Sorry for being so late to post about this, but it has been quite a week.  After all, the Malaysin Grand Prix was on at 2am Sunday morning here in Toronto.  After going to bed a 5am posting to the blog was replaced by family obligations, which took up the rest of my day.  Monday arrives and the week leaves me away from this blog and doing other things.  I’ll try not to repeat this in the future.

So, Kimi Raikkonen??  I’m telling you that if Kimi did not have bad luck he would have no luck at all.  In a position to win the race and he gets punted out of the Malaysian Grand Prix by Christian Klien and on the FIRST lap no less!!  He has got to be the unluckiest F1 driver that I can recall.

My team fared no better with both Williams cars retiring before the race ended.  Both Rosberg, who started 3rd, and Webber looked good for points and they both came away with none.  On the bright side Canada’s favourite F1 son (who resides in Monaco), Jacques Villeneuve, got BMW Sauber’s first points of the season by finishing seventh.  Good on you Jacques!!

Oh, the race was won by Giancarlo Fisichella of Renault, who started from the pole.  His team mate and reigning world champion, Fernando Alsonso, was second while Jenson Button of Honda was third.  The Ferraris were respectable with Massa in fifth edging out Michael Schumacher in sixth.

Full official race results are as follows:

Pos  No  Driver               Team            Laps  Time/Retired  
 1   2   Giancarlo Fisichella Renault           56  1:30:40.529 
 2   1   Fernando Alonso      Renault           56  +4.5 secs  
 3   12  Jenson Button        Honda             56  +9.6 secs 
 4   4   Juan Pablo Montoya   McLaren-Mercedes  56  +39.3 secs 
 5   6   Felipe Massa         Ferrari           56  +43.2 secs 
 6   5   Michael Schumacher   Ferrari           56  +43.8 secs
 7   17  Jacques Villeneuve   Sauber-BMW        56  +80.4 secs 
 8   7   Ralf Schumacher      Toyota            56  +81.2 secs 
 9   8   Jarno Trulli         Toyota            55  +1 Lap  
10   11  Rubens Barrichello   Honda             55  +1 Lap
11   20  Vitantonio Liuzzi    STR-Cosworth      54  +2 Laps  
12   19  Christijan Albers    MF1-Toyota        54  +2 Laps  
13   18  Tiago Monteiro       MF1-Toyota        54  +2 Laps
14   22  Takuma Sato          Super Aguri-Honda 53  +3 Laps
Ret  16  Nick Heidfeld        Sauber-BMW        48  Engine
Ret  21  Scott Speed          STR-Cosworth      41  Clutch
Ret  23  Yuji Ide             Super Aguri-Honda 33  Mechanical
Ret  15  Christian Klien      RBR-Ferrari       26  Hydraulics
Ret  9   Mark Webber          Williams-Cosworth 15  Hydraulics
Ret  14  David Coulthard      RBR-Ferrari       10  Hydraulics
Ret  10  Nico Rosberg         Williams-Cosworth  6  Engine
Ret  3   Kimi Räikkönen       McLaren-Mercedes   0  Accident
Fastest Lap: Fernando Alonso 1:34.803

The current points standings for the drivers championship are:

 Points Driver       Team - Engine     
    18  ALONSO       Renault         
    11  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari         
    11  BUTTON       Honda             
    10  FISICHELLA   Renault             
     9  MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes  
     6  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  
     4  MASSA        Ferrari  
     3  WEBBER       Williams Cosworth  
     2  ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth  
     2  VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber  
     1  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota  
     1  KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   

The current points standing for the constructors championship are:

 Points Team - Engine     
    28  Renault         
    15  Ferrari         
    15  McLaren Mercedes  
    11  Honda             
     5  Williams Cosworth  
     2  BMW Sauber         
     1  Toyota
     1  RedBull Ferrari   

I got the following email through this blog from Matt Dean, who attended a couple of Microsoft events at our Missisauga office last week.  His second event provided more excitement on the way home then he expected.  Here’s what he wrote me:

Hi Damir,

I’m sending this information to both you and Bruce Cowper.  My name is Matt Dean and I work for the Simcoe County District School Board, one of Canada’s largest geographic counties.  Myself, 3 colleagues and a personal friend of mine came to the User Group event on the 22nd of March, 2006 (you recognized me and my friend as being at your event on Monday the 20th…).

