camelspyyder

Agree. Skoda were very stingy on the early specs. The launch top of the range Elegance didn't even have standard front foglights. 2014 and 15 saw big additions to the standard fit.

At that age its chain. The belt motors are from mid-2015 and they're just not quite as nice to drive as that lovely one you've got.

Vettel: Past it? Penalised in Qually, Penalised in the race. And making the exact same sort of errors (unexplained crashing into other cars) that characterised Schumacher's fading twilight years at Mercedes. Nice guy but has he still got it?

RedBull should have won that at a canter. They usually come up trumps on strategy but put themselves under needless pressure today. Their car is clearly faster, so matching Hamiton's strategy should have allowed an easy DRS pass or an undercut at the second or third stop, but instead they chose to go away from his strategy leaving Max just 1 chance on worn tyres at the end. Mercedes have a lot of catching up to do. A 0.8 second performance swing to RBR since November is massive. If M-B do close the gap this could be an epic season.

The rule changes have mandated a big cut in downforce, allegedly to protect the fragile Pirelli tyres. It seems that both teams running a low rake angle design have suffered a lot from this change. Mercedes and Aston-Martin both off their usual pace. Red Bull have gained more (or lost less) from these enforced aero changes.

Zarco just smashed the motoGP top speed record by nearly 4 mph, hitting 225.5mph in FP4 at Qatar.

Q3. Merc beaten fair and square. This could be an exciting year.

Q2. Exciting. All 4 RedBulls are fast enough for the front 3 rows, but they gambled on medium tyres and lost Perez and Tsunoda in Q2. Careless, getting beat by slower cars like that.

Q1. Vettel out in P18. So, Aston-Martin, how's that new driver going so far then?

Soft tyres on the RedBull now. 0.74 faster than Hamilton. Championship winning pace.

I haven't put money on Max yet but I think maybe I should. Currently fastest in FP3 running 2 grade harder tyres than the competition. Ominous.

Gasly has done an interview which is highly critical of RBR. A surprise, if his employer sanctioned it. Maybe he's already signed for someone else for 22. The rumour mill says Alpine, so is Ocons time there going to be short?

Marc Marquez tested a minibike this week. Then a full day test on a Repsol Honda RCV213. Decision: not yet fit. Will skip first 2 races at Qatar at least.

...and to be honest I think having 2 number one drivers at WSR actually reduces their chance of winning the driver title.

Last year he said he couldn't afford to race for WSR even though the seat was available for him. He's building up his own business I think, and didn't want the financial risk.

Indeed Honda + Yuasa have pulled support for Dynamics. In other news Nic Hamilton somehow has retained a seat at Team Hard Cupra, and Plato has a new team mate. 2021 BTCC confirmed entries West Surrey Racing BMW: Colin Turkington, Tom Oliphant, Stephen Jelley Team Dynamics Honda: Gordon Shedden, Dan Rowbottom Laser Tools Racing Infiniti: Ash Sutton, Aiden Moffat, Carl Boardley Motorbase/MB Ford: Jake Hill, Ollie Jackson, Sam Osborne, Andy Neate BTC Racing Honda: Josh Cook, Michael Crees, Jade Edwards Speedworks Motorsport Toyota: Rory Butcher, Sam Smelt Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai: Tom Ingram, Chris Smiley, Jack Butel, Rick Parfitt Jr Ciceley Motorsport BMW: Adam Morgan, Tom Chilton Team Hard Cupra: Jack Goff, Aron Taylor-Smith, Glynn Geddie, Nic Hamilton Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall: Jason Plato, Dan Lloyd

Neal takes sabbatical. Dan Rowbottom to be team mate to Shedden.

Not long now. The annual fun and games of finding and watching free F1 streams begins. At least I've got fast internet here, although our other place currently has none so that will be a priority when we get back there next month.

Verstappen fastest over the 3 days testing as the circuit seemed to grip up on afternoon 3. Sounds right. But only a tenth ahead of Alpha Tauri's Japanese rookie Tsunoda. What? With an Alfa driver 4th overall and a Williams 6th. Hmmm? So just what can we read into these times, very little - apart from the RedBull being quick every day. Out of interest these cars are supposed to have a fair old downforce reduction from last year, and Max fastest lap is still 1.7 seconds off pole last November. I think a punt now on Max to win the first race and another on him for the title is a good idea, before the bookies shorten the odds.

That left Vettel and Hamilton slowest today. Bottas fastest, but had to use the softest tyres to get the time.

Day 2. Another Mercedes gearbox failure, this time in the Aston Martin. Oh and Hamilton (amongst others) spun off and got stuck in the gravel traps.

Marlboro in green, what is the world coming to? Meanwhile Mercedes had a rubbish day, only faster than Haas and Williams, whilst Max was fastest by a chunk.

Honestly never read anything bad about that engine. Its predecessor CJZA has some fairly notorious issues but the beltdrive 1.2 hasn't generated anything like the same amount of bad press.

RCD330 info page Info : RCD_330 (reddit.com)

Just seen my most bulksh1t quote of the month, attributed in the headline to Ferrari, but actually from his illegitimate son Piero. "F1s "terrifying" technology spend not justified" says Piero Ferrari (I note it appears he's stopped using his own surname). ...unless the Red team are actually winning whilst spending half a billion a year I guess? Never saw them complain about the cost when Schumacher was winning.