Heikki Kovalainen claimed his maiden pole position at the British Grand Prix, while his McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton was demoted down to fourth place after making a costly mistake on his first flying lap.

It should have been Hamilton taking the top spot as he had the quickest car around the Silverstone circuit. But that oversteer moment into Priory cost him time. Despite this set back, Lewis still has the opportunity to do well in the race even though his team-mate is at the front of the grid.

Heikki’s pole position time of one minute, 21.049 seconds was half a second quicker than the nearest rival, that of Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber. To qualify ahead of the Ferraris is an impressive achievement for the team and the Australian. It will be fascinating if Webber has the pace or the right fuel strategy to match the top runners in the 60-lap race.

World champion Kimi Raikkonen will start in third place with home crowd favourite Lewis Hamilton joining him on the second row. It wasn’t a great performance from the Scuderia, as both Raikkonen and Felipe Massa seemed to lack the outright speed that many were expected. It was quite a surprise to see the two red cars struggling in Q2. To line up third and ninth (Massa) was not the result the team were looking for.

For the first time this season, Nick Heidfeld outqualified his BMW Sauber team-mate Robert Kubica with fifth position. The German was able to generate enough heat into his Bridgestone (his main problem this year) to edge ahead of Kubica. The Polish driver was unable to set a competitive lap time in Q3 due to puncture and will start in tenth place.

Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet will line up in sixth and seventh respectively. The Brazilian is beginning to regain his confidence in the Renault R28 after a poor show earlier this year.

Sebastian Vettel continued his promising performance with ninth for Toro Rosso, one place ahead of world championship leader Felipe Massa. The Brazilian was heavy comprised in Q3 by a wheel-nut problem in the pits, meaning he missed the chance to set a competitive lap time. To line up on row five is a major disappointment for Felipe.

Two-time Silverstone winner David Coulthard will start the race in eleventh. It will be Scot’s final home race after announcing to the world’s press that he will retire at the end of this year’s championship.

As for the other British driver, Jenson Button got caught out in the brief rain shower in Q1 and was unable to set a lap time in the Honda. He will start the British Grand Prix in P17, behind his team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

Sunday’s race will be deeply fascinating as there is a slight possibility of rain. Can Heikki scored his dream result for McLaren by winning in front of the passionate British crowd? Does Webber have the genuine pace to match him? What about Raikkonen and Hamilton? Can we expect the ‘Iceman’ and the Brit to stage a comeback drive and win the race? Let’s find out tomorrow in the penultimate race at Silverstone.

Qualifying times from Silverstone

1. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.049
2. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:21.554
3. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:21.706
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.835
5. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:21.873
6. Alonso Renault 1:22.029
7. Piquet Renault 1:22.491
8. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:23.251
9. Massa Ferrari 1:23.305
10. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:19.788
11. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:20.174
12. Glock Toyota 1:20.274
13. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:20.531
14. Trulli Toyota 1:20.601
15. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:21.112
16. Barrichello Honda 1:21.512
17. Button Honda 1:21.631
18. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:21.668
19. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:21.786
20. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:21.885

As ADV woes continue, Funimation steps in to pick the rights to 30 titles. Those rights include the home video, broadcast, digital, and merchandising rights in North America and other regions so it is posible to see them being released here in Europe also. The complete list are as follows:

# 009-1
# Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy
# Air Gear
# Air movie
# Air TV
# Blade of the Phantom Master
# Comic Party: Revolution
# Coyote Ragtime Show
# Devil May Cry
# Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor TV
# Jing, King of Bandits: Seventh Heaven
# Jinki:Extend
# Kanon
# Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora (once titled as Shattered Angels by ADV Films)
# Le Chevalier D’Eon
# Magikano
# Moeyo Ken TV
# Moonlight Mile
# Murder Princess
# Nerima Daikon Brothers
# Pani Poni Dash!
# Project Blue Earth SOS
# Pumpkin Scissors
# Red Garden
# Sgt. Keroro 1st & 2nd
# Tokyo Majin
# UFO Princess Valkyrie
# Utawarerumono
# Venus Versus Virus
# The Wallflower
# Welcome to the NHK
# Xenosaga

Quite a good list of titles here and lets hope the prices are competitive too if they do make it to our shores.

As mentioned in my Street Fighter 4 Update, there will be an animated short involving Ryu and his storyline against Akuma. Well it looks like Gametrailers has managed to source a world exclusive of this trailer and here it is in all its glory. Enjoy!

