Kimi Raikkonen has extended his championship lead with a dominant performance in the Spanish Grand Prix. The Finn led home his team-mate Felipe Massa, scoring the perfect result for the Scuderia.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was able to salvage third while his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen was taken to hospital following a violent crash at Turn 9.

The Kovalainen incident occurred on lap 22 when he suffered a wheel-rim failure on the left-front tyre. The Finn crashed heavily into the tyre wall and it took a while to stabilise at the accident scene, but Heikki gave a thumbs-up to the crowd as he was taken by stretcher to the medical centre. Later he was flown to hospital for precautionary checks, and his condition was described as stable.

This incident ruined Nick Heidfeld’s race for BMW Sauber, as he was running a long refuelling strategy. With the safety car on track and the pit lane closed, the German had no choice but to make a pit stop. This resulted in a stop-go penalty that dropped him down the field and he finished a disappointing ninth at the flag.

At least Heidfeld made it to the end, as home crowd favourite Fernando Alonso suffered an engine failure despite starting on the front row. The Spaniard was running in fifth position until lap 35 when the problem occurred… Still, he should be satisfied that the Renault team has made a significant step forward in terms of competitiveness and hopes to challenge Ferrari, McLaren and BMW Sauber in the following races.

Robert Kubica continue to score points for BMW Sauber with fourth while Mark Webber drove a solid race in the Red Bull to take fifth. As for Jenson Button, he was happy to score the Honda’s team first points of the season with sixth - all thanks to a good strategy call in the pits.

By contrast, Toyota’s Jarno Trulli had to make an additional stop and slipped down to eighth. Not a good result for the Italian after chasing Webber for most of the race…

With Trulli down a spot, Kazuki Nakajima in the Toyota-powered Williams took seventh. This was the Japanese best race performance this season.

Giancarlo Fisichella was unable to resist the charging Heidfeld, so brought his Force India home in tenth, ahead of Toyota’s Timo Glock, who delayed himself after running into the back of David Coulthard. The Scot’s left-rear tyre was cut as a result, so he also fell back but managed to re-pass Super Aguri’s Takuma Sato before the finish to claim twelfth spot.

Only thirteen cars made it to the chequered flag in an unusually high attrition rate at the Circuit de Catalunya. On the first lap, Adrian Sutil tried an ambitions move on Coulthard but ended up spinning into the path of the luckless Sebastian Vettel in the Toro Rosso.

After qualifying in the top ten, Renault’s Nelson Piquet suffered a nightmare race with a trip across the gravel followed by a tangle with Vettel’s team-mate Sebastien Bourdais at Turn 10 as the Brazilian tried to recover from 18th position… Both cars retired with broken suspension.

Debris from Piquet’s car then punctured the radiator in Anthony Davidson’s Super Aguri, ending his race early.

As for the most experienced driver in Formula One, Rubens Barrichello will want to forget the 2008 Spanish Grand Prix after damaging his car’s front wing in the pit lane.

It may not have been a classic race, but it increased Raikkonen’s championship score to 29 points and his lead to nine over Hamilton (who is on 20). Felipe Massa jumps up to fourth on 18, one behind Kubica (19). Thanks to a one-two result in Barcelona, Ferrari re-take the lead in the constructors’ standing with 47, twelve ahead of BMW Sauber with McLaren-Mercedes a point behind.

Spanish Grand Prix result - 66 laps

1. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1h38:19.051
2. MASSA Ferrari +3.2s
3. HAMILTON McLaren +4.1s
4. KUBICA BMW +5.6s
5. WEBBER Red Bull+35.9s
6. BUTTON Honda +53.0s
7. NAKAJIMA Williams +58.2s
8. TRULLI Toyota +59.4s
9. HEIDFELD BMW +63.0s
10. FISICHELLA Force India +1 lap
11. GLOCK Toyota +1 lap
12. COULTHARD Red Bull +1 lap
13. SATO Super Aguri +1 lap
R. ROSBERG Williams +25 laps
R. ALONSO Renault +32 laps
R. BARRICHELLO Honda +32 laps
R. KOVALAINEN McLaren +45 laps
R. DAVIDSON Super Aguri +58 laps
R. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +59 laps
R. PIQUET Renault +60 laps
R. SUTIL Force India +66 laps
R. VETTEL Toro Rosso +66 laps

