Polina Semionova dancing Giselle, ou Les Wilis

I have always longed to see Polina Semionova dance in London so when the chance came to see her dance Giselle at the London Coliseum, I jumped at it. The ticket price was pretty extortionate, but we had the best seats in the house and it was definitely worth it. Polina is simply beautiful. Not only one of the most facially attractive ballerinas I have ever seen, but the way she moves is simply extraordinary. After a huge leap, she lands back on her toes with hardly a whisper. Her point work is a picture of perfection, but she does not simply dance, she acts and draws the audience right into the story of the ballet. Who needs words when expression can say so much?

Perhaps my favourite part of the ballet was the point where Giselle learns of Duke Albrecht's prior engagement. She let down her hair, really enhancing the torment she was experiencing, and danced a tragic dance of absolute misery, but ultimate beauty. 

Denis Matvienko danced the part of Albrecht brilliantly and the Mikhailovsky Theatre Ballet Company were very good technically. But, the stage was completely stolen by Polina. 

Karl Lagerfeld's Burlesque Creation for Rita Ora

Chanel's Creative Director, Karl Lagerfeld, designed this brilliant burlesque outfit for Rita Ora as she performed at a party to celebrate the birthday of the Princess of Monaco. Using the age-old, leg-lengthening trick of pale pink shoes to complete her outfit, I see this as a triumph for a girl who is more often seen in trackies and trainers. 

F1 Malaysia Grand Prix: Team Orders, Tyres, and Tantrums.

This is my response to one of the most exciting Formula 1 races I have ever seen, a race governed by team orders and tyre management. I hope you enjoyed the race and this blog as much as I do :) sorry it's come so late in the day: I've been battling my conscience to complete my English coursework.  

Red Bull had asked Sebastian Vettel to "hold station" behind Mark who had the lead of the Grand Prix after his final pit stop after he said, "Mark is too slow, get him out of the way.". Ignoring his team, Vettel drove very aggressively despite having been told to preserve his tyres and finally overtook Webber in a move that Webber reported to have "scared" him and prompted Team Principal, Christian Horner, to say, “Come on Seb this is silly”. As Vettel crossed the line a message over the radio said curtly, “Well done Seb, It looked like you really wanted that. Still there will be some explaining to do.” Indeed there was as the media pounced on this nugget of drama.

Explaining the situation, Webber said, "Basically, I got myself into position where we were controlling the race. I did a pretty good situation. I was ready for a sprint to the end and the team rang up and said, "the race pressure is off, look after the tyres. Don't fight each other." I turned the engine down." It was obviously a shock for him as his own team-mate started to race for the lead.

After the race, the atmosphere in the pre-podium preparation room was icey, with Webber telling Vettel that the team orders were for a "multiple 21", meaning driver number 2 (Webber) finished in front of driver number 1 (Vettel). Team Principal, Christian Horner said, "It wasn't right, what he did" but the matter would be dealt with internally. "Following cars closely destroys tyres. We know we've been marginal and what we didn't want to do was find that we'd ran out of tyres and take an unnecessary risk... At that point Sebastian has obviously chosen to ignore that".
"We employ these guys because they are competitive, because they do push each other, because they are very driven individuals. If either was submissive to the other, it's not what we want in a racing driver.
"He's obviously chosen to hear what he wants to hear. He's a race driver, he's competitive; he's hungry. He hasn't achieved the Championships that he has by not pushing the limits. He's pushed that today with his team-mate and with the team.
"He put his interests beyond what the team's position was: he was focused on that eight point difference between second and first place, which was wrong. He's accepted it was wrong. From a team perspective, F1 is a team sport; but there's also a Driver's Championship as well and sometimes you end  up in conflict". Red Bull cancelled their victory photo under the circumstances. 

When asked if the team should have asked Vettel to give up the lead back to Webber, Horner said, "Do you honestly think if we'd told him to slow down and give the place back, he'd have given it back? There's no point." Maybe that says a bit too much about how Vettel perceives his position at Red Bull and he needs a bit of authority to put him back in his place, as part of a team. Webber did a similar thing at the end of last season in Brazil, racing Vettel after he had been told to hold his position, but he didn't overtake him. 

This awkward situation only increases the trust issues between the two drivers, but to quote Ayrton Senna, "if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver because we are competing, we are competing to win... I race to win as long as I feel it's possible. Sometimes you get it wrong? Sure, it's impossible to get it right all the time. But I race designed to win, as long as I feel I'm doing it right." Although I understood Vettel's reasons for what he did as he was doing it, I didn't like his response when the press asked him to talk: saying that he wasn't pleased with the win after fighting so hard and taking such risk to get it was just annoying. He said, "I made a big mistake today and we should have stayed in the position. I messed up in that situation and took the lead from Mark and can say now he is upset. Apologies to Mark. The result is there and all I can say is that I didn't do it deliberately." (Really? Seemed pretty deliberate to me...) Although Vettel insisted that he wasn't aware of his error until after the race, saying "Mark should have won", and that he wouldn't make the mistake again, Webber seemed reluctant to accept his apology and the atmosphere between the two drivers remained cold. There has been speculation about whether Webber is considering his future at Red Bull as he is unsure if he will be allowed to challenge for the Driver's Championship. Red Bull have played down these suggestions. 

It is all quite ironic when recalling Horner's comments before the race that "the balance and the dynamics that we have in the team are absolutely right with the two drivers that we have", it is a "very successful pairing". Both drivers kept talking about "us" - the team, but in the end Webber loses out again saying he is "disappointed with the outcome of the race" and "In the end Seb made his own decisions today and will have protection [from the team] as usual". Vettel called it "a great race for the team today" regarding their tyre management and strategy. Interestingly, Red Bull say we "don't have a 1 and 2 like at Mercedes". Debatable.

