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An Example of Formula 1 Not Working in the United States

I am an American Formula 1 fan. Life-long. I have attended 4 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis. Been two years since I heard an F1 engine in person. The season just over. My PS3 collecting dust as it waits for Gran Turismo 5 and F1 2010. And I got the itch. To buy Formula One Championship Edition. Only, it didn’t happen.

I live within 10 miles of a Wal-Mart and a Meijer. Checked a Gamestop across town. None have Formula One Championship Edition in stock for the Playstation 3. New or Used.

Granted, it’s based on the 2006 F1 Season, but c’mon here! Nothing?! Really??

So what do I do? I check to see if there is a playable demo available, via Sony’s Playstation Network.

Why look at that! It sure says there is!

Formula 1 Championship Edition Demo Information Page.

As you can see here, the Playstation Network for downloadable demos is alphabetically categorized.

Selecting D-G brings up this…

And it should be located between Folklore Sneak Preview Demo and Fracture Demo, yet it is nowhere to be found.

And when I did a search…

Nothing.

It’s the only product you’ve got available for sale to the current market, and you aren’t even pushing it, Mr. Ecclestone. I don’t care if this is Sony’s fault or not. I don’t care if sales are shit. THEY ARE GOING TO BE FOR AWHILE. GET OVER IT. MAYBE EVEN TAKE IT AS A LOSS, AND LOOK AT IS AS A MARKETING INVESTMENT IN THE FUTURE FORMULA 1 FANS OF AMERICA AND FOR THE SPORT. WHO KNOWS, IF WE STILL HAD A RACE HERE, THE MANUFACTURERS MIGHT NOT OF LEFT.

/rant

The bottom line is this: Formula 1 wants into America. The people responsible for handling the video game sector to make this push happen have failed to correctly do their jobs. And Bernie entrusted these people, so long as they wrote him a fat check for the rights. And somewhere in there,  I can’t buy, nor can I play a demo of the sport I love. So I blame you, Bernie.

As F1 2009 is released for the Wii and PSP (neither of which I have), Bernie has this to say:

“Codemasters has a great heritage when it comes to racing games and their reputation is second to none.  We’re working very closely together on the upcoming FORMULA ONE titles and are very impressed with what we have seen.”

That helps me in no way.

No one has been able to simulate the fastest growing star in the world, Lewis Hamilton. Yet, I still have a chance to simulate Button and Honda as world champions. Or, I *should* have. But I don’t.

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Meta Senna

Everyone’s been hyping this man since his rich uncle said some kind words of him.

Bet he goes the way of Piquet Jr.

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Hello, World! Again!

I apologize for not posting in awhile. This happened for two reasons:

  1. Moved. From one place to another.
  2. F1’s currently horrible state put me into a motorsport-based depression. And a loss of motivation to write. AT ALL.

I’m sorry I have failed you. But I am back again. In my depression, I became so enraged by what I saw happening, that I realized I should take all of this rage I had, and use it to create change. I should be motivated to do my part as a fan, and correct what is wrong with the sport. And I am here to do that.

I will give you all of my thoughts and the major events that happened since I last posted.

ING left Renault. Um, rofl? “New title sponsor for car! Hurry, quick! Us!” lol, I bet Renault lost some money too. Those financial firms make sure to have water tight contracts, protecting them and their money. Who knows. Just saying. Which has snowballed in Renault talking of leaving, making the newly signed Kubica contract null and void. Kubica sues, and get’s paid. Hopefully.

Singapore was pretty much the suck-fest we were all expecting. Valencia and Singapore… And this is what Bernie wants that in NYC for a USGP? As an American F1 fan, I would be ashamed to call that my home grand prix. But high dollar fellas pat each other on the back as they strike a high dollar deal, knocking the shame right out of each other.

And then probably the stupidest move of all time happened. Ferrari bought out Kimi Raikkonen and signed Fernando Alonso for 2010 + 2 more years. This is quite possibly the dumbest move in the history of the universe.

EVER.

IN OVER 13 BILLION YEARS.

But who cares? Other than the fact that Ferrari could have had

THE ULTIMATE F***ING DREAM TEAM.

