This was maybe the most exciting drivers title chase in a long time, certainly since Senna and Prost traded wins in the late 80’s.

Vettel did what he had to do today in Abu Dhabi. He went out, dominated the race and took care of everything he could control. His drive today was fitting a world champion and it would be difficult to argue that he did not deserve it.

Vettel and Red Bull have been the fastest combination on the grid all year, over a single lap there have not been many that have been able to stay with him. However a mix of driver errors, a few mechanical problems and a significant amount of bad luck had meant that the first time Vettel led the drivers’ championship was this afternoon after the race.

The start, as always, was crucial and Red Bull led from pole, and the first lap finished Vettel-Hamilton-Button-Alonso.

For Vettel to win he needed Alonso and Webber to have issues, and they did. Webber never got past his poor qualifying performance, compounded by poor race strategy and coming in for fresh rubber too early. Alonso made the same error in pitting too early and being forced to try and battle his way through the field. It was a huge error by Ferrari. The team forgot the first rule of race strategy, track position is everything.

Once Vettel had come in for his stop on lap 24 and got out ahead of Hamilton it was just a matter of the car being reliable and staying out of trouble.

Prior to Bahrain this is what I had to say.

“Based on testing times it looks a little like the F1 world has returned to business as usual with McLaren and Ferrari a little ahead of the rest. The rest are led by Red Bull and Mercedes, with Sauber, Williams and Force India looking very competitive.”

“As I’ve said, this could be a fascinating year with four world champions, really quick drivers like Vettel and Weber who want to join that club, and potentially 6 or 7 teams capable of competing at the sharp end.”

The 6 or 7 teams competing at the sharp end part was a little optimistic, Sauber certainly flattered to deceive, but I think a lot of that was down to budget. Force India had some good races, but like Sauber never developed through the season.

Overall I’m rather pleased with the accuracy of my thoughts from 9 months ago. It’s been a great season and I’ve been lucky enough to make it to a GP. There will be more next year, that I’m sure of. With five world champions in the top three teams, plus Schumacher if Mercedes is able to their shit together for next year could make it another great year.

It was the first time four drivers had ever gone into the final race all with good shout of the title. The fifth, Button, was only eliminated last week in Brazil.

What has made this year so compelling was very basic. A number of superb drivers in cars that were evenly matched. Looking forward to 2011 the same five drivers are contracted to be with the same teams, Webber is the biggest question mark after his statements over the last couple of weeks.

Of the rest Kubica has shown he belongs at the sharp end of the grid with some great drives in mid-table machinery. If Renault can give him a good car and Mercedes do the same for Schumacher it could be another great season.

However, it’s also possible Vettel and Red Bull will learn how to eliminate the mistakes, if that happens it would be difficult to see who could stay with him.

It’s less than three months until testing starts for 2011.

Steve Zakuani has made decided his international future and was called into the Democratic Republic of Congo this week. DRC play a friendly against Mali at Stade Roger Rochard in Paris on Wednesday. A big week for Steve Zakuani, he’s good enough to make a difference at that level, I’m interested in how he does.

His brother Gabriel Zakuani plays for Peterbrough United in England and is also in the squad announced this week.

In the last few weeks he’s been linked to DR Congo and England, with a third option of waiting a couple of years to play for the US National team.

In the current FIFA rankings Mali are 64^th. The DR Congo are 124th after poor results in the Africa Nations cup and World cup qualifying over the last couple of years.

As the 2010 F1 season has gone on I’ve come to like the current Q3-Q2-Q1 knock out qualifying system more and more. The tension ramps up nicely to the 10-minute shootout in Q3 for the top10 on the grid.

Abu Dhabi was a fascinating final qualifying session. There was none of the waiting until the last moment for Vettel, he went out early, set a very fast time and made it clear to everyone who was the guy to beat today.

Hamilton did something simular, he set an early time that he was unable to better. Both McLarens were consistently quick through out qualifying and Button lines up fourth.

Alonso was struggling down in 6^th early in the session, his last chance lap was started with just a couple of seconds left in the session was enough for third. His comment at the presss conference was “just one more day of perfection needed.”

The biggest looser today was Mark Webber. He could do no better than fifth, he needs a good start tomorrow.

Abu Dhabi Grid

I’ve been on the receiving end of some rather malicious gossip recently and internet trolling. It’s been an experience, interestingly calling the troll out has largely made her go away. The troll not been visiting nearly as much in the last week, but Jeanette did drop by today. I hope she is having a good weekend in Spokane.