After the event, there were some interesting things that happened that involved the Ontario Provincial Police.

The following is copied from my weblog at http://blog.mattdean.ca/

Myself and three other school board employees attended a great Microsoft event in Mississauga, ON today discussing how to lock down desktop workstations so that users didn’t have to run as Administrators.  However, after the event, we proceeded to McDonald’s at Hurontario (Hwy 10) and Bristol.  After a quick bite to eat, we went and grabbed gas and hopped onto Hwy 403.  We took the 403 to Hwy 401 East. 

A few moments after getting onto the 401 East express lanes, just before we came up to the Dixon Road exit, we noticed a vehicle going all over the road and causing problems.  I gave Dan, one of the school board employees, my cell phone and he called 911 to report it.  We ended up staying behind this vehicle for quite a while as Dan provided location updates to the 911 dispatcher. 

After the other driver proceeded onto the 400 North exit from the express lanes on the 401, we followed (we were going that way anyways…).  Around Hwy 7 and 400, we notice a police car passing us on the right.  Dan relayed to me (I was driving) that the 911 dispatcher requested that I engage the 4-way signals, so I did so. 

They then requested that we pull over behind them (police) right after two other police cars pass us in the far left lane.  They cut across a couple of lanes of traffic and push the other car off to the shoulder of the road.  We pull in behind (not too closely though…).  They ended up taking two young (approx 5-6 years old) children from the back of the car.  An OPP officer comes back to us and asks for my driver’s license and tells us that they got it all on video as well as our accounts (there was a total of five of us, 4 school board employees including myself and a friend of mine) of what he was doing.

The officer goes back for a while and then comes back and asks us to follow him to a parking lot so we can fill out “Incident Reports”.  We do so.  The officer hands out forms and pens to us all and we all start to fill out our accounts of what occurred.  He then interviews us each seperately in the back of his car (the first time I’ve ever been in the back of a cop car… it’s a tight space with that wall thing protecting the officer).

After the interviews, he tells all of us that the other driver was impaired and we’d likely be called to testify in court as they usually plead not-guilty.  He says that this would likely be in about a year.  During his speech, his wife calls and he tells her that he’s on a call.  We, including the officer, had a little laugh about that.  The officer and his wife actually just bought a house.  He then says that’s all he needs and we can head home.  Just before he hops back into his car though, I ask for my license back as he’s forgotten that he’s taken it.

The odd thing is that about 10 minutes after getting back on the highway, we notice the exact same car (same as in make and model) with a VERY similar license plate, with only the last number being different… 5 instead of 3.

Just thought I’d share this little tidbit with you guys.

Matt Dean

All I can say is good work guys!!! 

Qualifying with the new double elimination format is very exciting this year.  Combine that with the impressive showing of the Williams Cosworth and Nico Rosberg’s third place grid position, this is starting out to be a pretty good year in F1. 

Now Rosberg is pretty happy with his grid position but everyone else is being jumbled about because of the 10 place penalty for changing engines.  No less than five drivers - David Coulthard of Red Bull, Felippe Massa of Ferrari, Michael Schumacher of Ferrari, Ralph Schumacher of Toyota, and Rubens Barrichello of Honda - have all been put 10 places down the grid from their actual qualifying time for changing engines. 

David Coulthard is rightfully upset with the rule that says a race engine must last two race weekends or you incur a 10-place gird pentalty for the next race.  His engine started dying on the last lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix but he crossed the finish line.  Since he completed the race but needed to change his engine, he is down 10 places.  Jacques Villeneuve, whose engine expired on lap 20 of the Bahrain Grand Prix gets a new engine with no penatly.  I see David’s point but he’s stuck with the rules the way they are for now.  Maybe they can change things for next year.

