Firstly, a lot of coursework and exams. But hopefully this = Leicester De Montfort University.

Secondly, unpredictability. Now let me give you the long version of that answer.

Almost instantly I have been proven to shut my mouth until I see things in action. Just last month I predicted the former Honda team would likely drive around at the back of the field with Button and Senna. Instead, the team now known as Brawn GP have a potential title contending machine, and the same driver line-up in Button and Barrichello.

The thing is here, whilst I was on a high when Lewis Hamilton won the World Championship last year, he just hasn't grabbed me in the way Jenson has. Hamilton has this... sort of unbelievable talent, so to say, which deservedly got him the best cars in any series he joined. People that say Lewis is undeserved of being a champion because he had a race-winning car from the get-go are horrificly mistaken - the reason he got that car straight away was because he's already proven he has the talent to push the top stars, and we've seen that already - in just 35 races he has scored 207 points, and so is already nearly halfway to the 500 club, which only 6 drivers in F1 history have ever achieved - if that's not talented then goodness knows what is. Every category Lewis has been in, he's won the title in his debut or sophomore season - and now he's done it in F1, that record will stand forever.

But despite all that success that comes so naturally for Hamilton, it's Jenson who has won my respect so much more. Hence why you'll pretty much always see me backing Button. Button has worked his way up the field in F1, and has committed to the B.A.R./Honda/Brawn GP team for so long and now it's finally paid off.

When Button took over as the leading Brit in 2004, I was so glad to see him do well. Disappointed at times, such as Monaco, but these things happen. 2005 wasn't much to celebrate apart from being the most consistent point scorer of the year (and that's despite the fact he didn't even take a point until round 10 of the season!). 2006 was a bit of an up and down year, because as good as the car was, it was never going to challenge for the title. But I'll admit, I cried when victory came for Button. All the pressure, all the hard work, coming to a victory well overdue, and the relief to finally call Jenson a winner was BRILLIANT. And then we had the two disaster years.

Now, in 2009, the early signs are either Button or Barrichello look set to make history by becoming the first driver to win a World Championship despite having to wait over 100 GP's for their first race win. Chances are, this will be the best opportunity either driver is going to have to be a WDC: Button as it's the first car capable of a title challenge in his hands, and Barrichello now he's finally free of Schumi. But if anyone is going to have a say in stopping these two from taking the title, once again, it's the Scuderia.

No matter how intense the fight is from the previous year, when rule changes come into play, Ferrari always seem to shine, and this year is no exception. They have proven talents in former World Champion Raikkonen, and Felipe Massa, the guy who easily stole the show in 2008 (no other driver in this world can start the year wanting to be outsed by the Tifosi massive and yet end the year just missing out on the World Title but being adored by the Tifosi). Raikkonen loves the car. Massa is determined, and they're already equipped with KERS - so watch out Brawn GP, we gotta fend off these two.

I currently do not know where to stand with McLaren. I believe I have made the easiest £5 in my life by betting with my Grandad that Hamilton won't win in Australia, but with the improvements they made right near the end of the teasting season, I feel potentially a comeback is on the cards. I believe it'll be too little too late for McLaren and the boys to fight for either title, but I feel they could be a factor in ruining someone's title hopes by taking positions away that title-contending drivers need.

BMW seemingly have disappeared into nothingness, despite being tipped as the Championship runaways when the 2009 regulation cars were first started being built. They were 2nd to start work on the car (behind Brawn GP), but yet seem to have fallen already into that position of being 3rd best team - I hope for their sakes a title push can take place, but I feel right now that the Championship will be a "close but no cigar" situation ala last year. I do pray to God though Nick Heidfeld wins this year, I don't think he can take finishing 2nd place anymore.

Renault are a LOT closer this year to BMW, and as such will give them a run for their money. Surprising that Renault did score more wins than BMW last year considering the advantage the Beemer had, but then you look at the drivers and you see one team has two drivers that only have one win between them, and you see the other that has a 2-time World Championship-winning driver. 'Nuff said.

Toyota look strong, but I feel stronger teams will more than likely take vital points away from the Japanese squad. Hopefully though, they should be pushing for more points than in 2008, and if any of the teams above don't do as well as they should, then Toyota could make the jump on them in the constructors.