One thing that’s changed since I called people out is that a couple of visitors are trying to cover their tracks over the last couple of weeks. Surfing on their phones and going through proxy’s. It’s almost like they have something to hide. That could not be it could it?

Earlier this week I had a very interesting conversation about the anonymous comments and the reasons for people gossiping (for want of a better phrase). According to a psychologist friend the real reason is the feeling of superiority that comes from spreading such vicious nuggets. The person spreading (the Troll) feels superior not only because they feel that they have something that others don’t, and knowledge really can feel enabling. But also the troll also feels they are a far better person that the subject.

The Oxford Dictionary defines gossip as “casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true”

I’m not a psychologist and don’t fully understand every point, but the gist of the conversation and reading I’ve done is that some people suffer from such a bad case of inferiority that they will do whatever it takes, including passing gossip around, to make themselves look better in front of others.

The idea is that they will then feel better about themselves. It’s not about revenge or helping others, it’s a about ego. It’s about sexed-up (to use the red top term) stories presented to a receptive audience in such a way to make the most impact and see if the snowball can be set in motion.

Over the last couple of years I’ve lost or compromised a lot of what I believed, and for that I am truly sorry.

I’ve already talked about what happened to me a couple of years ago. Neither parent or the woman looking after the kids during the day belived anything had happened. Yet here I sit two years later and the accusation resurfaced with Jeanette making accusations with information that could only have come from one person.

That moment two years ago drove a lot of anguish, a lot of compromise and a number of bad decisions. The thing I’d been most fearful of happened, I’d been told it never would, but it did and it changed the way in which I deal with some people in my life. There may be good reasons behind some of those changes, but ultimately they were not healthy and I own my actions and responses.

I’d like other people to do the same, but it seems washing hands and blaming others is perfectly acceptable for others, it seems rather hypocritical to me, but I’ve discovered that’s something all people seem to be capable of.

I have made mistakes. I’m truly sorry.

Today the going was hard, emotional and from that I understand where I changed too much, and what I need to take back to become the person I know I can be. I know its hard for other people too, I get that.

A lot of what I’ve said today is not new, but it’s my blog and I can repeat it if I want. I’ve been rather focused on what the change looks like. It’s time to stop living with my crisis of self belief, accept where I went wrong, do something about it and live in the way I was brought up to. With humour, with character and with belief in who I am.

I understand the situation today, with far more clarity than I had previously.

A friend recently said to me “Life isn’t enjoyable if your goal is to always be perfect. The best times we have are in our flawed moments.” You are right, thank you.

One thing I’ve discovered is that if you look, everyone has skeletons in their closet and has been guilty of wrong doing in one form of another.

The last few months have been a life changing experience for me, one again I stand behind every word of what I’ve had to say today.

And a big thank you to my friends and the community that’s built up around this blog and others I enjoy. It’s been incredible to have this outpouring of support. Thank you all.

A little glance back to the 80’s. Not a time of necessarily great music, but certainly memorable music. In 1981 at Stoughton Middle School “Kings of the Wild Frontier” was the must have album.

Looking back Adam and the Ants actually stand the test of time rather well. Their background was the 70’s punk movement, they toured with Siouxsie and the Banshees, and were influenced by the Sex Pistols (but very few punk bands of that era were not) and at one point were managed by Malcolm McLaren (formerly manager of the Sex Pistols).

As a band they went on to greater success after they spit from McLaren and their influence was huge as they were a band that bridged the gap between punk of the 70’s and new wave of the 80’s.

Here is Kings of the Wild Frontier.

The 2010 Championship will be decided this weekend and on recent performances and assuming the cars are reliable, it seem likely that at the end of the day the top three will comprise Vettel, Webber and Alonso in some order. While I don’t think you can count out Hamilton, his McLaren has been a little off the pace of the three drivers ahead of him in the championship.

There are many, many permutations, but to keep it simple we’ll just have a look at a few. If Alonso is first or second he walks away champion, no matter who finishes around him. If Webber wins Alonso has to be third or worse for the Australian to be crowned. Vettel needs even more luck to go his way; if Vettel wins Alonso needs to be fifth or worse.

For Lewis Hamilton to regain the drivers’ title he needs a lot to go his way. First he needs to win, and then he needs the other three contenders to finish either out of, or well down the points. Nothing else will do. This seems unlikely at best, but he has the chance to play spoiler should he be able to mix it with the Red Bulls and Alonso it up front. Let’s not for get both Hamilton and Also have quick team mates who are capable of winning races. Neither Button or Massa have been on great form recently, but both could make life difficult for others on their day.