In all the confusion, Canada’s favourite son, Jacques Villeneuve, moved up from 14th to 10th on the grid, but, more importantly, is also ahead of his teammate.  Hopefully he can make up a few more places during the race and score some points for BMW.

The official qualifying times were:

 P. No  Driver       Team - Engine   Tyres    Times      Ave/Gaps
 1.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1′33″840  212.647 Km/h  
 2. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   1′33″986    + 0′00″146  
 3. 10  ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth B   1′34″626    + 0′00″786  
 4.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1′34″668    + 0′00″828  
 5.  9  WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B   1′34″672    + 0′00″832  
 6.  4  MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes  M   1′34″916    + 0′01″076  
 7.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   1′34″983    + 0′01″143  
 8.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   1′35″747    + 0′01″907  
 9. 15  KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   M   1′38″715    + 0′04″875 
10.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   1′34″586               

However, the actual grid starting positions for the race (at 60 minutes before the start) are:

 P. No  Driver       Team - Engine
 1.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault
 2. 12  BUTTON       Honda  
 3. 10  ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth 
 4.  9  WEBBER       Williams Cosworth 
 5.  4  MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes  
 6.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  
 7.  1  ALONSO       Renault        
 8. 15  KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari
 9.  8  TRULLI       Toyota          
10. 17  VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber
11. 16  HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber
12. 21  SPEED        Toro Rosso Cosw.
13. 20  LIUZZI       Toro Rosso Cosw.
14.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari   
15. 19  ALBERS       Midland Toyota  
16. 18  MONTEIRO     Midland Toyota  
17. 22  SATO         S. Aguri F1 Honda 
18. 23  IDE          S. Aguri F1 Honda
19. 14  COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari
20. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda          
21.  6  MASSA        Ferrari        
22.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota  

Quite the shakeup!!  We’ll see how Massa, the Schumacher brothers and the others do in slicing their way further up the field.  Should be fun to watch!!
 

I told you that this weekend had a couple of important milestones for me.  The F1 season is underway and I’ve blogged about the events of this weekend already (see below).  The other big event was the start of the sixth (and final?) season of The Sopranos, and it started with a BANG!!   If you are not familiar with The Sopranos, check out http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/ for all things related to the series, or for a Canadian flair go to http://www.themovienetwork.ca/sopranos/.  I’ll assume you have some knowledge of the series and carry on…. 

For a mob boss Tony Soprano does not need any more enemies since his own family seems to want him dead.  His uncle, Junior Soprano, who is going a bit senile, shot him at the end of last night’s Season 6 opener.  Worst of all, this is the second time he tried to kill Tony - the first time with Tony’s own mother hatching the plot.  With a family like that, I would be weary of going to Christmas dinner!!

Now, his Mafia family is not much better, though they only die or kill themselves.  Two of his soldiers were revealed last night to be FBI informants. One wanted to quit the life and move to Florida due to spousal pressure and ended up hanging himself when the answer from the big guy was no (I can see a therapy session coming for Tony on this one).  The other died of natural causes after feeding the Feds info for who knows how long!

I’m telling you….things can only get worse.  Let’s see how next week’s episode turns out.

I personnally think that Kimi Raikkonen should start from the back of the grid at every race!! It was really exciting to watch him come through the field from 22nd on the grid to finish third.  A podium finish from last place is an accomplishment, so much so that Fernando Alonso, who won the race for Renault, said “I was surprised to see him on the podium…I thought Jenson (Button, from Honda) was third”.  This could be an interesting season if Kimi can keep that pace up.

The race itself was largely uneventful.  More passing than in previous years but the cars at the front did not change all that much, with Michael Schumacher leading for most of the race and only losing the lead permanently to Alonso after the second pit stop.  Bringing tire changes back made the pit stops more exciting to watch, especially when Massa came in after flat-spotting his tires and the rear left tire gun was not working properly.  That problem probably cost him a podium, and definitiely some points.

