Let's Play!

My friend/housemate Ida presented me a game specialize in blog. It permits you to know me a bit more thanks to anecdots and it also help other blogs to get "advertising". Rules are: write down 7 random facts about yourself, and tag 7 other bloggers you like/follow and then, they have to do the same. Obviously, if they know that you tagged them.

Then, my visitors might visit the blogs I advertise and might get interested in, so the bloggers are happier because they have a bigger audience.

The anecdotes about me:

1) I have three hairs growing on my fronthead since I was born (but I pull them up when they are too long)

2) As a student job I built a road (spreading asphalt on the ground) and demolished a supermarket!

3) I used to collect stamps when I was kid, from age 8 to 12

4) Since I am 5, I wished to do so many jobs. First, President of the French Republic, then spaceman, archeologist, car designer, architect, motorsport engineer and sales engineer, what I am now. But today, I am not sure about what I want to continue as...

5) I have been building a plastic model of a car for more than a year and I have not finished it yet

6) I have not gone to the hospital as a patient since I was born (I touch wood to go there the latest possible)

7) I am French (really) and as a cliché, I should be arrogant and thinking that France is the best country in the world but I prefer the UK (how amazing!)

Tagging:

1) Little Ida's Flowers: the blog of my dear Danish friend/housemate

2) Cora in London: the blog of my dear French friend/housemate

3) Write More Blog: the blog of a growing London music band I love, Eat More Cake

4) A Singaporian in London: a blog I discovered recently, I really advise it to you as that guy goes out a lot and makes reviews of restaurant, musicals and events. He also shares his point of view of the British culture.

I do not follow other blogs in English so I cannot just tag more of them, sorry!

PS: I have updated the Ascot Races article with new pictures of me there: http://twenii.blogspot.com/2010/06/day-i-saw-queen-of-england.html

The day I liked goat cheese for the first time in my life

I like restaurants. I want to use this blog to remember what were my feelings about the restaurants I have discovered. It can be a good guide for some of you as well. So now, if I can, each time I will try a new restaurant, I will write a review about it.

Today, the Real Greek in Covent Garden.

Decoration/Ambiance:

The dining room is very nice. It is an old bar transformed in restaurant. In the day light, a lot of windows make the sunshine going in. The table are high so you sit on bar chairs. The lamps are very cool. The music is chilling out and not too loud. It's perfect.

Food:

The Real Greek offers a Greek food experience, mainly based on mezze or wraps. Selections of 6-8 mezzes to share are a great deal. The quality is OK. Some dishes were great (halloumi, beans, aubergine dip), some were a bit disappointing, too simple (raw vegetables, Greek salad).

Halloumi is a Cypriot cheese made of a mix of goat and sheep milk. It is grilled and served on a skewer with peppers. It tastes very good and not like goat cheese at all. It has a similar texture as gnocchi. Even if, like me, you do not like goat cheese, you have to try it. I was really scared but I did not regret. We also had grilled sardines in our course. Very tasty, but really not convenient to eat in a restaurant. Overall, the food was good, in normal proportion.

Service/Price:

We were served by a lovely waitress! We were lucky as I looked at another one who was much less friendly. Anyway, for us, the service was perfect. The price is good value. We added to our main, a big bottle of sparkling water for two (only £3.50) and the total was less than £30, so £15 each. The restaurant does not charge automatically for the service. It is very good because it is really unusual nowadays. Though we gave £2-3 tip as we were very statisfied.

I really advise the Real Greek depsite it is a small chain and I usually do not like chains. But they are very good to discover and enjoy Greek food.

Salt Beef at Selfridges!

After the posh drunk ladies at the Royal Ascot, let's talk about another British meat tradition: salt beef!

Ok, I admit, this was not from the finest humor. Anyway, I really advise you to try this dish in the simplest but its best garnish: English mustard and bread as a sandwich. It is served like this at the very reputable Selfridges & Co where it is supposed to be the best in London. I tried it and I tell you: yes it is very good. I do not know if it is the best as I only tried two salt beef sandwiches in London. It was, at least, the best of both.

The beef is cooked in salt for few days. It makes it so tender and very tasty. It is rinced several time so you do not feel a very strong taste of salt. Salt and beed, not really the most recommended mix for your heart and blood pressure, but come on, sometimes, give yourself a treat!

Think about bringing enough money as a half sandwich alone is £5.25... A extra gherkin will be 60p, and a drink, minimum £1.25.

Selfridges, you know...

The day I saw the Queen of England

Horse racing is not more popular in the UK than in France in everyday life but there is a special race that more people follow as a big tradition: the Royal Ascot. The event goes on for a full week every year and is covered all day by the BBC as are major sport events like the World Cup, the Olympics or Wimbledon.

The Royal Ascot is followed by the Queen who comes everyday to watch the races as it is one of her passion. It has been a tradition that a lot of rich people come to show off. It is now all about dressing well: morning dress and top hat for the men and party dress and fabulous hats for ladies. The Thursday is know as Ladies day: photographers and journalists shoot the most attractive pieces of fashion for the readers in the tube on Friday.