As much fun as the speculation is, the question I have is what if Vettel is leading going into the last lap and Webber is behind him and Alonso third or fourth? Would Vettel pull over for the Australian and give his teammate the championship. Of would he try to hold onto his position for another win this year?

Clearly the relationship between the two Red bull drivers is not great, and that’s to be expected at this point in the year after they have gone after each other so hard for 17 races now. I’m not sure any professional partnership between two competitive sportsmen would do well under this pressure.

So what’s the team been saying? Team principal Christian Horner “if we find ourselves in a position where one of the drivers can win the world championship, then the drivers will do whatever is necessary to ensure as a team we achieve the best result.” That seems clear, if they should find themselves in that position then Horner expects Vettel will allow Webber though and do what he can to hold off Alonso. I’m sure it would not be easy for Vettel, but the team employs him.

Later in the week Red bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz, the man who founded the energy drink company threw a turd into Christian Horners’ “everyone is doing their job” punchbowl. He was clear he wants the drivers in win, but no team orders. He’d rather they fight it out on the track.

Talking of team orders, at Hockenheim Alonso gained an extra seven points when Massa pulled over to let him through into the lead. Take those points away and Alonso leads Webber by only one point and Vettel by eight. That would have meant that Abu Dhabi this weekend would have been a winner takes all race for the three of them.

F1 doesn’t have a “play to the rules’ mentality, it’s about winning and nothing else. If Red Bull were not to enforce some kind of team orders for Vettel to help Webber, should the situation arise, it would reinforce the idea that Webber is done with the team after this race. Would the team rather wait until next year in the hope that for Vettel will be their first champion? That seems rather far-fetched, even in the cynical world of F1.

There have hints from Webber that there have been team orders to hold position rather than race each other in the recent races, rather than risk another accident like turkey where Webber was taken out by Vettel. I can’t imagine either driver holding back in Abu Dhabi with the title on the line.

Of course, part of what makes F1 so fascinating is the politics and intrigue that run through the paddock and despite all this speculation into tactics and what if’s, we have a race to run. Once again Red Bull probably arrive as favourites for the race. But Alonso has beaten the red bulls in three of the previous five races and is not far behind them in race speed. He’s not been as good in qualifying, he’s also the only one of the three that’s been in the position of winning the championship before.

With the pressure on all the title contenders so intense, will that be a deciding factor? Or, with all the contenders worried about engine mileage under F1’s eight-engines-a-year rule, will it be reliability that wins the day? It’s difficult to believe that after such a great year of racing that it will all go down without one final twist in the season. It could be reliability, it could be teammates, it could be a desperate lunge for position or even a mistake under the incredible pressure, but it will be fun to watch.

The race is on Speed TV in the US at 4:30am Sunday morning.

Sunday was a disappointing defeat and not the way we hoped the season would. Bottom line is Seattle just were not as good as LA over the two games. Galaxy did a great job of controlling the midfield and forcing Zakuani inside and taking away the speed down the outside that has worked so well over the last couple of months.

Seattle were beaten by the best team in the league this year, both sides had chances; the difference was LA put them away. LA were aided by some poor defending on set pieces, Beckhams precision deliveries and as is typical with any Bruce Arena coached teams, they were a very disciplined and well drilled team. The Seattle back four seemed to struggle adjusting to players with speed coming across the penalty area, I think the loss of Parke was felt, especially by Ilani

It’s been a great season no matter how you look at it. Qualifying for the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League, retaining the Open Cup (best moment of the year for me), beating last years points total and of course the others that have made the atmosphere in RBP second to none in this league.

Most supporters get this is a business for those in change, but fans don’t support businesses. They support clubs and the ownership has done the right things to make it a feel like a club that the fans are an organic part of.

The first half of the year was a little rough (the World Cup and Englands performance did not help me feeling positive either), but Sigi and the owners did what they had to do to make this team competitive in the second half. Ownership has set clear expectations for performance on the pitch and I believe that if the right player were to come along (or Montero, or perhaps Zakuani) the money would be available to bring them in as the third DP.

There are two big questions hanging over this club and the current squad. First is the expansion draft in a couple of weeks. The team gets to protect 10 players and a further player should they loose one to either of the two expansion team. Last year there was something of an outcry as James Riley was left unprotected, but Philadelphia went with Seb La Toux, who had a great year in their system and really showed the quality we’d seen at the USL level in 07 and 08.

So in the expansion draft the team is going to loose at least one, possibly two players as Portland and Vancouver build their squads.

