The Glamour of Singapore, 2013

A street circuit where the race takes place at night? It’s got to be Singapore and it is a spectacle. It’s a challenging circuit, and one of the longest ‘natural’ races at just short of the two hour limit. Every driver is drenched in sweat afterwards but you can tell how much they love it. Sebastian Vettel was in his element again but by no means was it an easy win this year.

The range of strategies in play

We saw varying strategies in play, which gave us a few surprises. Jenson Button took a risk with a massive stint on his tyres in which he almost got a nice reward. Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso both made a long stint work and end on the podium, but McLaren still aren’t at that level yet.

Romain Grosjean and Mark Webber both had problems with the car this time around, a massive shame as both were looking at possible podiums at one point. What this would have meant for the entire race had they both lasted, we’ll never know. Webber’s grid penalty for the next race will also not make things any better. 

The safety car

This was the turning point of the race. It was at an awkward time in the race for the teams as they had to decide how to alter their strategies and predict what other teams would do. This proved to be essential in the final result, as I never would have predicted that podium this time around from the starting positions we had. If the safety car had been 5-10 laps later, it would have been a totally different game.

The unfortunate incidents

Daniel Ricciardo’s accident came after he signed his deal at Red Bull – thankfully – but it had a massive impact on the race, resulting in changing strategies that made for an interesting watch. This race was a lot more exciting than recent events, which the championship needed at this stage.

Paul Di Resta’s run of bad luck continued again – he needs to be careful he doesn’t inherit Webber’s misfortune – and at the worst possible time. With seats available in the driver market, he needs good results to get a better driver and show what he can do. The only positive was his progress until his retirement, he made his way through the field and initial signs were promising.

Good show by Mercedes

It finally looks like the Mercedes team have gotten over their problems earlier in the year but unfortunately haven’t been able to keep up with Red Bull. Then again, who has? There was some good hard racing between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg and it was good to see. I was hoping for a few more daring attempts but I’m not disappointed.

We saw a more upbeat Hamilton this time around, which was good. I do feel for Rosberg, the safety car didn’t help him at all – he might not have finished any higher but it would have been interesting to see – and after his fantastic start where he almost took the lead, I’d have loved to see that battle continue.

Summary

It wasn’t a bad race. It was a result for Vettel, who extended his lead to 60 points. Unless he has at least two retirements or finishes outside of the points twice, it’s hard to see him not taking his fourth world championship. Once again, Alonso showed his form by finishing second as did Raikkonen, even with a bad back and injections, for the final podium slot. The Mercedes team will be raring to go at the next race.

Results

1 – S. Vettel (Red Bull)

2 – F. Alonso (Ferrari)

3 – K. Raikkonen (Lotus)

4 – N. Rosberg (Mercedes)

5 – L. Hamilton (Mercedes)

6 – F. Massa (Ferrari)

7 – J. Button (McLaren)

8 – S. Perez (McLaren)

9 – N. Hulkenberg (Sauber)

10 – A. Sutil (Force India)

11 – P. Maldonado (Williams)

12 – E. Gutierrez (Sauber)

13 – V. Bottas (Williams)

14 – J. E. Vergne (Toro Rosso)

15 – G. van der Garde (Caterham)

16 – M. Chilton (Marussia)

17 – J. Bianchi (Marussia)

18 – C. Pic (Caterham)

19 – M. Webber (Red Bull) – DNF

20 – P. Di Resta (Force India) – DNF

21 – R. Grosjean (Lotus) – DNF

22 – D. Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) – DNF 

Oryx and Crake

I’m an avid sci-fi fan. It was my favourite genre growing up, and while that has given way to fantasy as I’ve gotten older, I’m always on the lookout for good science fiction novels. During my third year of university, I studied a module looking at medical ethics within writing. It was very “sciencey” – yes, not a word, but it is the word used to describe the module to me – but the module was rooted in reality. One of the books on the reading list was Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake. I was dubious at first, but this has since become one of my favourite books out of three years at university.

