My blog turns 1 today

My 1st post was on 1st Aug '06. To date, I have 371 posts inclusive of this one you are currently reading. I must say that I only missed out one day of not posting which was the day after Esther was born as I stayed in the hospital. Other than that, every day I have posted something for the past year. Here's to many more good blogging postings ahead.

Below is the schedule for next year's F1 season. Look carefully at Sept 28.

Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA, has confirmed the calendar for the 2008 world championship. The addition of races in Singapore and Valencia in Spain, combined with the omission of a US Grand Prix, makes for 18 rounds - one more than in 2007.The Australian Grand Prix will kick off proceedings on March 16, followed by Malaysia and Bahrain, before the championship heads to Europe. Turkey has been brought forward to May, while the sole North American round in Canada provisionally retains its traditional June slot.
The Valencia race, to be known as the European Grand Prix, will take place in August, while the other new event, the first-ever Formula One night race, will be staged in Singapore in late September. The season will finish in Brazil at the start of November.

The 2008 calendar in full:

16 Mar Australia

23 Mar Malaysia

6 Apr Bahrain

27 Apr Spain

11 May Turkey

25 May Monaco

8 Jun Canada*

22 Jun France

6 Jul Great Britain

20 Jul Germany

3 Aug Hungary

24 Aug Europe**

7 Sep Italy

14 Sep Belgium

28 Sep Singapore**

12 Oct China

19 Oct Japan

2 Nov Brazil

*Provisional

**Subject to circuit approval

Sheares Bridge Run

I saw on the website for this event and noticed that the route has changed slightly compared to last year. The most obvious one is the end point which is on the floating stage at Marina. However, the part which passes Chinatown has now been shifted to the front before running up the Sheares Bridge. I guess this is probably due to the previous year where traffic was disrupted and also runners' momentum was lost when the police had to stop traffic so that runners can pass. At least when I run up the Sheares Bridge the sky will be a little brighter since the start time is at 0530hrs. Just 4 weeks to go so I got to intensify my training.

28th Sept 2008 - Sg F1 GP

Mark your calendars, block out the dates and submit your leave plans. The announcement came yesterday about the first F1 GP in Sg and it will be held on the 28th Sept '08. Obviously, it will not just be that day but up to a week before where final preparations will be in place so there will be lots of activities and other F1 related events like free practice, qualifying and the shops selling the merchandise. I can hardly wait......

Motorsports fans: Start up and rev your engines......!!!

NE show photos

At the school canteen before moving out




5 Ruby at the Marina Floating Stadium




The floating stage




Fireworks

Farewell for now

I bade farewell to both 3E and 5R today. As usual, the most common question asked was where was I headed and when will I be back. Some guessed if I was going to serve the nation while others knew where I was headed. I told them that I will be back for my second and final attachment next year around the middle of term 1 but obviously I do not know which 2 classes will I be assigned next year. 5R asked for me to teach them again but I stressed that it is not up to me to choose but it depends on the arrangements of the school.

All said and done, I wish both these classes all the very best in their studies and their future endeavours. May they continue to uphold the SMART values inculcated into them since the first day they stepped into LPS. I desire that they will carry these values wherever they go and grow up to be individuals with good character and moral values.

My last day at LPS....

5 Ruby


3 Emerald

Tomorrow will be my last day at LPS as I complete my first practical attachment. Got a week break before I start my 2nd year back on campus. However, I think the orientation is already ongoing so I think there might be some things to be done prior to the start of term. Timetable for the next semester is out and as usual there are no off days for me. However, I am glad that I do not have any classes that stretch beyond 4.30pm so that should make things a little easier.

Cooling weather

The past few nights have been very cooling. In fact, it has been pretty much this way even in the day as well. Makes sleeping so much more comfortable as well. However, having late nights and rising up and early in the morning has been pretty much my schedule and I can forsee it to be like that for quite a while.

European GP

Ferrari team principal Jean Todt has admitted the Italian squad must keep working to solve reliability problems with the F2007 after Kimi Raikkonen retired midway through Sundays’ European Grand Prix. Todt insisted, however, that the Finn is still very much in the title hunt.