Second is the status of the top players. Montero and Zakuani are both on the radar screen of European clubs and I’d not be surprised if at least one is gone in the transfer window in January.

There is a not a lot of transparency around contracts in this league, I don’t think anyone on the outside really knows Montero’s contract status, there are a couple of groups that own his rights, including (I believe) the Sounders in some way. I’ve said before and still think he’s got the potential to be a superstar in this game. That means Europe, and probably January, next summer at the latest.

Montero has been vague and made no commitments to next year with Seattle. Zakuani has made similar “wait and see what happens” noises.

Zakuani has a huge upside, there are is a dearth of fast left-sided players in England right now and his speed would give him a lot of value there. He’s made a good name for himself and the British press has mentioned him a couple of times, even once linking him to Capello and the national squad.

Loosing both these players would be a huge blow for Seattle, it may mean letting one go and offering the other enough money through the third DP tag (assuming Fernandez is a DP next year rather than just a squad player, again little transparency on the contract thing).

On the bright side Keller has been clear he wants to be back for one more year, I assume that can be done fairly easily.  I think both Nfuko and Fernandez are under contract to the sounders for next year.

Lastly for today, Sigi, mid year one or two lone voices were calling for his replacement, he has proven to be one of the best coaches in the league. He said last week “I love it here,” he said. “I love the city. I love the team. I love my ownership group. I love the fans. I don’t mean to be redundant, but that’s how I feel. For me this is a place to stay and finish and coach for a long, long time.”

Thanks for a fun year at RBP, it’s been awesome.

It’s now been a week since Movember started. My upper lip has made it to fluffy caterpillar stage and not started itching yet, but does look strange and required an explanation once or twice. It’s growing in a little slower than usual, but it should get a lot closer to full Magnum PI by the end of the month.

Houston has a special place in my traveling history. It’s not exactly a place I’ll get teary eyed and nostalgic over, but it’s an interesting city of contrasts.

First my history with Houston; It was the first foreign trip I took with work. I came to Houston for a couple of weeks in 1986. I was an innocent 17 year old send over by the MOD to work with airplanes. It was quite an experience as I was the youngest on the crew and had a lot of people to help lead me astray. And they did a fine job.

I learned I had a very solid tolerance for American “domestic” beer. I discovered I can’t line dance. I found out that Country and Western music are actually two separate genres. That you should always, always put sun screen and wear a hat when you drive a Land Rover with the top down in Houston in august.

That time I had a few days off. Through a long story, a friend who lived in England was from Houston, her father still lived in Houston and told me to call him. He took me to my first baseball game, Houston played San Francisco in the Astrodome and after three hours I had learned enough to understand the basics. Today I understand the game a little better and even get the infield-fly rule (with runners and first and second with less than two outs…), but it’s all rooted in that afternoon.

With most of my spectating experience being places like the Rec Ground watching Aldershot play and a couple of trips to a rather tatty Wembley. The Astrodome was from another world, huge, clean, seats everywhere and no puddles of piss on the floor of the gents (or the yellow ice in the winter).

As I said, the experience of watching a game in the Astrodome was so far from Wembley as to be incomparable.

This time I decide to go be a good tourist. At first first I was a little skeptical as the “Tourism Houston” website had three quotes about Houston from famous residents. First was one of the guys from ZZ Top, secondly was a world famous ice sculptor I’d never heard of and finally Toby the Red Panda from Houston Zoo about how great a place it was to live.

Not really what you’d call a promising start, but none the less I’m here and I’m going to have fun. And I did.

Houston has a number of very good museums. That burnt up a few hours today with the Fine Art Museum of Houston being the pick of the bunch that I saw, but I did not make it to the Natural History Museum. Next time maybe.

I took a drive to the San Jacinto Battle ground monument, I’d been told that if I wanted to learn a little about Texas history, that was where I needed to go. I had a very basic idea of the story of Texas gaining independence from Mexico, picked up from who knows where. I stopped in a book store last night and picked up “Eighteen Minutes: The Battle of San Jacinto and the Texas Independence Campaign” by Steven L Moore.

Turned out to be a fascinating read and sitting on the rather impressive monument reading about what happened here was interesting. I can recommend the book and the museum at the base of the monument is worth the effort should you be in the area.

The area is surrounded by refineries and heavy industry today and it’s difficult to imagine the mosquito infested swamp it was in 1836. But sitting there reading a well written history book in the sun is rarely going to be time wasted. Especially as it’s pissing down with rain in Seattle today and I was sitting there wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

After I’d finished with the history bit I headed back to the hotel, showered and went for dinner with some colleagues. Houston is known for a couple of things, BBQ and steak. Last night we went for BBQ at a little place locally, oh my gosh it was good. The best I’ve ever had, and there were a couple of solid contenders already on the board.