Some will call it science-fiction – and there is enough in there to classify it in that genre. The best term I’ve heard is speculative fiction, as this is something that could possibly happen in the future. This can be said of any science fiction story but some hit a bit closer to home because of the technologies and research being done at the time of writing, and this where Oryx and Crake crosses that line. Genetic modifications and manipulations, a strong underlying theme throughout the book, is in the news quite often anyway. That brings a sense of realism to the story. There’s more, but that would spoil the book.

I enjoyed the flow but it is fragmented. Your protagonist, Snowman, will take you into his past to set up the world the reader is first presented with. There are a lot of questions that are answered as you go through the story, and more questions that are left to your own imagination. Once you get past the change in time frames, there is a good flow to the story. You are given the end of the story at the beginning, and throughout this era, you will go through the events leading to it. It works well, but you need to stick with it, as there are a lot of names thrown at you in short spaces of time and they all have a role to play. Atwood uses everything meticulously. If not, there’s a reason, and I’ll get to that later.

Despite the science-fiction or speculative fiction genre, there is not much in the way of technical talk. Snowman is not a scientist and this shows through with his wording and characterisation. Rather than technical talk which might be more befitting the story and genre, there are much longer and unnecessary words. It really separates Snowman from the story, situation and genre all in one without losing anything. Brilliant.

I found the world addictive; it was fantastically descriptive but left me wanting more at every time. This is why The Year of the Flood was a bit of a saving grace for me. It is set in the same world as Oryx and Crake, but from different perspectives. The changing perspectives mixed with different time frames can disrupt the flow again, but it actually works well. It gives a much fuller account and the characters, places and events all tie in. It’s fantastic, but there will be more on that in a future post.

Overall, I love this book. It’s a great “what if” story and world, which is feasible in some small way – although you hope it definitely wouldn’t happen. Combine Oryx and Crake with Year of the Flood and you get a whole new view of the same story. Excellent planning and I’d love more to come in this world. 

Almost a Standard Day in Monza, 2013

Monza was interesting for a lot of reasons, but I was definitely hoping for some rain – just to mix things up a little! Without the rain, I figured Sebastian Vettel was going to race off and win. He did. There wasn’t as much distance as normal, but in the dry conditions, he was never really troubled. A few gearbox worries and a lockup on the first corner, but nothing he couldn’t handle. It was a good race from him.

The end of Webber’s European road

Well, it’s the end of Mark Webber’s European adventures as a Formula 1 driver, but he will still be racing in Europe in the future (although this detracts from my point). Not only did the Red Bull driver have a decent start this time, it was a solid race and he got on the podium, which was a fitting way to end this chapter of his life. I’m hoping he gets to the top step at least once this year, maybe on the very last race – that would be a really fitting end for him!

More misery for Di Resta

Paul Di Resta is missing something at the moment – it might be luck. He’s had a run of bad weekends and when something goes wrong, the rest of it goes wrong for him too. He’s got a brave face on and doing what he can but this is the time to really step up, mentally, and show everyone how good he is. The car isn’t half bad this year and some strong results to the end of the season could help him next year. The results do need to come his way for that to happen.

Trouble at Ferrari?

A lot has been said about the relationship between Fernando Alonso and Ferrari recently – and it’s hard to interpret what’s really going on. There’s plenty of tension, Alonso does not have the care he wants, but I can’t help feeling something is missing this year. Last year was one of the best seasons I’ve seen from him, or any F1 driver in a long time and that has vanished. Instead of supporting the team, he is making sly comments and statements, trying to get a reaction. I’m not a fan of that. If you have something to say, say it – either to the public or privately to the team. Get rid of the bad air and work past it.

I also didn’t see Kimi Raikkonen going to Ferrari this year. I figured it more likely than him going to Red Bull, but I thought it would cause the same problems. My guess would've been Nico Hulkenberg, especially after his outstanding performance this weekend. Whether it will work out is another question, and we'll see in time.

Summary

Hulkenberg stood out to me this around. It was another flash of the brilliance he is capable of – give the man a decent car and he’ll put it near the front, I’m sure. Force India and Di Resta need to dust themselves off and get back on it for the last races. As for McLaren, they’re still a long way off unfortunately. Can anyone stop Vettel?

