Earworm of the day — From the Beginning by Emerson Lake & Palmer

I’m not the biggest fan of Emerson Lake & Palmer or Prog Rock in general — the genre’s artistic pretensions and musical self indulgences simply haven’t aged very well — but this song of theirs has been bouncing around my head since it popped up on an oldies Pandora station of mine (and, of course, once you thumb something up in Pandora you’re likely to hear it again a lot).

A highlight of 1972’s Trilogy, “From the Beginning,” like “Still… You turn Me On”from the following year’s Brain Salad Surgery or “Lucky Man” from their eponymous debut, is one of those nicely melodic Greg Lake compositions that gave ELP some radio presence in the ’70s amidst their usual decidedly non-single length, over-the-top synth workouts and artfully deranged takes on classical standards. It’s almost got a bossa nova feel in the way it subtly swings and seduces. And Lake’s vocals feature his usual appealingly masculine timbre and restrained romanticism. I think because ELP were such a instrument-driven band Lake doesn’t really get the credit he deserves as a very solid Rock vocalist. But his pleasantly refined charms as a singer are all on fine display here.

The only thing distinguishing “From the Beginning” from, say, a Classics IV song like “Spooky,” which it kind of resembles if we’re being honest, is Keith Emerson’s well deployed Moog synthesizer solo which floats in during the last minute of the tune. It hovers above Lake’s acoustic guitar and overdubbed bass and Carl Palmer’s loose but anchoring conga beat and is actually a very restrained and effective use of the then-new gadget. Fading out into some seagull-like peals, it supplies the song with an otherworldly and haunting hook that leaves the listener wanting more. The bright synth also brands “From the Beginning” as a definitively Emerson Lake & Palmer song even if the simplicity and straightforwardness of its composition, not to mention its relatively compact 4-minute run time, is not all that characteristic of the normally bombastic Prog Rock outfit’s usual baroquely expansive output. That makes “From the Beginning” something like the exception that proves the rule for ELP and a damned tuneful one at that.

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi — Results & aftermath

Hamilton dominates in Abu Dhabi to end championship campaign in style; Verstappen P2, Leclerc P3, as Bottas battles from last to fourth

Mercedes’ ace Lewis Hamilton capped off his sixth championship season with a dominant win at Yas Marina Circuit in Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. In the final race of the 2019 F1 campaign, a late afternoon affair that goes from day to night conditions, Hamilton and his Silver Arrow were as untouchable as they gave been throughout the year. The newly minted 6-time champ claimed his 11th victory of the year out of twenty-one GPs and finished far ahead of his closest pursuers. Hamilton won from pole and also set the fastest lap of the race for a bonus point, coming home a whopping 16.77 seconds ahead of the second place Red Bull of Max Verstappen. It was a suitably perfect performance in what has been another banner year for the 34-year-old, who was justifiably left wishing that the season could continue after his effortless win. It also gave Hamilton 84 career wins, shockingly close to what seemed to be Michael Schumacher’s record F1 total of 91. No doubt Lewis will be dreaming of overtaking Schumacher for that milestone in 2020, as well as tying the German legend’s even more awesome achievement by racking up a seventh Drivers’ title. But all that is in the future and for now Hamilton can ride off into the winter break knowing that he was unquestionably the supreme Formula 1 ace in 2019 and has put himself in the conversation as one of the best in the sport’s fabled history.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

For Verstappen it was also a relatively easy day that saw the Dutchman hold off challenges from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and turbo lag issues from his own car to secure a P2 finish and lock down third place in the Drivers’ ahead of the hard-charging Leclerc. The Monegasque Ferrari man, who had breakout year and seems destined for greatness if given the right equipment, finished P3 in the race and survived an after-race investigation for fuel irregularities that led to a hefty fine for Ferrari but no penalties for Leclerc. Behind the top three, Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas drove a superb race after starting from the rear of the grid due to engine penalties, clawing his way all the way up to a P4 finish just about a second behind Leclerc for the last podium place. One wonders if the Finn’s result might have been even better had a technical glitch not prevented the DRS system from operating until Lap 18. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi — Qualifying results

Hamilton earns pole for final race of the season; Bottas second quickest but starts at rear due to engine penalties; Verstappen qualifies P3

Lewis Hamilton, looking to close out his 2019 championship season in suitably dominant style, earned his first pole position since Germany in Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Mercedes ace and newly minted 6-time World Champion was head and shoulders above his nearest competition en route to the top spot on the timing sheets, besting his teammate Valtteri Bottas by 2-tenths of a second. Unfortunately for Bottas that strong effort in the gloaming of Yas Marina Circuit was for nought, as the Finn will be relegated to the back of the grid due to multiple power unit replacement penalties. It should make for an exiting race for the Silver Arrow’s number two man, who has already clinched second overall in the Drivers’ standings, as he powers his way through back of the field in the opening laps of tomorrow’s race.

