21-27 2010
Cricket
Michael Hussey and Brad Haddin are Australia’s latest sporting heroes after an inspired triple century to put Australia into a commanding position of the first Ashes test at the Gabba. For more on the Ashes see my series preview and daily reports.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
After fighting admirably for ten days to hold Test No.1s India to two solid draws, New Zealand’s cricketers succeeded in thoroughly ruining yet another series for their poor superstar captain Daniel Vettori. A distinctly typical middle order batting farce saw the Black Caps bowled out for 193 and 175, allowing India to amble comfortably to 8 declared for 566 in the interim.
A few thousand Pakistani expatriates, the families of the players and half a dozen local fans gathered in Abu Dhabi’s ridiculous looking cricket stadium last week to watch South Africa’s bowlers thoroughly fail to bowl out Pakistan in the 4th innings for a second consecutive test match. Credit this time must also go to their batsmen however, for their uninspiring one paced effort at a crucial time when aggressiveness was needed.
Chris Gayle once again showed evidence of his completely lack of maturity and responsibility, by immediately celebrating his removal as West Indian captain with a mighty triple century, of rather strong maturity and responsibility. Gayle’s 333 led an admirable Windies team as they had the running of the 1st Test against Sri Lanka at Galle. The substantially higher ranked home team were strangely lethargic and had to fight just to escape with a draw. This week’s 2nd test also finished in a draw, with rain ruining the match but leaving just enough time for Sri Lanka to regain the psychological edge over a less impressive Windies side before next week’s series decider.
Rugby League
The preposterous debacle of Greg Inglis shows no sign of ending any time soon. First South Sydney Rabbitohs owner and general super-spruiker had the intelligence and foresight to reveal the financial terms of Inglis’ arrangement to American late night talk show host and all-round non-Conan O’Brienish Jay Leno. Perhaps Crowe relied on the cluelessness of Australian TV and the inexplicable lack of American variety programming in this country to not disseminate such a howling admission. Unfortunately it seems that David Gallop and/or other league officials once again have shown themselves to possess magical powers beyond any mere mortal, or at least a basic understanding of Internet browsing, and came across the program.
The latest development has seen the Rabbitohs finally submit Inglis’ contract to NRL salary cap auditor Ian Schubert, who has given no indication of being a sure bet to pass the contract at all. To cap it off the Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos have confirmed that should Inglis’ deal fall through, which remains a very real possibility, he will not be welcome back at either club.
Rugby Union
Despite kicking 8 from 9 in the win over Italy last week, Wallabies inside centre Berrick Barnes has been relieved of the goal-kicking duties for this week’s spring tour finale against France. Australian coach Robbie ‘New Zealand’ Deans has handed the duties back to the last gasp hero of our irrelevant Hong Kong Bledisloe win over the All Blacks, 12 year old James O’Connor. Mr ‘Kiwi’ Deans was quoted today as saying Australia’s success on the tour will be judged by this weekend’s result in Paris. I would say unless the Wallabies win 145-0 the tour has already well and truly been judged.
Football
This humble reporter (googling random news articles at 2am on a Saturday night is journalism now right) lives in the (very) humble Hunter Valley location of Toronto, NSW. Therefore the hype surrounding the unprecedented local visit of renowned underwear model and one time decent footballer David Beckham has reached fever pitch. Beckham’s LA Galaxy (or Donovan’s LA Galaxy as known by Landon Donovan) face the bizarrely not bankrupt Newcastle Jets at Energy Australia construction site tonight.
While the Newcastle Jets are busy making a publicity buck, Brisbane Roar and Adelaide United have a golden chance to pull even further away in their two-horse race at the top of the A-League ladder when United face the third placed Gold Coast while the Roar face fourth placed Central Coast Mariners.
The decision as to who will host the 2018 and 2022 world cups is now just a week away. Australia’s bid for the 2022 tournament suffered a blow when Oceania representative and sure fire Aussie vote Reynald Temarii was suspended by FIFA for alleged involvement in yet another now customary bribe-taking and vote-rigging scandal. Our bid still looks to be on good track however, with a detailed analysis of the potential voting patterns of FIFA member showing Australia as unlikely favourites to win the rights to the world’s greatest single sport showcase. A recently leaked FIFA report showed that many on the voting panel are inclined to vote against our principle rivals Qatar and the United States for reasons of extreme heat and unfriendly time zone respectively.
