Formula 1 - 2010 season indications

Alonso leads Ferrari. Is this a sign of things to come in the 2010 season? (Getty)

The Formula 1 season kicked off in a surprisingly quiet fashion as Ferrari stormed home to a one-two finish, with Fernando Alonso winning after Red Bull driver Sebestian Vettel's car suffered an exhaust problem only 15 laps to go when leading.

Felipe Massa looked in good form, seven months after a life-threatening crash at the Hungarian Grand Prix, after finishing behind race winner Alonso, while Hamilton cruised to third. Many were left wondering at the lack of competitiveness of Mercedes GP, and more particularly McLaren, with the latter up to one second down from the true pace of the impressive Vettel and the Ferraris.

Vettel's car had worked almost perfectly all weekend until lap 43 when his exhaust at the back of the car broke. This meant he lost power on the straights, critical at a circuit like Bahrain's Sahkir track where their main straight is a kilometre long.

Another German that impressed was Mercedes' Nico Rosberg, who outperformed team mate and seven-times World Champion Schumacher. To Schumacher's credit, he has not driven a Formula One race in some three years before Sunday. To finish sixth was a creditable result as he looks to get to grips with his Silver Arrows and the new rule changes. Mercedes are between around half a second to three quarters of a second behind the Ferraris and Red Bulls, so earning a great haul of points is essential in the opening races as they look to bring new aerodynamic parts for the Spanish Grand Prix, the fifth race of the season, in May.

The season was billed as the most tense and unpredictable season since the late 1980s, when the likes of Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, and Ayrton Senna were battling each other for World Championship glory. With the likes of Michael Schumacher, Hamilton, Alonso, Button and Vettel, it had every right to be. But the opening race saw very little overtaking, which would have done little to blow worldwide audiences away. The fact that Mark Webber for example, who stayed behind Button's car for over half the race unable to pass him, just showed how difficult passing is under these significant rule changes.

So Ferrari and Red Bull were the most competitive cars, and will be so in the next few races at least, but other teams down the field gave many fans and pundits much to talk about over the weekend, namely the new teams Virgin GP, Lotus and Hispania GP. Lotus had a car that proved to be most reliable and even jockeyed for position with Williams' Nico Hulkenburg, and the Saubers. A good showing from Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Truilli, and will look to build on an impressive showing in the team's first grand prix in nearly twenty years.

It was good to see Hispania make the grid on Sunday, after months of speculation that they would miss out the first few races because of lack of funding. But the sport needs to be realistic - the team is not good enough to get any world championship points this season, and if they are there next season, the team may not score any even then. Hispania were 12 seconds off the pace in qualifying, and Karun Chandhok failed to even compete two laps of Bahrain's lengthy circuit.

It is the FIA's job to approve teams to join the F1 franchise, but you need teams with quality, competitiveness, and potential. You can see those elements with Lotus and Virgin, as they have the funding to improve developments throughout the course of the season. It is unlikely this is the same case with Hispania, and I will be very surprised if they survive until the end of the season, as they are not commercially viable a team.

And as for the middle runners, you could see Force India and Renault causing some surprises. I was impressed by Renault driver Vitaly Petrov, who was in ninth at one stage until he was forced to retire as a consequence of a suspension problem. And Adrian Sutil in the Force India looks very competitiveness, and I cannot wait to see their pace in the long runs, as they can challenge Mercedes, and even McLaren during the season. I wouldn't be too surprised if this indeed was the case.

Some drivers were also complaining about the rule changes not favouring for track entertainment. Suffice to say, this was the case in a low-key race and we can expect to see races won from even the first lap. In Vettel's case, the German stayed out in front for 34 laps until his exhaust gave up on him, with Alonso in that period unable to have a sniff of an overtaking move on him.

The no refuelling rule favours consistency and tremendous awareness on car and tyre management. Cars will have to be very efficient as teams can only use up to the quota of eight engines throughout the season, but will these factors help races become boring? From this race alone, this might be the case. But as the teams develop their packages, fans will pray for more exciting racing rather than watching 24 cars just drive around a circuit in appearingly nonchalent fashion.

