Severin

Winning a sprint will buy him some favour but at the end of the day nobody really places any value on them. What he does in the races is what matters. He has the pace to win tomorrow, though. If he does he'll start to win them over.

Alpine: Doohan vs Gasly Q R Aston Martin: Alonso R Q vs Stroll Ferrari: Leclerc Q vs Hamilton R Haas: Ocon Q R vs Bearman McLaren: Norris Q R vs Piastri Mercedes: Antonelli vs Russell Q R Racing Bulls: Hadjar vs Tsunoda Q R Red Bull: Verstappen Q R vs Lawson Sauber: Bortoleto Q vs Hulkenberg R Williams: Albon vs Sainz Jr Q R Pole Position: Norris Winner: Norris Fastest Lap: Hamilton

It'll be interesting to see how the Sprint goes I guess. I understand both McLaren's wasted the opportunity to lock out the front row.

Eddie Jordan has died - Eddie Jordan, former F1 team principal, manager and driver, dies aged 76 · RaceFans

Yeah, I think that's going to be the biggest problem for Lewis. he's very much used to being indulged and having his ego massaged. That won't happen at Ferrari for very long. With the exception of Villeneuve, Enzo was always far more concerned about the cars than he ever was about the people who drove them. Although nowhere near that level of callousness, Ferrari drivers are always completely dispensable if they don't bring the required results. Sometimes, even when they do. If Lewis takes too long to gel with the car and is too public in his criticisms the love affair won't last long.

I think much of what the Italian press has said was probably inspired by Helmut Marko's comments about 'a tearful show' being 'a bit embarrassing'. I don't completely disagree with Marko's words (although I do disagree with his intent) but I think his targeting is way off. it was a show Hadjar was putting on. it was him being genuinely upset. That's fine, he should be upset really, not that I'm criticising him but if he's not upset by crashing in his first race he shouldn't be there as we need drivers who care about succeeding. The embarrassing parts isn't that he cried, it's not even that the cameras wouldn't leave him alone whilst he did, that is after all their job. The TV director didn't need to show it all. It's fine to show that he cried but you don't have to make it a 15 minute piece when there's plenty of other things to discuss or view. If Hadjar can put this behind him and focus on the performance going ahead, he'll be fine but if he's going to be overcome with emotion every time things go wrong, he'll have a hard time coming. Regardless of whether it's fair. I think objectively Hamilton's Ferrari debut was the worst for any driver, especially a former Champion's, for many years. Barrichello finished 2nd in his debut, Raikkonen and Alonso both won, Vettel finished 3rd, Leclerc was 5th in his first for the Scuderia and Sainz, Massa, Salo, and Fisichella all finished in 9th. The only driver of the 21st century to finish equal or lower than Lewis did last weekend was Luca Badoer in 2009. All that being true, Lewis wasn't entirely to blame for his result but Leclerc definitely performed better, even if this is to be expected right now.

Obviously you don't HAVE to pay for music, but then you shouldn't be surprised when brilliant artists can no longer afford to make music. The advent of streaming has been severely detrimental to the music industry in many ways. Whilst it is true that access to music has become much easier and any artist can potentially be heard by anyone, anywhere in the world, the reality is the wealth has become even more concentrated in to the hand of the major labels over the last 20 years. The majors can afford to push chosen artists to the top of the recommended playlist, usually by picking the safest options because they have commercial appeal. Creative, innovative and brilliant independent artists fall by the wayside on a weekly basis because the streaming industry offers them virtually nothing in return for their work. And we should remember many groundbreaking acts changed the face of music without major backing but because fans paid for their records and kept them financially viable. Ask yourself also why the price of a gig ticket these days is so much greater than it used to be. SImple answer - musicians don't make any money from streaming unless in the realm of the major act or superstar. It takes close to 7,000 streams of a song to match the payout an artist would receive from an individual buying the album once at £20. If you truly care about the music you love, remember that every single artist or band out there was once struggling to make a living from it once. If there's no support network beyond streaming they would likely have never been able to afford to continue. See this perspective from my friend, who's been working in the industry for nearly 2 decades. https://www.facebook.com/themishkinfitzgerald/videos/893959495577497

The KLF - Kylie Said to Jason 'Rolf singing Sun Arise and playing the didgeridoo'

Groove Armada - Song 4 Mutya 'I got Prince singing Hot Thing to me, I know every line'

Sparks - When Do I Get to Sing 'My Way'

Land of Make Believe. After all it's a well crafted pop song, written by Peter Sinfield of King Crimson and bundled with a subtle political message about Thatcher. Camera is next best one.