Motorsport
Australia’s much loved and internationally renowned V8 Supercar series has once again lived up to its selling point by providing a series of spectacular accidents over the weekend. Holden Racing Team drivers Garth Tander and Will Davison both had high speed shunts at an absurdly unsafe kink on the Sandown circuit. Paul Dumbrell was the feel good story of the weekend by finally taking his first race win after 11 years in the sport. Dick Johnson Racing’s James Courtney increased his championship lead over reigning champion Jamie Whincup
Young Australian superstar Daniel Ricciardo has ascended to the final step on the ladder below a Formula One race drive, with the Toro Rosso team (sister team to 2010 championship winners Red Bull) announcing Ricciardo will be their third driver in 2011. With the bordering on dangerous testing ban still in place for next season, Ricciardo’s test and reserve role in reality involves very little time in the car and he will remain in the Formula Renault 3.5 series full time. But Ricciardo will gain vital experience when he alternately replaces Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari in one of the two race cars for every Friday morning free practice session. Ricciardo recently dominated a young driver test in Abu Dhabi in the championship winning RB6.
Tennis
After an exciting and unpredictable year of men’s tennis, a disappointingly predictable semi line-up of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray has been set up in the ATP world tour finals. However the juicy matchups, Nadal vs Murray and Federer vs Djokovic promise a grand spectacle for the fans London’s mystifyingly named O2 arena.
Athlete of the week
The ageless and luckless Jacqui Cooper has announced her retirement from Aerial Skiing during the week. The 1999 World Champion was considered a great chance at our first Winter Olympics gold medal in Nagano in 1998 before crashing out in qualifying. Her most infamous heart-break came when she went to Salt Lake City in 2002 as outright favourite but had a violent crash landing in practice a week out from the games, pulverising her knee. A similar fate befell has in Turin 2006 when she entered the final as favourite but crashed twice. She was selected for an unprecedented fifth Olympic campaign in 2010, the first Australian women to attend five summer or winter games. Although past her best at age 37 and unable to challenge for medals, she finally put the Olympic demons to rest with a clean trouble free run to 5th. Cooper’s importance lays in her pre-eminent as Australia first true winter sports star (along with perhaps Stephen Bradbury). Her pioneering status paved the way for the future gold medal success of Aerialists Alisa Camplin and Lydia Lassila. We wish her luck in her retirement. Why I am referring to myself in the plural sense I don’t know.
Michael Hussey and Brad Haddin are Australia’s latest sporting heroes after an inspired triple century to put Australia into a commanding position of the first Ashes test at the Gabba. For more on the Ashes see my series preview and daily reports.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
After fighting admirably for ten days to hold Test No.1s India to two solid draws, New Zealand’s cricketers succeeded in thoroughly ruining yet another series for their poor superstar captain Daniel Vettori. A distinctly typical middle order batting farce saw the Black Caps bowled out for 193 and 175, allowing India to amble comfortably to 8 declared for 566 in the interim.
A few thousand Pakistani expatriates, the families of the players and half a dozen local fans gathered in Abu Dhabi’s ridiculous looking cricket stadium last week to watch South Africa’s bowlers thoroughly fail to bowl out Pakistan in the 4th innings for a second consecutive test match. Credit this time must also go to their batsmen however, for their uninspiring one paced effort at a crucial time when aggressiveness was needed.
Chris Gayle once again showed evidence of his completely lack of maturity and responsibility, by immediately celebrating his removal as West Indian captain with a mighty triple century, of rather strong maturity and responsibility. Gayle’s 333 led an admirable Windies team as they had the running of the 1st Test against Sri Lanka at Galle. The substantially higher ranked home team were strangely lethargic and had to fight just to escape with a draw. This week’s 2nd test also finished in a draw, with rain ruining the match but leaving just enough time for Sri Lanka to regain the psychological edge over a less impressive Windies side before next week’s series decider.
Rugby League
The preposterous debacle of Greg Inglis shows no sign of ending any time soon. First South Sydney Rabbitohs owner and general super-spruiker had the intelligence and foresight to reveal the financial terms of Inglis’ arrangement to American late night talk show host and all-round non-Conan O’Brienish Jay Leno. Perhaps Crowe relied on the cluelessness of Australian TV and the inexplicable lack of American variety programming in this country to not disseminate such a howling admission. Unfortunately it seems that David Gallop and/or other league officials once again have shown themselves to possess magical powers beyond any mere mortal, or at least a basic understanding of Internet browsing, and came across the program.