Now if only this were a true OVA…

What happens when humanity leaves earth and forgets to turn off the last robot? you get WALL.E the new animated feature from PIXAR or as I like to call it “The little robot that could” which is directed by Andrew Stanton who also wrote and directed Finding Nemo. Take the 80’s classic’s ‘Short Circuit’ and ‘Batteries not included’, throw in a love conquers all story and mix throughly with lashings of PIXAR magic and you get WALL.E. I have to admit I was intrigued from the trailers and the film itself doesn’t disappoint, WALL.E is for lack of a better word adorable.

WALL.E is a little rubbish disposal robot who has lived pretty much alone on earth for the past 700 years, his only friend is a dog like cockroach (you see they were right the bugs will survive anything) humans left earth due to the pollution crisis and are now living in space on huge cruise ship like space stations. One day while WALL.E is doing his own thing tidying and curiously playing with the various discarded objects he finds (often with hilarious results) a strange visiting robot arrives called EVE, she is a probe sent down by the humans to see if the earth is inhabitable. WALL.E’s curiosity gets the better of him, he is intrigued by this new visitor and gradually this curiosity develops into something more.

This really is an amazing film and PIXAR have gone the extra mile this time, I really felt for WALL.E it’s just amazing how they managed to convey so many human emotions in a little robot who to be honest barely speaks besides saying his name. The dialogue in this film is pretty sparse with almost all the emotion pouring through the movements and eyes of the two main characters. PIXAR have proved they truly are a cut above the rest in telling simple stories with HEART and trust me this film has a heart so huge even the coldest person will fall in love with little WALL.E as he tries his hardest to make EVE realise his true feelings. I won’t give away too much but I will say this film is a MUST SEE. I absolutely adored it and the mix of laugh out loud jokes and pure emotion made this a viewing treat. The animation is beautiful as always with PIXAR, with the added great messages regarding pollution and that even a robot has the ability to love. This is a film I will happily go see again and I couldn’t recommend it more highly if I tried.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is the new film from the Disney Studio, Directed by Andrew Adamson. This second adventure in Narnia is by far superior to the first in my personal opinion. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe always seemed very rushed to me, with poor quality special effects especially in the final battle scene.

This time around it has been 100’s of years since the last installment. (Or at least in Narnia it has, in good old England it’s only been a few months) Narnia has now fallen under the tyrannical rule of the Telmarine King Miraz. The Pevensie siblings Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are called back to Narnia by Prince Caspian, the true heir to the throne of Cair Paravel by blowing Susan’s magical horn. Will the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve be able to help the Prince and return Narnia to it’s former Glory?

This time around I throughly enjoyed my trip to Narnia, if anything a couple of years has definitely helped the acting skills of the young cast and Ben Barns pulls off a very convincing Prince Caspian. I especially liked how the Telmarines spoke with a Hispanic accent to contrast them completely with the very English Pevensie family. I will have to say that Peter Dinklage as Trumpkin and Eddie Izzard as Reepicheep the warrior mouse stole the show, they had me laughing most of the time they were on screen.

A heart felt, fun, fantasy adventure for the whole family which thankfully they kept the Christian values to a minimum. The special effects are by far superior to the first and the pacing of this installment was by far more thrilling. With the success of this film I sense that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will definitely be in the pipe line, here’s hoping it’s more like this film than the former. Worth the price of a cinema ticket, especially if you want to entertain some younger members of the family or just experience some good old fantasy, even Aslan himself would have to roar with joy at this adaption of C.S. Lewis classic.

Felipe Massa heads the drivers’ championship after a decisive victory at Magny-Cours. The Brazilian was behind his Ferrari team-mate in the first 38 of the 70 laps race, but when Kimi Raikkonen developed an exhaust problem (losing him vital horsepower), Massa was able to benefit and take the chequered flag.

Even though Raikkonen had a problem with his F2008, the pace of the red cars was significant compared to the rest of the 20-car field. Jarno Trulli finished in a distant third, earning the team’s first podium since Melbourne 2006. It was nice gesture for Trulli to dedicate this podium finish to the former Toyota team boss Ove Andersson, who was killed in a car crash earlier this month.

The Italian was under extreme pressure from McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen in the closing stages of the race. On the run down to the Imola chicane, the Finn tried a move around the outside. The two cars touched but Trulli held the racing line and stayed in front.

As for Lewis Hamilton, this wasn’t a great weekend for the British driver. After his mistake in Canada in which he was penalised by crashing into the back of Raikkonen’s Ferrari in the pits, Lewis had a tough race in the French Grand Prix.

Starting from P13 on the grid, he was given a second penalty (a drive-through) when he cut the Nurburgring chicane while passing Sebastian Vettel on the opening lap. It was a little harsh by the race stewards in my opinion – Lewis couldn’t take the racing line into the chicane after just passing the Toro Rosso. He was going way too fast! So with this punishment and his low grid position, Hamilton’s race was already comprised. He tried in vain to regain lost ground by overtaking several cars, including arch-rival Fernando Alonso, but in the end Lewis finished tenth.