Eminem's Stan mentions In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins. Eminem and Hip Hop in general is a goldmine here. Dire Strait's Walk of Life references a ton of old '50s tunes both directly and indirectly. See also American Pie by Don McLean

I'm not sure that the current RB21 is that heavily a Newey style design. He spent much of the 2023 involved in the RB17 Hypercar and Pierre Wache did much of the work on the design of the RB20 and consequently all the development work the car, including the course correct on its design flaws. Since then the new car has a number of significant changes around the nose and air intakes. The philosophy is the same but we shouldn't underestimate Pierre's contribution. As to the race, it took a while to get going with people constantly binning the cars but looks like the expected pecking order is McLaren Max Mercedes Ferrari Williams/RB Lawson/Red Bull Aston Martin Alpine/Sauber Haas

Yeah surprisingly few names from Hastings. Mini 1066 sounds fun

Welcome everyone to The Best Song Contest in the World... Ever! Part 9 - Cover Versions Below you have 22 cover versions of well known UK top 40 hits from the 20th Century. All you need to do is listen to them a few times, work out a running order for your favourites and dish out the points accordingly using the format below. Please remember that this is anonymous contest so if you can all refrain from revealing your own entry or giving away which songs you've voted for The deadline for this voting is Friday 28th of March 2025, at 17:00pm. This should give everyone time to familiarise themselves with the songs and work out a running order. Non-participants are encouraged to submit votes as well. Please send your votes by PM to me (Severin) using the format below for the voting: 12 - 10 - 08 - 07 - 06 - 05 - 04 - 03 - 02 - 01 - Below is the list of the songs and links to the Spotify playlist: Groove Armada - Crazy For You (Madonna) Pentatonix - Creep (Radiohead) Tori Amos - Losing My Religion (R.E.M) Clubdrugs - Sour Times (Portishead) Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Do You Remember the First Time? (Pulp) Dinosaur Jr - Just Like Heaven (The Cure) Adam Lambert - Holding Out for a Hero (Bonnie Tyler) Fratellis - Yes Sir I Can Boogie (Baccara) Rachid Taha - Rock El Casbah (The Clash) Dolly Dots - Do Wah Diddy (Manfred Man) Halocene - Barbie Girl (Aqua) The Breath Of Life - The Love Cats (The Cure) Kelsey Lu - I'm Not in Love (10cc) West End Girls Feat Magnus Carlsson - What Have I Done to Deserve This? (Pet Shop Boys & Dusty Springfield) Paraorchestra with Brett Anderson and Charles Hazelwood - The Killing Moon (Echo & the Bunnymen) Chicks On Speed - Wordy Rappinghood (Tom Tom Club) Mr. Ed Jumps the Gun - Smoke (Deep Purple) Nina Simone - The Times they are a-Changin' (Bob Dylan) Sylver - Lay All Your Love On Me (Abba) Emma Conquest - Confide in Me (Kylie Minogue) Gigi - D'Agostino - The Riddle (Nik Kershaw) William Shatner - Common People (Pulp) Three more not on Spotify (or at least I couldn't find them!) I hope you all find something new to love Votes Received Chez Wombat Mango WoW73 Severin Awardinary gooddelta AH Gold dandy* Scene Dobbo King Rollo Herbs Jester Jade Bjork Suedehead Jimwatts Addy! Brer

In about 5 minutes. Had to make sure everything cleared the criteria first.

Suggs, Tom Chaplin and Kid Kapichi are from Hastings too. As much as I'd love HotWax to be the first from Hastings, they're definitely not.

Alpine: Doohan vs Gasly Q R Aston Martin: Alonso Q R vs Stroll Ferrari: Leclerc Q R vs Hamilton Haas: Ocon Q R vs Bearman McLaren: Norris Q R vs Piastri Mercedes: Antonelli vs Russell Q R Racing Bulls: Hadjar vs Tsunoda Q R Red Bull: Verstappen Q R vs Lawson Sauber: Bortoleto vs Hulkenberg Q R Williams: Albon vs Sainz Jr Q R Pole - Norris Winner - Norris Fastest Lap - Leclerc

Looking good for McLaren at the moment. Leclerc may have topped the timesheets on FP2 but race pace looks to be with Lando - Average lap time based on 10 laps: Lec-1:22:184, Ham-1:22:228. Nor- 1:21:921. Russell did 1:21:932

Updated entry list. Again please shout if you can't see yourself there - King Rollo Jade AH Gold Cowtzy Awardinary Addy! Dobbo Fiesta Scene Julian_ Cody Buckley Chez Wombat Bjork Severin Jim Watts Herbs Jester Brer Suedehead Dandy* WoW73 gooddelta

Another mistake. I do have yours too

I have to say, there are two songs entered in this that I am SO GLAD they were, as it meant I didn't have to consider entering them myself. Also apologies to Dobbo. You got missed off the confirmed list but you are in there.

Nominations for this are now officially closed and these are the entrants - King Rollo Jade AH Gold Cowtzy Awardinary Addy! Dobbo Scene Julian_ Cody Buckley Chez Wombat Bjork Severin Jim Watts Herbs Jester Brer Suedehead Dandy* WoW73 gooddelta There's also one more entry where I have a query over the track. Additionally if you don't see your name here please let me know as I don't want to miss anyone out. Once that last entry is resolved I'll have the voting up for the weekend.

All good!

Still delibersting over a track or two. I will enter something though