I went to the Royal Ascot on Saturday with friends. It was the experimentation of a very British tradition for me. We all dress well: suits for men and dresses and hats for women. Because even in the lower stand, people show off. But, they might look posh and understated, they mainly come to enjoy an afternoon with friends while having a picnic and drinking. Drinking a lot actually... So, all that good looking people end completely pissed at the end of the day: the picture is quite hilarious. I guess this is part of the tradition as well...

It was also my first horse race experience. I have been well impressed by the size, the power and the speed of the animals. Just amazing. And to add some spices to the races, betting were open. I bet for the six races and won three times! Just enough to not lose any money in the end. I was well inspirated and advised by the Guardian.

And, as I say on the title of this article, the high point of the day was seeing the Queen for the first time of my life! As she comes everyday to the races, she is driven in a coach on the pitch where the horses race after. There is no roof so she can greet her people and we can see her. I am not British but I felt particularly touched to see her. She is THE Queen!

Hamilton wins the Canadian GP

The Formula 1 Circus went back to Canada last week but the starting World Cup hid a very interesting GP. The Montreal circuit always provides a spectacular race and the 2010 one was very entertaining indeed.

The war was about the tyre choice. This time, emblematic teams Ferrari and McLaren did the right choices whereas RedBull went completely wrong. Thus its drivers did not shine finishing only 4th and 5th with Vettel ahead of Webber. Alonso (*) did a great job to put Ferrari back in the fight after a disastrous performance two weeks before. But he was overtaken in the race by both McLaren drivers who were just flying in Montreal!

Button (*) eventually finished second after improving all the weekend and the race. He was starting from too far to be able to contest his team-mate the win. But this result is excellent for the reigning champion as he stays in a good position to conserve his title.

The man of the race is definitely Hamilton (***). He was impressive all the weekend with a stunning pole position. I did not see such a great qualifying since a very long time ago! A very big attack everytime, everywhere. His race was brilliant even if strategy was very difficult to predict. But he always gave the maximum and had a very virile fight with Alonso and won it. Hamilton is now leading the championship and, more than ever, my stars ranking. Here is the new top 5:

HAMILTON 14

KUBICA 10

ALONSO 10

VETTEL 9

WEBBER 9

BUTTON 9

Just-in-time Turkish GP Review

This is THE picture everybody will remember about this GP. Perhaps about the whole season, as this crash is so important for the rest of the year. First because both RedBull drivers did not take all the points they could expect with a 1-2 finish. And of course, how will this crash change the relations between Webber and Vettel who might hate each other today, both blaming the other for the responsibility of the accident.

HAMILTON: Eventually, Hamilton ended winner of the race. A very much deserved result for the 2008 World Champion considering his season and his misfortune so far. This time, the misfortune of others served him. He drove amazingly anyway in a very tight and nervous race. ***

BUTTON: As his team-mate, Button gets here a very happy result. He even attacked Lewis for the lead in a superb battle he eventually lost. But this attack was not really fair, resulting from a misunderstanding of team orders. But the McLaren boys did not crash. Them. **

WEBBER: His third pole position in a row was an impressive signal he sent to his team and to Vettel. Webber is back to business! It is probably one of the explanation of the crash as Vettel was frustrated to be outpaced again by Webber who he used to crush easily last year and at the begining of the season. He finally had an opportunity to pass but Webber did not want to lose the psychological advantage and did not move. Vettel thought he would and though turned on him... Crash! Both drivers are responsible and I am well disapointed. Webber keeps the advantage here thanks to his pole. I give him a star for his whole weekend. *

Behind them, nothing really good to say: the Mercedes did their normal job, Schumacher ahead of Rosberg for the second time and by only one second. Nothing impressive yet. The Renault get closer and closer to the top 4. The main problem is for Ferrari. They loose pace, race after race as their development is not enough at all. Alonso is really not in a great shape! He was nowhere in Turkey! Well, he was in Turkey but very slow in qualifying and too quiet in race. I do not give any point to Vettel as he does not deserve any. He missed his qualifying. And he took a big responsibility in the crash with Webber. He clearly is under pressure because nothing go perfectly well this season despite a great car and a lot of efforts. But I trust him to come back in trust and overtake his team-mate to fight for the title. However McLaren achieved a very good step forward in pace and I hope he will not regret lost points.

As Hamilton becomes a new leader, the ranking is now:

HAMILTON 11

KUBICA 10

VETTEL 9

ALONSO 9

WEBBER 8

BUTTON 8

ROSBERG 4

MASSA 4

ALGUERSUARI 3

SUTIL 2

PETROV 2

BARRICHELLO 2

LIUZZI 1

HULKENBERG 1

Traffic jam in Monaco as an excuse to my late GP review

Traffic jam indeed in one of the most terrific race of the season. Watching these high-speed cars yelling in the streets and brushing the walls is always a nice show. Despite the action on track, mostly a bit boring considering how difficult it is to overtake here.