Instead, the feel sorry for poor old Massa. Even though he’s a shit driver, the tifosi felt they “owed him” one, and so they didn’t fire him for 2010. Also, you can bet being Michael Schumacher’s protege, that surely he had some influence.

Ferrari could have had FERNANDO ALONSO and KIMI RAIKKONEN on their team AT THE SAME TIME.

This is the ultimate duel that F1 has dreamt about for years. AND FERRARI PASS ON IT.

Horsesh*t.

Ferrari is one of the few car manufacturers that are posting profits.

Massa will never win a championship. Ever. Unless Ferrari gets some F2004 or double diffuser business going where it taints the results. But they’ve never done that before.

Japan was a borefest.

“Fernando with Ferrari, that’s something I like a lot,” Schumacher said on his website. “I was involved from the very beginning in this decision, and I always liked the idea.”

Schumacher was quick to get Fernando in there, so Kimi couldn’t embarass Massa/Schumacher in 2010.

“I always liked the idea.”

Michael Schumacher always liked the idea of getting rid of Kimi Raikkonen. You know, the driver Luca Di signed to replace Michael because the big boss man wouldn’t cry and beg on his knees to have him back? Just for one more run with Todt. For old times sake.

Give me a break. These dealmakers are blowing this way out of proportion. Too much emotion. And the fans get left with another failed driver combo. The failure in both cases being Felipe Massa.

Whew, Button won the WDC. Big suprise there.

NOT.

They were lucky not to lose it. But of course, Newey secretly hates designing F1 cars, and ruined anything red bull had going. loljk, Newey is a good guy. ;)

Brazil was okay. At best.

Williams better cross fingers and hope to somehow beat everyone in 2010, which Frank Williams and Patrick Head both know in the back of their minds that winning anything is a fantasy, and the only good results will not come through the fast pace of their car, but by the failures and dnf’s of others. I know they don’t feel shame in this, just saying… they aren’t going to build a “fast” car.

The 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was okay. The new CGI graphic was disappointing, imo. And all the race showed was how much Jenson Button is a pussy. Webber’s tires sucked and Jenson still wouldn’t make a move even though he was clearly faster.

Dear Jenson Button,

Why didn’t you make a move dude? It’s the last race of the year, let it all hang out, and then if it doesn’t work out, just lock up a brake and claim after the race that at least you had the balls to do something rather than nothing. Be a hero, instead of showing everyone that clearly Red Bull Renault is clearly the better car, and at least one of its drivers World Champion by now.

Sincerely,

F1 Troll

Bridgestone gone after 2011. lol. Too bad we couldn’t have a Goodyear and Michelin competition. But I’m sure Bridgestone’s decision to leave had nothing to do with Nick Heidfeld’s recent comments:

“For me, on the long runs, they lasted OK but for some other guys they went away a lot quicker,” Heidfeld said in Singapore. “We have the prime tyre which is possible to do the race, obviously better, it maybe doesn’t help things but the tyre is not too soft.

“As there is no competition, they could be ten times better, we could have tyres that are softer, offer more grip and last the distance.

“On top of that, the idea of having to use both compounds is artificial to create something that is not sport.”

He added: “There is no tyre testing, we have the same tyres for the whole year. What is really surprising is that even now so late in the season sometimes things happen that you didn’t expect. It’s not just for the team, it’s for the whole paddock.”

No one disagreed.

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Pat Symonds Reads His Own Eulogy

Engineered two world championships for Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso each.

One must ask, “what did he ask of Jos Verstappen? Johnny Herbert? Giancarlo Fisichella?”

“I was not aware of the position of his contract negotiations although with the benefit of hindsight I now consider that he believed that his actions would have a favourable effect on these negotiations.”

In a letter sent to the FIA World Motor Sport Council, the keyword in that quote from Mr. Symonds is “position”. He does not deny knowing that they were going on, but at what position? Who can tell. Symonds is pretty much on board with anything his partner in crime Flavio Briatore says. I mean, he’s worked with the man for over 10 years if you include the Benetton days… trust is built in a working relationship of that length.

People often like to call Michael Schumacher “ruthless”. These are the men responsible for the first 4 seasons of his F1 career. You don’t think Symonds is just as ruthless as Schumacher is?

