Bleacher Report - Articles by Gerard Elliott

Timo Glock: The Real F1 Champion?

Gerard Elliott — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:40:55 -0500

Imagine: You're fifth in the last Formula One race of the season, two laps to go, fifth place is all you need to take the world championship. Rain is a possibility so you and several other cars have intermediate tires on.

Sebastian Vettel racing for Toro Rosso overtakes you, with nothing to win himself it seems an arrogant and aggressive move. This put you down to sixth, meaning you will be drawing on points with Fellipe Massa, but unfortunately for you Massa will win the championship on race wins.

Fast-forward to the second to last corner Timo Glock has slowed down dramatically allowing you to easily pass gifting you the world championship. Massa is already celebrating and so is his family. Two families are now celebrating only a few hundred yards away from each other. You pass the line and are crowned world champion.

This is what it was like in the final few minutes of the Brazilian Grand Prix for Lewis Hamilton. Both me and a friend (MikeyRigby) think that Timo Glock had seen Vettels aggressiveness and decided to allow Hamilton to easily pass him. Of course some people will argue that Glock was running in dry tires and was struggling to keep his toyota on the road well after Hamilton had took him over.

It is also well known Hamilton and Glock are very good friends, could this be a factor at all? Me and MikeyRigby reckon Glock should get more attention and this case should be discussed. Did he allow Hamilton to pass? Did he not? Why did he let Hamilton to pass if at all? Answers on a post card please...

How To Test A Formula One Driver's Skill

Gerard Elliott — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:54:18 -0400

So some of you may have read my Lewis Hamilton report. To be exact, it was 972 of you.

I have a way where the FIA can make sure that only talented DRIVERS win races and championships and not talented CARS.

OK, so here's my plan. All cars will have exactly the same HP engine and the same weight. The only way in which manufactures will have freedom will be the aerodynamics of the car.

This method will set out the Lewis Hamiltons of the world with the Jenson Buttons. If this became a genuine law in F1, real drivers would be able to shine through instead of good cars.

Bring these laws in, and let's see if Felipe Massa is as good as Anthony Davidson when put in very similar cars.

Open Mic: Manchester United My Modern(ish) Dream XI

Gerard Elliott — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:57:29 -0400

My Manchester United dream team, is quite a modern one... I'm only 15 so only MEGA Legends of the old teams will be here!

Manager: Sir Alex Ferguson. The greatest and most decorated manager in my lifetime so Sir Alec is a certainty.

Goalkeeper: Peter Schmeichel. In my opinion the worlds greatest keeper. United's new keeper signing always is to try and replace him.

Right Back: Gary Neville. The only real right back that I could put here due to him being the only right back I've seen play more or less.

Right Centre Back: Rio Ferdinand. One of the modern era legends of Manchester United.

Left Centre Back: John O'Shea. An odd choice but O'Shea is seriously under-rated and can play in any defence or midfield position—a real all-rounder.

Left Back: Nemanja Vidic. A tough, hard defender—face this man at your own will! A superb defender well worth his low transfer budget.

Right Midfielder: Christiano Ronaldo. A definite. The king of the step over, a show-boater, and goal scorer to please the crowds and make the game enjoyable.

Right Centre Midfield: Roy Keane. A great back-up for defence, but could also pull some quite magnificent goals.

Left Centre Midfield: Sir Bobby Charlton. A good midfielder with excellent passing and could score magnficant goals.

Left Midfield: Ryan Giggs (1999). Perfect left winger in his hay-day with swift runs, headers, crosses, and perfect goals. This kid had it all.

Right Forward: George Best. Perfect forward was a true legend and true striker.

Left Forward: Eric Cantona. King Eric—need i say more?

Substitute: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Asked to be substitute so he could spectate the opposing teams defence and exploit their weaknesses and score amazing goals.

Substitutes: Denis Law. A good midfielder and goalscorer and with a team of quality. Hard to find a space for him.

Substitutes: Dennis Irwin. Would be a good left back or just roaming player if needed.

Substitutes: Ruud Van Nistelrooy. A great striker of excellent quality and scored brilliant goals.

Substitutes: David Beckham. A great winger, excellent free kick taker, and finisher.

Lewis Hamilton Too Arrogant to Win an F1 Championship?

Gerard Elliott — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:24:32 -0400

In the world of Formula 1 three drivers currently dominate the drivers table: Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Räikkönen, and Felipe Massa.

Lewis Hamilton is the leader in the standings, but may be the most arrogant driver of 2008. His career has been plagued with moments where his arrogance—and perhaps even his skill—has outmatched the abilities of his McLaren racing car.

The most notable moment came during the very last race of the 2007 season. In Brazil he was trying to take the lead during the first part of the Grand Prix and ran wide of the corner in turn four, dropping to eighth. Although, to his credit, he did race his way back up to seventh after falling as low as 18th.

In the 2008 season Hamilton has rammed the back of Alonso's car in the Bahrain Grand Prix and finished a disappointing 13th. Also in the practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix he crashed and completely destroyed his car. This could be his fault or the car's—either way he must have been pushing the car far too much.

This might not be arrogance, but still a major fault by Hamilton was when he crashed into the back of Kimi Räikkönen in the pit stop in the Canadian Grand Prix.

Don't get me wrong, I do think Hamilton is a brilliant driver. But could he be too arrogant to ever win a championship? He will do anything to take the lead and sometimes this can be fatal to his race rankings.

What do you think? I hope I am wrong and he does win a championship—and he does get over his arrogance.

Should Red Cards In Pre-Season Games Carry On To The Domestic Leagues?

Gerard Elliott — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:38:04 -0400

The red cards must put some teams at a disadvantage as the lower positioned teams will miss highly valued players whereas higher positioned teams could easily replace a banned forward whereas a lower league team may have to put out a weaker attacker and this could render their team bottom of the table for a very long time.

Finally, red cards in pre-season games should ban players from other pre-season games, leaving friendlies and the domestic league separate. Allowing players to enjoy themselves during pre-season and relax. Ready for the big games of their domestic leagues!

So everyone has followed their teams through the pre-season so far and I’ve noticed a couple of red cards flying about, I’ve seen two United players banned for three games because of red cards in friendly pre-season matches.

Simply, I think that these games should be completely separate from the season and that red cards accumulated in the pre-season should not carry over to the domestic season.

Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean players can fly into tackles and not have to worry about the consequences, the game does need some control but why should players that make stupid tackles have to miss out their season; all you have to do is ban them from playing three FRIENDLIES not three domestic games.

Some teams must be afraid of playing players like Ronaldo, Terry, Lampard, Gerrard and other stars in friendlies in case a stupid tackle warrants a red card. Bring back the freedom to the game and allow players to show off and not worry about getting banned!!