WEBBER: For the second time in a row, the Aussie Grit (his Twitter nickname) did the perfect job as he took pole and drove to win. This time, I reckon he was not very pushed by team-mate Vettel as the latter was more trying to finish instead of pushing. Anyway, nothing to say, brilliant result. ***

VETTEL: Considering his race last year when he pushed too much and eventually ended up crashing in the barrier, I am very happy to see Vettel finishing with big points, despite outpaced by Webber. Nothing great though as he just used the speed avantage of his car to beat the others. He moved perfectly on Kubica at the start to secure this result.

KUBICA: Wow! The Renault is a really good car. Kubica can make some great result in some occasion. His drive in qualifying and in race was amazing, despite he has been surprised by Vettel at the first corner. **

MASSA: After several difficult results, Felipe Massa got back in performance. This 4th place is a very good result for self-confidence. *

HAMILTON: Nothing to say, he was just at his place, doing what he could considering his car.

ALONSO: I would like to understand how can a driver race the whole race with the same tyres without having any problems. Alonso and Ferrari did a great job in driving and strategy, but what a shame that the tyres do not wear more. It would make a much interesting season. Still a great job from the Spanish champion. **

BUTTON (DNF): His engine failure is just a shame and a very important stake for the season. I hope he will not regret it.

No more stars given for this GP. Here is the new ranking. There is change on top as Kubica takes the lead and the gaps reduce between top drivers.

KUBICA 10

VETTEL 9

ALONSO 9

HAMILTON 8

WEBBER 7

BUTTON 6

ROSBERG 4

MASSA 4

ALGUERSUARI 3

SUTIL 2

PETROV 2

BARRICHELLO 2

LIUZZI 1

HULKENBERG 1

What about how late is this Spanish Grand Prix review?

The first GP of the "European" season gave some new clues about who could be Button's successor. Here is what I have to say about some drivers. And my stars!

WEBBER: I must admit that, after a horrible start of the season, Webber was just perfect in Spain. In qualifying and in race. ***

ALONSO: Second place is a fantastic result for Alonso, in front of his public. His car was a bit lower in performance behing the RedBull and McLaren but much enough quicker to stay in front of the slow Mercedes of Schumacher. The problems of both Vettel and Hamilton gave him a unhopped podium. *

VETTEL: He was really not in a great shape in Spain. Outpaced by his team-mate, he has been overtaken by Hamilton in the pits because of his team's mistake. Vettel definitely seems to get all the problems at RedBull as he had a brakes failure then. Very brave, he decided to finish. Third is still a good and important result.

SCHUMACHER: This result sounds good for him as he is back at a good position for the first time of the season. But he was actually very slow, finishing more than a minute behind the winner. Anyway, he drove at the maximum he could and did better than his team-mate Rosberg, completely lost in Spain. Nothing amazing though. But he resisted perfectly to the very fast McLaren of Button. *

BUTTON: Blocked behing Schumacher, he never found an opportunity to pass. He tried hard but despite being slow, Schumacher still knows how to keep a position. His final place is a good result for the championship.

MASSA: The difficulties continue as he is really far from Alonso.

BARRICHELLO (9): A very strong race to score good points after a terrible qualifying session. *

HAMILTON (DNF): It is such a shame! He had done the best work possible to be in second position before one of his tyre exploded. This is a very disappointed point loss for the championship. Especially two laps before the end of the race. I hope it will not be decisive for the title. **

The stars ranking:

VETTEL 9

KUBICA 8

HAMILTON 8

ALONSO 7

BUTTON 6

ROSBERG 4

WEBBER 4

MASSA 3

ALGUERSUARI 3

SUTIL 2

PETROV 2

BARRICHELLO 2

LIUZZI 1

HULKENBERG 1

Way too late Chinese Grand Prix...

Eventually, let's go back three weeks ago, to the Chinese Grand Prix. I am talking (writing?) about Formula One. This story was a long long time ago.. Before the ash cloud, before the hung parliament, the "Con-Dem nation of the nation", etc..

For the third time this season (in four races), rain added spice to the show; this time during the race, while the qualifying session stayed dry. Now, my stars:

BUTTON: I must admit that I would not believe Button able to be so good so far this season alongside Lewis Hamilton. Button has been simply perfect. At the beginning of the race, he took the right tyre choice, as in Australia. Then he achieved what he had to do to win his second race this season: driving on a wet track with dry tyres for few laps, overtaking Rosberg and resisting to Hamilton. Jenson Button is definitely not as quick or spectacular as Hamilton but he has all the other qualities of a champion: race intelligence, tyre preservation. Since his title last year, he also is in another man: he has nothing to prove or to lose anymore. It is a great asset for him in the race for the title. ***

HAMILTON: After a little deception in qualifying, he came back perfectly in the pace during the race. He attacked everytime, despite the strategic mistakes of his team. He overtook an impressive amount of drivers. Perfect. He could just not do anything against Button who took too much advance at the begining of the race. He deserves 3 stars anyway. ***