The latest development has seen the Rabbitohs finally submit Inglis’ contract to NRL salary cap auditor Ian Schubert, who has given no indication of being a sure bet to pass the contract at all. To cap it off the Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos have confirmed that should Inglis’ deal fall through, which remains a very real possibility, he will not be welcome back at either club.
Rugby Union
Despite kicking 8 from 9 in the win over Italy last week, Wallabies inside centre Berrick Barnes has been relieved of the goal-kicking duties for this week’s spring tour finale against France. Australian coach Robbie ‘New Zealand’ Deans has handed the duties back to the last gasp hero of our irrelevant Hong Kong Bledisloe win over the All Blacks, 12 year old James O’Connor. Mr ‘Kiwi’ Deans was quoted today as saying Australia’s success on the tour will be judged by this weekend’s result in Paris. I would say unless the Wallabies win 145-0 the tour has already well and truly been judged.
Football
This humble reporter (googling random news articles at 2am on a Saturday night is journalism now right) lives in the (very) humble Hunter Valley location of Toronto, NSW. Therefore the hype surrounding the unprecedented local visit of renowned underwear model and one time decent footballer David Beckham has reached fever pitch. Beckham’s LA Galaxy (or Donovan’s LA Galaxy as known by Landon Donovan) face the bizarrely not bankrupt Newcastle Jets at Energy Australia construction site tonight.
While the Newcastle Jets are busy making a publicity buck, Brisbane Roar and Adelaide United have a golden chance to pull even further away in their two-horse race at the top of the A-League ladder when United face the third placed Gold Coast while the Roar face fourth placed Central Coast Mariners.
The decision as to who will host the 2018 and 2022 world cups is now just a week away. Australia’s bid for the 2022 tournament suffered a blow when Oceania representative and sure fire Aussie vote Reynald Temarii was suspended by FIFA for alleged involvement in yet another now customary bribe-taking and vote-rigging scandal. Our bid still looks to be on good track however, with a detailed analysis of the potential voting patterns of FIFA member showing Australia as unlikely favourites to win the rights to the world’s greatest single sport showcase. A recently leaked FIFA report showed that many on the voting panel are inclined to vote against our principle rivals Qatar and the United States for reasons of extreme heat and unfriendly time zone respectively.
Motorsport
Australia’s much loved and internationally renowned V8 Supercar series has once again lived up to its selling point by providing a series of spectacular accidents over the weekend. Holden Racing Team drivers Garth Tander and Will Davison both had high speed shunts at an absurdly unsafe kink on the Sandown circuit. Paul Dumbrell was the feel good story of the weekend by finally taking his first race win after 11 years in the sport. Dick Johnson Racing’s James Courtney increased his championship lead over reigning champion Jamie Whincup
Young Australian superstar Daniel Ricciardo has ascended to the final step on the ladder below a Formula One race drive, with the Toro Rosso team (sister team to 2010 championship winners Red Bull) announcing Ricciardo will be their third driver in 2011. With the bordering on dangerous testing ban still in place for next season, Ricciardo’s test and reserve role in reality involves very little time in the car and he will remain in the Formula Renault 3.5 series full time. But Ricciardo will gain vital experience when he alternately replaces Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari in one of the two race cars for every Friday morning free practice session. Ricciardo recently dominated a young driver test in Abu Dhabi in the championship winning RB6.
Tennis
After an exciting and unpredictable year of men’s tennis, a disappointingly predictable semi line-up of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray has been set up in the ATP world tour finals. However the juicy matchups, Nadal vs Murray and Federer vs Djokovic promise a grand spectacle for the fans London’s mystifyingly named O2 arena.
Athlete of the week
The ageless and luckless Jacqui Cooper has announced her retirement from Aerial Skiing during the week. The 1999 World Champion was considered a great chance at our first Winter Olympics gold medal in Nagano in 1998 before crashing out in qualifying. Her most infamous heart-break came when she went to Salt Lake City in 2002 as outright favourite but had a violent crash landing in practice a week out from the games, pulverising her knee. A similar fate befell has in Turin 2006 when she entered the final as favourite but crashed twice. She was selected for an unprecedented fifth Olympic campaign in 2010, the first Australian women to attend five summer or winter games. Although past her best at age 37 and unable to challenge for medals, she finally put the Olympic demons to rest with a clean trouble free run to 5th. Cooper’s importance lays in her pre-eminent as Australia first true winter sports star (along with perhaps Stephen Bradbury). Her pioneering status paved the way for the future gold medal success of Aerialists Alisa Camplin and Lydia Lassila. We wish her luck in her retirement. Why I am referring to myself in the plural sense I don’t know.
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