Third fastest was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who struggled to keep his rear tires under him when pushing hard but crucially out-qualified Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in his quest to take third in the Drivers’ points when the curtain comes down after tomorrow’s GP. Leclerc somehow managed to muff his timing and could not set a better fast lap than P4 before the checkers flew to end Q3. The talented Monegasque, who had a breakout year and seems to be on the cusp of greatness, will be pushing hard at the start of tomorrow’s race to try and overtake Verstappen and claim third overall in the season’s standings for himself. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Brazil — Results & aftermath

Verstappen rolls to victory for Red Bull in wild Brazilian GP; Gasly an ecstatic P2, Sainz promoted to P3 after Hamilton penalized for late race collision with Albon; Ferrari teammates crash out

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had the wings all day long and rolled to a dominant win at the Brazilian Grand Prix, his peerless performance the one constant in a topsy-turvy contest at sunny Interlagos on Sunday. With no bad weather to throw curveballs during the proceedings the contestants themselves provided the unpredictability and occasional rashness that led to a thrilling race and the unexpected result of having Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz take P2 and P3 respectively to share the podium with Verstappen and grab their highest career finishes in Formula 1. Meanwhile, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was demoted from P3 after a late race gamble to pit from the lead for fresh rubber under Safety Car conditions backfired. Instead, it led to a major loss of track position when the Englishman emerged in P4 and a desperate attempt to get back to the front when the Safety Car was withdrawn with only three laps remaining. But while the newly minted six-time champ got by Gasly for P3 easily enough he couldn’t make a clean pass on the P2 Red Bull of Alexander Albon. Hamilton stuck his nose in forcefully on the penultimate lap going into Turn 10 but the door closed quickly and he ended up spinning out the impressive Thai rookie, denying Albon a probable second place result — a first potential podium for the youngster — and what could have been an even more amazing day for the Red Bull team. Hamilton, perhaps a bit too honestly, accepted full responsibility for the incident and was promptly penalized off the podium down to P7, much to Sainz’s and McLaren’s overjoyed advantage. Worse still for Mercedes, the second car of Valtteri Bottas suffered an oil pressure failure on Lap 52 that led to the Finn’s first retirement since the rainy crahfest at Hockenheim in late July.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

But as disappointing as things ended up for mighty Mercedes they went even more sideways for Ferrari. With Charles Leclerc making a heroic effort to claw back positions after a pre-race grid penalty saw him start down in P14 and Sebastian Vettel running solidly at the front and hunting a podium, it seemed almost inevitable that the two intra-team rivals would end up fighting over the same piece of track as the laps wound down. With Leclerc on slightly fresher Soft Pirellis, having pitted four laps later than Vettel during the Bottas Safety Car period, the Monegasque was able to close the gap to his senior teammate, who had lost precious time and, in fact, lost out while dicing with Albon for P3. On Lap 66 of this 71-lap contest, Leclerc was close enough to make a move and pass Vettel coming out of Turn 3 heading into the Reta Oposta. But Vettel got the DRS on Leclerc as they both steamed into Turn 4, the Descido do Lago. Vettel got his nose ahead but pressed his advantage just a little too aggressively, pushing across the track and into Leclerc’s front tire and wing with his left rear tire. As quickly as that, both Ferraris were out of the race, with the hard-charging Leclerc’s day of brilliant recovery work done in by a broken front right suspension courtesy of his teammate. Simultaneously, Vettel’s left rear tire delaminated badly after the contact and the carcass became a buzz saw whipping away at all that precious carbon fiber body work. It was a hell of a finish for the famed Scuderia going from a guaranteed strong points day to zero and will certainly not please the braintrust at Maranello. It’s also sure to worsen the already strained relations between the upstart would-be team leader and the decorated veteran, who has in truth made more than his fair share of mistakes during his tenure at Ferrari.