I was happy to see my favourite team, Williams, get both cars in the points.  Quite an accomplishement considering they have Cosworth customer (i.e. they have to pay for them) engines.  BMW, which is also on my favourites list, did not do as well as I hoped, though watching Jacques Villeneuve exit the race when his BMW powerplant blew up brilliantly was exciting and sad at the same time.  I honestly thought he could have brought home some points and was on pace to finish seventh or eighth.

The rinal results from the race are:

 P. No  Driver       Team - Engine   Tyres   Gaps/Laps     Average
 1.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   1h29′46″205  206.018 Km/h 
 2.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   +  0′01″246  205.971 Km/h 
 3.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   +  0′19″360  205.280 Km/h 
 4. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   +  0′19″992  205.256 Km/h 
 5.  4  MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes  M   +  0′37″048  204.611 Km/h 
 6.  9  WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B   +  0′41″932  204.427 Km/h 
 7. 10  ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth B   +  1′03″043  203.635 Km/h 
 8. 15  KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   M   +  1′06″771  203.496 Km/h 
 9.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   +  1′09″907  203.379 Km/h 
10. 14  COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari   M   +  1′15″541  203.169 Km/h 
11. 20  LIUZZI       Toro Rosso Cosw.  M   +  1′25″997  202.781 Km/h 
12. 16  HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M      1 lap(s)               
13. 21  SPEED        Toro Rosso Cosw.  M      1 lap(s)               
14.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B      1 lap(s)               
15. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M      1 lap(s)               
16.  8  TRULLI       Toyota            B      1 lap(s)               
17. 18  MONTEIRO     Midland Toyota    B      2 lap(s)               
18. 22  SATO         S. Aguri F1 Honda B      4 lap(s)               
19. 23  IDE          S. Aguri F1 Honda B     22 lap(s)               
20. 17  VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber        M     22 lap(s)               
21.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M     36 lap(s)               
22. 19  ALBERS       Midland Toyota    B     57 lap(s)               

The current points standings for the drivers championship are:

 Points Driver       Team - Engine     
    10  ALONSO       Renault         
     8  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari         
     6  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  
     5  BUTTON       Honda             
     4  MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes  
     3  WEBBER       Williams Cosworth  
     2  ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth  
     1  KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   

The current points standing for the constructors championship are:

 Points Team - Engine     
    10  Renault         
    10  McLaren Mercedes  
     8  Ferrari         
     5  Honda             
     5  Williams Cosworth  
     1  RedBull Ferrari   

If Kimi Raikkonen did not have bad luck, he would have no luck at all.  Last year he won more races than Fernando Alonso but still managed to lose the championship due to not finishing as many of them.  This year looks like it might be starting the same way after the rear wing of his McLaren Mercedes flew off and caused him to spin during the first 15 minutes of qualifying.  What’s worse, he was the only driver to suffer a mechanical failure during qualifying and he now starts at the back of the grid.

The other surprise was the Ferrari 1-2 at the front of the grid for the inaugural race of 2006.  Michael Scumacher has been saying that they don’t expect to be fast as some of the other teams since the car still needs work, then he brings home pole position with teammate Felipe Massa right behind.  Goes back to my statement from yesterday - “full of sound and furry, signifying nothing”.  You just can’t believe any of the banter before the real show starts during qualifying!!

Although I did not predict Ferrari would do as well as they did - probably because I’m not a huge Ferrari fan - I did not do too bad on the rest of my predictions.  Super Aguri (and the unlucky Kimi Raikkonen) make up the rear of the grid.  At the front we have the two Ferrarris, with the Honda of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso’s Renault only a couple of tenths behind.  Montoya is sitting a respectable fifth in his McLaren Mercedes, which should make it exciting to watch Kimi slice up the field on his way to the front as it shows that the McLaren package has some speed. 

Weber and Williams are a comfortable seventh just behind the second Honda of Barrichello.  Interesting is that Christian Klien of Red Bull is ahead of both his teammate, David Coulthard, and the second Renault of Fisichella.  BMW Sauber also are not it too bad a position with Heidfeld in 10th and Villeneuve in 11th.  Villenevue has to score points this year if he wants to continue racign and in 11th he may be able to climb three spots to the last points-paying position. 