ROSBERG: Once again, he did a great job considering his car. With the same strategy as Button. He just could not resist to the McLaren boys despite a little mistake. It is a good result enough for him to show his domination against his team-mate. **

ALONSO: He also suffered some strategic problem but showed a great pace and attack to point at a good final position. His season seems perfect at the moment as he always get the maximum of the situation he is in, whatever difficult they are. His move on Massa whilst coming into the pit was very important for the psychological domination inside the team. **

KUBICA: With the same strategy as Button and Rosberg, he secured a very good result considering the performance of his car. He is really showing well for getting a better car next year. Unless Renault improves even better. A good end of the race showed him able to resist the very fast RedBull of Vettel. *

VETTEL: Very fast on a dry track but on the wet, Vettel did seem to be at ease. Maybe because his car's setup was ready for dry. At the end, despite several good overtakings, the result does not look very impressive. His pole was brilliant anyway. *

PETROV: For the first time this season, everything happened well for the Russian and he eventually got a great result he deserved. More impressive, his end of the race was just WOWW as he overtook three very quick cars and drivers: Massa, Schumacher and Webber! Amazing! **

WEBBER: Nowhere, considering his car.

SCHUMACHER: His only satisfaction could be his overtaking of former team-mate Massa at the end of the race.

MASSA: The Brazilian has been heavily dominated by Alonso again in China. Especially in the pits and in qualifying. Ouch!

THE OTHERS: Nothing to say, really. They are out of the points and I did not have anything particularly important nor interesting to tell about them.

The new ranking gives now:

VETTEL 9

KUBICA 8

ALONSO 6

BUTTON 6

HAMILTON 6

ROSBERG 4

MASSA 3

ALGUERSUARI 3

SUTIL 2

PETROV 2

LIUZZI 1

BARRICHELLO 1

WEBBER 1

HULKENBERG 1

My Malaysian Grand Prix

It is never too late to speak about this GP!

Actually yes, it could have been too late because the next GP is happening this weekend, so let's talk about this Malaysian round.

I am very late in this blog as I have been very busy the last two weeks. Business which will make me write some articles in this blog soon.

The third round of the championship was very interesting with a qualifying session during which McLaren and Ferrari showed again their arrogance. Their poor drivers did what they could in this conditions but it allows a great race to be shown 24h later. Now, my stars!

VETTEL: Eventually, Vettel got the best award for his great performances from the begining of the year. In qualifying, he did not risk the bet on tyres his teammate dared; and he was even outpaced by Nico Rosberg with the same tyres. Anyway, his third place and same place on the grid allowed him to do a great start. He was on the clean part of the grid, he took a perfect aspiration on poleman Webber. He tried his chance and overtook him perfectly and with a virile way, very important to confirm his domination on the second RedBull driver. Then he hadalready won the race. He could control and save his machine, especially because of a not impressive competition. 2 stars because he did not really impress me in qualifying on a wet track. **

WEBBER: After two terrible races, the Aussie had to correct himself to hush the rumors up. Indeed everybody see Raikkonen replacing the ageing Australian. If you add poor performances.. But Webber bet a great win on tyres and with a strong driving, got his first pole position of the season. Once again in race, he showed his young German teamate was definitely the number 1 in the team. So much the better! *

ROSBERG: Once again, Nico said goodbye to his old teammate Schumacher that his return to F1 would not be so easy. Very quick in qualifying, he could not do anything against the RedBulls so he controled a perfect race to take the best result possible: the first podium of the Mercedes team! **

KUBICA: Again a great drive for the Polish driver who confirm that he and Renault are the most surprising outsider of the year! **

SUTIL: For the first time this season, Sutil capitalised his speed in qualifying with a clean race. A great resistance to the very quick British guy behind him. **

HAMILTON: By far, he was the most impressive driver of the big four starting from the back of the grid. It's a shame Sutil did not commit any mistake, I would love to see how far could Hamilton go. **

MASSA: Where Hamilton needed half a lap to overtake Alguersuari, Massa had to wait for the pitstop strategy to pass the Spanish man. His tyres were not the same as Lewis, OK, but the pace of the Ferrari and especially Massa is a bit worrying. If you add the problems of reliability, it could be the big disappointment for Alonso. However, Massa overtook very well Button, to finish only one place behind Hamilton and took the lead of the championship, so one star for this. *

BUTTON: As in Australia a week before, the World Champion tried a different strategy because he was blocked behind the Ferraris. I really thought it would work but this time, keeping a high pace for a long run on hard tyres was difficult. Anyway Button is happy to bring very important points for the championship, especially after such a bad Saturday.

ALGUERSUARI: What a good confirmation for the youngest F1 driver. After an interesting Australian GP, Jaime impressed me in Malaysia. Very agressive, efficient in overtaking, his great race is rewarded by his first points. And new stars from me! **

HULKENBERG: The rookie had a great opportunity to show his talent as he was in the last 10 in the qualifying session. He did it! With a great drive, he took the fifth place on the grid, outpacing his old teammate Barrichello, who is not the slowest on wet track. Then bad and good luck for the young German. His Williams did not have a great pace in race and struggled a lot to maintain a good position. Fortunately, Alonso's retirement at the end offered him his first point. *

BUEMI: The second time in a row he is outpaced by his teammate Alguersuari. Buemi has to be careful and push a bit more if he wants to go higher in the RedBull organization. Especially if one interesting seat got free in 2011..