Raikkonen started the Nurburgring race from pole position, but things started to go wrong for him almost immediately when he slid wide at the pit entry at the end of lap one. It meant he had to do an extra tour on dry tyres in wet conditions, dropping him to sixth place by the time the race was resumed behind the safety car.

He fought his way back up to third, and was pressuring eventual winner Ferrnando Alonso for second place at one point, before his car began to intermittently lose power, forcing him out on lap 35.

"We definitely had a reliability problem today,” said Todt. “As I said before, we have to analyse what has happened. It was a hydraulic problem on Kimi's car and it stopped the car. It's definitely unfortunate but it's our responsibility. We think that we had this kind of problem during free practice in Magny-Cours."

The result means Raikkonen lies fourth in the driver standings on 52 points, 18 adrift of championship leader, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton. The consolation was that Hamilton also failed to score and Todt is convinced that Raikkonen still has everything to play for.

"There are seven races to go and we have the potential to win every race, so if we are able to do a good job, it's still possible," he added.

Second place for Raikkonen’s team mate Felipe Massa at least meant that Ferrari dropped only two points to McLaren in the fight for the constructors’ championship. The Brazilian had looked set for victory until a late shower allowed Alonso to muscle his way past in the tricky conditions.

That led to the rather ironic situation of Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher presenting the winning constructor’s trophy to McLaren boss Ron Dennis on the Nurburgring podium. Todt, however, said he was simply sad to have lost the race.

"Honestly, I would have preferred that he (Schumacher) gave it to a Ferrari team member, but he was asked by the organisers to give the trophy so he did so,” said the Frenchman. “But my heart had more pain when Kimi stopped because of a hydraulic problem and when Felipe lost the lead after a fantastic race a few laps before the end."

Ferrari’s next confrontation with McLaren will be in this week’s much-anticipated FIA hearing. Todt confirmed that Ferrari will be represented, but did not reveal whether the team will be giving evidence against McLaren, who are charged with being in possession of technical data belonging to the Italian team.

My final week in sch b4 i head back to NIE

This is my final week in LPS before I head back to NIE for my year 2. It has been a very rewarding and eventful 5 weeks with 3E and 5R. Despite the very small number of mischievous ones, by and large I liked both classes especially the older ones. They are a nice bumch except for one thing that slows their journey to success and that is laziness. However, I am confident that they can and will be able to do well if and when they invest the due effort. As for the younger ones, they need to be more self-disciplined and more motivated. Behaviour wise, they can really behave well if they want to.

A curve named after Schumi

Nurburgring legend - Michael Schumacher

During his illustrious Formula One career, Michael Schumacher raced in 11 European Grands Prix at the Nurburgring - and won five times. With such formidable form at the German circuit, it is no surprise that Schumacher has been honoured by having a corner named after him - the Schumacher S.

As Formula One racing returns to the Eifel mountains for the 2007 event, we take a look back at the German’s greatest moments at the track…

1995 European Grand Prix Qualifying: 3rd, Race: 1st

Although the damp qualifying session was dominated by Williams duo David Coulthard and Damon Hill, it would be Schumacher, then driving for Benetton, who would take the Sunday honours. The German had only clinched third on the grid, but with pole-sitter Coulthard starting the race in the spare Williams after crashing during the morning warm-up, and Hill making a slow start, Schumacher was able to quickly move up to second.

As the track began to dry, however, it was the Ferrari of Jean Alesi which set the pace and the Frenchman seized P1 when the frontrunners pitted. Hill, meanwhile, attempted to overtake Schumacher, but after an aggressive tussle the German maintained his position and then began to pull away. Further back, Coulthard began to slow in the spare Williams and then Hill crashed heavily, leaving Schumacher free to concentrate on catching Alesi.

Quickly cutting into the Ferrari driver’s 30-second advantage, Schumacher went on to make a decisive more around the outside of his rival, then maintaining his lead to clinch his seventh win of the season.

2000 European Grand PrixQualifying: 2nd, Race: 1st

Now driving for Ferrari, Schumacher had enjoyed an upbeat start to the season, scoring three consecutive victories. But McLaren were on the move and after Coulthard and team mate Mika Hakkinen had divvied up the last two races between themselves, a win in Europe was vital if Schumacher was to maintain momentum in his title bid.

