Weekend Sport: Part Two

It was probably one of the most exciting finishes in F1 history and once again the FIA have managed to have the final word to astonish and disappoint the world of Formula 1 once again at Spa.

Lewis Hamilton excitedly went up to the top step of the podium after a dramatic finish to the race which saw the last three laps being run in torrential rain, testing the drivers pedigree to the max. Hamilton, however would be cruelly denied by the FIA once again.

The talking point that caused the controversy was an overtaking move at the Bus Stop on the end of lap 42. Hamilton's McLaren was much faster than the Ferarri of Kimi Raikkonen after the heavens opened in dramatic style in the last eight minutes of the race. On the run down to the Bus Stop Hamilton had more speed than Raikkonen and made a move to the Finn's inside, Hamilton however had to take a trip over the escape road to avoid contact between the two. Hamilton emerged with the lead but let Raikkonen through again to show no advantage had been made. Raikkonen crossed the line first before Hamilton made a successful move down the inside on the entrance to La Source the slow first corner chicane.

It was the start of an extremely dramatic lap as the rain fell harder with most drivers still on slick tyres in the torrential rain. Hamilton nearly lost control at the top of Eau Rouge as he was clearly struggling with the conditions. Raikkonen was still close behind the Englishman as they came towards the end of the lap it was all to change. Hamilton and Raikkonen both nearly crashed into the recovering Williams of Nico Rosberg in the middle of a corner which caused Hamilton to take to the grass. Raikkonen took the lead for about 5 seconds before spinning on the straight. Felipe Massa in the second Ferarri was catching on the two . On the run down to the Bus Stop however Raikkonen lost control and crashed his Ferarri into the wall sending him out of the race. Hamilton coasted home on his lap to take the victory with Massa second. It was all action behind with Nick Heidfeld's BMW and Fernando Alonso's Renault flying through the field on the final lap after changing to Wet tyres when the rain first arrived, deny Torro Rosso pair Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastien Vettel great finishes in 3rd and 4th.

The FIA decided Lewis had gained an advantage and penalised him 25 seconds dropping him down to 3rd! I feel this witch hunt of McLaren is an absolute disgrace and puts the sport if you can call it that a mockery. Felipe Massa should have been penalised in Valencia for a much more dangerous incident in my opinion when he was released in the path of a Force India in the pits. The ten place drop for the collision in Montreal was harsh but that was Hamilton's fault. I feel that Lewis took to the escape road with this incident in mind and by letting him through thought that would be the end of the matter. The 5 place grid penalties for Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen for blocking other cars in qualifying were also dubious. It is like the FIA are still punishing McLaren for the Spygate controversy that marred the 2007 F1 season.

I feel cheated at times watching F1. I have been watching it fanatically since I was 3 in 1991 and I firmly believe that the FIA thought by giving Hamilton the time penalty it could open up the championship more to make it 'exciting' if I want to watch staged 'excitement' I would watch soaps or WWE.

What I and most F1 fans would like to see is exciting, competitive racing that is decided on the track and where the drivers actually are not put in two minds whether to overtake or not because of the risk of penalties and other sanctions. The only thing I would like is to see F1 go back to the racing on track and not the politics off track that seem to be deflecting the attention from the track. Instead on talking about another good wet weather drive from Hamilton and the superb effort the two Torro Rosso drivers put in we are talking about the FIA and politics and thats just not the way it should be.

Weekend Sport: Part One

The first game of the World Cup 2010 Qualifiers saw England travel to Barcelona to play Andorra. There were a few inclusions that Fabio Cappello made that were not widely expected with Theo Walcott starting on the right hand side in favour of David Beckham being the most notable.

In the first half I feel that England were far from their best and wasted the chances that were presented to them. The introduction of Joe Cole at half time had a near enough instant impact. It was as if the goal lifted the nerves and England began to press on and a second goal from the lively Cole was met with a huge sigh of relief. I feel that Wayne Rooney will be disappointed with his overall performance and will be looking to prove just what he can do against Croatia on Wednesday.

It wasn't just the action on the pitch that the talking points were over. This was the first qualifier that was shown exclusively on Setanta Sports. In my opinion this is plain wrong that in order to watch your national team play that you have to have Setanta. Setanta is quite new to the television industry and for them to get the away qualifiers was a good bit of business but it is taking it away from the millions of England supporters who support the team.

Watching your national team shouldn't be about if you can afford it not, it should be available for all to watch for free especially the qualifiers. I feel that money is taking the beautiful game away from some of those who need it the most. There are children in areas that are gang ruled and where murder is a monthly occurence. Some of these children are most probably interested in football and can't afford Setanta. It might only keep them off the street for 90 minutes but surely if we can get these people involved in other things that they have in interest it could deflect them away from causing fear and devastating families, some innocently.

In other qualifying action a late goal by Sam Vokes gave Wales a 1-0 victory against Azerbaijan. It wasn't such good news for Northern Ireland however as they fell to a 2-1 defeat at Slovakia. Scotland will also be disappointed after losing 1-0 against Macedonia. It was a good first game for the Republic Of Ireland, who beat Georgia 2-1 away with Kevin Doyle and Glenn Whelan on the scoresheet.

Wednesday sees games involving all 5 of the Home Nations mostly away. England travel to Croatia looking to keep a perfect start to their campaign in Group 6. Wales will be in Moscow to take on Russia in what will be a tough game for the Welsh in Group 4. Scotland will look to bounce back after the weekend when they play Iceland in a Group 9 clash. The Republic of Ireland are playing at Montenegro in Group 8 with a weekend win against Georgia under their belts. Northern Ireland are the only Home Nation to be at home as the Czech Republic will be the visitors for a game I feel they will have a struggle in, with the Czechs one of the favourites in Group 3.

Dan Blake

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