Fastest lap: RAIKKONEN 1m21.670s

Drivers’ championship standings:

1. Raikkonen 29
2. Hamilton 20
3. Kubica 19
4. Massa 18
5. Heidfeld 16
6. Kovalainen 14
7. Trulli 9
8. Webber 8
9. Rosberg 7
10. Alonso 6
11. Nakajima 5
12. Button 3
13. Bourdais 2

Constructors’ championship standings:

1. Ferrari 47
2. BMW Sauber 35
3. McLaren-Mercedes 34
4. Williams-Toyota 12
5. Toyota 9
6. Red Bull-Renault 8
7. Renault 6
8. Honda 3
9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2

NEXT RACE: Turkish Grand Prix, Istanbul. May 9-11

Ferrari’s Kimi Rakkonen recorded his first pole position of the season by snatching the top spot from home crowd favourite Fernando Alonso in a dramatic qualifying session at the Circuit de Catalunya.

It was the Iceman’s 15th career pole position and with his main championship rival Lewis Hamilton down in fifth, the Finn has the advantage to extend his points lead if he wins at Barcelona. The sister Ferrari of Felipe Massa will start in third ahead of Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber.

On row three are the two McLarens with Hamilton and team-mate Heikki Kovalainen. It was a disappointing performance from both drivers and Lewis even admits that the pace of the cars ahead shocked him! The British star will need to regain his composure and mount a challenge to score some valuable points in the race on Sunday.

As for Fernando Alonso, this was a fantastic achievement from the double world champion and the Renault team. The improvements to the R28 chassis over the last three weeks (in particular the new aerodynamic kit) have certainly improved the competitiveness of the team and Alonso was highly emotional after qualifying in second. He would have grabbed a shocking pole but the Spaniard is more than pleased to start ahead of his old team McLaren on the grid.

Even his team-mate Nelson Piquet put in a superb performance by qualifying in the top ten for the very first time this season. The Brazilian will line up in tenth position behind Mark Webber’s Red Bull, Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and Nick Heidfeld in the other BMW Sauber (seventh, eighth and ninth respectively).

The Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday will be a fascinating contest to see who is running what on fuel strategy. Are Renault running light or have they got genuine pace to match Ferrari, McLaren and BMW? Can Kimi score his second victory? Will we see a fight back drive from Lewis? We will find out this and more in tomorrow’s race at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Starting grid for the Spanish Grand Prix

1. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1:21.813
2. ALONSO Renault 1:21.904
3. MASSA Ferrari 1:22.058
4. KUBICA BMW 1:22.065
5. HAMILTON McLaren 1:22.096
6. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1:22.231
7. WEBBER Red Bull 1:22.429
8. TRULLI Toyota 1:22.529
9. HEIDFELD BMW 1:22.542
10. PIQUET Renault 1:22.699
11. BARRICHELLO Honda 1:21.049
12. NAKAJIMA Williams 1:21.117
13. BUTTON Honda 1:21.211
14. GLOCK Toyota 1:21.230
15. ROSBERG Williams 1:21.349
16. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1:21.724
17. COULTHARD Red Bull 1:21.810
18. VETTEL Toro Rosso 1:22.108
19. FISICHELLA Force India 1:22.516
20. SUTIL Force India 1:23.224
21. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1:23.318
22. SATO Super Aguri 1:23.496

S.A. or Special A is the new comedy/ drama series from Gonzo based on the original manga by Maki Minami. The opening theme is “Special Days” by Yuko Goto, sadly there was no opening animation on the first episode, the ending theme is “Hidamari no Gate” by Jun Fukuyama, Hiro Shimono, Tsubasa Yonaga & Kazuma Horie, I must say the ending animation was pretty bland and boring which is a shame as this is a pretty good episode otherwise.

