I watched my first F1 race in it’s entirety for some time yesterday and the latest FIA meddling has made racing even more frustrating to watch. Yesterday’s race was a predominantly wet event so there was a fair bit of cutting chicanes in the difficult conditions. Which of course is a problem after last weeks shambolic decision to penalise Hamilton for cutting the chicane avoiding colliding with Raikkonen. Now the new ruling is that if a driver “gains an advantage” by cutting a chicane, the driver in question needs to let the car they overtook back through again then not attempt to overtake again until after the following corner. The amount of times this happened during the race at Monza was ridiculous and destroyed the spectacle of racing. But all credit to the sixth race winner this season, Sebastian Vettel who qualified on pole position and lead from start to finish with the exception of a few laps when he had to pit for tyres and fuel. The 21 year old becomes the youngest ever race winner in F1 history beating Fernando Alonso by a year. Championship rivals Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton finished in 6th and 7th respectively so Hamilton’s lead is down to one point going into the first ever night race in Singapore which is a complete unknown for everyone, which should be fun if it rains as predicted! F1 needs to change as the series is losing fans in their droves now that the sport is more about politics than races, how many races have we seen decided in the courtroom instead of on the track, far too many in my opinion, all these rules and regulations are stifling the sport!
If the rumours are true about Plymouth Argyle chairman Paul Stapleton having a massive bust up with manager Paul Sturrock then Luggy could be shown the door within weeks. Apparently Stapleton criticised Sturrock after the disgraceful showing at Home Park against Norwich on Saturday which leaves Argyle propping up the Championship table right now. Allegedly Sturrock hit back at Stapleton over his tightness in releasing funds for new players. I’m torn on this one, although I think that Sturrock has made some bad signings and even worse team selections and tactics I believe that he should be given until January to prove himself. If things don’t improve then his position will become untenable and will have to go, I think Sturrock himself must realise that, but who will replace him?