BARRICHELLO: Outpaced in qualifying, he could not show anything after his problem at the start. Anyway, the Williams had no pace in race.

ALONSO: He did a quite impressive race considering his gearbox problem. Hearing the noise it was doing on each braking, Alonso had to be quite brave to risk as much as he risked. Unfortunately his team showed again fragility and he lost two points. I hope they will not be important at the end of the championship. *

DI GRASSI: He is the first driver to finish a race with a Virgin. A great relief for the young British team and his driver. And quite comfortably in front of the other new teams. Well done!

CHANDHOK: Impressively, he beat Bruno Senna and brought the HRT car for the second time under the checked flag.

SENNA: He finished his first race of the season, despite being outpaced by his teammate.

TRULLI: The Lotus finish a lot of races but mostly very slowly and far from the head of the race and of the other new teams. A bit disappointing.

KOVALAINEN: This Lotus did not finish this time.

PETROV: Once again, the Russian is stricken by mechanical failure where his teammate's car finishes the race without problem. Still agressive and interesting to see at the begining of the race (with a great resistance to Lewis Hamilton); then Petrov started to show his limits to me. He was not able to conserve his tyres because of a very agressive driving I guess. He has been overtaken by several drivers and actually his retirement hides a bit this bad part of the race.

LIUZZI: Again a bit slower the Sutil, his teammate, this time he could not do a strong race because his machine decided differently. Too bad!

SCHUMACHER: Nowhere in qualifying, nowhere in race before his mechanical failure, once again the "Kaiser" is really not impressive..

KOBAYASHI: Another Ferrari engin broke in this race, really not a good sign for "la rossa"

GLOCK: He did the show with Kovalainen at the begining of the race but spun and could not start again.

DE LA ROSA: He did not start from the pits.. The third Ferrari engine failure this weekend.. Very frightening!

I did not give any "3 *" for this GP, but a lot of stars overall. Let's check the new ranking:

VETTEL 8

KUBICA 7

ALONSO 4

BUTTON 3

MASSA 3

HAMILTON 3

ALGUERSUARI 3

ROSBERG 2

SUTIL 2

LIUZZI 1

BARRICHELLO 1

WEBBER 1

HULKENBERG 1

My (enjoyable) Australian GP!

Weirdly, people who criticised F1 like never before as being extremely boring two weeks ago in Bahrein said nothing about yesterday's race. F1 is never boring because if you watch it as a passionate guy who pay attention to every details and live timing, you always enjoy despite not a lot of spectacular action happens on track. If you are not passionate by motorsport but want to enjoy spectacular racing, watch BTCC for example, not F1.

Anyway, Melbourne was very interesting and some drivers/teams eventually tried different strategies. I am a bit disapointed to see that with fresher tyres, 2 sec quicker, it is still diffcult to overtake (Hamilton on Alonso at the end of the race). But this track is not easy for overtaking. But such enjoyable! I have heard that Australia thinks about moving their GP from this track to another one in Sidney, I hope they won't.

My stars now. And this, time, I swear, it was difficult to decide how much were deserving some drivers.

BUTTON: Waww! I never thought Button would be able to win so quickly with McLaren in 2010. I really thought that it was a very big risk for him to come in Hamilton's heaven. Outpaced as I expected in Bahrein, he reacted very well in Melbourne. First, in qualifcations, he outpaced massively Hamilton by a 6 tenth of a second gap, enormous between two teammates. And Hamilton was even not having any mechanical problem. Then the start was a bit more difficult as he touched Alonso. Actually it was not his fault, Alonso ignored him and cut his lane. He can be happy that he did not suffer too much on this event. But Hamilton who started very well overtook Button. Then Button took himself the decision to go on dry tyres. Everybody thought it was probably a too early decision when we saw his first sector. But directly in the last sector he was 2 sec quicker than anyone. The time other teams react on, Button ran 2 laps alone, 4 sec quicker than anyone else on track. A brilliant decision, which gave him the victory when Vettel's car broke. But he was still able to push then despite very old tyres. And at the end of the race he was still quicker than the Ferraris in the same situation (worn tyres). Very important win for him, and I am sure that with this race, he will be boosted psychologically. ***

KUBICA: Once again the Polish was brilliant behind the wheel of his Renault. But this time, compare to Bahrein, his efforts paid! He had a great start. A great pitstop where he overtook Massa. And then he resisted perfectly to Hamilton and the Ferraris despite a slower car, without destroying his tyres. Perfect race, great result for Renault as well! ***

MASSA: He achieved a great qualifying lap in Bahrein, not in Melbourne. Alonso was 7 tenth of a second quicker! A massive gap on this small track. Then Massa realised a stunning start. And I think that it is all what he has done great on his race Not enough to give him a star. He has never been able to overtake Kubica. He was just good enough to resist to Alonso who did not want to take any risk for the team.