Qualifying, however, did not go quite to plan. Coulthard took pole and Schumacher was left to feign content in second, ahead of Hakkinen in third. A slow start for Coulthard in the race handed the advantage to his Finnish team mate, who claimed the lead into Turn One, while Schumacher tucked into second.

It would be the weather which would eventually influence the race’s outcome. And when rain began to fall, everyone pitted for wets. With Hakkinen experiencing problems in his stop, Schumacher emerged in the lead. And that’s how it remained until he crossed the line first, with a 13-second advantage.

2001 European Grand PrixQualifying: 1st, Race: 1st

Though not the greatest of Schumacher’s victories at the Nurburgring it was certainly one of the closest. With Ferrari facing a strong challenge from Williams, qualifying was tough, but Schumacher managed to take pole with brother Ralf behind and the second Williams of Juan Pablo Montoya in third.

Although the younger Schumacher got the better start, Michael aggressively moved across his brother and defended his position to maintain P1 into the first corner. As the race progressed it became increasingly clear that the Williams were faster, but the Ferrari driver refused to yield.

Ralf’s best chance to sneak ahead came when both Schumacher brothers pitted simultaneously on lap 28. But critically for Ferrari, Michael was able to stay ahead. And even though in its second stint the Ferrari was much faster, the win was still not in the bag.

But then Ralf received a 10 second stop-go penalty for crossing the white line at the pit exit. It was a mistake which would cost him dear, especially as it removed the lion’s share of the pressure from Michael’s shoulders. From there he led comfortably to the end, crossing the line four seconds ahead of Montoya, with Ralf eventually taking fourth.

2004 European Grand PrixQualifying: 1st, Race: 1st

This was arguably Schumacher’s most dominant triumph at the Nurburgring and was representative of a season which saw him win all but five races in the 18-event calendar. In fact, the German effectively clinched victory in the opening seven laps of the Grand Prix.

Starting on pole, and with additional benefit of having a low fuel load, Schumacher was able to build up a 17-second lead by lap 8. Even after stopping early, he only lost six places, all of which he retook. With Barrichello playing the role of right-hand man in second, Schumacher was able to stop a further two times but never once handed the lead to anyone other than his team mate

Tactically it was a master class and Schumacher left the circuit yet another 10 points better off in the championship standings.

2006 European Grand PrixQualifying: 2nd, Race: 1st

A slow start to Schumacher’s 2006 campaign had let Renault’s Fernando Alonso gain a significant championship lead, but a win in the previous round at Imola the race had seen the German regain some ground. Losing out in qualifying by just two tenths to Alonso, however, meant Schumacher was forced to play a patient waiting game in the early stages of the race as Alonso maintained his lead off the line.

Though close, in the first round of pit stops Schumacher was unable to do enough to move ahead. But when Alonso refuelled for the second time, the Ferrari star put in three outstanding laps to give himself enough space to maintain the lead after he himself had stopped. And so it stayed. Schumacher cruised to the chequered flag, with Alonso trailing behind in second.

It was the 86th win of Schumacher’s career and his last victory at the Nurburgring.

Going for the NE show with 5 Ruby later...

This is an early post for today as I will be attending the NE show with 5R later. I can imagine the excitement and eagerness cos that was what I saw last year with 5D '06. So I will post some photos of Esther taken a few days ago.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------


On her stomach



"Whatcha looking at?"



Her side profile

Racial Harmony Concert and Observation

We had our annual Racial Harmony Concert this morning and I must say it was fantastic. Despite the last minute changes right up to just before the individual item, things did not go tt right. However, what mattered most was the show went on and the audience was greatly entertained and enriched.

I was the "Officiating Pastor" for the western style church wedding. Thankfully I reviewed my own wedding DVD on the solumnisation part so I knew what was to be said. I must say that having been through my own wedding in a church and also attended countless church weddings, I can already know by heart what the officiating minister will say. Throughout the re-enactment, the students were so excited and amazed by the whole process. Even though it was quite warm because I was in full suit, I removed the jacket when it was over and the air-con in the staff never felt so cooling!