But whatever drama and fireworks happened behind them, the day belonged to the trio of Verstappen, Gasly and Sainz. No one could touch the Dutchman all race long and both Red Bulls seemed to be way ahead of their key rivals in terms of getting their tires to both turn on and maintain performance here at this very short and busy 4.3 kilometer circuit. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Brazil — Qualifying results

Verstappen seizes pole in Sao Paolo for Red Bull; Ferrari’s Vettel P2, Hamilton P3 for Merecedes

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen earned his second career pole position and second of the year during Saturday qualifying for the Brazilian Gran Prix. The Dutch wunderkind was consistently faster than the more vaunted Ferraris and Mercedes, as the Red Bull team look to finish the season strong and stick it to the big boys in the penultimate race of the Formula 1 calendar tomorrow at Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Sao Paolo, more commonly know as Interlagos. Verstappen was over a tenth quicker than Sebastian Vettel’s P2 Prancing Horse and the P3 Silver Arrow of newly minted 6-time champion Lewis Hamilton. Known for having driven one of the best ever wet weather races here back in 2016, Verstappen will be looking to keep his top spot until the checkered flag flies on Sunday and earn his first Brazilian GP win.

With the teams originally mixed and matched at the front of the grid, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas was promoted to P4 alongside his teammate Lewis Hamilton even though Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc bested the Finn in quali because Leclerc faces a 10-spot grid penalty come race day due to a power unit change. It should be fun watching the talented young Monegasque motor his way back up to the front from a lowly P14 start. Continue reading →

tomvox1’s Watches for Sale — Vintage Omega ref. 166.073 Seamaster 120 “Deep Blue” Dive Watch

Just listed for sale — this cult classic late 1960s/early 1970s reference 166.073 Omega Seamaster 120 with amazing “Deep Blue” dial. This big steel diver was the next iteration in Omega’s increasingly diverse “professional” divers line during that era, following on from the legendary Seamaster 300 and immediately preceding the famed PloProf. And it features the same sort of rugged build quality as those others with a large all-steel “pontoon” lug case measuring 41mm x 46mm and originally boasting superior water resistance for open water diving.

Click for large image gallery

This fantastic Seamaster came to me via trade with a re-done dial and re-lumed hands. So I hunted down a correct period blue Tritium dial in beautiful glossy Near Mint condition. I also sourced a genuine Omega modern Luminova gladiator handset that actually matches quite well, although it will obviously hold its glow for quite a long time unlike the Trit dial and bezel. Additionally, while my watchmaker was swapping out the dial & hands late last year I had him overhaul the very high grade in-house caliber 565 movement.

Overall, the watch itself is in Excellent properly restored vintage condition and this big blue beauty is a real stunner on the wrist. In a world of cookie cutter Submariner wannabe divers, the Seamaster 120 Deep Blue stands out from the crowd with its bold, individualistic design and that , applied markers with heavily luminous background and stunning liquid blue dial. And so will you when you strap it on.

Get it now — click here to contact me for more info on this great vintage Omega SM 120 Deep blue! SOLD

Click here for many more photos and complete condition report

2019 F1 Grand Prix of the United States — Results & aftermath

Bottas victorious in Texas but P2 Hamilton claims sixth Formula 1 Title; Verstappen P3 on bad day for Ferrari

Mercedes’ had another landmark day to punctuate another season full of Silver Arrow excellence. The might German team dominated the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas on Sunday and took a one-two finish deep in the heart of Texas. While their number two driver Valtteri Bottas rode his pole position and a superior two-stop tire strategy to a dominant win, his teammate Lewis Hamilton came home P2, easily earning enough points to clinch his remarkable sixth F1 Drivers’ Championship. With Bottas the only man left with a minute mathematical shot at this year’s title entering the race, Hamilton put it all on the line in Austin. He committed to a risky one-stop strategy and battled a bumpy and windy race track while declining playing it safe to just come home with the bare minimum points to clinch.

Instead the English bulldog took it to the limit, even dicing with his Finnish wingman and going so far as to push Bottas off the track on lap 51 of this 57-lap contest in a despaired bid to maintain the lead and ring up another championship with a win. In the end, Hamilton could not hold off Bottas’ fresher Medium tires on the same superlative equipment and the Finn was able to get by on Lap 52 and cruise home to victory. But Hamilton did fend off the best attempts of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull to take P2 at the checkers and ring up a remarkable sixth championship, surpassing the great Juan Manual Fangio of Argentina for second all-time. Hamilton trails only Michael Schumacher’s record seven F1 crowns and knowing his personality and relentless pursuit of excellence it will be uppermost in his mind this offseason to match that seventh title next season, especially with major new rules changes looming in 2021. But for now Lewis Hamilton can bask in the glory of achieving what only one other driver in Formula 1 history has ever done before. And team Mercedes should be well satisfied with both their driver lineup and the continued performance of their engine and chassis that has already secured them their own sixth Constructors’ Championship and their sixth in a row to boot. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of the United States — Qualifying results

Bottas takes pole in Texas; Vettel starts P2 as P3 Verstappen splits Ferraris; Hamilton only P5 as he closes in on 6th title

