To everything, turn, turn

Well one season ends and another begins. The last race of the 2005 Formula One season was held in China at 2:00 AM my time, and Chris played his first hockey game of the year at 7:30 AM. Because I "taped" the race on my new PVR we watched in the afternoon long after Chris' game. (That didn't work out too well, as the race coverage was partially pre-empted by boxing and we missed the post-race comments because the two safety car deployments meant that the race went longer than usual.)

Chris is back on the Bedford Bisons, the team he first played on three years ago, this time in the Peewee division. His luck is holding as once again he seems to be on a good team. Sadly they lost their first game 4 - 1 even though it was mostly played in the other team's end. I hope I can keep him (and I) motivated through a long winter of early Sunday morning games!

The Chinese Grand Prix was a bit anticlimactic, in spite of Michael Schumacher's pre-race collision with Christijan Albers' Minardi. Renault's Fernando Alonso started on the pole and stayed there. Beside him was his team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella, who eventually ended up in fourth after losing a place to Kimi Raikkonen during the second pitstop and another place because of a penalty for blocking traffic in the pit lane. Kimi's team-mate Juan-Pablo Montoya started fifth and raced well until his car was badly damaged when it hit a drain cover that had popped up. Ralf Schumacher took his Toyota from ninth to third with a clean drive and claimed the final podium position.

Renault clinched the constructor's championship with their first and fourth place finishes, so they take home both the driver's and the constructor's trophies this year. Their consistency has been rewarded, but I think McLaren had the better driver in Kimi and also the better car. Next season will undoubtably see these two teams out front, with plenty of great racing.

There are lots of changes ahead though with new regulations, drivers changing teams and teams being bought and sold. Renault and McLaren were clearly the cream of the field this year, but Toyota, BAR (changing to Honda) and Williams look like they are positioned to challenge. What about Ferrari? Despite their third place team finish they were rarely competitive. Michael Schumacher went from world champion to also-ran, and finished the season by spinning out while following the safety car.

Listening to: Breakaway by Big Pig from Bonk.