After winning the previous race in Montreal, Robert Kubica struggled with pace in the BMW Sauber. The Polish driver lacked the performance many people when expecting and to finish sixth was disappointing. At least Robert did a better job behind the wheel of the F1.08, as team-mate Nick Heidfeld was the last remaining runner on the lead lap (he finished P13).

Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber led home an intense and private Renault battle with sixth, ahead of Nelson Piquet (who scored his first points of the season), Fernando Alonso and David Coulthard. The young Brazilian was able to move ahead of his Renault team leader when Alonso slid wide when lapping Giancarlo Fisichella’s Force India three laps from the end. It was a great result for Piquet after several bad races.

Toyota’s Timo Glock hung to eleventh position despite a late challenge from Vettel in the Toro Rosso. Nick Heidfeld was a disappointing P13 for BMW Sauber (he finished second in Montreal). Rubens Barrichello, who started from the back of the grid after a gearbox change, was the first lapped runner in P14 heading home the Williams duo of Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg (who also received a penalty in the pit-lane crash at Montreal).

Sebastien Bourdais was P17 for Toro Rosso ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil in their Force Indias. Jenson Button was the only retirement after his Honda made first-lap contact with Bourdais and sustained irreparable damage.

Massa’s third Grand Prix victory of the season (the eighth in his Formula One career) means he becomes the fourth driver to lead the championship standings. In addition, Massa is the first Brazilian to lead the world championship since the late great Ayrton Senna back in 1993. He has 48 points compare to Kubica’s 46 and Raikkonen’s 43. Hamilton trails with 38 after his second race without scoring points.

Meanwhile Ferrari extends their lead in the constructors’ championship to a commanding 17 points over BMW Sauber.

French Grand Prix, Magny-Cours:

1. Massa Ferrari 1h31:50.245
2. Raikkonen Ferrari +17.984
3. Trulli Toyota +28.250
4. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes +28.929
5. Kubica BMW Sauber +30.512
6. Webber Red Bull-Renault +40.304
7. Piquet Renault +41.033
8. Alonso Renault +43.372
9. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault +51.021
10. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +54.538
11. Glock Toyota +57.700
12. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari +58.065
13. Heidfeld BMW Sauber +1:02.079
14. Barrichello Honda +1 lap
15. Nakajima Williams-Toyota +1 lap
16. Rosberg Williams-Toyota +1 lap
17. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
18. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari +1 lap
19. Sutil Force India-Ferrari +1 lap

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:16.630

Not classified/retirements:
Button Honda 17 laps

World Championship standings, round 8

Drivers:

1. Massa 48
2. Kubica 46
3. Raikkonen 43
4. Hamilton 38
5. Heidfeld 28
6. Kovalainen 20
7. Trulli 18
8. Webber 18
9. Alonso 10
10. Rosberg 8
11. Nakajima 7
12. Coulthard 6
13. Barrichello 5
14. Glock 5
15. Vettel 5
16. Button 3
17. Piquet 2
18. Bourdais 2

Constructors:

1. Ferrari 91
2. BMW Sauber 74
3. McLaren-Mercedes 58
4. Red Bull-Renault 24
5. Toyota 23
6. Williams-Toyota 15
7. Renault 12
8. Honda 8
9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 7

Next race: British Grand Prix, Silverstone July 4-6

World champion Kimi Raikkonen claimed Ferrari’s 200th pole position as he and team-mate Felipe Massa locked out the front row. The qualifying session at Magny-Cours became a private duel between the Scuderia pair, with each setting the quickest time around the 2.741-mile race track.

Massa initially set the pace with his impressive Q1 and Q2 performance but in the session that matter the most – the top ten shootout – it was Raikkonen who took the honours with a lap time of one minute, 16.449 seconds.

Even though Lewis Hamilton was third fastest, the McLaren driver has be demoted ten places following his pit-lane incident in the Canadian Grand Prix a fortnight ago. So lining up behind the red cars will be Fernando Alonso in the Renault.

Toyota’s Jarno Trulli also moves up a place and will join the double world champion on row two.

Heikki Kovalainen lines up in fifth place for McLaren ahead of Montreal winner Robert Kubica. The championship leader seemed to lack the outright pace compare to Ferrari and McLaren, which is a surprise as you would expect the BMW Sauber to continue that winning performance after Canada… Both Kubica and team-mate Nick Heidfeld (who is down in eleventh) will experience a difficult race on Sunday with these low grid positions.

Red Bull Racing takes up row four with Mark Webber edging ahead of team-mate David Coulthard, despite being slowed on his first Q3 lap when Trulli had a spin in his path at the 180 corner.