On a weekend where Lewis Hamilton is almost certain to clinch his remarkable sixth Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship, his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas did his level best to delay the inevitable by taking pole in Saturday qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. On a warm day at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, where the dusty and bumpy track evolved rapidly throughout the three qualifying sessions, Bottas laid down a new track record 1:32.029 lap midway through Q3 that none of the other contenders could touch. As the only driver remaining with a mathematical chance of catching Hamilton with just three races to go including the USGP, the Finn did what he had to do to keep his slim hopes alive by taking the top starting spot with one flawless lap. Surprisingly, Hamilton could not quite hook up a full lap on this tricky, flowing counter-clockwise circuit and could only muster the fifth fastest time while battling the strong winds and what sounded a bit like his own nerves at the prospect of being so close securing the 2019 title and another significant marker on the road to F1 immortality.

Hamilton’s desultory qualifying result was good news for the other top contenders, as Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was able to take P2 on the grid alongside Bottas on the front row with a time a mere .012 behind the Finn’s. But Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was able to split the Prancing Horses by taking P3 a few hundredths ahead of Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari. To be fair to Leclerc and the team it was somewhat amazing to see him even turning hot laps at all after his car suffered an engine failure in Free Practice 3 just a few hours earlier and his mechanics had to swap engines in that short time. Leclerc was doubly lucky that the change necessitated no penalty positions on the grid, as Ferrari merely went back to an earlier spec power plant that they had already used previously in the season. But keep an eye on the talented young Monegasque during the race to see if his used engine A) has the pace of his rivals and B) can survive the race distance at full throttle.

Top 10 qualifiers for the United States GP:

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	Q1	Q2	Q3	LAPS
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:33.750	1:33.160	1:32.029	18
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	FERRARI	1:33.766	1:32.782	1:32.041	17
3	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:33.549	1:33.120	1:32.096	16
4	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:33.988	1:32.760	1:32.137	19
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:33.454	1:33.045	1:32.321	17
6	23	Alexander Albon	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:33.984	1:32.898	1:32.548	14
7	55	Carlos Sainz	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:33.916	1:33.422	1:32.847	15
8	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:33.353	1:33.316	1:33.175	18
9	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RENAULT	1:33.835	1:33.608	1:33.488	15
10	10	Pierre Gasly	SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA	1:33.556	1:33.715	1:33.601	19

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race will be broadcast live starting at 1:30PM Eastern on ABC here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if Hamilton can clinch or Bottas can live to fight another day!

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico — Results & aftermath

Hamilton seizes victory in Mexico City, holds off P2 Vettel for Mercedes’ 100th F1 win; Bottas stays alive with P3 finish; pole-sitter Leclerc undone by poor pit stop

Mercedes’ ace Lewis Hamilton edged closer to his amazing 6th Drivers’ Championship with a decisive win at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City on Sunday. Utilizing a daring one-stop strategy, Hamilton pitted on Lap 24 of this 71-lap contest, shucking off his original Medium Pirellis for a set of durable but pokey Hard tires. With 47 laps left to run Hamilton could be heard over the radio agonizing over that strategy and second-guessing the team’s timing. But even without the calming precense of his usual race engineer Pete Bonnington, who is on medical leave for the next few races, the Silver Arrow braintrust was able to collectively nurse Hamilton through his moments of doubt. Then they were rewarded by watching their ace driver easily hold off the pursuing Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel as the laps wound down. With the current Formula 1 spec being particularly ill-suited to close pursuit due to brake overheating issues and the ambient temperature at this extremely high altitude circuit close to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, the top 5 drivers had to essentially hold station during the last third of the Grand Prix. And so Hamilton was able to convert a P3 start, as well as surviving some opening lap wheel-banging with Red Bull’s Max Vertsappen, into Mercedes’ 100th overall F1 victory. It also left the English superstar just 4 points shy of his sixth title and all but guaranteed secure that milestone next week in Austin, Texas.

For archrival Ferrari it was day of missed opportunities. After being gifted a front row lockout when Verstappen was stripped of his pole position for inexplicably failing to slow under a waved yellow flag on the last lap of Saturday qualifying the legendary Scuderia decided to split their tire strategy between their two drivers, the pole-sitting Charles Leclerc and P2 starter Sebastian Vettel. Vettel would attempt the one-stopper, matching Hamilton but running deeper on his opening stint, and Leclerc went Medium to Medium tires on his first stop on Lap 16 , which meant he would definitely have to stop again. When Vettel finally pitted on Lap 37 after being held up by a battle between midfield runners Carlos Sainz of McLaren and Pierre Gasly of Toro Rosso, he switched from his starting set of Medium tires onto the Hard compound to finish the race. But he also emerged in P4, well behind his teammate Leclerc, who now led the race, as well as Hamilton’s P2 Mercedes and the third place Red Bull of Alexander Albon. A little over halfway through, it appeared the race was now Leclerc’s to lose.