Toro Rosso, quite likely, will be lost without star driver Vettel. It was really him that pushed the team to where they got to last year, scoring all but 4 of the teams points. Buemi is the only rookie of the year, and Bourdais probably filled in for Webber's position as most unlucky driver. You only have to look at Bourdais' chances at points and see that EVERY TIME something happened which cost him - Engine failure in Australia, the rain in Spa, the incident with Massa in Japan and Trulli pushing him off onto the grass in Brazil.

As for the senior Red Bull team, a win is vital to restore the shame brought upon them by STR last year - and Vettel could be the saviour again. Again, this was a team who were tipped as title contenders when they rolled out their car and, for a while, the hype was believable - Vettel usually topping the timesheets and Webber not doing as well, but taking into consideration he was recovering from a broken leg it's acceptable. Then... they dropped back into no man's land, and back to where they've always been. What's going on?

For Williams, a mix-up in the rules such as 2009 gives them a new ray of light. They haven't won a race since the season finisher in Brazil of 2004, and should the cards fall into place at the right time, the drought could end this year. A nice tidy little package, but I can't see it being a title contender. Let's not forget back in 2006 everyone believed the Williams car was the dark horse of the season, and yet it scored a miserable 11 points all season. Renault, the Constructors Champions of that year, scored 195 points more. Hardly a dark horse then.

Then, there is Force India. Their target of hitting the midfield looks achievable, but as to how many points this will come to remains a mystery. Indeed, I feel FI can score this year, provided the weather suits we've seen how good Sutil is at Monaco over the past 2 seasons, so why not again? Fisichella is a vastly experienced driver, and he always outperforms in a backmarker car, so given it ends up in the midfield like hoped, the Roman could maybe nick a few points here and there as well.

Of course, the problem is, the picture is so complex that my theory could be completely wrong. However at this early stage I am willing to call either one of four names to be World Champion come the end of the season: Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen, Rubens Barrichello or, my hope to win it, Jenson Button.

If I couldn't fight back the tears after his first race win, god knows what I'll be like if he wins the title.

So Jenson WILL be in the 2009 F1 season. Hallelujah!

After months of speculation about the future of the team, Nick Fry and Ross Brawn will conduct a management buyout for the team. Numbers of staff will be cut, wages of the drivers cut and the potential of the car will most likely be a far distance behind that of its competitors (from what was claimed to be a "likely top-3 team"), but the fact of the matter is Jenson Button - my favourite of all on the F1 grid - is still going to be on the grid in Melbourne.

To top it all off, we could see the arrival of F1's most anticipated driver in ages.

Nephew of the late, great, Ayrton Senna, Bruno is potentially going to join the F1 circus with a huge eye of expectation watching over him. Maybe unfairly, too. He is indeed a fantastic driver, and were it not for some unfortunate incidents in the past GP2 season with dogs in Turkey or running out of fuel in the final lap of the Valencian GP race, he would probably be arriving as the GP2 champion. Instead, the current champion is Giorgio Pantano - who already has had a season in F1 and impressed nil. Point is however, Senna may be that magnificent star with the legendary name, but it would be harsh to compare him to the likes of Ayrton so suddenly.

We have to remember that he will start his career at Honda, who - in the past 2 seasons combined, scored just over a quarter of the points they gained in 2006. For whatever reason, the past two cars have been major disappointments, and still to this day they have no clue what made the B.A.R. of 2004 so successful. Expecting Bruno Senna to do a Hamilton in his debut season is as likely as this current recession ending tomorrow. Only time will tell as to how good the Honda challenger will be, but with little testing being done on 2009-spec wings and absolutely no running at all for a genuine 2009 car, it'll be hard to see Honda pushing their way back up the field as had been expected prior to the Honda quitting decision.

If Senna can put in the performances however, expect him to climb up to the top teams at a fast rate. The number of challengers for the World Title in future years is already shaping up to be something fantastic - Already in the hat are Hamilton, Kubica, Vettel and now Senna to boot, not to mention F1 veterans with years still left in for them such as Massa and Alonso, together with more rules to make closer racing - it's going to be an incredible few seasons coming up.

Left out in the shadow of all this news, sadly, is Rubens Barrichello.