Tonight was the other, steak. We went to Mortons, a rather well known chain of steakhouses. There was the added bonus of being within walking distance of the hotel. I was not playing about: dry aged, New York prepared as the chef sees fit (medium-rare and lightly peppered).

I won’t put it up against the Kobe beef, that’s not fair. Nothing involving charred meat will compare to that experience, but it knocked the tenderloin from the Oxo Tower Grill in London into third place on the all-time meal list.

The flavour was very intense and so damn tender. I believe there were other things on the plate, but I don’t recall what exactly. One may have been green, but they weren’t important. Add some interesting conversation, a couple of glasses of whatever the red wine was the waiter recommended to go with it and it was a memorable evening.

There is one more thing I need to mention, first time I was in Houston I got taken to “James Coney Island Hotdogs” for lunch. Jack (my friends father) sat me down and put two chili-cheese dogs in front of me and told me to enjoy. And I did. There happens to be one close to JSC and went there for lunch on Thursday. While I think the saying that “you can’t ever go home again” is true, this was pretty damn good. I’m not much of a hot-dog fan, one of the infamous “King-dogs” from the Kingdome has not been forgotten, this was as good as I recall. I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting there bloated and gently out-gassing, but it was a happy and contented bloat.

Saturday night I went on a recommendation to a rock club close to downtown ($6 flat cab fair in the downtown area, very good idea) and found a great music scene. All local bands. One in particular sounded a little like Death cab of a decade ago, not polished yet, but very good music. The club was packed and a lot of fun.

I’ve grown to like Houston, it’s an interesting city with a lot more going on than I’ve given it credit for in the past. There is an emerging music scene that’s not only country or Western, and a number of great bars and a downtown that people visit in the evening. Yeah it’s big and sprawling, but it’s growing on me.

The SXSW conference that takes place in Austin looks a very interesting way to spend a few days in the spring. I maybe back then.

Drivers standings after Brazil

1. Alonso                246
2. Webber               238
3. Vettel                   231
4. Hamilton           222

After 18 of the 19 rounds in this years championship there are still four drivers in with a shout of winning everything. I don’t this has ever happened before, Abu Dhabi will be the shoot out I hoped it would be.

Vettel won comfortably with Webber and Alonso taking the lower steps of the podium. Hamilton was fourth and Button fifth. The Red Bull 1-2 was enough to ensure the constructors championship was on it’s way to Milton Keynes this year.

Hulkenbergs rather suprising pole lasted until the entry to the first corner when Vettel took the lead. A lead he held untill the finish except for one lap while changing tires.

Webber took second from Hulkenberg four corners later, the Williams driver ended the opening lap in 3^rd.

For others the opening lap was a little more exciting, Alonso was battling Hamilton for 4^th and 5^th. At the end of lap-1 Alonso was in front, but a spectacular out braking maneuver into the Senna-S moments later gave 4^th to Hamilton. Unfortunatly for Hamilton he made a mistake shortly afterwards that gave Alonso 4^th back.

It took another couple of laps before Alonso passed Hulkenberg and not untill lap 7 did Hamilton get past the Williams.

Except for pit stops the order stayed the same until the end. Not a thrilling race, conditions were just about perfect today and the top four were separated by a little over 15 seconds at the end.

As it stands, Hamilton is not eliminated but would need to win in Abu Dhabi and have the other three contenders fall off. Lets call that what it is, unlikely. The constructors championship is over and McLaren can let Hamilton go for it and see what happens. No worries about engine mileage or condition, Abu Dhabi is it.

If Webber wins, Alonso has to be third or worse for Webber to clinch. If Vettel wins and Weber is second, then Alonso needs only needs be 4^th or better to win the title.

Today Red Bull did what they had to do, win. Unfortunately for the drivers title it was Vettel, not Webber. Had the two Red Bull drivers positions be revered, Alonso would have led Webber by 1 point going into the final weekend.

Assuming Ferrari do what they have done for the last few rounds and just let Alonso drive the race he wants, then Red Bull has to make a decision about team orders. Webber has by far the better chance of the title, but Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner has been clear that the team is going to let the driver race.

I think it’s fitting that the most exciting championship race I’ve ever seen comes down to the final race. It will be fascinating to see how the strategies employed by the teams work out. Hopefully we will see a good race to round out a great year.