“On that night in Singapore last year I made a mistake the consequences of which I could never have imagined at the time. For that mistake I can only offer all of you, and all those touched by the action I was involved in, my profound apology.”

Sounds more like the apology I’d give to my wife and family after a night in Singapore, if ya know what I mean.

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“Crashgate” is Nothing New to Formula 1

Where are the F1 team bosses on crashgate?

Ari Vatanen? Jean Todt? Do these guys have duct tape over their mouths? This is the perfect soapbox opportunity, but they don’t want to step on toes. Especially Todt, who has has many bodies in the closet regarding his F1 past with Ferrari. No need to open up a can of worms, and that’s understandable. Everyone is just trying to distance themselves from angry Renault corporate robots and the butthurt Piquet family.

Secondly, Hans Stuck is a retard. “If Mercedes must pay 100 million euros for the lying affair, then Renault should have to pay 500 million for this,” he told the German newspaper Bild. Yeah right. That fine was over two years. So 50 million euros per year. McLaren’s budget for the 2008 season was 294 million euros. So the penalty was only 17% of McLaren’s budget for that year. If they want to go to 40 million euro caps for 2010, and that 500 million euro fine can be paid over two years, that’s still 625% of their budget. Have to close the plant. Jobs lost. And Renault’s employee suicide rate skyrockets. At least some wouldn’t be in France this time. That’s not so bad now, is it?

On British BBC radio, ex-Ferrari driver Eddie Irvine said cheating was common in his day and urged the World Motor Sport Council not to go overboard and push out an important team. Just goes to show that when big money is involved in this sport in the wrong ways, by greedy people, it results in three things:

  1. Crap technical regulations dumbing the cars down with increased development in the wrong area forcing the laws of physics to kill the sporting side of driving fast automobiles.
  2. Rigged results, through favors and bribes of all kinds. “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” The backroom deals we never hear about.
  3. Chopped up rules only to try to drum up tv ratings and money for F1. There is no sporting logic behind the rule changes we’ve gone through, since 1998.

What this stabs in the heart most is the tifosi. Makes you question ALL 7 of his championships. How much advantage was gained from those backroom deals that created the dominance of Ferrari that created a string of championships for Schumi? That dominance is what lead to further rule changes, is the ironic part here.

It’s almost like there’s an underground war that we don’t even know about. Almost a ghost, or even parallel sport of politics that is invisible to everyone that hasn’t asked Flavio Briatore about his favorite Heidi Klum story.

What we’re witnessing right now is the downfall of our sport. It’s just going through a cleansing processes right now. It will never be perfect. But it never has been. Hopefully the rebirth won’t last too many seasons.

Fixed results have happened. We’re not talking Austria 2001 and 2002 with team orders. We’re talking multi-team orders. Probably with money involved. All this trouble partially caused by the Concorde Agreement, we can all conclude.

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2009 Grand Prix of Italy Review – Pope Miracles Podium for Kimi

The tifosi prayed for a podium spot, and the Prancing Horse granted them a miracled, channeled down from the heavens through the pope, and into Hamilton’s brain.

Wow does the Ferrari suck. lol I mean seriously. Adrian Sutil was catching Kimi Raikkonen. The previous sentence makes no sense.

Anyone else notice Liuzzi didn’t challenge Hamilton? And people always gave Sauber such a hard time, yet no criticism where it’s due. And then he gives Kimi a hard time? Also to help get the Mercedes powered Button. Mercedes blocked Kimi. These are team orders of a whole other kind. These are multi-team orders. Why is there no punishment for this?

The tifosi prayed to the Prancing Horse, and Liuzzi’s engine went kablammo.

The only reason Brawns were even fast was because it was hot at Monza. A nice 82 degrees. Let’s see their dicks shrivel up and humiliate themselves in front of Honda execs on a cold Suzuka track in October.