My supervisor observed Dhanya and myself today after the concert and thankfully it was great. Boss was quite pleased with what he saw and he encouraged us to work towards the next practical which will be next year. That is the important one as the bar will be raised and the expectations will naturally be greater.

11th hr request

I was asked only in the afternoon to help be the 'officiating pastor' for a church wedding (Eurasian style) for the Racial Harmony Day tomorrow. So I guess I have to review my own wedding DVD so that I know the wordings and procedures. Besides the Eurasian wedding, other ethnic group weddings will also be shown to the rest of the school.

Besides this, my supervisor will be observing my lesson as well tomorrow so it will be an event-filled day. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post.

Nothing significant to post

I just cannot think of anything significant to post so I shall not post anything except this sentence.

Esther is 4 mths old today

Esther turns 4 mths today. She has really grown and she weighs heavier than a 5kg rice pack! Length wise, well, no prizes for guessing that she is over 62cm. So she is quite lengthy and not the chubby kind. The moment she is being put on a flat surface, she will display her flipping skills meaning that she can turn on her own onto her tummy. However, she still cannot flip back onto her back so she will make noise for assistance or attention! Her appetite has also grown quite a fair bit. However, since she recovered from the flu, she has been quite grumpy especially at night and in the wee hours of the morning. Hopefully this will pass as we try to adjust her schedule back to the times when she could sleep through till 6am.

Stanchart SIngapore Marathon

Registration opens for the Stanchart Singapore Marathon today for previous participants. I have already registered and the training carries on. This is the pinnacle of all the running events as it is a world class one which no other running event can come close in terms of organisation, logistics and other aspects. Having participated in the Sheares Bridge Run and the recently completed Saucony Passion Run, these 2 events are nowhere near. I am also looking forward to training with my NIE kakis once the new term starts. Perhaps we should increase the distance progressively?

Fruitful weekend

Even though there is still half a sunday left, I am very pleased to say that this weekend has been very fruitful. I managed to get so many things done ranging from housework to baby sitting to lesson planning to exercising to relaxing.

Last night after dinner, we decided to try our luck with catching the NE show fireworks. 3 of us went for a car ride along the ECP just to see if we can get a glimpse. However, I think we were a little too late. By the time we were going up the Sheares Bridge, I think the crowd were beginning to disperse. From the car, we could see the spectators stand and it was filled with a sea of red. The flood lights that illuminated the floating stadium resembled the tower lights of the soon-to-be pulled down National Stadium. Somehow or rather, almost every Singaporean young and old have their own fond memories of the Kallang Stadium.

Did a lot of things today

Since morning I have been doing things non-stop. First, I polished the car as the pollen spots were really becoming an eyesore. After I went through the car wash yesterday evening, I thought the high pressure water jet could remove the stains but unfortunately not. I then decided to polish the car myself to see if it would come off. Still no. Looks like I may have to go for a professional polish but most probably it will be after I leave LPS as the spots were caused by the pollen from the plants when the car was parked in school. Well at least some of them came off.

I then did my reflections and started writing my lesson plans for the next week. Got to upload them onto the website as well so I guess I will be facing the computer for quite a while. Had just come back from a nice run. I tried my new pair of shoes as the old one which lasted me for 6 mths was quite worn out especially at the heel area. What a difference it makes between a new pair and a worn-out one. However, I have to put in at least 40 - 50km 'run-in' distance into this new pair before embarking on the Army Half Marathon/Sheares Bridge Run which is about 6 weeks from now. But I wonder if I should use this shoe on the Real Run 2007 as that one has 2 sectors running on sand and trail.

Will be accompanying my P5s to the NE show next sat. Yes, I went last year and am going againg this year. Must remember to bring my camera and spare battery as I am going to snap lots and lots of shots. Of course i will post them.

End of wk 3

Just crossed the 3rd week in school. I must say that although the pace is pretty fast, I enjoy it because I find that time flies by faster. This is especially when you are faced with very difficult situations and you just wish that it can get by quickly. However, the occasional difficult situation is quite long lasting since it is a test on our skills in emotional, spiritual, physical and intellectual management.