Gutsy Portsmouth reach FA Cup semis

Since Portsmouth were declared into administration, many questioned whether this was the beginning of the end for Pompey. Ridden with crippling debts mounting to £70m in a sorry season that has seen four different owners taking charge of running the club. But on Sunday, their Premiership form went out of the window and swept past Birmingham 2-0 to progress to the FA Cup semis.

They will now face either Fulham, or even more intriguingly Tottenham, managed by former boss Harry Redknapp who boast a number of previous Pompey players in the Tottenham first team including Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Niko Kranjcar and Younes Kaboul.

The FA Cup quater-final victory is very ironic as it will take them to Wembley, arguably the club's finest hour in their 112-tear history when they truimphed over Cardiff in the 2008 final, but also acted as a sharp turning point to financial oblivlion. Their victory last weekend netted some £607,000 in winnings and broadcast fees, but as the club are in administration, Portsmouth will need to appeal to the Football Association to claim their earnings.

Portsmouth used the guile and thurst of striker Federic Piquionne to full effect, who scored both of their goals. He held the ball up very well and gave dynamic midfielders like Jamie O'Hara something to work on. It was the type of performance that would have even given Man Utd a run for their money. It was full of vigour, tenacity, and work rate that what really pleased boss Avram Grant, who undoubtedly has been working tirelessly to gee up a demoralised first-team squad.

They needed a stroke of luck when a header from Birmingham centre-back Liam Ridgewell had a header disallowed despite the ball crossing the line. But you cannot say they did not deserve some luck after what the players have gone through during this turmultuous period.

Whoever comes through out of the Tottenham-Fulham clash will be sure favourites in the semi, but no one can question Portsmouth's drive as they smove one step closer to their poison chalice: the FA Cup.

Portsmouth slide into administration - where did it go wrong?

Portsmouth will now be 17 points adrift from safety (Sky Sports images)



Portsmouth FC have today confirmed that it will be going into administration after totalling debts to the tune of around £70m.

For a club that is already 8-points away from safety, it is a further kick in the shin for the club and its fans. Some could say they have nobody to blame but themselves. In the past 24 months, which included their FA Cup success in 2008, Portsmouth sold over £90m worth of players including Peter Crouch, Lassana Diarra, Jermain Defoe, and Glen Johnson. To still be around £70m in debt is still giving the fans a real headache.

At least the club cannot be liquidated, as the meeting with the High Court over its winding-up order has now been suspended. The club still lives, for now.

So who is to blame? Well the Premier League as a brand is the most watched league in the world. In the height of a growing economy, and revenue increases, businessmen would only be a fool not to purchase a majority share of a club. That's what Malcolm Glazer did at Man Utd, Tom Hicks and George Gillett with Liverpool, and Sasha Gaydamak with Portsmouth.

But one has to wonder why Gaydamak significantly gambled on the club's future in exchange for virtually instantaneous success? The club's infrastructure was not there to generate the level of revenue of the Man Utd's or Liverpool's, but continuous spent to the level of those football giants. They did not have European football to fall back on for further income.

It was good while it lasted. Crouch and Defoe were a great pairing at Pompey, and still are at Tottenham, while the marauding full-back Johnson and the midfield tenacity of Diarra gave fans always something to shout about at Fratton Park. But paying players a high level of wages was never going to be sustainable for a club that can only attract a maximum of 17,000 fans at the Fratton Park turnstiles, while Old Trafford is 75,000.

So what about the recent owners? Have they deceived the club, and more notably the Premier League through its 'Fit and Proper Person's' test that it had the finances to been the club out of trouble? Sulaiman Al Fahim owned the club for just over 40 days before relinquishing his shareholding to Ali Al-Faraj. The Arabian never attended to any of Pompey's games, and defaulted a £15m loan pyment to one of the club's major creditors, Balram Chairai. He currently owns the club, but has reiterated that he won't be there for the long-term, making sure his major investment in the club is safe. There are other rumours circulating that gaydamak has still yet to receive his £9m installment of a £30m debt the Russian is still due.

With the club at the hands of administrator, it is difficult to be optimistic of the club's position. The club is still riddled with debt, and as it looks to pay off its creditors and pay its staff, more players may need to be sold to avoid a collapse of one of England's most historic clubs.

Terry dismissed as England captain, Ferdinand takes over honour

John Terry's dismissal as England captain culminates a new era for Rio Ferdinand, who has been strongly indicated to lead England into the World Cup by national manager Fabio Capello.