I guess the real disappointment is that Toyota, with a budget reputed to be around $500 million US for the year, only start 14th and 17th.

The way that grid lines up for tomorrow’s race (6am EST on TSN) is as follows:

P. No  Driver       Team - Engine   Tyres    Times      Ave/Gaps
 1.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1′31″431                
 2.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   1′31″478                
 3. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   1′31″549                
 4.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   1′31″702                
 5.  4  MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes  M   1′32″164                
 6. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   1′32″579                
 7.  9  WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B   1′33″006                
 8. 15  KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   M   1′33″112                
 9.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1′33″496               
10. 16  HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M   1′33″926

I love the first practice day of the first grand prix of the season.  All the drivers are making bold statements as to why they did well or not, but the lap times mean almost nothing.  Looking at the lap times for the day you have Anthony Davidson, a test driver from the Honda team on top followed by Michael Schumacher of Ferrari.  Then the real mixup of teams and drivers follows with Liuzzi from Scuderia Torro Rosso (the renamed perrenial tail-ender Minardi team) in sixth place, one behind the reigning world champion Fernando Alonso of Renault.  The thing that makes sense is both McLaren drivers are close to each other in lap times but somewhat off the pace.  Reminds me of that line from MacBeth - “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.

Saturday qualifying is the real deal. With the new format where after each of 2 15 minute sessions the six slowest drivers get kicked out leaving the top 10 drivers to battle for the top grid positions, we’re sure to see excitement and probably a little confusion.  I’ll be up at 6am tomorrow morning to watch it.  At that time we’ll know who to watch in the race. 

My prediction for the top spots on the grid:  Honda and Renault, followed by McLaren and Williams.  I’m 100% confident that Super Aguri will be the slowest team on the grid and occupy the last two spots.

The Friday Free Practice Results:

P. No  Driver       Team - Engine   Tyres    Times      Ave/Gaps
01. 36  DAVIDSON     Honda             M   1′31″353  213.274 Km/h  
02.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1′31″751    + 0′00″398 
03. 35  WURZ         Williams Cosworth B   1′31″764    + 0′00″411 
04.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   1′32″175    + 0′00″822 
05.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   1′32″538    + 0′01″185 
06. 20  LIUZZI       Toro Rosso Cosw.  M   1′32″703    + 0′01″350 
07. 37  DOORNBOS     RedBull Cosworth  M   1′32″926    + 0′01″573 
08.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1′33″215    + 0′01″862 
09. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   1′33″226    + 0′01″873 
10. 38  KUBICA       BMW Sauber        M   1′33″244    + 0′01″891 
11. 15  KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   M   1′33″557    + 0′02″204 
12.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   1′33″577    + 0′02″224 
13.  4  MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes  M   1′33″726    + 0′02″373 
14. 16  HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M   1′33″848    + 0′02″495 
15. 40  JANI         Toro Rosso Cosw.  M   1′33″900    + 0′02″547 
16. 21  SPEED        Toro Rosso Cosw.  M   1′34″284    + 0′02″931 
17.  9  WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B   1′34″333    + 0′02″980 
18. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   1′34″384    + 0′03″031 
19. 14  COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari   M   1′34″432    + 0′03″079 
20. 18  MONTEIRO     Midland Toyota    B   1′34″459    + 0′03″106 
21. 10  ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth B   1′34″953    + 0′03″600 
22.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   1′35″170    + 0′03″817 
23. 39  WINKELHOCK   Midland Toyota    B   1′35″686    + 0′04″333 
24.  8  TRULLI       Toyota            B   1′35″898    + 0′04″545 
25. 17  VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber        M   1′36″264    + 0′04″911 
26. 19  ALBERS       Midland Toyota    B   1′36″314    + 0′04″961 
27. 22  SATO         S. Aguri F1 Honda B   1′37″588    + 0′06″235 
28. 23  IDE          S. Aguri F1 Honda B   1′39″021    + 0′07″668