ALONSO: Despite his slightly slower Ferrari, Alonso was the only man able to compete against the RedBull in qualifying. But he started very bad with an accident and he had to push hard to come back. He did! Much more than Shcumacher who was in the same situation at one point. Then he was unfortunately blocked by Massa. He did not want to try anything too risky despite he was much quicker. It is a shame because I really wanted to see if he could catch Kubica and then perhaps Button. His resistance to a 2 sec/lap quicker Hamilton at the end of race, with very worn tyres was very good too. 2 stars only because he did a mistake at the start and he should have try more to pass Massa. **

ROSBERG: The German did what he could with his slow Mercedes but nothing impressive though. At the moment, he scores good points and if the Mercedes becomes quicker in the future, these points will be very important. He is also the only driver who decided to change tyres twice to get an advantage from this strategy.

HAMILTON: Difficult to juge how much star he deserves. On this race he has shown both the best and the worse. The worse: in qualifying because he was outpaced a lot by Button. In the race, when he showed that he was not, compare to Button, able to take his own decisions on strategy. The problem is not that he is not able to decide, the problem is that he criticises his team for that decision while he is still in the race, trying to overtake Alonso. He showed the best in the first part of the race: attacking a lot, overtaking, very impressive. But too much bad points in this race to give him a star.

LIUZZI: Again slower than his teammate Sutil in qualifying, he showed one more time, that he was much more efficient and consistent during the race. A very important quality in racing. He scores the good points for Force India. *

BARRICHELLO: Still a lot quicker than his young teammate Hulkenberg. Still very motivated despite his age and despite being in an intermediate team after fighting for championship and victory last year. He does a very good job. *

WEBBER: Oh my God! What a bad race from Webber! Again...

SCHUMACHER: I do not know what to say. I am really not impressed. But I still want to see what he could do in front of the grid. Can Mercedes do it? If Mercedes improves, can he do it? Not sure at all.

ALGUERSUARI: The yound Spanish man does not score point but he does his job properly. Not great, not bad. Yesterday he has been very good, resisting to Shcumacher for 22 laps! *

DE LA ROSA: He was having a strong race in the points but he was not able to preserve his tyres. They were too worn. He tried to resist Alguersuari's and Schumacher's attacks and was apparently not very fairplay considering what I read. But I did not see it and anyway he eventually lost the positions.

KOVALAINEN: He finished again

CHANDHOK: He was only a tenth of a second slower than Senna, his teammate in qualifying. Not bad at all! And I am happy for him that he finished his race. I follow him on Twitter and he is a very cool guy!

GLOCK: A Virgin has not finished a race yet. Was it because of their supposedly too small fuel tank? No. Apparently because of a problem of suspension.

DI GRASSI: Hydraulics for the second Virgin

VETTEL: I think Raikkonen gave him his black cat before leaving F1. Again a reliability problem on the RedBull. Can it not strike Webber's car? The useless and slow driver has no problem, the great one always.. Frustrating. Anyway, his qualifying lap was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, his start perfect and he was controling perfectly the race.. What to say? ***

SUTIL: Engine problem. Was he able to score point whithout this problem? I don't remember.

PETROV: A bad qualifying but a great start, perhaps a Russian speciality? He still need to learn F1 anyway. Yesterday's lesson was "how to drive on a wet track with dry tyres without having an accident?" He failed.

SENNA: Hydraulics for him as well.

BUEMI: Hit by Kobayashi's Sauber on the first lap. An horrible crash and a too short race. It's a shame, he was quite quick in qualifying.

HULKENBERG: He was in the same accident than Buemi. He is still a lot slower than veteran Barrichello, 7 tenth of a second. It's a shame, I was expecting more from him but he still has time to convice me.

KOBAYASHI: His accident he cause was horrible. But it is not his fault. His front wing break on a straight line and kept wedged inside his car. He could not break and he stroke in the cars already in the corner. Freaky!!

TRULLI: He even did not start. How could he finish?

The stars ranking:

Vettel 6

Kubica 5

Button 3

Alonso 3

Massa 2

Hamilton 1

Liuzzi 1

Barrichello 1

Alguersuari 1

Next race is straight next week in Malaysia. The track will be much less spectacular but big straight lines may enhance overtaking.

Tayyabs!

Monday night was eating out. On a suggestion by Ida, we went to a Pakistani restaurant called Tayyabs. It's in Whitechapel, for more info: http://www.tayyabs.co.uk/

What a restaurant! First of all, it is massive. But very well busy, even on a Monday night! Ida told us that it was no point to go there on Friday nights and weekends: too busy.

The service is amazing. Directly at the table, you have a set of three nice sauces, some flat dry bread and a bottle of Evian water, all for free! Perfect to wait for your order. But you do not really wait for your answer: the service is very quick!

