Motorsport on TV in 2009 – that’s the theme for this last normal week of the year

It’s not been an easy year for MotoGP coverage. First it was going to be BBC only, then Eurosport got it back too, albeit with the MotoGP race delayed.

Then there was Sepang, when the BBC switched channels halfway through and finished before the podium and interviews. Not a lot to make die-hard fans happy.

One BBC highlight was an appearance from Randy Mamola, who was lost from the Eurosport coverage. He couldn’t resist a cheeky comment about the furore, if you can call it that.

What of the BBC’s coverage, then? Suzi Perry is fine, and seems to put riders at ease well and get some decent interviews as a result. Matt Roberts I rate very highly, mainly because he knows what he’s talking about and isn’t self-obsessed.

Which brings me to the commentators. I had warmed to Charlie Cox, but now I’ve very much cooled again. I’ve heard his one-liners too many times (“he needs that like a third armpit”, “are there any questions”, etc), and the tedious banter between him and the rather bland Steve Parrish is tiresome.

There are exceptions though, and one such was Cox bursting Jorge Lorenzo’s pomposity bubble during his victory celebrations in Japan.

Plenty of room for improvement, then. But I’m not sure I can see it being made.

With Formula 1 confirmed yesterday at Silverstone for 2010 and thereafter, it was no surprise to find in my inbox this morning a nice little advert from the circuit. And I’m tempted to get tickets.

I didn’t really consider going last year, perhaps reasoning that it would be nice to go to the first race at Donington Park. Optimism, there.

But now it’s a few years since I’ve been to see Formula 1, so it’s about time to make the most of the British Grand Prix and bloody well go. We’re fortunate that it hasn’t gone the way of the French Grand Prix, and the threat of that – however small – has made me appreciate it all the more. It’s not cheap, but it’s a special event.

I also have to spare a thought for Donington Park, and in some respects I regret not going to this year’s MotoGP race. I’ve only been once: we were late, the weather was fairly miserable, and it took hours to get out of the car park. What will become of the circuit now? Downscaling to concentrate on national series seems most likely to me – which might not be a bad thing.

So maybe I’ll have to go to the MotoGP at Silverstone too. It’s a shame that both top events are at the same venue, but there’s always plenty to attract me to Brands Hatch and Thruxton, so I can’t complain. We’ve got it pretty good.

Mention Antonio Banderas, and I can only think of South Park, and the episode where Cartman becomes obsessed with an Antonio Banderas blow-up doll.

So the headline ‘Antonio Banderas Moto2 team takes shape‘ leapt out at me as I was idly looking at the news on the MotoGP website.

It’s exactly what it says: Antonio Banderas has taken on the role of team owner for the Promoracing Moto2 entry. Best team owner in motorsport? Probably.

Despite being pushed hard by Mikko Hirvonen in the second half of the season, Sebastien Loeb took his sixth World Rally Championship title at Rally GB yesterday. If we can just get Petter Solberg in a consistently competitive car next year – and that looks fairly likely – then we could even have three drivers fighting for the crown next year.

Six world titles? Rubbish! Valentino Rossi took his ninth yesterday – and his seventh in the top MotoGP class.

The whole chicken celebration was slightly confusing, but easily explained by the man himself: when hens get old, they stop laying eggs, but he’s still laying eggs. Though his eggs are championships. Anyway, that’s why he had a live chicken with him on the cool down lap. He’s a funny little man.

What about Casey Stoner though? Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo scything through the field was impressive, but Stoner was just astonishing, all alone at the front. If only he hadn’t been sort of ill earlier in the season, then missed three races, the championship might still be alive. But there’s always next year.

Cal Crutchlow took the Supersport World Championship title in Portugal yesterday, and will partner the returning James Toseland in World Superbike in 2010, in the factory Yamaha squad.

Meanwhile Ben Spies, who will take Toseland’s place at Tech 3 Yamaha in MotoGP, took the Superbike World Championship title on his very first attempt. Poor old Noriyuki Haga finished second in the championship yet again.

Top Brit in the championship Johnny Rea took an impressive double podium, so with a season’s experience under his belt, big things will be expected of him next year on that factory Honda.

Encouraging signs too for British Superbike champion Leon Camier, who finished 6th and 7th in the races in Portugal. His plans for next year are yet to be announced, but surely the world stage beckons, whether it’s World Superbike, World Supersport or Moto2.

The FIA held a World Motor Sport Council yesterday, and calendars for pretty much all it’s championships came out of it.

It’s interesting to see where the British events stack up. It’s mainly not at Donington Park.

The Formula 1 calendar doesn’t specify venues, so it’s just Great Britain down for 11th July 2010, but the FIA will be working on the assumption that it is Donington Park. We shall see about that.

The standalone Formula Two round moves from Donington Park to Silverstone, which also hosts the new FIA GT1 World Championship. The World Touring Car Championship – with F2 in support – remains at Brands Hatch.