The Brazilian, who currently holds the record for most GP starts in F1 history with 270 races under his belt, is more than likely outsed for the season. A veteran in the wets indeed, and a great all-round driver, but in these hard financial times it's becoming more evident that a cash-strapped Honda team needs money input. Cue Senna advantage number 1 - he has PLENTY of sponsors that will be of no end of assistance to Honda, and, whilst not enough to cover Honda's 2009 season alone, it is still money that Honda desperately need nonetheless. Senna advantage number 2 is the youth - Barrichello's experience is the best in the world, but with only 9 GP wins in the 16 seasons he's already competed in, his legacy may not go down as much of a success - when you're a teammate to Michael Schumacher for 6 years though, it's little surprise. Senna has the youth and, as such, means that with success when in the car comes plenty of years for Bruno to live up to Uncle Ayrton's legacy. The last Senna advantage is the Brazilian Fanbase - as soon as Barrichello went to Honda and Massa went to Ferrari, the Brazilians virtually disowned Rubens. When it came to Brazil, it was evident - the crowd went nuts for Massa when, in his first serious attempt, took the win at his home race. The closest Barrichello ever got to the same kind of reception was his pole position in 2004. The Brazilians will love their new found hero in Bruno, just for the name - as no one can ever forget what kind of a career Ayrton left behind, cut tragically short by that crash in 1994.

The future is far from concrete for Honda, but for 2009 at least, it is secure.

I still remember well during the US GP weekend of 2004 that Ron Dennis was going to step down as McLaren boss sometime within the following 5 years.

4 years, 6 months and 27 days later, he finally announced it. After the past two years that Ron has been through, it's no wonder why he has done it now.

Originally, most sources believe this announcement was meant to happen at the end of the 2007 championship where he could say that he helped Alonso to his desired 3rd World Title. What he got instead was his brilliant rookie being even more fantastic than expected, a World Champ who became more and more frustrated through the year, and an employee who cost McLaren $100,000,000.

What he wanted instead was what Ferrari had in 2008 - 2 drivers who could fight for the title but one that was ready to yield to the other when it was needed. Only problem was that Lewis was matching Alonso blow-for-blow, and even outdoing him. The stats actually show Fernando had more higher-placed finishes than Hamilton; but when Lewis was in front, Alonso was further down the field giving Lewis more points. In fact, the only 1-2 for McLaren that had Lewis in front of Alonso was USA. In Fernando's 4 wins, 3 had Lewis 2nd. It was too close for both's likings, but whilst the Brit kept his cool and relished the challenge, the Spaniard chose to make more comments than actions.

Then there was the whole SpyGate issue. Mike Coughlan, Pedro de la Rosa and Fernando Alonso became the downfall of the McLaren super team in '07. Mike gained posession of the Ferrari data in March (McLaren state April; however with the story as supposedly known, it could only be before the Australian GP) to which the two Spaniards then utilised in testing out the MP4-22 before the season began. Nigel Stepney was fired from Ferrari after "attempted sabotage", when in fact he was finding more data for Coughlan. Honda boss Nick Fry admitted to the world both Stepney & Coughlan approached him for jobs, but no data was shared. Once the documents were found, McLaren were found to have breached the rules of the sport, but went unpunished. Ron then finds out about further evidence when trying to get Fernando to explain his actions after the Hungarain GP qualifying, and informs Max Mosley. A month later, the team is excluded from the Constructor's Championship. To top the whole situation off, Renault are also found of holding data related to McLaren's 2007 & 2006 cars, but like McLaren first time round, they went unpunished.

It all meant that McLaren had to submit their 2008 car details to the FIA in December 2007, and later on then say they would not work on three sections of the car throughout the 2008 season (which, in all fairness, makes the World Title win for Hamilton even more spectacular, given their hindrance compared to all other teams).

Ron would never leave on such a low. He wanted to restore the pride in the name of McLaren, and hence he did in 2008.

To say that winning the World Title was a close shave in the end is an understatement - it was against all odds.

There was the previously mentioned issues of a December '07 deadline for the car, no improvements in three key areas of the 2008 car. Then, the penalties for Hamilton (Malaysia, Canada, France - all notable black marks for Hamilton's season) and those very questionable and, dare I say it, wrong decisions by the stewards (Belgium "the penalty 6 days into the future", Japan "the drove 'em off the track, not that it's been done a zillion times before", Massa-Bourdais incident "All shalt let the red car pass" - all pathetic decisions by the stewards) - but still Lewis took the title - even if by only a gap of 5 seconds.

After that, it's no wonder Dennis was satisfied to call it a day.

So did Ron make the right choice at the right time? It's safe to say so. Many people will miss the man of "RonSpeak", who made the McLaren name so successful during the 80's, took titles in the 90's and raised up-and-coming talents in the 21st century and finishing it all off by making his greatest protoge a World Champion.