Will be spending the weekend writing lesson plans, doing housework, family time, church and also sending a cousin off to Sydney.

Got a slight running nose

Got a slight running nose and I think it must have been the insufficient rest and the long hours awake for the past 10 days or so. Thankfully I have completed my marking for today and at least I can sleep a little earlier tonight. School as usual is exciting, fast-paced but nonetheless enriching.

Will be starting on a new topic for P5 maths tomorrow and for my P3s I hope there will be no more disruptions so that I can get on with the lesson proper. They had some lab session on how to access a certain website for P3 english so I have to postpone the lesson till tomorrow.

missed my eng lesson today

I missed my English lesson today as there was a concert for our Chinese counterparts. WHich means that I will have to postpone it till tomorrow. And the concert lasted for 2 whole hours till dismissal time. Which means 4 periods were gone.

Esther is much better aldy

Thanks for all your prayers and concern. Esther is so much better already. Though the cough is still lingering, she has no fever and is her happy self again. Other than the cough which still sounds a little chesty, compared to last week she is miles ahead. Just hope that the cough will go off as soon as possible. Administering medicine to an infant is not easy especially when they get grumpy and cranky.

Ferrari won again.....

Taken from the F1 website.
----------------------------------------------------------------

For a while McLaren looked good, as first polesitter Lewis Hamilton and then world champion Fernando Alonso had spells in the lead of Sunday’s British Grand Prix, but when Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen ran longer than Alonso in the second stint it was all over bar the shouting.

By the time the Finn refuelled for the second and last time, on lap 43, he was able to retain the lead with ease and head Alonso home by 2.4 seconds after backing off in the final lap.

It was not a great day for Lewis Hamilton in the other McLaren, who struggled throughout to match his main rivals’ pace, and had Felipe Massa not had to start from the pit lane after his Ferrari stalled on the grid in the original start, he would arguably not have been able to maintain his record of finishing on the podium in every Grand Prix he has driven.

As it was the Englishman maintained his championship lead by taking a distant third place, and his aspirations were helped a little when Massa, after a strong recovery drive, was unable to wrest fourth place from BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica.

The result leaves Hamilton first on 70 points from Alonso on 58, Raikkonen now up to 52, and Massa on 51.

In a reasonable day for BMW Sauber, Nick Heidfeld brought his F1.07 home sixth ahead of the outpaced Renaults of Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella, which took the final points.

Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button had single-stop runs to ninth and 10th places for Honda, the Englishman working very hard in the final third of the race to keep David Coulthard’s Red Bull at bay. Like Massa behind Kubica, they were less than a second apart at the finish.

Nico Rosberg should have been a points contender for Williams but lost a lot of time in his first stop and spent the rest of the race fighting back, while team mate Alex Wurz finished 13th after a brush with Scott Speed, which eliminated the American’s Toro Rosso with front-left suspension damage. The final finishers were Takuma Sato, who started from the pit lane in the spare Super Aguri, and Christijan Albers in the Spyker.

The other retirements were Mark Webber with hydraulic problems on his Red Bull, the Toyotas of Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher, Tonio Liuzzi’s Toro Rosso, Anthony Davidson’s Super Aguri and Adrian Sutil, whose Spyker’s engine blew up.

It may not have been a classic race, but it proved again that the advantage remains with Ferrari as the season reached its midpoint.

Saucony Passion Run

My bib for the event

-------------------------------------------------------------------

I completed my first running event for the year this morning. Although the distance was just 10km, it sure felt great to be able to relive the same feeling I had at 2 events last year. Picked up YS and another church member before heading to East Coast. It was quite crowded judging from the crowd and how packed the car park was. Bright and early on a Sunday morning when one could simply sleep in or laze in bed.

My timing was 1hr 1 min 14 sec according to my watch but I want to see what is that actual timing that I clocked when the results are released. The start point was from the Lagoon Food Centre to the somewhere slightly further down from the now defunct Big Splash where we made a U-turn back to the start point. It was quite warm as I was totally soaked after the run. But nothing beats having a nice cool drink and giving a high 5 to fellow participants at the end of the race.

