Monday March 07, 2005

Shiplake, Binfield Heath and Sonning

Did a nice six mile walk yesterday. We started at small village which is split into two called Upper and Lower Shiplake. Our start was by section of the village by the busy A4155 road from Reading to Marlow. The walk takes you away from the road across fields but staying in parallel to the road. Soon you pass through the hamlet of Binfield Heath where this church stands.

The walk then crosses the A4155 by the "Flowing Spring" pub where I had my Sunday lunch. You then follow a small lane down to Sonning which I mentioned in a previous walk . We passed the rather grand French Horn restaurant which is nice but expensive. You return to Shiplake by the River Thames and we then felt the chill wind still blowing over the UK. Before leaving the village we walked past some mute swans having their lunch on the meadow. You realise how big those birds are when they are out of the water.Finally you leave the river and walk up by the boatyard of the Shiplake college a private school. At the top of the hill you meet the pretty church of Shiplake shown here.

You can just about see an old English sheepdog in the bottom right of the picture. On returning home I did my usual houshold job of cleaning the very muddy walking boots and the car.

Australian GP

A quick review of the Aussie GP this weekend.

Qualifying. The new two day format and the timezone difference meant only the Saturday Q1 was shown in the UK. A drying track with drivers doing their first time in reverse order of finishing the last GP of 2004, Brazil.The cars all did faster and faster laps until just after Fisichella finished his lap and the heavens opened. Massa and Schumi snr were just left trying to keep their cars on the road and Sato aquaplaned and crashed out. The rest of the pack then went out on wets and it was clear Fisi had provisional pole. With such a gap between himself and the second runner he could play it safe on Sunday qualifying. The only major change to positions was Trulli taking P2.

The first start was aborted as Kimi R stalled and had to take the second start from the pits. An excellent start from DC had him in second which he held for most of the race. With drivers keen to preserve their tyres there was little overtaking except in the pits. Fisi took the flag followed by a recovering Barricello and Alonso who made it a Renault two on the podium.

Team and drivers that overperformed.

Red Bull with an excellent fourth place from DC and a measured seventh from Klein. Qualifying helped this result but the team deserved the result. Improved team tactics could have helped DC stay on the poduim. Their Cosworth engine has fifty more horses this year not bad given the newregs.

Team and drivers who did as well as expected.

Renault. This team have had an excellent winter test 'season' and if Alonso had not got held up behind JV he could have taken second. The tyres at the end of the rest looked like new. Wonderful balance, traction and handling. Popular win for fisi - his first 'real' win.

Teams that underperformed.

BAR. Nothing short of disaster. Sato was not at fault for ending up at the back of the grid but Button on P8 should have stayed in the points. At the end he was just ahead of his teamate. He will need to keep his head up over a few difficult races and not let it drop as he did at Benetton. The tyres on the BAR at the end of the second stint were all but bald.

Mclaren. Kimi stalled on the grid, and I think the monster flattened his tyres which made the car undrivable. Ron was not impressed when interviewed.

Toyota. P2 on the grid translated to P9 in the race. Guess Who was driving that car ? Not a good start.

Other stuff

Schumi crashed out taking Heidfeld with him. He gestured for marshalls to push him back on track. The rules say if a car is in a dangerous position this is is allowed. This should be changed before a marshall is hurt or killed.

The rule that if you do not finish you can change your engine without penalty was exploited by BAR on Sunday. Button and Sato were told to 'stop' before the flag. Button was clearly bemused by this tactic. Both BAR's will use new engines at the next race.

JV got in everyones way showing little pace. I think he has made a mistake going back to F1 and will struggle to come to terms with the new cars. Look at Hill at Jordan before he finally retired.

Finally the will they race won't they for Minardi was a shambles. Stodders wanted to use his 2004 car and eventually got the go ahead after a hearing in the courts only to then race a 2005 legal car. What was that all about ?