No Poetic Justice

It has been a Ferrari dominated year but the party stopped in Brazil with Juan Montoya taking Williams' first victory of the year. Ferrari could only muster 3rd from Rubinho and 7th from Michael. If we had Steve Quartermain aka Quarters here, I'm sure he would be only too happy to rattle off the Ferrari stats for you in a vain attempt to show his knowledge of the sport. But Quarters isn't here so we'll have to skip the stats and move on to the underSteer results before the awards get announced by our special guest live from Interlagos. After qualifying, DNF - Dead Near Fence closed the margin to bitter rival, The Schuminator, to just 2 points in the battle for 4th. In the end The Schuminator held on and in fact overtook St Leonards to take 3rd by just one point with DNF a further 4 points back. The round winner was A Toy Mon who has become the first punter to take back to back round wins. Second was taken by the in form Fearless Ferrari Racing (FFR) to make it 4 podiums in the final 6 races. Rounding out the podium was Sennamental Favourite. Coming into this round Juan for the Road had a chance of taking the title from Dead Sennas and I was one of the dreamers who thought it would happen, especially after Rubens got pole. Juan for the Road had Rubens first and Dead Sennas had Rubens second. It wasn't to be though and Juan for the Road had an absolute dud round scoring just 50 points, giving Dead Sennas a very Dead Sennas victory margin of 69 points. JftR has now joined the likes of Big Red and Honey, I Shrunk The Kids (now Yoong Talent Time) as punters that have lead for most of the season, but lost it at the end. So I must say congratulations to Dead Sennas for winning an F1 tipping contest with more than one person in it. Well done.

Now before we cross to Interlagos for the awards I would like to take a look back at the season that was. Before a wheel was turned in anger the "talking it up" had begun. In The Dossier Gladious gave last year's rookie of the year, McWillari, the poison chalice by naming them the one to beat. Perhaps that was more mental disintegration than anything, and if so, it looked like it had worked. McWillari was 26th after Australia, then 27th after Great Britain. Eventually McWillari got his groove back, just like Stella, to finish 12th. Yoong Talent Time was also happy to talk it up. In a communiqué to another underSteer punter YTT said: "I AM going to win underSteer this year. Why? Because it is my destiny!!!!". Obviously, YTT uses Star Wars-isms a lot for someone who claims to have never seen the movie. Also, YTT mustn't have factored in the Troy Bayliss / Big Red hangover effect from losing the championship last year. In the Sules Says reports we saw Daryl Beattie come out of his shell more and more with some rather risqué reports, which I blame on Thruster's trip of sleeze to Melbourne. In the racing we've seen; Schuey win a few races, Trulli become a racer then become Trulli, Sato being his inconsistent self, Kimi beating up track marshals, Ilmor engines lunch themselves, a Mercedes powered car win a race, DC hold out optimism of getting an F1 drive next year, Button once again trying to leave a team when they become competitive, Jaguar grilling BBQ's ass, and JPM trying to beat up a camera-man. What a season it has been and next year will be very interesting with all the driver changes, but before that I'll cross to Brazil where we have James Allen standing by to announce the underSteer Awards, James...

Well thank-you Scotty and can I say WOW what a rock and roll intro and NOWWWWWWW I will GOOOOOO with the first award.

That being the The Outrageous Tip Award

My sources tell me that 2 punters had Jenson Button dnfing once. For me, this should be enough to win this award. But, the actual winner is Baby Schumachers. Baby Schumachers gets the award for picking Bruni to qualify 8th in Australia and for picking Pantano (as the bonus driver) to qualify 8th in Bahrain. Baby Schumachers was closely followed by dizzy for having Fisichella 2nd in Malaysia and Juan for the Road for having Pantano 7th in Australian qualifying.

now we have the next cab off the rank with The Rookie of the Year

In the F1 championship the rookie of the year in my opinion was definately Timo Glock (unfortunately Jenson cannot receive this award) for his solid yet unspectacular performances including Jordan's best finish of the year with 7th in Canada. In underSteer the clear Rookie of the Year is Juan for the Road. JftR was very quiet on the comment front throughout the season but managed to make lots of noise where it mattered with a stonking FIVE podiums including 2 wins to finish 2nd overall.

now it's on to The CARTERCUS presents Who Was Ripped Off The Most By The Bonus Driver Award

And the winner is the hurricane of a punter, Sennamental Favourite, for picking Fisichella correctly in Canada before the scrutineers cruelly took it away by disqualifying Williams.

next is The Yoong Appreciation Award

Well you know the drill, this is no surprise. The winnner is Eyes of the Dragon, YESSSSSSS. EotD gets this award for continually keeping everyone updated on all things Alex and by being the only punter to name Alex Yoong as their favourite driver.

now The 4BH Award

This year the radio award is given to the punter with the highest accumulated score for picking Bruni, Baumgartner, Jenson "The Brittish Bulldog" Button, Barrichello and Heidfeld. And the winner is The Silver Arrow with 439 points followed by Juan for the Road with 426 points and Dead Senas with 423. Congrats to The Silver Arrow. Who said Kiwis can't win anything?

A new award this year is The Villeneuve Comeback Award

The winner is Big Red who came back from a dismal 24th last year to finish equal 13th. Perhaps YTT can take heart from this for next year's championship.

the final award is Steven Bradbury Award

This award is given to the punter who wins by doing nothing and this year we have a four way tie. Chewythewookie, Race to the BAR, threek, and Button-Up all had round wins with generated picks.

I would like to close by congratulating Ted for a wonderul job on his pit reports. They've been hotter than a wasabi and he's been all over the pits like stenk off a rotten monkey. And finally I would like to add my own award. It is The Cracking Move, Banana Strategy, Jenson Button-ville Award for the punter who had Jenson the highest throughout the year. And the winner is Button-Up with an average position for Jenson of 2.6. Second is Smell My Rubber and third is The Schuminator. So that's two Brits followed by a convict living in England. That's a fantastic result for Queen and country. So until Melbourne 2005, this is James Allen signing off from Interlagos. Scotty...

Thanks James. Quarters has appeared with some stats for you about the underSteer championship this year. The highest round score was 126 points by The Schuminator in Australia. The most wins was by Dead Sennas with three and the most pobiums was by JftR and Dead Sennas both with five. The best bonus driver tipster was Fearless Ferrari Racing (FFR) who got Pantano, Bruni and Sato in the race and Coulthard and Montoya in qualifying. So there you have it folks and Georgie. Before I go I'll make a few predicitons for next year. I can see JftR breaking the curse that dogged Big Red last year and YTT this year but perhaps not fighting for the championship. I think the underSteer battle will be between To The Finnish (as long as McLaren have a competitive car), Dead Sennas, Mr Consistency DNF, and Eyes of the Dragon. In the racing I can see Kimi winning the title (as long as McLaren have a competitive car) and Mark Webber winning 2 or 3 races.