Results

1 – S. Vettel (Red Bull)

2 – F. Alonso (Ferrari)

3 – M. Webber (Red Bull)

4 – F. Massa (Ferrari)

5 – N. Hulkenberg (Sauber)

6 – N. Rosberg (Mercedes)

7 – D. Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)

8 – R. Grosjean (Lotus)

9 – L. Hamilton (Mercedes)

10 – J. Button (McLaren)

11 – K. Raikkonen (Lotus)

12 – S. Perez (McLaren)

13 – E. Gutierrez (Sauber)

14 – P. Maldonado (Williams)

15 – V. Bottas (Williams)

16 – C. Pic (Caterham)

17 – G. van der Garde (Caterham)

18 – J. Bianchi (Marussia)

19 – M. Chilton (Marussia)

20 – A. Sutil (Force India) – DNF

21 – J. E. Vergne (Toro Rosso) – DNF

22 – P. Di Resta (Force India) – DNF

No. 5 – Final Fantasy X

After the announcement by Square Enix that Final Fantasy Versus XIII was to be renamed Final Fantasy XV, I’ve been thinking for a while it would be a good idea to go through my favourite Final Fantasy games so far – although I am going from the main, number titles – not sequels, spin-offs or other games at this point. They might come later. So, for this “top five” I’m starting with, yup, you guessed it – Final Fantasy X.

The story

I enjoyed FFX’s story a lot but it was pretty basic. There wasn’t much mystery – other than what really happened to Zanarkand and the truth about the Final Summoning. I think I figured out what was going to happen around the Guadosalam area.

The game was very linear, in that you had to go in a straight line for most of it. Sure, there are times you can turn back and revisit some places but there’s always a limit until you get much further in the game. That is kind of true of a lot of them, but there’s an option for free-roaming in many of these titles and I enjoy that option, so this detracted a little of the fun for me.

Tidus did annoy me overall, and Yuna, while strong in battle, was portrayed as weak and under-confident through much of the game and that annoyed me too. They were supposed to balance out but I never really felt it got that balance. Lulu and Wakka, that was balance!

Combat and the sphere grid

Of all the Final Fantasy games I’ve played, this is the easiest. If you save regularly and spend enough time growing stronger, there’s nothing that can stop you. For more of a challenge, the monsters you fight can have an active ATB, which means they will attack on a clock rather than waiting for a specific turn. If this is turned off, it becomes a simple matter of planning each move and having the supplies and skills to survive.

The sphere grid, while daunting at first, is surprisingly easy to master. The easier setting sets it up for you, allowing each character to master particular skills and fight certain enemies well, but you can do this on the advanced setting just as well, and it changes how you approach the game. This is interesting but it is very easy to make mistakes early on, especially for inexperienced players – although I’ve made a fair few mistakes myself along the way!

Blitzball

One of my favourite mini-games around is Blitzball and most of my time on any FFX save was actually spent on this. It didn’t matter to me you could unlock everything right away, and that you needed to do certain things first – it was a decent game that, with more work, probably could have stood on its own.

What did get to me was the stop-start nature, which is designed to let players make the best decisions but removes some of the pressure, and again, like the rest of FFX, makes it a bit too easy. If I could see one thing changed in this HD remake, it’d be to make Blitzball played in real-time and make it more difficult and fun. 

Summary

I enjoyed FFX – I really did – but more at the time of its release. I was a bit younger and a bit more taken in by the improved graphics (and voices). As I get older, it has lost a bit of appeal to me but it’s still a good game, with a solid story and one of the best mini-games I’ve found in many games, not just Final Fantasy. My biggest problem with it is that it’s too easy, especially as you can make monsters wait before they attack you. Why even have a pause button? Still, with the HD remake on the way, I’ll be playing it again very soon.

Oh, and in case anyone HASN’T done it, collect the Al Bhed primers and play the game again so you can understand the chatter early on and throughout. It’s nothing huge, but you get the nice sense of achievement for doing so.

The Champ Shows What He’s made of in Belgium, 2013

Plenty of people – myself included – thought that when F1 returned from its summer break, we’d see Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes continue where they left off in Hungary. Although the practise sessions were of mixed conditions, there was a feeling that Hamilton was not showing his true speed. Qualifying almost seemed to prove that and the race was going to be easy, right? Wrong.