Special A revolves around the rivalry between the main protagonist Hikari Hanazono and the guy she always comes second to Kei Takishima. Within their school (Hakusenkan Elite School) there is a special class only the top 7 elite students can attend called, yep you guessed it the S.A. class. Kei is ranked number 1 in the school, with Hikari always just trailing behind as number 2, which it is apparent she is infuriated by. Hikari spends her time coming up with challenges to finally beat Kei, but it seems unknown to only her Kei is in love with Hikari. She just appears to be too wrapped up in her frustration of being number 2 to actually notice but still she see’s Kei as a good friend and welcome rival. Will their rivalry every blossom into something more?

As a first episode this wasn’t a bad introduction, but I am yet to see what is so special about S.A., This currently seems pretty much a run of the mill high school comedy series. The Character designs are pleasing enough and considering this is based on a 12 volume manga they have a lot to work with. The two main characters are pretty likable and I can see this series being a lot of light hearted fun. Hopefully the plot will deepen slightly by the second episode, but not a bad little series and with 24 episodes it will either be great or become increasingly boring if they don’t work out as to where the plot is heading. Roll on next weeks rivalry competition.

The Air I Breathe is a Crime Drama made up of 4 different interlinking stories, based on the an ancient Chinese proverb that breaks life down into four emotional cornerstones: happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love. Each cornerstone is represented by a different story which sums up what that single emotion means to the teller. This film marks the directorial debut of Korean Jieho Lee and possess a pretty impressive ensemble cast.

Happiness - a businessman (Forest Whitaker) who bets his life on a horse race after overhearing a conversation he wasn’t meant to hear. Pleasure - a gangster who can foresee the future (Brendan Fraser) has to babysit his bosses nephew (Emile Hirsch) for the evening. Sorrow - a pop star (Sarah Michelle Gellar) falls prey to a crime boss (Andy Garcia) after her management sells her as part of a debt. Love - a doctor (Kevin Bacon) tries to save the life of a patient. With each story the plot deepens in an attempt to reveal what is the true meaning of life.

I really wanted to like this film, I personally am a huge fan of stories within stories with each being told from a different perspective. While the acting was extremely good the plot of the film appears to have no actual conclusion. I am aware that like any chinese proverb the interpretation is left to the ‘reader’ and in this case ‘watcher’ to decipher the meaning but even though this is a well crafted and interesting film, you are left wandering by the end as to what exactly was the point. Possibly a second viewing may enlighten me further, maybe like life this film shows how things happen for unexplained reasons, people question life and ask what does it mean? but like life itself who actually knows. Life is built up of complex emotions and stories much like this film, beautiful, poignant, tragic, interesting but minus a conclusion, or possibly it is just left up to the viewer to decide for themselves.

Mnemosyne is a 6 episode supernatural Horror/Thriller series from Xebec. I will first say it is pretty graphic, with scenes of torture, experimentation, nudity and sexual content. You have been warned this isn’t a series for the faint of heart, if you are in any way squeamish don’t watch it. Mnemosyne is named after the mythological Greek titaness who was the personification of memory. As this is what this series is about discovering buried memories, of course these memories are often brutal, disturbing, gruesome and graphic.

The story revolves around Rin Asogi a mysterious woman who runs a private investigation agency. She takes on various cases which cause her to delve deeper into a dark, mysterious, action packed and often graphically violent world.

This is definitely a show to watch. The animation is top notch I really like the character designs and even though the show is dark it is still very compelling and interesting to watch. I must add that I was drawn to the show by the Yuri element which does seem to be quite apparent between Rin and her secretary Mimi, with additional scene’s that are strictly ‘business’ throughout, it‘s nice to see a yuir-ish show without school girls for once. This isn’t for everyone but if you can cope with copious amounts of blood, gore and nudity this could be a journey you wish to take, but remember this does at times make Elfen Lied look like a walk in the park. Highly recommended but I do think that 6 episodes will seem incredibly short and possibly will be the one major disappointment.

