Hamilton: "...to all the guys back home 'Good job'"

That's what Lewis said at the Saturday F1 press conference, as reported by Planet F1.

Now if I were Lewis Hamilton, I would have said the same thing. Very classy, Lew.

Australian Grand Prix qualifying results

These are interesting times... from this article on Planet F1.

Times
01. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:26.714
02. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:26.869
03. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.079
04. Massa Ferrari 1:27.178
05. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:27.236
06. Trulli Toyota 1:28.527
07. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:28.687
08. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:29.041
09. Glock Toyota 1:29.593
10. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari No time
11. Barrichello Honda 1:26.173
12. Alonso Renault 1:26.188
13. Button Honda 1:26.259
14. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:26.413
15. Webber Red Bull-Renault No times
16. Raikkonen Ferrari No time
17. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:27.207
18. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:27.446
19. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:27.859
20. Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:28.208
21. Piquet Renault 1:28.330
22. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:29.059

Of course, the first question is what happened to the current World Constructor Champion, Ferrari? Well, the World Driving Champion's racecar failed in Q1, and the stewards didn't let Kimi Raikkonen go out in Q2, according to the article. Fascinating.

And It's On Down Under!

I have to admit that I am not adjusted to the time diffential, but here it is, the first Grand Prix of the year underway, under the way in Melbourne Australia.

Guess who's got fast time so far? Yep, Lewis Hamilton is leading the way after the second Friday practice (sheesh, it's still Thursday night here!), after finishing second to Kimi Raikkonen in the first practice.

Red Bull's Mark Webber was second fastest in Prac Two, followed by Felipe Massa in the other Ferrari, Hamilton's new McLaren Mercedes team mate Heikki Kovalainen and then David Coulthard grabbed fifth in the other Red Bull car.

Raikkonen could only manage sixth. And where was Fernando Alonso? All the way back in 13th! At least he was first Renault; his new team mate, Nelson Piquet Jr., turned a 1:29.518 for NINETEENTH PLACE, nearly three seconds slower than Lewis.

Beg Pardon... I Must Have Been Napping...

Actually, I've been paying most of my sporting attention to the U.S. Supercross series, which started right around the date of my last post here. I didn't have much to say, and I wanted to wait until the off-season, pre-season flying fur settled. Now, cars are being readied and it's almost time to go racing!

Here comes Melbourne! Wow, I'd love to be there for this race.

Hamilton signs 5 year deal with McLaren

According to this Autocar article, Lewis will get about $28 million a year until 2012, for a total of about $140 million.

If I were Lewis, I'd find something very interesting to invest in...

Man, Driver, Personality, Qualifier, Rookie... of the Year!

Lewis reportedly took home a lot of mantel-piece bling from the F1 Racing "Man of the Year" Awards. And even though he garnered 5 trophies, the F1 Fanatic is surprised he didn't also win "Start of the Year" for his tenth-to-fifth blast-off at the Nurburgring.

Photo courtesy F1 Racing online

Wembley Stadium gets ready for the Race of Champions. I'm looking forward to seeing what American Travis Pastrana can do against Lewis Hamilton...!

Photo courtesy Planet F1.com