And there will be niggling doubts whether Ferdinand is the right person to captain England. His off-the-field antics during his career has been almost as controversial as Terry's, including missing a drugs test in 2004 which prompted his absence at the European Championships that year.

Chelsea defender Terry was embroiled in a media frenzy in the past week over his alleged affair with model and ex-girlfriend of fellow England colleague Wayne Bridge, Vanessa Perroncel. A gagging order to censor information regarding his private life was lifted by the High Court last Friday, which meant stories over his affair surfaced the following day as he continued with club duties until Capello had recuperated from knee surgery in Switzerland.

Capello, who was granted by the FA to be the decisive figure in whether to keep Terry as captain, met the Chelsea man at Wembley on Friday. In a meeting believed to have lasted 12 minutes, Capello came to a sharp conclusion of dropping the defender as captain. The story has gripped the nation for over a week, and some media outlets have even viewed that the decision was more of a moral one than a footballing one. But either way, this will likely put a spanner in the works of England's World Cup dreams.

It completes a tumultuous week for the Chelsea skipper. He scored the winning goal in the away fixture against Burnley, and then announced in a statement that he would not offer his resignation despite ongoing calls to do so by many pundits and journalists. The Capello decision is also likely to affect Terry's sponsorship deals, similarly to what has happened with Tiger Woods in previous weeks following an eyebrow-raising scandal over his infidelity.

Capello's decision is one that has to be respected by most. He clearly wants to diffuse an extremely awkward situation in quick fashion, and is also reassuring that no figure in the team is dominant over another. His disciplinarian approach commands great respect among the players as he reasserts his authority on the squad.

I think most pundits will look at Ferdinand's form for Manchester United and England with a great deal of intrigue. He is currently serving a four match ban for an elbow incident in last 4-0 month's win over Hull, and will need to perform at a high standard on a consistent basis if he is to prove the critics that the choice of captaincy is not an incorrect one.

Murray vows to break Grand Slam hoodoo after demoralising defeat to Federer

Federer has now won the Australian Open on four occasions (Guardian)

It is 74 years and counting since a British tennis player last won a Grand Slam. Andy Murray fought valiantly, but was comprehensively beaten in straight sets to one of the greatest players in the game's history, Roger Federer at the Australian Open Final in Melbourne.

Outsmarted and definitely outplayed, Murray was chasing tennis ball shadows over at Rod Lever Arena. Initially billed as a clash that may change the face of tennis, Federer reminded the world just how dominate he is in the men's game. His elegance in his movement around the court coupled with deceptively powerful groundstrokes, had Murray scampering around throughout the whole match.

Federer held serve at consummate ease on many occasions and ominously threatened to break the Scot's serve in a number of hair-raising moments for Murray and his legion of fans back home. While geed himself up on a number of key points, he was powerless to stop Federer's potent forehand, to an extent that Murray was clutching his thigh and back in between points such were the physical exertions Federer was putting him through.

With the Swiss star two sets to the good, Murray refused to give in despite Federer's apparent dominance. He broke to lead 5-2 in the third, but the 28-year old Federer used his experience and class to snuff out any opportunities Murray had to close out the set by winning three games in a row. This led to a tie break. As the breaker slowly unfolded with both players winning points from their own serves in nervous fashion, Federer found with a second championship point at 10-9. As Federer played an almost reckless drop shot attempt, Murray dragged his tiring body to stoop low and clip his shot on the line, to Federer's shock. But that only galvanised Federer as three tantalising points later, Murray netted a backhand as Federer screamed in relief.

A lack of risk-taking on break point opportunities proved Murray's downfall, in combination with sheer Federer brilliance. But there is a very little doubt that Murray can pick up his maiden Grand Slam. His emotional speech after the match shows how driven he is to break his Grand Slam duck. Although his game is not penetrable in the slow and low-bouncing surface of the French Open clay, his all-action play is at Wimbledon and even more favourably at the hard courts at Flushing Meadows.

Meanwhile, it is 16 Grand Slams and counting for Federer. At age 28, Federer is arguably still at the peak of his powers and still in the devastating form that we have known to see from him over the past six years. On this current form, Murray may possibly wait until Federer's retirement as there is no sign that he is relinquishing his current status as the best player in the game.