Vettel takes control

Although not as obvious as his 2011 campaign, when Sebastian Vettel gets the lead early on, he can still control the race. It’s been one of the key strategies from him and the Red Bull team and the race at Spa shows it still works well. How much the mixed conditions impacted his qualifying, and whether the Mercedes have really overcome all of their problems, are two key factors that will determine how the rest of Red Bull’s title challenges go. After this result, it brings things back into perspective about who has the momentum over the next few races.

McLaren’s direction

McLaren had a better weekend than they have had for a while, and a botched strategy cost Jenson Button a potential podium – which would have been a massive boost to the team. They have switched their focus to next year’s car but since they began this year with a car that would have some impact to next year, I’m left wondering how wise that move is. Time will tell, but it looks unlikely that a win is on the cards for Button or his younger teammate, Sergio Perez.

Misery for Di Resta

I really feel for Paul Di Resta this weekend. He was having a pretty stable race before Pastor Maldonado wrecked his car. We’re very quick to judge Romain Grosjean for accidents but Maldonado has had plenty of his own since he entered F1 and I think his penalty was light – but what other penalty was there to give?

The Force India team has slipped back a bit – probably because McLaren are slowly moving back towards where they would normally be – but it was a decent result for Adrian Sutil with a few more points in the bag.

Stepping up

Qualifying gave us all a bit of a surprise this weekend – largely due to the weather – but also with some excellent strategy calls. Caterham and Marussia surprised everyone by getting it right and making it into Q2 – with the Toro Rosso cars missing out. It was not to be in the race but at least they are making progress – and in the future they can be mixing it with the rest on a more regular basis.

Despite their poor starts, Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne made it back up the field, with the former grabbing a point. The poor starting position wasn’t good but if the rumours are true and Ricciardo has signed a contract for Red Bull, it’ll be one less thing on his mind!

Summary

This was definitely not the most exciting race at Spa, which is a massive shame. It’s one of my favourite tracks and produces some of the most exciting races (and I would love to go there one day!). The weather might have mixed things up a bit more but I think Vettel had this one in the bag from the moment the lights went out. Two weeks until Monza and we get a change in the type of track.

Results

1 – S. Vettel (Red Bull)

2 – F. Alonso (Ferrari)

3 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

4 – N. Rosberg (Mercedes)

5 – M. Webber (Red Bull)

6 – J. Button (McLaren)

7 – F. Massa (Ferrari)

8 – R. Grosjean (Lotus)

9 – A. Sutil (Force India)

10 – Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)

11 – S. Perez (McLaren)

12 – J. E. Vergne (Toro Rosso)

13 – Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)

14 – E. Gutierrez (Sauber)

15 – V. Bottas (Williams)

16 – G. van der Garde (Caterham)

17 – P. Maldonado (Williams)

18 – J. Bianchi (Marussia)

19 – M. Chilton (Marussia)

20 – P. Di Resta (Force India) – DNF

21 – K. Raikkonen (Lotus) – DNF

22 – C. Pic (Caterham) – DNF

X-Wing: Mercy Kill

I’ve got a soft spot for the Star Wars Expanded Universe for quite a few reasons. When I was younger, these were the books that really got me back into reading by taking advantage of the geek inside me and coming up with some fantastic stories. Not only that, and more importantly now that I’m older, the huge range of writers who have contributed to this universe is incredible, and they all offer something different – a different view on Star Wars – to keep me hooked.

The X-Wing series is an excellent way into the Expanded Universe (EU) for anyone looking for an entry point. They are suitably separate from the overriding stories present in other books, and are very easy reads – you can go through each book very quickly thanks to a superb flow from both authors, Michael A. Stackpole and Aaron Allston. This series of books is probably the funniest in the whole EU – even though a lot of novels have their moments – The X-Wing books thrive off of this feature. Focusing on minor characters from the films, and new introductions all the time, this element keeps readers interested and invested in these characters, who rarely turn up elsewhere.

X-Wing: Mercy Kill is the tenth book in the series, taking place towards the end of the Fate of the Jedi series. Many of the characters are new, but the focus is on the leader of Wraith Squadron, Face, and our favourite Gamorrean, Piggy – although he prefers to go by Voort now! There are some family names too, with Wedge Antilles’ daughter carrying on her father’s work – that’s a nice touch to say Wedge is a fan favourite and X-Wing legend!