Spice+Wolf was yet another pleasant surprise this season, this Supernatural Historical Adventure series ticked all the right boxes in managing to stay compelling and entertaining throughout. The animation was well done with very pleasing character designs especially the cheeky Horo. I also like that this proved yet again that a series can be good without overuse of panty shots or jiggle movements. The only questionable fan service is that Horo does often appear naked but this is generally dealt with in a non sexual way, after all she is usually just about to transform into a giant angry wolf.

The story kept very much in the time period it was set and to an extent I would place this akin to a new style fairy tale/ folk story. What really worked in this series in my opinion was the connection between the two main characters and how well they interacted together. With Horo and Lawrence taking up most of the screen time with just conversation, the script worked extremely well in keeping the viewer both interested and enthralled. Lawrence was a nice enough and believable main male lead, who though not attractive in character design had a fun and amicable personality that make him extremely likable. The show was stolen by quite a long margin by Horo who’s cheeky banter, playful mannerisms and emotion filled jealous glares kept you entertained, I am huge fan of Horo’s cheeky smirk. The wolf animation was also well done and in my eyes hampered back to ‘Mononoke-Hime’ and how well the wolves were characterised in that, even down to the general use to telepathy so she could speak instead of her mouth moving was a nice touch.

A beautiful, well crafted and moving series that is definitely different from the rest. I eagerly await the episode 7 straight to DVD release with extreme curiousity. I am also living in hope there is a second series in the pipe line so we can eventually see Horo make it to her home land, or just another 13 episodes of playful banter would be enough. Spice+Wolf is like a good apple, crunchy and at times awkward to get into, but deep down it’s a sweet and at times juicy watch that through satisfying does leave you wanting more once you’ve finished it.

Kanokon or another anime of fox girls, bouncing boobs and Pantsu! from Xebec , The character designs are pleasing enough I do like big moe eyes. The intro song is “PHOSPHOR” by Ui Miyazaki and ending is “Koi no Honoo” by Yui Sakakibara, both are extremely lively and upbeat which fits quite well with this light hearted series I do particularly like the ending song.

Kouta Oyamada is a first year transfer student at Kunpo High School, on his first day he meets a beautiful second year named Chizuru Minamoto. Chizuru gives Kouta a note asking him to meet her in the music room after school. Here she reveals she is in fact a fox deity and that she loves Kouta, later we meet Nozomu who is a wolf deity, she also has a soft spot for Kouta, which deity will win Kouta’s heart?

Kouta looks terribly young compared to the girls who are all over him, almost like a reverse loli complex. I am yet to understand as to why Chizuru likes Kouta so much, as she looks about 4 years older than him. Maybe Chizuru know’s something about small guys that the rest of the world doesn’t know. Besides this being a pure fan service fest it was enjoyable enough, I do like the supernatural animal deity element and how the deities can combine with humans could be an interesting twist. I did find it hilarious when Kouta was reeling off the names of his family and goldfish when Chizuru was trying to seduce him. An easy watch and probably the one fan service show I will keep watching this season, but only because the fox girl is kawaii.

Voices of a Distant Star tells the story of a long-distance relationship between Mikako Nagamine and Noboru Terao whose only source of communication is through text messaging across space. Mikako is a middle school girl recruited by the U.N Space forces to fight against a race of aliens. Mikako is sent in space to pilot a fighting mech leaving her memories behind on earth including Noboru. As the film progresses Mikako journeys further into the depths of space taking it longer for her text messages to reach Noboru which brings in the theory of time dilation. It approaches to a situation that messages Mikako send will take 8 years to reach Noboru.

Makoto Shinkai created this 25 minute animation in his spare time using only the resources available to him from work as a graphic designer. To create such a film as Voices of a Distant Star under such circumstances is an inspiration in itself and shows that you don’t necessarily need a huge studio to make a touching animation with a remarkable story as well as stunning visuals. Originally the voiceovers were done by Makoto himself and his wife.

