Weather could certainly be a factor here in Italy this weekend as heavy cloud cover produced rain yesterday and threatened the same today and when you put rain and sun together, what do you get…a 'Rainbow'!! Well for those of you old enough to remember, we had Bungle, Zippy and Geoffrey join us in the ITV studio as usual and just how many of you out there would have loved to close the zip on that annoying little puppet…but surprisingly it wasn't Tony Jardine that I wanted to silence…for once!!

Someone was clearly having a laugh with ITV 'email a question to a team' thingy when they asked Jaguar if they have handling problems…which muppet doesn't know the answer to this question…it was probably the Jaguar design engineer looking for some constructive feedback!!

That aside, though, the choice of who to 'zip' was a tough one and both Schumacher brothers were the lead contenders… Michael for his sheer smugness (even out doing Montoya with a smirk) when he claimed he wasn't happy with 24 points at this time in the season, as last year he had 26…there's just no pleasing some people is there!?

But it's Ralfy that would be bound and gagged in his motor home for the rest of the weekend if I had my way (and Irvine of course…but for different reasons), as the 'War of the Williams' drivers' continued, with Ralf claiming Monty's move in Brazil as "brainless"…while Montoya was magnanimous in reply, saying: "There's a fine line between when to push and when to stay behind"!! Ralf's decision was clear to all in Brazil as he opted to stay BEHIND his brother…wouldn't we all have preferred to see him have a go at least!? They have been dubbed the Iceman and the Monster in the Williams garage…no prizes for guessing which is which…Berger was unwilling to say which was the better of the two but given the choice between a sparkler and a firework…which would you choose - easy isn't it!!

The big question (and not just this weekend either) is…why is Alex Yoong in Formula One, I mean apart from the money he brings with him that is almost certainly being used to develop his team-mate's car?! Admittedly his car sounded awful, like it had traction control running continuously…even on the straights…but to once again fail to get within the 107% rule is down right diabolical. Minardi claimed there were no problems with the car, just that Alex was finding it difficult to get to grips with the kerbs…then why oh why did he sit for 29 minutes in the pits…and I repeat, why is he even here!! Maybe he should take a few lessons out of Tomas Scheckter's 'Little Black Book of Kerb Crawling'…paying special attention to rule number 10.5.1 don't get caught!!

A small aside here, it may interest you to know that since Jaguar booted out the young South African, he is in IRL (Indy Racing League) and doing very well thank you very much…which is more than can be said for Jag…once again a pathetic excuse for an F1 car at Imola. The only good thing was that Eddie out qualified de la Rosa who got in everyone's way and according to sources close to my heart (i.e. my other half)…"was driving like a twat", something that seems to have been proved by his position on the grid…last!!

There have been all sorts of rumours going around this week about changes in driver line up…Eddie for one looks to be moving on…and I'm sure he's real unhappy about that…but who will replace him and where will he go?? Button has been tipped to take on the Big Cat leaving room for Villeneuve to return to Renault and Alonso (wasted somewhat this year) to replace the Canadian. All this is very well and good but where does that leave Irvine…down the pub with a pint of Guinness surrounded by gorgeous women is my guess…something else I'm sure he's devastated about - I think not!!

The other big rumour is that Barrichello has been asked to take a pay cut if he wants to stay with Ferrari…something that Ross Brawn is denying…not that he's likely to admit it…and anyway since when did Ross Brawn ever make the decisions at Ferrari, I don't think Michael would allow that!! Massa is the cause of all this as he is said to have been placed at Sauber by Jean Todt for evaluation and possible transfer into the number two car…whether it's fact or fiction, Rubens is certainly under pressure to perform…without beating his team-mate of course…

Something the Brazilian did perfectly today…in one of only a few outings in the new car (and the spare to boot) he set a time that had Schumacher looking at Barrichello's telemetry for once…a bit of a slap in the face for the 'Messiah', but it obviously worked as on his last lap he just managed to creep in front…how does he do that?? Uncharacteristically I felt sorry for the Muppet as after the disaster in Brazil (yet again), I would love to see him win in Italy…and he still could, if Michael lets him!! It's a brave man that bets against Schumacher…

I've talked enough about the Williams pair so suffice it to say they were nowhere until today and take up the second row of the grid…onto McLaren who were stuck in 'nowheresville' and look unlikely to find the road out. Raikkonen starts fifth and DC sixth…not too bad you'd think but DC was 1.5 seconds off the pace and they were 17th and 20th in the speed traps on the straights. According to Ron Dennis, they had trouble with the set up on DC's car…according to DC, they had to change the engine…perhaps the team should spend more money on finding a decent engine rather than forking out £4 Million on a new motor home or "communications centre" as they like to call it!! Or perhaps not as there certainly seems to have been a communication breakdown if these comments are anything to go by!!

Kimi got engaged this week to a former Miss Scandinavia… according to James Allen he's too young at 22…come on James put yourself in his shoes… young (yes surely you can remember), a hot shot in the pinnacle of motorsport and a model hanging off your arm (you'll just have to imagine the last two)…but would you turn it down…I think not.

While Sauber, Renault, BAR and even Frentzen in the Arrows continue to make improvements, Jordan found themselves slower in qualifying this year than they were last season, despite removing the delimiters from the Honda engine…something that had EJ scratching his head…look out for those splinters Ed!!

A surprising fact today was that the stands were only sparsely populated…for Imola standards anyway!! It is the Italian birth rite to follow Ferrari and with their continued dominance in the sport I'd have expected the circuit to be heaving…perhaps they'll all come to the race instead.

So if it rains tomorrow (and it looks likely at some point) then Noah better get out his Ark because they're coming in 'two by two'. And if you are an ITV viewer don't miss the build up as Murray Walker talks to Alex Zanardi about life following his horrific CART accident last year.

Reproduced with permission from PenelopeF1.com

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