Away from the FIA, we know that A1GP won’t be visiting Britain in its fifth season. Since I last mentioned that sad fact, I’ve found this article from Kent News. In short, Brands Hatch decided against having A1GP back, due to the financial uncertainty of the series, and falling ticket sales for the event.

Brands Hatch does, however, appear on a provisional Superleague Formula calendar released yesterday, which was quickly retracted. Silverstone is the other British circuit on the possibly wrong calendar. Donington Park hosted the two previous British rounds of Superleague Formula.

MotoGP moves to Silverstone next year, so if the Formula 1 falls through for Donington Park, the only international event left there would be the Superbike World Championship.

Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket. In Donington Park’s case, a really expensive basket that hasn’t been built yet.

Like a lot of people, I’m keen for the Formula 1 drivers title to go down to the final race in Abu Dhabi in a fortnight. But what I definitely don’t want is for one of the title contenders to bin it on the first lap in today’s Brazilian Grand Prix, as a certain Jorge Lorenzo did in the MotoGP race in Australia early this morning.

He managed to whack into Nicky Hayden mere moments into the race, but while Hayden was sensible enough to go straight on into the gravel, Lorenzo tried to take the corner after regaining control of his bike, and slid stupidly off the track. Silly man. He’s still theoretically in with a chance of the title, but Rossi has a 38 point lead with 50 points to play for, so it’s looking more than good for The Doctor.

Incidentally, I was asked why he’s called that while I was watching the race. I didn’t have much of an answer. Even Wikipedia, which has a section about Rossi’s nicknames, isn’t very helpful. And if Wikipedia doesn’t know, then no-one knows.

So: what do we want to happen in the Formula 1 race today? There can’t be many people who wouldn’t like Rubens Barrichello to win at home, and starting from pole he has a chance. He is lighter than Mark Webber beside him on the grid though, and indeed everyone else in the top ten, so maybe Webber goes into the race as favourite.

Whatever happens, Jenson Button will go to Abu Dhabi with at least a four point lead in the championship. I still really, really want Button to take the title, but as I said, I do want it to go down to the last race.

So let’s have Barrichello win, and Button drive through the field from 14th on the grid to finish 4th. That would give Button a nine point advantage, the best start he can have going to Abu Dhabi without actually sealing the championship today.

It’s looking dry in Brazil at the moment – unlike in qualifying – though there are suggestions from some that it could rain at some point. If it does, then anything could happen. And I won’t complain if Button wins an unpredictable race to take the title today.

We shall see, and I’ll be spewing nonsense on Twitter during the race.

Casey Stoner’s return to MotoGP from sort of illness only gets better, having qualified on pole for his home race in Australia. He should win, and my God it’s good to be back up to three riders who can beat Valentino Rossi once in a while. Rossi starts 2nd, Dani Pedrosa – who crashed in qualifying – 3rd, and Jorge Lorenzo 4th. Colin Edwards starts 5th, as always.

The most remarkable event from Phillip Island so far wasn’t in qualifying though, but in second practice on Friday. Marco Melandri hit a seagull full on, and pretty much destroyed the poor thing. You can see it here on the MotoGP Facebook page.

Then there was Formula 1 qualifying. Q1 went pretty much as planned, apart from a red flag caused by a Giancarlo Fisichello spin, and finished about 15 minutes late, albeit in rather wet conditions.

Q2 was delayed, but eventually got going about an hour after the start of qualifying. Not too bad. The weather wasn’t much better though, and it was quickly red flagged by Vitantonio Liuzzi crashing.

The restart came more than an hour later. The wait was a whole lot of fun though – for the BBC team especially, who moved from BBC One to Two during the mammoth delay, and had to put together a whole lot of padding. Note: it wasn’t actually fun.

Sebastian Vettel had already gone out in Q1, and Jenson Button followed him when Q2 eventually concluded, having been on the wrong tyres for the drying track. No dramas for Q3, just lots of trading of fastest laps, ending up with Rubens Barrichello on pole at home. He was quite happy about that. Fuel weights yet to be released, so we’ll see how things look when we know those.

But if that was an unconventional build up to a race, it’s been far worse for the A1GP season opener in Australia next weekend, which has mainly not prepared at all, and so has been cancelled. Series boss Tony Teixeira is characteristically defiant:

“A1GP may be down, but I do not accept we are out. We have had four exciting seasons that have proved we are a force in the sport and now we shall consolidate on what we have achieved to date. My efforts will be on finding a way forward with the support of some very loyal people.”

I do hope he succeeds. I like A1GP.

It’s funny how, at this point in the season, certain drivers suddenly find themselves with an impetus to perform just that little bit better.

Toni Elias is the man I always think of as suspiciously good when he’s looking for a new contract. And, a quick look at his race results sort of backs it up: only one of his six MotoGP podiums has been in the first half of a season. It looks like he might not have been so lucky this year, and could be on his way to the new Moto2 category.

There are several Formula 1 drivers who want to be displaying a bit of form right about now, and on the weak evidence of today’s first practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix, they might be.