But Ferrari managed to lose it for him. When Leclerc made his second stop for the mandatory switch to a second tire compound, for the Hards like the other front runners, the Prancing Horse pit crew uncharacteristically botched the tire change at the rear left, making for a 6.2 second stop, about four fat seconds longer than the other contenders. That shuffled Leclerc back behind Bottas in P4 and that was where he would finish the race. Vettel came home P2 behind the voctorius Hamilton and Bottas drove effectively after his big qualifying shunt to come home P3 after starting from sixth on the grid. That podium finish meant that Bottas also delayed the inevitable Hamilton coronation at least until the United States GP next week.

Albon drove arguably his best race since going the senior Red Bull team mid-season, keeping his nose clean and showing impressive race craft for a rookie to take P5. Albon’s teammate Verstappen saw his self-inflicted demotion from pole compounded by tangling with both Mercedes during the opening laps. The Dutch wunderkind lost positions after coming together with Hamilton going into Turn 1 and being bounced off track. He then suffering a total tire de-lamination while dicing with Bottas on Lap 5 when the Finn’s front wing contacted the Red Bull’s right rear. After crawling around the circuit en route to the pit lane for critically needed fresh rubber Verstappen emerged dead last. But he had a typically superb recovery drive to will his way all the way back up to P6 as the checkered flag waved. But Verstappen had to be rueing what might have been had he only used a bit more common sense throughout his ragged weekend in Mexico.

Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico — Qualifying results

Verstappen takes lightning pole in Mexico City but faces investigation; Leclerc P2 & Vettel P3 for Ferrari, Hamilton P4 but P6 Bottas crashes heavily for Mercedes

Red Bull’s Max Vertsappen avenged last year’s disappointment when he was mere hundredths of second shy of pole position in Mexico City to outclass all other competitors and grab the top starting spot for tomorrow’s Mexican Grand Prix. However, Verstappen also set his fastest lap time as a yellow flag was being waved at the end of Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s race after Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas crashed heavily while approaching the final turn. The Dutchman inexplicably failed to slow at all through the yellow zone despite already having a mega-fast banker lap that no one else could top. And so the stewards are investigating and Verstappen may face a penalty that once again denies him pole at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

The pace of the Red Bull in Verstappen’s supremely skilled hands must have been a shock to Ferrari after dominating in all practices so far. But when it came time for the lap times to count and determine the grid rising star Charles Leclerc found himself about half a second behind the pole-sitting Red Bull despite absolutely throwing his Prancing Horse into corners and ostensibly starting alongside him in the front row at P2. Leclerc’s senior teammate Sebastian Vettel was third fastest while Mercedes seemed to struggle in the thin air of this high altitude venue and their ace Lewis Hamilton could do no better than P4. While Bottas was heavily winded by the harsh deceleration of his Silver Arrow’s impact head-on with a protruding Techpro barrier and was examined after sustaining such heavy G-forces he appeared unhurt. Such was not the case for his badly mauled Mercedes and while his initial time in Q3 before the shunt was good enough for a P6 start it’s possible the necessary rebuild might require enough parts replacements to push him to the back down the order or even force a start from the put lane come Sunday.

Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Alexander Albon again showed his promise to qualify P5, while the improving McLaren team had another strong outing in their bid to lay claim to being “the best of the rest” with Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris taking P7 and P8 respectively. Daniil Kvyat was P9 and an ailing Pierre Gasly was P10 for Toro Rosso to round out the top 10 starters in Mexico.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Mexican GP:

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	Q1	Q2	Q3	LAPS
1	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:15.949	1:16.136	1:14.758	16
2	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:16.364	1:16.219	1:15.024	18
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	FERRARI	1:16.696	1:15.914	1:15.170	18
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:16.424	1:15.721	1:15.262	20
5	23	Alexander Albon	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:16.175	1:16.574	1:15.336	18
6	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:17.062	1:15.852	1:15.338	18
7	55	Carlos Sainz	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:17.044	1:16.267	1:16.014	19
8	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:17.092	1:16.447	1:16.322	20
9	26	Daniil Kvyat	SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA	1:17.041	1:16.657	1:16.469	22
10	10	Pierre Gasly	SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA	1:17.065	1:16.679	1:16.586	22