I normally do not like lamb. But these lamb chops grilled and marinated were amazing!! Chicken was great as well.

We then have currys, all very nice. The Naan bread was very good. To drink, they do not serve alcohol as they are Muslims but you can bring your own bottles of wine or beer. Or, as we did, you can try their nice drinks. We had a jug of mango smoothie. Tasty!

We hate like pigs, geniunely! We could not fill our stomachs more! And all that for £15 each!! Happy days!!

My geek life in video

Hey guys,

One of the competitors of the championship I run for has realised a video of the first race.

You can see me (white and brown car, n°6) in several occasions, fighting and overtaking. Enjoy!

Formule Renault S2 from FFSCA on Vimeo.

Spending £200 at DECATHLON! Ouch!

Yesterday was spending money time..

As I am planning to do more proper hiking (adventurous one, with proper camping, etc..) in the future, I went investing in equipment. DECATHLON, if you do not know it yet, is a French brand of sport shops which provides good quality/price products. Not because they discount famous brands as SPORTWORLD does for example. They just produce their own products, within their engineering office (Decathlon Creation). Then you get proper sport articles, for every sports, at good value because you do not buy a brand! They also sell normal brands but without discount. DECATHLON is more specialised in hiking: they have developped a massive range of product from -10°C sleeping bag to camping showers.. In London, there is a DECATHLON store in Canada Water (Jubilee line).

My first hiking trip should be for easter weekend. Planning work is still in progress. I will go with Craig, my British friend and perhaps other. We try to plan walking along the Thames Path from London (Richmond) to Oxford in the 4 days weekend. The Thames Path, as its name says, follows the River Thames and crosses small villages and towns all along it. A national proper path has been created for hikers. It is not a very difficult track, I reckon, but to join Oxford in 4 days (and take there a train back to London), we are still planning walking 10h/day. Will we be able to do it? Let's see. It is a good challenge anyway for a first hike, before trying more difficult ones: mountains, etc..

Now, I have the equipment though: good hiking shoes, a backpack, rain clothes (sexy!), a proper sleeping bag and a proper hiking tent (not a massive pop-up 2" tent! convinient though, I must admit)

A geek life.. Round 3 at Imola

As motorsport is my great passion, I try to live it as well as I can. Proper racing is well inaccessible, so a lot of other passionate people have found in video games an enjoyable and cheap way to live this passion. I take part to a championship on the game rFactor. We have a race on Wednesday every three week. Yesterday was already the third round of the 2010 championship.

As I did not practice a lot, I did not find a good pace. Also a yellow card from the last race because of a very bad mistake, deprived me of full qualifying session. I had to qualify in one lap only. So I did the 18th time over 22 drivers.

The first race lasts 30 minutes. I started very well, wining several positions in the first corner. I was easily 11th after two laps, overtaking a quite slow driver. But I did a first mistake which put me in 16th place. I overtook again those drivers and I finished easily 10th. Above this place, the drivers were already too far away and much quicker than me.

But there are two race per circuit. In the second race, the ten first of the first race start in an opposite order on the grid. I was in pole then! But, with the pressure of starting first, I completely missed my start, losing three places in the first corner. However I could overtake two drivers who did two little mistakes in the first lap. I was second at the begining of the second lap, but with a lot of quicker drivers behind me. I struggled and resisted as much as I could but I have been progressively overtaken by 7 other drivers, approximately one every lap. I finished 8th at a place corresponding very well to my pace.

A good race event anyway, with honest results, only few mistakes and then good points in the championship. The problem in this championship is that you need to practice a lot to be in the pace and I do not have as time as other drivers to do it. But, despite doing quick, at least I enjoy myself, which is the main purpose of a game isn't it?

My Bahrein GP

Everybody seems to be very disappointed by this GP. Medias had put too many hopes on the spectcular show it was supposed to give. But they forgot that Bahrein is a boring track and having new rules or a come back from an old champion was sure it would not change everything.

I thought this GP was interesting because it was the first time we were seeing a new type of race with different strategies. The qualifying session was interesting but weird. In Q3, drivers were all slower than what they did in Q2 despite having the same conditions (fresh soft tyres and no fuel). I thought that as they must doing their best to get the pole position, they would be the quickest of the weekend. The were not. They all say that it was because of the track on which it is difficult to avoid little mistakes. Fine.

In race, tyres were enventually hard-wearing, both soft and hard compound. But the drivers were also very carefull to preserve them to be sure to have to do only one pit stop. Then, they all did only one pit stop and they were all not pushing the hardest. It will probably change. Obligeing drivers to stop minimum twice could help. But before doing already loads of changes in the rules, let's see what happen in proper fun race track in Melbourne.

Now, my point of view on each drivers, and my stars!