I like how the SPEEDTV guys say Mercedes engine has 20 hp gain over the field and Peter Windsor comes on and says 25. This guy may very well ask his USF1 drivers to pull over for Lewis Hamilton. And I gurantee you, if one of their drivers takes out Lewis Hamilton, I bet you will not see that driver in the team next year. Possibly not even the next race. Bet he swallowed a large lump of pride when Lewis crashed. And to think, Mr. Windsor, at least Mika Hakkinen was leading in an inferior car in 2001 at Barcelona, and it was a mechnaical failure. Hambone can’t even drive half a lap to collect a podium. But then, neither can Mika. Speaking of Mika DNF’ing, I’m suprised we didn’t see you running through the bushes after the race, crying your eyes out.

No, instead what we saw was some pre-emptive planning by Lewis Hamilton to get the Ferrari seat when his contract expires. When his renewal comes, he’ll walk up next to Luca Di Montezemolo and say:

“hey, remember that time i threw away my shitty car so your shitty car could barely get a podium ahead of some indian piece of shit? sign me.”

And he will.

Poor Jarno Trulli. He’ll retire. Test driver at most.

Giancarlo Fisichella improved. From 14th to 9th. And looked slow as hell doing it. Let’s see some improvement when they put the regular aero configuration back on.

Does Kimi Raikkonen use periods? I’m pretty convinced he speaks in one continuous run-on sentence. He hasn’t used a period in over 10 years.

Grosjean is good. This kid is serious business.

Btw, to the SPEEDTV editing crew – when you do the Sounds of Speed, try to get onboards of the drivers struggling, and we hear their failed use of the throttle. That’s fun.

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2009 Italian GP Qualifying

I’m hoping for a 1988 repeat. Fast McLarens get stupid. Ferrari 1-2. In honor of the fallen. In 1988, it was the death of Enzo Ferrari. In 2009, we have a similar situation. If you use addition, and take Schumacher’s neck injury + Massa’s eyeball boinged at Hungary + sacking of Luca Badoer = roughly the equivalent of “suicidal” on the Forza Meter – a general measurement of tifosi morale.

How does Jenson Button’s onboard camera read? Virgin Monster or Monster Virgin?

I’m sure Scott Speed is crying his little eyes out in joy for his butt buddy Vitantonio Liuzzi. But that was a reall good drive.

And no, Rob Smedley, P14 is not good for tomorrow, you frikkin’ idiot.

During that onboard with Sutil as he started his run for pole, are you as afraid as I am that he might get too overexcited, thinking in his head, “oh bo oh boy!! I might get pole at Monza!” and then loses the rear end? Gosh this guy is cool.

Good effort by Kimi. This guy should be 2009 World Drivers Champion. Easily.

It’s done. Whoever gets it needs to donate it. To a Swiss/Finnish F1 drivers named Kimi Raikkonen.

McLaren didn’t deserve that. Who saw that?

This basically means the Force India chassis is better than Mclaren’s. They both have the Mercedes engine, and McLaren gets the advantage of KERS which is supposed to be worth “up to 4 tenths per lap, more in qualifying.” And he only qualified two tenths ahead. Soooooo…. you tell me.

I’d take Sutil over Massa, Mr. Montezemolo.

When I saw the McLaren bro club garage erupt in cheers, I wanted to puke my brains out. What we basically saw was a bunch of white-collar, paper-pushing, copier-fixing guys together just in a huge gay man lovefest. But then they’re winners, cause every employee there is a corporate robot. I mean seriously, even Newey has to say enough is enough, no matter how big a check Ron will sign.

Btw, just wanted to say I called it. Fisichella needs a full wet setup. Tomorrow if it rains, he will take glorious victory at Monza in his first race for Ferrari. There is no greater dream of man. Not going to Mars. Not developing cost-efficient nuclear fusion methods. And definitely not saving Darfur. It’s winning in a Ferrari at Monza. But your first race? And in the wet?! Historic. Unforgettable. Throw the dice, Fisi. Throw them, brah.

Which is a pretty good idea if you think back. 2003 Brazillian Grand Prix. Ocean-like. Fisi overtakes Kimi for the victory in the Bridgestone wets. Though in fairness, Kimi Raikkonen was on the Michelin wets. Anyone could overtake an F1 car equipped with wet Michelins in the rain. Anyone. My grandma. In her old stationwagon. But, just saying… parallels.

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