Racing- Formula 1

2 words- Pure Brilliance. They work to the tightest of time scales, push psychics to the limit, develop new technologies, McLaren- F-duct and steering braking, Redbull- rear blown defuser, Renault forward facing exhausts. The drivers are athletes, they are at their peak fitness, they work in opposite climates in all weathers. Everything has to be perfect and right, if its not then things go wrong, car sets fire, over or under steers, the down force doesn't work. Yes loads of money is spent but to make it safe, they have to spend, exotic materials- carbon fibre, titanium, aluminium, these materials are considerably more than steel. Powering the machinery to make parts and the wind tunnel to develop the aero parts. A front wing costs about £10,000 to develop and manufacture, you can buy a half decent car for that. I once went to a Prodrive open day and they had an engine out of a Aston Martin DBR9 was £250,000- you can buy a house for that!!!

Developing technologies to be passed down to the road car doesn't happen that often but in McLaren's new road car the MP4-12C they have developed their steering brake so the car handles better. KERS is a hybird based system that gives an extra boost to the formula 1 cars, im not sure who developed it first but formula 1 teams have developed it and McLaren and Mercedes are rumoured to have the best KERS system. Formula 1 is not the greenest of sports but then it will never be green, but they are improving/ changing the regulations to lessen the carbon footprint, smaller engines, going from V12s down to V10 and currently V8s but after 2014 they will have V6 turbos, changing the mix of the fuel can help and using more eco friendly trucks/transportation to events.

I do think the drivers are paid too much but they are the best in the business and to get into formula 1 you have to go through feeders series and most of the time your have to pay for the privilege so it sort of evens itself out. I do feel sorry for the drivers who have a bit of bad luck/ things don't go their way and they get dropped but the steaks and pressure are high and it is a results sports. Driver spats do make the sport alot more interesting as long as they don't go too far and people get seriously hurt.

The BBCs coverage has been brilliant, sometimes better than the races themselves!! It is a shame that they have to split it with Sky and half the BBC team are moving to Sky, but the BBC has to cut costs as an organisation and they see formula 1 as an area they can save money in. Sky are putting lots of money into their coverage and setting up a whole new channel dedicated to formula 1, but im afraid I wont be getting Sky because of the split.