TWITTER; FRIEND OR FOE?

This post is just my opportunity to have a bit of a rant and I know there are many other F1 fans who would agree with me on this one. If you do, or don't, drop a comment below! Now a small warning; this post is quite uncharacteristic of me!

So, Twitter is a great social networking site. I love using it and I've had a lot of fun talking to and meeting other fans of Formula 1. After a race or after some breaking news it is the go-to place for all the latest opinions. I've gotten to talk to other fans about who their favourite drivers/teams are, what they think about driver contracts and who should stay/go to another team and had so much more F1 conversations. We also talk about non-F1 related stuff because we all have other interests and it is fun to be able to share those with each other. As a fan of a lot of other sports it was great during Euro 2012 to be able to talk to some about the football and talk to others about the European Grand Prix simultaneously. We all love Twitter, that's why we spend endless hours on it, and if you're not on Twitter I do think you're missing out. However, it't not all fun and games...

There are some fans on Twitter who take things too far. A debate, whatever the topic may be, is always interesting because you get to hear the opinions and thoughts of someone you may not necessarily agree with but respect each other enough to realise that you don't have to agree on everything. How boring would we and Twitter be if everyone thought exactly the same thing on every topic? That was a rhetorical question and the answer is very! It's good to encourage different points of view and talk about what you think with others. You may end up learning new things or even changing your initial opinion. By the way, that does not make you 'flaky'! If anything I think it's a good thing and shows you're not stuck in your ways.

Lately I've had some intellectual, F1-related chats via Twitter with other fans. That's been fun! However, there have been other fans who don't seem to realise that we won't all always agree. But that's fine, some people are like that. Now we get to the thing that really annoys me and it all started because of Pastor Maldonado. Ok, we all have our different opinions on him. I think it's obvious that Maldonado has been involved in many 'incidents' this season and last year so naturally some fans of the sport won't be and don't have to be fans of him. That said, their problems should lie with his driving style and that only... There is really no need, that I can see anyway, to start attacking a driver on personal issues that are completely unrelated to his driving or on-track behaviour. You may not like that he was involved in a collision that ended your favourite driver's race but how are his looks in any way related to that? I saw some tweets yesterday that were just plain nasty and I can't understand why some fans people would need to make things personal.

Then we get on to the disgusting issue of death threats on Twitter. I shouldn't even have to explain why this is wrong so I'm not going to. All I'll say is if you are a fan threatening to kill a driver on Twitter, whether you mean this seriously or not, you may have to reconsider that fan status. You can't call that a joke because it's just not funny and we should all know the effect our words, spoken or typed, can have!

All I want to say is we will all have our favourite or preferred drivers and you don't have to 'like' every driver on the grid but, at the end of the day, your passion for the sport should come first. We should all respect what these drivers do and recent, heartbreaking events in Formula 1 (my thoughts are with Maria de Villota and her family) show just what they risk. This is why death threats and wishing a driver crashes during a race are truly disgusting and uncalled for, in my opinion. Whatever a driver does on track adds to the excitement of the sport and if something like a crash does happen the stewards deal with it as they see fit; you don't have to agree with their decision and you can/should express that but there is a limit to how far you should go. We are all united by our love for what we believe to be the most exciting sport and that should come first!

*Rant over* Let me know what you think on this topic and what your Twitter experience is like!

Aqsa, @aqsasformula

SAUBER GIVES YOU WINGS.

You've probably already seen this picture but I just think it's so cool so I had to post it on here. And if you haven't already seen it, you're welcome!

And Sauber succeed where Red Bull have failed.

Aqsa, @aqsasformula

THIS VIDEO...

...is quite awesome!

Sauber F1 cut through one of their, I believe it's 2008, cars and after two years we can see the end result. The video gives a great insight into how an F1 car is built and reveals all the components of such a high-quality piece of engineering brilliance. Formula One really is at the pinnacle of technology and development and that's what makes it so unique and stand-out compared to other sports.

I'm really interested in the technical side of F1 and all the engineering aspects of it but sadly science was never my strong point; so I'm glad teams do things like this to simplify the technical side of the sport for all of us ordinary fans!

Watch it, enjoy it and leave a comment to tell me what you think...

Aqsa

RACE OF THE SEASON SO FAR...

We've had four incredible races to start the 2012 season and it is really difficult to pick a favourite. Looking ahead to the Spanish Grand Prix, I just hope that it gives us plenty more talking points and areas of deliberation. The teams are closer together this year, as I'm sure you've heard many times by now, so the outcome of races is harder to predict. A far cry from last year when you'd have been foolish to bet against Sebastian Vettel winning.

As for my favourite out of the four, I would have to choose the Chinese Grand Prix. It's hard to totally explain why but there was just so much more excitement surrounding this race, for me anyway. We'd had time to settle down from the season-opener in Australia and rain-hit Malaysia and the extent to which this season would be so different from those we've seen in the past few years was becoming clearer. No one knew who would win and all the teams has made improvements from Malaysia; which took place 3 weeks prior to Shanghai. Mercedes were stronger than ever and qualifying the day before the race was full of action.