Gone are the days of a man who cried tears of joy after his driver, Kimi Raikkonen, took the win of the decade in Japan 2005.

2009 brings a new chapter for not only F1, but also for McLaren - the Whitmarsh era begins.

Paul Stoddart raised an excellent point when talking about the future of F1 - we may be heading towards a 3-car-per-team era. But this needs another team to drop out, and for no one to buy Honda.

Right now, the sport has 9 teams and an excellent driver in Jenson Button without a seat. I've seen many people criticise Button this year, and quite undeservingly. Yes, he has the weakness of an inability to out-perform in a poor car, but given the right car and the right day, Jens can do it.

In 2006, Jenson won from the furthest back on the grid of anyone that year, 14th. Was it a wet race? Yes. Did all three top drivers fall out? Yes. BUT, only one of them was actually ahead of Jenson (Kimi Raikkonen) when he did fall out. Both Schumacher and Alonso were behind the Brit when they crashed out (although in Fernando's case, he had just come out of a stop where he was ahead of Button beforehand, but Jens was catching him at a rate where you have to admit that even if the Spaniard was still in the race, he would've passed Fernando). To those who say anyone can win in wet conditions, think again. Just the simple slip-up and you're off the track. That's what made Vettel's win this year phenomenal - it was some of the wettest conditions we've seen in a long time and Seb kept control for the entire race bar one tiny slip-up. Hamilton's win at Silverstone is another one - terrible conditions, but he held onto the car throughout the race, one tiny slip-up, and won the race by 65.8 seconds (a winning margin not seen since Montoya's win in Germany of 2003).

So what is my point exactly, you ask? Jenson is one of the top drivers in F1. Yes, he's not a Hamilton, Raikkonen or Alonso, but he's the next best thing after, and to lose a talent like his is going to leave a gap in the sport, whether you like to admit it or not.

There are a few scenarios that could play out:

1. Honda finds a buyer and no one else falls out - 20 cars in Melbourne, giving us no change to the norm right now.

2. Honda finds a buyer, someone else falls out - 18 cars in Melbourne, something that's not happened since Monaco 2005 (ironically as a result of BAR's 2-race ban, who became Honda the next year), and it just wasn't fun with 18 cars.

3. Honda don't find a buyer, the rest remain - same result as point 2.

4. Honda don't find a buyer, someone else falls out - This scenario now means that there would be 16 cars on the grid - VERY empty, BUT it also allows teams to run a third car - which would jump the number up to 24, something that hasn't been seen since 1997.

Whilst I would like to see Scenario 1 to play out, I'd like more people racing, and so scenario 4 would also be good, however it doesn't guarantee Button a seat. So what would everyone's third driver be?:

McLAREN: ?
FERRARI: ?
BMW: Christian Klien
RENAULT: Lucas di Grassi maybe?
TOYOTA: An upcoming Japanese driver, or even Sato?
TORO ROSSO: Bourdais, Sato & Buemi could be likely for quids in for all three seats
RED BULL: Coulthard's hung his helmet up, so he won't take the third seat.
WILLIAMS: Hulkenberg maybe?
FORCE INDIA: Liuzzi may return to racing, or Gary Paffet?

Of course, for the scenario to play out, one of those 8 won't be there. It's pretty safe to say McLaren, Ferrari, BMW & Renault will still feature, but one of the rest may be in trouble. I've said Klien for BMW as it's virtually a certainty, which will be good news for me as Klien is one of my favourite drivers. I couldn't see Jenson going to Ferrari, but there's an outside chance of McLaren if Ron is interested. Williams may not be viable after all the headaches Button caused Sir Frank 3 years ago, so by narrowing it down, we get:

McLaren, Toyota, Red Bull or Force India.

It's all too difficult to predict right now, and that's where we have the problem. Until something happens, we don't know how anything will happen.

For me, all I want to see is Jenson on the grid in 2009.

RACE OF CHAMPIONS

So this weekend is the 2008 Race of Champions at Wembley Stadium, and I cannot wait to go.

It's going to be a shame as one formely confirmed name, Mark Webber, will not be competing now after breaking his leg, but the show must go on nonetheless, like last year after the tragic death of Colin McRae.