So heres to the next event which is on Sunday 21st Aug: the Army Half Marathon. Incidentally, I will run on the Sheares Bridge and end at the new floating stadium at Marina Bayfront. Registrations are still open!!

LPS Open House

Thank God for the great weather. Although there was a downpour in the early hours, it became a slight drizzle until around 9am. I was initially worried that the wet weather will dampen the mood but not only did the drizzle stop, it was an overcast throughout the morning and it was cloudy in the afternoon. I noticed that the crowd this year was greater than last. I was truly impressed by the number of stalls, both food and games, which were manned by staff and students. Many of our former staff and students made their appearance as well. Unfortunately, I had to leave slightly earlier as Esther was not well and I need to rush home to help look after her. Here's to the I&E Open House 2008.

Eve of LPS Open House

On the eve of the LPS Open House, everyone is so busy doing the final preparations for tomorrow. Food and game stalls, special rooms and corners, labs and also performances are all ready. We hope for excellent weather tomorrow and also hope to attract a huge crowd so that we are able to showcase the school the potential students. I will be helping the robotics food stall along the Heritage Lane selling fishballs and popcorn. I am sure that many students past and present will be on-site to support one another. Besides, our counter-parts from China are also visiting our school so that would make their exchange program so much more enriching.

Esther's cough is quite bad....

Esther's cough is quite severe as the phlem is really giving her a hard time. Poor thing. Hopefully the medication will soothe the irritation and dissolve the phlem and mucus. Initially we wanted to bring her to the LPS open house on Saturday but it seems that we will have to give it a miss. So will church service on sunday too.

For the past week, we have been surviving only on 4 hrs sleep nightly as Esther has been getting up rather early and since last night when she was sick, we did not sleep well too as we were worried if a fever might erupt. Thankfull she is fine.

Esther is down with a slight cough n running nose

After 2 days of coughing which we thought was due to the dry weather, Esther developed a slight running nose. As such, we brought her to the GP earlier in the evening for a checkup. Thankfully, it is nothing serious. He prescribed some medicine for her to comsume over the next few days. What makes it more uncomfortable is the recent heat wave. Despite this, we still try not to let her sleep with the air-con as this would not be helpful for her running nose. Hopefully she will get better over the next couple of days.

Supplementary Class

I conducted supp class for 6 of my P5s this afternoon. They were the slightly better ones in the class as identified by Diona and we spent a very fruitful hour going through some challenging questions on decimals. I must admit that they are quite proficent in their basic concepts so they were able to be stretched further. Even though we could only discuss 10 MCQs, I felt that this is a good start. With prolonged exposure to such questions, I am sure that they will be able to handle them well when the time comes for them to tackle them in their assessments. However, I cautioned them against being arrogant and over-confident. I can understand how it feels to be the 'specially chosen' ones especially when it comes to such selections. So I reminded them to always be humble and to guide their classmates along. Nothing beats being able to guide someone until they understand and this is beneficial to both parties.

A couple of photos

Esther's classic stretch whenever she wakes up. Resembles "Buzz Lightyear" from Toy Story 1 & 2 doing his "To Infinity & Beyond!"


"ohhh...so ticklish!"



Esther twitching her lips

French GP

The race to the championship has just turned white-hot with the Ferraris routing the Mclarens at the French GP.

------------------------------------------------------------------

That news, so clearly demonstrated at Magny-Cours, has given the world championship fight a fresh injection of adrenaline, just as it seemed that McLaren were about to start dominating.

Asked what was better about the F2007 in France, race winner Kimi Raikkonen simply said: “Everything! You can feel the improvement everywhere, really. In every corner. We are back where we expect to be.”

At the same time, Lewis Hamilton said: “Both Kimi and Felipe (Massa) said they made a good step forward at Silverstone, and we made a step forward too, but when you are behind people, as we were here, it is a lot harder to show your true pace. I don’t think they were as quick, as much faster, as it looked today. Traffic and strategy had a lot to do with that, so I still think we can bounce back at the next race, without a doubt.”