The visuals are superb and whilst the individual character designs are not sophisticated in comparison to other anime, they are kept simple with the accompaniment of the stunning backgrounds which really escalate the anime. The background art are full of life with vibrant colours and exceptional lighting seizing the animation’s atmosphere and continually taking it forward as well as resembling the innocence and constant memories within Mikako and Noboru. Tenmon a friend of Makoto creates a soundtrack that blends well with the atmosphere and highlights the mood of Mikako and Noboru as well as their memory for each other.

There are ideas in the anime which complement the great storytelling. A creative touch here is Mikako’s field of vision when piloting the mech. It is brilliantly imagined and designed as from the view inside everything around her can be seen as if she was floating in mid-air creating at times a sense of loneliness and a lapse in time for the character.

Voices of a Distant Star is not the type of anime where full scale wars take place and full of action. There are a few action scenes of mecha fighting throughout, but the main aspect of this short film is the narrative and character between Mikako and Noboru which may impact on a sense of nostalgia for the viewer reminiscing on a past memory where the tides of life had to change. Voices of a Distant Star undoubtedly shows the enthusiasm and devotion that Mikako has for animation by crafting a beautifully and inspired film.

After two non-finishes Ferrari’s Felipe Massa answers his Formula One critics with a flawless victory at Bahrain, leading his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen to the chequered flag.

The Brazilian had been under pressure to perform after his race-costing errors in Melbourne and Sepang, so this latest race victory – his second in succession at the Bahrain International Circuit – has kick-started his title ambitions. The Brazilian was the fastest driver all weekend and was unlucky to miss out on pole position, but Massa made amends by scoring that all important ten points.

World champion Kimi Raikkonen finished in second position beating pole sitter Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber. The Iceman made a pass on Kubica on lap three but didn’t have the speed to challenge his Ferrari colleague for the win. Despite this, Raikkonen now heads the drivers’ title standings after a disappointing race for Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren.

Starting third on the grid, Lewis made a poor getaway and ended the opening lap down in tenth position. Then he collided into the back of his ex-McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso on the exit at turn two damaging his front wing! Lewis was able to continue but spent most of the race playing catch-up running a heavy fuel load. He finished in a frustrating 13th position and a lap down to the red cars…

As for the incident involving Alonso, I believe the double world champion performed a ‘brake test’ on Lewis by deliberately slowing down on the exit of the corner… The Renault driver was defending his ninth position from his arch-rival and decided to back off the throttle causing the McLaren driver to smash into him! But saying this, I think Lewis Hamilton was too eager in trying to make up lost positions (he lost seven on the opening lap). By observing the in-car footage from Hamilton’s perspective, I think he was caught out by the slow Renault in his much quicker car…

Whatever the true reason – we need to look at the telemetry from Alonso to discover the cause of the incident – it was a set back for Lewis in terms of keeping hold of his drivers’ championship lead. With Raikkonen finishing in second in a Ferrari one-two, the Iceman now heads the title race by five points.

This wasn’t the only incident in the Grand Prix, as there was a collision at turn four involving Sebastian Vettel and several others cars. The Toro Rosso was out on the spot, while Jenson Button and David Coulthard came limping around to the pits for new tyres after picking up punctures…

Later on, the British pair managed to collide with one another after trying to make up lost time. Button criticised his friend DC for moving across on him in the braking zone. Jenson took avoiding action but ended up hitting the Red Bull!

It was a disappointing end for the Honda driver after his great performance in qualifying but at least the RA108 has the speed to keep on tabs with the Formula One grid. This gives confidence to Jenson and his team as they seek out more performance in the next couple of races.

BMW Sauber didn’t take the opportunity to turn pole position into race victory but at least the team are now heading the constructors’ standings thanks to Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld finishing in third and fourth respectively. That elusive first race victory will have to wait for another day.

It was a frustrating weekend for McLaren with Heikki Kovalainen finishing in a lonely fifth and team-mate Lewis Hamilton in P13. The MP4/23 was off the pace and the Woking team will need to rediscover that winning formula to regain that lost ground in order to challenge rival Ferrari in the remaining rounds of the championship.