The race itself had action throughout the field. The legendary (it really does qualify as legendary for me because four world champions and then some were involved) battle for 2nd place was definitely the highlight for me and it was also impressive to see Sebastian Vettel right in the thick of it after he'd qualified in 11th position.

A lot of the talk during this Grand Prix was about Bahrain and there just happened to be a Grand Prix on, that many media and press types ignored. China, however, was not to be ignored and when we look back on it in races to come, I'm sure we will all look back with fond memories of tight battles, wheel-to-wheel action and a first-time Grand Prix winner in Nico Rosberg.

Many people got in touch with @JackLeslieF1 on Twitter to tell him their favourite race of the season so far and it seems the majority of people agree with me- China was the clear favourite out of the first 4 races! Read his article here for a comprehensive review of the four races and fans' opinions.

Who knows whether we'll get a race as exciting as China again during this season? I think we will as the F1 calendar is yet to reach some amazing tracks that always offer great racing so watch this space. I'll do another 'Race of the Season So Far' once the European leg is over, by which time we'll have an idea in regards to title favourites and so on... But for now we can just enjoy all the great racing the European leg has to offer and it all begins with the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend.

Aqsa, @aqsasformula

(Image 1: BBC Sport, Image 2: dailymail.co.uk)

EASY AS ABC.

I thought it's be fun to do an F1 A-Z, summing up what F1 means to me right now! And let me know what some of your favourite things about F1 are as well...

A is for Australia- perfect venue for the opening race!
B is for Bahrain- plenty of controversy around this GP and rightly so!
C is for cars- duh! I was going to go for Canada but I'm missing this year's race because I'll be revising :(
D is for dangerous- 2 motorsport deaths last year were saddening and watching Senna reminded me of how much these athletes risk to do what they love! (I cried like a baby at that film.)

(image from staticmass.net)

E is for Ecclestone- sometimes eccentric, always entertaining!
F is for France- would love a French GP (imagine a Paris street race) but please not at the expense of Spa.
G is for Great Britain- home of motorsport and if I was an F1 driver it'd be the venue of my home Grand Prix.
H is for Hamilton- I have a lot of opinions on him but as I said in an earlier post, i'm going to try to remain impartial! ;)
I is for ingenious- some of the greatest minds in the world work in a sport at the pinnacle of technology!
J is for Japan- last year's race was fantastic and of course where Vettel was crowned youngest ever double world champion!
K is for KERS- I can never remember what that stands for but I think I've got it now; Kinetic Energy Recovery System! (And no, I didn't just Google it!)
L is for lights out- the most exciting moment of the race, for me, is the start when all 5 lights go out and you hear the engines roar for the first time- love it!
M is for 'more please'- 20 races aren't enough to satisfy my F1 cravings! Oh and Monaco- I would love to visit one day to watch the race and enjoy the glamour!
N is for night race- Singapore if my favourite race on the calendar for this reason! What can I say? I'm a very nocturnal person...

(image from motorauthority.com)

O is for overtaking- We see much more of it thanks to DRS but does that make racing fake? Whatever you think of DRS it has certainly led to some exciting race moments!
P is for Pakistan- it is my dream to one day see a Pakistani GP! However, I understand that this is unlikely.
Q is for (this is a tricky one!) questions- I feel journalists don't always ask the questions we viewers want answers to! Just give me a microphone... And a press pass... And flight tickets... You get my point!
R is for Red Bull- they have been the team to beat since 2010 but do we see that halo slipping?

(image from blogs.bettor.com)

S is for Spa- a classic for a reason and as I said earlier, I would hate to see it alternating with a French GP!
T is for time consuming- I spend race weekends watching the race, being too excited for the race or recovering from the race! Needless to say, work never gets done and this is why I won't be watching Canada- thank God for the BBC's excellent highlights package.
U is for understeer- I recently started taking driving lessons and I now understand why drivers hate this so much.
V is for Vettel (honestly took me a while to think of that)- record breaker by profession!
W is for wings, both front and rear- I watched Megafactories: Williams F1 and learnt a lot about front wings! I would highly recommend you watch it too.
X is for (Are you kidding me?) XX- Roman numerals for 20- the record number of races on the 2012 calendar!
Y is for yelling- and a lot of it! I'm always left with a sore throat on Monday morning.
Z is for Zzzz- I miss out on a lot of sleep to watch races like Australia and Japan but it is so worth it!

There are so many more I would add- like New Jersey (Can. Not. Wait!) or topical things of interest like the Resource Restriction Agreement but I think this list is reflective of the first things that come to mind when I think about Formula 1. Are there any that you would agree with or that you would change?

Aqsa