There are a lot of flashbacks throughout the novel, all focused on Piggy – I mean, Voort – and his decision to retire. Despite a thrilling, and often hilarious, adventure Piggy is battling his demons throughout and it was great to see a new side to the character, who was always one of my favourites from the Wraiths. There’s a lot for Piggy to contend with, including a Yuuzahn Vong (I know, right?!) and a second Wraith Squadron but nothing was given away too soon.

The flashbacks did annoy me a little, I admit. I think it was bordering on too many and took some of the focus away from the newer Wraiths, who all have their own stories to tell. As such, we missed out on some of that and it’s only because I’ve caught snippets of information from other stories I could put the pieces together. For the newcomer to the EU, Mercy Kill might not be the best starting point as the trips through memory lane, and the references to other Wraiths, will be lost.

This is a fantastic book, but not the entry point the other X-Wing books are. It’s much darker in nature and humour, following the path the Expanded Universe has taken since the New Jedi Order series.

If you have some knowledge of the EU, then this is definitely worth a read. If you're new to the Star Wars books, I’d read at least the older X-Wing books and the Fate of the Jedi series at the very least before tackling this one.  

F1 2013: The Story So Far

It’s been an interesting season this year, with plenty happening both on and off the track. McLaren are suffering horribly but with small improvements before the break, Mercedes have had mixed form but seem to be pulling things together, Ferrari are going backwards, Lotus not going anywhere and Red Bull still on top at this stage – but for how long?

Tyres

This year, a lot of the headlines, rumours and races have been dominated by the tyres. This has been true of every year Pirelli has been in the sport but never to such a negative degree. Prime examples of this are the blowouts in Silverstone and other races and the ‘secret test’ by Mercedes and Pirelli after Barcelona.

We have seen Pirelli go to extremes this year and it hasn’t worked, unfortunately. The problem is, using tyre compounds from previous years means teams already have data on them and a lot of the unpredictability the supplier is supposed to be bringing to each race won’t be there. It’s certainly an issue but it would be nice for racers to push flat out again and show what they can do. There have always been limitations of some sort and those who make the most of them end on top.

The drive everyone wants?

Mark Webber’s drive is probably one of the most desired seats in the sport right now – at least on one hand. Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso have all been named as potentials. I said recently that I didn’t think Raikkonen would go, and I still maintain that. Yes, it’s a good drive but he’s savvy enough to know that Sebastian Vettel will always be number one in the team, and with some of the stunts he’s pulled off, it wouldn’t be good – and Raikkonen wouldn’t be as nice as Webber.

The other side is this: Why would an experience driver go there with that knowledge? For someone in Ricciardo’s position it’s a no brainer – he gets a better car and that may help him down the line. Alonso and Raikkonen don’t need that; they need to rally their current teams around them to get the best results, in my opinion.

Looking to next year

New rules for next year should shake things up a bit (hopefully for the better as far as McLaren are concerned). It’s got that air of excitement about it that has been missing this year. I’m a firm believer that motorsport, especially at the top level like F1, should be pushing boundaries and passing technology down to road cars. That seems to have diminished recently, and hopefully this will encourage a return of that practice.

Stand out driver?

It’s hard to pick out a stand out driver so far – there’s been a few. I think it has to be Lewis Hamilton. He’s made the move to Mercedes work and its early days. They’ve done far better than he or anyone else thought – especially with their form from the end of 2012. If they really have got over their tyre wear issues, they’ll be a serious threat over the reason of the season.

Worth a mention

Saying that, we’ve had some impressive performances this year. Both Toro Rosso drivers have upped their game this year and produced fantastic results, with Ricciardo having a shot at the Red Bull seat for next year. Paul Di Resta has done very well this year, proving that he is going to be a top driver should he get the car under him, and his teammate, Adrian Sutil, has done a great job on his Formula One return.

Summary

It’s not been the greatest year, which is a shame. Politics and drama have come to the forefront again and are overshadowing the racing going on – and there is some great racing happening when we are allowed to focus on it. I get the feeling the whole sport is waiting for the rule changes next year to bring some new life to Formula One. I really hope so.