Toyota’s Jarno Trulli continues to impress with another points finish with sixth, confirming the great progress made by the Japanese squad over the winter.

Mark Webber finished in seventh for the second race running in the Red Bull, beating Nico Rosberg’s Williams during the first rounds of pit stops. Rosberg was the last point scorer with eighth.

Rounding up the top ten is Timo Glock in the Toyota and Fernando Alonso - with that battle/tyre scar on the rear wing…

Even with Felipe Massa winning the Bahrain Grand Prix, team-mate Kimi Raikkonen now heads the drivers’ standings with 19 points, ahead of Nick Heidfeld on 16. Hamilton, Kubica and Kovalainen are on 14 with today’s race winner on 10. In the constructors’ chase, BMW Sauber leads with 30, ahead of Ferrari on 29 and McLaren on 28.

The next stop is Barcelona in three weeks time. Ferrari are the pace setters in this year’s championship and BMW – not McLaren – are chasing them for glory. Can BMW scored that dream result and can McLaren strike back? Find out at the end of the month at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Bahrain Grand Prix result - 57 laps

1. MASSA Ferrari +1hr31m06.970s
2. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +3.3s
3. KUBICA BMW +4.9s
4. HEIDFELD BMW +8.4s
5. KOVALAINEN McLaren +26.7s
6. TRULLI Toyota +41.3s
7. WEBBER Red Bull +45.4s
8. ROSBERG Williams +55.8s
9. GLOCK Toyota +69.5s
10. ALONSO Renault +77.1s
11. BARRICHELLO Honda +77.8s
12. FISICHELLA Force India +1 lap
13. HAMILTON McLaren +1 lap
14. NAKAJIMA Williams +1 lap
15. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +1 lap
16. DAVIDSON Super Aguri +1 lap
17. SATO Super Aguri +1 lap
18. COULTHARD Red Bull +1 lap
19. SUTIL Force India +2 laps
R. PIQUET Renault +17 laps
R. BUTTON Honda +38 laps
R. VETTEL Toro Rosso +57 laps

Fastest lap: KOVALAINEN 1m33.193s

Drivers’ championship standings

1. Kimi Raikkonen 19
2. Nick Heidfeld 16
3. Lewis Hamilton 14
4. Heikki Kovalainen 14
5. Robert Kubica 14
6. Felipe Massa 10
7. Jarno Trulli 8
8. Nico Rosberg 7
9. Fernando Alonso 6
10. Mark Webber 4
11. Kazuki Nakajima 3
12. Sebastien Bourdais 2

Constructors’ championship standings

1. BMW Sauber 30
2. Ferrari 29
3. McLaren 28
4. Williams 10
5. Toyota 8
6. Renault 6
7. Red Bull 4
8. Toro Rosso 2

NEXT ROUND: Spanish Grand Prix, Circuit de Catalunya. April 27.

H20 ~Footprints in the Sand~ turned out to be an more interesting series than I originally predicted. The quality of the animation was pretty poor at least when compared to what else was on offer but the plot was interesting enough to keep it entertaining. What surprised me is the dark turn the series eventually took, there were enough hidden secrets, repressed memories, supernatural events and strange village elders to keep me watching for the full 12 episodes.

The animation thought not great was watch able enough, I don’t usually like series that are badly drawn or possibly just the character designs weren’t too my taste. I did particularly like the personalities of Hayami and Yui, then again I have always been a fan of tsundere girls. Hotaru and the male lead Hirose even managed to develop personalities of some depth towards the end of the series, instead of turning out just drippy and boring like I originally thought they would. The backgrounds were nice enough, the animation was nothing ground breaking artistically but the served it’s purpose of telling a story

Besides the incredibly random episode 8 which did completely throw me off, I did enjoy this series and thought not compulsive viewing it did make for interesting filler. I do think this series would have benefited from cutting out the fan service which often was unneeded and to be honest just made what would have been quite an emotionally driven series seem silly and completely ruined the mood for me on several occasions. An interesting enough series with a few decent plot twists, at least at only being 12 episodes it managed to stay relatively interesting throughout.