I'm finally going to see, in person, my hero... even if I am up in the nosebleed seats away from the action, but to know I'm that close to Jens will just be... wow. Not to forget that Lewis Hamilton will be there as well, and Coulthard... :shock:

I think that's about all I can talk about right now... so I'll leave it on that note and go play some rFactor :D

...I'll talk about my holiday - being unable to even post on GS, weather, on being in a room surrounded by Massa fans and plenty of lizards.

I spent two weeks in the unspoilt, unknown destination of La Palma. It's one of the smaller Canary Islands, home to just 36,000 people and where tourists have only been "properly" coming for a few years now.

To start off with... things weren't exactly great. Example - the day before we left I had to sleep at 2 'til 7 in the afternoon/evening, as the minibus would arrive at 1AM. Three hours in a rusty old tub to Manchester airport is very uncomfortable, trust me.

Then the flight itself missed one vital ingredient - entertainment. No TV, no film, no radio, no NOTHING. Thomson Fly ALWAYS has entertainment, so why none now? We were on a plane for 4 and a half hours and they were going to give us nothing to do? It definately ruined the first little part of the holiday, as beforehand I'd managed to buy myself a copy of F1 Racing to read out on the sunbeds to keep me entertained. Instead, I'd managed to get through three quarters of the magazine on the plane. The rest of the time I was either eating or sleeping.

Like I said earlier, you don't get tourism much at La Palma - with it only coming into a real swing about 4 or 5 years ago, the Airport there is so tiny, and construction is still under way there. Not that I actually cared upon arrival, as my ears failed to "pop" during the decent, so I was in complete agony.

The hotel La Palma Princess is about a 45 minute drive away, which is an incredibly long time considering the distance between the two places has to be about 15 miles at most, however (with exception to 1 1KM stretch) there are no straight roads on La Palma anywhere. the hotel itself was only built 4 years ago, and British tourists have only been going since last year, so whilst the staff's English wasn't too great, the little Spanish I know helped out in virtually every situation.

"Tres Sidra, por favour". They'd look at me gone out, so I'm presuming this isn't right.

Yes, I'm aware I've just made a contradiction. Back to the point anyway.

It was on this holiday I was able to dig into Lewis Hamilton's autobiography of last year. Suffice to say, with exception to about the first third, you're looking at a re-cap of what you saw on-track to the 2007 season. Hamilton can't conclude a book either. You keep reading and then... it stops. You're made to think "so... what next?". It wasn't wrapped up very well. All I can say is though that there are some really good parts too, like his entire involvement in the SpyGate hearing (which filled about half a page it was that quick, Ferrari never even asked him any questions) and the fact that of all McLaren activities, everyone was there apart from one person - Fernando Alonso. Every individual in the team went to these activities to "bond together" before the season began, and yet Fernando never went to them. Maybe that's why he felt like an outsider come the end.

I also managed to read through another book in an entire day too, of BBC Radio 1's Chris Moyles with "The Difficult Second Book". This one is definately worth a read if you're someone who wakes up to this guy in the morning. For those of you that don't know who he is, Chris Moyles is a highly entertaining DJ on the UK's biggest radio station who host the breakfast show on Monday-Friday. Through him, listeners in the morning have gone from 1.5 million (when he started in January 2004) to over 8 million today. He comes over as a slightly arrogant, but funny, guy who will make a mockery of people if they give him half a chance. But reading this book makes you realise how much of a "radio personality" that all is. In real life, he's your average guy who is kind, caring and is a genuine nice guy. Does he live the famous lifestyle? No, he "sits on (his) sofa playing xBox 360 all day" (in his own words). Does he go to fancy posh parties drinking champagne and dining with the celebs? No, he's down his local for a pint with his mates. You can learn a lot about the real Chris Moyles in this book, and it's no wonder I couldn't stop reading it.

Being in the middle of nowhere though, there wasn't all that much to do. There were a few trips to see the island and all, but that was it apart from your entertainment at the hotel, which was lacklustre at best with a few exceptions. I must say though, if anyone ever visits the island, cover every square inch of it - there is some fantastic scenery around.

Then there was the computers there... I swear to God, not even dial-up was that slow. It took about 12 minutes to just log into GameSpot, and then by the time I'd managed to get onto the F1PU Board, there was no time to post any messages, so for those who were expecting me to still be a frequent face during that time, I apologise, but it was out of my control.