Silverstone marks the midpoint of the world championship, and McLaren currently have 114 points, Ferrari 89. Everything is still out there to play for. The battle between BMW Sauber and the improving Renault team is as fascinating. The former had another good day on Sunday, with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld bringing home another nine points for fourth and fifth places respectively. Their score is now 48, whereas Renault only gathered three more for Giancarlo Fisichella’s well-driven progress to sixth place. It certainly did not help that Heikki Kovalainen was taken out of the equation on the first lap when Toyota’s Jarno Trulli struck the back of his R27. Interestingly, Fisichella lapped quicker than either Kubica or Heidfeld; he was fifth fastest in 1m 16.703s compared to Kubica, 10th in 1m 17.153s and Heidfeld, seventh in 1m 16.875s. For the record, Massa did 1m 16.099s, Raikkonen 1m 16.207s, Alonso 1m 16.495s and Hamilton 1m 16.587s.

The lap times also brought good news for Honda, for Jenson Button set the sixth fastest lap (1m 16.770s) en route to a fighting eighth place. Better still, he qualified 12th with a fuel load big enough to take him to the 32nd lap, so the new package of aerodynamic and mechanical improvements on the RA107 has already borne some fruit. Button’s point was both his and the team’s first of the season, and much needed.

At one stage over the weekend Nico Rosberg seemed likely to score again for Williams, but the Honda improvement left the FW29 a little breathless round Magny-Cours and the team couldn’t squeeze what it needed from a package that has looked pretty competitive elsewhere.

Toyota looked reasonable in qualifying, with Jarno Trulli eighth and Ralf Schumacher 11th, but the Italian’s rare mistake took one TF107 out of the battle early on, and the other was bottled up behind fuel-heavy Honda of Rubens Barrichello until Schumacher finally got ahead during the pit stops to finish 10th. It wasn’t a great day for Red Bull, either. Mark Webber and David Coulthard had a race-long scrap for 12th and both finished, but this was by their own admission the team’s least competitive showing of the year. And things weren’t any better for Toro Rosso. Vitantonio Liuzzi got taken off on the opening lap by Anthony Davidson’s Super Aguri, rendering both retirements, while Scott Speed kept up with the RB3s but succumbed to their usual trouble, transmission problems associated with the change speed of the seamless shift mechanism.

A start-line problem allied to a refuelling rig glitch lost Takuma Sato far too much time in the second Super Aguri, making this a race for the team to forget, and Spyker had a litany of problems that began when Adrian Sutil’s car was pushed off the grid with electrical problems and had to start from the pits in the T-car.

Later a radio problem brought Christijan Albers into the puts on lap 28 while Sutil was already there. The team got around that, but then Albers moved off before the lollipop man instructed him to, resulting in him dragging half the refuelling rig down the pit road and instant retirement.

Meanwhile, Sutil got a drive-through penalty for exceeding the pit-lane speed limit, and finished last, two laps down. Not a great day here, either. The British Grand Prix follows so quickly that nobody really has much time to do anything but fettle the cars and take them to the UK, but the race at Silverstone promises to be a great showdown between Ferrari and McLaren.

Half a year gone by in a flash

Yesterday marked the crossing of the mid-point of 2007. I really cannot believe that half a year had whizzed by in such a flash. As I posted before, whenever one is busy, it is incredible that time will just pass by in a jiffy. Today also marks the 10th anniversary of HK's return to Chinese rule. Yesterday also saw the official closing ceremony of the National Stadium.

I have my own fond memories of the stadium. During my school days, the National Track & Field championships were held there and it was a great feeling to be present and to hear the respective schools cheering their participants besides waving their school banners and flags. Sounding like Rod Stewart after such events and also getting sunburnt made it all worthwhile as the school spirit of unity was something that can never be taught through textbooks. I also attended countless National Day Parades as a spectator with my most memorable one being with the class of 5D'06 of LPS. As it was the last time the NDP was to be held there, the feeling was simply special. During my army days, I was one of the SAF contingents at the Padang while there was another year where I was providing Signal support in one of the surrounding car parks outside the stadium. Despite the fatigue and stress, it was a once-in-a lifetime experience.