ALONSO: Outpaced by his teammate in qualifying, Alonso reponded perfectly to him in the first corner. He won the race here. After overtaking slowed Vettel, he increased his pace meanwhile Massa was forced to "preserve his engine". Was Alonso able to overtake Vettel if the later did not have his problem? Was he able to keep Massa behind? Whatever, he won his first race with Ferrari. This guy knows how to win championship and victories. He will be very strong this year. *

MASSA: All these new rules and Schumacher comeback hid a bit the comeback of Massa. And what a comeback after such an injury! He was great in qualifying. OK in race, despite his team did not allow him to track down Alonso. A shame.. **

HAMILTON: I am sure that Hamilton never thought that his car would be that slow before Saturday. Big deception indeed this McLaren, still quicker than the Mercedes but far from the Ferrari and RedBull. Hamilton did a great job attacking the Ferrari at the start and then overtaking Rosberg in pits with fresh tyres. I am just disappointed that he seemed to slow down at the end despite he could catch Massa. Perhaps to preserve the engine.. *

VETTEL: A perfect weekend for him. Not for his car.. Once again RedBull produced a quick but not reliable enough car. It is a shame because with a win, he would have really impressed everybody as THE man to beat this season. Anyway, he impressed me! ***

ROSBERG: Despite the German was quicker than his "legendary" teammate, I have been a bit disappointed by his race. He was the only driver to be overtaken in pit strategy. And by the end, he was even not able to overtake Vettel even so slow in straight line. He was deserving a star for beating Shcumacher but to me, he lost it for what I've said.

SCHUMACHER: The old man might be very disappointed. The car is not as quick as expected. Himself is not in the pace yet. Will it be all the time? I think that if he can be as equal as Rosberg in the future, it would be good. But always in front of him? I am not sure he can do it. Except if he is helped by his team, as he was at Ferrari.

BUTTON: Without any surprise for me, Button has been well outpaced by Hamilton this weekend. Button is a good guy, very quick when he is in full trust (car, team, teammate) as he was last year. But he is not at the level of Hamilton at all. Clearly. Especially not at McLaren. He has been very brave to challenge this. He is also the perfect teammate for Hamilton, but only a teammate. He will be quicker than him on some occasions this year, but not more as Kovalainen did last year and the year before.

WEBBER: Considering the car he drives, Webber's race and weekend was very bad. To forget. I hope his home-GP will eventually be good for him next week.

LIUZZI: Slower than his teammate Sutil in qualifying, he did a strong race, very happy of his quick Force India, 5th quickest car of the grid behing the untouchable Big 4.

BARRICHELLO: As Liuzzi his performance was very strong all over the weekend and he showed to his young teammate what experience was meaning. He takes the last point, a good reward for his job and Williams' job. Their new Cosworth engine seems to be very reliable and competitive. A much better start for the British company than 2006, its last previous F1 season

KUBICA: The Polish man really impressed me. After the deception to find only a Renault wheel for this season, he showed to everybody that he was a quick and strong guy. As everybody thought the Renault was shit, he just demonstrated the opposite! Unfortunately he was touched by Sutil at the start and had to push a lot to hope scoring points. He pushed very well, overtook a lot but it was not enough to catch Barrichello. A great race weekend for him anyway. **

SUTIL: A similar race as Kubica's but, I do not think he tried as much as the Polish man to score. He finished 13 seconds behind him actually. But Sutil does not care. He knows that his Force India is a quick car able to give him several points. He should be careful to not miss too much occasions to score them.

ALGUERSUARI: I did not see him during the race

HULKENBERG: A hard first race for the young German. But I have no doubt he will enventually dominate his teammate Barrichello by the end of the year.

KOVALAINEN: He finished the race. What a performance! ..

BUEMI: I did not see him more than his teammate.

TRULLI: He finished as well with the second Lotus but he was almost stopped on the track in the last laps. Ridiculous.. Just for Lotus to say "we are very good, we can finish the race with both our car despite the other new team cannot"

DE LA ROSA: His Sauber was strangely not as fast as in winter tests. They need sponsors, that's why. I think, and they do too, that this car can do better in other tracks. The Sauber apparently just did not like the lumpy new part of the track. The overtaking of De La Rosa on his teammate Kobayashi was not a prove of the speed of the old Spanish man or the slowness of the Japanese. De La Rosa was just in soft tyres whereas Kobayashi was in hard compound.

SENNA: He did what he could with a car which was finished to build on Friday..

GLOCK: Such good drivers wasted in such shit cars this year.. But it is very important for him to remain in F1, whatever the price.

PETROV: What a shame for the Russian driver. Not impressive in qualifying but not too bad, it was only his first race. His start was much more interesting. He won a lot of places and was in a good position, showing a strong performance, when his suspension obliged him to stop. I am looking forward to see what he will do in Melbourne.

KOBAYASHI: Of course with a Sauber, it will be more difficult to show great things as he did in Toyota last year. At least he is F1, in a serious team to learn F1 in this first full year. I hope he will be quickly able to outpace De La Rosa.

DI GRASSI: Not seen

CHANDHOCK: Not that ridiculous as some people said easily, considering his situation. Let's see what happens in the future before judging.

Stars ranking:

Vettel 3

Massa 2

Kubica 2

Alonso 1

Hamilton 1