Going onto the subject of Formula 1, I have to say I was in awe of Singapore at night - what a sight it was. Being out of the house though and actually watching with other people, it does open my eyes though to how much the "Michael Schumacher" effect is growing on Lewis Hamilton, but at a much faster rate - seemingly disliked for being too good too quick. I mean seriously though, here I am - yes, on a race day I can get into a real fan mood and be all for the Brits and against the Ferraris, but at the end of the day, I can sit back and take a fair viewpoint - Massa was dominant in Hungary and unfortunate to have such bad luck, he dominated in Valencia and proves how much he is a title contender this year. It just seems though that no matter what, the Spanish fans just cannot do the same with Hamilton. He's been painted as a villain by the Spanish media for what happened last year with Alonso. As it was clearly shown, seen and understood, it was Alonso who threw his toys out the pram. Now he's at Renault, where he belongs because he's at home with them, and it shows by their victory in Singapore.

But I just don't understand why they won't give the guy a chance - one of the fans who speaks good English said to me "he's too young, too immature to be a World Champion" - slightly hypocritical when he's less than a year younger than when the only Spanish World Champion - hello Alonso again - won his first World Title. And yet you call Lewis too young and immature? Granted Lewis has had mistakes this year. In fact, you can't even call Canada a mistake - that was a blunder of epic proportions - but who hasn't of the top lot this year? Massa kept throwing it off in the first two races this year, Kimi's binned it into Sutil, a Belgian wall and a Sinapore wall, and Kubica lost control at Silverstone. Lewis has grown and realised he needs to play it safe when the time arrives, so he's grown wiser, if anything.

But back to my point, Singapore quali - there was me, quiet and reserved, just let out a tiny little "yes!" when Hamilton took pole, but knowing full well that Massa was about to take it back. And when he did, what was I greeted with? Not only applause for Massa's pole (which is fair enough), but then these lot felt they had the right to laugh at me for being a Hamilton fan. I mean seriously. I was the youngest person there and these guys, all older and meant to be more mature, are laughing at a 19 year-old kid because his driver's championship rival knocked him off pole position? Oh do grow up.

All I can say is the next day was hilarious for me. Massa had his Ferrai pit blunder (I mention Ferrari as it wasn't his fault) and all these guys who 22 hours ago had laughed at me are just silent. Completely silent as me and my Grandad tried as hard as we could to stop ourselves from laughing out loud. Not at those fans, but because of what had happened. Yes, we found the incident funny, not those people behind us who were distraught. If I wanted to, I could've turned around and said "who's laughing now?", but I am a better person than these lot obviously, so I just kept quiet. At least there is one thing I can say was good about these guys, and that was we all shared a good laugh watching the Ferrari mechanics bring back the fuel hose.

It seemed no matter where you went on the island, there were lizards. Everywhere. Big ones to small ones, it was just fun to watch. I'll have to view back the footage, but whilst I was asleep once my Mum decided to film my Nan feeding one of those lizards, which apparently was "very cute". Aww.

I've got some of the pics up here from my holiday. If you do feel like adding my MySpace, then do go ahead - just kinda make a note on the friend request that you're from GameSpot, otherwise I may deny the request 'coz of so many BS requests from people beforehand.

So yeah, that's about it... now time to get some sleep after getting up to watch the Japanese quali. I need it!

(P.S. If you are Spanish in any way or a Massa fan, don't take insult to some of the things I've said - I'm only directing those comments at those who were in that room at the time thinking it was funny to try and demoralise me.)

Truth be said, I've never actually given consideration to making a proper blog here before. Maybe that's because I do it over on my MySpace page so that my friends can read it. Then again, you guys are also my friends, rather than "the people I know from the F1PU", and therefore maybe you too should get a proper insight into the real me rather than just my business side on the F1PU. Of course, I will still adress that side of me later on here, it's only my nature to do so as this is the website where it's held and all.

So you all know me as Redders, and as it is, I'd prefer that to my real name, but if you wish to know, I'm Ashley. It was my birthday last Saturday, and now I've reached the grand old age of... 19. I'm "Straightedge", which means I do not drink, I do not smoke and I do not take drugs. I am completely clean on all three of those accounts, as I have never tried any. Therefore, my lifes_tyle is based on choice rather than "try and dislike".

I also have a neurological condition known as Asperger Syndrome, which is a form of Autism for those of you who are unaware. It is because of this condition that makes me a tremendous Formula 1 fan. If it wasn't for it, whilst I may have still been a fan of F1, I would never have been as big a fan as I am. Currently I stand at (up to the Belgian GP last weekend) watching each and every single one of the last 86 races live (the last one I missed being the 2003 United States GP).