It was the Red Bull Racing, Brawn GP, McLaren and Williams drivers making up the top eight, but not in the usual order.

We’re used to see Rubens Barrichello ahead of Jenson Button now, alas, and it’s not rare for Mark Webber to beat Sebastian Vettel. But Heikki Kovalainen in front of Lewis Hamilton? Not that rare, admittedly, but still: it’s almost like he has something to prove. There’s plenty of chatter about Kovalainen though, and chances are we’ll see him on the grid next year.

Most significant – but still not very significant, admittedly – is Kazuki Nakajima finishing a full two places ahead of Nico Rosberg, the undisputed King of Practice. With Williams ending their Toyota engine deal, they have no reason to keep Nakajima, so he’s definitely looking for something for 2010. And unless I’ve missed something, there’s not much in the way of interested whispers from other teams.

At least he’s doing all he can. Romain Grosjean is about equally likely to be retained by Renault from the sound of things, but he’s not beating his team mate. Or anyone: he finished today’s first session last. Poor little guy.

Getting up for the Formula 1 this morning was a little bit pointless, really. Sebastian Vettel drove wonderfully to win, but it was a race distinctly lacking excitement, though there was interest in seeing Jenson Button drive through to 8th, just behind Rubens Barrichello. But if nothing else, the championship is nicely poised, Button 14 points ahead of Barrichello, who is now just 2 points ahead of Vettel.

The MotoGP didn’t really deliver either, despite a close start amongst the front runners. Jorge Lorenzo was impressive in taking the win, but his performance was overshadowed by the returning Casey Stoner, who finished a remarkable 2nd. It’s good to have you back, Casey. Not sure what was wrong with Valentino Rossi, who was off the pace in 4th, behind tiny Dani Pedrosa.

The World Rally Championship on Spain’s tarmac roads went as anyone would have predicted, with Sebastien Loeb winning from Dani Sordo – would could have won – and Mikko Hirvonen. That leaves Hirvonen a single point ahead of Loeb, which sets up the season-closing Rally GB perfectly. Loeb has more wins than Hirvonen, so needs to score a point more than the Finn to take the championship, by my reckoning.

So the excitement didn’t come out today in the top world series, but least in the F1 and WRC the weekend’s action has worked spectacularly well for an exciting climax to the championships. Which is exactly what we saw today in the British Touring Car Championship. But that deserves a post all of its own.

A quick word about the very close 125cc race though, which was particularly eventful for Bradley Smith, who led the race more than once, dropped as far as 7th, and ended up 3rd. His rival for 2nd in the championship, Nicholas Terol, didn’t finish, so Smith now has 11 points of breathing space in that little battle. It’s by no means enough to be comfortable though.

Mental, mainly.

Formula 1 qualifying at Suzuka had crashes aplenty, stopping the sessions numerous times. The Brawn GP guys were lucky to get through Q2, leaving it down to a single run at the end. It was truly heart-stopping stuff, made worse by Sebastien Buemi having a big old crash just in front of them, bringing out the yellow flags.

Everyone got through the debris, but for not slowing down under yellow flags, Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Fernando Alonso and Adrian Sutil all have five-place grid penalties. Buemi has one too, for pointlessly dragging his damaged car back to the pits; so do Vitantonio Liuzzi and Heikki Kovalainen, for gearbox changes. Mark Webber will have to start from the pitlane, having changed chassis; the same goes for Timo Glock if the injuries from his crash aren’t too severe. If Glock can’t race, Toyota will try to get dispensation for Kamui Kobayashi to take his place.

The FIA have officially deemed it far too complicated, so they’re going to mull it over and release a definitive grid in the morning before the race. There is a provisional grid though, and the first three rows shouldn’t change, so it will be Sebastian Vettel starting from pole alongside Jarno Trulli, with Lewis Hamilton and Nick Heidfeld on the second row, Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Rosberg on the third.

Vettel is competitively fuelled, so I reckon he’s on for the win. But if the race is anything like qualifying, we could be in for an eventful race. It had better be, anyway, because I don’t want to get up at 6am for nothing.

At Silverstone, Tom Chilton’s Ford Focus took pole in the British Touring Car Championship. The Ford Focus has been a bit of a dog of a car for most of its debut season, so it’s a good job for Team Aon – and a good sign for next year. Title contenders Jason Plato and Fabrizio Giovanardi are 2nd and 3rd, but championship leader Colin Turkington is making life hard for himself down in 10th. Turkington will have to rely on his BMW’s rear-wheel advantage at the start, but with another two BMWs ahead of him – and they’re not his team-mates – it’s not looking like an easy task. It certainly bodes well for the races though.

As for MotoGP, the headline is that Casey Stoner is emphatically back. After three races off, he put his Ducati third on the grid – and it really is his Ducati, because it’s been proven time and time again that no-one else can ride the thing. It remains to be seen whether he can last a race distance though. Jorge Lorenzo starts from pole, with Valentino Rossi 2nd, and Dani Pedrosa 4th. Colin Edwards is yet again best of the rest. James Toseland? Bloody 12th.