With similar team orders from McLaren, both drivers obeyed them with professional maturity. Although Nico Rosberg seemed to be making a point by the end and might have sent one more radio message than was really necessary, he did seem to be able to drive faster than Lewis Hamilton by the end of the race. 

Rosberg: “He’s holding me up, I think I'm faster, let me pass"Brawn: "Negative Nico, negative. Lewis' pace is what we are asking him to do. He can go a faster than that, we have told him to remain at that speed. We also expect you to remain in control too.”   

Rosberg: “He’s too slow!” Brawn: “Nico, there is a massive gap behind and nothing to gain in front. I want both of these cars home. Thanks.”  

Rosberg said, “Remember this one”, after complying with the team orders and later explained "It was a reminder to them [the team bosses] to remember that I played the game". 

After the race, Lewis Hamilton said, "I can't say it's the best feeling being up here. I really feel that Nico should be standing here, generally he had better pace than me throughout the race, but he's a great team mate and did a fantastic job today... I have to say a big congratulations to Nico. He drove a smarter and more controlled race than me this afternoon and deserved to finish where I did. He deserves to be where I am. Obviously the team thought, with the position in the championship, it was logical to stay in the positions we were in." When told this, Rosberg said, "Nice to hear if he really did say that." Unlike Vettel, Rosberg said, "I respected the team's opinion. To be 3rd and 4th fighting the Red Bulls is such a milestone and we need to put in some consistency... I know that if it had been the other way around they would have done the same thing". When asked if he thought Mercedes now owed him one, he said, "Not owe me one, no, I wouldn't say that. I work for Mercedes... I'm pleased to get such a great result for the team". Ross Brawn said, "it was just a question of bringing the cars back in the safest form". There were issues with the amount of fuel in the cars because"the pace of the race was a lot stronger than we had expected". Regarding the team orders, "it works both ways, the drivers know that". 

In other news, Fernando Alonso damaged the front wing of his Ferrari after twice touching the back of a Red Bull. He decided to continue racing and carried on after the first lap, not pitting to get a new front wing. Unfortunately, staying out for that second lap cost him dearly and the front wing snapped as he was travelling at 190mph down the main straight, momentarily laughing his car into the air and disabling his steering as the car narrowly missed the back of Webber's Red Bull while heading straight for the safety of the gravel trap. Race over for Alonso. 

Visiting the pits for the third time, and looking on for a decent points finish, Button fell foul of McLaren’s blundering pit crew yet again. Just as in Silverstone two years’ ago, McLaren released Button without his front-right wheel properly attached, forcing him to grind to a halt in the pit lane. The mechanics wheeled him back and quickly fixed the problem, dropping him to 14th on the track. McLaren retired Button's car with 2 laps to go as they were outside the points. Vettel was the first into the pits at the end of lap five to change from intermediate tyres to dry track, slick tyres, but the switch was premature and he quickly fell through the field, finishing the following lap in seventh place behind McLaren’s Sergio Perez. Whereas Mercedes appeared to have got the call to bring Hamilton in at the end of lap seven bang on, but unbelievably Hamilton pulled into the McLaren box before being waved out of the McLaren box by the mechanics of his former team. The blunder cost Hamilton in the region of six seconds and the chance of emerging from the first wave of stops in the lead. Known as "doing a Jenson" as Button had made a similar mistake after his transfer to McLaren, Hamilton said, "I don't know how I got it wrong. Apologies to my team." Nicole Sherzinger's response was priceless as she watched the race on a mobile.

There were a few cases of cars being released too early from their pit stops. One was Jean-Eric Vergne colliding with Charles Pic. The driver was allowed to keep his tenth place, meaning he scored his first point of the season, but Toro Rosso was fined €10,000 (£8,530) for the incident. "We had a poor release from Jev’s pit stop and he collided with a Caterham which cost us a lot of time, as we had to pull him back for a new nose," said team principal Franz Tost. "The Stewards have fined us for a dangerous release from a pit stop and we agree with their decision." To racing fans who might recognise the inconsistency with past examples of this, the rules have changed for this year to mean the driver himself will not be penalised with a drive-through. A similar event took place between the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus. The former was released just as the latter drove down the pit lane, meaning both were racing wheel-to-wheel down the narrow, speed-limited stretch of track. Hulkenberg managed to just edge in front of the Lotus for 7th place as they exited the pit lane, but a frustrated Raikkonen overtook him a few laps later. 

... Bring on China!

Glum faces for Red Bull

Can anyone tell me why the Red Bull is purple this year?

Lewis Hamilton forgetting which team he drives for

Easter Mini Egg Nails

Hello!

Long time, no post.

It's almost Easter and I've spotted some new nail polishes that look remarkably like Cadbury's Mini Eggs. The first (and probably most famous) is a collection by Illamasqua, mentioned in Vogue Online's Spring Makeup 2013 article as "Like a bird's egg found nestled in the garden, this pastel polish features matte black glitter flecks for a speckled finish." At £14.50 they're a bit more expensive than a chocolate egg, but something different :)

Personally, I prefer Deborah Lippmann nail polishes, slightly brighter colours and smaller glitter fragments? (I may have imagined that, but I think these ones look better). At £16.00, treat yourself. No doubt there will be a Barry M version hitting the highstreet shelves soon.