Although the main aspect of Aspergers is to suffer with social aspects of life, I have found it to be quite the opposite for me as I do have a lot of friends. If you wish to know more about the condition, however, please feel free to read the Wikipedia article about it here.

It has to be said though, it's that that probably contributes to the fact that I've not had a relationship that's lasted more than 8 days. In fact, my only other relationship was 2 days long. What exactly causes my struggle with women will probably be the AS, but even so, sometimes I can find it difficult to continue on when all my friends spend half their time with their other halves. Still, on the other hand, being single almost all my life also means that I've learnt how to put up with it and get on with things.

My school life is something that up until 2 years ago, I'd have been proud of. I'm basically a straight-A student, and have been throughout my whole school life, but two years ago I made a stupid decision and spent time with a lot of the wrong people, which come results day of that year made me open my eyes. Here I was, one of the best in my school, having to re-sit the first year of A-Level because I failed every subject. Whilst not all of them were my fault, I was distraught. It still hurts to this day that I'm here doing a third year of 6th form when 90% of my mates leave for University in a couple of weeks. What makes it even worse is they're all holding their leaving parties now, and I haven't been able to attend them because I've been ill. It doesn't get much worse right now to be honest. All I know is that I've made a lot more friends in the year below me already which means I won't die of boredom throughout next year, but even so, it's difficult when I'm 19 and so far all but one haven't even turned 18 yet (which reminds me, a happy birthday to my friend who does turn 18 today, but you won't read this because you'll never come on this site but nevermind).

So yeah, that's basically me and my life. Moving on to the business of the F1PU. I'm now in the middle of my 7th month as leader, and it has been safe to say that activity has slowly been increasing ever since I took over. Once the place was left to die courtesy of Aloushi, I was pretty much the only person left on the board, but thanks to perseverance we sit here today with a Union for the greatest Motorsport in the world STILL here. Whilst it's blindingly obvious we don't have the activity that we did when I first joined the union two years ago, we are building up the community slowly but surely. My one wish would be that the members of the past who don't post anymore would give the F1PU another chance, now a change of leader has occurred and activity is at its best since the start of 2007 by far.

It does go without saying though that I do have a vast stranglehold on the running of the F1PU, and I do appreciate that I may be doing too many tasks which could easily be run by the officers. However, this is just because I wanted to ensure that the running of new ideas that I brought to the table were successful, and, come the off-season, I will start talking to the officers to diversify the tasks so that everyone gets a fair share of the workload. This could be particularly important as I do (hopefully) head off to University next September, so whilst I will try and remain at the head of the F1PU, I may have to make the choice Aloushi didn't and hand over leadership to someone in a better position. Until then, I will continue to head the place and ensure that the Union never dies in my hands.

I do currently have one new idea at the moment for the Union for the GP topics, however this will come into force next year. There are some plans for activities over the winter break too, but more ideas need to be discussed with the officers, and again, I plan to make those talks soon.

Hopefully, so long as I keep this business s_tyle in order for the F1PU, I can feel that the perpetual succession of the union is very likely.

Back in touch soon guys!

Redders

Website specifically for sport reports. Finally, a place actually built for the purpose of letting my mind run wild and free about Formula 1...

With my promotion to Leader of the F1PU, I feel that my time will be spent too much on here. Therefore, there will be no more updates on the AJR Formula 1 Freewebs website. Hopefully my reports may still prove popular but in their new location of the Formula 1 Passion Union.

I have updated the Forum Boards on my Formula 1 website. You can now access it HERE.

The Site is now split into FOUR forums: Formula 1, Formula 1 Video Games, F1 Forum Games and Off-Topic.

As things stand, I only have two members, so if you wanna join, feel free! I am the Administrator (no suprises there), and BlaZe_irl is one of the Moderators. Would like more Mods too, preferably three more? Whatever, but just come along if you wish :P

And, of course, there is the website too. Yes, I know I haven't updated it since Hungary/Turkey, but I'm going to make a new start on it beginning January 1st, 2008. The Forums ARE still useable until then as well.

www.freewebs.com/ajrformula1

Yes, you'll probablly have seen this before, but I'm trying to get more and more people to visit the site.

Now with a forum board, you can talk with others around the world (if we can get this site to levels of that height!) About the world of F1, F1 Video Games and hey, even stuff outside of F1 as there is an off-topic section too. Come on, let's make this the biggest F1-based freewebs site ever!

...please?