“At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter if you race Formula 1 cars, touring cars, sports or business, as long as you enjoy it. That’s one thing about us. If you walk into the garage — even as a guest — you get that feeling we really love what we do and we are passionate.”

At Goodies Speed Shop we love driving our cars — muscle cars, exotics, dragsters, or sedans. That’s why we talk about them. That’s why we upgrade them. That’s why we customize them.

Tropical Malaysia routinely sees thunderstorms at this time of year, especially towards the end of the day. Yet the race organizers decided to start the race two hours later at 5pm instead of the regular 3pm start, so that European TV audiences could see the race at a better time and higher revenues could be demanded from advertisers.

Conditions would have had to be perfect to finish the race before sunset. With the onset of rain halfway through the race and the delay it caused, there was never a chance to finish. By the time the rain had reduced in intensity it was getting too dark to restart. Surely, Formula 1 management must have foreseen this situation. It did rain every day this week. The biggest losers were the TV audiences who didn’t get to see a full race.

I am hoping we have a really interesting and competitive season with a new style of race.

Kimi really kept his cool throughout the entire race, while Lewis lost his on the first lap and McLaren proved no match for Ferrari.

Congratulations Kimi – you deserve it!

With Lewis Hamilton’s retirement and Kimi and Fernando Alonso finishing first and second in the Chinese Grand Prix yesterday, the championship is down to just 7 points. The battle for the world championship should go down to the wire in Brazil. If Massa can become the spoiler, Kimi has a chance to pull it off. I’m looking forward to the finale of an exciting season.

Lewis Hamilton, is one of the best new drivers to enter into Formula One since Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna. If he wins the championship, he deserves to be recognized for beating Alonso and the rest of the field and earning it during his rookie year. I say put the asterisk beside his name and let it indicate the first rookie ever to win the championship.

As reported in GPUpdate, Kimi said:

“We’ve had a bit of a hard time the past two months but I always expected that and it’s a bit difficult when you don’t get good results so we just worked hard to get the car right,” he added. “We’re still not right where we want to be but definitely a lo happier with the car since the last test.”

“Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has turned the heat up on Kimi Raikkonen, saying the Ice-Man has so far failed to achieve his potential with the Italian team, despite winning the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

We’ve got just over half the season to go. Lets hope Kimi will show us his ferocious competitive form over the next few races – and become the F1 race car driver of the last few years – feared by his teamates and competitors.

With the single tire manufacturer, the back and forth advantage we’ve seen over the past few years, has been eliminated. It’s good to really see the competition among the teams and their drivers. With six races completed and eleven to go, I’m looking forward to a very interesting and exciting rest of the season.

My only dissapointment, so far, has been the performance of Kimi Raikkonen.

Can you imagine going to an Olympic downhill skiing event where two-thirds of the entries brought the wrong equipment and asked that the course be changed from a downhill to a giant slalom so they could be more competitive. Can you image the 24 hours of Daytona changed to the 20 hours of Daytona because two thirds of the teams brought cars whose engines would not last the entire race. 7 teams came to the US Grand Prix with faulty equipment and wanted the rules changed to accommodate Michelin’s mistake. What arrogance!

Now Michelin are blaming the FIA for the aborted race by not changing the track and adding a chicane before turn 13. Again what arrogance! This is about PR and politics — not racing as a sport. I blame the 7 teams for being bullied by their tire manufacturer and Michelin for having the arrogance to believe they have so much control.

You won’t see me buying Michelin tires for my current car or any future cars I may purchase.