The collected works of ScottyB

Hoping you’ve all had a fantastic weekend

It’s almost unfathomable that four days have come and gone so quickly. It seems like moments ago I was writing about how the days would be spent and how much I was looking forward to four days off work! Nonetheless, it has been a good weekend. Of sleep-ins, of time spent with friends and loved ones, watching film, watching the F1, eating chocolate and eating more chocolate. And eating too much chocolate.

I’m surrounded by empty choc-egg boxes and little balls of tin foil - all that remains of the easter-egg hoard is about a quarter of a giant-sized Kinder Surprise egg (which by the way has to be almost the best chocolate on the planet). Kate got me a fantastic Spiderman puzzle as part of her Easter gift.

It took us a good 20 minutes or so to assemble it. I am a little bit rusty on the puzzle front, but I had Kate’s help, so we knocked it over in no time (that said, I remember doing three puzzles at a time when I was a kid, and snapping them together in like five or ten minutes.. ah well.. I’m getting old)..

And before anyone says anything, it says Ages 3+… that’s 3 plus. Which means for anyone over three years old. So that’s perfectly okay, because we’re both over three years old.

The way to a man’s heart is most definitely through his comic-book character obsession

Today I bought the Collectors Edition of Spiderman 2.1 on DVD. It was worth the $15 just to see the extra footage of J. Jonah Jameson in the Spidey suit hopping around his office, complete with cigar in mouth, pretending to shoot web about. A hilarious bit of footage - why they ever left it out of the cinematic cut, I’ll never know!!

And still on the Spiderman theme, the quad posters are out for the final phase of the promotional poster phase..

Awesome stuff… can’t wait to see these things in their full 40 x 30 inch glory around theatres.

It’s been a cool, rainy weekend. Constant showers and the Sun, when breaking free of the cloud cover, lacked that raw Summer heat we’ve been so familiar with for the last five to six months or so. The warmest we saw over this four-day weekend was 24 degrees C. Driving home these last few nights, I’ve seen the temperature creep as low as 12 and 13 degrees C. Winter is on its way. And I have to say, it is most welcome. Though the shopping centres need to realise the cooler weather is here, because having their air-conditioning set to ‘fridge’ isn’t really necessary on days like today for example. I swear I almost froze through at the shops this afternoon. Wish I had brought my jacket in!

Back to work tomorrow. I must remember to get to bed early tonight.. that’s the problem with long weekends and holidays - you get into a rhythm of late nights because you can just sleep-in and recover the lost sleep the next morning. Then come return to work, you can’t get to sleep until 2am and you can’t recover the lost sleep the morning after, so you spend most of the first day back asleep at your desk.

I say it all the time, but to bed early for me tonight.

Happy Easter everyone

The results say it all. McLaren topple Ferrari at Sepang.

… Race Results …

Alonso got the jump on Massa right at the start and from then on the reigning World Champion was never bothered. A majestic race from the champion.

It was the remaining positions in the field where the excitement lay. Lewis Hamilton once again got off to a sensational start, and defended position from Massa well. Massa eventually attempted a passing maneuver and ran too deep under brakes, sending him into the grass while Kimi Raikkonen picked up the pace and continued to hassle Hamilton until the first round of stops.

McLaren went into the Malaysian Grand Prix in confident frame of mind, but even Fernando Alonso said it was a surprise as he and Lewis Hamilton turned on a crushing demonstration in which they left Ferrari for dead in the opening stages and swept to the team’s first one-two result since Brazil 2005.

At the start Alonso sprinted alongside polesitter Felipe Massa and was able to take the lead, but in another brilliant display Hamilton dived inside Raikkonen to snatch third place before going round the outside of Massa in Turn Two to move up to second.

The Englishman then contained the Ferrari challenge, earning his spurs with a faultless drive, as his team leader went for the win. Ferrari suddenly faced an afternoon of trying to salvage something from what was beginning to look like a disaster, for Massa failed on both occasions when he tried to oust Hamilton. Each time he was repassed easily by the British driver, and on the second occasion the Brazilian slid into the gravel on the exit to Turn Four and lost a crucial place to Nick Heidfeld’s BMW Sauber.

As Alonso pulled out a 15.6s lead before stopping for fuel on lap 18, Hamilton built an advantage over Raikkonen, who stopped the same lap as Alonso. Hamilton thus led a Grand Prix for the second time in succession, until refuelling on lap 20.

Fernando Alonso, McLaren (1st):
“To win today after coming second in Australia with my new team is like a dream come true. I’m so happy and pleased with the progress we as a team have made since we unveiled the MP4-22 in mid-January. We knew the key to victory today was to make a good start and get in front to control the race which we achieved. To have Lewis in second place makes today’s result even better. There was bit of a drama when there was a problem with my radio after about ten laps, so I wasn’t sure if the team was ready for me when I came in to pit for the first time. However they were and the radio was fixed during the stop. After that it was a matter of fighting the conditions, but as I was not really threatened I could take it a bit easier, however it was tough - really tough. We will now continue our preparations for Bahrain and I can’t wait.”

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren (2nd):
“That was the toughest race of my career. I was defending my position for a lot of the time, and I’m so pleased that I managed to keep both Felipe (Massa) and Kimi (Raikkonen) behind me. However it was hard work and it was just so hot inside the cockpit. A big thank you to the team, who have worked so hard both with the car, but also preparing me for the past months. Today’s result is super for the entire team. I made a good start and was able to get past Felipe and Kimi to take second. At one point Felipe was attacking at Turn 4 and ended up going slightly off the track, and I was able to keep second. Kimi was catching towards the end as I was struggling with the balance a bit but what a race. I now have experience of racing in these conditions and will be even better prepared next year. I’m now looking forward to Bahrain. Congratulations to Fernando, very well done.”

Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari (3rd):
“A day of mixed feelings. On the one hand I am happy to have picked up six points, on the other, I am disappointed that the race did not live up to my expectations. This weekend we had to make some compromises on the car and that meant we were unable to exploit its full potential. Today we lacked a bit of speed when up against our main rivals. I repeat that I’m a bit disappointed but I am also aware this is just the beginning of the season and that these points will definitely be important for the championship as it evolves. The team did a good job, given all the uncertainties we had. We have to try and improve to get one hundred percent out of all the elements of the package. The first corner? Fernando and Lewis were just better than us.”

It’s shaping up to be a fantastic season. A strong battle between Ferrari and McLaren, with BMW the solid, silent force right behind them.

This race means Alonso has overtaken Kimi in the Drivers Championship and McLaren has opened a strong lead early in the Constructors Championship.

… Drivers Championship …

… Constructors Championship …

F1.com - Review
F1.com - Selected Driver Quotes