Timo Glock will start the French Grand Prix in ninth alongside the under-pressure Renault driver of Nelson Piquet. The Brazilian needs to put in a solid performance after seven disappointing races. His future at the team hangs in balance if he suffers another non-finish.

Sunday’s French Grand Prix will provide some interesting stories especially in the drivers’ championship. Kubica currents leads with 42 points but can Kimi Raikkonen (who is down in fourth in the standings) ignite his season campaign with race victory? What about Massa? Can the Brazilian challenge his Ferrari team-mate? And as for Hamilton, the British driver needs to take big risks by overtaking several cars if he wants to score big.

In addition, there is a small possibility of rain heading to Circuit de Nevers on race day. So will Lewis benefit the bad weather to his advantage with his low grid position? Lets wait and see.

Qualifying times from Magny-Cours:

1. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 1:16.449
2. Felipe Massa, Ferrari 1:16.490
3. Fernando Alonso, Renault 1:16.840
4. Jarno Trulli, Toyota 1:16.920
5. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren 1:16.944
6. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber 1:17.037
7. Mark Webber, Red Bull 1:17.233
8. David Coulthard, Red Bull 1:17.426
9. Timo Glock, Toyota 1:17.596
10. Nelson Piquet, Renault 1:15.770
11. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber 1:15.786
12. Sebastian Vettel, Toro Rosso 1:15.816
13. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren 1:16.693*
14. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso
 1:16.045
15. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams 1:16.243
16. Jenson Button, Honda 1:16.306
17. Rubens Barrichello, Honda
 1:16.330
18. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India
 1:16.971
19. Adrian Sutil, Force India
 1:17.053
20. Nico Rosberg, Williams 1:16.235*

* Ten-place grid penalty following the pit-lane crash at Montreal

Yes that lovable, brown fuzzy mascot of the Japanese NHK channel will be making its official debut on the Veoh video streaming website this Friday, 20th June 2008. In a series of 20 new short episodes will be available over the next five weeks. For those who have yet to witness the power of Domo, then here is some of his older works… Introducing Domo.

RotateMe, created by Samir is a free program for all Symbian S60 mobile phones that have built in accelerometers, allowing them to switch from portrait to landscape and vice versa by simply tilting the device.

I have been testing this piece of software with my Nokia N95 now for some time and with every update something new has been brought to the table, be it stability, battery life or more options for tweaking its use. I have been using the latest version of RotateMe (2.0 Beta 5) now for some time and I like what I see.

Here is it in Portrait mode but by simply tilting it to the side…

Voilà! It detects the movement and automatically moves to Landscape mode

Its such a simple thing and indeed many devices have already had such a feature like Digital Cameras and probably most publicly the Apple iPhone. Using RotateMe is a very simple affair indeed, you simply run the program and pop over to the Set Me option and configure it there. You can either have it so it is constantly on (will drain your battery fast), a set timeout, upon hotkey press, or only on the Gallery. I personally have it set to activate on the Gallery only and with a idle timeout of 30 seconds.

Battery life this way is pretty decent indeed however you can just use a hotkey (can assign that to any key on the mobile) and it will be activated upon demand, however I like the automatic startup on the Gallery as that is the only time I would actually need it, to watch videos full screen and to view images in the right aspect ratio. You can however use this for other programs that don’t allow such automatic changes of views like TomTom for example.

Did I mention it was free? Hopefully Samir can get this to be signed by Symbian soon as such a feature really should have been added as default on this mobile and indeed any other Symbian mobile that has the correct hardware. In all a worthy addition to add yet more features to a very capable mobile phone.

And what a beast it is too. Rumours have been flying around and now we have not only pictures but specifications about this baby, now called the Sony Ericsson C905. Why am I excited about this? Well have a look at what you can expect from it…

- 8 megapixel camera
- Autofocus
- Face detection
- Image stabilization
- Xenon flash
- Photo flash (for video)
- Smart Contrast
- GPS
- Accelerometer
- TV-Out
- 2.4-inch QVGA TFT display
- Wi-Fi (supports DLNA)
- Comes with 2GB Memory Stick Micro M2
- 104 x 49 x 18 (or 19.5) millimetres
- Weighs 136 grams

Quite impressive indeed as this is perfect for those wanting to use their mobile as a possible replacement for their digital camera. With GPS support you can GeoTag your photographs to send to friends or upload to the internet to let everyone know where it is and the accelerometer will allow natural and easy switching between portrait and landscape modes like other digital cameras. With the TV-Out you can connect it to the TV to view images, video and more for everyone to see on the big screen.

Check out the official promotion video below and another one showing photographs close up.