2011 F1 Season Starts here!

Well, this is it.

The F1 season officially kicked off on Friday with Ferrari's launch of the F150 - the car it hopes will go one better than last years effort and take Alonso to his third championship.

The new Sauber, Team Lotus and Lotus Renault GP (anyone else confused still?) have all been unveiled today and I have to say I like the look of all of them though perhaps my favourite is the Lotus - sorry, Team Lotus.

The 'other' Lotus doesn't look too bad I guess but I'm still not a fan of the black and gold livery - those colours belong to JPS sponsored cars only.

The new Sauber looks good in its new guise but I do not like all the brilliant white parts on the new Ferrari. Anyone else think they should have coloured them black?

Any way, much to do this week with reporting on the testing for www.motorsport.com, my column Full Throttle to finish, my blog for www.motorstv.com and a feature for www.crash.net.

And to top it all off it's my beautiful little girl's 6th birthday on Thursday so have much to do for that party I said she could have.

Dear god I hope those 10 children go easy on me...

Till next time...

Lotus tug of war heads for full trial in March

Well, an interesting day to some degree.

I journeyed down to the High Courts in London for the hearing over the naming rights over the Lotus brand. Unsure of what to expect other than the matter to remain unresolved, I headed into the impressive building and proceeded to bump into some pompous Etonian lawyer who looked at me like I'd just slapped his wife in the face with a prize-winning haddock!

I apologized but that only generated a small huff and grunt from my victim. Poor bloke. Must have been a harrowing experience for him.

Actually no, what a .... better stop there I think. Don't want a liable on me.

Anyway, into the foyer of where the hearing was taking place. Entering the immediate vicinity, the lawyers from both Group Lotus and Team Lotus talked as though they were representing the same client, which took me by surprise a little.

Carrying boxes of papers that seemed to number in their millions, I followed in behind the parties and took my seat in the court only to be told by some bloke in a black gown that the chair I was sitting in was reserved for the Judge...

I quickly grabbed another where the other journalists were sat and waited for the Judge to appear.

Suddenly, as if from no-where, a man who could not have looked anymore like SuperMario, appeared and sat down at the head of the court – he may have been something of importance I think.

Yep. He was. The lawyer for Group Lotus called him ‘Mu’Lord’ and began to outline the reasons why we were all here and not in the pub!

Then, just as the whole thing was starting to get interesting, the court was adjourned for the two parties to work out a proposed date for the full trial to commence.

Of course, now it is set for 21^st March but one has to hope a settlement will be reached before then as it will do F1 no good to have this situation come Bahrain in 6 weeks.

Nothing more really to add to what happened today except to say the date was set, no one wanted to give me an official quote on the outcome and then to top it all off, I nearly get run over by some lunatic on a bicycle as I cross the road.

Till next time…

I hope Virgin F1 car proves more reliable than their Internet service!

Dear god am I having 'one of those days'!

My internet went yesterday and is yet to return (not sure where it's got to but the wardrobe is empty and the suitcase is gone)

I'm currently sat in Starbucks with my 5 year old daughter consistantly asking:
"Are you finished yet dadddy?"
To which my automatic response is the time-honoured "nearly"...

There are hoards of school kids everywhere, teenage girls with so much make up on that their bodies enter the coffee house 2 minuets after their faces. Boys who are busy making themselves look like a reach catch, picking their noses and other parts of their bodies while lurching over the females. Mothers with children testing their paitience and the structural sturdiness of the furniture - one little boy is trying to smash the life out of a poor chair as I write.

I have emails to send, phone calls to make and other work to do but will have to abandon such plans as my little lady ccompanion is getting ever more impatient.

My new blog on MotorsTV went live today so all has not been lost. Check it out!
http://tinyurl.com/6ba8pwk

Till next time...

Now, where's my coat?

"Coming princess..."

A double take on train ride to Birmingham

Having boarded my train at 6.43am at Euston, I proceed to my seat and discover I am sitting opposite a gentleman who is the spitting image of an old employer! Same features, same glasses and rather large belly which is protruding over the top of the small table. Looks like 'The Blob' trying to make its way over to me...
Aren't I the lucky one!

The ticket inspector looks like Emperor Ming (where's Flash Gordon?) and as for me, well I can't think of anything else to write about as I'm too freakin' tired so I'm going to stop!

Will report back when I have finished at the show today.

Till next time...

Preperations for Autosport Show

As some of you may know, this week sees the return of the anual Autosport International Show at the NEC in Birmingham and I willl be attending as a member of the www.motorsport.com team. Having been appointed as one of their Formula 1 Correspondents, I shall be covering the first day of the show and trying to interview any names I can get my hands on!

This is the first event I'll have attended in a journalistic capacity in nearly 6 years and totally forgot how much I need to organise!

Just hoping I can find my wallet which has been missing for over a week now! All my ID inside and that could pose problems at the Media Centre on Thursday morning when I try to collect my press pass!

Going to report back on Thursday with how things went!

Till next time...